Chapter Text
Darren kissed Chris’s cheek. “I love you.”
Chris’s chest tightened.
_______
“You...do?” Chris breathed.
Darren nodded. “So much, Chris. So much.”
“I...”
“It’s okay,” Darren mumbled. “You don’t have to say it back now.”
Chris swallowed loudly. “I know,” he whispered. “But...” he ran his thumbs down over Darren’s face, awed at how open and soft it was. “I do. I love you, too,” he said finally.
Darren smiled. “I knew you did.” They kissed, lazy and slow until Darren broke away with a yawn. “Well,” he said smiling, “I’m exhausted. Plus we have that fucking brunch tomorrow at Lea’s.”
Chris groaned miserably. “I totally forgot. Fuckkkkkk. Can’t we skip it?” he pleaded, nuzzling at Darren’s neck and humming happily as Darren giggled.
“Stop that! I’m ticklish!!”
“Oh? You shouldn’t have told me that,” Chris warned, grinning devilishly and running his hands threateningly along Darren’s sides.
“No!” Darren all but yelled, thrashing wildly underneath Chris.
“I’m barely even touching you,” Chris mused. “But...you’re in luck tonight because I’m exhausted. Getting fucked does that to you.”
“You should try fucking somebody.” Darren said, grinning. “That’s hard!” he added in a perfect imitation of Sue Sylvester.
Chris laughed so hard he snorted. “I can’t believe you just did a Jane impression while we’re naked.”
Darren nuzzled him. “You know, she’d probably want to know about it.”
Chris sat up instantly. “Darren! You had better not.”
“Oh?” Darren propped himself up on one elbow. “And what would be so bad about her knowing?”
Chris rose his eyebrows. “Are you seriously asking me what would be wrong with telling one of the people I look up to most in the world that we talked about her post coitus??”
Darren laughed a little. “Okay, point taken. But. What about...me and you? I mean...are we going to keep this a secret?”
Chris sighed heavily, drawing his knees up and hugging them close. “You know we have to,” he said tiredly.
“Why?”
Chris looked at him sharply. “You know why. You told everyone you were straight. The press would come down on you so hard. And then...well, you know what they’d say about me--somehow it would be my fault for seducing you or something. It just...it wouldn't be a good PR situation. Your PR and management teams would have a fit and so would mine. Not to mention that Ryan would not be pleased with that kind of attention being placed on the show when there’s already so much touchy press focused on us as it is.”
Darren fell back onto the bed, huffing a little and turning his back to Chris. “I want to be annoyed with you for even thinking about all of that, but you’re right so I know I don’t have the right to be.”
“Hey....,” Chris slid over, twining his arms around Darren’s torso. “It’s not like some of our friends don’t know. Like Lea, and Ashley. And we’re known for being touchy feely/really good friends so...it’s not like you have to do much more than refrain from making out with me in public. You still get to grope me from time to time. And hey, maybe they’ll think we portray Kurt and Blaine’s passion better now--we’ll be...improving as actors.”
Darren snorted. “Yeah, yeah. It’ll have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that we’re fucking off screen.”
“Mhm,” Chris agreed, yawning. “We’re just both so talented.”
_________
“So...what the hell did you and Darren do last night?” Amber demanded as she, Chris, Darren, Jenna, and Dianna sipped mimosas around Lea’s cozy kitchen table the next morning.
Chris’s mouth dropped open, and Darren choked on his drink. “I beg your pardon?” Chris asked at the same time Darren said “What makes you think we did anything last night?”
Lea groaned quietly next to him and Chris had the distinct feeling that she’d just muttered “Morons,” but chose to ignore that.
“Uhm...,” Darren tried again. “Weird question?”
Jenna shook her head, narrowing her eyes at them. “It so isn’t. You keep looking at each other and smiling, either there’s an epic story from this weekend or you’re dating.”
Again, Darren choked on his drink, and Chris sighed heavily. Lea coughed delicately, and Chris shot her a look out of the corner of his eye. Everyone was staring at them.
“Chris...,” Darren murmured, voice unnecessarily quiet since everyone was clearly listening to them. “I think...we should...tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Cory asked, walking back in from the kitchen with an extra large glass of milk. He plopped down in between Lea and Dianna, taking a long drag from the glass. “What did I miss, you’re all being awkward and silent?”
“Darren and Chris are being weird,” Amber said suspiciously.
Diana hummed thoughtfully. “If it was just some crazy thing they got up to this weekend...they’d be climbing over themselves to embarrass the other person. So...spill the beans.”
Chris reddened. “I, uhm....we didn’t go out this weekend. There’s no stories to tell. So...,” He looked up, meeting Darren’s eyes across the table. He heard someone, he wasn’t sure who, inhale sharply, but focused on Darren, because that was the only thing keeping him from freaking out right now.
Darren laughed a little, and the sound made Chris relax a little. “Well, I wouldn’t say there’s no stories to tell,” he winked and Chris knew he was thinking about the red satin panties Chris was wearing under his jeans. “But yeah. Me and Chris. That’s a thing,” he said lightly.
Chris groaned. “Wow, you are so eloquent--god only knows how you got me to fall in--” He trailed off, remembering all of a sudden that he’d just shared his second best kept secret with his group of friends all at once.
Amber and Cory looked surprised, Lea was suddenly very interested in her pancakes and Diana was just grinning. Jenna looked pretty put out. “I knew it,” Diana said triumphantly.
“What?” Chris asked, shocked out of his momentary internal panic.
“You two suck at being discreet,” she said teasingly, then turned to direct her next statement at Jenna. “Looks like you owe me a hundred bucks, doll face.”
“You bet on it?” Chris asked incredulously. A loud snort across the table made him look up and he stared Darren down. “You think this is funny?”
Darren nodded eyes sparkling. “Yeah, I do. And you’re cute when you’re indignant.”
Chris felt himself melting, a small smile tilting at his lips.
Diana groaned. “As happy as I am for you guys, I can’t handle this much syrupy sweetness in the morning.”
“Seconded,” Jenna agreed. “There’s enough sugar on my pancakes,” she teased.
Chris flushed and his heart leapt when Darren leaned across the table, crowding his space. “Darren, what are you--oomph!” His question was cut off by Darren’s lips on his, hot and urgent, making him forget where he was for a moment, a small moan escaping him as his fingers clenched at the edge of the table and he kissed back.
“Whoa,” Amber breathed, sounding impressed, as Cory groaned into his glass of milk. “Not on table, guys!” he demanded. “I eat here on a regular basis!”
Lea just smiled and took another sip of her mimosa. “It’s my house, and I’m completely content to watch hot guys make out across my table during breakfast.”
Darren pulled away, smirking at the gobsmacked expression on Chris’s face. He turned to the rest of the group and stuck his tongue out. “Now are we sickly sweet?” he asked.
There was a snort from someone, then the whole table burst out into laughter.
“So everyone’s...okay?” Chris asked once the laughter had calmed down.
There were nods, some more enthusiastic than others, but Chris felt something loosening in him--he had Darren and his friends were supportive. He let himself soak up the acceptance, then took a deep breath.
“I’m glad,” he said. “But there’s just one thing. We...this needs to stay a secret for now. I know the rest of the cast will find out eventually, and Ryan is going to flip when word gets back to him...but the media? They don’t need to know.”
They all nodded sympathetically. “Of course. We know how crazy the media circus is. But you know you can’t keep it a secret forever, right?” Diana said, her voice full of concern.
They knew, but they’d try as long as they could, because what they had was worth the headache of protecting it.