Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter one hundred and sixteen

"How was your first night and day with Carla?" Calum asks excitedly, having had high hopes the two would enjoy spending time together.
"Good. It was more relaxing than I thought it would be."  Ashton hums peacefully.
"I'm glad to hear that. Have you done anything exciting together?" Calum's questions are innocent enough but Ashton can't help but feel like his dom knows that something has happened.

"Well... I thought about something I wanted to do... last night and today... Carla came with me about an hour ago..." Ashton bites his lip.
"Ashton... what did you do..." Calum says skeptically, unsure about Ashton's tone of voice.
"I got a tattoo?" Ashton squeaks, unable to lie to his dom.
"You- can I see it?" The dom splutters. Ashton nods shyly and holds his wrist up to the camera, red heart covered in plastic wrap proudly up for display. "It's beautiful." Calum breathes out, unable to stop staring.
"Thank you sir." Ashton blushes.
"I love it so much."

"You're not mad?" Ashton asks unsurely.
"No no, of course not sweetheart. It's your body. I love the surprise." Calum reassures the younger boy.
"Oh. It's um, about you. By the way. Sort of. And me. And us. I just love love and I wanted something to always remind me that you're here." Ashton stumbles over his words and avoids looking directly into his doms eyes.
"Of course I'm always here for you. You mean the world to me. I love you so much Ash." Calum says softly.
"I love you too Cal." Ashton whispers.

The two talked for over an hour more, during which time Calum gets ready for work and Ashton and Carla start walking to find dinner. They only hang up when Calum and Maggie arrive at their office in Canary Wharf. The elevator ride up to their office gives Calum the chance to tell Maggie what he wants to do this evening.
"I want to get a tattoo after work. Or maybe over lunch." Calum shrugs as if it's no big deal.
"Because of Ashton's?" Maggie says amusedly, continuing when Calum goes to open his mouth and ask how she knew. "Carla told me."
"Well." Calum huffs. "It is for Ashton and there's nothing wrong with that."
"I never said there was!" Maggie protests.
"So, I'm thinking a solid black heart." Calum comments airily when they step out of the lift.
"I'll find somewhere later, you love bug." Maggie rolls her eyes, pushing open the glass doors to their office.

Calum only stops working momentarily to wish Ashton a goodnight when his sub is going to sleep but other than that works non stop until lunchtime. He knows Maggie got him a tattoo appointment just from the look on her face.
"The place is only fifteen minutes away, get in the car." She mutters as Calum grins happily and trots to the waiting car out front.

The place Maggie found has hundreds of great reviews and was conveniently on the same side of London as the Hood building. Calum likes the atmosphere and leaves still with time to spare in his lunch break, a black heart tattoo under plastic wrap on his right wrist. He covers it with his shirt sleeve and blazer, fighting off the slight itch that comes through the day. It's nothing he hasn't dealt with before.

Calum and Maggie stay working until their sub's wake up and call, a little after 7pm UK time, though they left the office at 5 and were working from their hotel suite. The dom's take the release easily, Calum even more so than usual because he can't wait to show Ashton his tattoo.
"Hi sweets, good morning. How did you sleep?" Calum smiles when he answers the call, unable to stop himself from falling more in love with his sub given how cute he looks. The blinds are already open but Ashton is back in bed, sitting against the headboard and face still smooth from sleep.
"Well, the bed is really comfy. How was your day sir?" Ashton answers gently, voice still a little sleepy.
"My day was great. I have something to show you." The older grins.
"Oh?" Ashton perks up.

"Right here." Calum hums, holding up his right wrist to the camera.
"Oh." Ashton squeaks, thoroughly surprised. "You- you got a matching tattoo." He gasps.
"Of course. I had to. Fair is fair. I love your tattoo and felt inspired." Calum gushes.
"And I love yours." Ashton reassures his dom.
"Thank you sweetheart, how does yours feel now? After sleeping on it for a night." Calum asks, being taken back to how he felt after his first tattoo -which was years ago now.
"Good, it's not itchy this morning. That's nice." Ashton shrugs.
"That is good, I'm so pleased."

"When did you get yours? After work?" Ashton queries.
"I went in my lunch break, you know it's a small tattoo." Calum chuckles, to which Ashton nods in agreeance. They talk longer, even staying on the line when Ashton gets up at 7 and goes downstairs.

Ashton and Carla stay on the line to their doms, who were sitting in the same living room in a large hotel suite, while they exchange morning pleasantries and eat breakfast. Maggie and Calum take the hint and decide to lash out and order dessert. They had dinner earlier, as it was their final night in London and they were thoroughly exhausted so they ordered room service, but thought that they may as well get dessert as tonight too -as a treat.

They all keep talking until Carla has to walk out the door for work around 8:15am and Ashton takes that as a cue to go back to the state library and study. It was already nearly 10:30pm in London and the two doms were exceptionally tired, they needed to push through their final day in London tomorrow. All four of them were excited for the week to be over, it had been long and treacherous.

A/N: I can't believe how close this is to being over there's less than ten chapters left and I can't believe how close CALM is to being out in Australia. Stay safe, healthy and AT HOME. Love you all :)

-Grace Williams xo