| Cake / Mashton One Shots |

Build on me, build on me

Pining
[pahyn]

Verb (used without object), pined, pining.

1. To yearn deeply; suffer with longing; long painfully (often followed by for): "to pine for ones home and family."

Enjoy ;)

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Ashton sounds strangely sincere when he asks Calum if him not liking football makes Calum like him less. He asks the question like he's genuinely unsure of what Calum's answer might be, and the thing is - Luke can't blame him.

It's football, and it's Calum, so Luke probably wouldn't be all that surprised if Ashton's ambivalence for the beautiful game really did make Calum like him less.

Calum is the most freely and generously loving person Luke has ever met, but this is footie they're talking about, and if anything is going to confuse and upset him, it's this.

But when Calum brushes Ashton's apologies off with a half hearted eye roll, gaze still locked on the game even though they're mid-Twitcam, here, Luke knows him well enough to know that he's not really bothered by his bandmate not sharing this one passion of his.

Luke also knows that Twitcams are not the time or place for serious thought, but he can't help it, then; he thinks about Ashton asking if Calum likes him less now, thinks about Calum's total lack of real response, thinks about the fact that he for once in his life could not predict Calum's answer in advance until it's all he can think about; all that matters at all.

If footie isn't something that Calum's gotta share with the people he loves in order to still love them just as much, is there anything at all that could change the way Calum feels for his friends?

Is there anything Luke could do or not do that might change how Calum feels about him?

Could there be some pattern or change in behavior that would make Calum stop seeing Luke as his friend?

Because Luke doesn't ever want to not be Calum's friend.

But pretty often, Luke finds that he would really, really like it if they weren't just friends, anymore.

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They're stuck in customs, as usual, always caught up at UK border control for longer than is humane or right, but today is different because they might actually be late for their show because of this hold up.

Michael is tucked away into a corner in a tangled jumble of limbs, attention totally trained on whoever he's facetiming, and Ashton is sitting with their minder for this tour, a not exactly hulking but still totally terrifying guy called Brian. Luke can hear them running through different scenarios for what'll happen if they miss their show, but his being able to hear them de-stresses him a little bit; if Ashton was really worried, he'd get quiet about it, he'd be still for once in his life.

Calum is curled up not quite next to Luke, but closer to him than anyone else, which is a distinction that Luke finds important to make. He's lying mostly under a seat, elbows propped up on it, holding a comic book, and he's got his earbuds in but Luke can tell from how he isn't drumming his feet against the floor that he's not listening to anything.

It takes about three minutes and some pretty impressive gymnastics, even if Luke does say so himself, but with effort he manages to fold his body into a mostly mirroring position under the seat next to the one Calum has claimed. The difference is that Luke lies on his side, looking at Calum rather than up at the ceiling.

It takes about three seconds of silently staring at the side of Calum's head before he turns to Luke, folding his arms up onto the seat they're resting on and tossing his comic book aside.