eccedentesiast // c.h

bonus chapter

one year later.

luke, ashton and michael sit in front of their laptop, faces still showing the grief from the loss of their best friend and brother.

"are you ready for this guys?" luke breathes out, trying not to let a few tears escape, but in the midst of their silence, he couldn't take it any longer.

"yeah, let's do it." michael whispers.

"@5SOS: guys! twitcam in ten minutes, important stuff :-) xx"

the fans start to tweet and spread the news, not knowing what it was going to be; nevertheless, they were excited.

ten minutes later, the twitcam starts with michael trying to adjust the camera so that they would all fit. the three boys stare ahead, trying to keep the smiles on their faces, but it was hard enough without calum. ashton bursts into silent tears.

"hey, so you're probably wondering why this was impromptu. well, we have an announcement to make." luke says.

"thank you for the past ten years of supporting us, it means a lot." ashton tries to smile.

michael wipes his eyes. "we didn't want to do this, but it has become really hard ever since....ever since calum's death."

"we didn't feel complete, we were lost without our brother, and how could we make you happy if we weren't happy ourselves?" luke whispers as he hangs his head.

"this has been an amazing journey for us, and we know how it was really special for calum, who had to end his football career for the band." ashton gulps. "calum, bro, wherever you are, we hope you're happy, we hope that you finally found whatever it is you're looking for. we hope that you have found love. it was never easy for us, it was all so quick and sudden. and this might sound selfish, but you didn't even say goodbye. but we do understand, cal, that us, as people, it is in our nature that we give up for the ones we love. it's sad that you weren't here to see my baby's christening, and when luke's wife gave birth to their second child, and when michael got married. but we like to believe you're happy bro, and, well, if you're happy, we're gonna try our best to be the same, even when it fucking hurts without you here."

michael gives off a shaky breath. "but going back to you guys, the 5SOSfam, thank you, thank you for everything. thank you for being part of our lives. thank you for putting us where we are right now. i always thought i'd be a nobody, and that i'd never be anything to anybody. but you guys, the dedication you have shown tells me otherwise. you gave our lives meaning, besides playing video games and terrible clothing choices and long, emo fringes." michael sadly smiles.

"we'll always be here for you 5SOSfam, but for now, take this as our formal goodbye for a very long time." ashton smiles as he straightens himself up. 

"you ready guys?" luke asks, looking around at the two boys.

"Hey, we were 3/4 of 5 Seconds of Summer."  the boys say in unison as the camera clicks off.

this was the end of something very beautiful, and the start of something new - unprecedented, maybe, but new, nonetheless. the fans were left speechless, and they realized, it was never 'hi.'

it was 'hey.'