Hope

Brothers

The house shook under the force of the door closing as Newt entered the house. Pulling off his boots he threw them to the floor and chucked his snow-coated coat onto the coat rack. Of course, it flopped dismally to the floor but right now Newt couldn't have cared less. He slapped the light switch in the corner, which Tina had thoughtfully left on, and then stomped up the stairway in darkness. He didn't stop as he marched across the landing before pushing the bedroom door open. However, the sight inside made him freeze in his sharp actions.

Tina was sat propped up in bed with her hair brushed and loose over her shoulders. She had a book open in her lap which was now relaxed in her hands as she looked up at him with her eyebrows raised. He could feel himself breathing heavily and her lips stretched into a fine line, her face illuminated by the movement of some of the painted stars on the ceiling, as she seemingly analysed him. She then closed her book with a snap and patted his side of the bed. It was as if a body bind curse had been released on him and he stormed over and collapsed face first into his pillow as he let out a groan. He remained ramrod straight until he felt Tina shuffle and lean over then begin to thread her fingers through his hair. Automatically he moved over to bury his head in her lap, leaning his head against her now hardened midriff. There was a beat where it was just the sound of his slightly laboured breathing then Tina brushed his fringe back and asked
"I'm guessing the pub didn't go well"
He let out an unamused snort and shook his head as Tina continued to untangle his hair.

He hadn't exactly expected it to go astonishingly well. He and his brother had been at odds for weeks now but with Christmas exactly a week away he felt it would be more productive to at least try to amend fences. The last thing he wanted was for everyone's festive week to be ruined by their bickering. Theseus appeared to have been of a similar mind when he sent Tina in with a note and had sent one back with the same enchantment of a swan that he'd taught him when they were young. They'd gone to a Muggle pub in hopes of some privacy, the Prophet was none the wiser of any of the happenings in their lives recently and they were hoping to keep it that way. They had sat down, Theseus had gotten them a pint each then it had all fallen apart.
"What happened, Newt?"
"Theseus" he muttered "being his usual prat self"
He did feel slightly childish pouting into Tina's belly, it was incredibly similar to what he used to do when he was small and Theseus had been- well Theseus just at the age of twelve.
"I'm gonna need more details"
He let out a loud huff before sitting up, unbuttoning his waistcoat and releasing his bow tie. He flung them to a random corner of the room and sank against his pillow, leaning partially against her shoulder as Tina hummed encouragingly,
"It was fine, to begin with. We talked about how my books going and what was going on in the Auror Department despite the fact I already knew quite a lot then the discussion landed on what had happened in the creature case. He said I was risking myself and others, I said that I was perfectly competent then he saw the scar and-"
He let out a huff of air and went to bury his head fully on her shoulder before getting distracted by a tangle in her hair and beginning to try and tease it with his fingers. Tina moved so more of the tangles in her hair were available and then sighed
"And he started his usual rant about you trying to ignore reality?"
"Like clockwork." He cleared his throat and then put on a slightly crisper version of his accent
"Newt it's not just you you're endangering now, You're not much use to anyone ripped apart by flying creatures- On repeat, all night. I'd had enough and far too many sips of beer I just snapped"
"Oh Newt..."
She didn't sound overly surprised, slightly disappointed perhaps in a way that made him squirm but other than that her voice didn't let anything away. Her face, however, didn't hide much at all and was revealed as she rolled over to look directly in his eyes, leaning against her chest
"I want it to be made clear that this wasn't technically my fault"
"I know Newt, but it's gotta be better to just apologise and move on instead of whatever the hell this is"
His tone dropped and his body tensed as he looked at her
"What? I'm just meant to let him push me around-"
"No. But it is Christmas next week and the way we could all be dead tomorrow I don't think it's smart to kick off the shouting matches"
"But he still doesn't get it-"
"Newt it's not worth the fight"
"That's rather ironic coming from you."