The doors opened, releasing students from the stifling box of the classroom into the cool afternoon air. Exams were finally, blessedly over. It had been five hours since his last cup of coffee. He was half certain most of his answers at the end had all been vague clunk.
And Newt was Really Shucking Tired.
Stuffing previously-wrinkled papers back into his backpack, he resisted the mighty need he felt to hiss at the sun like vampire as he plodded down the concrete steps, merely one drop in the ocean of dazed, incoherent students that had been lucky enough to come pouring out of the test buildings with their sanity still intact.
It had been a grueling three hours since they'd entered this place, chewing nervously on fingernails and darting terrified looks at the clock in between squeezing as much last minute studying into their brain as they could, and Newt was exhausted.
Studying was normally not much of a chore for the blonde, but when essays due just before the test were involved, that was when things started going downhill.
'Never again,' he half-swore, half-yawned inside his own head. 'Never taking AP chemistry again. Nothing is worth Paige dropping a paper that big on us two days before the exam. I'd rather be turned into liverwurst.'
The odd thought made him pause at the bottom of the steps, blinking slowly. How long had it been since he'd slept? If his brain was rambling about his most hated of all foods, it had probably been a while.
'Get ahold of yourself, you shank!' he berated himself, shaking his head roughly and turning, chucking the last crumpled note in his hand at the nearest trashcan in disgust, hoping never to see those accursed formulas ever again.
"Wha-hey!"
The yelp made Newt pause, glancing over at his targeted trashcan only to find it was not, in fact, a trashcan, but a young man around his age hunched over on a bench looking at his phone.
'Oh, bloody brilliant,' he groaned internally as the guy – and hell, the guy was taller than him by several inches, this wasn't going to end well – stood up and spun toward him, paper brandished in one hand like a club.
Newt could feel his ears turning red as his unfortunate victim's gaze caught him.
"I am so sorry, truly I am- exams have been on all week, 've had barely a wink of sleep-"
Newt was half-aware he was probably blathering like an idiot, swaying on his feet as if about to make a dive for the ground at any second, and he kinda wanted to shut up now before this guy punched him for treating his head like a waste paper basket. He glanced to the side, half-hoping for an ally in the sea of muddled students, before letting his attention focus back up on the brunette and-
and whoa those eyes are really pretty.
He blinks slowly for a moment, and he's half sure he's gaping wide enough to catch a mouthful of flies, but damn-
Every melodramatic love song he's ever heard always sings about blue eyes, shades of green and sometimes hazel, but clearly the song writers don't know what the hell they were talking about because these eyes – these big, beautiful, full-on bambi eyes are seriously attractive and seriously distracting.
He'd blame his momentary blank out on his mind-numbing exhaustion later, but right now he's too busy staring into the deepest brown eyes he's ever seen, framed by the longest lashes and set in a now-clearly noticeable handsome face he's never seen before.
The stranger's eyes dart from Newt's bruise-ringed eyes to his tousled hair to his half open backpack and the badly wrinkled papers clutched in his hand, seeming to read the situation immediately.
Newt manages to stutter a few syllables until somehow he squeaks out, "Sorry," again, but the unfairly attractive stranger smiles at him in a carefree manner, lovely bambi eyes crinkling pleasantly at the edges with the upward curve of his mouth.
"Let me guess," he chuckled, and oh his smooth voice is just as attractive as his face and his eyes and what- "Ms. Paige gave you a ten page essay due immediately before the exam began?"
Newt's mouth finally clicked shut at that, but it took a few blinks for him to answer in the affirmative, because now his brain is fighting both sleep deprivation and the urge to examine this lovely human being up and down all over the ground.
"Got it finished this morning. No sleep at all last night," he mumbled, now feeling the urge to look at the ground and scuff his shoes on the gravel like a high school freshman all over again, and he really must be tired if he's this nervous already-
A friendly hand lands on his shoulder, making him jump as the strange gently steers him toward the campus Starbucks. "Let's get you functioning at full capacity again, bud."
"Not your 'bud'," Newt mumbles, and oh hell, he could murder his brain-to-mouth filter right now, because the guy is raising an appraising eyebrow as if rethinking his Good Samaritan act.
"Well then, what do I call you?" he asks amicably.
This time, Newt manages to answer without taking four whole seconds: "Newt."
The other eyebrow goes up. "You're named after a tiny gecko?"
"They're not geckos, and it's a nickname," he defended his childhood name petulantly, wrinkling his nose at the guy impatiently.
Another grin, a bit wider this time. "Cool beans. I'm Thomas, by the way."
"Thomas," Newt repeats. It doesn't sound quite right.
"So, Newt, you gonna tell me what the subject of your paper for Ms. Paige?"
"Well, Tommy, it's actually rather fascinating-"
A/N: This could be better. This could be worse. You decide! I'm going to pass out now...
~Persephone