Why does my crush say it's fun to provoke me? Why does he like me to get mad at him?

[Anonymous]

My crush loves to tease and provoke me. He's admitted it several times. I know I'm an easy target but he does it all the time. We have lots of little fights because he does stuff that hurts my feelings but then we make up. We usually hold eye contact a lot but when we were fighting neither of us would make eye contact. Later, he told me he was going to not look at me for a whole day to punish me. I was doing the same thing to him! I think it's funny that we are equally hardheaded!

What does he get out of this?

[Lion0128]

My boyfriend does the same thing to me but I know he's joking, he will say things like ''oh well that girl is very cute'' and I will normally reply with ''you're mean'' or something like that, then he just puts his arm around me and pulls me close and says ''you know I love you '' It's just a game he doesn't mean it

[Asker]

I know it's a game. I just wonder why it's so much fun for guys to almost piss me off but not quite. My crush pretends to not know who I am when I text him then says I have no sense of humor.

[Lion0128]

Because they like to see your reaction, they are in a way testing you, you might say, for example, once my boyfriend tried to annoy me by saying that my friend was cute, I just shrugged and gave him no reaction, he started worrying that I didin't care if he liked anyone else, until I rested my head on his shoulder and whispered ''you know I love you'' it can be fun for you to if you play it right

[Asker]

It's fun and I do like it. I just think it's funny that he keeps telling me he wants to provoke me. If he continues, he's going to provoke me to kiss him! I'm always threatening to murder or choke him or fake hitting him or putting my hands around his neck. Good times, lol!

[Lion0128]

With my boyfriend he even says ''I love provoking you'' I normally playfully hit him on the head or the arm

[Asker]

We're not officially bf gf (very complicated) so we haven't even kissed yet. He also tells me that he loves and want to provoke me. I just wonder why or if he's trying to get me to kiss him. He gets right in my face a lot and makes goofy faces at me. We just haven't been anywhere private to kiss.

[Lion0128]

be cheeky and kiss his cheek then walk off, it leaves him wondering

[cheeseysouffle]

Well its actually kind of fun to provoke people and push their buttons, but it's not really that fun when it leads to an actual fight...

[Asker]

We always make up and are closer afterward, though, so it's not all bad.

[reptocarl]

Do you like it or not?

[Asker]

Very much! It makes sparks but can be annoying. I know it's a game, but I wonder why he likes it so much vs. just being sweet.

[reptocarl]

Maybe its his personality, maybe he's uncomfortable being sweet

[Asker]

I think he freaks out if we get too intense and then needs to break the tension with fighting.

[reptocarl]

You may be right