PANIC ROOM ━━━ the scorch trials

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ━━━ ❛ 𝔦 𝔤𝔬𝔱 𝔞 𝔨𝔫𝔦𝔣𝔢. ❜

He stared at the bottle, then looked up to her face, resolved. There was no way Ares was taking those pills, but Starnes didn't need to know that.

"Fine." The boy snapped, looking to the bottle and grabbing it in his small hand. The woman blinked in surprise, not expecting him to give up that easily. "Are we done here? Or do you wanna keep taking your fake notes while we sit in silence?"

Starnes sighed, waving her hand as she excused Ares from the session. Ares smirked, hoping that his insistence on being defiant was wearing her down to a point where she no longer wanted him as a patient. That was his favorite way of getting people to leave him alone, and it was a tactic he'd implemented many times in the maze. He was off-putting, sure, but it was mostly by choice. Not necessarily a ruse because, let's face it, he was genuinely difficult to be around, but also not the complete truth because he wasn't typically that argumentative.

As the boy left the room, a body ran into his, and he looked up to snap at them to watch where they were going, only to see a haze of blond hair and a small smile.

"Ares," Newt said softly, staring back at him. He took note of his annoyed expression and the pills in his hand. His brow furrowed, probably also confused by the existence of pharmaceuticals in a time like this. "What are those for?" Newt asked curiously.

"Well, Leo and Garrett think I need to be on something, apparently. Starnes seems to agree, so now I have these." The brunet hadn't meant to say it in a harsh tone, but for some reason, that was his default and he had no intention of fake niceties. Newt was standing in the crossfire, and Ares almost felt bad for his consistent attitude, but almost wasn't exactly there, so he didn't bother to pretend his apology was genuine when he said, "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to snap at you."

"Yes, you did." Newt chuckled softly. "It's okay, love."

Ares ignored the heat in his cheeks as he used the word love, passing it off as an attraction to his soothing accent. He put his head down, shoving past the boy.

"Oh, um- have you eaten yet? It's past lunch, but dinner should be starting soon." The blond followed after him.

"Not today." Ares answered.

"The guys are all in the room."

"And why aren't you in the room?"

"Well, I got bored. Thomas won't stop blabbering on about how these people are evil. Minho, Frypan, and Winston are trying to build a fort out of sheets. And your lads are whispering together on their bunk. I decided to go for a walk, and then come look for you."

"Oh."

They walked in silence after that. Ares could tell Newt wasn't uncomfortable in the silence. He seemed like the type to enjoy it, actually—if it was with the right person, that is. Ares wondered why Newt thought him to be the right person considering his prickly demeanor, but he found that he didn't mind. He enjoyed silence too, and Newt apparently knew that somehow, because he didn't try to force Ares to talk after their short conversation.

No words passed between them before they arrived at their bunks. Ares shouldn't have been shocked at what was going on inside, considering Newt had tried to warn him, but he still found himself startled when he walked in to three teenage boys making a chain of sheets and yelling at each other about algebra, as if making a fort had anything to do with that. And as if any of the boys in question knew how to do algebra.