Aegis | The Maze Runner / Minho ✓

thirteen

I followed behind the two best friends with a small smile lifting my lips. It pleased me to see such a big grin on Minho's face once again, and I didn't miss the warming of my heart when his eyes flickered to me. His expression brightened even further.

"C'mon, slowpoke!" he exclaimed happily, waving me closer. "Maybe Fry will let us have some food."

I knew that was a stretch because the Cook was careful about who he gave food to and when, especially between meals. We couldn't risk running out of animals or goods before the next supply box came up.

"Got a Greenie today," Newt remarked almost as an afterthought.

Minho's brow furrowed in thought. "Do we? Huh, I must've forgotten with all the crap happening."

Even from behind, I could sense the unease that was filling his body. His shoulders hunched slightly and his arms tensed so the hard muscle tightened. I found myself trailing my eyes across his biceps on the arm around Newt before I snapped out of it. A lump formed in my throat as the warm feeling inside of me intensified.

Oh, shuck me. I couldn't be developing feelings. Not now, not with everything that was going on.

I shoved down the feeling of warmth and refused to let it rise again, not even when Minho held the door open for both of us and I smiled at him in thanks. I sat down at the Keepers' table while Frypan prepared some leftover chicken for Newt. My hands were folded and my I twiddled my thumbs while I waited.

Newt slid into the seat across from me and started picking at his meat and vegetables with a fork. His hand was clenched around the cutlery so that his bones showed through his thin skin. He seemed disinterested in eating, but managed to swallow a bite or two for Minho as he joined us at the table.

"I'm still not used to eating here," Minho confessed as a way to change the subject from Newt. He was looking right into my eyes as he spoke. "It holds so much importance. I feel like a king."

I chuckle. "It's a table."

"It's the table," he corrected, spreading his arms so he almost hit an unmoving Newt in the face with his hand. "So many decisions were made. I choked on meat here. Legendary."

My eyes drifted to Newt and my expression dropped. He was staring with unblinking eyes at something around my neck, still gripping onto the fork with more force than before. His jaw was set.

I looked down and touched the circular locket hanging from the chain at the base of my throat. His locket. The metal was cold against my calloused fingers. Something so pretty didn't belong on me, and yet it had become a part of me over the last few weeks. It was something I never took off- almost a part of my body.

"Do you want it back?" I questioned quickly, hastily reaching behind my neck to undo the clasp. Guilt was spreading over me; I couldn't believe I hadn't thought to return it sooner. "Because I can--"

Newt shook his head and blinked. "No, keep it. It looks better on you than me."

Minho touched his arm with a gentle hand. "You sure, man?"

"Yeah." Newt nodded and forced a smile for my sake. "I'm sure."

He went back to poking at his meal as a signal he didn't want to talk anymore. The locket now felt heavy with a newfound weight that didn't exist before. It reminded me that it wasn't mine, that I had been given it because Newt thought he was going to die. I suppose he didn't want to remember that night as much as I did.

I tucked the locket beneath the collar of my shirt to obscure it from his view. Many aspects of Newt were gone since the bonfire, and the necklace was one of them.