Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter sixty two

"Maggie," Ashton muses quietly, approaching her desk on the way back from his lunch break.
"What..." She eyes him cautiously.
"What do you think the likelihood of me convincing Calum to move house is?"
"Move? For starters you're gonna need a good reason." She snorts. "But if anyone could convince him then it's you."
"Hmm," Ashton pursed his lips, thinking it over. "Why is he gonna be against it? What do I need to prepare for?"
"Well he hasn't lived there long, only a year and a half. The advantage is that I doubt he has any strong emotional attachment to it. Honestly I think he'll mostly be against it because it's just extra life stress that could be avoided." Maggie sighs.

"Thanks, I think." Ashton hums, thinking his game plan over. "I mean, thanks, I'm just trying to work out how to approach this."
"Mind telling me what exactly brought this on? Why do you wanna move?" Maggie raises an eyebrow.
"I just don't like the house." Ashton shrugs.
"You don't like the house?" She blanches, about to fall off her chair. How could anyone not like Calum's house?
"It's nice, it just doesn't feel homely. I can't imagine myself living there long term, especially not with children. It still feels like a bachelor pad."
"Well I can't argue with that last point," she laughs, "have you talked about children at all?"
"No." Ashton blushes, suddenly wanting this conversation to end.
"Maybe start with that?" She supplies.
To which Ashton mumbles a, "yeah" and scurries back to his office.

Ashton decides to wait until the end of the day to talk to Calum, needing time to convince himself to do it. Maggie gives him a pointed look when he meets Calum at the elevator just after 5 but he ignores it completely. He doesn't have the capacity to deal with her judgement right now.

"Saw you talking with Maggie after lunch, everything okay?" Calum brings up conversationally.
"Yeah, why? Did she mention anything?" Ashton gulps.
"No, I'm just curious. It's not my business. I respect your privacy," the older shrugs as they make their way to whichever car they decide to take home tonight.

"I wanna- I don't really know how to say this." Ashton says, frustrated with himself. "Do you want children?" Calum chokes a little as he starts the car but quickly swallows that down.
"I'm assuming you mean in the future, not now, and the answer is yes -but I don't want to pressure you if you don't."
"I do, and yes I mean later. I love the idea of children, it's one of the things I talked about with Carla and she said it's natural as a submissive to want that."
"Can I ask what brought this on? Not that I mind at all Sweetheart." Calum asks a little warily, not wanting Ashton to think the comment was out of line. It wasn't.

"Well," Ashton clears his throat, "this is what I was talking to Maggie about. That I want to move house."
"You- why?" Is the only dumbfounded reply Calum can put together.
"Your pl-"
"Our." Calum quickly corrects.
"It's feels like a bachelor pad." Ashton deadpans.
"Really?" Calum asks, slightly taken aback.
"Yeah... don't get me wrong, it's stunning. Just not very homely. I can't picture myself there long term, especially not with children."
"So you want to find out forever home?" Calum queries skeptically.
"When you put it like that..." The younger trails off, silence soon engulfing the car.

"I don't," Ashton starts to rush when he thinks of how all this must be sounding, "wanna step on your toes or make decisions. You call the shots. I know and admire and respect that. I'm the sub and you're the dom." His voice drops at the end, like he's repeating a mantra just for himself.
"We're equals." Calum frowns. "I don't want to hear that anyone, including yourself, is suppressing your voice just because of your role."
"I'm not." Ashton shakes his head so fast Calum worries he'll snap his neck. "I just like to remind myself of my role. There's so many good things about being a sub. I'm still learning how to be a good submissive, but I love it anyway."
"You're a very good submissive, the best I could have ever asked for. Please don't doubt yourself. I love you." Calum reassures the younger boy, bringing their fingers -which when they're driving always seem to have a habit of linking and resting on the middle console- up to his mouth for a smooth kiss.

They arrive home and, as is typical, get changed and start preparing dinner together. They slot together easily in the kitchen and coexist for nearly half an hour before Calum brings up the house conversation again.
"By the way, I think we should move soon." He says casually.
"Really?" Ashton's eyes light up.
"Well there's no point in us getting comfortable somewhere we'll have to move out of. I'd rather move sooner rather than later." Calum goes on.
"I love you, I love you, I love you." Ashton beams, embracing his dom in a bone crushing hug.
"I love you too," Calum grins, hugging back just as tightly.

"How soon is soon?" Ashton asks cheekily when they pull away.
"How about when we're in bed tonight we make a list of all the things we want in this house? Then tomorrow we can start looking and talking to agents?" Calum suggests, already in love with how excited Ashton is about this whole thing.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Ashton squeals giddily, hugging Calum again and sighing happily into his dom's chest.
"Of course Sweets, anything for you and this relationship." Calum mumbles, kissing the top of Ashton's curls.

They finish dinner after only a few more mouthfuls before cleaning up the kitchen and heading upstairs. Ashton gets ready for bed like there's a firecracker inside of him, not having any shame in his excitement for house hunting.

A/N: hey it's Christmas Eve oooooh. Love y'all, don't know what else to say? Cashton want a new house? Yay.

-Grace Williams xo