Characters: Ashton x Reader
Description: You’re feeling a bit down and don’t want to tell your boyfriend, but he knows you better than you think he does
Warnings: a bit of language, sad reader :(
A/N: As I mentioned in my latest post, I’ve been gone a while and things are changing (like the format of my posts)! I hope you guys enjoy, and I’m so sorry for being gone for so long. There isn’t much dialogue towards the beginning, but it comes around eventually!
Overall, you liked to consider yourself a happy person. You tried to see the best in every situation and in every person, and you ignored any negativity coming your way. You were still human and still sensitive, but you didn’t let things phase you as much as you used to. You’d made tons of progress in handling your emotions over the past few years, and you were proud of how you turned out because of it.
A lot of this progress was inspired by meeting your now-boyfriend, Ashton. When you first met him, you felt small and insecure. He brought you out of this slump and encouraged you to look on the bright side of things more often. His bubbly, yet focused attitude was contagious, and you soon found yourself feeling happy more days than not.
Just like every other person, though, you had your days when all the progress you made just seemed to go down the drain. All of the positive thoughts trampled by negative ones, and the desire to reach out for help squashed by the fear of disappointing anyone. Ashton always told you that if you felt bad, you could go to him for help and comfort, and you offered him the same. He took you up on the offer more often than you did, though. He’d been good recently about opening up and talking about anything that was making him feel bad, and you were so proud of him. You wanted so badly to be that strong, positive person in his life, though, and going to him for help made you feel weak and almost guilty for bothering him.
Today was one of those days where nothing was going right. You weren’t able to see Ashton that morning because he had to leave early to go to an interview (which obviously wasn’t his fault and you weren’t mad at him, it just sucked to not be able to start your day with him). The traffic on your way to work was terrible, of course making you late, and your boss chewed you out as soon as you walked in the front door of your office building, despite your near-perfect attendance record. The lunch you had brought was stolen by some co-worker who apparently thought that the Tupperware marked “Y/N” meant that it was up for grabs. And to top things off, your mother called you on your way home from work and stirred up a huge argument.
You hated fighting with your mother, or anyone for that matter, but your mom especially. She was one of those people who were never willing to take the blame for anything, always choosing to play the victim no matter the situation. She’d called you and scolded you for not checking in with her more, and when you told her that you called the house at least once a week and hardly anyone answered the phone, she put the blame on you. She tried to guilt you into coming home, saying things like, “Your father and I wouldn’t have to be out of the house and working so much if you were home to help out” and “Well you’re out there living with your boyfriend before marriage, which one of us is worse?”
All you wanted to do was go home, order Chinese takeout, and lay on the couch with Ashton for the rest of the night. Of course he wasn’t home when you got there, and you nearly cried instantly upon realizing this. Blinking fast to push back your tears, you searched the house for a sign of where he could be since he didn’t text or call you.
On the kitchen counter, you found a note written from him. There was no way to tell how long ago it was written, but it said, “Hey babe, went out to grab some bread and sugar cuz we were running low. I hope you had a great day, I love you, see you soon! -Love, the only person who calls you babe :) x”
You smiled a bit at the end of his note, and it made you feel somewhat better to know that he should be home soon. Instead of sitting around, you decided to take a quick shower in hopes that it would make you feel better. You even used the special body wash you usually saved for special occasions, wanting to do everything you could to turn your day around even though it was almost over.
Once you were done with your shower, you pulled on some sweatpants and one of Ashton’s sweatshirts, loving the way the sleeves fell past your hands. You brushed your hair and walked back downstairs, disappointed that Ashton still wasn’t home. Oh well, you thought, no biggie. He was probably on his way.
As you scrolled aimlessly through twitter, you came across a fairly rude tweet about yourself, insulting your appearance and saying you weren’t good enough to be dating “a member of 5sos.” 9/10 times you didn’t let the hate get to you, but this on top of everything else that had happened to you set you over the edge. You clicked the power button on your phone and pulled your knees up to your chest, finally letting out all of your tears and frustration.
Of course, this was the time Ashton decided to walk through the door. “Babe, I’m home!” you heard him call out before the front door shut behind him. You could hear him making his way through the kitchen and putting things away, and during this time you tried to desperately wipe away any evidence of your moment of weakness.
“Hey!” you chirped in what you hoped sounded like a cheerful tone when he walked into the living room. “How was your day?”
“It was alright, thanks for asking,” he replied vaguely as he sat down next to you. He gave you a suspicious look before continuing, “How about you? How was your day?”
You knew he was gonna ask, and you tried to mentally prepare yourself to lie to him, but your body betrayed you as your voice cracked while you replied, “It was really great.”
“Y/N,” Ashton said softly. He knew something was up. “What’s going on?”
With that, you fell apart. You started crying harder than before, and Ashton wrapped his arms around you to keep you together as your body wracked with sobs.
“Shhh shhh, you’re okay,” he tried to comfort you while you continued to cry. “You’re fine, it’s all gonna be okay, just let it out.”
After a couple more minutes of this, you finally began to calm down, and that was when the embarrassment hit. Obviously you’d cried in front of Ashton before, given how long the two of you had been dating, but it’d been a really long time since you cried this much around him. “I-I’m sorry,” you gasped out, still trying to catch your breath.
“Hey, no, don’t say that,” he replied, kneeling down in front of you and holding your hands. “It’s okay to cry, hell, I think I’ve cried more in front of you than you’ve cried in front of me.”
You giggled a bit at this, realizing that that was true. “I guess,” you nodded.
“Now do you wanna tell me what this was all about?” he asked, starting to rub comforting circles on your hands in an attempt to coax some information out of you.
You didn’t say anything for a moment. You knew Ashton wanted you to be able to open up to him, and after thinking about all the times he’d been vulnerable to you, you decided to tell him the truth. “I just had a really bad day.”
“Okay,” he nodded, giving your hands a light squeeze. “Keep going.”
“I was late for work and got yelled at by my boss because of it, some jackass stole my lunch so I wasn’t able to eat anything today, and my mom called me on my way home and started yelling at me for being selfish and not living with her and dad and helping out or whatever,” you ranted, breathing heavily by the end of it. You reflected on what you had said, and looking back at it, you realized that none of this was a super huge deal. “I’m sorry,” you continued, “I’m making it sound-”
“Hey,” Ashton interrupted. “Didn’t I tell you not to apologize?” When you sighed and nodded, he went on, “Well first things first, have you eaten anything since you got home?”
You shook your head and mumbled, “I just showered and changed clothes. I was gonna order Chinese.”
“Alright, we can do that,” he nodded. “But I also want you to know that no matter how small you think these things were, if they made you this upset, they’re obviously worth talking about and getting off your chest. I wanna be able to help you and make you feel happy, but I can’t do that if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. Even if it seem super insignificant.”
You nodded, understanding where he was coming from. You wanted the same from him. “Thank you,” you whispered, starting to tear up again out of gratitude for him.
“Hey hey hey, no more crying!” Ashton exclaimed, getting back on the couch and wrapping one of his arms around you. “Also, you should also know that your mom had no right to say those things to you.” Before you could interrupt and argue with him, he continued, “No matter what she says, you have the right to do whatever you want with your life. You aren’t selfish for looking out for yourself, and she shouldn’t make you feel guilty about moving out. That’s just part of growing up, ya know?”
“I know,” you chuckled. “I’ll try to not let it get to me.”
“That’s my girl,” he grinned, squeezing you to him once more before standing up. “Now you sit here and pick out a movie and I’ll order some Chinese food. How does that sound?”
“That sounds great, thank you so much Ash,” you smiled up at him. That was the first genuine smile you’d given to anyone all day, and you were grateful to Ashton for being able to pull that out of you.
“’Course, babe,” he winked, walking towards the kitchen. “And by the way, you smell good!”