<<published 1•oct•2014>>

[this is entirely fictional, I'm not following any plot from the book, just using the same setting and the same characters]

You stare down at the abyss of darkness into which you just threw a rock.

"It's really deep." You inform Minho, who pulls you away from the edge roughly. "The rock hasn't even reached the bottom yet."

"Well, thank you, Miss Obvious." He half groans half snaps at you.

"Well there's no other way out except for that." You breathe. "The only way we got in here is already closed up." You turn your head to the left where the entrance to the cave still was, about five minutes ago.

Minho drops the f-bomb and presses a fist to his forehead. "We don't have rope or anything, how are we going to get down? And how can we be sure that if we go down, there'd be a way out and we won't be stuck wandering in caves forever? Damn. We're good as dead now." He groans, running a hand through his hair. In his other hand, he holds a flaming torch. But even that won't last long.

You don't have an answer for his questions.

You sink down to the ground, bursting into tears, the cold rocky surface pressing against your palms.

Thing weren't supposed to happen like this.

If only you hadn't broken up with Minho earlier.

If only you hadn't seen Minho and Teresa kissing.

If only you hadn't made so much noise while running away.

If only Minho hadn't followed you.

You did the most stupid thing imaginable. You ran straight into the dangerous tunnel the boys had abandoned, Minho freaked out and followed you, and then the entrance collapsed behind both of you.

He clearly wasn't thinking when he followed you down.

Now he is stuck with you in a cave with no way out. And it's all your fault.

You feel him getting down and sitting close to you. His arms slip around you and he pulls you onto his lap, tightening his hold around your body so he's hugging you from behind.

And then he starts rocking, and breathing into your hair while muttering, "It's going to be okay. Everything will work out fine."

You try to stop crying for a moment to choke out the words 'I'm sorry' before lapsing into another round of ragged gasps.

He hugs you tighter, if that's even possible, but not hard enough to cut off your circulation. Obviously.

"It's not your fault, _________. It's not. It's mine." He says softly into your hair, resting his chin on your shaking shoulder.

This calms you down considerably and you manage to stem your sobbing.

"I'm sorry for everything. I guess I was just mad. Mad that you broke up with me over what Gally said." He sighs. "It's stupid, but I wanted to make you angry too."

You give a chuckle, despite your tears. "It def-definitely worked." you say.

"And since Teresa's always fancied me, she came looking for me. And I took it as the perfect opportunity to get back at you, because I knew you were going to come by some time to return my boots." He sighs again.

"Teresa's always... liked you?" You use your sleeve to wipe the tears off your face. "That's so weird, she's my best friend!" You shake your head.

Or was your best friend. This is betrayal. Such betrayal.

You've always thought Teresa likes Thomas. What the heck happened? How could you be so blind?

"I don't know. I guess you called dibs on me first. And I showed interest in you instead of her." He sighs. "But ________, I shouldn't have done that. I did it to spite you and I'm sorry." He breathes in deeply, as if the next sentence that escapes his mouth will kill him. "I... I like you, shuck face, not her. I know this is sudden, but... Be my girlfriend again."

You try to swipe your tears off your face and take in a long deep breath. It's crunch time, and you're ready for this. Ready to admit how you really feel. To allow yourself to be vulnerable. To show that you like him too. To show him that the mutual like for each other can, and eventually, will, turn into love.

You turn around and kiss him. The torch drops to the floor.

It's only when your lips reach his face that you realise you're not kissing his lips, but his jaw.

Your cheeks burn and you try to turn away but he catches your chin and pulls you back.

"Over here." He whispers, guiding your chin.

And then his lips meet yours.

You swivel around completely so you're sitting in his lap, facing him, your legs on either side of his body, wrapping around him. His hands are on your face, your cheek, your back. Just anywhere. Yours are just twined around his neck and occasionally in his hair and you're suddenly feeling very very hot.

You don't know how long you spend kissing, but it's definitely a very long time. And you find out that not only does Minho have skilled hands, but also a skilled mouth. What does he practice on? His pillow?

When you break apart the fourth time for the air that you desperately need, you grin and lean your forehead against his.

"I hope that answered your question."

"It sure as hell did." He says back, using his smirky, confidence-laced voice.

You start to take off your coat and he startles, his breath coming in deeper.

You giggle. "Relax, Minho, I'm just hot. That's all."

He finds your face and presses a kiss to your cheekbone. "Sure. I know you want some of this."

You don't have to see him to know that he's gesturing down to his body. You shake your head and grin, even though he probably can't see it.

You're about to close the gap between the two of you again, but there's a noise coming from the direction of the entrance. The unmistakable scrape scrape scrape of shovels.

You hear more scrapes and Minho's already yanked you up and grabbed the torch.

Scrapes.

And then sunlight.

"Bloody hell, both of you!" Newt's glaring face pops in through the hole in the ground. "This tunnel is shucking out of bounds, are you both dead in your shucking brains?"

"I ran down it." You murmur, rubbing the back of your neck. "Minho just followed me."

"If Chuck hadn't noticed that you two were missing, you'd be goners. The underground caves are freakin' dangerous. There are holes and drops and rockslides everywhere!" Gally's face takes its turn through the hole.

"Yeah, listen to instructions, slint-heads." Newt snaps, stomps on the ground and some earth falls through the hole.

Minho is getting visibly impatient and annoyed at this little pep talk, and he huffs in indignation. "Are you done with the lecture or are you gonna continue talking till we become shuckin' fossils?"

"Whatever, shank." Newt hacks at the remaining soil with his shovel so there's a clear hole. "So who's comin' up first? Ladies first, surely."

"Oh no you don't." Minho grabs the back of your shirt and then looks up at Newt. "You're not gonna touch her. I get to pull her up."

Newt rolls his eyes. "You're so shuck whipped."

And then Minho hip bumps you, looking straight into your eyes. "I know." He smirks.

"I know."