Author stuff: Y'all, Archie is my dumb boy, and I love him. He's absolutely precious.

Puppy update! My dog has an x-ray scanned for today. We'll be seeing if there is cancer in her torso. If not, her toe will be amputated, and she'll be recovering for a while. (She'll get the comfy cone of shame.) If there is cancer, well... I'm planning on giving her the best I can offer. Please send good vibes her way.


Chapter 18

In Which Archie Has More Realizations And All His Friends Are Shanks

The Greenie was made a Slopper. No one else really wanted to work with him, so he was left with the unfortunate task of being one of those who cleaned up after everyone else. Archie didn't feel bad for him. He'd seen the way he'd looked at Flossy. She'd actually gone to the Keeper of the Sloppers, Eric, and asked him to keep him busy in places that wouldn't be close to her. He complied without issue, being understanding about it.

After they'd finished the repairs from the rain, they got to work on a new lookout tower. Alby and Nick brought it to their attention how it would help the Baggers when they kept watch at night. Gally had agreed, and the Builders started making plans.

They spent almost a whole day scouting for a good location – a rather tall tree some ways out of the Deadheads that looked more than sturdy enough for their purpose. It was another two days before they even got to work.

Gally placed him on the team to gather materials, so he spent a lot of time in the Deadheads. He was surprised to find out that there was a bamboo section in the dark forest. It was actually in a relatively sunny part, close to the back. It was larger than he expected as well.

"We planted it a while ago," Dave said, cutting down a shoot. "Bamboo is a great resource and it grows quickly."

"I wondered where all of it had come from," he said. "I thought the Creators sent some up."

"They used to, and then they got tired of us asking for it. Honestly, it's better this way. If we need the materials, they're already here. We don't have to wait."

"How long did it take for it to get this big?"

"A lot of these we planted ourselves. They keep growing and regenerating. It's part of what makes them good for us. We have to be careful and remember which ones we already used. We don't want to damage them too much by over-cutting. They stop growing if you do that, or so Zart says. Don't know how he knows that, but he does."

"Oi!" Andy said. "Get back to work. I don't want to have to be doing this all day tomorrow."


Progress on the tower was steady. They and the Bricknicks had consistent work – sometimes taking off to do other things in small groups. It was all necessary, of course, but the project took longer than Nick, Alby, and Gally wanted. More often than not, they were all woken in the early hours and broke for the night long after the Runners returned from the Maze and the sky was nearly dark.

The work was good, however. It kept all of them busy, and it kept their minds occupied. There was a sort of comfort that came with that.

Archie befriended his fellow Builders with more ease and understood them as time passed. A week, then two, then three (Flossy spent this week in the Med-hut again), and there was a new Greenie.

He was taller with short blond hair. His name was Ben, and it didn't take anyone long to figure out he was a Builder. He got on well with everyone and helped them finish up the guard rails for the multiple platforms of the watchtower.

And Ben treated Flossy the way she should be – with respect and a little bit of fear. And he helped scare away Harry, the slinthead, on more than one occasion when Gally or Newt weren't available.

It wasn't long before it rained again. Thankfully, it was a short burst of clouds that only halted the work for a few hours. And, because the Builders were extending the sleeping quarters for the Gladers, it meant they got to spend time with the boys they rarely got a chance to talk to rather than have to work in the Builder's hut.

Archie made a beeline for Flossy, who was busy discussing something with Clint and Jeff. The three of them took up a small corner in the middle of it all.

"...be a good idea," Clint said.

"And I don't see why Zart wouldn't agree with it," she said. "It would give him something more to take care of. It'd get him out of Nick's hair for a while, too."

"What are we talking about?" he said, sitting down with them.

"We were thinking of growing a medicinal garden," Clint said. "We were recruiting Flossy for her help."

"Sounds like a great idea. Don't know who would disagree with it."

"It'll take some time and research, though," Flossy said. "None of us really know any good plants that would be good to have around, and we'd have to get Zart on board first. Nick would agree with it no problem –"

"Especially if Flossy was the one who proposed it to him, given our and Zart's blessing," Clint said. "We'd have to discuss it in a Gathering first. There'd have to be a vote on it, but I don't know anyone who would really disagree. We wouldn't have to wait on the Box to come up every time we need something."

"That's our biggest push for it," Flossy said. "I'd be helping with it, of course, but we don't think Zart would let me take care of it by myself. So, we need to come up with something to get him on our side."

"And we'll need Gally on our side," Jeff said. "We need him to make an enclosure for the plants, so no one who's not supposed to have access to that stuff can get it."

"Which shouldn't be too difficult because, you know," Clint said, not really finishing his sentence. Instead, he gestured to Flossy.

She reached to smack him, but she just barely missed as he dodged. Archie could only watch on in astonishment as a blush creeped down her ears and neck to the top of her collarbones peeking out from the low collar of her shirt.

"What?" Jeff said, a grin picking up the corners of his lips. "You know it's true. Right, Archie? Tell her."

Flossy turned to look at him, eyes flashing with worry and curiosity and… hope? He may be bad at reading most people, but Flossy? She was like an open book to him.

He looked between her and the Med-jacks. The blush didn't fade and their grins only grew wider and much more sly as the moment passed. She had a crush on Gally?

He had to think back to over two months prior when it rained heavily and the roof of the Blood House needed to be repaired. He recalled how Gally had blushed when she was brought up. And all their shared meals together. And the flirting they always did. And dozens of other things.

Oh.

Oh!

"Yeah," he said after a beat. How had he not caught on earlier? "Just go ask him. I know he won't say no to you. Ben would agree with me."

"What am I agreeing to?" Ben said, hearing his name as he walked past.

"Just agree," Jeff said.

"I don't think I want to if I don't know what I'm agreeing to."

"Gally not being able to say no to Flossy so that we can get a medicinal garden."

"...I feel like I'm missing a whole lot of information but yeah. Gally won't say no if you asked him. Now, Jeff on the other hand."

"Oi!"

"Good that," Clint said. "Well, you heard him Flossy. Go ask Gally."

She gaped at them for a few moments, unmoving. She gulped and wiped her hands on her cargo pants, standing up. She nodded.

"Alright," she said, continuing to nod. "Where's the slinthead at?"

Ben pointed in a direction, and she took off to go talk to him. No one mentioned that Gally was in the opposite direction. She would figure it out eventually.

"Bet you my eggs tomorrow morning that she comes back blushing," Clint said.

"Bet you my bacon that Gally'll be the one blushing," Ben said.

"You're on." Clint offered up his hand for a shake. Ben took it.

"You shanks are horrible," Archie said, rolling his eyes.

What was he to do with this information? Flossy had a crush on Gally. Who knew?

"Eh," Jeff said, "we're not that bad."

"Yeah," Clint said, "at least we're not teasing her about the private self defense lessons."

Wait, what?


Author stuff cont'd.: Yay, Archie's finally picking things up!

...sort of!

Giving another reminder that after I post chapter 20, I'm taking a weeklong break from posting chapter 21. I have some things in Part 2 that I want to fix before I put it out to all y'all. I'll be back to posting on 21 June. If any of you have questions or anything, feel free to hit up my tumblr. I'm forgottenyogurtgods.