Brian always returns to the Glade on time - after all he is the Keeper of the runners. But when the walls begin to close and the boy hasn't returned, Jae begins to panic.

  I will left you guys and your imagination, so enjoy!

The map room was dingy, of that there was no doubt. Yet that was not what was on Jae’s mind as he paced back and forth relentlessly through the structure, shifting dirt around the ground with each turn on his heel.

Six minutes. That was how late Brian was in returning to the Glade with the other runners. While it didn’t seem like all that significant a number, Jae knew as well as any Glader the implications six minutes indicated, especially when it was Brian that was late. Never had the boy lagged behind more than a couple of minutes. He was, after all, the fastest of the runners, and he knew that being Keeper meant he had to set a good example to the others and always be on time.

Jae knew how seriously his friend took his job, and that was a large part of why his breathing became steadily heavier as he completed another turn at one end of the map room. A glance at the clock on the wall told the blond that seven minutes had passed since the others returned without Brian, which meant only three until the walls closed for the night and the younger boy was a goner.

Nausea slowly began to send an uncomfortable chill up Jae’s spine and he took to gasping in deep breaths and trying to calm himself down. He was no use to anyone in a panicked state. The entire reason he was in the map room alone while the rest of the Gladers stood raptly by the maze walls was because he wasn’t able to keep his body in check as he watched the time sail by entirely too quickly. Sungjin had sent him in here without room for argument, not that Jae minded. In fact he was grateful to be alone. If he was going to have a panic attack it was better to have it in private than in front of the boys he played a role in leading.

One minute left, according to the clock, and Jae thought he might pass out. Bright colors splotched along the walls of the darkened room that the boy paced in and he elected to sit down and put his head between his knees lest he do just that.

No sound could be heard through the map room, but that did not stop the vibrations of the maze walls from shaking the structure. Jae heard a sob rip through the air and belatedly realized it came from him. Another curious thing was that even after the ground stopped shaking, the boy’s body did not.

Jae thought he should feel something, yet it was as if he were enclosed in a glass tank which nothing could penetrate. He tried to form the words which he knew deep inside to be true, that his best friend – maybe even more than that to him – was dead, yet his mind refused to form the sentence. Instead he sat in the dark of the room and curled tighter in on himself.

He did not hear the opening of the map room door over the blood rushing through his ears. No, what brought him out of his torturous nightmare was a familiar phrase breathed by a familiar voice.

“Shuck it.” Someone breathed, and Jae did not need to look up to know the voice belonged to Brian. The blond’s neck shot up and he saw a flash of colors before his eyes, making him dizzy and unable to focus on the one person he wanted to see more than anything in that moment.

“Shuck it.” Brian repeated, louder this time, and in three strides met Jae’s crumpled form on the opposite wall. “Jae, hey, I’m fine. I’m back, it’s okay.”

Jae heard the reassurances; felt Brian’s presence kneeling in front of him on the dirt, yet what he felt rising in him was not relief – at least, not entirely. Instead he felt anger clawing its way up his ribcage and bubbling out his mouth.

“You buggin’ slinthead!” The boy shouted, startling the runner in front him so much that he landed on his back. “What were you bloody thinking? You know the buggin’ maze closes at the same time every shuckin’ night! You were this closed to being killed, Brian, this bloody close! And then what would the other runners have done, huh? What would I have done?”

By the time he finished his outburst, both boys were standing. Their chests heaved up and down, Brian’s from overexertion, no doubt, and Jae’s from the rollercoaster of emotions he was just put through. The blond stared at his friend and hastily scrubbed the tears from his face with the back of his palm as he tried to calm down, an uncomfortable numbness slowly replacing the hot anger in his veins.

Of all of the responses Jae expected to his outburst, a quiet “I know, I’m sorry.” was not one of them. His silence must have encouraged the runner to continue after a moment because it was not like Brian utter an apology, let alone dwell on one. “I got distracted and I didn’t pay attention to the time and I just… I’m so sorry, Jae.”

The sincerity in the boy’s gaze floored Jae. He had never known his friend to be sincere about much, especially not an apology. Yet here he stood in his exhausted state, looking desperately at Jae in a look filled with guilt and worry. All the blond could manage was a broken “You bloody shank.” before closing the space between them with a tight embrace.

Jae’s arms wrapped around Brian’s back and clawed at his sweat soaked shirt for purchase. The runner smelled of earth and sweat and honestly it was more than a bit gross, but in that moment Jae couldn’t have cared less. All that mattered was that Brian was here, alive, and squeezing him back just as tightly.

Eventually they pulled apart, though not much before Brian’s hand reached up to rest on the side of Jae’s neck. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.” Brian admitted quietly. “If I could make sure you never felt anything but happiness ever again I sure as shuck would.”

Jae recognized the statement for what it was and mustered up the best smile he could manage (which was pretty sad) and said “I forgive you, you shank. Just don’t bloody well do it again, you get me?”

“I get you.” Brian nodded, his hair brushing against Jae’s forehead. Suddenly Jae truly noticed their proximity to each other. He noticed how gentle the hand on his neck was, how warm Brian’s breath felt on his cheek. He noticed the way his hands clung tightly to the front of his friend’s sweaty shirt and how Brian bent his head perfectly to create a sense of safety and solitude between them.

Brian seemed to notice it at the same time, his cheeks blushing a brighter red than they already were from all of the running he just did. Just when Jae thought the boy would pull away, the runner leaned in hesitantly, as if giving the blond time to push him aside if he so chose. Jae knew what he wanted, though, and it was not to push away the boy he had been crushing on since they first met.

As the air between them closed even tighter, Jae found himself growing impatient. Too long he had waited for this moment, and without a second thought he surged forward and elicited a surprised gasp from Brian. The blond smiled, then – a true smile – an act not made easy by the warm lips pressed against his.

It was not a particularly great kiss by typical standards, not that Jae had any past memories to compare it to. It was awkward and rushed and sloppy, but it was with Brian. And in Jae’s mind, that was the only things that matter. It's him.