Oneshots and Other Things

Fire ~ Part 2

"Anth."

He's pushed slightly from behind, the touch so weak that he almost thinks he's imagining it. It wouldn't be entirely surprising - he's just imagined the studio blowing up. Although, given his position, cheek pressed into the floor, and the pain that has settled beneath a disconcerting numbness, that part is starting to feel less like a figment of his imagination.

They'd been rehearsing Ant vs. Dec. The events are out of order, starting from a continuous, wailing siren and cutting backwards; his arm reaching out to pull Dec onto the ground; Stephen walking over towards the left side of the stage.

He closes his eyes with a groan, the unordered flashes of memory counterintuitive to helping his understanding of what happened. Stephen can't have been walking across the room after he and Dec had thrown themselves to the floor. Ant isn't even sure if the latter happened, or if the strength of the blast took care of that as well.

It was Dec's voice, he thinks suddenly. The alarm has cut out too, although the ringing in his ears is making up for that. He rolls over onto his back slowly, letting out a distended breath when his ribs start to protest the motion. It's even worse trying to sit up although he eventually manages it, closing his eyes against the vertigo and subconsciously reaching a hand down to his calf, which rather appropriately feels like it's on fire.

Not literally on fire. He screws his eyes shut more firmly and tries to think straight. Keeping his lunch down takes some effort, his head feeling foggy and not entirely present.

It was Dec's voice, he reminds himself eventually, focusing back on the task at hand. Dec must have been nearby because someone was pushing against his back, trying to get his attention. And that someone must have been Dec because he's lying there now when Ant persuades himself to look, eyes shut and arm stretching out across the gap between them. And Ant really hates his distracted thought process when his head instantly rushes to the worst case scenario.

"Dec?" he asks cautiously, lifting himself up on his arms and shuffling closer to the other man. He shakes his shoulder and tries not to overthink the ragdoll back and forth of Dec's head as it rocks with the motion before coming to a stop again. Too still. "Oi, Dec."

He's still too calm on the outside, the sensation of his hand making contact with the other man's shoulder disrupted by a static that leaves his skin tingling and not quite sure of what it is feeling. Inside, his head is reeling with the flashes of what happened, details nagging him to remember.

"Stephen," he mumbles under his breath distractedly, shaking Dec pointlessly again and raising his voice. "Declan!"

His chest is moving which is somewhat reassuring - very reassuring. Ant closes his eyes and measures his own breathing, as if the panicked metre of his inhalations and exhalations is the real explanation for his currently failing memory. He keeps his hand on Dec's shoulder because he needs to look away and the prospect of looking down to find the older man is no longer there is unbearable, albeit highly implausible. Given the day they're having though, Ant isn't sure he'd question the impermanence of Dec right now, were he to vanish.

A quick glance to the other side of the studio (Stephen was there - he's sure) doesn't clear up the mystery of the younger man's whereabouts, although the room is unusually dark without the screens at the back to offer any lighting. Ant retraces his steps again - they were rehearsing Ant vs. Dec and then...

He grabbed Dec when the alarm went off. No, before that.

There had been a crack, the sound rumbling like thunder. Shouting. A flash of light. Stephen - somewhere.

Then, he'd grabbed Dec. The screens around the studio had all started to spark, a wave of hot air spiralling towards them. The foundations that the stage was built on had rattled, parts that seemed important becoming detached. They'd been picked up by the blast, flying in their direction. He'd grabbed Dec and pulled him down to the floor.