It started as a Game

Opening Up.

Declan was half an hour late but he had texted Anthony. He found him sitting in their usual spot in the far corner of the room where it was quieter to talk. Anthony grinned at him and all of Declan's stress was forgotten in an instant. He ordered himself a pint and sat down opposite of his friend and sighed.

"Tough day at work, huh?" Anthony smiled empathetically.

Declan only nodded and took a large sip of his lager. "Your wife approached me" he blurted out and immediately regretted it when he saw the facial expression of Anthony change. He could kick himself for mentioning her.

Over the weeks, Anthony's wife had become some kind of taboo subject. Between the two men it was like she didn't even exist. It was just always them two and they didn't want to waste their time in talking about her. Declan knew that Anthony wanted to forget home and his wife when they met up so he felt bad for mentioning it.

"It's fine" Ant said and Dec lifted his head and looked him in the eyes. How did this guy know what he was thinking about? It was quite scary. But also flattering somehow. Anthony really cared for him and already knew him so well.

"What did she say?" Anthony went on but Declan shook his head. He didn't want to upset this guy. And he certainly didn't want to ruin their night.

"It doesn't matter" Declan stated and stared into space. Should he share this with Anthony? He wasn't sure. He didn't really want to talk with him about his wife. On the other hand, he still wanted to know everything about their relationship. As strange as it seemed. Because he wanted to get to know this man even better. He wanted to know everything he could about Anthony. He wanted to understand him. And his wife was a huge part of his life and they just couldn't exclude her from their conversations if they wanted to get even closer.

"Why don't we go to your place?" Anthony asked suddenly and Declan froze. Did he hear that right? Anthony wanted to go to his place. With him. He had never suggested it and Declan himself had never dared to ask him that. He thought about the state his flat was in and he was relieved when he remembered that he had for once stick to his plan and had cleaned it a day ago.

"S-sure... If you want to..." Declan stuttered. He was normally not like that. He wanted to be the one in control, but whenever he was with Anthony he found himself being out of control. But he wasn't actually afraid of it, in a strange way he quite liked it.

So they downed their beer and headed out of the pub. Declan led the way and the two men didn't speak much until they arrived at his flat. They quietly got in and Declan observed Anthony wandering around the place and glancing at photos on the wall and smiling at the old furniture.

"It's nice here" he stated when Declan came back from the kitchen with two glasses of wine. "This your family?" Anthony asked and pointed at a picture frame above the dresser beside the door.

Declan nodded. "Just my parents and my siblings." He handed Anthony the glass and they sat down on the red sofa.

"You really have a big family" Anthony chuckled. Then it went silent and they both sipped on their glasses before Declan finally spoke.

"Why did you want to come here?" he quickly asked and averted his gaze.

"I don't know. Just wanted to be somewhere more private with you" Ant said and blushed a bit when he realised what he had said. "Listen Dec" he added quickly and turned to face the slightly older man. "I was just... I mean... Rebecca... I know what she is like... And if she was like... mean to you I... I would like to know... Because... Because I don't want her to be mean to you..."

Declan's jaw dropped. Although Anthony had said it in a rather awkward way and more like he wanted to protect Declan from school bullies, he couldn't believe it. This guy seriously wanted to protect him from his own wife.