when it all comes down

Ashton almost couldn't believe his luck. Since his early teenage years, since he was twelve years old, he had been a fan of Green Day. A band that 5 Seconds of Summer, as individuals and a collective, admired greatly and had referenced in their music, credited to their sound. And now, here Ashton was, twenty-four, sat in the same room as his idols. Ashton was always told not to meet his heroes, but the guys of Green Day had met, and exceeded, every expectation Ashton had ever thought about them. Sipping a can of Coke, Ashton couldn't afford to drink a beer and cloud his judgement, knowing that 5 Seconds of Summer were up next, but still, he grinned with a joke Luke had cracked, his grin broadening when Billie fucking Armstrong laughed along.

Billie was surprised, to say the least, when he saw 5 Seconds of Summer was added to the tour's bill. The promoters and organisers had told him, Mike and Tre that having a fresh band, with a huge following, on the tour would turn more heads. What he wasn't expecting, however, was getting along with them brilliantly. Billie already thought the world of the young men. They were ambitious, surprisingly good at their craft, and knew how to put on a show. Glancing at his phone every so often, Billie exhaled as he saw he hadn't received a text from Avery yet. Are you alive, or do I need to send search and rescue? He text quickly, focusing back on the conversation.

Giselle flashed her backstage pass to security, looking back to Avery with a grin. The girls had been friends since they were babies, practically raised as sisters more than friends. Walking with her head held high, Giselle stopped outside the green room, looking to Avery. "Ready?" She murmured, tapping the door a few times anyway, before Avery could even offer an answer. Giselle was excited about joining Green Day on tour, because all damn year, she had worked to gain her report card of all straight A's to graduate high school with. She wanted to take a gap year before going to college, and there was no better opportunity than now. The girls were practically raised on a tour bus, and travelling was much better than staying at home.

Calum grinned, leaning back in his seat as he enjoyed his time with Green Day and his bandmates. In the past, he never would have thought he’d actually be sitting in front of a band he idolized, nor would he have thought he’d be on tour with them, but here he was, with his best friends, all four of them experiencing something he never thought was possible. His grin broadening with the thought, he let himself relax, enjoying all the interactions, but he blinked when he heard a knock, looking over, wondering if somebody had ordered food or something.

Tre listened to the guys from 5 Seconds of Summer, amused with the conversation, and their antics, certain they would continue to get on well during the tour. His thoughts wandered to his daughter as he hoped that she would settle into tour life with this band well, too, and the thought made him text her. Working on arriving fashionably late? he teased, but almost as soon as he sent the text, he heard the knock, and he smiled, hopeful, and went to answer the door.

Avery offered an amused look to Giselle as they walked. They’d worked so hard this past year and it was finally paying off. She felt a sense of pride with the knowledge and nodded slightly. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she chimed quietly, lifting her shoulders in a slight shrug, though she blinked when she got her dad’s text. Texting from beyond the grave, ooooh~ Grinning, she lifted her gaze, blinking when Giselle’s dad opened the door.

Ashton twirled his drum sticks between his thumb and pointer finger expertly, hyping himself up for their set, when he heard a knock on the door. Looking to his bandmates, Ashton cast his eyes to the door. Leaning forward, Ashton murmured into Calum's ear. "Anyone order any food?" He asked quietly, but he soon got his answer when Tre - one of the people that inspired Ashton to start drumming in the first place - opened the door to reveal two girls. "Groupies?" He asked to Calum with a small smirk, playfully shoving his shoulder. When he caught sight of the girl with raven hair and a beautiful smile, however, all traces of all joking soon disappeared from Ashton, because this girl had to be the most perfect thing in existence, and Ashton could admit to himself, silently, that she had caught his attention in a way no one had before. "Oh." Ashton swallowed. "Wow."

Billie couldn't help but grin when he read Avery's response, rolling his eyes playfully as he re-read the sentence. God, she was amazing. There was nothing Billie loved more than being a father. Blinking as he thought of a response, Billie smirked and quickly typed out his reply: Baby, I know you're pale, but you're not a ghost yet. You look like your good ol' Dad. Looking up as he heard the knock, Billie grinned with a hopeful heart, knowing by instinct it would be Avery and Giselle. Standing to his feet to follow Tre, Billie's eyes lit up as he caught sight of Avery. "Avery!" He grinned, instantly tugging his little girl into an embrace, spinning her around with wreckless abandon.

Giselle read her father's text with a small smile, shaking her head in amusement as she began to reply, her thumbs tapping rapidly against the screen. Dad, you know I gotta make an entrance, c'mon. Laughing though, Giselle looked happily to Avery, knocking again just before the door was pulled open, and Giselle couldn't help but smile with the sight of her Dad, having missed him terribly. "Dad!" Giselle chimed, hugging him tightly. "I've missed you so much!" She sighed happily, looking over his shoulder to aim her middle finger at Mike, the band's bassist. Looking past him though, Giselle saw a group of four, blinking in confusion. "Who are they?" She whispered to Tre.

Avery looked down at her phone when she got the text and she laughed but she didn’t bother to reply to the text since they were at the door already. Instead, she grinned when she saw her dad. “Daddy!” she greeted happily, laughing when he picked her up in a hug and spun her around, her arms sliding around his neck to return the hug.

Calum looked over, blinking with surprise, watching the girl with dark curls, blinking. “I don’t know, maybe,” he murmured in response to Ashton’s question, but his gaze didn’t leave the girl. But, he blinked when he heard her. Dad? Tre was her dad? “Guess they’re not groupies after all,” he muttered quietly to Ashton, processing the information.

Tre grinned, wasting no time in returning Giselle’s hug, though his grin broadened. “I missed you, too, sweetheart,” he told her, soon laughing. “Be nice, they’re touring with us.”