Chapter Text
Ashton Irwin, your typical average high school guy.
Silent. He was smart. Doesn’t belong to the ‘loner’ group, but doesn’t belong to the ‘popular’ group. He has quite enough friends and social interaction. Dating experience? He had his fair share (He wouldn’t admit this but Ashton was far better looking than a decent guy. He was handsome, could easily fit in the popular group but chooses to lay low).
Barely has passion for anything except one – Music. Ashton loved music. The moment he received his own set of drums when he was little already piqued up his interest (to the point where he managed to learn the piano as well as the guitar).
Of course, not that he was bad at the rest, just didn’t show enough interest in it.
To put it simply, his life was boring.
There were no bad family relationships background clichés, no murder-crime-please-solve-it-Sherlock-Holmes scenes, no chasing after the bad guy that equals to action and fighting and becoming a hero, no ‘coming-from-a-rich-family’ stories, no avenging anyone, no vampires or werewolves, and especially no magical girl falling out of the sky somehow ending up in his room asking him to save the world.
Just normal.
Ashton was in his room, sitting on his chair and watching different videos on YouTube as usual, hoping to find something interesting rather than just looking at wannabe’s seeking for views and attention.
Ashton snorted, sipping on his chocolate milk. ‘Here’s an example.’ The girl in the video was over-exposed, wearing just one article of clothing on her. It was already that bad looking at her, but the moment she opened her mouth to sing you could feel the need to scratch the walls in anger and frustration. She went off key several times, lost the timing and tempo halfway, and even interchanged the lyrics like it was nothing.
Ashton covered his ears as she screeched trying to reach the high note. She sounded like a dying cat. He immediately wasted no time in pausing the video before giving a big dislike. It seemed that he wasn’t the only one sharing the same opinion as the others, seeing that the dislikes were far superior than the likes.
He looked the right side of the screen, searching for related videos.
Please don’t go (Cover) Mike Posner
Hemmo1996
Ashton shrugged, clicking on the video anyway. It was a blonde boy wearing a blue shirt. He was young, maybe a year or two younger than Ashton. Needless to say, he looked quite good in Ashton’s perspective. Let’s just hope he doesn’t sound like a dying cat. Ashton hoped, taking another sip of his chocolate milk.
…which he almost spat out the moment he heard the boy’s voice. It was far from a dying cat’s voice.
It was amazing.
Disbelief crossed Ashton’s face when he saw that he was the first viewer of this video. How could anyone not notice this video? Ashton hurried, giving a thumbs up before typing in the comment box:
Dark_lord360 (ran out of ideas, kay? Don’t judge.)
Wow!! Your voice is amazing! :))) You should definitely make more covers soon! I’m your first and no. 1 fan!
And with that he pressed enter. He stretched his arms out before He closed his eyes, slowly massaging it. Once he opened his eyes lazily, He stared at the screen in surprise.
In a few minutes – no, seconds, there came and immediate response.
Hemmo1996
Thank u so much!! ^^ sure, I’ll make new covers real soon for my first fan :)
Ashton’s eyes flickered in excitement. It’s barely been thirty minutes and he’s already intrigued in a person for the first time in his life.
Dark_lord360
Really?? Wow!! I’d love that :)
In less than no time, Ashton suddenly received a personal message. It was no other than hemmo1996.
Hey! I Wasn’t joking earlier when I said I’d make a cover for my first fan ^^ that was like a deal I made before I posted this video. Sooo what song would u like?? O.o
Ashton smiled, typing quickly. Hi! Yea, you deserve to be heard anyway. :) if it’s ok with you, how ‘bout ‘Just the way you are’ by Bruno Mars??
Again, in few seconds, there came an immediate response.
Ok! I’ll work on that. :) By the way, you seem pretty fast in replying, where are you from?
Ashton looked a bit skeptical, worrying whether he should reply or not. Fuck it, it was a beautiful guy asking so why not just tell him?
sydney, Australia ^^ you?
And again, the answer came really fast.
Wow! I live there too! We should probably meet in the future :)
And soon enough, two of them pretty much engaged in the rest of the conversation. Ashton never found any words to describe how interesting his new ‘online’ friend was.
And this was how the story begins.
xOxOx
Weeks, months had past and both of them still kept on communicating until it became an everyday thing. After school, Ashton would quickly run home, hurrying up to his room to open his laptop and chat with his new friend.
Hemmo1996’s videos started getting attention day by day, more comments, more fans, more views. But that still didn’t stop them from communicating everyday. Ashton had become somewhat like a chat-buddy.
hemmo1996: Hey, dark?
Which reminded Ashton that he had never given his real name, but neither did hemmo1996.
dark_lord360: Yeah?
hemmo1996: why don’t u make your own videos? You seem to have a lot of knowledge in music. I’d be your first fan too :)
Ashton’s face heated up. Chatting with hemmo1996 just made him feel that way. It was sick, he knew. Liking a guy he never met, yet alone doesn’t even know his name.
dark_lord360: I’d rather not. I’m shy, and I’m not much of a singer. Well, it wasn’t totally wrong. Ashton could definitely sing, but he just didn’t post videos because of his shyness, his friends didn’t know that he could sing, or play the drums, or guitar or piano – or that he was good In music. So imagine what would happen when suddenly bam Ashton sings? A massive commotion.
hemmo1996: Ohh, you’ll get there eventually. I’ll be your first supporter, ok?
Ashton smiled behind the screen, hemmo1996 always knew how to make him feel better.
dark_lord360: thanks :))
Now the only problem was that Ashton has never met hemmo1996 in real life. He knew that they’d meet somewhere eventually, considering that they pretty much live in the same place.
xOxOx
Ashton did say that they would meet eventually, but he hadn’t expected it to be this fast, yet alone in this manner.
He was outside doing the grocery shopping for his family. He was running his fingers through the different type of cereal boxes, wandering which one to choose.
He suddenly felt someone tapping his back. When he turned around, he saw his friend, Aleisha grinning at him, “I knew it was you! What are you doing here?”
Ashton gave a small smile, “Grocery shopping.” He grumbled, showing the piece of paper his mom gave. He notice that Aleisha wasn’t the only one. “Apparently it was my turn today, and then…” He lost all speech when his eyes trailed to the person next to Aleisha.
It was hemmo1996. In the flesh.
His eyes widened, with his mouth gaped.
Aleisha blinked in realization, “Oh! Right, I forgot to introduce you both. Ash, this person over here is Luke, my friend...” Ashton caught her cheeks heating up. She shook her head fast, clearing her throat. “And Luke, over here is Ashton. He’s in a grade higher than us.” Ashton did recall Aleisha mentioning about having a crush on a blonde guy with blue eyes, and now it all made sense.
Maybe he could’ve felt a tinsy bit jealous.
Luke flashed a smile at Ashton, extending his hand, “Luke Hemmings, it’s nice to meet you, Ashton.”
Ashton’s face flushed, trying his best not to stutter. “A-ashton Irwin. Like-wise.” He took Luke’s hand and shook it.
After a few exchanges of conversations, each of them headed their own way.
“Luke…” Ashton softly whispered, on the way back home. How nicely it rolled off his tongue. “Luke… Hemmings…” and that night, he couldn’t stop thinking of the perfect name of so called hemmo1996.
xOxOx
It’s been over six months into the summer, and Ashton and Luke were closer than ever. The only problem being that they never met in real life, or that Ashton never told Luke his real name, or that Luke didn’t know whether dark_lord360 was a girl or a boy. But that was fine, they knew that they would come to know about it sooner.
Luke’s videos kept on getting even more famous day by day. He had joined a band, the two other members being called Calum and Michael.
When they posted a video, happily proclaiming that the famous boy-group One Direction decidedly want them on their take me home tour. Everyone looked so happy, like they finally achieved something. Like they finally made it. It was evident in their eyes, and Ashton was honestly happy for all of them.
Ashton soon sent a personal message to Luke that day.
dark_lord360: Congratulations! You made it! I’m so proud
hemmo1996: Thanks!! I can’t believe it either! This is like a starting point, I never knew it would reach to this.. Its overwhelming you know?? A year back I was just doing covers and now...
Ashton bit his lip, contemplating whether he should write what was on his mind for a long time.
dark_lord360: yea, I know.. You wouldn’t forget me, you won’t forget the original 5sos fam right? xD like when u go on tour and stuffs
hemmo1996: of course I won’t, idiot.
dark_lord360: you say that, but very soon, you’d be on the top charts, I know it… then you’d forget us, you’d forget the original 5sos family
Hemmo1996: look here dark. I’d never forget anyone of you. I’d never forget you. You were my first viewer, my first fan. The 5sos fam is what helped us reach here.
dark_lord360: ..really?
hemmo1996: yes. It’s a promise, ok?
Ashton smiled behind the screen, typing quickly.
dark_lord360: It’s a promise.
And that was the night were Ashton slept comfortably with a smile plastered on his face.
xOxOx
A full year had passed. But the happy days did not last forever. The more famous they got, the more distant he and Luke seemed.
At first, Ashton didn’t mind or pay attention that much, about the fact that Luke’s started to give one word answers, or that he started replying late, or that he even gave colder remarks. Ashton thought that it was just that Luke got more busy with band practice and the tour. He understood, he understood that it was the life of a star.
Until that one day.
It was a Thursday, and Ashton as per usual, checked for the channel hemmo1996. His eyes widened with pure shock on his face.
Gone.
it was gone.
Ashton’s fingers shook, he shakily typed it again. There was no way Luke would do that. Luke would never abandon his fans- he would never abandon his Ashton –
No results for ‘hemmo1996’
He desperately tried searching again and again, but no avail. It truly was gone. He had checked the other sites and found out that he deleted account.
Ashton shakily closed all the tabs, switching off his computer. This couldn’t be happening. He promised. We made a promise… so… why?
Before he knew, his vision became blurry, tears spilling out uncontrollably.
And that day marked the first time Ashton Irwin cried in a long time.
They were so close yet so far away.