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Chapter 12: Drunk Honesty

Mason worked his way through the crowd, his eyes focused on ahead of black twists and the laughing man who wore them. He closed the gap between the two of them, and when he knew he was within hearing distance, he yelled.

"Tobias! Hey!" The aforementioned man turned around, a smile quickly growing on his face.

"Hey, Mason." Tobias grinned, pulling Mason into a quick hug which Mason returned. "I was wondering when I would see you."

"Yeah, I have already been here for, like, half an hour," Mason told him, sighing with a shake of his head. "It took me 15 minutes to find my friends and I was steps behind them when we came in!"

Tobias and Mason laughed and talked, catching up a bit on how each other's night had been so far and what they planned to do. Tobias offered Mason a drink and Mason nearly took it before he remembered his role for the night, and to distract himself, he got a large cup of his favourite soda. Having the sweet liquid sliding down his throat at regular intervals more than made up for the loss of alcohol.

In fact, after Mason waved goodbye to Tobias to move about the room, he found himself enjoying the night even more than usual. Alcohol has the depressant high which he knew was fun. But while he was sober, he could watch all the hilarious drunk people around him, think of what characters and animals they reminded him of, and record them all to send to his friends the next day. It was like watching a movie and Mason loved movies.

He was laughing about a guy who had slipped while he was hitting on a girl when someone walked up to him.

"Well hello there. Do you come here often?" The familiar voice asked, and Mason was already laughing when he turned to see Gabe.

Gabe wore a simple outfit, dark jeans, a tight red shirt, and a jacket that was thrown on top. The man's hair was as messy as ever, but the curls appeared to be more defined. He had what Mason could smell to be bear in his hand and grinned widely as he stared down at the shorter boy.

"No, actually. It's my first time." Mason answered, turning flirtily to Gabe while keeping up the act. "You?"

Gabe shrugged, licking his lips with a cocky look on his face.

"Been around these parts a few times, I must admit. But I've never seen a babe quite like you in all my rounds." Gabe was using what Mason had to guess to be a country accent, a cheeky and flirty grin on his lips the entire time. The compliment rolled down Mason's back. He was used to Gabe's faux flirting and didn't take it any more seriously now that the man was drunk. Gabe looked over at the dance floor before bringing his eyes back to Mason. "Wanna go dance?"

Mason giggled, gulping down the last of what was in his cup and sighing loudly before grinning up at Gabe.

"Absolutely."

Mason only got a second to put his empty glass down before Gabe was dragging him onto the dance floor. Gabe didn't just stop once they were standing at the edge. He weaved the two of them through the crowd of moving bodies, only stopping once in every direction they turned to they couldn't properly see the wall.

Without a second of hesitation, Gabe pulled Mason into him. Gabe's moves were quite smooth, practiced, so Mason shrugged and moved with him. His head moved from side to side carelessly, moving to the beat and acting as if every around him were there to dance with him.

Gabe really only had Mason to himself for a minute before Mason was dancing with another guy. Then a girl. Then some other girl. Mason found out that night that he didn't need to be drunk to be a slut on the dance floor. Gabe was forced to just watch as Mason felt himself against anyone who came close.

When Mason decided to take a break, he realized that he couldn't see Gabe anyone. And guessing from his position on the dance floor, he hadn't moved. Gabe had left. Mason shrugged off the thought since it was much of a loss to him and made his way back to the bar again.

With another cup of soda in hand, Mason made his way over to some of the comfy chairs lined up on the side. He was about to sit down when he noticed Jasmine seated not much further down, sitting awkwardly next to Kellie and the guy that Kellie was making out with. Jasmine was sipping on her drink, scooting away from the two, and watching the crowd in front of them. Mason laughed as he made his way over to his friends.

"Hey, guys!" He grinned, causing Kellie and the stranger to pull apart from each other due to surprise. Jasmine seemed relieved to see him and Mason knew that he had made the right choice.

"Hey." It was Kellie who replied first. "Mason this is Josh. Josh, this my friend Mason."

Josh stared up dazedly at Mason, and if Mason had to guess, he had been doing some sort of drug. Kellie scowled.

"Josh, say hi."

"Hi." Josh said, repeating after Kellie before he went and squeezed her ass. "I'm bored, I want the pu-"

"We'll be going now! I'll text you two later, alright?" Kellie told them, loudly interrupting the words that had been coming out of her guy's mouth. She muttered some more words to him as she pulled him away. "Why don't we go and find a room."

Jasmine and Mason watched the two leave the club, and once they turned the corner to the exit, Jasmine burst out in laughter.

"Oh my God!" She laughed, gasping in breaths when her body couldn't continue a laugh any longer. "Man, I love Kellie but it was so awkward being next to them while he was trying to finger fuck her on the seat. Like, I don't know if it is the weed or what but that man with her, Josh or whatever, was horny!"

"I could tell." He agreed, only needing that one comment of his as evidence. "Why didn't you just leave?"

Jasmine shrugged.

"I kind of felt awkward about it." She told him before she seemed to have another thought. "Plus I would have been able to see where she jerking him off and I have had too much alcohol tonight to safely climb over this table."

Mason laughed, sitting in a chair a bit further away from Jasmine, uncomfortable sitting where Kellie and Josh had just been.

"So, do you know where the others are?" He asked her, looking around the club briefly. Jasmine nodded and started to look towards the bar before making an "ah-ha" sound and pointing.

"Your friend Gabe is at the bar over there flirting with some Latino guy." Jasmine said, causing Mason to follow her gaze to where Gabe was talking to a very short and very built, tanned man. "Puerto Rican I'm guessing."

Mason hummed, finding Gabe's current activities quite on brand. Jasmine's gaze shifted, moving over to the dance floor in front of them. She was looking straight ahead, squinting her eyes until she landed on who she was looking for.

"There, next to the girl with the bright purple wig." Jasmine quickly described, grabbing Mason's attention and allowing him to find them. "Daniel, Clark, and Tobias."

At the moment, Daniel was doing a terrible impression of what Mason guessed to be the dougie, Tobias was pulling out the classic dab, and Clark was milly rocking. Mason and Jasmine started to laugh.

"Daniel and Clark had been doing a cheesy dance battle. Tobias wandered onto the dance floor, Daniel recognized him, and next thing I saw your friend was joining in." Jasmine explained, the two of them watching the performance. Mason soon noticed how Tobias wasn't really "battling", he was just watching, following along, and laughing repeatedly at what the other two did.

Like the adorable follow body he is. Mason thought admirably, chuckling at his own mental joke.

Clark then went and pulled out the whip, followed right after by the nae nae. It was a big move and Daniel's eyes narrowed at the challenge. Clark was still doing his move as he waited for Daniel's rebuttal, while Tobias who had been copying Clark, paused to see what Daniel would do next. Jasmine and Mason saw Daniel's hand clench into a fist before it went up.

"No no no no no . . . " Mason muttered, eyes widening in fear.

"Oh my God." Whispered Jasmine, hands going to cover her mouth. "He's going to do it, isn't he?"

Reluctantly, Mason nodded.

"I think so."

And in the next moment, Daniel began to shoot.

"Ay!" Tobias yelled, shooting as well despite it being clumsy due to how drunk he was. In fact, all three of them were drunk and the entire battle had looked silly not just because of the moves but how wobbly they all were as they did them.

Jasmine let out a quiet giggle, seeing that Clark had admitted defeat, and began to shoot as well. Mason was shaking his head and already done with his three friends shooting on the dance floor.

"So, where's Mark?" Mason asked, looking around the room as discreetly as he could. Jasmine abruptly stopped in her movement of reaching for her drink. She began to look at Mason pointedly, to tease about his crush on her twin, before realizing she had spoken about everyone's whereabouts except for Mark.

"Oh, I don't know." Jasmine admitted, causing Mason to stop in his search and blink down at Jasmine. Jasmine sighed annoyed at Mason's accusing gaze. "I haven't seen him in, like, an hour. I'm not just trying to keep you from your beloved lover, Mason."

Mason sighed, nodding his head in acceptance and looking around the club again with a thoughtful gaze. His eyes were about to move down to the dance floor again, the most likely place for Mark to be able to hide when he noticed the metal railing of the upper level. So, Mason looked up.

The upper level was open, meaning that anyone leaning on the railing could look down and see the entirety of the club, but they could also walk back where they had a wide amount of space. There were, from what Mason could see, some single and double couches and tables as well as some metal chairs. Mason would assume that it was more quiet and secluded up there. Making it an even better place for Mark to hide.

"Maybe upstairs." Suggested Mason aloud, grabbing the attention of Jasmine whose eyes immediately snapped up. Jasmine looked at the little of the upper area that she could see.

"Yeah, that would make sense." She said simply, drawing a chuckle from Mason. Now, the first thing he wanted to do was go up and look for Mark. But, he decided to stay there with Jasmine where the two talked for the next half hour or so.

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At some point, Jasmine's attention was drawn elsewhere. At this point, Mason was dying to head upstairs and he saw this as his chance. He quickly made his escape as he noticed Jasmine flirting with a random guy and headed to the bar. He made quick work of getting himself another soda before he started for the staircase.

Mason glanced around him cautiously, somewhat afraid that he would be stopped before he got upstairs. No one came to stop him, and in a couple of seconds, he was looking down on the dance floor.

The overhead view was something else. It almost made Mason feel as if he was a spirit, or God, watching over the events from the quiet of the upper floor. And quiet it was. The speakers were all on the floor, so the volume was decreased a ton from where he now stood.

Mason considered staying where he was right next to the stairs and leaning over the railing but decided that he would find Mark first. He leant against the railing and scanned the upper level, eyes searching for a certain man with dark brown hair, clad in all black.

He found him near one of the farther ends, leaning on the same side of the railing as him. Mark had a beer bottle in hand, taking regular swigs every couple of seconds. Mason smiled and began walking towards him. He stopped a few steps away from him, not wanting Mark to notice him. It was one of his rare opportunities to stare at Mark without any fear or worry.

Mason leant against the railing again, eyes fixated on Mark. Mason took a sip of his drink and realized that he should have thought of Mark being up here sooner. It was just like him. It was funny really, Mark was amazing with people, everyone in his family was, but he would regularly find ways to pull away from the crowd and be alone.

Mason had spent plenty of nights wondering if Mark had disappeared because he hadn't liked him, or because there was something wrong. It took him a while to understand that it was just who Mark was and he shouldn't take it personally. But, Mason somehow never wanted to leave him alone.

There was this secret fear that Mark would suddenly look up and feel like he needed a friend, needed someone. Mason wanted to make sure that Mark knew that someone would always be there.

That and Mason just really enjoyed Mark's company. Especially in recent days, the two spent more of their time together cracking jokes then doing anything else and when they spoke, Mason felt like he was being allowed to get a glimpse of Mark's heart. Knowing that it was hard for him to not try to be around Mark whenever he could.

Mason sighed, resting his chin on his palm as he continued to watch Mark. He could literally feel that it was starting to get creepy, but Mason didn't want to stop. He could've stood there forever, admiring Mark and remembering conversations and times that they had been together.

But, Mason eventually decided that it would be a better idea to let Mark know that he was there. Mason scooted in closer and leant onto the railing next to Mark, letting his glass hang over the club. Mark looked up, slightly startled, before grinning widely when he saw that it was Mason. Mason chuckled, bumping Mark's fist after Mark put his out.

"Hey, what are the chances that I would see you up here?" Mark asked cheesily, smirking as he eyed my body for a moment. I shrugged with a small smirk.

"Pretty good I guess, since I came up here to find you." Mason told him, gaining a slightly surprised look from Mark.

"Yeah?" Asked Mark unnecessarily.

"Yeah." Mason looked down at the club before bringing his gaze back to Mark who was now biting his bottom lip. Mason's eyes lasered in on the action and he swallowed heavily, now distracted. Mark laughed and Mason blinked several times to refocus.

"This place is pretty sick." Mark commented casually, looking over the room with a lazy smile. "I wouldn't mind us coming back here."

"Yeah . . . " Mason agreed, pulling his eyes away from Mark to look over the dance floor. He took another gulp of his soda before his eyes landed on some familiar faces. "Those three are having a great time."

Mark tried to follow Mason's stare, laughing when he finally found who Mason was looking at. Jasmine had joined them and all four of them were now flossing terribly in the center of the dance floor. Mark and Mason laughed at their terrible dancing, pointing out when any of them did something particularly dumb or silly.

After Mason and Mark decided to stop making fun of their friends, and Mason had gotten another video of them, Mark turned to look at an empty space in the corner. Mark gestured over to the space, looking back at Mason.

"Do you want to go sit down?" Mark asked, earning an eyebrow raise from Mason.

"On the floor, when there are all these free seats around us?" Asked Mason in returned, gaining a laugh from Mark.

"Yeah actually." Mason scoffed loudly, and Mark laughed as he tried to defend his case. "Come on, it will be more fun that way."

Mason didn't really believe any of what Mark was spewing, but he decided to go along with it. He sighed and nodded in agreement, so when Mark started to walk over to the small space of wall in the corner, Mason followed. They sat where the two corners met, so Mason had to throw his legs over Mark's so they could sit as close together as they did.

The two chuckled as they adjusted themselves. It was awkward for a moment, sitting and touching as much as they did. But the two of them quickly got used to it and were comfortable again.

Mark went quiet for a second, holding his bottle against his lips as he watched Mason. A wave of awareness hit Mason. Suddenly every place where a part of his body touched Mark's was hot and Mark's gaze on him was the hottest of all. Mason quickly sparked up a conversation, trying to distract himself from the sudden awareness.

Mark didn't really notice Mason's behaviour and responded as usual. After several minutes passed of the two talking, Mason was able to ignore it and listen to the words coming out of Mark's mouth. Suddenly, the club was like any other place the two were in, and the two friends conversed and laughed like any other day.

Mason felt the length of the night hit him and, for some reason, thought it a good idea to rest his head against Mark's shoulder. Mark's heart jumped every time that he looked down and found Mason's head breaths away from his. With all the alcohol inside of him, it was hard to rationalize the emotion.

He really wanted to kiss Mason; it was the only thing on his mind. He stared at the top of his head, breathing onto the head of curly hair as Mason continued to speak. The words began to go through one ear and out the other. He was too focused on Mason.

Mason was laying his head against his shoulder and his legs against Mark's. Mason who's melodic voice continued to flow over Mark's ears as gentle background noise to the thoughts running through Mark's head. A couple of words got through Mark's muddled brain, words that shocked him.

"It would be so weird if Gabe was actually into me." Mason thought aloud, chuckling at the simple thought of it. "It would really change the dynamic of our relationship, you know? Plus it wouldn't make sense. There are plenty of cute guys for him to be into. I don't know why he would pick me."

Mark was seriously flabbergasted. Gabe, that asshole, not choosing Mason? Mason was way out of his league, he would only be so lucky to get Mason. And Mason not thinking that Gabe would choose him.

Mark wanted to be happy that Mason was still unaware of Gabe liking him, and if he was thinking soundly, he would continue to let Mason think that Gabe didn't like him. But it rubbed him all types of wrong ways thinking that his Mason thought so poorly of himself. The alcohol seemed to remove Mark's filter, and he was suddenly speaking.

"You really have no idea how sexy you are?" Said Mark in disbelief. Mason was dumbstruck, completely shocked by the words that came out of Mark's mouth. Mason's mouth opened and closed as he struggled to find a response.

"You mean to gay guys?" Mason asked with a laugh, trying to ease the meaning of the statement.

"To me." Mark replied. Mason pulled his head off of Mark's shoulder, sitting up to look Mark in the eye. The two were so close, and while Mason thought of kissing Mark, he stayed so close to trying to read Mark's eyes. See if he was being honest. Mark's eyes swept down to Mason's pouty lips, and he began to lick his own. Mark began to lean forward, and Mason panicked at the thought of Mark trying to kiss him. What would he do? Kiss him back? Pull away? Mason hadn't decided yet when Mark suddenly hiccupped and pulled back to take another swig of his beer.

"Ugh, sorry." Mark told him, going to have another drink of his beer then realizing that it was empty. He threw the bottle away carelessly and laughed. "Even sitting down my balance is now shit."

Mason's shoulders fell, realizing that Mark's words and actions were just the results of some alcohol. He should have known. He had been around Mark drinking countless times. The guy was always more relaxed and chill, even more than usual. He would say whatever he wanted and smile like no tomorrow. And that was if he was still awake because usually, he got so tired that he was napping halfway through the party, waking up to repeat the cycle all over again.

Probably didn't even mean the words coming out of his mouth. Mason thought with a sigh. Really, he was only thinking about one sentence in particular. Yeah, he doesn't believe that I'm sure.

Mason, now very disappointed, decided that it was time for him and Mark to join the others. Mason's night was already over after this situation. So, he rather not have to battle with his brain and heart while he sat next to Mark for the rest of the time they were here.

Mason fumbled a bit as he got up from over Mark's legs before turning around and putting out his hand for Mark.

"Come on. Let's go join the others." Mason told him, to which Mark complied by taking his hand and standing up.

Mason took a sip of his now flat soda, him and Mark now walking over to the stairs. Before they had even taken three steps, Jasmine was appearing at the top of the stairs. She began grabbing her heels one at a time, a deep frown on her lips as she cursed at the things before she stood back up. She then noticed the boys and called out to them with a "come here" sweep of her arm. Mason began to move faster and had to pull Mark along since he did not care about keeping his sister waiting.

Jasmine tiredly threw her hands on her hips as the boys walked up to her.

"We're all tired. We want to head out and you're the only person who stayed sober enough to drive." Jasmine explained to Mason, eyeing the glass in his hand. "Or not . . . is that beer?"

Mason shook his head, taking a final gulp out of the large cup.

"Soda. I wanted to keep myself occupied. And with its colour, I fit right in." Mason told her, sighing as he finished the cup. "Come on, let's go. I was actually tired of this place too."

Mark and Mason began to follow Jasmine as she turned to go downstairs, but she suddenly stopped.

"Oh, by the way, we want to give Daniel and Tobias a ride." Jasmine said, eyes wide as she finally remembered what had been on her mind. "They are both way too drunk to take the transit alone and we have the extra space now that Kellie went off with that guy."

"Which guy?" Mark asked, surprised by the new, to him, development. He was soon ignored.

"But there is still one extra person. How will you guys fit?" Mason asked, thinking of the six of them fitting into a five-seater.

"I can just sit on Mark's lap." Jasmine told them, getting a shocked look from Mark.

"I never agreed to that." Mark commented, which was also ignored.

"As long as you two are comfortable." Mason replied, knowing that Mark's protests wouldn't have any effect on Jasmine. "You can go round everyone up. I need to use the bathroom first."

Jasmine nodded in understanding and took her brother's hand before pulling him down to the first floor. Mason followed behind them, turning in the opposite direction to head off to the bathroom. After relieving his bladder of all the soda he drank, he washed his hands and looked up into the mirror.

While staring at his own eyes, nose, lips, cheeks, Mason's mind wandered back to what Mark had said not too long before. Mason thought that Mark had probably just been spouting utter nonsense, but Mark had never been known to lie or say anything but the truth when drunk.

Honest drunks were a thing, right?

But Mason tried to push those thoughts back. Those were the thoughts that made him overly hopeful. Those were the thoughts that could get him into trouble if he listened. Mason was walking back through the club, finding Jasmine standing with the majority of their group near the entrance. Mason remembered the person who was missing and quickly went to ask Clark about him.

"Gabe?" Clark responded, frowning softly as he thought over the last time he saw him. "I think your friend left a while ago. Saw him with some Latino guy."

Jasmine, who had been listening, butted in.

"That Puerto Rican I think!" Yelled Jasmine, thinking that Mason couldn't hear her despite how close they were.

Mason nodded, humming under his breath.

"Alright. I wanted to tell him that we were leaving. But if he's already gone then we can just go." Mason explained to her.

After that, the six of them left. Mark ended up with his sister on his lap, complaining once every fifteen minutes about the injustice of the world. Mason considered telling him about the injustice for him, driving around for nearly two hours and dropping everyone off. But, Mason wouldn't complain. He had a great time tonight and was glad he could help out his friends.

The issue arose when the only people Mason had to drop off were the twins, but the car was Jasmine's. Mason could just take her car back to his place, and Mark could help her pick it up the next day, but Mason felt very crappy about keeping his friend's car. Jasmine was the one who came up with the next solution.

"Why don't you just stay over at our house?" She suggested a wide drunk smile on her lips. "I don't see any problem with that, and we can drop you off tomorrow."

Mason wanted to worry about how sound her idea was, since she had so much alcohol, but he decided to ignore that. Mark didn't have any protests since he had fallen asleep after Jasmine had gotten off of him like an hour ago. It was a possibility, he had nothing to do the next day. But the issue lay somewhere else.

I'm not so sure I want to be in the same house with your brother after he called me sexy. Mason thought with a frustrated huff. Not only is it awkward, but I get easy access that I really don't need.

"What was that?" Asked Jasmine innocently, not noticing the way that Mason's face paled. He did not just say that aloud!

"I didn't say anything." Mason squeaked out. Jasmine accepted his response and Mason let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Okay fine, I'll stay over. I'm dead tired and your mom might make some good breakfast in the morning."

Jasmine cheered as best she could while half asleep and Mason hoped that he hadn't made a grave mistake. He would find out in the morning he guessed.

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Heyo!

I hope this wasn't too dry. I had been writing it for so long that I really couldn't tell.

Did you guys like another 4000+ words for this Chapter?

To be quite honest, I'm not sure why my Chapters have been getting so long. Like, I really don't try to make them long.

*Sigh* Anyway,

What are your opinions on what happened between Mark and Mason?

Don't worry yourselves over their development. Next Chapter is gonna be a WHOLE thing!

Oh, I'm so excited.

Anywhen,

Vote, Comment, Share, Follow, anything else you can do with this book and I will see you next Chapter.bye!!!

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