kiss me, kiss me | cashton

♕ four

ashton was caught, unluckily. calum tried placing the blame on himself so the boy he loved wouldn't be hurt in any way. the king didn't listen though, only thinking that ashton forced his son to take him out of the castle so he wouldn't have to do any chores.

ashton was sent to sleep outside for the rest of the week. he couldn't eat dinner for a week as well, and all of his breaks were no more.

calum cursed himself every time he saw ashton's tired figure. he knew it wasn't the best idea to take ashton to the village, but what harm was done? did a vase not get dusted? did a spoon not get cleaned? he blamed himself for the way ashton was now, absolutely exhausted from non stop working, and a lack of food.

calum didn't know that his father would take it this far. a week without food? ashton is already weak enough since the servants aren't fed enough. all the servants are exhausted and in pain from not having a comfortable bed like his family does.

calum hated calling them servants. he wasn't allowed to treat them like royalty just because they clean the castle and we're born into poor families, or no family at all. every time calum was caught being nice to one of the servants, he would be slapped and the servant would be punished.

he didn't understand royalty, hell, he didn't want to be apart of it anymore. so much was expected out of him. he was expected to be rude to the poor, and nice and welcoming to the rich. he was expected to treat servants like they were nothing, make them feel like they were nothing. he was expected to be the next greatest king, and calum was not ready for that.

his father is still capable of ruling easthaven, why did calum have to become king next year? the rule states that the next in line can't rule until the king or queen is dead. in this case, his father is not dead or dying. why is he being forced to be something he isn't ready to be?

ashton could see calum's stressed figure as he walked through the garden, continuously tugging at his hair. he frowned, hating to see the prince so upset about something he doesn't know about. he would check on him, be he's afraid to be caught again. after all, the bruise on his rib is still healing, and damn does it hurt.

but it was too late when calum caught a glance at the boy, and immediately he could feel all stress and worry go away. he smiled, waving ashton over.

ashton pretended that he didn't notice, continuing to clean out the pool. the weather was getting colder, and the pool was used less. leaves would fly off of trees and float down into the pool, causing it to look unclean. some twigs would fall too, and those were a nightmare trying to get.

"i know you're ignoring me."

ashton was leaned over, trying to get a leaf into the net as calum spoke. he didn't expect the prince's presences, and fell into the pool.

the prince laughed, but his laughter soon faded away when he saw that ashton wasn't coming back up. he cursed under his breath, remembering that none of the servants knew how to swim since they had no business being in the pool.

calum dove into the pool, opening his eyes even though the chlorine water burned his eyes. he saw ashton struggling to reach back to the surface and swam towards him in a hurry. he wrapped his arm around ashton's waist, and swam up to the surface and took a deep breath of air when his head poked up from the water. ashton coughed up water, his nose tingling from breathing in the water.

calum helped him out of the pool, laying him on the concrete. "shit, are you okay?"

ashton continued to cough, moving his wet hair from his face. "f-fine."

ashton relaxed when enough air returned to his lungs and slowly sat up. he looked that the prince and smiled slightly. "thank you."

"i wouldn't let you drown, and i'm so sorry. i shouldn't have snuck up on you like that." calum apologized, grabbing a towel from a table and wrapped it around ashton.

"it's okay, i know you wouldn't try anything like that." ashton chuckled, shivering from the cool air.

water and cold weather did not mix at all.

calum wrapped his arms around ashton, rubbing his arms to help him become warm. ashton relaxed into his touch, his back resting against calum's chest.

calum looked in his eyes, studying the color. his eyes were hazel, with specks of gold glittering in his eyes. his eyes were one of the prettiest things he's ever seen, the first being ashton.

and calum wished that he wasn't royalty so he could marry the man of his dreams.

♕ ♕ ♕ ♕

mAKE A MOVE ALREADY