"Shit", Darren mumbled as he stepped off his scales.
You would have thought that with being on the road continuously over the summer he would have lost weight, but as it turns out all of the singing and dancing was coupled with mass amounts of time sitting in hotels, buses and airplanes. That along with the lack of constant access to a gym, piles of junk food supplied by venues, and room service at nearly every stop equaled a current lack of Abs and raised number on the scale. He shook his head as he went about his morning routine, getting ready for the first day back on set and mentally going over his schedule, trying to find the quickest available time to hit the gym. He had originally thought he would have more time to deal with this, get his weight back under control, because even if they were filming, those Dalton uniforms hide a lot. He realized that was not the case two days ago when he finally went over the script and saw that not only was Blaine no longer a Warbler, he and Kurt were scripted to have heavy petting session, a shirtless heavy petting session.
Darren sighed as he made the familiar drive to Paramount, he had always joked that if acting or music had not worked out he would have become a 'big, fat professor' but it had worked out and let's face it, no one wants to watch a big, fat actor. They especially do not want to watch a hobbit-sized guy with a doughy middle get naked with their favorite character on television. It really did not help that he had done that photo shoot for Out earlier in the year, the weight would be glaringly obvious to anyone who had seen those photos. Then put him next to a guy like Chris, who was perfectly thin, and Darren was going to come out looking like Chunk from 'The Goonies' on camera, they might as well just film him doing the 'truffle shuffle'.
He idly wondered what Chris would think and even more so he wondered where exactly they stood after the last show in Dublin. He may have surprised Chris with a kiss on stage but Chris had more than surprised him afterwards when he showed up at Darren's door that night. They hadn't done much more than kiss but it had meant something to Darren, the timing had been crappy though due to Chris leaving less than six hours later to come back and film a movie and Darren bouncing all over doing concerts and conventions. They still had not had the chance to talk about things, though they had kept in touch; it was hard to tell what someone was thinking via text message.
He made his way through security and got his notes for the scenes they would be filming today, relief seeping through his every pore when he saw that they were not filming anything that required him to be shirtless just yet. As he got into the routine, going through wardrobe, hair and makeup he formulated a plan; he would skip lunch today and if they somehow finished filming at a decent time he would go running afterwards, maybe do a few crunches back at his apartment. There was no way he was going to get his muscle definition back before they filmed the scene but he could at least make an attempt to get rid of some of the pooch, maybe suck it in a little on camera if needed.
He had a slight set back in wardrobe when the outfit he was supposed to wear for his first scene turned out to be a little snug, it still fit but one of the girls dressing him had pinched his stomach and made a disapproving noise before locating a cardigan to layer over his shirt. He thanked his lucky stars that none of his fellow cast members had been present for the embarrassing moment and headed to set. The rest of his morning thankfully went by without accident, most of his scenes being finished in less than five takes, and when they broke for lunch, he quickly exited before any attention could be drawn to him skipping the meal. Darren headed for his trailer, appreciating the fact that being a series regular meant that he had his own one now and not a shared one; he had just ditched the cardigan and flopped face first onto the couch when there was a knock at the door.
Darren sighs and considers just ignoring whoever was there but in his haste to get in his trailer and out of sight, he had not locked the door and a moment later, it swung open. Someone pulled his feet up soon after, sitting on the end of the couch but not saying anything and Darren wondered momentarily if some crazed fan had made it past security and was now sitting in his trailer.
"So you barely say a word to me on set, you skip lunch, you don't answer your door when I knock, and ignore me even after I let myself in", Chris says as he drums his fingers up Darren's calf, "Did I piss you off or what?"
"No", Darren grumbles into the couch, then realizes that Chris probably cannot understand him and turns his face slightly, "My mind has just been a little preoccupied."
Chris waits a moment for him to elaborate and when he doesn't he asks, "About?"
"Stuff", Darren shrugs though the gesture probably does not come across since he is still lying down.
"Okay, not doing a lot to dispel the whole pissed off at me theory here", Chris, mumbles, toying with the laces on Darren's shoes.
"I'm not pissed at you Chris, I'm just-", He really doesn't know what else to say so he leaves the sentence hanging.
"Hmm, well then, if you really aren't mad at me then you should have no problem proving it by coming and getting lunch with me then", Chris pats his leg as if encouraging Darren to stand.
Darren groans into the couch, "I'm really not hungry", He says though his stomach betrays him a minute later by growling loudly.
Chris snorts at the noise, "Oh yeah, not hungry at all. So you aren't pissed at me but you won't get lunch with me, even though you are obviously hungry, care to explain?"
"I'm not mad, but I'm quickly becoming annoyed", He mutters.
"Ha-ha, seriously though, aren't we friends? Don't friends tell each other when something is bothering them?" Even though Darren cannot see him, he can still hear the pout in his voice.
Chris waited several minutes but Darren made no move to respond and as he racked his brain for what could possibly be wrong a thought dawned on him, "Is this about the script?" Chris asks softly, "If it is you really should just talk to Ryan, I mean, its one thing to kiss a guy on television and be comfortable with it. I'm sure he'd understand if you weren't okay with taking it any further, it is a lot to ask of you."
Darren feels like shit after that statement, of course, Chris would conclude that Darren was mad at him or did not want to kiss him on screen after their lack of contact since the tours end.
He sighed and decided that as embarrassing as it would be for him, the truth was better than the idea's Chris was coming up with and the guilt they were causing him. "It isn't the script, Chris. You are my best friend, hell, you are more than a friend to me", He sat up slightly, leaning on the arm of the couch and rubbing his forehead. "I have no problem with what the script has us doing it how they are having us do it."
"Wait, what?" Chris questions, as he scoots across the couch, taking Darren's hand in his own, "You aren't comfortable being shirtless on camera? Darren, you've done photo shoots that were more were more revealing than that."
"Those were different though", Darren replies, feeling his cheeks heat up, "I had time to prepare for those, I don't think a day or two at the gym is going to help much right now."
Chris sits back for a moment and just stares, looking Darren over, his gaze settling on the shorter man's stomach finally and Darren squirms, wrapping his arms around his middle in an attempt to hide the pooch there from the other man. Chris, however, just moves in a little closer, placing his hands over Darren's arms and slowly pulling them away from his body and continues examining him.
"You're embarrassed about this?" Chris questions quietly, releasing one of Darren's arms so his hand can come to rest on the bit of extra padding his friend has acquired.
Darren thinks he must look like a lobster by now, the heat in his cheeks is so intense, "I just, I know how people expect me to look and I really do not want to see the reaction me taking my shirt off right now would cause," He mumbles, pulling Chris's hand off of his pudge.
"If you haven't noticed, Darren, I don't exactly have perfect muscle tone or anything", Chris smiles at him softly, feeling slightly bad that the other man is embarrassed but relieved that he did not do anything wrong. "I think most of the fans are going to be in such shock from the scene that they won't even notice or care about much else."
Darren rolls his eyes, "Maybe the first time they watch it, but then they'll watch it a hundred more times and someone will put it on youtube in slow motion and people will take screen shots of it to post online. Then there will be in depth discussions about who kissed who first, hand placement, if there was tongue, and within an hour they will be talking about why Kurt is dating a fat ass."
Chris is laughing now and Darren wants to be annoyed but he really likes the sound too much to hold onto his aggravation.
"You", Chris giggles, pointing at his friend, "Have been spending way too much time on tumblr", He pauses for a second to regain his composure before continuing, "And I think you are blowing things slightly out of proportion. You are not a fat ass, you barely have a tummy, and worst-case scenario is that you suck it in a little on camera and millions of people lose their minds afterwards contemplating whether all of that chest hair of yours is soft or scratchy."
Darren groaned, covering his face with his hands, "Fuck, do I need to wax it? Is it too late to do that before we film?"
Chris had to fight back another fit of giggles, "Darren, quit being such a worry wart. You do not need to wax your chest and you look fine, I promise."
Just then, someone banged on the trailer door and yelled that they were needed on set, so they headed back after Chris told him that they would be continuing this conversation later. Darren was not entirely happy that Chris was in one his embarrassing secret but he was happy when he realized that their conversation had effectively kept him from going to lunch. Though an hour later while they were between takes Chris had rolled his eyes rather dramatically when Darren's stomach had rumbled loudly again.