Re: [The Bridge over the River: Patrick/Newt]
[Newt looked at Patrick, chin down and gold-ray gaze up. And he did listen. Of course Patrick was right. It was plain, but it cut through the thick of it all, and Newt nodded.] And we'd both do better if I let it go. [He finished what he imagined Patrick's thought was.] All right. I will. [As for Adrian making it sound like they'd been a couple:] I know he did. It was like fighting with reality. Half the time I couldn't tell if I was wrong or he was. [Which, perhaps, was telling. Adrian, Newt found, was very convincing, even when he was wrong.
And, all right, he'd not've hugged Patrick, if he'd given it any thought at all. It was certainly intimate. Newt didn't hug his friends. He didn't embrace readily. But, he was feeling poorly. Which wasn't an excuse for making Patrick uncomfortable, of course, but was perhaps why he'd not managed to think of the poor man until after he realized from the clap on the shoulder that he'd overstepped.—Patrick's smile came with nerves and Newt tried not to blush as his gaze dropped from the split of lips to the forest floor.] Good. [Newt made himself keep some distance once Patrick let go, and he put his hands back in his pockets to continue walking towards the house.] I'm sorry, erm, if I shouldn't've done that, [he said of the hug.] And before you tell me not to apologize, I'll apologize for apologizing.