The Boy In The Box (Newtmas au)

Chapter 5

Newt's POV

The sun is shining through my curtains when I wake up. I feel a hot breath in my neck. I smile, remembering the boy who slept next to me. I turn around and say: "Good morning, Tommy."

"Huh?" He slowly opens his eyes, obviously confused for a moment, but smiling at me when he remembers where he is. "Oh, good morning Newt." He starts to get up from the bed, but I stop him.

"What are you doing?" I ask. He answers: "Making breakfast." I try to stop him, saying I can do it, but he says stubbornly: "No. You are injured. You have to stay in bed." I laugh, thinking how ridiculous that plan is. I tell the brown haired boy: "Well, too bad, because I have to get up anyway. It's Monday, I need to go to work."

Thomas seems to consider this thought for a moment, but eventually gives in. I climb out of bed and we go to the kitchen. I get food out of the fridge and Thomas and I eat. After a while he asks me: "What kind of work do you do?" I think about this for a moment. Should I tell him? I mean, I actually don't know him, so I don't know if it's a good idea for him to know so much about me already. I decide to play it smart.

"You know what, I'll tell you what I do for a living, if you tell me why I was kidnapped yesterday." Thomas looks at me flustered. I know it isn't a nice move of me to get it out of him like this, but I really want an explanation. It annoys me that he already knows so much about him, but I know nothing about him.

"Well," Thomas starts, "the thing is, I promised Boyd something. I really needed money, so I decided to sell something valuable. After all this time, I still don't know why he wants it so much, but it comes down to the fact that he gave me the money for it. However, in the meantime I came to realise that I didn't want to sell it at all. It is too valuable to me. So now I can't give it to him, but I do have his money. And now I give him money I don't have."

I look at him. It surprises me how much I learned with this about him. It's obvious he doesn't have much money to give, and it makes me somewhat sad that he basically stole money to live. I still don't know what he was going to sell, but didn't sell. So I ask him what it is.

He picks up his jacket and gets out a small golden locket. "This", he says. A blue shining stone shaped like a heart takes up most of the front of the necklace. It's truly beautiful.

"What is it?" I ask. He says: "It used to be my mom's. It's the only thing I have left of her." He looks sad.

"What happened to her?" I hesitantly ask.

"I don't know. She left me and my dad when I was eight. Neither she or my dad ever told me why." That's all he says, and I feel like the conversation about his youth is over, but this small piece of information makes me incredibly curious about the rest.

"So, how much money do you need?" I ask the man. He looks down. "20 000 dollars." I almost spit out my hot chocolate milk. "Wow, Tommy. That's a lot of money."

"I know. I know I can give him 10 000 of what he gave me, but he wants 30 000." It scares me that this money can cost me my life. So I do the one thing that comes to my mind. "I might be able to give you the money", I say. He looks at me.

"No. I can't do that. It's my fault you're in this trouble already. I can't take your money." I think for a second. I promised him to tell him what I do for a living if he told me his story. So I think it's time for me to tell him.

"Okay, I'm about to tell you what I do as a job, and after I finish my story, we go to the bank and get the money that'll save both of our lives." Tommy just looks at me, so I say: "I'm basically a scientist. I work in an organisation called WICKED, that investigates diseases and tries to find a cure. It's a very difficult job and not many people are capable of performing it. Therefore, I make quite a lot of money. You may have totally misjudged me by the size of my apartment or my style of clothing, but I like things simple. I like a small, cozy apartment. This also means I have quite a lot of money saved on my bank account, and I'm willing to spend it if that means saving the both of us."

Thomas looks at me wide eyed. I finish: "I hope I can trust you with this information. If not, I shall be very disappointed." But Tommy says: "Of course you can trust me with this! And I would be so grateful if you helped me pay. I promise I pay everything back!" He runs to me and hugs me, but before I can even hug back, he pulls away and quietly apologizes.

He confuses me so much. I know he can't do this, because he has that Teresa girl, but yet, every time he touches me, a wave of electricity courses through my body, wanting more of it. More of Thomas.

My phone indicating a text coming in pulls me away from my crazy thoughts. Minho's name appears on the screen.

Minho: So, how's it going with that boy of yours?

I answer him:

Newt: He is not my boy, and shut up you slinthead.

Thomas looks at me questioning. "It's just Minho", I tell him. I really hope he didn't see Minho's text. That would be incredibly embarrassing. As if on cue, Tommy's phone makes a noise too. He looks at it and I see his face fall in a frown.

"I probably have to go. Teresa is telling me to meet up with her. I should really go." I frown. "Well, then, I'll see you later, I guess?"

"Yeah." I walk him to the door and he says goodbye and walks away. But right before I'm about to close the door, I hear my name.

"Newt! Wait!" I look at him and he says: "I was... Uh... I was wondering if, maybe, you and I... If we could get some coffee later or something." I smile. He's so cute when he talks like that. I tell him: "I would love to do that. Thomas' face lights up.

"Okay then. I'll pick you up at four. Bye!" I smile and close the door. I'm grabbing coffee with Tommy. I only have one question gnawing in my mind: Is this a date?

Probably not, but even if it isn't a date, I'll just pretend it is. It just feels right to me.