An unexpected love || Ant x Stephen

Telling A Few Friends - Chapter Twenty Six

As Ant and Stephen walked back over to the bar, this time holding hands the entire time. They were followed by a group of co-workers and friends who had questions. Questions out their relationship, how long had it been going on for? How long had they known they were gay? All the usual questions you get after coming out and saying you have a boyfriend.

After about 5 minutes of the boys being slammed with questions about when it starts, and how long it's been going on. Dec and David both came over ushering the crowd away to give the boys some space.

David didn't ask many questions he just said "I'm proud to you boys" smiled and walked off giving them space. Dec looked at both of them with the biggest smile on his face "you guys were amazing! I'm so proud of you two!!" He couldn't hold back his excitement for the two men.

They looked at each other smiling as Stephen grabbed hold of Ant's hand on bar and squeezed it as Ant leaned in and said, "I'm proud of you for doing that Stevie!" This left Stephen's face red as Ant leant in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Eventually as the night came to an end and everyone started leaving, as Ant and Stephen got into a cab to Ants house, they didn't say much in car. They just sat there in a comfortable silence.

When they got home it was almost 1:30am and both men decided to go straight to bed. And as they got ready, Ant was in the bedroom, getting changed and Stephen was brushing his teeth. "Hey Ant?" He asked as he walked into the bedroom with his toothbrush still in his mouth. Ant hummed in response as Stephen took the tooth brush out of his mouth "I... I think I'm going to tell Emma tomorrow after we finished the show..." he said smiling " I mean if I can tell a whole room of people, who i work with why not one of my best friends?" 

Ant looked at the younger man and couldn't help but smile. He had spent the last 20 odd years, hiding away from the whole 'coming out' situation he tried so hard hide who he really was away from anyone and everyone!  Ant was never going to rush Stephen into anything, he would always wait for the younger man to be ready before, he would always wait for Stephen!! 

Even though Ant isn't always great at Expressing his emotions with anyone, He has always tried his hardest to be completely honest and open with Stephen because when it comes down to it, Ant has never felt this way about anyone before, Stephen is the first person who has made Ant feel like this, made Ant smile for no reason. Just the mere mention of his name makes Ant smile or when Stephen laughs it gives him butterflies. He loves everything this is about Stephen, and nothing could ever change that. Nothing!!

"Wait...seriously?!" The Geordie man said smiling he stood up and walked over to Stephen "are you sure? I mean I know how nerve-racking coming out is for you and I don't want-" Ant started rambling on when Stephen interrupted him "Ant! I promise you I'm ready! Okay, I know I've been kind of 'slow' with this sort of stuff, but I swear down I am ready!" Ant smiled at the younger man, he knew that this was hard for him, even If he had just came out to a bunch of people, even If he swore, he was ready he knew it would be hard for him. 

Ant pulled him into an embrace. Stephen rested his chin on Ant's head, he had a massive smile on his face, he planted a kiss amongst Ant's hair, when the older man pulled away, he looked up and smiled at him and said, "I'm so proud of you Stevie!!"  

*Time skip*

"Stevieee!!!" The younger man heard from down the hall, he turned around and smiled when he saw Emma running towards him "Em- how in the hell do you have so much energy its 5:30 in the morning!" Stephen said laughing as Emma hugged him. Emma is Always full of energy, even if it was 2 in the morning, she would have just as much energy as if it was 11 in the morning. 

"Coffee helps!" she joked as she pulled away from Stephen.

The first thing Emma noticed when she looked at Stephen, was how nervous he was. Even though the younger man said he was ready, he knew there was always the chance that she wouldn't accept him, that she wouldn't want anything to do with him. 

"What?" Emma asked confused and curious "huh?" Stephen said acting clueless "no don't be asking oblivious, what's wrong?" Stephen was hoping to hold this off till after the show, but right now he was backed into a corner. He had to tell Emma now, there was no way she was going to let it go, and no way he was getting away from this conversation or holding off or Emma would, quite literally, back him into a corner until he told her. In a loving way of course, Emma has always been there for Stephen even when he didn't exactly want her to be there, she always had his back!

"It's nothing...it can wait till after the show" he said trying to get out of this conversation, he smiled at Emma and tried to walk off when she slid in front of him, so his path was blocked. "Nope, it can't! what's wrong?" Emma said sternly giving Stephen the death stare "it's nothing too important I just have something to tell you, but it can wait-" he started as Emma interrupted him "Nope. Spill it, why are you so nervous?" she asked as Stephen eventually gave in, He let out a sigh and then looked down at the floor "Fine..." he said nervously, this is the moment he'd gone over in his head multiple times, he'd thought about how it could go wrong, or how it could go right. mainly how it could go wrong, He wanted to be ready for any possible outcome, whether it was a good outcome or bad. He took a deep breath and looked back up at Emma "well. I-" he started fidgeting with his hands "Well, it's just I'm-" he couldn't figure out how to tell her, his brain couldn't put together a sentence, he was that nervous. "Come on Stephen. it's me, you can tell me anything, just tell me." He went to try and say another sentence but stopped himself "oh. this is serious, isn't it?" Emma asked concerned, as Stephen just nodded, he took another deep breath and put together in his mind the sentence he was going to say. He kept thinking to himself 'just spit it out!' he looked at Emma and down to the floor again. "okay" he said as he let a breath out. "I-I'm....Gay and I hope this doesn't change your opinion on me, because I really like having you as my friend and I really care-" He started ranting when he was interrupted. Emma had pulled him into a hug. "Shut up you idiot! of course this doesn't change anything." She laughed. As she hugged Stephen, he started to calm down, he wasn't feeling as tense anymore, he let out a small sigh of relief when Emma pulled away with a cheeky smirk on her face. 

"Sooooo..." she said as they started to walk down the hallway to the studios, Stephen didn't say anything, just gave a curious face. "There any...boys in your life right now" Emma asked with a cheeky smirk as Stephen looks at the floor, blushing even at the thought of Ant. "Omg. THERE IS!!" She yelled at the sandy haired man, when Stephen motioned for her to be quiet. "Okay...yes, there is...this one guy" he said still smiling. "Who is it?? Come on, spill it!" Emma said, she was quite nosey when it came to Stephen's life, He didn't talk about his private life with many people, but Emma was one of the few he did talk to about it. Which is why he was a bit surprised on how long it took him to tell her he was gay, because he trusted her with his life. "Okay. listen you have to be quiet about it because you're the only one I'm out too at this studio." He said, as he grabbed her to a stop, and pulled her to the side of the corridor. She looked at him and nodded, he looked around to make sure no one was walking past, or no one was close enough to hear their conversation "okay...well, I mean, you know him." He said building up to the 'big reveal' so to say. She nodded as she looked at Stephen curiously. "His name starts with an A..." He said as Emma started thinking of everyone, she knew whose name began with an A but the only person who came to mind was...Ant! 

When she suddenly realised, he was on about Ant, her jaw dropped. "Ant!!!" she said as Stephen started smiling and trying to hide his blush at the mention of the older man's name. "Holy shit- I mean this is amazing, but really? Ant? He's gay?" she said laughing, with a confused expression, Stephen didn't know what to say, he just laughed nervously and nodded his head "well...yeah? I guess so" Stephen didn't know what to do or say, he just stood there, still fidgeting with his hands.

Everything went well with Emma but for some reason he was still nervous, still unsure, but he didn't know why. 

"Woah- So.. So how long have you two been...Together?" She asked, still trying to get any sort of information about their relationship "God your nosey" Stephen said as he started walking to the studio again. He huffed out a laugh as Emma ran to catch up with him "come on!! Tell meee" Stephen started shaking his head as he turned his head to look at Emma "okay umm just under 10 months." He said as Emma's jaw dropped "10 MONTHS! YOU HID THIS FROM ME FOR 10 MONTHS!! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE YOUR TERRIBLE AT KEEPING SECRETS" Emma shouted at the taller man "okay calm down Em, and I'm not that bad!" Stephen said comically offended as he nudged Emma "Yes. Yes, you are!" Emma mocked him