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The show was going well tonight. The energy was high, everyone was laughing, the audience was loving it. There was only one problem.Alan noticed the way that Stephen had been looking at Rory all episode. He was absolutely smitten. Alan felt some kind of twisting in his gut whenever the man got a right answer and Stephen congratulated him, or when they ended up in a full blown discussion with each other, trading facts like air, forgetting the presence of everyone else in the room. They had just started talking about birds or something, using lots of big words he had never even heard of, and Stephen seemed absolutely enthralled. He was watching them, pretending to be interested in the conversation, but he wasn’t actually listening to the words - just observing Stephen. The raise of his eyebrows, his lips curling into a smile. That weird feeling tightened in his chest.If he knew better, he’d call it jealousy.Alan was distracted from his staring - observing - when Sean tapped his arm. He looked to his right and saw the man lift up some fabric under the table, grinning. He glanced at Stephen and noticed he was still immersed in his conversation with Rory, not even noticing what Sean was doing despite the laughter from the audience. Then he looked back over to the man, who was now pretending to be sucked under the table, down on the floor and reaching towards him, loudly yelling for help. Alan laughed and grabbed his arm, pulling Sean towards him, and as the man got back into his seat, he looked again towards the other side of the room and saw that Stephen had finally taken notice of them. He chuckled lightly at their antics, shaking his head, and Alan smiled. His chest throbbed lightly, in a way he couldn’t quite explain.That little moment between them was immediately broken by Rory cracking a joke, which made Stephen laugh. Admittedly, it was funny, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. Damn it, Rory could get away with being the teacher’s pet, but Alan was the class clown! Don't take this away from me, he thought territorially.Then Jimmy had to go and made a joke about how Rory had managed to ‘pull’ Stephen. His lip twitched, not into a smirk, but he pretended that it did. As an actor, it was very easy for him to pretend. He could feel the glare of the camera lens and tried not to give anything away.He was stirred from his thoughts when he heard Stephen say “All it takes is a cute mind”, and Alan felt his stomach flip. Is that what Stephen wanted? Someone smart, someone on his level. Someone like Rory. He swallowed, watching them talk, keeping his composure. That was the hardest part of this show- hiding certain reactions. It was easier to fake emotions than to mask them. He was the comic relief of the show, his job was to play dumb. Granted, he was a bit dippy - he had only won the show once in three series for goodness sake, almost always coming in dead last. He was no match for this character, this “genius” who waltzed in for one episode and instantly swept Stephen off his feet with his infinite knowledge.But there was one thing Alan was good at: jokes. He had been here since the start, he knew exactly how to make Stephen laugh. Alan’s eyes lingered on him often, while he recited facts, read out the questions, listened to the other panelists talk - Alan was always paying attention, watching his reactions, taking mental notes of what he found funny. He didn’t care about getting a laugh out of the audience, all that mattered was making Stephen smile. It’s what he did best.As Stephen announced the winner - Rory, of course, showing off with an admittedly impressive total of 88 points - Alan smirked. Whatever. He’d just have to try harder next week.