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Darren can only watch with the utmost curiosity as boyfriend makes him help drag two boxes from his car and onto the set with him after lunch. The big one looks heavy as fuck and he’s glad Chris has spent the past couple years working out, so he takes it, leaving Darren with the smaller box.
He makes Darren place them off to the side, where the cameras won’t catch them. And when he opens up the larger box, Darren can see the collection of pitch black baseball hats.
He grins widely, reading the front ‘I Survived Glee’. Of course Chris got everyone cute little hats for the ending of Glee. He reaches into the box for one, intending to plop it on his head immediately.
“Ah!” Chris bats his hand away from the hats, his voice harsh. “Not for you! You’ll get yours later, mister.”
Darren frowns at him, sticking out his bottom lip in a pout. It always works on Chris. “But babe-”
“Nope.” Chris grabs a handful of the hats out of the box, “You’re not getting one, even with that cute pout of yours.” He kisses Darren’s pouty lips lightly, and sets out towards the crew.
He sighs. It’s not like he could wear it at the moment anyways, when they’re still filming, but that doesn’t make him want to have it any less. Especially as he watches the writers and director put them on with giant grins, patting Chris on the back and thanking him.
They’re still setting up, so Chris has more than enough time to make his way around the auditorium. Soon, everyone on the crew has a hat on. The camera operators, the make-up artist. Everyone seems delighted with them.
Chris passes by him, heading towards some of the newbie cast with another handful of them.
He catches up with him, wrapping an arm around Chris’ waist and pulling him back against his own chest. “Chrissss, can I have mine now, please?” He whines pathetically in his ear.
Chris throws his head back in laughter, and then shakes it with a resounding, “Nope!” He pops the ‘p’, and wrangles out of Darren’s grip.
His boyfriend hands them out with a proud grin. First Billy and Lauren, then Samantha and Marshall and Noah too. All of them have ecstatic grins, and they walk to place them with their stuff since they’re going to be filming in a few minutes.
He glares at the backs of their heads. Is it so awful that he just wants to show off how great his boyfriend is by wearing a hat he ordered for the entire cast and crew of Glee, if the boxes are anything to go by?
Someone calls places and he begrudgingly heads onto the stage, but not before giving Chris another pout. Chris just shakes his head again, the corner of his mouth turning upwards into a smile.
He doesn’t even get to see what the back’s of them say until they’ve finished off their first scene of the afternoon. As he goes off stage to sit in one of the seats, he finally gets a look at the back of the hat on one of the crew member’s heads.
‘...and Chris Colfer is my favorite.’
He laughs loudly at that, it’s such a fucking Chris thing to do. His laugh is loud enough that the crew member whose head he was staring at turns around to glance at him curiously. Darren gestures to the man’s hat with a wave.
“Oh, yeah, they’re pretty great right?”
“They are.”
He scans the room again looking for Chris. He’s not surprised at where he finds him, scooping hats out the big box again. This time he heads off towards some of their regular guest stars. Darren sighs to himself as he sinks into one of the auditorium seats.
Someone plops down into the seat next to him, and he turns to see Amber giving him a disbelieving look.
“Is someone jealous that their boyfriend is giving out things to everyone before him?”
Darren glares at her. “I’m not jealous. That’s ridiculous.”
“Really? Because you’ve been either glaring or pouting at every person who’s gotten a hat since Chris took them out of the damn box.”
He looks away from her then, staring at his feet stretched out in front of him and chewing on his bottom lip.
“You’re not the only one. He hasn’t given any of the main cast a hat yet, I think he’s got some kind of order planned out in that brain of his. You’re probably last.”
He huffs. Of course Chris has an order planned out, he wouldn’t be Chris if he didn’t. The problem is that everyone is wearing one and Darren isn’t. Everyone has hats exclaiming how much they love Chris, and Darren doesn’t.
He tells Amber just that, and she just laughs at him. “Oh honey, you don’t need a hat to exclaim how much you love that boy. You do that just by existing, everyone can tell how much you love him.”
Darren laughs, because yeah, that’s pretty accurate. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and he’s not at all afraid to show it. But, it would be nice to have the hat too. Just in case someone doesn’t know.
Someone calls places again, and Amber pats his arm in sympathy before pulling him up to get back on the stage.
He tries, to no avail, several more times throughout the evening to coerce Chris into giving him a hat.
He pulls Chris into him every time he walks by, kissing at his neck or his ear. But it never works. Chris just moans and flushes, making it even harder for Darren to let go. Or he laughs it off, swatting at him until he lets Chris go so he can deliver more hats. Darren even makes what he believes, are the saddest puppy dog eyes at Chris every chance he gets. He even gets called out by the director during one of the scenes for frowning too much.
But several hours and scenes later, and he still doesn’t have a hat. They’re just about to to film their last scene for the day, an extra take they claimed to need but probably don’t. Most of the cast and crew are still here, even though some of them aren’t needed for filming. All wearing black baseball caps.
Except Darren.
Even Amber has one now, one that’s she wearing because she’s still here, even if she’s not needed for filming anymore. Darren just assumes that no one really wants to go home from this amazing set when they have such little time together left. Or at least, that’s what he would do.
Darren groans to himself as they call for places again. When he steps up onto the stage, he realizes he’s the only one up there. He glances out into the auditorium seats, frowning when he sees that most the cast and crew are seated, all in their black hats. What?
“Hey-” he begins, intending to complain, only to be interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He turns his head to be greeted by Chris, who is smirking and holding something behind his back.
Darren looks at him for a moment, before Chris holds out a black hat to him. He grins widely, positive that he looks like a fucking idiot just staring at the front of the hat. He goes to flip it over, to stare at the back part where it proclaims that Chris is his favorite. “Thank you-”
He stops, staring at the back of his hat. Darren’s pretty sure his jaw has dropped a couple feet, because where the words ‘...And Chris Colfer is my favorite’ adorn the back of everyone’s hats, his reads:
‘....And Chris Colfer is my fiancé.’
Darren gasps. “What-,” his eyes flutter back to where Chris was standing.
But now his boyfriend is on one knee, staring at him like he’s the most important thing in the universe. And in one swoop of his stomach, nothing else matters. Not the fact that everyone had stayed (although now Darren’s pretty sure Chris asked them to), not the hats. Nothing.
Just Chris.
He feels his heart beat so hard he can hardly believe he’s still alive. Chris holds something else out, and Darren can barely make out the ring in between the tears that have already begun to run down his cheeks.
“Darren,” Chris starts, and Darren hiccups, causing everyone in the audience to laugh, “I thought it was only right to end this chapter of our lives, the chapter that brought us together, with a brand new beginning.” He inhales deeply, eyes focusing on Darren. “So, Darren Everett Criss, will you do the honor of becoming my husband?”
Darren’s flinging his arms around Chris’ neck before he’s even finished. “Yes, yes, god yes.” There’s several whooping noises from somewhere in the audience, but it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but Chris and the ring Chris is sliding onto his finger.
As soon as it’s on, he launches himself at Chris’ mouth, crashing their lips together. He can tell Chris is crying too, the kiss is a little too wet but it’s still absolutely perfect.
Because it’s with his fiancé.
When they break apart, Chris reaches down to pull the hat that Darren had even forgotten he was holding, out his hand. He goes to protest, but Chris just takes it and places it on his head. Chris pulls at the brim, securing it tightly.
The hat that proclaims the Chris is his fiancé.
Darren giggles, leaning in to press his lips against Chris’ again and again.
He’ll take all the waiting he did for his hat over everyone else’s any day.