The second Darren had left the car Chris turned the car around and reached for his phone. He pressed speed dial and waited for Ashley to pick up. He blurted out his question before she could even say hello. "Am I that obvious?"

"Hello Ashley, how was your day? Great, sweetie, how about yours?" She mocked.

"Shut up." Chris spatted. "Am I?"

"Depends on what we're talking about." Ashley sounded absent. Judging by the sounds Chris heard she was cooking a very late dinner.

"Darren."

"Oh, yes you are." Her answer was quick. Her tone made it very clear she was certain about her answer.

"What?"

"Sweetie, everyone knows about your mutual crushes. Only you two can't see you're crazy about each other."

Chris snorted at her. "You're kidding." She just knew he was rolling his eyes.

Ashley sighed. If Chris didn't want to believe her, she wasn't going to put effort in trying to convince him. "Whatever you want. Where is this coming from anyway?

"Curt said something about hearteyes." He explained shyly. He couldn't believe he was that transparent. He thought he was doing a pretty good job hiding his feelings. And no one had even said something to him. They think my feelings are mutual, but Darren is just a flirt like that. He doesn't have feelings for me.

Ashley snapped him out of his depressing thoughts. "How did that come up?"

"I needed to drop Darren off at his apartment." He said vaguely.

"Why?"

"We- ehm sort of got in a fight. But it's fine. I'm glad I could get rid of him for a while. He was being so in love." Chris reached his apartment. He parked the car in his usual spot and got out. He had great plans for his alone time.

"But you're in love too." Chris' body stilled. She knew. Was there any point in denying it?

"I- I'm not the one who he's in love with. Blaine is in love with Kurt, Darren is not in love with Chris. I'm like the second choice." That sounded pathetic. Chris didn't want Ashley to take pity on him so he quickly added another part. "But I'm okay."

"Chris you're not his second choice." Ashley decided to put some effort in making Chris see how Darren felt about him.

"Stop getting my hopes up! Ash, I appreciate your sweet words, but they're not helping."

Ashley sighed frustrated. "You are annoying, did you know that?"

"Bye Ash." Chris tried to end the conversation.

"And blind. You're really blind."

"I said bye." He tried again.

"And I said-"

"Bye." He almost didn't hear her last sentence when he ended the phonecall.

"I burned my dinner because of you."

Chris chuckled and was relieved to be at his own apartment again. He took a deep breath and started collection things he needed for his 'night of nerd-ness' as he called it in his head. He didn't know when Darren would want to go home, so the sooner he could start the better.

A good five minutes later he was seated on the couch and looked around himself with great pride. On his coffee table were his 'Star Wars' DVDs. Next to the DVDs was a 12-pack of Diet Coke and he just got off the phone with the greasiest burger restaurant in the neighbourhood. He needed junk food, because he was sick of the organic stuff Kurt ate. "Let's get this party started!" He said and ran to his bedroom to put on his Batman pjs. When he returned he threw himself of the couch and pressed play.

Ten minutes later his burger meal arrived and he gave the delivery guy a enormous tip. He dug into the hamburger and moaned in delight. "I've missed you." He told his food. "And you too." He said to his can of Diet Coke. "And you." He said to the movie. "And I'm talking to food and a movie." He said out loud when he realised what he was doing.

When Chris was about to take another bite his phone started ringing. "Please tell me it's not Curt." He whispered to himself while looking for the phone. He found it, screen downwards, on the other side of the couch. Is it too late to become religious? "God, I've never been really nice to you, but please let it not be Curt?" The second the words left his mouth he heard how ridiculous he was being. He picked up the phone and saw the caller's ID. "God, you're a jerk." He muttered before picking up. "Hey Curt, how nice to talk to you again." His head fell back against the couch.

"Your man is ready to curl up in bed with you again." 'Nooo' Chris yelled without making a sound. Why can't he stay away a little longer?

"How about you two have a Dalton sleep over?" Chris suggested.

"How about a hell no?" Curt answered. "My wife is probably thinking I'm keeping a big secret from her and if I tell her this story she'll probably think I'm insane."

That's no good. "I'll be there in twenty minutes." Chris sighed and made his way to the kitchen to throw his hamburger away.

"Thanks."

Previously.

"Bye Blaine." Darren didn't respond. Chris managed to kiss Darren's cheek before he exited the car. Darren greeted Curt in a friendly hug.

Curt was quite nervous about having Darren in his house, because, unlike Darren's other cast mates, Curt didn't really have lines. He didn't know what kind of person Nick was. So he just hoped Darren didn't know who Nick was either and he'd just go with what Curt made of him.

After having a completely made-up conversation about his 'boyfriend' Jeff, Curt brought up the reason why they were in this situation. "So I've heard about your little argument."

"Oh." Darren swirled his coffee around in his mug. He knew they'd talk about it at some point, but that didn't take away the awkwardness.

"I think you're being unreasonable." Curt spoke after he realised Darren wasn't going to say anything.

"I-I'm not." He looked up to see Curt's 'Oh yes you are' face.

For all Curt knew, Blaine was a dapper guy who always made sure everyone was comfortable. "If he's not in the mood, you shouldn't push him."

"I didn't force him into anything." Darren defended himself. But he made it sound like their argument was only about sex. And, in Darren's opinion, it wasn't.

"But you got mad at him for saying no." Curt pointed out. He had never thought he'd find himself in the situation he was in. "What kind of relationship is that?"

"That's not the reason I got mad." Darren's voice got louder. He was so annoyed no one but him noticed something was wrong.

"Then why did you get mad?" Curt didn't get it anymore. It was the reason Chris had told him.

"Because he is being really weird!" He answered with too much force in his voice. He realised Curt had done nothing wrong and he was just being a friend to him. "Everyone is acting like I've changed." Darren was doubting himself. Everyone was treating him differently and he hated it. He was starting to believe there was something wrong with him. "Have I changed?"

At that exact moment the doorbell rung. Saved by the bell! Curt thought. "I'll be right back." He said and jogged to the door. When he opened it his smile disappeared immediately. Of course just what I needed. Kimberly. It was probably the first time he didn't want his wife to come home.

She started to explain why she rung her own doorbell. "Hey I forgot my purse so-"

"I know you forgot your purse." Curt hissed. Kimberly shot him a questioning look and tried to step inside, but Curt pushed her back. "That's why you didn't get my texts." He had texted her not to come home, but when he hadn't gotten any response the purse on their kitchen table caught his eye.

"Oh, what did you text me?" She expected him to say they were out of milk or something, but she didn't expect to hear what he said next.

"You have to leave." Question marks were written all over her face. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. "Leave." He repeated.

"Why?"

Curt didn't have the time to explain everything. Darren was probably wondering what took so long already. "Darren is here and I can't explain you to him."

"Huh?" That didn't make any sense. She had met Darren several times.

"I'll explain later. Really, it's a funny story, you'll laugh. But please leave right now?" He kissed her cheek and pushed her out of the door.

"You'd better have a good reason for this." She said. She was already wondering what could have happened that didn't allow her in her own home anymore.

"I have." He said and blew her one more kiss before closing the door.

"Who was that?" Asked Darren when Curt entered the living room again.

Shit, make something up! "Ehm salesman?"

Darren sensed the unsurety in Curt's voice. "I can't believe this!" He got up from the couch. "You're doing it too!"

"I'm doing what?" Curt questioned innocently.

"I thought I could have a normal conversation with you, apparently not." Darren made himself reading to storm out again. He was furious. What's the deal with everyone? Even a good friend like Nick!

Curt took Darren's wrist to stop him. "No, I just forgot the word." Darren stopped. "It's an unusual word, isn't it?" Please just go with it?

"Are you okay?" Darren asked and he looked at Curt as if his friend was on drugs.

"Yeah, but think about it." Curt decided to stop talking about the word when he saw Darren's confused look. "Never mind." He muttered and sat down again. "Back to the conversation."

"Right." Darren took his place on the couch again. "Have I changed?" Darren repeated his question.

"No," Curt lied. "not a thing." He knew Darren wanted to ask why others didn't see that. "I think everyone just wants to be extra careful with you right now." He said before Darren could ask.

"But no one listens when I say I'm fine." He told Curt sadly. Curt was looking for a way to cheer Darren up.

"Look at it this way." Curt started. "Why do you think everyone is being this careful?"

"Because they think I'm a baby who can't take care of himself." Darren answered stubbornly.

Curt shook his head. "They care about you, dumbass." Darren let out a breathy laugh. "They can't stand seeing you hurt." Darren got up and tackled his friend in a hug.

Darren pulled away from the hug and held Curt on arm length. "Wait, you're being quite normal, does that mean you don't care about me?"

"Of course I care about you!" Curt acted offended. "But we went to Dalton together, I've seen you in worse condition. I mean, we did some crazy stuff." He laughed.

Darren laughed with him. "Remember that time Wes managed to get that penguin from the zoo?" Darren managed to get out between laughs.

What the hell is he talking about? "That was awesome."