Free (Maze Runner fanfic Newtmas Newt x Thomas)

Chapter 4

Thomas opened his eyes slowly, his head feeling like it had been cracked open. The room was dimly lit by the glow of the artificial night outside, but he still squinted, feeling a sharp pain between his eyes.

He sat up, putting a hand to his head and gasped at the feeling of his back. It felt like somebody use an ice cream scooper and took out a massive chunk, leaving him bare. A medjack was fast asleep in a chair at a desk, arms folded on it and his head resting on them, snoring lightly.

Thomas groaned at the memories, closing his eyes. It was like he watched them in third person, like a movie. There were two young boys, playing together.. "Newt.." He said out loud, making the medjack jump awake.

"Y-you're up!" They yawned. "You couldn't wait until a nicer time of day, could ya?" They stood up and walked over to him. "What hurts? Lie down you shank, you'll hurt yourself."

Something snapped in his mind and Thomas began refusing profusely, trying to stay upright despite the medjack pushing on his chest, but not very hard in fear of hurting him. "I have to see Newt! Let me see him! Where is he!?" Thomas cried, unable to control himself.

"If you just lie down then I'll get him! Now slim it, most of the gladers are sleeping."

Thomas seemed to agree with the deal and lay back down, wincing again at the strange feeling in his back. The medjack made sure he stayed down, then left the room, but quickly returned with a worried looking Newt. "You can leave us." He ordered, the medjack nodding and seemed almost relieved, presumably going to his bed somewhere. "Tommy, what's wrong? Do you remember something?"

Thomas sat up again. "Come here."

Newt sat on the edge of the bed, opening his mouth to speak but Thomas grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him forward, quite painfully smashing their lips together. Newt's hands flew to Thomas' legs, going to push himself away but Thomas was adamant on keeping him there. In that case... Newt returned the kiss, closing his eyes and leaning forward. This is what he'd wanted for ages, ever since Thomas came up into the glade, and the moment was almost perfect.

Thomas' grip on shoulders finally began to lessen, his hands trailing down to Newt's lower back instead. Newt took the signal, shuffling closer to Thomas' body and snaking his own hands into Thomas' hair, grabbing fistfuls of it. He licked along Thomas' bottom lip, gaining himself access to his mouth.

When Newt let out a soft moan, Thomas finally registered what they were doing and hastily pulled away, his face flushing a deep crimson. "I'm so sorry-" He blurted, not really sure what to say or do.

"Tommy..." Newt blushed too, pulling back his hands but not taking his eyes off him. "Bloody hell... What did you remember?"

"We.. We've been friends, since we were kids.. I don't.." He grunted and put a hand to his head. "You and I, we went to school together, a-and everyone else was there. We got closer to each other, more than the others, and.." Thomas frowned. "Yeah, we were definitely together.

"I've just had a sense of familiarity with you since I got here, and attraction too, but I had no idea where it was coming from because I barely knew you and I still don't even know despite remembering some stuff. I just remember us dating, I just- I couldn't not-"

Newt cut him off with a brief kiss. "Slim it, okay? I like you too, Tommy, clearly. I'm not crazy enough to put myself through changing to remember our old relationship, especially not the one you just went through, but I trust you and I believe you." He offered out his hand which Thomas took, squeezing it lovingly.

"Do you think the other gladers are going to say anything? Should we tell them?"

Newt shrugged. "Is that really important? With the amount of time I've spent with you they all probably bloody suspect it by now. I sure know Alby does; but really, we're fifty guys and all of us are going to not want guys? To our memory we've never seen a girl, but somehow all of us are meant to not find men attractive? Hopefully when I see one I don't change my mind." Newt flashed a cheeky smile. "But if we were together before the maze, I don't think I need to worry about that."

"I guess.. Maybe it's my memory, everyone's probably different now. A couple guys that I see around never approved of us very much, so I wonder if that'll pass on."

"We can discuss this later, you need to rest up properly, let your brain mull it over and maybe you can get through one night without screaming the glade down." There was one down the corridor and Thomas looked alarmed. "That's Minho, I'll explain tomorrow if nobody else does. A lot has happened."

"Alright.." Thomas lay down on his side. "You need to get some sleep too."

"Yeah, I'll try." Newt stood up and pulled the covers up to Thomas' chin. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night.."

~*~

In the morning, a medjack was giving Thomas a once over to see what he was capable of. "Bed rest, and lots of it." Thomas sighed. "We don't know what this Mourner did to your system, you might collapse down dead tomorrow for all we know and if you're not here then we can't monitor you. If we're going to get data from anywhere, it's from you because you're awake and talking. Minho will eventually, but he's still glowing."

"Glowing..!? What do you mean glowing!? What happened!?"

He hadn't expected a lecture, but that's what he got. They described the doors closing for the day, the arguing that took place before the doors opened; the rocks falling, Newt trying to grab him, Minho helping, having to move the rocks, and the runners being cautious. Then his skin glowing red, the black veins, spewing blood, extreme fever, and the new fever called 'Mourner' that was for both himself and Minho. Apart from all that, the walls were back to acting normal, and a greenie was due tomorrow.

Thomas wasn't bored, but not long after the little lecture he dozed off until someone entering the room disturbed him. It was Chuck. "They told me I couldn't come see you yet but nobody could stop me this time." Thomas chuckled and Chuck smiled, giving him a hug.

"I think I'm alright now." Thomas said, squeezing him tightly.

"Good that."

"How are things without me? I heard Minho got struck, he's screaming away but apparently not as much as I did, there's a Mourner on the loose, and the walls haven't acted up since that weird day. What's everyone doing? The place must be in shambles."

"Panicking, quite honestly. The cowardly shanks." Thomas could see fear in Chuck's eyes, he was trying to impress him. "But the beast killed two runners, and now that we all know it roams in the day nobody really ventures far out into the maze, all the runners are scared to leave."

"What.. What does the Mourner look like?"

Chuck blinked at him like he was an idiot. "You didn't see it?"

"It got me in the back, Chuck. I thought I was just stabbed by a regular griever until I was told my body glowed red."

"Well.. This probably isn't accurate, only Newt and the now dead runners actually saw it, but he only told Minho and Alby the description. I guess the runners too, thinking about it.."

"Just tell me Chuck."

Chuck enthusiastically explained its features, using his arms to be its claws, waving his ass around for its tail, and roaring loudly. It made Thomas laugh. "His teeth are knives!" He bared his teeth. "Metal in its knuckles!" He punched the air. "Loud as a lion!"

He roared again, but the mood quickly fell when the door opened. "It's no laughing matter, Chuck." Newt scolded with a stern expression.

Thomas looked over at him, still with a smile on his face. "Let him make light of the situation, it's nice for a change. He's simply telling me what my attacker looked like."

Newt's expression softened. "Fine."

Thomas looked at his watch, then seemed to make a decision in his head. "Unless something dire happens, don't none of you dare wake me up! ... Unless you have food." They both nodded. "Good that."