Alex made her way up to Minho's room. The door was closed, so she knocked on the door, just in case.

"Ya?" A deep voice from the other side yelled.

"It's me, can I come in?"

"Yeah" came Minho's voice.

Alex opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks, in the doorway. She saw a shirtless Minho standing in the middle of the room, holding a shirt in one hand and a towel with the other.

Alex's eyes went wide, her mouth hung open a little. She felt the heat rise up her bloody face. She tried to run a hand through her messy hair, forgetting she was covered in blood. Minho raised his eyebrows and smirked, turning to fully face her.

"Like what you see She-Bean?"

"What?" she asked stupidly.

She was too busy staring at his chest and abs, she was pretty sure he was flexing.

Holly Shuck! Dude is a chiseled fine piece of artwork! Shuck, I want to touch those abs! I hope I'm not drooling, I probably am...shuck I'm a disheveled hot mess...

Minho took a step closer to Alex, looking down at her. He had beautiful dark rich eyes, framed with long thick eyelashes she would kill to have. She couldn't take her eyes off the shirtless young man. It was only then that he gestured at Alex, standing almost toe to toe with her, "What happened to you? What the shuck? Why is there a dog with you?"

His eyes slid behind her to Bark, who walked into the room. Bark was smelling Minho, trying to lick his hands. Alex snapped her eyes away from his torso, her cheeks flaming red, but not too noticeable due to the hog blood that was drying to her.

"You miss a lot while out there, in the maze don't you? I really really need a shower. Like really bad. Then I'll fill ya in. Where are these showers I was told about and please tell me they lock?"

"Nope" he said, popping the p.

Alex's stomach dropped.

"Never needed 'em, never had a She-Bean. I can stand outside the door, make sure no shanks bug ya. Grab what you need."

He took a step back and pulled his tight shirt on as Alex grabbed her shampoo and soap, and clean clothes. A few towels from the shelf in the med jack room along with some laundry soap and headed to the showers.

Minho stood leaning a shoulder on the door, arms crossed over his chest trying to make his arm muscles even bigger, trying to be even more intimidating than he already was. Bark sat beside him, on high alert.

"So She-Bean. You gonna tell me why the shuck you're covered in blood and why you have a four legged bodyguard?" He called through the shower door.

As Alex washed the blood sweat and grim away she filled him in on everything that happened in her day from the second he left the breakfast table to the minute she walked in on him shirtless. Except she brushed over the Chris situation. It felt so good to stand in the warm water, feeling the weight of her day wash down the drain with the other grime. It was also nice to be talking to Minho, he was easy to talk to. He made her laugh, he was a good listener and kept the mood light.

Minho let out a low whistle, Bark cocked her head looking at him, gave a woof as if agreeing. "Man there She-Bean, that's quite the day" He looked down at the dog who hadn't left, and had her head cocked looking at the Asian boy. He squatted in front of the dog, "you're pretty smart, aren't ya?" he scratched her head. Bark licked Minho's cheek

"UHHHH NOO! Not the face!!" Bark woofed and jumped, putting her paws on his shoulders making Minho fall backwards, wagging her tail, she barked and jumped around, licking anything she could. Minho was laying on the ground, arms around his head yelping "NO! BAD DOG BAD DOG! NOT THE HAIR!! NOT THE HAIR! BAD DOG! NOT THE HAIR!"

Alex stood in the doorway of the shower watching, wet hair in a loose braid over her shoulder. She had clean fresh clothes on, laughing at the ridiculous sight before her. Minho rolling around on the ground, and her dog jumping all over. There are things in this shucked up place that could make her smile. She was still stuck in the middle of a mysterious maze, with some kind of blood thirsty killing monsters.

She thought back to what she saw in the Deadheads, all those wood crosses, all the names crossed off the wall. All those boys who were never going to grow up. They never got a chance. Her smile slipped and she felt her heart squeeze. Would she end up like one of those boys? With no chance of growing up? Would she have to see more crosses in the forest? Would one of the boys she was becoming to care about end up like that? She wanted to grow up, she wanted to know what was outside, wanted to know what the world was like. She still had no clue what the point to all this was. Was this some big punishment for something she did? Some kind of shucked up experiment? She would probably never know. She still had so many questions, everything was so confusing and scary. Her chest started to tighten, tears threatened to fall.

Minho had finally gotten to his feet, and saw Alex in the doorway. She hastily wiped the few tears away with the back of her hand, pulled a smile back on her face, though her heart was feeling heavy.

"All cleaned up now?" He asked. She nodded and quickly turned to grab her stuff, and sniffed.

"Hey, you okay Shanket?" He gently placed a hand on her back.

"Just a lot to take in. It's all very overwhelming. And Newt showed me the Deadheads...the crosses of the kids, their names crossed off. This is a shucked up place." Alex sniffed again, looking at the ground. He hummed, and nodded.

"Ya. It's definitely shucked. But like I said last night. We're family, and we got your back." He reassured her. She looked back up at the cocky young man. Instead of his sly smirk, his lips were drawn into a tight line, a sincere look on his face. "Seriously, Alex. If you need anything, tell us. I can't imagine being the only shanket in the mix of shanks is easy."

She let her trembling lip lift into a small smile. Under his cocky sassy exterior he was quite caring and kind. He didn't bring it out much, from what she saw.

"Thanx Min. Don't get too soft on me now, I might just steal that sass crown from you." She laughed a little, whipping the last of the tears that had slipped down her cheek.

His smirk appeared, as he scoffed at her, "Never! I am the sass master! The King of sass!"

"Well King of the sass, your hair isn't as on point as usually." She ruffled his hair and started walking away towards the Homestead to dropp off her stuff before supper.

Minho gasped and allowed behind her. Together the two friends walked off, her dog running around them. Minho trying to fix his hair muttering about how long it took to make it look just right and how he's going to need more gel.

________________________

Frypan had just entered the room and closed the door, having finished cleaning up supper.

"All right, what's with the super secret meeting?"

Alex was sitting at the edge of one of the beds, twisting her fingers together. Bark was laying by her feet, Clint and Jeff were leaning on the table in the middle of the room. Minho was sitting in a chair leaning it back on two legs, his feet propped up on the table, his arms locked behind his head, a bored look on his face. Newt was tense sitting beside Alex. And Chuck looked lost, he wasn't sure why he was there but felt important being with the Glad leaders. And Alby was standing beside the door waiting.

Newt cleared his throat and stood up.

"We called this bloody 'super secret meeting' Frypan, cuz we got a slight problem." He paused and looked at Alex, silently asking if she was still ok with this. She gave a tiny nod. He continued, "you guys obviously know Alex is the only Shanket here. And one Glader specifically has been well...a little more friendly than he should be and it's making her uncomfortable and feeling unsafe. And we can't have that. This doesn't happen if there is no trust, rule 3."

Minho took his feet off the table, the chair slammed down, he was alert now.

"What the shuck Alex, you never told me that!"

Alex looked up at him nervously, then looked at each boy in the room. She trusted them. She trusted this handful of Gladers. Taking a shaky breath she told the boys everything; his comments at the box, last night at the bonfire, and today at lunch. When she was finished all the guys, even little Chuck, were on their feet, fists clenched, ready to knock some heads.

"He had a warning, Newt and I agreed, if he tries something, and the dog attacks, or Alex fights back, it's his fault. We are telling you guys so there are more gladers aware of the situation. She-Bean named you guys specifically as gladers she trusts." Alby said solemnly from the door

"Aww She-Bean!" Minho cooed, holding a hand to heart and pretending to wipe a tear away, "That's so sweet."

Newt groand, "Really? Ya shank, can't even be bloody serious right now?"

Minho rolled his eyes. "I am serious! It's sweet that She-Bean feels like she can trust us. Me more than the rest, she trusts me while she showers."

He winked at her, and made her blush.

"Not sure how much help I'll be during the day, I'm not here, obviously. But when I'm around, you better believe it, baby doll, I got my eye on you." He smirked at Alex, making her stomach back flip. The guys all groaned and rolled their eyes at his over cocky flirting. "Oh Alby, we need a lock on one of the shower doors, for extra security. I'll still stand guard, don't trust those shucky shuck faces."

"Good that, I'll tell Gally" Alby said, he gestured to Bark "The dog seems oddly protective of our She-Bean, where she goes, the dog goes, I guess. Anyone have an issue?" Everyone shook their heads. "Good that. Gathering dismissed"

"You mean super secret meeting!" piped up Chuck from the back.

Everyone left the room, and Alex headed to Minho's room to get ready for bed. Before Minho left, he squatted down in front of Bark, scratching her ears, he held the dog's head in his hands, he leaned his forehead against Bark's, and closed his eyes.

He said quietly "Thanx Pup for keepin' her safe today. You're a good dog..just don't touch the hair and we won't have problems" He sighed and opened his eyes. "If us shanks can't be there, it's up to you. Think you can do that?" Bark thumped her tail a few times and gave a little woof.

She trotted out of the room to go find Alex. Minho stood up and smiled. Something at the back of his mind told him it wasn't the first time he had a deep desire to protect her. Did he know her before the maze? Only the creators knew.