Groundhog Day

Epilogue

            "NEWT! THE CLUELESS WONDER IS HERE, GET UP!!"

The blonde boy stretched, disobedient when it came to following his sister's yelled directions. He heard footsteps thundering up the stairs and threw a pillow over his face, a groan seeping out from between his lips as they crossed into his room. A low chuckle reverberated around the room, and a voice that was much too low to be Sonya's spoke teasingly: "Aww, did someone see his shadow and bury back into his bed for another 6 weeks?"

Almost immediately, the pillow that had been covering Newt was being launched towards the voice in retaliation for the snide comment, the lanky boy narrowing his sleepy eyes in a glare as he muttered a quiet "shut up."

Thomas caught the pillow with the softest little "oof," which was quickly accompanied by the shit-eating grin he always wore when teasing his boyfriend. He snickered, dropping the pillow on the floor- out of Newt's reach to prevent giving him more ammo to attack Thomas with- before crossing over to the slightly-older boy. "Good morning, Mr. Sunshine. I thought sleeping beauty was supposed to be... Beautiful? Very Confused."

He sat on the edge of Newt's bed as he taunted, and as soon as he was within reach, two arms wrapped in a vice around his waist and slammed him down onto his back. Newt grabbed his other pillow and clambered on top of the brunet, wrestling him down and stuffing the pillow over his face, pretending to suffocate him. "Haha, you think you're SO FUNNY, now you're DEAD!"

Newt lifted the pillow with a grin, and Thomas stuck out his tongue, playing along. "Bleh. I'm dead. Dead noises."

"The dead don't talk, dumbass." The blonde leaned back and off of Thomas more, a laugh bubbling from his lips at their antics. Time with his soulmate never failed to make him smile.

Thomas broke into a grin as well, rolling out from under Newt and slipping off the bed. He scrambled clumsily to his feet, brushing himself off as he put his hands on his hips in impatience. They spent all day, every Saturday together since they'd started dating, and today was no exception. In fact, today was of even more value than usual, and Thomas was grateful for that. "Get up, you lazy ass!!"

Newt raised an eyebrow, draping his legs over to dangle as he shook his head. "You know, adding 'ass' to the end of a sentence doesn't change the fact you have the intimidation factor of a My Little Pony."

The brunet huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and mumbling. "I like ponies."

"Of course you do." The taller boy stood and patted Thomas's shoulder with a satisfied grin, crossing over to his dresser and lazily picking an outfit to wear. "What are we doing today?"

Thomas launched himself into a whole list, excitedly babbling about all the fun things he'd planned on them doing all day, and Newt just listened and smiled to himself. He loved when Thomas got super excited about things; it was cute. He pulled on his clothes over the boxers and tank top he'd slept in, haphazardly running a hand through his bedhead and ultimately choosing to throw a beanie over it anyways. The two then went downstairs and raided the Ross's kitchen to make muffins from scratch for breakfast, being sure to throw chocolate chips in one half of the tin and blueberries in the other to accommodate both of the boys' favorites. Being the fact that both of the teenagers are naturally disaster/chaotic gays, the muffins burned, but they ate them anyways. Next Thomas had insisted upon making snowmen out front, which ended in no less than an all-out snowball war, with their sad little snow-triangle-with-a-face caught in the crossfire. When the whole lawn had been massacred from its once beautiful, untouched state, the two boys returned inside for another meal and to warm up a bit, cozying up on a couch and watching a movie together. Winter's early nights had begun to creep in, as the sky had grown dark outside by dinnertime. Throughout the whole meal, Newt kept catching Thomas's eyes wander out the window, trying to get a peek of the night sky. The blonde kicked him lightly, picking up his empty plate and standing. "C'mon, you big nerd." He took Thomas's plate as well, stacking it atop his own. "Let's go look at them."

Crossing out onto the front porch, both boys silently embraced the Déjà vu it brought them. This was exactly the place they'd sat and looked at the sky together a year ago, the first of many subsequent stargazing adventures.

After a few moments of silence, Thomas leaned over and whispered to his significant other, never tearing his eyes away from the speckles of light that dotted the dark sky. "Which one are you looking at?" He asked out of curiosity, tangling his fingers with Newt's in hopes of maintaining warmth.

Without missing a beat, Newt smiled brightly, his own eyes also transfixed on one particular spot in the sky. His voice was so soft, Thomas wasn't even sure he'd heard the boy right: "Ours."

Breaking his gaze, the dark-haired boy turned to inspect Newt's face for further context clues, but was only met with more questions than answers. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll be right back." Newt avoided the question, planting a chaste kiss on his soulmate's cheek as he stood and hurried back inside, slamming the door shut behind him. Thomas was too stunned in confusion to move, and by the time he'd processed what had happened, Newt was already gone.

"His stupid bladder of a squirrel," Thomas mumbled, his hand cold in the absence of another enveloping it. The blonde returned fairly quickly as he'd promised, having gone inside not to pee, but to retrieve something from his room.

"It's been a year since I met you, Tommy," the blonde began, situating himself flush against his boyfriend once more. "A year of you being a proper idiot, but a year I wouldn't give up for anything else in the world."

Only in a relationship like theirs could Thomas punch Newt in the arm and then immediately rest his head against the other's shoulder lovingly. "A year of you bullying me," he huffed, which elicited a laugh from the taller boy.

"You love me," he insisted, which Thomas was quick to confirm in a begrudging tone.

"I do."

The brunet connected their lips for a moment, and it felt like all the fireworks from the first time they'd kissed all over again. Newt broke away once it had lingered for a moment, squeezing his love's hand. "I have something for you," he whispered, Thomas preoccupied with gently sweeping away the hair that had fallen into Newt's face. The blonde pulled out what he'd gotten from inside, revealing it to the other boy.

INTERGALACTIC STAR DATABASE

CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRY

STAR #ISD0346673 WILL HEREBY BE KNOWN AS:

­_Uhh, is this Ms. Paige's Class_

WITHIN THE INTERGALACTIC STAR DATABASE.

SITUATED IN THE CONSTELLATION:

DRACO

"I... hate you." Thomas finally said, his mouth dropped in awe and bemusement at Newt buying him, the astronomy nerd, a star, and naming it after his stupidest moment. "You're SUCH a jerk," he said, stifling laughter as he shoved at Newt's shoulder.

"I'm your jerk though!" The blonde snickered, clearly pleased with himself. Thomas scoffed, rolling his eyes, as Newt pulled him closer.

"Yeah, I'm the poor sap that's stuck with you for the rest of our lives." Newt pretend-pouted at this, and so Thomas caught his gaze and smiled. "Wouldn't trade you for all the stars in the sky, though."

Beaming, the older boy buried his face in the crook of Thomas's neck, entrapping him in a bone-crushing hug. "This star is ours," he whispered on a more serious note, his voice taking on a more heartfelt and sincere tone.

"You chose a star in Draco, I noticed."

Looking up, Newt nodded, immediately getting lost in Thomas's brown-with-gold-flecked eyes and falling in love with them all over again. "The first constellation you ever showed me, a year ago today."

Thomas hummed with a smile, planting a small peck on Newt's forehead. It wasn't something he got to do often, considering he was two inches shorter, so now that he had the opportunity he definitely was going to take it. "Newt?"

The blonde smiled, and it was contagious. "Yeah?"

Everything, everything about them, couldn't have been better. Nothing was perfect, but this... this was pretty damn close.

Thomas's fingers skimmed the other boy's cheek softly, his voice hardly above a murmur. "Happy Groundhog Day."