Ashton Enchanted » [cashton] √

2.5

Ashton was lying across the couch in Luke's basement, well, his parent's basement, taking up the entire thing. He'd decided when he'd laid down that he didn't give a fuck if the others had nowhere to sit, he was far too comfortable. He dropped another Cheeto into his mouth from above, and then he turned to check the room and saw no complaints from the others. 

Michael and Crystal were curled up on the recliner to the left of his couch; she was giggling as he squeezed her face in one of his hands. Luke was on the floor, a rug underneath him and Sierra, and an array of pillows spread around them. He watched as Sierra started to drop Cheetos into Luke's mouth, giggling to herself as Luke missed some of them, and they rolled into his eyes, which he squinted shut.

"Press play Sierra, you're closest," Crystal said through a mouthful of her own hair; Sierra groaned but got up and pressed play on the DVD player. Apparently, the remote was around here somewhere, but no one had been able to find it as of yet. 

"Wait, are you sure we don't want to wait for Calum?"

"Fuck Calum," Michael announced; Sierra took that to mean she was allowed to press play and climbed back to her spot on the rug next to Luke.

"Ashton's trying," Crystal added, and everyone started laughing, and Ashton let out a loud groan.

Luke tilted his head back to face the older boy, a massive grin spreading across his face; he knew Luke was going to have something to say, but before he could get a snide comment in, they heard, "What are you pricks all laughing at down here?" He hadn't even made it down the stairs yet, and he could hear them all cackling.

"They're bullying me, Cal," Ashton announced, throwing a glare at Crystal.

She grinned, squinting at him, "Oh, you love it,"

Calum rolled his eyes at the pair, moving straight across the room, stepping over Luke and Sierra and toward Ashton's couch. He picked up Ashton's legs and sat down in their place, letting them rest on his lap. Ashton waited for his warm hands to leave the cool exposed skin of his ankles, but they didn't. He was tempted to say something, 'Cal, I don't think this really goes with our hanging out as friends thing,' but he was honestly enjoying it too much to want to put an end to it. The movie played all the way through, and the hand didn't leave; his thumb would intermittently move slowly in circles. It must have been the comforting intimacy he'd read about. 

He also had no idea what movie they'd watched, and yet he felt a sense of disappointment when the credits rolled, everyone including Calum, got up and moved about, taking a bathroom break, stretching and whatnot. 

Ashton wasn't even managing to pay attention to the jibes the others were throwing at one another as they came and went from the room. His mind was occupied with other thoughts, such as, friends don't do that? Do they? The two friends he had didn't really do that sort of thing with him, not without a joke or a comment to punctuate it, then again he was very new to friends; maybe some friends did.

"Okay, so now it's time for Grease two, I know it's awful, but we have to watch it, It just makes the first one seem even better," There were groans from all parts of the room, and Crystal attempted to send an icy glare around the room to sway them. It failed everyone continuing to list off the worst parts of the film and cackle along.

"I think the worst part by far is that they moved from cars to motorbikes like it's so tacky and obvious what the point was," Ashton said with an eye roll; he flopped back down on his couch as he said it. 

"I assume the fact that you sat back down means you hate it, but you'll sit through it?" Crystal asked. 

"Well, it's either that or go home, and you're my ride, so I doubt that's an option," 

She grinned at him and raced over to the DVD player, putting in the next disk. As she did so, Michael took his place back on the recliner, and Luke and Sierra shared a look between themselves and the floor. 

"Hope you guys don't mind, but we gotta move up onto the couch; my tailbone is killing me," Luke told them, rubbing a hand up and down his spine to emphasis the point. Then he took Calum's previous spot, and Sierra joined him, curling into his side. 

Ashton's stomach was not okay with this development; it was far too excited. There was a chance, a slim chance, that Calum was going to curl up on the couch with him. What was he supposed to do while they were there? Was he supposed to touch his dick? Surely not...

He stood awkwardly, certain there wasn't enough room on the couch for them all, and not sure if he wanted to be curled up with Calum after all, he could sit on the floor?

He felt himself be pulled down onto the couch; actually, he was half on the couch and a half on a warm chest, his nerves peaking.

"Don't be stupid; we wouldn't leave you to sit on the floor on your own," Calum told him, chuckling. 

 He could feel the rumble of laughter against his back and then the deep breaths of his relaxed breathing. Not to mention the hot exhale of breath right next to his ear and the arm that was resting not quite on his thigh, but right next to it, it was all too much. He didn't know what to do with his hands; he snuck a peek, seeing Calum's eyes on the screen and his other hand-stretched over the back of the couch. Luke was almost his mirror; the arm of his that wasn't wrapped around Sierra was stretched along the back of the couch as well. They would have been able to monkey grip with their ridiculously big hands if they stretched a little farther.  Ashton shook the thought and turned his head back to face the television, not wanting to be caught staring. 

He decided crossing his arms would look less weird than having them sitting uncomfortably on his lap. He realised then that he looked grumpy, so he let himself sit back against the other's chest, actively letting his shoulders relax, and he felt Calum's hand move up from next to his thigh to his crossed arms, and he started to tug gently on the right one.

"I know you might not want to watch the movie, but don't look so grumpy, looks like I'm holding you against your will," the younger boy chuckled lowly, and it was right next to his ear, and he could feel the movement of his chest again, and Ashton thought he might swoon. Then once he'd gotten Ashton's hand free, he placed his own over the top, threading his fingers between Ashton's in a backward handhold, their hands resting against Calum's thigh. 

Ashton's heart could not handle this; where the fuck was this coming from. They stayed like that, Calum not letting go of his hand and Ashton actively trying not to lose his cool. At one point, he caught Crystal's eye, she gave their hands a look, and an eyebrow raise, but Ashton ignored her; he couldn't process anything at the moment, little alone manage a non-verbal comeback.

Again Ashton couldn't pay any attention to the movie; whenever one of the other boys made a sarcastic remark about the plot or the acting, he could feel Calum's breath and the laughter that rumbled in his chest, but he was never paying enough attention to laugh along too. By the end of the movie, he was actually comfortably leaning against the dark-haired boy, not feeling like he had to hold his weight back.

"Hey Ash, are you awake? I gotta piss, sorry," Calum said, gently shaking the boy on top of him.

Ashton blushed and stood up, letting the other boy up, "sorry,"

Everyone's eyes followed Calum up the stairs, and even when he'd disappeared from sight, they waited a few more moments before turning to look at Ashton, as if they'd were all of one mind, "So things went well at the ice rink the other day then?" Luke said with a smirk.

"Actually, things went in kind of a platonic direction," he admitted blushing, "I am very confused where this has come from,"

"Guess he finally realised you weren't going to make a move," Michael said with a shrug. 

But Ashton was still confused.