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

Chapter 9

"Guess it's a good thing we didn't try to do the ceiling work ourselves after all, huh?" Newt said, joining them on the couch. He looked a bit sapped from the jog, but Thomas liked the spots of pink on his cheeks that made his face glow. He looked happy, and that made Thomas happy.

"No kidding." Thomas scoffed in agreement. He saw Minho looking at the tv, and nodded towards the screen. "Anyone up for a race?"

"Hell yeah," Minho replied, grin widening. "I'm gonna kick both your asses."

"You haven't seen my skills yet, Min." Newt retorted, grabbing two more controllers from the tv stand and handing one to Minho.

"Sure, sure," He drawled, rolling his eyes teasingly.

The morning passed much like the night before had, in the kind of comfortability that only came with people he'd known forever and felt like family, in a place that felt like home just as much as his own place did. Sick or not, Thomas was glad to be there, surrounded by his best friends.

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By the middle of the afternoon, their gaming had devolved into watching Is It Cake? on Netflix and trying to guess the right one before the judges did. It was then that Thomas got a notification that told him the ceiling repairs were wrapping up and he needed to go be there when the crew left so they could give them any final information. At the end of the next episode, he handed his phone to Newt, reaching across Minho to do so, to show him the email.

"Guess one of us has to go, huh?" Newt asked, arching a brow.

Thomas shrugged, "Probably be a good idea."

"One of you has to go do what?" Minho asked, reaching for Thomas' phone as Newt handed it back to him. "You guys are doing your telepathy thing again."

Thomas frowned in confusion at Minho, "Telepathy thing?"

"Yeah. . . telepathy thing?" Newt echoed.

"You know, where you guys can just like, glance at each other and have a whole ass conversation without saying a word."

"We do that?" Thomas asked, while at the same time Newt burst into laughter.

"Yeah, only all the time."

"I don't think now was one of those times, though." Newt said, gesturing at the phone still in Minho's hands. "Tommy got notified that the crew are almost done at the house, so one of us has to be there to make sure everything's gone right. And that's what he was showing me on his phone."

"Oh, I get it now." Minho nodded, handing his phone back. Thomas took it and set it beside him on the couch cushion. "So, you gonna go do that or what?" He looked over at Newt.

"Yeah, I will. Be right back." Newt nodded, standing.

"See ya." Minho said with a little wave. Thomas did the same, and Newt waved back at them as he grabbed Thomas' keys (they had taken his car to Minho's), and headed out the door. The moment the door clicked closed behind him, Minho turned to him. "You guys are really serious about this, aren't you?"

Thomas frowned and nodded slowly, "About the house? Yeah. . .of course we are. We didn't just get married and buy a house together for shits and giggles."

Minho snorted, "Obviously not. I guess I just thought that you guys would. . . I dunno, not do something this big, this. . .permanent."

"We've been married for months, why're you bringing this up now?"

"Guess it hit me for real last night, you guys. . . you have a life together. And it's kind of separate from the rest of us, you know? Like y'all went and got hitched, bought a house, and convinced me, the government, and everyone else around you that you're in love-"