Spoilers from: Living the Legacy, Waiting for the Right One

But if you didn't read those, all you have to know is that Cannon is bisexual and has been in love with Hunter, his best friend, for years. And Hunter thinks he's straight but little does he know...

 I love Cannalise and Hunlet (idk hunter and violet's ship name tbh oops), but I've always loved Canter more, so I really need to write AU chapters for them (thank cake for me finally getting to them)(cake ftw)(the cake gifs i have are now canter)

And the song attached is officially Canter's song. And I had to do a live version because my babies are so good live. (omg and now that i listened to it yet again, i realized calum's solo fits hunter perfectly and luke's solo fits cannon perfectly)

AU: Canter Part I

~Cannon: Age 16~

       "I still don't know why you're making me come to this stupid HallowPalooza," I said as Dad pulled into the parking lot of the venue where this year's HallowPalooza was taking place. Normally, I loved going there but after... recent events, I would much rather stay at home.

       "What are you talking about?" Dad asked. "You love coming here everywhere. And this year, I hear they're doing an escape this year. You love puzzles, so you should enter it."

       "By myself?" I asked. "No thanks."

       Dad furrowed his eyebrows. "Uh, wouldn't you rather do it with your best friend?"

       "What best friend?" I asked.

       "Uh, Hunter?" Dad asked. "You know, the guy you've been best friends with since the day you were born? Literally. Did you two get into an argument or something?"

       "Definitely something," I muttered. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

       "Alright," Dad said. "At least I know you two will work things out. You always do."

       I doubt we would this time. Everything had changed, and I didn't know if we would ever go back to being just best friends. Or even friends.

       I was just glad Dad didn't ask about it even more because I really didn't want to talk about it to anyone. I had kept it a secret for many years, and I really thought I was going to get over it. As it turned out, I wasn't so lucky with getting over it, and the one person I didn't want to know ended up finding out.

       I was now going to avoid him the whole night, which shouldn't be too hard since HallowPalooza was always huge and there was always a lot of people.

       Well, apparently it was too hard because as soon as soon as Dad and I walked into HallowPalooza, Hunter and his dad walked over.

       What hurt the most, for whatever reason, was that Hunter was still wearing the costume we planned on wearing together; ghost hunters. It was almost like what happened never did.

       Then again, I was still wearing my ghost hunter costume.

       "Austin, my man," Dad said. "Tell me, you up to trying out the escape room here? Cannon loves puzzles, but doesn't want to try it alone and I ain't about that life."

       "Neither am I," Austin said. "You know that. I suck at puzzles."

       "I'll try it," Hunter said.

       "No, thanks," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "I'd rather do it alone."

       "Don't be ridiculous," Dad said. "You can't do it alone. That was one of the rules. You might as well do it with Hunter. In fact, I'll go sign the two of you up right now."

       "Dad!" I called after him as he started walking away, but he either didn't hear me or he was ignoring me. My money was on the latter.

       "Well, hopefully your turn to try out the escape room comes after your performance," Austin said, and it was then that I remembered Hunter and I were performing a song tonight. Together. Things couldn't get any worse.

       "Hunter can perform alone," I said. "After all, he's use to going solo."

       Austin didn't understand the true context behind the sentence because all he said was, "Yeah, it wouldn't look good on you if you back out when your record label owner is the one throwing this party and asked both you and Hunter to perform together so whatever problem you have..." He patted my back. "Get over it."

       "It's not that easy," I said as Austin walked away, leaving me alone with the one person I didn't want to talk to.

       So I started walking away to get away from him, but he quickly grabbed my arm. "Cannon, wait," he said.

       "I don't want to talk to you, Hunter," I said. "Just forget it."

       "We have to talk eventually," Hunter said. "You can't ignore me forever."

       "Watch me," I said, pulling my arm out of his grasp before walking away from him. I had to find something to occupy me and keep me away from Hunter.

       Which, again, didn't last long because my dad soon found me and told me I had to go get ready by the stage to perform. He also told me that Hunter and I should work out whatever problems we were having so it wouldn't affect the performance.

       Not happening.

      Thankfully, Hunter didn't try talking to me when we were both getting ready to perform. I just wished Dad would have let me stay home today. I didn't see the big deal about coming to HallowPalooza anyway. It was just some big, celebrity Halloween party. Nothing special.

       Shortly after Hunter and I were both ready to perform, Kevin Millington, the owner of the record label that was throwing this party, got onto the stage to get everyone's attention, thank them for coming, and tell them about some of the events at HallowPalooza that was happening; the escape room, a maze, a haunted house, and of course a buffet.

       He then introduced me and Hunter, and we got on the stage with me making sure to not make a single glance towards Hunter. And Dad was definitely wrong about one thing: The performance wasn't affected at all. In fact, the way I was feeling definitely helped me perform the song a lot better and really feel the music.

       And I probably couldn't even say the same thing about Hunter.

       Speaking of Hunter, I never seemed to get a break from him. As soon as the performance was done, it apparently was our turn to try out the escape room.

       I was starting to think Dad bribed someone to let me and Hunter go through so fast after arriving just so we could talk things out.

       "Are you just going to be ignoring me all night?" Hunter asked once we were in the escape room.

       "That's the plan, yes," I said. "So you just try to find a puzzle on your side, and I'll handle the other side. I just want to get this done fast so I can get out of here and out of HallowPalooza."

       "So you want to avoid me so bad that you're willing to miss the biggest Halloween party ever?" Hunter asked.

       "Yes," I said.

       "Cannon, come on," Hunter said.

       "No," I said. "No more words until you found a clue."

       No other words were spoken, thankfully, until Hunter found a clue. "Got one," I said.

       "What does it say?" I asked.

       "Uh..." Hunter hesitated for a bit before continuing. "Boat... No, Bot..." He sighed and handed it towards me. "Here."

       "Oh, right," I said, walking over from him and taking the paper from him. "Sorry."

       Hunter's only reply was a shrug as I looked at the piece of paper, which seemed to be just a bunch of random words. The words didn't even have any connection whatsoever, like botany and sunrise.

       Too bad this still was an easy puzzle to solve. If I could even call it a puzzle since it wasn't puzzling at all.

       "The words spell out bookshelf," I said. "So I guess the next clue is there." I headed over there, but Hunter stayed where he was. "Aren't you going to help?"

       "Not until we talk about what happened," Hunter said.

       I turned away from him and started looking on the bookshelf for the next clue. "Nothing happened."

       "Yes, something did happen, Cannon," Hunter said. "And I would like if we could at least talk about it so we can go back to being best friends."

       "You don't get it, do you?" I asked, turning to face him. "I had to convince myself for years that all we'll ever be is best friends. It wasn't easy, but I finally did it. Until you decided to kiss me, then tell me to forget about it."

       "I was just stressed and upset, and you were there for me," Hunter said.

       "So you just go around kissing people when you're stressed and upset?" I asked. "Remind me never to be near you when you're either or. Don't want to be kissed again and told to forget it."

       "I said I was sorry," Hunter said. "What else do you want me to do?"

       "You can not talk to me," I said. "That will help."

       I, once again, turned back to the bookshelf, but Hunter decided to walk over to me and continue the conversation when I clearly told him not to talk to me. "Look, you know how hard it is being the child of famous parents," he said. "Not only that, but we're choosing the same career path as him."

       "So?" I asked.

       "So I always feel like people are expecting me to be exactly like my dad," Hunter said. "To write songs he would sing, to perform how he would, to do everything like him. Do you know how I felt when the song I wrote was turned down because it 'wasn't my image'?"

       "That doesn't mean it's because they wanted the song to be like one your dad would sing," I said.

       "Yeah, it does," Hunter said. "Because the image the want from me is the exact same my dad had at my age."

       "Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

       "Because... You get it," Hunter said. "You know how it feels to be expected to be exactly like your parents. You actually understand me unlike everyone else. In fact, I think you understand me more than my parents. And... That's why I really kissed you."

       "You make no sense," I said. "You kissed me because I understand you? A lot of friends understand each other."

       Hunter sighed. "I guess there's only one thing I could do for you to finally understand where I'm getting at."

       "And what's that?" I asked.

       Hunter didn't even hesitate before he pulled me closer to him, then pressed his lips on mine.

_______________

CANTER FOR THE WIN OMG YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE THEM.

They're probably my second favourite couple, and they're technically not even a real couple. AT LEAST THEY'RE NOT TOPPING MY BABIES THAT IS JERLAN.

and now, we shall celebrate with a gif. or two:

^^that made me want to make them ghost hunters for HallowPalooza (that song is also liiiiiit)

My heartttttttt <3