Dreams // Newtmas

9. Sleep It Off

Thomas never really cried. He didn't have anything to cry about. His life was good, he had good friends, good parents and he did well enough in school. The only thing wrong with him was the crazy dreams and he forgot them after half an hour most of the time. But in that moment, when the sounds became too real and the pain along with them, crying was all Thomas could do.

So he held onto Newt and he cried. Newt never moved, just continued to stroke his hair and whisper to him. He didn't seem to care that Thomas was soaking his jeans with his tears or that he was holding a kid who he barely knew and who was having a complete and utter mental break down. In the muddle of Thomas's head, he silently thanked Newt again and again for it.

When Thomas finally regained the courage to open his eyes, Newt was still there, staring absently up at the moon. It was then that Thomas realised that that was the only light they had out here. That and the thousand pinpricks of light known as stars.

Newt looked down at him and smiled softly. "You okay?"

Thomas nodded weakly. His head was beginning to ache and all he wanted was to fall asleep. He could deal with the repercussions in the morning when he was sober.

Newt saw that too for he cautiously pulled Thomas closer to him. "D'you wanna talk about it?"

"Dreams." Thomas muttered. His brain was working too slowly to stop the next words from coming out. "It's all because of the dreams." He snuggled closer to Newt, relishing in the warmth.

"What dreams?" Newt asked quietly. It was clear he didn't want to scare Thomas off but his curiosity was piqued.

"The ones about the maze." Thomas mumbled. "The one with the monsters and the kids." He looked up at Newt. "The ones with you."

He couldn't make out Newt's expression in the moonlight but the boy remained just as relaxed as before, almost as if it didn't surprise him. "What happens in those dreams?" he whispered.

"Bad things," Thomas replied. He nuzzled his head against Newt's stomach. "Bad bad things. You tried to kill me but then the knife went into you instead. I don't like those dreams." His voice was muffled by the material of Newt's shirt but he knew he could hear him. 

"I don't want you go Newt," His voice cracked as the grief from the dream washed over him. "Please don't go."

"Shh, shh, it's alright Tommy," Newt shushed him. "I'm right here." He didn't ask any more questions after that clearly seeing how fragile a state Thomas was in. 

Thomas wondered briefly if Newt thought he was crazy before sleep claimed him.

"Goodnight, Newt."

"Goodnight, Tommy."

//

Thomas woke up a couple of hours later with no idea where he was or how he got there. All he knew, without bothering to open his eyes, was that he was somewhere outside and used something soft to pillow his head. He was content with this explanation until his "pillow" moved.

Thomas's eyes snapped open only to be able to see a wall of dark green in front of him. His head was pounding so hard, it took a moment to register that the wall was moving with someone's breathing and that it was actually a t-shirt. It took another moment to figure out that he had been asleep on said person's lap.

Once it did click however, Thomas jumped back with a start, inadvertently waking the other person up. They looked up, surprised, and the moonlight fell on their face to give Thomas a perfect view of a still half asleep Newt.

"Bloody hell," Newt groaned, pulling himself out of the dent he had made in the hedge. "I really should have thought that though." He stood up, brushing off a bunch of broken sticks from his back.

 Thomas continued to desperately try to remember how in the hell he had ended up falling asleep on Newt's lap. And, more importantly, how Newt was acting like it was the most normal thing in the world. That... that was confusing.

Newt looked down at Thomas, the moonlight glinting off his blonde hair. Or maybe it just looked like that because they were surrounded by tall, dark hedges on all sides.

It was then when Thomas finally noticed that he was in the middle of a maze. 

Before he could freak out however, Newt had crouched down beside him and was speaking to him. "Before you have a bloody conniption, yes, we are in a maze, no, we are not going to die because yes, I know the way out."

Thomas was speechless. First off, how did Newt know that he was going to panic? Secondly, what had he done that allowed Newt to know he was going to panic? Oh God, what had he done?

"W-what happened?" Thomas stuttered. "How d-did we g-get here?"

"Well I'm not really sure how you got here," Newt replied casually, taking a seat beside Thomas on the ground. "But I for one came down here because it seemed like a better option than being at a party with a bunch of drunk teenagers. I'm guessing you didn't mind though, since you were completely wasted when I found you stumbling through this place."

Thomas cringed at the idea of Newt seeing him like that. Parts of his memory were returning to him, but it was all blurry and vague and, going by the constant pain in his skull, that was as good as they were going to get.

"You were also having a complete breakdown at the time which didn't exactly help." Newt added.

"Wait, what?" Thomas had no idea what had happened at this point.

"Oh yeah, you freaked out big time when you saw me. But I had been following you for five minutes already, since I had no idea what was going on, and you were not stable to say the least. It took ages to calm you down."

Thomas then remembered crying. A lot. "Oh no," He groaned. "I am so sorry man. " He looked over to see that Newt was now smiling. "I didn't happen to tell you why I was like that did I?"

Newt shrugged. "Kind of I guess. You were mumbling most of the time and I didn't think it would be smart to try and press you for details. You said something about dream but I couldn't make out most of it, and you were almost passed out by then too."

Dreams. Of course drunk Thomas lacked the ability to keep anything to himself. Thomas smiled sheepishly in an attempt to divert Newt's attention. "I don't suppose you could kinda not mention this to anyone. I don't think I could handle the amount of klunk I would get from the others."

Thankfully, Newt accepted the distraction and nodded his head. "Don't worry about it mate, I won't tell." Then he stood again and extended a hand down to Thomas. "Now can we please go back to the house. The party must have finished hours ago and I'd rather not spend the rest of my night out here, if you catch my drift."

Thomas took his hand and Newt helped pull him to his feet. He smiled in the darkness. Newt really had grown on him quickly, and not just because of the dreams. He was just a genuinely good friend.

"Sure. Now lead the way out of here, oh Master of the Maze."