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Get Used to It

A/N - This was inspired by the above photo from yesterday....😭

Groaning as his alarm went off, its incessant squawking filling the room, a thoroughly tired out Declan Donnelly rolled over in bed and hit snooze. Next to him, his wife, Ali, was partially awake and was squinting at her husband through half-open eyes. He had now curled up in the fetal position, burrowing deeper into his pillow, and if she had to guess, his eyes were probably tightly shut again. The past 18 months had been hard on her husband, and even though he was in a much better place now, she still worried about him. Even with his best friend back in his life, fully happy and healthy, things hadn't returned to normal. Dec was still in therapy – although less frequently these days – and there were very occasional days when he struggled to raise a genuine smile. His pain from the past year was still very much intact, making it nearly impossible for him to contain his emotions whenever the previous year's trials and tribulations were brought up. But overall, everything was back how it should be, and each day was generally a bit better than the last. She just wished for his sake that things could go back to how they used to be.

The alarm went off again, resulting in another annoyed groan. This time, Dec reluctantly swiped up on his phone to turn the alarm off, and rolled onto his back with a sigh. His head lolled over to the side, catching a glimpse of his drowsy wife watching him carefully. "Mornin', pet," came his sleepy voice, a massive yawn nearly swallowing his greeting. Still half-asleep, he grabbed his phone off the bedside table and started scrolling through his notifications – loads of emails, a voicemail, and a text. From Ant.

Wait, what day was it today? He'd been in the middle of a dream when his first alarm went off, and he was always terribly confused after being woken during REM sleep. Right, today was Tuesday, 9 July, according to his phone. Hurriedly opening the text from Ant, a soft smile reached his eyes as he saw his best mate's words:

"Morning, Deccy! Looking forward to seeing yous later! Xx"

Oh, of course! Today was the day they had that photoshoot for the Northerners Exhibition, plus some production meetings for BGT: The Champions. Heart leaping with excitement, Dec was suddenly fully awake, bouncing up out of bed and pressing a quick kiss to his wife's lips before trotting over to the wardrobe to pick out his outfit for the day. Finally settling on a gray roll-up sleeve shirt and some black trousers, he turned to his wife.

"Mind if I shower first, dear?" his eyes sparkled with anticipation of the day to come, and his voice was light, happy.

"No, love, go ahead," Ali smiled, glad to see Dec so enthusiastic.

About an hour later, Dec trotted down the front steps of his home and hopped into his and Ant's van to begin the 30+ minute journey to Ant's house. Utterly bored, Dec scrolled through Twitter for a while before starting to play a game on his phone. He hated these long, lonely journeys – they reminded him too much of the past year and everything he was trying to put behind him. But they were basically unavoidable these days, so he figured he'd just have to get used to it.

Finally arriving outside of Ant's home, Dec pocketed his phone and waited eagerly for Ant to emerge. Having greeted his friend with a warm hug as he climbed into the vehicle, Dec settled in for yet another half hour's drive – albeit a rather less lonely one – to their first meeting of the day. Ant was in a good mood this morning, instantly launching into tales of his adventures at Wimbledon the previous day. He'd had a great time, by all accounts, and there hadn't even been a public uproar at his first truly "official" day out with Anne-Marie, so it was all good. Dec listened with a smile, butting in with his own comments here and there, reminiscing about his day there with Ali last year. He was so, so happy for Ant – it was quite literally his dream come true to have him back, happier and healthier than he'd been in years. And his relationship with Anne-Marie was beautiful – they truly were soulmates, and Dec was thankful to her for being such a good influence on Ant.