Florence found herself in the Med room the next day, busying around the room to aid Clint as he gave stitches to a Slicer with a particularly bad gash on his arm.

Someone remind me why we gave these boys knives.

Clint was insanely calm as he stitched up the boy's injury, Jeff hovering just by his side waiting on the side-lines just in case he needed anything. Someone cleared their throat from the door of the Med room, and the awkward yet confidence of it led Florence to realise that it was Minho.

She turned away from her fellow Med-jacks to greet the Runner who stood at the door with a wide grin. His hair was stuck to his forehead due to sweat, and his breathing was evening out slowly, leading the girl to conclude he had just come from the Maze.

"What's up Minho?"

His smirk didn't seem any less bright at the fact he was at the Med-room, which would generally mean he had some sort of injury.

"Oh I uh, I have a cut on my finger. I just came to get a plaster." He pouted childishly, and Florence rolled her eyes fondly. Inside, she thought it rather strange Minho was acknowledging the fact he had such a small injury.

"Deciding to start looking after yourself huh?" She asked him teasingly, eliciting a scoff from the boy. She fished through a few boxes to grab a plaster small enough for the cut on his finger.

"Thought I should. It would be devastating for everyone if something happened to me." He claimed, his egoistical side returning, and Florence stifled a laugh at his overconfidence. She returned towards him, taking his finger and wrapping the plaster around it. 

Jokingly, she placed a kiss on it once she finished. Her lips only touched his skin briefly and softly, turning up in a smile afterwards.

"All better now."

Minho had lost his words after the girl's actions, his breath knocked out of his chest by the butterflies going wild inside himself. His usual cockiness was nowhere to be found. He blurted out a thank you, and abruptly turned on his heel to leave the room.

Jeff and Clint exchanged a bemused expression which the girl just so happened to miss, as she turned back to them as if nothing had happened. What she didn't miss was their not so subtle glances accompanied with identical smirks.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

The next day, almost the same exact thing happened. The Med-jacks were having more of a quiet day, so Clint was the first to realise Minho had appeared at the door of the Med room.

He nudged Jeff, who looked up to the door spotting the boy. They broke out into quiet snickers as it was obvious the reason Minho was back in the Med room.

Florence was busy filing supplies away on the shelves, her back turned to the three boys. Minho was looking at her with amusement, as she was going up onto her tiptoes to try and put something away onto the top shelf. She was quite short, so she was struggling, yet no one was helping.

"Heya."

Minho finally said, and Florence jumped out of her skin nearly toppling over. She spun around and a suspicious expression fell onto her face at the sight of the Runner back in the room.

"What did you do this time?" She asked teasingly with a sigh, and Minho only pouted as he strolled across the room towards her, ignoring the other two Med-jacks much closer to him. Clint and Jeff shared another knowing look, but the other two were so oblivious to it that they didn't hear the boys making excuses to leave the room.

"I think it's my shoulder princess. I can barely move it." This was an obvious tactic by Minho. This way, he'd have an excuse for Florence to see his biceps, and obviously she'd fall in love with him then! Well, that's not exactly what he was planning, but something alike to it.

Minho jumped up onto a bed and Florence approached him, wearing an expression of mock concern. She knew it was likely to be that there was nothing wrong with him, but she couldn't help but find it intriguing that he was in the Med room. She knew he was making excuses to see her. And she was not mad.

He rolled up his sleeve even further than usual, but the part of his shoulder that was 'painful' was not accessible. Of course Minho was going to have to take his shirt off. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him shirtless before, but this time she knew in advance that it was happening. So it made her much more anxious.

"Take your shirt off." She eventually asked, narrowly avoiding her voice wobbling with irrational nerves. His eyes widened in shock and stuttered out a,

"W-what?"

Minho was even more nervous than her. He was the one that was going to be exposed. He knew he had a great body - his ego came in handy sometimes - but it didn't mean he didn't feel vulnerable.

"Oh come on, it's not like I haven't seen you shirtless before." She stated as if it was nothing, and the voice that came from behind after her words made them both freeze up and cringe.

"You've what?"

Florence and Minho's heads both snapped towards the door of the Med room where one of Florence's fellow Med-jacks was wandering in as if nothing had happened. Jeff held back a smirk at the red cheeks of the smitten pair, and the embarrassment he had caused.

"I-"

"Uh-"

They were both unable to come up with any excuses. Jeff's smirk appeared and he lifted his eyes lazily to the Runner who was usually so confident and aloof but seemed so nervous and rigid presently.

"Go on then Minho. Don't mind me."

A harsh glare settled in Minho's eyes as he met Jeff's eye and he hopped up from his seat with a forced spring to his step. He held his chin a little too high as his cheeks drained of colour and he gave the boy a fake smile.

"You know what, I think it's fine now."

He strolled from the room and the girl was left to roll her eyes as she sat in the place the boy sat only a few moments ago. She took a moment before reciting her thoughts aloud.

"Why is he making excuses to see me?"

Jeff was shocked by her obliviousness. Well, at least she wasn't oblivious to the extent she didn't know what he was doing. But why he was doing it was even more obvious - if that was possible.

"Are you serious?" His amusement was too great for the girl to miss it. She shrugged, replaying Minho's earlier embarrassment, and trying to pick up on any hints Jeff was suggesting he had dropped.

Only a day later, Minho had returned. Florence was informed of this fact by Clint's exasperated voice proclaiming,

"Shucks sake, you again? What is it?"

Minho shook his head, rolling his eyes at the Med-jack Keeper's annoyance. His eyes fell on Florence who held a false unamused expression when in fact it was rather the opposite on the inside.

"I'm not staying long this time, promise." His voice was still raspy with exhaustion, clearly he had only just regained his breath back. "Just here to tell princess she's running tomorrow. Make sure you get a good sleep tonight!"

He winked at Florence, flashing her a wide toothy grin before disappearing as quickly as he had come. A smile made its way onto her face, and her fellow Med-jacks shared a prideful smirk for their friend as she processed it.

She was going to run again.

"Hey Alby!" 

At the end of her working day, Florence caught her leader walking to the Homestead to retrieve his well earned dinner. He was more than irritated by her distraction, and tried to hide it, but it shone through in his forced smile.

She joined him in the queue to retrieve their food, and with the guarantee of dinner soon, he was happy enough to listen to her. Her eyes were shining like they do when she thinks she has a genius idea, but historically, they tended to be not so genius.

"Okay so I have an idea."

Florence was constantly coming up with ideas on how to improve the Glade, coming to Alby with each one who promised to bring any good ones up with the Council. But there hadn't actually been any good ones yet.

The first idea she had proposed was to take field trips out in the Maze. 'Only down the first corridor so people can see what it's like' she would attempt to claim, but of course Alby shut it down immediately.

The second, was that Frypan should give all the boys cooking lessons. Where they would find the time or enough food available to waste - because the food would most likely be inedible - was beyond Alby. So that was another idea crushed.

But Florence was adamant that this was her best idea yet. It was so simple, so Alby was super likely to agree to it. It was harmless!

"Go ahead." The leader droned, already ready for something farfetched and unachievable to leave the girl's lips as usual.

"Well it's not complicated-"

"-That's what you said when you suggested painting a fifty foot mural on one of the Maze walls." Alby replied with a chuckle, but he sealed his lips in a firm line at the sight of the girl's glare.

"I just think we should have bonfires every week instead of just with the new Greenie." Alby paused. This was a fair suggestion.

"If you look at everyone, they look pretty miserable." The leader cast his eyes among the room. Everyone did look pretty sad, but it was normal. The Glade was their normal life, and it was sad.

"Maybe a weekly get together - just to mess around and have fun - would be uplifting for everyone. Gives them something to look forward to."

Florence looked more than happy with herself for thinking up something that Alby looked like he was actually considering. It wasn't like her idea was entirely original, but it was her suggestion, and he seemed to like it.

"That sounds uh... Actually okay. Surprisingly. I'll talk to Newt."

And he did. Following their conversation, they held a small Gathering of the Council with all the Keepers and Florence, who Alby introduced as a new member of the Council. She sat with a smug smile about her idea getting brought up in a meeting.

The vote was unanimous. Obviously the boys were going to be all for more opportunities to get drunk off Gally's suspicious concoction and pick fights with one another besides a roaring bonfire.

And so when Florence ran the Maze the next day, she was also excited to return home for the bonfire they were having that very evening.

It was her first time running alone. She was nervous. There was no one around to help if she lost her way, or if she hurt herself. She had to trust herself.

But she didn't mess up. Sure, she had to slow down a little to cut the vines as she couldn't do it as smoothly as Ben yet, but she cut her break short to ensure she had more than enough time spare to get back to the Glade.

Her face was lit up with pride as she jogged back into the Glade, and was met by Minho and Alby who were both waiting for her. Not that they would admit it, they were both slightly terrified about letting her run alone in the Maze, and were tempted to get Minho to follow her from a distance to make sure nothing went wrong. But then Newt enlightened them on how that would be more than a little creepy.

"Florence!" Alby exhaled, coming off a little more relieved than he intended.

She threw up her hands as if to say, 'I did it!', and Alby clapped her on the back with a wide grin. Minho merely just watched her happiness with a smile nudging at his lips.

Alby glanced between the pair of them and made an excuse to catch up with Newt. They were left in a comfortable silence, Florence panting slightly in catching her breath.

"I'm proud of you." Minho finally got out, before sweeping her up in his arms in a hug. Her feet were lifted off the ground and they were both sticky with sweat, but it was nice. The girl could feel her heart thumping out of her chest, and she knew it was no longer because of the running.

"Minho!" Florence whined, unable to get out of his grip, but she was only teasing. She did secretly love it when he was affectionate towards her.

Dropping her abruptly, he didn't wait a beat to drag her off towards the Map room. As they stepped inside, they instantly hushed their whispers and laughs. The Map room was intensely quiet, the other Runners gathered around the table and drawing out their maps.

Taking a seat at the table and pulling one out for the girl, Minho grabbed a few sheets of paper and two pens. He walked her through the steps of drawing a map, correcting her every so often - surprisingly polite - and making sure it was as accurate as possible.

He avoided raising his voice or becoming impatient which surprised even himself. He had lost his temper with so many boys in Florence's place, but he managed to keep his cool with her.

They were left behind in the Maze room as they completed their maps, with Minho glancing over to the girl often to check she wasn't messing up. She pretended to not notice this to keep him happy, but continued with drawing. 

When they finally finished up - if Minho was being honest, he dragged out the process so they had as much time together as possible - the bonfire was already well under way. Gally hadn't picked a fight just yet, and everyone was settled in front of the fire just chatting or eating or both.

"I'll grab you a jar of Gally's drink if you want." Minho offered and the girl narrowed her eyes at his sarcastic words. "Come on, I know how much you love it."

She shoved him gently in the chest, her eyes scanning the Gladers sat at the fire and falling onto Ben who was watching them very intrigued. He raised an eyebrow but she looked away with a subtle shake of her head.

"Oh wait! I'm going to get my guitar."

She rushed off in excitement, leaving Minho to join Newt beside the fire. He was quite looking forward to hearing the girl play the guitar since she had refused to play it to him since getting it. She had told him time and time again that he would have to wait until the bonfire, but that she would teach him how to play it when they got a spare moment.

When she returned, her eyes were glistening with joy. She felt her cheeks heat at the realisation everyone was looking at her. Sitting down besides Minho, she decided to clear her throat to make an unofficial speech, as everyone was paying her attention anyway.

"So.. We're having weekly bonfires now instead of monthly-" She was cut off by a few boys whooping in delight. She couldn't help but feel prideful of this. As soon as they quietened, she spoke again.

"And I uh- have a guitar. So I'm just gonna play it. I guess." She cleared her throat once again, this time because she felt awkward.

She began to pluck the strings again, her hands just seemingly knowing what to do. She recognised the song but couldn't remember any lyrics. Unknown to her, every single Glader felt the exact same.

She blocked out the many pairs of eyes on her and focused in on what she was playing. Her hand shifted up and down the frets of the guitar, with her other strumming very softly so the music didn't come off as harsh. 

And they were like a happy, dysfunctional family in that moment. Well they always were, really. But in that very moment, there was no arguing or stupid disagreements, there was no teasing over relationships or crushes, and there was no mention of the Maze. There was only a group of 50 teenage boys crowded around a fire with a teenage girl playing a song they recognised in the back of their minds on the guitar. 

The song felt emotional because of this. There was no doubt they would look back to this one peaceful moment and think of the girl playing the soft tune on the guitar. 

The song was 'Happy Birthday' but still, it's emotional, right?