I Wanna Dance With Somebody
Connor was nervous. No, wait. Scratch that. Take being a regular sort of nervous and multiply it by not studying for a big test then divide that by having to tell his dad he'd failed said test and you might be able to come close to feeling how Connor felt.
"Whatever it is, Connor, you might as well ask and get it over with, kid," Adam said, never looking up from his work spread across their kitchen table. "You look like you're going to pass out any second."
Connor stumbled slightly, his eyes widening a fraction.
"H-how did you, ahem, how did you know I was there? And who says I want to ask something?"
Adam looked up, his glasses halfway down his nose, one eyebrow rose as if daring Connor to disagree with him.
"Okay, fine. I need to ask you something. And tell. Ask and tell you something. Tell and ask you something." Connor rambled. He could feel the sweat as it broke out on his brow. He silently cursed himself.
Adam chuckled.
"Ask away. Or tell. Whichever." Adam grinned.
Connor took a deep break in and held it for a couple of seconds before slowly letting it out and stepping around the table so he could take a seat beside his father.
"You know we went to the beach today with Callie, right? Jude and me, I mean."
"Course I do. I was the one to drop you off this morning, remember?" Adam grinned.
"Right. Okay. So a friend of Callie's showed up while we were there. Um, Cole. His name is Cole and he invited us somewhere and dad, I really, really want to go but I don't know if you're going to let me and I'm kind of scared to even ask but if I don't ask I'll just end up sneaking out again and we both know how well that worked out for me last time and I obviously don't want something like that to happen again so I need to ask you something."
"I know its a new concept for us but kid, you know you can always ask me anything. If I don't get it, we'll talk it out, right? I'm assuming this has something to do with, um, the gay thing?" Adam winced at his words. Connor sighed.
"Yeah, dad. It has something to do with the gay thing."
"Right. So. Ask away."
"Callie's friend Cole invited us to a dance. Um, prom actually. A-a LGBT prom." Connor stopped long enough to let his words, hopefully, sink in for his dad. "I want to go. I-I want to go with Jude. As my date. I want to take Jude to prom, dad but I am so scared you're going to say I can't go." Connor dropped his gaze, afraid to see his father's reaction.
"Prom." Adam said finally. "A um, a gay themed prom?"
"No! Dad, no." Connor resisted the urge to smash his head against the table. "Its not a gay themed prom! Its a prom for kids like me! Gay kids! Lesbian kids! Bisexual and transgender kids! Its a prom for kids like us so we can go and not worry about our safety, so we can dance with whoever we want and not have to worry if someone's got a problem with us." Connor huffed, hating that he even had to explain it to his father.
"Okay, Connor, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it."
"Okay. Fine."
Adam sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
"When is this prom?" He asked.
"Its actually tonight."
"In a few hours then? So you'll need a tux, right? New shoes too, I'd think. Maybe a hair cut? We've got our work cut out for us, Con!" Adam laughed as he reached out and lightly tugged at Connor's hair.
"Wait. I can go?" Connor dared to ask, afraid his dad might change his mind.
"Yeah, kid. You can go." Adam smiled. The smile that broke out on Connor's face was enough to calm his fears.
"Thank you, dad! Thank you!" Connor exclaimed as he jumped from his chair to hug his dad.
"Is Jude this excited?" Adam asked, laughing at his sons enthusiasm.
"Um."
"What?"
"I haven't asked him to go with me yet," Connor admitted. "I didn't want to get his hopes up so I kind of didn't say anything to him about wanting to go when Cole invited us."
"So then what are you waiting for?" Adam asked. "Go ask your boyfriend if he'll go to prom with you." He smiled.
Connor felt his eyes begin to fill with tears. Never in a million years did he ever think he would hear his dad so casually refer to Jude as his boyfriend. He blinked, hoping they would go away before his dad could comment on them.
"Y-yeah. Okay, yeah, I'm gonna go ask Jude if he'll go to prom with me." Connor smiled, his eyes very obviously shinning with unshed tears.
"Have his moms call me later so we can make plans, okay?"
"Sure thing, dad!" Connor called over his shoulder as he ran out the front door.
Adam sighed. He'd done the right thing. He knew that. Connor was happy and despite everything, that was the only thing that mattered.
A few streets over and twenty minutes later, Connor was dashing up the front steps of the Adams-Foster home, knocking frantically on the door. He grinned when Lena opened the door.
"Connor, what's-" She started.
"Hello, ma'am. I'd like to ask you something if you have a minute."
"Of course, Connor," Lena chuckled. "Maybe you might want to come in first?"
"Is Jude home?"
"Y-yes." Lena replied.
"Then no. Outside is better."
Stepping out onto the porch, Lena closed the door behind her.
"Is something wrong, honey?"
"Absolutely nothing is wrong," Connor said, laughing as he bounced on the heels of his feet. "I don't know if Jude or Callie mentioned anything about the prom Callie's friend Cole invited us to?"
"Callie did, yes." Lena said smiling.
"Great. So, I'm here to ask if I can take Jude."
Lena laughed.
"Are you asking permission, Connor?"
"Yes, ma'am. I thought it was the nice thing to do."
"Very nice. Thank you. Have you asked Jude yet?"
"No, ma'am. I wasn't sure if my dad would actually let me go so I wanted to wait until I'd talked to him and I did and he said yes! So, I'm here to ask permission to ask Jude to prom." Suddenly nervous, the grin on Connor's face dropped. "Unless you think he wouldn't want to go."
"How about you don't worry about that, okay? Come inside with me and lets find Stef. She was in the kitchen. I know she'd just love to hear what you have to ask us."
"Both of you? I'm asking both of you? Of course." Connor mumbled to himself as he followed Lena into the house in search of Stef. She was in the kitchen, just like the other woman had said she'd be.
"Connor, hi!" Stef exclaimed when she saw him.
"Hello."
"Stef, sweetie, Connor has something he'd like to ask us. Well you actually. He's already asked me." Lena grinned.
"Ask away, Connor." Stef said smiling.
"I um. I'd like to ask your permission to take Jude to the LGBT prom tonight. Please. Ma'am."
"Oh, I see." Stef's eyes lit up. "And have you asked Jude yet?"
"No, ma'am. I wanted to wait until I talked to my dad first. He um, he said he was fine with it. Also, for you to call him so you could make plans. If! I mean, if I can ask and if he says he'll go with me." Connor knew he sounded ridiculous stumbling over his words.
"I don't think we've ever actually had someone ask our permission to take one of the kids out, have we hun?" Stef turned to her wife and asked.
"Not that I can remember, darling." She replied, a teasing smile tugging at her lips.
Connor shifted from one foot to the other as he watched the two women in front of him have some sort of silent, mental conversation that he assumed only moms could have.
"Connor, sweetie, take a breath, yeah. You look like you're going to pass out," Stef teased. "Of course you can take Jude to the prom, honey. Like we would ever say anything else."
Connor was pretty sure this was what being elated about something felt like.
"Go on up and ask." Lena said, laughing when he turned immediately and ran for the stairs. "Door open!" She called after him and laughed a bit too hard when she heard Connor stumble going up the stairs.
"He's a keeper, I think." Stef said, smiling as she wrapped her arms around Lena's waist.
"I think you just might be right, dear."
Upstairs, Connor slid to a halt outside of Jude's bedroom door. Knocking, he only had to wait a few seconds before Jude's voice called out for whoever it was to go away.
"Uh, Jude." Connor tentatively said as he carefully pushed open the bedroom door. "Its me."
"Connor?" Jude's confused face met him as he opened the door the rest of the way.
"Yeah, uh, your moms said I could come on up. Is everything okay?" Obviously it was not.
"Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" Jude forced a smile. "Did you need something? We didn't have plans for tonight or anything so..."
"Actually, yeah, I did need something." Connor stepped further into Jude's room and smiled at his boyfriend. Any doubt he might have had about asking Jude to the prom was gone as it was painfully obvious what was wrong with the other boy.
"I didn't want to jinx anything so that's why I didn't ask right away and I'm sorry if you thought I honestly wouldn't want to go with you cause Jude, that's just crazy! Of course I would want to go with you, anywhere actually, but that's not the point. The point is, I had to talk to my dad first. I didn't want to have to sneak around behind his back and I don't now so I'm here to ask you if you would like to go to prom with me? I have permission from my dad and your moms to go and to ask you to go with me. So here I am. Asking. Kinda hoping you actually wanna go and I didn't get my hopes up for nothing." Connor chuckled, ducking his head and rubbing at the back of his neck.
"Connor..." Jude said, waiting for his boyfriend to look up at him. Jude smiled when he did. "Of course I'll go to prom with you."
Connor released the breath he'd been holding and let out a rather loud whoop in excitement.
Downstairs, Stef and Lena smiled at one another across the room.
"You call Adam and let him know prom is a go while I check to see if we have an old suit of Jesus' or Brandon's that might fit Jude, yeah?" Stef said as she placed a kiss on Lena's cheek.
"Yes, dear." Lena replied, as she reached for her phone, laughing as she dialed. "Adam? Yeah, it looks like prom is a go for the boys."
"Thank God. I was afraid Connor was going to have a nervous breakdown if Jude had said no." Adam laughed.
Lena couldn't help but smile a relieved sort of smile. It looked like things were going to be just fine.