Jonnor, Please!
A crossover fic co-written by benji2795 and G8rguy
Summary: Jude Adams Foster is ready to go to college and he wants a fresh start away from Anchor Beach and California. After a disappointing high school career including his senior year as the only gay kid in their school and never having even one date, Jude wants to be somewhere he can start over. After submitting his portfolio, he is admitted to a number of schools to pursue an art degree but one school stands out as a place known to be accepting to gay and lesbian students...something Jude thinks he is ready for.
And Bitty is desperate to keep his hopeless crush on Jack under wraps. When he meets Jude, though he doesn't know it, Jude turns out to be the perfect cover. But will it work out the way they both intend it to?
This chapter written by G8rguy and originally posted on AO3 on January 7, 2016
Jude stepped out of the rental car and smiled. He heard Lena and Stef shut their doors as they all looked at the freshman dorm where he will be living for his first year at Samwell University.
"Excited hon?" Stef says coming around the car and grabbing him in a hug.
"Yes!" Jude sighs in satisfaction. Deciding to attend Samwell was a big deal for Jude but he was very excited, even if it meant that he was far from his California home. Samwell was known as a very liberal and gay friendly university and after his struggles at Anchor Beach, he needed a fresh start. Though they had a strict anti-bullying policy, Anchor Beach also lacked anything resembling a gay student body. When Jude came out to his family junior year, he had not met another gay teen except Callie's friend Cole. He didn't know anyone else and his circle of friends was pretty small and mostly female. Maddie, Taylor, Chelsea, and Daria had all become his friends in 7th grade and they had made a tight circle that lasted till graduation.
Maddie had been the first person he ever told he was gay outside his family and she helped him come out to the rest of the girls. By his senior year he was out at school and hoped that maybe, just maybe, someone else would come out too but it didn't happen. He did have a crush on one boy on the baseball team, Jake Murphy, but it was more of a wish than reality as he was dating Tina Gunderson, the captain of the cheerleading team, for all of senior year as the power couple. The worst part was she was actually really nice and supported Jude when he came out so he couldn't even resent her.
But now, now he was starting over at Samwell and he was very excited to be somewhere no one knew him and he could be whoever he wanted. It took some serious convincing to get his moms to agree, but with his grades, his grandmother Sharon's college fund, and some scholarships...Jude could cover going to Samwell.
His moms helped him move his stuff in to his dorm room where he met his roommate Thomas, an econ major from Philadelphia, who was nice. They went out for supplies for his room and groceries and got the room set up. They went to their hotel to check in and Jude got to meet several of his fellow freshman before going out for dinner with his moms. They came over in the morning before their flight to walk around campus for a while, stopping at a cool coffee shop called "Annie's" before they hugged and left for the airport leaving Jude all on his own for the first time since Callie and Brandon had rescued him.
He was also excited because Brandon was at Julliard in New York and Mariana was at MIT in Boston, which made his moms and Mariana really happy.
Jude had liked Samwell's reputation, but what really excited him was the reputation of the Samwell Fine Arts program. As an Art major, Jude jumped into the program on his first day and had a blast. He loves his classes, his teachers, and his fellow art students. One of his TAs in art theory helped Jude connect with Professor Janis who had reviewed Jude's portfolio of paintings and was interested in mentoring Jude.
Jude had started painting not long after coming to live with Stef & Lena and the rest of the Adams-Fosters before being adopted and discovered he had real talent. He loved it and was really good at it. He had looked at several art schools, but something about them didn't sit well with him like Samwell did.
Jude spent the first half of the semester loving life. He had friends, a great faculty mentor, and a campus that constantly surprised him. The one drawback? No love life yet. One, because he wasn't out yet at school. It wasn't that he was in the closet but he just hadn't really talked about things. And two, he was a hopeless romantic who had watched way too many romance movies and might have read one too many Nicholas Sparks books. But he was busy and that's what matters most.
He was working in the studio about three weeks before Halloween when a voice startled him. "Nice" she said. Jude turned around and saw a very short girl with purple highlights in her hair staring at his painting. "Like how you painted the lights and shadows on her face." Jude had painted a stylized portrait of Mariana from her Quinceañera standing in between shadows and sunlight.
"Thanks...it's my sister" Jude said wondering who the girl is.
"Doesn't look like you" she said with a quirked eyebrow.
"Adopted" Jude smiled.
"Who's the guy?" she asked curiously.
Jude was surprised. He had painted Jesus, but only in shadows and in empty spaces so that you didn't see him if you looked directly at it, but he had tried to create the impression he was there without including him and he was impressed by her perception.
"That's Jesus...Mariana's twin. I wanted to include him but not take away from her since the Quinceañera is for her" Jude explained.
"What's a Quinceañera?" she asked.
Jude explained about the celebration that serves as a coming of age for Latina girls and that leads into the story of Mariana's party and the drama. The girl, who introduced herself finally as Lardo, invites Jude for coffee and he ends up sharing his life story to her, much to his surprise. It turns out she is a junior art student who is also being mentored by Professor Janis so they end up spending a lot of time together over the next few days. Jude loves hanging out with her for her razor sharp wit, something that Jude has missed since he last saw Taylor, and she laughs when he gets her back.
And her artwork is amazing! She is much more avant garde than Jude but she knows technique, style, and history. She introduces him to many of the upperclass art students so he makes even more friends on campus.
"So Jude" Lardo says a few days before Halloween "got any plans for Halloween?"
"Nothing in particular" Jude admits. "There are some things happening in the dorms, but nothing really major...why?"
"Well, some of my bros on the hockey team are having a party at their house and I wanted to know if you wanted to come?" she asked him casually.
"You hang out with the hockey team?" Jude asks surprised.
"Actually" Lardo laughs at his reaction "I'm the team manager. They are my boys" she tells him proudly.
Jude laughs knowing that she probably has half the team scared of her and the other half hopelessly in love with her. Lardo is one of the most interesting people he knows and he totally can see her overwhelming giant hockey guys. At 6'2 Jude is not short, but he is lean and lanky, but she intimidates him without trying. They talk for a while before he agrees to come and he just shakes his head at going to a party at a house on frat row.
Apparently the big part of the party, Lardo tells him, is the introduction of the 'frogs' to the team...officially. The deal is that for the first part of their freshmen year, new teammates (called 'frogs') get initiated to the team before being full-fledged members. This party will be their first one as teammates, though not their last. Lardo tells Jude that they have a party for winning a game, losing a game, any holiday, and sometimes for no reason at all, but the one thing you can count on is that all of the partys are epic.
The night of the party comes and Jude is walking across campus trying not to laugh. Lardo has dressed as a hipster Disney princess, Belle to be precise, and got two other girls to dress as hipster Ariel and hipster Snow White. Jude stayed with the theme and is going as hipster Aladdin. They walked into a house that looked like it had seen a lot of living but the amazing thing was the smell. There was the most amazing aromas of cinnamon, pumpkin, and nutmeg that Jude had smelled outside of Lena's kitchen.
Lardo laughed at Jude's reaction. "That's Bitty" she told him. "He is one of the players and he bakes the most amazing pies. And everything else" she adds after a moment. Leaving the other girls who had made a line for the keg, Jude and Lardo go through a door where they are overwhelmed by the amazing smells and a very short baker dressed as hipster Peter Pan. Jude laughs and the guy looks up and smiles this amazing smile. "LARDO!" he yells. "Honey you look amazing!"
He comes over and gives her a hug before turning towards Jude. "Hipster Aladdin" he smiles and Jude can really hear a southern twang. "Sweetheart that is perfect on you!" he says before dashing to the oven and pulling out a tray of cookies that look amazing but the smell nearly causes Jude to faint.
"What are those?" Jude asks feeling his mouth water.
"Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin Cookies" Bitty replies happily as Lardo hands Jude a cup with beer in it and smiles at his expression.
They stay and chat for a while and Jude can't believe that Bitty is on the hockey team. In addition to baking he is a former figure skater, but now plays on the hockey team and according to Lardo, he's really good on it. Jude and Eric, Bitty's real name he discovers, connect almost instantly when Jude starts talking about his mama and grandma Dana's cooking, much to Eric's delight. Jude discovers he has a vlog and makes a note to check it out later.
"BITTY!" these two giants yell as they come bursting in the kitchen. "You have to come. Time for the frogs to face the Haus!" the blond one, Jude later learns is called Holster, says. Eric laughs and all three of them leave the kitchen to head out to the main room where the crowd has gathered.
A guy with a serious mustache and flowing hair is standing there, beer in hand, demanding silence as he points at four guys kneeling on the ground in front of him. "That's Shitty" Lardo says with a smile.
Jude looks at her. "What's so shitty about it?" he asks.
Lardo looks at him and laughs. "No...the guy with the 'stache. His name is Shitty and he's a senior on the team." Lardo smirks and laughs again at Jude's face. Why would they call him that he wonders.
"Attention Samwell friends and family. You are here for the 'Naming of the Frogs!' A time honored and sacred ceremony whereby we toss aside the names you came in with for your Samwell University Men's Hockey Team names. These names you shall forevermore be known by!" Shitty announces very pompously to much laughter.
"Ransom" Shitty calls out one of the giants from the kitchen. "Go first!" he commands.
Ransom walks up to the first guy, a red head with a lot of freckles. "William Poindexter!" he announces "from this day forward you shall be called...DEX!"
The whole crowd yells "HELLO DEX!" catching Jude by surprise. Ransom and Dex walk off to the keg.
"Holster" Shitty calls on the other giant.
Holster walks up to a guy with a very heavy scruff and a tattoo on his arm, though he looks more hipster than Jude at the moment. "Derek!" he announces "from this day forward you shall be called...Nursey!" he yells.
The whole crowd, Jude too this time, yells "HELLO NURSEY!" Holster and Nursey follow the first two to the keg where it appears they are getting a celebratory cup.
"Bitty" Shitty calls and Jude sees Eric walk up to stand behind a guy with braces who is smiling so hard Jude wonders if his face is going to break. "Chris Chow!" Eric calls out and Jude smiles at how he is smiling at the guy kneeling there. "From this day forward, you shall be called...Chowder!"
The whole crowd yells "HELLO CHOWDER" and Jude laughs at how Chowder's face lights up with joy and excitement as he and Eric walk off together.
As Eric and Chow are moving off the guy in front of Jude finally moves and he can see the fourth guy kneeling in front of the crowd and Jude catches his breath. The guy is, in a word, beautiful. Dirty blond hair, beautiful eyes, and a smile that lights up the room which is hard to do after Chowder and Eric but he does. Jude swallows and feels himself growing hot and flustered by this guy.
"Captain!" Shitty calls out. "As is tradition, will you do the honor of introducing our last frog?"
Everyone claps as Jude sees a tall, really good looking guy walk up. Dark hair and blue eyes with the most amazing ass he has ever seen on a human being! This must be the famous Jack that everyone talks about. He smiles, but Jude recognizes the reserved and controlled way he stands in front of the crowd.
"Connor Stevens!" Jack yells "from this day forward you shall be called...Con!"
"HELLO CON" yells everyone except Jude who says it quietly with a twinkle in his eye.