Chapter 4

Connor walked into the vice principal's office. His back still hurt from being slammed into a locker by Jeremy. How had Jude put up with them for so long? Mrs. Adams Foster looked up as Connor walked into her office.

"Connor! Take a seat." Connor took a seat opposite Lena and shifted his gaze from his shoes to the desk, back to his shoes.

"I need to talk to you about something."

"You can tell me anything," Lena said. "So talk to me."

"Guys have been picking on Jude and stuff. It stopped for a while, but it started again."

"Thank you for looking out for him, you're a really good friend to him," Lena compliments.

"About the friend part of that. The guys have been picking on Jude because they think he's gay. And I think Jude is bottling up everything he feels and he's going to explode. I wanted to tell you that he wants to tell everyone, but can't find a way how. He also has a boyfriend-I think," Connor said. His gaze had fallen upon the desk. He couldn't look Lena in the eyes. He didn't want to see disappointment like he would see from his dad. Anxiously, he looked up. Lena wasn't disappointed; she had a look pf pride more than anything.

"Do you know who this boyfriend-thing is?" she asked curiously. She stopped herself midsentence. "I shouldn't ask you that. You shouldn't feel forced to tell me something Jude should tell me."

"It's okay. It wouldn't have mattered, because it's me."

Jude came home from school a mess. He had a bloody lip from Jeremy pushing him into yet another locker. He had to come up with some better ways to bully him, aside from the taunting.

Connor had taken Jude's hand half way home and hadn't dropped it. Marianna had walked home with them and she could only smile as Connor swung their joined hands.

"Jude," Connor began as he and Jude dropped their bags when they got to Jude's room. "Are we like going out now?"

"I don't know. Are we?" Jude shrugged. "I kind of like what we have now. No labels, no boxes."

"Hey Jude, Callie wants to know if-" Marianna stopped short. She surveyed the room, recognizing Jude and Connor's stances.

"Are you DTR-ing?" she asked.

"What?" Connor and Jude asked in unison.

"Defining-the-relationship," Marianna rolled her eyes.

"There's nothing to define," Jude replied. He took Connor's hand, leading them out onto the back porch.

Connor sat on the swing, Jude beside him. Connor leaned down and pressed his lips to Jude's. Jude responded and kissed back, deepening the sweet caress. Jude's tender hands wound themselves in Connor's hair, ruffling his dirty blonde-brown locks. Connor's arms encircled Jude's waist, propping him up.

Callie opened the back door and gaped. Jude broke off the kiss and awkwardly sat half in Connor's lap and half on the bench beside him.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. Jude was at a loss of words. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to form words.

"I-I-" Jude uprooted himself and ran inside, slamming the door behind him.

"Jude!" Callie called. Connor sat ashamed on the bench, his hand still warm and fuzzy from touching his boyfriend's waist.

"I-I'm sorry. I think I'll just go," Connor excused himself. Jesus opened the back door.

"Why did Jude just lock himself in his room?" he asked. Connor turned a bright shade of scarlet.

"It's my fault," Connor began.

"No, I said something that made him upset." Callie countered. "Connor, can you go talk to Jude?"

Connor checked his watch. "Oh shit!" he muttered. "I have to go. My dad'll be home soon and he doesn't know I'm here!"

"Run, man!" Jesus rushed Connor out the door, telling him to run down the street. Jesus whipped around, but Callie wasn't where he had left her. She had run upstairs.

"Jude! Please talk to me!" she hollered through the door.

No reply.

"Please Jude!" Callie cried. "I won't hate you! I promise!"

Still no reply.

"Hey Dad," Connor replied casually. He sat on his bed, textbook open, beginning on his math assignment. Usually he and Jude did math homework together, but they had frequented their time with other activities.

"Where were you? I stopped by Aaron's house and he said you weren't there," Mr. Stevens asked.

"I left early."

"He said you hadn't come over at all." Connor's dad raised his eyebrows.

"Really? I went over there to pick up my textbook."

"Really!" Connor's dad grinned sarcastically. "Were you hanging out with that gay kid?"

"He's not gay! He doesn't like labels!" Connor argued.

"'Doesn't like labels?' Well, I don't like gay kids trying to convert my son into their cult to Hell!" Mr. Stevens sized up his son. "Did you hang out with that 'not-gay-kid' today?"

"His name is Jude." Connor doesn't deny his father's accusation. Connor looked down at his nails. Marianna had done them after she had walked in on them DTR-ing. She had divided the color on each nail-painting half a nail navy blue and the other half lime green. Connor's father noticed his son's nails.

"This Jude kid's converted you to his cult now?!" Mr. Stevens dragged his son into the bathroom. He opened the cabinet behind the mirror and grabbed a bottle of nail polish remover.

"Please, Dad. Marianna did them special! Don't!" Connor objected. But his father didn't listen. He flung open the back door, holding son's hand out the door and drenched them in alcohol.

"No son of mine will be converted into the cult of devils!" Connor's father growled.

"Stop! It burns!" Connor shook his hands, flinging rubbing alcohol onto the grass. Adam Stevens didn't listen. He continued to grumble about the devil's cults and how wrong it was.

"What? Do you like make out with this Jude kid when nobody's looking?" Mr. Stevens growled. Connor froze, his lips remembering the feeling of having Jude's own lips pressed against them.

"You disgust me! What man wants another boy's lips on his own!" Mr. Stevens spat in Connor's face. Connor instinctively closed his mouth. The loogie still sprayed in his face. Adam had left his son to his thoughts. Connor wiped his face and ran up to his room.

"Jude, sweetheart, will you please talk to us?" Lena asked through the door. She had come home to find Marianna, Jesus, Brandon, Callie, and Wyatt pressed against the door to Jude's room.

"Why is he not opening the door?" Brandon asked.

Callie sighed. "I walked in on him kissing Connor." The Adams Foster family froze. "I didn't say anything! I just walked in and he ran upstairs!"

"Okay. How about we give Jude some space and help Mom and I fix dinner?" Lena ushered the kids into the kitchen, away from Jude.

Jude himself was cocooned in blankets, wallowing in self-hate. Callie was going to yell at him. She was going to demand that he cut it out. She was going to say that it'll only get him bullied. Jesus won't want to share a room and Brandon would be weird around him. Marianna and Lena would accept him. Stef probably too, but none of his other siblings. How was Lena supposed to raise a baby when her own son is supposedly a screw up? He was supposed to be normal, happy and normal. But he wasn't. Every time he saw Connor he remembered Connor's words.

"I don't want to be like that." Connor had smiled when he said. Made it seem like the truth. Doubts flooded through Jude's head. Reminding him of Jeremy and what others at school would think. No one would want to talk to him. Every boy in school would think that Jude had a crush on them. Okay, maybe was being a bit drastic. Not everyone would pick on him. Connor wouldn't, hopefully Maddie wouldn't.

"Jude, sweetheart, it's just me. Can we please talk?" Lena asked, rapping on his door. Jude grumbled and rose from his bed and opened the door.

A/N: End of chapter 4! Thanks for all the reviews and follows! I will sadly be on vacation with no wifi for a few days and won't be able to update. I'll post a bunch of chapters when I get back!