Fool's Paradise (Thominho)

Chapter 2

When Thomas woke up the first thing he did was look out at the sunset so he hadn't had anything to eat yet. It was only when a gust of wind blew the sweet aroma of fresh food toward him, when he realized he was hungry. He looked back at the line to get food from Frypan and was relieved that it wasn't too long, then jogged over, getting behind a cute red headed teen and a small girl. Thomas guessed they were sisters because of their similar facial features. After a minute or two they were next and he was great full he didn't have to wait long. The teen got her breakfast of eggs and juice and her makeshift silver ware. It was the girls turn next. Almost as soon as she got her food, it slipped out of her fingers and dropped on the ground. The older sister set hers down mumbling, what Thomas assumed were swears, and knelt down to pick up what she could of the mess.

"I'm sorry, Genie (pronounced Jenny). I didn't mean to! It slipped!" said the little girl. Crying by this point.

"I know you didn't. It's okay, you can have another plate." Genie assured.

"Actually she can't." chimed in Frypan. "One plate, per person, per meal hour."

"Excuse me? Why not?" Genie back to Frypan.

"Sorry. Not my rules. These shanks in the back say we don't have enough to give more than one per person. Believe me. I'd love to give her another one." Frypan shrugged.

"Well, we'll just share." The sisters started to walk away, the girl still crying, when Thomas told them to wait.

They turned around surprised. The girl's crying turning to little sniffles as her sadness turned to curiosity at Thomas.

"Here you can have mine." Thomas said gesturing out his plate toward them. "I'm not really hungry anyway." Just then his stomach growled silently, reminding him of just how hungry he really was. But that little girl crying was just too sad.

The little girl started running toward him but Genie stopped her.

"Are you sure? We don't want you to go hungry 'till lunch. We're just fine with sharing." She said, still restraining the little girl.

"Yeah. Of course. Like I said I'm not that hungry." Another rumble from his stomach said otherwise.

Genie finally let go and the girl came charging over. She grabbed the plate immediately, and starred hungrily at it.

"What do you say to the young man, Mittie?" said Jenny scolding her.

"Thank you, Mr." Mittie said quickly, blushing a little from her impoliteness. She then picked up one if the fruits from the plate and handed it to Thomas. "For you." she said quickly again after he took it. Then ran back to her sister. Her grip on the plate hard as she tried not to cause another accident.

Thomas to a huge bite of the apple and said "Thank you!" with his mouthful making the small girl giggle from his silliness. "No, thank you." said Genie back. She chuckled along with her sister giving a glance at Thomas and then they walked away.

"What the hell?"

Thomas turned around to see Minho standing there with a fruit himself. He must've come back from his trek.

"What?" Thomas said confused at what he could be talking about.

"Why did you give them your food? So she dropped hers. Too bad, so sad." Thomas was still confused. Now because of how Minho was acting.

"I wasn't just gonna let her be hungry." He responded. "And I have this fruit. I'm not that hungry anyway."

"Oh please. I could hear your stomach from a mile away. Anyways, carrot top said she'd share. She would've been okay." Minho snapped back.

"Wait, how long have been standing there?" Thomas asked. It was clear that he'd seen at least half of what happened.

"Enough to see that you were flirting with that ginger." he said with an obviously fake smile. More like a grimace.

"I wasn't flirting with her. What are you even talking about?" Minho was really confusing him now. More than usual.

"Nothing, whatever." Minho mumbled, staring at the fruit in his hand.

"You okay, Minho? You're acting funny. If I didn't know any better I'd think you had the Flare." Thomas spurted.

Just then Minho's head snapped up and in Thomas' peripheral vision he could see Frypan lift his head in their direction quickly then turn back around. Thomas knew as soon as he said it that it was wrong. He had just made a joke about a disease that wrecked their lives. A disease that probably tore away and ate at the brains of their parents, and their best friend Newt. Whose death Thomas still hadn't told Minho about. And he wasn't planning to.

To Thomas' relief Minho just let

out a dry humorless laugh and mumbled a 'whatever' and walked away.

Thomas didn't know what was going on with Minho, but he was going to find out.