Searching For You (TW/TMR Fusion)

Chapter 6

"Thomas!"

Thomas sat up in a rush, adrenaline pumping through his veins, mind alert for danger.

"Whoa! Calm down!"

The haze cleared as Thomas emerged fully from Morpheus' realm. He turned and saw Chuck holding his hands up as though to hold something back.

Thomas let out a breath, and ran a hand through his hair.

"Sorry," he breathed out, feeling the last of his flight-or-fight response draining away.

"You okay?", asked Chuck, concerned for his new friend.

Thomas nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just, you know, dreams."

Chuck's face cleared.

"I know, everyone gets them. Our past memories, I think. But no one actually remembers what we dreamt about once awake."

Thomas thought that over. He realised it was true. All he could remember was a sense of belonging, love and safety. Just thinking about it caused his chest to ache, and his eyes to prickle.

"Yeah," Thomas croaked.

Some of what he was feeling must have bled through, since Chuck's face became sympathetic.

"C'mon, greenie. Frypan's dishing out the food," said Chuck, and walked away, giving Thomas the space he desperately needed to compose himself.

Thomas took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Thinking hard, he vaguely remembered a man, with kind eyes which showed hidden strength. His face was filled with pride whenever he gazed at Thomas, filling him with a warm feeling (homesafelove).

He basked in that amazing feeling while climbing out of his hammock. He stretched his arms up, standing on his tiptoes, while yawning. When he blinked his eyes open, he saw Newt standing a few feet away, wide-eyed with pink cheeks, staring at the hem of his shirt.

Thomas felt blood rush to his face when Newt slowly dragged his eyes up to his face.

Feeling particularly cheeky, Thomas winked at Newt, and took an unholy delight when the pink bloomed into a full blush. Thomas walked towards a frozen Newt, holding the intense eye contact.

"Hello, Newt," murmured Thomas, in his gravelly morning voice.

Thomas wasn't sure, but he thought Newt's breath hitched. Newt's pupils were blown, and Thomas was pretty sure that his eyes were the same way.

"Tommy," said Newt, in a low whisper.

Somehow, that felt more intimate than anything else.

Thomas took a step forward. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he just wanted to get close to the lean boy in front of him, with his feathery hair that Thomas wanted to run his hands through to check if it felt as soft as it looked. Newt looked like he felt the same pull to get closer as he seemed to sway forward.

Before anything could happen though, someone cleared their throat near them.

Thomas and Newt jumped apart as though burnt, their eye contact broken.

Thomas turned his head to see Alby, with a knowing and exasperated look on his face.

Thomas opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Hey, Alby," said Newt. His voice broke at the end and so he cleared his throat.

Thomas sneaked a look at Newt from the corner of his eye. When his eyes met Newt's, who was doing the same, he jerked his head sharply to look at Alby again. He felt his ears burning.

Alby was saying something, but Thomas couldn't hear anything. He was thinking about what had happened, almost happened, just a few moments before.

What was that? He wondered.

He couldn't remember feeling that way before, but all he knew was that he wouldn't mind if he were to feel that low, burning (all-consuming), warmth again.

"Tommy!"

The voice brought him back to the present, and he flushed seeing that Alby had already left.

He glanced at Newt questioningly.

Newt gave a small smirk.

"Alby told us to come and eat or the other shuck-faces wouldn't leave anything for us."

"Yeah, okay."

Thomas fell in step with Newt, walking at his side.

"You never did say what you came here for," said Thomas, looking straight ahead.

"I came to wake you up, shank," retorted Newt. "You always sleep like the dead and then you whine about not getting anything to eat."

"Hey! It's not my fault," protested Thomas, feeling a grin creeping up on his face. "Chuck snores in his sleep. You try sleeping next to him!"

Newt chuckled.

"Maybe you should find another place to sleep," laughed Newt.

"Maybe I should just steal yours," Thomas shot back, enjoying their banter.

Newt laughed at him.

"Maybe you should," muttered Newt to himself, not meaning for Thomas to hear.

But Thomas did hear it and when he glanced at Newt in surprise, Newt's eyes widened. But he didn't take back his statement.

Thomas smiled slowly.

"Maybe I will," he murmured, knowing that Newt will hear him.

As he expected, Newt blushed lightly but didn't reply.

If their shoulders happened to bump as they walked, or if their hands brushed each other, or if there were soft smiles on their faces, well, no one was going to say anything.

***
A/N:

OMG, it's official. I have mentally regressed in my age. Gods!
*reading the above chapter*
Ugh!
I'm personally NOT satisfied with this chappie, but that is all I could do.
I might scrap it later on if I get enough brain juices flowing, but until then, sorry!

I love hearing what you think!