What's Next? || Ant x Stephen

Dinner Party - Chapter Nineteen

Ant and Stephen were going to a dinner party tonight, over at Dec and Ali's, and Ant was looking forward to it. He was hoping that tonight would let Stephen relax a bit, let himself have a break from whatever is going on in his head, or in work. He also may be planning on asking Lisa how Stephen's been in work. 

He knows he probably shouldn't but he needs to know how work is, if Michael is giving him any trouble and he's tried asking Stephen, but he won't say anything, and the trouble with Stephen if that he knows how to keep his feelings secret. Even from Ant, he's been doing it since he was 13, and as much as Ant wants to believe he knows what's going on in Stephen's head, the truth is...he doesn't.

Ant and Stephen were watching TV, just trying to pass time, before they have to get ready.  Ant was debating asking Stephen about work, but he knew the only response he would get was 'It's fine' or something along those lines. He was sitting next to Stephen and unconsciously staring at the younger man. 

"What?" Stephen said, with a small laugh afterwards, snapping Ant out of his current thoughts. "Huh?" The Geordie man asked, completely unaware he was staring. "What's up? You were staring" Stephen laughed, as he paused the TV and turned to face Ant. 

"Was I? Sorry, I was miles away" Ant said, trying to laugh it off. "So? What's up?" Stephen asked, Stephen was quite curious in this moment, but Ant didn't know whether or not to ask Stephen what was wrong, only because he didn't want Stephen going to the dinner party in a weird mood, so to say. 

"Ant, What's up?" Stephen said, looking curious and concerned at the same time, Ant didn't want to ask Stephen what was wrong, but at the same time he did. He didn't want to ruin Stephen's mood, he wanted tonight to be a night where Stephen could forget about his problems and have a break from life, have a break from work and from thinking about Michael. But he needed to know what was going on with the younger man. 

"Oh it's nothing, I'm just a bit tired" Ant said, with a soft smile. He knew that Stephen didn't believe him, but the younger man had the same idea, he didn't want to push Ant too much, he didn't want him to go to the dinner in a bad mood either, so he just smiled and nodded back and continued to watch the TV.

Later in the afternoon, Ant and Stephen are almost ready for the dinner, Ant is wearing a grey shirt with black jeans and Stephen a white shirt with blue jeans. The boys were downstairs, making sure they had everything they needed, they weren't taking much, just a bottle of wine. 

Ant was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the island on his phone, Stephen walked in whilst putting his jacket on. He smiled at Ant, as he lifted his head from his phone. They had to leave soon, usually Ant doesn't have to leave this early but he doesn't live across the street from Dec anymore. "You ready?" Ant asked as Stephen grabbed his phone from the table. 

"Yeah" Stephen smiled as he made his way over to the front door to put his shoes on. Stephen has this thing about people wearing shoes in the living room and all that, so he put his shoes on and grabbed his keys. The boys left and made their way over to Dec's house. 

Stephen parked just down the street from Dec's house, he and Ant sat in the car for a moment, Stephen felt strangely nervous, he didn't know why, Dec and Ali, and everyone that was going to be there, knew and accepted and loved both of the boys, he had absolutely no clue why he was so nervous. Ant was waiting for Stephen, so they could go to Dec's, when he noticed Stephen's leg bouncing up and down. He looked up from Stephen's leg and looked at his face as he was staring out the window. 

"You okay there?" Ant asked, as he placed his hand on Stephen's leg, Stephen turned his head to face Ant as soon as Ant placed his hand on his knee. He gave a faint smile and said "Yeah, I'm fine" Ant didn't believe him at all, but like mentioned before, he didn't want to push too much. "Your ready to go in?" Ant asked with a sympathetic smile, Stephen gave a small nod, as he opened the car door and got out. 

Ant walked over to Stephen who was waiting for him, as he got out of the car, once he stood next to Stephen he took hold of his hand and they made their way up to Dec's door. Ant quickly knocked the door and opened the door, as he shouted down the hall "Dec, we're here!" They took their jackets off and put them on the coat hooks, as they heard foot steps heading down the wall. "Hey guys!" Dec said, he pulled Ant into a hug then Stephen. And they made their way into the living room, where Lisa, Alesha and David were standing, just chatting. 

They all turned their attention to Ant and Stephen, they came over and gave hugs and said hi, and all started talking. 

*TIME SKIP*

Everyone had finished food, were all off in groups talking, and whilst Stephen was talking to David, Ant took this opportunity to talk to Lisa about how the younger man was doing in work. 

"Hey Lisa?" Ant said as he walked over, Lisa turned around with a smile on her face and nodded slightly so Ant knew she was listening. "Can I ask you something? About Stephen..." Ant said, slightly nervously, he didn't want to come across too nosey or too... over protective but he was feeling a kind of protective right now, he was so worried about Stephen, he didn't know what was going on, and he didn't like not knowing. 

"Depends..?" Lisa said in a joking tone, as Ant let out a huffed laugh. "How is he? Like in work, does he seem okay?" He knew when he asked, he  came across maybe a bit protective but he just needed to know. "Oh uh- I mean... I guess he seems fine" Lisa said but Ant knew that there was a 'But' in that sentence "But?" He asked, looking at Lisa worried expression. "It's just that... the other day, he was talking to Michael" She started. Ant knew the moment Michaels name was mentioned that something was wrong. He knew that working with Michael would be a bad thing. "Michael seemed to be very close to to Stephen's face, I called Stephen over so he could go to make-up, but when he turned around- I don't know he looked... Scared" Lisa finished. 

Ant was about to say something, when a slightly tipsy Stephen stumbled over. "What you two talking about" He said smiling. "Nothing Stevie" was all Ant said as he took a breath in, he smiled at Lisa, she just smiled back faintly and headed over to talk to Ali.

Stephen was leaning slightly on Ant's shoulder when his foot slipped and he fell slightly. "Woah, you okay there pet?" Ant asked as he grabbed Stephen's arm to try and stop him falling. "Great!" Stephen said standing back up. Ant noticed Dec heading over, as he was giggling slightly at the tipsy Stephen. 

"How much has he drunk?" Dec asked as he stood in front of the couple. "As far as I'm aware... Not that much" Ant said laughing. Stephen wrapped his arm over Ant's shoulders, partially for affection, but also because he couldn't stand up properly. Whenever Stephen is tipsy or drunk, he always makes the boys laugh, he can't help it though. 

Ant checked the clock to see the time read 10:30pm. Which made Ant think, maybe it was time to leave, before Stephen drank too much, where he was hard to handle. "Maybe it's time to call it a night, aye pet?" Ant said to Stephen, who was in a completely different world playing with Ant's hair, making Ant laugh slightly. He looked over to Dec who was also laughing "I think we're going to go, I'll give you a message tomorrow" He said smiling. 

Ant and the tipsy Stephen said goodbye to Ali, David, Alesha and Lisa before leaving, as Ant and Stephen got outside, Ant helped Stephen walk down the stairs, into the street, he looked over at Stephen and huffed out a laugh. "Okay, hand over the keys" Ant said, the older man only drank one glass of wine tonight, so he was below the legal limit. Stephen looked at Ant confused. "Car keys. Your not driving home" Ant demanded, as Stephen fell against the car and pulled a pouty face. 

"I will just take them out of your pocket, don't push me" Ant said laughing, as Stephen huffed and tried to get his keys out of his jacket pocket. He handed them to Ant and then he helped the younger man into the car and drove home.