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Jack’s never been interested in makeup.
His mom always spent an hour putting on makeup before they went somewhere important, where there would be cameras on them, taking pictures and posting them wherever they wanted to. He would watch her, sure, sitting on the counter and dangling his feet off the side as his mom put on eyeliner.
Once, when he was younger, she offered to put some on him, and he hadn’t wanted to say no to his mom, so he let her. So she had put eyeshadow and eyeliner on him, and when she was done he had stared into the mirror.
And he’d felt so pretty.
The feeling scared him more than he thinks it should’ve, but he wiped it off later, after his parents left to go to an event, sitting in his own bathroom and crying as he did his best to. Quinn found him, and even though they were 10 and 12, Quinn didn’t say anything, didn’t judge him the way that he knows boys his age normally would.
His brother just got the makeup wipes from their parents bathroom and gently wiped away the eyeshadow, got him to open his eyes and carefully wiped away the eyeliner, taking care not to touch his eye. Jack cried after, hugging his brother and refusing to let him go. Quinn didn’t force him to go away, only wrapped his arms around him and brought him to his own bed.
Jack had never been interested in makeup, too scared to let himself be.
The last time he had considered it had been the summer of the draft, when his girlfriend was putting on makeup in the living room and his hands had itched at the urge to take the eyeliner and try it once more. He held himself back, though, going to the kitchen and making himself a sandwich, and didn't let himself think about it again.
Now, though?
Now he’s dating Nico, and his boyfriend asked him if there was anything he had ever wanted to try and been too afraid to, and he hesitates.
“Baby,” Nico says, and his hand moves to rest against Jack’s cheek, his thumb gently stroking it. “You don’t have to be afraid to tell me.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” Jack says. A beat passes, and he swallows. “I’ve been too afraid to let myself.”
“You don’t need to be afraid now, baby.” Nico says, and his eyes search Jack’s own. He nearly gets distracted staring at the wide brown eyes, but Nico’s serious, searching him. “I’ll support whatever it is, okay? 100%.”
“Really?” Jack says, and his eyes are wide, he knows, but he’s still petrified.
“Really.” Nico confirms, and he strokes Jack’s cheek.
“It’s stupid.” Jack says a moment later, glancing down. “Like, it really is.”
“I don’t care what it is, but its not stupid, Jacky.”
“It is to me, though.” Jack says, and he sighs. “It’s just- I like makeup. That's it.”
“Makeup?” Nico asks, and Jack nods his head against the hand. “That’s what you’re afraid of?”
“It’s stupid.” Jack repeats, but Nico shakes his head.
“Baby, that’s something I can help you with.” He smiles, and Jack looks up at his boyfriend, hope in his eyes.
“Really?” He says, “I-I’ve always wanted to try but… the only time I did scared me.”
“It scared you?” Nico says, “How?”
“I felt pretty.” Jack looks down.
“Oh, baby.”
Nico tugs Jack closer, hugging his boyfriend. Jack wraps his arms around him, resting his head on his shoulder as his boyfriend moves them side-to-side, a quiet soundless dance.
“I’ll help you, Jacky.” Nico says softly, “And you don’t have to be afraid to be pretty.”
Jack pulls back to look at his boyfriend, to look at Nico, and smiles softly. He kisses him, and rests his hand on his face before he pulls away.
“Thank you, Neeks.”
.
They go to the store the next week.
They’re in a city that’s outside one of the ones they don’t play in too often, and they haven’t been recognized walking on the streets, the city clearly unknowing to them, but Jack’s a little anxious, still. Nico doesn’t hold his hand, the two of them still worried about being caught in public yet, but he smiles at him softly, and hugs him in the car before they begin the walk.
The ladies in the store are nice, asking them if they need help with anything, to just come and ask them, and Jack smiles and thanks them, everytime. Him and Nico walk down the aisles, staring at the eyeliner and foundation and concealer and everything that overwhelms it. There’s so much, and Nico must notice, because he wraps his arm around him, and gently tugs him to the side.
“Hey,” He says, as soft as the music playing out loud, “What if we just start with stuff around your eyes, alright? Lets just get eyeliner and eyeshadow, and we can fuck around and figure out if you like that or not.”
The plan sounds solid to Jack, so he nods, and they explore the eyeliner only of every brand they walk past. There’s multiple colors, so many options, and he stares at them all, biting his lip until Nico pinches him gently.
They end up leaving with red, black, and blue eyeliner, alongside a palette that’s mostly just reds, and the brushes to go with it. Jack thanks the woman that checks them out softly, and she smiles at them, wide.
A discount is evident on the receipt as Jack looks at it, and he turns to Nico, walking down the street.
“She gave us a discount,” He says in disbelief, and Nico laughs.
“Probably thought it was cute, you being new to makeup.” Nico says, and Jack nods.
He’s silent walking down the street, silent holding the bag in the car until they get back to the hotel, silent until they’re in the hotel room and they’re standing in the bathroom, and Nico’s holding the eyeliner in his hand holds Jack’s hair away with his other.
“What if I look bad?” Jack whispers, and Nico frowns at him.
“Nothing could ever make you look bad.” He says, and Jack doesn’t have a chance to respond before Nico’s starting.
He holds his eyes open, looking up at the ceiling when Nico tells him too, and closes his eyes when Nico asks for it. He feels the press of the pen, feels the press of the brush, but he doesn’t say a word.
Nico tells him that he’s done sometime later, and he waits for his boyfriend to tell him that it’s okay before he opens his eyes. He blinks, and twists to stare into the mirror.
He looks… He looks good. There’s black eyeliner lining the edges underneath his eyes, and there's light red eyeshadow above his eyes, and it looks good. He likes it. He likes it a lot.
“So,” Nico says, and he turns to look at his boyfriend, who looks a little smug, smiling down at him. “Whaddya think?”
“I love it.” He says quickly, and he’s smiling wide, teeth on full display as he looks up at Nico. “I love it so much.”
“Good.” Nico says, and hes smiling just as wide back. “I’m so glad.”
-
Jack begins to wear makeup after that. He doesn’t do a full face, of course not, but he normally wears black eyeliner, just painted on the bottom edge of his eye.
The first time the team notices him wearing it, walking into practice, half of the room falls silent. Luke’s beside him, having sat in the bathroom with him while he did it, and he glares at the room as Jack shrinks, pushing into his side.
It’s not hard to realize that the team is silent because of him, and it makes him doubt the makeup, for a moment.
Luke opens his mouth to say something, presumably to talk shit to the team about them being quiet, but Dawson speaks before anyone can say anything.
“Dude, you look hot.” He says, and the room erupts.
Jack can’t hear half of what everyone is saying, but he can basically make out that it’s a mixture of that’s what i was going to say and dude, you don’t just say that. He’s overwhelmed, partly, and looks at his brother, who grabs his hand and drags him to their stalls beside each other.
“You good?” Luke asks him quietly, and he looks around the room, where Nico’s arguing with Dawson, because that is my boyfriend, hey, and where John is sitting beside him, and gives him a thumbs up when he notices him looking.
“Yeah,” He says, and finds that it’s true.