𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝙒𝙄𝙇𝘿 𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏

The Night Ends

The friends were dancing the night away. Francis and Ariel were practically conjoined at the hip as they danced together. Although Francis had still received occasional attention and praise from his fellow party goers, even being asked to sign autographs, he kept his focus on the girl before him. At this point in the night, many of the party goers had already left the party or had been kicked out due to irrational drunk behavior, so the amount of party goers still in attendance had probably decreased by over half with more on their way out. And by now, the few seltzers' Francis drank had greatly affect him. He could no longer perform his more skilled dance routines and could only do extremely basic moves. But in his current state of mind, he couldn't care less. All he wanted to do was spend every moment in the company of the Ariel. Suddenly, the voice of the DJ had come over the speakers as the current song had come to an end.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, once again, I am DJ Eezy and it has been an absolute joy performing for you tonight. Before I end things, I'm gonna play one last track here in the booth by slowing it down a bit and play a song for all the couples in the house tonight. Grab your partner and get ready for some 'Slow Dancing In The Dark'." The DJ softly says into his microphone and begins to break down his equipment as the lights of the dance floor slowly and greatly reduced their brightness. As party goers had begun to clear up the dance floor, Drake and Sullivan approached Francis and Ariel; Alex having left earlier in the evening.

"We are gonna hit the snacks and drinks. You guys want anything?" Drake asks, looking to the two. Ariel points her finger to Drake's cup as she turned her head around to the guys; Drake nodding to her. Francis then reaches up to his mask and slides it off his head, briefly losing his balance for a split second.

"Hey, hold on to this for me for now, guys?" Francis asks, holding out his mask to his friends, his voice slurred a bit.

Drake chuckles and takes the mask. "Sure thing, Fran." He replies, taking the mask from him and begins to stroll off the dance floor.

As the track had begun to play, Ariel had turned her body back around to Francis, smiling to him and places her hands on his shoulders as they started to slow dance.

"You are such a lightweight." She giggled, watching his head sway softly as he gazed to her.

"Hey, it's not my fault. I just gotta... bulk up to it, is all." He says with a soft hiccup and laughing softly.

Ariel giggled. She was clearly nowhere as intoxicated as him due to his incredibly low tolerance to the alcohol. "Well, at least you are in safe hands. We won't let you get yourself into any trouble, wild child." She says, bringing her hand up and gently swipes a lock of his black hair from his forehead.

"Heh, thanks because I've been bitchin' with an itchin' to go boozin 'n' cruisin for a while now." Francis chuckles.

Ariel giggled. "Easy there, tiger." She said, placing her hand on his cheek.

As the song continued, Francis did his best not to lose his balance. As they danced, Ariel gently placed the side of her head against his as Francis gently wrapped his arms around her frame. After a moment of silence between them, Francis breaks it.

"Ya know... I was wonderin' bout somethin'..." He says.

"Oh yeah?" She asks, her ear perking up a bit.

"Yeah... did you have any idea that it was me, under the mask during the tournament?" Francis then asked.

"I already knew that you were the Shuffle Kid." Ariel answered, smiling to herself.

Francis' eyes shot wide open. "Wait, really?"

Ariel chuckles. "Since the moment when I saw you at the liquor store."