― ➶ ―

The trek to the city was long. The group almost ran out of water. Minho and Newt had sore shoulders from carrying Tiago the entire way, despite the older boy insisting he was fine and he could walk by himself. When they put him down the first time he asked, his leg crumpled under the pressure of his upper body. Newt caught him quickly, not trusting that he was okay at all. Tiago had rolled his eyes as he leaned against the blond, which made Newt smirk.

Now that they were in the city, Tiago couldn't help the hope rising in his chest. There was a chance that Brenda could be here. She knew Jorge was heading to the city, so if she and Thomas managed to get into the tunnels and past the Cranks, the city is definitely the first place they would've come to. Tiago couldn't help but do a quick sweep of the area when they entered the city, hoping a short brunette would catch his eye, but he had no such luck.

"Where is this Marcus guy, anyway?" the brunette girl, who Tiago had learned was named Teresa, asked Jorge.

Jorge shrugged. "He has a place. Not sure if he still lives there, but it's worth a shot."

Frypan frowned. "What if he doesn't live there?"

Jorge didn't answer. Tiago sighed, absentmindedly shifting more of his weight onto Newt's shoulders. Minho hadn't bothered helping anymore once he saw that Tiago could kind of hobble at a reasonable pace with Newt's assistance. Newt grunted slightly under the pressure of Tiago's weight, making Tiago shuffle away from him slightly.

"Sorry," he apologized quietly. Newt just shrugged, rolling his shoulders slightly, before holding Tiago's arm tighter around his shoulders. Tiago grumbled under his breath. There was nothing he hated more than being babied by people. Brenda was the worst, Jorge was a close second. Newt was beginning to be a third, and Tiago didn't even know him at all. He figured it might've been Newt's natural instincts. Some people just cared a lot about other people. 'Mother hens' was what his father had called them when he was young. "Your mother worries too much. Such a mother hen," he used to say. Tiago shook his head, shoving the thoughts of his family away. Why was he thinking about them all of a sudden?

"Sore?" Newt said quietly. Tiago looked at him questioningly, and Newt just gestured downwards. "Your leg."

"Oh," Tiago said, blinking, "no, it's fine, just―Nothing."

Newt raised a questioning eyebrow, but he didn't push further. Tiago was silently thankful. When Tiago looked back towards the city, he moved his head slightly too fast and felt dizziness. He swayed slightly in place, pressing a hand to his forehead. Newt gripped him tighter, glancing at him in concern. Tiago knew he needed to eat something, and he definitely needed more water. The group had run out of water just before they'd entered the city, and Jorge had promised he knew where a clean source was, but there was no doubt they were all incredibly thirsty.

"Jorge?" Newt called out. The group turned to look at him and Tiago. "I think he might pass out soon."

As if on cue, Tiago felt his eyes flit shut, despite how hard he tried to hold them open. He lost his grip on Newt, slipping slightly. Newt cried his name in alarm, and Tiago managed to secure his grip again, holding tightly onto Newt's jacket. He blinked his eyes open again, a groan leaving his lips.

"We're gonna get you some food, alright?" Jorge said from beside him, hoisting Tiago's other arm over his shoulders. Tiago didn't let go of Newt's jacket, still clinging tightly just in case he slipped again.

"We gotta find somewhere to sit him down," Teresa said, "is there anywhere close?"

Tiago knew Jorge didn't trust the city at all. He only knew how to maneuver through it because of Marcus in the past; he never hung around longer than he had to. Tiago, however, came to the city frequently in need of things for his bow. He was an acquaintance of many city people, mainly because they needed his skills with a bow to help them out occasionally, and in exchange they fashioned him arrows or gave him cleaning supplies, sometimes even good city food. Tiago was always appreciative. 

"Tiago?" Jorge questioned.

"'m thinking," Tiago mumbled, closing his eyes again. He screwed them up slightly as he tried to think.

"If we can't find anywhere, we can just―"

"Kim's," Tiago eventually murmured, loud enough for only Newt and Jorge to hear. Tiago felt Jorge tense under him, but he chose to suppress the anger inside him for now. He knew they needed to rest, and Kim's old place would give them the shelter they needed. "She's got a, uh ... Near Alex's store, y'know?" He was talking to Jorge specifically now. "Alex Bonthron, he gives us squirrels and rabbits sometimes. Kim's old place is near there."

Jorge nodded in understanding, moving out from underneath Tiago's arm. Tiago grunted slightly as pressure was put back on his bad leg. Jorge gestured Minho to help, and Minho rushed to grab Tiago's arm and pull him up again. 

"Teresa, you're coming with me," Jorge instructed. "We'll find some food and meet you at Kim's old place. Make sure Tiago stays awake. He can guide you through the city, he knows it better than I do. Keep your heads down, because if someone else finds you, I can't protect you, and neither can Tiago anymore. Alright?"

The four boys nodded. Jorge removed Tiago's backpack off his shoulder and pushed it into Tiago's weak grip, and then he and Teresa were walking off to the right, leaving the boys standing awkwardly in the middle of the bustling street.

"End of the street, there's a map somewhere," Tiago muttered.

"Alright, you comfortable?" Minho asked him, gripping his arm a little tighter.

"No," Tiago huffed out with a breath of laughter, "but it's fine, just get moving."

The group moved as quickly as possible down the street. Tiago's leg was throbbing again, but he knew he didn't have any fresh bandages. When they reached the map at the end of the street, Tiago mapped out the route they'd have to take.

"That's pretty far," Newt muttered, glancing down at Tiago's pale face, "you think you can make it without passing out?" he asked, concern furrowing his brow.

Tiago sucked in a deep breath, ignoring the burning pain in his leg. He blinked slowly before nodding his head.

"No other way, right?" He met Newt's raised eyebrows and huffed out a chuckle. "Let's just get going. The faster we get there, the faster we can sit down."

It wasn't easy. Other than the main street they'd arrived at, the other streets in the city were narrow and crammed full of people, either selling things from homemade stalls or living off the side of the road. There were children and elderly people, large families, many dogs, crying babies―the city was full of life. After years of traversing through the city streets, Tiago still wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that there were so many people in one place.

Kim's old apartment was up two flights of stairs. Tiago knew it would be an obstacle, but he had put it off until they arrived at the building.

"Third floor," he said quickly, pointing to the busted down front doors of the building. "Number thirty-one." Minho and Newt shared a worried glance behind Tiago's shoulders, one that Tiago didn't miss. He rolled his eyes. "I can drag myself up the stairs, so don't worry about it."

He moved to unwrap his arms from their shoulders, but Newt didn't let him.

"You literally can't walk, mate," he said quickly, holding tightly to Tiago's wrist. "There's no way you'll make it up a flight of stairs without hurting yourself even more."

"I managed to walk across the entire Scorch with glass in my leg, I'm sure I can manage some stairs," Tiago retorted, feeling a sudden surge of stubbornness overtake him.

"If you can walk so well all of a sudden, why have we been carrying you the entire way?"

"I didn't ask you to," Tiago said loudly. He knew it was irrational, but he hated being babied. It reminded him too much of his mother.

The group was quiet for a few moments, not expecting Tiago to become suddenly frantic about people helping him. Eventually, Newt nodded and shrugged Tiago's arm off his shoulders. Tiago stumbled briefly, wobbling while he tried to balance his weight on his good leg.

"Well, if you're gonna be this stubborn about it," he said lightly. He walked through the doorway. Minho, Frypan, and Aris just watched the blond. Minho's gaze fell back to Tiago standing shakily beside him. Tiago met his eyes and huffed.

"Don't worry, just go. You're the ones on the run, not me." Minho raised his eyebrows, still not convinced. "Minho. Seriously. I don't need help, just go."

Minho finally relented and followed Frypan and Aris into the building. Tiago heaved out a sigh, glancing up at the third floor windows he could see. It would be hard, but Tiago had dealt with worse. He sucked in a deep breath, praying that he wouldn't injure himself further, and stepped into the building.

Halfway up the first flight of stairs, Tiago was beginning to think that maybe he did need help. He still hadn't figured out how to evenly distribute his weight between both legs so he wasn't in a lot of pain. He let out a hiss between his teeth as he shifted awkwardly while leaning against the wall―his leg cinched painfully, and when he looked down, Tiago saw that the bandage had dug into the wound. The only good thing about this situation was that the bandage wasn't soaked with blood. Now the gash just had to heal up.

Tiago collapsed to the ground on the second floor landing. He huffed out a few deep breaths, then grabbed his backpack from his shoulders and tugged it into his lap. His leg was screaming with pain, making Tiago flinch every time he moved it slightly, so he figured a break before climbing the next flight of stairs was necessary.

Tiago opened the front pocket of his backpack to pull out the necklace he'd stashed in there. He dangled it on front of his face for a few seconds, watching it swing back and forth, before he clutched the pendant and held it to his mouth. He started whispering in Italian, small things that he wanted to tell his parents and sister who he knew were watching over him. The necklace was the only thing he had left of his sister's, and Tiago made sure to treasure it dearly. He used to pray with the necklace, when he was younger, but he grew out of his Christian faith as he got older and experienced the harshness the world had to offer. Now he just used the necklace as something to connect him to his family.

Tiago was so immersed in talking that he didn't notice someone coming down the stairs until they were at the bottom. He stopped immediately, looking up to find Newt standing there, his arms folded across his chest and eyebrows raised.

"Still don't need help, or were you planning to just stay here until Jorge and Teresa get here?"

Tiago didn't miss the smugness in his voice; Newt clearly liked being right. Tiago was stubborn enough to ignore him. He closed his eyes again, wincing when his leg twitched, and muttered a quick goodbye to his family. He turned his hand, kissed the back of it, then shoved the necklace back into his backpack.

"What language was that?" Newt asked, his voice significantly softer than before.

"Why do you care so much?" Tiago asked, finally looking up at him.

Newt shrugged. "I don't, just wondering."

Tiago narrowed his eyes. Newt was confusing him. He suddenly remembered how Newt had helped him while Jorge was removing the glass from his leg, and his face fell into something softer. He cleared his throat, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible.

"Thank you," he muttered, "for, uh ... for distracting me before."

Newt furrowed his brows for a few moments, seeming confused at Tiago's sudden apology. Tiago sighed at the thought of having to relive the memory, until Newt let out a small huff of amusement.

"Oh, when Jorge was performing an emergency surgery?"

Tiago shook his head, his own quiet laughter escaping him. "Yeah, that."

Newt shrugged. "No problem. I've been told I, uh, have a knack for calming people down. I was known as the mediator when we―" He cut himself off, a frown overtaking his features. "Yeah, everyone calls me the mediator."

They were silent for a few moments. Tiago made an uncomfortable face, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth, before deciding he should get up. He struggled for a few moments, using the wall as support and trying not to put too much pressure on his injured leg. He managed to lean against the wall, eyes closed as he felt fatigue spin his mind. When he tried to push off the wall towards the next flight of stairs, he misjudged the weight on his bad leg and stumbled forward slightly. He reached an arm out to grab onto the railing, but he hit a solid body before he could. Tiago grunted at the impact before glancing up, locking eyes with Newt, who looked worried.

"Alright?" the blond said quietly, his hands on Tiago's arms. Tiago nodded, using Newt as support to stand upright again. "Need help now?"

Tiago let out a breath, shaking his head. He clicked his tongue. "You're impossible, y'know that?"

Newt shrugged, a small smile overtaking his features. "I've been told." He didn't let go of Tiago's arm, moving to stand beside him. He let Tiago lean against him, wrapping an arm around the older boy's waist to help some more. "Good?"

Tiago nodded, wincing slightly when they ascended a few steps. "Hurts like a bitch."

"Maybe you should've let me help in the first place."

"Shut up."

― ➶ ―

ahhhh this chapter took so long, and it's mainly filler :( i worked on this like 5 separate times, and i managed to write half the chapter just today, which explains the lack of motivation i had. and even today, i started at about 11:30am and it's now 2:30pm, so 4 hours just to write 1,000 words D:

i'm sorry this took so long. i was incredibly unmotivated, all my friends moved away for university, i'm kinda struggling in a long distance relationship, i had a week-long trip away from home and didn't have my laptop, so there were a lot of factors that prohibited me from updating.

once again, i'm super sorry, but i hope you enjoyed!! this was all just filler material, and it was incredibly boring, but hey, there was a cute little bit of newtiago fluff at the end there to make up for it. anyway, don't be shy, tell me what you think in the comments!! i'm so happy that people actually read this story lol, it took a lot to convince myself to actually publish it and i love it so much. we'll get back to the action next chapter, because that's when we meet up with thomas and brenda again, so look forward to it!

don't forget to wear a mask (if it's required where you live) and continue to keep yourself and others safe in the pandemic !!