Make Everything Better

Laughter's the Best Medicine

A/N – This was super fun to write – the boys just sort of took over for me, to be honest. So hopefully it's as enjoyable to read as it was to put it on paper. Just a bit of a laugh, this one, inspired by a recent conversation with wizkiddx...

"Yes, Dec, I know it's stupid, but..." Ant and Dec were in the early stages of rehearsals for the second BGT semi-final of 2019, and things weren't exactly going as planned. First, that morning's production and script meeting had overrun by nearly 45 minutes, putting everyone behind schedule. Then, there had been a major problem with some of the lighting for the main stage, setting them further behind and forcing the team to rearrange the order of rehearsals so that the lights issue could be fixed without slowing down the day's flow. So now, rather than all of the acts rehearsing in the order they would perform that night, they were all shuffled, resulting in a bit of all 'round confusion.

Although they had arrived at the Hammersmith Apollo in high spirits, relieved to have the first show out of the way and excited for their second show back together, both Ant and Dec were feeling decidedly stressed and a bit put out by the time the second act of the day was beginning to rehearse. Ant was managing to go with the flow a bit better than Dec; Ant had always been rather more laid back when it came to things like this – Dec had often said in the past that he had to worry for the both of them, since Ant would just dismiss any issues with the old adage that everything would be "all right." So while Ant was feeling slightly annoyed at all of the day's disruptions (it was still only 11:30am), Dec was in a right strop already, complaining about anything and everything. It was a bit reassuring, really, Ant mused, to see this other side of Dec for once, as it showed that Dec hadn't actually changed that much while he'd been away. While Ant had been off work last year, Dec had never once mentioned frustrations or annoyances connected with their job – and Ant supposed there must have been many – instead focusing solely on their relationship and being a strong shoulder to lean on for Ant. So Ant hadn't been exposed to a stressed, rather prickly Dec for quite some time. And to be honest, he'd forgotten just how annoying Dec could be when he was like this – even the slightest thing could set him off on a rant again, just like the one he was in the middle of right now.

"It makes no sense, though, does it!" Dec groused, eyebrows raised as he took in the latest changes to the day's rehearsals order. "I mean, it's gonna take ages to change the sets between those two acts. What are we supposed to do? We might as well have stayed home today – why bother coming to rehearsals if we're not actually going to rehearse anything, just sit around all day waiting for everyone else to sort their s*** out!" Dec was gesturing wildly by the end of his latest tirade, his exasperation at the day's poor management more than obvious in the shrill tone of his voice. Ant let out a sigh. "Declan." That one word held an accommodating ring to it, but there was a deep undertone of annoyance that was impossible to ignore.

"What? It's true!" Dec insisted stubbornly, continuing, "I sometimes wonder why they even bother having us here – they never listen to a word we say!" Ant rolled his eyes. Now Dec was just getting petty. The BGT team were always willing to listen to Ant and Dec's suggestions, and would take them on board sometimes. But today, Dec's grand plan for efficiently rearranging the schedule had been shot down immediately by a new member of the team who seemed to find it outrageous that the presenters would think they should have any input on how rehearsals were run. To be fair, that lack of respect was what had set Dec off in the first place. He felt very strongly that he and Ant were an integral part of the team and that their thoughts and opinions should, at the very least, be considered. And honestly, Dec's plan for rearranging the schedule had made a lot more sense than the one that had ultimately been decided upon. But now he was just using it as an excuse to complain about everything, annoyance filling his mind, dark storm clouds brewing as he got closer and closer to snapping at someone (other than Ant).