The Maze Runner: One-Shots

You're not weak (Newt)

You waited by the Maze doors like you did everyday. You waited for your boyfriend Minho, who you'd been with for a little over a year. You were happy with him, and everything seemed just a little bit easier to bear with him around.

You heard his pounding footsteps that echoed throughout the Maze corridor and waited with a smile for him to exit. He glanced at you, with annoyance almost, and kept running forward. Odd, he usually stopped to greet you.

You follow after him to the map room. You weren't allowed to enter, but you could still stand at the doorway.

"Hey, Minho. How was running today?" you ask with genuine interest. You always did like hearing about the Maze. It interested you.

"Fine, as always," he says and takes a drink of water. He stops, mid-swallow and narrows his eyes at you. "You know," he mutters and takes another drink of water. "I'm getting a little tired of this."

You furrow your eyebrows and lean on the doorframe. "Tired of what?"

"You, this relationship. If you can even call it that."

The air leaves your lungs and you stare at him with narrowed eyes. "You're tired of me? What about me?"

"You, Y/N! Just everything about you. It just gets a little boring after a while."

You stand upright and you let out a laugh in disbelief. "So what, you're calling me not good enough for you?"

Minho pauses and shrugs with a nod. "Yeah."

You shake your head. "Right, well, I guess I'll call you single from now on then. Bye, shuck face."

You push yourself off of the doorframe and walk out of the Deadheads with a hurting heart. Not good enough, you huff. Was he serious? You kept walking and when he didn't come after you, you knew he was.

You storm out of the Deadheads with an angry lead. You knew that the anger was just your primary defense for now, before your entire world came crashing down.

Newt spotted you and squinted, seeing that something was off. He watched you storm over to the Builders where you worked, and wondered what had happened. He watched you follow Minho into the Deadheads, but only you came out which was odd.

You immediately began sawing at a plank of wood and Gally walked over to you. "What happened, shank?"

You glance up to him and keep sawing. "I broke up with Minho," you say simply, pretending the words didn't prick at your heart. You felt so betrayed by him. What had you done to deserve that from him?

"Broke up? Well, are you alright?"

You stop sawing at the nearly mutilated piece of wood and stand to face him. "Yeah, Gally. I'm completely fine. You think I'm going to let that slinthead get to me?" you ask and force a laugh. You felt bad for lying but you didn't want to appear weak to the other boys. The last thing you needed from them was an image of you that made you less than they were.

"Good that," Gally nodded and went back to work. You appreciated the check-up from him, but it wasn't necessary.

After an entire day's worth of work, you were almost relieved that it was dinner time, until you remembered that Minho would be there. Usually sitting together, you didn't know what you were going to do.

Apparently Newt had heard the news about you and Minho somehow, and he called you over to sit with him. He must've realized what an awkward situation you were in and invited you to sit with him. You were grateful, to say the least.

You slid in next to Chuck and Newt, confident. "How was your guy's days?" you ask.

Newt gives you a side glance that you catch but don't return. Chuck perks up at the opportunity to speak. "It was great! I didn't have to wash the Runners clothes again," he laughs, releived.

You smile at him and play with one of his bouncy curls. "That's great, Chuck! I wouldn't want to clean those either," you laugh. "Too gross, don't you think?"

Chuck nods and gives you a happy smile. You always were the one to talk to him like anyone else, not be annoyed by his presence.

Newt nudges your arm, clearly worried. You let Chucks curly hair fall out of your fingers and turn to face Newt. You knew he was worried but what were you supposed to say? 'Minho broke up with me but I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone that I'm hurting'?

"Hey, you alright?" he asks with genuine concern. You shrug and nod.

"Yeah, I just have to live with it right?" you say simply, as if it didn't bother you at all that the only boyfriend you could remember having, had said you weren't good enough.

"You know, you don't have to act like everything's fine if it isn't, Y/N," Newt said knowingly.

"Newt," you say gently. "I'm okay." It was a complete lie. You were the total opposite of okay.

***

After dinner, most of the Gladers started heading to bed and you were relieved that Minho hadn't shown up at dinner. You didn't know how you'd handle that. Probably yell at him, if you were being honest.

You went up to your room and sat on the edge of your bed in the dark. This was a dangerous time, where no one was there for you to act in front of. It was just you and your thoughts now.

You tried to keep everything in, building a mental dam where you stored all your hurt, confusion, and anger at Minho. But like all dams, they have to let something out or they'd burst.

When the first tear rolled down your cheek, you didn't realize you were crying. But then there were more, and more and more. You felt every throb your heart made and every wail you suppressed. You clutched at your heart, as if you could hold the pieces together. It wasn't fair. You'd tried to be the best you could, and in the end, Minho had crushed every sense of confidence you had, making you reconstruct the pieces of yourself. And where was he? Probably fast asleep while you sat in the dark crying!

The door to your room opened after a soft knock echoed throughout your room. You sucked in a deep breath and looked up to see who it was. Newt.

You hurriedly wiped away the tears on your cheeks and Newt sat next to you on the mattress. He didn't say anything at first, didn't call you out on every tear that passed your eyes, didn't laugh at you. Why would he?

"I'm s-sorry," you whisper and dry your eyes. "I really am fine," you chuckle bitterly. "Just stubbed my toe."

Newt shook his head. "Stop it, Y/N. It's alright if you're not okay. You don't have to be strong all the time."

You stared into his knowing eyes and you shook your head. "I just didn't want to be weak."

Newt frowned. "You're not weak. You think crying because you're hurt makes you weak?" you stare at your feet for a moment but don't answer. "It doesn't," Newt whispers.

"Thank you, Newt," you say quietly, knowing you couldn't speak any louder without your voice cracking.

"C'mere," Newt sighs and wraps his arms around you. You lean into him and rest your head on his shoulder. You sniffle and feel Newt's head lie on top of yours.

"I know it's going to take some time to heal, " Newt spoke slowly. "But I'm here for you, yeah? And I always will be. So don't ever feel like you have to hide what you're feeling, because you don't. Anyone who thinks you're weak from showing actual emotion will get an earful from me, got it?"

You laugh quietly and nod. "Can I watch that?"

"'Course you can. I'll make sure you have front row seats." You could hear the smile in Newt's voice and it made one appear on your lips too.

"Good that," you chuckle.

"So," Newt spoke up after a moment and released you. You sat up straight to look at him. "Are you hungry? Because I know where Frypan hides the key to the kitchen."

You give him a funny look. "Newt we just ate like an hour ago."

"So?" he asked with a goofy smile.

You think for a moment. "Let's go."