Free (Maze Runner fanfic Newtmas Newt x Thomas)

Prologue

"You're a bloody idiot, Tommy." Newt said, smacking Thomas on the back of the head as he emerged from the maze when the walls opened.

Newt didn't really have any other need to be with him, so he immediately turned and headed towards the campfire for breakfast. Rubbing the back of his head, Thomas followed. He was absolutely starving; he didn't take any food into the maze overnight and didn't eat enough the previous day to last him through; and after all that, his night search came up fruitless once again.. But he refused to give up just yet.

He'd been in the glade a few weeks now, and had spent another three -non consecutive- nights in the maze, after the one he accidentally spent after being with Minho and Alby. Nobody could do it except him, so maybe the answer to getting out was to be found during the night, but so far not even a stone out of place had come up. The walls did move, but that was for the day runners to map out.

Strangely, it made a few of the gladers despise him; but as long as they didn't freak out on him like Ben had, then he didn't particularly care what they thought. "Looks like the shank lives to see another day! Minho called, jogging over to him. "Your ego big enough for ya, yet?"

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Oh slim it. Just because nobody else has the guts to do it instead, and I'm the only one not to klunk their pants at the thought of it."

Minho made a 'tsk' noise, but continued on past him to do his daily runs of the maze. Thomas got himself a plate of bacon and eggs and decided to sit beside Newt, one of the few people who didn't want permanently kick him out into the maze. "Hey, Tommy." He said with a slight smile.

"Hey. You're not sat with Alby?"

"Nah." Newt looked over his shoulder, seeing him talking to Minho. "All he ever talks about is the maze and it's doing my bloody head in."

"Nah, all those shanks ever talk about is the maze. Doing my bloody head in it is."

"Well that's fair." Thomas yawned and stood up. "I'm gonna.. go ask Minho if he wants to do a night tonight because he hasn't done it yet! The chicken."

"Hey, now I don't think that's a good idea and neither does he. He makes some good points; if you're not finding anything out there then there's no point to keep going. If the walls do their usual switching, why would you being here make that any different? All you're doing is tiring yourself out."

"But I haven't checked all the sections yet! If Minho isn't going to do it then who is? I only ask him to go because his memory is better, but it also gets really lonely hiding from grievers and running in the dark."

Newt sighed. "Listen, Tommy, there isn't no point searching for what can't be found. Ya hear me? It ain't worth your breath."

"I hear ya."

"Good that." Newt stood up and gave him a hard pat on the shoulder. "Just rest and try figuring it out like the rest of us- in the evening, in that box." Thomas felt like crap, so Newt gave him an apologetic smile and left, presumably to start his work.

~*~

Minho always gave Thomas the day off when he did his night runs, so he went and sat in his usual corner, against the wall, by the tree. There was no way in hell he'd have the energy to do a whole day of running; especially now that he'd had a plate of good food he was ready to collapse.

He was right. Thomas started sliding down the wall, and as soon as he hit the ground, he was asleep.

~*~

The sound of the walls closing for the night woke him up, the ground rumbling beneath and shaking him. The 'sun' was set now, so dinner would probably be soon since the runners would hopefully all be back. Thomas made a move to get up when he heard footsteps coming towards him.

Thomas thought it might be someone asking for a favour, so out of laziness he closed his eyes and pretended to still be asleep. The feet weren't heavy, nor were they taking long strides. Somebody stopped in front of him, placed a blanket over him, caressed his hair gently but only briefly, and turned back.

He opened his eyes, seeing the retreating figure of Newt. Newt... He'd been the one giving him blanket... And caressing his hair apparently, not that he minded the gesture.

To pretend he was still using it, he got up after a few minutes and went in search of the blond boy. His figure was so muscular for someone of his size and he acted tough, but his feet were so quiet you could mistake him for a child. Even Chuck thundered around the place on his stubby legs.

Newt was sat with Alby round the fire, seeming to be in a deep conversation with him, so Thomas didn't disturb him and sat with Chuck instead. "You been sleeping all day again?" Chuck asked before he'd even sat down.

Thomas just shrugged; he wasn't in the mood to argue with him. Chuck disapproved of the whole thing, thinking he was absolutely crazy to even think about going out at night let alone doing it. "Staying up all night is exhausting, Chuck, because while you try to map out the sections to see if they're different you're also running from grievers."

Chuck sighed. "Well at least you make it back every night, and I get to have your company in the evenings. I know you haven't gone much but I miss you each time."

Thomas smiled. "You think I want to be out there? I miss you too." Thomas put an arm around him. "I'll sleep with you tonight if you want? For a change." Chuck's eyes lit up and his face split into a wide smile.

"Greenie!" Alby called, waving him over.

Thomas groaned. "This can't be good, better go see what he wants." Alby was such an ass to him, he would disapprove of his breathing if he had the chance. Gally was worse.

He walked over to him, where he was sat with Minho and Newt. Newt had a scowl on his face; did the three of them argue? "What is it?" He asked, folding his arms.

"Greenie, you gotta quit this night running. It's a shuck suicide mission waiting to happen. One day you're not gonna come back through those walls." Thomas only rolled his eyes.

"Thomas, he's serious. I'm with him on this, you should just stick to going out in the day when it's safer with everyone else." Minho argued. "You've tried four times now and nothing is coming up! One of these days you're going to be trapped between two moving walls, going to be caught by a griever, something!"

Newt didn't say anything. "Well you can't exactly stop me. Besides, you never stopped after day three! Why should I!? After a couple hours it's not even that hard, your stamina keeps you going. I haven't even gone through a whole pattern yet."

"Don't you get it!?" Newt snapped, kicking Thomas' leg. "We're concerned about your wellbeing! We're not going to lose another glader, especially not someone like you! You bloody-"

"Slim it, Newt!" Alby grabbed his shoulder, then gently rubbed it to calm him down. "There's punishments we can give you, Greenie, someone will bring you back kicking and screaming and we'll throw you in the slammer to make sure you don't go out again. The first time we called you crazy, now we're calling you suicidal."

Thomas glared at the three of them, then unfolded his arms. "Fine." He spat, "I'm going to bed."

Chuck saw the anger in his eyes and got up to quickly follow behind him. He tried talking to him to find out the matter once they were in their sleeping bags, but just like every other attempt, Thomas ignored him.