5SOS Preferences

He Bullies You Because He Likes You

Ashton: the little voice in your head is screaming at you to turn around and punch Ashton Irwin in the balls to stop him from throwing rubbers at you, but you know it won't do any good. Standing up to him never did - in fact it generally made him worse. If you even said a word to him it caused a week of non-stop torment.

"Hey, nerd," he whispers, and you know his speech is directed at you. You refused to turn around - you're trying to concentrate on the class.

"Don't ignore me, [Y/N]." He grumbles, his voice low.

You hate the way he says your name. It caused... Feelings. Feelings that you'd prefer not to have for your bully.

"Oi-"

You haven't been listening to the teacher, so when she starts pairing people together you're confused.

"[Y/N], you're with Ashton."

Shit. Shit shit shit. You open your mouth to complain, but she stares you down, knowing exactly what you're going to say. Paired work was common in this class, and nobody ever got far with complaining at her.

He moves to sit next to you with a smirk on his face.

"Hey nerd. So you'll be doing all my work for me then."

He probably means for it to come out as a statement, but it comes out as more of a question.

"No. Pull your weight for once."

Ashton pokes you with his pen. And then he does it again. And again. When he doesn't stop you grab your own pen and jab it into his arm.

He lets out a cry of pain and looks at you with wide eyes.

"[Y/N]!" Your teacher yells, surprise filling both her face and voice. You're supposed to be a perfect student.

"He was poking me!" You whine defensively. Nobody knew about the years of torture Ashton had put you through - you had kept it a secret because some stupid, idiotic part of you liked the fact that the school badboy wasted so much of his attention on you.

"So you assaulted him?"

Part of you wants to smile.

"It's fine, miss, honestly-" Ashton begins, but she cuts him off.

"[Y/N]. Take Ashton to the nurses office on your way to the principals office. Now."

Ashton grimaces as he pulls the pen out of his arm. It's still bleeding, but it's really not as bad as it looked at first. He shrugs and stands up, pretending not to be bothered. You sigh and follow him out of the room.

"Look, I'm sorry. You're just annoying as hell, you know? You practically live to tease me and bully me. I just got a little tired of it." You mutter after an entirely silent walk to the nurses office.

To your surprise, Ashton grins at you.

"I'm surprised you didn't do something like that earlier. I know how annoying I've been to you."

Your eyebrows crunch forward in confusion.

"So why do you do it?"

His cheeks fill with colour, "because I like you, nerd. And even if you're yelling at me, it's better than you totally ignoring me."