centre | newtmas au

33

Newt

He sat there, counting the individual freckles on Thomas' face, and memorising every groove and line like he had never seen it before. His anger had subsided, but only after he had managed to yell at Thomas for 10 minutes. He had cried, which made Thomas cry, and they had collapsed on the floor beside each other, both worn down to the bone. They had kissed each other then, quickly and desperately, like they would never be able to again. 

Now, they sat side by side in the same hammock, watching everyone else work, like Newt loved to do. 

"I'm sorry" Thomas said, brushing the purple shadows under Newt's eyes gently with his thumb. 

"Sorry that you ran, or sorry that I look like this?" Newt asked, closing his eyes underneath Thomas' touch. 

"Both" he replied, taking his hand away and resting it carefully on top of Newt's. He paused, deliberating and weighing words in his head, before stuttering; "Is this my- I mean, do you look like this because of..." 

Newt opened his eyes, waiting. 

"Because you were worried about me" Thomas finished, sighing. 

Newt nodded carefully. "I wasn't sleeping, I wasn't really eating much either. Minho and Alby managed to force some water down me, but naturally, I don't deal well with thinking the love of my life is permanently unconscious" 

Thomas gulped, gently intertwining his fingers with Newt's, who felt how brittle his bones were in Thomas' grip. 

"I would've thought I would be the fragile one" Thomas said, "after the near death experience and all" 

Newt felt a soft laugh escape from the back of his throat, that came out more like a croak. He lifted Thomas' shirt sleeve and traced his finger along his veins, that had previously been black, but were now blue and faded under his lightly tanned skin. The bite was nowhere to be seen, and had left no trace. Like it had never been there. 

"How'd you manage that, then?" Newt asked. "Not a scar in sight" 

Thomas shrugged. "We don't know a thing about these bites, maybe they're built to make us sick and scare us shitless. I mean after that, I can't imagine anyone is raring to meet one of those things out in the maze" 

Newt nodded. "Well for all our bloody sakes, I hope you're right" 

"When am I not?" Thomas replied, with a smirk that sent a familiar feeling shooting up his spine, flooding his chest with warmth. His heart was safe now that Thomas was here. 

"I missed you Tommy" he said, nudging Thomas to lean back and moving so his head was on Thomas' chest.

"I missed you too" Thomas said, running his free hand through Newt's hair. This was the peace Newt had needed, which had been missing for every second that Thomas had been gone. He had missed it desperately. 

For the next few days, they recovered from their pain, which, despite being different in it's nature, they had been through together. 

All of the other boys had been on hand, bringing water, helping them get where they needed to go, even if that meant delivering them at the klunk buckets. Newt felt an overwhelming sense of pride that he and Alby had got them to this stage, and that, despite all odds, they had become a support network for each other. 

About a week after Thomas had woken up, they were themselves again. Newt's sleep schedule was fixed and he was eating normally, and Thomas had built up his strength. On the surface, you wouldn't think anything had changed, but Newt was still anxious and Thomas was different. Almost dying would do that to a person. 

It was morning now, and Newt was up and moving, walking among the gladers, encouraging their work and helping where he was wanted. Thomas and Minho were having a conversation by the homestead, and by the looks on their faces, it was an engaging one. Newt could only hope it wasn't about the maze, but knowing them, it probably was. He was anxious, but he trusted Thomas, now that the maze had given him a kick up the arse. 

He walked into the centre of the grassy plain and rested his hands on his hips, basking in the warmth of the morning sun. The breeze washed over his dewy skin and danced gently through his hair. 

"Good to have you back" Alby said with a grin, approaching and standing beside him. "I can't believe we made all this" 

He and Newt spent a few quiet moments looking all around, at the hand crafted structures and the smiling boys dotted around the grass. Newt knew Alby had the same knot of pride in his chest. It was something Newt had been feeling a lot lately.

Their moment was swiftly ruined by a sound of grinding metal, coming from in front of them. The boys' heads were turning, and everyone was jogging in the direction of the sound. The box was coming up. 

Newt and Alby glanced at each other briefly, before joining the others and pushing through to the front of the group where the box was reaching the surface, and coming to a slow stop. The metal doors slid open, presenting them with the metal grate that stood between them and the body lying on the floor. 

Alby jumped down, his heavy boots causing the grate to shake and clatter. He swung open the hatch and dropped down into it, blocking everyone else from seeing the face of whoever their new greenie was. They waited, with baited breath at the edge of the box. 

"Well?" Gally said, trying to peer over the side, to get a closer look. 

"Is that-" Frypan said, as he moved to an angle where he could see the contents of the box more clearly. 

"Yep" Alby replied, taking a step back and revealing a body with fair skin, freckles and most surprisingly, a mass of wavy, shoulder length black hair, that fanned around their face. 

"It's a girl?" Newt said. 

"Yeah, it's a girl" 

HEY GUYS!!! so very sorry it has taken me so long but here we are. i hope u enjoyed this chapter, and thank u so so much for almost 23k reads. that is CRAZY!! 

be safe out there <33