A/N This was a little shorter than I planned it to be. But it's my first time writing a one shot! And I wrote this because I can't sleep and it's 3 am... but please review and tell me what you thought of this. I tried my best to keep Thomas and Newt in character, hopefully I did an okay job. Also I studied sleeping disorders in my ap psychology class and I know this doesn't match insomnia exactly.
Newt has always had trouble with sleeping. It seems even as a young child he was plagued with nightmares, now it's not as much as nightmares as it is with restlessness and anxiety. Right after he met Thomas it was manageable, or at least it was for a little while. They've been dating for six months and each month Newt's sleep patterns were getting worse and worse. He would like to blame it on exams, he isn't sure that's reasoning behind his struggling sleep schedule, but it does make a good scapegoat. Why sleep when he's just going spend his time staying at the ceiling for an hour before he falls unconscious. During that hour he could be studying instead. Thomas takes a while to notice, in his defense he has his own life to worry bout and Newt hates to bother people. So, he doesn't. At least not until exams past and he realizes his boyfriend still has bruises under his eyes and needs three cups of coffee to function, and he doesn't get up before one unless he has too. At first Thomas worries that it's his depression rearing its ugly head once again dragging his innocent boyfriend into it's prison. As much as he hates confrontation he finds it unavoidable in this case, so he tries to bring it up as subtlety as he can. Of course, Thomas is clueless when it comes to the art of being subtle.
They were in line for coffee after Newt's noon lecture when Thomas decided he needed to know.
"Do you still take your pills?" He blurted out. Newt looked at him quizzically and raised an eyebrow.
"I mean for your depression." Thomas quickly added on.
"Yes mum" Newt said jokingly, then he facial expression turned serious. "Where is this coming from?"
"You've just been looking really tired lately... I mean you're still amazing you always look amazing but you're always taking care of everyone I want to make sure you're taking care of yourself."
Newt's face softened "Aww Tommy that's sweet but I've always had trouble with sleep don't worry about it."
"Newt, I love you, but this isn't ok you look like you're dead on your feet right now. How much do you sleep?"
"Usually a few hours a night, Tommy I really don't want you worrying about it." Newt mumbled.
"Only a few hours a night?!" Tommy squawked, "Jesus Newt what time do you go to bed?"
"I usually can't fall asleep to around 4 or 5, but it's ok I catch up with it on the weekend."
"Newt, you can't catch up on lost sleep, this is really unhealthy. How long has this been going on?"
"It's not usually this bad, it's gotten worse these last months." Newt admitted quietly.
Thomas's stomach dropped "You've been deprived of sleep for these last few months, and I haven't noticed..."
"Tommy it's ok, you have your own life. You're my boyfriend not my babysitter." Newt soothed.
"You would have noticed right away." Thomas mumbled feeling sick to his stomach at Newt's lack of rest.
"Well we can't all be as observant as me" Newt joked trying to relieve some tension, "and really Tommy it's not like I don't sleep."
"Yeah you just don't sleep nearly enough..." Thomas looked around just seeming to realize where they are. "You don't have any more classes for the rest of the day?"
"Nope." Newt confirmed.
"Ok let's go." Thomas said pulling Newt out of the coffee line. "No caffeine for you."
Newt squawked indignantly. "I need caffeine to function!"
"That's why were going up to your dorm to nap."
Newt groaned "Tommy I appreciate the effort, but I won't be able to sleep and I have so much work to do..."
Thomas cut him off. "Please Newt just try, for me?"
"Fine" Newt said begrudgingly, "and don't start feeling guilty this isn't your fault."
Of course, Newt was exhausted, he was always exhausted. It's something you get used too after a while. As soon as they got in Newt's dorm, Newt collapsed on the bed and pulled out his phone.
"This is why you can't sleep." Thomas said holding out his hand, "give me your phone." Newt sighed and handed it over too tired to argue. "You have to give your body time to relax before expecting it to fall asleep. You have to let your mind wander and think happy thoughts."
"I don't like being alone with my thoughts ... it led to thinking which makes me start to overthink which leads to anxiety which causes me to hate myself even more." Newt admitted.
Thomas never knew it was this bad. They are going definitely talk about that after Newt is well rested. "Aw sweetie look you don't need to worry about any of that because you have me. And I'll stay with you every day until you fall asleep if I need to" He said turning off the lights cuddling next to Newt, "now tell me how your day has been." Like that Newt launches into a story about what happened in intro to psychology. He fell asleep within an hour, with his head buried in the crook of Thomas's neck. He only stayed asleep for about 7 hours, which Thomas still thinks isn't enough for his beautiful boyfriend, but hey it's an improvement. Rome wasn't built in a day.