Chapter Text
“Are you Track-Hoe’s getting your jobs done?” Newt yells over the top of the casual conversations between you “track-hoes”. A few murmurs sound through the crowd of busy workers, telling Newt that they are, in fact, getting the jobs done. You start to wonder, however, why Newt is acting so… formal. He never “checks up” on you and the other Gladers. But he comes over anyway and starts casual talk. Even gives some of the workers a hand.
“How about you, Y/N. You think you’ll be finished by dinner?” His chest is a little puffed out and his usual playful brown eyes turn serious. Is something else going on behind that “manly” face of his?
A few Gladers to your right let out a chuckle, Newt narrows his eyes at them but before he can start something you interrupt, “I’m doing just fine, Newt.” You stick your shovel into the ground, “You okay? Seem a little… too focused.”
He blinks, his chest lets out a little air as it deflates. “I –uh, Alby.” His eyes light up, “Yeah, Alby wants me to look up on each job now and then since there are a lot more Gladers than before.” And for some reason, you don’t find this reason very convincing.
“Alright.”
“Oh, and a tip with these shovels is to clasp your hands here,” He points to a certain spot along the shovel, “and here.” Another spot.
You keep yourself from giving him a weird look but instead decide to play with him a little because of the weird way he’s acting. “Can you show me again?”
“Mhm.” He takes your hand into his rough, dirtied ones and places it along the stick, then the other is placed down too. “This way, you can move the shovel deeper into the ground easily.” You stifle a giggle, he placed your hands in the exact same position as they were before.
“Thanks Newt.” You almost let out a laugh but manage to keep it in, you feel the other Gladers’ stares on you two. He lets go of your hands, and the shovel, waves a little goodbye before leaving the Gardens and you watch as he sort-of struts away.
As soon as he is out of earshot, you say, “Wonder what’s up with him…”
A Track-hoe, Garry, next to you pipes up, “It’s actually kind of obvious, to be honest.”
You turn your head and look at Garry, Sam and Jared. “What?”
They look at each other, amusement in their eyes. “Y/N, he’s obviously got the hots for you.”
“Pfft,” You dismiss it with a wave of your dirtied hand. “I seriously doubt that. And why would he talk all… formal to me like that if he “has the hots for me”. He’s probably got something else going on…”
“Oh come on, Y/N. It’s clear as day!” Sam protests.
“He might act formally to you so we don’t suspect anything.” Garry continues.
“He didn’t care how we were going, he only wanted an excuse to talk to you, Y/N.” Jared says with a chuckle.
“But Newt always asks how everyone’s going…” You counter, and for some reason, you don’t even know why.
“Yeah but not like a bloody shuck-face!” Sam replies and all three of them break out into a chorus of laughter.
“Hey, Y/N?” Zart comes up behind you and you turn around to listen to what he has to say. “Mind if you could go help Newt out with collecting more fertiliser?”
Nerves grab at your stomach, by yourself? With Newt? After what the boys said… You feel a little bit excited for some odd reason. But you rationalise your thoughts, Newt is just a thoughtful, caring person. He probably has something else on his mind. “Sure I can.”
The three other boys scoff as you walk past and you glare at them, demanding that they’d slim it before you made them. You carefully make your way into the patch of trees where, apparently, the fertiliser is kept. You spot a weird sort of mound of dirt and bits, and then you see a blond head. “Hey Newt!” You call out.
He turns back to you and smiles, “Sorry to make you help me but I’ve been having an awful amount of trouble with my limp as of late.”
You walk up opposite of him, “All good.” You both proceed to shovel in the fertiliser until both buckets are almost over-flowing. “That should do it.”
You go to lift up one bucket, make a weird face and then lift it into the air only to have your focus burst by a sudden ring of laughter from Newt, whose eyes are trained on you.
“Wh-what?”
“Your –your face. When you lifted the bucket.” He shakes his head, “Was priceless.”
You drop the bucket, a thunk sounds. You punch him lightly in the arm, “Rude.”
“Maybe I should ask you to help me more often if you’re facial expressions are as funny as that.”
“Oh, slim it!” You stomp your foot.
Newt takes a step forward and engulfs you into a sweet, loving hug, “Oh don’t be so serious, Y/N. I’m just bloody joking with ya’.”
You pout as his arms tighten around the front of your chest. “You sure are strange, Newt.” The thoughts from the conversation with the three boys before suddenly pop up in your mind. “Serious one moment and then loving the next.” You pry away his arms and turn to face him, “Is something else going on that you need to talk about?”
His eyes dart nervously for a moment before he looks towards the ground, a nervous itch on the back of his neck. “No, no everything’s fine.”
But, of course, you’re still not convinced.
It’s just after dinner time and the Gladers are out celebrating the new arrival of yet, another Greenie. Another boy. You don’t even know his name, and you don’t even care. You’ve just finished eating your dinner, away from everyone else. Being around these Gladers 24/7 is tiring for you so you appreciate the alone time you get once in a while.
“Y/N!” Newt slurs as he sits down beside you, holding a glass jar of some kind of liquid which smells faintly of alcohol. You look at him worriedly, is he drunk? The liquid spills over the edges of the jar as he shuffles down comfortably, squishing right beside you. You feel slightly uncomfortable, not really used to this amount of intimacy but you put up with it. You expect Newt won’t remember any of this tomorrow morning.
“Partying hard, I see?” You say, your voice filled with amusement.
“If you call that partying then,” his sentence is separated by a small hiccup which makes you giggle, “Then you’ve obviously never partied before.”
“Well, being stuck in the Glade has its limits, Newt.” You say.
“There’s no limits when I’m around!” His voice rises, and cracks a little. He pulls you up from the grass and clasps his hands over yours then does a little twist. You mimic his moves with a smile on your face, maybe you should get Newt drunk more often.
He finishes his twisting and then starts to wiggle his butt. You laugh and so does he as you shake your butt back. If only you two had some kind of music to dance to. “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends.”
You raise an eyebrow and stop dancing, “What?”
“Make it last forever friendship never ends!”
“Newt… what are you doing?” Is he singing?
“If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give, taking is too easy, but that’s the way it is.” Newt has is eyes closed as he sings and dances, all the while you stare back at him very entertained by his show. He slowly opens his eyes and looks over at you, his head tilts. “Wanna be my lover?” His voice no longer sings, his tone flat and normal. His eyes look soft and warm, the worry from before disappears as if it never even existed.
“Sorry?” You ask, a tone of surprise washes through your words.
He takes a few steps closer and plops his forehead onto your shoulder, your cheeks redden from the touch. “You asked me earlier if anything else was going on.” He sighs, “I lied. There is something going on.” His voice is quiet, but not nervous or shaky like you would expect.
“Wh-what’s going on then?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet.” He lifts his head and his brown eyes stare deeply into yours. “I love you, you shank. But I was too scared to tell you.” He laughs, “Guess this alcohol is good for one thing.”
You open your mouth to say something but no words come out, what do you say to that? It’s not like you don’t like him, you two have been through so much. Hell, it’s been almost a year since you came to the Glade, but you never even considered he’d feel that way about you. Ever.
Suddenly, Newt’s singing voice comes back, “What do you think about that now you know how I feel, say you can handle my love are you for real, I won’t be hasty, I’ll give you a try. If you really bug me then I’ll say goodbye.”
“You’re a stupid shank, you know that?” You say as you realise that he continues the song from before. You wrap your arms around his neck, “I’ll be your lover.”
“Make sure you remind me tomorrow.” He whispers just before you give each other a loving kiss, something you both wanted for a while now.