Anonymous || Malum ✓

one

Calum sighed, strumming a few simple notes on his guitar. He was sitting in front of the blank wall he always recorded in front of and was wearing the white long sleeve shirt he always wore. He was going to be recording his next cover soon and was making sure that his guitar was tuned. This was a regular routine for him and he liked his routine. He would post a cover every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The time he would upload depended on how slow his computer was working or how long it would take him to edit.

He knew what song he was going to cover to do today and he was honestly excited. He normally took requests from his subscribers for his Friday videos and most of the time he really didn't know the songs the majority of them would request. Today was different though, they requested the song Disconnected by a band called 5 Seconds of Summer and Calum was so excited. He loved this song.

Calum loved that none of his fans knew what he looked like. They liked him for his talent and not his looks. He had severe stage fright and all his subscribers knew that even though they always begged him to do shows.

He sat in the same corner of his small Los Angeles apartment. Calum sat in the room that he thought had the best acoustics and it was the simplest room in his two bedroom, almost nine hundred dollars a month apartment. He didn't get paid as much from YouTube even though he had over half a million subscribers and posted regularly. Calum had a job at In N' Out to help pay for the rest of his monthly bills. He had moved out to Los Angeles from his parent's house in Sydney about two years ago to pursue music and it had really worked well in his favor. Calum started his YouTube account soon after and it had grown so much since.

Calum hummed a bit to warm up his voice and continued the process by reaching forward to turn on the camera. It was always zoomed into his hands and the guitar and the most that you would see was maybe the sleeves of his white shirt and his shirt covered chest. He wanted to stay as hidden as possible.

His face would always poke in at the front and he would have to cut it out every time. He started singing soft notes before deciding he was warmed up enough. He'd have to cut that out to.

He started playing the chords to the song, his fingers playing in the correct frets and brackets as he started the opening notes of the song.

"Life's a tangled web of cell phone calls and hashtag I-don't-knows and you, you're so caught up in all the blinking lights and dial tones. I admit I'm a bit of a victim in the worldwide system too but I've found my sweet escape when I'm alone with you," Calum sang, his voice becoming raspy as he sang the words. He really liked the lyrics of this song. He put so much emotion into his words every time he sang and it was evident in his videos even if the subscribers couldn't see his face.

"Hands around my waist. You're counting up the hills across the sheets. And I'm a falling star, a glimmer lighting up these cotton streets. I admit I'm a bit of a fool for playing by the rules but I've found my sweet escape when I'm alone with you," his voice continued to ring throughout his empty apartment and he was so glad that all his neighbors worked during the day so they wouldn't hear him. He'd be so embarrassed if they did.

"Turn off the radio, those late night TV shows, hang up the telephone and just be here with me. I like the summer rain. I like the sounds you make. We put the world away. We get so disconnected. You are my getaway. You are my favorite place. We put the world away. Yeah we're so disconnected. Yeah we're so disconnected," Calum finished off the song, his voice softening at the end.

He was so glad that he only had to do one take. Sometimes it would take him two or three because he'd play the wrong note, he'd sing the wrong words, or his voice would mess up. A lot of things could go wrong. Calum knew he'd have to edit the video a bit but he wasn't that concerned.

Calum set down his Ed Sheeran X signature guitar that he had gotten for his birthday two years ago and leaned forward so that he could turn off the camera. Calum loved his guitar, mainly because it was Ed Sheeran and Calum loved everything that was Ed Sheeran but also because he loved the sound and it had amazing acoustics playing. This video wouldn't take that long to edit. He just had to cut out the first few seconds and post it.

He took out the memory card and placed it in his laptop, waiting for the video to load. Calum smiled, listening to it play back and was content with it. It took him a few minutes to edit the beginning, adding his logo and title and taking out the first few seconds but it was soon done.

He opened his Chrome browser and logged into his YouTube account fairly quickly. He had set YouTube as his main home page a long time ago. Calum clicked the few buttons he needed to and his cover of Disconnected was soon being posted. He tweeted out the link on his Twitter account and logged off quickly after. It was his one day off work for the week and he wanted to do more than just upload his video.

***

Calum had finally set down his book. He had finished about ten chapters and was stopped by how hungry he was. He checked his phone to see what time it was and that was when he fell stiff. His Twitter normally didn't have that many notifications on his screen but it definitely did now. Calum scrolled to the main cause of the madness and felt as if he was going to scream, pee himself, or pass out.

@Michael5SOS: Check out this cover of Disconnected by @CoversByC it is truly incredible and I am in awe. Good job dude!! (just wish I knew what you looked like) youtube.com/sjj3ejfjs

Calum felt the blood cells in his cheeks rise as he saw that the Michael Clifford had tweeted him and retweeted his video. He actually liked the cover. He also noticed that the pale boy had followed him back. This was amazing. Calum quickly retweeted the tweet and responded.

@CoversByC: @Michael5SOS thanks so much!!! this means a lot coming from you :-)

Calum felt as if he were on cloud nine, reading multiple times the tweet that he had been granted by his favorite member of 5 Seconds of Summer. Of course, Calum wasn't a huge fan boy of theirs but he still loved the band a lot and they were one of the many that Calum looked up to. He really loved their songs and their lyrics and just the way the instruments worked together.

The tan boy was about to set down his phone to go grab a celebratory microwaveable meal but stopped when he saw another notification on his phone. This time it was a direct message.

Michael5SOS: Hey bro! Your cover of Disconnected was incredible! I can't wait to hear more from you. I'm definitely a huge fan now.

***

OKAY FIRST CHAPTER! I thought that I'd explain that Calum is not in 5SOS but Luke, Michael, and Ashton are. I just needed to clear that up. I'm so excited for this story and it's gonna be so cute. This chapter ended up being a lot longer than expected and was kind of boring but it was necessary for the plot. The next chapter will be a lot more interesting I promise

-malumdictionary