Disclaimer:

I do not own The Maze Runner, but if I did, I would have made book!Alby more like movie!Alby because he was so chill.

-✼-

I expected it to take a while for us to get to the Homestead with Newt's limp, but he was surprisingly quick on his feet and we managed to walk across the Glade in a few. We heard angry shouting and some unpleasant words, so we rounded the corner and stopped at a small window with light shining through. A small wooden sign by the door had the word "Bathrooms" carved into it.

"Shuck it," Newt sighed as he rubbed his forehead. Stress lines started to wrinkle the skin there. "Chuck probably scared the livin' daylights outta whoever was in there."

I paused, listening carefully. I thought I heard Gally and Thomas's voices mixed in with the shouting. Great. "Aren't you going to stop them?"

Newt waved his hand in dismissal. "Nah. We've gotta let the Gladers fight their own battles sometimes."

"With Gally, there seems to be a lot of fighting," I mumbled.

"Hey," he began, "like I said before, Gally's just hot-headed. He disagrees with a lot of people, but he's not a bad guy. I'm not saying you have to love him- I sure don't. But he's been through a lot. He wasn't always this way."

I nodded. I understood that the things people went through sometimes changed them as a person. In Gally, whatever happened to him made him hard. Untrusting. Liable to make fun of the new people in the Glade. But the person Newt was describing didn't seem like the Gally I just met. Whose eyes had discreetly burned with anger the moment I'd spoken Thomas' name. Who looked at me like he knew my every secret.

Newt seemed to notice my troubled expression and declared, "You don't have to worry about him."

Without saying anything else, we wordlessly began walking to the front door of the Homestead. When we walked inside, Newt gave me no time to look around before he was leading me up the rickety stairs. They seemed to have been patched up several times. Some boards were uneven; I had to carefully watch my footing in order to prevent myself from tripping.

"These are where the Keepers' bedrooms are, along with mine and Alby's. You'll be sharing a room with Minho- he was the only one not to protest to not having his room all to himself anymore. It might be because he's never there, I dunno."

As we got to the top of the staircase, I asked, "What do you mean, the only one not to protest?"

Newt shrugged, his hair bouncing off his shoulders. "Well, if all of them had wanted to keep their rooms to themselves, you would've shared a room with me. However, Minho didn't seem to mind. We'll be moving a cot in there for you to sleep on. Don't worry; it'll be the most comfortable and pleasant cot our Builders can create."

I nodded and glanced down the hallway. There were several doors on each side, some of which had splinters poking out of them. I didn't know how many there were exactly, but there seemed to be at least ten- five on each side of the corridor. The air smelled strongly of boy.

"Minho's room is the third door on the right," Newt told me. "Mine's two doors down if ya ever need anything. Alby's right across the hall from me. Try not to have nightmares. Minho might slap you with his pillow if you start screamin' in the middle of the night. He's a Runner, so he likes his sleep whenever he can get it."

"Ru--"

"Ah, ah, ah," Newt scolded before I could finish my question, raising an eyebrow. "No more questions until the Tour tomorrow, got it?"

I nodded and kept my mouth shut, signaling I had gotten the message. Newt turned back toward the stairs.

"Builders should be done with your cot soon. I'll go check and make sure they're doing their job. Until then, just don't get into any more arguments."

"I'll try," I promised. "See ya, Newt."

"See ya."

Then, with that, he limped down the stairs, and I was officially alone for the first time I had arrived in the Glade.

I uneasily walked down the hallway, hearing the sounds of the floorboards creaking under my feet. Some boards were loose and I tripped, just barely missing a rusty nail that would've impaled me in the hand.

"Aw, shi- shuck," I quickly switched the swear to one of their slang words. It felt weird to say, practically foreign on my tongue. Who had even come up with those words? How could it roll so naturally off their tongues?

I pushed myself off the ground and checked for any injuries. When I found none, I continued down the hallway, grateful that I was alone or that fall would have been extremely embarrassing.

Finally reaching Minho's door, I opened it without thinking.

That was my first mistake.

A girlish, high-pitched squeal erupted from the room, and the door swung open to reveal a heavily muscled Asian boy who was stark naked, holding a bundle of clothes over himself to cover up.

My second mistake was not immediately getting out of there like any normal person.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, my face flushing as red as red could get, and warmth heating up my cheeks until I felt like they were burning off.

"Shut the shuck door, klunk head!" Minho shouted, his voice no longer high-pitched. "Are you crazy?!"

"Right, sorry," I stumbled over my words and I wasn't sure if they even made sense as I grabbed the door handle and slammed the door shut.

I stood in the hallway, processing what had just happened. I was mortified. My cheeks flamed and I was sure I'd never be able to face Minho again without remembering that. In my own defense, I had no idea he was even in there, considering everyone else was outside. I had just assumed he was, too.

"You can come in, now," Minho called, his voice muffled from the door being shut. I sighed and slowly opened the door. "Don't worry, I'm fully clothed."

Here goes nothing, I thought as I opened the door the rest of the way.

I peeked my head around and noticed he was, in fact, wearing clothes. Although I wasn't sure why he was changing when we were going to sleep anyway, but I made no point to ask. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to speak to him after what just happened.

Minho extended a hand. "Name's Minho, and if you say anything about that scream, I'll personally skin you."

Oh, well. Guess I had to talk. After all, I didn't want to come off as an even bigger "klunk head." So I nodded and shook his hand. "Dylan, and I'll be sure to make a note of that."

Minho let go first and crossed his arms over his chest. "Is it true you talked to Gally today?"

I was surprised. "How do you know about that?"

Minho smirked. "It's a small Glade," he told me. "There aren't that many people. Things get 'round real quick, and he's notorious for messin' with Greenies."

I scoffed. "No kidding."

It was quiet as Minho and I looked at each other. He was strongly built, with muscles bulging out of his shirt. Black hair swooped upward like he ran his fingers through it a lot. His mouth was stretched into a natural frown, and he tapped his fingers on his forearm like he was used to always moving.

"Man, what are you thinking up there?" Minho wondered aloud, snapping me out of my daze.

I was confused and definitely taken aback by his question. "What?"

"I take pride in my special talent for being able to know exactly what people are thinking and feeling," Minho explained. "I use it to my advantage. But I can't read you. What on earth is going on up there?"

I shrugged. "I'm confused as to why I'm here, how I feel like I know Thomas and Newt, and why I don't remember anything. I'm frustrated because Alby isn't giving me answers, Gally is a jerk, and I'm mad at whoever sent us here. I'm terrified because I don't know what will happen. I'm anxious to know everything. But worst of all, I don't know what I feel the most."

Minho simply blinked at me. "A person can't feel all that at once. They'd explode."

I smiled wryly at him. "Some of us don't have the emotional range of a teaspoon, Minho."

"You must be exhausted," he commented, looking almost sympathetic, but I couldn't exactly tell.

"I am," I admitted. As soon as I said that, I realized how my brain felt like mush, and my limbs were like lead. I collapsed on Minho's bed and closed my eyes.

"I guess you are," Minho commented, amused. The bed sagged to the left of me, signaling he was sitting down next to where I was laying. "I hope I won't get in trouble for letting you have a break. Usually we'd still be out and about, but you can be an exception, Greenie."

"I'm honored," I said sarcastically, face smashed into the soft blankets. I wanted desperately to fall asleep then and there.

I heard the smile in Minho's voice as he said, "I think we"ll get along just fine."

Suddenly, the door creaked as it unlatched. My eyes snapped open and I sat up, surprised. Chuck was just standing there in the doorway, confusion on his face.

"What the shuck did I just walk in on?" he asked, looking slightly alarmed as he glanced between the two of us and the bed.

"Nothing," both Minho and I responded at the same time, making the scene appear even more suspicious.

Chuck rolled his eyes. "Sure. Just don't be makin' babies while we're sleeping."

I made a disgusted face and so did Minho, both of us recoiling from each other like we each had serious diseases.

"Gross," Minho muttered under his breath. "We just met."

"Anyway..." Chuck began, thankfully changing the subject. "Dylan, your cot's ready. They'll be bringin' it up any minute now." He started to leave, and just before he did, he added, "And no more making babies."

"We weren't making babies!" Minho argued angrily. Of course, Newt had to walk in at the exact moment the words came out of his mouth.

Newt looked surprised and skeptical, but managed to speak with a level tone. "I didn't make a mistake assigning you to this room, Dylan, did I?" he questioned, and I felt my face heat up for the second time that day. God, that room was bad luck.

"I don't think so," I replied honestly.

"We weren't making babies!" Minho shouted when Newt's eyes drifted to him again. The Asian boy's cheeks were flushing in embarrassment and anger.

Newt lifted his hands in defense. "Okay, shank. I wasn't accusing ya of any baby makin', though I hope that's not what you two were doing."

"We weren't," I assured him, my face still warm.

"Alright," Newt said just as the Builders wheeled my cot into the room. "In that case, enjoy your cot, Dylan. We'll be leaving now."

There was something sour in his voice as he said that, and I was about to ask him what was up, but he had already swung the door shut, leaving Minho and I alone again.

"Well," I said, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Minho."

And then I crawled into my cot on the wall opposite Minho's and fell asleep without another word.

gif is da bae ki hong lee and king will poulter being adorable

_

wow. so. that happened.

shout out to my faves electrifies and QuickMaximoff for being a-MAZE-ing and awesome and yeah (((:

k I have nothing else to say, so byee

~kristyn, who really wants a kit kat