Skyler had been nervous when he’d first asked Trevor if it would be weird to paint his nails. But Trevor hadn’t even blinked before he said, “Not at all. If you want to, then you should.”
They’d gone to the store that same day and Skyler bought a bottle of black nail polish. He’d kind of wanted a brighter color, but black seemed safer.
Trevor had insisted on painting them for him, which resulted in more polish on Skyler’s fingers than his nails, but it made his heart so warm to be cared for in that way that he’d asked Trevor to do it the next time too. Eventually, he’d stopped needing to ask. Trevor now offered whenever he noticed the polish chipping. He’d even started picking up new colors for him.
Skyler was brave enough for the brighter colors now. Because Trevor made him brave. Trevor loved him in a way that made him feel free to be absolutely himself, gave him room to figure out who it was he wanted to be.
When Trevor finished and let Skyler hold his hands up to look, warning him to be careful not to smudge, Skyler grinned. Lime green looked good on him.
“What are you doing?”Skyler asked, jerking his hand away when the makeup artist reached for it.
“I was told I need to remove this.” She gestured at his green nails, and he frowned.
The band was getting ready for an interview onMidnight Maniato talk about their new album and how the tour was going. Jermaine, Oli, and Noah had already been styled and had left to hang out in the greenroom, but Trevor had waited for Skyler after he was done.
“What do you mean?” Trevor said, stepping closer. “Who said that?”
The woman didn’t need to answer.Maggie.
She hadn’t said anything to Skyler when he’d started painting his nails black for concerts, but this was the first TV interview he’d done it for, and with a bright color too.
The woman sighed and addressed Skyler again. “Look, I’m sorry sweetie, but I’m only trying to do my job.”
“This is dumb,” Trevor argued. “I’m going to find Maggie and tell her to fuck off.”
Skyler shook his head. He loved how Trevor always wanted to protect him, but he didn’t need him to fight his battles for him. And he wasn’t sure if this was a battle worth fighting. It was only nail polish. It didn’t matter, really. “No, it’s fine. She can take it off.”
“Sky—” Trevor started, but Skyler shook his head again.
“It’s not a big deal.”
Trevor looked like he wanted to argue some more. “Are you sure?”
“Mm-hmm,” he said. But looking down at his hands after the woman finished removing the polish, he felt a bit empty. He’d grown so confident with wearing painted nails, and now it was like having that confidence stripped away.
Trevor wrapped an arm around his side as they left the room together, the tattoo of the house on his inner bicep pressed against the door you couldn’t see on Skyler’s ribs. “You’re still gorgeous, you know. And I’ll paint them for you again when we get back.”
The interview was prettytypical. Skyler tried not to sulk during it, but Trevor could obviously tell he was still upset because he kept trying to make Skyler laugh. Ruffling his hair and pinching his side and pulling funny faces.
When the interviewer ran out of questions about their new album—the pride in Trevor’s voice was evident as he'd talked about how much they’d all contributed to it—Skyler thought they were going to wrap it up.
But then the guy said, “So boys. Your fans are dying to know what each of you look for in a girl. Let’s start with the young heartthrob over there.”
“Me?” Skyler asked, realizing the interviewer was looking right at him. “Um. Kindness, definitely.”
Oli snorted and Trevor reached across Skyler to whack him on the chest.
“Anything else?” the interviewer asked.
His eyes flitted to Trevor before he answered. “Someone I can be silly with, someone who I can talk to about anything. If they care about me and they’re not afraid to show me how they feel, that’s all that matters, right?” He felt Trevor’s thigh pressing slightly into his, and he grinned. “And blond hair and blue eyes couldn’t hurt either.”
The interviewer laughed, satisfied like that last bit was what he'd wanted to hear all along. Like the fans were only hoping to learn Skyler’s physical preferences so they’d know if they fit them. Like they weren’t concerned with any of the things that were actually important to him.
But it didn’t matter anyway. He wasn’t looking for anyone. He’d already found him.
Skyler didn’t realize he’dscrewed up until three days later when he was called into a private meeting with Maggie.
“It’s recently come to my attention,” she said, leaning against the edge of a desk and looking down at him where he sat in an uncomfortable chair, “that you haven’t had adequate media training. You may not realize it, but whenever you’re on camera, you’re giving the public the opportunity to analyze your every word and move. You need to make sure you’re only giving them exactly what you want them to know and nothing more.”
