Chapter Text
”They did what?!”
Chuck laughed nervously, looking between Thomas and Newt, obviously uncertain of whether or not he should consider cutting out his own tongue. If he didn’t Alby and Minho actually might if they found out that he’d busted them, and he was pretty certain they’d only be more annoyed with him if he spilled the beans even further. The thing was, though, that Thomas and Newt were standing in front of him, and he didn’t even know if the blonde or the brunette looked more menacing right now, but he smiled nervously again, fidgeting slightly and moving backwards just a tad before two hands shot out and grabbed his shirt in perfect synchronization. “I mean, you must be able to see why they’d bet on you guys, you’re so in sync and you’re basically joined at the hip…”
Newt growled dangerously in front of him, and Chuck let out another small laugh, trying once again to back away and turning his attention to Thomas because he always seemed to make more space for Chuck to be an annoying little shit. He felt a surge of relief when he recognized Thomas’ most mischievous smile and the brunette let go of his shirt and put a hand on Newt’s wrist. “Chuck, if Newt lets go now, you’re not running, okay?” Chuck nodded, relieved that Thomas was smiling and sort of hoping that he could get Newt to come down.
Newt rarely lost his temper. He was a pretty calm guy, but when he did he was absolutely terrifying. That warm brown could go from warm to burning in a matter of seconds, so when his shoulders relaxed just a bit Chuck felt like he was home safe. Okay safer, but still.
“I got an idea.”
“Make it a good one, Tommy, I don’t want to have to murder my favourite junior.” Newt growled, and Chuck took a step to the side, making sure that Thomas was between the two of them because he trusted that Thomas would shield him for at least long enough to give him a head-start (which he would need) if Newt decided to beat the living hell out of him, and though it wouldn’t really fit Newt’s normal way of looking at him, Chuck wondered if today was going to be the day where their pacifist friend made an exception.
Thomas nodded, obviously collecting his thoughts, musing on the issue and turning his gaze to Chuck. “Okay, how much money did they bet? And how exactly does it work?”
Chuck cocked his head slightly, thinking that he might have started to see what Thomas was getting at. “Uhm, about 600 dollars actually, it’s a lot of money, Minho bet a lot because his mom told him to ‘invest’. I don’t think that’s what she had in mind, but Thomas, they’re not going to just believe me because I said you hooked up, they’ll want their money back if they don’t get any proof.”
Thomas nodded, a smug smile creeping onto his face and looked over at Newt. “You up for a bit of casual making out?”
Newt blinked. Then his hand clenched and he punches Thomas on the arm, hard. Hard enough that Thomas actually winced and rubbed it. “Come on, Newt, I could totally use 250 dollars.”
“Why $ 250?” Newt asked, obviously hoping to convince Thomas that his idea was stupid by mere logic. That was definitely a mistake, and Chuck was sort of surprised that he didn’t know Thomas any better than that. Logic had never stopped him before.
Thomas nodded towards Chuck. “This loser made bets on us, so he isn’t going to get $ 200 for himself, but we can’t give him nothing, he’s going to place a bet for us so we can split it afterwards. $ 250 for me, $ 250 for you, $ 100 for the squirt.”
“I’m not that much younger than you, you know.” Chuck piped up, quickly silenced when Newt shot him a warning glance. “Okay okay. I’ll do it if Newt will.”
Newt’s burning glare was turned to Thomas instead. “No.”
“Come on, Newt!” the brunette whined, turning huge brown eyes to Newt and sticking out his lower lip, and Newt looked like he wanted to punch him again, and in the face this time.
“I said no, Tommy, it’s a horrible idea, we’ll never be able to pull it off, and Minho is going to see right through it, we’ve known him since we were in kindergarten, you know he won’t go for this.” He argued, shaking his head, and Chuck barely resisted the urge to smack himself in the face because really?
Thomas just stuck out his lower lip more and whined in the back of his throat. “Are you saying that you wouldn’t be able to make people think you found me attractive? I’m wounded, Newt, wounded I tell you. I’ll need plenty of beer tonight to get over it. Plenty, I tell you, and you’ll have to drink with me because you’re my best friend, and then your defences will be down and I’ll take horrible, horrible advantage of you. I’ll get to kiss you.” He stated, going from pout to smirk, and Chuck almost gagged at the sight.
It was so obvious.
It was so fucking obvious and the idiots couldn’t even see it.
“You wouldn’t.” Newt stated, and Thomas shrugged happily.
“Wouldn’t I?”
Nauseating. Nothing less.
“Are we doing it or not? I don’t want to place the bet if you’re not going to do it, I don’t have $ 100 to risk, okay?” Chuck muttered, wanting to get away from this disgusting display of badly supressed emotions. It was obvious that Thomas actually wanted to kiss Newt but was too scared to do anything about it without having an excuse, and probably even more obvious that Newt didn’t want to risk it because he was scared that this was just a game to Thomas. The stupid mutual crush was obvious enough that all their friends had bet on how soon it would happen for ages.
Newt crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring Thomas down as Thomas went back to pouting. To no effect at all, seeing as both idiots were equally stubborn. In the end Thomas gave up, straightening his back. “Newt, if you don’t want to that’s fine, I get it, you think the thought is disgusting-“ Newt started protesting, but Thomas kept talking, “And that’s totally fine, your ass is way too skinny for me anyway,” he flashed Newt a smile, but the short look of hurt on his face wasn’t wasted on Chuck who stomped on Thomas’ foot hard, “Ow, Jesus man, relax, it was a joke, I think Newt’s ass is pretty amazing,” Thomas continued, so caught up in his own sales-pitch that the blush that now crept on Newt’s cheeks were lost on him, “But just think – you won’t have to take all those extra shifts you talked about next year if you do it. I’ll even give you my $ 50, then you’ll get 300, half.”
The final argument and the compliment to his ass seemed to win Newt over. Maybe he realized that he couldn’t keep fighting it without giving himself a way, ‘cause Thomas might be a bit stupid when it came to love and the like, but he wasn’t an idiot. He was pretty damn smart, actually, and Chuck wondered for the millionth time how Newt still hadn’t realized that Thomas had been head-over-heels in love with him for about two years now. They were two stupid buggers, Chuck knew that much.
“Fine. I’ll do it, but if you make any stupid jokes I’m out. No dick-jokes.” He said sternly, and Thomas shot him a sad glance, obviously already having stocked up on them. Once again Chuck almost gagged, but he sighed deeply instead. Idiots.
“So, are you going to make out tonight or whatever? When do I need to place my bet for?” he asked, and Newt seemed to actually get a bit into the idea.
He seemed to ponder exactly how they could best do this, biting his lip slightly, and once again Chuck had to wonder how the idiots ever got anything done without him, because really, Thomas’ gaze was instantly drawn to slim lips, and Chuck wanted to shake both of them, but decided against it. Maybe this silly bet could fix things up between the two of them. “Tonight is a good a night as any I guess. But why would you suddenly place a bet for tonight? We need to give them a reason.” He speculated, and Thomas seemed to catch his drift and started wondering as well.
“What could we be doing all afternoon that made you think that we’d get together tonight of all nights?” Thomas wondered, looking at Chuck questioningly. “Come on, squirt, you’re the one who’s been betting on us, what is it that we do, that makes you think that we’re just waiting to tear each other’s clothes off and fuck each other silly?” he asked, and Chuck grimaced.
“Thanks for that visual, Greenie.”
Thomas smirked. “You’re welcome, I’m quite enjoying it myself.”
Disgusting.
Chuck pointed his finger straight in his face, “Jokes like that one. Jokes like that one are what make us think you’re just waiting to hook up.” He stated, trying to convey his disgust in one single sentence. If there was anything he didn’t need, it was graphic details of any of his friend’s sex-lives, imaginary or not. Somehow he felt like Thomas had been giving that some thought before, and the thought of Thomas jacking one out… gross. “Okay I have an idea. You guys go out for coffee or something. Or drinks. Or buy some alcohol or get someone to buy some for you, and then take a picture. If anyone asks if they can go drinking with you before the party, tell them no. Tell them you’d like it to just be the two of you. And if you’re having coffee put pictures of each other on Facebook or Instagram or whatever. If Newt can do his embarrassed look, that’s great.” Chuck instructed, exasperated that he had to think for all of them, because honestly, that was just plain stupid. They were supposed to be smart guys.
Thomas looked at Newt with childish glee on his face. “What nervous look? The one where you smile and look down?”
And then Newt did the face, and Chuck considered ending it all right then and there because this was really getting out of hand. “Yes. That face. I can’t believe you know the face you make him make. You’re both annoying. I’m gonna go now. Go on your non-date.” He sulked, leaving the room before they could make him despise them further. Some fucking people just couldn’t help thinking with their dicks. Or hearts. Whatever motivated the idiots to love each other when they were both so stupid.
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“So, alcohol or coffee?” Thomas asked when Chuck had finally left, and Newt bit the inside of his cheek slightly, shrugging. Either suited him fine. He always enjoyed being in Thomas’ company, maybe that was why they’d just been friends since the day they met. The guy was so easy to be around, and maybe Newt had always had a bit of a crush and only just realized it recently. It was weird, ‘cause he, Thomas and Minho had always been sort of a trio, and it wasn’t like Minho was any less of their friend because they hung out together a lot. They seemed to have found a balance where they were both a trio and a duo, which was probably a bit weird, but it didn’t really matter so much, since Minho didn’t seem to mind giving them some space and hanging out with some of his other friends instead. Good thing Minho was such a popular dude, because Newt had found himself wanting to be alone with Thomas more and more. He didn’t want Minho to find out about his crush – but it seemed like that had been a stupid thing to worry about if almost all of their friends thought they were in love with each other.
At least it seemed like they thought this about both of them, which meant that Newt wasn’t getting his stupid crush outed in that sense. Thomas seemed to find it funny, Newt himself… well, he’d been hesitant about doing this because he felt like he was taking advantage of Thomas. He wasn’t sure Thomas would want to do this if he knew that his smile was the one Newt thought about before going to bed at night.
None the less, he was going to have to push through this. He didn’t want Thomas to grow suspicious. So it would be a couple of pecks, nothing major, it wasn’t like they’d have to make out in front of everyone, so they’d be fine. It’d be totally PG, and he wouldn’t be taking advantage of Thomas’ body, although it was definitely worth taking advantage of.
Thomas was a work of art. Being so good friends they’d been to the beach together several times during the summer, and Newt had a bloody hard time keeping it in his pants when he looked at the other guy, so he’d tried not to. And worn sunglasses all the time, but that was an entirely different matter.
Thomas was ripped, but not in the overly buff way. His frame was balanced, his muscles were defined but slender, his shoulders were wide and his waist slim, and Newt basically wanted every single inch of him. It was a problem really, when just the thought of Thomas in swim-trunks could make his mouth go completely dry. He decided that alcohol wasn’t a good idea, so he stuck his hands in his pockets and met Thomas’ gaze again, “Coffee, definitely. I’m bloody tired, I’ll need caffeine if I’m going to be any fun to be around tonight.”
Thomas’ answering smile was somewhere between wicked and excited. “You’re gonna be fun alright.” He stated, and Newt grimaced.
“Gross, mate.”
“Nah, you like it.” Thomas said, and Newt felt a slight stab to his heart because Thomas had no idea how right he was.
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“Come on, smile!” Thomas urged happily, looking like he had an incredible time making Newt blush and itch to move into his lap. It was a problem, really, that Thomas was such a bundle of sunshine, because every time he smiled at Newt, Newt felt his insides clench with longing. He allowed himself to imagine for just a second how amazing it would be if he could sit down in Thomas’ lap for just two seconds and kiss him on the corner of the mouth and then move to his own seat, like couples did. So basically he wanted to be Thomas’ doting boyfriend, but so what? He couldn’t help himself, and he wasn’t acting on it, so allowing himself small fantasies like that couldn’t be so wrong, could it? No. Newt was certain that this was okay. He wasn’t going to hell for this. He wasn’t using Thomas. Yet.
“Yes, that one was really good! It’s perfect, you made the face!” the brunette exclaimed happily, snapping another picture when Newt flipped him off while rolling his eyes and smiling fondly. “I’m gonna put up both of them on Facebook and Instagram, they’re both really good.” He stated, and Newt wrinkled his forehead.
“Since when do you have Instagram?” he asked, mildly confused because none of them had ever really been the social-media-types.
Thomas flashed him another bright smile and took a sip of his coffee, managing to burn his tongue, and Newt sighed and handed him a glass of cold water, receiving another smile as a reward. “Since today, I made one so I could put up pictures of our couple-y adventures.” He stated, and Newt felt like he did a pretty good job of pretending that he wasn’t impressed by that at all.
“Aha. Don’t you think you’re enjoying this a bit too much?”
Thomas just smirked, “I’m making $ 200 by tricking our stupid friends, buddy, I don’t think I could enjoy this more.”
Well that was a slap in the face. Newt had known that Thomas only did this for the money, but being reminded of it wasn’t exactly pleasant. Entertaining the idea that they could actually be something was a very comfortable fantasy, and he would have liked to keep it for a couple of days before his heart was going to be broken in two. “Yeah. I can tell.” He muttered, pulling his fingers through his hair and leaning back in the chair. “About the money, mate, I don’t need 50 of yours, I just didn’t think it was a great idea. Still not sure I do. But I don’t want your bloody money. You’re as much of a part of this as I am. You’re gonna get half.”
Thomas just shrugged. “Sure, if you don’t want it. If you don’t want to do it…” he started, but Newt shook his head. Now he’d decided. He was going to do it, even if it was the worst idea in the history of the world.
“No, it’s fine. We’re gonna do it, we’re gonna make the bloody money, and then you’re gonna leave it, ya stupid bugger.” He muttered under his breath, and Thomas smiled sheepishly at him, sipping his coffee again while he left Newt to read his book in peace, occasionally snapping a picture of him and sending to their friends on snapchat with some witty captions that Newt didn’t even want to ask about. They had Thomas giggling and it worried him a bit, but he decided that his life would be happier if he didn’t know.
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A text ticked in a couple of hours after the first picture had come up, telling that Chuck had placed the bet, and Thomas announced this to Newt so happily that Newt almost couldn’t bear to roll his eyes at him. But of course he did, because really Tommy? Fucking really? He forced himself not to sigh, though, because it would have come out as long-suffering more than anything else, and he didn’t want Thomas to start wondering why he was so much against this stupid plan. It was going to go terribly wrong. Newt could feel it in his bones. He was certain that they were going to get busted and it would end up with Thomas somehow finding out about his stupid crush, and everything would be ruined. Or maybe he was just psyching himself out. At least Thomas wasn’t dating anyone. That was good, right? That meant that Newt could still entertain these ridiculous little fantasies that his friend would somehow change his mind.
So, all of this meant that Newt was still mulling over everything when they parted, having decided to go home and change for the party, because Newt was a couple of sizes smaller than Thomas, and he couldn’t fit any of the guy’s clothes without looking like a kid trying on his big brother’s stuff – which was a really disturbing mental image, so he pushed it away and settled for calling up his sister, who was right now at college. “Naya?”
“Yeah?” her voice sounded through the phone, cracking up slightly because of bad reception.
He knew that his voice must’ve sounded really vulnerable, because she sounded worried and it made him feel bad about even calling to disturb her in the first place. He knew that she was busy with her studies. “I need your help. Are you busy?”
And of course she wasn’t. Never too busy for her little brother, and that shouldn’t have made him feel as good as it did, but it really did. “I’m never busy when you’re the one asking, honey, you know that.” she assured him, and he smiled a bit, letting himself let out a small jolt of laughter.
“I know, you’re always there. Uhm, the thing is… do you remember Thomas?”
The incredulous snort matched the ones he usually made so well he almost cheered up by the thought. “Do I remember the stupid friend you’ve had a crush on forever? Yes I do. You guys used to steal my bras and shit.”
Newt smiled fondly at the thought. They’d done a lot of stupid shit when they were younger, that much was true, and even if Thomas didn’t like him the way Newt wanted him to, that was fine, because he was one of the best friends Newt had ever had, and if nothing else they had a lot of great memories together.
“Yeah, okay, so our friends have been betting on when we’re getting together. And we decided to trick them. Well, Thomas decided to trick them. We had Chuck place a bet, we’re gonna pretend to be in a relationship.”
The choked sound his sister made had him wincing. He was sort of glad, sort of disappointed that she agreed with him that this was a terrible idea. She went into a longer rant about him getting his heart broken and her having to come home and pick him up off the floor when their parents failed, and he laughed softly. “I know, okay? I know it’s a terrible idea, but I can’t say no to him. The thing is, I need to know what to wear tonight.”
Naya groaned on the line, and he totally got her. He was being an idiot and he knew it. “I’m sorry okay! I’m bloody sorry, but I need to bloody buggers to believe that I’m trying to impress him.”
Naya snorted again. “Which you’re clearly not.”
“Exactly.” Another groan. “Okay maybe a little.”
His sister sighed deeply, and Newt felt a bit bad about making her worry about him like this, but he couldn’t really help himself. He needed someone’s advice, and if not his big sister’s, he didn’t know whose. She was the one person that had always been there, his entire life. His mother was flaky, she tended to forget even the most basic stuff, and though Naya was only two years older than him, they’d always taken care of each other. His father… well, who knew really. Thomas and Minho had come later. They’d been almost as big a part of taking care of Newt as Naya. Minho’s family had all but adopted him when he was a kid, Minho’s mother and father (who was money-coming-out-of-the-arse-rich) had invited Naya and Newt over for dinner regularly (Naya had been friends with Minho’s older brother) and that was all fine and dandy, but when everything came down to it there were only three people on this earth Newt trusted, and that was Naya, Minho and Thomas. He was immensely grateful to Minho’s parents, but he was painfully aware that they had children of their own to take care of, and Newt and Naya would always just be people they helped when it was convenient, he was certain of it.
Luckily his sister was there to keep him from bumming himself out too much. “Newt, make yourself a cup of coffee. Do you still have those ridiculous skinny jeans that I told you to throw out a million times so I could buy you new ones?”
Newt nodded, then remembered that Naya couldn’t see him and went to the kitchen and started making more coffee with the phone squeezed between his shoulder and ear, “Yeah? What about the bloody things?”
“It’s time for them to make one last appearance. If they can’t make Thomas rip them to pieces nothing can.”
Newt made a strangled sound in the back of his throat, “That’s bloody disgusting, you’re my sister. You’re supposed to hate the thought of me getting laid!” Naya was laughing her ass off on the other end of the phone.
“Oh Newt. You won’t get laid. You’re my delicate little flower, I think it's safe to say that your virginity is safe for tonight. I’m certain of it. I just hope Thomas gets frustrated enough to ruin the fucking things before they fall apart on their own and embarrass you. And wear a button shirt, no tie, it makes you look older.” She instructed, and Newt mimicked her yapping with an eye roll although she couldn’t see it, finishing making his coffee without spilling any on himself in the process.
“Thanks, your beliefs in my seductive skills are very flattering.” He muttered, taking the first sip.
“Put some of mom’s liquor in your coffee, it’ll give you courage. Good luck. I gotta go if you’re okay now?”
At least if everything went to shit he still had an amazing sister. “Thanks, I’m fine. I will be.”
“Thomas is a good guy. He wouldn’t hold you having emotions against you. You know that, don’t you? He’s not going to leave.” Naya assured, the line cracking up a bit again, and Newt’s eyes stung a bit, but his heart was pounding a bit harder because he knew that she was right.
“Yeah. Yeah I know.”