Disclaimer: I own nothing. James Dashner owns it all.


Newt:

He could make it, he could. Just because no one else has survived a night in the maze doesn't mean Johnny won't. He might.

He could do it.

He could.

Newt was lying in bed with his head on Minho's chest. He could hear Minho's heart beating, slow and steady. They weren't sleeping, it was only 8:00. But after they drew up their maps they came back to their room and lied down. They'd been sitting there in silence for a while, Minho rubbing his hand in circles on Newt's back.

There was a knock on the door and Alby stepped into their room. Alby stared at the couple cuddling on the bed. Newt blushed, but Minho made no indication he intended to move. Alby crossed his arms and looked at the floor, "uh, I wanted to talk to guys about something" he said.

"Well go ahead" Minho said.

"Well since Johns..." he trailed off "well if he doesn't make it through the night... can one of you take his route? I'd ask someone else, but you guys are the most experienced so I just thought-"

"I'll do it" Newt said, "now get out."

"Newt-" Alby started.

"Just get out" he hissed. Alby turned around and left.

"Newt" started Minh, but once again Newt cut him off.

"Don't Newt me" he said, "did you really want him hanging around in here all bloody night?" Newt took his hand down Minho's stomach and hooked his thumb in the waist band of his pants.

"Newt" Minho said "that's not why you kicked him out. Do you wanna tal- ahhh" Newt shoved his hand into Minho's pants and started rubbing him. Minho cleared his throat and sat up, "Are you mm... Uh are you sure you don't wanna talk about it?"

"Do I bloody look like I wanna talk about it?" Newt said. Talking was the last thing Newt wanted to do. Talking about things make them real, and he'd much rather be distracted for a while.

And Minho was the perfect distraction.


Minho:

Newt and Minho lied next to each other out of breath and covered in sweat. "Shucking hell, Newt" Minho said.

"I know," he said as he turned to look at Minho "that was bloody amazing."

Minho smiled at Newt, and after a moment Newt smiled back. Minho leaned over and kissed Newt lightly on the lips. "You know," Minho whispered "he could make it."

"Minho" Newt sighed "you know he's not going to make it." Minho turned and stared at the ceiling. I know, he thought.

"Maybe" Minho mumbled. He would give anything right now to bring that shucking greenie back inside the walls. He knew how close Newt and John were. Hell, they were close enough to send me into a phsyco jealous rage. Minho set the alarm early on his runner's watch and curled up against Newt. "Lets get some sleep."


Newt:

They woke up early to get to the doors before they opened. Deep down Newt knew those doors would open to reveal absolutely nothing, but a part of him wanted to be there when they opened just in case Johnny was waiting on the other side. They stood there staring with Alby, the medjacks Clint and Jeff, and a few other runners. When the doors started to open, Minho grabbed Newt's hand and squeezed.

Newt took a step forward and stared as the doors began to separate. He squeezed so tightly onto Minho's hand he thought Minho would yell at him, but he just remained silent until the doors had opened completely,

to reveal nothing.

What did I expect? Johnny to be standing there with a smile, announcing that a night in the maze was no big deal? It was naive to hope. Immature to hope. Pathetic even.

Alby turned to face everyone, "we'll hold a service for him tonight. Now get running."

Newt let go of Minho's hand and started running. He heard Minho call out behind him, but he ignored it. He ran Johnny's route at a faster pace than he had ever run before.

After an hour he stopped and leaned against the wall, clutching his chest. He could hardly breath. He thought he was going to die, right there, in Johnny's route, completely alone.

He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.

In, out. In, out.

He slid down the maze wall until he was lying on ground. I need to calm down. I'm going crazy. We've lost boys before, this is nothing new. Being a runner is dangerous, everyone knows that. People die while the maze, it happens.

It does.

It could happen to me.

What if it happened to me?

The thought scared Newt, but not because he was afraid of dying.

But because he wasn't.

Minho:

Left, left, right, left, right, right. Minho repeated the pattern in his mind over and over again. He didn't want to think about John, or how it was effecting Newt. He didn't want to think about how he would give nothing more but to hold Newt and comfort him.

Minho wasn't as close to John as Newt was and he still felt like utter crap. He couldn't imagine how Newt was feeling.

When Minho got back to the glade there were still 35 minutes before the doors closed. The runners always got back 30 minutes before the doors closed, so Minho knew Newt would be back any minute. He decided to wait by the doors for him.

He watched as the minutes ticked by, and he started to get worried when there were 28 minutes left.

Minho was about to panic when Newt came running through the door. "Shuck Newt," Minho said "cutting it close aren't you?"

Newt checked his watch "there's still 28 minutes"

"I know, I just.." Minho started, but then he trailed off. "Lets just get to the map-room."

After they drew up maps, they went to dinner. They ate in silence for 10 minutes before Minho finally spoke up. "I hate running alone" Minho said "it's boring. We're gunna have to train someone else soon, but I'm not sure any of these shanks can handle it."

Newt stared at his food. "Shuck Minho Johnny hasn't been dead five seconds and you're already trying to replace him?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it" Minho said.

"Yea well what did you bloody mean?" Newt shot back.

"Look," Minho said, trying to keep his temper under control for Newt's sake "I was trying to say that I missed you today."

Newt stared at his food for a second before letting out a long breath and finally meeting Minho's gaze. "Yea today pretty much sucked without you."

"Well it's not going to get any better, we need to get to the dead heads."

Newt:

When they got to the dead heads Gally was pounding a make-shift cross into the ground. Alby was standing near him along with a traumatized looking blonde boy. Shuck, I forgot we were getting a new greenie today. Poor shank must be terrified. The realization of a new greenie made Newt's heart sink, that meant it'd been exactly two months since Johnny came up. Newt realized that this greenie was supposed to be his responsibility, him and Ably alternate every month and Alby got the last greenie.

Newt walked over to Alby and whispered so the greenie couldn't hear "Alby, what's going on? Why didn't you want me to take the greenie today?"

"I didn't know if you'd be up for it" he said. Newt's facial expression must have showed how offended he was by that because Alby added, "we were also short on runners, so we needed you in the maze."

Newt shook his head, "good that" he said. "Hey greenie, I'm Newt."

The greenie took his hand and shook "Ben."

"You two can meet and greet later we gotta get this done" Alby said. Get this done? Newt wanted to punch Alby in that moment.

Alby cleared his throat and spoke loudly, "tonight we honor John, the runner. He was a good shank and will be dearly missed. What happened to John is another reminder that the maze is a dangerous place, and not to be taken lightly. If any of you dumb shanks need a reminder, no one enters the maze unless they're a runner. No one..."

Newt stopped listening to what Alby was saying. Of course he'd turn this into a lesson. God forbid we actually focus on the fact that a glader died. That we'll never see Johnny again. That we're all pretty much trapped here until we all slowly die. Newt turned around and left, he couldn't stand being there for another second.

He heard footsteps behind him and he knew Minho had followed him, but he just kept walking. Eventually Minho caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder. Newt stopped in his tracks and turned to face Minho. "Can't I have a bloody moment to myself?"

Minho looked at him with a hurt expression, "I'm sorry I thought you'd just spent the whole shucking day alone in the maze."

Newt rolled his eyes "look I'm not in the mood for this right now Minho."

"I know..." Minho said "I'm sorry. How bout we ditch the greenie bonfire and go lie down?"

Newt forced a smile "yea, good that."

"Good that" Minho said as he put his arm around Newt's shoulders and lead him back to the homestead.


Hope you guys liked this chapter :) you can probably tell where I'm going with Newt's storyline and it's physically hurting me to write it. Please give reviews!