The Bass Player » [cashton] √

0.7

[6th of November - Amsterdam]

Calum could have sworn the tension between him and Ashton was palpable, to the point he imagined people walking between them and flailing their arms as if there was large spiderweb there. However, apparently not, no one seemed weird or uncomfortable around them, but part of him remained paranoid nonetheless.

So it was hard to calm his mind as they sat front row watching Angel and Trinkets soundcheck. It was also a bizarre feeling seeing his band playing without him. He'd been far too overwhelmed the night before to take in the weirdness. Luke had found him early and told him that Angus was still under the weather, he was in Brussels recovering, some sort of stomach bug apparently. Calum didn't mind; it was a pretty wild experience, and he was happy to take every opportunity. 

That being said, the Ashton thing was still making him nervous, he hadn't mentioned what had happened the night before, and Calum had been too afraid someone would overhear them to bring it up himself. He did notice an improvement in Ashton's mood though, which was strange considering he hadn't actually gotten any yet. He was under the impression Ashton thought it was going to be open slather from now on. He couldn't really say what was going to happen, he really wanted not to be that guy, but there was something about him that was just intoxicating. Calum just wanted to be around him and have his attention. He already knew that was going to cause him more trouble than it was probably worth. 

He tucked his legs up underneath himself, suddenly becoming very aware that Ashton was right next to him.

The shift seemed to remind him that Calum was there, "So, who wrote this?" he asked quietly. 

"Um," Calum faltered for a moment, "Angel and Nia, I think," 

"Do they normally do a lot of the writing?" Ashton continued conversationally. 

"Yeah, them or Lesedi and Rachael, seems to be the way they pair up," Calum shrugged. 

"So what have you written for the new album? You never told me the other day," trust Ashton to be able to ask him questions that made him feel like he cared, he was smooth. 

Calum blushed, "You had ulterior motives when you asked last time, and well," his cheeks flushed again, "I haven't written anything that's going on the album," he admitted meekly. 

"What's to say I don't have ulterior motives still?" Ashton asked, throwing a small smirk toward Calum, before looking back toward the stage, " not much of a writer then?" Ashton continued before Calum could reply. 

"No, I've got stuff written it's just not the sound we're going for,  for the album," 

"Hmmm, what is it? Death metal? Slam poetry? Either way, you'll have to show it to me sometime, maybe today even?"

"Sounds like an excuse to get me alone," Calum couldn't stop himself from blushing yet again. 

"You shouldn't be so suspicious," Ashton chuckled. 

"I'll show you mine, if you show me yours,"

Ashton ignored the innuendo, only giving a small smile as recognition, "we've only written a few songs, I'm pretty happy with what we've got though," 

"Did you write on everything you've got?" 

"Pretty much, if I didn't write it, Mike and/or Luke brought it to me, and I helped polish or tweak it,"

"What about Angus?" Calum asked without thinking that his tone might seem accusatory. 

Ashton didn't seem to notice though, "he doesn't really write much anymore, not since we were like 16," 

Calum thought for a moment, Luke was 23 and Michael was 24, Angus was 25, and Ashton was 26 that's a pretty broad time frame, "You're all different ages, that's four different years,"

"Okay, since Luke was 16, so like seven years ago," 

"Seven years without writing? Crazy," 

"You'd have to have guessed it'd be close to that or are you terrible at math?"

"I just forgot you're that much older than me," Calum chuckled, he hadn't, he couldn't, he found Ashton being older than him insanely hot. 

"You're... you're not 16 are you?" Ashton asked, his tone, mostly joking. 

"I'm 21, you're fine," They'd had most of this conversation with their eyes glued to the stage and the tension was gradually growing, "but.. when you were 21, I was 16," Calum wondered if this would be when Ashton drew the line, realising he was 5 years older than him. 

"I don't know how I feel about that," That wasn't an 'oh god' so he'd take it as a win.  

"I know exactly how I feel about it,"