They were on a date. On a date! It hadn't really started out as one, but Chris had suggested a walk at the beach to clear their heads from a long day of work, so they decided to call it a date. But then Chris' phone buzzed. Before Chris could reach for it, Darren grabbed both of his hands in a firm grasp. "Just leave it." Darren said, not wanting to spend the rest of their romantic walk next to Chris who was texting his manger, Ryan, or anyone else.

"What if it is important?" Chris tried to pull out of Darren's grip, but he was not letting go.

"They'll text again." Darren said, calmly. Chris' phone chose that moment to buzz again. "Fine." Darren sighed dramatically and let go off Chris' hands.

Chris looked at his phone, first he didn't recognize the number, but when he opened the messages he got angry. "You have got to be kidding me!" He yelled at the phone, as if the object had done something wrong.

"What's wrong?"

"Twenty-something years ago Jake's parents had unprotected sex, that's what's wrong!" Chris answered angrily.

Darren looked disgusted. Why would anyone say that? "Thanks for that mental image." He said sarcastically. "I don't think I can sleep tonight."

"He just texted me!" Chris ignored Darren's comment completely. "How did he even get my number? I never gave him my number."

"Come here." Darren demanded to give him the phone. He typed a quick message to Jake. "This is the last time I asked you politely to leave my boyfriend alone. Next time I'll run out of patience. Consider this as a last warning. -Darren" He read out loud and handed Chris back his phone.

"I could have done that myself." Chris muttered when he pocketed the phone again.

"I know, but you'd feel guilty, because you're too good of a person." That was how it begun.

A few days later they were having lunch together at set. Chris' phone buzzed. He looked at the text and tensed for a moment. He tried to hide it from Darren, but Darren noticed. "That's enough! This has been going on for way too long and now it's getting too much!" Darren was sick of it. He was sick of the stalking, because that was what it had become. He stood up and knocked his chair over in the process. Darren stormed out, on his way to find Jake.

"Dare, come back!" Chris called half hearted. He knew he should really try to calm Darren down. But on the other hand, he knew Darren wouldn't really hurt Jake, that wasn't like him. He probably would just have a strong conversation with him. And maybe it would even solve their problem. That would be great. Chris decided to just sit down and let it happen for once. He was tired of turning Jake down.

Darren found Jake in his tiny office. Ryan was talking to him while writing something down. "Hello Jake, I would like to have a word with you." Darren said when he entered the room without even knocking.

"I have a lot of work to-"

"This won't take long." Darren grabbed Ryan by his shoulders and pushed him out of the door. He slammed the door in the face of a stunned looking Ryan.

"O-okay." Jake sputtered, his eyes wide and his throat dry.

Darren backed him up against the wall. He grabbed his collar and lifted Jake up so he was on the tips of his toes. "Stay away from my boyfriend." Darren hissed. "Have you ever had a boyfriend?" He asked Jake.

"O-of course I have." Jake answered quietly, he was squeaking slightly.

"Well, I haven't. This is really special to me." Darren said quite calmly. "And you're trying to fuck it up!" He exclaimed. "So I'm telling you right now, no more roses, no more cards, no more texts, no more anything. Do you understand?" Darren gripped the collar tighter with every word.

"Hmm." Jake hummed, but he didn't sound convincing enough to Darren.

"I said do you understand?" Darren asked slowly and forcefully.

"Y-yes." Jake managed to get out. Darren realised the grip on his collar and Jake was on his feet again. Darren murmured a quick 'Good' under his breath and swung the door open, only to be face to face with Ryan.

"Darren what the hell?" Ryan asked, mostly confused. He was probably too stunned to be really angry. "You can't just drag me out of a conversation to yell at my assistant."

"Oh yes, I can." Darren pushed past Ryan and walked rapidly to his trailer. He wasn't going to see Chris, because he just realised he had signed a contract and he broke it. He had let his relationship affect his work and to make things worse, he had done it right in front of his boss. Chris was probably going to say he was an idiot. And if Ryan caught up with the situation again, he would be screwed.

When he got to his trailer he started cleaning, something he barely did, but when he was really nervous he could turn into a cleaning-monster. He heard two knocks on the door. He knew it wasn't Chris, because Chris always knocked three times. So whoever it was, it was someone who he didn't want to see. "Go away." He said harshly.

"Darren?" Ryan called from outside.

"I said go away!"

Ryan apparently saw that as an invitation to open the door. Much to Darren's surprise he didn't look angry. "Can I come in?" Ryan asked, his voice calm and it sounded almost caring.

"Am I fired?" Darren asked, narrowing his eyes. He didn't need Ryan to come in to tell him that.

"Darren, can I come in?" Ryan tried again.

"Am I?" Darren pushed on. "Because if I'm fired I'd like to leave with as much dignity as I have left."

"That's not much." Ryan laughed awkwardly. He invited himself to come in to the trailer and sat down on the small couch. "Darren, sit down." He patted the spot beside him. Darren decided to just do what Ryan said, because he was in trouble already. "Do you remember this?" Ryan pulled out their special contract from behind his back.

Darren eyed the things and started to apologize. "Ryan, I'm so sorry. I know I shouldn't have acted that way, but Jake has been so annoying for so long. And I don't know how to make him stop. Chris and I have tried talking to hi-" Darren cut off his own rambling when Ryan slowly ripped the contract in two pieces. "What are you doing?" He asked, confused

"You were right." Ryan said. He saw it didn't make things clearer for Darren, so he waved the ripped paper in front of Darren's face. "Absolute bullshit." He repeated Darren's words.

"What? But what about the rules? About not letting it affect our work?"

"Darren," Ryan started. "a big part of this show is about gay people who aren't accepted for whom they are. I'm obviously not a homophobe, but I realised that I'm killing love with this thing. I'm holding you back and that's not right."

"So the contract is dropped?" Darren asked to confirm his hope.

"Yes." Ryan answered. "I'm still asking you to stay professional, but the pressure of being fired is off the table."

We can do that, yeah we defiantly can. "Thank you Ryan." Darren embraced him in a quick hug. They would stay professional, Chris would make sure of that. But they wouldn't have to be scared anymore do anything wrong. "Thank you so much." He thanked him again. "People are wrong. You're not a monster."

"People call me a monster?" Ryan asked as if it was the first time he had heard about that.

"Hey, does this mean Chris and I can have sex in our trailers?" Darren avoided the subject, but he already knew the answer.

"No." Ryan simply answered.

"Maybe you are a monster." Darren joked.

"Who calls me that?" Demanded Ryan. "Monster? I'm not a monster. I'm professional. Now, answer my question."

"I'm not allowed to tell you. It's in my contract." Darren smiled.