"REMEMBER"

FRYPAN/ARIS

Maze Runner Fic

„I like that guy," Fry said to the other gladers.

There at the base of the Right Arm, in the hills of the Scorch, he somehow felt for the first time that he could, at some point, make himself feel at home somewhere. He had never considered that possible before. The gladers didn't really comment on his words on Aris, Tommy nodded, but they were really busy talking other things. It just sort of went by, if only because they didn't know what to do with it in the moment. What they didn't know was when a little boy named Toby was captured by WCKD, they took him from a violent father who was turning Crank, who early on had threatened Toby for liking girls things. Even though Toby had a loving grandmother who taught him how to cook, practically make a meal out of anything, which was often how she chose to show her affection for him – by cooking for him. It would be soothing to be her little helper, her assistant, and it tightened their bond. It would calm him down when his father had been mean or abusive towards him. In the beginning, his grandmother had made excuses for her son in law - his mother had died when he was young, and Toby dreamt of her sometimes and wondered what she was like - but later on, she wouldn't. He had become increasingly violent when WCKD intercepted Toby. They told him again and again how he was safe with them, that he didn't have to be afraid anymore, and was accepted how he was. At some point, he believed them.

Fry started feeling a little left out, but he didn't blame the others because he was lost in thoughts. But he decided to approach Aris - even if he was with a group of girls and he would be the outsider. So he went down to talk to him, and Sonya immediately offered him a place next to her.

„Here Fry, come sit with us", she said with a cheerful smile on her face.

„Thanks", he said, chuckling.

He had expected everything to be awkward, but Sonya's way of welcoming him made him feel at ease and they started a conversation. They started talking about their time in the Maze and what some of the differences between the boy and girl groups were.

„You know when you come out of the box and they all laugh at you and start kind of hitting you and patting you in the back, and try to intimidate you?", he explained while talking about his arrival in the Maze in the box.

„Wait what? In our group we let the new ones come out on their own. We'd give them time, and there would usually be one of us waiting to take care of them and walk them through things."; Harriet said, laughing, but there was also compassion in her face.

„Boys are so silly!", Sonya proclaimed, she was very amused at the way the boys had handled things.

Fry loved his group, but he couldn't deny that in some regards, he would probably have felt more comfortable, more himself, if he had been in the girl's group. In Aris' place. But looking at Aris, he felt that he'd needed that place too.

„I heard that you grew flowers in the maze. What kinds did you grow?", Harriet asked.

„All kinds.. daffodils, daisies, frangipani, buttercups..", he replied.

„Oh wow. Buttercups are my favorite."

„Yeah, i love them, too", Fry said. „I just wanted to make the place a home for the other boys, make it bearable and feel like a real place. Somehow I knew they'd also been through a lot."

This caught Aris' attention. He was now looking at Frypan.

„I never thought of it like that", he admitted. He looked at him suddenly with interest, or more than that, a gentle, enamored look on his face.

„To me, the Maze was a chore, a must. I thought we had to find a cure at all costs.. I guess I was so convinced of it that I don't think I made anything easier on anyone."

„No, that's not true. We love you", Sonya reassured him, gently patting the back of his head. Fry could tell the girls were very supportive and protective of Aris.

Later that night, Frypan gathered his courage and approached Aris when only a few were still outside. They continued talking and Aris shared a memory.

„I just remember my mom telling me to go, that she would be okay, but I knew she would never be. She was doing these terrible things to her own body.. scratching and hitting her head..and I would get so scared and hide somewhere until she stopped. But in that moment, when she told me to leave, I promised her I would come back and help her.. and she calmed down for a moment. When I stepped outside of our home, I heard her starting to yell and scream again inside. So that's why I got so determined to find a cure.."

Fry wondered how he could even remember everything so vividly, but he was too in love to think about it. He lay his hand on Aris' and they looked in each other's eyes. Suddenly, Aris started smiling, as if he had just realized he had found something precious in Fry. But he had something to share as well, a memory he didn't know how he could have, but he did. It had come to him very recently, he heard his father yelling out his name in his head, and it wasn't the name WCKD had given to him – it was his real name. After all the distortion and all the things they'd manipulated, he remembered his name and he didn't know why, but he'd decided not to share it with the boys. But now, he wanted to. He whispered it in Aris' ear.

„Wow", he said. „And it's the perfect name for you. Weird how everything suddenly seems to match with the right name involved", he said, and Toby could tell he wanted to be closer to him, so he took his hand in his and started gently patting it with his finger. He couldn't believe Aris' was so comfortable and trusting already, but he was very happy about it.

He continued the converation.

„So you were the hyper intelligent type, like Thomas and Teresa. No surprise. You seem.. different."

„Yeah, I must have been in some way."

„No wonder you and Rachel liked each other so much. Thomas and Teresa used to be inseperable."

„Rachel and I were too, but not the way you think. She was my best friend, my confidant. All of the girls are."

„What happened to her?", he asked, carefullly as to not upset Aris.

„Thomas and I found her at WCKD, hanging from the ceiling in.. sort of a coma-like state", he answered, and Fry could tell how hard it was on him to be separated from her now.

„It must've been hard to leave her behind at the headquarters.. I'm sorry for asking", he said.

Aris nodded and said, „That's okay."

„But I'm glad to hear that the other girls support you so much as well. When Teresa arrived in the Maze, the other boys practically chased her up a tree house. She had to throw rocks at them to keep them away." They laughed.

„It's weird, but you remind me of her a little bit. She's so determined and just very different."

„That's a compliment to me. I think she's incredibly strong and people underestimate her. I think she still has faith in WCKD. My own faith in them is shaken. I don't know what to feel at the moment. I used to be so determined to find a cure, but I'm also starting to see what we could build, now that everything's not too late yet.. But yeah, I think Teresa isn't done with them yet."

Suddenly, there were screams and frightened voices everywhere at the base. There was a berk approaching, and in the turmoil that ensued after its landing, the two were separated. Heavily armed men came storming out and bombing the place, taking in gladers, even killing people they deemed dangerous to the organization. „Toby!", Aris yelled. Aris, who was still very valuable to WCKD, got taken by two men, Toby stormed towards them and tried to take them down, charging at them head first, but fell to the floor. They took Aris into the berk, back to WCKD headquarters, and looking up from the floor, he could see Aris still looking at him with a saddened look on his face.

There was so much more he'd wanted to tell him. How much he adored him, was attracted to his intelligence, his approach to things, and that he wanted to help take Aris' mind off of things and help him get calmer, and forget his demons.. How he was studied and experimented with, even tortured along with other boys by a gender specialist at WCKD for years, just for being different – which none of the others, even the elite candidates like Thomas or Aris, even knew about. He wanted to tell him all of it, and his heart was aching at the thought that he might never see him again.