Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter sixty five

Today was Wednesday. Yesterday all the flights and accommodation for Calum and Ashton's New York/Tokyo trip had been booked and Ashton was even more excited at the thought of seeing Tokyo as well. They also arranged for Ashton to get lessons in runway from Harry every weekday, 5-6pm so Calum could be there for moral support without it interrupting his work day.

"Calum!" Maggie calls out from her desk when Calum's mobile starts to ring from beside her.
"What?" He echoes back.
"Any idea why a blocked number is calling your mobile?"
"No..." Calum replies confusedly but Maggie just shrugs and answers the call anyway.

"Hello?"
"Hello, I'm looking for Calum Hood." A woman, who sounds not much older than Maggie, says down the line.
"May I ask who is calling?" Maggie enquires further, not yet willing to give whoever this is confirmation that they have Calum's number.
"I'm Belinda, I work for Folket Property Consultants."
"Oh, wonderful. I'm Maggie, his assistant. Apologies for my previous secrecy." Maggie sighs in relief.
"No worries at all, is Mr Hood available?"
"Bear with me one moment," Maggie puts Belinda on hold and scurries into Calum's office.

"It's Belinda, the property consultant." She informs him hurriedly.
"If she thinks she has a place that will fit all the requirements we went through the other day then just book an inspection whenever I'm free." He hums back.
"Noted, I'll see what I can do." She nods on her way out.

"He's not free to chat right now," Maggie starts after taking the phone off hold, "but he's given his blessing for me to book an inspection if you think you have a property that will be a good fit."
"Marvellous. A home came in this morning that I think will be perfect. When is he free to inspect?" Belinda replies.
"If we can fit something in around one o'clock, anyday, that would be good."
"We can do today but not until 2:30, or 1 on Thursday or Friday."
"2:30 today will work fine, he and Ashton will see you then." Maggie confirms.
"Great, I'll text the address through now."
"Fantastic, thank you."

The call ends and Maggie sighs. Maybe her telling Ashton that Calum would object to moving on grounds of it being 'extra stress' was a way to cover up the fact she knew it would just be extra stress for her. She loves her job and loves Calum, just wished he was a little less absent from work lately.

"Inspection is 2:30 today, she's texted you the address." Maggie calls out lazily.
"Great. Hopefully this is a one and done situation." Calum sighs, taking the opportunity to stretch his legs and go tell Ashton about the inspection. Ashton's giddy and excited by the news, even if he knows nothing about the house, he's just looking forward to finding a place he can settle into a little more easily.

Both Calum and Ashton take a much shorter than usual lunch break, aware of the work time they'll miss later. Ashton misses more work because he's so distracted with excitement for the inspection and, even though they agreed to leave at 2, he's in the foyer ready to go at 1:50. Maggie just smiles coyly but doesn't say anything.

Calum walks over to Ashton a few minutes before 2 and wraps his arms around behind. Despite his calm "let's go darling", Ashton still jumps nearly a foot in the air in shock.
"Yeah." Ashton breathes out, heart beating fast and cheeks red.
"We'll try and be back by 3:30 at the latest," Calum says dismissively to Maggie as they step into the lift. "Sorry for scaring you sweets, I noticed you were waiting by the lift for a while."
"I'm just excited." Ashton mumbles shyly.

"You really hate our house that much?" Calum teases.
"It just doesn't feel like a home. It doesn't feel right to live in something like that." Ashton scrunches up his face.
"I suppose it's bad that I don't feel the same way. It'll be a good thing for you to humble me, I'm sure." Calum smiles softly.

The drive is a little further from the city than their current house but only by about 5 minutes, it's one suburb over from where they currently live. Knowing nothing about the place, they lap it all up when they arrive in front of a large and uber modern house in a quiet street. Seems a little too much for Ashton already but he wants to give it a chance.

"Hello, lovely to see you again." Belinda beams from next to the front fence when Calum and Ashton get out of the car.
"As with you." Calum says curtly, shaking her hand before Ashton does as well.
"Come on inside, there's quite a lot I think you'll love about the place. It's a very secure property, lots of privacy. We'll start at the basement and work up." She starts to explain, approaching the garage door and opening it with the remote. Calum is instantly in love with it and Ashton can't stop a fond giggle from slipping through his lips.

"As you can see," Belinda chuckles, "there's a turntable and room for an additional four cars."
"Six." Calum is quick to correct.
"Well it's being marketed as having four spaces."
"Obviously I love it, it's perfect. Already spades ahead of our current place." Calum gushes uncontrollably.
"I thought you would like it. It's one of the things that stood out to me as perfect for you. The only other thing on this level is a store room. There's a circular staircase and lift in the home." Belinda goes on, closing the garage door and leading them up the stairs.

"This is the ground floor. There's four bedrooms, one with a small en-suite and the master has a large en-suite and dressing room. There's also a study and small patio, with outdoor stairs to the pool." She goes through all the features, finishing in the master suite.
"I love how big this robe is, we'll be able to fit all our clothes in the one room." Calum comments.
"All your suits and tuxes," Ashton chuckles.

They continue the tour, seeing the open kitchen/living/dining and media room on the top floor. There's an alfresco off the open space on the second level and a deck by the pool, as well as a grass area on the opposite side of the house to the pool.
"It's smaller than our current place but I think that's good. The layout will work better for us. What do you think Ash?" Calum says as they're nearing the end of the inspection.
"I really like it. It's got the garage you want and it's smaller and more homely, like I want. It seems the only thing we'd lose is the harbour access but we can live without that." Ashton adds.
"Only because I haven't got around to buying a yacht yet." Calum jokes, making Ashton roll his eyes.

"If you'd like to make an offer, or us on your behalf, the agent is currently running an expression of interest campaign." Belinda says as they start making their way back to the front.
"I think my interest lies at around $8million, but I haven't done much research lately." Calum replies casually, nearly making Ashton choke at the concept of such a large number.
"I'd say that's a reasonable number, let me know anytime you're ready to make an offer."
"Of course we'll have to go away and discuss it but thank you for again for showing us through, and so promptly. Do let us know if anything else pops up, though this seems hard to beat. We'll be in touch shortly." Calum finishes off formally, each of them offering final waves and goodbyes as they get in their cars.

"It was perfect." Ashton sighs happily.
"Yeah? Tell me what you loved about it." Calum prompts, wanting to hear Ashton ramble on and on about everything he loved.
"Our bedroom is big while still being cosy, not to mention the huge wardrobe and en-suite. The bedroom with an en-suite can be the guest room, two bedrooms for whenever we have kids. A study for you. Not too many living areas. That perfect garage." Ashton says excitedly.
"Well maybe we'll have to make an offer then." Calum grins.

A/N: a house! This is a bit of a filler but it's soft so here we are. Love y'all. Do you want a character ask soon???

-Grace Williams xo