EPIPHANY ? newt

37 , warm

I found my way to the tent I would be sharing with Brenda, Teresa, Sonya, Harriet and a few of the other new arrivals, exhausted, and fell asleep within minutes of my head touching the soft pillow. I had hoped my nightmares wouldn't wake me up in a panic, causing me to wake everyone else around me in turn, but it was even better. I didn't dream at all. The next morning, I woke up feeling like a new person - as cliché as it sounded.

The clock by my bed on a table showed me it was still quite early in the morning, and I could see the sun had barely started rising when I walked out of the tent, but I had amounts of energy rushing through my body like never before. I felt like I could go for a run down the stretch of the beach that looked so inviting at that time. Instead, I quickly get ready, being able to change into a new pair of fresh clothes after a shower for the first time in a while.

I ventured towards where I could see a lot of the people who lived around here getting breakfast - Frypan was already inside the cooking tent, standing over what looked like a pot of soup as he chatted with another boy around our age cutting bread into slices. "Morning," I turned around, seeing Newt standing in the entrance of one of the tents where people were sitting down to eat, the blonde leaning against one of the pillars holding it up, a smirk on his face.

Trying to keep the grin off my face when I spotted the boy, I walked over to him slowly, but Newt didn't even give me a second to say hello before he grabbing hold of my arm, gently pulling me away from the rest of the people around us and deeper inland, toward what looked like a small forest of trees a bit away. "Newt, where are we go-" but he simply put one of his fingers to his lips as we walked, making me fall silent without saying a word.

A few minutes later, my curiosity only growing with every second, Newt slowed down, finally coming to a stop once we had reached a small clearing midst of the dense trees all around. I gasped softly, walking towards the array of rocks that seemed to sit as a statue in the middle of the area, sitting perfectly in the way of a bright blue creek that ran through the clearing - soft splashes of the water sounding whenever it fell from the rocks - creating what I could only guess a mini waterfall would look like.

"Newt... this is gorgeous. How... who told you about it? When did you come here?" I asked quickly, looking over to see the blonde watching me, almost proudly. He slowly caught up to me, leading us both over to one of the rocks nearby, taking a seat on it as I followed right after.

"No one did, I was just walking around the trees this morning and... kind of just, found it. I'm not sure if anyone else knows this is here, but I thought you'd like seeing it. Why did he have to be so goddamn bloody amazing? Always? Couldn't he give me a break from falling head over heels for him every second I got to spend with him? Once I'd checked him over with my eyes, still scared the flare would return, and had made sure no sign of it was there, I flung my arms around him.

"You're not real, Newt. I can't get myself to believe it... there's no physical way someone like you actually exists." I was surprised at how outgoing I was being in that moment, but I didn't care about what Newt would think. I couldn't keep trying to hide how I felt from the boy after he'd shown me probably the most vulnerable thing he had ever written. He'd trusted me with it, I could trust him with my feelings.

Newt laughed, pulling away after a few seconds to look at me. "I've been meaning to ask you about that... Seph." my smile faded, seeing the look of seriousness return to the blondes face as he looked away. "Uh, I was going to ask you yesterday, but... you know, we didn't really get the chance and... like, well, you know - w-we kissed. And, I was just wondering if you wanted that to... you know... mean something, more - be-because I do, and-"

I couldn't help it - laughing, I cut the boys ramble off by pressing my lips to his once again, causing him to freeze for a second before smiling into the kiss and wrapping his arms around my waist. I pulled away only seconds later, making him frown as he looked at me. "Yes, Newt. I want there to be an us. I want this as well." before I could say anything else, Newt had grabbing hold of me again, pulling me into an embrace so fast that he sent us both diving sideways into the cold water on the other side of the rocks.

I shrieked, spluttering in the water before I could get my bearings a few seconds later, throwing my hair out of my eyes as I saw the blonde already out of the water, sitting on the ground next to the rivulet as he laughed, watching me struggle. "NEWT!" I gasped out, unable to stop myself from laughing with him as soon as I had ran out of the water. "I just got ready!"

But the blonde didn't reply, instead pulling me to the ground with him and kissing me once again. The last few times we'd done so, it had been hesitant, scared, unsure. But a new sort of fire burned in my as I pulled Newt as close as he could be to me. My hands ran through his soft hair, not breaking the lip lock for even a second as we lay there. I had no idea how long we stayed there, just laying in each others presence, letting the fact that this was our life now sink in, but it was how I would describe pure ecstasy.

Two broken souls, far from fine, but slowly getting their spark back. I finally felt warm.