Ant and Dec OneShots

Special - Hurt

"You can't just lose your temper like this every time you get a bit upset!"

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Dec hadn't slept well. Ant could tell that only from the look on his best friend's face as said one entered the McPartlin's living room. "Alright, so you don't even ring anymore?", Ant asked teasingly, hoping that that would lightned up the mood a bit.

Of course he didn't mind that Dec had smiply entered without ringing, he did it the same way, why would they have each other's house keys otherwise?

"If I should ring, you shouldn't give me your stupid key", Dec grumbled and slumped onto the sofa. Ant sighed in defeat; seemed like Dec's mood was already too bad to be saved.

"Alright, so, what happened?", he tried a different direction of approaching his friend. Dec shot him a sharp glance. "Nothing! I'm fine, why are you asking?" Deciding to drop it, Ant just shrugged and asked Dec if he wanted to drink something.

A few minutes later he returned with two cups of tea, handing one to Dec with the words: "Careful, it's still really hot." Dec rolled his eyes and set the cup on the coffee table, a bit harder than necessary. "I'm not stupid", he said and crossed his arms on his chest.

Ant closed his eyes for a split second. Whatever had happened this morning at Dec's, it must've been bad. After a short silence that was rather uncomfortable, Ant made another try to change the subject to something more positive.

"Do we watch something on the telly?" Dec, whose eyes were fixed to a framed picture on the coffee table, snorted. "Bet there's nothing good anyway."

"Alright, that's enough now." Ant's voice wasn't loud, angry neither, but determinated. "I don't know what happened at yours and why you are in a mood today, but it's not my fault, okay? And I'm not looking forward to spend my day with a friend who is non-stop grumpy."

Dec's eyes shot up, untypical anger glowing in them. "Just tell me if you don't want to spend time with me", he snapped. Ant clenched his fist. Dec was misunderstanding him on purpose now and that wasn't fair. But he still tried to control his voice to not make things any worse.

"I want to spend time with you", he explained, the tension in his voice audible, "but it's not fun at all when you keep snapping at everything someone is saying."

Dec pressed his lips shut, refusing to look into Ant's eyes. The latter groaned. "Declan, that is kindergarden. Honestly, you're a grown man!"

"Why does everyone think they have the right to tell me how to behave?!", Dec suddenly blurted out, his foot kicking against the coffee table. The tea in the cups swayed but nothing happened. Only the framed picture first vibrated and slid over the surface of the table then. It was over the edge in the blink of an eye and in the next second, the glass shattered on the floor.

A sting of pain went through Ant's chest, his hands clenched to fists. He had liked that picture a lot, that was why it had been on the coffee table. It was a photo of him and Dec, taken last year during a round of golf. Both of them were laughing, battling the sun with their beams. And now Dec had broken it. What an irony.

Deep down inside, Dec started to feel guilty. He hadn't  missed the pained expression on Ant's face and the embarassment already started to stab his stomach. But just yet, he wasn't able to let go of his bad mood. He had gone too far already to go back suddenly.

"Brilliant", he snapped, even though he hadn't a reason to snap. It hadn't been his piture after all, and it had been him who had broken it.

"Stop it, Declan." Ant's voice was heavy, sticky like honey, not easily flowing. "You can't lose your temper like that every time you get a bit upset!" Still, he wasn't shouting. He didn't even sound too angry. He was pretty calm. Too calm and that shook Dec up. Ant tried to hide how much Dec's outburst had hurt him.

As if he would see it for the first time, Dec stared at the broken frame. The photo was visible under the sheds, the smiles on their faces bright and frozen. The guilt beat a hole in Dec's stomach. Why had he freaked out like this?

Dec knelt down, trying to get the photo out from under the sheds, but a hand held him back. "Don't. I don't want you to cut yourself, I'll handle this."

Dec's eyes welled up. Even after his outburst, his unfair outburst, Ant was still worried for him. "I'm sorry, Anth", he said, voice small and barely audible. Ant shrugged. "I'll clean it up and use another frame, no big deal", he stated while carefully placing the sheds on the coffee table. But Dec shook his head. "You know exactly, what I mean", he replied.

Ant stopped his actions and sat back onto the sofa with a sigh. "Of course I know what you mean, Dec." His tone was serious. "And it's okay. For me, it's okay, I know you and your temper. But someone else might get seriously hurt by you freaking out like that!" When he didn't get a response, he sighed again. "Look, Declan. I'm not trying to tell you off. You are snappy when you're upset. I know that. And that's why I can deal with it. I know that you don't mean it most times when you snap at me. But you need to be careful or you won't do anyone any good."

"I know", Dec whispered, his voice quivered and he avoided it to look into Ant's eyes. Ant nudged him in the side. "Hey. No need to look so sad now, I already told you it's okay. But you maybe need to control your temper a bit more. Just tell me if you had a bad day and tell me what you need. I want to be there for you, Dec, but I can't read minds. But I'm not mad at you. Not because of something so silly."

Dec finally managed it to raise his gaze and look at him. His eyes were big and pleading. "So everything's fine between us?" Ant smiled sympathetically. "Of course everything's fine between us. But that's only because I love you so much", he winked.

But Ant quickly turned serious again. "So, what was the cause for all of this? What made your day so bad?" Dec bit his lip and fiddled with his fingers on his lap.

"Ali and I argued", he finally admitted quietly, like a child that got caught while stealing sweets. "She didn't want me to visit you today... said that I've spend a lot of time alone recently and that I've not been home for a while. It's true, but... you know us, Ant, you know how stubborn we both can be when we want something. It wasn't nice, not at all. She's probably still mad at me because I went anyway."

The pure sadness in his best friend's eyes made the last bit of anger melt away. "Oh Dec", he sighed, "why didn't you tell me? I appreciate that we spend so much time together, but it's not worth ruining your family! I would've understood completely if you'd cancelled."

Dec took in a shaky breath. "I know that", he replied, nails digging into his palms. "But I just... I didn't want to... it felt like..."

"Hey, calm down, will ya?", Ant said softly and guided Dec into a careful hug. They rested in that position until Dec's breathing had evened out again. He sighed. "Sorry", he mumbled once again. Ant smiled weakly. "It's okay now, yeah? Let's not speak of it anymore. And let's see, maybe we'll find something on the telly even though you're sure there won't be anything good."

Dec blushed and rolled his eyes, elbow poking Ant in the side. "Alright, let's give it a try."