Chapter Text
There were lights flashing, an alarm is blaring in his ears as he is dragged through a hallway. All he can see it white. He is struggling, his legs kicking uselessly in front of him as he tries to rip his arms free from the people dragging him. Where is he? Is this a memory? He sees himself as if he’s an onlooker standing off to the side.
“No! It wasn’t me- I didn’t do anything! It wasn’t me! Please!” That’s him screaming. Thomas feels weird hearing his own voice from an outsider point of view. “Please! Janson I swear it wasn’t me!” Janson? Who is Janson? “Please, please don’t do this- I can still help!” He wonders what he’s so desperate for, what they are going to do to him.
He is dragged into a room and dropped on the ground. A man stands in front of him, all Thomas can see from his spot on the floor is polished black shoes. He doesn’t dare look up. He keeps his head down and brings his arms up to protect it.
“Please, please don’t kill me.” He speaks in a whisper. His voice is weak and his body trembles. “I didn’t do anything. I swear.”
“You think you can lie to me now? After we caught you red handed feeding information to rebels?”
“I didn’t! I swear-”
“Shut up!” The man- Janson- screams. Thomas hears the click of something close to his head and looks up, only to be greeted with a pistol aimed at his head. “I should shoot you right now. You’ve always been a brat- too defiant to want around but too invaluable to dispose of.”
“Please-” Thomas tries again but he’s cut off when the gun is pressed between his eyes.
“Enough of your whining! You’re lucky I haven’t shot you yet!” Thomas cries. He’s honest to god sobbing on the floor right now. There is a long moment of silence in which Thomas is too afraid to breathe. Worried it may set the man off again. The gun is still pressed against his head, though the pressure has lessened.
After many more horrible moments of silence Janson takes the gun away from his head and steps back. Thomas lets out a breath, relieved.
“Swipe him and send him to the maze.” His head snaps up.
“What- No! You can’t do that!” Thomas cries out. He’s already being taken away, dragged away by his armpits. He kicks and squirms, refusing to go easily. “Janson you bastard! You can’t do this! You need me! You know it!” He screams at the man. He can’t see his face, likely because he can’t remember it. “You can’t do this!” He repeats the words again.
He continues to squirm and kick until he feels something prick his neck. He gasps as he feels his body go limp. A numbness spreads through his entire being and black his vision goes black. He hears footsteps before he fades out of consciousness.
OoO
Thomas shoots awake in the Glade. The dream is already fading away, as they always do, and he’s left trying to steady his breathing. His hands are shaking when he runs a hand through his brown hair. It’s gotten longer than he prefers, curling below his ears and falling into his eyes. He hasn’t told anyone about these dreams. It wouldn’t do any good if he did, it’s not like they tell them how to escape the maze. They just leave him confused and as of late, scared.
He shakes his head to clear his mind and gets up for the day. It’s early, the sun isn’t even fully risen yet. Now, he will whine about how much he hates waking up early but he likes mornings like this. Mornings when he is awake before anyone else in the Glade. It gives him time to simply be with no responsibilities looming over his head just yet.
He walks across the Glade, climbs the rickety watchtower and sits at the top. A small breeze blows through and ruffles his hair. He draws his knees closer to his body and rests his chin on them. Sometimes, when the Glade is asleep and the chaos has settled, this place really is beautiful. It makes it difficult to hate. It makes it hard to remember that they are stuck here, someone put them here and is watching them like they’re lab rats.
He sits up there for some time. He watches the sun fully ascend over the stone walls of the maze and listens to gladers mull around. Everyone is starting to get up and start their daily tasks, heading off to their respective jobs. He knows he has to head down soon. Needs to go run the maze and come back empty handed like usual. The novelty of being a runner really wears off fast.
When he came up in the box roughly eight months ago he had felt an almost magnetizing pull towards the maze. He felt as if he had to go in there. He tried to simply walk in one time but he was caught by Gally. The builder knocked him on his ass and warned him never to go in there. Only runners were allowed. This sparked his obsession with becoming one. He had asked Minho, the keeper of the runners, if he could be one and he had laughed in his face and told him no. They had enough at the moment and he wasn’t going to let some greenie run the maze after only a couple of days of being there. Thomas had accepted that for maybe a day before he circled back on it. He asked Minho nearly everyday if he could join him on a run. It took him only two weeks to get him to fold.
He’s just about to get up and face the music when the ladder on the tower creaks. A head of blonde hair peaks out and a smile finds its way to his face. Newt climbs onto the tower and sits himself next to Thomas.
“Mornin’ Tommy.” He nods in his direction.
“Morning Newt.” Thomas returns. Newt is Thomas’s best friend in the Glade. He’s taller than Thomas by a couple of inches and has fluffy, blonde hair that seems to get longer every day. It rests just above his shoulders now and Thomas thinks he’ll probably be cutting it soon. Newt’s never let it grow past his shoulders. He’s got an accent and a limp that are things unique to only him.
He practically runs the place. Alby is the one who holds the title of leader but it’s Newt who really keeps it going. He notices and takes care of the small things, the boys like to call him a mother hen. He hates that description but it fits him well.
The two originally didn’t get along. Newt thought that Thomas was annoying and ignored him. Thomas just figured Newt was mean so he didn’t bother trying to talk to him.
No one really knows when things changed between them. One day they are avoiding each other, living their own lives, then the next they are attached at the hip. It was Thomas who ended up making the connection. He was tired of avoiding the boy, especially because he had no real reason to. So he started following Newt around. He would watch him do chores, maybe pitch in depending on what he was doing. He would ask the boy questions about the Glade, how did they get here? Why are they here? Things that Newt didn’t have answers to.
Eventually he wore him down. Newt gave into his curious charm and gave him a chance. It took a month of being in the Glade for Thomas to properly meet his best friend.
And now they sit together watching the Glade live. Thomas watches the way the wind blows through Newt’s hair, how the sun makes it glow golden. He thinks his favorite thing about the boy is his hair.
He’ll admit that he has a crush on his friend. It started off as something small a couple of months ago but now it’s really bloomed into something all consuming. He can hardly look at Newt without having hearts in his eyes. Newt is just so special, everything about him draws Thomas in. He’s got such a strong personality, so effortlessly cool and always seeming calm and collected while also so caring for all the gladers.
“What are your plans for today?” Thomas asks the blonde, shifting his gaze from the ground below to Newt. He shrugs and turns to face Thomas as well.
“The usual. I’ll work with my track hoes and see what needs helpin’ around the Glade.” Always the productive one. “You set to run soon? Minho will be hunting you down if ya down if you don’t get down there.” The brunette sighs but he knows Newt is right.
“Yeah, I was just about to go down when you climbed up here. So really it’s your fault if I get in trouble.” He teases and stands up. He reaches a hand down to help Newt up as well and they head down the tower together.
They split up at the bottom after exchanging goodbyes. Thomas goes to collect his running gear and makes his way towards the Maze. It’s him, Ben, Minho, and Zach running today. It’s always four runners, one for each active section of the maze. They try to switch up the rotation often so more people can get days off. They only have seven runners so it’s not a perfect schedule but it works for them. Thomas has the day off tomorrow and he fully intends to spend it lazing around the Glade. But that’s tomorrow and this is today so he focuses and runs into the maze.
OoO
It goes smoothly, just as it does every time he runs the maze. He always expects something to happen, something life changing that will lead to their escape but nothing ever comes from their runs. Just more maps to fill the crates in the map Room. He gets back a little bit before dinner, it was a longer run today. He wasn’t as into it as he should have been.
After finishing up in the map Room he finds himself heading towards the homestead, his stomach rumbling with the thought of food. He spots Minho already sitting at a table, chatting with Ben and another glader. He plops himself next to the asian boy and waves to Ben.
“How was your run today?” He asks the table in general. Minho shrugs and lets out a tired sigh.
“Same as always. Though I found the gray walls were an exceptionally beautiful shade of gray today.” Minho, ever the sarcastic one. Ben chuckles and leans forward to rest his elbows on the table.
“Mine was good. Nothing happened which I’ll consider a good thing for now. I’d rather it be boring than dangerous.” Thomas nods in agreement at the boy’s words. He’s right, they should be grateful that nothing has taken them by surprise in the maze. Though he wouldn’t mind something good happening every once in a while.
“What about you Tom-boy?” Minho nudges Thomas with his elbow. He shrugs just as the boy next to him had.
“It was fine. I was slower than I should have been today.”
“Oh yeah, you should be really disappointed in yourself.” Minho snarks. Thomas huffs and shoves his friend while Ben and the other glader, who he recognizes as a builder named Micheal, laugh.
“What are you shuck heads laughin’ about over here?” Newt’s voice cuts in. Thomas lights up at the appearance of the boy and pats at the seat next to him. The blonde smiles and sits down on his left, their knees brushing under the table. Thomas fights a smile at the contact.
“Minho was making fun of me.” He informs Newt with a pout and slumps against the table. He’s not actually upset, he just feels like being dramatic.
There was once a time when he would never be acting like this. He was the most serious boy in the Glade. He wouldn’t smile, he wouldn’t joke around, he mostly just kept to himself. He was like a ghost. He hid out in the deadheads, the deepest part of the Glade’s forest, when he wasn’t busy and would even sleep there. It took Newt finding him and coaxing him out of the forest for him to actually sleep with everyone else.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like the people there, he was friends with Newt and good acquaintances with Minho at the time. He would talk to people when they said hi to him but he just didn’t seek people out.
It took him time to find his place here. Becoming a runner helped. It gave him a purpose, kept his mind busy. Once he had that bit of stability in his life he started to loosen up. He would laugh at Minho’s jokes, he’d smile more often and even make his own jokes. He “gained a personality” is how Minho phrased it. He began to form friendships with people. One of them being the boy across from him, Ben.
“Aw, poor Tommy.” Newt snorts and pats the boy's shoulder. Thomas leans against the taller boy when he does. Minho glances at them with an certain expression on his face and when Thomas raises an eyebrow at him, a silent inquiry of “What?” he just rolls his eyes.
They get their meals soon after and dinner passes by quickly. There was idle chatter between all of the gladers that created a nice environment. Frypan’s cooking was as good as it always is and all the boys devoured their portions with gusto. Minho leads the conversation at their table, talking about nothing and everything. Thomas occasionally chimed in but he mainly just sat back and enjoyed the company.
OoO
When everyone disperses to go do their nightly activities Minho pulls Newt aside for keeper duties, or that’s what Thomas assumes. He decides to take a walk. He likes wandering around the glade sometimes, it’s peaceful. He watches the sun dip below the maze and listens to cicadas sing. It’s during his walk that Newt finds him again. The boy didn’t say anything. He just falls into step with him.
Thomas lets them walk in silence for a couple of minutes before his curiosity gets the better of him.
“What did Minho want earlier?” Newt looks at him, confusion on his face before it flickers to something else. He almost looks embarrassed.
“He just wanted to talk.” The blonde shrugs and looks at the grass.
“Well I kind of figured that. I mean what did he say?” Newt usually doesn’t mind sharing keeper information to sate Thomas’ curiosity. As long as he’s been here they haven’t had any serious conversations that would need to be hidden from anyone.
“Not much.” He seems unusually dodgy about this.
“Was it a serious talk?” He doubts he’ll get an answer but he feels like asking anyway. Newt shakes his head and doesn’t say anything in response. Thomas decides to drop the topic and they fall back into a comfortable silence. It isn’t until they reach the edge of the forest that they speak again.
“I remember when I used to find you sleeping out here.” Newt gazes around at the trees. “You’d be all curled up like some bloody stray dog. I’d bring ya back out to the village but you’d always just end up back in the deadheads.” Thomas remembers. He had found the deep woods peaceful, if not a little disturbing.
The deadheads are always dark due to the thick foliage blocking out most of the sunlight. It’s where the graves of past gladers lay. He likes to imagine he’s keeping them company when he sits on the thick roots of the trees.
“Yeah, not my brightest moments.” He gives a weak chuckle. He had been embarrassed whenever Newt found him sleeping in the forest. Especially before they had been friends. Probably even more now that they are friends. “I still come out here to sleep sometimes.” Some of the boys snore loudly and he has to get away to sleep sometimes. Other times he gets woken in the night, maybe by his weird dreams or just by his overactive mind, and he’ll disappear into the trees for comfort.
Newt tilts his head at him. Thomas meets his eyes and they stay like that for a moment. Then another. Thomas can feel his heart beat a little bit faster staring into his rich brown eyes.
“Hey Tommy?” Newt breaks the silence. He shifts his weight between his legs and he almost looks nervous.
“Yeah Newt?” He swallows hard. His palms feel sweaty. Is he dying? His friend says nothing for several seconds then simply sighs and looks away.
“Never mind.” He says it so softly that Thomas nearly missed it. He thinks he’ll probably agonize over what Newt was going to tell him for the rest of his life. Thomas nods his head and looks up at the stars.
“You can tell me anything, you know that right?” He nudges Newt with his elbow. He offers a small smile back and nods his head.
“Yeah Tommy, I know. And the same goes for you. I know you got a lot of thoughts swirlin’ around in that bloody head of yours. It’s ok to let them out sometimes.” Newt nudges him back and Thomas grins.
“I thought you didn’t like my questions?” He says it jokingly with a grin still on his face.
“I could never dislike anything about you Tommy.” He blinks, unsure of what to say to that. His heart flutters beneath his skin and he can actually feel his cheeks heating up. Newt seems to realize what he said and his face goes bright red. A rather cute look on the boy. “Anyway! I should probably head off to bed. I got um stuff to do tomorrow after all.” Thomas nods, still stunned.
“Yeah,” he regains his composure, “yeah ok. Goodnight Newt, sleep well.” He offers the boy a parting pat on the arm and walks off to his sleeping bag. Newt heads to the hammocks and with an awkward silence following him there.
What just happened?