Title: Glee Live: Behind The Scenes
Author: an-alternate-world
Rating: M
Characters/Pairings: Darren/Chris
Word count: (This part): 1,507; (Total) 9,731
Summary: A fangirl's interpretation of what led to the Klaine Kliss in the Klit of Glee Live, 2011. RPF.
Warnings/Spoilers: Mild until the last part...
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with Glee, FOX, Ryan Murphy or anything else related to the Glee universe. Nor do I know Chris or Darren and so I hope to God they never see this...

He was reading quietly, curled up on the sofa. It was the same thing as always – Harry Potter. His copy of Deathly Hallows was terribly battered, but it didn't matter. This book had helped his name get out there and he owed a lot to it. And he wanted to be reminded, yet again, of what may be seen in the movie. Was it really only a month until the massive part of his life was over?

Chris gave a little huff from his bed, tapping out something on his laptop. He scratched behind his ear and bit his bottom lip, and Darren watched him with mild amusement. The two had decided to stay behind while everyone else had gone out to party, celebrating the break between the show in Cleveland and East Rutherford. For Darren, it was because he preferred a quiet night in after the hectic tour schedule. For Chris, he was trying to get more work done on his books after it had broken online last week. His Twitter had ended up crashing with all the tweets. It was still mindboggling to him that people actually noticed him.

Darren returned to his beloved book, thumbing through the pages quietly. It was past midnight and they still had two shows here in East Rutherford, then he had his own concert thing at Irving Plaza in-between, and followed by the final US show in Uniondale. And then a blissful four day break as they flew to the UK and started all over again, albeit not quite as long. Like any show or tour where the same group of people are together for long periods of time, people had gotten sick and passed it around and after nearly a month of solid shows, Darren was starting to feel the ache in his bones. He knew there was a Twitter campaign to get him to sleep but he hated sleeping. It meant he was missing out on something and he much preferred to be sleep deprived because he was way more energetic in some weird twisted way. Everything was just so much more fun when he didn't sleep.

"Shit," Chris muttered, and Darren dropped his book in surprise. It was rare for Chris to curse, unlike himself, and he glanced up at the younger boy who looked pale and drawn behind his computer screen.

"Problem?" he said, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. Part of him desperately wanted to sleep but he knew when Mark and Cory returned they'd be loud, possibly drunk, and just wake him up anyway. No one on Twitter seemed to realise there were good reasons for him to simply be unable to sleep.

"Just lost a chunk of work. Frustrated," Chris said, running a hand through his hair.

Darren neatened his book which was in desperate need of replacing and sat up on the sofa. "Can't you like, check the temp files or something?"

"I don't know," Chris replied. He clicked and tapped and Darren wandered over to sit beside him on the bed. Chris automatically shifted over allowing Darren the space. This was how they were. They just worked. They liked their peace and quiet and staying in and it was just…nice. It wasn't like Blaine who was trying to charm the pants off an oblivious Kurt, while Kurt was hopelessly infatuated with an oblivious Blaine. They were just comfortable and relaxed. Sure, Darren was close with Dianna and Chord and Mark, and Chris had Amber and Ashley and Lea, but there was no pressure or pretence here.

"Any luck?"

"I don't think so. Dammit, I actually liked that stuff!" Chris whined, rolling over and glaring at the ceiling.

Darren chuckled. He remembered how many times he'd composed for the Harry Potter musicals and it had vanished, or he'd decided that a note didn't work, or he needed to change the words because he wasn't happy with it anymore. It drove everyone else crazy but it had become a viral hit and StarKid couldn't fault him for his desire for perfection anymore. Of course, the perfection only extended to writing the music. He still had a terrible mental block for remembering the words to his own songs half the time… speaking of which, he should revise some of his own material before he performed at Irving Plaza, just in case.

"Don't laugh at me!" Chris threw a pillow which smacked Darren out of his thoughts. He looked down at the pillow in his lap and moved it so he could lay down and take a look at Chris' laptop. He was careful not to open up any of his work, Darren knew how protective a writer was of their material, but had no better luck than Chris.

He hadn't really noticed that Chris had turned over to watch what he was doing. He hadn't really noticed how close Chris was until he turned and…oh. Somewhere he remembered Blaine singing 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' and a line about delicious-looking lips, and Chris being so close…

"Yeah, sorry, no luck," he breathed.

Chris sighed and nodded. "Fine. I'll just work on it before we have the shows or while on the plane to England or something. I don't know." He tugged at his hair, a clear sign he was frustrated and Darren's fingers itched to stop him. Chris would end up bald before he was twenty-five and that just wouldn't do.

Slumping his head on the pillow he had propped beneath him, trying not to think about the boy that was so damn close, he closed his eyes and listened dimly as Chris returned to typing something. He thought about the high he was getting from performing and now they were in New York. He remembered Chris' tweet about trying to crack him on stage but please, he founded StarKid, he could keep a straight face even when Chris tried to throw the most absurd things at him. He was still buzzing about playing at Irving Plaza, and he knew he had a couple shows lined up in London after Glee was done. And of course, Harry Potter was coming out…

Time passed as Darren drifted between being asleep and awake, Chris' computer work sounding terribly dim. When the computer clock showed 1.36am, Chris thought it was probably time to sleep. He wasn't sure when the rest of the cast were getting back but he imagined it would be soon and he kind of had a sleeping Darren in his bed, which he knew Mark would tease the crap out of him for.

"Darren…" he whispered, feeling terrible for waking the boy. He knew it was hard for him to sleep and he almost debated changing beds for the night just so Darren could stay where he was. But then he thought about the ridiculing that would bring and decided against it. "Darren…" he murmured slightly louder, pressing a hand to Darren's shoulder.

With a jerk, Darren's eyes flew open and he gasped for air. He saw Chris' face creased with confusion and the outstretched arm that was on his shoulder and gulped in a lungful or two. He hated being woken up suddenly.

"Sorry Dare, it's after 1.30 and the others should be back soon and um, I kinda wanted my bed back," Chris mumbled, his cheeks flushing. It was such a Kurt thing to do.

"Of course, sorry," Darren said, shifting from the bed and moving over to his, trying to find his sweatpants and shirt he slept in. He could hear Chris closing his laptop and finding his own clothes and they moved around each other quietly again.

They each changed and brushed their teeth, awkwardly dancing around each other as one left and the other entered. It was just before two when Chris finished in the bathroom and their room door opened up, Cory and Mark holding onto each other and shaking with silent laughter.

Darren raised an eyebrow. "Good night?"

"The best man," Cory snorted, stumbling over to his bed. Mark all-but collapsed into his and was snoring within a minute. Darren glowered faintly at him, hating how easily he could fall asleep.

Cory waved, his pupils blown and showing how drunk he was, before slumping down into the bed and falling asleep rather promptly. He was always surrounded by people who fell asleep so quick. It wasn't fair.

Chris wavered in the doorway of the bathroom, seeing how tired Darren looked. He knew Darren didn't sleep well, neither did he, but Darren just looked so…drawn somehow. Darren crawled under the covers of his bed and Chris finally moved, touching Darren's hair softly and whispering a goodnight. Darren turned, just enough to see Chris and smiled, whispering his own goodnight and then Chris climbed into his own bed.

The quiet, steady snores of Mark and Cory lulled Chris to sleep pretty quickly, but Darren lay awake, thinking, pondering, composing…