July 22nd, 2002

"Can you please stop telling everyone you're stoned?" Newt groaned as he watched Minho flex his arm.

"But get it Newt?" Minho asked as he smirked and flexed again. "I'm stone, so I'm stoned."

"Minho, literally no one here finds you funny."

"I found it funny," El piped up from her spot on the floor.

Minho whooped and high fived her.

"She's only saying that because she's your girlfriend." Newt rolled his eyes as he leaned back into Thomas' body. They were piled in the brunette boy's room again. Minho managed to get a radio somehow, it probably wasn't legal so they never asked. The small thing was plugged into the corner, the volume on low because if anyone knew they had it, they'd be swarmed with more kids begging to use it.

"If Hank comes in here looking for edibles I'm gonna actually lose my shit," Newt said as Minho flexed yet again.

"Wait...do you actually have edibles?" Minho asked as he stopped whatever he was doing with his arm.

"Minho how the bloody hell would I have edibles?"

Minho shrugged before he hooked his arm around El's shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek.

Newt leaned his head back and smiled up at Thomas. "Hi."

Thomas smiled and softly kissed his nose. "Hello."

Kis was asleep, her stomach pressed to the floor and her crossed arms acting like a pillow. She wasn't making any noise but no one dared touch her. Honestly, the girl was pretty scary when she first woke up.

"I saw some of the new kids today," El said as she leaned back into Minho.

"How'd they look?" Newt asked as he pulled Thomas' arms to wrap around his waist.

"There was a tall blonde boy, looked kinda buff too uh the girl had long brown hair and she was with another guy. I don't remember much about him but I know he had really weird eyebrows."

"Did they look pathetic?" Newt asked as he pushed Thomas' hand under his shirt so he would rub his stomach.

"You're like a fucking cat," Thomas huffed as he pressed a soft kiss to Newt's temple.

"Pathetic?"

"Yeah like Thomas was. He was so skittish and kept whining about how Newtie was mean to him." Minho snickered as Thomas flipped him off with his free hand.

"Hey I was pretty fuckin mean to him." Newt snorted as he patted Thomas' thigh.

Thomas pinched Newt's stomach lightly which made him squirm.

"That's only because you thought he was cute." Minho rolled his eyes as he played with the ends of El's hair.

"He is cute." Newt pouted as he looked up at Thomas. "My cute little good boyfriend."

Minho snorted. "You got him trained really well. He pets you so obediently."

Newt grinned as Thomas kept moving his hand across the smooth skin of his stomach. Thomas knew that Newt loved it when he did it so he never refused. Newt was a lot more open about the fact that he loved being touched. Thomas counted it as a win.

"I wish I could train you like that," El said as she looked at Minho.

Minho glared at her before dive tackling her which turned into a full blown wrestling match on the ground.

El was laughing as Minho pinned her hands down. "You're too heavy it's not fair."

Minho wiggled his eyebrows. "You could say I'm...stoned."

Newt groaned. "Do you ever shut up?"

El slipped one of her arms free and shoved Minho over. He went toppling into Kis' which made everyone freeze.

"What the fuck guys?!"

"Oh shit run...run," Minho shouted as he grabbed El's hand and dragged her out the door. Newt was trying to hard to stifle his laughter as he watched Minho and El sprint into the hallway.

Thomas opened his mouth to say something but froze when he saw his younger self standing in the doorway. Thomas stiffened, his blood running cold.

He blinked and the boy was gone.

"Yo Tommy?" Newt asked as he got off his lap and turned around to face him. "Is something wrong?"

Thomas shook his head quickly. "N-no, no I'm fine. I'm just tired."

"Okay," Newt said skeptically as he pressed a kiss to Thomas' forehead. "You know if you wanna talk we can."

Thomas nodded as he kept staring at the open door. How was he supposed to tell Newt that he was seeing five year old Thomas? It was absolutely crazy...right?

July 24th, 2002

"Hey you," El said as she bumped Thomas' arm. "You okay?"

"What? Uh yeah, just thinking."

"You we're pretty spaced out there."

Thomas took a breath and rubbed his hand over his face. "Haven't been sleeping well."

"Again?" El asked looking concerned.

"Sleeping with Newt helps, but it's the dreams again."

"Do you need to go to X?"

Thomas shook his head. "No they're not that bad. Nothing deadly or catastrophic."

"Have you talked to Newt about it?"

Thomas hesitated for a second before shaking his head. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because he worries so much and I keep him up all the time. Whenever I roll over or have nightmares he's always awake and comforting me."

"And that's bad?"

Thomas shook his head. "No it's great, it helps, but I keep him up."

"I'm sure Newt doesn't mind it, he really cares about you."

Thomas huffed as they opened the big doors and walked out into the courtyard. "I care about him too and I know he needs sleep."

El tugged him to sit in the shaded spot under the tree. "He'd want to know."

"I'm gonna try and handle this one on my own first...is that crazy?"

El shook her head and laughed lightly. "No, of course not. He would help you though."

"Yeah...he's a good boyfriend."

"You make him really happy," El said softly as she played with the laces on her shoes. "It's nice, he deserves to be happy."

Thomas nodded as he rested his elbow on his knee and looked out at the courtyard. "It sucks ya know? You try so hard to make other people happy that sometimes you forget to take care of yourself."

El huffed out a soft laugh. "Tell me about it."

"I think I'm losing my mind." Thomas shook his head as he let out a breath.

"It gets like that sometimes," El said gently as she lightly bumped his shoulder. "We're not normal kids, we don't have normal problems."

Thomas sighed and let his head drop into his hands.

"Hey." El lightly squeezed his arm. "You know I'm always here to talk, but we both know that Newt can help you more than I can. He'd want you to tell him."

Thomas looked up, freezing instantly when he did.

Little Thomas was standing behind El, tossing a rock up and down in his hand. He smiled at Thomas then dropped the rock and took off across the lawn.

"I u-uh I gotta," Thomas stammed as he stood up quickly and darted across the courtyard after his younger self.

Little Thomas was giggling as he hid behind a tree.

Thomas tore around the tree, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw that the little boy was gone.

"Where the fuck did you g-" Thomas stopped, letting out a breath and sighing.

He was going absolutely mad.

July 25th, 2002

6:35pm

Newt was in a mood that day. Every chance he had he was touching Thomas or trying to get on his lap or kissing under his ears and biting his jaw. He almost lost it when he was talking to Hank and Newt turned invisible and sucked an obscene hickey on his neck while rubbing his thigh way too close to the place that would have made him fall down in front of Hank.

"Yo what is up with you today?" Thomas asked as Newt pushed him into his room and down onto the bed.

Newt paused after he climbed on top of him and ripped off his shirt. "I'm horny what does it look like?"

"You were horny all day?" Thomas asked as he helped Newt pull off his shirt.

"Well, when my boyfriend is as unfairly sexy as you are, yeah I'm horny all day." Newt smirked as he held Thomas' hands down against the bed. "No more questions, I'm gonna kiss you till the only thing you can think about is me."

Thomas didn't have a chance to respond because Newt's mouth was on his. Newt let go of his wrists fairly quickly, he liked to be touched too much to hold out.

Thomas let his hands slide down Newt's back and scratch their way back up.

Newt pressed their hips together and tangled his hands in Thomas' hair.

"Whatever has gotten into you," Thomas muttered against Newt's mouth. "I kinda like it."

"If you don't shut up, I'm gonna bite you," Newt growled as he shoved his hand into Thomas' jeans.

Thomas opened his eyes and screamed when he did. He threw Newt off of him, making the blonde boy tumble off the bed and onto the ground.

"THOMAS MICHAEL EDISON WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!" Newt shouted as he pulled himself off of the floor. "You better start explaining right n-woah are you okay?"

Thomas was curled on the bed, his knees up to his chest. He was shaking and pointing to some empty spot in the corner. "He-I-He-Saw."

Newt carefully crawled onto the bed and took Thomas' hand. "Tommy, hey calm down, you're freaking out."

Thomas' chest was going up and down alarmingly fast and his breathing was hard and ragged.

Thomas couldn't tear his eyes off of smaller him, sitting in the corner of the room with a unreadable expression on his face.

"Tommy I need you to breathe okay? You're freaking out."

He could feel Newt's hand on his face but everything felt like it was closing in around him. The smoke was running down his arms. Newt didn't look scared, he just looked worried.

Thomas couldn't breathe. His chest hurt and there were wet tears on his cheeks.

"Tommy," Newt said softly as he brought his face down level with him. "Tommy look at me okay? Not anything else just me."

Thomas tried. He really did. His bottom lip was shaking and he was hot, why was he hot?

"Tommy," Newt tried again as he lightly rubbed his cheek. "Just me."

Thomas grabbed onto Newt's hand, squeezing tightly.

"H-he won't leave me a-alone," he muttered out between his hard breaths and sobs.

"We're gonna breathe on three okay? Me and you, we'll do it together."

Thomas managed a small nod while squeezing Newt's hand tighter.

"One...two...three." Newt made a big show of breathing in, which Thomas followed. He released when Newt did and instantly he felt a little better.

Newt took Thomas' hand and placed it over his heart. "Your heart is racing Tommy, focus on mine and try and bring it down."

Thomas let his eyes close so he could focus on the soft thumping of Newt's heart beat.

"There you go," Newt said softly. "I'm proud of you."

When Thomas could breathe again he opened his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Newt softly kissed his forehead. "Wanna tell me what's really going on?"

"Can we lay down for a bit first?" Thomas asked as he tugged Newt toward him.

Newt nodded as he laid down and pulled Thomas into his chest. "Whatever you want."

Thomas took shaky breaths and hugged Newt as tight as he could. He looked at the curtains and cursed under his breath. "I burnt the curtains again."

"Doesn't matter, they were ugly anyways," Newt said as he trailed his finger tips softly up and down Thomas' back.

"Tommy?" Newt asked softly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm worried about you."

Thomas felt his stomach sink. That's exactly what he didn't want. "Don't be."

"You had a panic attack."

"I'm sorry."

Newt sighed and pressed a kiss into his hair. "Don't apologize Tommy, just talk to me."

I can't. Thomas thought as he looked up at his beautiful boyfriend. How am I supposed to tell you that I'm going insane?

11:38pm

"Thomas? What the hell are you doing here?" El asked as she opened up her door. Her hair was up and she had on a tank top and cotton shorts with cupcakes on them. He definitely woke her up.

"I'm sorry...Newt's sleeping and I need help."

El opened the door more and waved him inside. "Okay come in, excuse the mess."

Thomas sat down on the bed and let out a breath.

"Did you talk to Newt?" She asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I had a panic attack."

El's expression softened. "Does he know?"
"He was there."

"And you left him in your room? You know he'll freak out if he wakes up and you're gone."

"El," Thomas said softly. "Please."

She was quiet for a moment before she sighed and sat down next to him. "Okay. Of course. What can I do."

"Remember when I told you guys about my mom?"

"Thomas..."

"I need to see her."

"That's a bad-"

"She got in my head."

"What?"

"I've been seeing things," Thomas said as he tugged on his hair. "Seeing myself, my younger self, it's like he's stalking me."

El bit her lip, looking like she was deep in thought.

"She's trying to contact me. She did in a dream. Well younger me did, he told me that she wanted to see me."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" El asked as she finally looked at him. "She works for the company that tried to kill us, she was married to the man that killed Newt's family."

"She's my mom," Thomas said softly. "She's the only family I have."

"Bullshit," El snapped. "Your family is me and Kis and Minho and Newt."

Thomas looked at her sadly. "El, she saved my life. I would be dead if it wasn't for her."

El reached over and squeezed his hand. "I can't talk you out of it?"

Thomas shook his head. "I need to do this."

She let out a breath and stood up. "Okay. Then I'm coming with you."

"No you're not!"

El laughed as she let her hair out of the pony tail. "Yes I am. You need me and I'm not letting you do this alone. I can handle myself Thomas, it's not like you'd have to babysit me."

"I have t-"

"Hey!" El cut him off as she waved her hand in front of his face. "This is not up for discussion. I'm coming with you. You're my friend Thomas, and I'd do anything for my friends. Now, when are we leaving?"

"Now?"

El raised her eyebrow. "Now as in right now?"

"Maybe first thing in the morning? Newt can't know. He'll flip."

El shrugged. "Fine. But Kis can't know either. She'd never let me do a mission without her."

"This is a mission?" Thomas asked as he felt something swell in his chest.

El grinned as she clasped her hand on his shoulder. "You're an X-Men buddy, suit up."

May 18th, 1996

"Rose."

The girl froze as she saw her mom and dad sitting at the dining table. Their hands were folded and the other chair was pulled out. Jade was there too, but she was looking down at the table, her hair acting as some sort of a curtain. Rose couldn't see her face.

"Is everything okay?"

"Come sit please," her dad said sternly.

Rose felt heat in her stomach as she sat down in the stained wooden chair. She scooted it in, her feet barely touching the floor.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked in a small voice. Fear was slowly spreading over her body like a hot wave. Something was wrong. She could feel it.

Her dad took a deep breath before looking at her mom. "How long did you think you could hide this from us?"

"H-hide what?"

They knew. They knew. They knew.

"The fact that you're one of them."

"I'm not!" Rose said quickly. Her hands were sweating so she gripped the chair for support.

"Jade told us."

Rose's stomach dropped. She felt sick. Jade. Her best friend.

"Why?" She asked the girl softly, feeling the tears build up in her eyes. "Jade why?"

"Don't speak to her," her mom snapped, a hard frown crossing over her face.

"B-but..." She couldn't find the words to say. Betrayal. She'd never felt that before. She never wanted to feel it again.

"I think you know where this goes from here," her dad said emotionlessly as he turned to look at her.

"No," she whispered as she pushed up from her chair. "I'm your kid! I'm your daughter!"

"No mutant is a daughter of mine."

Rose felt the tears run down her cheeks. Her dad stood up slowly and that's when the adrenaline kicked in. She turned and took off across the kitchen, bolting to the front door. She yanked on the handle, turning it as the tears rushed down her cheeks. Stuck. Of course it was stuck.

She gave up and ran to the window, trying to jam it open. Stuck again.

Then it hit her as she turned around to see her dad standing there calmly with his arms crossed.

They weren't stuck. They were locked.