Prompt: Thomas notices your flirty behaviour and gets jealous when it isn't towards him
Your eyes snap open, and darkness surrounds you. You feel the dip of your mattress and the cocoon of blankets envelope you, which used to be comforting most nights, but now all it does is make you feel nauseous. You peel back the blankets and sit up in your bed, your skin slick with sweat and your forehead almost throbbing.
You should have known not to wear too many blankets; you feel like you've been roasted alive almost. And the heat... didn't exactly help with your dreams. You shake your head, as if it would shake the dream away, but it rests there in your mind begging to be thought of. You get out of bed instead, and pull back some curtains to feel the cool breeze of the night. It cools you down, but the voice lingers.
And the touch.
God, you think, how pathetic can you get? You anxiously lick your lips; you have one dream about Thomas and you end up all panicky and confused? You swallow out of nerves, what's gotten into you lately? You've only been here for... around 3 months maybe, and everything's been fine. You've gotten along with a lot of the Gladers, and you haven't had any drama with any of them. So why is your mind set on confusing you?
You remember what you felt when you saw Thomas the first time, but that was just nerves, right? It didn't mean anything, not really. You sigh, and soon find yourself crawling back into bed. You close your eyes and see his face again, feel his touch and your heart races immediately. You turn over and cover yourself with less blankets, actively pushing the dream away from you until you fall back to sleep.
"Rise and shine!" You shout, as you make your way down the stairs inside the Homestead. Gladers who sleep around the bottom level roll over and groan at your enthusiasm. But honestly, by now, they should be used to your wake up calls.
"Remind me again why we still let that shank bunk upstairs?" Gally growls, trying to cover himself with his pillow.
You smile, "Because you love the company of a girl, Gally."
"Get out."
You laugh and know that you won that conversation, so you leave the Keeper of the Builders and his minions to get up on their own terms. Although you know once you've woken Gally up, he becomes too frustrated to fall asleep again.
You spot Minho and Thomas, also early risers, but for the reasons of being Runners; they sit on one of the tables in what seems like a deep conversation. You get a plate of food and walk on over, all the while you try to ush away last night and the dream that you had.
"Mornin!" You say as you slide into on of the seats, opposite Thomas and next to Minho. They both bid you good morning after an abrupt end to their conversation, probably arguing over the Maze again. Or who is the fastest Runner.
"You really love to harass those guys, don't you?" Thomas says through eating his breakfast, while looking over to the Builders as they sleepily make their way to the food. "Every morning... And you know, it's not so great for the rest of us. They become irritable because of you."
You roll your eyes, "Oh Thomas, I'm pretty sure they're already irritable. Especially with Gally as their Keeper."
"Agreed!" Minho laughs, "And Thomas, I'm pretty sure you can't call it harassment."
Thomas raises an eyebrow, "What would you call it then?"
Minho grins cheekily, something close to trouble sparkling in his eyes, "I would call that flirting."
You cough, almost choking on a piece of toast. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me, and we all know it's true, Y/N."
You roll your eyes again, "Oh really?" You shake your head, "You wouldn't know what flirting was if it was staring at you right in the face."
He smirks at this instead of looking defeated, and you know you've set yourself up for failure. You know there's never any point to arguing with Minho, he's too witty to beat. "Well if that's true than maybe you should teach me sometime?"
You tilt your head, maybe Minho is testing you? Maybe he thinks you wouldn't flirt back? You smile, "I could teach you right now if you let me."
Minho's eyes grow wide and you know you've won this time, "Fine by me."
"Alright guys, you can stop it now. I'm trying to eat, and you're spoiling my appetite." Thomas almost growls, his eyebrows pulled in with his frown. "Anyway Minho, don't you have something better to do?"
You drop the rest of your toast and start, "Tom, he was just messing—
"He has actual work to do though, you know, like looking over the map so we can figure out the routes for today?"
Minho raises his hands in defeat, "Alright, alright. I'll go bust my ass while you eat, my King." He winks at you before he leaves, and you feel a little victorious.
You go back to finishing your breakfast, but Thomas looks a little irritated.
"Tom?"
You try to catch his eyes but it seems as if he's avoiding you, and soon enough he abruptly gets up from the table and chooses another seat instead.
"You... are you lost?"
You turn around to see the voice who called belongs to the boy with brown cropped hair and blue eyes, the very first face you saw from inside the Box. You try to smile, but you feel a little nervous. "I was... well, I was just trying to go to the bathrooms but Newt isn't around..."
Thomas looks confused for a mere second but soon catches on, "Oh, right. Well, I can stand watch while you go, Newt's probably still asleep."
You smile again, "Thanks, I won't be long."
After that encounter, Thomas invites you to eat breakfast with himself and Minho. Thomas hands you a plate of food and sits across from you, "If you can't find Newt like that again, just let me know. I'm happy to help."
Minho snickers, "Of course Tom would be happy to help, you're a girl!"
Your jaw drops and Thomas' does also, but soon you see him crack up along with Minho. You think it's quite inappropriate, but then again, Minho was probably just having a joke anyway. You laugh with them until it dies down, and then you say, "I'm really sorry you had to do that. I always feel bad asking Newt... I wish they would just build the second bathroom already."
Minho swallows a mouthful, "Gally might be a slow worker sometimes, but he does the job right."
You and Thomas both look at eachother in disbelief, and then Thomas turns to Minho again, "Did you just compliment Gally?"
Minho blushes slightly, "Oh whatever, I guess I am a nice person sometimes. You all laugh again, and you suddenly feel a bit more confident being in the Glade. Maybe these boys aren't so intimidating, maybe you can be friendly with them.
"So why were you up so early, Y/N?" Thomas asks as he shovels in another spoonful of cereal.
You shrug your shoulders, "I don't know... guess I like the mornings. Plus, it's one of the times where not so many boys are crowding the place."
Thomas chuckles, "True that."
"You know, Y/N, us boys aren't so bad..." Minho states, "Look at it this way: if you were surrounded by only girls, wouldn't that be worse? No one to—
"Minho," Thomas growls, sending Minho off into a spiral of laughter. "He doesn't mean that, and if he does, I'll totally punch him later for saying it."
You giggle, "It's okay." You continue to eat, as you all near finishing your meal you say, "Hey, would it be cool if I sat with you again tomorrow?"
Since Thomas is a Runner, you don't get to see him a whole lot. He spends all his time dedicated to the Maze, but when you two do get to hang out, it fills you with overwhelming happiness. You can't explain it really, but Thomas is someone you could always talk with and connect to. He and Minho were the ones to bring you out of your shell a bit more, to be more confident around the guys.
But after his little spat this morning, you're not sure if things will fall back into place again. And it's been going over and over in your head all day, Thomas isn't usually easily riled up. That job is Gally's. So is something else bothering him? Or did you really just piss him off?
You find yourself sitting near the growing bonfire as dinner is being made, alone. Usually you would hang out with Gally or some of the Slicers, but this time you don't particularly feel like it. However, as the minutes roll by, Newt comes up beside you and takes a seat.
"Looking a little lonely here, Y/N."
You look over at him, and then back to the fire. "It's depressing, isn't it."
"Sure is, any reason why?"
You sigh, if anyone could comfort you right now, it would be Newt. He's always there when you need advice, he has like some kind of radar for these things. Which is probably why he's over here sitting with you. "I think... I think Thomas is pissed off at me or something."
He frowns, "Why do you think that?"
You chew your bottom lip, "I don't know!" You breathe in, "I mean, this morning he acted weird."
"Weird how?"
"Like... I mean, he walked off after Minho and I were joking about."
Newt raises his eyebrows, "Really?" He looks away for a moment, "That's... unusual." But there's something more he's not telling you and you can sense it straight away. Maybe...
You gasp, "Did he talk to you about it already?"
"What? No...
You frown, "He totally did!" You poke his cheek, "Tell me what he said."
Newt laughs, "I promise, we didn't talk about... you... not really."
"Newt," you pout, you edge closer to him, your legs touching and your face close in proximity, "I know you're his friend, longer than me, but if he's talking about me behind my back, I should know. At least then maybe I could figure out why he's upset at me?"
Newt shakes his head, and you jump him. You both start laughing as you try to pin him to the ground, "Newt! You have got to tell me!"
Suddenly someone comes up beside you both, almost breathless, his voice definitely not happy. "Are you kidding?"
You look up to find Thomas, "Tom!"
"I can't believe you two!"
You frown, and slide off from Newt. Is this about this morning? Or have you done something else to anger him? You can't mess around with any of his friends, is that it?
"Thomas... it's not... it's not what you think..." Newt says, straightening himself as he stands up from the ground.
"Oh really," Thomas crosses his arms over his chest, "After what I said to you today Newt? Really? You're supposed to be my friend."
"I am! Y/N was just... she..."
Thomas frowns, "She was just flirting with you, like she does every shuck-Glader here. What a surprise." He gives you a look, something close to hatred... but also sadness. And then he turns and leaves you both, disappearing off into the far away darkness of the Glade.
"Y/N," Newt starts, "Tommy is..." He sighs, "I think you should go after him."
"But he seems so mad..."
Newt helps you up from the ground as he speaks, "Trust me, the worst thing you could do is not explain yourself."
You stare down at the ground, the chill of the night hugging your skin, bringing on goose-bumps. "I don't know what I've done wrong."
"You do know... Don't you?"
You suddenly look to Newt, his cautious brown eyes encouraging you to go after him. You think back to this morning, and then to now. You're not sure what you're going to say, and you're still oblivious to why he's angry. But you think you know where to start.
After half an hour of trying to find Thomas, you spot him near the line of trees where the wind whistles loudest. You see him angrily slumped on the ground, his back leaning against a tree trunk. You envision what you're going to say, and you feel some sort of confidence wash over you. Enough to make you drag your feet over to where he sits, anyway.
"Tom, please don't—
"What are you doing here?"
"I've come to apologise."
He shakes his head, "Look, I don't want your apology. Your pity. I can see that you... don't really like me as much as I thought you might. So it's whatever, just leave me be."
You blink, and your chest tightens. Don't like him as much as he thought you might? "Tom, I think you've misunderstood..."
"No, Y/N, I haven't." He gets up from the ground, brushing the leaves off that cling to him. "I haven't misunderstood. At least, not anymore." He sighs, "I just wish you... Look, I'm not going to tell you that you can't flirt with anyone at all, just don't flirt with me anymore, because you obviously don't mean it."
And finally you realise everything. "You're wrong."
He looks over at you, his blue eyes darker and confused. "What?"
"You're wrong. I always meant it with you, and only you." You swallow, gulping down oxygen to help stop the panic you feel over your heart, swelling in your stomach. "I... Tom, I know I flirt with the guys. But I don't mean it with them." You take a step closer to him, and he doesn't seem to move away. "But with you, I always mean it. Because I like you, and I have since you helped me out that one morning."
He chews his bottom lip, "It never felt real or special... because it seemed as though you flirted with everyone."
You cringe, "I know, I'm so sorry. It's just... I always found it hard to interact with you guys. And then I guess I just couldn't figure out another way to talk to most of you... And with Newt today, that was nothing." He catches your eyes and you take a breath, "I was asking him what to do about this morning, when you were upset. And he accidentally hinted towards you already talking to him about it, and I was just trying to push him to tell me what you said."
Thomas blinks, "Oh..." He kicks the earth up with his feet nervously, "I was just telling him how... crappy I felt. That you didn't really take much notice of me, that you treated me the same as the other guys; just another Glader." He sighs, "I was just annoyed because I wanted you to like me like I like you, but you didn't. Or... at least I thought you didn't."
You take another step, so that you're in reach of each other. "I thought the flirting was harmless, because I thought you wouldn't ever care about me in that way anyway."
"You were wrong." Thomas looks away.
"I guess we were both wrong." You reach for his arm, and he doesn't pull away. "I never meant to hurt you, or make you feel like I was just playing around with you. Or that you're not special, because you are special; to me."
"I know."
"I'm sorry, Tom."
He smiles softly, and wraps his arms around you. "I should have said something sooner but I was afraid that you didn't feel the same way."
You hug him back, "No, it's okay. It's fine." You feel his embrace grow warmer, "I won't ever let you feel like you're not special ever again."
"And I won't walk away when we argue."
You both laugh, and as Thomas drops lifts your head, you feel a slight brush of his lips against yours; the laughter quietens down, and the taste of his lips remain. "Tell me you haven't done that with any other Glader, right?"
You smile into the next kiss, "You're my first, and my only."