crush || newtmas

chapter three

Ten minutes later, the pair had made their way to the bench. Only two people could sit on one side of the table, so Thomas sat next to Newt. As he sat down, the boy grinned at him then proceeded to stuff his mouth. Thomas watched as he continued to stuff his spaghetti into his mouth. He chuckled. Maybe some things aren't so bad in here.

The boy sitting across from Thomas then spoke up. His eyes sparkled intelligently as he talked to Thomas. He was definitely the leader, which made him Alby. "So what did Minho tell you so far?" He had a deep voice that matched his face. "Basically, everything. I know that the keepers are the people in charge of that certain job. I know that there's different jobs here, like working in the farms, and the medjacks, and all that klunk." Thomas listed off his fingers. He was trying to get familiar with glader terms. "But I have one question." Shoot." said Newt from beside him. Thomas turned to him. "What's a runner?"
Minho spoke up. "Runners go into the maze every day." He gestured to the doors which recently closed. "We run around the maze, which changes every night, trying to find a pattern. Trying to get a way outta this place. But the maze is a dangerous place. There's these monsters called Grievers. You don't wanna know what they do." He shuddered. He went on to explain the Map room, but Thomas' mind was stuck on the part about running. For some reason, he was drawn to that. He decided to think about that later and be in the moment.
A question popped into his mind that had been bugging him, so he turned to Newt, who was watching Alby and Minho act out a griever using weird hand gestures and faces, even though Minho had described the monsters as scary. "Hey," he started to get the boy next to him's attention, "Why does everyone call me greenie?" Newt was done with his food, and so was Thomas. Newt gestured for him to follow as he picked up his tray. He looked over to Minho and Alby, who didn't even notice they were leaving since they were talking among themselves. Thomas caught, "ship" and "definitely". Thomas wasn't in the mood to ask them what it's about, so he followed Newt.
As he caught up to the boy, he glanced at Thomas, then continued. "A greenie is what they call the newbies around here. You know, you can always come to my sleeping place, Tommy. It's-" "Tommy?" Newt looked at him. "I'm calling you Tommy." He said it as a statement, not a question. Thomas nodded, but he was surprisingly happy to have Newt. It was because he needed a friend in this place. Right?