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After a morning of being bombarded by text messages from his boyfriend, Jude had decided to give in and spend the day at Connor's. The two of them had decided to get together and watch a few movies, maybe play a few video games.
Jude always liked movie days at Connor's, sometimes it's was just nice to get away from the hustle and bustle that came with having four brothers and sisters.
The two were about half way into their second movie and Jude was becoming increasingly distracted by the boy just out the corner of his eye.
"Would you stop?" Jude laughed eventually, unable to take anymore.
"Stop what?" Connor asked innocently.
Jude tore his eyes off the screen to face his boyfriend, "you know full well what," he accused. "Staring at me."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Connor shrugged and scooted closer to Jude.
"I'm trying to watch the movie."
"Yeah well," Connor pecked Jude's cheek, "I'm not."
Jude shoved Connor's shoulder and leaned away from him so he could see the screen, "I wanna see how it ends!"
Connor grabbed the remote and pressed pause, "they save Private Ryan, Miller dies, some stuff explodes."
Jude huffed, grabbed the remote off Connor and turned off the TV, "you're an ass."
"Yeah, but like...a pretty fine ass, right?" Connor kissed Jude again, "right?"
"Nope," Jude crossed his arms and stuck out his bottom lip.
"C'mon, put that bottom lip away."
Jude shook his head and attempted to frown at Connor, ended up laughing as Connor started to tickle him.
"Okay!" Jude laughed, "okay! Stop it!"
"Are you gonna stop sulking?" Connor demanded, unrelenting in his attack.
"Yes! Fine! Get off!"
Connor pulled his hands away, still chuckling at a now breathless, pink-faced Jude.
"Can we watch something else? You did just ruin the movie for me."
"Guess that's fair, but I wanna choose this time."
Connor pushed himself off the couch and opened the cabinet under the TV stand.
"Simpsons Movie?" He asked, holding up the DVD.
Jude shrugged, "sure."
Connor changed the disc over in the DVD player and resumed his place on the couch, snuggling into Jude's side.
Jude smiled and wrapped his arm around Connor's shoulder, who reached up to hold his hand. There they remained for a good portion of the movie, tangled together with the their legs tucked under one another, stealing occasional kisses.
Just as Homer was about to enter the 'Ball of Death', Jude pressed a kiss to the top of Connor's head, and Connor twisted to kiss him back.
As Connor's lips met Jude's jaw, Connor heard a voice that drained the colour from his face.
"Connor!" Adam had returned home early. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"
Connor launched himself of the couch, quickly letting go of Jude.
"Dad! It's not what you think, we were just-"
Adam took a step closer to his son, "do you have any idea how inappropriate this is!"
Connor held his hands up in defence, "honest, we weren't doing anything."
"You're way too young to be doing that sort of thing, Connor! You're fourteen for God's sake."
"We were just sitting -"
"You were on top of each other."
"We were just cuddling, weren't making out or anything, it was totally innocent."
Adam scoffed, "yeah, that's how it starts. If I'd've been a few minutes later, you two could've been -"
"I don't want to have sex with him Dad! Neither of us want to go that far, don't you think we know how young we are?"
"I shouldn't have left you alone. I should never have let him over while I was at work. You're never to have him here unless I'm home! Downstairs, doors open, and I don't want to see you on top of each other like that again! Am I understood."
Connor grabbed his father by the arm and tried to pull him out into the hallway, "can we talk about this somewhere else, Dad please," he asked urgently.
"This is my house, Connor! Don't start thinking you can start telling me what to do, just because Jude's here doesn't mean you have any authority -"
Before Adam could finish his rant, a shout came from the other end of the living room.
"Stop it!"
The feuding pair turned toward the source of the noise. They were greeted by Jude, who was standing in the far corner, hands over his ears and tears streaming down his face.
"Just stop," he repeated quietly.
Connor quickly covered his mouth, stemming the flow of angry words, and rushed to Jude's side. He wrapped his arms tightly around the crying boy and eased himself and Jude to the floor.
Connor carefully took Jude's hands and pulled them away from his ears and hugged Jude as close to him as he could, "I'm sorry Jude," he whispered, "I didn't think - I'm really sorry."
Jude took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut.
Connor looked at Adam, eyes angry and venomous.
"I uhm," Adam stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck, "what just..."
"Let's just say Jude hasn't exactly had the best experience with adults screaming at their kids for being gay" Connor spat, not really wanting to go into detail. After all, he had no clue how much Jude wanted Adam to know, or what could upset his boyfriend further. "And on top of that, between me getting shot, the trouble with Callie's adoption, he's stressed out enough as it is, it's not surprising he's upset," Connor's voice raised again.
"Don't Connor," he heard Jude mutter and he immediately stopped himself.
"Sorry," he apologise for a third time.
"Listen, I wasn't yelling at you for being gay," Adam clarified.
Connor let go of Jude and stood, "that's how it feels, Dad," he replied quietly.
"I didn't mean to come across that way. I just don't want you getting into things you're not ready for."
"We're not," Connor trying his hardest not to raise his voice again to his father, however frustrated he was, "I told you we don't want to...we're not ready to have sex. You wouldn't listen. And even if we were, we wouldn't do it in the middle of the living room."
"Maybe I can be a little stubborn when it comes to you and Jude," Adam admitted.
"I don't see what's wrong with sitting with my boyfriend and watching movies. I should be allowed to cuddle him on the couch and kiss him if I want to."
"Alright, look, I guess I can stretch to that," Adam offered a small smile to his son, testing the waters.
"Jude's moms let us go upstairs."
"I don't know about -" he was cut off by Connor's glare, "fine. You can be upstairs, but door open, deal."
"Deal."
Adam took a step closer to Jude, "and Jude, I'm really sorry if I freaked you out."
He really had never seen Jude so vulnerable before. To Adam, he'd always seemed a little precocious and quite strong willed. Sure, he'd seen him cry when he'd not been allowed to see Connor at the hospital, but he hadn't look as small then as he did now.
Adam looked at the boy, eyes tightly closed, rocking slightly in his son's arms. He must really have gone through some shit, Adam thought. He didn't know the details of what had happened while Jude was in foster care, he wasn't close enough to the boy to have been told, but from what his son had just told him Adam was sure it couldn't have been pleasant.
Connor helped Jude up off the floor, "I'm gonna walk Jude home."
"We'll finish this when you get back."
Connor huffed, "yeah."
Connor took Jude's hand and lead him out the door.
The majority of the walk back to Jude's took place in silence. Neither of them had too much to say besides a couple more apologies from Connor, a tight squeeze of the other's hand. When they finally reached the front door of the Adams Foster house, Jude reached for the handle, but was stopped by Connor, who had yet to let go of his hand.
"Wait a sec."
Jude stopped in his tracks and turned back to him.
"I know you're probably pissed at me. I know I upset you, but could I hang here for a while? I'm not really in the mood for another talk with my Dad."
Jude sighed, "I'm not pissed with you Connor. You didn't mean to freak me out, neither did your Dad. Hell, I didn't even know it would hit me like that."
Connor felt his shoulder loosen, "so you're not..."
Jude shook his head and smiled a little, "I'm not angry with you Connor. I'm pissed at the way your Dad treated you, but I am not in any way angry with you."
Jude opened the front door and stepped inside, gesturing at Connor to follow him.
"Thanks," Connor followed Jude into the living room.
"Any time. I'll let Mama know you're staying for dinner."
Connor watched Jude leave for the kitchen and dropped himself onto the sofa. Despite Jude's comforting words, he couldn't help the guilt that was looming over him. He couldn't believe he'd hurt Jude like that. If he'd just kept hold of his temper. God, he could be stupid sometimes. He knew what had happened to Jude when his old foster father had though he was gay. He should have brought Jude home straight away and saved the argument for later, but what was done was done and he'd just have to live with knowing he'd caused his boyfriend such distress.
Deep in his thoughts, Connor didn't notice Jude sitting next to him, until he heard his voice.
"Shall we finish what we started?" Jude asked, brandishing the TV remote and holding a bowl of popcorn in his lap.
"You're sure you're okay?" Connor replied, completely ignoring Jude's question.
Jude rolled his eyes, "yes," he stressed, "honest, Connor. I'm fine. You understand why it happened and you put a stop to it straight away, that means a lot. I'm okay, we're okay. Now let's just get on with the movie, yeah?"
Connor nodded, "yeah," and let Jude squish himself into his arms.
It was amazing how different it felt to sit with Jude at the Adam Fosters', compared to in his own home. When Connor was at home, he felt himself constantly looking over his shoulder, it always took him a little longer to relax with his dad around. When he was at Jude's, everything felt so normal. He could cuddle up to Jude and not worry about anyone finding them together on the couch, and the worst consequence to him pecking Jude's cheek in front of one of his mums or siblings was a deep blush that would flood over his face and spread right up to his ears when someone commented on it.
He rested his head on top of Jude's and let himself relax into watching the rest of the movie.
When the end credits finally rolled up the screen, Jude and Connor set about discussing what they should watch next. They'd whittled it down to either 'Yes Man' or 'Meet the Fockers' and we're still debating when Stef returned home from work.
Upon hearing Stef call out a greeting to her family, Connor excused himself from his conversation with Jude and went after her.
"Stef?"
He caught her just as she was heading upstairs.
"Oh, hey Connor. I thought you and Jude were hanging out at your place today bud?"
"Uh, yeah. That didn't really go to plan."
Stef sat on the bottom step and tapped the space next to her, urging Connor to sit beside her.
"What happened, love?"
Connor delved into the story of his dad coming home and finding him and Jude cuddling on the couch together, his dad screaming at him, and Jude freaking out.
Stef waited patiently for him to finish, before adding her thoughts to the situation.
"Y'know that happened to me when I was a kid."
Connor glanced up at her, "really?"
Stef nodded, "oh yeah. Back when I was in high school, I had this friend, Tess Brown. One day, after school we were lying on the couch together. My dad found us, he went nuts, I mean absolutely nuts. Sent me to the minister at our church."
"So your dad was like mine?"
Stef nodded again, "and I'm doing okay, right? I've got a beautiful wife, five loving kids. It might be hard in the beginning, but you'll get there. And you've always got Lena and I to chat to if you need, 'cause trust me, we've been there."
"Thanks, Stef."
Stef gave him a quick hug and got up from the step, "now, I need to get out of this uniform. You feelin' okay?"
"Yeah."
"And Jude's fine?"
"He says so," Connor wasn't necessarily sure he believed his boyfriend, but nevertheless.
"Okay. Why don't you go find Jude and get washed up for dinner."
Connor had to admit, he was happy to have Stef and Lena there for him. He was of half a mind to ask one of them to drive him home later, just to talk some sense in Adam. Perhaps he'd bring it up after dinner, but for the time being, he was happy enough to be with his boyfriend and enjoy the freedom to be close to him, without judgement.