Shucked Up || Newtmas AU

3☂ human

I'll be your best kept secret
And your biggest mistake.
The hand behind this pen relives a failure every day
_________
Newt
_________

"Anyone have anything to share?" Doctor Paige speaks calmly but I can sense the frustrated undertones in her voice.

She scans around the room, looking at each one of us in turn, desperate for some kind of response.

Usually these wretched group sessions are full of strong-minded yet idiotic opinions on whatever the shuck we happen to be talking about. Doctor Paige has truly caught us all off guard.

Except me.

I have a something to say,
my mind tangles itself in knots deciding whether I should share my thoughts with my fellow patients.

Do I?
Will they beat me up?

What would Thomas think?
Thomas.
He won't leave my mind, I can't just shake him off like with the others.

What's wrong with me today?

First I let some stranger sit at my table and next I can't stop thinking about this greenie.

I should stay away from him.

Maybe if I share my secret in this session; Doctor Paige might stop bugging me to actually attend my bloody private counselling sessions, which my parents paid extra money for.

Okay. Good plan, Newt.

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes for a moment, letting the words roll of my lips, just like I'd practiced.

"I'm gay."

Silence continued to haunt the room- until it was broken by the shattering sound of laughing.

Heart-breaking.

"Knew it! You owe me, Frypan!" Minho laughs, pointing an accusing finger at Frypan.

"I didn't see that coming!"
"What the shuck!"
"Of course you are!"

The comments kept on hitting me, bruising me each time.

This was a bad idea, a bad, bad idea.

"Silence!" Doctor Paige raises her voice, blanketing the room once again in quietness.

"Well done, Newt. Thank you very much for sharing. Maybe the rest of you could learn some manners and to respect people." She smiled genuinely this time.

The rest of the session consisted of everyone's rather offensive opinions on lgbt, which got rather grating after a while.

Everyone voiced their opinion, the good ones to the bad ones.
Apart from Thomas, he simply blanked out Doctor Paige when it was his opportunity to speak.

He spent a lot of time leaning to his right side, towards the empty chair where 'Teresa' was sat, whispering into thin air.
What was he talking about?

We're allowed some free time after the session.
However 'free time' consists of being forced outside into the open when we'd all be much better inside. We all just sit around the gardens, wandering around.
Lost.

Thomas appears from the double doors which open into the gardens, his eyes scanning his surrounding area, looking for me.

"Hey," he mumbles, sitting onto the black metal bench beside me.

I stare straight ahead.

"What you said, back there. Very brave of you." He smiles weakly.
"Shut up, Teresa! Leave me alone!" He snaps angrily, making me jump in my seat.

Yet I still stare ahead.

Thomas begins to have a heated argument with Teresa over whether he 'was allowed to be nice to me or not'.

He's rather confusing.

Suddenly Thomas breaks out of his one-sided argument, as Minho comes running of the doors, being chased by several guards.

"Don't let them sting me! Don't let them sting me!" He cries, before being tackled to the floor by the guards.

Oh here we go again.
Another one of his the bloody 'grievers are gonna get me' episodes.

What's more worrying however is the cloud of smoke coming from the building.
Specifically, the dorm rooms.

Part of the programme here at the Glade is to teach social skills, so most patients here have a roommate, which is another patient (except me, because my parents asked specially for me not to have one).

Looks like Minho's gone and set a dorm on fire, 'to get away from the grievers'.

Just everyday life here at the nut house.

That evening there's a knock on my dorm door.

Rolling my eyes instinctively as I open the door, it's Thomas on the other side.

"Hey Newt!" He smiles, awkwardly.

What?
What is it?

"Minho was supposed to be my roommate, but he kinda burnt down our dorm, this afternoon." He stares down at the floor, biting his lip.

"I asked Doctor Paige, and she says if it's okay with you, I could be your roommate." He gulped, slowly looking up at me with big eyes.

"So can I?"

Shuck my life.