Little lies - NEWT

{1.04}

EDEN, POST MEETING WITH ALBY and the runners, took a rather slow stroll to her bedroom in order to grab a hair tie as the unexpected wind for the day had started to annoy her greatly. Usually, it didn't bother her but today it just got increasingly annoying as time went on. She had pulled apart most of her room to find a single hair band, it happened to be buried underneath a collection of clothes that were now far too small. But she kept them, due to the sentimental value that they held.

As she stepped out of her bedroom, while pulling her hair into a braid so it was fully out of the way, Minho appeared in her view in his full Runner get-up. Confusion tugged her brow downward as he got closer, wondering why he was taking such useful time out of his runner schedule to talk to her. "Eden!" Minho half exclaimed, some sort of desperate tone to his voice.

"Minho!" she replied, returning his energy while remaining ever so confused.

"Newt's sick and still trying to go to work," he continued, slight breathlessness to his voice as he had run across the glade from where the others slept.

Her brow tugged down even further, concern flooding to the nearest thoughts within her mind. She frowned, smile falling, "Sick how?"

Minho shrugged, glancing over to the entrance of the maze where all the other runners were waiting for his instruction. "I have no idea, he looks like Clunk," he added with a slight laugh to his voice that half covered up the concern he clearly felt for Newt. It was obvious to her, despite how he liked to hide how he felt, that Minho definitely cared for Newt's wellbeing more than his other friends. That, plus a feeling that had now overboiled in her stomach, had her worries on a completely different level.

"Delightful," she chuckled softly, hoping to relieve some of her nerves as best as possible. It did not work in the slightest. So she turned to questions once more, hoping that that would do the job instead, "He's still trying to work?"

He nodded, "Said he's giving it five minutes then getting up so..."

"I better run?" she smiled reassuringly as she closed her bedroom door. She glanced towards the maze entrance and frowned at the collection of runners, who had all begun to jog on the spot while their gazes bore into Minho's back. "And so should you, the runners are getting restless."

He laughed, feeling somewhat reassured within knowing that she would be going to check on Newt, "See you later."

Minho ran off first, must faster than she could, and headed toward the Maze. While Eden ran over to the homestead, wanting to catch Newt before he managed to pull himself from bed. She was oddly delighted to find Newt in somewhat of a daze, staring out into the distance but still laying in his hammock with a thin blanket over the top of him. She knocked on one of the posts holding up the hammock next to him and watched as his direction of the dazed focus fell upon her. A small smile formed on his lips when he managed to focus his aching eyes. She quickly moved toward his hammock, dragging a stool behind her. She sat on said stool next to his hammock, their faces just about level. "What's up?" she asked softly, having realised that Minho did not describe the severity of his illness or anything about what had happened really.

"The sky," he muttered, voice strained and almost heavy with pain. It would have been clear to anyone that he wasn't well; his eyes were glazed over, brow constantly furrowed, complexion pale and skin almost paper-thin. Lack of enthusiasm happened to be the main symptom, maybe a headache also. Eden let out a light chuckle at the joke, the pit of worry becoming less as the laughter rolled off her tongue. At least he wasn't so ill that he had lost aspects of his personality. She unconsciously began to push somewhat sweaty hair from his warming forehead in small comforting circles, his eyes involuntarily closed and it seemed all the tension he held in his shoulders and forehead began to slowly melt away.