"Mercy Lewis Newt, what the hell were you thinking?" Tina shrieked, eyeing the crimson bloodstain on his shirt.
"It was hurt, Tina, what was I supposed to do?" Newt made a move to sit up. "There's a salve in my case, I'll–"
"Don't you move, Newt Scamander. I will get it." She instructed, still seething.
What was he thinking, honestly! He could have called her, called any one of them really. He didn't need to do these dangerous things alone anymore.
She marched down the steps into his case, rifling around in the drawers until she found a small round box. When she pulled off the lid, a strong smell of mint hit her nose, coming from the smooth brown salve in the box.
"Hey Newt!" She called, waving the box above her head. "This is it..."
Tina paused. Newt had unbuttoned his shirt, and was checking the wound on side.
He looked up, and smiled. "Yeah, that's it."
She stared at him cautiously.
Once she got over the initial shock (oh gosh this image was not going to leave her mind, and Queenie was going to have a field day), her eyes caught on the various scars, burn, and bite marks peppering his torso.
"Tina? Something wrong?" He called, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Oh, no, I just– nevermind." She muttered.
She moved closer, studiously ignoring his bare torso.
She was a proper lady, for heaven's sake!
"The salve works rather quickly. All I need to do is wait 10 minutes." Newt explained.
Tina looked up at him. "May I?"
He nodded, and she carefully dabbed the thick brown paste over the cut.
Newt leaned back against the chair, his cheeks now lightly stained pink.
"Thank you, Tina."
"I– be more careful next time, okay?" She mumbled.
"Maybe I'll take you with me next time." He laughed softly.
"Solid plan." Tina laughed too.
They sat in silence, after that.
Usually, for them, silence was welcome, ordinary even. Usually, it was warm, and companionable.
Now, the air was charged with something, an electricity, that made them both uncomfortably aware of the other's presence.
Her eyes wandered, and, once again, caught on the multitude of scars decorating his body.
She sighed. "Newt, what happened to you?"
"Well, I startled her, and–" he began.
"No, not this time. I meant–" she gestured helplessly at his torso. "All of that."
"Oh." He paused, closing his eyes, as if collecting his thoughts. "It's not that... well, I was on the war front, working with dragons, and then in the field doing research."
He pauses again. "These creatures, they aren't used to our kind being friendly towards them. They are usually just scared."
Tina smiled at his defense of the creatures that had actually attacked him.
"Newt Scamander." She shook her head. "You are insane, sometimes, you know that?"
God, she loved him.
