Chapter 8: Circuit Breaker
The taxi dropped them at the curb a block from the stadium, and Kyle was out the door before the car fully stopped. The night air carried the low thump of bass, vibrating through the pavement like a second heartbeat. Circuit rose ahead of them, all chrome and dark glass, a massive metal structure that looked less like a club and more like a spaceship that had crash-landed next to the freeway.
Kyle spun in a circle, arms wide. "Okay. Okay. This is already the best idea I've ever had."
"You say that every night," Nell said, slamming the taxi door behind her.
"Yeah, but this time it's true."
A figure peeled away from the wall by the entrance. Joaquin, all broad shoulders and easy grin, had a red cup in one hand and his phone in the other. His eyes lit up when he spotted them.
"There he is!" He jogged over, pulling Kyle into a one-armed hug. "Dude, you gotta see this place. It's insane. There's a room that looks like a wormhole."
Kyle's jaw dropped. "A wormhole room? Like, an actual wormhole?"
"Like, a tunnel with lights that spin around you. Feels like you're getting sucked through space." Joaquin's gaze slid past Kyle to Roha, and he grinned. "Yo, Roha! Back in action, bro? You looked a little rough this morning."
"Bro, I am thriving," Roha said, deadpan.
Joaquin laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "I like this guy. He's got that vibe."
"What vibe?" Kyle asked.
"I don't know. The vibe." Joaquin gestured vaguely with his cup. "Come on, let's get inside before the line gets stupid."
The line moved fast. Circuit's bouncer took one look at Kyle's pink hair and waved the whole group through like they were on a guest list they didn't know existed. The door opened into a wall of sound.
Inside, the club was pure chrome and darkness. Panels of light rippled across the ceiling in slow waves, like the inside of some enormous metal lung. The dance floor glowed beneath their feet, a grid of neon squares that pulsed with the bass, lighting up in blues and purples and electric pinks. People moved in clusters, drinks held high, bodies swaying in the colored light.
Kyle gasped. "Okay. I'm moving in. This is home now."
"Please don't," Nell said.
"I'm not. Probably." Kyle grabbed Roha's wrist and dragged him toward the center of the floor. "Come on, we're dancing first. Talking later."
The music hit like a wave. Kyle found the beat instantly, loose and easy, his whole body snapping into rhythm. He moved like he'd been born on a dance floor, all sharp angles and joyful energy. Nell slid in beside him, matching his pace with her own grounded groove.
Roha stood in the middle of it, overwhelmed.
"Just move!" Kyle shouted over the bass. "Nobody's watching!"
He stood there for a long beat, watching Kyle's hips roll and Nell's shoulders drop into the groove. Something in his chest loosened. Last night at Vex, he'd let the music take him. He could do it again.
He started moving. It wasn't Kyle's effortlessness, but it was real. His body found the beat, heavy and deliberate, like a machine warming up. The lights pulsed under his feet, green then gold, and he let himself sink into the rhythm.
"You come here often?"
A guy had materialized beside him. Maybe twenty-two, wearing a crop top that showed off a row of silver piercings down his stomach. He leaned in close, his mouth near Roha's ear.
"No," Roha shouted back. "This is my first time."
The guy grinned. His hand landed on Roha's forearm, light and suggestive. "Well, welcome. I could show you around."
Roha looked at the hand, then at the guy's expectant face. "No thank you."
The guy's smile flickered, confused, before he laughed it off and faded into the crowd. Roha watched him go, then turned back to the rhythm.
It took less than a minute for another one to try. This time it was a taller guy with a shaved head and a chain that caught the light, moving in with a slick step and a confident tilt to his jaw.
"You got a man?"
Roha's brow creased. "I don't understand."
The guy laughed, low and easy. "Like, are you in a relationship?"
Roha considered the question. Three thousand years of servitude, and he'd never even thought about it. "No. I'm bound to a contract."
The guy blinked. "...A contract?"
"Yes."
The guy hovered for a second longer, clearly deciding whether to push, then backed off with a shrug and a muttered "Alright, mysterious guy, do your thing."
Joaquin sidled over, a fresh red cup in his hand, watching the retreating back of the second guy with a low whistle. "Bro, you are stone cold."
"I don't know what that means," Roha said, not slowing his movement.
"It means you just turned down two perfectly good options without even blinking." Joaquin shook his head, grinning. "I respect it, honestly. No wasted energy. We go straight to the dance floor."
Nell had stopped moving, her arms crossed, watching the whole scene unfold with the corner of her mouth twitching. She caught Roha's eye and gave him a small, slow nod. It wasn't approval, exactly. More like recognition. Like she'd seen exactly what he'd done, and it had tilted her opinion of him another degree in his favor.
A third guy drifted by, this one with a flash of green hair and a rhinestone choker. He slid close to Roha, not even bothering with a greeting, just a big smile and a hand sliding up Roha's chest.
"Hey, gorgeous. You dance great. Want to go somewhere quieter?"
Roha's hand closed around the guy's wrist, gentle but firm, lowering it away. "No. I am enjoying the music."
The green-haired guy pouted, but the refusal was so polite and so absolute that he just shrugged and wandered toward the bar. Roha watched him go, then looked at Kyle, who was still dancing, completely oblivious, lost in the lights.
Nell grabbed Kyle's elbow mid-twirl and yanked him out of the rhythm. He stumbled, arms flailing, mouth open in protest.
"Hey! I was vibing!"
"You can vibe in a second." She was already steering him toward the bar, weaving through the bodies. "I need a drink. You're coming with me."
"Why me? Joaquin's right there."
"Because Joaquin will drink my shot if I look away for one second."
Kyle let himself be dragged. The bar was a long slab of glowing white marble, backlit with the same pulsing blue as the dance floor. A bartender with silver hair and a cyberpunk visor slid two neon green drinks at them without being asked.
Kyle grabbed his, took a sip, and made a face. "What is this? It tastes like a glow stick."
"Juniper and something. Drink it." Nell didn't touch hers. She just leaned against the bar, arms crossed, watching him with that look she got when she was about to interrogate him.
"So. The tall, dark, and broody guy."
Kyle blinked. "Roha? What about him?"
"He's been glued to your side for two nights straight." Nell's eyebrow ticked up. "And he just turned down three dudes without even blinking. That's not normal behavior for a random stranger you picked up in an alley."
"He didn't get picked up." Kyle took another sip of the neon drink. It went down smoother than it should have. "We just bumped into each other. I was lost. We connected and I showed him a good time."
"People don't usually stick around after the good time, Kyle. They say thanks and bounce."
"Woah woah woah," Kyle held his hands up, cutting her off. "It wasn't like that. We danced, got a little drunk, then he crashed at my place. We didn't hook up."
Nell's eyebrow arched so high it nearly disappeared into her fade. "Uh-huh."
"We didn't!" Kyle's voice cracked. "I passed out on the floor, man. I woke up on the floor. He was in my bed. There's zero mystery here."
"So you're saying he slept in your bed and you slept on the floor."
"Yes. Exactly. That's exactly what happened."
Nell stared at him. The neon glow caught the edge of her smirk. "You know, I kind of believe you. No one's ever looked that offended at the suggestion they hooked up with you."
"Because it's a slur against my honor," Kyle said, taking another sip of the glow-stick drink. "Or whatever."
Nell snorted and finally picked up her own glass. She swirled it once before tipping it back, her throat working as she swallowed the whole thing in one go. She set the glass down with a sharp clack.
"Okay. Fine. He's just a cool guy you picked up in a dark alley."
"That's not how I'd phrase it."
"How would you phrase it?"
Kyle paused, one finger tapping against his glass. "We found each other," he said finally. "Fate, or whatever. The universe said you two should dance."
Nell gave him a long, flat look. "The universe doesn't usually work in dark alleys at three in the morning."
"Last night it did."
She shook her head, but she was smiling. She motioned for the bartender to refill her glass, then turned to look at the dance floor. Roha was still moving. Joaquin had sidled up next to him, red cup in hand, bobbing along with the beat. They looked ridiculous together, Joaquin all loose-limbed and laughing, Roha rigid and precise.
"He's weird," Nell said.
"Yeah." Kyle grinned. "Isn't he great?"
"Sure, Kyle. Sure. Soooo... ?"
"So what?"
Nell facepalmed so hard the sound of it cut through the bass. "Are you gonna go for him, or not?"
Kyle choked on his glow-stick drink. "What? Who? Roha? No. No way. He's just a friend. I told you. We're friends."
"He just turned down three guys on the dance floor," Nell said, slow and deliberate, like she was explaining something to a child. "He told me he's 'drawn' to you. Are you gonna do anything about it?"
Kyle's face went pink. Not neon pink, not his hair pink. An actual, honest-to-god blush that crept up his cheeks and settled on his ears.
"That doesn't mean he's into me! That means he's, like, drawn to my vibe. My energy. People are drawn to me all the time. I'm a magnet."
"Mm-hmm." Nell took a sip of her drink, watching him over the rim. "And how many of those people slept in your bed last night?"
"He was tired! He'd had a long day! I offered my bed because I'm a good host!" Kyle was waving his hands now, the glass sloshing dangerously close to the edge.
Nell grabbed Kyle's glass and took a sip of it herself, just to watch him sputter. "You ever actually look at him? Like, really look at him."
"Of course I look at him. I'm not blind."
"Right. So you've noticed the shoulders. The jaw. The way his shirt fits like it was tailored by someone who knew exactly what they were doing."
Kyle's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. He looked across the dance floor without meaning to, and there was Roha, still moving with that heavy, deliberate rhythm. The lights caught the line of his shoulders, the way his long hair fell across his face when he turned. Joaquin was next to him, saying something with his hands, and Roha was listening with that serious expression he always wore, like every word mattered.
Kyle's stomach did a weird little flip he didn't have a name for.
"He's hot," Kyle admitted. "Objectively. Anyone with eyes would say that."
"Uh-huh."
"But that doesn't mean I wanna, like, explore anything. We're friends. Good friends. Best friends, maybe. You don't mess with that."
Nell said nothing. She just looked at him, one eyebrow up, and took another sip of his drink.
On the dance floor, Joaquin was in full swing. His cup sloshed as he gestured at the ceiling.
"So anyway, this one time at Eclipse, right? They had this whole underwater theme, like, projection mapping on the walls, and the DJ dropped this remix that made the whole floor feel like it was tilting. I don't know how they did it. Some engineering magic or whatever."
Roha nodded along, his body still finding the beat. "And people enjoyed this?"
"Enjoyed it? Bro, people lost their minds. There was this one girl, she was crying. Crying! Because the music was so good." Joaquin shook his head. "I mean, she was also on like three different things, but still. It was a moment."
"A moment," Roha repeated.
"Yeah, man. A moment. You know what I mean."
Roha didn't know. But Joaquin kept talking, kept grinning, kept treating him like he'd been part of the group forever.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" The question slipped out before he could stop it.
Joaquin blinked. "Huh?"
"To me. I'm a stranger. You don't know me. And you're telling me about crying girls and tilting dance floors."
Joaquin shrugged. "You're Kyle's friend, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, then you're my friend too. That's how it works." He clinked his cup against Roha's empty hand. "Welcome to the crew, dude."
Roha stared at him. Joaquin was still utterly oblivious, just like Kyle.
Kyle and Nell weaved back through the crowd, neon squares lighting up under their feet with every step. Joaquin spotted them first and threw his arms wide like he was welcoming them to a family reunion.
"There they are! The main event!" He grabbed Kyle in a quick side hug. "Took you long enough. I was starting to think you ditched us for the wormhole room."
"The wormhole room is still on my list," Kyle said, already bouncing to the beat again. "I just needed a drink first."
"Fair. Fair." Joaquin nodded at the glowing green drink in Kyle's hand. "What is that, a glow stick?"
"It tastes like one too."
Nell stepped behind Kyle, quiet and deliberate. Before he could react, she planted both hands on his shoulder blades and shoved. Hard.
Kyle stumbled forward with a yelp, arms pinwheeling, and crashed straight into Roha. The impact was solid, chest to chest. Roha's hands came up automatically, catching him by the waist and steadying him before he could hit the floor.
The music kept thumping. The lights kept pulsing. Kyle looked up at Roha's face, so close he could see the gold flecks in his grey eyes, and his blush returned with a vengeance.
"Sorry," Kyle managed. "Nell pushed me. She's a menace."
Roha didn't let go right away. His hands stayed on Kyle's waist, warm and steady. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Totally. I'm fine." Kyle laughed, a little too high, a little too breathless. "This is fine. We're dancing. We're just dancing, right?"
"If you'd like."
Kyle's brain short-circuited. He opened his mouth, closed it, then just started moving. His body found the beat on instinct, hips rolling, shoulders dropping. And somehow, impossibly, Roha moved with him.
It wasn't synchronized. Roha's rhythm was heavier, more deliberate, like a slow tide against Kyle's quick current. But they fit anyway. Kyle stepped in, Roha stepped back. Kyle spun, Roha turned. The space between them stayed small, charged with something neither of them named.
Nell and Joaquin had fallen in on either side of them, moving with the flow. Joaquin was grinning, cup held high, lost in the music. Nell was more restrained, but her eyes kept flicking to Kyle and Roha with a satisfied little smirk that Kyle chose to ignore.
Roha looked at them. Joaquin, who had welcomed him into the crew without a second thought. Nell, who had threatened him, then softened, then pushed her best friend into his arms. Kyle, who had spent his first wish on friendship instead of gold.
Three people. None of them wanted anything from him.
The realization hit Roha like a wave, unexpected and warm. In three thousand years, no one had ever just accepted him. They'd used him, commanded him, feared him. But these three, they just wanted him to have a good time. That was all. That was everything.
"You're smiling," Kyle said, a little breathless.
"What?"
"Your face. It's doing a thing." Kyle grinned, bright and unguarded. "Looks good on you."
Roha's smile widened. It still felt strange, like a coat that didn't quite fit, but it was getting easier. He let the music take him, let Kyle's energy pull him along, and for the first time in three thousand years, he didn't feel like a genie.
He felt like a friend.