bouquet of roses | cashton

chapter 13

this cashton pic is my life right now send help

dedicated to -cashton- because she commented/voted so much on this fic omg i love you! (alsO WE HAVE SIMILAR NAMES YASSSS) xx!

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august 29th

to say calum felt great was an understatement. he was exuberant, and he hardly even knew what that word meant!

he and ashton spent nearly every moment they could together; calum would often visit ashton during work, or even order roses to have them delivered just to see his face. at this point, calum hardly ever had dead roses.

still, something was bothering ashton, and when ashton was upset, calum felt it too.

so, calum brought it up when he and ashton were sitting in the dimly-lit park that night. it had been quiet, which usually meant ashton was stressed over something.

before calum could open his mouth to speak, ashton chuckled. "... i'm two weeks late on my rent. i may be kicked out soon."

calum raised his eyebrows, turning his head to look at his boyfriend closely. "... what?"

"oh, sorry." ashton smiled fondly. "i knew you were going to ask what's wrong, so i told you." it fell quiet again, so calum cleared his throat softly.

"ashton, i... i had no idea." oh yeah, ashton was on his own. calum nearly forgot he was a full on adult at this point in his life. "if you need help, i'm sure my family wouldn't mi-"

"n-no, i could never!" ashton interrupted, curls bouncing as he shook his head frantically. "i'll get by. i'm saving some of my money for something else anyways."

"and what's that?"

"... i'm not sure yet. i'll figure it out soon." he replied, deep in thought. calum just smiled softly, grabbing his hand. ashton returned the smile, tangling their fingers together. "thanks for listening to me complain a little."

"any time. it's getting cold, should we head back?" ashton nodded, and they both stood. as calum began to walk in the direction of his house, ashton stopped him.

"let's ... go to my place? it's small and crappy, but i promise it's cozy." ashton laughed, pointing in the opposite direction of calum's home.

he smiled wider than before. "yeah, that sounds nice."

-

calum honestly wasn't expecting it.

sure, the apartment complex was mediocre and probably full of drugged up college students, but the inside of ashton's house was... different.

it felt like home. as in, calum could easily imagine himself spending the rest of his life in a cozy place like this with ashton- no, too soon!

"make yourself at home." ashton motioned to the living room, which consisted mainly of a tv, coffee table, and a large couch. blankets were strewn about the couch, and a pile of redbox movies were scattered on the table. as he scanned the room again, he noticed various potted plants in the room, as well as picture frames... of just ashton.

calum's heart sank as he stared at one in particular; ashton looked so young, with his hair straight and big frames on his face. ashton's eyes followed calum's line of sight, and he laughed softly. "o-oh, that's me when i was eighteen. i think your mom actually took that photo of me when i left the group home."

and once again, calum found himself thinking about it. ashton must've been so alone, yet he was still smiling. and here calum was, moping around at home all the time while things were handed to him on a silver platter. he didn't realize he had teared up until ashton patted his shoulder softly. "cal, you don't need to cry. it's all fine, really! i... i liked to be alo-"