Grass is Greener { Newtmas }

1

Thomas hated hospitals.

He'd spent a large portion of his youth in them at his sick father's bedside. The quiet sobs and whispered prayers in the lobby reminded him of his mother's as she clutched her husband's hand like a life line. He never understood why they had to sit in a room for hours, staring at his sleeping father and listening to the irritating beeps of machines. He never understood why they couldn't just wait until he woke up to go and see him.

Thomas didn't understand when one day, the beeping stopped. It was replaced by a long and drawn out noise that went unheard as his mother's screams filled the room. He didn't understand when nurses filled the room and tugged his sobbing mother back out with them. He didn't understand when one of the nurses took his hand with the softest smile he'd ever seen, asking him if he'd like to go for a walk. He didn't understand when he was surrounded by unfamiliar people who seemed to know at the park dressed in black. He didn't understand why they all stared at his sleeping father in a strange box the way he once had in the hospital. He didn't understand until he expressed his confusion to his cousin who looked at him with a sad smile and held his hand a little tighter.

"Your daddy isn't sleeping, Tom. He's in heaven."

After that, he understood.

Now, at age 19, he's back at square one.

Sitting in the lobby of a hospital is just as annoying as sitting in an actual patient room, he realized. The beeps are instead replaced by the clicking noise of the receptionist's nails on a keyboard, and the smell of... hospital reeked throughout the whole place. He didn't realize just how annoyed he was until he felt a hand on his twitchy leg, halting it. His eyes quickly found a tanned hand on his knee, and he looked up to see two pairs of eyes on him.

"Are you alright, Tom?" Teresa asked, a look of concern on her face.

Minho, the owner of the hand, nodded. "Seriously, dude, your damn leg's been shaking since we sat down and you look like you're about to shit yourself."

Thomas sighed and ran a hand through his already messy hair. He hadn't realized his stress and irritation had been that visible.

"Nah, I'm good, guys. I just want to get started already." he lied, giving them both a small smile.

"Well, you're in luck!" a woman's voice said, causing the three of them to all look up at the nurse that had approached them. She glanced at the group that assembled in the lobby. She nodded as she lifted a clipboard up to read from.

"My name is Brenda, and I'll be in charge of you guys! I'd like to thank you for choosing to volunteer at Homestead Memorial Hospital." Brenda lowered the clipboard slightly and gave a smile to the group. "So, I'll go over how everything works for the first-year volunteers."

Thomas watched as the girl flipped up a page on her clipboard, her high ponytail shifting as she tilted her head. Her eyes were shining and she seemed genuinely excited about leading them all. Thomas hoped that would make the experience a bit more bearable. He could definitely handle some cuties around his temporary "workplace", of sorts.

"Alright, so! Everyone will be assigned a patient to work with. You will be responsible for spending time with this patient whenever you're available. At least three times a week would be best.. We randomly paired you, so please let me know if you are having any issues with your new friend! I'll go ahead and pass out your info sheets with your patient's details, and then you can head off! Remember to meet in the cafeteria for lunch at noon!"

The three friends stood up as Brenda began calling out names and handing out the papers. Teresa and Minho got theirs rather quickly and stood by their chairs waiting for Thomas, who was called last.

"Thomas!" Brenda smiled widely at him. "You're Teresa's cousin, right? She talks about you all the time."

The boy smiled at her, nodding. "Yeah, yeah. Hopefully it was good, or I'll kick her butt."

Brenda laughed at this, handing him his paper. "Alright, your patient is named Newt. He's, uh... a bit stubborn. He doesn't usually keep the same nurses for long for that reason, but please try your best. He needs someone positive to be there for him."

Thomas nodded and took the paper. He was a pretty positive guy, so he accepted the challenge willingly. He gave a wave to Brenda before joining back up with the others.

"I've got a girl named Harriet, her little bio makes her seem sweet! Who'd you get, Minho?" Teresa turned to Minho, smiling at her cousin as he approached.

"Uh... Sonya, female, 17, blonde... sounds like my type of patient." he smirked, earning a look from both the brunettes staring him down.

"Mine's name is Newt, apparently he's a bit of a downer." Thomas let out a chuckle.

"Shouldn't be too hard for you, then, huh?" Minho replied knowingly. "Alright, shanks! Let's get going, yeah?"

**

Thomas glanced down at his paper as he stood in the elevator. Newt was on floor 5, section A, room 250. Considering the amount of rooms on each floor, it shouldn't be too far from the elevator doors. He let out a sigh as the elevator doors opened with a ding! and stepped out slowly. Part of him was excited to meet this Newt character, but mostly he just wanted to go home and play Xbox with his younger brother.

But alas, here he was, in front of Newt's door. It was shut but there was a green stripe above the door handle, which he learned from his info sheet meant he could come in. With one last sigh, he knocked to signify his presence before turning the handle and pushing the heavy door open.

Once he was inside, he took in the sight with furrowed brows. Only blonde tufts stuck out from under the white hospital blankets, and Newt had a casted leg up in a sling. A long, skinny arm littered with bruises and cuts hung out from under the blanket as well, fingers just barely grazing the tiled floor. Just as Thomas was about to clear his throat, the arm reached up to tug the blanket down.

He was met with a rather grumpy looking boy, head wrapped up in gauze and a large bruise on one side of his face that reached all the way up to a dark brown eye. His lips were pulled down into a frown, which couldn't have felt good on the cuts around the area.

"I know I'm a real beauty right now, but mind not bloody staring like that? It's creepy." Newt croaked out and winced, seemingly at the pain caused by talking.

"Uh, yeah, sorry..." Thomas mumbled out quickly, scratching at the back of his neck. He stepped forward quickly, reaching a hand out for the boy to shake. "I'm Thomas, I'm here to, um... keep you company, I guess."

"Don't need no buggin' company." With that, the blanket was pulled up above his face again.

Thomas glanced around as if there were someone in the room to tell him how he was supposed to deal with this boy. He let out a sigh, sitting in one of the chairs beside Newt's bed. What was he supposed to do all day? Just sit here, stare at his shoes while this asshole just grumbled beneath his blankets for a few hours?

"Who sent you here?" Newt asked, interrupting the brief silence.

"Huh?"

"I said," Newt replied, pulling the blanket back down to reveal himself. "Who sent you here? Was it Doctor Paige? She's a real treat, ain't she?"

"No, no, it was uh... Brenda, the nurse?" Thomas told him, clearly confused about why that was relevant.

Newt let out a little scoff and shook his head. "So you're one of them volunteers, yeah? Here to get me feeling right chipper 'n all that?"

"Guess so." Thomas muttered and smiled at the boy.

They might not have gotten off to a perfect start, and it may be a difficult task, but Thomas was extremely determined to befriend Newt by the end of the summer.

The blonde boy sat up as much as he could with the way his leg was propped up and gave Thomas a bored yet amused look.

"Well, good luck with that."