Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter thirty

Calum and Ashton leave the Scorpion building a full two hours after they arrive, sending a friendly farewell to Michael and with bags of shiny new electronics in the boot.
"I'll take you to one of my favourite lunch places, it's a café in Ultimo." Calum announces as he manoeuvres through Sydney's absurdly narrow streets.

"I've been thinking about what you asked me." Ashton hums.
"Oh?" Calum perks up, even if he doesn't know what Ashton's referring to.
"You asked where I wanted to be doing school work... what kind of options are there?"
"Well, you could do it home -though I imagine you'd get lonely during the days. Or at my office, either in my office or I can get you an office of your own. Or at the big library in the city. Anywhere you'd like really, the choice is yours." Calum goes on, shrugging lightly at the end as he pulls into a car park.

"I think..." Ashton contemplates as he gets out of the car. "I like the idea of being at your work."
"Well then it's settled. We'll find you a space in the morning." Calum grins, leading Ashton into the small and busy café.
"I'm looking forward to this. Living with you, having a routine, creating a new normal." Ashton says, voice soft and fond.
"Me too Sweets." Calum replies, quickly pecking the younger on his temple before nudging his head toward the menu board. "Now pick something for lunch."

Ashton and Calum fly through lunch, their respective panini and baguette being seemingly inhaled. Calum stresses that there's still ample shopping to do.

Half an hour later Calum and Ashton are walking into Westfield, the former with a shit eating grin on his face when he think of everything they're about to buy. Ashton is a little nervous.

"How about we start with the basics? Underwear. In my experience Calvin Klein are the best, for both quality and comfort. Do you have a preference?" Calum asks, already walking in the direction of Calvin Klein.
"The fanciest clothes I own are from Target." Ashton replies, getting dizzy thinking about how much they're going to spend today.
"That's about the change." Calum smirks.

"As I'm sure you've gathered, I like to live minimally. My wardrobe is sizable but I prefer to have fewer pieces, going for quality and timelessness. Obviously your wardrobe can have whatever you'd like but do you object to following the same principals?" Calum rambles, feeling possibly too excited about this whole activity.
"That sounds good. I don't need a lot. I did bring some t-shirts and a pair of jeans with me." Ashton shrugs, feeling out of his depth in the expensive clothing shop.

"Do you want a school uniform sweetheart?" Calum asks as he lightly toys through the racks.
"A... what... why?" Ashton replies, his face displaying a look of clearly puzzled.
"Some people like uniforms, means you wouldn't have to think about what to wear in the mornings. You could get dressed in a uniform then you come with me to the office and sit in your own cute office and work hard on your studies." Calum's voice is slow, soothing and persuasive.
"I-" Ashton gulps. "I want you to make this decision. You're my dominant. I love and appreciate that we are equals but it's in my nature to be overwhelmed by too many decisions. I want you to decide." Ashton adds, quiet but clear.
"Okay." Calum says softly, leaning in for an unusually slow and deep kiss given they're in the middle of a clothes shop.

"I want to make this school thing as much like a normal school as possible, given the circumstances. I'll make set times for breaks and lunch and I want to make sure you're still doing fun things, your extracurriculars. So, uniform it is. Do you want it as relaxed as your old school or more formal? What colours?" Calum is definitely too excited about choosing and customising a school uniform for his sub.
"I just don't want it to remind me of my old school uniform." Ashton scrunches up his face.
"Sure thing, you go look at some other things and I'll sort this out." Calum says cheekily, pecking Ashton on the lips before spinning him around and sending him in the opposite direction.

They end up being in Calvin Klein for over an hour. After which time Ashton has come to own nearly an entire wardrobe, including something that's a school uniform which Calum insists is a secret until tomorrow morning.
"Can I know how much that came to?" Ashton queries as they walk to the next store, their bags waiting with the concierge.
"I'm more than happy to tell you Sweetheart but I'm worried it'll stress you out and we don't want that. I took it from the joint account so it's all on the banking app. We'll both be able to see what each other spends, it's transparency. It's equal."
"So you only use that account for spending?" Ashton says, a confused frown etched on his features.
"Unless it's a very large purchase, yes." Calum replies easily and he notices the way Ashton opens his mouth for qualification. "Very large in my world is over $50,000 or thereabouts, it's not a set number."
"Oh." Is all Ashton can manage to get out.

"We need to get you a few suits for you when we go to formal occasions. I generally have an after work meet up where partners are welcome every week or two and, when I'm hosting, partners are always welcome." Calum expresses, leading Ashton into Burberry. All of Calum's suits are Tom Ford and that's a personality trait he received from his father, but he wants Ashton in something different so they're not too matchy matchy.
"Oh. I haven't worn a suit before."
"Never?" Calum asks, trying to keep his shock and horror hidden as best he can.
"No. I've always just worn a shirt and plain black pants for formal occassions, a coat if it's cold." Ashton tries to hide how awkward and uncultured he feels.

"Hey, it's okay. Wearing a suit is all about confidence and I already know you're going to look stunning so there's nothing to worry about." Calum reassures him, ending the spiel with a kiss for his blushing submissive. In the end they settle for four suits in various colours and textures and whilst it's nothing in comparison Calum's healthy collection of nearly 15 suits, it's definitely a solid start. "You also need at least two tuxedo's, but I have a tailor who will make those specially so we'll deal with that another day. Ready to go home?" Calum finishes with a smile as they exit the store.
"Yeah. I'm all shopped out." Ashton breathes exhaustedly.
"That's what I like to hear Sweets." The older grins. "We'll go home and put all this away then have a relatively early dinner. You have school in the morning."

A/N: a pretty empty chapter but soft as always. I've got notebooks for ease (and maybe the sequel hehe) for planning and it's inspiring and helpful to be writing down all my potential ideas I love it. I'm telling you now that this series will be LONG. Oops.

Thank you all so so much for the love :)

-Grace Williams xo