You bent over the sink and coughed violently, trying to clear your throat. You really shouldn’t have been pulling all these all-nighters.

"Baby, are you okay in there?"

You opened the door for your boyfriend and he stepped in. You looked at yourself in the mirror before coughing some more. If you weren’t wearing this much makeup, your complexion would probably be green.

"You don’t look so good," he said, your back. “I’ve got some cough medicine here somewhere. Let me find it."

You shook your head and slunk past him to the living room. “It’s getting late, I should go home."

"You’re going home in this weather?" You looked outside and saw the rain pouring down hard. Both of you knew that driving out there would be dangerous. “You can stay here, you know." You felt his arms wind around your shoulders.

You shook your head again and fled from his arms to put on your shoes. “I can’t."

The worried look in his eyes made you want to take back what you had said. “Umm, are you sure? I can sleep on the couch if you don’t feel…comfortable."

You propped yourself against the wall as you felt a headache coming on. “It’s not that. I’d rather just go home and rest."

He seemed to relent and grabbed a coat. “I really don’t mind if you rest here."

"You don’t have to come with me!" You stopped him by putting a hand on his lapel as he grabbed his keys.

"You think I’m going to let you drive like this?" he scoffed and put your coat around your shoulders. He opened an umbrella the moment the two of you stepped out and also sheltered you with his open jacket.

The short walk to the car already made the two of you dripping wet and the umbrella was fairly useless. When he tried to slip his keys into the passenger door of your car, he realized his mistake.

"Hold this!" he shouted over the pounding of the rain and handed you the umbrella. “I’ll go get your keys!"

You stood there watching your boyfriend run back to the house. You felt as useless as the umbrella when you saw him running back with your keys in hand.

He gave you an incredulous look and you instinctively reached up to cover your face. “Why don’t you just stay at my place?" he asked and brought up his hand to wipe the rain off your face just as a flash of lightning passed by.

To your horror, you saw smudges of makeup left on his fingers.

"I can’t!" You turned to the car and covered your face.

"Baby?" He touched your shoulder and tried to get you to look at him. “What’s wrong?"

A clap of thunder sounded and you jumped in surprise. That led to coughing, lots of coughing.

"Okay, that’s it. You’re staying over." Your boyfriend put his arms around you and pulled you back to the house. When he got your coat off, you had finally stopped coughing. “Go take a warm shower. I’ll get you some of my clothes."

You put your hand on his arm to stop him in his rush. “I don’t want you to get sick either."

He smiled and you noticed how rosy his cheeks were. He must’ve been cold. “I don’t mind being sick with you," he said as he kissed your forehead and then went to his bedroom.

-

After the shower, you stood in front of the mirror in your boyfriend’s clothes. You wondered how he would react to this. You hadn’t gone out without makeup in nearly a year and he’s never ever ever seen you without it.

You tried to smile but it was hard when all you noticed were your too-thin eyebrows and the dark circles under your eyes.

You really shouldn’t have pulled those all-nighters.

"You done in there, baby?" You heard your boyfriend’s voice after the gentle knock on the door.

You remembered that he had to shower too and gathered your dirty clothes into the plastic bag he had given you. “Yep, just about."

After checking to make sure you hadn’t left anything, you stepped out, careful to avoid your boyfriend’s eyes. “There’s some warm milk on the table if you want any. Help yourself," he said before heading into the bathroom.

You sat on the couch and sipped on the milk, letting it warm you from the inside out. The TV was on but you weren’t paying attention to whatever was going on. You were too busy trying to figure out how you were going to hide your face in the morning.

If you finished your milk quick enough, you could get to bed before he got out of the shower. In the morning, however, you’d have to face him no matter what.

But then you thought about it again and realized it was rude to settle into his bed without at least saying a good night.

"Are you feeling any better?" your boyfriend appeared behind you and you could smell his scent very clearly, even though your nose was slightly stuffed. How come his soaps smelled so much better on him than in the bottle?

"Thank you for letting me stay over." You tried to mask your surprise at his sudden appearance. There was no way to run to the bedroom inconspicuously anymore.

"Good night kiss?" his lips moved across your jaw, beckoning you to turn and kiss him on the lips.

It couldn’t hurt. His eyes were closed so he wouldn’t see anything anyway. You turned and kissed him quickly.

"You’re beautiful even without your makeup," he said casually.

You covered your face, not knowing if he was being serious or not. He tried to pry them away but you wouldn’t allow it.

"Baby?" He climbed over the back of the couch and sat beside you. “Hey, look at me," he cooed.

"I don’t feel very beautiful," you mumbled with a sniff, “not without my makeup."

You peeked through your fingers and saw his dazzling smile again, the one that made you feel beautiful from the inside out. “Is that why you didn’t want to stay over?"

You nodded slowly. “Why else?"

"Why else?" He sounded as if he was asking if you were kidding. “I thought you didn’t trust me enough to last the night."

You brought your hands down and your eyebrows creased in confusion. “Of course I trust you…"

Your boyfriend held your hands in his so you couldn’t cover your face anymore. “You shouldn’t, baby," he whispered mischievously as he captured your lips.

—-

_{girls are all lies with our pounds of makeup, heavy-duty pushup bras, and 1000 inch pads
i’m just kidding~ (the social justice league better not show up at my door) everybody is pretty with a smile ^^}