choices ✨ || 5sos • lrh [COMPLETED]

happy endings

»»» song: the rembrandts - i'll be there for you (friends theme song)

So for all of you who expect some usual, cliché-like, all happy-sappy epilogue as it's common for other fanfics, I must disappoint you. This epilogue follows the style of the rest of this story. Quite long with (maybe not so) surprising developments, but most important:
it's going to be a mix of cute, funny and 'what the fuck'-moments.
I tried my best to turn that into an epilogue people would actually remember, an epilogue worthy to end our journey. Because, I don't know how you feel about it, but for me it seems like many epilogues kind of ruin the whole story. Actual amazing stories, with great plot, characters and style end with a half-hearted, over-cheesy ending à la Nicholas Sparks -novel.
"Ten years later they're married with kids and everything is great!"

Or even worse, when authors try to forcedfully make the ending 'realistic' -adding something certainly over-dramatic and not realistic at all to it, ruining the whole plot.
-I certainly didn't want that for my story. No, I invasted too much time and effort in the attempt of making it something unique. I couldn't end it like every other story.
And I know what irony it is to name it 'happy endings' -but that's a reference to the same-titled show. What epilogue would it be without my usual tv show reference?
Anyway, I hope I managed to reach that goal of mine and it turned out being something different as the ordinary ones. And of course, I hope you'll enjoy it and you'll find it a worthy ending for our story.

»»»


20th February (day of touring 23)

Osaka


"Can't you just buy her a Pikachu?" Calum mumbled, as they left another merch store. One of way-too-many that day.
Luke sighed, as he swiped away on his phone display. Looking up where the next store with Pokémon merchandise was. "She already got one."
"Then buy her another one. Didn't she mention she found jigglypuff cute?" He was regerring to that one time Tally found that embarrassing old video of Ashton. Well, at least it was embarrassing to Ashton, for the rest it was hilarious.
"But I don't want to buy her some random one," Luke protested, having finally found another store. Luckily, not that far away. "It has to be this one."
"Which one is it even? Like I don't even know what to search for," Calum groaned, grabbing a Pusheen from in between a pile of plushies outside the store. "What about this fat cat? She loves that fat cat!" Now he was referring to all the times she used its stickers .
However, her boyfriend shook his head again, starting walking away. "She got this one, too."
The brown boy let out a frustrated and also exhausted groan, letting the soft stuffed cat fall back to the others.
He was totally regretting having agreed to hang with Luke by now. He'd have preferred joining Michael, Tally and Ashton at the cat cafe. Though he didn't even understand why Ashton -with his major cat allergy- was going with them in the first place.


Walking a bit faster, he finally reached him and the two tall guys continued walking down the busy street. Generally, most streets in Japan seemed to always be packed up with people. Sure, Osaka wasn't as bad as Tokyo -that city indeed never slept- but it was almost equally as bad. Fair enough, they were currently strolling through one of the busiest parts of the city, at a busy time. Skyscrapers piling up on both sides.
Someone would occasionally pump into them, which was weird considering people should be able seeing them since their hight clearly stood out of the mass.
"It's one that looks like a flower, kinda?"
Luke's response sounded more like a question, he was unsure how to describe it.
"A.. flower?"
"Y-yeah.. no, wait. Like two flowers."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Calum was beyond confused now. "What kind of Pokémon is that supposed to be?"
The blond slack his broad shoulder, digging his cold hands deeper into his coat's pockets. "It's green and has two flowers on its head."
His friend shot him a glare, still being puzzled. "I don't remember any Pokémon looking like this." "Well, me neither. But it's what we're looking for."
"Do you at least know what it's called?"
Glancing over his shoulder, Luke saw him sliding out his phone, waiting for the blond to answer. "Smth like 'blossom' I think. I'm not sure."
Calum muttered something incomprehensible for Luke, typing away on the sceen. He didn't notice two women walking in front of him, almost bumping them.
"Maybe 'Bellossom' ?" he said then, looking through Google's suggestions for 'blossom pokemon'. -That was easy.
Nodding, Luke spotted a huge store with cuddly toys on the other side of the street. That must've been it. They stopped at the traffic lights with a bunch of other Japaneses, feeling them staring them down. They tried pushing the awkwardness away, Calum looking on the ground while Luke glanced up at the sky. Grey clouds hanging heavily above them. It looked like it was about to rain soon.

Soon the lights turned green for pedestrians, allowing them to quickly cross the street.
Reaching the store, Luke instantly stormed inside. Calum following him with a sigh, him still not getting the importance of this. Her birthday was in over a month after all, couldn't he just order it online?
"Did you look for it on Amazon or Ebay?"
Jumping up a little by Calum's hand touching his shoulder from behind, he nodded his head.
"Y-yeah, but they only have small ones. I want a bigger one."
Looking around the store, he noticed many kids and teenagers strolling through the isles. Shelves filled up with over-colourful toys, many anime-related items and of course, plushies.
Luke walked further down, forcing Calum to move his legs as well. Stopping in front of a big shelf with Pokémon plushies.
He searched it up and down, even looking behind the other plushies, but there was no sign for a Bellossom. Except a small figurine.
He grabbed it, holding it in front of Calum's widening eyes. "See, that's the one. We just need it as a plushy."
Calum frowned, his brows knitting together as he grabbed it out of his hand. Examining it carefully. It was one of the cute Pokemons. The girly ones. "Why though?"
"Why what?" Luke asked, tiptoeing in hope of maybe having overlooked it somewhere on the top of the shelf.
"Why do you have to get her this specific one? I don't recall her being a big Pokémon fan anyway." Calum's loud wondering made him flinch a little bit. Lowering his feet again, the blue of his eyes wandered to the ground. Him ponderingly chewing on his lip.
"I don't know if I can tell."
That only confused the Kiwi boy more. Noticing his questioning glare, Luke sighed, leaning at the shelf.
"You know, back then on tour Tally once mentioned her dad having thrown away her Pokémon. Though, I don't know why anyone would do that." His voice getting quiet at the end. The simple thought of it making him sick. It was such a dick move. Not only because she was his girlfriend.
"Well," Calum shrugged, beginning to understand his seemingly obsession with finding this toy, "We knew her dad's an ass." Luke nodded. "And why a big one?"
"She mentioned it again when we were talking about childhood toys. And she remembered it being almost as tall as herself -back then, as a four-year-old." He paused, shrugging his shoulders. "She seemed to have really loved it, so I wanted to get it for her."

They didn't exchange a word for a moment, before Calum eventually uttered a deep breath. He got it somehow. And after all, she was his best friend, too.
"Alright, soundcheck is in three hours. Let's find her this damn Pokémon."