So I got talked into writing this little thing (again) and I gave in. A few things to note is that all the places in this fic will be made up because 1) I live in a small country that doesn't really have many interesting places to go 2) I didn't want to mess up any actual places by describing them wrongly, so keep that in mind. For appearances the characters will look like in the movies, maybe only added the fact that in the books Newt was taller. I apologize in advance for any OOC'ness.
The summer days were slowly coming to an end, but the heat still lingered and the two boys sitting on a swing set in an empty park were lazily staring in the distance while swaying their legs in unison. One of them stopped after a while and put his hands in his lap.
"Do you think we'll be friends forever?" The blond haired boy asked,his eyes glued to his interlocked fingers that were fidgeting a little.
"What kind of question is that?" The other stopped kicking his feet back and forth to still the swing before turning his head and looking at his friend. "Of course we will." He offered a bright grin.
"Yeah… we will." A soft smile came to his lips as well, but the boy's eyes still looked sad.
"If you don't believe me, let's make a promise!" The brown haired boy jumped from his swing and stood in front of the other, hands on his waist and grinning from ear to ear. "Let's promise to always be friends, no matter what happens, and to never leave each other's side."
His friend raised his head and looked him in the eyes. He could have sworn he had seen a glint of fear in them, but it was just a fleeting moment and in the blink of an eye it was gone. The fair haired boy nodded. "Okay, no matter what happens."
From time to time Thomas would think about it, a pang of guilt locking his chest.
Did we break that promise?
Rationally, he thinks, there was nothing they could have done. Newt's family decided to move out of their little town right at the end of that hot summer and the pleas of the two children didn't have much meaning. They could only hug each other and cry softly. At least that's what Thomas did. Newt only looked at him sadly, tightly holding him in his arms. "We'll meet again, I'm sure," he whispered, so silently that Thomas wasn't sure if he had imagined it.
It all happened nine years ago. Nine years ago was the last time Thomas had seen the face of his best childhood friend. The memories seemed so distant now, sitting in a classroom full of teenagers that were eager to leave the room as quickly as possible, and thinking about a friend he couldn't even remember that well now. The dark eyed boy let out a deep sigh before looking at the clock above the door.
Just five more minutes.
Five more minutes until the last bell that would signal the end of his school years.
A crumpled piece of paper hit his head and Thomas turned to his right to see Minho grinning at him. "Dude, don't space out like that. You looked like you were dreaming with your eyes open. What'cha thinking about? Maybe the girl sitting in front of you?" he cooed, making a kissy face.
"As if." Thomas tried throwing the paper back at his friend's head, but the other boy easily caught it.
"Well your love life is none of my business." He smirked as the shorter one groaned. "So I'm not gonna say anything. But I do need to talk to you, so meet me at the school entrance after the bell."
"Talk about what?" Thomas raised an eyebrow.
"Just freaking meet me there. I don't want to repeat myself to everyone." Minho swatted his hand to indicate that the conversation was over and turned back to look at the front of the class.
Everyone?
Just then the final bell rang and the students jumped from their seats, gleeful chatter filling the room alongside the sounds of moving chairs. Thomas grabbed his bag and headed outof the class, stopping once to look back at it and all the people he may or may not see again. He felt a little empty, but quickly brushed off that feeling and stepped through the door. The boy knew he either had to be really happy or really sad finally leaving school, but those weren't his true feelings. He already had solid plans for his future, a university he will go to, a place to live in. No, he wasn't scared of the future ahead of him, it was something else. It felt somewhat nostalgic, faraway.
Another goodbye. A quick thought passed him, but before he could dwell on it he saw Teresa leaning on the side rails of the stairs leading down the school entrance.
"Hey, Tom." She waved with a smile. "Did Minho also tell you to meet him here?"
"Actually, too?" He sat on the rails next to her.
"Yup, I wonder what's this all about."
"No idea. Maybe a party for finishing school?"
"Minho doesn't have enough friends to throw a party, Tom." Teresa looked him dead in the eye and they both burst out in laughter.
"I must agree on that," Thomas said while looking around. "Though I do see a few of ours coming this way." He nodded towards a couple of people who seemed to have noticed them and were waving. "Maybe Brenda and Jorge were also invited to whatever the hell he's planning?"
As he said that, the two mentioned walked up to them, grins adoring their faces. "Long time no see," Jorge greeted.
"We've seen each other yesterday." Thomas replied before turning to Brenda and nodding.
"Details, hermano. It's the thought that counts."
"Then how thoughtful of you." The dark haired boy folded his arms with a slight smile.
Minho jogged up to them in a few minutes, looking like he was about to tell everyone that he had discovered the meaning of life. "Guys, I have an offer that you can't refuse. It's freaking awesome."
"What, you're going to move away and give us all of your stuff? If that's so, then I call dibs on your games." Teresa chirped in.
"Keep dreaming." Minho snorted. "Actually I got permission to use my family's car, which is, by the way, huge, for the whole summer and I thought we could all go on a road trip." The Asian boy looked over everyone. "Come on, it's going to be great! We could all go to some remote places, explore various caves, make campfires and sing drunkenly, maybe wrestle a bear or two."
A road trip? The idea did sound appealing to Thomas and it would be fun to spend time with his best friends without any parents telling them what to do, nagging whenever they got the chance. There was a possibility that this summer was the last time they all could spend together without a care in the world, and he didn't want to pass on that. "Okay, I'll go with you."
"If Tom's going, then I'm too." Teresa nudged him on the shoulder playfully and turned to Brenda. "You?"
"Sure, I think I can arrange this. Just gonna have to check in with my family."
"I'll also check, but I think I'm in too." Jorge nodded. "But man, Minho, didn't expect this kind of thing from you."
"What can I say." He puffed out his chest. "I'm just that great of a guy."
After chatting a bit more, Thomas finally said his goodbyes and headed home. He felt light and kind of giddy just thinking about what kind of stuff they could all do and what places they could see. They could forget their worries and just act like kids for at least a few more months.
He entered his house, threw his backpack somewhere and sprawled out on the couch. The weather was already pretty warm and the atmosphere seemed lazy, the heat slowly lulling him to sleep. Thomas felt himself dozing off, finally accepting it and closing his heavy eyelids.
"Forever is a really long time. I don't really think it's possible to be with someone for so long. You'd get sick of that person," Newt hummed out, his eyes still glued to the TV, watching some kind of rom-com that was on.
"You think so?" Thomas asked, turning his attention from the movie to his friend. "Maybe it would be fun to spend forever with someone you really like."
"But that only happens in fairytales and these kinds of films." Newt still tried to hold on to his opinion. The boy then suddenly turned to look at the other, his eyes marked with seriousness. "Would you want to do that with anyone?"
Thomas pondered for a few seconds, making a little pout before grinning back at him. "You," a single word escaped his lips. "I wouldn't mind having you by my side for that long."
The blond boy looked at him dumbfounded, before bursting out in laughter. "Seriously, why did I even expect something different from you?" he said in between his breaths, finally calming down and a small smile creeping up on his face. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind that either…"
A sharp ringing sound snapped Thomas out of his nap. The boy shot up from the couch too quickly, trying to get up, but his feet got tangled up and he face-planted the floor. Steadying himself back with a groan he got to his feet, the ringing noise still resounding through the house. It was the doorbell and someone was impatiently pressing it over and over again.
"I'm coming!" he shouted rubbing his face. "Just wait a sec."
Thomas wobbled to the front door and swung it open, still massaging the bridge between his eyes. A fleeting memory of the dream flashed in his mind, the face of his smiling friend. "Sorry it took so lon—" He didn't manage to finish his sentence because the person standing right in front of him looked like someone from a dream. The dark haired boy stood gaping like a fish, staring at the newcomer. "Newt..?" A soft whisper, almost inaudible.
"Hey, Tommy."The same old nickname. "Long time no see." The blond flashed him a smile, but Thomas was still trying to comprehend what he was seeing. This couldn't be real, he must still be dreaming. That had to be it. Somehow his consciousness created the image of what his childhood friend would look like older and it was fairly generous, because Newt appeared to have grown into quite the looker.
"Tommy, are you alright?" The taller boy now seemed concerned. "Your face is kind of pale."
Thomas quickly shook his head before blinking a few more times and finally deciding that this probably wasn't a dream and he had made himself look like a complete idiot. "N-no, I… I mean I'm good. But is it really you?" he still managed to ask the most stupid question.
"In the flesh." Newt grinned again, that smile really fitting his face. "Sorry for appearing out of nowhere, just wanted to surprise you."
"Well you managed that." The shorter boy gave a toothy smile of his own before engulfing Newt in a bone-crushing hug. "You have no idea how much I've missed you," he whispered, voice muffled by the clothing. It still didn't feel real to him, not even being this close to the other.
"Same here." Newt patted him on the back. "That's why this was the first place I went to."
Finally pulling back Thomas looked up questioningly. "First place? What are you even doing here?"
"I came to see you, isn't that obvious?" Newt raised an eyebrow.
"No, I meant like what are you doing here in general? I thought you had moved out for good." Thomas voiced the last words a lot quieter. It had been a constant thought when he was still young. They had promised to never part and right then it crumbled. Newt left and Thomas stayed. It felt really lonely at first since the blond boy was his only friend back then. Of course, he had known Minho and Teresa, but they were just acquaintances from school that he didn't spend too much time with. Newt had been there with him for as long as he remembered, spending their days together, sleeping over at each other's houses since they were neighbors, sneaking out of their rooms in the middle of the night to sit on the rooftops and watch the stars. All those little moments were left behind, just like Thomas.
"Oh, that..." Newt trailed off. "Well, I actually just finished school a few days ago and was in the big city, so I decided to drop by."
"What were you doing there?" the dark haired boy asked while moving away from the door to let the other come in. Newt stepped into the house, a warm expression spreading through his face as he looked around the room.
"Still looks the same," he softly said as he flopped down on the couch that Thomas was just sleeping on, and turned back at him. "I was checking in with the landlord for the place where I'll be staying while studying."
"Wait wait wait," Thomas blurted out quickly, a sudden warmness washing over him and his stomach started making loops. "You'll be staying in town next to here?"
"Yeah, that's what I said. Honestly, Tommy, I don't remember you having this bad of hearing." Newt smirked. "Did you listen to too much loud music in your scene phase?"
"How did you-? No, that's not the point." The shorter boy sensed his ears heating up, so he quickly changed the subject. "So you'll be living and studying at the city?" Newt nodded. "That's amazing!" He felt his whole face light up as the other stared at him with confusion. "I'm doing the exact same thing!" Thomas finally exclaimed, rushing the words out as quickly as possible.
"Really?" Newt's expression also visibly brightened. "Then that means we could start hanging out again, catch up on everything and stuff. Hey, maybe you'd even want to do that this summer? I'm going to stay here for a while actually."
Hanging out with Newt again? The thought seemed so appealing that Thomas even started planning out what they could do during the summer before realizing the deal he had made earlier that day. "And stuff..." He sat down on the rug, the flightiness slowly fading. "This is like the second best news I've heard today."
"Shucks, just second?" The blond pretended to be hurt. "And here I thought I would be the beacon of light in your boring everyday life."
"You're like a streetlamp in my dark unpaved road of life." Thomas said in his most serious tone.
"So poetic. I'm at tears." Newt fake-wiped at his eyes. "But do tell me - what's the first amazing news?"
"Well, I got offered to go on a road trip with a few friends from school, since one of them got to use his parent's minivan. He said we could travel the whole summer." Thomas felt guilty for some reason, like he was rejecting his friend's offer to spend the vacation together.
"Oh..." Newt let out. "That's... That's really great, Tommy. It really does sound like a nice idea." He smiled, but it looked a little forced and Thomas noticed his shoulders slumping down a bit. "I hope you'll have a good time then. Maybe we could catch up later when you get back."
His words sounded defeated and Thomas just sat silently on the ground. He had two options and both sounded amazing, but he felt like he'd be betraying the other if he chose one. There had to be a way to avoid that from happening and the gears in his head were spinning like crazy.
"Wait, Newt." A thought suddenly occurred to him and he jumped up, startling the other boy a bit. "What if you come together with us? Then we could spend the summer together and visit all sorts of cool places!" he exclaimed, excitement filling his voice. Of course, this had to be the best solution. He could mash up his two options and get the best out of both of them.
"You can't be serious," Newt quickly cut him off with a cold tone. "There's no way I'll just say yes to travelling with your group of friends that you've most likely known for years already."
"Why not?" Thomas deflated, but still tried to reason. "The car will be big enough for one more person, I've seen it. And I'm sure Minho won't mind."
"Minho?"
"Yeah, him!" The dark haired boy then realized that Newt had also known the short-tempered kid from when he still lived here. "You're not complete strangers. Teresa will also come, so you'll already know three people there and Brenda and Jorge are great too. You'll befriend them in no time," he continued his pleading. "So come ooooon, just say yes." He just had to convince him, then everything else would go smoothly. Or at least that's what he hoped for.
"I dunno, Tommy... It still doesn't sound right to me." The blond fidgeted in his seat. "I barely remember them and I'm sure the feeling is mutual. I can't just waltz in with you and proclaim that I'll be joining you all on your field trip. It just doesn't go like that."
"Then we can make it go that way. I'll talk to everyone, convince them. It'll be more fun with more people and I'm sure no one will mind. Opportunities like that don't come too often, so you have to grab hold of them whenever you can." As Thomas said that, he moved closer to the other boy, squatting down in front of him and taking hold of his hands on instinct, a memory resurfacing from his past when he used to do that whenever Newt tried to back away from something.
The blond stared at their hands for a few moments before shifting his eyes to Thomas', who tried to keep his gaze strong. A flicker of light went past those dark eyes and he bit his lower lip, his face losing its sternness and being replaced by doubt and, perhaps, hopefulness? Thomas couldn't really tell, but he wished that he was right. Finally, Newt let out a deep sigh and relaxed his muscles. The next words that came out of his mouth made Thomas do a flip in his mind from the sudden rush of happiness.
"Okay, I'm in."