Two weeks after the incident with Lena at the batting cages, Jude and Connor were in Jude's room one afternoon, doing nothing in particular. Connor was stretched out on the floor, lying on his stomach, and Jude was sitting with his back up against his bed, legs crossed, eyes lightly squeezed shut.

"Jude, I'm boooored," Connor whined, rolling over towards Jude so he was on his back, sighing heavily as he did.

"Well what do you want to do?" Jude asked, opening one eye to look at Connor and grinning at the way he was sprawled out on the ground. He's such a dork Jude thought to himself, as he caught a glimpse of Connor's abs since his shirt was riding up a little. A very well-built, athletic dork. Jude had to stop himself from letting out a gasp at the well-defined muscles peeking out from under Connor's shirt. Jude knew his boyfriend was ripped; he could feel it every time the two of them hugged. But it was one thing to know and feel them, and to see them. Jude was struck with the urge to rip Connor's shirt off right there, but one glance at the open door but the idea to rest quickly.

"I dunno," Connor shrugged (well as best as he could shrug, since he was on the floor), pulling his shirt back down and breaking Jude's chain of thought. "What do you want to do?"

"Now don't start that again!" Jude exclaimed with a poorly executed British accent after he had a second to recover from the shock of seeing Connor's stomach. Connor turned his head to look at over him, confusion written all over his features. "Um, it's a movie reference. The Jungle Book, actually, you know with the vultures?"

"No, I don't know," Connor replied.

"You've never seen The Jungle Book?" Jude inquired, sounding astonished.

"Guess not," Connor conceded.

"Okay, come on then, we have to watch it!" Jude shouted, tugging at Connor's arm.

"Wait, hold up," Connor said, gazing at a small black object gathering dust underneath Jude's bed. Connor crawled over next to Jude, grabbing it, settling up against the bed with his shoulder brushing up against Jude and examining it closely. It was the PSP that Connor had given him the first time he ever came over to Jude's house.

"I can't believe you still have this," Connor murmured, turning the device over in his hands. He pressed the power button, but it didn't turn on; the battery was dead, since Connor had neglected to ever give Jude the charger to go with it.

"I didn't know I still had it," Jude responded. After the battery died, Jude had tossed the PSP to the side since he couldn't use it anymore and thus he'd promptly forgotten about it. Just looking at the thing brought back the memory of that day.

*Flashback*

"Hey what happened to your dad?" Connor asked. Jude felt his breath catch; this was the moment when Connor was going to stop wanting to be his friend. He would have to tell his story, and after that, in his experience, no one wanted to be friends with the kid whose dad was in jail.

"H-he's in jail," Jude stuttered quietly, watching Connor as he looked away. Jude knew that he wanted Connor to like him and be his friend, so Jude quickly decided to change his story. "W-well he was in jail, but then he had to leave the country—and now he lives in—um on an island."

"Oh, okay," Connor commented questioningly.

"He made a lot of money and some people got mad so," Jude continued, the lie tumbling out of his mouth far too easily, "he had to leave. But he'll come back and get us! He's going to take us to his really nice house, and it's right on the beach, and there's a pool, and these really awesome cars, and—that's where all my stuff is at! At my dad's."

"Why are you lying?" Connor inquired. Jude's stomach churned as the words left Connor's throat. Okay yes he was lying, but he didn't expect Connor to call him out on it.

"I'm not!" Jude protested, sticking to his false story. He couldn't let Connor see him as the kid whose dad was in jail, he just couldn't.

"You don't have to lie," Connor assured him. Now Jude felt bad; Connor wanted him to be honest and he did the exact opposite.

"I just—sorry."

There were a few seconds of uncomfortable silence; Jude considered asking Connor to go since they were almost done with the project, but Connor spoke up first.

"Hey, you wanna play Ridge Racer?" Connor suggested, pulling out his PSP and handing it to Jude. "Here, you go first."

"Woah, this is so cool!" Jude said, staring at the screen as he started to play. Connor smiled at how happy Jude was now, the discomfort of thirty seconds ago already forgotten. Watching his new friend's face light up as he played the game, the wheels in Connor's head started turning.

A Few Hours Later

Connor's mom had arrived to pick him up, much to his chagrin. Connor was having so much fun hanging out with Jude. He was hysterical and sassy, kind, easy to talk to, and just so different from any person Connor had ever met in his life. Other than his moment earlier that afternoon, Jude was an incredibly genuine person, unlike all the seemingly fake people that seemed to surround Connor on a daily basis.

"Here," Connor said, stopping before he walked out the front door, grabbing the PSP out of his backpack and holding it out for Jude to take. He wanted to give something to Jude, since he had so little, and Connor didn't care much for his PSP anyway. But Jude seemed to love it, and so Connor decided that if anybody should have the gaming device, it was Jude, not him. "Keep it."

"I can't," Jude replied sadly.

"It's okay. I want you to," Connor insisted. So Jude took the PSP, carefully turning it over in his hands as Connor took off.

*End Flashback*

"That PSP probably saved our friendship," Jude mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Connor questioned, his eyebrows quirking up.

"Well if you hadn't had it as a distraction I was probably going to ask you to go," Jude admitted. "I was so embarrassed that you called me out for lying to you, I just didn't know what to say, so I figured it would be easier for you just to leave. And—and after that I probably would've just avoided you."

"I'm glad I had it then—I can't imagine what things would've been like if we were never really friends."

"Me either. I was that close," Jude said, holding up his hand, thumb and pointer finger nearly touching, "to pushing away the guy who I was going to end up loving with all my heart."

"Wow, where did all this sappiness come from?" Connor joked, earning a shove from Jude.

"You know what, if you're going to be like that, I take back everything I just said," Jude replied sarcastically. Connor leaned over and kissed Jude softly on the lips.

"You sure about that?" Connor whispered.

"Y-yeah," Jude stuttered. So Connor dove in again, kissing him harder and more passionately.

"How about now?"

"No," Jude gulped.

"Good," Connor smirked. "Cause I love you with all my heart too." Connor shuffled over so that he was in front of Jude, pressing their lips together one more time. But it was only for a few seconds before they were interrupted.

"Woah dudes, what are you doing?" Jesus exclaimed from his vantage point in the doorway.

"Nothing, Jesus," Jude hissed, glaring at his brother.

"Oh I'm sure it was 'nothing'," Jesus sassed, gesturing air quotes as he said the word "nothing," and Jude actually had to resist the urge to flip him off.

"Hey, how about we watch that movie now?" Connor suggested quickly, drawing Jude's attention away from Jesus and back onto him before things got too heated.

"O-oh okay," Jude spluttered, still staring his brother down.

So Connor pulled Jude to his feet, grabbing the blanket off his bed and leading him down the stairs into the living room and gently pushing him onto the couch while Connor set up the movie. Once that was taken care of, Connor grabbed the blanket, which was still unused by Jude, tossing it over them as he curled up into Jude's side.

"Oh, ooo bee doo," Jude sang quietly a little while later into the movie. "I wanna be like you-oo-oo."

Connor giggled while listening to his boyfriend sing. Jude had many talents, but it was painfully obvious to Connor's ears that singing was not one of them.

"Oh hush, I know I suck," Jude implored.

"Suck? You're being too kind to yourself Jude. I've heard dying ducks that sounded better," Connor teased.

"Well if you're going to be mean about it, you can find someone else to cuddle with then," Jude replied, squirming out of Connor's grip before Connor could tighten it and keep him there, settling down one of the chairs by himself.

"Aww, come on babe, I was only teasing," Connor pleaded.

"No stop it!" Jude squealed, trying to suppress giggles that were escaping his throat. "Don't call me babe, I'm trying to be mad at you right now."

"Babe," Connor crooned, standing up and stalking over to the chair where Jude was seated. "Baaaaaabe," he continued, kneeling on the floor in front of Jude. "Babe babe ba—"

Connor was suddenly cut off by Jude smashing their lips together. Connor grinned into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Jude and pulling him onto the ground with him. Jude scooched closer, putting a hand on the back of Connor's neck. Connor decided to do something bold, so he parted his lips, licking Jude's lips with his tongue, earning a startled gasp from Jude who pulled away.

"S-sorry," Connor breathed out.

"No, no it's fine I was just—surprised," Jude explained. "We've never done that before."

"Do you not want to yet?" Connor asked as he gently caressed Jude's cheek with the back of his fingers.

"M-maybe. I just don't know what to do," Jude conceded.

"I don't really know what to do either," Connor chuckled.

"But you kissed Daria like that all the time," Jude pointed out.

"So I did," Connor shrugged. "But I never actually paid attention. I didn't like it, so I was always thinking about something else. Actually I was usually thinking about you."

"Aww that's cute—," Jude said before pausing. "Never mind, that's kind of weird. But also flattering, I guess."

"It was the only way I could get through, because, my God, I hated kissing her. Well it was that, and the fact that you're impossible to get out of my mind," Connor whispered. "I'm always thinking about you."

"Now that's actually really cute," Jude giggled. "So what do we do then?"

"Just kiss me and we'll go from there I guess," Connor advised.

(A/N: Apologies in advance if this kissing scene comes across weird or poorly written or whatever. I have no experience with French kissing (or any kissing for that matter), so I have to guess based on what I can imagine and what I've read in other places. So again, sorry if this sucks)

"I can do that," Jude smirked. He glanced around rapidly, and finding no one in the immediate area, closed the gap between their faces and crashed their lips together again. They kissed slowly, lazily for a moment before Connor pulled back ever so slightly so he could softly nip at Jude's lower lip. Jude's mouth opened in shock, but Connor's hand on the back of his head kept him from pulling away. Connor then parted his lips, slipping his tongue into Jude's mouth. Jude was still, adjusting to the new sensation. After a few seconds, he experimentally moved his tongue around, brushing up against Connor's lips, teeth and tongue. The whole thing gave Jude a weird, jittery feeling in his stomach, but it wasn't bad. It felt pretty good actually. The longer they kissed, the more fervently their tongue moved, and the heavier their breathing got as they gasped for breaths in between kisses. Jude tangled his hands up in Connor's hair, and Connor's hands roamed up and down his back. The moment was broken far too soon though by an ear-piercing shriek, sending them flying apart in alarm.

"Moms!" Callie screamed.

"What's the matter?" Lena asked hurriedly, jogging into the living room.

"Jude and Connor were making out on the living room floor!" Callie exclaimed.

"So? There's nothing in the house rules against kissing," Lena sighed; she nearly had a heart attack because Callie was simply overreacting to her brother kissing his boyfriend.

"That was not kissing," Callie stammered. "They were literally sucking each other's faces off!"

"Is that true?" Lena inquired, turning her attention to the beet red boys kneeling on the floor.

"Um," Jude said, nervously biting his already puffy lip. "I guess?"

"Okay," Lena stated. "Callie, you can go, I will handle this."

Callie huffed, stomping out of the room and up the stairs, leaving Lena alone with a very embarrassed Connor and a mortified Jude.

"While I understand that French kissing is quite enjoyable—"

"Mama!" Jude yelped, his face somehow turning a deeper shade of red than either Lena or Connor thought possible.

"—I would appreciate if you would keep it to a minimum inside public areas of the house," Lena continued, unfazed by Jude's outburst.

"That's it?" Connor squeaked. He expected to get in more trouble for being caught like that.

"For now, yes," Lena smiled. "I think your embarrassment is punishment enough. But I might suggest that you two start being more careful; this is the second time you've been caught kissing."

"Third," Jude muttered, thinking back to Jesus earlier that afternoon.

"Okay w-we will," Connor spluttered over Jude's muttering. Lena nodded and turned, walking back into the kitchen where she came from.

"We're not doing this at my house anymore," Jude said. "There are too many people to catch us."

"Yeah," Connor agreed breathlessly.

But it turned out the situation wasn't going to be much better at Connor's house either.