Newt left after a few hours of catching up while playing various video games, though most of the time the two boys just kept yelling at each other for 'cramping their style', 'totally stealing that item from them' and 'there's no way you didn't do that on purpose'. At first Thomas was a little worried that things may be somewhat awkward between them, because even if they had been best friends a lot of time had still gone by, but surprisingly it felt the same as if playing with any of his current friends. Newt didn't act overly formal and joked around easily with him, though sometimes Thomas would get an itching feeling that the other was more closed off than when they were kids, so he made a mental note to try and get the blond to open up once they set on their trip. They exchanged phone numbers and Thomas promised to let Newt know all about the arrangements as soon as he found out himself. With that they waved each other off and the brunet was left leaning on his doorframe, an unconscious smile spreading on his face.
He's really back...
Convincing Minho was an easy task. The boy remembered Newt from their younger days and even seemed excited to see him again, so he had no problems with adding one more person to their trip. Teresa showed interest in meeting him after so long and Brenda and Jorge didn't object, seeing how everyone was acting over the news. Thomas felt really relieved that there weren't any disagreements over Newt because even if he had acted like everyone would agree and he only needed to convince the boy to join them while talking to him, he had still feared a different reaction from his friends.
Miraculously, everyone's families agreed on their spontaneous idea, only with the occasional worry if they'll manage on their own and if anything at all happened they would need to call immediately. In the end, they agreed to set out in a few weeks when everyone had finished up with any lingering matters they needed to attend to and gathered everything they thought they would need for the trip.
Newt dropped by a few more times after that and Thomas explained everything to him, still feeling jumpy whenever he saw the blond, eliciting a comment from the other how he seemed like a hyperactive puppy. At that he tried to calm himself down, but an occasional smile would sneak up on his face from time to time.
Finally, the day came when Thomas was standing at his front porch with a few backpacks at his feet and a buzzing phone in his hand. Teresa kept texting him, asking if she should take one hunting knife or two and after five messages he decided to just ignore her because she didn't listen to his opinion of no knives at all. Newt was supposed to come over and leave his car at his place and wait for Minho with him, so he was straining his eyes looking for him. After a few more minutes and a couple more texts from Teresa, Newt finally appeared. The boy took out a few bags himself and a guitar case from the car and waved to Thomas as the dark haired boy walked over to him.
"You play?" Thomas asked, staring at the case.
"Yeah, though not much." Newt scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Just thought I would bring this thing if I felt like it."
"Well I'm pretty interested, so you'll have to show me." The shorter boy nudged the other in the shoulder playfully.
"Alright, Tommy. I'll serenade you the top ten hits of the century." Newt winked at him.
"Just ten? And here I thought I was worth the top hundred." Thomas returned without missing a beat, a bit surprised at himself for managing that.
"How demanding." The blond cooed as he closed his car's doors. "But I'll try only because it's you." He gave a warm smile and Thomas felt his stomach lurching. It had been doing that for the past few weeks and the boy was beginning to worry if there wasn't anything wrong with him, but otherwise he was feeling great, so he just brushed it off.
Minho arrived after a few more minutes and he greeted the two with a wide grin and a motion to get into his car. "Come, children. There's plenty of candy in here and I promise that I won't do anything too bad."
"You already have the creepy minivan down and you do look like someone I wouldn't trust, so you're not too far away from getting a restraining order." Jorge commented from somewhere inside the car with a few snickers followed him.
"Don't listen to him," Minho waved as if swatting a fly. "He's just cranky that he wasn't fast enough to call shotgun. Oh yeah, also because you two are the last ones I picked up you'll have to sit in the back where there are no seats."
"Oh come on, dude." Thomas let out a whine. "I thought you were my friend."
"And I am, but sometimes you've got to make some sacrifices." The taller boy smacked him on the back a few times before ushering him and Newt in the car. "Just get yourselves cozy in there and it won't seem so bad."
Thomas only sighed and climbed in. The back was actually quite spacious, especially with the last two seats taken out. There were bags belonging to everyone and a few boxes containing canned food, but there was still plenty of space for him and Newt to sit down comfortably and still leave some. Teresa waved from the very front seat next to the driver's where Minho was, but Thomas could only see her hand. Brenda and Jorge both turned around from the middle seats and flashed the newcomers toothy smiles.
"Are you ready?" Brenda asked while ruffling Thomas' hair.
"Of course." The boy patted down his messed-up hair before glancing at Newt, who seemed to be trying to adjust how he was sitting. Brenda also followed his gaze to the blond.
"If you're uncomfortable you can use the pillows I brought. They should be somewhere near you." The girl pointed at the pile of bags next to him. "There are also cards in my bag, so if you guys want to, you can play something, since you've got the space for it."
Newt stared at her for a few seconds before snapping out of whatever it was, nodding to her and turning to rummage through the bags. Thomas watched the exchange with interest and didn't even realize when a deck of cards hit him in the face.
"Hey, what was that for?" he said rubbing his nose.
"Sorry, next time I'll yell 'think fast' before throwing anything at you." The blond grinned at him.
"Remember that when you throw yourself at him!" came a shout from the front of the car and Thomas had to control his hand from throwing the cards at Minho, because he was driving and could kill them all if he did it.
"Really mature!" was his only response before he turned back at Newt and took the cards out of the packing. "So what do you want to play?"
After a few hours of mostly losses from his side at whatever game they tried playing Thomas finally realized one thing he didn't know. Where were they even going?
"Soooo, Brenda," he tried nudging the girl's seat with his foot. "Do you know if we're close to our first destination?"
"About half an hour to the lake, I think." She responded without turning back. "Though I hope we'll get there sooner, because I'm starting to suffocate in here." As the girl said that, Minho made a turn leading into a forest path, the shade of trees quickly enveloping the car in a darker hue. "Seems like my prayers were answered." She turned back to wink at him.
In about fifteen minutes the car finally stopped and everyone scrambled out of it, nearly falling over each other in the hurry to get some fresh air. Thomas started stretching a bit while looking over his surroundings – in front of him there was a little lake surrounded by a cliff and a few small waterfalls. Trees encircled the lake and a few pendulous ones were hanging at the edges of the cliff, seemingly ready to fall into the water at any moment, yet trying to hold on. It wasn't so hot in the middle of the woods, especially near the lake, but it still felt like a warm summer day and the boy took a deep breath, the forest air filling his lungs.
"This place is great, Minho." Thomas turned to his friend who also seemed to be stretching his legs. "How did you even find it?"
"My family sometimes comes here during better weather, so I thought why not." He shrugged. "We could all use some cooling off." The boy slowly turned at him with a grin before suddenly ripping off his own shirt and proceeding to take off his pants.
"Minho, you know you're my bro and all, but please don't go skinny dipping and put on some swim trunks where we can't see you." Thomas said as a shoe flopped down next to him.
"What, don't want to see 'this'?" Minho gestured all over himself.
"Frankly, no."
The taller boy stepped closer to him and leaned to whisper in his ear. "Then maybe you've got someone else you'd want to thoroughly inspect?"
Thomas felt blood rush to his face, so he inched away from Minho turning around and heading towards the car. "Just don't go naked and I'll be as happy as I can be!" he shouted at his snickering friend.
As he was rummaging through his bag looking for his own swimsuit, Thomas felt a hand on his shoulder. A little startled he quickly turned to see that Newt was somehow next to him in the car and he hadn't even noticed the boy.
"So what are we planning on doing?" the blond asked and Thomas hoped that the shadows in the car were enough to conceal his still lingering blush.
"We're going to splash around in the water like little children." He said as he finally managed to pull out what he was looking for.
"That actually doesn't sound too bad." Newt hummed out. "Okay, just wait a bit till I get changed."
"Sure." Thomas replied as he crawled out of the car, glancing back at the other to see him kneeling down to his own backpack. He turned back, noticing that Minho had already somehow managed to get in the water with his trunks on in that short span of time and that the other three were gone, most likely getting changed.
After a few minutes Thomas returned to the car where Newt was already waiting for him and even though he tried telling himself that it was perfectly normal to appreciate when another person looked good, he still couldn't stop himself from staring at the other. The blond had a lean body, but he wasn't too skinny and had enough muscle on him. A tiny voice at the back of Thomas' head whispered to him that he didn't even care how Minho or his other friends looked, but he tried to ignore that fact and forced himself to make a smile to avoid talking to Newt and most likely making a fool out of himself in that process. The only thing that bothered him was that when he caught the taller boy's eyes, they seemed to be inspecting him as well, but Newt quickly averted them to his face and nodded.
"Let's go?"
"Yeah."
The water was perfect for the hot day and the coolness that washed over Thomas felt great. Jorge joined the three of them, but Teresa and Brenda, for some reason, stayed put near the lake, sitting and doing something with a few branches. The girls seemed really into it, so Thomas just brushed it off and turned back to the view of Newt trying to keep Minho's head under the water while Jorge was laughing his lungs out. Eventually Minho managed to wrestle out of the blonds' hold and resurfaced with a big gulp of air.
"So that's how you play, huh?" he looked at Newt with a mixed expression of annoyance and pride. "It only took one comment from me to get this reaction and let's just say that you took me by surprise, because there's no way you're getting to do that again."
"Oh really?" Newt folded his arms with a smirk. "Wanna make a bet?"
"You're on!"
"Alright, then I take Tommy on my team."
"Wait, team?" Thomas looked at him surprised. Did he just involuntary get himself mixed into a water fight?
"Sure, then Jorge will be on mine." Minho swung an arm over the boy's shoulder. "And let the wettest ones win."
"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" Thomas asked as he moved closer to Newt.
"He's just saying that because he's already the most drenched from all of us."
Thomas only managed to blink before someone slammed into him and dragged him underwater. He quickly looked down to see that it was Minho and with a little wiggle he slipped out of the other's hold. He got some air before diving again and this time he succeeded of grabbing Jorge's legs and pulling him down. With a little glimpse he saw Newt doing the same to Minho and they both exchanged grins and a thumbs up.
The scuffle lasted for about fifteen minutes before everyone decided to call it a truce. At one point Thomas had somehow managed to get his legs tangled up with Newt's, sending them both tumbling down, and for some reason Jorge had turned on Minho, taking hold of him from behind and submerging them both underwater. In the end there was no clear winner and everyone was coughing up water, so for health issues Newt offered a tie.
While Newt was hitting on Thomas' back to help him cough out the last remains of the clear liquid, Brenda and Teresa finally joined them in the water, though both of them were holding long makeshift spears.
"What are you planning to do with that?" Thomas asked, feeling a bit concerned and he didn't even notice how he took a few steps back.
"Hunting." Brenda answered simply.
"Fishing, to be clearer." Teresa joined in. "Though we're going a little further, since you boys just scared off every living thing around here."
"Do you have more of these?" Newt pointed at the spear.
"Yeah, but we left them on the ground." Teresa waved off as she followed Brenda. "You can take them if you want, just don't kill each other."
"We'll try." the blond shouted back before turning to Thomas. "I think I found a new way to beat Minho at something."
"Fishing?" Thomas let out a laugh. "You can't be serious."
"Oh, but I am." Newt winked at him. "Now let's go show that shuck face who's the best at catching some fishes."
"You know what? Why the hell not. Of course we'll be better." Thomas felt a rush of excitement as he followed in tow after his friend who started heading towards the shore.
In the end no one caught anything.
Well no one from the guys at least. The girls managed to land a few catches and were looking extra proud of themselves as they carried their prizes.
After a few more hours in the water Thomas finally decided to dry himself off and get back on land. He told the other boys what he was planning on doing and Newt decided to join him while Minho and Jorge stayed in the lake.
Once they had left the water both of them dropped down on the soft grass and spread out their limbs to let the sun dry them off. When Thomas didn't feel as drenched anymore, he stood up and looked at Newt, who was peacefully lying with his eyes closed and breathing deeply. His still wet hair glistened in the sun and Thomas found it strangely mesmerizing. When his friend eventually opened his eyes, the brunet was finally snapped out of his trance.
"H-hey, so I'm gonna go get a better view of the place." He stammered a bit from the embarrassment of getting caught staring. "Do you want to come?"
"How are you going to get a better view?" Newt asked as he sat up.
"Climb a tree maybe?"
"Ahh, sorry, then I won't join you." The blond said apologetically. "I'm not too good with climbing."
"Really? But I can help you." Thomas felt a little dejected. Then a thought came back to him how they used to climb to the rooftops of their houses, but he didn't say anything. Maybe Newt just didn't like it anymore.
"Nope, Tommy. But you can go have fun, I'll stay here and tan or something."
"Alright… I'll tell you if I see anything interesting." The shorter boy said as he turned around and headed towards the trees. Maybe it'd be even better to go alone. He felt like he needed some time by himself.
He found a pretty tall tree that seemed suitable enough for climbing and started clambering up it. After a few minutes he reached a branch that was large enough for him to sit down and high enough to get a good view. Thomas carefully settled down on it and finally looked down. He saw Minho, Jorge and the girls playing with a ball in the water and Newt still sitting on the shore and looking at them. A pang of guilt went through the boy when he thought that perhaps his friend didn't really want to be here with them and in the end he had just dragged him unwillingly, but then he remembered how he had acted around everyone and it really didn't seem that he wasn't enjoying himself at least a little bit. Maybe he also wanted some alone time like him?
Thomas watched the blond for a while longer until the boy stood up and headed towards the lake again. He averted his attention to those in the water and saw Teresa beckoning Newt to join them and his worries disappeared. He felt a small smile appearing on his face and then decided to go back to his friends and play with them too.
When the sun began to slowly set everyone finally decided that it was time to get dressed and make a campfire. Thomas felt a little exhausted, but the heat did wonders to his tired bones. As he was gleefully smiling in front of the warm fire another body flopped down next to his on the log that he and Jorge had dragged over to have something to sit on.
"I didn't take you for an old man, Tommy." Newt said as he fiddled with his guitar case.
"And I didn't think you'd actually have the guts to try playing in front of all of us." Thomas retorted, though in reality he was secretly hoping the other boy would.
"Figured I'd show my worst at first and if everyone managed me like that, they'd be blessed at my best." Newt smiled at him, though a little nagging feeling told Thomas that the other wasn't entirely joking.
The others soon joined them, bringing food and drinks from the car, but the main course were the fish that the girls had caught and prepared. After that came the drinks.
Thomas was beginning to feel quite relaxed and giddy, but he could still clearly understand everything that was happening around him. The same couldn't be said about Minho, who was already talking in a louder tone than usual and making way more hand gestures than needed. Newt also seemed to get braver since he actually took out his guitar and started strumming on it.
The blond played a few more chords before stopping and making a serious face. "So I dunno if you've ever heard this and I'm really not too good at this thing, but anyway – here's 'Wonderwall'."
Thomas couldn't contain the burst of laughter and he heard Teresa snickering next to him too. Newt let out a puff with a smile and actually started to play. To Thomas it seemed pretty good and the background music really fit to the atmosphere of a warm summer evening while the campfire cracked from time to time and Minho tried to drunkenly sing along, mashing up most of the lyrics. After Newt was done they all applauded like parents at their children's play and the boy mock-bowed.
"Dude, dude, play 'Love me tender'." The Asian boy suddenly averted his attention to the blond. "I feel like serenading all of you."
"What? No." Newt quickly splurted out. "There's no way I'd know how to play a song like that."
"Of course you do, now c'mon," Minho stood up. "I'm waiting."
"I told you – I don't know that song." The blonds' face was beginning to redden.
Thomas scooted over closer to him and nudged his shoulder with his own. "He won't let you say no. Just play something and maybe he won't even notice it's a different tune."
Newt turned to him with a sheepish expression and after a few seconds of staring at each other he just nodded. The boy started playing a melody and Minho perked up even more.
"See? I knew you could play it." He happily exclaimed before taking a big gulp of air and beginning to sing. "Love meeee tender, love me sweeeeeeeet, never let me goooo." Teresa and Jorge, who were closest to him, both clapped their hands over their ears and the others winced. Thomas noticed that Newt was trying his best to ignore Minho and just continue playing.
When the last chords resounded and the singing died out Thomas flicked Newt in the arm. As the other boy turned to him to see why he did that he softly murmured. "You did know the song after all."
The blonds' face turned a bit red and he let out a weak laugh. "Yeah, I guess I remembered it."
Thomas felt his head getting heavier, so he rested it on the other's shoulder. "Well I think you play great." He felt Newt stiffen a little, but the other boy quickly relaxed.
"Thanks, Tommy. You can be my number one fan if you want." The blond replied gently.
"I think I might just become one." The brunet murmured closing his eyes.
"Aww, little Tommy-wommy is getting tired?" Teresa poked him in the cheek. "That is just adorable, but it's way too early for that."
Thomas groaned and steadied himself back up. "I'm not, just trying to erase the memory of Minho singing."
"What, you think I can't sing?" the boy said annoyed. "Well there's plenty of other things I can do."
"Like what?" Jorge teased with a smirk.
"Like fight a bear."
"You can't fight a bear, Minho."
"Just watch me."
As he said that, the Asian boy stood up, wobbled a bit and started walking into the woods. Everyone just silently watched him as he disappeared between the trees.
"Did he seriously just do that?" Brenda finally broke the silence.
"I think he did." Teresa answered.
"Are there even any bears around here?" Thomas raised an eyebrow.
"I don't really know. Kind of hope that there aren't." The girl shuddered a little. "But I don't think we should worry too much. He'll come back after like ten minutes, saying he got hungry again."
"You sure?" Newt asked still awestruck.
"Pretty sure." She replied in a tone that clearly said this wasn't the first time he had done something similar. "So now that he's gone let's continue with the songs. At least there won't be anyone screeching like a dying cat in the background."
Newt complied with the request and strummed out a few more tunes. Thomas found himself really enjoying the music and couldn't even help humming along. He closed his eyes again and swayed from side to side like a little child with a dumb smile plastered on his face.
Though when Newt stopped playing he felt quite dizzy. He saw the other boy putting away the guitar and grabbing a drink for himself and an idea came to his head. When they were small it wouldn't be unusual that one of them would fall asleep quicker than the other when they stayed over at each other's places, sometimes even nodding off on each other. He grinned to himself when Newt sat back up normally with a drink in his hand and without any warning flopped his head down in his lap. The brunet was met with a slightly confused look from above, but it seemed like Newt quickly understood what was happening and just shook his head a little before returning to his conversation with Teresa, who stopped in her tracks to watch the two boys. She looked frozen, so Thomas lazily managed to put his right arm up and snap his fingers in her direction. "Sleeping beauty, it's your time to wake up."
"Huh?" She blinked her eyes a few times before seeming to focus again. "Oh yeah, right. Sorry, I didn't know you two were together."
"We're not." Both of them said at the same time.
"We just used to do this when we were younger." Newt elaborated for her.
"Okayyy…" The girl stretched out before winking at them. "Sure you did."
"Oh let them have their fun." Brenda interposed. "So anyway, how long did you know each other?" she asked the two boys with genuine interest.
"Practically since we were toddlers, because we went to the same kindergarten and lived right next to each other." Newt answered, since he noticed that Thomas couldn't even be bothered to do that and was humming something with his eyes closed. "We spent most of our childhood together and basically lived at each other's place. It was really… fun." He said the last part a bit softer and slower.
"So what happened?" Jorge asked and Teresa shot him a small glare, but Newt only shook his head.
"I had to move, that's all there is to it." He replied slightly spaced out and Thomas felt gentle fingers starting to play with his hair, so he cracked one eye open, but Newt's gaze wasn't focused on anything and he looked like he was thinking about something.
"Well, at least you're together again, right?" Teresa said warmly.
"Yup," Thomas finally chirped in, startling Newt a little. "Thought I was sleeping, didn't you?"
"You sure seemed that way." The blond answered with a little smile. "Just like an oversized baby."
Though Thomas had opened his eyes again, but he still didn't want to get up, so the boy continued laying on his friend's lap and enjoying the ghosting fingers atop his hair. Newt didn't seem to care too much, so he wanted to savor the moment. Normally he wouldn't have been this touchy-feely, therefore he blamed the alcohol for his newfound courage.
After about an hour of random conversations a rustle came from the bushes behind them and everyone turned their attention to see what had made the noise. Minho staggered a bit and then when he finally reached the campfire the boy ungracefully dropped down to sit on the ground.
"See? I told you he'd come back." Teresa said. "So what did you do?"
The boy looked disheveled and his clothes were dirty in a few places. He looked up to her and grinned. "I fought a bear."
"Of course you did." Jorge sarcastically replied. "Perhaps even two?"
"I'm telling you, man, I did." Minho suddenly stood up with quite some enthusiasm. "I found one sleeping in a cave and caught it in a headlock," he motioned with his arms. "Then I punched it in the face a couple of times before giving a final kick and leaving."
"I'm pretty sure you just slipped on a leaf, knocked yourself out and dreamt about the whole sequence." Thomas said, not believing a single word that came from the other boy's mouth.
"Think what you want, but the truth stays the same – I kicked some bear's ass." Minho proudly bumped on his chest. "And all of you just stayed here, cuddling and telling campfire stories."
"I'm pretty content with that." Newt smirked at him. "At least we're warm and clean."
"And boring as hell." The other boy said as he grabbed yet another drink.
"Oh well, what can you do." The blond shrugged. "I guess next time we're going to have to get ourselves mauled by forest animals while you sit comfily somewhere safe."
"You better." Minho grinned at him before chugging a whole bottle of whatever he had managed to snatch.
"So what do you say, will you join me when I decide to prove my manliness to Minho?" Newt said as he looked down at Thomas.
"Sure, I'll join you whenever you want to wherever you want." He smiled back.
The truth behind Minho's story is that he really did find a bear. A baby cub to be more specific. But his heroic tale had a few changes in the specifics of him actually losing against the cub. At least he managed to head back to his supportive friends.