Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter forty eight

"Good morning, office of Calum Hood, Maggie speaking." Maggie says as she picks up the phone on her desk just after 9am on Monday morning. She's surprisingly chirpy despite the time, though customer service has always been her strong suit.
"Hi Maggie, it's Louis Tomlinson of Display Modelling."
"Lovely, do you mind if I put you on hold for a moment?"
"Not at all."
"Wonderful." With that Maggie puts the phone back down and on hold, quickly scurrying into Calum's office.

"What happened Friday night?" She quickly asks Calum, who looks up slowly in confusion.
"What?" He furrows his eyebrows.
"Louis Tomlinson is on the phone but I don't want to sound like an idiot so I put him hold for now." She clarifies as if it should be obvious.
"We didn't really engage, talk to marketing." Calum supplies.
"You know nothing?" She groans, already starting to leave again.
"Wait-" Calum halts, thinking over everything a moment.
"We don't have all day he's still on the line!" She snaps.
"Just put him through to me, there was something else but I'll explain after."
"Okay then." Maggie hums curiously as she goes back to her desk.

"Louis? It's Calum. Great to speak with you again." Calum beams as he picks up the phone.
"Hello, same to you."
"What can I do for you?" Calum lean's back in his chair and spares a glance at Maggie, who he knows is listening to his side of the conversation.
"Now I am calling about the proposition I made to Ashton over the weekend but I'm not asking for a decision. I was just wondering if either of you had any questions about it. What it would entail, how it would fit around his school work, etcetera. I don't want to pressure you, just think the decision should be as informed as possible." Louis explains.
"I appreciate that, this tells me you're a good business man. Hopefully you dazzled my marketing team on Friday night." Calum quips, drawing a laugh from the older man. "Now shall I bring Ashton into this conversation? I'm sure you can understand that this is primarily his decision. I live to support him, not dictate him."
"Of course, I wouldn't want it any other way." Calum and Maggie make eye contact through the glass and Calum nods in the direction of his sub's office, sending a confused Maggie down the hall.

Maggie - Calum: What

Calum - Maggie: Louis offered Ashton a modelling contract on Friday night

Maggie - Calum: WHAT

Calum - Maggie: Yes

The two finish their frantic texting and Calum stays talking mindlessly on the phone to Louis as he hears two sets of footsteps get louder in the hallway.
"One moment Louis," Calum interjects, momentarily pulling the phone from his ear and covering the receiver. "Hi Sweets." Calum starts, standing up to peck Ashton on the lips as his sub approaches.
"Hi." Ashton replies softly.
"Louis' on the phone. He says he doesn't need an answer but just wants you to make an informed decision, so he's here to answer any questions." Calum explains.
"Oh. Okay..." Ashton trails unsurely.
"No one wants to pressure you Sweetheart." Calum adds, lightly pulling Ashton to sit in his lap. Ashton settles comfortably in his dom's arms. "Minutes please," he mumbles as an afterthought to Maggie before picking up the phone again.

"Ashton's here Louis, I'm about to put you on speaker." Calum announces, pressing some buttons on his phone before leaning back and allowing Ashton to wriggle around until he's settled.
"Hi Ashton, how are you?" Louis chimes just as Maggie walks back in with a notepad. She prefers to take minutes by hand, says it's more efficient than typing.
"I'm good, how are you?" Ashton replies politely, unsure of what else he should say.
"I'm well, thank you."

"I'm just calling Ashton because I wanted to answer any potential questions you might have about my proposal." Louis jumps into it, making Ashton tense nervously. Calum just lightly strokes a few strands of hair out of his sub's face as an act of comfort.
"Calum and I haven't had a chance to discuss it yet." Is all Ashton thinks of.
"I understand that, it is your decision however." Louis says down the line, a firm but reassuring tone to his voice.
"I- I know that." Ashton swallows. "But I value the opinion of my dom a lot. His role is to guide me. I understand I have to make decisions for myself but is it not the point of us having soulmates to work together in life?"

All three doms in the room are left speechless. The air leaves their lungs and the room goes pin drop silent.
"Oh- I- um-" Ashton fumbles when he starts to feel awkward about what he created.
"That was beautiful Ashton." Louis is the first to reply.
"So beautiful." Calum mumbles, leaning into Ashton for a kiss.
"Yeah you really just waltzed right in and took the prize for best sub ever." Maggie laughs sarcastically.
"Oh." Ashton blushes.

"Now that the mushy stuff is out of the way-"
"It's never out of the way with these two." Maggie interrupts Louis.
"With all due respect, do either of you have any questions or should I call back at a later time." Louis finishes.
"Let's talk." Ashton says quickly, before anyone else has the chance to speak. "I just- If you don't mind, I think it'd be valuable for you to be around whilst I consider what needs to be considered."
"Of course, ask away. What's the first thing on your mind?" Louis is more than happy to oblige, certain that adding Ashton to his roster would really pay off.

"I don't know... I don't really have any idea how this would work. How many hours? How often? What would I even be doing? I'm just- I don't know." Ashton says unsurely.
"Sorry I haven't explained. We can make whatever you do work around your school work, education is important. As for the frequency, that's entirely up to you. You could do twice a week, once a month; anything in between. Whatever suits you. To get a better idea of the modelling world why don't you come to a shoot on Friday, if you're free?" Louis suggests.
"Yeah, that sounds good, I just, um," Ashton is unsure how to phrase his question so he just grips Calum tighter as a call for help.
"I'll come as well, give Ashton familiarity and it'd be useful if I understand this well." Calum pipes up, Ashton sighing in relief because that's exactly what he needed.

"Marvellous!" Louis cheers. "That sounds wonderful. Harry has a shoot in the afternoon if that works for you. He's not only my sub but very experienced as a model and would love to talk to you and welcome you."
"Perfect. What time is that?" Calum asks.
"Prep and makeup and things will start around 1, the shoot probably will go from 2 or 2:30 for about an hour."
"Fantastic. We'll see you then."
"Great, I best be going. Work never stops." Louis replies with a chuckle.
"Ditto, thank you for calling Louis. Goodbye."
"It's been a pleasure. Goodbye." The line clicks dead and Ashton sighs contently into Calum's chest.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Ashton murmurs quietly.
"You haven't agreed to do anything yet. We're just going to see how it works, understand it better." The older replies as Maggie slinks out of the room.

A/N: model Ashton tease lmao I love y'all, see you Tuesday with another update

-Grace Williams xo