I just reached 4.5k followers and I wanted to do something to celebrate it, so firstly thank you very much for following me, you’re all brilliant! I do blogrates quite a lot and i’ve done a follow forever and tumblr awards before so I’m trying out something different.
The plan is to ask you guys to vote on a poll i’ve made to decide on the best maze runner characters, then i’ll make a gifset for the top ten! You can vote for multiple characters once a day (try to keep it between 1-5 if possible) - and if i’ve forgotten one of your favourites i’ve added an ‘other’ button so you can put them on there too!
Top 10 The Maze Runner Characters (edit: now top 12)
The poll is running from today (10th of January) until 23:30pm on the 24th of January (GMT - UK Timezone), after that i’ll be counting up the votes! Other than that, happy voting, thank you again and if you have any questions just let me know!
Title: Strumming on my Heart Strings
Chapters: 1/3
Relationship(s): Newt/Thomas, Minho/Teresa
Words: 33,000
Summary: If someone had told Newt that when his family moved to America he’d end up joining a band, he wouldn’t have believed them.
If that same person told him that at the start of their second state wide tour, he’d meet the one person that would turn his whole life upside down, he still wouldn’t have believed them.
He probably should have learnt to trust them by now.
Tags: Alternate Universe - Rock Band
Chapter Summary: Being in a band was never something Newt had thought would happen in his life, but here he was, sat in a dressing room with his best friend, waiting to be interviewed for their second album release.
✎: Reincarnation. One person writes and publishes a book about the other. They meet at a book signing
Newt had given up searching for his soulmate, figuring that if he was going to find them then he shouldn’t force it, it was going to happen eventually. The only problem was that Thomas still hadn’t given up, so when he burst into Newt’s room at five in the morning proclaiming that he knew who Newt’s soulmate was, he really wasn’t all that surprised. Annoyed maybe, but not in the least bit shocked.
It’s a well-known fact that everybody in the world has a soulmate, whether that be in the form of a romantic or platonic soulmate didn’t matter - at least not to Newt. He’d spent the better part of his twenty one years trying to find his soulmate and as of yet he was having next to no luck.
It wasn’t for a lack of trying though, the problem was in the way the whole soulmate system worked. He’d spent hours researching it once he’d found out but all the information said the same thing - in each past life you have the same soulmate, and in each life after that you will always find them, no matter what.
The only problem was that Newt had drawn the short straw, in each cycle only one person in the pair would remember anything about their past life. Unluckily for Newt, he couldn’t remember anything, not even one tiny insignificant detail. It probably wouldn’t have bothered him so much if Thomas hadn’t found his soulmate first.
Newt had been friends with Thomas since before he could even remember and for a long time he’d hoped that Thomas was his soulmate, he’d been so caught up in the idea that he never really stopped to think about how it wasn’t even possible. As soon as you touch your soulmate, it’s said that you’ll be able to remember everything about your past life with them, something the other will have known about since the day they were born; so he knew Thomas couldn’t possibly be his soulmate, he’d come into contact with him plenty of times and it wasn’t as if Thomas would keep something so important from him anyway.
It wasn’t until their first day of University that Newt had to finally admit to himself that him and Thomas weren’t meant to be. Thomas has met his soulmate that day when both he and Newt had been trying to move into their new room on the third floor of the accommodation building. Thomas hadn’t been looking where he was going as usual, walking backwards whilst he was talking to Newt and had walked straight into someone’s side; he would have fallen over if they hadn’t reached out to catch him first.
Newt thought he probably would have found the whole situation pretty funny if the two of them hadn’t been stood there for so long, Thomas staring up at the guy with a look of amazement as he lay in his arms. If anything the whole thing was kind of uncomfortable and Newt was about to say something to snap the two of them out of it when Thomas spoke up instead.
“Gally?” The smile that spread across the others face seemed to be enough recognition for Thomas because he stood up out of his hold and threw his arms around his neck, burying his face in the skin there as he laughed. Gally had seemed pretty taken aback but soon he had his arms wrapped around Thomas and was pulling him close against his chest.
“I knew I’d find you here.” He’d whispered into Thomas’ hair and Newt had decided to leave them to it - the moment was theirs and theirs alone, he didn’t want to intrude on that.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy for Thomas, he really was, but he wondered when it would ever stop feeling strange. The two of them knew so much about the other that it was as if they’d known each other their whole lives and even now, two years later, Newt would find himself forgetting that they hadn’t. But they were good together, Thomas was happy and really that was what was most important.
Thomas decided to take it upon himself after that to help Newt find his soulmate and as much as Newt appreciated the help, there really wasn’t much Thomas could do other than push him into the paths of random strangers in the hopes that something would happen. So Newt had given up searching, figuring that if he was going to find his soulmate then he shouldn’t force it, it was going to happen eventually.
The only problem was that Thomas still hadn’t given up, so when he burst into Newt’s room at five in the morning proclaiming that he knew who Newt’s soulmate was, he really wasn’t all that surprised. Annoyed maybe, but not in the least bit shocked.
“It’s early, get out.” Newt grumbled into his pillow when Thomas flicked on the light, dropping down onto the end of Newt’s bed with a huff.
“Quit complaining, I have important news.” He hit Newt on the leg to try and get his attention and Newt groaned in annoyance, but reluctantly sat up anyway, pushing his hair out of his face, not bothering to stifle the yawn that overcame him. He leant back against the headrest to get comfortable and Thomas crawled over the bed to come and sit next to him, handing him the newspaper with a grin on his face.
Newt blinked down at the paper in an attempt to clear the sleep from his eyes, staring at the article in front of him in confusion, had he seriously woken him up just to look at a bloody newspaper? “What exactly am I looking at here?” He asked, glancing over at Thomas who just rolled his eyes and pointed at the article at the top of the page.
“Just read it would you? Then I’ll explain.” Newt sighed and turned back to the paper, bringing it up closer to his face so that he could read it better, only having to squint a little; he was too tired to bother leaning past Thomas to get his glasses from the bedside table.
“New YA novel ‘The Glade’ climbs to the top of the bestseller chart only days after its release. The book, written by author Minho Lee, follows the story of Newton, Edison, Lee and-” Newt had to stop reading as he huffed out a laugh, looking over at Thomas with a smile on his face. “Wait, Lee as in ‘Minho Lee’? He wrote himself into the book? Really?” Thomas didn’t seem amused though, if anything he looked annoyed which made Newt feel a bit better - serves him right for getting him up so easily.
“Oh would you just give it here, let me get to the point already!” Thomas impatiently grabbed the paper off him and started reading it out loud himself, ignoring Newts protests that he could read it perfectly fine on his own; not that he minded all that much, if Thomas wanted to do it that was less work for him. “The book follows the story of Newton, Edison, Lee and Agnes as they fight against the corporation known as WICKED, in an attempt to protect their home and keep safe those they hold most dear.”
Thomas dropped the paper and turned to look at him expectantly, eyebrows raised as he waited for him to say something. Newt had no idea what he was getting at though, so some guy wrote a book, what’s the big deal?
“Please tell me you see what I see here?” Newt shook his head. “Seriously?” Newt frowned a little at Thomas’ shocked expression, he really had no idea what Thomas was hinting at.
“Thomas it’s five in the morning.“ He told him pointedly, pulling the blanket closer around him as he did. “I’m tired, please just tell me what’s going on?” Thomas watched him a few seconds before his frown disappeared, replaced with a smile as he launched into his story.
“Okay, so Gally stayed over last night and he left his paper behind, only I didn’t realise because I was too distracted by his e-”
“The short version please? I’d like to get some more sleep in before class.” Newt cut him off, hoping to stop Thomas from going into too much detail about whatever him and Gally had been up to the night before, he liked to live in blissful ignorance about the whole thing.
Thomas nodded, turning the paper around and putting it down on Newt’s lap, a serious expression on his face.
“The characters in the book are us.” Newt opened his mouth to tell him he was being ridiculous, but Thomas held up a hand to stop him. “Okay just hear me out on this. Newton is obviously you, that’s the easiest one to figure out, right?” Newt was curious to see where Thomas was going with this, so he nodded his head.
“Right.” Thomas continued, looking more excited than he when he’d first entered the room, which Newt hadn’t even thought was possible. “Agnes is Teresa’s middle name and then Edison is mine, so those two are me and Teresa.” Newt looked back over at the paper, eyes flicking over the article and the image of the book next to it. The guy writing himself into the book was probably quite normal, authors must do it all the time; but the thought of him putting in strangers just made no sense, even coming from Thomas.
“So what, this Minho guy made a book and wrote us all into it and yet none of us know who he is?” Newt asked, flicking his gaze back up to Thomas who was nodding his head happily.
“Because he’s your soulmate Newt, that’s what I’m trying to tell you!” Newt didn’t know whether it was because he was still tired or because he’d learnt to live with Thomas’ weird ideas, but he wasn’t at all surprised that he’d managed to think that up. It was an insane idea, assuming that one of Newt’s past lives had been interesting enough for his soulmate to want to write a book about it, let alone one that would become an instant success.
It wasn’t even like Thomas had all that much to go on, sure the names of the characters were the same as their names, but so what? It was just some sort of weird coincidence, nothing more, right? He said as much to Thomas, who’s excited demeanour dropped instantly and he sagged down, frowning at him.
“You don’t even think this is a little bit suspicious?” Maybe he did think it was a bit odd, but not enough that he wanted to be discussing it more than he wanted to go back to bed. He pushed the newspaper back over to Thomas and shuffled down the bed so that he could lay back down, snuggling into the pillow in an attempt to go back to sleep.
“Not really, Tommy.” Newt closed his eyes when Thomas let out a defeated sigh and got up off the bed, leaving the newspaper behind.
“Fine, but I’m telling Teresa and she’s going to believe me, just you wait.” Newt waved a hand at him and pulled the blanket back up to his shoulders.
“Shut the door on your way out, would you?” Newt smiled into his pillow when Thomas left the room, muttering to himself about how Newt ‘didn’t respect his help’ and shut the door behind him. Newt settled down against his pillows and tried to get back to sleep, hoping that maybe when he’d woken up, Thomas would have forgotten all about his supposed soulmate.
He hadn’t.
If anything Thomas had become even more invested in finding this Minho guy and proving to Newt that he was right about them being soulmates. He’d ordered the book online that same day and had been waiting for it to arrive all week so that he could read it and gloat about the fact that he’d been right all along; something that Newt was hoping would crash and burn so that Thomas would get off his case about it once and for all.
Newt himself had forgotten all about the book after a few days, consumed with a rush of coursework he had to get in by the end of the week, until Thomas had ran over to him in the library and dropped the book down in front of him. He didn’t even let him ask what was going on before he was sat down in the chair opposite him, talking a mile a minute about the damn book.
“Okay so I’ve read it - which holy shit if any of our past lives were actually like that, just.” Thomas took a second to calm himself down, gesturing to the book he’d dropped on the table in front of him. “But Newt, the main character really is you.”
“Let me guess.” Newt sighed, leaning back in his chair. There was no way he was going to be getting any more work done now that Thomas was here, he may as well hear him out. “He’s tall and has blonde hair?” Thomas rolled his eyes at him, but continued none the less.
“Well yeah, but that’s not it just listen, okay?” Thomas reached into his back pocket for a piece of paper and started to read off of it. “Brown eyes, British, blon-”
Newt huffed out a laugh, eyebrows raised. “You made a list?” Thomas looked up pointedly from said list to glare at him.
“Yes, shut up. He’s got blonde hair, he’s really smart, like you and he’s even called Newton!” Newt picked up the book as Thomas read off his list, glancing over the image on the front cover. Large trees filled most of the image, a small log fire burning in the centre, a group of four teenagers sat around it, three boys and a girl.
“My names Isaac.” He pointed out, smiling at the annoyed noise Thomas made as he folded up the list again, stuffing it back into his pocket.
“Yeah, Isaac Newton.” Now it was Newt’s turn to roll his eyes at Thomas, dropping the book back on the table and pushing it out of the way so that he could get back to his work.
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe he was named after the actual Isaac Newton? You know, that really famous guy who discovered gravity?” Thomas let out a huff of air and sank down in his seat a little.
“Oh whatever, just read the book and you’ll see, the main character is you.”
“He does have a point you know, the guy is almost exactly like you.” Newt turned round in his seat to see Teresa walking towards the two of them, carrying three cups of coffee. She put one down on the table in front of Newt as she passed him, squeezing his shoulder gently.
“Yes, thank you!” Thomas reached over the table to give Teresa a high-five as she passed him his coffee; she just laughed at him, shaking her head as she took her seat next to Newt.
“I can’t believe he’s got you in on this too.” Newt groaned, turning back around in his chair to grab his coffee off the table. Teresa just shrugged, pulling the book over to her so that she could look through it.
“It kind of makes sense, Newt and besides, whoever this guy is he’s a pretty damn good writer, made me sound badass. Check this out.” Teresa turned the book to face him, tapping at a line towards the bottom of the page. “I knock out three guards and take another one captive with a knife to his throat, how cool is that?’
"You know it’s not actually you right?” Newt couldn’t understand what both of them were getting from this, maybe this guy was his soulmate, maybe the book was about them but it was about a 1% chance that what they were saying was true. Even less than that really, it was practically impossible, it was insane! “Agnes did that, in a fictional story. Not you.”
“You’ve got to be a buzzkill, don’t you?“ She asked, pulling the book back towards her.
"It’s bloody ridiculous and you know it.” Teresa shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee as she closed the book, passing it back over to Thomas.
“Maybe, but what’s the harm in finding out?”
As much as Newt wanted to forget all about the book and carry on with his life, it seemed like the universe had other plans for him. Everywhere he went he was reminded of Thomas’ insane theory; whether that be the huge posters lining the walls of shops he visited, people talking about it in passing on the streets or even just walking past a book shop - he couldn’t get the damn thing out of his head.
It’s a few weeks after his talk with Thomas and Teresa at the library that he caved and bought the book, and Sonya is entirely to blame for it. It had been in his head all day and he’d been hoping that the hour long lecture he had that morning would be enough to take his mind off it for a while, but he had no such luck. As soon as he took his usual seat next to Sonya he groaned, noticing the book she was reading.
“You’ve got to be kidding with me.” He muttered to himself, obviously not quietly enough because Sonya looked up from her book to frown at him.
“Newt, you okay?” Newt nodded his head, running a hand through his hair as he settled down into his seat, dropping his bag down on the floor by his feet.
“Just that bloody book, it’s everywhere.” Sonya nodded in understanding, giving him an amused look as she turned more in her seat to talk to him.
“Not a fan?”
“No, it’s not that, just something Thomas keeps bugging me about.” Sonya huffed out a laugh at that, putting a bookmark on her page and closing the book, stuffing it in her bag.
“What, more so than usual?” Newt couldn’t help but smile as he shook his head, recall I all the times he’d complained to her about Thomas. As much as he loved his best friend like a brother, he really was a pain in the arse sometimes.
“He’s got it into his head that the guy who wrote the book is my soulmate.” Newt told her, the thought of it still sounding impossible to him. “It’s bloody ridiculous.” Sonya didn’t seem to think so though, perking up a bit in interest.
“What makes him say that?”
“Apparently the main character is exactly like me, he wrote a list.”
“You have got similar names, I’ll give him that.” Newt nodded, leaning forward in his seat as he got more into telling her what had happened.
“But get this, he also thinks the twins are him and Teresa, since his middle name is Edison and her’s is Agnes.”
“Let me guess, you just think it’s some weird coincidence?” Newt frowned, sitting back in his seat again.
“What, you don’t?” Sonya just shrugged, looking like she was contemplating the idea of it all being true. Newt didn’t understand what had gotten into everyone lately that they were all believing one of Thomas’ stupid ideas, he’d thought at least Sonya would have backed him up on this, she was usually the logical one.
“I don’t know, but if it’s true and you’re anything as good together as he makes it seem in the book, then I’d definitely want to find him.” Newt opened his mouth to retaliate but paused when he realised what she’d just said.
“Wait, they’re dating in the book?” The fact that his supposed character was actually in a relationship with his supposed soulmate in the book had never even crossed his mind. He’d thought maybe they were close friends, that people were just reading into it too much like they normally did, but if they really were together then that would explain why Thomas was so adamant about them being soulmates.
“Yeah, Newton and Lee are together throughout the whole thing.” Sonya was frowning at him when he looked back over at her, “I thought you’d read it?”
“I’ve been trying to ignore it actually.” And if by trying he meant failing miserably to get the damn thing out of his head, then it had been going pretty well so far. Sonya seemed even more shock to find out he hadn’t read the book, grabbing her bag off the floor and getting up out of her seat.
“Get up.” She ordered him, causing Newt to gape up at her in shock.
“What? I just got here.” Sonya just rolled her eyes, grabbing hold of Newt’s arm to pull him out of his chair despite his protests otherwise, barely giving him chance to pick up his bag before she was leading him out of the lecture hall and out of the university. “Where the hell are we going?”
“We’re going to buy you that book and you’re reading it.” Sonya told him pointedly as she let go of his arm, falling to step beside him as they made their way down the road towards the town centre. “You can’t just disregard Thomas’ theory without checking it out for yourself.” Newt sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he followed her, resigning himself to coming along - if he read the book then maybe people would finally stop asking him about it.
“Don’t tell me you believe him too?”
“Maybe and besides, it’s sort of sweet. If he’s written this book to try and find you then I want to help.”
He hadn’t expected the shop to be so busy, but there’s a long line trailing outside the door by the time they get there, a sign showing they’d just received a new shipment of ‘The Glade’ hanging in the window. Newt considered just leaving and going home, not wanting to wait in line for ages but Sonya didn’t give him much of a choice, dragging him over to the back of the line so they could wait.
After what felt like hours, but what Newt logically knew was only about twenty minutes, they’d reached the front of the line and Newt was now the unwilling owner of a brand new copy of the book. It felt a bit surreal actually having it, after it practically taking over his life for the past month, but there it was in all it’s 372 page glory.
“What now?” He asked, glancing up at Sonya as she rolled her eyes at him in exasperation.
“Now you’re going to go home and read it, I don’t want to hear any more complaining from you until you can back it up!” Newt looked down at the book, turning it over in his hands - if reading the book was all it took to get people to back off, then that’s what he was going to do.
The book sat unopened on his bedside table for six days before he finally opened it, the curiosity that perhaps Thomas was onto something getting the better of him. He had the whole day off from working so he grabbed the book off his table and settled down on the small armchair in his and Thomas’ living room and set about reading the book.
He’s not sure how he’d managed it, but somehow in the month of knowing about the books existence, he hadn’t once found out what it’s actually about. All of his friends had been too worked up in the origins of it that they’d failed to tell him what the book was even about.
It was the plot that first made him skeptical that the story was based on real life events. A group of teenage stowaways had built themselves a home in the woods to leave behind their old lives and create something better, something they would have full control of. Newton, the main character of the book, is second in command of the group and co-leader of the team they’d named the runners - the older members of the group who went on scouting missions into the main city to bring back food and supplies for everyone.
The other leader of the runners was a boy named Lee, who Newton had met living out on the streets and had taken him back to live with him and the twins - Agnes and Edison - in their new home The Glade. Lee was a few years older, with tanned skin, jet black hair and strong, muscular arms; Newton was practically in love with him, he just didn’t want to admit it.
The further Newt got into the book, the more he started to agree with Thomas. Newton really was a lot like him; in the way he speaks, his mannerisms, even his appearance was Newt right down the the finer details. The same went for Agnes and Edison, they were both twins (like Thomas and Teresa), their appearances were strikingly similar and their personalities were almost a complete replica.
The whole thing was starting to make Newt feel a little uneasy, feeling as if he knew the characters so well made their situation hurt all that much more when Lee gets taken on a run. There was a group in the city calling themselves WICKED that wanted the Gladers dealt with, didn’t like them living out in the woods and causing trouble so they’d taken it upon themselves to stop it.
When Newton comes back from a run to find that Lee hadn’t made it back he starts to panic, thinking that he’d lost him before he’d had a chance to tell him how he feels. Newton, Agnes and Edison - along with a few others - work together to fight back against WICKED and bring Lee home.
By the time Newt had finished the book he honestly didn’t know what to think, his thoughts all over the place wondering if maybe Thomas had been right all along, maybe the author of the book really was his soulmate. He did the only things could think of and started researching, searching around on the Internet for any traces of a man named Minho Lee - he had to know more about him, had to find out if what Thomas was saying was true.
It turned out that The Glade is the only piece of writing that Minho had ever published, there was nothing else out there. Even then he wanted to stay out of the spotlight for it, hadn’t even put a photograph of himself in the book like most authors did, leaving Newt feeling frustrated as he shut his laptop, shoving it across the coffee table with a huff just as the front door to the apartment swung open.
Thomas is out of breath when he runs through the door, dumping his bag on the sofa, shifting on his feet excitedly, a huge grin on his face. “I’ve found him!”
“Found him?” Newt asked, leaning forward on his seat in confusion as Thomas nodded. “Found who?”
“Minho. I found him, I know where his is, come on!” Newt didn’t even stop to think before following Thomas out the door, too wrapped up in the idea that he could be meeting Minho, could be meeting his potential soulmate that he doesn’t even bother asking how Thomas found him when he couldn’t.
Thomas takes him to the large shopping complex in the town centre. By the time they get there it’s packed full of people all queueing up to get to one specific shop, only Newt can’t see what it is they’re waiting for.
“Thomas, what are we doing here?” Newt asks as the join the back of the line, trying the peer over people to see what was at the front.
“Just wait, you’ll see.” Newt huffed out a sigh, resigning himself to waiting in line to find out what was going on. He couldn’t help but feel excited though, Thomas had dragged him all the way out here because he’d found Minho, if that’s what was at the end of the line then he could definitely wait.
But the closer they got to the front of the line, the more nervous he started to get. The people around them were shooting him curious glances and whispering to themselves and it was really starting to freak him out. He was about to ask them to knock it off when the girl stood infront of them in the queue turned to face them, apparently unable to keep it to herself any longer.
“You know, you look exactly like i’d expect Newton to look like, it’s kind of uncanny.” Newt isn’t sure what to say that, but more people are turning round at her announcement to try and get a look at him. Thankfully Thomas saves him from having to reply, throwing an arm around Newt’s shoulders.
“I’ve been trying to tell him this for months but he won’t listen to me. Right, Newt?” Before Newt had a chance to defined himself, his attention was drawn back to the girl as she let out a gasp, eyes widened in shock as she stared at him.
“Holy shit, it really is you isn’t it? This book is about you!” Newt wanted to tell her that it really wasn’t about him, that none of that had ever happened to him, but after reading the book a part of him was starting to hope that maybe she was right. He gave her a small smile instead, causing her to let out a short squeal as she turned to look at Thomas, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet. “So that would make you Edison right?”
Newt tried not to roll his eyes at the smug look Thomas was giving him, ducking out from underneath his arm as he answered. “Well, Edison is my middle name but yeah, that would be me!” As the two of them talk Newt tries to let it all sink in, how easily she took to the idea that this book was really written about them. It made him think that maybe it wasn’t as outrageous an idea as he’d previously thought it was.
As much as Newt didn’t mind talking to the girl, she seemed nice enough, he just couldn’t focus on their conversation, too curious as to what it was exactly they were queuing up for. If Thomas wasn’t going to tell him what was going on, maybe she could, so he asked.
“The authors doing a book signing, his editor convinced him to, even though he wanted to keep to himself. Oh, i’m Brenda by the way.” She told them, holding out a hand which Thomas shook, introducing the both of them since Newt wasn’t really paying much attention to them anymore too caught up in his thoughts’. He’d been right, his potential soulmate was sitting in the bookshop just a few stores down from them and he was suddenly really nervous.
“What if he doesn’t like me?” Newt asked over whatever Thomas and Brenda had been talking about, both of them were looking at him with confused expressions when he glanced over.
“Of course he’ll like you.” Thomas told him matter of factly, frowning. “You’re his soulmate, you’re meant to be together.” Newt let out a breath of air, shaking his head.
“But the me in his book is so much more interesting than me now. I mean, Newton fought against a whole town to get Lee back, i’m just me.” Brenda was looking at him curiously before giving him a warm smile, hugging the book to her chest.
“Maybe just you is exactly what he’s looking for.” Newt has no idea what he’s supposed to say to that, choosing instead to just tunes them out again, stuffing his hands in his pockets until they get to the front door of the bookstore. He know’s it’s not the most polite thing, but if he has to listen to them discussing the the book, discussing Minho he doesn’t think he’ll be able to go through with talking to him, will just turn back and bolt right out the doors.
He jumped a little when he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder, looking up to see Thomas and Brenda grinning at him, nodding towards the open doors of the bookshop. That’s when Newt see’s him, sat at a desk with a huge smile on his face and he can’t help but stare, his breath catching in his throat because even though he had an idea of what Minho would look like from the books, in real life he’s so much better. Strong arms, tanned skin, jet black hair and a smile to die for - Newt thinks he’s beautiful.
He knows he must be staring for a bit too long because Thomas clears his throat from next to him to draw him out of his apparent trance, both him and Brenda smiling at him knowingly and Newt has to work hard to fight off the blush he knows is rising on his cheeks.
“He’s gorgeous, good job Newt.” Newt is about to reach over and hit Brenda on the arm jokingly for her comment and stops himself when he realises they’ve known her for less than half an hour, so he just smiles and agrees instead. “Makes me want to find my soulmate.”
“Do you know who they are?” Newt asks, joining in with the conversation to try and keep his thoughts away from anything other than the fact that Minho is sat just a few feet away from him.
“Teresa. Her name’s Teresa.” Newt snapped his gaze over to Thomas to see his friends wide-eyed expression, a huge smile spreading across his face not long after.
“My sister’s named Teresa, she doesn’t know her soulmate, maybe I could introduce you?” Brenda just stared up at him for a while, mouth opening and closing again in shock before she’s nodding her head, rushing forward to pull Thomas into a hug.
“You’d do that? Thomas, thank you!”
It’s not long before the three of them finally reach the front of the line, just two steps left between them and suddenly Newt doesn’t think he can do it, telling Brenda that she can go before him but she just shakes her head, pushing Newt forward so that he’s stood awkwardly in front of the table waiting for Minho to look up from where he’s signing someone else’s book.
It’s then that Newt realises that he’s come empty handed, he didn’t even know they were coming here let alone that he needed to bring a book. He feels a little stupid now, fiddling with his hands as the person picks up their book, thanking Minho as they leave the room.
“I don’t actually have a book with me, my friend just sort of dragged me along…” He trailed off as Minho let out a short laugh, shaking his head and Newt couldn’t help but think it was the most beautiful sound he’d even heard.
Minho looked up at him as he spoke, putting the cap on his pen. “It’s fine, we have so-” he stopped short as soon as his eyes locked on to Newts, staring at him in shock. Newt’s not sure what he’s supposed to do in this situation, can feel the blush rising on his cheeks as he tries to think of something to say. The words get stuck in his throat as Minho smiles at him, getting up from behind the table; the security men on either side tried to get him to sit back down he just brushed them off, moving round the table so that he was stood in front of Newt.
“Newton? Is… Is it really…?” And Newt can’t stop the smile from spreading across his face at Minho’s shock so he nods, watching as Minho’s eyes go wide in amazement.
“Well I mean, I go by Newt but, yeah I think so.” Minho seemed at a loss for words, his eyes flickering over Newt’s face. Newt was about to speak again, to explain why he was here but Minho was moving forward, pulling Newt against his chest in a tight hug. He only had a second to register what was happening when suddenly a tight pain started growing in his chest, his head feeling dizzy and Minho’s pulling back, hands resting on Newt’s shoulders.
“I shouldn’t have done that, i’m sorry I forgot about the whole memory transfer thing.” Newt’s holding on tight to Minho’s arm, his eyes screwed shut but then the pain is gone and his head feels clear and he can remember.
He can remember their camp in the woods, he can remember running through the town, remembers fighting against WICKED to keep their home but most importantly of all, he can remember Minho.
He remembers the night after they’d rescued Minho from WICKED, how he’d held him in his arms, thankful to finally have him back, that he was safe. How he’d curled up against Minho’s chest as he told him what had happened, what WICKED had done to him, how all he could think about was how he had to get back to Newt somehow.
Remembered how Minho wanted to write tales of their adventures so the whole world would know what they’d been through. Newt let out a short laugh then, opening his eyes to see Minho staring at him in concern, eyes running over his face but Newt just smiled, reaching out to place his hand gently against Minho’s cheek.
“I can’t believe you actually wrote a bloody book about us.” Minho’s concern slipped away almost instantly, his eyes lighting up as he smiled.
“I told you I would, didn’t I?” Newt just shook his head in reply, his eyes fluttering closed again as Minho leant forward to capture Newt’s lips in a gentle kiss, one which he returned gladly. He can hear Thomas and Brenda cheering them on behind him, the shocked gasps of the rest of the people in the book shop and he know’s he should be embarrassed but he can’t bring himself to care because he remembers.
He remembers their life together and now that he finally has Minho in front of him again, he doesn’t ever want to let him go.
