Doubles

Chapter Seventeen

Newt

"That's the library," Newt pointed out to Lydia as they walked through town. "That's where The Right Arm met after Janson kicked the support group out of the school."

"Janson, he was the villain," Lydia remembered out loud. "What ever happened to him?"

Newt shrugged. "After Tommy, uh, cured me from the Flare, we knew I could change the dreams so we didn't follow them anymore. Janson might've died, but I guess we stopped it. I don't know where he is now."

"Do you think he's still a threat?" Lydia whispered, looking back at the library as they passed.

"I hope not," Newt replied. It would make things so much bloody worse if they still had to worry about that rat. "I'm just gonna take Minho's word for it. Everything is fine. We just have to find those bloody doubles and bring the reincarnations round full circle."

Lydia sighed in response and he knew why. Nothing was ever fine for people like them. Knowing their luck, things would start going bad again soon. But they could always hope it wouldn't.

"Hey," Newt said suddenly. "Why don't we stop by my Gran's? Today's baking day and she won't mind you coming over. The others can come too, if they want, but not Tommy and Stiles. My Gran would bloody lose it if she was them together."

"Sure," Lydia said brightly, clearly thankful for the sudden change in mood. "Then we can all head to the beach?"

"Sounds good," Newt replied, pulling out his phone. "I'll text the others to let them know." He typed out a message then sent it.

Newt: Lydia and I are going to my Gran's for cookies. The rest of you guys can come if you want but after this we're all going to the beach.

Scott: Cool. Malia and I will head over in a minute.

Malia: more like ten minutes but yeah we'll be there

Minho: stiles went to the hotel to nap so I'll grab Thomas and we're coming too

Newt: No, Minho, let him sleep.

Minho: too late

Newt: I hate you

Malia: I hate Minho too

Newt: Please shut up Malia

Minho: Feelings mutual

Scott: Malia please. These are our friends now, remember?

Lydia: Stop spamming. Stiles is trying to sleep too, you know.

Everybody stopped after that.

"So how far is your house?" Lydia asked as they put their phones back in their pockets.

"Not far," Newt replied. "It's a small town. We're actually going to walk right by Tommy's on the way so he and Minho will probably get there before us."

"Let's just hope he doesn't eat all the cookies," she said.

Newt chuckled, knowing that's exactly what he planned on doing.

~~~

They arrived at Newt's house a few moments later to find yes, in fact, Minho and Thomas were already there, eating away.

"Hey, Newt!" Tommy said, smiling nice and big when they walked in.

"Tommy," Newt nodded in greeting, giving him a strange look. Tommy never smiled that wide . . . oh. It's Stiles.

Now that Newt was paying attention he could easily see the difference. The way his hair didn't fall naturally around his ears or how his arms didn't have as much muscles as his Tommy.

Other than that, they were so identical he doubted even their own mothers would be able to tell the difference. Or father, in Stiles case.

Newt shared a look with Lydia and an understanding passed between them. She knew it was Stiles too but for the sake of the joke, they would play along. Don't want to disappoint him too soon.

"I thought you were taking a nap, Thomas," Lydia said smoothly.

"I was," Stiles-as-Thomas replied. "Until MINHO here came and shucking woke me up."

His voice was so unlike Tommy's, it was all Newt could do not to laugh.

Minho, on the other hand, let out a loud snort from the kitchen, walking out with a cookie in hand. He wrapped his arms around Stiles' shoulders casually.

Of course he was in on the joke too. Newt should've known. He probably orchestrated the whole thing.

"I felt kind of bad, though," Minho said, his acting not as bad as Stiles' but not as good as Lydia's either. "He was sleeping like a baby."

"You should've let Tommy sleep," Newt tried to say casually but, when Minho looked at him, understanding dawned on him and he knew that Newt knew it was a prank.

"Shuck it!" Minho exclaimed, pushing off of Stiles. "How did you know? Was it the hair?"

Lydia chuckled. "I think it's just the fact that neither of you could keep a straight face." She looked at Stiles. "And your eyes are brighter than Thomas'."

"You knew too?" Stiles asked in disbelief. "Aw come on! Even I didn't recognize myself."

Newt laughed, shaking his head. "Sorry, Sti. Maybe you can trick Scott and Malia when they get here."

As if summoned by his voice, the doorbell rang. He walked over and answered the door to see Scott and Malia standing there, their animals waiting patiently outside for them.

"Hey guys," Newt greeted, stepping aside to let them in. "Come help yourselves to my Gran's cookies."

"Thanks," Scott said as Malia sniffed the air, breathing in a sigh of content.

Then Stiles walked up, trying (and failing) to keep a grin off his face.

"Hi shuckfaces," he said, the word clearly foreign on his mouth.

"Hey, Stiles," Scott and Malia said at the same time, not even giving him a second glance.

Stiles' expression fell and Newt and Lydia started laughing again. It was almost sad to see their prank fail so terribly.

Minho walked over and fixed Stiles' hair to look normal with a sigh. Newt almost felt bad for him.

Almost. 

"Well, maybe it wasn't as convincing as we thought," Minho said.

Stiles snorted but the grin was back on his face. "No, really. What tipped you off?"

Minho whacked him upside the head before walking into the kitchen, Stiles following close behind.

Newt smiled and followed them. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe they could find the Doubles and everything would be completely fine.

At least, he could hope . . .