Summer Camp (Conman/ Kleinphy fic)

Chapter Sixteen: Make Up Over Makeup

Jared tried to wipe the makeup off as he ran, but only succeeded in smearing his lipstick across his face and hand. Behind him, he heard the cabin door open and close.

"Jared?" Connor called, bounding after him.

God, Jared definitely didn't want to be around Connor right now. Not when he was crying and smearing his makeup all over his face. He didn't turn back, but continued to run away, hoping Connor would lose him.

   "Jare!" Connor fretted, catching up to him.

    Damn, he forgot how long Connor's legs were.

    Jared stopped, letting Connor fully catch up with him. He quickly tried to fix himself up before Connor got a good look at him, but he was too far gone. Red lipstick was smeared across his cheeks and streaks of mascara were trailing down his face from where he had been crying. Connor stared down at Jared, who was staring down at his shoes.

    "What's wrong, Jare?" Connor asked softly, reaching a hand out to cup Jared's cheek. Jared pulled Connor's hand away, now it was covered in powdery makeup.

    Jared didn't say anything. He didn't know what either of them could even say to make him feel better right now.

    "Jared?" Connor lightly drew his hand back, biting his lip.

    "It's nothing, I just gotta clean my face, okay?" Jared crossed his arms.

    "Yeah, you kinda smeared your makeup." Connor chuckled.

    Jared didn't laugh.

    "Er, well, can I help you?" Connor asked, watching Jared worriedly.

    "No, it's fine, I don't need help." Jared looked up at Connor. "You can go back to the cabin now."

    Connor looked like he wanted to argue, but could clearly see that Jared was upset. He simply nodded, turning around to head back to the cabin.

    "So you can continue to laugh." Jared mumbled under his breath, beginning to head to the bathrooms.

    Connor froze, turning back to Jared. "What did you say?"

    "Nothing!" Jared glanced back at him.

    "Jared!" Connor stalked over to him. "You can't be all pissy and not tell me what's wrong!"

    Tears began to form again in Jared's eyes as he stared at Connor. Soon, they were spilling down his face.

    "It's just, you all laughed at me." Jared's voice trembled as he spoke. His tears picked up the powdery makeup on his cheeks, creating more streaks.

    "Jare." Connor's voice softened and he drew Jared into a hug. "It's okay, we weren't trying to make you feel bad."

    "I'm just a joke to everyone." Jared tried to keep his face away from Connor's shirt. "No one takes anything I do seriously."

    "Jared, babe." Connor couldn't help but grin, he knew why Jared was getting so upset over this.

    Teenage angst.

    Of course, Connor would never say that to Jared. That would just make him more upset and he definitely didn't want to do that.

    "If you told me that you wanted to wear makeup everyday, seriously, I wouldn't laugh at you." Connor hummed, stroking Jared's hair. "We were laughing at Alana's and Zoe's attempt to give you a makeover."

    "Really?" Jared sniffed, wiping more makeup off his face in an attempt to wipe away tears.

    "Hell yeah, have you looked in the mirror?" Connor chuckled. "Jare, blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick do not go together."

    He had a point.

    Jared slowly nodded, still clinging to Connor. "Yeah, I guess."

    "If done properly, you would look gorgeous in makeup." Connor hummed, using his shirt to wipe Jared's face. Jared melted, letting Connor clean him up.

    "Yeah, you're right." Jared said softly.

    "Of course I am, let's go to the bathroom and clean this off, okay?" Connor took Jared's hand.

Connor lead Jared to the bathroom and they completely got the makeup off of Jared's face. They then headed back to the cabin.

"Thanks." Jared swung their hands as they walked. "You're a great boyfriend."

"I never thought I would hear that." Connor gave Jared's hand a squeeze. "I love you, Jare."

"I love you too, muffin." Jared hummed.

They arrived at the cabin and Connor opened the door for Jared, who nervously slipped in.

Seeing people who just saw you cry is awkward.

"Hey!" Alana squealed as they walked in.

"Jared!" Evan beamed.

God, Jared hated when people are nice because he was just crying.

"Hi." Jared awkwardly waved, heading over to the group and flopping down on the bottom bunk of Evan's bed. Connor sat beside him, his arm wrapped around Jared's waist.

"We need a second opinion on this, do queen ants really fly?" Zoe asked.

"Yes, I've told you this, but you refuse to believe me for some reason." Alana sighed, taking her glasses off and cleaning them. "I learned this in my environmental science class."

"I'm going with 'Lana on this, she seems to know what she's talking about." Jared shrugged.

"I do." Alana said flatly, putting her glasses back on and pushing them up.

"Oh hush." Zoe grabbed Evan's pillow and playfully hit Alana in the side of the head with it, knocking her glasses to the floor.

"I just cleaned those!" Alana snatched up her glasses and grabbed Evan's second pillow, this was a fluffy light blue, and smacked Zoe with it.

"Hell yeah I'm gonna join in on this." Jared ran to his own bunk and snatched up his own pillow, which didn't even have a pillow case.

Soon, everyone had a pillow and was beating the hell out of each other. Connor was head to head with Alana, who was surprisingly nimble. Jared and Zoe had cornered Evan and were taking turns hitting him with their pillows as Evan shrieked.

Connor and Alana called a truce and Connor snuck up behind Jared, catching him by the waist and making him drop his pillow, which Evan quickly picked up so he could defend himself against Zoe.

"Hey, I was doing something!" Jared squirmed in Connor's grip, trying to break free.

"Not anymore." Connor smirked, kissing the top of Jared's head. "I gotta make sure my boyfriend doesn't get into too much trouble."

"I wanna get into trouble!" Jared squealed.

"Nah." Connor snickered. "Besides, look."

Jared glanced up to see Evan and Zoe kissing only a few feet away from where they were. He scrunched up his face.

"Eww, get a room!" He called. Connor laughed and picked Jared off the ground, carrying him fireman style. Jared squeaked, kicking his legs. "What are you doing!"

"You're making too much trouble." Connor grinned. "I gotta get you out of everyone's way."

"Fine with me, I get an exceptional view of your butt from here." Jared chuckled.

"See? That's what I'm talking about." Connor pretended to almost drop him, making Jared flail his hands around stupidly. "You're a troublemaker."

"Ah, but I'm your troublemaker." Jared beamed.

"Yeah, you definitely are."