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 favorite 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 serious 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 jerked 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 the 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.

At some point, Jasmine's attention was drawn elsewhere. This was the point where Mason was dying to head upstairs. Now, he saw 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 leaned 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 leaned 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 leaned 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."