It was just a random link his friend had sent him, no explanation, nothing, but Thomas clicked it anyway. It pulled up an advice blog, thousands of answers on it. Thomas was shocked so many had come to this person. He read some of the entries.
my family has been giving me a hard time, it's making me feel bad.
-Try talking to them? If not take some you time. Go to your room, go for a walk, cool off.
Thomas continued to scroll through the posts, people talking of depression and suicide to simpler things like wanting to know an easier way to solve a math problem. The person answered what seemed like everything, always being polite, encouraging words, advice to aide everything. Thomas scrolled back to the top, looking through the information of the blog owner. All it said was "Minho," assuming that was his name.
Thomas went back to reading the posts, catching himself smiling every so often at how genuinely nice this person was. He felt like they had been friends for years, that he knew this boy- well, presumably a boy- for so long.
It seems that he responds to everything, anonymous or not. Some come to him without questions, just a 'thank you' for saving their life and Minho sends a smile emoji, telling them how lucky he is to know they're alive, even though he has never once met them. Thomas is shocked, stunned, amazed that one person has the capacity to be so caring and to take time out of his life to do such a thing.
Of course now Thomas needs to try it out, just to see if Minho responds to everything or Thomas just assumed that. He sends the message anonymously, this being more of a prank than anything serious and he doesn't want anyone to notice him. "I suck at biology and I have a big test tomorrow, any help?" He hits send and stares at the screen.
An hour later there's a response.
I suck at biology and I have a big test tomorrow, any help?
-Try to make summaries of the important things, highlight stuff, and try to find words that stand out enough to help you remember them.
Thomas kept going back to Minho's blog, looking through the newer responses and even sending a few more. He makes sure that every time he does it, it stays anonymous. His questions are silly, not even worthwhile to answer but Minho does anyway.
How do I make soup?
-Usually you put it into a pot and heat it up over a stove or in a microwave. You can also do it from scratch instead of a can. Veggies are always good inside soup, noodles too.
Can I wear a yellow shirt with red pants?
-Of course you can. You're allowed to do anything you want, (besides murder of course).
I think my best friend has a crush on someone, should I help her out?
-Talk to her first? Make sure she is okay with it before you do anything.
Minho doesn't know that it's all the same person but Thomas does and each time he gets a reply, he's shocked a little bit more that there is even a reply. Eventually Thomas beings to add '-T' to his asks, wanting Minho to know that each one is from him and not multiple people. He sends them everyday, smiling a little to himself when Minho responds, enjoying this little game more than he should. At one point Thomas gains his own tag on Minho's page. "#T asks" is wedged in between "#Smile" and "#Trigger warning."
It's not really anything, just a tag to organize his page but even so, Thomas likes it. He likes that he's being recognized by someone so many people go to. He likes that he's (somewhat?) important to Minho, that he's able to catch this boys interest and continue to get recognized, have his petty questions answered too.
After a couple of months, Thomas's questions begin to get more serious. They go from just stupid every day things to actual problems. He ends up confiding in Minho about how people at school found out about Thomas being bisexual, that they called him a faker, a closeted gay, how he feels about all these things. He tells Minho about the death of his cousin and how it affected him and even to this day he regrets things he's said to his cousin. Thomas mentions his panic attacks. These things are something he's never been physically able to tell anyone before now, especially the panic attacks. He tells Minho about how during it hurts to breathe, how he feels like his life will come crumbling down at any second and he forces himself to put on a smile and hide things from his family, his friends.
Minho around Thomas's questions, loses his professionality. In his answers he starts to incorporate his own life experiences, something he hasn't done for any other asks. Minho tells Thomas of when he came out as pan to his family, how they had denied it straight to his face. He talked about how in his own times of depression he had taken a razor to his skin to get in control of things, now turning to doodling on himself to get his mind off of life and self-harm. Minho tells Thomas about how one day he hopes to cover his scars up with his own drawings as tattoos.
A couple of times Minho asks Thomas to come off of anonymous, but Thomas never has the guts, always telling Minho that "I'll do it next week." Setting deadlines and never following through. He's scared to and really, who can blame him? Minho knows everything about him except his appearance, his name, his identity. Thomas has talked to Minho about his darkest period in his life and Minho doesn't even know something as basic as Thomas's age.
It's a little weird, even Thomas will admit that.
Awhile after the first question was sent Thomas realizes that everyone who visits can see their conversations. It only dawns on him when he sees other people's asks.
do you know who T is? would you want to know if you had the chance?
-Immediately.
After that Thomas stays away from Minho's blog for a few days, well, at least he tries to. After barely lasting two days, Thomas is back to scrolling through the blog, reading through all of the messages, a lot of them being about him.
i havent seen him on your blog in awhile. do you know if hes ok?
-I hope so.
do u know how to contact him?
-Sadly enough, not.
Do you consider him your friend?
-Yes, I do.
Thomas reads the answers and feels a smile grow on his face and his heart feel like its floating.
He decides it would be good to send a quick ask, letting Minho, (and now everyone else) know that he's okay. After that one ask he can't help himself and Thomas and Minho are back to talking like they were days prior. Message after message, Thomas smiling every time Minho responds. At this point it's not even questions or advice, it's just simply talking, something similar to texting except for the fact that it's visible to everyone.
Things were going great, spending days at a time talking, that is until Thomas screws up.
He forgot to double-check that his message was anonymous before sending. This time, his message going out with his name, and picture, even all the personal information that was posted on his own blog.
It takes Minho over an hour to respond to Thomas's message, Thomas only knowing its him excluded because other asks show up every five or so minutes.
This fact only aides Thomas's panic. He panics that that was the last message, that now that Minho knows who he is, the spark is gone, the excitement of not knowing has been solved and he's just another person now. Another follower that isn't anything truly special. Now Minho knows the face to the stories. It's enough to almost bring Thomas to tears. He even wonders if Minho was looking through Thomas's blog and Thomas fights the urge to delete everything, to never talk to anyone again.
After waiting (not so patiently), the answer to his ask is finally there.
I thought it was pretty cool too. -T (Thomas o'Brien)
-Are you messing with me or are you really the person I've been talking to for a couple months?
It's not a bad message, there's no anger behind it, just an easy question but it still makes Thomas beyond nervous. He talks himself in and out of the truth. One minute he's saying pass it off as a joke, go back to anonymous but then another he's telling himself to be honest, that this could be his chance. The truth wins in the end.
It's me. -T (Thomas o'Brien)
-You have no idea how happy I am to finally know who you are.
A few minutes later there's a follow on Thomas's blog from Minho's own personal one.
They continue talking, only this time in privacy. Thomas has to admit that it's much nicer to talk like that, to be able to say something without having to think about who can see it. Thomas enjoys talking with Minho much more than he cares to admit, how he can talk and be himself without worry (or at least very little) of judgment. Minho is so friendly towards him, caring and nice, that Thomas can just be himself.
It only takes two weeks before Thomas has abandoned the blog in favor of actually texting Minho. Thomas spends most nights forcing himself to stay awake to talk to Minho, every night falling asleep with his phone in his hand as he waited for a response. He's falling so hard for Minho, harder than he's ever fallen and it doesn't even scare him anymore. Who better to like than Minho?
Thomas wakes up one morning with a text.
From Minho: I never expected to like someone who sent me a message about the expiration date of milk once.
Thomas doesn't stop smiling all day.
A week later Minho make's a post to his advice blog.
To everyone wondering where T went and if he's okay. - He's my boyfriend now, we're good.
Everyone is bombarding him with questions, how did it happen? Have you guys met? Are there pictures? Who asked who? The list went on and on, everyone so excited to finally see the two boys who, obviously had chemistry, now together. Minho was by far overwhelmed with the amount of questions he had gotten in response to his post. It was far more than he had ever gotten just by giving out advice. Apparently people seemed to like the idea of him and Thomas.
I think the fans need picture proof, what do you say? -T (Thomas o'Brien)
-I think you might be right, Thomas.
A week later there was an album uploaded to the blog. It had over a hundred pictures of Thomas and Minho together. Nothing super special, but it was Thomas and Minho. They were all just pictures of Thomas being a dork and Minho putting up with it (though there are a few ones of the two kissing that got in there, how, Minho doesn't have any idea).