The ride back to Queen Red Riding Hood's castle was uneventful, which proved to be a bit of a problem for Chris.  With nothing to distract him, he found himself increasingly aware of the way in which he and Darren were rocking together with each stride Adrenaline took.  He might have enjoyed it — after all, now that he knew that Darren felt the same way about him that he felt about Darren, he didn't have to be ashamed of his body's natural reactions — but the Enchantress's wretched curse meant that he still needed to hold himself in check.

Darren seemed to have a somewhat different take on the situation, though.  Once they'd gotten the horses settled in the stables, and Kurt and Blaine had gone off together to plant the magic beans, he grabbed Chris's hand and practically dragged him back to their room.

The moment the door was closed, Darren crowded Chris up against it, resolutely turning his head to the side to avoid the temptation of having his lips too near Chris's neck.  He reached one hand up to tangle in Chris's hair, while the other slid down to his ass, pulling their hips together.

Chris let out an embarrassing whimper as he pushed him away.  “Darren — wait — the curse.”

“I know, I know.  I'm keeping my lips to myself.  But the curse doesn't affect any other parts of our bodies, right?” Darren panted.  “I've been waiting all afternoon to get you alone.”

“Darren, stop,” Chris said firmly, planting a hand on his chest and holding him at arm's length.

At the seriousness of Chris's tone, Darren's face fell.  He raised both hands, backing away so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet.

“Oh my god — I'm so sorry — I read this totally wrong.  Oh my god — please don't hate me!  I can't believe I did that.  Blame it on a contact high from Stoner Brett.  I'm so sorry…”   

“Dare, honey, calm down — you're babbling.”

“I'm so sorry,” Darren repeated, clearly dismayed.  “You have to know I would never force myself on you.  I know we never talked about it, but I just assumed…  And obviously made a huge ass out of myself in the process.  I'm really, really sorry.  Please don't be mad at me.”  

Chris couldn't help it — he burst out laughing.  “Yes, you've got a huge ass,” he smirked, stepping forward and giving it a slap, “but I'm not mad at you.”

Darren nearly collapsed with relief.  “You're not?”

“Not even a little bit,” Chris assured him, stepping forward and wrapping him in a tight hug.  “But I do think we should talk.”

“That sounds ominous…”

“Don't worry.  It's nothing bad.  It's just that this is the first time we've really had a chance to be alone together since things shifted between us, and I think we should talk about what we want out of this relationship, to make sure we're on the same page here.”

“Okay…” Darren said hesitantly.  “Well, you know I love you, and want to be with you.  And, uh, I find you insanely hot, but, uh, if you're not interested in a physical relationship, uh, I totally respect that…”

Darren's hands were clutching reflexively at Chris's back as he spoke, and Chris could feel him trembling slightly.  Taking a step back, Chris brought both hands to Darren's shoulders.

“Sweetie, look at me,” he said gently.  When Darren met his eyes, he asked, “Do you remember the first time we really kissed?”

“Of course I do.  It was magical.”

“That's how I want all of our first times to be.  Magical.”

Darren made a pleased hum of agreement.

Chris continued, “I am definitely interested in a physical relationship with you.  But I want it to be special.  I want to be able to kiss you.  I want to be able to let myself go and just be with you, without worrying that one of us is going to slip up and let our lips wander in the heat of the moment.  Once we've found a way to break this curse, I am going to be all over you.  But until then, I think we should avoid temptation by keeping things between us as platonic as possible.”

Darren sighed.  “You're right, as always.  But we can still cuddle, right?”

“I don't see why not.  We cuddled all the time when we were just friends.  We'll just have to be extra careful not to get carried away.”

“It's a deal.”

Chris sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled Darren down beside him.  “C'mere.”

They barely had any time for cuddling, though, before a gong sounded to announce dinner.  Chris gave Darren one last squeeze, then took his hand to lead him down to the dining room.  On the way, they ran into Kurt and Blaine, and the four made their way together through the halls.

“Did you get the magic beans planted?” Chris asked.

“Yes.  I put them right where my old beanstalk was,” Blaine answered.  “I've got Unique keeping an eye on the spot for me, to make sure no one disturbs them.”

“Ooh,” Darren said.  “I'd almost forgotten about Unique.  She's the magic harp, right?  How's she doing?”

“I think she's lonely, and I'm feeling a little guilty about that,” Blaine admitted.  “Ever since Kurt and I have been on the run together, she's been all by herself in that house.”

“I think she's fine,” Kurt said bracingly.  “She was singing and playing up a storm when we arrived, and she started singing again the moment we turned to leave.  She knows how to keep herself entertained.”

By this point, they'd reached the dining room, where Froggy and Rachel were already seated at the table.

“Good news,” Rachel said as they sat down.  “The flying ship should be ready by tomorrow evening.”

“So soon?  How is that possible?” Chris asked, amazed.

“Well, there are some benefits to being queen.  I simply requested that all of my subjects pitch in to help.  The Third Little Pig is supervising construction of the ship, and my granny and the Old Woman Who Lives in the Shoe have all of their friends working on sewing the balloon and the sails.”

“That's fantastic,” Darren said.  “I can't wait to see it.”

“Yes, I think you'll be quite impressed.  I had the Third Little Pig make two separate decks, so there will be plenty of space for all of my things.”

“All of your things?” Kurt asked, suspiciously.  “Why would your things need to be on our flying ship?”

“Well, you certainly can't expect me to travel light.  A queen has to keep up certain appearances, after all.”

Everyone stared at her incredulously.

“Uh, Red, we didn't expect you to come with us,” Blaine said, speaking for everyone present.

“Why not?  I want this curse ended as much as anyone else does.”

“But this journey will be dangerous,” Froggy explained.  “There's no need for you to risk it.  Haven't you always said that you'd rather stay at home and be pampered than go out looking for trouble?  Your people need you here, and I don't really think this mission will be suitable for a queen.”

Rachel opened her mouth and began to sing:

Something has changed within me 

Something is not the same 

Im through with playing by the rules 

Of someone elses game 

Too late for second-guessing 

Too late to go back to sleep 

Its time to trust my instincts 

Close my eyes... and leap! 

Its time to try 

Defying gravity 

I think Ill try 

Defying gravity 

Kiss me goodbye 

I'm defying gravity 

And you won't bring me down! 

Im through accepting limits 

Cause someone says theyre so 

Some things I cannot change 

But 'til I try, Ill never know! 

Too long Ive been afraid of 

Losing love, I guess Ive lost 

Well, if thats love 

It comes at much too high a cost! 

Id sooner buy 

Defying gravity 

Kiss me goodbye 

Im defying gravity 

I think Ill try 

Defying gravity 

And you won't bring me down! 

Kurt looked as though he were about to raise another objection, but Rachel cut him off before he could begin.  

“My subjects are building me a flying ship,” she said firmly.  “And tomorrow evening, when it's finished, I plan on defying gravity and floating away on it.  If any of the rest of you would like to come along, I suggest you be a little nicer to me.”

Chris looked around at the stunned faces.  There was clearly no way to argue with Rachel, so he decided to make the best of the situation.  

“Thank you for your generous invitation, Queen Red.  I'm sure we'd all be delighted to join you.”

There were murmurs of assent — some more enthusiastic than others — from around the table.

“Well, good then,” Rachel said, mollified.  “Now, everybody eat up.  We'll need all of our strength for tomorrow.”

“What's the plan?” Darren asked.  “Where are we heading first?”

“It will take a couple of days for my beanstalk to reach full height,” Blaine said.  “Why don't we visit the Snow Queen first, and then come back here and check out the giant's castle.”

“Visit the Snow Queen?” Kurt teased.  “You make it sound like she's invited us to stop ‘round for tea.”

“Well, just because we plan on stealing her most prized possession doesn't mean we can't be civilized about this,” Blaine bantered back.  “Maybe if we bring her some homemade crumpets, she'll just give us her scepter…”

“Now where would the fun be in that?”

…

Later that night, snuggled up together in bed, Darren asked Chris, “So, how much of what's happening here is following what you've written about in your sequel?”

“Not much.  I've only written the prologue and the first seven chapters so far, and the twins haven't even made it back to the fairy tale world yet.”

“Seriously?”  Darren sounded alarmed.  “I thought you knew what was going on.”

“Well, just because I haven't written the rest of the story doesn't mean I haven't thought about it.  I know the Enchantress is going to be the villain.  But I hadn't considered having her cast a curse where people fall asleep if they kiss.  So far, I just had her cover the Sleeping Kingdom in vines and kidnap the twins' mother.”

“Their mom?  Not the Fairy Godmother?”

“Right.  So this Enchantress seems to have a mind of her own.  Which is scary.”  

“But you do know that the Wand of Wonderment will work to defeat her, right?  And that this flying ship will really fly?  I mean, you said you had a plan.”

“I hope so.  But you know what they say about the best laid plans…”

“Yeah — unfortunately, they're the only ones getting laid tonight,” Darren quipped.

Chris smacked him with a feather pillow.  Darren was quick to retaliate, and soon the two were engaged in an all-out pillow fight.  

They didn't realize how loud they were being until Kurt suddenly burst into their room, sai swords drawn.  He stopped in confusion as he took in the scene: the rumpled bed, the two men clad only in boxer briefs, and the cloud of down filling the air.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt.  I thought you were being attacked.”

Darren froze mid-swing.  “I was.  This maniac is trying to beat me to death.”

Chris took advantage of Darren's distraction to whack him in the ass with a pillow, releasing another puff of down into the air.

“See?” Darren said, in a mock-aggrieved voice.

Kurt backed slowly out of the room.   “I'll just leave you guys to it…”