An unexpected love || Ant x Stephen

Is This The End... - Chapter Twenty-Nine

It's been almost a week and a half, since Ant and Stephen last talked. Neither man knew what to do or how to fix this right now. Ant knew, deep down, that Stephen was right the other night, when it came to being 100% sure whether the younger man truly loved him, and he had no idea why he had this problem. He knows he truly loves Stephen, but he has these...moments. These small moments of doubt that Stephen doesn't actually feel the same as he does, there's this small voice in the back of his head telling him that Stephen doesn't actually feel the same as he says he does and it's slowly destroying him.

Ant spent the first 2 days messaging Stephen, trying to talk to him but he never got a reply of the man, eventually he just...gave up! He stopped trying, decided to give Stephen some space, well he's given him a week and a half of space. He wants to sort this out. He wants to fix this!!

Ant woke up at 3am this morning, his sleep schedule has been up and down since his and Stephen's talk at the pub, he has no clue what is going to happen to the two of them. 

Ant got up and got dressed, he watched TV till about 10am, then he built up the courage to actually drive over to Stephen house and talk to the younger man. He drove over and parked outside his house, he just sat in his car building up the courage to talk to Stephen. After 5 minutes of sitting in his car, he finally got up and walked up to his front door. He took one final breath and knocked the door. He stood there for a moment when he finally heard footsteps approaching the front door, as the front door was opened, Ant was surprised at who answered.

"Mason..." He said in shock, Mason smiled at him "Hey Ant!" Ant didn't know how to react or what to say, when he heard the faint sound of Stephen's voice in the background getting closer and closer. "Hey, who is it?" He asked as he turned the corner to see Ant standing at the door. "Ant..." He said in barely a whisper, he didn't know whether to smile or not, but whether he wanted to or not a faint smile did appear on Stephen's face when he saw Ant. The older man just waved at him still in shock at seeing Mason. "Hey, sorry, if this is a bad time. I just wanted to talk..." Stephen just shook his head "What, no it's fine, um come through. We can talk out back" he said as he led Ant through to the back garden. 

Both men sat down and waited for the other to talk "so...Mason's here" Ant started as Stephen nodded "yeah...I guess he noticed something was off the other day, he's just sort of been here for me" Ant looked to the floor at Stephen's response feeling guilty for the other night, he knew it was mainly his fault and he just wanted to sort things out. "Well, that's...nice of him" Ant said trying to sound genuine. "Ant, don't start this again!" Stephen stated, "Start what?" Ant said, starting to get defensive "you know what I'm on about Ant!" Stephen said starting to get irritated, Ant did know what Stephen meant when he said, 'don't start this' but he also didn't think before speaking when he was angry, annoyed or hurt "Oh I'm sorry if I'm a bit awkward about my boyfriend spending loads of time with his ex-boyfriend" Ant said "How am I supposed to feel, I mean what if something happens huh?" Ant said almost shouting, the point Ant just made really hit him in the heart, did he really think Stephen would cheat on him? He took a step back from Ant, even though they were pretty far apart already, he was trying to figure out what to say right now, but his brain couldn't put a sentence together it was that taken aback. He just let out a huffed laugh and shook his head "You really think I'd cheat on you?" Ant looked to the floor not knowing how to answer "Well, with you spending so much time with Mason, I can't lie and say that it hasn't crossed my mind once or twice" Ant answered honestly "This is insane!! Mason means nothing to me, okay I love you, not him!" Stephen said defensively trying to get it into Ant's head. "I don't feel that way about him" Stephen started "Okay!! There's nothing going on between me and Mason!" Stephen stated "Yeah, does Mason know that..." Ant mumbled under his breath, which left Stephen confused "what?" He asked in a tone, as Ant shook his head "Never mind. Okay, I never should've come!" Ant said as he stood up and said goodbye to Stephen he walked back through the house, ignoring Mason as he said 'bye' to him. 

Stephen chased the older man through the house till Ant got to his car. "Ant!" Stephen shouted, as Ant turned around and looked at the younger man "What do you mean, does Mason know?" He asked again, Ant let out a sigh and responded "Stephen, he's flirting with you!" Ant started as Stephen shook his head "all the jokes and the placing his hand on your arm at any chance he gets, it's called flirting!" Ant shouted. "He clearly isn't over you and I'm not going to lie and say I haven't had a few thoughts that maybe your-" Ant stopped mid-sentence "What?" Stephen asked, "Maybe you're not over him, I mean you look so happy when you're hanging out with him...maybe deep down you still like him too" Ant finished as Stephen's mouth dropped "What? That's crazy, your just being Paran-" Stephen stopped himself before finishing the word as he saw Ant's face drop regretting where his sentence was leading, Ant shook his head before he started speaking "yeah...well, maybe we should..." The pause left Stephen looking at him confused, waiting for him to finish his sentence "maybe, we should take a break" Ant's suggestion broke Stephen's heart "You mean...from us?" Stephen asked as Ant's face dropped but he couldn't say anything to answer the younger man's question "Wait- Ant, are you...breaking up with me?" Stephen asked, this time with more worry in his tone, he didn't want to break up, he wanted to be with the older man for the rest of his life, but when Ant nodded very slightly his brain couldn't put a sentence together, and Ant didn't say anything else. He just turned around and got in his car, he started it and drove off. Stephen was frozen in the same spot, just staring as Ant's car drove off. 

He couldn't believe that just happened. He couldn't believe Ant broke up with him, he was in disbelief. He kept waiting for him to wake up next to Ant, and having this all be a bad dream, that he and Ant were together, perfectly happy but when he didn't wake up, he just felt...felt empty...like there was nothing worth fighting for in his life anymore, He desperately wanted it to be a bad dream, he wanted it to be over, he wanted to be with Ant. All Stephen could feel in this very moment, was the single tear fall from his eye and down his cheek.