5 Seconds Of Summer Imagines

Muke Imagine

Being in a band with your 3 best friends is the dream. Touring, making music, having fun and spending time together is the greatest hobby turned career. Ever.
We got lucky. Major lucky.
Uploading videos onto YouTube and we went from the tour. Started supporting on tours and quickly jumped to headlining our own. Dreams.
That is until that same dream gets flipped upside down into a nightmare. The kind you can't escape and never seems to end.
Some of the greatest bands endured a loss. Nirvana, Slip Knot, Beastie Boys and many more lost cherished members. Not only band members, but friends. Like us.
The day I found out Michael had left this bright and happy world, made my life bleak and pointless.
I lost my best friend - the guy that used to annoy me to the point of insanity, yet did it with love, just up and went.
I remember the call I received. The one from my mum in the early hours of the morning. The band was on a months break, all of us going off to do our own thing before getting back together to record our next album, and I jetted off to LA to do some writing on my own. How I wished I stayed on Australia so that I could have seen him for that bit longer.
My mum broke down over the phone as I sat there motionless and not knowing what to do. I couldn't breathe and when I tried, I ended up dry heaving over the toilet bowl, then the tears hit me.
I didn't leave my hotel room for nearly a week. I got a flight booked and I lay and grieve in bed. No sleep, no food, no company. I refused to live knowing Michael had gone on his own journey without myself, Ash or Cal.
"I can't believe he's actually gone."
Calum speaks first, breaking the terse silence we're all standing in. All suited and booted, black suits with a band shirt underneath that used to belong to him. On tour, we always ended up with each other's clothing, so we took the opportunity to wear it at his farewell.
"He's such a fucking idiot."
I sob, my throat dry and croaky from the floods of tears I've been in since finding out. Ash wraps an arm around my shoulder and all 3 of us gather together, leaving a spot for where Mikey should be.
"We need to remember that he's in a better place now." Ashton mumbles, tears sliding down his own face that he's trying to force a smile on to relieve us. We all nod in agreement and take our seats in the church to say a final goodbye to our best friend.

~

"Sup, LA!!"
Ashton hollers out to the cheering crowd, the sound deafening but it's beautiful to hear. People love our music and that's all we ever wanted.
"We're 5 seconds of summer," Cal starts, looking over at myself and Ashton, then continues to the crowd, "this is our first show in over a year. As most of you know, we lost a great man which caused us to take a break."
Silence. Everywhere. I've never known it before. No one in the crowd is making a sound, but you can see some people wiping tears away and holding each other in the first few rows before the dark covers the rest of the crowd.
"We didn't think we could carry on without Michael," I say, but then a lump forms in my throat and I know I can't continue further. I signal for the other two to finish for me.
I've never gotten over his death. It's too difficult for me. I'm not saying everyone else has, but I just can't deal with loss at all. I feel empty all the time and I can't talk about it.
I block out the other people in the room, not listening to the speech we prepared together this afternoon, and I look to the right side of me where he should be, but he isn't.
In his place is his black electric guitar, white 'X's' taped on the front, a microphone all set up with the stand and his infamous blue checked shirt with idiot painted on the back, hanging off a stand. A homage to a great.
I smile at the bittersweet sight, not sure if I should cry or laugh. It's like he is here, but is vacant. I can see him looking at me, wearing the clothes we brought on stage, and winking at me.
The wink says it all. "Look what we fucking did. We made it." He was always the one to think it all surreal but lap it up as well.
He waves at the crowd, takes a sip of water, and messes his already messed up dyed hair. It's like he is here. He lives. He's real.
"Luke."
Cal is stood next to me, smiling encouragingly at me, and I forgot where I was for a moment. Mikey fades from next to me and I'm left looking at an empty spot.
Ashton counts in and begins to drum, Cal and I join in and I ready myself to sing. I take a deep breath and focus. He wouldn't want me to flunk. He would want me to carry on like he never fucking existed. It's just difficult to do.
"This is for our brother, Michael Clifford," I say softly into the microphone, "we miss you, man. You're an idiot."