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“No.”
“Aw, come on, man! You never go anywhere with us anymore!” Barry groans to his friend; half complaining, half pleading.
“I've already said no like a billion times, guys! I'm not going!” Mark stands his ground. “Besides, I won't even know anyone there…”
“Sure you will!” David challenges as he finally makes his way out of their shared bathroom. Mark didn't have many complaints about his friend's new look, quite the opposite actually, but it took him entirely too long to get his eyeliner and hair "just right".
Whatever that means. Mark thought David looked good no matter how his hair and makeup was styled.
Mark found it strange how quickly he'd grown used to thinking of David in this manner. Pretty, adorable, cute. All adjectives he's found himself attributing to David more often than not. Though he'd never admit it, even if he wanted to.
“Kenny, Courtney, Tabs, Cheyenne,” David is listing, and it takes Mark a second to remember why. People at the party. Right.
Wait, what was that?
“Tabs?” Mark asks, more harshly than he'd intended. Something not too far from jealousy is nestling into his stomach against his better judgment.
“Tabitha Walker,” David replies, cheerfully. “She went to highschool with us. You don't remember her?”
“Of course I remember her, idiot,” Mark replies, heatedly. “Just… when did she become ‘Tabs?’”
David looks puzzled.
“Just started calling her it one day, I guess,” David shrugs, which does little to quell the monster in his stomach. “She hates it, but says I can get away with it because I'm too adorable to stay mad at.”
Mark frowns. At least him and “Tabs” can agree on one thing.
Barry looks at the GathererxGatherer themed clock hanging on the wall. “It's about time to go, guys. We still gotta stop by Duck Mart for the guac.” He turns his attention to Mark. “Are you coming or not, dude?”
Through his bitterness, Mark realizes he hasn't really got a choice. If Tabitha is going to be there, then he has to be too. Can't give her any more alone time to steal David away from him.
Not when he just got him back.
“You sure Tabitha’s gonna be there?” Mark questions his shorter friend.
“Yeah, I asked her at work yesterday. She's coming for sure,” David grins, and Mark starts to resent how much that girl visits the Smoothie Groovy. The smoothies aren't even that good.
“Why?” David asks, tilting his head like a confused puppy; the way he always does when he's puzzled.
“Don't worry about it, D” Mark states a little too quickly. “I'm coming.”
David's beams like a flashlight, at both Mark's decision and the nickname.
“Alright!” he exclaims, doing that cute hand flapping thing he does when he's excited. “Race you to the car!” He's out the door before Mark can even comprehend what he said. What a dork.
“I mean, wow,” Barry exclaims from behind the DM, scaring him half to death. He'd almost forgotten he was here. “I've seen jealousy before, but man!”
Mark rolls his eyes. “I have no idea to what you are referring.”
“Uh huh, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, bud.”
Mark hates how red his face is becoming. “Whatever! Let's just go to the stupid car!”
Mark starts to walk away and Barry calls after him. “Wait, man! I have something important to tell you!”
“Whatever it is, it can wait,” Mark says, and he's out the door.
‘It really can't,’ Barry thinks as he sighs and shakes his head. But whatever.
Mark's made his bed, and now he's going to have to lay in it.
~~~
“Kenny!”
“D-Money! B-Man! And— well, look what the cat dragged in! Mark, it's been a minute!”
The bone crushing hug Kenneth pulled him into doesn't make Mark feel any happier to be at his first college party. Mark only welcomed touch from a select few, and Kenneth stopped being a part of that list in the third grade.
Still, this was a party. He needed to at least pretend to be a little sociable.
“It sure has,” he replied, awkwardly chuckling once they separated. “Too long.”
Kenneth smiled. “You got that right! Say, you a student at HCC, yet?”
Mark nodded, happy to have a topic of discussion that didn't relate to their rocky past. “English major. Two semesters into my Creative Writing degree. What about you?”
“Going for a bachelors in theater right now,” Kenneth replied before his smile got ever wider. “Hey, our majors might have some overlapping courses! Maybe we'll have some classes together!”
“Maybe,” Mark replied, surprised to find himself smiling a little. Something about Kenneth just felt so genuine. Like he was actually happy to see him. He couldn't help it.
Kenneth turned his attention back to David and Barry, and while the spotlight was on him, Mark took the time to examine his surroundings.
The party was being thrown in an abandoned building on the outskirts of Herkleton that Kenneth had found his freshman year because of course he did.
It was a decent size, with tables set up around the room, some holding an array of junk food and large punch bowls who's contents were probably 90% alcohol. Speakers were set up haphazardly around the room, and Mark was certain they were violating several safety codes. Those outlets and cords had no business being that close to the drinks table.
But whatever. Wasn't his problem.
“Alright, bye Kenny! I'm gonna go find Tabs and Courtney!” David said, giving the man one last hug.
Now that. That was his problem.
“Hang on, D. I'm coming with.”
Mark was sure he heard Barry mutter something that sounded an awful lot like ‘dumbass,’ but he was going to ignore that for now.
~~~
“And then, that little kid— the tall one with the red hair — turned to that asshole and said ‘Have you considered going somewhere else?' Can you believe that?”
David was laughing so hard his eyes were beginning to water, and as much as he hated to admit it, Tabitha's impression of JP was a little funny.
Mark hated this. Not that David was laughing — that was one of his favorite things in the world. He just hated that he wasn't the one making him laugh.
For the past half hour he'd been sitting at a table with David, Tabitha, and her friend who's name he couldn't remember for the life of him, listening to Tabitha and David talk nonstop. It seemed like they never ran out of topics to discuss; like they'd known each other for years. And Mark hated it.
“I love those kids,” Tabitha smiles when she's finished snorting laughing.
“Yeah, they're great,” David agrees as he wipes the happy tears from his eyes, effectively smudging his eyeliner.
“Aww, Dave, you messed up your eyeliner!” Tabitha informs him, and it takes every grain of Mark's self control to not shoot her a glare for that nickname.
David pulls his phone out and opens his camera app. He stares at himself for a moment, seeming a little sad, before he shrugs. “It’s whatever. It didn't even look that good to begin with. You were always better at doing it anyway.”
Mark wants to protest. To tell him that it looked hot amazing, but he gets distracted by David's other statement.
You were always better at doing it anyway.
So she did his makeup? Didn't that require touching and getting up close and personal. That does it.
Just as he's about to erupt, Courtney — he's pretty sure her name is Courtney — stands up. “I'm getting pretty bored, babe. Wanna go dance?”
Wait... babe?
Tabitha looks up. “Oh, yeah, sure. See ya Wednesday, Davey. Better not be late to your shift again!” she threatens jokingly, and Courtney agrees, saying something about leaving her coworker-less during rush hour for 20 minutes.
“Bye, Mark. It was good seeing you again!” Tabitha waves before walking towards the crowd of dancing college students, hand in hand with Courtney.
“You too,” Mark replies, more of a question than a statement. He nearly jumps out of his skin when he feels a tap on the shoulder. He turns and sees Barry standing there, arms folded, a smug smile dawning his features.
Barry leans in close and brings his voice down to a level that only Mark could hear. “That important little thing I was gonna tell you before we left: you're jealousy is pointless. Tabitha has a girlfriend.”
Mark doesn't know who he wants to punch more: Barry or himself. Why didn't he just listen? He could have had such a better night had he known Tabitha wasn't after his David.
In the end he elects to hit no one, only sending Barry one of his infamous fuck-you glares.
Barry just laughs. “Bet you wish you would have just listened to me, dumbass. Now get him before a real threat comes along.” He pats Mark's back a few times mockingly, before wandering off to socialize with another group.
“What was that about?” David asks startling Mark for the 2nd time in 2 minutes. People have really got to stop doing that if he's going to live to see graduation.
“Just Barry being prick. Don't worry about it, D.”
David giggles. “Ya’ know, you sure tell me not to worry about things a lot…”
Mark smiles. “I guess I do.”
A silence follows that it both comfortable and insufferable. Comfortable because he's with David, and David has a way of mellowing him out like no one else can. Insufferable because he really wants to follow that jackass Barry’s advice and ask David to dance, but his mouth just won't form the words. Turns out, he wouldn't have to because a few seconds later David stands up.
“I'm getting pretty bored, babe. Wanna go dance?” David asks, cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck.
"That line worked for Courtney, so I figured I might as well give it a try,” he smiles, waiting for an answer. “It's cool if not, no pressure,” he quickly adds.
Mark wants to say to shout that he'd want nothing more in the world than to dance with him, even if Mark has fucking clue how, but his breath is caught in his throat due to two reasons.
One: holy shit David just called him babe.
And two: holy fucking shit David looks really hot with runny eyeliner.
The reality that he's running out of time to answer hits him like a truck, and he manages to weeze out a ‘yes please’ before tripping out of his seat.
David flaps his hands for a few seconds before he's dragging Mark to the dance floor.
He doesn’t think, he can’t think, he’ll never think again. His other bodily systems have developed minds of their own, however, and his feet follow David miraculously without tripping. The urge to follow David is as natural and as instinctive as breathing.
It doesn't take long before David is moving to the beat of whatever trashy song is playing. He's always had a knack for dancing, especially with glow sticks.
Mark attempts to match what David is doing, no doubt doing it incredibly wrong, but David is smiling so he is too.
He's so completely and udderly focused on his dance partner that he completely missed the thumbs up and smile Tabitha gives David.