maze runner imagines.

ignorance: minho.

minho was deep in discussion with newt when he saw her.
y/n stepped out of the homestead,
pulling her shorts down to better fit her legs,
which only filled minho up with nerves.
"oh my god,"
he whispered,
still so wonderstruck by her that his gaze never fell.
"what? it's only y/n,"
newt informed,
following his eyes.
"when did she get so...so hot?!"
newt chuckled and tossed his napkin into his plate.
"she's been beautiful, idiot. you were just too ignorant to realize."
minho's mouth remained agape as she walked around,
her skin glowing against the shining of the sun above.
he was so mesmerized by her,
that he didn't even realize she was approaching him.
"might wanna close your mouth before you catch flies with it,"
she teased,
using her index and middle finger to carefully force it shut.
his skin tingled from where she'd touched him.
"h-hey. what are you doing later?"
he asked as she began to walk away.
she then turned back around to him with raised eyebrows.
"what? why?"
"just...just curious."
"i wear shorts for one day and you all can't keep it in your pants. pathetic, really."
she rolled her eyes with a scoff then trudged off,
leaving him behind in both admiration and shock.
"wait, no, that's not what i meant,"
he called out,
carefully pulling her back by the crook of his arm.
"i didn't mean it like that."
"there's not much for us to around here, minho."
minho quickly realized the innocence of his question had translated into a gaze of indecency.
"oh...oh! no...well, i mean i wouldn't not wanna-i wasn't asking you that!"
y/n folded her arms across her chest and let out a breath of a laugh.
"okay, relax. so if not that, what do you have planned?"
"um."
he looked around the glade and began racking his mind for possible date ideas as quickly as possible.
"just meet me at the edge of the deadheads when everyone's asleep. okay?"
"okay,"
y/n agreed with such little resistance,
minho found it a little surprising.
"okay, great."
y/n gave him one last smile then continued her trek towards the gardens.
"minho's whipped,"
frypan began to sing upon his arrival,
wiggling his eyebrows to sell the effect.
minho rolled his eyes and tried to laugh it off,
but no matter which way he turned,
he was clearly besotted with y/n.
***
minho found himself in a bundle of nerves waiting for y/n.
branches snapped beneath the weight of his body as he paced back and forth,
feeling minutes pass by,
and he couldn't help but wonder if she decided against this date after all.
until he heard the approaching of faint footsteps and turned to see her in all her glory.
her nightclothes,
which consisted of loose, black shorts and a tank top that hugged her body,
made her look as beautiful as she did on a normal day.
how someone could pull off such casual clothing would forever remain a mystery to minho.
also,
seeing her outside of her usual runner clothes made the breath catch itself in his throat.
"hey,"
he greeted.
she gave a small wave.
"hey, back."
he couldn't understand this growing passion for y/n.
it had come so suddenly;
a quick glance was all it took.
or was it?
when he began to think back on their encounters together,
whether that was over dinner or in the maze,
minho could recall feeling that surge of nerves in his core when they walked side by side,
the rising heat in his cheeks when she laid a amiable hand to him,
the nervous laughter that escaped his lips when she made comments toward him.
he always blamed it on the after effects of the adrenaline rush of the day,
but being before her and feeling this admiration made him think of everything he thought he knew differently.
"everything okay? you look like you're gonna be sick."
minho was beside himself with embarrassment.
he was supposed to have himself pulled together by now,
but it seemed that he was slowly coming undone beneath her gaze.
"yeah. i don't know. weird day, i guess."
"mm, yeah,"
she said with a nod,
walking past him to place something in his hands.
he looked at it to see food wrapped carefully in aluminum foil.
"what's this?"
"snacks. come here, i've got something to show you."
minho followed behind her into the deadheads,
trying to calm the racing inside of his chest.
"hey...i know everyone undermines you because, you know, you're the only girl. and-and i'll admit, i've had my fair share of underestimating you."
y/n stopped walking abruptly and turned to face him,
making his heart swell from their close proximity.
"but, you're smarter and stronger than all of us combined. you've always had my full respect. and i admire all that you do."
"you mean it?"
"i wouldn't say it if i didn't."
y/n grinned,
the hard mask she wore during the hours of the day cracking to reveal the warm, vulnerable y/n he'd never known to exist.
he admired y/n in her most raw form;
scaling the walls of the maze,
running without fault,
working until the sky darkened,
and resorting to the use of her fists at any belittlement.
but here in this moment,
she was showing minho a softer side of her that he found to be equally, if not a bit more, adoring.
"come on. just a little bit further,"
y/n then said,
grabbing onto his wrist to guide him.
suddenly,
his nerves calmed beneath her touch and he felt a surge of confidence around her.
finally,
they reached a secluded area of the woods and sat down beside one another.
y/n stared up ahead to the blank sky,
leaving minho in confusion.
"what are we looking at?"
"look,"
she whispered,
directing her finger towards a lowly glow in the corner.
"i think they're stars."
"huh,"
he said,
craning his neck to see it a little better.
"beautiful, isn't it?"
"i've never noticed them before."
"me either. only here."
minho slowly turned his head towards y/n and doting on the glint in her eye;
a reaction to the love she harbored for the night sky.
"i have been ignorant...for three years, just pure ignorance."
y/n faced him with knitted eyebrows and asked,
"what?"
"you're beautiful. you're really beautiful."
y/n rolled her eyes to try and distract him from the growing smile against her lips,
but nothing would ever be able to draw his eyes away from the shine of it.
she was enticing,
to say the least.
"don't be a melt."
minho and her laughed softly together,
their eyes trailing back to the cluster of stars.
after a few moments of comfortable silence,
minho decided to carefully inch his hand over in the fallen leaves they rested in and lay his hand on top of hers.
she responded to it by intertwining their fingers and giving it a small squeeze.
"make me a promise, yeah?"
"yeah, anything."
"promise you'll be by my side..."
minho didn't miss a beat when saying,
"no doubt. as soon as my name leaves the curl of your tongue, i'll be there."
and so it was settled.
***
minho and y/n continued their heightened friendship in the glade,
not being able to help themselves from giggling when they ran in the maze.
despite themselves and their responsibilities,
they often played tag when running back towards the glade at the end of the day.
and if y/n was lucky,
minho was slow his pace to grant her the victory.
and every time y/n had an issue with one of the boys she couldn't bother to resolve,
minho took the burden from her shoulders and fixed it himself.
like he promised,
anytime she called his name,
he appeared.
but as weeks passed by them,
y/n found it increasingly difficult to contain these feelings nearly bursting out of her.
and as they laid in bed for the night,
y/n stared at the sky and tapped her fingers to a soft tune against her chest.
she climbed down from her hammock and tiptoed towards minho,
lying a hand to his mouth to prevent his shouts when he awoke.
he jumped awake with wide eyes,
but calmed when he saw y/n standing there with a finger over her lips to shush him.
she slowly peeled her hand back and smiled.
"come on."
"where are we going?"
he whispered back,
standing with her and entwining their hands together.
they ran throughout the grass and stopped at the beginning of the maze,
as far away from the other gladers as possible.
y/n pressed her back against the cold stone of the towering pillars that kept them in and took in deep breaths.
aside from the abrupt wails of the grievers,
which they were often used to,
the night was rather peaceful and even more so now that they stood across from one another.
"i can't stop thinking about you,"
she admitted with a sigh.
"you're literally all i can think about. before i go to sleep, i think about you. when i wake up, i think about spending time with you. when i eat, i wonder if you're eating the same thing. i like you so much that it's unbelievable."
y/n's hands were moving in the air as she spoke,
but minho could only smile as she did.
"say something,"
she breathed out in worry.
only minho was never as good with words as she was.
instead,
he stepped forward and placed a hand against her cheek,
using the pad of his thumb to caress the skin against it.
"there are no words good enough to describe how deeply i feel for you. i sound like a melt, i know, but you do things to me i never knew were possible. i...i love you, y/n. i really do."
y/n smiled into his grasp then pulled him in slowly,
allowing for the tension to build between them before they kissed.
she couldn't help but giggle at his impatience,
then they finally met for a kiss that would never be bested by anyone.
bliss hummed in every crevice of their body,
hairs on their body stood as though an electric current ran through them,
but minho figured the reaction made perfect sense.
y/n was electrical,
and he would never get enough of her for as long as he lived.
his gaze past the ignorance that shielded him had granted him the biggest blessing of his life.
minho vowed to himself in that moment,
should they ever escape the maze,
he'd find her the clearest sky with the brightest stars to thank her for loving him in a time where loved seemed lost;
loving him when he'd never known of love.