Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter seventy nine

"Good morning world traveller!" Maggie cheers as Calum steps out of the lift at 8:30am on Wednesday morning.
"I go to Tokyo at least five times a year." Calum snorts as he walks into his office.
"As charming as ever," she rolls her eyes. "You also went to New York this trip though, and you took your better half. Speaking of, where is he?"
"He's never flown long haul before, hasn't gotten the whole 'sleeping on a plane' thing under control." Calum sighs, taking a seat in his desk chair and feeling wonderfully at home and comfortable.
"You we're in first class. You've literally got beds-" she blanches.
"But it's not completely dark or quiet and I think he was having fun just endlessly going through the stuff on the tv."
"That's sorta cute." She comments.
"It is." Calum smiles fondly. "So yeah, he's gone home to rest. Told him he should try not to sleep too much but we'll see how that goes."

"Now, in your absence, the company has gone into liquidation." Maggie says casually.
"Really? Not what I heard yesterday in Tokyo." Calum shrugs.
"I'm kidding of course, I just transferred it into my name so I now own the whole business." She grins.
"Marvellous. I think retirement will suit me well." Calum muses.
"You work for me, not no one." Maggie rolls her eyes as she walks out, leaving Calum to start getting through the emails and documents that have accumulated in his absence.

"Calummm," Maggie drawls, a bit of a whine in her tone.
"Whattttt?" He mimics her just as obnoxiously.
"Michael wants to come see your new house." She announces. "In fact, so do I. I can't believe Carla and I haven't seen it yet. You're fired."
"Organise a time for all of you to come over this weekend, assuming Luke and Carla are okay with that. I think Ashton's family are coming over Friday night." Calum replies, barely looking up from his computer.
"Will do, former employee."
"What did I miss when I left? What happened?" Calum throws his hands up in defeat.
"A week of banter, I'm trying to make up for lost time." Maggie says defensively.

Ashton - Calum: I slept for a few hours, still tired though

Calum - Ashton: If you sleep too much then you won't tonight

Ashton - Calum: I know :/ not sure what I should do for the rest of the day

Calum - Ashton: You can come in and study, but I don't expect you to. You could spend some time in the city, exploring or shopping. Whatever you want ❤️

Ashton - Calum: Maybe I'll go shopping hehe ❤️

Calum - Ashton: Okay Sweets, if you're in the city when I'm finishing work then text me and I'll meet you

Ashton - Calum: Okay xoxo

Calum - Ashton: Xoxo

Calum puts his phone down to get away from the distraction and that lasts less than three minutes, by which time Michael is now texting him.

Michael - Calum: Lunch?

Calum - Michael: 12?

Michael - Calum: Done

Calum is glad Michael agreed to an earlier than usual lunch with no fuss, it allows him to leave Maggie and his work behind at 11:45. Even if Michael agreed to this earlier lunch, the longer past 12 that Calum sits in their usual restaurant alone the more apparent it becomes that Michael was not counting on an early lunch. Still, Michael arrives at 12:07pm. Late, by their standards, but acceptable. It wasn't that Michael and Calum were always such sticklers for punctuality it's just that when you're running a big company, you have to learn to be on time.

"Hi, sorry I'm late." Michael rushes in one breath.
"Hey no worries, I knew it was earlier than usual." Calum brushes off.
"Wasn't surprised, you must be exhausted after just landing this morning."
"Yeah, can't wait to go home and sleep tonight. Ashton took the day." Calum says as they glance over their menus.
"Smart," Michael chuckles, "he liked Tokyo?"
"A lot, but I think the thing he liked most was me speaking Japanese." Calum shakes his head fondly.
"Can't blame him, it's sexy as fuck." Michael states as if it's obvious.
"You also speak Japanese." Calum counters.
"And? What's your point?" Michael counters.

As they're ordering their lunch Calum swears he sees Ashton just outside the window of the restaurant.
"Can you please give us a moment?" Calum asks the waitress as he rushes to pull out his phone. The waitress nods and leaves but Michael just stares at his best friend skeptically. Calum sees Ashton, now turned away, pull out his phone and so the older's suspicions are confirmed before Ashton even starts talking.

"Hello?" Ashton asks confusedly, feeling like this phone call is very out of the blue.
"Hey, are you in the city?" Calum asks coyly.
"Yeah, is that-" Ashton starts nervously.
"That's perfectly alright darling, I was wondering if you wanted to join me for lunch?" Calum offers and Michael's look of confusion just turns more confused. He had not a clue why Calum was all of a sudden inviting his submissive to lunch. Michael follows Calum's line of sight, fixated on something over his shoulder, and turns his head to see Ashton as well. Just outside the window.
"Um- I guess?"
"Turn around sweetheart." Calum smirks.
"What?" Ashton furrows his brows and turns, looking around and then eventually seeing Calum staring back at him from inside the bustling gourmet restaurant. "Oh."
"I'll see you soon." Calum hangs up after that, watching as Ashton blushes and walks to the front door.

"I hope you don't mind," Calum says to Michael as he stands up.
"It's fine. If he was already here, may as well join in." Michael dismisses it. Calum sends a grateful smile as he goes toward the maitre'd to request another place setting for their table.  

"Hi sir." Ashton smiles, accepting a soft kiss from his dom when he walks in.
"Hi sweets, you look lovely." Calum grins, having sensed that Ashton worries about his attire in a place like this. Ashton's jeans and button up shirt were on the casual side of things but perfectly acceptable for the lunch rush.

A/N: I'm laughing devilishly from the side, love ya

-Grace Williams xo