"You're not gonna need that today, shebean." Minho snagged his running partners book from her hands and tossed it back to where it had come from.

Y/N paused and eyed Minho with confusion. "You crazy? That's how me map a way out if we find it. That's how we survive a night in the maze if we get stuck."

Minho hung off the doorframe carelessly. What had gotten into him today? "Ehhh, I wouldn't be too worried about that today."

As much as Y/N knew Minho was acting out of the ordinary, she did believe him. As much as the keeper of the runners could be dense, he wasn't totally stupid. He wouldn't tell Y/N to walk into the maze without her mapping supplies if it wasn't already thought out. Discarding most of her normal things she'd bring along for the day, she followed Minho who bound happily across the glade.

"What a freaking dork," Y/N mumbled. "Are you seeing this?" She nudged Newt and pointed to a frolicking Minho as they walked toward to maze doors.

Newt hummed. "Unfortunately."

Taking off into the maze, Y/N ran close to Minho. "Ok, spit it out. What are you planning for today?"

"Nothing!" He responded with a sly little smile and ran a little faster. Y/N had to push her legs harder to keep up.

"What do you mean—" She grumbled. "Nothing? Nothing definitely means you are planning something suspicious!"

Rolling his eyes, Minho began to slow his run. "I'm not planning anything suspicious. I'm literally planning nothing."

As they came to a stop, Y/N crossed her arms and set her jaw. "I swear Minho, if you brought me out here to feed me to the grievers—"

"Woah, woah!" He reached out his arms and scrambled, realizing maybe he'd been a little too ambiguous about all of this. "No."

"Then what?" Y/N, despite being confused and a little worried, mustered a laugh.

"I thought—" Minho scratched the back of his neck as he struggled for words, something very uncharacteristic. "I thought we could take the day off."

Nervously, he wait for her reaction. Unfortunately, it never came. She kept staring at him with the same deadpan expression.

"Did you just suggest we take a day off? Minho not working for a day?" She raised a brow. "No. I don't believe you."

Exasperated, he sank to the ground in frustration. "Look at me! I'm sitting! I promise I'm being serious."

"Ok..." Y/N hesitantly sat down with him. "What are we gonna tell Alby?"

"We won't tell him anything. Just say it was a normal day." He shrugged. "Not like he's gonna come looking for us."

"Ok, that is true." Y/N admitted with a smile.

Easing into their simple day, Y/N and Minho talked for a while, laughing and joking while laying on the ground of the maze. After a while, they got up and began rummaging around the maze, exploring all those small little spots they never had time to ever stop at. They climbed around until they found a place high enough that they could oversee the glade and almost the whole maze. In all directions, their home was laid out before them. All around was the place they were trapped within.

It was weird though. Up here, Y/N and Minho didn't feel so trapped. Not so much because they had the open air and a view of everything. It was more because throughout they day, they had been reminded of what it meant to have each other. It was pretty hard to be lost, trapped or to truly hate the world when they did have each other. Recently, they'd been working so hard on mapping the maze and finding a way out, they'd sort of drifted apart. Not fallen out in a sense that they didn't work well together—they were better running partners right now than ever. But, they hadn't been doing the sorts of things friends normally did, like joking around and simply talking. It had been all work the past few weeks.

That constant grind in the maze didn't stop Minho from thinking about her anytime she wasn't around, though. It had just meant that he could never act upon what he was feeling because they were so busy and dedicated.

Quieting down, legs hanging over tall walls swinging back and forth, evening soon approached. Minho looked to the girl sat beside him and then away again before she noticed. "Not like I'd wish it upon anyone to get sent up in the shuck box, but I'm glad you did."

Y/N turned her head and stifled a small laugh. Minho's face was actually a slightly different shade and he kept his eyes turned to the ground. "Wait a minute...Are you saying you care about me?" She teased, punching his arm lightly.

His response wasn't what she'd expected. He looked up slowly and then toward the glade, sort of admitting defeat. "Yeah. I guess I am."

"Ah, aha. Okay." Y/N felt her nerves firing a little.

Suddenly, Minho had jumped up, dusting his hands off on his pants. He reached out a hand to Y/N, helping her up. "We should get back."

"Probably wise," Y/N tried to get him to laugh but he seemed a little off now—a little closed off. The girl tried to ignore it as they ran back to the glade, mostly in silence.

Once they returned, Minho head straight for the maproom like he normally did, but Y/N departed for the kitchens. She was starving and was also in need of some time to think.

Minho was hard to read. That was just a fact. But today had been different. It was like in the morning, he had been his most relaxed and carefree self. Then, later, after he'd said those things on the wall, he'd shut down. It was almost like he'd regret what he'd said.

Sitting there, thinking, Minho eventually appeared from the trees. He walked slowly, deprived of the normal bounce in his stride, toward the kitchen. Briefly, he looked up and caught Y/N's eyes, but quickly turned back to staring at the ground.

That was when it hit her. Minho hadn't gotten the response he was hoping for earlier today. Y/N wanted to smash the bowl she held into her face, feeling unbelievably stupid and oblivious. That had been Minho's way of telling her how he really felt. Sure, it wasn't a blatant 'I like you, Y/N!' But it was something he'd never say to anyone else here. How had she missed that? Now, Y/N grumbled to herself, knowing she was going to have to be the one to set things right. Minho thought she didn't like him back in anyway.

So, Y/N had a plan. She wait until most of the gladers had found their way to their hammocks and then sprint through the dark to the homestead. On her way, she managed to step right onto a branch one of the boys had left in the long grass. She cursed under he breath, now regretting not putting on her shoes, but nevertheless kept going. Right now, she wasn't going to let some ridiculous injury stop her from doing what she knew was right.

As quickly as she could, and frankly before she could let her mind convincer her to turn back, she knocked on Minho's door. It was quiet, and just before she was going to knock again, a voice came from within.

"Yup."

Y/N opened the creaky door carefully and peeked in. Minho was sitting on the rickety, haphazard bed made just for keepers. He had one knee up, the other sprawled out. He held a book and seemed to be deep in thought. Y/N knew about what. He wasn't reading for fun, he was reading to distract himself.

When the intruder to his room didn't say anything, he looked up. His expression changed unbelievably fast. "Y/N?"

"Uh, yeah." She gripped the door nervously. "I'm just wanted to say sorry. I should have told you I care about you too. I just—I didn't know how. I couldn't do it. It didn't seem like you to say something like that, so..."

Minho's eyes went wide. The book had been long discarded. He sat upright. That doubt which seemed to be overwhelming his conscience just seconds ago seemed to be fading. "Wh—"

He had stopped what he was about to say and his eyes went to the floor. "You're bleeding, come here."

Immediately, Minho had gotten up, grabbed Y/N's shoulders and sat her on the bed. He examined the wound and went straight to cleaning and bandaging it up. In all his time being a runner, he'd learned it to be wise to keep some first-aid supplies right in his room. "Let me guess, running across the glade with no shoes?"

Y/N laughed a little in defeat. "Yeah, you got me."

"How many times have I told you not to do that?"

"Tons." Y/N admit, shrugging.

"In a hurry to get over here, huh?" He asked.

Y/N sucked in a deep breath. "I wanted to get it off my chest."

Minho let go a tiny smile. "Yeah, sorry if what I said came out of the blue. But, I was being serious." He brought himself up and sat on the edge of the bed, facing Y/N. Embarrassingly, he tried to address his now messy hair. He'd really let himself fall down the self-loathing thought spiral based on the assumption she didn't like him. "I care about your ideas above anyone else's here. I care what you think about me. You can see things in the maze that no one else can and— you are kind, patient, and I might even admit, a better runner than I am."

"You're just saying that last one to make yourself seem nicer." Y/N called him out and laughed while he looked away in humiliation.

"Touche, you got me there. The rest I really do mean, though." He tried his best to wait and keep his nerves under wrap while he wait for Y/N to stop laughing.

She eventually settled and tilt her head with a soft smile. Minho wasn't quite sure what to do. "Thank you." She said.

For a brief moment, he really left himself to feel this moment out. Once he'd had enough, he picked up the pillow from behind him and smacked Y/N with it. "Yeah, yeah. Now pack it in, we actually have to run tomorrow."

"Actually run tomorrow?" Alby stopped right in the doorway while he walked past. "What were you doing today?"

"Running." Minho squawked. "Just a little slower than normal."

"Ah. Ah huh." Alby narrowed his eyes on the pair. "Goodnight." He shut the door on the pair. Once they knew he was out of earshot, they broke out in laughter. The day had been long and full of a lot of turns they didn't expect, but it certainly ended better than either of them had expected.