Unforgettable

Just another talent

Just quickly, before I start, English is not my native language so forgive me for any mistakes. I do not own any characters appearing in this fic and I don't know if some things in the story line are realistic. If you don't like it then please just don't read it :) Thanks. If you like it I'd be really happy for feedback <3 HH

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"John Silver? Who in here is John Silver?" Anthony McPartlin walked with a little bounce in his step through the waiting area to get the next performing contestant on the BGT auditions. His best friend Dec waited in their wing-place for him to retun with the talent.

He was bored, so he turned on the speaker with which he could hear what the judges were saying. Simon Cowell was just complaining about the last act who he had buzzed straight away and the others shortly after. But the two young women had started arguing whether they'd be allowed to try and restart in such a disrespectful tone that a security member had had to get them back backstage. "Seriously, when the next act is another catastrophe I'm gonna cancel this audition", sounded Simon's annoyed voice through the speaker. Dec couldn't help but chuckle.

This moment, Ant returned with a middle-aged man who wore a suit and glasses and looked slightly nervous. Dec started smiling immediately. One thing he loved in his job was that he was able to meet new people every day. "Hiya John! Good luck out there, try not to annoy Simon", he winked before he gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. John gave the doubleact a questioning look and Ant nodded: "Yeah, they're ready for you. Off you go, good luck!" With a quick nod and a thanks, John Silver walked on-stage and was welcomed by a warm applause.

Ant and Dec didn't pay too much attention at the questions Alesha asked the man until he told the judges what his talent was. "I'm a hypnotist." The boys exchanged an excited glance. "A hypnotist!", Dec repeated with childlike amazement in his voice. He turned to their camera. "I like that already!"

The two got as close to the stage as they could without being seen by the audience and watched John closely. They both hat to bite back a fit of laugher when John demanded for Stephen to help him with his performance. They saw their friend shaking his head, muttering something like I knew it. John placed Stephen in the middle of the stage and explained to him and the judges what he was up to do: He wanted to hypnotize him so that he wouldn't be able to say the number five anymore. The audience laughed at this, no one seemed to believe that that would actually work.

But when John asked them to be quiet, an almost scary silence spread in the studio. The excitement was tense, some people were shifting in their seats to get a better look on what was happening. Eventually, John told Stephen to open his eyes and asked him to hold out his fingers. "Now, do me favour and count from one to ten."

Stephen looked down onto his hands for a few moments, then he started counting. "One, two, three, four..." - the audience held their breath in sync - "... six, seven - hang on." Stephen looked up in confusion and the studio was suddenly filled with unbelieving whispers. Stephen shook his head and restarted: "One, two, three, four, six, seven - that's unbelievable!" He turned to John, who looked really pleased. "Change that back, will you? That's awful!" Everyone laughed as the man counted again in silence - with the same result. John, whose nervousness seemed to have disappeared, smiled softly and asked Stephen to close his eyes.

The audience went dead silent again, some people still shifting in their seats. Eventually, Stephen was allowed to open his eyes again and treid to count again. "One, two, three, four, five - yes!!" The audience burst into applause and Stephen went back to his place in the wings. John took a slight bow before turning towards Ant and Dec's wing. "Now, may one of you gentlemen please join me on stage?" They both exchanged a glance. For a second, they were deep in one of their own, wordless conversations, then Ant nodded. "Yeah, fine, I'll do it."

He was greeted by warm applause and waved quickly towards the audience and the judges who still didn't seem to get over what had just happened to Stephen. Then he turned towards John. "Hello!" John smiled. "Hello, Ant. Thank you for joining me on stage. Now, what I'll do to you now is... I'll make you forget about..." He had a quick look towards the wings. "About Declan." The audience gasped and so did the judges. Dec back in the wings turned to the camera. "Did you hear that, he wants to make him forget about me!" His expression was a mixture of excitement and insecurity. Ant meanwhile looked slightly uncomfortable. "You'll change it back, won't you?" John nodded softly. "Of course I will. Now, if you may close your eyes?"

Ant shot a glance over to Dec who gave him a slight nod. It's alright, he told him. Ant took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He could hear John murmur something in front of him, then he felt a shiver running down his spine. A few seconds everything was black, then John snapped his fingers and asked him to open his eyes again. The presenter had to blink a few times to get used to the bright lights again but except of that he didn't feel very different. He gave the audience a nervous smile.

"Well, now", John said and pointed to the wall in the back of the stage. A picture of Ant and Dec in their younger ages appeared on the screen. Ant let out a laugh. "Goodness, me hair!", he exclaimed and a few people started laughing as well. The tension in the room was almost tangible. Had it worked now or hadn't it? John pointed at younger Ant. "So, you confirm that this is you?" Ant frowned as he nodded. "Yeah, of course, that's me!" And after a second or two of thinking, he asked: "Who is that guy to me left there?" The audience gasped, some whispers of "Oh my God!" were audible. You could hear Amanda exclaiming "That's impossible!"

Simon leant forwards. "Ant, you aren't playing that, are you? Do you really not recognize that guy on the photo?" Ant looked at him with a confused smile. "No, I really do not recognize him! Why? Should I?" Simon shook his head in disbelief. "But you know who I am, right?" Ant started to get really worried now. Why was everyone treating him like a small child? He nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do know who you are... you are Simon Cowell..."

The four judges exchanged a look. David eventually asked: "Do you know that you played PJ in Byker Grove?" Ant was laughing now. "Holy shit, why are you asking that stuff? Of course I know I played PJ, everyone knows that!" David added: "And do you know who played Duncan?" Ant frowned. "Who the heck should Duncan be?" A few people were clapping their hands over their mouthes. Alesha shook her head. "You need to fix this, John, this is beyond scary!", she said. The others nodded along. But Ant was really confused by now. "Would anybody tell me what's going on? Did I say something wrong?"

Dec was meanwhile torn between amazement and fear. The expression on Ant's face when he had asked who the guy in that picture was had scared him. He knew Ant inside out and he definitely hadn't acted his innocence. He really hadn't recognized him. The confusion, the not-understanding, all that had been real. And that scared Dec. They had known each other for too long, you couldn't simply forget your best friend, could you? But, the presenter calmed himself, John would change this back now. Ant had already closed his eyes, a slight look of confusion still spread on his face.

"Okay, open your eyes now." Ant opened his eyes and John waved Dec onto the stage. "Declan! Join us on stage please!" Dec smiled and jogged out to John and his best mate. "Gave me quite a fright, man", he said grinning. "Don't do this again."

He had expected his friend to laugh, maybe to ask what he had done and then to wrap an arm around him and walk back to the wings together. What he clearly hadn't expected was a confused look clouding his eyes and his head tilting sideways. "I don't want to be rude", Ant started slowly. "But who are you?"