textbooks // newtmas au

Epilogue

[One Year Later]

    Newt smiled slightly at the stone with Thomas' name engraved. He came to the memorial at least four times a week. Before the new year started Newt and Minho, being sophomores now, decided they were going to room together. Minho was great, he helped Newt through everything. He drove him to his therapy sessions and would watch movies with him when missing Thomas was to much to handle. It was safe to say Minho was his best friend.
    Minho missed Thomas too. Anyone with eyes could see that. Sometimes Newt would catch him staring longingly at the bed. Thomas was a missing hole in both their hearts, but it was easier to deal with together.
    "It's been a year Tommy and I still love you," Newt whispered to the stone as he played with the hem of his hoodie...Thomas' hoodie. He wore them most of the time. The hoodies made him feel that Thomas was still there with him, even though he realized there was no way he was going to come back.
    Newt took a deep breath and started walking away when his phone suddenly rang.
    He answered it without checking who it was.
    "Hello."
    "Newt, honey, it's Lisa."
    "Oh hi." Newt smiled slightly. He still kept in close contact with Thomas' mom, they needed each other in a way. She instantly became friends with Newt's mom and they became almost family to each other.
    "Are you busy right now?"
    "No, I was just at...I was at the memorial."
    "Can I come pick you up, it's important."
    "Of course, I'm done with classes for the day."
    "I'll text you when I'm here, it's a bit of a drive as you know."
    "Okay," Newt said and hung up the phone.
    He hurried back to his dorm to shower and get ready for whatever Lisa needed.

    "Okay there's something I need to tell you," she said as she grasped Newt's hand from across the table at a small coffee shop a half hour outside the campus.
    Newt nodded slightly, a lump forming in his throat.
    "You remember how we donated Thomas' organs after he died?"
    "Yeah," Newt frowned slightly at the mention of Thomas. He was better, definitely better but the mention of Thomas still stirred his emotions up.
    "A few months ago I got a call from an unknown number, it was a family who wanted to thank me. Apparently they had a son, the same age as Tom but he was blind. He got Thomas' cornea and now he can see again. He also had a bad set of lungs, I'm not sure of the details but they were able to get Thomas' lungs out quickly enough to give them to the boy. Thomas saved their sons life. He helped him see and breathe again."
    "That's amazing but I don't see why you had to meet me here to tell me that." Newt looked at her with confusion.
    "Oh hush Newt I'm not done with the story." Lisa smirked and squeezed his hand again.
    "Ever since the call I've been talking to the family occasionally and 2 months ago I met them. I told them about you Newt and their son really wants to meet you."
    Newt looked her over carefully, not fully understanding.
    "He's here Newt, if you want to meet him. He's waiting in the car," she said gently. "I understand if you don't feel comfortable with it but he's such a sweet boy."
    Newt visually paled as he thought it over. The boy would have parts of Thomas in him. When the boy breathed it would almost be like Thomas was breathing. It was as close as he could get to ever seeing Tommy again.
    "What's his name?"
    "Dylan, he's the same age as you and goes to college two hours away from here."
    "He wants to meet me?" Newt asked shyly.
    "He feels awful for you, he said maybe it could make you feel a little better to know that he was partly Thomas. You know, that Thomas was still living through him. It's helped me."
    "Okay," Newt said softly.
    "Newt, honey, my first concern is you, I want you to want it completely. I didn't know how you've been moving on..." she started but Newt cut her off.
    "I still miss him everyday," Newt admitted. "I'll meet him, it might be nice and if it goes badly, I'll just leave."
    "Okay, he's just in the car, I'll go get him." she smiled warmly and got up from the table.
    Newt stared down at his hands, his heart was beating insanely fast. He honestly didn't know what he wanted to come out of this. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Minho. I'm meeting the boy Tommy donated his organs to. He didn't wait for a response, he just turned off his phone and stuffed it in his pocket.
    "Newt?" Lisa asked snapping him out of his trace.
    He looked up and saw a boy standing behind her. He was taller than Newt and more built. He had dark hair but it was spiked, unlike Thomas' hair that was always flat and natural. The boy had the start of facial hair on his face but it was barely noticeable unless you looked really hard.
    "I'm Dylan." The boy gave Newt a small smile.
    Newt stood up slowly and politely stuck out his hand for him to shake. "I'm Newt."
    "It's nice to meet you."
    "You too." Newt's eyes met the boys and he frowned a bit. Of course the color wasn't the same as his Tommy's but part of those were his.
Newt felt a little weak in the knees.
    "Do you want to walk around the campus and talk for a bit?" Dylan asked as uncertainty skirted across his eyes.
    "I'd really like that."

    "The school looks nice." Dylan pointed out as they walked. Lisa dropped them off and said she'd be back in a few hours because she had "shopping to do".
    "I like it here," Newt said as he led them down a road.
    "Where are we walking to?"
    "I was gonna show you the..." Newt trailed off, his cheeks flushing, making him feel stupid. "Actually never mind it's stupid." Newt shoved his hands into his pockets.    "I'd love to see whatever you'd like to show me."
    Newt's face lit up a bit as he started walking again.
    "Hey you dropped something." Dylan said as he handed Newt a piece of folded up paper.
    Newt's eyes widened as he took it and buried it back deep in his pocket.
    "That was a...it was a note he gave me." Newt felt his cheeks heat up.
    "You really loved him didn't you?" Dylan asked.
His tone didn't sound rude, he sounded curious.
    "Yeah, I did. He was my whole world." Newt kicked at the ground as he led Dylan to the memorial.
    They stood silently in front of it for a while until Dylan finally spoke.
    "It's really beautiful."
    "Yeah it is." Newt turned to Dylan. "I'm sorry if I'm acting kinda, I don't know, cut off? You just look a little bit like him. It's bringing back memories."
    "I kind of expected it was gonna go like this." Dylan shrugged. "No worries, I understand."
    "So how is it being able to see?"
    "Weird, it took me so long to get used to it. I was born blind so I never knew what anyone looked like until just last year! But I love it, I love seeing."
    Newt laughed. "Yeah, seeing is pretty cool."
    Dylan walked closer to the stone and put his hand on it. "Thomas, even though I didn't know you thank you for giving me the best gift anyone ever could've given to me." Dylan looked back and smiled at Newt before turning back to the stone. "Hey I promise you I'll take care of Newt for you, even if he doesn't want me to. I'm gonna be his friend from now on okay?"
    Newt was grinning ear to ear as he watched Dylan talking to Thomas. For some reason it made him so happy that someone besides him was utilizing the memorial.
    "Dylan, you know there's this pizza place just around the corner, Tommy and I used to go all the time. Do you want to go?"
    "I'd love to." Dylan grinned.
    It was to no one's surprise when the two started dating four months later.
    Lisa was happy that Newt was happy again.
    Of course Newt still missed Thomas, but he stopped wearing his hoodies so often and he even started leaving the note on his desk. He shortened his memorial visits to once a week and whenever Dylan could, he went with him.
    He never forgot about Thomas he just learned to live without him.
    I mean, who ever forgets their first love?