Aren't you happy for me?

10) You now tell me what I have done wrong

Dec had wanted to avoid exactly that and he knew it wasn't nice of them to act like that in front of Ant, especially as Dec guessed that Ant didn't want to spend time with them anymore because he was reminded of the fact that he was single every time he saw them. But Dec just hadn't been able to suppress a giggle when Stephen had told him what he wanted to do with him that night.

Now he wasn't up for that one single bit. He knew Ant was hurt, he knew him too well.

"Now that we are alone, let me show you what I meant" Stephen smirked once Dec entered the living room again and sat down next to him.

"Not in the mood, Stevie" Dec sighed.

"What? That seemed different a moment ago" Stephen giggled and started to kiss Dec's neck.

"Stephen, I'm serious" Dec said and pushed his hand away. "Didn't you see how upset Ant was?"

"Upset?" Stephen asked astonished. "He seemed fine to me, a bit tired like. But he said his job is stressful, so..."

"No, he was upset by our behaviour" Dec explained and let his head fall onto Stephen's shoulder.

"Did he tell you that?" Stephen asked.

"No, but I know him" Dec said and Stephen sighed loudly before turning to Dec again.

"Listen Dec" he said and cupped Dec's face. "You aren't responsible for him, okay? And I won't act differently with you just because he is here, alright? And if it bothers him he should say something, it's as simple as that."

"Hm" Dec said absent-mindedly. He didn't like it when Stephen talked like that about Ant. But then again he knew he kind of had a point. Ant should say something if he was bothered by something he did, they had always talked about everything.

Dec expected Ant to call him the next day, but he didn't. Even after three days he hadn't heard from Ant, so he decided to take matters into his own hands and called him himself.

"Hello" Ant answered and he sounded a bit sleepy and Dec didn't know why but he had to chuckle. After all, it was 7pm.

"Did I wake you?" Dec asked gently.

"Oh, hi Dec" Ant said. "No, err... yes, fell asleep like."

"Oh, okay" Dec replied. He was a bit taken aback that Ant had only called him 'Dec'. Normally, he would always greet him with an excited 'Hi Decky', especially when they hadn't spoken to each other for a few days. But Dec didn't want to interpret too much into that, after all it was just a name.

"What do you want?" Ant asked.

"I wanted to know how you are" Dec admitted carefully. "Are you alright? Haven't heard from you like."

"Aye, I'm fine" Ant smiled. "It's just so stressful at work, you know?"

"Hm" Dec hummed and then he didn't know what to say. He suddenly felt so distant from Ant and it scared the shit out of him. He desperately searched for the right words to say next, but Ant beat him to it.

"Listen, Dec, I have to go, haven't been shopping yet and the store closes soon. See you, okay?" Ant quickly said.

"Oh okay, no problem. Aye, see you" Dec said and hung up. He sank onto the bed and sighed loudly. He didn't like this one single bit.

Ant was devastated, he didn't know why he had cut Dec off in the first place. He had nowhere to go, he didn't need to go shopping. He had just had this urge to end that conversation.

Deep inside he knew it was to not get hurt again, to not go through it again, being close to Dec and feeling this incredible pain knowing he belonged to someone else.

This went on for the next weeks. They saw each other occasionally and they talked but it just wasn't like before.

When Ant's birthday came up and he told Dec he would spend it with his family in Newcastle, Dec was sad. He hadn't even suggested that Dec could come along and it hurt him.

It was the day before Ant would leave for a week and Dec just couldn't take it anymore. He'd had enough of that strange behaviour, so he had decided to go over to Ant's house and confront him. He just wanted the truth for once, why Ant acted so strangely.

Ant was taken aback when Dec stood on his doorstep, his head red from anger, his hands rolled into fists.

"Decky, what... err...?" Ant stuttered and let him in.

"You now tell me what I have done wrong" Dec panted and stared at Ant, not even bothering to take his jacket off.

"You? What?" Ant asked confused.

"Why don't you call anymore? Why don't you want to meet up anymore? Why are you so withdrawn? Why do you find excuses every fucking time?" Dec exclaimed and he took a deep breath to calm down a bit. Then he said in the most hurt voice Ant had ever heard out of his mouth:

"Don't you want to spend time with me anymore?"