anon // newtmas au

chapter eight

     Thomas' mouth dropped open and he covered it quickly with his hand. "Teresa!"

     She was giggling as she ran inside, taking cover behind the front doors. Thomas held up his middle finger at her through the glass. She just stuck her tongue out, looking somewhat dysfunctional due to the fact that she was desperately fighting a smile.

     Thomas felt his chest swell up with undeniable happiness as the girl finally opened the door and let him in. Her cheeks were slightly pink from laughing, her eyes still crinkled.

     Thomas smiled softly at her. Yeah. They'd be okay.

***

     "This shit looks badass." Someone roughly clasped Thomas on the back, jerking him forward a bit with the force.

     Thomas turned around quickly, smiling when he saw it was Minho. "Hey. I didn't know you were coming."

     Minho grinned almost evilly. "I drove your boy here. He told me you invited him to your little after party too."

     Thomas felt his stomach lurch. "You drove him here? You're not lying?"

     Minho shook his head and squeezed Thomas' arm. "He's nervous as fuck okay? He wouldn't stop fidgeting the entire way here."

     Thomas opened his mouth to say something else but Minho quickly shushed him. "No more questions. Why don't you and beauty queen here show me what you did?"

     He saw Teresa relax, smiling softly and suddenly Thomas wanted to get on the floor and kiss Minho's fucking feet. He realized that he didn't know Minho too well, but in that moment he came to the conclusion that Minho Park was a great fucking human being.

***

     The day went on, Gally visited their booth with Brenda although they'd already seen the project. Kids Thomas didn't know came by to compliment their work. Teresa's parents came along with Thomas', he could have sworn Mrs.Anges cried. Mrs.Paige even stopped by to see the final product. The amazed look on her face made it all worth it.

     Soon enough it was almost time to announce the winners. The judges had already came around, in disguise of course, so none of the contestants could tell who they were. Teresa had been great, she did most of the talking, winning everyone over with her insane charisma. Thomas mostly just demonstrated the project, moving the small camera around with the remote control to show the mice's movements in the maze better by displaying it on the small screen they had set up.

     By the time the viewing time was closed Thomas was exhausted. He finished his entire coffee and even bribed Minho to go by him another one. He pushed any thought of his boy out of his mind, trying to just focus on WICKED. He had to take it one hour at a time.

     Teresa looked like she was feeling the same. She looked tired and slightly worn out, but still happy. Thomas stomach was bursting with nerves and excitement as they worked together to close down their booth. Teresa pulled the sheets back over the maze as Thomas deactivated the cameras. Teresa ushered all the mice back into the middle clearing before closing the four doors, blocking them off from the maze. When they were done they walked to the rows of chairs in front of the stage, finding Brenda and Gally and sitting next to them. Almost immediately they all linked hands, Gally squeezing Teresa's, Teresa squeezing Thomas' and Thomas squeezing Brenda's. He almost wanted to cry.

     "Thank you guys," Thomas whispered as Brenda smiled at him.

     "No need to thank us, it's what friends are for."