The small group's travels had gone into longer than one month. They usually drove wherever seemed more interesting or they'd just flip a coin at a crossroad. That had resulted in a few incidents containing a lot of swearing, a broken down car in the middle of nowhere and/or weird locals who didn't take kindly to outsiders.

From time to time Thomas would wonder about the few days they had spent at the festival and what had happened between him and Newt. He felt as if the subject was too fragile and that one wrong word could break it, so he had decided to not say anything about it to Newt, who also avoided talking about it.

It seemed that Teresa had noticed the awkwardness and avoidance between the two boys and she had tried to subtly ask Thomas about it. She seemed genuinely worried that they might have fought, but Thomas had assured her that it was nothing of the kind. Still, he would sometimes catch her giving him weird glances whenever he and Newt were chatting about trivial stuff.

One of the days they were driving since morning and the time seemed to move at a snail's pace. When midday came along Minho suddenly stopped the car and groaned loudly. He then turned around to his slightly confused friends. "Honestly, shuck this shit, man. I just want to sleep in a bed for once and not wake up with someone's foot in my face and with back pains. I'm not eighty."

"Though he's the one usually doing the feet sticking," Newt murmured quietly so only Thomas could hear him.

"I say we stop at the first bigger town we come across and have some luxury for once in a while," Minho announced.

"Actually, I don't think that's too bad of an idea," Brenda joined in and then made a face. "Wow, that was weird to say."

"Finally, someone who acknowledges my genius," Minho smirked.

"Now let's not go that far," Brenda put up one of her hands. "Anyway, I think we could all use some comfy beds and well prepared food."

"Then it's settled," Minho hummed happily. "Leave everything to me and you shall all be dining like kings and queens tonight."

"What got into him?" Thomas thought out loud as the Asian boy started the car up again. "He didn't really need to stop the car for this."

"Maybe the stagnation got to him?" Newt answered with another question. "He seems like the type who doesn't stay in one place for too long."

"True, true," Thomas nodded his head while crossing his arms. "He did try to join as many physical clubs as possible during the school years and kept changing them one after the other. Eventually he settled on the track one and even became the captain of the team."

"Why am I not surprised," Newt let out a soft chuckle.

"Later he even coaxed me into it," Thomas continued.

"Did he really? I'd think you would choose that yourself." Newt raised an eyebrow and Thomas felt his ears reddening.

"Details," he humpfed and after a moment of silence both of them erupted in laughter.

No, Thomas was sure that there wasn't anything bad between him and Newt. Only something unresolved.

As evening came Minho finally drove them into a city. Thomas wasn't even sure what the name was, since he had drifted off at some point and missed any billboards or signs indicating it. It felt kind of surreal to see more civilization after a period of time with barely any of it.

They stopped at one of the motels, because none of them wanted to spend too much money for most likely only one or two nights here. The rooms had double beds, so everyone stayed in the same arrangement as in the tents.

"Finally, a soft bed!" Teresa exclaimed as she fell face first into her own as soon as Brenda opened their door.

"There's even a mini-fridge here!" Jorge shouted from his room.

"Seems like everyone's having fun," Newt noted as he and Thomas walked into their room. Both of them looked around and Thomas had to agree - it wasn't too bad. There were two beds near each other, a mini-fridge, as Jorge had shouted, and even a TV.

"Wow," Thomas gave a low mock whistle, "I'm not sure we're worthy of this kind of luxury."

"Don't worry," Newt nudged him playfully on his arm, "after what we've been through, we should at least get a castle."

Suddenly Brenda appeared in their doorway with a slide of her shoes making both of the boys turn their attention to her.

"Sooo," she trailed off with a small glint in her eyes, "me and Jorge were thinking we could celebrate our newfound amenities by going out. What do you guys think?"

Both of the boys exchanged a look before Newt shrugged and Thomas nodded. "Sure," the shorter boy answered, "might as well try it. What did you have in mind?"

"Clubs, duuh," she said as it was the most obvious thing. "We're all legal adults if you want to go into technicalities and I feel obligated to get you small town kids to know the feeling of a true big city."

"Aren't you also from the same town?" Newt asked confused.

"Sure, but me and Jorge would always go to all kinds of clubs whenever we got the chance. And believe me," she winked, "we had a lot of chances."

The atmosphere in the club was suffocating: numerous bodies in motion, bumping into each other and swaying to the rhythm of the deafening music.

Thomas couldn't concentrate at all.

"Do you consider this fun?" he half yelled next to Jorge and Brenda, who looked like they were about to sprint off to the middle of the dance floor.

"Fun?" Jorge looked at him quizzically. "Hermano, this is liberating!" he grinned from ear to ear and before Thomas could say anything, he took off in the direction of the bar.

"It really is though," Brenda clapped him on his forearm and looked at her other friends with a warm smile. Minho looked excited and was fidgeting in one place while Teresa and Newt gave off a vibe of confusion. "Just loosen up and enjoy yourselves. Who knows, maybe you'll come to like it."

As she said that, Brenda walked over to Jorge, leaving the other four alone.

"Well, I'm gonna go find some pretty faces," Minho smirked. "Wanna join me?"

Teresa grimaced at that, "I'll have to decline the offer. I think I'm just going to stick with Brenda for the time being, since she seems to actually know what she's doing here."

Thomas and Newt exchanged glances and both shrugged. Neither of them had really been to similar places and the closest thing they had experienced were festivals.

"So I guess we go dance or something?" Newt asked.

"I guess. That or go get ourselves drunk to 'loosen up', as Brenda had said," Thomas air-quoted.

As he said that Jorge suddenly appeared next to them from the sea of people. "I have just the solution for you!" he exclaimed happily and held up his hands, a few bottles in both of them. "We can go play some games!"

"Like..?" Newt raised an eyebrow.

"I dunno, 'Never have I ever'?" Jorge shrugged.

Brenda also came back with Teresa in tow, both of them holding more drinks.

"Did you see where Minho went?" Brenda asked while looking around.

"I've been trying to lose him for ten years," Teresa said in a monotone. "Personally, I think this is a great development."

"Oh come on," Brenda looked at her with an amused expression, "it's going to be more fun with more people."

"I'm going to find him," Newt offered. "It shouldn't be too hard knowing him."

As Newt stepped aside the others found an empty spot in one of the corners, which had a big enough table for all of them and pretty comfortable sofas. Jorge, Brenda and Teresa placed the drinks down while Thomas fidgeted in one place, not entirely sure what he should be doing.

"Sit down and relax, hermano," Jorge patted him on the head, eliciting a little yelp from the boy. "It's not going to be an execution."

"I know, I know," Thomas said as he rubbed his head. Finally, he sat down next to Brenda, subconsciously leaving an empty space on his right side.

Newt returned after a few minutes with Minho following him like a lost puppy. Minho was already carrying a glass in his hand and kept nudging Newt with it while the other kept swatting it away. They both sat down, Newt next to Thomas and Minho next to Newt.

"So let's get this party started, shall we?" Jorge raised his own glass and downed it in one gulp. "That was a warm-up."

"Who wants to go first?" Brenda asked cheerfully as she poured everyone a glass.

"I will!" Minho grinned and then cleared his throat. "Never have I ever written a sappy rap for someone."

Most of the people sitting around the table just glanced at each other with expressions that read 'who let him go first?' as Minho dramatically took a huge gulp out of his glass. Thomas turned to Newt expecting him to throw some witty remark, but was taken aback as he saw the other boy silently drinking from his cup.

"Seriously?" Thomas asked in amazement.

"It was a phase."

"A phase of writing sappy raps?"

Newt just sighed and nodded without saying anything else.

"All right, next question is on me," said Brenda. "Never have I ever been a furry."

And at that moment Thomas was sure no one would be taking this game seriously. He watched as Brenda's eyes lit up when she saw Teresa raising her glass to her lips. The girls locked their gazes and immediately grinned from ear to ear.

"Really? You too?" Brenda asked in amazement as she crawled over Jorge, who had been sitting next to her, and seated herself next to the other girl.

"Wow, I thought I was completely alone in this," Teresa said before scooting over to make Brenda some space. "Even though I'm way past it now."

"Same, same," Brenda laughed.

"I think we lost them," Thomas said to no one in particular, but all of the other guys at the table nodded their heads in agreement.

"All right then…" Minho drew out. "I'm just gonna take Teresa's turn, since it doesn't look like she's capable of talking about anything other than her 'nyas'." He stayed silent for a bit after saying that with a blank look on his face.

"Anyway, never have I ever run naked through my neighbourhood."

Everyone who was still paying attention made an expression that was a mix of horrified, disgusted and greatly surprised. Even Teresa and Brenda shot their heads up.

"Seriously, guys?" Minho looked at them incredulously. "You've never lived then." He chugged down his drink.

"If that means living, then I don't want to," Newt said looking scared at Thomas.

"I think I'll have to agree," the other boy shuddered.

The game went on for a while, everyone suggesting silly or just plain out idiotic things. Some drank more than others, some only raised their glasses a few times. Thomas was feeling a small buzz and slightly light-headed, but he was pretty sure that he wasn't still really drunk. He did loosen up a lot, now somehow managing to have migrated next to Minho and laughing stupidly with him while they had their arms draped over each other's shoulders.

"No, no, dude," Thomas drew out, interrupting himself with a fit of giggles, "you're awesome!"

"I mean, I know I am," Minho grinned, "but you're not too bad yourself," he hugged the other playfully.

"Is this what kids these days call 'bromance'?" Newt said while trying to keep a straight face but failing miserably. Minho also had one of his arms around his shoulders, dragging him closer to himself.

"I can be whatever you want, baby," the Asian boy probably tried to wink, but all he did was blink awkwardly.

"Oh god!" Newt spluttered, trying to shove him away while holding one hand over his own mouth, trying to stop the laughter escaping it.

"No, no, I insist," Minho wiggled his eyebrows and only moved closer to Newt.

Thomas couldn't even manage to say anything as he was completely engulfed by laughter. He felt so light and it seemed that anything that his friends said or did was completely hilarious.

"Wait," he tried to catch his breath, "are we still playing the game?"

"What game?" Minho glanced back at him, finally leaving Newt alone.

"You know – the game," Thomas gestured wildly around before noticing a glass near Jorge and pointing aggressively at it.

"Ooh…" the other boy seemed to get it. "Yeah! We should continue! It kind of slipped my mind."

Jorge noticed what Thomas had been doing and also joined in, "All right, then how about I take the turn," he nudged Teresa, who was engrossed in some conversation with Brenda. The girl looked up and seemed to realize within seconds what was being expected from her. She then in turn tapped Brenda on the shoulder and pushed her glass closer.

"So, never have I ever…" Jorge rolled his tongue. "Had a crush on a friend," he smirked wickedly.

Thomas felt a cold shudder go down his spine at those words. There was only thing flapping around in his head, a short message that conveyed everything that he was feeling and had felt.

Oops…

He tried to nonchalantly glance at Newt, who also looked as if a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured on his head. Thomas forced a laugh as he raised his glass and felt it bump into his lips. He looked around and saw that actually everyone else was drinking with the exception of Minho, who looked extremely proud of himself. Brenda and Teresa both took huge gulps as they laughed and fist-bumped each other. Jorge calmly drank from his own glass with a smug look on his face. And Newt was drinking too.

The blond suddenly raised his eyes and his gaze met Thomas' who had forgotten that he had been staring. They both looked at each other for a moment before laughing awkwardly and turning away.

The game didn't last too long after that though and it was finally decided with a majority vote to go explore the club. Thomas wandered around, bumping into random people from time to time. He wasn't sure where he was heading or what he even wanted to do.

Dance, maybe? His mind provided.

He bumped into another person and started to apologize again but then noticed who it was. Newt was standing in front of him with a slightly surprised look on his face.

"You're here too?" he asked.

"We came here together," Thomas immediately replied without thinking too much.

"No, I meant the dance-floor," the other boy shook his head while smiling.

"Oh…" Thomas trailed off. "I actually hadn't noticed I had gotten here."

"So…" Now it was the blond's time to trail off. "Are you planning on staying here or traveling to another part of the club?"

"You make it sound like I'm some migrating bird," Thomas crossed his arms while playfully smiling at his friend. He then looked around a bit: everyone next to him was swaying their bodies to the rhythm, some of the closer people throwing glances at him for standing still in one place. "I guess I might as well dance if I'm already here," he shrugged before suddenly throwing up his arms and starting to move. Newt laughed slightly at him and soon joined in, though not as spastically as his friend.

After a few minutes though it seemed that the people around them kept moving closer and closer, forcing the two to almost dance body to body. The music also got louder, so now Thomas had to raise his voice considerably if he wanted to talk to Newt.

"I don't think it's very comfortable dancing like this!"

"I agree!" Newt shouted back at him, slowing down his movements.

"What about this then?" Thomas said and moved on impulse without really thinking what he was doing. He put his arms on the other's waist, moving them slightly down towards his hips. Newt seemed to freeze for a second before he relaxed and put his arms on Thomas' shoulders.

"We really need to stop meeting like this," he laughed warmly.

"Well, last time was a bit different – we were half naked," Thomas joked, feeling completely comfortable in this situation.

"Maybe we should continue with the tradition," Newt buoyantly raised one of his eyebrows.

"I think they might throw you out of the club if you start stripping randomly in the middle of the dance-floor."

"Buzzkill," the other boy pouted before shifting back into a smile.

As they continued to dance after a while Thomas noticed Teresa from the corner of his eye. The girl looked slightly uncomfortable, so he tried to see the reason why. Some guy was standing next to her a bit too close for comfort, talking to her and smugly grinning. Thomas tapped Newt before pointing towards Teresa and the stranger. The blond's face turned stern and he looked back at Thomas. Both of them nodded and started pushing their way through the sea of people.

Teresa shot something back at the guy, visibly annoyed but then he reached down behind her and her expression turned to momentary shock. Thomas was just about to sock the dude in the face but was beat to the job by Brenda, who appeared out of nowhere. She punched him right in the jaw, as she was shorter than him, and they guy staggered before falling down on his back.

"Don't you dare do something like that to someone who clearly doesn't want to!" the girl growled. It looked like the stranger was about to say something as he stood up with anger marring his face but just at that moment Minho and Jorge stepped up right next to him. Thomas and Newt also reached the scene and now every single person from their group was starring aggressively at him.

"Do you really want to start something, hermano?" Jorge asked calmly in a low voice.

The guy spat at his feet but before Minho could jump him a bulky security guard tapped the boy on the shoulder. He raised one eyebrow and waited for someone to start talking.

"He started it!" Brenda said, her eyes flicking dangerously.

"And I'm going to end it," said the security guard.

It probably shouldn't have been a surprise that after a few minutes the group found themselves standing outside the club in the evening light.

"Worth it," Brenda muttered as everyone else readily agreed. She then looked around and scoffed. "Well, I'm not letting this ruin my night. I say we go find some other place to have fun."

"I heard from a few people that there's another club pretty close by," Jorge said.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Minho asked looking at him. "Show us the way."

After a few minutes they were inside yet another club, though Thomas wondered if he could call it exactly that. This place was a lot darker than the previous one and a lot more 'smokey', he guessed he could say, but the boy couldn't deny that there were plenty of people here too. After looking around he noticed that Jorge and Minho had wandered off somewhere, but everyone else was still next to him.

Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Thomas turned to see if it was someone he knew but in front of him was standing a slightly older woman with clothing that didn't leave too much for the imagination. He gulped, but tried to keep his cool.

"Uh, can I help you?"

"Oh, darling," the woman smiled sweetly, "I just couldn't help but notice when you and your little friends came in." She then glanced to the other three, who were looking at her questioningly. "You seem exactly the kind of people who would want to have some fun. What do you say?" she almost purred, now draping one arm around Thomas' shoulder.

"What kind of 'fun'?" Teresa interjected before Thomas could muster an answer.

The woman quickly let go of Thomas and smiled brightly, now fixing her attention on Teresa. "Don't worry, dear - all of you can join in. Why don't you let me show you?"

The four of them exchanged worried looks.

"Could you let us talk this over first?" Newt asked, taking initiative as no one else said anything.

"Sure, sweetie," the woman winked at him. "Just don't take too long or someone else will catch my attention."

"Don't worry, it'll only take a minute," Newt flashed her a smile before beckoning the other three closer.

"I don't trust her," Teresa said in a hushed voice. "She could be trying to drug us."

"Maybe she's just actually being nice and will give us a discount on the drinks or something?" Thomas said unsure, not really believing his own words.

"I don't know, this seems just a bit too shady to me," Newt murmured seemingly deep in thought.

"I guess that's what I should have expected from you guys," Brenda sighed shaking her head, "but since it's your first time I'll let it slide. From what I can gather, my guess is that she wants us to play some games."

"Games?" Teresa looked at her incredulously.

"Yeah, though probably not something completely legal," Brenda continued. "These places usually have something like that going on in one or two of the back rooms and we just got a VIP invitation," she smirked.

"So you're telling us to agree?" Newt asked.

"Why not?" The girl shrugged. "It might actually be interesting and a new experience for you greenies."

Newt shook his head before smiling. "You live, you learn." He then looked back at the woman, who was leaning on one of the walls and inspecting her nails. "We'll go, but just so you know – we have friends here, so they'll notice if we go missing for too long," he said sternly.

The woman flashed him a smile before turning around and beckoning the group to follow her. Everyone walked in varying enthusiasm and speed but still, they all stepped inside one of the rooms that were to the side of the bar.

There was a huge round table in the middle of the room and Thomas immediately got reminded of those older gangster movies. It looked ridiculously cliché, but he didn't comment on it since there already were some people in the room who didn't look like they would take a joke well. He counted four of them, excluding the woman who had led them inside. There were three men, all of whom had a perpetual frown plastered on their faces and one woman, who gave off the impression that she somehow belonged in this place and yet didn't at all at the same time, leaving Thomas with a weird feeling.

"Hi there!" Brenda cut the silence startling Thomas a little.

"Let's just get to business," one of the men grunted.

"Oh, she was just being nice," the older woman next to him waved her hand.

Thomas gulped when he noticed one of the men, who was bald, intently watching him. The boy stepped a little closer to Newt, though in his head he was already thinking of an escape plan and checking where he could land some hits the easiest.

Everyone sat down around the table: four against four. The cards were dealt by the woman who had let them in and Thomas tried to furiously remember the rules of poker.

"You do know what's at stake?" the third man asked looking everyone over.

"Of course," the one who had been watching Thomas answered.

"What exactly is?" Teresa asked trying to keep her voice steady.

"Let's just say you shouldn't get too attached to your body."

"Seriously?" Newt said in a hushed voice, sounding more frustrated than scared.

The game started and Thomas remembered why he didn't really play it.

He sucked at it.

The boy blamed the fact that he couldn't keep a straight face for longer periods of time. Damn him and his emotions. It looked like Teresa was in a similar bind, though her poker face was a lot better, but maybe luck just wasn't with her that day.

On the other hand, Newt and Brenda were on fire. Both of them had plenty of tokens at their sides even though they had different playing strategies. Newt kept his face completely expressionless and would just silently collect his winnings, but Brenda seemed to love bluffing and interacting with her opponents.

Thomas was just glad that they appeared to be winning as the other group was getting more and more frustrated.

In the end, to the surprise of most – they won.

"Good game, guys, good game," Brenda flashed everyone a smile. "We should do this another time too."

"You wish," the bald man snarled.

"Oh, do I?" Brenda gave him a dangerous look before turning around to her friends. "Mind stepping outside? I'll join you in a minute."

"What about our winnings?" Newt asked.

"I'll take care of it," she said as she lightly pushed them through the door.

The three of them stood outside the room in silence. Thomas couldn't really think of anything to say, so he just watched the sea of people, trying to catch a glimpse of Minho or Jorge.

Eventually, Brenda walked out of the room with a dark vessel in her hands.

"What's that?" Thomas cautiously looked at the black thing.

"Nothing illegal," Brenda shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, mostly. Don't worry about it."

"As long as the police doesn't come after us, I'm fine with that," Newt said. "So anyway, want to go find the other two adventurers?"

Just as he said that they noticed some kind of commotion near the DJ. A group of people appeared to be in a heated argument with plenty of hand gestures and shouting, at least Thomas guessed so, since he couldn't hear anything over the deafening music.

"Wow, seems like quite the party, eh?" a voice suddenly said right into Thomas' ear, making him jump.

"Minho?!" the boy asked angrily. "Don't do stuff like that!"

"Don't hate the player – hate the game."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I dunno," Minho shrugged and looked back at the DJ. "Hey, isn't that Jorge?" He squinted his eyes.

"I think so," Newt joined in. "Maybe we should go check it out?"

"I swear, if he's doing it again…" Brenda grumbled.

The five of them squeezed through the tightly packed dance-floor and finally managed to reach the place of the argument.

Indeed, it was Jorge.

He was surrounded by three other guys, though he didn't seem to care as he angrily gestured around and kept shouting something in… Spanish? Thomas wasn't entirely sure.

Newt nudged Thomas in the arm and pointed at the DJ, who looked quite annoyed. Soon, a bouncer walked close to him and nodded a few times before averting his attention to the shouting people.

"Uh, Jorge?" Thomas tried to catch the attention of his friend, but in vain.

"I think we should just leave early," Teresa sighed, "and I have a hunch Jorge will join us soon."

The group stepped out of the club into the chilling evening air and soon, just as Teresa had said, Jorge walked out through the door fuming.

"Ugh, I can't fucking believe it," he mumbled under his nose.

"There, there. I'm sure you were completely right and the other guys were idiots who don't know any better." Brenda patted him on the back. "What do you say we find some other place to crash and forget about everything?"

"Fine," Jorge said a lot calmer now.

Surprisingly, it didn't take too long to find another club, this time the place looking a lot more colourful than the last one. A neon sign flashed on and off above the large ornamented doors and everyone unanimously agreed that they should check this place out.

The drinks were just as colourful.

After a while Thomas lost count of how many shots he had taken, the only thought in his mind being that he had never realized how many colours were in a rainbow as he took one bright glass after another.

"This is by far the best place we went to!" he exclaimed to whoever seemed to be next to him.

"I guess," Newt laughed a little at the sudden outburst.

"Ah, we should have brought Minho here too," Thomas quickly deflated. "He would have loved it."

"Minho?" Newt looked at him questioningly. "Didn't he come here with us?"

"He did? I didn't notice." The other boy started looking around frantically. "Hey, Brenda, Teresa, Jorge!" he waved enthusiastically at his other friends, shouting from the top of his lungs, even though they were standing only a couple of meters away from him and Newt.

"Did you see Minho?" he asked as the others joined them. "I think he's missing."

"Seriously?" Minho asked, turning around from the bar.

"Yeah, I haven't seen him at all after we got here."

"Damn, maybe he got in some trouble?" Minho put down his bottle, now looking concerned.

"I think I saw him –hic- by the speakers," Brenda said, interrupting herself with a hiccup and gently swaying from one side to another.

"Oh yeah, there were some pretty girls there, I would definitely go there," the Asian boy agreed full-heartedly, nodding vigorously.

"Though I think I just recently saw him in the middle of the dance-floor," Jorge said before they could start heading towards the speakers.

"I mean, the song is pretty good at the moment. I would definitely jam out to it." Minho put a hand to his chin, seemingly deep in thought.

"He might be by the bar too," Teresa joined in. "We did go to it as soon as we came here."

"I think we should all split up," Newt said. "That way we'll find him quicker."

"Okay, Teresa and Newt – you go to the speakers; Brenda and Jorge – try to look for him on the dance-floor, and me and Minho will look around the bar and the tables," Thomas instructed everyone before putting on a serious expression and turning around to head for the bar, which was a few steps from him.

"You think we'll find me?" Minho asked, picking up his bottle again and taking a swig from it. "I hope I'm not in some dark alley doing some shady business."

"Don't worry, Minho," Thomas flashed him a reassuring smile, "we'll find Minho."

The two of them walked around the tables a bit, though most of them were occupied by people who were not Minho. Eventually they reached an empty one. Minho put down his bottle on it and sat down on the sofa.

"Argh, where am I?" he groaned.

"Hey, maybe the others found him?" Thomas also sat down.

"Maybe… wait-" Minho's eyes suddenly widened as he looked at the bottle on the table. "I think I was drinking this. No, I'm pretty sure I was!"

"Really?" Thomas jumped up. "So maybe he's near?"

"He could have sat down here to drink," Minho looked at him excitedly.

"Yeah, YEAH! That's a good idea! Thanks, Minho!" Thomas exclaimed before something clicked in his head as he watched his giddy friend sitting on the sofa in front of him. "Oh my god! We found you!" He threw up his arms in the air and felt the hit something that made a distinct breaking noise as it shattered. The shards fell on the table and Thomas slowly looked up to see a broken lamp that had been hanging above his and Minho's heads.

"Uhh, I think we should go…" he whispered, taking a few steps back.

"Agreed," Minho nodded as he stood up from his seat. "And I think we should find the others."

The two quickly scrambled out from the table area as some people had begun turning their heads to see what had happened. Thomas soon saw Brenda and Jorge and without saying anything he just grabbed both of their arms and continued heading for the speakers.

"Oh, you found Minho?" Jorge asked, not showing any care that he was being dragged.

"Yeah, but we need to leave now," Thomas answered, now searching with his eyes for Newt and Teresa – the two were standing near one speaker and talking with each other.

As soon as they got to them Minho did the same thing that Thomas had done to Brenda and Jorge and the group hurriedly pushed through the people towards the exit.

"Why are we leaving?" Teresa asked looking back behind her. "This place was the best from all the ones we visited tonight."

"Because we might have done something that could compromise us," Thomas said as he pushed Brenda through the door, the girl waving back to someone, or perhaps just the place itself.

"Technically it was your fault," Minho interjected.

"That doesn't matter now," Thomas looked at him a bit irritated. "Let's just go somewhere else. The night is young or whatever."

"I don't think we should pry," Newt said simply and Thomas was thankful for that since the others actually seemed to listen.

"So where to now?" Brenda looked around the emptying street as they left the colourful building.

"I think I see something resembling a club over there," Minho pointed and started walking without waiting for anyone.

"Might as well," Teresa sighed and followed him, the others in tow.

"Well, you weren't wrong," Thomas said, feeling himself being squeezed from every side by people, "this is indeed a club."

"Yeah, but you may have overlooked one minor detail," Newt joined in, awkwardly holding his arms in front of him.

"Which is?" Minho asked, almost shoving his elbow in Thomas' stomach.

"It's a gay one," Teresa answered for him.

"Hey, I take what I can get," Minho shrugged, this time actually hitting Thomas in the nose with his shoulder.

"It's actually pretty nice," Brenda joined in from somewhere Thomas couldn't see, "just a bit too crowded maybe."

"I'm going to try and get a drink," Minho said with a determined expression. "Wish me luck." That said he quickly turned and started shoving his way towards the bar. Thomas decided he might as well follow his friend as that area looked less crowded than where they were all standing at the moment.

When he got to the bar he saw that everyone else had also followed them, each taking a seat at the bar and looking somewhat exhausted. He sat down next to Newt and ordered a glass of water – suddenly he didn't feel like drinking anymore.

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Newt smiled wearily at him and also ordered the same. "I think it's time for all of us to cool down after whatever the hell had happened at the last place, or maybe places would be more accurate."

"Perhaps there was something in the air?" Thomas suggested with a small laugh.

"Or something in all of that colouring that they put in the drinks."

"Could be, though it doesn't seem to have discouraged Minho," Thomas noted as he looked at his friend surrounding himself in glasses.

"Maybe it's like water to him," Newt stated more than asked and also kept his gaze on the Asian boy as he kept pouring everything down his throat. "Is he even tasting anything?"

Suddenly, Minho shot up from his seat, said something that sounded like 'That's my song!' and started climbing up on the bar stool. Everyone watched him in shock and before anyone could drag him down from there he started attempting to break-dance on the table.

Thomas watched in silent awe as his friend spun and only took a few steps back from his seat as his legs swung by his face. He had to admit – for a drunk guy he was doing pretty good.

"Minho, what the hell?" Teresa asked, though without much anger in her voice.

And then as suddenly as it had happened Thomas was taken out of his stupor by the sound of shattering glasses. Apparently Minho hadn't bothered to put them away before he started showing off. By the time he slowly turned his head to look somewhere else the whole club was looking in their direction and the boy felt himself shrink a bit.

Their group had been hanging around on a random bridge for a while in silence before Newt spoke up. "You know, I get the feeling that the universe doesn't really want us going clubbing."

Teresa breathed out a puff of the cold night air and slumped more on the railings. "I think you're right."

"Maybe next time we should just stick to a calm café or a mall?" Jorge asked while looking distantly into the water flowing below them.

"Agreed," everyone mumbled in tired voices.