Work Text:
“Need help?”
Chris looks up from the ice skates he’s been unsuccessfully trying to lace up for five minutes. He can’t quite get them right. Darren is standing in the doorway, strangely tall on his own skates, and all bundled up and stupidly adorable in his thick coat and scarf.
“God, please.”
Darren waddles towards him on the skates, grinning at his own unsteady gait, and Chris can’t help but smile back. It’s hard to imagine that this is what they’re going to be spending the rest of the night and into early morning hours doing. It’s hard to believe that his job tonight is to ice skate and sing a Christmas carol with Darren in New York City. His life is too good to him sometimes.
“You’ve been in here far too long.” Darren says and manages to kneel down in front of Chris, who’s sitting on a bench in the locker room of the Bryant Park skating rink. It’s emptied of other people, thankfully. As wonderful as his life can be (and spending a long night with Darren counts as wonderful), there are often too many people around. People who aren’t the ones he loves.
“Careful you don’t jab yourself in the ass with those things,” Chris says as Darren settles into what can’t possibly be a comfortable position.
“That’s your job.” Darren smirks up at him. His curls are brushing against his forehead and his eyes are golden behind dark lashes. Chris’ stomach twists.
He can already taste in the air how this night is going to go. Darren is in a dangerously good mood today, and Chris isn’t really sure why. Darren’s fresh off a plane and that usually leaves him a little grouchy, but not today. Chris has been getting texts from Darren all day: little nothings of conversation (Flight’s at the gate. The dude next to me smells like bacon. Just landed. Am I there yet?); and photos of the random things Darren finds interesting (His breakfast plate. A stop sign with graffiti on it. His bare toes on that night’s script). Chris would call them flirty, but just about everything Darren does qualifies as some level of flirty. Chris can sense that tonight is going to be fun, whatever happens, however long the night runs. He’s grateful.
Chris nudges Darren’s chest with his socked foot and Darren grabs his ankle. His hand is warm through the fabric and Chris flexes his toes. Darren thumbs the bone of his ankle and he blinks up at Chris through wide, dark eyes.
“Don’t even think about it,” Chris says. He knows that look well.
“I’m not,” Darren protests, but the subtle slide of his hand says otherwise.
“Uh-huh.” Darren digs his thumb into Chris’ instep and Chris bites back a moan. There’s no one else in the room, but there are undoubtedly a crowd of people just outside. No one needs to catch him moaning alone in a room with Darren.
“Help me get these on before Adam comes looking for us.” Chris shakes his foot in Darren’s hold.
“Fine, fine.” Darren grabs one of the skates and eases Chris’ foot into it. Chris watches as Darren criss-crosses the long laces around the hooks with enviable ease.
“You need to get them tight enough so that your ankles don’t wobble,” Darren explains as he pulls hard on the laces with both hands. Chris doesn’t really care what he’s saying, it’s a relief to hear his voice, rather than read his words from a phone. “Otherwise you’re not going to be able to walk tomorrow.” Darren’s fingers pet at his calf.
“Given how many times I’m likely to fall tonight, walking is the least of my concerns right now.” Chris wriggles his toes in the boots. The skate is snug around his ankle and lower calf, but comfortable. Of course Darren got it right the first time.
“Hush, you know I’m going to massage your feet tonight,” Darren says as he grabs the second skate and begins lacing Chris’ other foot into it. Chris watches Darren’s long, skilled fingers work. He loves to watch Darren’s hands.
“Are you going to massage my ass too? Because that’s what I’m going to be falling on.” Chris can already imagine how many photos on the Internet there are going to be of him going ass over kettle. He’s complaining, but Darren’s mood is infectious. He’s already had a long day, and was starting to drag, but five minutes in Darren’s presence warms his blood and lifts his heart.
“How is that even a question?” Darren finishes off the knot and inspects his work. He makes sure Chris’ jeans are tucked into the boots and seems satisfied, if the adorable scrunch of his nose is anything to go by. “Good?” He asks, looking back up at Chris’ face. Chris tries to move his feet and barely can.
“Good.” Chris swallows as Darren ducks his head and drops a kiss on his knee. “You’re going to skate circles around me out there.” Chris says.
“Aren’t I allowed to be better at something than you?” Darren rests his chin on Chris’ knee and wraps an arm around Chris’ leg. The position can’t be comfortable, but Chris isn’t complaining. Not when he can easily push Darren’s curls off his forehead. “You don’t see me authoring a best-selling novel. Or writing a movie, or-”
Chris shuts him up by tweaking his ear. Darren pouts a little but his eyes are smiling. He blinks, a slow sweep of his lashes, and Chris’ stomach twists again.
“We should do this again sometime,” Chris says, before he can stop himself. He doesn’t mean to say it, even though he’s been thinking about it ever since he got the script. He and Darren never seem to get to do anything together anymore, anything that’s not work.
“What?”
“This. Ice skating. But just – just you and me.” Chris runs his fingers through Darren’s messy hair and Darren’s eyes half-close when Chris scratches at his scalp a little.
“My dear Mr. Colfer, are you asking me out on a date?”
“Well.” Chris licks his lips and can feel his cheeks pinking up. He shouldn’t still blush, but he does. Darren is always going to have that effect on him. “Not if you’re going to be a dick about it.” He can’t actually remember ever asking Darren out on a proper date.
Darren squeezes at Chris’ other thigh, just above his kneecap. Chris’ leg twitches. “Ask me again,” Darren says and his voice has gone low. Chris shivers.
“I just think it could be fun,” is what he says.
“You know,” Darren pauses, as though he’s searching for the right words. “You know that if we do, without it being for the show, that-”
“I know.” There’s no disappointment, just heavy acceptance.
“And renting a whole rink for just the two of us would look-”
“Yes, I know.” Chris jerks his leg out of Darren’s hold. “It was stupid.” It comes out more snappish than he intended. Sometimes he hates how his life feels like it isn’t his life anymore.
“Hey, hey. Stop that.” Darren reaches out and grabs for Chris’ hands, keeps him from standing up. “It’s not stupid.” Darren settles their clasped hands on Chris’ thighs. “We could go away somewhere. We could rent a cabin in the woods, then. With a frozen little pond. Then we could skate to our heart’s content.” He brushes a kiss along Chris’ knuckles.
“Yeah, that sounds safe. What could possibly go wrong with that?” Chris has a sudden, heart-stopping flash of Darren breaking through the ice, curly head slipping beneath the frigid waters. His hands tighten in Darren’s. But then he thinks about getting Darren back into the cabin, stripping him of his wet clothes, and curling up in front of the fire underneath a pile of blankets to get warm again. A cabin in the woods with a frozen pond doesn’t sound too awful. It plays through his mind like a scene from a romantic comedy. It should be embarrassing, but it’s not.
“Chris.” Darren’s eyes are huge, gently beseeching. But there’s heat in them too. “Ask me again.”
Chris flushes. “Darren, do you want to go ice skating with me?”
Darren grins – bright and so huge his eyes almost disappear. He surges up and his lips are on Chris’ before Chris can draw a breath. Darren breathes for him. “I’d love to.”