Love Sucks (Muke)

Ch. 2 - I'm [Not] Okay!

*Michael's P.O.V*

"You have to stop letting him do this to you" Ashton says quietly as he gently covers my face in make-up.

"Letting him? You think I'm letting him?!" I mutter, wincing in pain.

"Well you don't do much to stop him" he points out.

"How do you expect me to stop him, Ashton? He's stronger than me, especially when he's angry and I'm terrified" I tell him.

"I'm sorry" he sighs, "Maybe we should chance the room pairings, maybe you should share a room with Calum or with me?".

"And risk him hurting you? I'm not letting you do that! What if he gets mad at you, or Calum, and lashes out at you?" I ask in distress.

"He's never hit either Calum or myself, and if he tries, both of us are strong enough to fight back... Not that we want to fight him... We do love him after all" he tells me.

"I don't care, I don't want to anger him if I can prevent it, please, just listen to me-" I beg.

"Okay, okay, Michael, settle down" Ashton interrupts me, dropping the make-up to grab hold of my hands and squeeze them tightly in my lap. "It's okay" he says seriously.

"Ashton, he hates me! I love him with all my heart and he fucking hates me" I cry out, fighting back tears.

"He doesn't hate you, trust me! He's just... Confused" he tells me calmly.

"Confused?" I scoff.

"Look, you two have something special, you know that, right? Luke doesn't understand it or just doesn't realise it, but I see it, Calum sees it, all of our fans see it! Luke is going to figure it out eventually, even if I have to strap him down and force him to realise it" Ashton tells me, starting to get angry towards the end.

"I don't see how-" I mumble.

"And you don't need to worry about it" he says, sounding calm again, "And we're done, you look like normal".

"Thanks" I say quietly.

"No problem, I take care of my little brothers" he says with a smile as he fixes my hair a bit. "Okay, let's go!" He says as he helps me stand up.

*Luke's P.O.V*

"He hates me" I say in disbelief.

"He doesn't hate you, he's just afraid of you" Calum mumbles, not looking up from the menu he was skimming over.

"I don't know what's worse" I sigh, secretly digging the metal fork that was set on my side of the table into the back of my hand.

"It's your own fault" Calum sighs, glancing up at me, then down at my hand. "Stop that, you're bleeding" he adds in alarm.

"Not like I don't deserve it" I mutter to myself as I drop the fork onto the table and pick up the napkin the fork & knife had been wrapped up in.

"Why do you do it?" Calum asks in concern as he watches me soak up the blood with the napkin.

"What? Hurt myself?" I ask with a bitter laugh, "It's not hard to answer, you know how self-harm works, don't you?".

"Luke" he warns, scolding me, "You're being silly-".

"Silly" I scoff.

"If hurting Michael just leads you to self-harm, why don't you just stop hurting Michael?" He asks, lowering his voice slightly.

"I can't- It's not that simple" I reply.

"It's is" he says in frustration, "You're hurting him, I know you don't want to, so just stop".