a small note / irwin

nine

It went well. They sounded amazing and the crowd was mezmerized by the clear voices of the boys not to be cancelled out by loud guitar riffs and drum solos. It was just the harmonies and melodies of their voices accompanied by the calm piano background.

Before their last song, Cathy's favorite, Ashton whispered something to the rest of the boys and they just nodded and padded off the stage leaving Cathy confused as hell behind the piano while Ashton adjusted a mic stand near her despite how much she whisper-screamed that she didn't want to sing.

"Michael's lesson on self- confidence" He winked, took a chair and stayed near her.

"Little shit." she mouthed.

"Just do it" He blew a kiss at her. "I'll be right here." He added.

Ashton coughed into the microphone, silencing the whispering crowd on their rumours that the two might be together.

"So this is the last song and the boys left the stage because they know it means a lot to me." He simply stated and the crowd silenced, anticipating to hear the duet between the hot drummer and the new pianist they don't know anything about.

The intro sounded and Cathy was nervous as hell that her fingers were shaking. Ashton put his hand on her shoulder and she calmed a bit, while Ashton sung the first words.

The lyric fell out of his lips like honey, slow and sweet. It wasn't exactly like the original, it wasn't better or worse. He gave the song his own version, like it was his own, like it was his story. Because it was.

Now you were standing there right in front of me

I hold on it's getting harder to breathe

Cathy sung the next part, carefully and softly, scared to mess up.

All of a sudden these lights are blinding me

I never noticed how bright they would be

They sung alternately, both so into the song. Since after all, it was similar to their situation.

When the chorus came, they sung together in harmony, voices rising and falling and meeting together at one point.

Don't let me, don't let me go

'Cause I'm tired of feeling alone

Yes, the song was repetitive, but it made bith of them realize how lonely they actually are. They weren't fully alone, they had family and friends but they both felt lonely.

Seems like these days I watch you from afar

Just trying to make you understand

I'll keep my eyes wide open.

At this point, Cathy stopped playing but Ashton didn't mind. Both still had continued singing in sync, making the audience hold their breath and see their great chemistry.

'Cause I'm tired of feeling alone

The last line rung through the people watching and listening, who were too in awe to react or applaud from the beautiful performance. Cathy had her eyes closed the whole time, and when she opened them, she forgot where she was. The lights in the room suddenly felt too bright, but her eyes adjusted after a few moments.

Ashton on the other hand had goosebumps all over him. Cathy's voice was pure and full of emotion and meaning. He was silent, his eyes wide. After about two seconds, he took Cathy in his arms and kissed her head.

"I love you" they whispered to each other.

These gestures gave them a standing ovation and several "aweees" from the audience, 3/4 of 5 Seconds of Summer included.

They went off stage, hand in hand as if it were them against the world.

All five of them together with some girl Michael brought, who was still a little awkward, met near Ashton's car and decided to celebrate for their cute little 'try something new' thing that was a success and for that Wirwin moment on stage.

When they dispersed for Ashton and Cathy to get to his car, Calum and Luke to the car they borrowed from Mali and Michael and the girl to his brother's motorcycle he snuck out.

But before all of them turned around fully, Ashton started coughing loudly and his vision was turning dark. His breathing was abnormal and pains in his chest were almost unbearable.

Half an hour later, they were at the hospital, confused as hell and almost scarred for life. Ashton was in a hospital gown sleeping, weaker and paler than ever. The rest of them on plastic chairs lined along the wall of the hospital room. All of them were puzzled except Cathy. They decided to give Ashton some air and just have him beside Cathy.

Her head rested on the edge of his bed and she traced and imaginary universe on Ashton's arm, her eyes fixated on the dextrose bottle dripping every two seconds, when suddenly he coughed himself awake, letting everyone in the room look up from their phones and suddenly become active.

"I'm sorry guys." He said quietly.

"I'm sorry Cath."

"Ashton it's not.." She started but he cut her off.

"No, I lied to you. To you all." He confessed, confusing everyone even more.

"I thought I had pneumonia. Just a slight case and I thought I'd be better. You guys noticed how I kinda slowed down those practices?" He explained despite his voice being weak and ended in a coughing fit which made Michael grab a cup of water and hand it to him.

The three nodded, a little ashamed that they haven't exactly paid much attention to their sickly drummer.

"Yeah I didn't tell you since it wasn't a big deal. But it got a little worse and even worse. Until I found out this afternoon after that practice we had?" He coughed again but less intense this time.

"I went to the doctor's and I'm so sorry Catherine that I didn't tell you."

Their eyebrows raised, waiting for him to continue, until his breathing became a little slower and his eyes drooping until they closed.

"Ashton? Ashton!" Cathy cried out, terrified.

The three boys were shocked and Luke laid his head on Calum's shoulder, covered his face and Michael hugged Calum tightly.

"Guys I'm kidding." The brown haired boy in the hospital gown said

"YOU LITTLE FUCKTARD"

"ASSHOLE, DON'T FUCKING DO THAT"

"WHAT THE FUCK MAN"

"THAT WAS NOT FUNNY"

"Ugh, guys just because I'm coughing my chest numb doesn't mean I can't joke around." He rolled his eyes.

"Yes but that doesn't mean you can give us heart problems!" Luke said, his face pink and with a few tears shed.

"Asshole, I love you." Cathy leaned in and kissed him, earning protests from the rest about PDA.

"What was that you were going to say Ash?" Calum said, his hands still shaking from Ashton's harsh joke.

"M-my file got mixed up with another person. And I don't have pneumonia, I have a more serious heart disease." he sighed.

~~~

EARLY UPDATTEEE BECAUSE CATHY WAS GETTING CRANKY

Oh Ashton, Michael would've gotten the frick frack if it weren't for your coughing. BUT I FORGOT TO SAY IN THE LAST CHAPTER.

So the girl in the cover? yeah she plays Cathy. No, she is not a tumblr girl and no she's not a model or an actress. She's a GREAT friend of mine and she's such a babe.

Normally I dont cast those famous too extremely attractive people bc mmmmaaaainstreeeam and i want the characters to be true 5sosfam.

CHECKER OUT GUYYYS SHE'S MichaelAndLiam :)

Oh yes I need more ppl for the cast and if interested just dm me a selfie and what character you wanna be on my IG : _ashtontho_

GFs for 3/4 or anyone im open to suggestions if you want new characters :)