April Fools?

The Protector's Return

Stephen almost fell off the sofa in fright as Ant's voice echoed in the quiet room. Quickly righting himself, he glanced down to make sure Dec was still asleep - which he was, thankfully - and shot a look at Paul.

Ant stood in the doorway to the dressing room; mouth open in shock, eyes wide and almost fearful, and arms folded across his chest. He looked like he was on the verge of snapping - there was a bit of a dangerous glint in his eyes as they took in the scene before him.

Stephen couldn't resist a gulp - he'd seen Ant angry before, and he wasn't keen to make that happen again.

Thankfully, Paul stepped in and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Everything's fine, Ant" he assured calmly, forcing blue eyes up to meet his own, "We've got everything under control."

Ant didn't look too convinced as his gaze once again settled on Stephen and - more importantly - his best friend.

He was already cross because he had been unable to return to the dressing room during the breaks as he and the crew had needed to rewrite the script and try to come up with something that would fill the gap that would be left by the segment that was supposed to have been that night's Ant vs Dec. 

Ant had tried his hardest to keep his worry and temper in check, but he shamefully admitted later that he had snapped a few times at some of the crew (he had quickly apologised later, but he still felt horribly guilty). He couldn't help it though - and the crew knew that as well: it was always the same whenever either of the boys were sick or hurt. If they were forced to stay apart while the other was being looked after, then things would quickly turn ugly.

Chris had later quietly confided to Maggie - one of the producers - that he was surprised that Ant had made it as far as he had without losing his temper completely.

Once they had realised the need for a contingency plan, the next commercial break had been focused on planning and writing the new segment, and the break after had been rehearsing and making sure everything would run smoothly.

It had gone as well as expected on such short notice - which was badly.

Which had only made Ant crosser.

Now it was the end of the show, and he'd arrived back at their dressing room expecting things to be calm and relaxed - with Dec perhaps asleep comfortably on the couch and Stephen scrolling through his phone and probably trolling the viewers on Twitter.

What he had walked into looked like the aftermath of a scene from 'The Mummy'.

Stephen's eyes traveled down and rested on the sleeping Dec, before he shot a cheeky - but unsure - grin up at his friend.

"Heh: bet this looks awkward, doesn't it?" he stated, grin faltering as Ant's eyes narrowed dangerously and one of his dark eyebrows cocked ever so slightly.

"Hm," Stephen mused, letting his grin fall completely at his mate's expression, "Guess this isn't a good time to be funny?"

Ant's other eyebrow raised to join its companion, expression looking rather dangerous.

Stephen bit his lip and and ducked his head down, suddenly very nervous.

"Look mate" he began, voice now perfectly serious, "It's not as bad as it looks, okay?"

Ant pushed himself away from the door frame and walked over to them. He opened his mouth as if to reply with some incredulous statement when the sleepy Dec suddenly twitched and started to wriggle out of Stephen's grip.

Eyes softening, Ant knelt down next to the couch and reached up with a gentle hand to rub his friend's bare shoulder.

"Easy kidda" he whispered, voice now almost as soft as his eyes, "It's just me."