The Maze Runner Imagines

Minho [19]

Y/N was for once enjoying the feeling of her heart not exploding in her chest, lungs on fire and legs that felt like iron rods. The crackle of the fire here at the Right Arm camp reminded her of home, of the Glade. As of right now, they were far, far away from home.

The silence didn't last long. A body slumped beside her and nudged her shoulder. "You know hermana, I have seen many people hopelessly in love, especially in the scorch. But I don't think I have ever seen someone as oblivious as you."

"What are you talking about?" She tried to laugh it off, shifting her position uncomfortably.

"You see your friend over there?" He pointed to a few of the boys across the fire. "He's so in love with you it makes me sick. You hear me? Sick. That should tell you lots because I've lived in a dump my whole life."

Y/N scoffed, eyes shifting between the group of boys and Jorge. "Newt? No way."

Jorge hit her arm out of frustration and began to blabber. "Do you have eyes? Minho! The annoying one!"

Minho got up the moment Jorge's hand landed on Y/N. He was on guard the moment he'd sat down next to Y/N and him hitting her was enough for Minho to want to intervene.

Unalike Minho, Y/N was so lost and her mind felt scrambled she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. Jorge's snickers were just enough to drag her back to reality.

"You see?!" He pointed a finger right at Minho. "Look at him, he's—"

"Why'd you hit her?" Minho asked, his brows furrowed and voice low. Not often did Minho's demeanour take such a sudden switch to a dark seriousness. When it involved Y/N though, his defensive side came out easily.

Y/N forced an awkward laugh, looking between Minho and Jorge with frantic eyes. "It doesn't matter. He was making a stupid joke."

Minho raised his brow and looked to Y/N, completely unconvinced. There had been a reason Jorge did what he did and Y/N was trying to cover it up. "It kinda does. I need to know if he deserves to be hit back."

"Hit me if you want, it won't do much." Jorge grumbled as he got up to walk away. Minho watched him leave with a scowl. Once he was out of the way and across the fire, sitting with Brenda, Minho found his place beside Y/N.

"What'd the shank say?" Minho pressed for answers. He wanted to know what had gone down and if Jorge really did deserve a hit back or not.

Y/N, knowing Minho better than he knew himself, was well aware he'd never give up. So, she knew telling the truth was her best option. "He said you were hopelessly in love."

Minho grumbled. "Well, yeah. I have been for a long time."

"What?" Y/N's face fell.

"Huh?" He realized his potentially life altering error.

"You just said you've been in love for a long time." Y/N repeated his words back to him.

"I didn't say with who!" He shrilled, legs twitching due to his natural instinct to just run away as fast as he could.

"HER!" Jorge screamed. "YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH HER YOU BABBLING IDIOT!" Brenda tried to restrain the madman by putting her hands over his mouth but it completely failed. If Jorge had something to say, there was no stopping him.

"SHUT UP!" Minho fired back.

"Is that true?" Y/N asked softly, her expression seemingly teetering between hope and defeat. Minho, for a split second, wondered if she felt the same way he did. Was it worth it for him to lie? This could be his chance to tell her the truth and be fully reciprocated. Or, this could lead him to simply embarrassing himself.

He was so close to lying. But, something inside of him gnawed at his mind and stopped him from doing so. After surviving the maze and their traverse through the scorch, Minho didn't know what lie ahead for them. He could have the rest of his life to live or he could only have hours. It wasn't worth harbouring this secret any longer. He'd done so for far too long now and he wanted that to change.

Swallowing hard and grimacing like he'd eaten something rotten, Minho braced himself for the worst. "Yeah. It's true."

Y/N grabbed Minho's face, something familiar the pair had always done as joke when trying to get the others attention. Now, it meant something a little different. "How long have you been keeping it a secret?"

Minho's face warmed under her touch. But, he wasn't so coy that he looked away. His eyes remained glued on Y/N's. "Since you became my running partner."

Y/N's brows lifted in surprise. Minho felt even more embarrassment run though him. She now knew how long he'd been helplessly pining after her. "Wow, that's almost as long as me."

Confused, Minho closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to wake himself incase he were locked in a dream. For better or worse, this certainly wasn't a dream. "You like me too?"

"Yeah..." Y/N pondered for a moment. "I sorta realized back in the WICKED compound."

"That night!" Minho shouted and then immediately retracted into himself, realizing others were listening. "That night when we stayed up playing those stupid games they'd given us. That was when you realized, didn't you?"

"Oddly specific, but yeah." Y/N laughed lightly. "How'd you know?"

"Because I'm a genius!" He said proudly. Then, he realized how serious this was and retraced his steps. "No, that was when I realized I didn't just like you. I got scared because I knew then that I loved you." He rattled on. "So I didn't say anything, incase I died saving Thomas' butt or whatever."

"What does this mean?" Y/N once again laughed, both out of relief and a little nervousness. Minho smiled, just as confused yet swallowed up by euphoria.

"I dunno," He lost his train of thought and took his chance to move forward and kiss her. It was better than he could have ever imagined. He knew they both were smiling, surprised to have found something decent as the world continued to fall apart. "But I've waited a long time to do that."