"Dare." Gally blurted out, in reply to Minho's question.

Minho's gaze fell on him, expression lit up in surprise and amusement. He took a second to think, before a smirk rested on his lips evilly. Gally swallowed nervous, suddenly looking very regretful.

"I dare you to run out in the rain, and do a lap of the Glade."

An echo of laughter passed through the room, and Gally's face instantly dropped. He let out a sigh of exhaustion, looking to Alby for help, but the leader only shrugged in reply. His eyes then fell on Ada, who giggled at his reluctance to go through with it.

At the responses of amusement from his friends, he ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, before trudging over to the door. As he stepped outside, it became apparent that the rain was only getting heavier.

It took him a second, and many shouts of encouragement from the warmth of the Homestead, for Gally to get moving. He started off slowly, jogging carefully to avoid slipping, but as he got more soaked from the rain, he picked up the pace to try and get back as quickly as possible.

When he returned to the room, shivering and grumbling, Alby was quick to ban any dares that involved going out in the rain. To say that Gally was angry he said this after he went out in the rain and not before, would be an understatement.

Those involved in the game now sat themselves into a circle on the floor of the Council room. For once, the problems in the Glade seemed to have been forgotten, and for a brief amount of times they were only teenagers playing a game.

Over the course of the game, a number of weird things happened. Minho was asked to admit his crush on Newt by a sneaky Ada - but somehow he still managed to avoid the question - Frypan was dared to try and make a giant sandwich using an entire loaf of bread, and Newt was forced into attempting to layer on twenty jumpers.

About an hour into their shenanigans, Gally and Ada were taken aside by Alby. The girl was a little annoyed, seeing as she hadn't been asked yet, but kept her mouth shut as the leader seemed to be concerned at the ongoing outpour. Alby instructed them to head over to the Bloodhouse, where there was a number of spare towels, blankets and clothes that they could use in warming everyone up.

They were more than happy to take a break from the busy Council room, especially if it meant being in the company of one another. Ada was first to head outside, with Gally making a show of his alleged annoyance in having to do the same. Alby watched the pair in amusement, choosing to say nothing to Gally's fake display of irritancy as he caught up to the girl. 

He really thought of himself as a matchmaker.

Reaching the Bloodhouse, Ada stopped in the middle of the barn, averting her eyes from the tables splattered with blood. She shivered a little, having already look at them by accident, and being reminded of her short time spent as a Slicer.

Gally had began to gather towels and blankets from the corner of the barn, and so the girl moved in an instant to help him, trying her best to not get distracted by the boy's rather attractive look of concentration playing on his face. He started droning on about being forced into the rain more than anyone else, and Ada pretended to feel sorry for him as they wandered back towards the Homestead at a slower pace than they should've.

They seemed to have forgotten that the things they were collecting were supposed to stay dry.

"Don't you ever just want to dance in the rain?"

"Definitely not."

"Was that a yes I heard?" She teased him, dropping her load of supplies under the shelter of the Homestead, and backing her way back out into the rain. Gally reluctantly did the same, a nervous look on his face at the cheeky smile present on hers.

"Ada-"

Gally's yell was interrupted by the girl grabbing a hold of his hand and yanking him onto the grass with her. As her other hand met his shoulder, he was forced - well really he chose - to take her waist and let her twirl him around in a circle.

Despite his previous irritancy, Gally couldn't help but let out a laugh as she dramatically whirled them around in circles in some strange dance. The water was still heavy, but neither of them seemed to care, and as Ada whipped around her head, her hair stuck to her face and shielded her vision.

Gally stopped her chaos for just a moment, chuckling softly as he drew her closer using the hand on her waist, and took his other away from her grasp to gently brush away the strands across her face. She suddenly froze up, feeling his fingers brush against her skin and tuck her hair behind her ear, smiling down at her innocently as if he didn't just send butterflies wild in her stomach.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Minho's voice yelled from the doorway to the Homestead, watching them as though they were crazy. 

Ada immediately shrunk away from Gally, causing his arm to drop from her waist shyly. Minho's eyes widened in realisation, and a smirk settled on his lips as he looked between the pair. He threw his hands up as he turned on his heel, shouting again to say, 

"Don't mind me!"

You're a shank, Minho.

Turning back to Gally, Ada suddenly felt like she had no idea how to talk to him. He was avoiding her glance, instead looking to where they had discarded the towels, blankets and extra clothes under the safety of the Homestead roof.

"We should-" She started awkwardly, breaking off when he finally looked her way. Gesturing to the Homestead, she shuffled forwards and spoke again. "We should get back in."

Gally simply nodded, moving after her, and they walked in silence back to the Council room. Although Minho genuinely meant no harm, he interrupted at the exact wrong moment, and now Ada and Gally were completely and utterly useless in communicating with one another.

They scooped up the supplies they collected and made their way inside the room, clothes soaked through completely from the rain. They missed the disapproving glance that Alby shot them, because their eyes were both set on the floor, too embarrassed from their moment to look at anyone let alone each other.

"Ada! You haven't gone yet!"

She couldn't recognise the boy that spoke to her, but he seemed friendly enough, and so she sat down in the circle with an expectant smile to him. It certainly distracted her from her Gally panic. He exchanged a knowing smirk with one of his friends - that she didn't understand - and then the boy turned back to ask her,

"Truth or dare?"

She decided firmly that although the rain was fun, she didn't want to get anymore wet than she already was, so didn't bother chancing the option of dare.

"Truth."

The boy didn't hesitate in asking, "Have you done anything since getting to the Glade?"

The question caused a ripple of stifled laughs to rush through the boys, although Minho and Newt shared furious expressions at the suggestive question being posed. Ada was innocently oblivious, her eyebrows furrowing together as she tried to make sense of it.

"This is getting seriously inappropriate-"

Newt attempted to intervene, spurred on by an angry Minho who looked like he wanted to punish the boys a lot harsher than just a verbal scolding. But Ada interrupted him, still so naïve to their intentions.

"-What do you mean, 'done anything'?"

"They mean," The voice that jumped in to explain made her tense up. She hadn't noticed the just as tense - or maybe even more so - Gally beside her, seething silently. "Have you kissed anyone?" Zart paused in his explanation, eyes flickering over her resentfully as if he was bottling up rage. "Or done anything more."

Again, his suggestion made laughter sound out in the group, and this time Ada knew why. She could feel her cheeks burning bright with embarrassment and with the fact that no matter what she said, no one would believe her.

"No. I haven't." She replied coldly, but the quirked eyebrows and unbreaking smiles directed on her only proved her previous point: no matter what she said, no one would believe her.

Apart from her friends.

"Don't you think that's enough, slintheads?" Minho was almost growling, instinctively in protective mode over his friend, and now the laughter had vanished completely.

"Time to pack it up." Newt squeezed Minho's shoulder, to tell him to calm down, as he took over in ordering the Gladers around. He shot Ada an apologetic glance, who simply gave him a tight-lipped smile in return. "Into your sleeping bags, shanks."

Ada stayed where she was as everyone settled down for the night, smiling half heartedly at those who wished her goodnight and then fell asleep within minutes. Before she knew it, everyone had dropped asleep, except for one other.

Gally shuffled into his sleeping bag beside her, chancing a glance to her and awkwardly looking away when he realised that she was watching him. At the realisation that she was not yet asleep, he shuffled so he was sat beside her. After a moment, he spoke, very quietly.

"I'm sorry they asked you that klunk. Some boys in this place are just messed up."

"Yeah, I guess." She mumbled in reply, eyes darting to where Zart was sleeping soundly across the room.

"Did something, uh-" Ada missed the half sentence Gally spoke before he cut himself off quickly, cursing under his breath.

"What?"

The way she looked at him told Gally that he was not getting away with not asking her the question. She was far too curious to let him just forget about it, and she knew for a fact that he didn't stop speaking because he lost his train of thought.

"Did something happen with Zart? He just- he looked at you weirdly when he was explaining what that other shank meant." Gally shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eyesight with the girl. "It's like he's got some sort of problem with you."

"I think the problem is that nothing happened with Zart."

Gally didn't seem to pick up on the implications of her words as he tilted his head to look at her questioningly. She looked quickly back the boy, making sure he was still asleep, before explaining,

"He made a pass at me, a while back, and I rejected him. I dunno, I guess he wanted me to admit it in front of everyone - to embarrass me or something."

"That slinthead."

Ada's eyes grew wide when she caught sight of how furious Gally looked. He clenched his jaw, seething heavily, his eyes screaming bloody murder.

"I am going to kill that shank the next chance I get-" Gally's voice was getting dangerously loud, close to the point of waking people up, but Ada was more concerned about the threat that the Builder was directing to an unsuspecting Zart.

"Gally, please!" She grabbed his arm, hissing back at him as quietly but as forcefully as possible.

She managed to silence him long enough to slid her hand down his arm and briefly squeeze his hand. She had his full attention now. Suddenly, he was completely frozen in place, watching her very carefully as she took away her hand and moved to sit back against the wall with her shoulder brushing ever so slightly against his.

"Gally, please don't do anything." She spoke so softly that Gally almost missed her words.

She pleaded him desperately with her eyes. There was nothing she wanted less than Gally making a fuss over her. Begrudgingly, he unclenched his jaw and huffed in defeat. Slumping back against the wall in an identical way to her, he only pressed their shoulders together more firmly.

"Only 'cause you don't want me to. But please, let me know if you change your mind."

"I'll make sure I do." She replied, a hint of amusement underlying in her tone.

They settled into a soft silence with Ada's last words, and Gally felt his breath hitching at the sound of her gentle breathing beside him. He didn't know why she made him so nervous, but he both loved and hated it at the same time.

Involuntarily, Ada's eyes began to flutter closed, and it was becoming increasingly harder to keep them open. She shuffled again, the shoulder that was previously resting gently against Gally's arm only pressing more firmly against him.

And then, she rested her head on his shoulder.

As her eyes closed completely, his shot open, wider than before. Without moving, Gally tried his best to sneak glances at the girl sleeping on his shoulder as best as he could. All he wanted to figure out was if she did it intentionally or not.

But that's something that not even Ada knew the answer to.