Darren was sitting on the Hummel-Hudson's couch, next to Finn, watching the game. The problem was that he had lost all interest in football a while ago, only watching every now and then, and he hadn't exactly kept up with all of the results. Finn was holding a glass of milk and Darren was reminded of the scene they had shot for the Prom episode. He had loved this scene, it had had such a big meaning, having Blaine sitting there with Kurt's father and step-brother as if it was the most casual thing ever.

He had had a discussion with Chris the morning before filming, trying to decipher whether or not Blaine actually liked the kilt. At that point, Darren still hadn't seen Chris in his costume so he couldn't exactly tell if he liked it, but the idea was absolutely awesome. At first he had sort of wanted to keep it a surprise until they actually shot the scene – but then he realized that they would do several takes anyways, so why bother ? He had told Chris to tell him when he was going to put the kilt on. He was certainly not prepared to see Chris in everything but the kilt, which meant he was only wearing black leggings that fit him super well and...

"Nooo ! I can't believe he missed it ! He totally missed it !"

Finn was frantically pointing at the TV while jumping on his seat, which made Darren laugh. He shook his head and went back to his previous thoughts. Well, in their general direction, because he was sure Kurt would question him for having a boner while watching a football game with Finn.

Darren loved spending time with the cast of Glee. They were all wonderful people, like a huge family of goofballs. Although ultimately it was Chris' company he enjoyed the most. There were a lot of reasons to that, mostly their shared interests and all, but also something Darren didn't quite understand. Or pretended not to. Maybe it was in the way his heart raced every time their eyes locked, or the warmth that spread through his body every time their shoulders bumped. Maybe it was all just character bleed.

Kurt entered the living room with a glass of freshly made orange juice.

"Guys, Carole says dinner'll be ready in twenty minutes."

He looked around the room hesitantly, obviously unsure of where to sit. Darren smiled and patted his thighs.

Kurt gave Finn a wary look at moved closer.

"Are you sure ?", he whispered

"Yeah, of course ! Act normal and all..."

Kurt left the glass on the coffee table and sat next to Darren, throwing his legs over his. He stood very still for a moment before scooting closer as Darren wrapped his valid arm around his waist, resting his cast on the younger boy's knees.

"Are you okay ?", Kurt asked

"I guess so... are you ?"

"Why wouldn't I be ?"

"Well, there's someone else in your boyfriend's body..."

"...you make it sound vaguely dirty."

They looked at each other and burst out in a hysterical fit of laughter, which earned them an incredulous glance from Finn.

"Guys, you know I hate it when you do that. It always feels like you're laughing at me."

Kurt turned to Finn and smiled.

"You wouldn't understand, bro."

Finn frowned and turned back to the game, shaking his head.

Darren had stopped chuckling and was now studying Kurt's expression discretely as the younger boy took a sip of his juice. He was a lot harder to read than Chris, and it was something to say because the man had a killer poker face when he wanted to.

Kurt always had this mask on whenever he was talking to someone that was neither Burt nor Blaine, but it was getting thinner and thinner as the countertenor seemed to gain trust in Darren.

"Dinner's ready !", Carole called

Finn all but leaped from the couch to the kitchen in one long stride. Darren removed his arms from Kurt to allow him to leave but found him staring at him instead, some unexplainable pain in his eyes.

"What's wrong, Kurt ?"

He blinked rapidly and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, it's just... I really wanna kiss you right now, but I feel like it would be cheating because you just look like Blaine and it... confuses me."

Darren felt himself blush. To be honest, he wouldn't mind letting Kurt kiss him... but, to be completely honest, he found himself a little less attracted to Kurt than he was to Chris. Which was odd.

Not that he was that attracted to Chris or anything.

Or, you know, yes, in a very straight way. Like, he knows Chris looks good. Extremely good.

And it also means that he totally doesn't think about how good Chris looks at any inappropriate moments.

No. No way.

"It's normal to be confused..."

"You don't seem to be."

"Oh believe me, I am. But you are Kurt, in your own body. With your expressions and all. The ones I only see on Chris when we're filming. So I can tell the difference. It's a little more difficult for you..."

Kurt hid his face in his hands, sighing.

"I'm starting to freak out a little."

"Yeah, so am I... but don't worry, I'm sure we'll find a way to get everyone back where they belong... and you'll be with Blaine in no time !"

"... I hope you're right..."

And with that he got up and offered Darren his hand, leading him to the kitchen. Okay, this is when I get the chance to know if I'm a good actor or not.

He sat down between Kurt and Carole, breathing deeply.

When Blaine exited the bathroom, the sky was already getting a little darker. Chris was almost done packing all of Blaine's – well, Darren's – personal belongings. He looked up to him and chuckled.

"I'm sorry Blaine but – you have to let your hair free. Darren never uses gel if he can avoid it..."

Blaine frowned.

Well actually it did make sense, judging from he heard/read about him, Darren didn't seem like the type of guy to wear his hair like Blaine did.

"Come on, I'll help you take it off."

Chris closed the backpack and pushed Blaine back inside the bathroom.

"Thank you for helping me, by the way."

"Don't thank me for that, it's completely normal !"

Blaine smiled.

"Okay, just... put your head in the sink... like, yeah, literally -"

"... can't we use the shower ?"

"The shower head is stuck to the wall, come on..."

Blaine sighed and bent carefully as Chris turned the tap on.

"Is there some shampoo anywhere ?"

"In the shower."

Blaine heard Chris move away from him, so he slowly started to pass the fingers from his non-casted hand through his hair.

"Hey, no touching -"

Chris batted his hand away, replacing it with his own.

"Dammit, did you put the whole bottle in there ?"

Blaine felt himself blush. Yeah, well, what did you expect ? My curls can't be tamed ! He shivered as Chris applied the cold liquid on his hair, but quickly relaxed as the taller man started to move his fingers extremely gently. It was almost like a massage, the same way Kurt did it when they spent the night together, just before falling asleep, in that glorious moment when they're so completely lost in each other a plane could crash outside they wouldn't notice.

"Kurt...", he whispers, softly enough that Chris probably doesn't hear

He kept his eyes closed the whole time, not just to avoid getting water in them, but also because he was afraid Chris would see the pain in there if he took a close enough look.

Chris turned the water off and handed Blaine a small towel.

"There... ehm, do you... need me to do it for you, or..."

"Nah, I'll be fine, I'll just... dry it enough so that it doesn't... soak my clothes..."

Chris smiled and patted his shoulder.

"I'll wait for you in the room."

"'kay."

Chris was not even through the door that the tears were falling down Blaine's cheeks. He sobbed quietly and took a deep breath, pressing his face into the soft towel before trying to dry his hair.

It took him a few minutes to calm down before he could join Chris, who was sitting on the bed, playing Angry Birds.

"Are you all right ? Your eyes look a little... oh, damn, did I get some shampoo in your eyes ?"

"What ? No, no, I'm... I'm fine."

"Oh... okay then...", he said on a knowing tone, "I guess we're good to go."

Chris took the two bags and got up, leaving the room, Blaine following close behind, heart racing. He hadn't left the room since he'd woken up. He hadn't seen the world outside except for what the window showed.

"Chris... how am I going to go back ?"

The taller man turned his head. He looked worried, too, even if he didn't let it show.

"I honestly don't know. But we'll figure it out. We could even call the doctor if we need to."

Blaine raised an eyebrow in confusion... before everything clicked back to place in his mind.

"Aaaah, the Doctor, okay, I thought you meant... a human doctor... It feels so weird to have you use sci-fi stuff as references instead of Broadway musicals..."

Chris laughed.

"It surprises a lot of people. I'm a total nerd, deal with it... Oh God, I completely forgot !"

He smacked himself on the head.

"... about what ?", Blaine worried

"Darren's girlfriend !"

"So, Blaine, what are you going to do while New Direction's in New York ?"

"... wait patiently for Kurt to call me ? No, not really, I mean, yes, I'll do that, but ehm, I guess I will... mostly study for my finals. And we have some... nursing home shows coming up..."

"Are you sure there was no way to get you to come with us ?", Finn asked

"... guys, leave him be, enough with the questions..."

Darren shot Kurt a thankful glance as the countertenor took his hand, squeezing it. Burt and Carole had been nearly harassing him for the last ten minutes. Darren had tried not to make up too many stuff that would turn out to be completely untrue – but when he thought about it, all of those things would never be showed on screen anyways so it didn't really matter. He'll just leave a note to Blaine... somewhere...

Once everyone was done eating their chicken wings and peas, Carole got up to clear most of the plates, Darren standing up straight away – only to be hushed back into his seat. After a few seconds passed, Kurt leaned close to Darren and whispered "that over-politeness was very Blaine-ish of you", which made the curly-haired man chuckle.

Carole open the fridge and took out a little cake and a bowl of custard, which she put on the table.

"Enjoy !"

Finn happily dug in the cake, covering his slice with a generous amount of custard. Darren smiled and almost managed to reach the knife but Kurt batted his hand away and took it instead, cutting two slices and serving them.

"You're the guest, you don't get to do anything. Also, you should get served first", he gave Finn a pointed look, "and have the bigger parts."

Darren smiled when Finn rolled his eyes. They finished eating in relative silence, which all three boys broke once they were done eating to ask if they could have another slice. It was absolutely delicious. Darren tried to figure out a way to eat that was different from his usual I-don't-care-who's-watching-I'm-hungry-and-it's-good and a little more dapper, but ended up with some chocolate on the corner of his lips. Kurt smiled and moved his hand.

"You've got some chocolate...", he cleaned it off with a brush of his thumb, "...there."

He then seemed to realize what he had just done, blushing a deep crimson as Darren turned a similar shade of red. Neither Burt nor Carole noticed, too taken in their conversation, but Finn was eyeing them suspiciously.

"Sorry", Kurt whispered, "force of the habit, I didn't mean to -"

"Kurt, don't apologize, you just acted normally, that's what we're supposed to do..."

"Yeah... Hey, if you're done eating... let's go upstairs."

They got up and cleared their plates before heading to Kurt's room.

"It's actually a lot nicer without all of the cameras."

Kurt smiled and sat on his bed.

"Yeah, I guess... I like it here. But I liked my basement room better. It was more... independent. Now I can't listen to Lady Gaga too loudly or Finn fights back with Bon Jovi."

"Where's your parents room ?"

"Downstairs – that's the upside. I can sneak out of the house without them hearing me."

He grinned.

"Have you ever done that ?"

"Ehm...", he blushed, "...yes, a few times... Three, actually."

Judging from the color on his cheeks, Darren guessed it was to meet up with Blaine.

"Tell me about it !"

He sat down next to him, his back against the headboard, excited. He definitely had to remember all the little stories and then tell them to Chris.

"Well, the first time... it was... somewhere between the moment we did Misery and... Pav's death", he looked at Darren as if to make sure he knew about both events,"Blaine and I had been texting each other from the minute I left Dalton, and we were talking about freshly released movies, and I mentioned Beastly and said that I'd really, really want to see it. He took a longer time to answer me, but it was already 10pm so I thought that maybe he'd fallen asleep. But no, he asked me if I wanted to go to the 11pm screening in Lima and said that he was just ten minutes away from my house anyways, so even if I didn't wanna go, we could still just hang out."

Darren was smiling widely.

In his opinion, Blaine had had feelings for Kurt right from the beginning, but had to repress them and just be the mentor, not seeing any possibility of a relationship in the future.

However, in Original Songs, first when Kurt gave him the "Blaine and the pips" line, and then when he sang Blackbird, Kurt was being himself completely, not trying to impress him or anything, and Blaine finally saw what he subconsciously knew was there all along and had been waiting for. So he had dropped his convictions and made a run for it.

"...unfortunately they were sold out, so instead of just going to another cinema, we went to the park. We sang and laughed and talked, and everything was so, so perfect. No one could see us, or try to hurt us or anything. It was a little over 1am when Blaine dropped me back at my place. He hugged me. He'd never done that before. I went to bed with his perfume still all over me..."

It took Darren a minute to realize that Kurt was crying, his shoulders trembling softly. He scooted closer and wrapped both of his arms carefully around his waist. Kurt leaned back against him and closed his eyes.

"It's just so... hard... because you're there... but you're not him and... he's not there..."

Darren bit his lip. Yes, he was extremely worried. No, the situation obviously did not pain him as much as it pained Kurt. Yes, he wished he was back home. Yes, he wanted to be with Chris right now, more than anything.

"It'll all get better, don't worry, I promise... let's just... sleep over it and we'll figure it all out tomorrow. Maybe by then Chris and Blaine will have thought of something. Maybe when we wake up I'll be back in L.A. and you'll be with Blaine."

Kurt sobbed and grabbed a tissue from the bedstand, drying his cheeks.

"This is absurd. I should be the one comforting you."

Darren smiled.

"Yeah, well I'm not freaking out as much as you are, so I get the privilege to do that. Come on, let's get ready for bed and then you can tell me the two other stories !"

Kurt's lips twitched lightly.

"Okay... but wait, don't you mind sharing a bed ?"

"Oh no, it's fine, Chris and I sleep together all the time !"

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"- no, no, in the same bed, we sleep in the same bed", he blushed, "not... you know... When we have a late night at either of our places and we're too tired to take a cab back home, we share a bed."

And I cherish those moments because I get to see him sleep and he looks like an angel even more than usual. No, I'm not turning into Edward Cullen. And I do it in a totally not creepy and absolutely not in love way. I just admire the beauty the Earth creates sometimes.

Kurt just nodded and got up slowly, telling Darren that he could use the bathroom that was next to Finn's room, and he would use his. When Darren came back to the bedroom, Kurt was still putting some cream on his face. He slid under the covers and hummed Disney songs to himself.

"You would be a Disney fan..."

Darren turned his head and nearly choked on air – Kurt was wearing some too big sweatpants and a worn-out Dalton athletics t-shirt, his hair now unstructured, a small smile playing on his face.

"... something wrong ?"

"I'm s-sorry, for a second I thought...", he shook his head, heart racing, "I thought you were Chris, it's... I'm sorry..."

"... girlfriend ?"

"Y-yes... sorry, I forgot to... mention it before."

Blaine paled.

"Oh no, no, no... we have to tell her about me. What am I gonna do ? I can't pretend to be with a girl ! We have to tell her or she'll know something is wrong. Right ?"

"I don't think she's in L.A. right now... she has a show in Atlanta or something..."

Blaine noticed the slightly bitter tone Chris used when he had talked about her. Do I detect a little jealousy ?

"A show ?"

"Yes, she's... the singer... and bassist, I think, of a band called Shoot The Freak. Her name's Mia."

Yep, definitely some bitterness.

"Oh, okay... Is she... nice ?"

Pushing, pushing, pushing !

"I guess, why else would you... I mean, Darren be with her ? I've only met her, like, three times though. During one of which she was completely drunk and kept telling me that Darren was a good kisser and that she wished he'd give her kisses like Blaine kissed Kurt, and that I was lucky I could've had that. Another one I only like, walked into her at one of Darren's concerts, she was leaving because she had a show too so we simply said hi and then parted."

Blaine started to see little explosions in Chris' eyes, the type that take place there when you're talking about something you dislike but can't show it. It had been briefly replaced by some sort of pride though, when he mentioned the "like Blaine kissed Kurt" thing.

Which was weird because if he'd understood correctly, to this date, they had only showed one kiss. The first one. They'd shared more heated and passionate ones since. So if Darren didn't even kiss his girlfriend like that...

"What about the third time ?"

"She, ehm... stopped by Darren's apartment to surprise him, because she'd come back one day early from New York. It was our Italian dinner night so Darren was preparing spaghettis, and I was preparing the sauce and I... I didn't want to, you know, be a pain and stay too long, when they had just reunited, so we shared a glass of wine and did small talk while Darren was finishing the meal, and then I left them. Darren insisted I stayed and watch Lady And The Tramp, like we'd planned to... but I just left them together and I hung out with some of the Warblers guys who were in town instead. I had a lot of fun."

He smiled weakly. They had reached Chris' car, and both got inside.

"I was half-hoping you'd have a driver..."

"Didn't want to attract attention on us. People start to recognize the Glee cars and they, like, hunt us..."

They stayed silent for most of the drive, Blaine taking in the oddity that was the city of Los Angeles at 6pm, when people are done working but it's still too early to start the night. Chris gave him some informations on the stuff they saw as they drove by, such as what movie scene had been shot there or who could be seen in this bar, and so on.

"You know, since we have the day off tomorrow, I could take you to visit the city !"

Blaine's eyes lit up.

"Really ? You'd do that ? Oh God, I'd love to ! I'd love to see Hollywood Boulevard ! And Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills... Oh, Kurt would've loved to see all of that... Also Rodeo Drive !"

"Okay, okay, we might need two days then... we could stop on set too, if you want to see what it's like."

"Sure ! But... we still need to try and send me back..."

They both nodded gravely. Chris parked in front of a gigantic black and white building in a deserted street. They exited the car and Chris took Darren's keys from his bag, opening the front door and leading them inside. Once they'd reached the apartment, Chris unlocked the door but stood still.

"Okay, so, I suppose it's gonna be a little messy... don't freak out. It's a... clean kind of mess."

Blaine frowned and walked in. That's when he understood what Chris had meant. At the end of the small corridor was a quite imposing room that was visibly used as living room, dining room and studio, judging form the various instruments, and sheet music scattered all around the floor, as well as the cosy couches and the flatscreen on the wall, next to which were several shelves full of DVDs. There was a table big enough for six people to eat without bumping their elbows together, accompanied by mismatched chairs. A lot of chairs. On the beige walls were lots of posters from movies and musicals and concerts, as well as pictures of Darren with various people – whom Blaine mostly recognized as the people from Starkid – and one with Chris, on which they were both dressed in their Dalton uniform, jacket off, tie loose, laughing and smiling at each other.

"It's a great picture", Blaine whispered, moving closer, "I have one very similar in my room..."

Chris approached and touched the frame.

"It was the first day I had shot a scene in the uniform. Darren said it looked good on me but that the fangirls would probably miss my skin-tight jeans... all I know is that I certainly didn't !", he joked

Blaine blushed.

"Yeah, well, I like the skin-tight jeans better...", he muttered

A soft buzz was heard and Chris automatically patted his pocket, only to notice it was not his phone and jump to the bag to take Darren's cellphone out.

"Message ! From... your mom."

He smiled and handed Blaine the device.

"What do I do ? Read it ? It must be personal !"

"Yeah, well if you don't read and answer it she might get worried. And since you're at it, you can send Mia a text too. I bet she'd be pretty mad if she hears you were in an accident from the internet before you get the chance to tell her. I'll take the bags to the bedroom."

"Wait ! You're staying here tonight, right ? You're not leaving me alone ?"

"Of course, silly. Don't worry, I'm staying."

He smiled and walked away. Blaine unlocked the iPhone and read Darren's mother's text – a reply to the one Chris had sent her before. She was asking him if he was out of the hospital and really completely okay. Blaine wrote a quick answer and pressed the "send" button before figuring out what to tell Mia. "I just had an accident but I'm fine, don't come over." No. Way.

He went back to the message page and found a thread of texts that had Mia's name. He clicked and went back earlier, to know what they'd been talking about. The thread stopped around ten texts before the last one, which was weird – he kept most of Kurt's texts for at least a month before deleting the insignificant ones (and there were very few) and he knew most of people liked to re-read the lovey-dovey messages their girlfriend/boyfriend sent them. He started reading, intrigued.

-Darren, we need to talk, can I call you ?

-I'm getting make-up on, what is it ?

-It's quite urgent, can't you take a break ?

-I'm shooting a scene in half an hour and my hair doesn't comply, just write it.

-… okay, so, I wish I could be telling you this face to face or at least on a phone call... Darren, I can't keep going like this. I can't keep pretending I don't see the way you look at him. I can't keep pretending you don't look happy when me being here means you're spending less time with him. I can't keep pretending that when you were freaking out the other day it was for a complete other reason than the rumor about him having a boyfriend.

-Mia, what are you talking about ?

-I'm talking about Chris. You think I don't see it ?

-Are you drunk, again ? There's nothing between us !

-I know, because you're too much of a gentleman to cheat on me with him. At least in reality. I heard you the other night.

-Whaaaaaat ? Seriously, Mia, drop it. It's a big misunderstanding, I'll call you in two hours and we can talk about it.

-Darren, you were having a wet dream about him. That night when I came back and he was there, you said you were too tired to do anything, and then later I woke up when I heard you moan. Only it was not MY name, it was HIS. And don't tell me it was a one-time thing, it's happened more and more frequently. At first I thought it was funny but then I understood what it was really about, because your dreams weren't always involving the two of you without clothing. I heard you. You're in love with him, Darren.

-...I'm STRAIGHT, Mia.

-Please. Don't try to deny it. I know you're attracted to him, at least, but you two share too many things for you not to have any feelings. You look at him the way you used to look at me. Or even more intently. As if you'd never seen anything so beautiful in your entire life.

-Mia, you're not making any sense, I'm begging you, stop this, I'll call you when I'm done filming and we can sort your little jealousy issue !

-No, Darren, it's over. I mean, you wear his t-shirts at night. You have all of the songs he's done on Glee on your iPod. Even the Mellencamp song. I don't want to live in a lie anymore.

There was a twenty minutes gap before Darren's answer.

-I'm sorry, Mia. I'm really sorry.

-I know you are.

-I shouldn't have done this to you. Please, don't tell him... or anyone. I'm still trying to understand...

-I won't, don't worry. Good bye, Darren. I sincerely hope things will work out between the two of you. It was nice knowing you.

Darren hadn't answered the last text. They had been sent and received three days ago. Blaine resisted the urge to throw a punch in the air. He couldn't tell Chris, though. He had to make him see the signs and point him to the right direction so that when he went back to where he belonged, those two would finally open their eyes and see what's right in front of them.

"Everything's set. What did Darren's mom say ?"

"She asked if I was okay, so I reassured her."

"... did you text Mia ?"

Yeah, well, Anderson... that's when it gets tricky.