holiday spirit ✓

☃️ 048!

BRYCE ARRIVES AT THE SQUARE, as requested, earlier than he thought, and so for a few minutes, he sits inside the closest Starbucks, and the nostalgia hits him almost straight away.

The letter is in his pocket, and silently, he sits down in a corner seat next to the window, before taking it out and flattening it out on the tabke to re-read it.

It's kind of amazing to think that one of them had gone to so much trouble to do all of this for him, especially considering his band has nowhere near the amount of popularity 5SOS do (he knows it isn't about that, but still).

And the letter makes him smile just in itself: the aquarium incident was unforgettable, and every single thing that has happened on this tour has blown Bryce's mind, that some of his idols are actually now some of his closest friends, and he's going to burst into tears in the middle of this disturbingly over-festive Starbucks.

With a jolt, Bryce realises what he's intently staring at: a man with dark red hair that's about the same height as Ashton and even faintly sounds like him. His heart rate quickens as slowly, Bryce stands up, eyes focused on the man.

He turns around, and no, it definitely isn't Ashton.

There's a faint sense of let-down in the atmosphere, not just from Bryce: he's pretty sure that there are a few people who somehow found out they were meeting at the square and are here, hoping to catch some footage for social media fan accounts to dissect.

He turns to look out of the window behind him, and realises it's eight. This is it, he's going to meet them. It still doesn't feel real.

A cheer goes up (confirming his suspicions of fans being there) as Bryce smiles, waves, and exits the Starbucks, before making his way towards the centre of the square, and sure enough, there he is, with his hood up, for some reason.

Bryce inhales, exhales, and taps him on the shoulder.