Mason was panicking because the next photo was edited completely around a picture he took of Mark while Mark had been wearing a muted orange coat. The photo was taken with Mark's back turned, looking off to the side.

Mason had luckily covered Mark's eyes and blurred the photo a bit, but it was clearly his long term crush. Mason winced when he saw the notification that Mark had also liked the second photo. 

He felt like curling into a very small ball so he wouldn't have any trouble throwing himself in the trash where he belonged, but he decided against it when he remembered that he had another account. He could simply log into his personal Instagram and, for like a day, pretend as if he never even created a second account. 

Mason logged into his other account and began to head downstairs. He hadn't eaten in quite a while, a fact his mother would kill him for if she found out, and planned on quickly making himself something.

He had just opened the fridge when he noticed that he was sent a DM. Mason closed his fridge and started muttering to the omnipotent power that blessed him with Mark's comment prior.

"Please not from another creep, please not from another creep . . . " Mason muttered as he went to open it up.

Mason was about to raise his hand above his eyes to shield himself from accidentally seeing another dick pic, but didn't even need to begin when he saw that the message was from Mark.

Mason was happy until he opened it to find that Mark had sent him the post from his other account. A post that was basically Mason makes a cute edit of Mark's picture. Below it, Mark said, 

Look, some weirdo turned me into an aesthetic post. Have I made it as a celebrity or what? 😂😂😂

Mason felt partly mortified but tried to think past that emotion in his response.

Har har har, so funny Mark.

You actually think with like 800 followers that you're a celebrity?

Mason knew without needing a response that the comment got to Mark.

1k alright! It's not 800.

People follow for the dancing, man.

Mason just sent laughing emojis in response and by how long it took Mark to respond, Mark likely realized how dumb his message was.

Okay, so I'm not a celeb

Thought so

Don't need to rub it in

Oh, but I can rub it in all night baby

Mason froze when he noticed how thirsty and gross his message sounded and went to quickly get rid of it when Mark responded.

Hard and rough?

Mason, way too excited and kind of turned on and replied without a second thought. 

Oh yeah

I don't do soft.

Good, because I'm going to return it tenfold. 

Just you wait for tonight babe 😉

Mason was at a loss. Sure he and Mark joked around and it got slightly flirty from time to time, but they had never talked about sex, never mind alluded to it. Mason was starting to feel uncomfortable in the worst place possible and quickly decided that continuing on the path that he and Mark were happily skipping down was not a good idea. 

Mason sent a few laughing emojis back, hoping that Mark would think that he took everything as a light joke. When Mark sent the same in return followed by "we're so weird', Mason knew that he had made the right call. The last thing that he needed was for Mark to be shocked because Mason went and confessed, thinking Mark was serious.

The two messaged each other for a while afterwards, and Mason had a smile on his face when they said their goodbyes. He then was forced to deal with his still grumbling stomach but had no regrets about messaging Mark before he ate. It was completely worth it.

Mark, on the other hand, had been texting Mason while sitting next to his date for the night. The girl was beautiful as so many of them are, but Mark felt little for her in terms of emotion. In all honesty, he usually felt this much connection with all the girls he dated in the past.

But, the lack of connection between him and this girl was heightened by the fact that he had been texting one of his best friends as they had lunch. Mark nearly felt bad for focusing more on Mason's dumb jokes than her life story, but he couldn't help it. 

It was almost impossible for Mark not to put his full attention on Mason at all times, and this occasion was no different.

Mason had made a cute post with a photo of Mark in the center, how was Mark supposed to ignore that and not talk to him? Sure, it was a bit problematic that Mark was adjusting his pants once they stopped messaging each other, but it was no big deal, right?

Mark tried not to ponder over it too much and went back to finishing his date. It would likely go nowhere, but the least he could do was finish it.

"What were you saying about that teddy bear you had?" Mark asked kindly, slipping his phone back into his pocket and smiling fakely at the girl in front of him.

"Dolphin." She corrected quickly, a blank look on her face.

"Dolphin, of course. Her name was Katy, was it? What were you saying about Katy?"