Hollow (Ianthony)

Drowned.

Ian clutched his glass of vodka tightly, arms slung haphazardly over the bar. His eyes were glassy, his hearing was choppy, and his speech was slurred. 

Ian Hecox was drunk.

Of course, Ian had been drunk before, but this time was different. He’d been happy drunk, angry drunk, and sad drunk, but this was devastated, lost, and empty drunk. He literally didn’t know what he was going to do now. Before, when Anthony and Kalel had only been dating, Ian could handle it. When they’d only been engaged, he could tolerate it. But they were married now. Ian didn’t know what he was going to do with himself. He was just so damn sad and so he just kept drinking. Maybe if he drank enough, he could forget everything, wake up. and allow everything to be the way that it had been only hours before. 

I gave the best man speech, Ian chuckled, I said I was so excited for them.  I wished them a happy life together. I deserve an award for being the best goddamn liar in the world. 

He took another long swig and sat his glass back in front of the bartender. 

The bartender gave him a questioning look. “Don’t you think that you’ve had enough?” 

Ian laughed a little too long and a little loudly. It was the least he could do to keep him from sobbing. “Never!” 

Frowning, the bartender poured him another drink. Ian grabbed it and began to gulp it down. 

As his surroundings began to get hazy, so did Ian’s thoughts. His mind drifted to a couple hours before when he’d delivered his best man speech with a heavy heart. Of course, this was before he’d gotten drunk. As much as it hurt him, he wanted to be completely sober when he gave the speech to prevent anything too revealing to escape from his lips. He’d climbed the steps, dragging his feet and toying with his hair, the light brown locks that Anthony enjoyed making fun of by calling it a ‘bowl haircut.’ He’d swallowed all of the sadness that he could and eyed Anthony, beginning to speak. 

“My name’s Ian and I’ve been Anthony’s best friend since...well, a long time. Believe it or not, we were actually best friends before Smosh,” he paused at some laughter that echoed throughout the room. 

“And let me tell you, that hasn’t always been the easiest job in the world,” everyone laughed, including Anthony. Ian watched Anthony’s dark brown eyes sparkle and it caused the already hard lump in his chest to tighten even more. 

“He’s always been there for me, though,” Ian said softly, “like...He’s the best friend a guy could ask for. He’s like a brother to me. I love him so much...,” he trailed off, swallowing hard and biting his lip to hold back the flood of tears that were threatening to cascade down his cheeks. 

“So, Kalel,” he turned his attention toward her, “take care of him. Don’t let him cook his own food or do his own laundry. Don’t let him sleep with the TV on, it wakes him up. And for God’s sake, Anthony, don’t screw this up. You’re happy.” He smiled over at Anthony before finishing. 

“Congratulations, guys.”

With that, he choked back a sob and stepped off of the podium, ignoring the clapping and whooping and hollering. Coincidentally, Anthony just happened to be waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. He had a wide grin on his face, so Ian forced a smile, too. Anthony had thrown his arms around Ian, squeezing him into a tight hug. “I love you, man,” he’d whispered into Ian’s ear. 

And this hurt Ian more than Anthony could have ever imagined. Ian had chuckled and Anthony hadn’t questioned it, believing that he was only reacting in the ‘bro’ manner. In reality, Ian was laughing at how very pathetic he was. He could’ve been the poster child for pitying, unrequited love. The only difference here was that due to the fact that he and Anthony were both guys, it would more than likely elicit a few complaints and outbursts of revulsion. 

Anthony had given him a questioningly look as he walked away, eyes glued to the floor. 

But Ian kept walking, loud, trembling guffaws escaping from his lips. 

He took another long drink, feeling dribbles of vodka run down his beard that he’d really meant to shave before the wedding. Kalel had told him that it was really important. 

Oops. 

Ian began to laugh again, laying his head on the bar. As he did this, his laughs slowly began to falter. 

“She’s throwing the bouquet!”

“He’s getting the garter!” 

“Did you see how hard she hit him in the face with the cake?” 

“They’re about to leave. Do you have your bubbles ready?” 

His chuckles slowed to quiet, surreptitious sobs. His fingers clenched into a fist and he began to pound on the bar, biting his lip. He wanted to yell and scream and throw everything he could get his hands on. He wanted to-

“Ian...Are you okay?”

Ian looked up, wiping at his eyes to see Marzia Bisognin looking down at him, concerned. The Italian Youtuber was a friend of Kalel’s, which meant that he really should hate her, but Marzia was drop dead gorgeous and impossibly sweet and kind. It was truly impossible for anyone to hate her. Besides that, she was dating the most-subscribed Youtuber of all time, Felix Kjellberg (also known as Pewdiepie), and Ian really liked him, too, even if Anthony and Kalel had gone on vacation with them to Japan before. 

For as long as he could remember, Ian had always wanted to go to Japan.

Anthony had been twice.

He never asked Ian if he wanted to go. 

Ian hesitated, scrubbing violently at his face. She couldn’t know that he was crying. “Y-yeah,” he replied, “I’m fine. J-just a little dr-drunk,” he pointed out, laughing a little too much. 

Marzia flipped her brown ombre hair off of her shoulder, giving him a sad smile and patting his arm. “It’ll be okay, Ian.” 

As if she knew. 

Ian slid his glass across the bar, requesting another drink. To his surprise, the bartender had disappeared. He rolled his eyes in annoyance. 

“What the hell is the point in having a bartender if they ain’t gonna b-be here?” Ian slurred, standing up to go behind the bar. If the bartender was gone, he would simply get more alcohol himself. No matter that he definitely couldn’t read what the labels on the bottles said. 

“Ian!” 

Ian turned around to see a familiar, blond Swede standing with Marzia. 

“P-Pewds?” Ian asked, “th-that you?” 

Felix sighed, walking over to the heavily intoxicated man. “Yeah, it’s me. What are you doing behind here?” 

“G-goddamn bartender left and I’m n-not done drinking,” Ian slurred. 

Felix and Marzia shared a glance before Felix said, “the wedding’s over and so’s the reception...Ian, how come you didn’t come with us to the honeymoon sendoff? Anthony was looking for you.” 

Ian chuckled. “No, he wasn’t. He can’t wait to get to Hawaii and f-fu...,” he trailed off, “screw Kalel’s brains outs. He couldn’t give l-less of a shit about me right now.” He hung his head, staring at his black dress shoes, realization hitting him hard. 

Felix shook his head. “That’s not true, dude. He wanted you there more than anyone. You’re his best friend, after all.” 

Ian glared at Felix. “H-he didn’t take me to Japan, now d-did he?” 

Felix sighed and looked at Marzia. “I’ll go find Melanie. Make sure he doesn’t get into the liquor.”