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“Why is that boy always in that classroom?” “who?” Thomas looks over to Minho. “The blonde one who you talk to sometimes.” Minho looks up at the roof for a second thinking before having another bite of his sandwich. “You mean Newt?” He says through a mouth full of food.“How should I know? He's always done from around the start of year ten.” Minho returns to his lunch. “You shouldn't get involved with him, and his business, greenie.” Gally says from across from him. “Don't want you making enemies on your second week here.” Gally scoffs at him from across the table.“That's right, you were friends with him once weren't you Alby?” Minho says joining back into the conversation. Alby nods. “He started acting weird though, having major mood swings and getting hysterical over curtain topics though. We eventually stopped hanging out because of it. I don't think he has any other friends either now.” Alby says in a way that makes it seem like he could care less.“What topics? Was something wrong with him?” Thomas asks as he watches Alby chuckle at the last question. “There was nothing wrong with the boy for all I knew. Could have just been him hitting puberty for all I know.”“It all started when he got that God awful limp of his.” All heads turn to Gally. “Yeah I think you might be right.” Alby mutters. “ you know thomas rumors have it he got his limp running away from police officers after murdering someone.” Minho chuckles.“He was off school for a while because of it, that's all I know about it though.” Alby stops talking abruptly before pointing behind Gally. “Speak of the devil.”There was the boy they had just been talking about, his blonde hair slightly in huis eyes as he was walking to the area they were sitting at.“Hey!” Thomas felt all his friends' eyes land on him as if he had done something majorly wrong.The blonde boy looked over before stopping next to thomas. “Hey im Thomas, i just moved here last week. I've seen you around and thought we could be friends.” Thomas extends his hand for Newt to shake but all the boy does is look concerned by his actions. Thomas take back his hand awkwardly.“I also just moved in next door to you.” Thomas blurts out without thinking. Surprisingly that makes the boy in front of him smirk. “So is this you way of saying you've been stalking me? Next you're gonna tell me you stare through my bedroom window all night.” Newt laughs making the skin around his eyes crinkle and more of his hair fall in front of his face. Thomas‘s face goes red at what Newt was just hinting at. “No, no. God no, i just happened to notice you one day is all.'' Thomas tries his best to convince the boy it was all one accident and nothing more. “Alright Tommy, I believe you.” Newt says before he walks away.“So were you looking through his window?” **** Thomas kicked the loose stone on the path as he walked back home. It was getting close to four as he had stayed behind with the others to study and help minho with his history test because of course minho decided to do it at the last minute.He thought back to meeting Newt, he was nowhere near as temperamental as the boys had insisted he was, in fact he gave off a more angelic vibe when he had met him. As he was nearing his house he saw on the other side Newt who seemed to be arguing with an older woman who he would guess to be the boy's mum.He didn't mean to eavesdrop and watch the conversation that was happening but he just couldn't help it, especially when the women had slapped Newt across the face. That was when he noticed that Newt was crying. The women stormed back inside the house seemingly locking the boy out.“Newt?”Newt's head snapped towards the boy, for a split second Thomas saw something in the boy's eyes that made him almost want to rush to the boy's side. Until Thomas realized what the others mean by his ever switching temperament. Newt was looking at Thomas as if he had just killed his family and run a knife into his chest.“Are you okay Newt?” Thomas said, inching forward towards the boy. “Do you normally eavesdrop on family conversations tommy?” His name was said with such malice it almost hurt the boy. “I didn't mean to, in fact I really didn't hear anything! I mean it.” the boy in front of him shook his head, keeping the scowl on his face present.“You seem to like getting in other people's business tommy.” That was the last thing the boy said before he walked off down the street, limp and all.Thomas walks over to his front door before entering. Thomas lay on his bed staring at his ceiling, the clock next to him telling him it was far past his bedtime. He lay there thinking about Newt. he just couldn't help it, something about the boy and his ever changing mood intrigued him. Why was he always spending lunch with that one teacher, why was his mum so angry at him, and why does he have that limp.Even though he had just been the target of Newt's anger just hours earlier he still couldn't help but want to talk to the boy once again. *** As he walks out of his house the next day he notices the boy next door do the same, he turns to face him giving him a quick wave and smile. He watches as Newt stares at him before continuing walking.Thomas runs over to him, joining him with his walk to school. “Hey Newt!” he says, looking at him. Newt keeps his eyes trained on the path. “I'm sorry about yesterday, I really didn't mean to eavesdrop on your conversation.” Newt turns to look at Thomas's puppy eyes. “It's fine just don't tell anyone what happened.”They continue walking in a comfortable silence onwards towards the school. “Not to pry or anything but why was your mum mad at you?” “She's always angry.” Thomas took that as a hint to stop asking.They made it to the front gate before Newt went off in his own direction. Thomas watched as he went before his friends made it to him. “You walked here with Newt?” Gally says, almost surprised. “Yeah, I just wanted to say something to him.” Thomas turns back to where Newt had been but fails to spot him. Thomas was on his way to lunch when he spotted Newt, he waved but the boy seemingly didn't notice and headed to the classroom he was always in at break time. He saw the boy knock on the door and out stepped a female teacher who greeted Newt with a shoulder rub before getting him to come inside. The woman looked no older than twenty six.He continued on his way until he found his friends and sat with them. **** Thomas watched as the boy limped out of class and to the locker down the hall from him, his limp looking worse than before. Could stress make someone's limp worse? Was that a thing? Thomas thought only to get his thoughts interrupted.“Now I know why you kept asking about him, you have a crush.” Thomas scoffed at the dark skinned boy next to him. “That's not it Alby.”Thomas shut his locker ignoring Alby as the two other boys approached him. “You're gonna walk home with Newt too, loverboy?” “shut up minho.” “You should probably hurry up if you are, he looks like he's leaving already.” Thomas looked in the direction of Newt before hurrying his way over thanks to Gally’s warning.Thomas was able to meet up with Newt just outside of the gate.“Newt! Wait up!” Thomas yells as he reaches Newt. “Yes tommy?” Thomas takes a second to catch his breath. “I thought we could walk home together?” Newt stares at him before chuckling to himself. “So that's why you ran at the speed of light to get to me?” Newt was now smirking, Thomas knew he would never be able to get used to the sight.“Well you better hurry up, it's supposed to start raining soon.” Newt doesn't wait as he starts walking up ahead. Thomas joins him walking by his side. “Is your leg ok? I saw you walking out of class and it looked worse.” “Just stress.” so stress does make it worse, Thomas thought.“So, why are you always with that teacher? Are you behind in class?” Thomas asks as they continue walking. Newt seems visibly tense after Thomas asks, Thomas doesn't bother to ask Newt why. “No, she just gives me extra work since I'm ahead.'' Thomas lifts his hands behind his head. “Man i wish i was ahead, everything the teachers say i just end up getting lost.” he says smiling as if it were a joke.After walking for a few more minutes they reach their houses, waving goodbye. As Thomas reaches his door he notices Newt grab a note on the front door of his house, making him pause along with the boy. Just as he was about to ask what it said he felt it start to rain.Newt looks over at him, meeting his eyes, still holding the paper. “Would you mind if-” he pauses to look down at the note once again before continuing. “Would you mind if I stayed the night tommy?” To say this shocked Thomas would be an understatement, though there was a look of desperation in Newt's eyes. “Sure Newt, sure.” Thomas said while smiling. **** Thomas set up a mattress on the floor of his room next to his bed for Newt to sleep in. “ill go grab some clothes for you to sleep in just give me a second.” Newt didn't bother responding. Thomas was lucky his parents were gonna be gone for the night and would be back until after twelve the next day.As he gave Newt some spare clothes for him to wear consisting of gray sweats and a dull worn out orange top he thought about the letter on Newt's door. Newt had thrown it out before Thomas had gotten the chance to ask to read it. Thomas wondered what it had said to make Newt want to sleep over. As it approached night time he and Newt layed down getting ready for bed. Thomas rolled over onto his side to see Newt staring at the ceiling. “Goodnight Newt.”“Goodnight tommy.” Thomas went on to dream about another world where he was to meet Newt, too bad he would forget in the morning. **** Thomas sat on the bleachers next to Minho watching the sport games go on waiting for the long distance running to start. Him and Minho watched as Gally did spear throwing, coming first as he did every year. Alby was by the tracks helping the teachers.“Five hundred meter race contestants come over to start getting ready!”Him and Minho stood up making their way there, on the way he noticed Newt standing next to the beaches not far from the door. He waved over at the boy before he continued walking.Running had always been a hobby for Thomas and to find out at his new school that one of his soon to be bestfriends was just as passionate made him happy. Him and Minho would run all the time after and before school, sometimes pushing it by skipping classes just to run on the track.Thomas, Minho along with six other students lined up ready to start waiting for the bang from the gun to signal the start of the race. He got into position ignoring the voices around him to listen to his heartbeat and focus on winning the race.‘BANG’The gun had been fired, everyone started running. Him minho and one other boy were all at the front racing to be first. Thomas knew he wasn't the only fast runner but he also knew that he was the only one that trained as much as he and Minho did.As they got to the two hundred meter point the third boy pulled behind him and Minho, making the two race head to head. He could hear his heart beat as he ran, he could hear his and Minho’s breath as they ran across the rough path.As he was about one hundred meters he was starting to get a fair bit ahead of Minho before he started to tumble slightly, losing his footing, feeling like he had run over a large rock on the path. He continued to stumble trying to get back on track but as he did Minho got in front of him and kept running. Thomas swore he could hear the boy laugh as he went by.Thomas had lost, well, to Minho at least. In the race however, Thomas had come second out of all the eight boys in the race.As Thomas and Minho made their way to Alby, Thomas looked around for Newt, not spotting him anywhere. “Saw you lose your footing greenie, too bad you lost to Minho.” Gally laughed while slapping Thomas on the back. Thomas ignored him and continued looking around for Newt.“Do you guys know where Newt went?” he asked as he kept looking around. “Yeah he got pulled back inside-” Thomas took off into the building before Gally could finish.As he was searching he heard voices from around a corner and as he peeked over he saw Newt, along with the young teacher, the principal and two police officers. Thomas stayed looking around the corner as he saw one of the police officers put the young teacher in handcuffs. He shifted his focus to Newt who was looking down at his feet as the principal patted his back.Thomas watches as the two officers and the young teacher walked down the other end of the hall before the principal said something to Newt before walking along with them leaving Newt by himself in the hall.Thomas waited a few seconds before he approached Newt. “Hey Newt.” Newtr looked over at him with a serious expression. “You were watching weren't you?” Thomas was shocked, had Newt seen him? “It's fine if you did, it's not like most of the other students didn't already guess something similar.”Thomas didn't say anything else and just opted to give Newt a hug, hoping to be able to see a smile come back to the boy’s face. **** “Shouldn't you be heading home, I'm sure your parents will be worried if they were notified by the school about the police.” Thomas looks overs at the boy sitting next to him. Thomas and Newt had opted to skip the last part of the school day to hang out at the park after all the commotion that went on.Newt stayed quiet for a few seconds looking up at the tree’s before speaking up. “My mum gets the call’s since my dad is always working hours away.” Thomas sat confused. “So? Shouldn't that mean you should definitely head back, that means your mum’s all by herself worrying-”“Tommy.” Newt said in a serious voice interrupting the boy. “She’s the reason I have a limp, she could care less.” Thomas stared at the boy, confusion turning to worry. “What do you mean?” Thomas didn't want to pry on the boy but all this talking was getting him worried.‘When my dad started working more, she started drinking, yelling and getting mad at me more until it turned into hitting. At the start of year ten she found out I was gay and it got ten times worse.” Thomas stared at the boy as he played with his fingers. “I remember one time she ripped up all my school books because she was so mad, even going as far as throwing some of my clothes out the window during a rage.”“And so I got tired of it. Tired of the fact I was letting it happen, that I was so ok with it.” Thomas stared at Newt with teary eyes as Newt looked over at him with a small smile. “So I went walking. I walked for hours during the night, found an abandoned house, climbed to the top and jumped off.”Thomas took the boy into his arms as he kept going.“I remember laying on the ground crying. Berating myself at the failed attempt, cursing myself out ruining my only chance at escaping my mother. A police officer patrolling the area found me half an hour later, taking me to the hospital.”Thomas hugged the boy tighter as Newt started to cry into his shoulder.“I'm so sorry Newt, I'm so sorry you had to go through that.” Thomas started to rub his back in a comforting manner like his mother used to do for him as a kid. Thomas pulled away, resting his forehead to Newt's, looking at the boy's blotchy cheeks and quivering lip.“I'm so proud of you Newt.” Thomas couldn't imagine what the boy had gone through to make him do what he did and selfishly he was glad he didn't. “I'm here for you now, Newt, and I don't plan on leaving.” It was now that Thomas finally recognised the feeling he felt whenever he looked at the boy. Thomas leaned over to Newt's cheek leaving a kiss on the tear stains before turning to look back at Newt’s eyes.“No one should have to go through what you did and I'm sorry no one noticed your struggles.” Thomas tried his best to smile at the boy. “Let’s head back, you can stay at mine if you want.” He stands up putting his hand in front of him letting Newt grab it and use it to get up.Thomas keeps Newt’s hand in his as they start making their way back to Thomas’s house. Not talking, both scared to ruin the comfortable silence.Thomas looked ahead as they reached the corner of their street to see a man in front of Newt’s house yelling at Newt’s mother. They continued to walk over until Newt ended up seeing the man just a few meters away, pausing. The man was yelling at the top of his lungs cursing the worm out throwing what seemed to be her clothing out of the house.The man seemed to notice them as he seemed to turn to them and begin apologizing for the scene before he stops. “Newt?”Thomas gripped Newt’s hand tighter worryingly.Newt’s mother turned to see the two of them before she began yelling.“See i told you he was a faggot!” that made thomas’s left over anger bubble back inside of him. “Our son is a faggot!” she yells over and over at the man. Newt’s dad. That man was Newt’s dad.“I got a call from the school Newt.” Newt’s dad made his way over ignoring his wife. “Why didn't you tell me, tell me anything?”Thomas looked over at Newt who had a look of guilt on his face.“I didn't know how to.” Newt admits.“You couldn't even tell me about your mother either?” Newt was about to respond when Newt’s mum interrupts. “Your son is a fag and im treating him like one! How am I in the wrong?” it was now that Thomas noticed the slurring of her words, she was obviously drunk. Thomas wonders if she would have broken her facade if she wasnt drunk.“Go inside to Thomas’s house.” the man says to the two. “Now.”Thomas takes one last look at the drunk women before dragging Newt inside with him.*** It took weeks of Newt staying at Thomas’s before he could go back home. After his dad had found everything out, he took the woman to court to fight over custody and prove she wasn't fit as a parent. Sometimes Newt would wake up in the middle of the night not knowing where he was, and when Thomas asked about the nightmares, Newt said they were normal.Thomas and Newt slowly started going out to different places to calm Newt’s nerves about the whole situation, while also subconsciously holding hands, hugging and sharing a bed, more and more often.Thomas hoped that one day Newt would be just as happy as him, he knew it would take a long time. But Thomas was there for the long ride so he didn't mind one bit.He knew any other version of him would do the same, find any way to help the blonde. Whether it meant helping him through his nightmares, or getting chased by man made monsters for him.