Disclaimer: I don't own The Fosters or anything pertaining to it except my own writing.
A/N: Saw this prompt on Tumblr (because I was in desperate need of writing Jonnor) and wrote my own oneshot version of it. *smiley. Thank you, and #blueforjonnor.
Honestly, Jude had never really thought about the way he looked. It was something unchangeable, and why dwell on the permanent? He was okay with his normal brown hair and eyes, with his skinny arms. It didn't really matter.
Until Daria's pool party. Jude loved to swim; it had always been one of his favorite things anywhere he had been given the time to do so. He wasn't one of those people who wore a shirt or anything, definitely not a Speedo. Just a regular pair of swim trunks suited him just fine and he didn't give it much thought. But when he thought more about the party, the more nervous he became.
Connor would be there. Connor would see him without a shirt. Sure, a completely normal thing for friends or anyone in a relationship, but Jude was very aware of Connor's muscles and workout schedule. Standing beside him, Jude was like a flower stem compared to a tree. It was daunting, despite Jude wishing so much that it wasn't, and he was scared.
What if Connor realized Jude was a skinny nothing? Weak and not worth his time, in a different position now that they weren't only friends? Jude wasn't impractical; he knew there wasn't any time to suddenly build up the kind of muscles his boyfriend had. Maybe he could just say he didn't feel well, and then wouldn't have to go in the water. That could be okay. But Connor would be disappointed, and possibly even not go in himself. Then Connor wouldn't have a good time, thanks to Jude.
Jude shook his head at himself. What a terrible time to become suddenly self-conscious. And what for? It didn't matter if things were different; more so than not they were the same–best friends, so close they told each other everything, especially now. Just because it was official that they were more than friends didn't mean Jude had to act any different, right?
He loved to swim. He wanted to swim. So he would.
So Jude, it turned out, had spent so much time thinking about how he would look to Connor, he never even had a spare second to think about the fact that it wasn't just him going to be without a shirt. So would Connor.
And if this had caused Jude to trip over the leg of the pool chair and slip, fully clothed, into the pool… no one had to know the reason why.