Unbeautiful (3/?)
Chapter 3
Darren watched as Chris slowly started to fall asleep. They’d finished eating about an hour ago, and they were halfway through Dirty Dancing when Darren noticed that Chris was falling asleep. He gently extricated himself from the couch, and Chris opened his eyes just a little. “Darren…”
“Go back to sleep.” Darren scooped Chris up into his arms, straining under the added weight, wondering just how people could do this. Chris’s arms shot out instantly to wrap around his shoulders, and Darren smiled to himself. As difficult as it was, carrying Chris into the bedroom, Darren didn’t mind that Chris was almost nuzzling his neck and relaxing into him. Once he’d set Chris down on the bed and pulled the covers over him, he whispered, “I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.”
“Stay here.” Darren knew under normal circumstances he didn’t trust himself in moments like this. But Chris was Chris, and Darren knew that he couldn’t say no.
“Okay, but I have to turn off the TV. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Darren grabbed a pair of sweats and a shirt, turned off the TV, finished off the last slice of pizza, changed in his bathroom, brushed his teeth, and went back into his room. He could see Chris sitting up and pulling the hoodie off, letting it fall to the floor when he couldn’t throw it into the hamper. Darren lied down on the bed, and felt the mattress shift under Chris’s weight as he lied down. “G’night, Chris.”
“Night, Darren.” Darren woke up two hours later. He sat up in bed, looked around the room, got out of bed, and went into the kitchen. He’d been sleeping on and off for the last two hours, and found that he couldn’t go back to sleep, that there was just too much on his mind. Luckily, they had a later call the next day, and as Darren looked through the fridge, he frowned a little. “Darren?”
Darren felt like he’d jumped clean out of his skin when he heard Chris’s voice. “Holy shit, Chris, you scared me.” Once Darren’s heartbeat had returned to its normal pace, he dug through the fridge. “Are you hungry?”
“A little.” Darren opened the freezer side of the fridge, and stared at the assorted foods. Sighing, he closed the door and went over to one of the cabinets in the kitchen.
“How does Mac ‘N Cheese sound?”
“Perfect.” Darren went to find a pot, and nodded towards the fridge.
“Can you get the milk out?” Thirty minutes later, after they’d finished off the Mac ‘N Cheese and had gone back into Darren’s room to sleep, Chris reached out to pull Darren close to him. He gently wound Darren’s arms around him, and Darren listened as Chris slowly drifted off into sleep.
He woke seven hours later to hear someone pounding on his door.
“Chris! I know you’re in there!”
Darren shot out of bed, looking back to see if Chris was still asleep. Chris was still very much asleep, chest rising and falling with each slow, subdued breath. Darren tore his eyes away from watching Chris sleep long enough to realize what was going on. Closing the bedroom door, Darren walked over to the front door of his apartment and looked through the small peephole. Sure enough, there was Bryan, looking pissed off. Darren unlocked the door, and opened it a little, looking at Bryan through the gap.
“What are you doing here?”
“Coming to get my boyfriend back.” Darren held his ground, glaring at Bryan.
“You step one foot into this apartment and I’m calling the cops.” Opening the door wider, Darren grabbed his keys and stepped outside into the chilly morning air, closing the door behind him. “I thought this talk ended yesterday.”
“And I thought you knew you’re not Chris’s boyfriend.”
“I’m his friend. And I know what you’re doing to him.” Darren crossed his arms over his chest. Bryan stared at him for a good five seconds, trying to judge what Darren was going to say next.
“Not my fault he can’t take it.” Darren shoved Bryan, watching as he stumbled back a few steps.
“You don’t deserve Chris. You never will.”
“What, and you deserve him?”
“More than you.” Bryan swung at him, and Darren ducked away from the blow, grabbing Bryan by his shirt and pushing him up against the building. “I don’t want you anywhere near him.” Darren took a step back towards his apartment, and he watched as Bryan stared down at the floor. “I love Chris. And you have no idea how much it hurts to know that you used him the way you did.”
Bryan pushed off the wall and walked down the stairs to his car.
Chapter 4