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

Chapter 5

Newt smiled crookedly, leaning back on the couch with a nod. "It was good. Helped me relax and not stress so bloody much over the whole thing."

Thomas nodded, returning his smile. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he checked it to see a text from Minho.

[Minho, 10:36pm]

What, so your husband gets home and you abandon us? At least tell us when you're leaving!

Thomas didn't reply, but rather gave Newt a look as he held up his headset. Newt returned his look knowingly and nodded. He slipped the headset back over his ears, "Sorry for wanting to greet Newt when he got back home, apparently that's illegal according to Minho."

"Dude, you left in the middle of a conversation! It's just common courtesy." Minho retorted lightheartedly.

"Fine, fine. Sorry, guys. Newt got home and I gotta go. That better?"

"Much." Minho sounded satisfied, and Thomas laughed, shaking his head.

He signed off, the group bidding him goodnight as he did, and then turned his attention fully back to Newt after putting the controller and headset away. "They're ridiculous." He scoffed, chuckling.

"Utterly." Newt agreed with a grin.

"But we love them."

"But we love them."

Thomas met Newt's gaze and for a moment they shared knowing looks, then Newt yawned and leaned forward to rest a hand on Thomas' knee. "Should get to bed, hm? Quite the important day tomorrow."

He nodded in agreement, not letting his gaze linger on the spot where Newt's finger was missing his ring, and stood. Nervous as he was for tomorrow, a flutter of excitement kicked up in him at the thought of Newt being one step closer to having his green card.

He fell asleep running through answers to the questions, as they'd done so many times before, finally feeling prepared for what lay ahead.

~~~~~~

"Nope, this is terrifying." Thomas said, popping the 'p' to emphasize just how much he was not prepared for what they were about to walk into.

"Come on Tommy, it's not like we haven't practiced this a thousand times over." Newt pleaded, pushing into his shoulder as they lay in bed the next morning. Thomas was wide awake, and Newt was only beginning to wake up, so his voice was thick with sleep. Thomas found this his favorite of Newt's voices, heavily accented and warm, a bit slurred. He could listen to Newt read a grocery list in this voice and find it relaxing.

"I know – I just, what if we get too many answers wrong and you get rejected for whatever reason?" Thomas pushed, mind already racing with all the documents they had gathered together, and the answers he had ready at the tip of his tongue.

"Thomas." Newt got his full attention in an instant with the use of his full name, and his husband had pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at him. "It's gonna be okay. There's hardly any answers we're lying about, and just remember why we did this."

Thomas huffed, knowing Newt was right. They weren't just doing it for fun, they had genuine reasons to go through the process, and he'd needed to be reminded of that. "You're right, you're right," He grumbled, and Newt smiled crookedly down at him before resuming his position halfway draped across his chest. He felt Newt sigh heavily before rolling over and off of him.

"S'pose we should get up, hm?"

"And dress like we're going to a job interview." Thomas sat up and rubbed his eyes. Newt followed suit and as Thomas looked over, laughter bubbled out of him when he saw the state of Newt's hair.