The next morning, I couldn't find him anywhere. I had woken up alone, just as I had expected but nevertheless hoped wouldn't happen, and had gone to find him.
He wasn't in the sleeping quarters, and he hadn't gone to the café for breakfast, so where the fuck is he? Newt never starts work this early, so finding him there would be surprising, and what was even scarier was that not even Thomas and Frypan knew where he was.
"Nah sorry, haven't seen him since yesterday lunch time, he seemed more preoccupied with someone else to even talk to his beloved friends." Frypan explained sarcastically, a massive grin spreading its way over his face.
"Actually, we figured you'd know where he is, considering he has barely left your side these last couple of days." Thomas said, as he continued to pull carrots from the ground and brush them off to remove the large pieces of dirt. "Yeah, what is going on with you two anyway? The boy seemed rather smitten, don't ya think?" Frypan asked as he nudged my arm playfully.
I decided to completely skip over his question, mostly because answering it sounded basically impossible at this current time, and hoped they wouldn't circle back to it any time soon. "So, you have absolutely no idea where he is?" I asked, as I began to worry about him much more than I already was.
Frypan was right, Newt had barely left my side since yesterday morning; he even waited outside for me when I showered - so not being able to find him at all today is really not sitting well with me.
"No, once we're on break though we can help you look for him, although I'm not sure why you're so desperate to find him, he's a big boy he can take care-"
And that's when I noticed him. I completely zoned out of what Fry was saying, and instead I kept my eyes locked on the boy with blonde hair. He was standing outside the council room with one of the nurses, his body turned completely towards the man as he kept his hands lodged deep into his pockets.
He looked very relaxed, making my confusion and anger merge and bubble over. Fry yelled over my shoulder as I began to advance forwards, "Y/n! Don't forget, dinner party on the beach at nine! Dress nice!"
I ignored his yells as I began to pick up pace and strutted towards the two figures. The nurse noticed me before Newt did, locking eyes with me and nodding his head at the blonde before he turned and left in the opposite direction.
As I reached where Newt stood, he still hadn't turned around to face me, as I watched him tense up slightly at my presence. I cleared my throat behind him to make him look at me, but instead he kept his hands in his pockets, speaking before I even got to. "Er, sorry, I've got to head off, talk to you later." He said hurriedly, speeding off just as I was about to reach out and grab his arm.
What the fuck?
While the concern still surfaced, anger was quickly becoming the dominant emotion as I watched him scurry away quickly, still not removing his hands from his pockets.
My fists balled and it took all my strength not to run after him and tackle him to the ground, yelling at him that I don't know if I can handle another bout of him avoiding me, even if the reason is justified.
He didn't seem angry though, maybe he was just busy?
I was so anger stricken that I didn't even hear the footsteps coming up behind me.
"I can literally feel the heat radiating off you from here, hermana."
Jorge. Fucking Jorge.
I dropped my shoulders slightly, relieved that it was just his voice and no one else's. And then I turned, my eyes meeting both Jorge's and Brenda's.
She had her arms crossed over her chest as she watched me scan over the both of them, taking in their appearances.
"Vince is looking for you," She started, "Said he wanted to speak to you and Thomas in five at that deserted space near the sleeping quarters, 'know it?" She asked, making my brows furrow. I did know it, but was seriously confused as to why he was asking to meet there; he only ever said to meet in the council room.
"What? Why?" I asked, not sure if to believe them or not.
"Don't know. He just told us to tell you." Jorge said bluntly as I nodded my head.
I thanked them both quietly, before heading off in the direction Vince had said to meet.
--
I arrived much earlier than Thomas had, as I figured he had to wash his hands and freshen up before meeting with Vince, due to our job being rather messy. The boy looked just as confused as I was when he had shown up; it was clear Vince hadn't told him what this impromptu meeting was about, either.
"Did you find him?" The boy asked, approaching with that hope filled look he always carried. As nice as it was, it was really starting to piss me off.
"Yeah, I did." I replied blankly, turning myself slightly away from him as I watched Vince in the distance adjusting something to a pole. I squinted my eyes to get a better look, but to no avail, stopped and turned back to Thomas.
"Do you have any idea why he asked to meet us here?" I asked, as the boy simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Dunno, Jorge didn't give me an explanation. Just that Vince said to meet here as soon as."
I didn't reply, so after a few seconds of slightly uncomfortable silence, Thomas spoke again. "You are going to Frypan's dinner tonight, right? He'd be quite upset if you didn't join us." He said, laughing a little to break the tension.
His concern for his friends always made me smile slightly; their happiness, to him, seemed to be more important, and honestly, I think that makes me adore and hate him all at once.
"Yes, of course I am. I gave him my word." I said defiantly, during which I noticed Vince had started to make his way over to us. "Great, well I just wanted to make sure, I know he wouldn't want you to miss it."
I nodded my head and smiled, making our conversation draw to a close with Vince's presence.
"I'm glad you both could make it, sorry for the late notice." Vince started, both Thomas and I nodding our heads. "Right well, I had a thought, and I want your opinion on it – and by that, I mean I'm letting you know beforehand but it's happening whether you like it or not."
I frowned slightly, "Just tell us Vince."
He huffed quietly, before gathering his thoughts and continuing, "With our upcoming trip, I thought that maybe we could be a bit more prepared, so in the spirit of not dying, I came up with the idea of you teaching Thomas self-defense."
I hesitated slightly, processing what the man was saying. I really don't think I'm cut out to be a teacher.
"Uh what?" I ask, baffled.
"We have just under two weeks until we leave, so I figured that in that time it would probably be smart to get Thomas a bit more trained up – learn some self-defense and attack moves. And I thought, who's better to teach him then an ex Wicked soldier?" Vince smirked at his comment, causing me to roll my eyes and fold my arms over each other.
"How often would she have to train me?" Thomas piped up, not seeming repulsed by the idea at all. He actually looked abundantly open to it.
Vince turned back to the boy, "Multiple hours every day 'til we leave."
That is a lot of time spent with Tom; I do not know if I can do that.
He turns back to me, looking at me with his eyebrows raised. "So? What do you think? I actually think it's a good idea."
I chewed on my lip discreetly, mulling over the possibilities in my head. I didn't speak for a moment, that obviously making Vince impatient.
"If you do this, no more labour work."
My head snapped up to meet his eyes. "Wait what? No more labour work?"
The man chuckled to himself, "Yeah, if you both do this and it goes well, neither of you have to do labour work at all. And once we're back from our trip, you can start to train the others as well."
"Wait, so that will just be her permanent job?" Thomas asks, making Vince turn back to him again.
Fuck, I will have to interact with other people. Not my forte it seems.
"Yeah, that's what I've been thinking. We do it for a trial period, just her training you up, and then if that goes well, we can figure out a plan for Y/n to train the others in groups but where everyone else still works their labour job most days."
Thomas nodded in agreement, craning his neck to look over at me. "Thoughts?"
I scanned both of the men in front of me, before sighing, "Ugh, fine. I'm in."
"Excellent-" Vince started, before I cut him off. Turning my head back to Thomas and pointing at the boy, I said, "But I am not going to be nice."
The boy smiled sweetly, "Didn't expect anything less, she-bean."
-
A/N: this is a thomas & frypan stan account.
i am so excited for the next couple chapters, there's so much going on and i love it. next one should be up by friday, as i'm working even longer days this week ugh.
thank you so much for 11k! <33