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writing-mlm · 16 days ago

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wahh okay newt x m.reader that's really rough and quiet with everyone but just really likes newt's company..

Blame the heat

Summary: It’s hard to deny something you know to be an absolute truth; the sky is fake, you’re not sociable, and there’s definitely something going on between you and Newt. Pairing: Newt x Male!reader Word Count: 4.1k Tags/Warnings: reader is a builder, light teasing, I was inspired by If the Haircut Fits by moonysatlas for one of the scenes, boys kissing, not understanding what romantic feelings feel like, mentioned poop jokes A/n: It’s so hard getting an accurate description of the glade i’m going based on pure vibes and i’ve been thinking about If the haircut fits since I first read it, it’s so good

Rule two: Never hurt another Glader. You have to trust each other.

You’d been there when the rules were created; hell, you’re probably the reason that Alby created that second rule.

Now, you’ve never hurt someone. You weren’t some cruel, menacing guy who stood in a corner and bullied Greenies. You just… didn’t hang out with them. Sure, you partook in the mandatory events, you did your job, and you played your part. But you weren’t friends with them. You didn’t have one-on-one chats with people because quite frankly, you didn’t want to.

Honestly, you didn’t care about the Maze, it’s your situation, and there’s clearly nothing you can do at the moment, so you’ll make the best of it. Plus, you didn’t not trust anyone, despite how it may appear on the outside. It’s just that people tend to conflate trust with bonding. You’d trust Gally if you were sick or injured but you would absolutely not want him at your bedside. Same with Alby, or Zart, or Frypan— the list could go on, really.

The guys are having their bonfire thing they have every so often, so they’re all spread around the large fire and the sand that keeps it off of the grass. They’re all talking and drinking. You can hear them, distantly feel the heat on your back as you sit against a log, sipping some of whatever it is Gally mixes up. That’s probably the best thing about Gally. The man in question is tussling with someone, you think it’s Jeff, you don’t care. As long as he doesn’t try and rope you in again.

A twig snaps from behind you and you smile, knowing exactly who it was. “Room for one more?” Newt asks, already settling down next to you.

“I mean, they do say two is a crowd,” You joke, leaning your left arm behind the log so you can turn to him. Newt raises his eyebrows and starts to get up when you laugh and grab his free hand, pulling him back down. “Shankhead, take a seat.”

He grins at you, taking you in the dim light from the fire pit. “I thought two’s a crowd,” To which you shrug, looking away from him. You take in the trees across from you and the crop field. Feeling his eyes still on you, you turn back to Newt, looking between his eyes.

“I can make an exception, I guess.”

Newt smiles, placing a hand over his heart. “Oh, I’m honored.”

Barking a laugh, you nod. “You should be,” Pointing your cup behind you, you give him a pointed look. “Not many shanks get that pass from me,” Taking a slow sip, you cringe at the burning in the back of your throat before setting the cup on the grass.

“Oh,” He nods, nudging your foot with his. “I know.”

You don’t really know why Newt is your exception. Why him, out of all the numerous Gladers, managed to be the person you get close to. Why you can stand to talk to him for longer than two seconds. Maybe it was his accent, maybe it’s because of some reason you don’t have the answer to. Maybe it was just a pure coincidence.

It would be stupid to say it’s because he’s different from the others; everyone is different from each other. It’s not because he was the first to greet you— he wasn’t, that was Alby. And it certainly wasn’t because he was the second-in-command for the Glade. It wasn’t even something you noticed at first. Just that one day, when he was telling you that something was falling and needed to be prepared, you didn't just nod and walk away. You actually spoke to him, got more details and his opinion on it.

And it wasn’t like it was a secret, either. If someone wanted something from you, they’d more often than not bribe Newt into asking you because that way, it’ll get done a lot faster and without a hint of an attitude. You think only Alby and Gally haven’t used that approach yet; Alby isn’t a guy to play games and Gally, quite frankly, doesn’t care for your short answers. He prefers it.

Someone shouts from the pit, the type of shout that means a fight is going to break out and you chuckle, watching as Newt huffs and stands up before jogging over while Gally and Alby break up the fight.

He looks back at you, pointing his thumb at the group and blows air out of his mouth, exasperated. You hold your hands up, thankful it’s not you.

—

You liked work; building and repairing things around the Glade. Most days were spent just double-checking the stability of everything but in a place filled with guys; things happen and things break. You don’t care who had fought or why, just that now you have to rebuild something for the med-jacks.

Carrying lumber on your shoulders, you try to ignore the sweat rolling down your forehead and the sun in your eyes while Alby and Newt scold and punish the two guys who caused the break.

Newt watches you from his spot, arms crossed over his chest, squinting because of the sun. His words got caught in his throat at the sight before he snapped back into his job, giving the guy a night in the slammer and cleaning duty for a week. Alby agrees, adding another night for good measure. Nearly the entire Glade hears their shouts of disapproval.

Dropping the wood onto the grass, you wipe your hands and inspect the damage. It’s not a lot, but it could get worse if someone puts weight on the wall. “Do you think it’ll get done by today?” Jeff asks as he’s putting a splint on a guy who fell off of a ladder trying to get up the watchtower.

You look at him before looking back at the wall. It’s just one panel of wood, you’d need to work slowly but somehow fast so the other wood doesn’t have to hold up the extra weight for long. And still early in the day, too. “Yes.” Jeff groans, he wanted at least two days off! This was the perfect opportunity for him to catch up on his beauty sleep.

Hank dips inside the med-jack room, his face red from the heat. “I got your tools,” He says, holding out your rolled-up leather pouch. “Uh, Gally says it’s too hot to work all day, so he wants you to do what you can until lunch and then call it a day.” He tells you as you’re grabbing the tools. You nod, checking over the pouch to make sure it has the right tools.

Jeff cheers in the back, finally some good news to grace his ears. “Alright, thanks.” Hank nods and leaves, Jeff not too far behind.

The biggest issue is deciding on where to start, you figure the middle is the best bet. It’s the most broken of the bunch and should be the easiest anyway. Grabbing your hand-held saw, you check the sharpness when the door opens.

Lifting your head, you find Newt walking inside. “Need a hand?” He asks, closing the door behind him. You note he’s not covered in the thin layer of soil, that he usually gets around this time.

You stare at him, smirking. “Yeah, could you start to put the support logs up?” For a second, Newt actually considers it before he blows air from his mouth. “Just sit,” You chide, jabbing your thumb at the empty cot. Setting the saw down, you grab a support log and grunt as you haul it up. They’re heavier than the normal ones you use for building, since they need to hold up a lot more than normal ones.

Grabbing the second, you walk out from the room and place them on the outside of the two walls surrounding the broken area. Doing the same for the inside, you can finally get to work on actually fixing the wall. “What did the shanks get for this?” Turning back to Newt, you catch him wiping his face with the bottom of his shirt, exposing a lot of skin than you’re used to seeing from him.

“Two nights in the slammer, cleaning, and no dinner,” He replies as he drops his shirt, briefly catching your gaze on him or more specifically, his skin. Leaning his weight to his left arm, your eyes snap back to his face before you nod.

“I would’ve given them more,” Turning back to your work, you mentally slap yourself. It’s rude to stare at someone, especially the way you were. Newt chuckles, watching as you start removing pieces of wood from the wall.

“Yeah? Like what?” He coaxed.

Dropping the broken wood to the floor, you shrug. “Made them clean up the mess, maybe sent them into the maze—“

“A death sentence because they damaged a wall?” Newt barks a laugh and you crack a smile, shaking your head. “You’re jacked,”

You’re not upset about them breaking the wall, it’s just… It’s common sense to not fight in a small room with materials that you can only get from the stupid box once a week. You’d gotten into scuffles before; nearly everyone has but you had the sense to fight Ben in the sand pit like a normal person.

You remembered Newt scolding you while Clint cleaned up a cut on your lip and wrapped your wrist in a bandage. He must’ve yelled at you for an hour, long after you were let go from the med-jacks. He followed you around until he and Alby had to come up with a punishment for you. Apparently, instead of getting the slammer and food restrictions like Ben had, Newt thought a proper punishment for you would be helping the track-hoes in the morning and then helping serve dinner.

Now you would’ve much preferred the slammer. It was brutal and you never fought again in fear of having to actually do a job that required communication with the oafs you already see every day. Well, Frypan is pleasant to be around if you had to pick.

With the broken pieces of wood gone, you can start working on putting in the new ones. It’s always a struggle to do so, the whole wall piece is like a weird puzzle that if you did something wrong during the planning the whole thing would crumble and you would have to start again.

“Why haven’t you worked today?” You ask just to make conversation. To hear Newt talking.

Newt tilts his head, frowning slightly. “Why? Do you want me to leave?”

“No!” You answer far too quickly for your liking. “I was just curious…”

“I started, but then the fight and now this; so I haven’t had the time.” He simply explains.

You grin, turning your head to look at him. “So, you enjoy my presence?”

He hums as if it was obvious— well, it was. “As much as you enjoy mine,”

A part of you wondered if that was true. If Newt viewed you in the same way you viewed him; if these undesirable feelings you had towards him were mutual. If he got butterflies in his stomach whenever you got too close, or if you were in his dreams. If he learned your footsteps the same way you learned his.

He was much more open with the other guys than you were, so you don’t know just how special you are in his life. Clearly, it’s a lot. The special treatment, the way he’ll naturally find you first but what about when you weren’t around? You were ashamed to ask, you figure you won’t like his answer if he says he goes to someone else. That he doesn’t wonder where you are or if he waits for you.

And maybe that’s selfish; wanting all of his attention to be on you. But you don’t have much in the Glade so maybe a little selfishness was a good thing.

“So the normal amount, eh?” You joke before feeling something small but hard hit the back of your head. “Oh, so now we’re injuring the builders in the broken medical room?” Turning to him, you see he’s holding a small handful of medical tape.

He looks at you, amused with himself. “You have a soft head if that hurt you,”

Scoffing, you stalk over to him and snatch the tape away, watching as he starts laughing. “You’re in a mood today, aren’t you? Like a… baby.” Setting the tape back in its spot, you head back to getting work done

“Like a baby,” He echoes, nodding although he’s not agreeing.

“Yeah,” You nod.

“Have you ever met a baby before?”

Pausing, you inhale and then shrug. “Maybe. Who knows?”

“Good that.”

“Yeah, so just sit in the cot and stop throwing things at me, baby.”

For some strange reason, that seems to shut Newt up and you worry you did something wrong. Like accidentally actually insulted him so you look back, about to apologize when you see him with red ears, chewing on his bottom lip. “What?”

Quickly clearing his throat, Newt sits up straight. “Nothing,” He shakes his head. “Get back to work, this is a hazard.”

—

Dinner was always an affair, you’d sit at long tables with each other. Hearing conversations you don’t care to be a part of, having to bore through it all until you finished eating. Sometimes, you could go the entire time without talking; but that’s usually only when Newt is bombarded by people.

Tonight isn’t one of those nights. Sort of.

Just after lunch, when you were helping the track-hoes build a new structure for the tomatoes to grow on, something that was admittedly funny happened. One of the guys slipped, fell face-first into the fertilizer soil. Worst part– it hadn’t been properly mixed yet, and the cow manure was sitting on the top.

Certainly not a topic fit for dinner, you know. But the others didn’t seem to share the same sentiment. They kept laughing about it, asking the people who were there what it was like, what was the guy's reaction? Some of them knew better than to ask you; why would they want a one word response when they want entertainment?

“It was the first time I saw (Y/n) laugh,” One of the track-hoes who were there laughs as you’re trying to finish your food as fast as possible.

“No shucking way!” Another says, his eyes turning to you. You rub your eyebrow, it’s not worth it.

Newt grins from his spot across from you. “He did,” For the first time, probably ever, you glare at him, kicking his good leg under the table. “Ouch,” He mouths. Never mind the fact that he opened the proverbial flood gates for the others to get information about your reaction as if it was the most intriguing thing of everyone's day.

You nearly wished they kept talking about the poop on the guy's face instead. “He had to walk away. He was laughing so hard.” Save that, you did want them to go back to that topic. All the while, Newt smirks at you from where he’s eating his food, basking in the way you’re hating the attention.

“No.” You grunt and it’s like they suddenly remembered they can directly ask you instead of speculating and getting bits and pieces from the others who were there.

“I dunno,” Frypan smirks from a couple of guys down. “The others seem pretty sure you did. And Newt doesn’t lie,”

“Especially about you,” Winston adds and suddenly the table is filled with loud laughter.

Shoveling the last of your food into your mouth, you stand up and dump the dirty dishes into the bucket before going to your ‘room’. The others boo and whine as you walk away while you can hear Newt chasing after you.

Flopping down onto your bed, you stare at him as he crosses his arms. “It’s harmless fun,” He tells you, leaning on the support beam next to your bed.

“That beam is weak, don’t lean on it,” You tell him, watching as he pushes off and stands next to your bed instead. He’s waiting for a proper response and you huff, sitting up. “I’m not mad at you, if that’s what you’re thinking.” You mumble, feeling bad that he left before he finished eating knowing someone was probably finishing it for him.

He shakes his head. “Didn’t think that,” He says as though it was a no-brainer. “I reckon you’re embarrassed.”

Falling onto your back, you cover your face with your hands. “Slim it!” Ignoring Newt’s boisterous laughter, you roll over. Your bed is small, as are most of the cots but you’re glad it’s a cot and not one of the hammocks the others have. The privilege you get from being one of the first in the Glade, you suppose.

Newt pushes you back until you’re facing him again and you stare up at him, waiting for him to say something. But he just stares, his eyes flickering between your eyes before he exhales through his nose and shakes his head. “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed—“

He’s walking away as you sit up, not sure if you’re shocked or insulted by his almost accusation about you. “I’m what— I’m not—“ But the door shuts as he returns to finish his dinner.

Lying back down, you glare at the ceiling, trying to ignore the fact that you’re fighting back a wicked smile.

—

Light slipped past the tree leaves, dancing across the scattered grass and bodies rushing away from the Homestead. You felt childish, almost giggling with Newt as the two of you got deeper into the forest. Truthfully, you had no idea what you were doing there but he’d dragged you away from a task you were doing and without warning, started running. You stayed half a step behind him, just in case he tripped.

At some point, he looked back at you, smiled, and grabbed your hand. Your fingers laced together, slotting together as if it was the most natural thing in the world and he tugged you faster. You nearly tripped then, but caught yourself and your pace, matching his own with ease.

“Newt,” You laughed, almost breathless. “Where are we going?”

“I found something,” Was all he said in reply.

It was hard finding new things in the Glade, you’d been there for so long you couldn’t imagine there was a part you didn’t know about. Barring the maze, of course. You didn’t have the bandwidth to be a runner.

But you figured he had found something new; he was in the woods more than you were and maybe there was a part you’d missed. Or something grew since the last time you went exploring. Eventually, the two of you stopped at a small body of water, lightly panting. You didn’t remember there being one before, just the stream that you used to wash up and clean your clothes in. “I noticed the water was creating a pond,” Newt starts talking before he fully catches his breath. “I might’ve helped it get bigger.” He quietly adds, eyeing the shovel to his left.

The pond itself was big enough that you could swim in it; you didn’t know how deep, though. “It’s lovely,” You truthfully told him. You imagined that if you were a duck, you would’ve loved to live in the pond he created. You note that there wasn’t an area that connected to the stream, but you could tell it once did due to the patch of dirt stretching for a couple of feet in the direction of the stream.

He suddenly lets go of your hand and you turn to him, watching as he discards his boots, tossing them to the side before ridding himself of his sling. You cough, looking away when he takes his shirt off next. “I’m getting in,” He laughs, staring at you. “It’s bloody hot.”

You think about it while he runs into the pond, the water splashing around him. He shouts, saying the water was cold— perfect. Kneeling, you unlace your boots and kick them off, ridding yourself of your shirt before joining Newt.

The water was, in fact, very cold and you tensed up as you waddled inside. “It’s not that bad,” Newt laughed, grabbing your hands and pulling you further into the water. You yell, your body completely submerging in the water, accidentally taking him with you. Resurfacing, Newt flicks his newly wet hair from his face while you cough; it's mostly a laugh, though.

“It’s really shucking cold!” You tell him but don’t move out of the water. Besides, you’re slowly getting used to the temperature, the shiver in your body dying as you keep yourself afloat.

He doesn’t say anything, just laughs at you again. The sound echoes in your mind and it’s like a siren's song, the way you’re drawn to him. The way his hair clings to the side of his face. He’d cut it recently, it used to be down to his shoulders but it was cropped at his ears with shaggy bangs that he pushes back before it pokes him in the eye.

When he stops, he sighs before leaning back, letting himself float above the water. Looking away, you scratch the back of your neck and take in the trees around you. You’re so far from the others, you can’t hear a thing. Can’t even see the watch tower over the top of the trees— not even the stupid maze doors.

Carefully, you lean back and let your body rise to the surface of the water, basking in the cold water and silence with Newt. When the water shifts, you don’t pay it much mind, your eyes still closed and you’re intent on making the most of this pond.

“Can I kiss you?”

Nearly drowning with how fast you rose up, you stare at Newt, bewildered. He just looks at you, softly blushing. “I… like the thing where our lips—“ You make a kissing motion with your hands and Newt slowly nods.

“Unless there’s another meaning of kiss,” He carefully says, watching your expression go from shocked to bashful.

“I mean… I don’t— I mean—“ You stumble to find the right words. Because yeah, kissing Newt sounds amazing. Like the butterflies in your stomach and the way he’s on your mind type of amazing. Now, you weren’t stupid, you knew the concept of love— or at the very least, liking somebody. But you just kind of assumed it was a man-woman thing, or something you would just understand when you felt it. You’d been confused for a while now, so you just assumed it was a strong friendship you were feeling for him. “Yeah,” You breathe.

Newt smiles and swims closer to you until you’re face to face. You can feel him breathing on your skin, feel just how closely he’s looking at you. Carefully, you reach up and hold his face with your dominant hand while he keeps your wrist in place.

You’re unsure of what to do, suddenly second-guessing yourself. A type of worry builds in your stomach that something is going to go wrong; something you can’t take back. “Tell me you’re not gonna regret it tomorrow,” You whisper while rubbing your thumb across his cheek.

“(Y/n)—“

“Tell me.” Now you’re pleading. Now you’re desperate for assurance. Something to make this tangible.

Slowly, Newt’s hand curves up from your arm to the nape of your neck as he slowly smiles. “I’m not.” He promises. His eyes flicker down to your lips, his tongue darting out to wet his own and you close the distance.

It’s slow and sweet. His lips taste like the water, a little bit salty and something you can’t quite describe but for the first time ever you find yourself chasing that taste. Your bodies pressed impossibly close to each other, the feeling of your heart beating opposite to his drummed against your chest and then—

“Ah—“ The two of you had forgotten to actually swim and hadn’t noticed you were quickly descending into the pond. Separating, you both swim to the edge and pull yourselves up, laughing at your absurdity.

When you look at Newt, he’s flushed red with embarrassment, looking at the water as if it would swallow him whole or make you forget the mishap.

“Should we… head back?” He cautiously asks, slowly looking back at you.

You shake your head, eyes dipping back down to his lips. “We should wait until we dry off…right?” His eyes lower down to your lips, his head tilting as if he’s reliving the kiss. He probably is, you know you are.

“Yeah,” He mutters while leaning in again. “Don’t want the others finding this place.” Holding his face, you close your eyes as your lips touch again.

#newt x reader #newt x male reader #newt maze runner #maze runner x male reader #maze runner x reader #x reader #x male reader #newt maze runner x reader #newt maze runner x male reader

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