The Bass Player » [cashton] √

2.6

[5th December - Vienna]

"Okay so, you take this end and fold it in here, like a forty-five-degree angle, yeah like that and then boom done!" Michael cheered happily as he watched Calum and Luke fold the last tab over. 

The pair held up their butterflies of questionable structural integrity, each looking at the other's and smiling triumphantly at their mutual lack of skill. 

"I didn't even know you were into origami Mike, when did you start?" Luke asked, putting his butterfly down on the table and pushing it toward Calum. Calum gave it an incredulous look before pushing it back. 

"Crystal and I were looking for things to do with our hands while we were watching Netflix and we had all these leftover paper samples from choosing our wedding invites, to be fair it was card and really hard to use, but it's what gave us the idea," Michael told them with a shrug, his eyes focused on his own butterfly he was turning over in his hands. 

Calum had to hold back a smirk, "it's funny that you just got into origami because Ashton did as well while he was home, you should ask him about it," he pulled his phone out to avoid eye contact- if he looked at Michael he was going to lose it. 

"That is a weird coincidence," Luke said, his tone amused as he stood taking his butterfly with him, "I'm going to give Sierra a call, I'll be back before soundcheck,"

Michael and Calum both hummed their understanding, but neither really looked up from their phones as he left. 

Ashton Irwin

You're not in your room, where are you?

New Message 

I went with Michael and Luke; we're at the venue.

Ashton Irwin

Okay, I'm coming over now.

Ashton Irwin

Find us somewhere

Calum stood without thinking, and Michael's eyes followed him, surprised by his sudden movement. 

"I- I've gotta call my mum," he explained as he pushed his chair back. 

Michael's brow furrowed, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I just realised I haven't called her in a few weeks, she'll be getting worried," he smiled, and his cheeks flushed, feeling ridiculous. 

Trust Ashton to make him lose his senses. 

"Oh, thank god I thought something bad had happened," Michael sighed, before going back to his phone's screen. 

Calum wasn't sure if Michael and Luke were willfully ignorant or if they really were so preoccupied with other thoughts that they didn't notice how often Calum seemed to disappear to nowhere. 

It didn't matter; he took the opportunity to deposit his phone into his back pocket, sliding his poorly crafted butterfly into the other. Now came the question of where could he find a private space for them. He tried to meander as casually as he could through the halls, looking for an empty room that he could be assured would stay that way. A few doors refused to open; others hid piles of chairs or crates full of cables and one opened out into an alleyway. Eventually, though Calum settled on a room almost directly behind the main stage, being that it was one of the few doors he'd found you could lock from the inside. He wasn't sure why it did, but he guessed it must have been a dressing room at one point or another. After that, he got comfortable leaning against some shelving and shooting off a text to Ashton with directions to the small room.