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Thomas had just fallen asleep for one more hour until he had to get up when he was brutally woken up by loud coughing and hacking noises. He sits up to look around for the person. He sees that it was Newt in the sleeping bag right beside his own, and he looked awful.
The blonde had moved to where his body was in the form of a ball, one hand was on his mouth to cover up the coughing, his hair was in a mess, and he was shaking. Worry flooded Thomas’s mind as he instantly gets out of his bag and moves over to caress Newt’s face. A gasp escapes his lips taking his hand back when he feels the burning touch.
"Newt, baby, you’re burning up!" he exclaims in a low, but echoing whisper. He hears the other gladers shuffle around in their bags.
"Shuck it Tommy I’m fine," Newt grits out with a series of coughs afterwards as he maneuvers his body to cover up his body more with the sleeping bag. Thomas rolls his eyes. He goes to get up, but he finds out that Newt had a death grip on his shirt and he tries to gently pry the fingers away. Newt is relentless though, so he leans down and kisses the blonde’s temple.
"I have to go get Frypan to make some soup or maybe get some medicine for you babe. Will you let go of me yeah?" he says soothingly. He hears Newt grunt and then reluctantly let go of his shirt. Thomas thanks him sweetly as he gets up and starts to walk around the sleeping gladers to find Frypan. He usually gets up around this time to start cooking.
He goes into the kitchen and sees Frypan start putting pans on the stove to start cooking. Thomas jogs over hoping that Frypan had maybe some aspirin or something.
"Hey Fry," he greets and the other man just waves at him half-heartedly as he looks at the food to choose what to cook today. Thomas leans back on the counter.
"Say, do we have any medicine of any sorts? Newt is really sick and he’s burning hot," Thomas asks and Frypan looks back at him worriedly.
"He’s sick? Hm..we don’t have any medicine, but I can make him some soup," he offers and Thomas smiles thankfully at him.
"Good that," Thomas says and then takes the job of helping the man make breakfast. That’s the least he can do.
~*~
"Yo Fry! Thought you’d have the toast ready man!"
"You get the food when I want to give you the food, you shuckface. Now go sit your whining ass down.”
Thomas fought to hide his grin after that comment from Frypan. He continues to clean one of the pans as Fry finishes up cooking the chicken for the soup. He watches him pour the chicken in the soup and drop a few spices in it. He puts the now clean pan down when he gets handed the soup.
"Here ya are. Now go take care of him Greenie."
Thomas just barely remembers to thank him for the soup as he races off with the soup careful not to let any of it splash out. He gets a weird look from Minho, and he decides to go talk to him.
"Hey man-" he starts, but Minho holds a hand up.
"I heard about Newt, and I’ll let you stay just for today with him. Only today though Greenie," Minho says with a stern look, but Thomas knew the tone was for him to take taking care of Newt seriously. Thomas lets a small smile spread knowing how much Minho cared for Newt as well. He nods understanding. Minho pats him hard on the back with a nod and heads for the doors to get ready to run around the maze.
Thomas watches him leave, and he really wanted to run today, but he had to take care of Newt. Newt was his first priority.
With that in mind, he heads for the sleeping quarters where Newt was resting. He places the bowl of soup next to the bag and leans over to wake the blonde up. He didn’t want to wake him, but he needed to eat.
He tries not to flinch at the burning touch as he runs his thumb along Newt’s jawline gently and runs a delicate finger over a closed eyelid. Newt’s face was the only part in sight due to the rest of him being huddled in a ball under the blankets.
"Newt..you have to wake up to eat some soup," he whispers encouragingly. Newt groans showing that he was awake.
"I’m too cold to get out of these blankets Tommy," he says with a scratchy voice and then his whole body shakes as he starts coughing. It sounded like whooping cough.
"We can keep the blankets around you while you eat. I just really need you to eat okay? Will you do that for me babe?" he urgently says hoping Newt will follow through. All he got was a sigh, and he took that as a defeated one. He smiles as he helps Newt get out of the sleeping bag, but keeps the blankets around him. He makes sure the blankets are covering his lower body and a small part of his stomach. He surprises the blonde when he picks him up high enough to move his body to where Newt was now sitting in his lap. He shushes the distressed blonde as Newt tries to move away from him.
"Tommy, you bloody idiot, I’m contagious!" he whines pathetically with coughs in between words, but Thomas only wraps his arms around him with a kiss to the cheek. He turns his upper body around to grab the soup. He puts the bowl in front of Newt on his lap.
"I’ll be fine. Now eat the soup like a good boy," he orders with a teasing one. He brings the blonde’s face around to kiss him on the lips after Newt flips him off. Newt groans as Thomas leans his face away.
"You are so getting sick, you know that right?" Newt scolds as he starts eating the soup. Thomas shrugs and wraps his arms around the sick male’s stomach. He eyes the doors as they start to open. He watches as Minho run in when they are fully open.
"It’s worth it," he whispers into Newt’s neck.
~*~
Cuddling was pretty much all they did that day.
Newt at first had a coughing fit as he argued with Thomas saying how he cannot share the sleeping bag with him. He was sick and knew that Thomas would get sick because of him. Only twenty minutes later Thomas was spooning him in the sleeping bag after giving the blonde a massage. Newt had tried to push his hands away, but Thomas soothed him with a few kisses to the back of his neck and Newt was done fighting.
They had their legs intertwined, hands were holding the other’s, and Thomas’s face was pressed against Newt’s neck. Newt’s skin wasn’t as hot as it was earlier thank goodness. He listens as Newt snores with a few coughing fits every now and then. Today had been the day of the month when the box comes, and Thomas was so thankful to have Gally come over to give him two aspirins for Newt. He had quickly urged Newt to wake up, and given him the medicine with some water. Now it was getting dark out, and he was so happy to have color back on the blonde’s face.
Today was a difficult day though, and not even for themselves. He had found out how important Newt was to everyone here. How much of an important factor he was and how everyone depended on him.
Minho had apparently forgotten to bring another water bottle, so he only had brought two for the whole day. He was so used to Newt bringing him another water bottle, and he had forgotten to get it himself.
The box coming up meant another glader, and the male was totally lost. He has been in the pit all day, when usually the greenies would only stay there for a few hours. Newt was the one who introduced the greenies to everyone and helped them calm down. He was so calm and collected that everyone just relied on him to help the new ones get used to their new home.
Food had to been harvested and picked yesterday to eat as well as today because none of the other gardeners knew what to do without Newt. They had been lost and couldn’t think straight the whole day.
Even Gally suffered. Alby had gone in replacement of Thomas to run in the maze, so Gally took over. He didn’t know what to do and didn’t have anything right because Newt wasn’t there. Newt wasn’t there with him to keep him updated about anything, and Gally had been lost.
Newt kept the gladers together. He was the glue that kept everything running smoothly and orderly. Thomas was astonished to have found that out. How just about everyone didn’t know what they were doing all day and just looked out of it.
That’s what scared Thomas. He had the responsibility of taking care of Newt. The blonde was so important in all of this, and he had to take care of him. He had to make sure he wasn’t going to get sicker and waste away. If that happened, the glade was going to perish. He was honored though as well, because Newt trusted him to take care of him. He trusted him to keep him going and make him feel better.
Protectiveness and possessiveness surged through his body as he hurries for the water bottle when Newt starts to cough madly trying to catch a breath. His heart sinks as he watches the blonde drink and try to stop coughing, but hope wasn’t completely lost. Newt had his color back and he wasn’t shaking anymore. He was getting better.
Thomas couldn’t be happier.