What's Next? || Ant x Stephen

What if... - Chapter Twenty-Seven

Stephen had been thinking a lot recently about the future and what that might look like, and who he wants in his future, and those thoughts slowly turned to 'what if?'

What if he and Ant hadn't of kissed that night?

What if Stephen hadn't come out to the boys yet?

Would Ant and Stephen still have ended up together?

Or would they have just stayed friends?

JANUARY - 2016.

It was the day after the NTA's, the day after Stephen had gotten drunk enough to consider coming out to the boys. However that didn't happen because the moment he went to say it, he threw up. So the boys decided it was time to call it a night and Ant took Stephen upstairs to his Spare room, and Stephen was out like a light almost instantly, as the older man laid him down on the bed.

And the next morning Stephen didn't remember a thing. Ant had brought him a glass of water when he woke up and Stephen had asked about last night but Ant didn't say much, just that Stephen had gotten pretty drunk and threw up in his kitchen, making the younger man incredibly embarrassed, Ant patted Stephen on his shoulder and said "hurry up and get dressed, we've got to be in the studios in an hour" Stephen sighed as he remembered they were working today, ready for the live show tomorrow.

"Hold up- what am I supposed to wear, my clothes have throw up on them" Stephen said half joking, half genuine. Ant laughed and pointed at the clothes on the set of draws. "I know, you can wear my clothes" He smiled at the younger man as Stephen stood up, remembering how the sight of Ant's smile makes his knees go like jelly.

Ant just laughed as Stephens legs buckled, putting it down to the hangover and having just woken up. "You hungry?" Ant asked as Stephen walked over to the clothes "yeah, a bit" He replied with a little smirk. "I'll make you a sandwich, and there's paracetamol on the bedside table for you, to cure that headache" Ant laughed, as Stephen looked over to see the tablets "and you don't have to Ant, I can get food later at work" Ant shook his head at Stephen, as he started to walk out of the room, allowing Stephen to change and waved jokingly at him, making the younger man laugh.

Stephen had eventually changed into the clothes Ant left him, he was wearing a pair of black jeans, a grey t-shirt and a navy blue hoodie. He picked up the tablets on the table and the glass of water Ant gave him and took the tablets with a mouthful of water.

As he made his way downstairs, he could hear Dec in the kitchen talking to Ant. They sounded like they were having a serious conversation, and Stephen didn't want to burst in on that. So he just sort of stood at the bottom of the stairs until they finished talking.

(***)

"Ant, what's wrong?" Dec asked, clearly worried, as Ant turned to face him, confused and curious. "What do you mean?" He asked as Dec gave him a look as to say 'you know what' as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Ant, come on talk to me"

Ant knew what Dec was on about, there was something wrong, recently, or at least these past few months, Ant has noticed something about Stephen, like there's something wrong or something he wasn't saying. Which there was.

Ant let out a sigh as he dropped his head to his chest. "I'm worried about Stephen." Dec looked at the taller man confused, he hadn't noticed anything. "What do you mean?" Dec was thinking over the last week or so, trying to figure what Ant could see that he couldn't. "I don't know... it's like he's hiding something, I just can't figure out what, and he just seems closed off... or at least more than usual"

That was the issue with Stephen. He's a very closed off person, whenever it came to his personal life he's always very private about it, even with Ant and Dec, two of his best mates. Meaning he wasn't the easiest person to read, sometimes you could tell something was wrong, but sometimes, if he really wanted to hide his feelings, it was impossible to tell if he was alright or not. He's very good at faking it, at pretending to be fine, and happy. Which always bugged Ant, that he couldn't read the younger man, because he wants to help him but when he doesn't know the issue... it's difficult.