Chapter 30
On February 10th, Newt stood outside Brixton with his gaze glued to the gate. His ears were ice beneath his woolly hat, and his nose glowed red like a homing beacon. If it wasn’t for the gloves, Newt would’ve been picking his nails.
There were no contradicting emotions, only positive ones. The butterflies in his insides were alive and fluttering, undeterred by the blast of freezing wind somehow snaking itself beneath his coat. He wore a Triton knitted jumper beneath his red coat, and he’d made sure to wear two sets of socks to save his toes from frostbite.
The news repeated it was the coldest February 10th since records began, and journeys should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
Leo had attempted to persuade him the day before to stay at the house, telling Newt he’d get a taxi as soon as he was out, but Newt had been adamant. He wanted to be there for the moment Leo stepped out of Brixton, just like Stone and Mickey had been for him.
Leo was coming home, and it wasn’t to a house, but to him. Newt had done his bit, shortening the distance and the time it would take for them to be reunited, but the damn gate didn’t open and the door beyond it stayed firmly shut.
“You sure you don’t want to wait inside?” the driver yelled from his open window.
Newt shook his head, ducking his chin to keep his lips below the collar of his coat.
The driver shook his head and went back to doing his sudoku page open on the steering wheel.
Stone, Robin, and Mickey had all offered to come with him, both collectively and individually, having all taken him aside at one point in the last few days. Newt had thanked them but insisted he wanted to go back to Brixton alone.
He’d been waiting outside for thirty minutes, and other than the release date, there were no details on the letter that indicated a time. Newt had arrived outside the prison at nine o’clock, hoping Leo would be sped through the process due to the inbound snowstorm.
It took a further twenty minutes before there was some movement at the door. Jude appeared and waved as he spotted Newt, standing as a lone figure in the mostly deserted car park.
Sleet had joined the wind, slapping against Newt’s cold face. It clung to his lashes, refusing to melt. Jude stepped aside and let Leo pass, and Newt lifted onto his tiptoes at the sight of him.
The gate whined as Jude pressed a button, and painfully slowly it opened until Newt no longer had to see Leo through the crisscross pattern of the wire. Jude closed the gate behind Leo, waved a final time, then went back inside.
Leo’s strides were brisk, pressing footprints into the greying sludge on the ground. He wore his camo hoodie, which almost instantly became darker at the shoulders as he was exposed to the elements. From the haircut, Newt knew Welsh had cut Leo’s hair the day before, probably paid for by Shaw, like he’d done for Newt the day of his release.
Leo held clear plastic bags in both of his hands, filled to the brim with his possessions. When he got close enough, he dropped them, and they slapped to the concrete as he opened his arms.
“Honey…I’m home.”
That was the line Leo chose to deliver. Newt would’ve rolled his eyes, but they were cold in their sockets, and he was afraid they might shatter if he tried. Instead, he strode forward, hesitant at first before picking up speed in a run-up. He leapt on Leo.
Leo caught him with an oomph.
Newt wrapped his legs around Leo’s waist, and his arms around his neck, and clung to him.
Leo rubbed a hand up and down Newt’s back and supported him with his free arm, making sure Newt didn’t slip down.
“Can I kiss you now?” Leo asked.
Newt smiled so hard he probably resembled a Halloween villain, and at some point, he’d lost the ability to speak and could only nod, clumsily, knocking his cheekbone against Leo’s.
Leo chuckled, not letting Newt down from around his waist. He waited until Newt leaned back, then tugged down Newt’s collar to get to his mouth.
Then he stopped. His eyes widened.
“Christ, Newt, your lips are blue!”
“Don’t care.” Newt’s teeth chattered. “Kiss me.”
Leo wrapped both arms around Newt and walked him over to the car. He managed to open the back seat, still with Newt fixed to his front, then put him down inside. “Stay there?—”
“But—”
“No buts,” Leo said, rushing away to grab his bags. He flung them into the back, then got inside. Swerving Newt’s attempt at a kiss, he leaned between the seats to speak to the driver. “Why the hell didn’t you drag him inside the car?”
The driver flung his puzzle book onto the passage seat. “Hey, he’s got his own mind. I did ask if he wanted to wait in here, but he was certain he wanted to be outside.”
“I didn’t want our first kiss to be in front of an audience,” Newt said. “I wanted it to be just you and me.”
The driver adjusted his mirror to look at Newt. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on joining in.”
“Drive. Please,” Leo bit out before pressing back in his chair. “Are you cold?” he asked. “Of course you’re cold. Give me your hands.”
Newt gave them up without protest, and Leo shoved them under his hoodie. Absent a T-shirt, Newt’s gloved hands groped warm skin, and he gasped, pressing impossibly closer. Leo’s body acted as a furnace, giving off warmth more effectively than the car’s heaters.
“Hey,” the driver snapped. “No funny business on the backseat.”
Leo flared his nostrils. “I’m warming his hands.”
“It starts with the hands, but we all know where it ends up…”
Newt stuck his head between the seats. “You don’t happen to have a relative in Brixton do you? Goes by the name of Bull.”
“Of course I don’t,” the driver snapped, pulling out of the car park. “I’m not related to any low-life prisoner…no offence.”
“We met inside,” Newt told him. “Leo stole some diamonds, and I killed a man.”
“You what?”
Leo sighed. “Let’s imagine there’s a partition between us…and I’m raising it now.”
The driver pressed his lips together in a firm line and kept his eyes on the road.
“Am I warm?” Leo asked, searching Newt’s face.
Newt groped his chest again. “Yes.”
“Good.” Leo squeezed Newt to him, holding the side of Newt’s face against his chest. He snuck his hand beneath Newt’s woolly hat and cupped his stinging ear. Newt allowed his eyes to close and hummed in happiness at Leo being there. Leo’s heart thumped, it’s comforting beat inches from Newt’s ear.
They didn’t talk on the drive, and Newt didn’t attempt to kiss Leo again, not when the driver kept flashing them looks in the mirror. Embarrassingly, Newt fell asleep during the journey with his hands up Leo’s hoodie and his head against his pec. Leo removed Newt’s hat at some point. His fingers were still stroking through his strands when Newt woke from his impromptu nap.
“Sorry,” Newt whispered.
“There’s no need to apologise,” Leo said, “I’ve found more peace in this two-hour taxi ride than the entire last six months at Brixton.”
“Glad I could be of assistance,” the driver said. “Now, if you’d kindly leave my car, I don’t want to get stuck here during the snowstorm.”
“I couldn’t think of anything worse…” Leo muttered.
Newt clambered out of the car first, taking one of Leo’s plastic bags with him. Leo soon followed, and the instant he slammed the door shut, it took off, spraying slush at them from the driveway.
“Here we are,” Newt said, gesturing to the house.
“Let’s get you inside and warm. I’m not entirely convinced you falling asleep in the car wasn’t actually you falling into a semi-coma brought on by hypothermia.”
“I couldn’t sleep last night…or the night before that,” Newt said. He slung Leo’s bag over his shoulder and stepped up to the door.
Of course, Stone, Robin and Mickey were on the other side of it, creepily waiting in the dark. They greeted Leo with handshakes and ‘manly hugs’ before inviting him further into the house.
Newt hovered awkwardly at Leo’s side, desperate to jump him but not willing to do so in front of his brothers and Robin. Newt bit his lips as everyone exchanged small talk, but before Stone could offer to make Leo tea, which he knew Leo would’ve accepted out of politeness and addiction, Newt found his voice.
“We should put your bags away first.”
Everyone turned to him, and he realised he might have shouted, but he squeezed past Stone, Robin, and Mickey and led the way towards the bedrooms.
“There’s a spare room,” Newt said, stopping by the open door.
Leo peered inside the blank room. “Do you want me to stay in here?”
“No!” Newt rocked back on his heels. “I mean, I want you to stay where you’re comfortable. You’ve been sharing with someone for years. You might want your own space.”
“Newt…show me our room.”
“Okay,” Newt said, hurrying ahead to keep his smile hidden. “Our room.”
He stepped inside, dumping the bag he held onto the bed. Leo followed, glancing around the room. His gaze stalled on the top shelf, home to Newt’s rock collection. He’d stuck names to them using post-it notes: Scott, Thomas, Shaw, Bull and Riley.
Leo was well aware Newt had labelled the rocks, Newt had sent him a photograph, but his eyes still widened. “I thought you just did that for comic effect.”
“No, I named them the day I got out.”
“Please say you don’t talk to them.”
Newt winced. “I won’t say it then.”
Leo chuckled, dropping his bag next to Newt’s. Newt perched on the edge; he bit his lip, waiting, but Leo’s attention jumped away from him. Leo frowned, leaning over the bed as he studied the pictures tacked to the wall. “Is that…”
“Your mug shot?” Newt smiled. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“I…missed your face.”
Leo sorted. “How did you even get it?”
“Jude.”
“Jude,” Leo sighed.
“He got me that one too.” Newt pointed at his desk on the other side of the room.
“What the hell?” Leo hissed, snatching up the picture frame.
Jude, upon visiting the police station hadn’t just managed to swipe a print off of Leo’s mug shot, but also a still from the CCTV outside the jeweller’s. Jude had brought home the exact moment Leo had realised his error at locking his car keys inside the car. In the grainy snap, he stood beside the driver’s side, peering through the window with both hands on his head.
He was dressed all in black, and his face was covered, but Jude had promised it was Leo and not some random criminal.
“Oooh, me and Jude will be having words about this,” Leo said, putting the picture frame back. “This your telescope?” he asked.
Leo gestured to what was clearly a telescope set up by the window.
“I won’t be able to show you anything tonight…unless you want me to aim it at the snowman Mickey’s planning on making later. He said proudly it was going to have the biggest cock and balls I’d ever see.”
Leo snorted. “We can’t miss that.”
Leo startled at the pathetic bleating sound from beneath the bed. Triton crawled from the darkness, arched his back as he stretched, then hopped onto the bed.
“And this is Triton,” Leo said with fond amusement.
Triton knocked his head against Newt’s chin, purring so loudly it vibrated in Newt’s chest. Leo removed one of the bags from the bed and placed it on the floor. He sat down with his thigh pressing against Newt’s, leaning in as he scratched Triton’s head.
Triton’s purr stopped, then resumed, even louder than before.
“What do you want to do?” Newt asked.
Leo glanced at Newt’s lips before he shuffled back on the bed. His back met the wall, and he sighed. “I know it sounds ridiculous; I’ve spent enough time lying down on a bed for a lifetime, but that’s what I want to do right now. Lie down with you…and Triton.”
Newt shoved the other bag off the bed, wincing as something clattered to the floor. Leo snorted as he raised an eyebrow but didn’t chastise Newt for breaking one of his belongings.
Instead, he slipped down the bed with his back against the wall, and after Newt removed his gloves and scarf, he joined him, pressing his spine into Leo’s warmth and sighing in bliss when his heavy arm hung over Newt’s side.
Triton settled in front of Newt, still purring.
“Will you kiss me now?” Newt asked.
“That depends…”
“On what?”
“Whether your lips are still blue.”
Newt twisted to look at Leo. He held his head off the pillow, letting Leo inspect the colour of his lips, and then Leo smiled. His eyes were all gold, and he leaned in. He pressed his mouth to Newt’s, a soft peck, and they both sighed.
“I’m so happy you’re home,” Newt told him.
“Me too.”
Leo kissed Newt’s temple, his cheek, the shell of his ear, his neck. Newt sighed softly after every kiss before making the decision to roll over and kiss Leo back.