His pen glided smoothly over the crisp white paper as the words flowed from somewhere deep inside him, like a gushing stream that sought escape into the wild open seas. Dark eyes haunted his dreams, hair the colour of sunlight that filtered through the canopies, blinding him with an exquisite warmth. He wondered what his lips tasted of, bitter like the black coffees he took in the early mornings or minty like the Eclipse tins he brought around with him everywhere.

Kera and Teresa were chattering away in the living room, their squeals of laughter penetrating through the thin wooden door of the two bedroom apartment. He'd known the latter girl since he was a child, but Kera offered her what he couldn't and that was a gossip partner. Thomas could hear them talking in hushed tones but he knew they were dissecting every instance of Kera's impromptu night out yesterday. The girl had finally confessed on the bus ride home that they'd kiss on the first date and she was now wholly convinced that Minho was the one for her.

But all he could think about was the boy's blonde companion.

Those dark eyes that teemed with the knowledge of galaxies that were millions of light years away, burning with the intensity of a thousand suns in analytical desire.

Thomas sighed as he put his pen down and looked at his finished work.

"Between the barren sun scorched land,
In some distant world beyond that
Our minds could barely comprehend, yet
I dare not say its name out of fear, perchance
You will not understand.

If reincarnation was a thing of
Observable quantitative measure,
I think of all the lifetimes I may have forgotten
Was a prelude to this single qualitative moment,
When I realised my heart's desire."

He stopped reading when there was a knock on the door and Teresa peeked her head through the gap, her blue eyes searching the room until it fell on him.

"Hey," she beamed widely. "Pizza's here!"

"Okay, thanks," he returned and she went back to the living room.

"Time, is neither an event nor a thing
But a measurement of electronic frequencies
Of atoms that vibrate between spin energy levels
And keeps us from losing ourselves
To the inevitable chaos of our disintegrating particles.

But you already knew that."

"You have a secret admirer."

Newt looked up from his dinner to Minho leaning back against the wall. He rolled his eyes while swallowing and then took a big gulp of water. The boy grinned at him from across the table.

"Thanks, Minho, I had absolutely no idea," he replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Minho picked up his bowl of soup and took a loud slurp.

He sighed and looked back down to the letter that was lying on the table. It wasn't bad writing, not like the sappy nonsense that he received back in high school from girls that read too many romance novels or watched copious amounts of chick flicks. It was amusing to read the wry humour inserted into every last sentence and the logical stream of thought punctuated by more abstract theories.

"What do you think about it?"

Newt paused for a fraction of a second before shrugging his narrow shoulders. "Not much, to be honest. I just wanna know how he friggin' sneaks them into my books."

"Must be someone you know then?" Minho raised his eyebrows in thought. "Or goes to the same places that you do."

"The only places I go to are classes, the cafe and the study bench."

"Must be from the cafe, man," the boy pointed. "Like Kera found me in the cafe too. Hang on, how do you know it's a he?"

The blonde shrugged once more. "Just a hunch. I could be totally wrong."

"You sure it's not because you already have someone in mind you're hoping it to be?" Minho smiled slyly.

"Slim it, man," Newt waved his hand in the air as if swatting the boy's words away like gnats. "C'mon, let's play some League."

"Hey! That reminds me," Minho immediately stood up and started ranting about the latest patches for the online game. They got their laptops out and played in the kitchen like they usually did. Immediately when he went online, he received a new friend request.

"Who's BoomHeadshot?" he raised an eyebrow, wondering out loud to himself.

"Oh, hey, that's Kera!" Minho exclaimed excitedly. "And she's online too, let's play a game with her!"

"Wow, the two of you are meant to be together, honestly," Newt said drily. "Okay, now who's ILovePonies and PrincessStabbity?"

"Uh... hang on..." the other boy mumbled distractedly as he smashed away at his keyboard. "Thomas and Teresa."

"Wait a bloody minute," the blonde said as he sat up straighter in his chair and leaned in to take a closer look at his screen. He clicked on the username and scrolled through the profile before looking at Minho with wide eyes filled with awe. "Thomas is that guy I was tellin' you about."

"What guy?" he glanced up. "Oh, snap. You mean the four pentakill in a row guy?"

Newt nodded his head slowly and Minho grinned evilly. "We're gonna slay it tonight, dude."

They played ten games, until way past midnight, and just as Minho had said; their team slayed every single one. Then the girls called it a night and headed to bed. Minho quickly excused himself, darting into his bedroom and Newt could hear him talking on the phone a couple of minutes later. He was about to log off himself when he saw a private message pop up on the screen.

[ILovePonies]: Hey, you were really great.

[BloodyInspired]: Thanks, you too, Penta Master. I gotta learn them moves.

[ILovePonies]: Haha. That's not all you can learn ;D

Newt leaned back against his chair and stared at his laptop, feeling his heart skip another beat. His imagination started running wild and he felt like a hormone addled teenager again, picking words apart for hidden implications.

[BloodyInspired]: I look forward to it :) Good night, Tommy.

[ILovePonies]: Night, Newt.

He slammed his laptop shut and left it on the kitchen table to fill a glass of water, downing it in one big gulp before going into his room.

As he was lying in bed, prepared to go to sleep, his thoughts were filled with soft lips painted with stardust and dark eyes that drowned him in luxuriant fascination.