As we fall apart

Could Be Worse ~ June 2014

The night before, Dec had sat up on Stephen's kitchen counter, watching the other man as he moved around the room preparing their dinner. His head had finally rested back against the cupboard behind him as he managed to unwind again after his latest rush to the front door. Even two weeks on, the tabloid interest was yet to noticeably reduce.

Once as Stephen passed in front of him, Dec had intercepted his path, stretching his swinging legs away from the countertop and diverting the other man towards him. Bowl discarded on the side, Stephen had dropped his head onto Dec's shoulder, exhaling contentedly as he was trapped by the other man's koala-like grip.

And when he'd straightened up again, kissing Dec's forehead, Dec had managed to murmur, "It could be worse, I suppose."

They could have still been spending time apart. They could have never agreed to put the past behind them. It could have been worse.

Why then, when Martha, the head of their external PR team, said exactly the same as they started the meeting, did it instantly make Dec's blood boil.

"All in all, it could definitely be worse," she began as soon as the usual pleasantries were over. "The response from the public has been overwhelmingly encouraging and any attention from the press is a positive – especially since the coverage so far has clearly favoured you and sympathised with your situation."

"A situation the tabloids helped to create," Ant interjected lowly, keeping quiet as if Ali would somehow not hear him or forget to pull him up on it as soon as they left the room. Dec hid a smile, warmed to the core as he always was when Ant reminded him they were in it together.

"It's basic media strategy," Martha said breezily, unfazed by Ant's clear anger. "We give them something to report, they report it, we get attention."

"And did we give them something to report this time?" Ali asked calmly albeit with a searing undertone of warning that Martha chose to ignore.

"Would that even be a problem?" she asked in return, addressing Ant and Dec instead, "You could do anything right now and no one would bat an eyelid. We have almost everyone on our side."

"It would be a problem if you'd withheld information from me," Ali said swiftly before Dec could argue back. "That isn't how we operate as a team."

There was silence for a moment, broken only by the shuffling of paper and an eventual cleared throat. Then, a far less senior member of the team spoke up. "Martha knew the photographer."

"You tipped them off about the party?" Ant asked incredulously.

Martha shook her head, still unfalteringly sure of herself. "They were just in the right place at the right time. It was only then that we realised something was going on between Dec and Stephen."

"And you took the photos to Stephen instead of me and Dec because...?" Ali trailed off meaningfully.

"It suited our strategy at the time," Martha said coolly. "We persuaded the photographer not to sell the photos immediately and then did some digging – got a story together."

"Without telling us?" Dec found his voice, however brittle it was. "Do you have any idea what this story has done?"

"The public response is beneficial to both of you," Martha argued, half-smiling like she expected that fact to somehow calm Dec down. "It's a big deal for someone like you to come out and it certainly hasn't harmed Stephen's career prospects, being linked to you on a more personal level."

"I didn't come out though, did I?" Dec reminded her, ignoring every look Ali was throwing in his direction. He'd played his part, sitting quietly throughout her interrogation of the team, but now they were reaching uneven ground, particularly when Martha thought she had any right to even mention Stephen, never mind suggest that he needed any help from Dec in order to be successful. "Neither of us did and it doesn't seem to have crossed anyone's minds that we might have had our reasons for that!"