Hollow (Ianthony)

Tied.

Flowers.

Bells.

Smiles.

Veils.

And I feel nauseous. I can literally feel bile rising in my throat at this moment. The feeling of utter disgust just keeps ascending. This should be a good day. I should be happy for him. I should...

Ian Hecox shook his head in repulsion. Not only in what was happening at this moment, but also at himself. Him and his stupid emotions. Emotions, feelings, sentiments. It seemed like that was all anyone ever thought about.

What's wrong with apathy? It's so much easier...

He watched as his best friend of over fifteen years, and business partner, Anthony Padilla, take a long look at himself in the dressing room's full-length mirror. He was clad in a white, collared shirt and black slacks. He wore black dress shoes on his feet. Though he'd rented a tux for the occasion, he had yet to put on his coat and tie. It was too hot in the dressing room, he'd claimed earlier, and ties were just too confusing. Luckily for Miss Kalel Cullen, Anthony's fiancée, Ian had convinced his best friend to comb his once emo-styled hair. He'd gotten a haircut earlier in the year that had sparked a frenzy within the Smosh fandom. Fangirls' hearts everywhere were broken due to the end of the 'emo flap,' but Kalel had insisted Anthony get a more 'adult' haircut for their wedding. Regardless, Anthony looked very handsome and he knew it. Ian could tell this from the swagger in his walk and the bright smile on his face.

As angry as Ian was, he couldn't help but beam. To see Anthony this happy and excited pleased him, no matter the circumstance.

Even the circumstance in which he'd be taken away from him forever.

Which was the case here. Anthony had already moved from the house they'd shared for years in Sacramento and had opted instead for a nice house in Los Angeles with Kalel. That had been difficult enough. But to make things absolutely worse, Anthony had decided to marry this girl. Sure, she was cute. Sure, she was a Youtuber, same as Ian and Anthony. Sure, she was seemingly perfect. But that didn't mean a thing to Ian. To him, she was the girl that had ruined everything. She had ruined Smosh, their very successful Youtube channel that they'd had for almost ten years, his friendship with Anthony, and...any chance Ian ever had with a relationship with Anthony.

The stupid little crush hadn't always been there. In fact, for the majority of fifteen years that they'd been friends, he'd never really even thought about it. Anthony was just his best friend and he was as straight as an arrow.

Until he wasn't.

One day, Ian woke up and everything had changed. He and Anthony looked the same, they acted the same, and even the home they shared in Sacramento was the same. He'd tried to shake the feeling, but as soon as he saw Anthony standing in the kitchen, cooking breakfast and singing a Panic! at the Disco song at the top of his lungs, Ian knew.

He knew that he was in love with his best friend.

That was about as far as it had gone, though. Only a year later, Anthony had met Kalel at a party and had instantly fallen head over heels for her. Shortly after that, Anthony had moved out to live with Kalel. Shortly after that, he and Kalel had gone to Tokyo and Anthony had proposed. Not long after that, the two of them moved to Los Angeles, five and a half hours from Sacramento.

Five and a half hours from Ian.

But in all honesty, this shouldn't have bothered Ian. During this time, he'd had a girlfriend named Melanie Moat. She and Ian were together many, many years and Ian truly did love her, just not in the way that he'd thought. She was the dearest friend that he'd ever had and he was thankful for her. Even today, a year after they'd broken up, Melanie was the only person Ian told everything to and she was also the only person that knew Ian's true feelings for Anthony. If Ian didn't have Melanie, he was certain that he would have been admitted into an insane asylum.

"Stupid tie," Ian heard Anthony mutter.

The blue-eyed man looked up and saw his friend looking in the mirror, an annoyed expression painting his face.

He chuckled. "What's the matter?"

Anthony gave him a knowing glance. "You know what's wrong, Ian."

Sighing, Ian jumped to his feet and padded across the room to where Anthony stood, fiddling with the tie. He shook his head. "You've got it tied crookedly again, dude."

"Yeah," Anthony replied, "I can never get them right."

Ian chuckled, grasping the tie and undoing it. "I won't be around forever to tie your ties for you."

Anthony laughed. "That's true, but I'm pretty sure Kalel can tie them."

At her name, Ian's face fell. He swallowed and pulled the tie through the loop. "Y-yeah, there you go."

Anthony nodded in the mirror. "Thanks, man!" He grabbed his coat off of the chair behind him and shrugged into it. "So...how do I look?"

Ian smiled. He looked perfect to him, of course, but he couldn't tell him that. Chuckling, he lied, "like a douche bag."

Anthony rolled his eyes. "Seriously, jackass."

Ian sighed. "You look nice...handsome, even."

He watched the corners of Anthony's mouth turn up into a small smile. "Thanks, man."

Ian nodded, sadly. "Kalel will be thankful."

Anthony blushed. "I hope so. I'll bet she looks gorgeous. She's been so secretive about everything that I literally have no clue how she's gonna look. Hair, nails, dress, nothing."

"Mari said her dress was beautiful," Ian reminded him.

Mari Takahashi, along with Matt Sohinki, David "Lasercorn" Moss, and Joshua"Joven" Ovenshire, helped Ian and Anthony run the 'Smosh Games' channel and she was also close friends with both Melanie and Kalel. Once best friends, Melanie and Kalel had gotten into a huge disagreement the year before and barely spoke now. Ian was certain that this was part of the reason Anthony and Kalel had moved away from Sacramento.

Kalel was selfish to say the least.

"Yeah," Anthony said, "but what does that mean? I mean, what if she got a turquoise dress? Call me traditional, but I hope it's white."

Kalel Cullen was famous for having a new hair color each week. Blond, brunette, turquoise, blue, green, and rainbow were all among the different colors she'd dyed her hair over the years Ian and Anthony had known her. Luckily, for them, she'd opted for a sensible light brown for the wedding.

Ian chuckled. "It is. Mari told me so, but don't tell Kalel you knew. She'd wring my neck."

"Mari or Kalel?"

"Mari," he replied.

Needless to say, he wasn't the least bit afraid of Kalel and if she wanted to trade words -- or blows -- Ian would like to think that he wouldn't back down in the least bit. But in reality, he'd clamp his mouth shut and nod. He loved Anthony too much to do otherwise.

Anthony laughed. "She is the ancestor of ninjas, after all."

A hint of a smile danced on Ian's face, but it quickly faded.

Anthony frowned, seeing the smile fade in the mirror's reflection. The thought that something might be wrong with Ian flashed through his mind. He bit his lip, watching Ian look down at the floor. He wanted badly to know what was troubling his best friend, but as he opened his mouth to ask, Ian began to speak.

"It's seven o'clock, man. You ready?" He was smiling at him, the sad tinge gone from his face.

Anthony grinned, the deep dimples in his cheeks showing. "Yeah. Let's do this."

Welcome to my new story! I wrote this for the fan fiction unit that we did in my writing center class and I'm pretty proud of it. It's completely written, I just have to do a few edits, so expect constant updates.The more I know you guys like it, the more I'll update, so keep that in mind.

ALSO! I wrote this for a class so I needed clear protagonists, antagonists, and foil characters.

I understand that NONE of these people act as the way they are pot rayed in the story. I DO NOT HATE ANY OF THEM. I LOVE THEM ALL AND I WISH NOTHING HORRIBLE ON THEM.

Thanks for reading!