The First Boy

paring:aris x fem!reader

word count:1624

warnings:blood, some cursing, injury, kisses, fluff, being jumped by guards (?)

a/n:this was another one that was originally split into 3 parts here, but i’ve put them together here to make for easier reading! :) +  you are the equivalent of Alby in this - first in command of the girls maze/glade.

This was written a while ago, so sorry if it’s shitty lmao

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[Part 1] (first gif)

A boy comes up in the box with a note. You help him…

“It’s a boy.”

“What?” You step forward, looking down into the box. “How?”

“I don’t know,” Sonya replies. “Who’s gonna get him, though?”

“I will.” You jump down, landing perfectly and with ease. You kneel down next to the boy and notice something in his hand. Carefully, you pull it out and then look up in shock. The rest of the girls look confused.

“What is it?” One of them asks.

“It says..” You take a small breath. “It says… ‘he’s the last one… ever’.”

–

Later that night, Harriet walks quickly out of the medical hut. “He’s awake, Y/N. Says his name is Aris. But he’s confused and upset. We’re finding it hard to keep him calm.”

“Alright. Let’s go then.”

We make our way back to the hut. I walk in and see Aris sitting up with crossed legs. He looks so scared, and I feel instantly guilty. One of the med jacks speaks up. “He won’t keep still. Keeps tryna get outta here.”

I push open the door. “Let go.”

“What? Y/N, What if he runs-”

“You heard. Let the boy go! He’s scared, and he needs to know he’s not our prisoner here. Come on, Aris.”

The girls step back, and Aris stands up. I gesture for him to follow me out of the hut, and he does. The second we are out, he does as I expected since seeing him: he runs. 

“Hey!” I quickly catch up to him, getting ahead and stopping him with my hand landing hard against his chest. “You don’t wanna do that.”

“What is this place? Am I trapped? What’s that?” He points to the doors of the Maze.

“So many questions, greenie. All will be answered, I promise you.”

“When? I don’t understand. Why can I only remember my name… n-nothing else.”

“Listen,” I sigh. “It happens to everyone. None of us can remember anything. But, as I said, answers will come later. For now, all you need to know is that you are safe. As safe as you can be… for now.”

Aris looks up finally, frowning at me. “For now?”

“Yes.” I put a hand on his shoulder and meet his eyes. “Because I’m working on getting us out of here. And I will.”

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[Part 2] (second gif)

After escaping the Maze with Aris, as you promised, you get separated…

Aris looks at you from across the dining table. You smile in reply to his worried expression. You reach over and place your hand on the table. He follows, placing his on top of yours. “We’re gonna be fine, A. We made it out.”

“I know, I just…” He whispers, pulling down his hood farther. “I don’t trust this place.”

“Me either, not completely… but we have food, clean clothes, showers, it’s-”

“Y/N.” You jump, looking for the source of the voice calling your name.

“No.” Aris leans forward, slightly bending over the table. “Don’t go with them. Please, there’s something wrong here.”

“Y/N!?” You look in the direction the voice comes from, realising that it’s Janson. “Is she here?”

You stand up slowly, shaking. “Yes..”

“Come on up here.” You stay still, looking back at Aris again, unsure and scared. He shakes his head.

Your heart rate picks up as you look around at the other teenagers who all stare at you with jealous looks. Most of them are convinced that they are here to be saved, to be taken 'home.’ You glance around for exits, but every single one is guarded by two or three armed men. You feel the tears begin to well in your eyes as your hand clutches Aris’s tighter.

Then suddenly, you are jolted forward by two pairs of arms on either side of you. You glance at the two guards who start forcing you forward.

“No! Y/N!”

“Aris! Aris!” You yell.

The force they pull you along with convinces you that they are not good people. Your arms are being practically crushed by the guards’ grip on you, and they don’t even notice your tears or shouts of pain. “Where are you taking me!?”

“Move!”

–

You follow behind a line of boys and girls. Each one disappears behind a curtain and then doesn’t come back. The line gets smaller and smaller, and you start to panic. Then one of the guards grabs you and pulls you aside. They turn you around quickly, clamping a hand over your mouth. You scream when the guard places a sharp object against the skin of your arm and slices long, jagged cuts into it. He then shoves you forward into view and gestures to another guard. "This one is injured. I’m taking her to get stitched up first.”

“Right. Be prompt.” A woman in a lab coat says.

The guard then takes you out into the corridor. You start kicking again. “Let go of me! Let go! Asshole, let me go!”

“Shh! Shh!” The guard pulls down their mask. It’s a woman, with black braided hair. “I’m here to help you. I’m with the Right Arm.”

“Help me!?” You show your bleeding arm, the red substance dripping along your skin and onto the floor. “You cut me!”

“To buy time. So come on, let’s go. Now.”

“How can I trust you!?”

She quickly reaches into her pocket, pulling out a rag and swiftly wrapping your wound. She ties a knot, causing you to hiss as the action makes the injury sting. “Follow me, and you will trust me. I promise.” You both start to run, the woman helping you along.

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[Part 3] (third gif)

Reuniting with Aris in the Scorch…

You gasp as you see him. He stares at you, standing between two taller boys, completely taken aback. “Y/N!”

“Aris!”

“Y/N? H-how?”

“Just come here!” You open your arms. Aris pushes through the boys, wrapping you in a hug. You cradle the back of his head, holding him as close as possible and planting a kiss on his cheek as you break away, one hand moving to cup his jaw. “I can’t believe it.”

“Me either. And you look so different.”

You glance down at yourself. Your hair is braided on one side, and it’s cut slightly shorter. You wear bottoms that have mismatched colour patches sewn into them. A scarf sits tightly, but not too much so, around your neck. “Not really. Just dirtier clothes.”

Aris chuckles lightly, his eyes flickering up and down your form. You could almost swear that you catch him blushing. “Can we- uh..”

“Yeah, let’s go catch up.”

–

“Comfy enough spot right here, I think.” You sit together in front of a fire. “So, who are the other guys?”

“Uh, there’s Frypan, Newt, the girl is called Teresa, and then there’s Thomas, their kind of leader." You rub your hands together, warming them up. "He was the one who I talked to about not trusting that place. I told him about you and how you just… disappeared after they called your name. Then… he helped me get out.”

“Oh, so I suppose I should thank this Tommy for that later then.”

Aris looks up. “Why?”

“Why? We might have never seen each other again if he didn’t help you. And I missed you, A.”

“I missed you too. How’d you get out anyway?”

You chuckle, remembering. “There was a guard there who wasn't really a guard. She actually pulled a damn knife out and cut me… to buy us some time, and then we ran for it. She was a member of the Right Arm. They have groups who go in and try to get kids out… every now and then.”

You pull up your sleeve, revealing a few jagged, raised scars. “Harriet left some ugly ass marks. I would be mad about it, but she saved my life, so.”

Aris lightly touches one of the scars and then traces it with his fingertips. He moves up and up until his hand sits atop yours. You squeeze it, holding his hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t come back to you. We.. we didn’t have time. I wanted to, though. I kept asking, but it got too dangerous.”

“That’s okay, as long as you were safe. Thomas and his group helped me. It was a long journey, but we got here eventually.”

“I had no doubt that you could make it out… through the Scorch and…” Your voice lowers on the next words, “back to me.”

Aris smiles shyly. “I don’t know. I had a lot of help-.”

“No.” You interrupt him. “I always knew you were tough. Right from when you ran out of the med-hut that day.”

Aris turns shy, looking at his feet. “It kept me going. Thinking about the possibility that you could’ve gotten out. Or that if you didn’t… I needed to as a way of thanks for everything you’ve done for me.”

“A… I…”

“What?” He looks up again, and when your gazes meet, you can see the reflection of the fire in his kind eyes. He walks his hand over to yours, which lies flat against the ground and covers it, instantly making you feel warm and fuzzy inside. “Y/N, what?”

“I just, um- I think…”

“What?”

You sigh loudly. You are never the type to be at a loss for words. So instead, you dive into action, pushing yourself onto your knees and taking Aris’s face into your hands. You pause an inch away and feel him nod as his eyes flutter closed. The next thing you know, your lips are against his, delicate and sweet. “That…” You mutter when you pull away, cheeks hot.

“Oh.” Aris says, “well… that was nice. Thank you.”

“Yeah. Uh…” You nod before you both burst into a fit of laughter. Eventually, you both close the gap once again. You sink into each other’s embrace before falling asleep in front of the crackling fire.

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Taglist:@jiaraendgame​

The roles in the Safe Haven

(Includes a few OCs, the rest is all headcanons, in alphabetical order, some of this only makes sense in the context of my fic lol)

Aris bakes, he pairs up with Frypan frequently. When he’s not baking he hangs out with Rachel and helps her go around the island, or he helps her in her recovery.

Brenda helps out in the infirmary later on, but before that spends most of her time helping out with smaller things around camp and the center. She spends a lot if time in and around the water once she learns to swim.

Chuck makes a few new friends his own age whom he hangs out with sometimes. Gally is training him to be a builder, but he likes to find a quiet spot (usually with Newt, Thomas, or his brother) to carve sometimes. He discovered after WCKD caught them again that he likes learning, so whenever someone teaches anything at the center he has the front seat. On rainy days he’s in the library. The only downside is he struggles with a few skills a little, so he usually takes books out to loan so he can read them at the camp where someone can peek over his shoulder and explain things. The treehouse was his idea and design, with a little common sense from Gally added to make it a possible build that does not in fact defy the laws of physics.

Dijken has a little girl to care for, but he also has a little farm a little farther North with sheep, goats, and cows (among others). He keeps his distance a bit, because having worked at WCKD he doesn’t feel he should get too close. Once Thomas starts visiting him he comes down to camp and the center more often though.

Frypan gets back to cooking. There’s a time period in my fic he loses interest in it, but he gets it back and can be found in the camp’s kitchen almost every night. Every once in a while he cooks at the center (kind of like a community hub thing?) When there’s a big event and they need more help. He learns to play the guitar and piano too. He’s quite a natural.

Gally gets back to building. He goes around the island fixing and mending things, sometimes Chuck comes with as his apprentice. When he’s not building he helps around wherever whenever, but he likes to be near the water as well. At some point he and Chuck will build a playground near the center for the younger kids, a treehouse for themselves, and a makeshift elevator (one floor up) for Newt, Rachel, and sometimes Brenda to get around the center without needing much help. He he does pottery too, mostly hand building.

Harriet takes group A under her wing right from the get go. Aside from that, she helps the builders out every once in a while, and kind of functions as a middle person between some kids and the Right Arm (because WCKD made adults scary). Sonya helps her out with this too. She’s a big fan of pottery (throwing).

Jorge’s main job is looking after Brenda while she recovers, but whenever she thinks he fusses too much he helps out with building or the logistics of the scavenges. He’s the main guy for their emergency Berg (in case they need to get deep into the mainland quickly, for medical emergencies). He’s good with animals too.

Justin teaches the youngest kids on the island thr basic skills. Reading, simple maths, things like that. He went to school himself while Chuck and the others were stuck at WCKD. Vince and Jorge nudged him too so he’d have a little distraction. Justin specifically chose to learn teaching when he discovered through one of the Right Arm’s spies that Chuck loves to learn. He also helps the builders because he’s so strong and has some expertise. He loves to hang out with Dijken’s sheep as well. He knits the group (group A and B, and Brenda, and Dijken’s daughter) all blankets. Chuck and Thomas already had ones, so he knits Thomas a stuffed animal (because everyone else already had one but him) and Chuck gets a sack for his rock collection.

Minho has a bit of trouble finding his “thing” that isn’t being a Runner or a soldier at first. He runs around to help everyone, but eventually (after a pretty long while to be honest) he heads out on scavenge journeys to the mainland, or helps out at the farm they have on the mainland, where immune kids get brought before the Right Arm gets them to the island or the Safe Zone kept in place at the end of part four (kids who need specific medical care go to that city first, others to the Safe Haven unless they don’t want to).

Newt gets his gardens back. Vegetables, fruits, flowers, doesn’t matter, he’s in there every day almost all day. When he’s not, he helps out in the kitchen with snacks, or he joins Gally in planning things for their camp. Sometimes he heads in early specifically so he can stay up at night to watch the stars (later on with Thomas, but others join sometimes). Justin teaches him to knit, so whenever he’s bedridden he spends his time knitting, listening to someone’s music, or just watching the sea. He loves (English fails me) swimming to look at the fish as well (they live near a coral reef), but he rarely goes alone.

Rachel is a very minor character, mostly because she doesn’t do much. She’s been comatose for almost two years, that has an effect on people, so she’ll be very tired all the time in the first half of the story. At first she can’t do much of anything at all, so even toward the end of the story she’ll usually stick close to the main camp unless someone takes her to the center. She’s a reader, and she’s good with younger kids as well. Aris or the others sometimes take her to a lake/pool to be in the water because she loves the weightlessness of it. Newt introduces her to the gardens, where she takes up the lighter tasks and starts a herbarium (that’s what one of those dried flower books is called right?)

Sonya kind of had a similar issue to Minho when she first came to the Safe Haven, so she helps him out. She likes to paint and play music, sometimes Harriet gets her to join her in the pottery as well. She starts hanging out with Newt in the gardens and the forest a lot when Newt shares they’re related, to get to know each other better. She and him come up with the idea for a monument for their lost friends together.

Teresa helps out at the infirmary and literally everywhere else at first. She takes on a lot of work, while also sharing every bit of information she has about WCKD, and keeping track of Brenda and Newt’s health. When that all becomes too much, she picks up other things and scales down. When Vince discovers she took elective computer science classes he lets her help crack WCKD’s servers (a big thing, because after she burned out, he specifically made sure she wouldn’t be busy with WCKD all the time, but here she’s ready to do it in a healthy way). At first ones they had already cracked before so they could be sure she didn’t find anything triggering, but later on he just lets her loose under he condition she talks about what she finds with someone.

Thomas has an issue similar to Minho’s. He has no clue what he likes to do. Newt fixes this by having him go through the cycle again like in the Maze. He ends up helping out the Builders, occasionally being a pain in the ass to Gally because like Chuck he’s eager to learn, but that has the nice side effect of his habit of asking 46829728 questions per hour come back. He and Gally become close friends through this, though. On tough days, Thomas lets himself be dragged to the arts area of the center, or he goes to swim. Sometimes he helps Dijken out on the farm, or he helps out with his daughter from time to time. He’s wary around the infirmary, so he takes the long way through the center. He heals enough to get back to it, though, especially when Teresa finds herself in it for almost a week and he doesn’t want to be the only one not to visit.

Vince runs the show, pretty much. He’s the group leader of both group A and B (the Right Arm split the kids up over multiple camps to be able to help them recover better. Also B used to be in another group, but joined A when they arrived), but also still the leader of the Right Arm and by extension responsible for the security of the Safe Haven. He has people in charge on the mainland and in the Safe Zone (which is self-governed only the Right Arm essentially leads child-protective services on the “this child needs to be literally anywhere else” level). He also helps plan any operations to help save kids (immune and otherwise) from trafficking operations and other bad situations. Later on in the story he shifts his focus more to the Safe Haven and his dozen kids, though.