#clinteff

Thomas flops into his seat, groaning loudly. Only a few weeks into the school year, and he's already going crazy. His best friend, Newt, nudges him.

"Hey, Tommy, you got the notes from… last week?"

Thomas glares at him. "Newt," he sighs. "Why the fuck don't you have the notes from last week?"

Newt rolls his eyes. "Brownie stuff, remember? I spend all my days here and all my nights cleaning people's houses like it's my shuck job."

"It is your shuck job."

Minho appears on the other side of Thomas, lightly yanking his hair. "Quit bothering Newt, Thomas."

"Oh, my hero," Newt snickers. The chomilla bares his teeth at him, wings flaring slightly. Thomas bats at one of Minho's ears.

The bell rings, drilling out a barely audible noise. Their teacher moves to the front of the room, beginning her lecture. Holy shit, Thomas hates ELA. He sighs, passing his notebook to Newt. Three hours until lunch.

🎃

The cafeteria honestly couldn't've been louder. Students from all angles chattered and yelled, enjoying the half hour they had.

"Hey, Thomas!"

"Fucking hell, Chuck!" Thomas jumps. "Don't scare me like that."

Chuck pouts. "What's the point of being a poltergeist if I don't scare people?"

Thomas rips off a chunk of his food. "Maybe annoying Gally?"

Chuck nods somberly. "Yup, definitely my afterlife's purpose."

A groan rips out of Thomas' throat. He has had enough of this shank. "Go bother someone else before I tell your principal you're sneaking into the high school," he threatens.

Chuck eep!s and vanishes, a wave of cool air trailing his path towards the taumur.

"Aw, don't go snitchin' on little Chuckie," Newt slides next to him. "Lord above knows he's the only entertainment we have in this place."

Frypan scoffs at him from across the table. "Lord above knows I need him to stop takin' from my food stores," he grumbles.

Thomas squints suspiciously at him. "Dude," he says. "You're a fucking chubacabra. What could Chuck possibly be snatching from your stores?"

"He likes to tease Clint with the blood."

Newt nods. He's had his fair share of Chuck's teasing. The last house he chose, Chuck woke them up with his racket. The owners tried to give him some of their old clothes— mistook him for a homeless kid or something. He never went back

"What do you mean 'Chuck's the only entertainment around here'?" Minho sets his tray down. "Do you not find me entertaining, Newtie?"

"Don't call me that," Newt snaps. "And hold your shucking horses, Minho. Maybe I was about to shout my love for you to the heavens."

Minho flashes a grin. "I can fly to the heavens, dude."

Frypan leans over and shoves him.

"And plus," Minho adds. "Stuff's gotten a lot less boring since Thomas came around."

"Yeah cause you're shagging him in the bathrooms!" Gally shouts out from a nearby table.

"Oh one fucking time, eyebrows!"

Newt sighs exasperatedly.

"Oh, he's gonna get you for that one." Frypan snickers.

"Yeah," Thomas agrees. "But my hero will save me."

This time, it was Minho who groaned. "Will you ever get tired of that?"

They all shake their heads. If they were gonna get teased by Minho all day, they were sure as hell gonna tease him back.

"But seriously, dude, the bathrooms?" Frypan asks incredulously. "They're like, the grossest place in the school."

"Yeah, second to your pits." Thomas cocks his head. "Or maybe the Bloodhouse."

"Don't you literally bring chaos to every building you step foot in?"

"Don't you literally have to drink the blood of farm animals?"

Newt gasps. "Too far, Tommy! Too far." A slow smirk curled on his face.

"You're literally naked!"

Newt gestures downwards. "I have clothing on!"

Minho's face scrunches. "Rags covering your dick don't count, Newt."

Frypan nods. "They really don't, dude."

"Well, you can't see my dick, now can you?"

Frypan and Minho both snap their heads over at the same time, eyes widening. It was honestly kinda funny how in sync the two were. Thomas nudged Minho lightly.

"What is it, Min?"

"Gally wants to see Newt's dick."

"Wha—"

A scream erupts as Gally tackles Minho from the right, knocking them both onto the floor.

"Guess Newt isn't the only one with a dick Gally wants to see— Fuck!"

🎃

The gardens reek with rotted vegetables. It might genuinely be the most disgusting place Thomas' ever been. Except the bathrooms Minho dicked him down in that one time.

"Fuck, I love basil." Jeff sighed. The man's abnormal amount of love for the plant was concerning. He wondered if Clint knew about it.

"We can plant some in our garden at home."

Okay, Clint definitely knew about it.

"Please don't support your boyfriend's obsession with basil, Clint."

Clint glared at him. "I'm gonna suck your blood."

"You can suck something else."

Jeff lightly slaps his shoulder. "Don't flirt with my boyfriend, fag."

"Says you!"

"I'm not the one Minho fucked in the bathrooms."

"Does everybody and their mother know about that? Fucking hell, dude."

"Pretty sure I saw Headmistress Paige gossiping about it to Ratman." Jeff gestures.

Thomas' mouth drops. A grimace forms on Clint's face.

"That is so weird."

"I saw you counting seeds on the side of the road yesterday, you can't talk about weird."

"Cunt."

"Is it cause I'm trans?"

Clint laughs excitedly.

"Dude!"

Jeff pushes his boyfriend, causing him to collapse and giggle on the floor.

"I'm telling my mommy," Thomas mutters.

"You don't shucking have one!"

🎃

Teresa grabs his hand as they move towards the buses. Why'd they even have buses? Most of them don't have houses. Perks of being mythical creatures, Thomas guesses.

It's quite the shitty perk. They can't even buy Doordash. How are they supposed to eat? Other than drinking peoples' blood. Or animals', in Frypan's case.

"So," his sister starts. "I have a project due on Wednesday, and I have to buy Brenda a gift for our anniversary in two weeks. What else do we need to do?"

Thomas thinks about it. "The new family that moved in by Minho is real shitty."

Teresa nods. "We'll pay them a visit soon."

"Oh, have we seen Rachel and Aris lately?"

"They're on the student exchange program, remember? In Greece, I think."

"How are they going to work that out?"

Teresa shrugs. "You know them. They'll make it work."

Thomas pauses. "Speaking of work.."

"How much homework are you missing?" She sighs.

"Uh, I think about three weeks?"

"Thomas, you dumbass!"

"It's not my fault!"

"It literally is!"

Sonya slips smoothly in between them. Her eyes are narrowed.

"So," she cuts in. "Did either of you know about Newt and Gally?"

Teresa raises an eyebrow. "What about Newt and Gally?"

Thomas flicks her forehead. "Gally's wanted to fuck him for like, three years."

Teresa stops in her tracks, making the others pause with her. Her already pale face turns white, jaw slacking. A shiver visibly crawls down her spine.

"'Resa, did you.. did you not know this?" Thomas nudges her.

She shakes her head. "No, no I did not."

Sonya shakes her head. "I saw it happening a mile away. Just didn't think Gally'd man up and ask him out."

Thomas squints. "When'd he do that?"

Now it's Sonya's turn to raise an eyebrow. "During lunch, weren't you there?"

"…Gally tackled Minho and then made out with Newt after. Neither of them asked anyone out."

Sonya's eyes grow wide. Her head snaps towards where Gally's walking on the sidewalk. A slap of concrete sounds around her feet as she sprints off, fast as a bullet.

"Gallileo!"

Gally turns back, sees Sonya, and wisely turns and runs in the opposite direction.

🎃

Minho gently twirls his hair. They're laying on the forest floor near Minho's house, wind gently rustling through leaves. A gray sky lies above them, casting shadows and chilling the already cool air.

"Don't tug too hard," Thomas mutters drowsily.

Minho snorts. "I've been doing this since third grade, Thomas. I know not to yank your hair."

"And yet you yanked my ponytails for a solid six years."

"Yeah, took you cutting 'em off for me to stop. Your hairs just so bouncy, like a cloud."

Thomas wiggles. "Clouds aren't bouncy. They weigh over a million pounds."

"I don't know about that. I fly through 'em pretty easily."

"Everything you do is pretty."

"It's cause I'm pretty."

"That you are."

Minho bent down and gave a light kiss to his forehead. Thomas hums, burrowing into his hand.

"Love you," Thomas whispers.