Author's note: One of my best friends requested this after we trolled through the Minho/Thomas tags. Feel free to comment. Not sure how long this will be, but it won't be too long.

Happy reading!

Going the Distance

A Maze Runner Fic

Chapter One

Thomas's phone rang as he was tying his shoes.

"We have a problem, Tommy." Newt said in greeting.

"What sort of problem?" Thomas asked. They were supposed to have their first session with the new running coach Newt had hired. "Don't tell me you're backing out, Newt."

"Not because I want to. I went to see my doctor today and she said my knee isn't healed enough for marathon training."

Thomas sighed. "We already made our first payment for the trainer. I didn't want a trainer in the first place."

"Come on, man, you'll be fine. And once you get through this session, you can cancel." Newt had a smirk in his voice. "You could use a bloody trainer."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just… I'm sorry, Tommy."

"Well, I guess you should ice your knee or something." Thomas grumbled.

A few minutes later, he was out the door and heading to the park where he was supposed to meet the coach. He was working on his stretches when the lanky Asian man made his way over.

He held out his hand. "Minho Kim. Are you Thomas?"

Thomas shook the other man's hand. He had a strong grip. And his brown eyes were calculating. "Thomas Parks. Nice to meet you. Did Newt call you? He said he would."

"Yeah, the knee. Sucks. But it happens. So let's see what you got." Minho guided Thomas through a few more stretches and then stood and said, "Let's get running."

They ran for what seemed like forever and Thomas felt like his lungs were going to explode from his body. He sat down heavily with his bottle of water after the cool-down exercises Minho showed him. He sipped his water and fought to regain normal breathing.

"Do you always look so pained when you run?" Minho asked after a while.

"Excuse me?"

"When you were running. The look on your face was a little painful."

Thomas felt embarrassed. "I don't know. Never looked in a mirror. But I felt like I was dying."

Minho nodded. "Well, you made it through three miles. Not too bad."

"That's all? It felt like ten."

Minho chuckled and clapped him on the back. "Well, we still have a while to go before you're ready for that marathon. But we'll make it."

"Do you have any others you train?"

He shook his head. "Just starting out."

Thomas nodded. He couldn't fire the guy now. He'd feel really bad. "Okay, so how will this work? Newt set it up and I was going to rely on him to tell me the schedule."

Minho pulled his bag over and removed a notebook. He made a couple notes as he spoke. "Well, you made it through three miles with very little trouble, but you were struggling at the end. So we're going to meet every day for an hour. We'll start out slow and work you up to running comfortably. I think it'll take about four months." He looked up and smirked. "And we'll work on that pained expression while we're at it."

Thomas felt his face heating up at the teasing. "Right."

"So we're done for today. I want you to make me a list of your average meals and we'll go over that. I'll tell you what you should cut back on and cut out." Minho stood. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Same time tomorrow." Thomas watched him leave. Then he pulled out his phone to find Teresa had sent him a text.

"I'm bored. Where are you?"

He sighed and replied. "Running. Training for a marathon. You home? Wanna make me supper?"

"I am home. But make your own supper. I got a shit ton of homework."

"What kind of a sister are you?"

"One that doesn't have time to baby you. Come home and entertain me."

"Sixteen minutes older doesn't mean anything. If I have to make my own supper, you have to entertain yourself."

"Fine. I'll order delivery."

Thomas chuckled and reclined on the grass for a minute. Living with Teresa was a constant power struggle. He and his twin had had a falling out over some bad decisions on her part, but she was turning her life around. She moved in with him when she started school. It was rough, but he was glad she was back in his life. All they really had was each other.

He finally got up and gathered his things. He drove home. And for some reason he didn't fully understand, he couldn't get Minho's smirk out of his mind.

"Hey, I hope you feel like pizza." Teresa said when Thomas walked into the apartment.

He nodded. "Shouldn't eat too much more of that. Training for a marathon now."

She chuckled and closed her textbook. "Why are you doing that again?"

"I used to run in high school, remember?" He kicked off his shoes.

She chuckled. "Yeah, the fifty meter dash and all that. A marathon? Really?"

He shrugged and headed toward the back of the apartment. "I need a shower." He turned back and handed her his wallet. "I should have a twenty in there for the pizza."

"I'll cover it." Teresa said.

He gave a no-nonsense look. "When did you get a job?"

"I sold some stuff." She said sheepishly.

"Teresa." He warned.

"I'm not dealing anymore, Tom. I told you. I had a storage unit full of crap I don't need and I posted it online. I got rid of a bunch of junk. I can help pay rent this month. And I'll keep looking for a job. Promise. Pizza's on me tonight." She shoved his wallet back across the table. "You don't have to take care of everything."

"I used to." He picked the wallet up and headed out of the room. In the shower, he stood under the spray and let the water fall over him. He cooled off some more. And thought more about Minho's smirk. Why was he so fixated on that?

He had never really thought about attractions. Growing up he had put so much focus into keeping Teresa out of trouble and his grades up that it never really mattered to him. He had friends and colleagues that helped pass the time. And dating wasn't a necessity.

He dressed and walked into the living room just as the door closed and Teresa turned around with the pizza. She smiled and waved him toward the kitchen at the other end of the room.

"So tell me about your training. Is Newt any good?" She asked as she handed him a plate.

"Newt had to back out." Thomas said. "His knee isn't healed enough."

She made a sympathetic sound. "That sucks."

"Yeah. But the trainer seems to know his stuff. Got to work an hour every day." He took a bite of his pizza. "I ran three miles, though."

"That's good." She sighed. "Will you help me with my algebra later? You were always better than me in math."

He smiled. "Sure."