Character: Darin Reed

Darin is a very talented dancer and performer on stage but off it, is a bit of a mess. He has undiagnosed (or at least unmedicated) Autism and Aspergers and because of this, social interaction isn’t easy. He’s able to learn his character and who his character is supposed to be and feel, he can easily translate that on stage. But off stage, he stumbles and comes across as mean and uncaring when he really can’t understand what you need.

He’s from the midwest and rumored to have a mother who is a well known dance instructor and father who he doesn’t speak to. Unknown relationship with both of them. I’ve also considered giving him an older sister. His father wasn’t a huge fan of him coming out as gay/bi/pan/whatever but made him promise if nothing else to learn to fight so he could beat up his bullies.

Because of this he tries to hide who he is in public and prefers not to tell anyone that he prefers men as well as women. He wears straight facing clothes, hair style, and never acts gay in public. Its one of the few things he and Andrew fight over. Andrew wants to wear cat ears at all times and Darin sees that as a threat to his safety.

Darin was beat up trying to find Michael at the bar one night and was left injured and in the hospital after being called names. It was a hate crime. Because of this, he refuses to let Andrew draw attention to himself and wants Andrew to be safe above all else.

He’s like Andrew in the sense that he doesn’t see relationships like everyone else does. He truly isn’t caught up on the gay/bi/whatever going on and just wants someone who cares for him and he loves to be his partner. He goes through more close friends than anything. Though he has had several sex partners but when you ask him he just shrugs it off.

His main was Michael. The two of them started as kittens in CATS at the same time. He was Tumble and Micheal was Pounce. Michael was the first person to ever just let Darin be himself. He never asked him to do anything that he couldn’t or judged him for not understanding something. He would just sit down and help Darin figure out what’s happening and help unravel it.

Michael was sent off to be Mistoffelees during a CATS tour right as Darin got the part of Munkustrap. He’s the only person that Darin has ever purposefully kept in touch with. He reaches out to him for advice and help when things go south (like on the cruise).

Munkustrap is Darin’s life line and he appreciates the character and needs him more than he cares to admit. He understands Munkustrap’s desire to keep the tribe safe and to walk them through things. He starts emulating Munkustrap on and off stage and because of that people start to like him. He unintentionally finds himself as Dance Captain a few months later running practices and attending auditions.

He and Diana were in on Andrew’s Audition. He saw the talent and the raw desire and need but didn’t know how well Andrew would float. He knew being in an actual broadway play took discipline. He was the one who watched Andrew nearly drown a few times before being begged by Ashley to help Andrew and not let him drown. He relucantly yanked Andrew back out of the water and the two of them became friends.

At one point, he finds out that Andrew isn’t existing very well outside of the theater. He’s forgetting meals, not taking care of himself, not sleeping and is late to every practice looking like hell. He realizes that the other knows nothing of living on his own and so he forces Andrew to live with him. After this the two of them become super close and almost a couple but it never gets sexual.

He was also the one who personally invited Rand Paul to take the Tugger Slot while they found their new Tugger (Matt). He watched unknowingly as Rand destroyed Andrew from the inside out sexual assualting him behind closed doors. After Rand is caught, he blames himself for this mess even getting that far. He becomes even more protective over Andrew afterwards and when Matt comes in – he hates the new comer for bringing Andrew out of his depression so easily when he had been trying on his own for awhile.

He meets Eiden when the Australian is hired on to be their Alonzo and the two of them get along as good as people can. Eiden at some point forms a huge crush on Darin but as always Darin is clueless. The crush is very one sided and Eiden gets jealous when Darin spends so much time with Andrew and not him. At one point Eiden finally cracks and just kisses Darin during practice then runs off and hides.

Blake swears that Darin agreed to date Eiden as way to shut the other up and stop causing problems. Their relationship is very rocky and from the outside looking in – they aren’t a good match. They are always fighting and disagreeing on things. Even though most of the fights are very one sided. Eiden takes aawhile to realize that Darin isn’t like anyone he’s ever dated and that the other isn’t being annoying on purpose. He just doesn’t understand what’s expected of him and doesn’t see why it’s wrong.

Slowly but surely, Darin and Eiden realize they are a good match. Darin forces Eiden to stop and think before acting and Eiden forces Darin to pull out of his comfort zone. They wind up getting married and adopting twin girls in the future.