I do not own The Maze Runner or any of its characters

Lauren: Is there a way we can Banish him?
Newt: Not without cause.
Lauren: I have cause! It is because I hate him.

OR-

Lauren: I'm officially revoking your license of being Gally's anger diffuser.
Peter: Oh, thank God.

Lauren
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When I woke up, I was aware of two things. Number One: The room was dark. Number Two: There was a weight on my legs. Blinking away sleepiness, I noticed the weight had short, black hair.

So, like any normal human being, I started to pet the weight. But then the weight woke up.

"Whosepettingme?" It stirred.

"Morning." I smiled down at Peter.

"Lauren!" He gave me a bone-crushing hug.

I endured the pain because Peter's hugs are great.

"You missed a lot while you were out." He pulled away.

"Oh, really?" I was about ready to tell him to tell me all about it, but then the memories hit me like a ton of bricks. "Um, Peter? Can you grab my journal? I need to write some stuff down."

"Sure."

"It should be on my dresser."

Peter left to get it, and I was alone for what seemed like three hours. I busied myself by trying to braid back my extremely knotted hair and did everything I could not forget the memories. I eventually gave up. Trying to braid my hair, I mean.

"I may or may not have messed up your room trying to find your journal. But, I eventually found it, so that's all that matters." Peter came into the room with his hands up.

"I guess that's okay." I sighed.

"Good. Because I was prepared for a fight." He handed me the book, and I flipped to a new page to start writing.

"Alright. Catch me up on the latest drama."

"Okay, so-" Peter took a deep breath and started on a long speech.

Half-listening, I tried to write down every aspect of my dreams. From the age I guessed I was to the detail of each person in them. My hand started cramping, and I almost hit Peter in the face trying to pop it. I powered through it-getting Stung was much worse.

"Oh, and then Clint and Gally got into it. It was funny to listen to. Clint was ab-"

"What?!" I looked up from my scribble of words.

"Yeah, Clint tried to apologize to Gally, and then Gally got really angry, and Clint just went 'I'm done.' It was so cool."

I rubbed my face. "I'm- I'm not even gonna get into that."

Peter had the audacity to look shocked. "Wow, I guess the Changing lives up to its name."

"You missed my last part. I meant to add on right now."

"Ah. I see."

We both laughed, and Peter caught me up to date. By that time, the sun had risen. I twisted around to watch the Glade wake up. Not being a morning person deprived me of seeing the sunrise, and I wanted to take full advantage of this one time I would be awake early. It looked weird, seeing the space of the Glade. There were almost no boys around, and it was oddly quiet.

I had enough.

"C'mon, let's get breakfast." I pulled back the blankets.

"AH!" Peter fell out of his chair.

"What? OH MY-" I had no pants on. "WHO THE FINCH TOOK OFF MY PANTS?!"

"I DON'T KNOW BUT PUT THEM BACK ON!" Peter curled up into the fetal position, protecting his eyes.

"WELL, I CAN'T GET UP, SO YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO GO TO MY ROOM AND GET SOME SHORTS!"

"IS IT SAFE? DID YOU PUT THE BLANKETS BACK?!"

I took a deep breath. "Yeah. You're good."

Peter was still covering his eyes. "I'm gonna go to your room now. And get you some shorts. Yup. That's what I'm going to do." He bumped into the doorframe on his way out.

After a couple of deep breaths and some wrestling with the decision to jump out the window, I was better when Peter came back with my shorts. 

"I'm coming in now."

"You're good."

"So, we're just not gonna talk about this, right?" He handed them to me.

"Yep. Now leave."

I could've sworn Peter said something like 'you don't have to tell me twice.' But I let it slide for now.

Pulling the blankets back a second time, sans-Peter, I looked at my wound. It was wrapped in gauze, and I thought about unwrapping it but decided not to. I wasn't sure if I was even ready. The thing had caused me a lot of pain. You can't just forget that.

I slid off the bed and almost stumbled. My right leg was on fire.

"Well, that's a problem." Half-sitting, half-standing, I pulled on my shorts. "Peter?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"Do we have crutches?"

"Uh, maybe? I'll ask Clint." Peter opened the door to find Gally there.

"Hey!" I waved from the bed.

"Lauren's awake?" He pushed past Peter, almost knocking him down in the process.

"Yeah, I-" Nevermind what I was going to say because I don't think I'd have any air to say it. Gally had me in his arms, and it didn't look like he was going to let go anytime soon. I hugged him back and just tried to put as much apology into it as I could.

I felt awful for trying to leave him or Peter out of it. They were my best friends, for shuck's sake. And as I was nuzzled into Gally's neck, I could feel the regret disappearing.

Eventually, we pulled apart, and I then noticed Peter had left the room, leaving the door closed behind him.

Gally cleared his throat. "Sorry." There was the slightest hint of a blush on his face.

"It's okay."

Clint then knocked and opened the door, holding some crutches in his hand. "I'm glad to see you're awake."

"I'm glad to be awake too. Now, can I get some breakfast?"

"Hold on. I have to make sure you're okay to leave." Gally took the crutches from Clint. The Med-Jack started checking my vitals; when he started unwrapping the gauze, I looked down to see the wound.

It had a black tint to it, but other than that, it looked perfectly normal.

"You realize I had shorts in my room, right?" I asked Clint quietly.

He was quiet. "It was hard enough trying to get to the wound. I wasn't about to go through it again."

"So, no." 

"Let's see how well you can walk." Gally gave me the crutches, and I started to hobble out of the room, down the hallway.

"Alright, come back."

Going back to the room was a little bit smoother than walking away from it.

"You need to take it easy. It looks like you've got a sprained muscle. Come back and ice it every once in an awhile, and after about two weeks or so, we'll see if you can ditch the crutches."

"Great. Breakfast!" I started to move to the stairs.

"Lauren, that's not a good idea." Gally started.

"Gally, I'm sure I can handle a flight of stairs." But apparently, I couldn't, as I stumbled and almost fell down the rest of the way. My crutches were already down the stairs, and I held on to the handrail for dear life. 

Clint was about to go down the stairs, but Gally took action. Before I could do anything, he had me in his arms bridal style, and we cruised down the rest of the stairs. He deposited me right before the door, and at long last, I saw sunlight.

"When the finch did the sun get so bright," I grumbled.

"I'm pretty sure it was always like this, Lauren."

"Well, I'm pretty sure it got brighter." I'm not even gonna sugarcoat it. Everyone was staring at us. Whispers were heard everywhere, and some guys didn't even try to whisper. Gally was glaring at everyone.

I tried to see Peter, but he was nowhere to be found. In fact, the entire picnic table area was deserted. Gally headed inside the Kitchen, and I just followed. I needed him to open doors for me.

Frypan was excited to see us.

"Lauren! You're awake!" Well, he was more excited to see me than Gally.

"Yeah!"

"I'd hug you, but my hands are covered in grease. Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge, or we've got some leftover biscuits and gravy right over there." He pointed to the plates that hadn't been put away yet.

"Thank you." I got cozy at the table, propping up my leg. Gally grabbed me one of the plates.

While I ate, Frypan and I chatted, catching up with all the drama. He informed me of the stuff that Peter missed, which apparently was a lot as Peter was with me the entire time I was out. I eventually finished, and I said bye to Frypan and left the Kitchen.

"What am I even going to do?" I stood frozen, trying to figure out a job I could do with an injured leg.

"Um." Gally was as confused as I was.

"All these jobs require legs. I could go back to the Kitchen and try and help out, but I got a headache from all the smells in there."

"You could go back and try to heal your leg faster."

"I guess so." We started walking back to the Homestead.

When we reached the stairs, I just looked at Gally. He sighed and picked me up again.

"I hate this." I grumbled.

"You'll be alright."

"I hate it!"

I was deposited back on my bed. "I'll try and see if I can get Peter to keep you company for a little while."

"It's that slow?"

"You wouldn't believe." Gally gave me his rare smile again and left.

"You just couldn't be away from me for long, could you?" Peter dropped into one of the chairs.

"Don't let it go to your head there, bud."

"So? Tell me some memories!" He put his head in his hands.

"Well, I saw myself getting taught how to face-read," I started. I told him about Amelia but left out the cure part. I was halfway through telling him about Terra when I heard a voice I had almost forgotten about.

Lauren, stop!

It sliced through my head like fire. I winced.

"What's wrong?"

"I, uh, nothing. I just got a headache." I lied easily.

"Oh. Do you need me to get Clint?"

"No, it's fine. Nothing I can't handle."

Silence settled itself into the room.

"But do you think you could get Gally?"

I didn't need face-reading training to know I hurt Peter. I felt awful, but I needed someone else to talk to. Someone I know would understand what I was saying. And Peter just didn't fit the criteria. I'd make it up to him later.

"Yeah. Sure." He said dully.

Seeing Peter's face made my stomach twist with guilt. I shifted on the bed uncomfortably. I hated all of this.

"What's wrong?" Gally was concerned.

"I needed someone else to talk to."

"Oh."

We stayed there in the room for a while, swapping memories and trying to understand others. I didn't think about Peter once.

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I unintentionally wrote 800+ words of just Lauren and Peter.
DEAL WITH IT, I LOVE MY BABIES SO MUCH, AND THEY DESERVE THE 
W O R L D.
Also, I'm sorry for hurting his feelings again.

Y'know, writing this chapter took a lot of prep, like figuring out how one puts on shorts with a hurt leg. I may or may not have fallen trying to make sure that scene was realistic, and then finding out I never even had to was maddening.

Then we got a Laurally hug!!! And yes, I finally figured out a ship name. But this in no way means they're gonna end up together. I already have the Labra wedding scene written in book 3.

BUT ANYWAY-Questions!!!!

-Were y'all satisfied with the hug?

-Did I have anyone screaming along with Peter in THAT scene?
(I literally cry-laughed writing it)

-Do you think I'm evil enough to get Lauren and Peter into a fight?