TBS Imagines

Protective (Newt)💜

"Thomas, you're being incompetent," I sighed.

"What does that even mean!" Thomas shouted.

I rolled my eyes and stormed away. "Leave me alone!" I shouted over my shoulder.

"Y/n! Come back H- Y/N! Stop!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and I was spun around. Thomas went to continue yelling at me but all of a sudden, he flew backwards.

"DONT TOUCH HER!" Someone screamed.

Shuck.

"Newt-" I began.

"NO!" Newt screamed. His eyes were burning, glaring at Thomas. Every muscle was taught and he stood in between me and Thomas like a mountain lion, ready to attack it's prey, but standing up. He watched Thomas like one would watch a sandwich after being starved.

I'm not going to lie... It was hot.

"N-Newt," I repeated, trying to gain sense. Thomas' eyes were as wide as mine. Newt didn't yell. He was calm and collected and reasonable. This was not the Newt we knew.

"Calm down, dude," Thomas said breathily.

"Don't tell me to calm down," Newt snapped.

I touched Newt's shoulder and his head snapped to me. Immediately he came to his senses and his eyebrows creased. He stood still and looked at Thomas. "Don't touch her like that again."

Then he walked away.

I looked at Thomas and he looked back. "I have to-"

"Go," Thomas said immediately. I took off after Newt. He was fast for a kid with a limp. "Newt?" I called shyly into the room we shared.
I heard the water splashing in the bin in the little extra room that would have been a bathroom but had no toilet, sink, or shower, so it wasn't. I walked in and saw the laundry piled up, to be cleaned, in the corner and the chair with the wash bin on a table next to it. It was a calming room, where we could go and wash our hands and punch a wall or something. I don't know. It was an awkward room. "Newt?" I whispered. He looked up at me. He was scrubbing his hands fervently. I bit my lip and he smiled tightly. "What was that?"

"I don't know..." He sighed, wiping his hands dry on his pants and pushing past me to go into the room. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the floor.

I walked over and sat next to him, linking our fingers. "Whatever it was, it was really hot and much appreciated."

He looked at me. "It was hot?"

"And appreciated," I added.

He smirked. "And hot?"

I laughed, nudging him playfully. "Yeah."

I leaned my head against his shoulder. "But don't do it again. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"It's just- I saw him- and I got this overwhelming feeling to- just- and- UGH!" He grunted, shaking his head. "I want to protect you. If someone hurt you, I'd... I don't know what I would do."

I squeezed his hand. "I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

"Until you can't," he said, looking at me.

His words hit me hard. I flashed back to a bloody memory of my frozen body and blonde hair and bones that weren't where they were supposed to be and brown eyes that wouldn't open. The memory of learning of a fall that almost took everything from me. A jump. Trying to clear my head, I focused on Newt. This is where we were now. Passed what was or how we had gotten here, we were here now. I managed a smile. "Then you'll be there for me," I said simply.

He kissed me, hard, holding my face. "You promise you'll always be okay?" He begged the second we were apart, not even leaving me time to reorient myself or catch my breath after the passionate kiss.

It wasn't a fair question. It would cause me anxiety to keep, constantly worrying  and hating myself when I eventually put myself in danger trying to protect these idiot Gladers from each other. Or, in the case of the new Greenie, protect them from themselves. It was a selfish, rude question that I shouldn't have been able to answer. But it was also a question he desperately needed a specific answer for. He needed me to lie. I wasn't perfect and unbreakable but in this moment when his blood was rushing and his head was clouded with memories just like they always were when he worried about me, he needed me to lie to him that I would always be in the best shape and that he wouldn't need to worry about me. It wouldn't stop him worrying about when his head cleared, but for now I could give him just a few moments of ease. "You promise you'll never hurt me?"

He seemed startled by the question. "Of course."

I reached up, my palm resting against his cheek. He leaned into the touch, mirroring my soft smile. "Then I'll never be hurt."

He looked deep in my eyes for a moment, letting a comfortable silence stretch on while he just looked at me. "I love you, Y/n."

It had been a while since he'd last said it. In this hard word, it was hard to find a soft or safe moment. Even if he nearly had to take out Thomas to enjoy it, I'm glad that we got to enjoy it. That, no matter how it had come about, we had it now. In fact, I was happy for all the love that had come from all the pain in this stupid prison. That same jump that haunted my nightmares and kept me on edge had also been the tipping point that had lead to Newt and I confessing to each other, so how much could I really complain overall? I was grateful for the Glade in a weird way. Grateful for Newt. "I love you too." And I meant it so intently that he saw it on my face and just had to kiss me again. Not that I was complaining.