The Maze Runner Imagines

Winston [1]

 It was really beginning to feel like everyday was the same. Y/N felt as though she was constantly running in circles, chasing something entirely invisible, getting nowhere and letting herself waste away. It was exhausting.

She tried to settle in for the night, but sleep never came. After nearly and hour of uncomfortably shifting, it was a complete losing battle and out of sheer frustration she less than gracefully lunged out of her hammock. The misplaced anger running through her caused something inside she couldn't reach to itch, making her want to kick at the ground and scream.

After walking around for a while, trying to shake the feeling of ants beneath her skin, she sat down against one of the logs surrounding the bonfire. There wasn't any heat really being emit, but there was a slight glow from the embers. Any kind of distraction was better than nothing right now.

All of that anger and frustration all mixing together with a sadness and hopelessness that threatened to cause tears to break from her eyes subsided. It never really went away, it just left her with a placid feeling of numbness. It wasn't that those feelings had left, they'd just all become so overwhelming and crushing in the moment they caused her own mind to shut down.

With her head in her hands, trying to release the crushing headache, the girl sighed and threw some dirt back to the ground she'd picked it up from.

Being assigned last watch of the night, Winston walked around the glade slowly, dragging his feet. Lately, he'd been getting down on himself. He knew he'd never be the boldest glader here. There was no way he could compare to someone like Minho, Newt, Frypan, even Gally...Sure, he was a keeper. But, at that, just the keeper of the slicers.

Winston was on good terms with everyone. Despite usually being feared by the greenies for being keeper of the slicers, they usually came around to realize he wasn't some creepy knife wielding mad man. In fact, Winston hadn't gotten his job as keeper of the slicers because he liked taking the lives of the animals here. That was actually the smallest part of his job.

Most of his days were spent caring for the animals, making sure they were well fed and watered. He got his job as a slicer because he cared so much about them. He wanted to be the one to ensure the animals were taken care of until their last moments and respectfully put to rest and thanked for the resources they provided.

Winston had friends left and right and yet there was one person who's mind he just couldn't break into. Y/N was kind, funny and seemed to care just as much about everyone and the world as he did. Recently though, and at the time he was finally building some confidence toward talking to her more, she was getting withdrawn. Over the past while, their conversations came to a slow halt and she didn't stop by as often to check in on the animals. It was strange and he was worried, but he was nervous to say anything.

Tonight though, finally coming near to the end of his watch, there was one empty hammock. Confused, he went out in search of its resident.

Of course, it had to be Y/N. Right now, he wasn't sure whether to thank the universe for reading his thoughts or to curse it. But, with his general care for everyone here, he was already being drawn in toward her before he could back out.

"You know I could have sworn I saw you in bed already." He spoke up a little nervously, approaching the girl with his dim light.

Y/N, surprised, looked up quickly from where she sat. Seeing who it was, she seemed to loosen up. "Ah, yeah. That didn't last very long."

Winston sat down beside her and sent a weak half smile. This was part of what Y/N liked about him so much. The keeper of the slicers was one of the most comfortable people to be around. There was never any feeling of passing judgement or otherwise.

"If you were anything but a runner, I might just let you off the hook. But, since rest is important for you, I can't quite let it slide." He tried to hold back a laugh as he put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest, pretending he was Alby.

Y/N snickered and stretched out her legs. "Oh really? Just cause I'm a runner?"

"Nah, you know that's a lie." Winston shook his head as he laughed, then sat down and sighed. "What's going on?"

Y/N pursed her lips and tilt her head to the side. "We haven't found anything new in the maze for a few weeks. It's all mapped." She looked to Winston for his reaction and was surprised to see his expression didn't really change. He, in his own time, must have already figured out things weren't really going anywhere with the maze. "What if we never get out of here?"

The boy shrugged and set aside the lantern. "Here's the one thing I tell myself: don't lose sight of what you have. Here, in the glade, it's easy to get caught up in hating having the same routine that seems to drag on forever, that the maze seems hopeless, drown in the fact we don't have our memories. But think, we have food. We have water. We have beds to sleep in, and above all, we have each other."

Y/N tried to let what he said sink in. "Alright, that's true." She admit.

Anxiously, Winston rubbed his hands on his legs. "When it's really bad, I tell myself I have you. The days don't seem so bad when I can tell myself that you'll be back from the maze in the evening and then, I can talk to you, laugh, be thankful I have people here who I actually enjoy being around."

She was a little lost from those words. Winston was not the kind of person to be so outright, at least not from what she knew of him.

Though, now, she was wondering if there was more going on here than she thought. Maybe, there was a lot she'd been blind to having been so preoccupied with the maze. All of those evenings spent with Winston laughing and joking in the glade, goofing around at bonfires, all of the crooked smiles, the kind gestures. Maybe that was just his way of showing he cared.

"Thank you for always being there for me." The girl nudged his shoulder. "You're pretty amazing."

"You'd have to be an awful person for me not to be." Winston smiled. "I, well, I like you too."

Y/N raised her brow and scanned his face. "You—"

"Oh," Winston immediately retreat, panic washing over his features. "Oh no. My bad."

"What?" Y/N laughed lightly, reaching out and putting a hand on his arm.

"That was not what you meant." He cringed and looked down awkwardly. "Yup. Agh."

"No, no, it's okay." Y/N tried to stop herself from laughing but seeing Winston like this was so out of the ordinary it really got her to. "I guess it was what I meant, I was just afraid to say it."

"Huh?" He snapped his eyes up to meet hers because after hearing that, he was convinced maybe he'd fallen asleep earlier on his watch and this was a dream. "You...?"

"Also like you?" She got those words out before she could stop herself. "I'd be lying if I said no. I just thought you'd never—"

"Like you back??" He scrambled to move his position so he was sitting, facing her. "Woah, no, don't ever think that. I'm pretty sure I've liked you since you showed up here. But I was always way to scared to say anything. I also never even worked up to the guts to talk to you until a few months ago, which let me tell you, was a wildly nerve-racking thing, especially since you're a runner and all AGH! You know? An important and prized glader compared to the rest of us. And then all those times in the evenings, just sitting in the grass and laughing, I thought it was all too good—"

Winston stopped, huffed, closed one eye and smacked himself in the face. "I'm rambling. I'm done."

Y/N reached out and wrapped her arms over his shoulders. All of those doubts from just minutes ago had completely diffused. Winston was right, she had her best friend here. He was worth continuing running the maze for.

Winston froze beneath her reach and wasn't sure what to do. "You kinda smell like the maze."

Letting go, still trying to stop her laughter, Y/N caught his eyes. He was a little flustered, yes, but he seemed to be just as happy as she was. "And you smell like the goats."