SIREN was getting sick of the life she had. She felt miserable. Like a tiny baby who got sad when her friends didn't want to hang out with her, while back in The Glade, it had been the other way around. To her, that had felt way better.

She wasn't happy with her body and in what conditions it was. Back in The Glade she ran all day, and now she did nothing. Letting go of thoughts only worked while she ran, so that's why she decided to go do it again. Every morning. Maybe even more often.

And she was sick of not being herself. She wasn't a crybaby like she had been the previous days. Here, she cried more than she had in three shuck years! She didn't want Thomas's comfort all the time. It was sweet, yes, but when she thought about it, she realized her old self would've kicked him for it.

No, she was not planning to kick Thomas in the balls for comforting her, or for saying 'I love you'.

Maybe she would do it just for fun, though.

Kidding.

Hopefully.

She woke up in his arms. It didn't feel suffocating for once. Actually quite good. His amazing smell, his warm body pressed against hers, his hands touching her, and his steady breaths.

Yet she forced herself to slip out of his grip and go run. Unfortunately, Thomas woke up, but he didn't seem to mind doing so.

"Where are you going?" He muttered, voice deep from sleeping. His hair was ruffled. Pretty cute, if you asked Siren. 

"To run." She looked around, then grinned. Brenda lay down clothes for her the other day. 

There happened to be black leggings, and a white top. Perfect. So without realizing Thomas was still in clear presence, Siren pulled off her shirt and dressed into the white top (with her back turned to him, though).

Same with the leggings. She groaned in annoyance when she remembered the panties Brenda gave her were as small as herself. And the fact that they were bright red made her wonder who and what the hell Brenda had been messing around with in the past years.

The clothes fit, luckily, and she put on her shoes. Simple sneakers Jorge had saved. A high ponytail in her hair. She decided to warm up outside, and turned around.

Oh, well.

Thomas was obviously still behind her, sitting on the bed with his mouth half open, not really blinking.

"Uh." Her face changed into a red color immediately. "I- didn't- uh, I didn't realize you were... still here."

How can I not realize that? She nearly groaned again. This was embarrassing. Especially with the lingeries she wore. Oh, lord.

"Don't worry," he managed to get out, his face a little more relaxed. "I'm not complaining."

"Thomas!" She grunted, even more embarrassed as he started to laugh. "You could've said something!"

"I was too busy watching, baby." He let himself fall backward on the bed. "So running, hm?"

"Yes," it almost came out as a snap.

He chuckled. "You mind if I come with you?"

She squinted an eye at him. "You'll only slow me down."

"No, I won't. I was a Runner too! I'll keep up easily."

Siren let go of a breath while she remade the ponytail in her hair.

"Plus, I can protect you."

"From what?"

"Everything!"

"I can protect myself."

"That sentence brings bad luck. Never say that again."

"I can protect myself better than you can."

"Well..." He seemed to think about his options. "Half true! You can protect yourself enough, but it's even safer with me."

"You're a sunshine who can't even hunt down a simple rabbit. Have you ever even held a gun?"

"I have!" A long pause. "And then I tossed it toward Janson..."

"See? I'm fine with you running with me, but I'm pretty sure I can protect myself."

"I can protect you too." He folded his arms. "Sunshine or not, if someone touches you, they're dead."

"Mhm. I'm sure they are." She shook her head and walked out of the room. Thomas followed.

"I mean it. They're dead," he hissed, slightly pissed off. "In a second."

"Fine then." Her cheeks caught a blush. Once she half believed him, it flattered her. "They're dead." She stopped in front of the kitchen counter before looking in the fridge. "What do you want to eat, Crackhead?"

"A sandwich or something." The sound of him pushing a chair to the side. "I would've said something else, but you're already a bit moody so I didn't."

"I'm not moody."

"You're moodier than normally and normally you're quite moody."

She sighed, then made the sandwiches. Thomas finally kept quiet, once he started eating.

And again, he finished eating way before her, and watched her take small bites of the bread as she let her thoughts wander off.

"Siren?"

She was still not looking at him when she replied, "Hm?"

"You're not angry at me, right?"

Her head snapped toward him so fast her eyes unfocused for a second. Her heart made a jump. No, no, no, no- Thomas couldn't think she was angry at him. "Why would I be angry at you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You're acting... not different, but." He frowned. "Just, I don't know. Can't explain it."

She scooted closer, about to say something, but he was first.

"Is it because I told you I love you?"

Siren nearly choked on the air. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head heavily enough for it to hurt. "Of course not. Thomas, I'm not angry at you. And even if I were, don't you dare think that is the reason."

He gave her a poor smile. "Okay, then." He grabbed her hand. Again, he started playing with it. His habit of not being able to sit still never stopped and now that he had Siren, he wouldn't have to fidget with his own hands.

"I love you," she reminded him, just to make sure he knew she meant it. "Crackhead," she added.

"I love you." A smile grew on his face. His eyes squinted, and they started twinkling again.

Siren almost melted in her spot before she rushed to finish her food. "It surprises me no one's awake yet."

"Vince must be. I guess he's hunting or something. The rest likes to sleep in, now that we can. I do too, but I'm not letting a nice run with a specific mermaid slide."

She smiled. "You know what I realized?"

"That I'm attractive?"

"I realized that the second you showed up in front of me. No denying." She shrugged. "So no. I realized.. We've been together for what? Three days now?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we still haven't told anyone. Which is quite funny to me."

Thomas remained silent for a while. Then, "I just got the best idea ever."

"Spill."

"Because I'm probably gonna make it awkward telling the others we're dating, we won't tell them at all. And then we pretend we're not dating in front of them."

She stared at his crooked smile. "That's absurd."

"But fun!"

"Sure, sure." Siren rubbed her chin. "Okay. We won't tell them until they find out. But remember there's a chance someone hears us right now."

"Yep." He jumped up. "Now come on. Time to run!"

A fuzzy feeling in her stomach at his excitement. "In your pajamas?"

He looked down. "Oh. Wait a sec!" He disappeared into their room. Not even a minute later, he was fully dressed in not even the sport outfit Vince gave him, but his black cargo pants and a blue shirt that looked a suspicious amount like the one he wore in the Maze.

"Seriously?"

"It's the OG. Now let's go!"

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A cold breeze hit her skin with each step she took, but it was refreshing. Plus, she ran fast enough to warm her own body up.

Thomas easily kept up. When he, on purpose, went for the sprint just to run past her, she really had the urge to tackle him, but then found out her sprint was faster. And soon, it had turned into a game.

After a few minutes of sprinting past each other, they continued jogging. She enjoyed the silence. The trees around them smelled nice. The grass under her was soft and damp, but luckily not long enough to keep splashing water on her legs. 

It surprised her how long Thomas kept his record of staying silent. And she wasn't sure wether to like it or not.

However, her mind didn't wander to bad things, so that was good. She did think of playing a bigger part in saving Minho and everyone else, but then decided to consider that another time.

"Last night I dreamed I was a bottle of ketchup."

Record: broken.

"And you were mustard."
She mentally palmed her face. In real life, it was made of stone. This blabber coming out of his mouth was something she didn't feel like replying to.

"Which is weird because usually you're mayonnaise in my dreams. Why do you suppose that is?"

(A/n: Yes, it's the TikTok sound.)

"I have no idea, Thomas," she said.