too old to play pretend;
❛ POISONOUS CURE ❜
❝ Cleo likes everyone ❞

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Cleo was convinced that she was delusional. There was no way that the one time when she missed the box coming up into the Glade, the Greenie turned out to be her Greenie.

She felt stupid for even thinking it was him or believing that she had some sort of claim over him just because she had been dreaming of him every single night for as long as she could remember. Those were his eyes. She swore to herself that she would not think about it too often to keep herself from the thin line between hope and delusion.

Then again, there was no way that idiot was who she was dreaming of. What could the two of them ever have in common? She was usually an open-minded person but he just pissed her off so easily.

Then why are you attacking one of your best friends about messing with him? Cleo rolled her eyes at the voice in her head. She easily convinced herself that she scolded Gally for pushing the Greenie because he was new and was just as confused as the rest of them were when they arrived at the Glade for the first time.

"Here is your drink, Blondie." Minho told her and passed her a jar of Gally's famous moonshine. She preferred to stick by him during the bonfires. It was her favourite time of the month because it meant that everyone could take a break and let loose for a change. Minho was the best company during those nights.

Gally took any opportunity he could to start a fight and he could only really justify it during bonfires. Cleo had no idea why Alby even approved of his little fighting circle but she knew she wanted to stay away from it. Her safe space was with Minho then. They joked and drank and talked the entire night with no stress. He was the most chill person in the Glade.

Maybe that was why Cleo formed such a big... attachment to the Keeper of the Runners. He was both confident and calm. That brought her a suspicious amount of comfort but she denied it whenever Newt would call her out on her possible crush on Minho. She did not want a relationship with any of the boys, no matter how safe Minho made her feel. (That was a lie. Cleo's feelings for Minho changed every day. Sometimes, she could trick herself into thinking that she does not like him but the rest of the time, she can't help but think how much she wants him to look at her like a girlfriend rather than a friend.)

"Thanks." Cleo grinned up at him. He sat down on the big log next to her and she started drinking.

Soon enough, Ben arrived and was followed by a couple of boys. They talked and played games for a while. Cleo loved how united they all were during bonfires. The rest of the month, they mostly spent time with the people who they worked with. The runners were the most isolated from the rest of the gladers. They would spend the entire day in the maze and then sleep when they would arrive back at the Glade. The only reason why Cleo and Minho got so close was because he broke his leg once and ended up spending a couple of weeks in the med-shack where she had to take care of him.

"Are they together?" The Greenie asked Newt, his eyes glued on Cleo who was laughing at something Minho said.

Newt snorted and shook his head. "No."

The Greenie gave him a curious look. "Why not?" He asked him. "She looks like she likes him."

"Cleo likes everyone. That girl does not have a bad bone in her body." Newt assured him. "Her and Minho are close, sure, but I don't know how they would work. They're too close to ruin it all just to date." He raised an eyebrow and a small smirk made its way onto his face. "Why are you asking? Don't tell me that you already have eyes on the only girl here?"

"No. No." The dark-haired boy shook his head. "I was just curious."

Newt hummed. "Sure."

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Cleo rolled her eyes when she saw Gally and the Greenie pushing each other around in the middle of the fighting circle. She leaned back in her seat, looking completely unimpressed. Gally just had to pick a fight and the Greenie did not want to be the one to walk away from a fight.

"Doesn't he ever get tired?" Minho scoffed.

Cleo shook her head. "Nope."

There was a crowd around the circle so neither one of them could see anything. Minho surprised her when he revealed that he had always been uninterested in those pointless fights.

Cleo huffed and got to her feet. "I'm going to make sure that Gally doesn't kill the guy."

Minho raised his eyebrows in surprise. She refused to watch that and was always against violence between them. She claimed that she thought that they were supposed to be a family and avoid anything that could cause bad blood between them.

He did not say anything, he just nodded and then got up to follow her to the circle. He pushed two builders so he and Cleo could be first in line to the fight. Cleo fell in line next to Newt, who offered her a surprised look but didn't say anything.

"What do you want to be called? Shank?" Gally taunted the Greenie. People around them burst out laughing. Cleo sighed, unimpressed. "What do you think, boys?" Gally continued and looked away from his victim to Cleo. "Cleo? Does he look like a Shank?"

Cleo did not get a chance to respond because the dark haired boy ran into Gally and grabbed him by his upper arms, trying to push him down. Gally ended up being quicker and stronger because the Greenie was thrown back onto the ground pretty quickly.

Minho gave Gally an unimpressed glare.

"You know what? I think I've settled on Shank." Gally jumped on his feet while the Greenie got up. The guys around them laughed.

The Greenie looked humiliated but he did not seem like he was backing down. He ran into Gally and wrapped his arms around his waist. He tried to push him onto the ground but Gally started pushing him back. Gally was winning so the Greenie took a leap of faith and let go of him and then got out of the way. That caused Gally to fall on his face.

Cleo snorted and her hand immediately rushed to her mouth while Minho looked impressed. Newt heard her amused laugh and gave her a knowing look.

The rest of the guys cheered for the Greenie while Gally layed humiliated on the ground.

"Not bad for a Greenie, huh?"

The Greenie's victory was cut short when Gally quickly sat up and kicked his feet from under him. He fell and his head immediately hit the ground.

Everyone went silent. Cleo gasped. She would have run to him if his eyes were not wide open. He stared in front of him in shock. He whispered something to himself before sitting up.

"Hey!" He all but jumped to his feet. "Thomas!" A shocked laugh escaped him as he looked right at Cleo. "I remember my name. I'm Thomas!" Tommy. Cleo heard the nickname so clearly in her head.

"Thomas!" Alby exclaimed and the boys shouted his name in excitement before they all rushed to congratulate him.

Cleo stood back, glued to the spot a few feet away from them. Minho's smirk faded away once he noticed the stunned look on her face. He furrowed his eyebrows in concern.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Cleo nodded. A forced tight-lipped smile replaced her frown. "I think that I just drank too much. I should probably go lay down."

"Okay." Minho did not look so convinced but he must have sensed that she was in no mood for a discussion. "Good night."

"Good night. Minho."

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a/n: I love the found family trope

Minho and Cleo are so adorable but the tension between them will never ruin the fact that they're best friends. I'm keeping all the drama for Cleo and Thomas!