Darren ran a hand through his messy hair as he stepped out of bed. He'd slept at his own apartment yesterday as Chris was busy doing whatever Chris did on Fridays.

Today was the day of his 'friendship date' and he'd never admit it to Chris, but he was actually quite nervous. What if it went wrong or Darren said the wrong thing and embarrassed himself? He'd avoided friends his whole life because of these worries, he didn't need friends. He had his family, and now he also had Chris.

After taking a long shower, thinking over everything and trying to convince himself that it would all go okay.

He'd already had breakfast so now he waited. Chris said he'd come to pick him up at 1:45 but it was now 12:00 and he didn't know how he'd wait so long.

Watching TV didn't seem to work, and neither did singing along loudly to music. Eventually he settled for messing around on his laptop, covering up the clock so he wouldn't keep glancing at it.

Finally he heard a knock on his door and Darren leapt up, almost knocking his laptop to the floor as he did so.

A smile was already on Darren's face before he'd even swung the door open.

"Hey, Dare." Chris greeted, smiling as he leaned up to peck Darren's lips.

Darren opened his mouth to say something before pausing when he noticed the man behind Chris. When the man saw Darren's gaze land on his he leaned forward and held his hand out, "Hi, I'm Joey."

"Darren." He squeaked, grabbing the man's hand and shaking it vigorously, blushing when the man frowned and pulled his own hand away.

"Well, I've gotta go finish some things off. I'm sure you two will be okay figuring out what you wanna do today." Chris patted Joey on the shoulder and then he was gone, the two men stood in Darren's doorway watching the man walk away before they could no longer see him.

Joey turned to face Darren who smiled awkwardly.

"Do you want-"

"Should we-"

Both men laughed quietly, Darren gesturing for Joey to go first.

"Should we go to the park?"

Darren frowned, "The park? What are we, 5?"

"Well, I'm 5 and a half."

Darren stared at him for a while, waiting for him to laugh and suggest something different. When the man didn't say anything, just stared back up at Darren, the raven haired man sighed and stepped back to grab his coat, slipping on a pair of trainers before stepping out of the door and shutting it behind himself.

They began the short walk to the park near to Darren's apartment and when they arrived, Darren was pleasantly surprised to find it mostly empty, apart from a few young kids playing on the park equipment.

Without any confirmation, Joey began walking to the swings and sitting on one, Darren following behind with a shrug and sitting down as well, swinging himself slightly with his foot.

"These swings are far too small for us." Darren raised an eyebrow.

"Learn to live a little, my friend." Joey nudged Darren.

Darren nodded, looking down at his foot which was pushing against the ground to rock him back and forth gently.

"So," Darren looked up when Joey spoke, "You and Chris?"

"Yeah."

"How long has that been going on?"

"Almost 3 months now." Darren answered, looking back down at his feet.

Joey whistled, "Impressive. How'd you two meet?"

Darren blushed as he remembered what exactly they did on the first night they met, "Uh, just at a- a party."

Joey nodded knowingly when he noticed Darren's blush, "Ah, I see."

"Shut up." Darren laughed, pushing Joey so he swing tipped sideways.

Joey pouted, reaching a hand out to do the same and soon enough the both of them were twisted up in their swings, laughing loudly.

Darren jumped off his swing and untangled it before sitting back down.

"No, come on, I'm bored." Joey said, standing up and gesturing for Darren to follow him.

He led them out to a skate park behind the park, running up one ramp and perching on the end of it, waiting for Darren to do the same.

"I'm not sure if this is what you're supposed to do at skate parks." Darren frowned.

"Don't tell me you've never played on a skatepark?"

"I mean, yeah, but on my skateboard or scooter when I was younger."

"Oh my god, Darren, you haven't lived. You've never run up and down these ramps?"

"No?"

Joey shook his head, pushing himself off so he slid down the ramp before beginning to run to the ramp on the opposite side, leaping over a smaller ramp in the way before he ran up and sat down on the top.

Darren laughed, pushing himself off and copying what Joey did, leaping over the small ramp before running up the taller one, slipping slightly but managing to hold onto the top and pull himself up.

"That was so much fun." Darren grinned, looking breathlessly at Joey who smirked at him.

"Your childhood must've sucked."

"No, not really. My childhood was probably the best part of my life so far. It was high school that sucked."

Joey hummed in understanding, "I understand completely. I don't think I've ever met anyone who actually enjoyed high school."

"Oh, Chris did." Darren said.

Joey nodded slowly, taking a deep breath before beginning to speak, "Look, Darren, about Chris. He's, uh, he's not who you think he is, you see-"

"Out of all the things you could've done," a voice shocked the two of them, both men looking down to find Chris looking up at them with his hands on his hips, "you choose to run up and down the skate ramps?"

"Oh, don't tell me you've never done it either!" Joey exclaimed.

"Well, of course I've done it! When I was a kid!"

Darren grinned, pushing off the metal pole to slide down the ramp, hugging Chris tightly when he got there, Chris laughing and wrapping his arms over Darren's shoulders.

"You two are adorable." Joey cooed, sliding down the ramp to watch the pair pull apart to look at him, their hands slipping into each other's grasps.

"Right, Chris, you need to try this now." Darren said excitedly, tugging Chris towards the bottom of one ramp and gesturing for him to run up the other.

"No way. This is for kids, Darren."

"Just go!"

"But my hair-"

"Is going to be fine."

Chris sighed dramatically, taking off in a run before climbing up the other ramp, standing back at the top to grin down at Darren and Joey, "You guys coming?"

Yay I'm going to Disneyland tmrw owndkfnemwnjf

Byeee