The night was crazy, Darren will admit that. The club was over-crowded and the music was too loud even for Darren's taste, and Darren liked his music loud. The bass was especially powerful. You could feel it all the way through to your bones. They had chosen this particular club because it was literally next door to the hotel they were staying at.
Darren had only had a few drinks. Enough to feel a slight buzz, but not enough to actually be able to confidentially call himself drunk.
Chris however, was hammered. He was hanging all over Darren and Amber, whom they had invited along.
As they walked out of the club Chris had to wrap his arm around Darren's waist to keep from falling and embarrassing himself in front of the crowd of fans and paparazzi. A teenage girl shouted out Chris' name and he let go of Darren just long enough to attempt to go over to her and nearly fall in the process.
Lucky for him, Darren caught him right before he hit the ground.
"Thanks Darren!" Chris slurs.
"Be careful, man. We can't let you fall and break an arm before this tour ends!" Darren replies in a loud voice, just to be sure Chris hears him over everything.
The security guard that had been waiting at the entrance to the club walked over to Chris and told him that it was time they got back to the hotel. He gently grabbed Chris' arm and started steering him away from the crowd of people towards their hotel.
"But wait! My friends! Darren! I can't leave without Darren," Chris all but shouts at the tall man.
"Chris, I'll meet you at the hotel! I'm just going to stick around here and sign for some people with Amber," Darren gestures towards Amber, who had begun signing even before Chris nearly face-planted.
Chris rolls his eyes and lets the security guard take him away.
Darren turns his attention back to the crowd and begins signing and taking pictures. He can't get Chris out of his mind. He's so funny when he's drunk like this. Darren just has to worry about him breaking bones. Chris gets especially clumsy when he's drunk.
Darren thinks about Chris the whole twenty minutes he's signing autographs. He almost feels bad and he hopes that he didn't come off as bored. He was really just daydreaming.
Darren loves Chris. He's known this for some time now. He just hasn't had a decent opportunity to tell him. They were always either working or getting ready for work. He just doesn't want to make things awkward with them.
Darren is almost positive that there is no chance that Chris loves him back. He just doesn't want to stick around after he's rejected. Not when he feels obligated to by their work anyway.
But God, he loves him so much.
He loves the way he talks, and walks and sits and stands. He loves his voice and the way his nose crinkles up when he laughs. He loves his voice and his hair. He loves the Single Ladies dance that Chris does every night. And he loves that he gets to causally watch that Single Ladies dance every night. But more than anything, he loves the way Chris makes him feel when they're together.
"Darren, are you ready?" Amber yells over the crowd, snapping Darren out of his Chris induced trance.
"Y-yeah. Sure. Let's go," Then they both wave and blow kisses to their fans as they walk towards the hotel.
When they get closer to the hotel Darren starts thinking about Chris again. He wonders if he actually will see him again tonight, like he said before. Chris could very well have passed out by now. He was really drunk.
They get into the elevator and Amber taps the button for the floor they're staying on.
They walk out and Darren tells her goodnight. He gets out his wallet, pulls out the key card, walks into the room and flips on the light switch.
"Heeeeey Darreeen, " Chris coos.
"Chris, what are you doing here?" Darren asks, "I thought you'd have passed out by now."
"Me too! But you know, Darren Criss, I think it worked out perfectly! Look at me! I'm sitting here, on your hotel bed. In London. Can you believe we're in London? God, I love London!"
'Wow,' Darren thinks, 'He might even be drunker than I thought.'
Suddenly, Chris gets serious. He stands up and looks Darren in the eye. He pulls him over to the bed and commands him to sit.
"Uh, Chris, man, what's going on?"
"Darren, I don't know if it's the alcohol, but I really have to tell you something," Chris says, completely serious.
Darren's heartbeat speeds up. He couldn't. He wouldn't. Not now. Not at the end of tour. "Uh, okay, shoot."
"Darren. Sweet, sweet, Darren. I need to tell you something and you have to promise not to laugh. You have to promise to still be my friend."
"Chris? You know I will always be your friend. I would never leave you. No matter what."
Darren means it. He might be hopelessly in love with Chris, but he is Darren's best friend and he honestly couldn't imagine his life without him.
"…you wear a lot of plaid," Chris breaks his pokerface and starts laughing hysterically.
"Very funny. I was starting to get nervous there for a minute."
"Why would you be nervous?" Chris asks innocently. He flutters his eyelashes.
And holy fuck. Chris has long eyelashes.
"I-I don't know," Darren fumbles.
"Well there was something else I was going to tell you," Chris says simply. He almost looks…nervous.
Darren doesn't say anything. Chris takes that as his queue to go on.
"Darren, I was going to tell you this earlier but I chickened out and went with the plaid joke instead. That promise you made a minute ago still applies here. Okay?"
"Chris, I meant it then and I mean it now."
"Okay," Chris shifts his position on the bed so that he's sitting eye to eye with Darren. "Darren, you are my best friend, and I kind of need you, I need you to function almost. I'm actually embarrassingly co-dependent on you. Like, Twilight levels of co-dependency."
"Chris I-" Chris cuts him off.
"I need to say this now or I don't think I ever will. Darren, I love you. I know your straight and you have girls hanging on you left and right but I just-"
Darren leans in to Chris and slowly presses his lips to Chris'.
Chris inhales frantically and kisses back.
Darren can taste the liquor on Chris' tongue and he realizes that this isn't right. The timing is off. He pulls away from the kiss with a light smack.
Chris is sitting there so innocently. His eyes are wide and he looks really confused. Like he doesn't know why Darren kissed him and he doesn't know why Darren pulled away. And it doesn't help that Darren is sitting there looking just as confused.
"Chris I-I can't."
"I understand."
"But wait, no. It's not that! I want this to be special, I want the moment when I tell you that I love you to be special. I want both of us to remember it in the morning," Darren says, looking defeated.
"Oh…" was all Chris could say.
"So, do you think you'll remember any of this in the morning?"
"Probably not. Can't you see? I'm totally smashed."
Darren laughs.
"Are you going to bring this up tomorrow? If I don't remember?" Chris asks.
"Maybe. Now that I know how you feel, I guess I don't have to be nervous about it anymore."
"Darren, you could honestly tell any person on this earth that you love them and they would most likely say it back. Have you met yourself?" Chris states.
Darren laughs again.
"I guess I better go, then."
"I guess…"
"Can I just kiss you? One more time? I know I won't remember, but I just want to do it, just one more time." The taller boy begs.
Darren practically leaps over the bed and runs to Chris. He cups his face in his hands and kisses him. Deeper this time. More teeth and more tongue, and much more frantically.
Chris pulls away first. Then he opens the door and walks out of Darren's hotel room.
FIN