The Inventor

Chapter Seventeen; "Water doesn't get you drunk"

     Three days, three days you spent playing off as if your brilliance was merely just a side fact under Nick's leadership. Painting him the leader and you some follower who did his dirty work. But Minho was there still, Nick held up his end of the deal and so did you. You weren't willing to risk it even though it killed you inside that Nick got all the credit.

     At least the keepers knew, the keepers knew it was you and not Nick and that satisfied you enough. And that Minho knew.

     Speaking of Minho, the two of you hadn't said a word about the short kiss, nor did you prompt conversation because frankly the idea of the discussion made you distressed. You knew him for three days and this guy decided to kiss you like you had been kissing each other for years. Very rude.

     Yet, you liked it, wanted to try it again. And again, and again. So, with no one else in the world you conceded to confide in Newt and had the pleasure of watching him go off his rocker about it. It was a two hour mix of over protective, confused, ranting, and prodding for further evidence on what happened. Most of all, he asked the big banger question. If you liked him like that. Your response, undecided.

     You knew it was on you now, Minho had made a very blatant move and it was your turn to decide whether you were to return the favor. But for once, you were timid to take the risk. Not scared of rejection because clearly you wouldn't be but in fear or accidentally leading him on and finding out you didn't have feelings for him after all. In all it was very confusing and you despised the train of thought.

     Instead of thinking about it, you emerged yourself in producing more of the griever calls. Despite how easy you made it sound, exchanging recordings was so difficult and tedious that you could barely stay on the task for more than a hour at the very most.

     You were back at it now, pressing your lips together and making a popping sound, trying to reach the point where you could stop and take a break. They were your mental checkpoints so you didn't burn out and frankly you couldn't concentrate on this long of a task for longer than that.

     "Any luck?"

     You freezed, very carefully locking every muscle so you didn't lose the control you had over two wires.

     "Shut your mouth, shut everything, I will end your life," You warned and very carefully finished your last step, letting out a sigh and a groan.

     "Not well?" Minho continued.

     You swiveled around in your chair and hit your nose on his chest, rubbing it unhappily after.

     "Excuse you, you are taking up my breathing room," You said.

     He sat up on the table across from you with an easy smile. It took you a few seconds to stop staring at the perfect way it set his features to realize he had asked you a question.

     "It's going fine, just bored, so bored. Like I'm going to kill Nick just for some excitement, bored."

     "Uh, no thanks, not a big fan of getting booted out into the maze."

     "I wouldn't let them," You said carelessly.

     "Apparently so."

     He was hinting, setting the conversation open for talking about what happened but you ran from it like you ran from the stupid lights you had to still fix in the med hut.

     "Yeah," You replied dumbly, scratching the back of your neck and standing up, "Um, yeah."

     You could see him roll his eyes from the corner of your vision but he didn't press.