bouquet of roses | cashton

epilogue

starts the epilogue with one of my favorite cashton pics

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"delivery for calum hood."

"a-ash-" calum fell forward, breaking into sobs as ashton wrapped his strong arms around the slightly taller boy.

"shh. don't cry. i'm here for you, love."

it took a lot of effort (and about twenty minutes) for calum to finally pull himself together. ashton didn't ask him to let go of him until he was alright, patiently soothing his boyfriend on the front doorstep. he didn't mind neighbors giving questioning stares; for all he knew, they probably didn't even remember he was the actual resident of the apartment.

once inside, ashton kicked off his shoes, picking up calum bridal-style (which honestly shocked him- did ashton get buffer?) and collapsing onto his large bed while still holding him. the two laid in silence, staring in each other's eyes and god, calum knew they probably looked so cheesy and he loved it.

ashton was the first to break the silence. "you kept the place really nice. thank you."

calum nodded slowly, as if he still didn't believe the love of his life was still in front of him. "y-yeah... i never really left."

ashton giggled. "i can tell. luke and michael told me they took good care of you. they're great friends."

a smile graced calum's lips, and he leaned forward to kiss ashton's forehead. more silence.

this time, calum broke it again. his voice was low, as if he rarely talked since ashton first left. "why... why are you back already? d-don't get me wrong, i've never been so happy to see you, but i-"

"zayn and niall are sick of america. harry and his boyfriend, louis, already moved to london a few months ago, and they are getting ready to leave for london as well. infinity floral had to be given new owners, and i..."

calum's eyes widened. "oh my god, ashton." he smiled again, speaking at his normal volume as his usual spunk came back to him. "oh... oh my god, ashton!"

ashton didn't even need to tell him the rest if his sentence before calum hugged him tightly, sitting up. they pulled away, and calum cupped the tan boy's cheeks. "ashton, i can't believe they gave you the place... you're going to be a great owner."

a knock was heard, interrupting the two's cuddle session. ashton got up and answered the door to find luke and michael's shocked faces.

well, luke was shocked. michael looked furious.

"ashton? what the fuck?!" michael bursted out, but luke held him back before he could pounce on the poor boy. michael lowered his voice slightly. "you leave poor calum for a year with little to no communication!? who the hell does that to their boyfriend! you know, we had to take care of the poor guy while you were probably banging anyone with a nice ass-"

"michael!" luke cried out, and the blonde obeyed without further argument. still, he glared at ashton.

ashton stood there, jaw clenched tightly. "michael, i... i didn't. i would never. let me explain myself, please."

"you have two goddamn minutes before i have to shove luke away from me and beat your ass!"

once more, luke shushed him. ashton looked behind him cautiously, before stepping outside and closing the door behind him.

"i... have something to tell you guys."

-

september 16th