"You don't have to be so strong all the time, love." Newt said softly as he wiped away some of the dried blood on her knuckles. "You've also ought to stop getting yourself into trouble."

Y/N furrowed her brows and let out a light laugh. "Why's that? Someone has to do it. I can't leave all the trouble making to Minho."

"Because," Newt sighed. "My heart can't take it."

"Well, you'd better get that sorted. I'm never going to stop." Y/N punched Newt's shoulder lightly and though he didn't look up to meet her eyes, he smiled.

"That's not it, though." He admitted. "Something's wrong here. I think they know who we are."

"They definitely know who we are." Y/N grumbled. "They were asking about our names when they were doing my tests, but no one else's. Janson had a major freak out when the guards pushed me, and started saying something like 'he'll know,' before he stopped himself."

Newt ran his hands through his hair like he always did when nervous. "Well shuck."

"He had to have been referring to you—"

"Alrightey, lovebirds!" Minho bounded through the door. "Picnics over! We're having a meeting. C'mon!"

Newt tossed aside the towels, now a reddish brown colour from Y/N's blood. Then, he gave her a hand up and they walked out in the room. The boys had arranged the bunks in some strange, failed attempt of a circle. Thomas sat at was probably meant to be the top of the circle, since circles had a top in Minho's brain. Nothing really made sense in that boy's brain except to himself.

"So, we've got some problems." Minho started the conversation. "To catch Y/N and Newt up, Thomas left and made friends with that weird cornbread boy. Bart?"

"Aris," Thomas corrected. "How'd you screw up that bad, man?"

"Dunno, don't care." Minho shrugged it off. "Anyways, they found some spooky stuff: Bodies being taken into a secured place in the facility."

"So, maybe they had to sedate them to take them to that paradise, or whatever?" Winston jutted in.

"I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place," The Aris kid said, making everyone in the room jump in surprise. He slunk out from behind Thomas suddenly. No one even realized he was there. Minho may have now felt ever so slightly bad for botching the kids name now and calling him cornbread boy.

"AND!" Minho spoke up. "Teresa is M.I.A. No real surprises there, but y'know, it could be a problem."

"No surprises?" Thomas scoffed. "Minho, she's with us."

"Uhhh, listen here, pretty boy." Minho waved his arms frantically. "A girl like that don't just fall for a boy lookin' like you. I think she knows something we don't and is using us. Particularly you, Thomas."

Thomas looked highly offended. "What—"

"He might be right," Y/N finally piped up. "When the doctors were running our tests, they took her to a separate room for a while. I don't know what they did, but she came out acting strange. Secretive, almost. When I tried to fight the guards so she'd get to stay here with us, she kept telling me to stop. It was like she had other plans."

"Ha!" Minho pointed at Thomas and laughed. "Your girlfriend is loco!"

"Hey!" Newt shouted. "We don't know anything for sure yet. But, what we do know is that these people aren't who they say they are."

The room remained silent. That was when Newt realized these boys did still look to him as a leader. "For now, we keep our heads low. Until we know more, we stay put. Thomas and Aris, find out all you can. We'll keep a good cover for you."

Thomas and Aris shared a glance, then nodded. They didn't seem to mind being sent on a secret mission.

"Be ready to move at any moment, though." Newt warned. "Y/N and I have reason to believe they already know who we are. WICKED or not, these people probably see as much value in us as WICKED does. So, we need to be careful."

"You got it, boss." Minho stood tall and nodded to Newt. " Hear that everybody? Thomas and Aris are on a secret mission while the rest of us have the job to protect this peasant and his princess."

Newt groaned and rubbed his face violently. Minho snickered lightly and then paraded back to his bunk, very happily hunkering down for the night. Even though this place was suspicious and sketchy, Minho, nor could anyone else, remember the last time they actually got to sleep in a real bed.

Y/N found herself a bunk, the one adjacent to hers, Thomas'. The bed to her right was taken by Newt. Either Minho had strategically placed two beds beside one another, or he really was that bad at creating a circle out of bunks. Either way, Newt wasn't one to complain. He'd have Y/N just a few feet away from him all night long. It was getting increasingly difficult not being able to have her right in his arms. The more time they spent with one another, the deeper infatuated Newt found himself. As far as he could tell, though, Y/N didn't see him in the same way.

"What're you thinking about?" Y/N whispered. Newt broke from his thoughts and blinked a few times. He raised his brows and took in a deep breath.

"Nothin, I guess." He said. "Lot's just happened today."

"Yeah," Y/N shifted her eyes away. Newt could hardly see them since she had the blanket pulled up over her nose.

"Are you cold?" He teased, eyeing her curiously.

"No," Y/N immediately shot back.

"Love," Newt giggled. "You've still got your shoes on. You are most definitely cold."

"Says who?" She defended her case. "Maybe I just want to be ready if we get attacked in the middle of the night. Good luck running though those concrete halls in those slippery socks." She pointed to Newt's feet which just barely stuck out from beneath the end of the blanket.

"Hold on," He said before climbing out of bed and shuffling over to one of the closets.

"Ah, finally! Someone got up!" Minho hollered. "You've been promoted to the job of shutting off the lights!"

"Really, Minho? You couldn't get up off of your lazy arse to turn off the light? Your bed it the closest to it!" Newt complained as he began to make his way back to the beds.

"Ummm, no." Minho muttered. "I'm not getting up now. I'm comfortable."

"God, you're insufferable, Minho." Newt insulted, climbing back onto his bed.

Y/N had her eyes closed, but Newt knew she was still awake. Gingerly, he covered the girl with another blanket, the warmest he could find stuffed away in the closet. As he tucked it in around her back, the girls eyes fluttered open and she sent him a soft smile. "Thanks."

"S'welcome." He gushed. The boy retreated back before he knew he'd make an embarrassment of himself by saying something ridiculous or blushing so much even his hands ran red.

Next thing he knew, he was at the light switch, flicking off the lights. Carefully, and only with a couple of hits to the shins, Newt stumbled his way back to his bunk though the dark. Y/N grumbled at him for having run into so many beds, but he just shrugged it off.

After saying goodnight, Newt made a split second decision he wasn't sure if he'd regret in the morning or not. He reached over to the other bed and gently dusted his hand across Y/N's cheek. Then, he leaned over and left a quick kiss on her cheek before retreating at light speed. His heart was pounding against his chest and face was burning, but everything inside of him told him it was the right thing to do. He may not have seen her expression or heard words to know how she reacted, but he could feel it. And all he felt was warmth and contentment. Nothing about how he felt told him that Y/N was upset, uncomfortable or angry. That, was a feeling he could sleep on.

In his heart, Y/N wasn't just temporary. She wasn't just another piece of this puzzle WICKED had created that one day he'd probably branch off from once in the real world. That was, if there even a real world for any of the Gladers to make a life in.

This was real. The most concrete thing Newt knew. He and Y/N were real. And in his world of lies and doubt, real was rare. Unless the creators had made this relationship,Y/N was under their control and he was being played, this was real. He may have felt twice as much pain as he deserved because of being connected with Y/N, but he wouldn't change if for anything.