The Bass Player » [cashton] √

1.8

[19th of November - Day off]

Ashton pulled the bathroom door closed quietly and raised an eyebrow at Calum who was laying on the couch scrolling through his phone. He knew exactly what the other's intentions were as Ashton moved quickly across the room, climbing on top of him and pressing a kiss just under his ear. 

"We haven't been alone in days," Ashton groaned into his throat, Calum went to speak, but Ashton interrupted him, "Luke's in a facetime meeting in one of the meeting rooms downstairs and Michael is playing Animal Crossing in he and I's room, so we have at least twenty minutes," 

Calum fought the urge to roll his eyes and instead placed a hand on Ashton's chest, pushing him up and off of him, so he was sitting on Calum's thighs instead, "We need to talk."

Ashton's brow furrowed, "Okay. What about?" he asked slowly. 

"You told Luke and Michael to pick me, didn't you? Don't even think about lying, Michael told me you, insisted," Calum said firmly, keeping his tone as even as possible. "I thought I'd earnt this," he swallowed thickly, avoiding Ashton's eyes, knowing he'd probably cry if he looked at him. "This isn't all about you, I know it must be fantastic having a good fuck around all the time, I get that. But this is my career, which is practically non-existent after this, so please for the love of God tell me this wasn't because I managed to fuck you before anyone else could," Calum finally made eye contact with Ashton. 

He could feel the tears pooling in the corners of his eyes but fought the urge to break eye contact, waiting for Ashton's explanation. He was ready to believe anything Ashton told him as long as it meant the seed of doubt this had sewn inside him would leave. 

"Cal, c'mon it's not like that, it's nothing like that, you know that. You're so talented, and you'd helped us out so much, I just thought you deserved the opportunity. They weren't against it for any other reason than that they thought it would be too hard on your band. We all know you're incredibly talented, you wouldn't be here no matter how much any one of us insisted if you weren't," he reached for Calum's hands and he let him take them, holding his fingers impossibly tight. 

The feeling was still there. Maybe he couldn't believe anything, no matter how much he might want to. But he couldn't keep going if this feeling didn't leave him, it felt like his life was stuck in limbo unless he could know for sure. "I'm going to tell Luke, he'll tell me the truth, he needs to know," Calum said his tone growing more confident. 

Ashton's eyes widened in panic, and his voice mirrored his eyes, "No! Please don't; you deserve this, he'll just be frustrated at me, it's not going to change anything. It'll just make him worry, he'll be looking over his shoulder all the time afraid we'll get caught. I promise, all I did was tell them that you at least deserved to be asked if you wanted it before they kept looking for other people, that's all." 

Calum was silent, thinking quietly and Ashton took the opportunity to drop his hands and snake an arm around his waist, his thumb stroking reassuringly up down a few inches of his spine. Calum sighed in response, letting his head fall forward onto Ashton's shoulder. 

"I know you're worried about what's going to happen when this is all over, but you got here on your own merit, you're talented, and now Luke and Michael know what's going on, we're all keeping an eye out for any opportunities for you okay?" Ashton told him quietly, his other hand squeezing the side of Calum's thigh before beginning to rub circles there as well. 

He sighed, "There's just too much I don't know, I- I've never not known what was coming next, you know? I might never get another chance to be a professional bass player," 

"I can't promise anything, but we're trying, and you have more experience than most people going into this, we might be able to get you a good touring job, who knows?"

"I'm just so tired Ash," 

"I know," Ashton sighed, and he was silent for a few moments, seemingly considering if he should ask the question he'd come for, "I was actually coming in here to ask you if you had big plans for the break,  It's only a week, so I thought maybe you'd wanna come and stay with me in LA?" 

A tension built quickly in his chest; he hadn't even thought where he was going to go during the break. Originally he and the others were supposed to be finishing up and moving into a small place together while they recorded the album. They hadn't said it, but he assumed he was no longer welcome there. Fuck how had he not even thought about that? He held back a sigh as he realised he wasn't focusing on the right things. 

"You're really the horniest person I know," Calum said laughing instead, he didn't know if this was what he wanted, what would it be like when they were alone? With a whole week of conversation to fill out? Would it be awkward? Or would they fuck every time silence started to seep into the room? 

Ashton chuckled as well, not seeming to sense Calum's hidden hesitance, he took the hand from Calum's back and used it to push him back down onto the couch, "I'm going to take that as a yes, seeing as you're the horniest person I know," 

He didn't have time to think about if he should stop Ashton and continue their conversation because there was a knock at the door, "Cal, you in there? I haven't got the key, can you let me in?" Luke called into the room.

Calum's eyes widened, and he pushed Ashton off him incredibly fast and went to answer before he looked at Ashton who shrugged in response and Calum's mind started reeling, would Luke know? Surely not they were just- they could just be hanging out, right? 

The longer he took to answer, the more suspicious it would seem, "Cal? Calum!" Luke called again, and Ashton gave Calum an incredulous look. 

Calum started shooing him toward the bathroom, "Huh? Oh um one second, I just woke up," Ashton hid in the bathroom as quietly as he could, and Calum opened the door only a second after. "Sorry man, I was so confused about where I was for a second there," he rubbed at his eyes gently trying to feign tiredness, "I thought you had a meeting this afternoon," 

"Sorry I disturbed you, I forgot my iPad, I need it to look at some paperwork they sent me. I'm sorry I didn't wanna take the key in case you wanted to go and see something or do something," Luke explained searching through the pile of crap on the table for his iPad. 

"Oh that's all good, I'm just kind of a bit exhausted by everything lately, just wanna relax," Calum told him with a shrug. His eyes, however, were trained on Luke watching him, part of him terrified a pair of lace panties labelled 'Property of Ashton Irwin' were going to be hiding amongst the other things on the table. 

Luke turned, the iPad now in his hand, "I promise once, all this paperwork and shit is done, you and I'll sit down, and we'll figure out what we're going to do with you, okay?" He seemed to realise he was running out of time, "I gotta go, I will be back though," he gave him a smile and a small pat on his bicep before he quickly left the room. 

A moment after the door clicked shut, Ashton appeared from the bathroom, "what were you going to do if he planned on staying?" Calum shrugged in response; he really had no idea, he was paralysed with fear even though only a few minutes earlier he'd said he wanted to tell Luke the truth. He realised that he had no idea how that would all play out and he was honestly terrified he'd be worse off than he was now, which he had thought was impossible. 

Ashton shrugged, "It doesn't matter; when you stay with me, we'll finally get to be alone," he said wrapping his arms around Calum's waist. 

Dedicated to laxxton

The European tour is coming to an end comrades