Darren's fingers slid on the keys as he dialled what felt like the hundredth number in less than two hour.

He brought the phone to his ear, checking the clock at the same time.

1:15am

"...Darren ?"

"Dianna ! Hey ! Are you, ehm, a-are you in New York right now ?"

"No, I'm still in London... Darren, is everything okay ?"

"Chris is... he... broke up with me and he... he left with just his wallet and I have no idea where he is and no one has seen him and I've tried calling some hotels but I'm sure he would never give his real name anyways there's too many hotels and I can't -"

"Woah, woah, slow down – broke up with you ?"

Darren sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting away the tears. He wasn't sure he had any of these left in his body anyway.

Taking a deep breath, he repeated for the umpteenth time the events of the evening.

"We came back home after dining outside. Everything was normal, we were watching a movie, and then Chris turned off the TV and said we needed to talk. He told me... he said that we – that we should break up because he felt that he, that us wasn't enough for me anymore, and then he started talking about me checking out some girls on our way back from the restaurant and I... I tried to tell him – I swear, I fucking tried to tell him that he was wrong and that I loved him – that I love him – but he grabbed his coat and he ran out of the apartment, I tried to run after him but he took the elevator and by the time I reached the bottom of the stairs he had jumped in a taxi and left, and I kept on running but there was too much circulation and -"

"Darren, breathe. I'm sure Chris just freaked out over nothing, he -"

"Chris doesn't freak out, Di. I'm the one who fucks things up with my insecurities, not him."

"He's only human."

"That doesn't make any fucking sense, 'only human', no one reacts the same way, and it's... dammit, what if he's been meaning to break up and just waited for me to screw up ?"

"You didn't... you didn't screw up, Darren, you did nothing wrong -"

"I checked some girls out."

"That's not you. Especially not if you were with Chris."

"Doesn't matter what I did or not. That's what Chris saw."

"Well tell him -"

"Tell him what ? He's not here, Dianna, how do you expect me to tell him anything when I have no fucking idea where he -"

"Okay, Darren, you know what ? Call me back when you're not acting like a jerk !"

"Oh I'm a jerk now ? Are you saying I deserved what Chris -"

But his words were met by the high pitched 'beeep' of the line informing him Dianna had hung up.

Darren threw his phone across the room and sat down on the couch. He picked up Chris' phone from where he'd left it on the armrest and looked through the contact list in the hopes of finding a number he hadn't tried yet.

Co-stars, directors, friends, family, producers, various celebrities, but no one close enough to Chris that Darren hadn't called yet.

He let out a broken sob and brought his knees to his chest.

It's gonna be okay. It was a mistake. He's going to come back and everything will be okay.

But what if he'd really meant it ? Or what if Chris was the one feeling like 'them' wasn't enough ? True, working on opposite sides of country, or coming home so late that they barely had the time to exchange a goodnight kiss wasn't ideal, but they were both fine with it.

He always missed Chris like crazy, though. Whenever his mind wasn't crowded by lines, notes or lyrics that he tried to remember, all he could do was calculate how many days, minutes, seconds were left until he would next be able to hold Chris' hand in his.

He sighed.

The media would be happy about this.

He could already imagine the headlines...

� Hollywood's hit couple splitting up ! �

Or worse.

� Is Darren Criss finally through with his gay phase ? Not sure, but the girls are lining up at his door ! �

Some tabloids hadn't been happy to see how stable their relationship was and how confident he was with his sexuality. Articles had been written about "character bleed" and how he was just "pretending" in order to get more attention.

Chris got some crap for "turning him".

But they'd ignored all of that and the journalists had given up after a while. The fans were supportive. Their families and friends were very happy for them.

That was the only thing that mattered.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

Pictures would accompany the articles. He was sure to be followed by hords of paparazzi for the next-

"Of course ! Oh my God, I'm so stupid..."

He jolted off the couch, walking to his computer, and opened his internet browser. In New York City on a Saturday, you could be sure someone would've spotted Chris walking into a bar or checking into a hotel or whatever.

Tumblr and twitter were still the fastest and most reliable sources of information.

Chris' twitter mentions were too full of messages from the fans to be of any help.

He checked Chris' tag on tumblr and tried to remain calm as hundreds of pictures of the two of them – hugs, hand holding, discrete kisses on the cheek – flooded his screen. And then finally...

� OMG GUYS CHRIS COLFER JUST CHECKED INTO MY HOTEL �

The post was over one hour and a half old. Darren clicked the poster's URL to reach her blog.

A girl, 21, from Kansas, "proud CrissColfer shipper since '10".

He scrolled down the page through a bunch of "I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I TALKED TO CHRIS COLFER" posts and finally found what he was looking for.

"Anonymous asked: where are you staying ?
- The Chatwal ! But he was walking to his room when I saw him and I don't think he's going to go back out before tomorrow so there's no need for anyone to come and wait outside all night..."

Darren opened a new tab and searched for the hotel's phone number.

He almost tripped over the coffee table as he ran to get his cell.

On the second 'beep', a metallic voice informed him that he had reached the automatic answering system of The Chatwal Hotel.

"If you wish to book a room immediately, press 1. If you wish to book a room in advance, press 2. If you wish to contact one of our customers, whose room number you know, press 3. If you don't know the room number, press 4. If you -"

Darren pressed 4 so quickly he was afraid he'd hit the wrong key.

"You will be shortly put in relation with one of our hosts. Please wait."

A very annoying piano tune started playing and Darren used the waiting time to think of all the fake names Chris could be using.

When they were on vacations together, they always used Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson.

But if Chris didn't want to be found by him, he'd certainly use another one.

Darren opened Chris' wikipedia page on his computer, ready to list all of his characters' names, when he realized that this would be too obvious, since it was the first thing he had thought of.

"Your call will be answered in less than two minutes", the metallic voice informed him.

Darren nodded, still deep in thought. What would Chris be thinking about ? Some song he'd heard on the radio in the taxi ? Or the taxi driver himself maybe ? Or how ugly the ceiling of the hotel was ?

"Good evening, Chatwal Hotel, Leonard speaking, you wish to contact one of our customers ?"

"Yes, but I don't know his room number."

"It's fine sir, if you could just give the name ?"

"Ehm, sure, it's..."

Darren looked around him and his eyes fell on the coffee table. The "Notting Hill" DVD was still laying there.

"… Pocahontas ?"

He could hear "Leonard" chuckle.

"I'm sorry sir, we don't have anyone under the name Pocahontas."

Darren cursed under his breath and was about to say "Hugh Grant" until he realized that they hadn't actually made it that far into the movie.

"And what about... Flintstone ?"

"… I'm sorry sir..."

Oh, fuck it.

" … but Mr Flintstone checked himself out twenty minutes ago."

Darren choked on his breath, his mind racing.

"He – he did ? T-to do what ?"

"He called for a cab, sir."

A cab. Back home ?

Probably not. There were hundreds of places Chris could be, hundreds of people he could've wanted to see.

"Any chance you could tell me where this cab took him ?"

"Hold on, let me check the records."

Darren held his breath and crossed his fingers, hoping to hear the address of their apartment.

"I'm really sorry, he didn't say anything."

"D-do you know the number of the cab he took ? It's really important, I have to find him, it's...", he sighed, "… please ?"

He could almost hear "Leonard" rolling his eyes. Couldn't be the first time someone called to find their runaway lover.

"Yes, I have the number of the cab. Do you want me to put you in-"

Darren jumped in surprise when his phone was taken away from his hand and snapped shut.

He turned around and found himself face to face with...

"Chris ? Where have you been, I called everywhere for you, I had to stalk you on the internet to find your hotel and call and you weren't there and I thought you were gone somewhere else but I need to – we need to talk ! You're wrong okay ? You're completely wrong, I wasn't even checking them out, and I love you, I don't want anyone else, I swear, never ever anyone else, and you're more than I could dream of, and I know, I probably don't deserve you, but if, if you think that what I can give you is n-not what you want, please, I can, I can p-prove to you that I'm worth it okay ? I'll fight for you ! I can be a pain in the ass sometimes and I work too much and too hard b-but so do you, that's how we do it, and we fucking complete each other, right ? Please, just, give me another chance, Chris, I swear I-"

His plea was interrupted by Chris' soft lips on his. Darren moaned and wrapped his arms tightly around Chris' waist, making sure he wasn't going anywhere. He tasted like honey and mint, with a hint of tequila.

Chris pulled away after a too short time, Darren following his lips with a whine.

"I'm so sorry", Chris whispered, "I'm so, so, so sorry, Darren, I freaked out, but you did nothing wrong, it was all my fault, and I'm... I'm so sorry..."

Darren let out a nervous giggle and shook his head, reaching up to give Chris a quick peck on the lips.

"Oh, love, with all the freaking out I've been doing in the past few years, I think you had the right to have a moment of panic."

"No, Darren, that's not fair, you never broke up with me – don't bring up Hawaii, we were both drunk and we're not even sure what we think happened really happened – and I left and I accused you of looking at these girls when it's a normal behavior -"

"Woah, woah, hold on a sec, normal behavior ? Not when you're holding the hand of the hottest dude in the entire fucking universe it's not ! Don't forgive me for something I didn't do but would've been very wrong to do."

"I...", Chris started, confused, "what ?"

"I... I don't even remember what I just said."

They exchanged a smile and Chris took a step back, unwrapping his arms from Darren's shoulders, running his fingers down the sleeves of Darren's shirt until he reached his hands and took them in his own.

"L-look, I mean it when I said I didn't flip out because of you. I've... I've been thinking."

Darren frowned, searching Chris' eyes, trying to figure out if this was positive of not, but Chris was ostensibly staring as the ground.

Darren reached out for Chris' chin and lifted his head so their eyes could meet.

Chris smiled nervously and squeezed his hand.

"I... I love you. I love you so much, Darren, and you... you mean the world to me. We managed to make this relationship work even though we spend two thirds of our lives at work and one third on a plane, or sleeping, or sleeping on a plane. I – I don't want to be with anyone else either. Ever. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, even if it means I'll have to endure your love for Mexican food, and the way your never cut the bread with any regularity, or the fact that you can jump out of bed in the middle of the night to write down a song that you'll give up on after twenty minutes anyway."

Darren chuckled and closed his eyes, running his hand over his face.

When he looked at him again, Chris had one knee on the floor and was holding out a blue velvetty box. He opened it slowly to reveal a thin, dark silvery band.

"You always said 'Christopher Criss-Colfer' was a superhero name. You know I already have the cape and everything, so... will you marry me ?"

Darren opened and closed his mouth a few times, finding himself unable to speak. He gave up after a few tries and nodded his head frenetically instead, throwing himself into Chris' arms and tackling him to the ground.

Chris giggled as he hugged Darren back just as tightly, both of them too happy to care about breathing just now.

"I love you", Darren finally managed to whisper,

"I love you too."