Disclaimer:

I do not own The Maze Runner, but if I did, Rat Man would have looked like an actual rat.

-✼-

"Hey Dylan!"

I groaned before I could even see the person who addressed me. I knew what was coming. Getting up off the floor, I started pushing the chair — the only piece of furniture in the entire room — toward the window. It made me the perfect height to see through the tiny window.

"What." It didn't come out as a question. I was beyond annoyed and honestly I didn't think my mood could worsen by much. The dark-skinned boy in front of me had a smirk on his face, and I could see two boys standing behind his muscular frame, waiting for the fun.

The boy started tracing his fingers along the bars of the window. I retracted slightly, arching my brow.

"Looks like you're all locked up," he mused.

I blinked at him. "Yes. Thank you for pointing that out. Because I clearly didn't notice it before."

Faintly, I could hear Thomas's voice from the other room. I glanced over to see his face in the little window between our rooms. "Dylan? Who is that?"

The boy outside paid no attention to the fact that Thomas could hear everything that was going on and continued the harassment.

"You don't even want to know what I'd do to you if I was in there, too."

I was absolutely disgusted, but I hid it. Instead I played along and looked at him from under my eyelashes, placing my hand on the bars as well.

"Well...you know what I'd do if these bars were wide enough?" I asked.

The boy smiled in satisfaction. "What?"

I dropped the act and gave him a cold glare. "Punch you in the face."

And before he could move, I jumped down from the chair, brought it over my head as high as I could, and bashed the legs between the metal. I heard a loud cry of pain and put the chair down, standing back on it.

"But I guess that will have to do."

The boy's friends were too busy caring for their friend who had splinters on his hand and bruises on his cheeks to notice me. I purposely didn't hurt him too bad because hey, I was a little humane, and besides, I was already in enough trouble.

Thomas whistled. "That been happening all day?"

I sighed. "Yeah. First time I actually hurt them for it, though."

Now that I was imprisoned and unable to hurt anyone — or so they thought — some boys decided it would be fun to harass me through that window. Instead of having time to myself to de-stress, I spent my minutes coming up with new insults to fire back at them.

I was seriously about to call Theo over and have him cut a little block of wood to fit into the window. Instead of it being a source of light and air, it was only bringing me trouble.

I was sitting against the far wall, staring at the ceiling, when Theo came with my lunch. I jumped up and raced to the window, pouncing on top of the chair and nearly falling off of it. I beamed at Theo, who was smiling at me and holding food.

"Thought you could use some cheering up," he said. "Sorry about everything."

"You heard?" I asked as he handed me a bottle of water and a plate of chicken and vegetables.

He nodded somberly. "Some kid was bragging about his cat-calls and how it was great you couldn't do anything about it. I was ready to go tell Newt, but then I saw Abe being carried to the Med-jacks, and I knew you had done something about it."

"I think it's funny how you can fit water and a shucking plate full of chicken sideways through the bars but I can't fit my fist," I complained absentmindedly.

Theo laughed. "I think that's the point. We don't need any girls punching guys for their gross comments."

I eagerly bit into the chicken he'd brought me. It was starting to lose its heat fast, so I tried to eat quickly without making myself sick.

Chuck was there to give Thomas his food since Theo couldn't carry it all without dropping it. He also came with news.

"Everything's back to normal," he announced. "The Runners are out in the Maze, everyone's working— maybe we'll survive after all. Still no sign of Gally. Newt told the Runners to come back lickety-splickety if they found his body. And, oh, yeah, Alby's up and around. Seem's fine, and Newt's glad he doesn't have to be the big boss anymore."

The mention of Alby out and about pulled my attention from the heavenly chicken. "Is Alby okay?"

"He's acting a little strange," Theo admitted, "but that's normal for anyone who just got up from the Changing."

"Did I act weirdly?" I wondered.

Theo thought for a moment. "Oh yeah. Totally insane. We thought we would have to lock you up forever, or sedate you."

I glared at him. He merely laughed in response.

"I didn't even have time to act off," I recalled. "I woke up, went downstairs...uh...I think I ate, then got pulled away by Gally, and then sat alone. That's it."

Suddenly I was hit with a pain in my lower back, making me jolt at the abrupt cramp. I winced and my hand flew back to massage it.

Theo's brow wrinkled in concern. "You okay?"

"Fine," I lied, gobbling up the chicken and broccoli so I didn't have to elaborate. I held up the water bottle. "I'm going to keep this, if you don't mind. You can go eat if you haven't already. I need to lie down."

Theo nodded, though seemingly unconvinced, and took the plate from me. He bid me goodbye, leaving Chuck with Thomas and heading toward the Homestead. I watched him go before carefully climbing down from the chair. I laid on the floor and used my braid as a makeshift pillow since the ground was concrete. Curling into a fetal position, I closed my eyes and fell asleep to the soft voices of Chuck and Thomas.

-/-

"Oh my God, I think I'm dying," were the first words out of my mouth before my eyes even opened. The pain was almost unbearable now, and I was ready to slam my head against the wall to knock myself unconscious so I wouldn't have to feel it.

I sat up. More pain. And then I noticed that I felt like I had peed my pants.

My eyes went wide. "Shuck. Shuck. Shuck. Shuck." I scrambled up and hoisted myself up to the window between me and Thomas. He was making patterns by scraping the floor with a pebble, looking bored. "Thomas! Do you have a hoodie?"

He didn't even look up as he replied, "Does it look like I'm wearing one?"

I grumbled and dropped myself down to the floor. I looked to where I had been laying on the ground, noticing a dark red blotch.

"Shuck."

Ignoring another wave of pain that hit me, I ran to the chair and climbed on top of it, my eyes darting around until I located the nearest person.

"Hey, Finn!" I yelled as loudly as I could, praying he could hear me. "Finn!"

"What?" he yelled back, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Get Newt as fast as you can, and tell him to bring a hoodie!"

For once, no questions were asked. Finn dropped whatever he was doing and sprinted to the gardens. Why Newt was there, I had no clue.

I waited anxiously, biting my lip to keep from crying out in pain. Soon Newt's face appeared in the window.

"Dyl? What's the matter?" he asked with a concerned look etched onto his face.

I thanked my lucky stars.

"You have to listen to me," I said, my tone serious as I held his gaze with mine. "You have to let me out."

Newt's eyes widened. "Let you out? Sorry Dyl, can't do that."

My mind whirred for an appropriate excuse. But then again, I shouldn't have to create one. It was get help or bleed everywhere and die from the pain.

"I'm bleeding."

Newt instantly looked ten times more worried. "What happened? How?"

I shook my head. "No time to explain. Do you have that hoodie?" He nodded. "Good. I need it."

He pushed the sweatshirt through the bars and I grabbed it, tying it around my waist.

"Okay, now, talk to Alby or whoever you need permission from to let me out, but remember that it'll only be for a few minutes. Please."

Newt looked a little hesitant, but for once Mother Nature was on my side and the pain wave hit again. My knees buckled and I grit my teeth, twisting to get comfortable. That was the only thing Newt needed. He looked around to see if anyone was looking.

"I'll be right back."

And he was off. My knight in shining armor.

I leaped down from the chair and figured it would take a while to convince Alby to let me out, so I curled up in a ball on the ground. For ten minutes I switched positions, trying to ease the pain.

"You okay?" Thomas asked. "You seem like you're dying in there."

"I wish I was," I mumbled. "Then this would all be" - I sucked in a breath as the pain increased - "worth it!"

I tried to stretch out my back or do anything to get rid of my misery, but to no avail. Nothing was working.

Of course it was one of those days.

Soon I heard the jingling of keys in a lock and struggled to get up. There stood Newt and Alby.

"Fifteen minutes," Alby said, then left just like that.

I sighed in relief, stepping into the outdoors. Then another pain wave hit and I felt like collapsing.

"Okay," I said to Newt, who had his hand on the small of my back to support me, "first matter of business. Get me to the Homestead."

"Hey, why does she get to be let out?" Thomas demanded like an angry toddler.

"When you bleed monthly, then it's your turn."

Newt and I moved as quickly as we could next door and up the stairs. When we got into our room, I rummaged through my drawers until I found the box of tampons. After grabbing one, I snatched a new pair of pants as well and clean underwear.

"Jeez, what's going on?" Newt questioned.

I glanced back at him. "You don't want to know." I exited the room and he followed. When we were in the hallway, I turned to him. "Go to the Med-jacks and get me some pain medicine. I'll be in the bathroom."

After giving him his orders, I stomped down the stairs loudly. I sprinted to the back of the Homestead like my life depended on it. My heart sunk once I discovered the bathroom was occupied.

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered under my breath. Banging on the door with the side of my fist, I shouted to whoever was inside, "Hurry up!"

I waited with my items clutched to my chest. Two minutes later, the door opened and a boy named Garret stepped out. He was tall so he didn't notice me at first, but when he did, his grey eyes widened in surprise. "You're supposed to be in the Slammer."

"Yeah, well, change of plans," I said. Garret was tolerable enough, but I was not in the mood to have a conversation with him about why I wasn't locked up at the moment. "Move."

"You've been really on edge. Is everything all right?"

To his credit, he didn't realize what he said would offend me, but my hormones got the best of me and I spat at him before I could stop myself, "My uterus is shredding bits of itself at this very moment and it is excruciatingly painful, so I think I'm allowed to be on the snappy side."

I pushed him out of the way and closed the door, locking it. Sighing, I did what I had to do and then left, finding Newt waiting outside with a syringe in his hand and a glass of water in the other. I froze immediately, pointing to the atrocious needle. "What is that?"

"This?" Newt asked, lifting it up. "Pain medicine. It's for our more... extreme cases. The pills are for minor aches and the lot."

"You've got to be kidding me," I mumbled for the second time that day. "Okay, fine. But where does it—"

Before I could finish, Newt grabbed my waist and pulled me forward. He kissed me and it took me a second to respond from the surprise. But a few moments after I did, he pulled away and took the needle out of my stomach, a smirk on his face.

I narrowed my eyes. "You little—"

But my tongue went dry before I could finish. It was like all of the moisture had been vacuumed from my mouth, leaving it dry. Newt tossed me the water bottle and I uncapped it, gulping it down.

"Side effect of the serum," he explained. "Drink about half and you should be good. You're welcome, by the way."

After I quenched my thirst, I stopped drinking the water and then burped loudly. "Thank you." Newt raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me."

"You're welcome," Newt repeated and pulled me to his side. "You seriously okay?"

I stopped to think, knowing I couldn't lie to Newt. "How long does that stuff last?"

He shrugged. "Dunno, 'bout four or five hours, I think. Why?"

"I'm gonna need it for the next few days," I told him.

"Yay!" he sarcastically cheered. "More needles!"

I hit his arm. "I hate you."

"No you don't."

And of course that was true.

gif is theo laughing bc he is adorable

______________

dylan is basically me bc whoop yay code red and im miserable so

but thylan and newlyn moments give me life

dedicated to all those on their periods bc i feel ya

-kristyn