So this is my new multichapter fanfic. It's based off this prompt from myfavoritythings on Tumblr: Person A is the star of something and has been dating Person B for several years in secret, but then Person B does not want to be a secret anymore. I'm taking this and modifying it slightly (as you can probably already tell from the summary), but I just really love the whole premise. I'm starting it out slow, building the entire story from the moment they met. I really hope you all enjoy this fic…it's going to be a wild ride y'all so hold on :)
It had all started out innocently enough.
One night Jude had gone (okay he'd been dragged) to a club with his friends. It was getting late, and Jude had almost finished sipping his drink. All his friends had left him and Jude was sitting in a booth by himself, getting ready to pay his tab and head home. That was when a stout man who looked to be about his age sat down across from him. He had dark, sandy blond hair, with bright hazel eyes and a wide, toothy smile.
"C-can I help you?" Jude asked, wondering why this other man had sat down with him. Jude wasn't the kind of guy that others chased down in clubs. And this guy was not the kind of guy who would be chasing after someone like him. He was far too attractive and way out of Jude's league.
"You looked a little lonely," the other man shrugged. "I thought you might like some company for a while."
"That's really nice of you, but I was actually just about to head out," Jude replied flatly.
"Oh," he said, his face immediately falling. "That's cool. I'm sorry to have bothered you."
"But you know, I guess I could stay a little longer," Jude rapidly interjected. He looked a bit like a kicked puppy and it made Jude feel guilty about just leaving without at least chatting for a few minutes. And there was just something in this guy's eyes that Jude felt drawn to.
"Okay!" he chirped, grinning widely. "My name's Connor."
"Nice to meet you Connor, I'm Jude," Jude answered, reaching out and shaking Connor's hand.
"Oh, like The Beatles song!"
"Yeah, like The Beatles song," Jude giggled. Connor may be a large, burly man, but his enthusiasm and energy was far more reminiscent of a young child than an adult.
"I'm sorry, you must be tired of hearing that," Connor said.
"Not really," Jude lied. He was tired of hearing it, but for some reason, he didn't mind when Connor said it. With Connor's smooth, soothing voice, he could say pretty much anything (within reason) and Jude wouldn't mind the least bit. "Those are some nice muscles. You look like you must be an athlete," Jude continued, smiling as he made flirty small talk. Or at least he was trying to; Jude had almost no experience with flirting and he was clueless as to whether he was being successful or not.
"Professional baseball player," Connor answered proudly. "Last year's third round pick of the San Diego Padres."
"I'll be honest, other than the baseball part, I didn't understand any of what you just said," Jude said with a frown.
"Don't worry about that," Connor chuckled. "I'm surrounded by people talking about baseball every minute of every day and it gets tiring."
"I can imagine," Jude chuckled. "So you play for the Padres huh?" Baseball and the Padres, that was the extent of what Jude got from the things Connor had said.
"Well um, I actually don't," Connor mumbled. "Not yet anyway. I'm just some guy in their minor league system with a dream of making it to the big leagues."
"Well I'm sure you'll get there some day," Jude assured, giving Connor a gentle pat on the shoulder. "I mean, you said you were like picked third or something, right? I mean, I don't know anything about baseball but I remember that in high school gym class getting picked in like the top five was always a big deal; it meant you were really good."
"You know, you're the first person that's looked at it that way," Connor laughed. "I guess maybe you're right, I will get there someday. But anyway, enough about me, tell me what you do," Connor inquired, resting his elbows on the table and his head on his hands, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly as he studied Jude intently. Jude felt himself blushing under Connor's gaze. Connor wasn't looking at him like he was judging him like some guys did, or even like a piece of meat as a small few did, but rather like he was curious, simply taking in and observing Jude's every feature.
"W-well nothing r-right now," Jude stuttered nervously, biting his lip. "I'm still just a college student."
"What are you studying then?"
"Um, creative writing," Jude replied.
"You know, I had always thought that if I didn't make it playing baseball I would be a writer," Connor mused.
"Why do you have to pick?" Jude wondered. "I mean, other than your games, don't you have a lot of free time?"
"I wish," Connor snorted. "This is the first free night I've had in a few weeks. Baseball is my job Jude. So whenever I'm not playing, I'm still doing something to get ready to play. That means I'm at the gym working out, or I'm in the cages taking batting practice, or I'm working with one of my coaches on my fielding technique. Stuff like that; you know the list just goes on and on. I'm almost always working."
"That uh, that sounds really intense."
"Yeah," Connor sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I love baseball, I mean, I wouldn't still be playing if I didn't. It's just—sometimes the grind just really wears me down. Every now and then, I wish I was in your shoes."
Jude swallowed suddenly, gagging as his drink went into his lungs instead of his stomach.
"You think my life is easy?" he gasped when he gained some semblance of control over his breathing again.
"Well no, I was just thinking that it's different, you know?" Connor explained. "With what I do, there's rarely any change to the routine. Day to day, it's all the same and I feel like that's not the way things are for you."
"Ha, I think not," Jude grunted. "My routine consists of class, library, apartment, and then repeat."
"Yeah, but you're always learning something different," Connor countered. "Everything I'm learning, I already know; it's just all about practicing those same things over and over again."
"I feel like that kind of consistency would be comforting honestly," Jude confessed. As someone who had experienced a lot of turmoil in his life, Jude found peace in the predictable.
"It's not," Connor answered flatly. "It's just left me feeling empty. That's why I'm out here tonight. I was looking to do something different and maybe find someone to talk to for a while."
"I'm here because my friends dragged me here," Jude griped.
"At least you have friends," Connor lamented.
"What about your teammates?" Jude wondered, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"They're all nice guys, don't get me wrong," Connor shrugged. "They just don't really get me, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," Jude admitted. "I mean, look at my friends. They all abandoned me. So no friends, but what about your family?"
"I only have my dad, and all he cares about is baseball and getting drunk," Connor said softly. "It's just me and baseball."
"Well now you have—" Jude started before being interrupted. The club, which had been fairly quiet up to that point, was suddenly filled with booming music, making any conversation nearly impossible. Jude groaned, throwing his hands up in frustration.
"You wanna go somewhere else?" Connor shouted, his voice barely audible over the din. Jude nodded, rising and waving for Connor to follow him out.
"Anyway, I was saying that now you have me too," Jude finished once they were outside, giving Connor a small smile. "Sooooooo…where can we go?" Jude added, awkwardly standing there with his hands shoved in his pockets.
"W-well we could g-go back to my place for a w-while," Connor spluttered nervously, his cheeks turning a dark shade of pink. Jude felt his heart drop at the suggestion. Connor seemed like a really nice guy and after everything they just talked about, Jude just hated to have to turn his offer down.
"I'm really flattered Connor, but I'm not that kind of guy," Jude replied sadly.
"That's good thing cause I'm not either," Connor countered. "I just thought it would be a nice private place to talk."
Jude eyed Connor suspiciously. Jude had no reason to trust Connor; he had just met him not fifteen minutes ago.
"It's okay, I get it," Connor reassured. "Why don't we find like a coffee shop or something?"
"At 12:30 in the morning?" Jude scoffed. "There wouldn't be one open."
"Oh yeah," Connor said quietly. "You're probably right."
Jude sighed, running the strands of his hair in between his fingers; there was that "kicked puppy" look again. He could feel his resolve weakening. Damn, how did this guy already have this kind of a hold on him?
"Okay sure, we can go back to your place," Jude said, caving in. Connor was willing to go somewhere else to talk, that had to be a good sign about his intentions, right? Plus Connor's eyes just seemed so genuine; he couldn't be lying to him. Jude's gut feeling was a good one, so all of those factors combined were enough to convince him to go. Connor's face instantly lit up and he bounced off. Jude's stomach flipped, a small grin forming on his lips as he trudged after Connor.
Connor's apartment was a small, almost shabby looking place. The two pieces of furniture in Connor's living room (a couch and the small table which his TV sat on) appeared incredibly beat up. The couch had numerous rips in it, stuffing poking out from the cushions, and one of the legs on the table was jutting out at an odd angle, giving it an unstable and rickety look. The room itself was small, with yellowing white wallpaper, tainted by streaks of numerous colors. The carpet was brown and threadbare, seemingly random patches ripped up to reveal the gray concrete underneath.
"This is pretty awful place, isn't it?" Connor grimaced. "I'm sorry you have to see this, I didn't think about that. I guess since I'm in here most days, I kinda forgot about how rough this place looks. Being a minor league player doesn't pay much."
"Well I suppose we could always go to my place," Jude suggested. Connor seemed sincerely upset and self-conscious about Jude having to see his apartment. Jude really didn't mind staying at Connor's apartment, but if it would make Connor feel better, Jude would bring him back to his place, even if that meant getting a severe ribbing from his flatmate.
"You don't mind?"
"Not at all," Jude assured him.
"Let me just grab my bag then just in case I stay too late," Connor said, bounding a few steps into his bedroom.
"Why do you need that?" Jude wondered when Connor back out with not a bag, but a rolling suitcase.
"My team leaves on a twelve game road trip tomorrow—well today," Connor griped. "After ten games on the road, we got only three home games before going on the road again."
"Really, you're leaving today?" Jude groaned.
"Yeah, in like," Connor paused, glancing down at his watch, "five hours."
"So let me get this straight," Jude said as they started walking towards his apartment. "I finally meet a guy who I like, and said guy likes me, but said guy is leaving for a long time the same day I meet him? Great, just fantastic."
"Yeah, I can't say I'm thrilled about this either. It's one of the things I hate most about this," Connor grumbled. "It's so hard to meet people because I'm gone so much. But hey, we still have almost four hours, so let's not waste that."
Jude nodded in agreement, and after that they strolled in silence until they reached Jude's apartment. Jude carefully opened the door, finding his flatmate wide awake, playing some video game.
"Well at least we won't have to worry about waking him up," Jude chuckled.
"Who's 'we'?" his flatmate shot back quickly.
"O-oh," Jude stuttered, surprised by the sudden outburst. "Justin, this is Connor." Connor waved as Justin's eyes went as big as saucers.
"Jude, you—you brought a boy back to the apartment?" he asked incredulously.
"You say that like it's an impossible feat," Jude retorted.
"Well, I mean it's not, you just never have before," Justin argued.
"There's always a first time for everything," Jude sassed.
"True, true. Looks like you really scored there, Jude," Justin smirked, looking Connor up and down.
"Down boy!" Jude joked. "Besides, he's not here for that. We're just going to talk."
"Alright then, just don't talk too loud," Justin said smugly, being sure to add air quotes around the word "talk". Jude sneered, flipping Justin off before leading Connor into his bedroom.
"Rawr," Connor giggled. "Someone's feeling a little feisty."
"Not really. It's Justin; he brings it out of me. We're always going at each other like that," Jude shrugged. Connor ran over and flopped down on Jude's bed, lying there for a second before sitting up and crossing his legs, perking his head up and glancing around the room earnestly.
"Star Wars fan, huh?" Connor commented, taking in the numerous posters adorning Jude's walls and the action figures crowding every open surface. "Woah dude, you have a Revenge of the Jedi poster? These are so rare, how did you get one?"
"My moms found it at a garage sale," Jude explained. "They bought it, not really thinking anything of it until they brought it home and I flipped out. So I take it you're a Star Wars fan too."
"Not really," Connor admitted. "I've just heard about the poster before."
"Oh, I see," Jude responded, sitting down on the bed across from Connor.
From there, they talked about anything and everything that came to mind, making use of every last second of the four hours they had. Jude had never felt a connection with someone quite like he did with Connor. At one point, Jude looked at his watch and saw that it was 6:00 AM. He sighed heavily.
"You have to go now," he pointed out, but not making any move to usher Connor out.
"Well I kinda need a ride to the stadium," Connor said sheepishly.
"I'll take you!" Jude exclaimed, a little too quickly. But Connor was leaving for nearly two weeks dammit; Jude was going to get as much time out of Connor as he could.
"Okay Jude," Connor chortled. Jude scurried out of the room, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up his cheeks.
When they arrived at the stadium, Jude turned to Connor, giving him his best pout.
"This is so unfair," Jude complained, maintaining his pout as he spoke.
"Come on, walk up with me," Connor urged, getting out of the car and grabbing his suitcase. Jude didn't have to be told twice, stumbling over himself getting out and following Connor, simultaneously cursing himself for his eagerness. Connor just laughed, gently nudging Jude with his shoulder. Connor loaded his suitcase on the bus and turned back to Jude, nervously fiddling with his hands. "Even though we just met, I think I'm going to miss you a lot," Connor sighed.
"I know I'm going to miss you," Jude declared. Shit, how did he get so attached to Connor in just a few hours?
"Here, give me your phone," Connor commanded, and Jude willingly complied. Connor punched in his contact information, sending a quick text. He then handed Jude back his phone and took out his own. A message flashed across Jude's screen, showing up under Connor's name (which had a fair number of odd emojis added to the end)
Hey Jude :)
"There, now you better text me," Connor instructed.
"I might," Jude teased. "I'll have to think about it."
"Jude," Connor giggled, trying to glare at him at the same time.
"I'm just kidding Con, of course I'll text you," Jude grinned.
"Stevens! You better get your ass on this bus if you want to play!" someone growled from behind them.
"That's coach calling me," Connor bemoaned. "I have to go. Pick me up when we get back?"
"Sure."
"Okay, I'll text you the details," Connor replied. "See you then Jude," he finished, waving before shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Bye Connor," Jude said, returning his wave. And with that, Connor hopped on the bus and the team started rolling away. Jude exhaled; two weeks was going to feel like an eternity. His phone dinged.
Connor: I miss you already :(
Okay, strike that, it wouldn't feel like an eternity, it would actually be an eternity.