All These Years (Muke/Cashton)

Epilogue

*Michael's P.O.V*

"Remember that time Ariana broke her arm when she was six?" I ask Calum & Ashton, smiling faintly at them.

"Yeah, when she fell off of her skateboard" Ashton chuckles.

"She cried for half an hour after she got a pretty pink cast, until we took her to get ice cream" Calum laughs weakly.

"What about the time Jace introduced us to his first partner, what was her name again?" Ashton asks.

"Amber, and the first half hour she ditched him to rock out on Ashton's drum kit" I laugh.

"Right, she was awesome" Calum laughs.

"Until she cheated on him" I sigh.

"Oh, yeah" Calum mumbles. "I don't like her anymore" he sulks.

"Yeah, but Jace is happily married to Alec now" I say cheerfully.

"Ha, Alec Lightwood" Ashton snickers.

"You know, when they were teenagers, Alec kind of looked like Alec Lightwood from the TMI movies" Calum points out, trying not to laugh.

"Maybe that's why he loves Alec so much" I chuckle.

"What if Hazel had married a guy named Augustus?" Calum asks, smirking at me.

"I would probably cry because The Fault In Our Stars" I pretend to sob. "But Hazel is happy with Jackson and their twins, Judith & Alexander" I say happily, suddenly remembering two of my beautiful grandkids.

"And Jace & Alec have their beautiful kids, Austin, Andy & Tris" Calum reminds me.

"Tris, that was one of my therapists' name" Ashton scoffs. "She was pretty cool, I guess" he laughs.

"And Ariana is happy with Brendon & their baby girl, Isabelle" Calum says cheerfully.

"And Leighton has Lara and their beautiful kids, Trent, Caitlyn, Marilyn & Tate" Ashton finishes. For the record, Marilyn & Tate are twins.

"Austin has a kid, right?" Calum asks in confusion.

"Yeah, Krystal" I reply. "Only cause he got some girl pregnant when he was sixteen, and then the mother dumped her with him and left" I roll my eyes.

"Can't say I blame her, at least it wasn't Austin running away though" Ashton points out.

"True, I'm proud of him" I smile.

"And doesn't Tris have a kid?" Ashton asks.

"No, but she is five months pregnant" I reply. "Andy has a one-year-old son though, Reece" I add.

"Jace's babies are all growing up" Ashton coos.

"I know" I sniff, proud tears brimming at my eyes. We fall silent for a few minutes.

"Wait! Remember the time you convinced Luke to die his hair red" Calum snorts with laughter.

"And the whole fandom laughed at him, because we told them to" Ashton laughs.

"It looked really cool though" I admit, looking down at Luke, who was laying in the hospital bed beside me, fast asleep.

"Do you think he's in pain?" Ashton asks in a worried voice, looking down at Luke from the other side of the bed.

"He's completely drugged up, I'm sure he's fine" I reply, trying to convince myself that what I had just said was true, as I stare at Luke's short grey hair.

"I hate hospitals" Ashton mutters as machines in the room across the hall start going haywire.

"So did Luke" I mumble as I examine all of the beeping machines Luke was hooked up to. "Luke" I say quietly, leaning down to whisper in my husbands ear.

I wipe my cheeks with the back of my hand when I realise they were damp with tears.

"Luke, it's okay to let go, you know that right?" I ask him quietly. "You don't have to stay in pain anymore, you've lived a full life and I think it's time now" I say as calmly as possible, trying to steady my shaking voice.

"I love you" I whisper, giving him a kiss on the forehead.

A few seconds later, the heart monitor Luke was hooked up too starts beeping slower, which Calum, Ashton & I all notice at the same time.

It gets slower, and slower, and slower... Until his heart stops completely and the machine let's out that long flat beep indicating another life ending.

I smile faintly down at Luke, knowing he's not in pain anymore.

"Oh god, I have to put up with you in the afterlife as well?" Luke jokes and my smile widens. I turn around to see Luke in his 18-year-old form, smiling at me like an idiot. "I must admit, I was looking forward to finding out what colour hair you would have" he chuckles.

"So was I" I laugh, looking up to see a patch of bright red hair swept across my forehead.

"I missed you" Luke says sadly. I jump up from my chair and walk over to him.

"I missed you, too" I whisper before connecting our lips together for the first time in what feels like forever.

"I think it's too late" Calum mumbles as a group of nurses run into the room to try and revive Luke.

"5 Seconds of Summer are finally back together again" Ashton says, getting a little choked up on the words, as both he and Calum appear at our side.

I look around at each of us, we all seem to be back to our 2014 selves- Ashton with curly hair in a bandana, without his glasses though, Calum with a streak of blonde in his fringe. Luke with his quiff and lip ring, and me, with my bright red hair and eyebrow piercing.

"I love you" all four of us say together as we pull each other in for a group hug.

"So" Calum mumble as we pull apart a few seconds later. "Ready to go party with the FAM in heaven?" He asks, smiling at us. "Well, the part of the FAM that's already there anyway" he adds.

"I can't wait to hang with them all" Ashton says, a huge smile spreading across his face.

"Let's go" I say, smiling as I link one hand with Luke's and the other with Calum's, who takes Ashton's hand in his free one.

We all turn towards the bright white light and hear the sound of both happy and sad crying, along with cheering and our names being called.

"It's the FAM" Luke says in amazement, his face lighting up with joy, as did Calum, Ashton & mine.

We slowly walk forward toward the light, and even better... towards the FAM.