JeanxReader - Sunburn [AU]

Entering my room, I quickly changed out of my swimwear and into regular clothes while Jean changed in my bathroom. He and I had gone to Marco’s house for a pool party to spend a hot summer day together with all of our friends. Although I was happy I could be with them, the prolonged swimming and exposure to social activity had left me both physically and mentally exhausted. After four hours at Marco’s, I had decided to leave, and since I was Jean’s ride, he had no choice but to come with me.

I glanced at my face in the mirror hanging on my wall and frowned at the pink coloring my cheeks and shoulders. It looked a lot worse than it felt, though; it only stung when I applied pressure.

“Holy hell!” Jean shouted from the bathroom, causing me to jump as I slipped on a pair of denim shorts. Curious, I headed out of my room toward the closed bathroom door.

“Jean?” I said, leaning closer to the door. “You okay in there, buddy?”

I heard him groan before the door was cracked open. “_____, don’t laugh, okay?” Jean said, a slight edge in his voice.

“Um, okay.”

The door opened wider to reveal Jean standing awkwardly in only a pair of cargo shorts. His pale body was covered from head to toe in a violent shade of red. He held his arms and legs apart so as not to irritate the sunburn, but the deep scowl on his face proved that his attempts at relief were mostly in vain.

My lips turned flat and expressionless, and I crossed my arms. “Holy hell, indeed.”

“Shut up,” he snarled, stepping to the other side of the bathroom and painfully bending down to pick up his shirt. “Even you’re a little burned.”

“At least I don’t look like I belong at Red Lobster,” I remarked, earning a hard glare from Jean.

“Whatever.” Jean slipped his arm through a sleeve on his shirt and winced slightly.

“Hold on,” I said, taking pity on my friend. “Come here. I have something to put on that.”

With a sigh—halfway out of aggravation and halfway out of gratitude—, he watched me take a large bottle from the bathroom counter and open the child-proof cap. “What’s that?”

“It’s called Ocean Potion,” I replied, motioning him to sit down on the edge of the bathtub. “It kind of takes away some of the stinging.”

Jean sneered and slowly took a seat. “What do you mean ‘kind of’?”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you want some or not?”

He let out a pained groan and hung his head. “Yes, please.”

I grinned and knelt down in front of him. “Let’s see. Where would you like me to start?”

He shrugged, then said, “My legs don’t feel so bad. You could start with my arms and work your way around.”

“Okie dokie.” I took his arm in my hand and dabbed a glob of the lotion on his hot skin.

Jean flinched at the contact and reflexively muttered, “Cold!” under his breath, but he relaxed once I started to cover his boiling arm with the cool relief of the lotion.

“Don’t be a wuss, Jean-boy,” I quipped as I applied more lotion to his upper arm and shoulder.

“Shut up!” he shouted. I saw him raise his arm to smack me, but after a brief moment he lowered it. He looked away angrily. “It’s not my fault.”

“Oh, yeah. So it’s not your fault that you were a complete dumbass and forgot to put on sunscreen.”

Jean let out an exasperated sigh. “J-Just—Just finish rubbing the damn Ocean stuff on me.”

I giggled. It was admittedly fun to tease him; he just made it so easy sometimes.

I didn’t spend much time on his other arm before moving onto his back, which honestly looked worse than the rest of his body. “Good grief,” I said absentmindedly while sitting down in the empty tub.

Jean cocked his head. “What?”

“Your back looks horrible,” I answered, then smirked. “Don’t worry. Momma _____’s here to make it better.”

I coated my fingertips with lotion and placed them on the small of his back. Jean’s backed arched, and he clenched the edge of the tub. His spine slowly reclaimed its former position as I continued rubbing lotion on his scalding back and shoulder blades. He exhaled in relief and tilted his head back, his fingers uncoiling from the tub.

Hopping out of the tub, I took my spot in front of him again and took another large blob of lotion. I nudged his legs apart so I could reach his torso, and I began covering that area of his body with the magic lotion. I saw Jean’s face as I spread it over his lean but ridiculously burned chest. His eyes were closed, his jaw slacked, and his head bobbing slightly from side to side. I had to admit it looked quite adorable. The pads of my fingers carefully skimmed across his subtle abdominal muscles and close to the waistband of his shorts. His eyes immediately opened, and he shifted uncomfortably beneath my hand.

“Okay,” I said, taking a seat beside him on the edge of the bathtub. “All that’s left now is your face.”

Jean nodded and leaned closer, his eyes closing again. I couldn’t help but smile. Something about him now was just so irresistibly sweet.

My hands had become as cool as the lotion by this point, so when I spread a dab across Jean’s left cheek, he was practically putty in my hand. He let out an alleviated breath and leaned into my touch, his brows furrowing and relaxing whenever I cooled his torrid skin. I ran a thumb over his forehead and gently trailed it down the side of his face before taking back my hand.

I recapped the lotion bottle and smiled nonchalantly at him. “All done. Feel any better—”

Before I had time to finish, Jean had taken hold of my wrists and held my hands up to his cheeks. His lids fell over his caramel eyes as my cooled hands brought down his face’s temperature. His brows furrowed, and a grimace set on his lips. I could tell that he was frustrated, if not with his sunburn then with himself. He brought his hands up to mine and kept them in place, occasionally stroking them with his thumbs.

“Thank you,” he mumbled, finally releasing my hands and opening his eyes.

I grinned and stood to my feet. “Don’t mention it.” As I put away the lotion bottle, I added, “Just remember to use sunscreen next time.”

Jean scowled at me and snatched his shirt from the floor. “Shut up.” He pulled his shirt over his head and on his body, but cringed at the obvious stinging pain crawling across his skin.

I shook my head and left the room. “You’re an idiot.”