The Bass Player » [cashton] √

1.4

[15th of November- Paris (day off)]

It was harder out in public with Ashton than Calum had thought it would be. He'd gotten used to holding himself back around their friends, but for some reason his brain had neglected to remember that it wasn't their friends that would have the real problem with them, it was everyone else. He tended to forget there was a world outside of their little touring group, and the fact that there were many reasons why he and Ashton couldn't and shouldn't be seen together. That didn't stop the part of him that reflexively wanted to reach for Ashton's hand to get his attention or place it on the small of his back to direct him as he pointed out buildings or birds, or whatever it was he was delighted by.

He was delighted by most things; this was the first time he'd really gotten a chance to look around a city they'd been in. He'd gone to a few places in the UK, but none of the cities were as iconic as Paris. They'd already seen the Eiffel Tower and had a quick look through parts of the Lourve. Ashton was keeping them on a tight schedule as they would be leaving for Munich late that night. But now they'd caught an Uber a little further out of the city centre and their pace had slowed.

"So this is the place you lied about?" Calum asked as they exited the Uber, in front of them was exactly the sort of Cafe everyone had seen in a movie about Paris, except instead of classic bistro styling it was all comfy couches and dark corners, incense invading your nostrils and indie records on rotating quietly in the background. He almost chuckled to himself thinking, this place might just be more pretentious than Ashton.

"I didn't completely lie," he said with a shrug, "I am glad that Luke couldn't come though," he Ashton admitted taking a seat on a couch in the corner.

"Yeah, I didn't think he would come, he's been pretty down lately. Not that you didn't come across weird and uninviting on top of that," Calum said, rolling his eyes as he joined him on the same couch, appreciating the faux shōji that gave them some privacy.

"C'mon it's not like you'd rather spend time with him than me," Ashton said with an eye roll, leaning back into the couch.

He sighed, "I do have to come on the next tour leg with you all, and Luke's nice I wanna get to know Michael and him more,"

"You'll have plenty of time for that later, why waste a day in Paris on that, they'd be pining for their girlfriends all day, and we'd have to 'act normal',"

Calum hummed and went to speak but was interrupted when the waitress came over to take their orders. They ordered, food and wine, because 'we're in Paris Calum if we can't have wine with a late lunch here then where?'. They ate slowly enjoying the warmth and the privacy, both laughing and chatting about one of the many other times Ashton had been in Paris. He'd lost his phone in a clothing store and a group of teenage girls had found it, that's how his nudes had ended up on twitter, thankfully for him, they'd found them in his photo album and not in messages to anyone.

Ashton, cocky as he was, thought it was hilarious, or maybe that was the fact that they were on their third glass of red wine each, "Did you see them making the rounds on twitter?" Ashton asked his face innocent enough, but Ashton knew Calum well enough by now to know how easily blushed, and Calum knew Ashton well enough to know he was being teased.

The flush crept up his neck as he tried to muster an unaffected tone, "Yeah" he shrugged but he could tell he looked stiff.

Ashton had leaned across the loveseat, his handing leaning on the other's thigh, he asked lowly, "Did you enjoy them?" Calum's blush darkened and he rolled his eyes, "Did you jerk off to them? Huh? Save them on your phone for later?" Ashton's eyes darkened as he spoke, Calum was avoiding them as best he could but it was proving hard. Ashton looked around seeing that no one was in the back of the shop and he stood tugging gently at Calum's elbow for him to follow.