Cadences [cake au] ✔

// one //

Hey guys! New cake fic :) I got a LOT of help from senserstarshine for this because I know absolute shit about music and she literally knows everything XD She also sells 5SOS earrings on Etsy, if you're interested! Go search 'beadxia' on Etsy or Twitter - get 10% off on me with the code 10PERCENT!

Chapter 1

Luke's POV

"Luke, wait up, damn you're so fast at running!"

I turned and saw my skunk-haired friend Michael approaching, all worn out and exhausted. Sighing, my eyes began absorbing the area around me – I was finally here, despite not wanting to study.

You see, all I wanted to do was be in my band, tour the world, produce music and live happily.

But my mum wasn't satisfied with my only having a high school education, so she made a deal with me – I spend three years at Macquarie University studying music, and she'd let me do whatever I wanted after that. It wasn't a bad decision, I just hated studying and being in a school environment.

It wasn't that I was picked on, or an outcast – no, it was the complete opposite. I could hardly get a moment in peace in high school, and I seriously hoped that university would be different. No teenage girls obsessing over tall guitar-playing dudes who weren't even that good looking.

Michael and I chose to attend together because we lived nearby, and once his parents heard about my parents sending me here, they decided to as well because it sounded decent. We'd share a dorm, attend classes together, and hopefully make new friends. Our bassist (and my ex-boyfriend), Jack Barakat, and drummer Rian Dawson refused to join us because they were annoying little shits who thought uni was for dorks.

"So where do we get our keys from?" Michael asked. "There's so many students milling about, I can't even see if there's a sign or something put up."

"Check that building over there, it looks new and has glass walls."

He looked at me with a smirk. "Yeah, because that's totally gonna be the right – oh."

We reached the building and turns out I was right. "Now what did I tell you?" He went in first, galloping like a kid to the desk where many students were already queuing, socialising with each other. As far as I was aware, the dormitories were separated by gender, which would probably be best since Michael could get pretty horny when he wanted to. He'd already started introducing himself to others, making himself known as the guitarist of the band, 5 Seconds of Summer, and telling everyone to check out our YouTube page. Goddammit, Michael.

Picking up our keys, we dragged our suitcases and guitars back out of the building into the sun. "You go up first," I said, passing him my suitcase but keeping hold of my acoustic. "I'm gonna go explore."

Before he could argue back, I left to look at the campus, trying to find a spot where I wouldn't be heard so I could play guitar. I hadn't played much during the summer because my family insisted on going to Florida, and I needed to build up my callouses before Michael and I started rehearsing – just because we were in university now, didn't mean we weren't still gonna play live and stuff.

Just as I found a nice little spot by a small pond far away from the main campus, I heard someone playing music.

It wasn't on a guitar though, no – they were playing the piano.

I stood up from the mossy rock and walked in the direction of the sound, reaching an insufficiently large, abandoned concert hall that had paint peeling around the large sepia tinted windows, and ivy covering the most part of the wall.

I didn't recognise the music, because I played rock not classical – but it was mesmerising. The person was playing so many notes at once that I couldn't even figure out the name of one chord before they'd moved onto the next. Setting my guitar down on the lawn outside, I entered the building, a whiff of old wood and books instantly hitting me.

Upon closer inspection I saw a tall dark-haired guy with toned muscles and a defined face structure sitting at the grand piano, his fingers moving rapidly across the keys and his right foot hitting the pedal every now and then. He was wearing a black long-sleeved top and black jeans, finished with a pair of black Converse and a grey knitted beanie, despite it kinda still being summer.

The music sounded quite dark, probably due to it being in a minor key, and certainly didn't resemble a ballad or sweet, light-hearted melody. It was heavy, very chordal and full of arpeggios.

I watched until the piece ended, the weight of the last note sending chills down my spine as it reverberated against the concert hall walls. He looked at me with a slightly worried face, standing up. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you reserve the room?" he asked. Wow. Nice voice... very nice voice.

I shook my head. "No... I'm just exploring. What are you playing?" I asked, traversing down the walkway, past the numerous chairs that had evidently been used a lot in the past.

"Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata." He sat back down on the leather piano stool, twiddling his fingers without making eye contact. "I'd, er, better go."

I didn't even get a chance to introduce myself before he was out of the concert hall, and I was about to tell him he didn't even take his piano score when I realised he didn't even have a piano score.

How on earth did he play all those notes by memory? Was he some kind of musical genius?

~

I headed back to the dorm, not forgetting my guitar, and walking in on Michael sticking up posters and pictures. "Dude, we've literally only just got here and you're already sticking them up?"

He jumped off the bed, passing me some tack. "Yep. I'll always be a teenager rocker. Now get on my bed and help me stick them up!"

See – the pictures weren't like the large posters that just needed tack on each corner. No, most were small pictures that needed to be stuck on individually, and since Michael was a bit of a perfectionist when it came to arranging pictures, we spent pretty much the whole day sticking up pictures of his favourite bands and artists.

By the time we were done, all the O-Week activities for the day were over, and it was literally dark outside. The least we could do was get some dinner, so we finished up and headed down, not forgetting our keys or wallets.

Downstairs, it was a warm temperature in the canteen. We went up to a till and got something simple, finding an empty table to sit down at. We ate, talking about clubs and finally being able to legally go to clubs, and all sorts of other random stuff I wasn't interested in. No, my thoughts kept drifting back to the guy in the abandoned music room. I didn't even get to know his name.

Just when we were about to leave, I noticed a dark figure slouching in a chair in the far corner of the canteen, with a pair of headphones over his beanie. Hey, I knew that beanie. I squinted a little harder and recognised the guy to be that guy, the piano one and immediately wanted to go over, but Michael had already pulled me out of the canteen.

***

Hey guys, thanks for reading up to here :)) I'm excited for this story and can't wait to keep updating!

This chapter was uneventful (I know), I'm just setting the scene 😁

Do we want Calum or Luke to top in this? I have a feeling most will say Luke due to the nature of this fic but I wanna know your opinion XD

Vote+comment for virtual 5sos guitars

Kimmy xx