We sat at the dinner table again. Ben was there, as always. Me, Gally, and Chuck now, too. Newt didn't always join. Neither did Minho, because after all, both of them didn't seem to enjoy Gally and Chuck's company more than Alby or other Runner's.

"Okay." Ben swallowed away last bits of his food. "Would you rather pee champagne or have your farts to smell very good?"

"What kind of question is that?" Gally spat out. He frowned and shook his head at Ben's absurd acting.

"Good-smelling farts." Chuck replied. "Because I can't drink champagne anyways."

"And you fart a lot." Gally muttered.

"I don't."

"Doesn't matter." Ben rolled his eyes. "Val. You?"

"Farts." I giggled. "Would you rather go without shampoo for the rest of your life or toothpaste for the rest of your life?"

"Toothpaste." All three of them replied. I agreed, though it was a hard question.

"Okay." Chuck nodded happily. "Would you rather take care of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast for the rest of your life or have Gaston as your boyfriend?"

I laughed. "I already take care of Gally and don't need Minho as a boyfriend."

Chuck giggled loudly, glancing at Gally to see if he wouldn't be killed, but he smiled too.

Later, everyone finished their food. I invited Chuck over to come pet Josephine, so told the others goodbye and left with the kid, on our way to find the chicken.

"Won't she bite my fingers off?" He wondered, eyebrows furrowed as most of the time.

"She won't. She's very sweet." My eye caught the animal picking at some grass again. "There she is. Just carefully walk over to her and pet her."

"Why is she tame?" He bent down on his knees. "Will she really not bite?"

"She won't, I promise." I laughed. Chuck nodded and carefully stroked the chicken's back. Soon he got the hang of it, laughed, and took Josephine closer. "See?"

He chuckled. "I like her."

"As you should." I sat down too, mostly admiring the sundown. It was orange mixed with pink. Beautiful. "Anything interesting you have to spill?"

"Hmm." He pouted for a long time. "Nope. Don't think so."

"Life's kinda boring in here, isn't it?" I exhaled.

My life in fact was not boring. Especially not with Gally, but I didn't tell Chuck that, because suddenly, his eyes started to twinkle.

A grin grew on his face. Both the corners of his mouth went up. "I have an idea."

My attention was on. "What is it?"

He looked mischievously. "Your boyfriend is walking into the toilet right now."

"Your point?" I raised an eyebrow. "I won't be walking in there, if that's what you think."

"I've seen that small window behind the toilets. We'll scare him." Chuck straightened his back in excitement. "Can we do that?"

I smiled brightly. "Oh, god yes, we can."

We got up so fast I nearly fainted, but then we started running toward the toilets. Our hands attached, laughs got shared. But we fell silent once we got closer.

"Okay." Chuck stood on his toes, lifted his hand into the air and tap, tapped on the window.

"Who's there?" That lovely voice. But an angry tone.

Chuck wasn't done. He waited and waited, peeking into the window with just a part of his head, until Gally's appeared. Then he jumped forward and screamed super loud. So loud it made Gally jump and stumble backward.

I burst out of laughing at his face, but once he delivered us threats, Chuck took my arm and we started running again. Running and laughing so loud our stomachs were hurting.

Gally's footsteps were close behind us. We were tiny, he was a giant. He screamed more angry stuff, and I almost face-planted from laughing.

At some point, Chuck let go of my hand. It made me able to run faster, since the kid was quite slow. So I did. As fast as I could, to maybe even have a small change Minho saw me. And to run from Gally, of course. 

I ran past the picnic tables, at the edge of the Deadheads. Close to the trees. I ran around the woods, soon finding myself sprinting behind them.

And bam, I bumped into someone.

I let out a yelp. They grunted. My nose hit the ground hard, and painful, causing me to cry out even more. But I forced myself to get up and look who it was. And wow, my favorite person ever.

Carl!

He put his hands on his sides. "We're finally not bothering you anymore, and then you come here and basically ask me to."

I was breathless. Afraid already. "Why are you here?"

He looked at me as if I was stupid. "What? Am I not allowed to walk here?"

I had to remind myself to be careful. But I took lessons to defend myself, so a little karma wouldn't be bad. "I honestly thought you would be asleep already. You know, strict bedtime?"

Carl's jaw tightened. "Aren't you supposed to be drooling over your cute boyfriend, hm?" He hovered over me and jeez, he was a giant too. I had to look up to make eye contact, and so I did. Sharp.

"Lovely how you and I both find him cute." I smiled.

"Cute now, pervert later." He shook his head and laughed loudly. Unnecessary loud. "You know what they say."

"People named Carl are idiotic?"

He was still smiling. "Funny. Very funny. Especially funny how I could knock you out using one hand."

"Ooh!" I nodded. "You know what they say about guys with big hands? Was that what you just meant?"

His smile started to fade. "Be lucky you're not on the ground yet."

I gasped. "Wow. Tough guy. I'm so scared." I turned my back. "Gally, baby! Please come save me from this scary dude!"

His hands gripped on my shoulders and turned me back to him, face-to-face. "Upgraded your humor?"

"It's always been this good." I confirmed. "Maybe even better when I have someone I can perfectly joke about in front of me. Mind letting go now?"

Instead, his grip tightened. Anger was forming on his face. Narrowing his eyes. "No."

"How about yes?"

His hands trailed down to my waist.

"Hey, man!" I swallowed away a lump of fear in my throat. "I prefer the fighting Carl over the pervert Carl."

He moved closer. Pulled me by the waist and bent down so his face was at my height. I took ahold of his shoulders.

And I kicked him right in the crotch with my knee, followed by an elbow on his nose.

He grunted and bent down weakly. I felt a rush of anger come. And I wouldn't let him beat me up again, so grabbed him by the ear.

I pulled hard enough for him to groan again. "Walk." I commanded.

He didn't move. He kept kneeled as I held his ear like a mom punishing her kid or a dog being held by its owner.

"Walk." I pulled until he started to walk with me, face to the ground and knees bent. I enjoyed it way too much. A big smile was on my face. I was in control, I didn't let him hurt me. He was actually walking with me like an animal.

"Now." I let go of him when we were closer to other Gladers. "Don't touch me again. Yeah? Bye, Carl!"

And then I wandered off, happy about my completed task.

But the smile faded fast when a furious Gally stomped closer to me, fists made. I was scared he would punch me or whatever, but he didn't. "What happened?"

"What?"

He cupped my face tightly in his hands, inspecting my face. "What happened, Valerie?"

Full name. Not good.

"I kicked Carl." I turned proud again. He was still raging and I was smiling. "I hit him in the nose and I took him back here by the ear. Hey, that rhymed."

He still wasn't happy. "I'm not joking."

"I'm not either." I shrugged. "I did kick him."

Gally clenched his jaw. His Adam's apple moved. "What did he do to you?"

"Not much. I didn't let him."

"You're bleeding."

I didn't know that.
Slowly, I moved my hand to the place Gally was staring at; my nose. And indeed, something thick and wet was trailing down from it.

"Oh, I bumped into him." I realized. "And fell, that's why."

He took my hand, pulling me toward the Med Hut. "Please don't go behind the woods again. Or out of my sight."

I bit my lip, not sure what to do for a second. "But they won't hurt me. We practiced fighting together. I can take them. In a fight. Obviously. Not- yeah. You know. But...! Carl didn't act super mean like usual. He was just like saying these things but it wasn't as bad as that time he told me I should eat more so next time I actually fall dead but that was—."

"Valerie."

"—when I couldn't fight yet and now I can so it won't matter and I got him back so he won't do it again I hope." A deep breath. "Sorry I'm ranting again... but it did stop even the dreams about the water but that wasn't Carl so I don't know why I'm-."

"Valerie." I hadn't noticed we stopped walking by now. Or that Gally was holding my shoulders and I had tears in my eyes.

Looking down in shame, I muttered, "Sorry."

"Don't be." He said. "What did you just say? About Carl?"

"Wha-."

"What did he say to you?"

My mouth opened, but no sound came out. Shuck. I had told Gally what Carl said that day. Not my intention. "Nothing." I peeped.

He sucked in a breath, calming himself and closing his eyes for a second. The tight grip on my shoulders loosened. "Did he tell you that you should eat more so next time you will fall dead?"

The next thing I did was cling on Gally, tears streaming down my face for no practical reason. I sobbed a bit. Held his body close to mine. "I'm sorry." I cried.

"There's nothing you have to be sorry about, Val." He rubbed my back. "It's okay."

I sniffed, just to burst out in more tears again, not caring about anyone around us. "Please don't confront Carl with it. It's- it's only gonna make things worse."

"If I kill him, he won't get the chance to make things worse." Gally threatened.

I shook my head before burying it in his shoulder. "Don't. It's been weeks since he said that anyway. And- shit. I'm bleeding on your shirt."

When my sobs turned louder, he took my hand and forced me into the Med Hut, where it was empty, because most people were sitting around a small fire or in the Homestead.

"It's okay. The shirts can be washed." He assured, sitting me down on a bed. Gally cupped my face and removed the tears off my cheeks with his thumbs. "Please don't cry, Val." Worry was everywhere on his face. "I hate that."

I let out a shaky laugh as he searched through the Med Hut. A few seconds later, he came back with a tissue. "Let's get you cleaned up."

"That sounded very wrong." I forced a giggle to not come out of my mouth.

"You make everything I say I sound wrong if you get the chance." He mumbled, mostly concentrating on my nose. "Does it hurt?"

"Depends on what exact thing y-."

"Your nose." He said blankly. "Does it hurt? Maybe it's broken."

"Doesn't really hurt." I shrugged.

His lips pressed together. "Doesn't really, or doesn't?"

"Doesn't." I said fast. "Doesn't hurt."

"Good." He kept holding the tissue down on my nose. Sometimes he checked if it was still bleeding. Then he saw the questioning look on my face. "I get a lot of nosebleeds. So I know how to treat them."

I nodded.
"Did I already tell you how I grabbed Carl by the ear?"

"I think you did."

A smile grew on my lips again. "It was amazing. He was suddenly super small and couldn't do anything against me. Can we do fighting lessons more often?"

He was smiling too, and I didn't know why.
"I thought you found fighting too violent?"

"To look at, yes, but not to defend yourself. Then it's fun because it makes me feel... good." I frowned. "That sounded wrong."

He was still smiling and watching me.

"Why are you smiling at me with that look on your face?" I asked suspiciously, with a scrunched nose.

"Because you're cute when you rant."

I shook my head. "I'm not. I keep talking a lot. Hey, another rhyme. Ah, I make poems, obviously I can rhyme. But I'm not cute when I rant. Don't want to act like a pick me choose me love me, but everything that comes out of my mouth when I rant is— I'm doing it again." I squeezed my eyes shut and looked down.

He laughed. "I love your voice, so keep going. And-."

"That's what she s-."

His large hand slammed on my mouth. With that, my eyes widened and started to twinkle even more.

"What are ya thinking about?" He slowly let go.

"You know what else I told Carl?"

"Well?"

"You know what they say about guys with big hands."

He stared at me, no emotion.

I stared back, having to press my lips close— so hard they nearly got white— to cover a giggle.

"What do they say about guys with big hands?"

"You don't know what they say about that?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Just tell me."

"Big hands have to do with their career. You and Carl's career is building, which is obviously something you need to use your hands for. I bet Ben's hands are way smaller because he doesn't build."

"I really don't think that that is what you meant."

I finally let the giggle out. "It's not what I meant, indeed. But I'm not going to say what I did mean."

"I know what you meant already, so there's no need for you to say it anyway."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Is it true?"

"Excuse me?"

"Is it true?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"You're a guy. With big hands. Do you-."

"Stop."

"I'm just wondering!"

"Stop."