We will stand tall,face it all together

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When I wake up, I'm lying in a makeshift bed in a larger hut and four people are leaning over me: Alby, Newt, who is holding me in his arms, and the paramedics, Jeff and Clint. “Well, newbie?” says Alby with a grin. I struggle to my feet, groaning at the pain on my left side. I look down on myself. A bandage extends from my wrist all the way up to my shoulder. “The cut on your arm should heal quickly, but your shoulder looks bad. That Griewer really took a lesson from you,” says Jeff and I’m not sure if his last sentence was meant to be a joke. At least no one is laughing. “What about you Newt?” I ask, turning my head to look him in the eyes. "No worries. I'm fine.” In fact, he seems to be doing pretty well and I smile with relief. “Minho, on the other hand, doesn’t feel particularly flowery,” he says, pointing to another bed behind me where Minho is lying. Either he is asleep or he is still unconscious. A thick bandage was wrapped around half his torso and one leg. “What time is it?” I ask the others and Alby answers: “Morning. You arrived last night. You looked really bad. You and Minho bleeding and unconscious and Newt injured and half gone. You were really damn lucky that you made it back." Suddenly I have to grin and say to Newt: "You know he'll blame you for everything when he wakes up again." I nod over to Minho. Newt smiles. “Let him be quiet. I said it straight away: Let's see which of us gets mauled.” I laugh because I remember that Newt actually said that. “At least none of you got stung. “Newt told me everything that happened,” says Alby.“Do you feel able to go back to your cabin with him?” Then Jeff and Clint can take care of Minho in peace.” I nod and Newt helps me up. We go back to the hut together. “It was really crazy yesterday. I've never seen one of these Griewer before. They're really disgusting. By the way, you can fight really well.” “Yes, you can see what came of it,” I reply and look down at my battered body. When we get to the cabin, Newt and I sit next to each other on the bed. We spend the rest of lunch there and in between Jeff and Clint come to check on me or Fry Pan has someone send us something to eat. Newt and I talk about yesterday and the maze and I can tell he doesn't approve of me wanting to be a runner, but he doesn't object and I'm very grateful for that. Newt tells me how terrified he was for me while we were fighting the Griewers and how he didn't leave my side for a second while I was unconscious. Everything he says touches me so much that I almost cry. Overwhelmed, I run my hand through his blonde hair and Newt smiles gently before putting his arms around me and pulling me against him so that I'm sitting on his lap. Everything about him is just so perfect and I hate that we're both stuck in this damn place. I've often imagined what it would be like if Newt and I grew up like normal teenagers and fell in love with each other. We could move to the country together after school, to a cozy house on the edge of the forest and sit together by the stove in the winter and just be happy. But that doesn't work. We're stuck here. And if we ever get out of this labyrinth, I will make the creators pay for taking our past (and our future) away from us.But at this moment, I'm not thinking about any of those things. I'm with Newt. And that means I forget all my worries and there's just the two of us. Newt smiles at me so warmly that I can't help but smile back, even if I didn't want to. “I love you, you know that, right?” I whisper to him. Newt takes my face in his hands and leans his forehead against mine. “Yes, and you also know that I love you. And that that will never change, no matter what the Creators do to us." I smile and feel his quickened heartbeat against my chest as he leans in slightly, closing the distance between our lips as if it never existed. I feel his warm lips on mine, feel his hands caressing my face, feel that warm feeling in my veins again, feel my heartbeat double and at least in this moment we are both happy - just happy. In the afternoon we decide to visit Minho and see how he is doing. In fact, he has just regained consciousness. “Hey, Minho, you Strunk, how are you?” Newt asks him with a grin and walks up to him. I follow him and kneel next to Minho, who is not yet able to sit up. “Really shitty,” Minho groans, but grins. “If it wasn’t for Y/n you would be even worser,” Newt says, almost accusingly. To my surprise, Minho doesn't make any insulting comment, but grins. “I know,” he says. “And that’s why the newbie is now officially a runner. “Assuming you still want to be a runner?” he adds skeptically. I grin. “Of course!” Minho smiles and I think his question was also a kind of test to see whether I even had the guts to be a runner. Even Newt is happy for me and puts an arm around my waist. Minho shakes my hand. “And stay away from the Griewers, colleague!” he says and winks at me. “They should stay away from me!” I laugh.