It Would Break Your Heart

1998

'It's a good day.' Dec thought happily as he fished his flat key out from his pocket.

Wasting no time, he inserted the key into the lock and gave it a halfhearted, mindless twist. He was, then, immediately awe-stricken as he felt the lock give way with a satisfying click.

Normally, it was quite the finicky lock- one of those old sorts that required a significant amount of jiggling. For someone as impatient as Dec, it was the kind of lock that caused a hassle every single time. But yet, to Dec's annoyance and Ant's amusement, Ant never seemed to have any issues with it. The thing had even become a source of ongoing banter between them as Ant could never resist making jokes about the lock giving Dec stick.

So suffice to say, having the rather infamous lock cooperate on the first go, had Dec pausing abruptly in realization. The word 'good' was far too inadequate to describe the day.

'No, no, better that, it's a bloody brilliant day.'

Pushing his way into the flat, he shrugged his coat off and let it fall carelessly to the floor. Then, while elbowing the door shut, he kicked his shoes off in the same nonchalant manner. Dec could hear the hum coming off the telly and it caused him to smile excitedly. A quick look down at the shoemat confirmed his hope, Ant hadn't decided to go out.

Whistling joyously, and perhaps a bit off key, he wandered into the flat. He peaked into the kitchen and reluctantly took in the amount of washing up that needed to be done. Dec pulled a face but quickly decided that he was in too good of a mood to be bothered by the stacks of dishes. It was his turn to do them but he knew from experience, if he left them long enough, Ant would grow tired and just do them himself. Shrugging simply, he carried on.

Upon entering the front room Dec immediately spotted Ant on the sofa. He was casually eating crisps and apparently too into a James Bond film to acknowledge Dec's presence.

Dec cleared his throat once, but Ant continued to stare at the screen unfazed. He was either unaware of his presence or ignoring him, regardless of which it was, Dec was having none of it. He huffed impatiently and marched over so that he was standing behind the sofa. Smiling deviously as he did so, he reached over Ant's shoulder and snatched the bag of crisps. When Ant shouted an annoyed "Oi", Dec scrabbled over the back and collapsed on the sofa, his head landing perfectly in Ant's lap. Placing the crisp bag on his stomach, he popped one into his mouth before winking up at the dumbstruck Anthony.

"Oh ya cheeky bastard!" Ant said giving Dec's side a quick tickle.

"Eh! Don't you do that!" Dec squirmed laughing.

Ant shook his head in mock annoyance. "There's a whole sofa, you know."

To this, Dec only shrugged while shoveling more crisps into his mouth.

"You're a right pain in the arse." Ant grinned at his small friend before leaning over him to turn off the telly. "So, how'd it go with Claire?"

"Mmm brilliant!" Dec said with his mouth full. "She broke up with us!"

Ant stared down at him blankly. "What?! Why this time?!"

"Oh same old." Dec rolled his eyes. "I work too much, I don't pay enough attention to her, I'm having an affair with Cat, blah blah blah."

"Ha! Claire should know that Cat is way out of your league!" Ant teased while grabbing his own handful of crisps. "Come to think of it, Claire's out of your league as well!"

"Ya know Anthony, sometimes the things you say can be quite hurtful. Actually some could even say that this here is an abusive friendship!" Dec said with enough drama to be worthy of a Bafta.