diff --git a/src/OT/Color/COLR/COLR.hh b/src/OT/Color/COLR/COLR.hh
index efc79e28d..cf10e894a 100644
--- a/src/OT/Color/COLR/COLR.hh
+++ b/src/OT/Color/COLR/COLR.hh
@@ -2136,12 +2136,16 @@ struct COLR
 
     const ItemVariationStore &get_var_store () const
     { return colr->get_var_store (); }
+    const ItemVariationStore *get_var_store_ptr () const
+    { return colr->get_var_store_ptr (); }
 
     bool has_delta_set_index_map () const
     { return colr->has_delta_set_index_map (); }
 
     const DeltaSetIndexMap &get_delta_set_index_map () const
     { return colr->get_delta_set_index_map (); }
+    const DeltaSetIndexMap *get_delta_set_index_map_ptr () const
+    { return colr->get_delta_set_index_map_ptr (); }
 
     private:
     hb_blob_ptr_t<COLR> colr;
@@ -2234,9 +2238,13 @@ struct COLR
 
   const DeltaSetIndexMap &get_delta_set_index_map () const
   { return has_delta_set_index_map () && hb_barrier () ? this+varIdxMap : Null (DeltaSetIndexMap); }
+  const DeltaSetIndexMap *get_delta_set_index_map_ptr () const
+  { return has_delta_set_index_map () && hb_barrier () ? &(this+varIdxMap) : nullptr; }
 
   const ItemVariationStore &get_var_store () const
   { return has_var_store () && hb_barrier () ? this+varStore : Null (ItemVariationStore); }
+  const ItemVariationStore *get_var_store_ptr () const
+  { return has_var_store () && hb_barrier () ? &(this+varStore) : nullptr; }
 
   const ClipList &get_clip_list () const
   { return has_clip_list () && hb_barrier () ? this+clipList : Null (ClipList); }
@@ -2484,9 +2492,9 @@ struct COLR
      * after instancing */
     if (!subset_varstore (c, colr_prime)) return_trace (false);
 
-    ItemVarStoreInstancer instancer (&(get_var_store ()),
-	                         &(get_delta_set_index_map ()),
-	                         c->plan->normalized_coords.as_array ());
+    ItemVarStoreInstancer instancer (get_var_store_ptr (),
+				     get_delta_set_index_map_ptr (),
+				     c->plan->normalized_coords.as_array ());
 
     if (!colr_prime->baseGlyphList.serialize_subset (c, baseGlyphList, this, instancer))
       return_trace (false);
@@ -2515,8 +2523,8 @@ struct COLR
   get_extents (hb_font_t *font, hb_codepoint_t glyph, hb_glyph_extents_t *extents) const
   {
 
-    ItemVarStoreInstancer instancer (&(get_var_store ()),
-                                     &(get_delta_set_index_map ()),
+    ItemVarStoreInstancer instancer (get_var_store_ptr (),
+                                     get_delta_set_index_map_ptr (),
                                      hb_array (font->coords, font->num_coords));
 
     if (get_clip (glyph, extents, instancer))
@@ -2577,9 +2585,9 @@ struct COLR
   bool
   paint_glyph (hb_font_t *font, hb_codepoint_t glyph, hb_paint_funcs_t *funcs, void *data, unsigned int palette_index, hb_color_t foreground, bool clip = true) const
   {
-    ItemVarStoreInstancer instancer (&(get_var_store ()),
-	                         &(get_delta_set_index_map ()),
-	                         hb_array (font->coords, font->num_coords));
+    ItemVarStoreInstancer instancer (get_var_store_ptr (),
+				     get_delta_set_index_map_ptr (),
+				     hb_array (font->coords, font->num_coords));
     hb_paint_context_t c (this, funcs, data, font, palette_index, foreground, instancer);
 
     hb_decycler_node_t node (c.glyphs_decycler);
diff --git a/src/hb-open-type.hh b/src/hb-open-type.hh
index d96f25ded..3083e0d96 100644
--- a/src/hb-open-type.hh
+++ b/src/hb-open-type.hh
@@ -290,11 +290,6 @@ typedef Index NameID;
 struct VarIdx : HBUINT32 {
   static constexpr unsigned NO_VARIATION = 0xFFFFFFFFu;
   static_assert (NO_VARIATION == HB_OT_LAYOUT_NO_VARIATIONS_INDEX, "");
-  static uint32_t add (uint32_t i, unsigned short v)
-  {
-    if (i == NO_VARIATION) return i;
-    return i + v;
-  }
   VarIdx& operator = (uint32_t i) { HBUINT32::operator= (i); return *this; }
 };
 DECLARE_NULL_NAMESPACE_BYTES (OT, VarIdx);
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-layout-common.hh b/src/hb-ot-layout-common.hh
index 36855365b..87e40bc1d 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-layout-common.hh
+++ b/src/hb-ot-layout-common.hh
@@ -3741,11 +3741,13 @@ struct ItemVarStoreInstancer
 
   float operator() (uint32_t varIdx, unsigned short offset = 0) const
   {
+   if (!coords || varIdx == VarIdx::NO_VARIATION)
+     return 0.f;
+
+    varIdx += offset;
     if (varIdxMap)
-      varIdx = varIdxMap->map (VarIdx::add (varIdx, offset));
-    else
-      varIdx += offset;
-    return coords ? varStore->get_delta (varIdx, coords, cache) : 0.f;
+      varIdx = varIdxMap->map (varIdx);
+    return varStore->get_delta (varIdx, coords, cache);
   }
 
   const ItemVariationStore *varStore;
@@ -3777,12 +3779,11 @@ struct MultiItemVarStoreInstancer
 
   void operator() (hb_array_t<float> out, uint32_t varIdx, unsigned short offset = 0) const
   {
-    if (coords)
+    if (coords && varIdx != VarIdx::NO_VARIATION)
     {
+      varIdx += offset;
       if (varIdxMap)
-	varIdx = varIdxMap->map (VarIdx::add (varIdx, offset));
-      else
-	varIdx += offset;
+	varIdx = varIdxMap->map (varIdx);
       varStore->get_delta (varIdx, coords, out, cache);
     }
     else