The Snowball Effect

It didn't matter what he did, he always ended up grumpy and covered in snow and it was always Thomas' fault.

Newt hated snow.

There was no two ways about it. It was probably some residual sentiment from his childhood in England, but he didn't care enough to think too hard about that. Point was that he despised the snow in all it forms. But, as the cruel fates would have it, he ended up saddled with friends who loved snow. He had managed to avoid all snowboarding escapades, ski trips and other snow related activities, but there was no avoiding impromptu snowball fights.

And those happened with irritating frequency.

They were taking a shortcut through the local park and all it took was Chuck casually scooping a handful of the horrid white stuff off the top of a bench to start this one. Minho had reacted with super-human speed, lobbing a snowball at Chuck before he could even throw his. Newt had stopped immediately and was about to flee, when Thomas' hand latched firmly onto his wrist and pulled him behind the nearest bush.

Any protest died on Newt's lips when he saw the cheeky grin plastered across Thomas' face. That smile did things to Newt. Good things. What a bastard.

Then Thomas was standing, hurling snowballs with deadly accuracy at Chuck and Minho who were locked in a private battle. The effect was immediate, the two joined forced and dived behind the bench. Teresa and Alby formed their own team, taking cover behind a nearby see-saw. Snowballs filled the air, flying in all directions and Newt hunkered down behind the bush, fixing Thomas with a glare.

"What?" Thomas asked innocently, ducking down beside Newt, hands working fast to make more ammo.

"You're a bastard," Newt replied grumpily.

A snowball thumped into the top of the bush sending a rain of powder down on both of them.

"Don't be such a grinch," Thomas laughed, shaking it off.

Newt continued to glower at him. Thomas laughed harder and reached over to brush the snow from Newt's hair. "You really hate it, huh?"

Newt caught his wrist. Thomas raised an eyebrow and reached over with his other hand to the same result. Gripping both of Thomas' hands in his own, Newt upped his glare another level. "Yes. I really hate it."

Thomas' face changed from surprised to amused to tender, and he leant closer to Newt moving his hands (and Newt's along with them) down, away from his face. Their lips brushing, Thomas smiled. "I can fix that," he murmured.

Any resolve Newt had managed to muster, dissolved with those four words. "Shuck face," he muttered, releasing Thomas' hands and reaching up to pull the other boy closer. Thomas responded instantly, a hand tangling in Newt's hair, lips pressing against Newt's briefly before moving to trail kisses down his neck.

"Thommy, don't be a tease," Newt protested with a slight laugh, pushing at Thomas' firm chest. The other boy smirked and kissed him firmly on the lips in an attempt to quiet him. When they broke apart both were panting slightly.

"Newt-"

Snowballs rained down on them. With a yell Newt scrambled to his feet, only to have Thomas pull him, laughing, back down behind the bush.

"I don't really want to know what you guys were doing," came Minho's voice. "But you should know we've teamed up and you're outnumbered two-to-one. Surrender, or face desolation!"

"What should we do?" Thomas asked, the smile not leaving his face.

"Bloody surrender, so I can go home and have a nice warm bath," Newt muttered, half-heartedly trying to shake the snow off but the powder had found its way down the back of his neck and he could feel wetness spreading as it melted.

"Am I invited?"

"No."

Thomas kissed him then, deeply, passionately. In a way that did things to him that couldn't be ignored. And from the look on Thomas' face when he pulled back, he knew it.

"...Fine... You can come over."

"We surrender!" Thomas called, standing and pulling Newt to his feet alongside him.

"By the way," Newt said suddenly, as they were making their way over to the others. "Were you making a Holes reference earlier?"

"Yeah."

"You're going to pay for that."

Thomas smirked. "Looking forward to it."

Thanks for reading, much appreciated! A review wouldn't go astray either ;) You can also find me on tumblr and Ao3.