Work Text:
Calum had kind of always wanted his own little slice of perfect.
He looked at his parents, and at Mali-Koa and her boyfriend, and he longed for it. He wanted someone to come home to at the end of the day, to spend time with, to walk puppies with – and he wasn’t thinking of Ashton, he wasn’t – and it kind of made Calum pout whenever he thought about it.
His dark eyes were bright with excitement as he wiped the counter down with a wet cloth now though. The rain was pounding on the glass front of the coffee shop outside and Calum’s hair was almost obnoxiously fluffy after he’d been caught in the downpour without an umbrella earlier but he couldn’t quite find it in himself to care.
“Well you’re sickeningly chirpy today,” Michael said from across the counter, sitting on one of the high stools as he sipped a cooling caramel latte. Calum looked up at one of his two best friends, his chocolate-brown eyes crinkling up as he smiled.
“Of course I’m excited!” Calum retorted, glancing at the clock as it ticked slowly towards eight o’clock. Normally he only worked until three on weekdays but he’d taken an extra shift so he could earn some spare cash to buy his new puppy some treats with. “Jess is finally coming to live with me today!”
Calum got so excited he slipped over in a wet patch behind the counter and momentarily disappeared from view, and the derisive snort Michael gave quickly turned into choking when he inhaled his latte. Calum reappeared after a moment, doing his best to look haughty when, in reality, he just looked like a kid on Christmas Eve.
“Are you sure this doesn’t have anything to do with that Ashton guy?” Michael asked pointedly when he could finally breathe again, his cheeks more red than they’d been after that horrendously embarrassing experience with Federer at the grooming parlour all those weeks ago. “Y’know,” Michael continued hurriedly, like he could tell what the younger boy was thinking. “The one you get all dreamy about?”
Calum threw the wet cloth at Michael and did his best to stifle his laughter at the red-haired man’s indignant squawk as it caught him straight in the face.
“You should be nice to me,” Michael grumbled as he dropped the cloth back onto the counter, his expression distasteful. “I’m sat here keeping you company. I could be at Luke’s watching one of his new films right now and petting Molly. But I’m here, having cloths thrown at me."
“Petting Molly, huh?” Calum said with a slightly knowing grin because, really, Michael and Luke would be cute, and Calum was pretty sure he could see it happening any day now. “Right.”
“Shut up,” Michael snapped immediately, looking a bit panic-stricken. Calum’s smile overtook his face but he could feel how soft it was, how it probably made him look almost embarrassingly fond.
“I didn’t even say anything!” Calum protested anyway, because it was expected of him.
“I don’t care. You didn’t have to,” Michael mumbled but his cheeks were almost as red as his hair. “Just shut up. Actually, talk to yourself if you want. I’ve got to go now. Bye, Cal. We never speak of this again.”
Calum wondered if that was Michael’s weird way of confirming the barista’s suspicions. Calum guessed he’d never know.
With a slight shrug, Calum turned away from the counter and headed towards the back to double-check that all of the fridges were shut.
“Calum, wasn’t there a slippery bit on the floor?” Michael asked suddenly but the words were barely out of his mouth when Calum’s foot slipped out from under him and he fell over again.
Michael laughed for a long time.
*
When Calum finally got home – and it was a bit weird but his hair smelt a bit like the soap they used to clean the floors now which was, you know, kind of gross – the rain was pouring more heavily by now and he was really cursing the fact that he’d forgotten to bring an umbrella.
Calum’s step faltered when he saw someone waiting outside the front door of his tiny, one-bedroom house holding a box and – and they had a dog with them.
“Ashton! Hey!” Calum called as he jogged over, slipping in a puddle and hoping desperately that the older man hadn’t seen. It was to no avail though because Ashton’s hazel eyes were warm with laughter when Calum finally made it over and he gave the younger boy’s shoulder a squeeze.
“Sorry, we’re a bit early,” he grinned and, although Calum was fairly certain Ashton had continued talking, the rest of his words were lost because Calum had bent down to pet a very excitable Jess then and she had started yapping loudly as she leapt up to see Calum and, sure, maybe that caused the younger man to fall over backwards into a particularly dirty puddle but, at this point, he figured he may as well get used to it.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry!” Ashton gasped, chagrined, but Calum was already scrambling to his feet and waving his hand like it didn’t even matter while Ashton readjusted the box he was carrying so that he didn’t send it toppling into the rain too. Calum guessed there were supplies for Jess in the box but he’d have to ask later.
“That’s not the first time I’ve fallen over today and, knowing my luck, it probably won’t be the last,” he said and Ashton looked faintly concerned. Calum giggled – he actually giggled – before digging around in his pocket for his (now slightly damp) door keys.
“It’s all good, Ashton,” he promised, opening the creaking garden gate and walking the few short metres to the front door. There was a low porch with a faintly-glowing light hanging from it, and they were more sheltered from the wind as well as the rain because of the high hedges that grew on either side of the path.
“How old is this place?” Ashton asked curiously as Calum wrestled with the key in the lock, jamming his shoulder against the door twice before it finally opened. Calum wondered if it needed more oil on the hinges again. He hoped it was that. Otherwise he’d have to call the landlord again.
“Maybe forty years old?” Calum suggested with a slight frown, shutting the door firmly before taking his shoes off and leaving them on the rack nearby. Ashton set the box he’d been carrying on the floor. “Fifty years maybe?” Calum continued. “I’m gonna hazard a guess and say forty five.”
“Accurate,” Ashton grinned. His shoes squeaked on the tiled floor as he copied the younger man, and that was the only sound beside the jingle of Jess’ collar and her raspy breathing as she sniffed around in the tiny hallway, exploring.
Calum reached out to flick a switch and a bulb flickered to life above their head, its soft light illuminating the tiny room and allowing Calum to see Ashton and Jess properly for the first time in just over a week.
The husky’s clear blue eyes were bright and still just as excited as they had been the last time Calum had seen her, and her grey and white fur was damp with rainwater. Calum was worried for a moment before he saw that her tail was still wagging a mile a minute so it couldn’t have been bothering her that much.
When Calum looked up at Ashton, he found himself at a loss for words.
The older man was still unsettlingly beautiful which were the exact words Calum had thought during their almost-date on the day they’d first met. His damp, honey-coloured curls were sticking to his forehead and he was biting his full bottom lip nervously as he shrugged awkwardly out of his soaking wet coat. His glasses were sliding down his nose.
Calum took the coat from him with a smile, spreading it out on one of the ancient old radiators before he led the way into the cramped living room to fiddle with the thermostat in the hope that maybe there’d actually be some heat in the ancient little house.
“I like this room,” Ashton blurted out as he stopped in the doorway, his expression impressed. Calum suppressed his smile as he knelt down to unclasp Jess’ lead. The puppy immediately began sniffing around, her little paws sinking into the soft grey carpet as both her old and new owner admired the shelves containing records, books, films, and little ornaments.
“Thank you,” Calum said, brushing his wet hair out of his eyes before he shivered in his damp clothes. He kind of wanted to shower and get changed but he felt a bit like it wouldn’t be fair on Ashton who would no doubt be leaving fairly soon in his own damp garments. “You want a coffee?” Calum asked when he saw Ashton rubbing his hands together in an attempt to warm them.
“Please,” was all Ashton said but his eyes had gone all twinkly again and Calum could feel himself melting – unless it was just the rain running down his face…
“C’mon then,” Calum said, grabbing one of Ashton’s much larger-hands before he’d even stopped to consider it (and maybe he wanted to do some sort of weird victory dance when Ashton simply gave his hand a squeeze and kept holding it) and leading the way down the narrow hall as Jess padded along behind them.
Calum’s iPod was still in its docking station when he entered the kitchen and it was almost second-nature to turn the music on before he pushed Ashton gently onto a kitchen bench, briefly entertained thoughts of kissing him passionately, and then loped off to look for mugs while Jess darted over to the back door and pressed her nose against the pane of glass at the bottom.
The wind was howling outside and it was audible through the rattling door but Calum only turned the music up a little louder. All Time Low’s ‘Therapy’ started to play as Calum spooned coffee granules into his matching Snoopy mugs – only the very best for Ashton, although it still pained him that he didn’t have any of the fancy coffee beans they had at work – and Ashton looked pleasantly surprised as he identified the music.
‘My ship went down in a sea of sound. When I woke up alone, I had everything. A handful of moments, I wished I could change, and a tongue like a nightmare that cut like a blade.’
“You like All Time Low?” he asked, giving Calum an appraising look before he promptly flushed. “I mean, obviously you do or you wouldn’t be listening to them. Duh.”
“Stop worrying, Ash,” Calum said before he raised his eyebrows at his own daring. “Sorry. I don’t know why I called you that.”
'In a city of fools, I was careful and cool, but they tore me apart like a hurricane. A handful of moments, I wished I could change, but I was carried away.’
“Stop worrying,” Ashton repeated but his eyes were bright in the weakly-lit kitchen and his hair was starting to dry as it curled gently around his face like a halo. “All of my friends call me that. Why shouldn’t you?” Calum had barely had time to literally beam at that when Ashton continued. “But you can only call me Ash if I get to call you Cal.”
‘Give me therapy. I’m a walking travesty, but I’m smiling at everything.’
“I think that’s fair,” Calum said but there was a bright smile threatening and it made his voice shake. Ashton giggled then and Calum had to turn away to fill the kettle up because the smile stretching his lips made his whole face ache.
‘Therapy, you were never a friend to me, and you can keep all your misery.’
Jess let out a particularly loud yelp when the wind battered against the door again and Ashton jumped up, mumbling something about the box he’d brought with him before he disappeared off down the hallway.
Jess looked lost when he was gone and Calum found himself kneeling down and calling her over as he waited for the kettle to boil. She ran to him happily enough, licking his palm and scrambling all over him, but she ran to Ashton when he reappeared with the slightly damp box in his arms, and Calum couldn’t blame her.
He really hoped she’d be alright when Ashton left.
“I’ve got her bed and her blanket and most of her stuff in here, but I’ll need to drop the rest off at some point later,” the older man said as he set the box on the bench, and Calum made a noise of assent to show he was listening as he turned to the kettle when the switch flicked off as the water inside boiled. He’d already transferred the money over to Ashton for Jess and her stuff via his bank account so he didn’t need to worry about that now.
“I’ve got her some treats and toys too,” Ashton said, cringing a little when Jess’ ears perked up at that and she started barking excitedly again. “And – Sit, Jess,” he said firmly and the husky gave him a long, considering glance before she gave one final bark that almost managed to sound sarcastic and finally did as she was told.
Calum smiled gently when Ashton muttered a soft: “Good girl” and handed her a treat, his eyes big and sad as she watched him mournfully, like she knew he was going to leave her. Calum suddenly had to swallow past the lump in his throat as he watched them.
“You can come and visit us – um, I mean her,” Calum blurted out when Jess lay her head on Ashton’s palm and the older man’s eyes got a bit shiny with tears.
“I know,” Ashton said and he tried to shrug but he still seemed sad. When he looked up though, he shot Calum a watery smile. “Thank you. I’d like to visit both of you… if you’ll have me obviously.”
“I think I already covered that. Y’know, when I offered you and all?” Calum said, smirking a little bit as he set Ashton’s mug of coffee on the table before he went to get the milk and sugar too. “Help yourself,” he said, his grin only widening when Ashton tried to glower at him but ended up smiling.
While the older man helped himself to milk, Calum rootled around in the cardboard box – something that really seemed to excite Jess – and extracted her bed. It was a soft padded pink thing with flowers patterned all over it and Calum’s heart did that slightly painful squeezing thing it did sometimes when he pictured Ashton picking it out.
“Here you go, girl,” Calum said softly, scratching Jess behind the ears when she darted over curiously with a shrill little bark. Calum tittered when she jumped up to lick his face, wiping his cheek dry as she circled a few times before settling down on the cushioned pink material. “You going night-nights?” he mumbled, stroking the soft fur on her back as she gave a little whistling noise that Calum quickly identified as a snore.
She was incredibly cute and fun to play with but he sort of hoped she’d stay asleep until Ashton left now. Calum had heard all sorts of horror stories about dogs crying all night when they were first brought to a new place – mainly from Michael regarding Federer, who seemed to be a demon dog to no one but his owner, but also from Luke about Molly – but Jess seemed fairly relaxed about the whole thing, and Calum hoped it stayed that way.
Satisfied that she was staying asleep, Calum rose and went to retrieve his own mug from the counter, sipping the black coffee and leaning against the counter as he warmed his hands on the mug. Calum watched Ashton over the rim of it as the older man tried to pour sugar into his drink and spilt it all over the table, and Calum couldn’t quite suppress the overwhelming fondness he could feel building as Ashton looked around furtively before carefully scraping the sugar into his palm and making as though he was about to drop it back into his drink when he thought the younger man wasn’t looking.
“Don’t be silly,” Calum said and Ashton’s smile was sheepish as he went in search of the bin. Calum rolled his eyes when Ashton made an excited noise as he found it but he couldn’t help but feel that the curly-haired man seemed to belong there, dressed in an oversized grey jumper and tight black skinny jeans that did absolute wonders for his bum as he bent to empty the dropped sugar into the bin.
Calum never wanted him to leave.
Ashton sat back down at the table again and looked around, taking in the murky light and the picture Calum’s older sister Mali-Koa had painted hanging on the wall. He looked at the magnets on the fridge – either Michael or Luke had rearranged them to spell out a rather rude sentence (Calum strongly suspected it was the former) – and the various literature books piled up on the counter closest to the door. The fridge was emitting a soft buzzing sound and the clock on the wall was ticking, and Jess’ snores were the only sounds for a moment.
It was lonely sometimes but, with Ashton sitting at the table and Jess curled up in her bed, it just… wasn’t.
Calum didn’t want it to change.
“I like this room,” Ashton said suddenly, drawing the younger man from his thoughts. Calum laughed quietly, sitting down on the bench beside Ashton. He could see the radiator on the other side of the table across from them and he wasn’t at all surprised to discover that more magnets had found their way there too. This time they spelled out a much more innocent ‘I really love dogs’ though and Calum figured that had probably been Luke.
“You’ve said that about every room you’ve seen so far, Ash,” Calum pointed out, sipping his drink again to hide his smile. His brown eyes were twinkling though and Ashton grinned, his face close enough that Calum could make out the little flecks of green in his eyes and the slight cleft in his chin.
“Not true, Cal. I didn’t say it about your hallway,” Ashton said with a grin, and Calum stamped on his foot half-heartedly.
“Ouch,” the older man muttered but the twitching of his lips proved that he was only joking. Calum glanced down at his lips and then just sort of kept glancing and –
“Can I kiss you?” Ashton asked suddenly, setting his mug down on the table shakily. Calum freed his own hands too and found that they had balled into fists on his thighs. His heart was racing. “Because I think I’d quite like to kiss you but I’m not sure if that would be okay or not because you’re adopting my dog and we don’t know each other all that well yet and –”
Calum surged forwards without thinking and Ashton gave a little gasp as their lips met.
Ashton’s mouth tasting of coffee and his hair smelling like cherries were the first things Calum noticed and, although it was an odd mix, he found it very, very appealing.
The younger man’s fingers wove gently through Ashton’s curls as he tilted Ashton’s head just so, and when a tiny sound escaped Ashton that Calum quickly swallowed, Jess peeked over the edge of the bed and gave a low yelp, and Calum pulled away unwillingly, already missing the hot, slick slide of their mouths and –
“Okay, Ash,” he said slightly breathlessly, his eyes wide. “Okay.” Ashton’s lips were swollen and a few shades darker than they had been, and his pupils were blown huge but Calum knew he couldn’t look much better. “I think we maybe need to calm down.”
When Ashton looked inquisitive, Calum gave him a sheepish smile and leant forwards to press a soft, chaste kiss to his lips.
“There’s an adorable puppy watching us that really doesn’t deserve mental scarring,” Calum explained and Ashton giggled.
Calum thought he might be halfway in love with Ashton in that moment.
“We could shut her out of the kitchen, Cal,” Ashton said a bit reproachfully but Calum knew he didn’t really mean it because the older man had just reached out to pet Jess until she settled back down in her bed again, his eyes soft.
“We couldn’t actually,” Calum said and, when Ashton looked up curiously, he gave a slightly self-deprecating laugh and pointed to the clip-on door stop he’d bought to keep the door from shutting. “Door’s broken actually, Ash, so if it does shut, we’re stuck here for a while. Unless we broke the door down but… I don’t really want to do that. I wouldn’t get my deposit back then.”
Ashton laughed and Calum tried to too but his shoulders slumped a little bit.
“This house is just a giant mess,” he muttered and Ashton’s hand found its way back onto his shoulder again, squeezing gently.
“I don’t think it is but… if you are going to insist on calling it that…” Ashton smiled slightly as his hand drifted up to cup Calum’s cheek, and the younger man sighed as he rested his face in Ashton’s palm. “Well, it’s your giant mess, Cal. Yours and Jess’.”
Calum wished it could be all three of theirs. Which reminded him…
“Where are you living at the moment?” he asked out of interest and Ashton shrugged, smiling faintly as he lowered his hand with a touch of unwillingness. Calum suppressed a small sigh.
“I’m sleeping on my friend Niall’s sofa at the moment, to be honest with you. I used to have a place but it wasn’t really what I wanted and, with the new job in Kingsford, I was kind of looking to find somewhere a bit closer I guess?”
“Oh,” Calum said, nodding as he took that in. “Yeah, okay. Fair enough.” He paused suddenly then though, frowning. “Can’t you get the train to Kingsford though? I swear that’s only like twenty minutes…”
“Yeah, I… I don’t know. I…” Ashton looked momentarily stumped then before his expression cleared and he frowned. “There’s no train stations near me though and I can’t exactly stay on Niall’s sofa forever, can I?”
“No,” Calum said and he wondered if it was weird that they were both skirting around this topic after just a few weeks of knowing each other. Calum decided he didn’t care. “But there’s a station right around the corner from here. Honestly you could be at work in half an hour.”
There was a moment of silence as Calum's words slowly sunk in.
“Calum,” Ashton said urgently and then they were kissing again, somehow, with hands clasping at cheeks and tongues stroking over tongues and, honestly, Calum never wanted to be anywhere else.
When they parted for breath, Calum found his forehead resting against Ashton’s as their linked hands dropped down onto the bench between them.
“I feel like I’ve known you for a lot longer than a few weeks,” Ashton mumbled, looking a bit like he was embarrassed. Calum smiled secretly when the older man tucked his face into Calum’s neck. “I –” Ashton sniffed suddenly and Calum winced because he thought he knew what was coming. “Your hair smells kind of like…”
“Floor cleaner,” Calum supplied seriously, thinking back to the number of times he’d fallen over that day. “That would be the refreshing scent of Pine Fresh floor cleaner, Ash.”
There was a moment of absolute silence before they both started laughing, loudly enough that Jess perked up again and let out another enthusiastic bark as she rolled around in her bed, begging for a tummy scratch.
Calum and Ashton quickly complied, and Jess glowed under the attention, her little pink tongue hanging out of her mouth as she wriggled around eagerly. Calum and Ashton smiled at each other over the excitable puppy before the older man seemed to deflate a little, like he was a balloon and someone had let all the air out.
“I should probably be going…” He spoke unwillingly and, although one of his hands had settled protectively on Jess’ soft tummy, his other hand had closed around Calum’s.
“You can come and visit us really soon,” the younger man promised because he didn’t like seeing Ashton sad. There was something deeply wrong about seeing him with his mouth downturned at the corners and his eyebrows drawn together like he was trying not to let his face crumple.
“Yeah, I… I guess.”
Calum smiled encouragingly, thumbing the soft skin under one of Ashton’s hazel eyes gently. Something suddenly occurred to Calum though and he grinned again.
“Anyway, you better not be worrying about something stupid, like how you’re not going to see Jess ever again or whatever. You kiss me like that? You’re not going anywhere.” Even though Ashton giggled at that, Calum suddenly bit his lip, frowning. “That sounded a bit creepy, didn’t it? Sorry, like, obviously if you did want to leave then I’d never stop you but I just kind of meant that –”
Ashton silenced Calum with a kiss and his eyes were a lot more cheerful as he gave Jess a soft pat on the head and rose, stretching out his back after having remained in the same position for so long. His jumper rose a little along with his arms and, if Calum found his eyes glued to the strip of tanned skin he could see there, no one could blame him.
“I better go if I want to get the last bus back,” Ashton said then and Calum’s eyes widened when he realised how late it had got. The younger man swore softly as he straightened up too.
“Yeah, okay. Of course. Sorry, I… I kept distracting you.”
“Kissing is definitely okay,” Ashton grinned then and, as if to prove a point, he pulled Calum in playfully by his collar and planted a fleeting kiss on his lips. Ashton pulled away fairly quickly though, a sigh escaping him. “I really do need to go though, Cal.”
“C’mon then, I’ll show you out,” Calum said, placing a hand on the small of Ashton’s back and leading him out into the hallway. He cringed when his sock-clad feet encountered the cold tiles and, beside him, he felt Ashton do the same.
“It’s really cold out here,” the older man commented as the pair stumbled down the dark hallway, suppressing giggles when Ashton crashed into the shoe rack and Calum shushed him frantically before Jess started barking again.
“Yeah, I know,” Calum said with a slightly disconsolate sigh. “You get used to it though.”
“You just need some rugs and stuff,” Ashton said and Calum snorted, suppressing a chuckle when Ashton hopped around on one foot and then the other to get his shoes on.
“Mr. Ashton Irwin, interior designer,” Calum said and Ashton shot him a scathing look that fell a bit short when he almost slipped over on the wet tiles and fell into the front door.
It made a strange clunking sound, like the lock had been jarred or something, and Calum felt his eyebrows rising as Ashton looked between the door and Calum fearfully.
“Uh… Ashton…?”
“Yeah?” the older man asked warily. Calum’s expression was grim.
“Try the front door for me, yeah?”
Ashton did and it wouldn’t budge.
“Oh,” the curly-haired man stammered. “Okay then. I’m really sorry. Uh… what do we do now?”
Calum suppressed a sigh. “I’ll have to call my delightful landlord to ask his strapping builder son to safely break my door, I would imagine.” Ashton snorted at that, despite their predicament, and Calum felt his lips twitch. “He won’t come round before tomorrow lunchtime at the earliest though, I can promise you that. Sorry, Ash. It looks like you’re staying here tonight.”
“I’ll live,” Ashton said and there was a faint twinkle in his eye that made butterflies form in Calum’s tummy. “Although I’ll need to call work though. And I’ve not even been at that job for a week yet… damnit.”
“Oh, Ash, I’m sorry,” Calum sighed because, honestly, who didn’t have a properly-functioning front door in this day and age and – wow, okay, Calum sounded like his granny. “Um… I can try to bribe him or something? I mean, he could probably be persuaded to come round a bit earlier…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Ashton said with a slight shrug before he repeated: “I’ll live.”
*
Ashton brought the rest of Jess’ stuff round the weekend after and, when Ashton hesitated in the doorway as Jess jumped up to lick him, Calum suggested that maybe Ashton could come back over a few days later for 'one last walk'.
Calum wondered why they were still pretending.
Maybe the 'one last walk' became a weekly thing though and so what if sometimes Ashton stayed over on Friday nights so he was ready to walk Jess bright and early the next day? And sure, maybe occasionally he ended up sleeping in Calum’s bed and his clothes started to find their way into the younger man’s wardrobe and, sure, maybe his shoes mingled with Calum’s boots and Jess’ toys on the floor.
And, okay, maybe Calum’s giant mess of a house did become their giant mess of a house, and maybe Michael, Luke and Niall came round on Saturday evenings for Pizza And Movie Night, as they had so originally called it, and maybe when they went home Ashton, Calum and Jess just stayed cuddled up on the sofa together… but really, Calum didn’t think it was anything to talk about.
Ashton and Jess had fit into his life so easily it was like they were meant to be there and, sure, maybe Ashton managed to lock them in the house on an almost monthly basis and Jess was really good at skidding around on her tummy because of the wet tiles and, okay, maybe Calum’s hair did kind of smell of Pine Fresh floor cleaner sometimes because he couldn’t always keep his feet underneath him, but it didn’t matter.
Calum didn’t mind.
It was his little slice of perfect.