A/N- The story is (hopefully) moving forward now!! Went a lil crazy in this chapter, but I hope that I can continue to release these lengthier chapters as I get further along! Enjoy! :D
Word Count- 3,041
Warnings- creeper pushing Y/N into uncomfortable situations
The day had passed and the team was ready to enact their first plan. They were to split into three couples: Tina and Queenie, Jacob and Theseus, and Y/N and Newt. Tina and Queenie would leave first to scout out the market and report to Jacob and Theseus if they discovered it was happening. The boys would then alert Newt and Y/N if they found anything by ordering a gin rickey, if nothing, an old fashioned. Then, Newt and Y/N would meet Tina and Queenie on the dance floor to relay any information they needed to know before they tried to enter. If Y/N and Newt made it in, the rest would stay behind and wait for action. If they were forced to leave, they would wait by the building across the street, and Jacob would be apparated home.
"Remind me why I agreed to be her partner." Newt asked Jacob a few hours before they all left. Any second thoughts about Y/N's personality were immediately thrown from Newt's brain when he'd accidentally spilled a quarter of the potion she gave him on her dining table that same evening.
"Newt! Oh, no no no no. How could you!" Y/N cried, her attempts to fix the table rendered useless.
"How could I? You were the one who never told me this was acidic and would burn wood!" Newt cried back, confusion and anger over taking the rationality in his head.
"I did! You didn't listen! I told you after the rooms were arranged to be careful with the potion!"
"You weren't specific enough!"
"Stop fighting! Y/N, I understand that you're upset about your table, I'm sure we can fix it or find a lovely replacement, but it's not entirely his fault and irrational of you to get so mad at him. Newt, it was an accident, yes, but you could've tried to clean it before the hole was formed, or at least apologized. Now stop bickering like children and act like the specifically-selected, highly-admired magizoologist ADULTS that you both are!" Theseus yelled at the both. If Y/N felt like a scolded child before, she definitely did now.
"She's not that bad, really. You guys just got off on the wrong foot and won't let it go. It's quite funny, actually. You're so similar but refuse to see it." Jacob laughed while Newt didn't, deciding to adjust his sweater vest with a sigh instead and leave the room they shared.
Newt was greeted with the soft sound of jazz playing on the record you had in your living room. He saw Tina and Queenie, both fully ready, sitting on the couch discussing their plan, a cup of tea in both of their hands and looks of seriousness on their faces.
The quiet clicking of heels behind him brought Newt's attention to Y/N. She had on a deep red Gatsby dress with silver sequins and threads of beads that hung to her knees. Her hair was done to stay out of her face but still look nice, and she wore a shade of lipstick that matched entirely to her dress. Newt stood in shock, not recognizing who she was until she asked him to go over their plan and characters for the evening.
"We go in 10 minutes after Jacob and Theseus and avoid everyone until the dance floor. We sit at the opposite end of the bar until we're given the signal, pretending to be on a date until then. If we're given the go to, we meet Tina and Queenie on the dance floor farthest from the bar. We get in somehow and look around. If we find the lethifolds or any information on them, great for us, if not, we create another plan. The main goals are to get out alive and escape unrecognized." Newt recited perfectly, leaving her impressed.
"And here I was thinking you never listened to me." Y/N says to him, sass obvious in her tone as she stirs sugar into her tea.
"I only listen when I have to." Newt said back, the slight glare she gives him making him smirk.
Soon (too soon in her opinion), it's 7:45, Tina and Queenie are gone, and the plan is set in action.
"You alright, doll? You keep pacin' around. Wouldn't want you to trip or, even worse, leave a hole in the floor too." Jacob jokes, trying to calm Y/N's nerves, but just getting a small laugh out of her as she sits down.
"Sorry, I move when I'm anxious." She told the man, who decided to pat her shoulder and offer her a smile instead of words. She was grateful for the comfort, but soon enough, it was just her and Newt in the apartment.
"How should I-"
"We leave at-"
The two stopped talking, waiting for the other to let them talk before speaking over each other again.
"Sorry, you-"
"You can go-"
With a sigh and a wave of her hand, Y/N motioned for Newt to talk first.
"I was just going to ask how I should act like your date." He said, a flush covering his cheeks when Y/N giggled.
"Haven't thought that far ahead, huh?" She teased him, only slowing her giggles when she saw the embarrassment on his face. They might not be the best of friends, but she wasn't totally cruel.
"Stand up." She told him, the sternness of her voice shocking the both of them. Newt carefully stood, averting Y/N's gaze when she came over and flinching when she picked up his arm.
"When we walk, put your arm here-" she places his hand around her shoulders before moving it to the small of her back. "-or here."
"W-what about the rest of the time?" He asked, the flush on both their faces growing.
"Well, we'll have an actual conversation for the first time ever while we wait for our signal. When we go to the dance floor, keep your arm on me somewhere and, just, copy what others are doing, I suppose." Y/N began to step away when she felt Newt pull her back.
"And when we, hopefully, make it into the market?" He asked, his hand not leaving her wrist, his serious face forcing hers to stare back.
"We'll just… keep up the act. Remember, no straying from one another." She said, pulling away to check herself in the hallway mirror.
"Okay, it's time." She said after glancing at the clock. Y/N held onto Newt's arm and tucked her wand into a secret pocket of her dress while he apparated the two to the bar.
They carefully stepped into The Passage Brewery, immediately spotting Tina and Queenie talking to some men in a corner and seeing Jacob and Theseus at the far side of the bar. They took their seats across from the men and began their act.
"So, how long have you been in your field?" Y/N asked. She remembered Tina and Theseus reminding everyone to keep their small talk vague when they first created the plan, making sure to address Y/N and Newt specifically since they had to do the most.
"About 8 years now. But, I've had an interest in the field since childhood." Newt replied, playing with the fingers of Y/N's hand that he held on the bar, making the pair flush.
"Remind me how old you are?" She asks, realizing she didn't know the age gap between her and her teammates.
"I turned 28 in February. And remind me of yours?" He replied, smirking at the soft blush on Y/N's cheeks.
"I turn 26 in October." She said, ducking her head down to avoid the look of humor that she knew would make her blood boil.
"You're bloody brilliant for your age, you know." He said, his voice closer to her ear than she expected, the sound sending vibrations through her body. She quickly looked up, almost bumping heads with Newt in doing so. They laughed the action off before continuing the conversation.
After another fifteen minutes of talking, Y/N grew to like Newt more than before. She couldn't understand why she let herself stay mad at him until they began discussing their first meeting.
"I really am sorry, you know. I realize now that you meant no harm when we first met, but I still acted and thought harshly of you because I couldn't see past that meeting. But, I… I hope we can move past that and become better acquainted." Newt said. Over the course of the last twenty minutes of talking, the two magizoologists had continued to move their chairs closer and closer to one another, not even realizing it.
"They're either really great actors or really stupid people." Theseus said from across the bar, dragging Jacob's attention away from Queenie and to the young "couple" across from them.
"Oh, trust me, they're the latter. They've got to be the most oblivious people when it comes to emotions, and I've talked to myself." Jacob laughed, causing Theseus to shake his head at the man, unable to hide his smirk.
Jacob looked back to the dancefloor to find Queenie giving him the signal that they had news, excusing himself from Theseus, who watched the interaction intently.
"I'd like to apologize too, Newt. It was rude of me to lash out on you … eventhoughIhadareason." Y/N mumbled the last part, earning a laugh from Newt and making her glow with a prideful smile.
"In all seriousness, I am sorry. I hope we can be a better pair now." She said, resting her head on Newt's shoulder. She felt him tense and almost moved away before she felt his arm wrap around her shoulders and pull her closer to him, his head resting on hers.
"I believe we will be." He said the two flushing the same color as Y/N's dress before they noticed Jacob return and Theseus calling the bartender over, making eye contact with the two of them.
"Yes, I'd like to order a gin rickey please. Thank you, sir." Theseus said, watching as Y/N and Newt soon moved to the dance floor, his hand grasping hers as she led him through the crowd to the sisters across from the bar.
"Hiya, doll! Oh, I missed ya!" Queenie pulled Y/N into a hug, whispering the information she had into her ear. Newt watched as Y/N's smile fell slightly and Queenie gave her a disappointed nod of her head. Soon, she repeated the action with Newt while Tina told Y/N everything else she needed to know.
"There's a man who will let you in, but Y/N needs to butter him up with some 'sweet talk and sweet cash', as I quote." Queenie whispered into Newt's ear, making eye contact with Y/N who was just told how much they need to give him to get in.
"He has a one-hundred fifty dollar minimum to get two people through the door." Tina told Newt as Queenie and Y/N started to dance their way over to the man that she needed to flirt with.
"Wait, we're not supposed to separate-" Newt started to make his way to Y/N when Tina grabbed his wrist and held him there.
"She has to go alone or he doesn't listen. We watched." Tina told him, sitting at a booth in the corner.
Newt nodded in understanding, his eyes never leaving Y/N's dancing body. He watched as she approached a man who looked to be around thirty five and towered over many that passed by. He wore a glare on his face, but followed Y/N's figure as she approached him, giving her an up and down before listening to her. The action made Newt sick, and while he trusted Y/N to be safe, he still convinced Tina to walk at least to the edge of the dance floor.
"Hey sugar. A little birdy told me that I could find some interesting goods around here, and I was just wondering if you could tell me how to do that." Y/N spoke to the man in the sweetest voice she could, looking at the man through her lashes, and playing with the collar of his shirt. The man gave her the smallest smirk as he tilted her chin up and whispered in her ear how much she needed to give him to let her and one friend in.
She closed her eyes and swallowed the bile that she felt would threaten to escape if she didn't leave soon, but before she could fully leave, the man pulled her wrist and tugged her to him. She decided she liked it better when Newt held her wrist.
"You know what? Just for you, pretty lady, I'll let you in for only one hundred, just don't tell anyone about this little discount." The man sent her a slimy smile and motioned for her to leave, the brave face she barely held onto immediately slipping as she turned around from the man and started making her way to Queenie.
"Y/N, darlin', are you okay?" Y/N knew Queenie was talking to her and made sure to vaguely answer but all she wanted to do was find Newt and get this over with. When they made eye contact from across the room, it felt as if time stopped. Newt immediately left Tina, who followed behind him still, apologizing to people as he pushed through them to get to Y/N who had started making her way to him too.
When they met at the edge of the dance floor, Y/N could have sworn Newt had smoke coming from her ears.
"I'm so sorry, Newt, I really am. I just had to get us in somehow, but I shouldn't have gone alone-" She was cut off by the man holding her face in his hands, inspecting her face the way a mother would a child. She saw the anger in his features soften as he looked at her face. She felt she could count the freckles on his face, memorize the color of his eyes, realizing the way his eyebrows relaxed when air exhaled through his lips made her let out a breath she was subconsciously holding.
"You don't have to apologize, you only did what you had to do. I, however, am sorry that you had to interact with that beast that claims he's a man. If you don't feel up for it-" Y/N stopped Newt with a shake of her head and an urgent look in her eyes.
"No, we have to do this. I have twenty five dollars on me right now, and I'm sure that we can combine our money as a group to get the other seventy five-"
"Wait, I thought he needed one hundred fifty?" Tina interrupted, pretending to be conversing with Queenie right next to her.
"Gave me a discount. Newt has twenty five, too. I know because he's the one who told me to bring it." Y/N flushed as she looked to Newt, who held his arm around her waist as he'd been asked to earlier in the evening and pretended to be looking around to hide his flush.
"I brought fifty, just in case you ignored me again." He murmured so only the three women could hear him. Y/N flushed stronger and cringed into his side as the two sisters laughed at his words. Y/N leaned off Newt's side too late to notice the way he glanced at her and tried to stomach the strange feeling inside him. Just nerves of losing a new friend, he tried to convince himself.
"I have ten, and I know Jacob has ten. What about you, Teeny?" Queenie asked her sister, subtly giving Y/N the money by holding her hand and pretending to twirl her to the music. When Queenie let go of her hand, Tina handed Newt a folded bundle of bills behind Y/N's back before saying "Fifteen."
"Perfection. We'll see you girls later. If we have an incident, we'll set off blue fireworks." Y/N said, a smile settling on her face as she felt Newt subconsciously rub up and down her back.
"We'll be here. Stay safe you two." Tina said, giving smiles to the two of them and pulling Queenie behind her.
"Well, then. If you'd hand me that cash and trail a few feet back, I'll start this show." Y/N said, holding the hand that Newt held his money in. He gave her hand a slight squeeze as she squared her shoulders and walked towards the man she wanted to bolt from. She made sure to swing her hips and look through her lashes while waving with the hand holding the money once she made eye contact with the terrifying man, who seemed to enjoy the show.
Newt followed a few feet behind like he promised Y/N, but he'd be lying if he claimed to not be stunned by her for a moment before following after her.
"I've got that money for you, mister." Y/N said, placing the dollars in her hand into the man's pocket and dragging it down before holding her hands behind her back.
"Did you bring a friend, little lady?" He asked, getting into her face. When Y/N tried to step back, she felt a figure bump into her back and hold her shoulders.
"Yes she did." Newt said. Y/N nearly turned around and checked that it was Newt behind her. His voice was deeper and held more intensity than she'd ever heard. The only way she knew it was Newt was by the soft rubbing of his thumbs against her shoulders, the same back and forth he'd done earlier when holding her waist. The man looked Newt up and down, giving you a nasty look.
"It's rude for a lady to play with a man when they've got another right along with her." He grumbled, tearing the money out of his pocket and aggressively counting it.
"Follow me." He said, motioning for the younger pair to go behind the door he had been hiding. Before they left, both Newt and Y/N looked at their group, who all watched them enter the secret door.
"And now we play the waiting game." Said Theseus, ordering four waters for them to sip as they patiently watched for their leaders.
