Imagines and One-Shots (Book Two)

Reasons I Love You (Ashton Irwin) - Part 1

And your heart started racing; You only knew one person who wore leather jackets to school.

"Y/N?" Ashton murmured when he found your feet in the last stall, "Are you okay?" You let out a short hum, but he could tell you weren't being honest with him. "Can you come out?" he asked, "Please?" You were silent, making him sigh. "Y/N, I will crawl under this door," he threatened.

You frowned, but when you didn't make a sound again, you heard Ashton huff sharply. He stepped toward the door and you could see his shadow get lower, making you jump up from the toilet seat.

"Fine!" you squeaked softly as you unlocked the door and pulled it open, "I'm out!" Ashton stood back upright, smiling gently at you.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath when he reached up and wiped the tears off of your cheeks, swallowing thickly as you exhaled. Sure, you had a crush on him, but then again... Everyone did.

Ashton Irwin certainly wasn't in the same social class as you, so it was obvious that people gravitated toward him. He was the school's troublemaker, but everyone loved him. The only people with a bad thing to say about Ashton were the ones who had the misfortune of suffering his wrath when they pissed him off and those who were simply just jealous.

You never thought that Ashton noticed you around school, let alone would come to see if you were okay after something like catching your boyfriend cheating on you.

"Are you okay?" Ashton asked again lowly once he'd gotten rid of all your tears. And you didn't know why, but you couldn't force yourself to lie to him.

"No," you whispered, "But I'll probably live."

"Probably?" he cocked an eyebrow, earning himself a small shrug.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've cried in a school bathroom and I'm sure it won't be the last," you replied. You were understandably confused by the brief look of sadness on his face, but since he'd brushed it off so quickly, you decided not to mention it.

"Let me walk you to class," he said.

"Ashton, you don't ha-"

"I want to," he insisted. You looked at him for a moment before caving.

"Okay," you said so quietly that he almost didn't hear it.

Without warning, Ashton grabbed your hand and started pulling you out of the bathroom. You struggled to keep up at first, but he slowed to a pace that allowed you to walk beside him, tangling your fingers together as you found yourself approaching Gunnar's locker.

All eyes were on you at this point, but you thought you'd be able to get by your boyfriend – err... ex-boyfriend...? – without him saying anything.

But, of course, you were wrong.

"What the hell is this?" Gunnar asked, making Ashton stop dead in his tracks.

You yelped softly as you were yanked back since his hand was still holding yours. Ashton pulled you behind him slightly, his hand still keeping a firm grip on your own, as he narrowed his eyes at the boy in front of him.

"What the hell does it look like?" Ashton returned – and it was then that you noticed the bruise underneath Gunnar's left eye.

You had no idea why he was defending you – you'd never even talked to him before today – but you weren't going to lie and say you weren't incredibly curious as to where this confrontation was going.

"It looks like I'm just finding out my girlfriend is cheating on me with a Hot Topic model reject," he shot back. You furrowed your eyebrows at the insult – if you could even call it that – as Ashton immediately fired back.

"I don't think I need to remind anybody that she's not the type of disgusting excuse of a person that would cheat on someone – unlike you," he grumbled, "And as far as I'm concerned, I would start getting used to calling her your ex-girlfriend because if I ever catch you trying talk to her again, I'm gonna do a lot worse to you than that-" He nodded his head to his black eye, inadvertently letting you know that Ashton had been the one to inflict the bruise.

"I'm sorry; I was unaware that my relationship with my girlfriend included you now," Gunnar laughed bitterly, clearly taunting him, "And I would hardly consider what you did justified seeing as you had no reason to do it."

"Ashton doesn't hit people without a reason, Gunnar," you reminded him softly, finally speaking.

"I was talking to Ashton, babe – not you," he said shortly, and you knew he was only giving you a pet name – something he never did – because Ashton was there.

You felt Ashton squeeze your hand and in the split second that his opposite arm was coming up, your free hand shot across his stomach in front of him to grab his wrist. His hand was balled up into a fist, but it quickly relaxed when you slid your own hand down and laced your fingers together in order to keep him from doing something stupid.

"Don't talk to her again," you heard Ashton growl as you pulled him away from the situation.

When you got him what you considered to be far enough away, you released one of his hands so you could continue pulling him along more comfortably. You took him to a hallway you knew was low-traffic in the morning, happy to find it was a ghost town when you turned the corner. You let out a soft breath, releasing Ashton's hand and leaning up again some random person's locker.

Your eyes were closed as you took a moment to process everything that had just happened. But it wasn't long after letting go that you felt hands return to your cheeks. You opened your eyes again to find Ashton looking at you intently.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"You've asked me that like, three times already," you said softly, the corner of your mouth twitching slightly.

"I know," he nodded, barely smiling back at you, "I just want to make sure."

"I'm fine, Ashton," you sighed.

"No, you're not," he called your bluff, making you laugh under your breath.

"I will be," you assured him, "Eventually." You noticed Ashton glance at the clock at the other end of the hallway, seeing there were only a few minutes before class started.

"I'll walk you to class," he said, just as he'd done earlier, and you didn't bother trying to protest that time.

You pushed yourself off of the locker as Ashton's hand found yours again, taking you the long way around so you wouldn't have to go back past Gunnar. He held you close to him, ignoring the second glances the two of you got as people were making sure they really were seeing the two of you together.

After getting your books from your locker, Ashton walked you down the hallway to your first class of the day. His voice stopped you from going inside though.

"If you need anything, my locker's right beside Mrs. Scranton's room," he told you. You gave him a genuine smile, surprising him when you reached up and pressed your lips to the middle of his cheek.

"Thanks, Ashton," you said softly as you pulled back. He looked at you with a blank stare for a moment before he shyly leaned down, kissing your cheekbone as well.

"See you at lunch," he murmured against your skin, scurrying away before you noticed the blush on his cheeks – you did, of course.

And you didn't realize it, but Ashton looked over his shoulder as you entered the classroom, allowing him to see your bottom lip caught between your teeth and the bright pink tint on your cheeks.

~

inspiration: https://imaginescake.tumblr.com/post/165606281937/luke-hemmings