Chapter 2: The Team.
Disclaimer: For the twenty second time, I do not own the Fosters.
AN: Please leave a review. In this chapter, it picks up the afternoon after the hospital scene, after the dance competition.
Jude's POV:
I marched up to the door and knocked five times.
The door opened, and Adam took one look at me and frowned slightly.
"Thank god. Maybe you can calm him down." He said.
"He freaking out?" I asked.
"He's been pacing his room for the past three hours." Adam deadpanned, "It can't be good for his foot. Get up there and try to calm him down."
I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Please?" He growled.
I nodded and headed up the stairs.
I walked into Connors room for the first time in months. The first thing I noticed was that he had took down a few of his posters and the furniture was moved around.
"Love what you've done with the place." I said, startling him. He nearly falls over and I lunge forward and grab his arm to stabilize him.
"Thank god you're here." He whispers shakily, "I'm freaking the fuck out right now."
"Watch your mouth man." I said with a roll of my eyes, "Just calm down, Connor. You'll be fine. Just sit down and breath for a second."
He obeyed me, sitting down in his desk chair.
"How's your foot?"
"It's fine. I have to use a cane to walk without a huge limp, but it doesn't hurt as much as it did the other day." Connor answered.
"What exactly am I here for?" I asked.
"You are gonna stand by me while I come out to my closest friends on the baseball team."
"All of them? At once?" I asked shocked.
"Yep." Connor said, "There's only four of them."
"You never do anything half way do you?"
"Nope."
Adam appeared in the doorway and cleared his throat.
"They're here. They're all waiting in the living room when you're ready."Adam said.
Connor gulped in fear. He looked over to me and nodded before grabbing his sleek black cane and limped to stand in front of me. He grabbed my hand, and I squeezed in comfort.
"You ready for this Jude?" He asked me.
"Yeah." I respond, "Are you? You're shaking."
"I'm fricken terrified." Connor said shakily, "They're my team. They're like my brothers. I've been close to them since we were in third grade. I don't want to lose them because of this."
"If they desert you, they were never your real friends in the first place."I tell him, "You've had a pretty good run of coming out to people so far. Taylor's tickled to death that we're together, and called me to ask if she could be our hag, whatever that means. Daria wished us good luck. Lena joked that she didn't care as long as she got to plan the wedding..."
"Wait, what?" Connor interjected, eyes wide.
"She was kidding." I assure him, "Your mom was thrilled that you were dating somebody who she could take shopping."
Connor snorted.
"Right now, the only one who hasn't reacted well is your dad."
"You can say that again." Connor said, and turned a glare on him, "Threatening to take me away from the person I have a crush on and send me to a conversion camp out of state. Definitely qualifies as reacted badly."
Adam squirmed under our combined glare.
"Those places don't work, you know that, don't you?" I deadpan.
"I know that now." Adam said stiffly, "My darling ex wife already gave me a lengthy lecture about it. "
"You shouldn't have thought about doing it in the first place!" Connor growled.
"I'm trying my best here, Connor!" Adam growled back.
"WELL YOU'RE NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH!" Connor snapped and shouted.
"ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH!" I shout over them. I put my hand on Connor's shoulder and squeeze, calming him down, "You two can bicker later, when I'm not here. But now we have business to take care of, in case you've both forgotten."
"Jude's right." Connor said, still glaring at Adam, "Let's get this over with."
He marched out of the room, his shoulder clipping Adam as he passed. I roll my eyes.
We both step into the living room, to find his friends from the baseball team sitting on the couch and in the chairs eating chips.
Connor cheered his throat. Everybody jumped, and smiled in unison.
"CONNOR!" Four voices all cheered and smiled at him.
A tall skinny boy with red hair jumped up and nearly tackled him.
"Glad you're okay bro."
"Me too, Jackson." Connor said, before turning to me and beckoning me forward, "You remember Jude, right Jax?"
"Sup Foster!" Jackson shouted in welcome. I gave him a shy nod, "Yeah I remember Jude, I sat with you guys at lunch a couple of times before you started making out with Daria in front of us."
Connor and I wince in unison. Jackson immediately takes notice and quirks and eyebrow in question.
"Jude, you already know Jackson. He's my best friend besides you." Connor said, "The curly blonde one on the couch is Castor, to his right you have the twins, Alex and Carson."
I nodded to each of them in turn, and received either a nod or smile in return. Jax could tell we were stalling though, so he cut straight to the chase.
"Okay, introductions made, we're all glad you're okay Connie, but why are we really here?" He asked, "You sounded really nervous on the phone."
'Do NOT call me that damned name again." Connor deadpanned, "Only my mom and... uh, my significant other are allowed to call me that. Barely."
"You let Daria call you Connie?" Castor asked.
"Daria's not my girlfriend anymore." Connor said nervously, "That's actually part of the reason you guys are here."
"You two broke up? What happened?" Alex asked, a knowing smile on his face, that gave me the impression he knew EXACTLY where this was going.
"Um. I fell for somebody else." Connor said.
"Who? Daria was fine as hell! One of the best looking girls in the grade." Carson pressed.
"She's not what I was looking for." Connor said, "The night we all snuck out, I was sneaking out to see the person I liked."
"Taylor?" Alex asked sarcastically.
"No." Connor said simply. "Not Taylor."
"Jude?" Carson asked nonchalantly.
Connor stiffened. He clenched his eyes closed and drew a deep breath.
"Y-y-yes." He stuttered out.
Deafening silence filled the room. They all stared at us, their faces blank, as Connor linked his hand in mine.
"Jude and I are dating now." Connor continued shakily, "I've uh, had a crush on him for months."
"Connor," Jax said interrupted sheepishly, "We kind of already knew that last bit."
Connor and I stared at him like he had just professed his undying dream of drowning a rodeo clown in a McDonalds grease fryer. Everybody else was nodding in agreement.
"H-how?" Connor squeaked.
"You're kind of obvious, buddy." Alex said, "You never shut up about him. Every five minutes, literally, you were talking about him."
"Every time you would see him, your eyes would light up." Carson continued.
"Then you'd stare at him with this goofy little smile on your face." Jax added.
"You were like a lost puppy with him, man." Castor said.
"The living embodiment of the heart eyes emoji on the iPhone whenever he was around or mention." Alex finished.
Connor was blushing so hard I was convinced he was inventing a new shade of burgundy.
"So... you guys aren't mad? You aren't gonna beat us up or anything?" Connor asked quietly.
"Over what?" Jax asked.
"Me being gay, and Jude being my boyfriend." Connor answered.
"Of course we're not." Castor exclaimed, scandalized, "It's kind of sweet actually. You found somebody worthy of you. Congrats."
"Yeah man, we're happy for you." Alex said, "And we could never hate you. You're like our brother. We've all been friends since third grade. There's nothing wrong with being gay, bro. None of us care. You don't have to hide anything from us."
"We don't care if you act coupley and kiss and stuff in front of us either." Castor said, "As long as you allow us the same courtesy if we have our girlfriends around."
Everybody nodded in agreement. Connor lent in and kissed me on my cheek.
"You couldn't have picked a better boy to date, JJ." Jax said to me, "You snagged a good one."
"JJ?" Connor asked.
"You said his first two names are Jude Jacob. So JJ is the nickname I came up for him." Jax explained.
"You can call me JJ, I guess. And yes, I know." I agreed, smiling at Connor, "I'm trying to drill that into his head."
"Insert innuendo here." Jax said with a smirk.
"Jax?" Connor and I said calmly.
"Yes Connie?" Jax asked, equally calm.
"Shut the fuck up." We said in unison.
Castor stared at us with wide eyes.
"That's kind of creepy. Finishing your sentences."
"Alex and Carson do it all the time." Connor pointed out.
"Yeah, but..." Alex started
"We're identical twins..." Carson continued.
"That comes with it!" They finished together.
"ANYWAY!" I interject, "Let's steer away from the nuthouse and back to our original discussion."
"Yeah, lets." Jax agreed, "What are you guys gonna do about school tomorrow. I hear you were coming back Connor."
"Yeah." Connor said, "I promised Jude that I wouldn't hide our relationship from anybody. We've already got Daria and Taylor onboard, since they've volunteered to be our hags, whatever that means."
Adam snorted from the doorway.
"I'm thinking we be subtle about it." Connor said, "Hold hands and kiss and stuff. Just like any other couple would. We would have you guys and the girls as backup. So we wouldn't have to worry about too much."
"Sounds like a plan." Jax agreed. Everybody nodded.
"How many other people know?" Castor asked, "If you don't mind me asking."
"Other than you guys? Not many people. Connor's parents, my mom Lena, Taylor and Daria, my sister Callie..."
"How did Callie find out?" Connor asked.
"We were sitting in the gym at the dance competition earlier, and she asked me if I'd heard anything about you, and how you were doing. I told her that I saw you and you were good. She started to ask me how I got in to see you, but I cut her off and told her you were my boyfriend."
"What did she say?" Connor asked.
"She said that we should be careful, but she was happy for me." I said, "She also says we need to tell Brandon, Mariana, Jesus and momma as soon as we get the chance."
Connor nodded in agreement. and Adams phone rang. He answered it.
"We can tell them tomorrow if you want to." He said.
"Probably a good idea." I agree.
"Hate to break up the party," Adam interrupted, "It's Lena, she wants you to head home, Jude. Says she's making lasagna tonight."
I said farewell to everybody and quickly pedaled home on my bike.
Connor's POV:
Jude and the team had left an hour ago and I was sitting on my bed, thinking about the last few days, when my phone rang. I looked at the screen to see it was Jude.
I answer it.
"Hey Jude."
*Sniffle*
I'm immediately alert.
"Jude? Are you alright? What happened."
"There, uh." Jude answered, his voice thick with tears, "There was a car accident. Jesus, Mariana and their mom."
My heart dropped into my stomach.
"Are they okay?" I asked him, concerned
"Anna died. The baby didn't make it." Jude answered shakily.
I swore silently.
"Are you okay?" I ask him.
"I don't know." He said, "I think so."
"How are Mariana and Jesus?" I ask.
"They're at the hospital. I'm at home with Callie." He said, "Momma called earlier and told us that Jesus has a broken arm and a concussion, and Mariana is okay except for some cuts and bruises. They're both in shock."
"Do you need me to come over right now?" I ask him.
"No. I'll be okay. I appreciate it though." He said.
"Anytime. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" I said.
"Yeah. See you tomorrow." He responded.
I heard a click and the line went dead.
I let out a frustrated groan as I fell back onto the bed.
"Perfect." I whisper sarcastically, "And the day was going so well."