Different | The Maze Runner / Newt ¹ ✓

{1.5}

Disclaimer:

I do not own The Maze Runner, and because of that I'm going to spend the day watching Glee and fawning over Grant Gustin because it is his birthday today

-✼-

I laid uncomfortably in my cot that night, my mind haunted by images of Ben for the second time in a row. I wasn't sure if Minho was asleep or not because I couldn't hear him snoring, but I didn't bother to check.

The door creaked open and my head snapped up to see who had entered. Minho was the first to say something, confirming that he was, in fact, just as awake as I was.

"What the shuck do you want?" he snapped rudely, voice gravelly from exhaustion. I turned to see him lying still, spread out on his bed with his face buried in his pillow. His blankets were thrown all over the place like he was having a hard time getting comfortable. It gave me a strange sense of confirmation that I wasn't the only one with sleep problems that night.

The figure in the doorway was dark from the light shining behind them, so I couldn't see their face. Then they spoke and I no longer had to guess who it was.

"I've come to extract Dylan from this room," Newt announced in a pretend deep, formal voice.

"Why?" I asked, rubbing my tired eyes and sitting up.

"Yeah, why?" Minho grumbled. "Actually, I don't care. Just shut the door and let me get some sleep, you shank."

Newt had no visible reaction to Minho's sass. "Dylan's moving into my room."

"What?" Minho and I asked in sync. I watched as my friend's face popped out from his pillow and looked in Newt's direction, confusion apparent on his features. His black hair was a disheveled mess on top of his head from so much tossing and turning.

"We're roomies!" Minho protested childishly, propping his head up with his hand. "We have such fun together!" He paused, realizing what he said. "Not like that. I was planning a bunch of cool sleepover stuff! We were gonna play Truth or Dare, Would You Rather, Charades, and paint our nails and do makeovers! Then we would stay up all night talking about the cutest guy in the Glade!"

"It's you, Minho," I told him with a smile, playing along with his joke.

"Who else?" Minho scoffed in an arrogant voice, pretending to clean his nails. "Everyone knows I have the most muscle."

"Where would you even get nail polish?" Newt asked, completely ignoring the second half of our conversation.

Minho shrugged. "You never know what's gonna come up in the Box." He sat up and dug around underneath his bed for a few seconds, hanging upside down from his mattress. "Yesterday I found these huge bandages Dylan was hiding at the foot of her bed."

And to my absolute horror, he held up a box of pads.

My face went bright red and I wanted to fall off a cliff at that moment. Embarrassment washed over me like a tsunami and dragged me under until I felt like crying. I could barely squeak out, "How did you even find those?"

"I clean up sometimes," Minho defended. "These were under your blankets." He pulled out a few loose tampons still in their wrappings. "Along with these popsicles."

Newt took the box and tampons from Minho and I nearly fell off my bed from how much embarrassment I was feeling. He studied them for a second before looking at me, his eyebrows creased. "Is this true? Is this what you took from the Box and wouldn't tell me what it was?"