Chapter Text
When Calum came back from the restroom, Luke was not sitting at their table anymore; their drinks the only proof they had been there at all. The raven haired boy searched the dark room knowing it wouldn’t be hard to find his giant younger friend in the crowd. It didn’t take long for him to spot a blond quiff on the dancefloor, his hands on the hips of a pretty petite girl who was dancing a bit too close to him, leaving the blond grinning like he had just won the lottery. Calum didn’t pay the two too much attention, instead throwing his drink back and walking towards the dancing crowd to find his own partner for the night.
Luke and him, they had fallen in this routine where they’d go out drinking every Saturday night together ever since the younger boy’s eighteenth birthday. They’d start the night with drinking a bit, since they both were too shy to dance and talk to girls sober, and then they’d make their way towards the dancefloor and dance with random girls. Sometimes they took a girl home, sometimes they only took one to the restroom and other nights they’d just leave it at dancing and innocent flirting.
They weren’t players, they never promised the girls anything; they just wanted some fun like every other teenager.
It didn’t take long at all for a girl to come up to him and wink. Calum smiled back at her and that was pretty much all it took. The raven haired boy wasn’t an arrogant lad but there was no reason for him to pretend like he didn’t know he was attractive; girls had told him many times before and if they didn’t, they’d show it by flirting with him or throwing themselves at him. He didn’t mind. He didn’t mind at all.
The girl wasn’t shy at all; she threw her arms around his neck and swayed her hips in front of him to the beat of the music, biting her lip seductively and Calum smirked as he placed his hands on her hips.
Halfway in the song the girl had turned around, occasionally grinding her bum against the tall boy’s crotch; Calum was pretty sure that was not the reason he was feeling weird though.
Maybe he had too much to drink or maybe he hadn’t eaten enough before they had started but the room was swaying and Calum had a hard time keeping himself up.
The girl eventually turned around and shot him what looked like a worried look; he wasn’t sure though, everything was blurry and for a second he wondered if it was possible for someone to suddenly turn into triplets out of nowhere.
“I think I had too much to drink.” He slurred, not noticing how bad he sounded himself. He turned around and headed for the men’s room, feeling like he was going to puke soon.
As soon as he had rounded the corner, an arm wrapped around his waist, keeping him from falling face forward.
“Watch out there, we don’t want your pretty face all bloody now do we?”
Calum looked up; it was a slightly older man. He looked very… photo shopped; big muscles, shiny white teeth, hair perfectly slicked back and piercing blue eyes that didn’t seem natural considering his tanned skin.
The raven haired boy didn’t even feel it as the man turned him around, keeping his arm around his body and leading him out of the toilet again.
“You look like you’re a lot of fun.” The man started and Calum giggled shyly; he had no control over himself anymore but it didn’t matter, he didn’t register what was going on anymore anyways.
“How about you and I go have some fun at my place yeah?”
And without agreeing – or disagreeing – Calum just followed the man; he seemed nice so why not? Poor judgement had always been one of his flaws when it came to strangers.
As they headed for the door, Calum remembered Luke was still inside, not knowing where Calum was going and even though they went home with girls all the time, they always told each other they were leaving.
“Luke.” Calum mumbled, trying to get away from the man’s grip.
“What was that babe?” the man asked, not slowing down or letting Calum go.
“I need to tell Luke I am leaving.” Calum tried to get away again, but failing.
“Luke seems like he is too busy.”
The raven haired lad was too far gone to realize the man didn’t even know him and Luke, but his drunk mind still knew he had to get away. He tried escaping again, now getting a little stressed. It was like his muscles had turned into noodles and they didn’t listen to his brain at all; it was quite frustrating.
“I need to tell Luke I am leaving.” Calum repeated, a little louder this time – as if that would help.
“I said no.” the man said, tightening his grip on Calum and speeding up to get out of the club a little quicker.
Calum started to panic on the inside now, but it was like his body and mind weren’t cooperating anymore.
The moment they stepped outside, he felt another hand on his shoulder but he didn’t feel it until the man that had his arm around his hip let go.
“Hands off, blondie; I saw him first.”
“He doesn’t look like he wants to go home with you though.” A calm voice said. Calum turned to see who the voice belonged to.
It was a boy, not much older than Calum; three years probably. He had quite long, dirty blond hair that was styled to one side. It was wavy and pretty and Calum wanted to touch it. His eyes were hard to see in the dark but they looked kinda green and nice.
“That’s because he’s drunk. Trust me, three seconds ago he was begging me to take him home and make him feel good.” The man smirked and Calum could feel his stomach turn in his belly. That was not what had happened; that man was lying.
The boy’s hand was still on Calum’s shoulder and he gently tightened his grip a little to gain his attention.
“Do you want to go home with this man?” he asked, looking directly into Calum’s big eyes with tiny pupils.
“No.” the boy blurred out, a little scared of what was going to happen next but too drunk to keep it in.
“Let him go.” The blonde said, sounding dangerous now. He had said it a lot louder than the rest of the conversation, and the man looked around to see that their little discussion had gained a bit too much attention from the people around them.
“Fine.” He said through gritted teeth.
“But I will get back to you next time boy.” He warned before letting Calum go and stomping off.
As soon as the man was out of sight, Calum doubled over and threw up on the street, earning some disapproving sounds from the people who had been watching. He felt the hand that had been on his shoulder rubbing soothing circles into his back; it felt nice.
“Are you okay?” his rescuer asked as he wiped his mouth and stood up straight again. He sounded like he was honestly concerned and Calum felt like he could trust this guy.
“No. I am so drunk.”
He started giggling as soon as he had said it, he sounded like a fourteen year old white girl.
The boy shot him a small smile.
“I think you are more than just drunk.”
Calum shot the boy a confused look, not understanding what he was saying but he shrugged it off when the boy proposed to bring him home.
“I need to tell Luke I am leaving.” He said for the third time this night, but this time, somebody actually listened.
The boy nodded and offered Calum his hand.
“Let’s go find him then.” He said as Calum took his hand and let himself be lead back inside the building. The raven haired boy was pretty glad the stranger had taken his hand instead of wrapping his arm around his waist like the man before him had done.
---
Luke had been a little suspicious at first but it didn’t take long for the blond boy to convince Calum’s best friend. He hadn’t heard what the two were talking about, but he trusted both of them enough to just wait for the stranger to bring him home.
He was still holding on to the boy’s hand for dear life despite it being warm, making their hands a bit clammy. He didn’t let go though, afraid he’d fall over or get lost without anyone or anything to hold onto.
“Are you sure I don’t need to come home with you?” Luke checked when his rescuer was about to turn around and take Calum with him.
“No, go enjoy your company.”
“Text me when you’re home safe.”
“Ha, you know how I text when I’m drunk.” He mumbled, just loud enough for the two blond boys to hear, causing the stranger to giggle.
“Ready?”
“Ready.” Calum nodded, not thinking twice before following a boy he had just met outside the club and into a cab.
The blond boy named an address and it took Calum a minute or two to realize that was actually his address.
“How do you know my address?” He slurred, making the boy giggle softly.
“Your friend told me.” He said, giggling at Calum’s expression again, and Calum got lost in the thought of how much he liked that sound.
“I don’t even know your name.” Calum said.
“Ashton.”
“Huh?”
“My name.” the boy chuckled.
“It’s Ashton.”
“Oh right. Calum.”
He listened to Ashton repeating his name out loud; a lot of people did that when they first heard his name since it wasn’t a very common one but Calum definitely liked it a thousand times better when Ashton said it.
Now that Calum was finally sitting down and out of the club, the tiredness came kicking in, leaving him resting his head on the boy’s – Ashton, he knew his name now – shoulder.
“Can you wake me when we get home?” he asked, and he closed his eyes before even waiting for an answer.
“Sure.” Ashton chuckled.
“I like your laugh.” Calum said without realizing he said it out loud. It was okay though; it was true, wasn’t it?
“Thanks.” Ashton softly said, as if he didn’t want to disturb the tired boy from falling asleep.
It felt as if he had only fallen asleep two minutes ago when Ashton gently shook him in order to wake him up.
The tiny bit of sleep hadn’t done him much good; he felt possibly worse than before.
“I feel sick.” Calum said, pouting at Ashton who was holding his door open because he didn’t want to get up.
“I know, that’s why you need to get out of the cab and get into your bed.” Ashton tried to reason
“I bet you’d like that?”
“What?”
“To get into my bed.”
“No. You need to get into your bed. I’m going to my own.” The blond said, taking Calum’s now outstretched arm and pulling him up, letting him wrap his arm around his shoulder and leading him towards his house.
“Keys.” He said, holding out his hand and waiting patiently for Calum to give them to him so he could unlock the door for him.
The raven haired boy watched as Ashton unlocked his door and followed him inside the house, letting himself drop on the couch as soon as he had the change. Ashton stood in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest and sighing.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Go to bed.”
“I don’t think I’ll survive the stairs.”
“I’m sure you will.”
“Why can’t you stay and help me?”
“You don’t even know me.” Ashton tried to reason.
“So why did you bother bringing me home then?” and Calum felt pretty proud for being able to come back so strong despite the alcohol in his veins.
The boy looked like he was thinking of an answer and then decided he was not going to argue with a drunk boy he had just met.
“Go to bed Cal. I’ll tell Luke to check on you tomorrow.” He took Calum’s phone out of his pocket – how did he get that anyways? – and texted Luke’s phone number to himself, placing Calum’s phone down on the table as soon as he was done.
The raven haired lad watched as Ashton walked towards his door, trying to come up with an excuse to make Ashton stay.
“Wait!”
The blonde stopped dead in his tracks, turning around and watching Calum curiously.
“What if I die?”
“You won’t die.”
“But what if I do? What if I slip on the stairs?”
“You won’t.” Ashton reassured him, trying to hide the fond smile that was creeping on his face.
“Your fingerprints will be all over me and you’ll be charged with murder. If you stay, you can call the police as soon as I die and they’ll believe you if you say it was an accident and you’ll be a free man.”
Ashton chuckled, rolling his eyes at Calum.
“You shouldn’t watch so many detective movies Cal. Go to bed.”
He turned around for the second time but the drunk boy didn’t give up so easily.
“Please Ash.”
And apparently, that was all it took.
The blonde turned around and sighed.
“Okay. But I am not sleeping on that shitty couch for you.”
“You can sleep in my bed.” Calum giggled, not realizing what he had just said.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea seeing the state you are in.”
“Well, you don’t have much choice, it’s either in my bed or on the couch so…” Calum trailed of.
“And I am straight, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Right.”
“Well, let’s get you to bed then.” Ashton said, pulling Calum up for what probably was the thousandth time since they had met.
Ashton took Calum’s hand in his and lead him up the stairs and even it was both funny and weird that a stranger was taking him to his own bedroom, he didn’t comment on it.
As soon as the two had reached his double bed, he let himself fall on top of it, falling in only a matter of seconds, missing how Ashton groaned and started undressing him. He also missed how Ashton grumbled something about this being the biggest mistake he’d ever made in his life while getting undressed himself and crawling in bed next to a sleeping Calum.