No Better Version of Me Than When I'm With You

Chapter 3

Chapter Summary: House renovations and other changing relationships galore.

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Only days after he'd broken up with George, he and Newt decided to paint the house. It was a Friday evening in mid-July when Newt brought up the subject of seeing someone.

"I know you just broke up with George and all. . .so this doesn't really feel like the right time but. . ." Newt hesitated, clearing his throat, and Thomas paused in his paint rolling one of the bedroom walls to turn and look at him. Newt met his gaze for a moment, then looked away again with what appeared to a small, almost shy smile.

"Spit it out, Newt, it's fine."

"Alright, ah – I met a guy the other day and his name is Nick. He's a regular at Haven, his poor dog has so many issues, and technically we're not supposed to date customers but he asked for my number at the end of my shift when we got to talking and-" Newt cut himself off suddenly, and brown eyes met his intensely. Thomas waited for him to continue. "It just feels a little weird, you know? With everything we're doing – I mean bloody look at us." He gestured between them with his paintbrush, "The epitome of a domestic couple right now." He cracked a grin, and Thomas chuckled.

"I know, it felt weird like that with me and George too. I think that's why he broke it off so quickly." Thomas agreed, understanding the way Newt was feeling perfectly.

"Exactly." Newt nodded, "So I guess I thought I'd tell you that I have a date tomorrow night. He'll be picking me up here and I guess I'll see how it goes."

"Looking forward to meeting him." Thomas gave him a reassuring smile, and the tension fell out of Newt's shoulders. Some small part of him was dreading meeting his husband's date, but if he could date someone, why shouldn't Newt? Part of him was protective, he'd seen Newt get his heart broken before and the last thing he wanted was to watch him go through that pain again. But it wasn't up to him what he did, so all he could do was support him in what he chose to do.

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The rest of the day came and went, and it was the next morning he got a call from his parents asking for the third time if they could help with anything around the house.

"I told you guys, we're fine."

"But last week you had to replace the dishwasher, and now this?" His dad asked, referring to the pipe that had decided to spring a leak under the bathroom sink, as well as the faucet above he couldn't figure out how to stop dripping.

"We knew going into it that it wasn't going to be a walk in the park, Dad." Thomas rolled his eyes, shaking his head as Newt chuckled from his spot on the couch. "You said that we got a good deal because it's kind of a fixer upper and that we should go for it."

"And I also said your mom and I wanted to help if we could. A house is a big deal, Thomas."

"I know that." He bristled, "But we can do this, I promise. If we really need help, I promise I'll call, alright?"

The other end of the line was quiet for a moment, then there was a rustling and his mom spoke up. "Chuck wants to know when he can come visit."

Thomas laughed, mood lifting slightly, "When we're done painting, it's a mess right now. Maybe next weekend?"

"I'll let him know."

"Talk to you later, Mom."

"Talk to you later, we love you."

"Love you too." Thomas replied, then hung up before letting out a long sigh and collapsing next to Newt, sprawling into his lap. "They're so pushy in trying to fix things, don't they know we can do this?"