Chapter 17: Into the Fold.

Disclaimer: I have said that I don't own the Fosters so many times that I have lost count.

AN: My writers block has finally lifted, so I no longer need as many ideas about what should go next. Also, since season 3 of The Fosters starts in a week, I will NOT be updating as often as I used to. I might update once a week, sometimes twice. I'm gonna start taking my time in fleshing out the chapters, outlining everything, and trying to make less mistakes while also trying to fix any mistakes I've made in this story and my other story.

Please leave a review.

Connor's POV:

The rest of the school week went by quickly, as the first week of school usually did. Classes flew by in a flurry of teachers handing out syllabuses and giving us our first assignments for the year.

I decided almost immediately that Creative Writing was my favorite class. The teacher was a young man named Chris, who insisted that we call him by his first name because calling him Mr. Austin makes him feel old. He was in his early twenties that kind of reminded me of my Uncle Evan, except he's a lot less sarcastic.

Our first assignment was to write a story about a defining moment in my life that changed it irreversibly, that had to be a minimum of two pages in length, and a maximum of ten pages. With permission and a little help from Jude, I wrote about us. It started with the night I came out to my dad, and ended with when we became boyfriends in the hospital.

Jude very quickly decided that his favorite class was Poetry, and that his least favorite was Algebra I, which he spoke of with disdain at every available opportunity. Jax agreed heartily, and they enjoyed complaining about it together. I found it amusing, since Math usually came easy to me. Don't get me wrong, in no way, shape or form do I like math, but I was good at it. Jude didn't like it because he's dreadful at math.

Jax doesn't like it because the teacher, Mr. Robertson, is a "monotonous old skeleton who is about as interesting as a stick of celery". Jude laughed uproariously when Jax said that after our second day back. Both us laughed even more when Jax got detention because he hadn't realized that Mr. Robertson was standing right behind him as he said it. Jax pouted all through lunch, and ranted about he now thought that Mr. Robertson was possessed by the devil. Jeremy thought that was amusing, and was glad that he was in a different class.

Jude, Jax and I continued to eat lunch with Jeremy, who is actually pleasant company now that he doesn't hide behind his old fear induced mask of false bravado. We learnt a lot about him. We learned that he likes to draw but hides it because his uncle thinks that "drawing is for pussies". He showed us a couple of sketches he had made and they were surprisingly good. He even did a quick pencil sketch of Jude and I that was scarily realistic.

He enjoyed video games, but he would only play open world games role playing games like Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Far Cry 3 and 4. When asked why, he answered that he liked that they allowed him to do whatever he wanted in the game. He also hates first person shooter games, which he finds mind numbingly boring.

He likes music, more specifically Metal. He said that he used to listen to a lot of Pop music, but he started listening to Metal and Rock after he heard his Mom and Uncle go off on a tangent about how "gay" pop music was. He joked that when he started listening to it, he never expected to like it, but he found out that he thoroughly enjoyed it. He and Jude spent the whole lunch period the second day back talking about different bands, and he managed to get Jude to agree that Metallica was better than Guns N' Roses by lending him his copy of the Black Album. His liking of Metal is what led him to learn how to play bass guitar, which prompted Jax to finally engage him in a real conversation.

We also found out that he also likes clothes, which is a closely guarded secret of his. He made a joke on the third day he sat with us that if he could get away with it without his mom and uncle finding out, he would probably dress like Austin does. I also noticed that he had a small, barely visible smile on his face when he mentioned Austin.

Yesterday, Jude and I decided that we wanted to get to know him a bit better, so we cornered him after lunch and asked him if he wanted to come over and spend the night at my house. He looked a bit nervous, but we managed to convince him.

My dad was initially against it, because he knew that Jeremy used to be our bully. It took Jude and I two whole hours to convince him.

That is how we the three of us ended up sitting at the kitchen table, with my dad leaning against the counter, staring at Jeremy.

"So."

Jeremy fidgeted.

"They tell me you've had a change of heart." Dad said, "They wouldn't tell me why. I want to know why."

"Dad." I tried to interrupt.

"It's okay." Jeremy said nervously, "Jude and Connor, uh... they're helping me."

"Helping you?" Dad said skeptically, "With what?"

He mumbled something too quiet for us to hear.

"Speak up, please." Dad said, an eyebrow raised.

"They, uh, are helping me with... with the whole being gay thing." Jeremy mumbled.

Dad's eyebrows shot up towards his hairline.

"Oh." He said. "That explains it."

"Can we go upstairs now?" I asked. Dad nodded, and we all rose quickly to retreat to my room.

Jeremy sat down in my desk chair with a sigh, sitting his backpack on the desk in front of him.

"You're dad doesn't like me." He said.

"He just has to get used to you." I said to him. "After Jude and I officially started dating, it took him a couple of weeks to warm up to him being around all the time. Took him longer to stop glaring at him at every opportunity. You see how he is now though. He likes him now. So don't worry too much about it."

"Okay." Jeremy fidgeted in his seat, "Thanks for inviting me over."

"Yeah, no problem." I said, "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you, did you ever finish that sketch of Jude and I that you started at lunch that day?"

He sat there, looking at us for a second, before reaching into his backpack and pulling out his sketchbook.

"Yeah. It's in here." He said, handing me the book, "Last page."

I flipped to the last page.

"Holy crap." Jude said.

"Yeah no kidding." I agreed, "This is really good."

It was incredibly lifelike. It was a drawing of Jude and I sat next to each other in the grass against the tree next to our usual table. It had started out as a quick pencil sketch, but I asked him to finish it. It captured us perfectly.

"Thanks dude." I said.

"It's the least I could do." Jeremy said.

"How'd you get so good?" Jude asked.

"Secretly." He said, "My mom and my Uncle Sebastian don't like it. They think this kind of thing is for pussies, so I have to hide it when I do it."

I noticed a peculiar tone in his voice when he mentioned his Uncle Sebastian.

"I'm guessing that your uncle isn't your favorite person?" Jude guessed.

"No. He's not." Jeremy said simply.

"Why not?" Jude asked, "He a homophobe?"

"And a racist." Jeremy said, "He's a thug, he's unemployed, he used to live with us. Got caught trying to hit my little brother. Dad through him out."

"Wow. He's that bad, huh?"

"Oh it gets worse."

"What's worse?"

"Three words: Ku Klux Klan." He deadpanned.

Jude and I gaped at him.

"Are you freaking serious?" I said disbelievingly.

"Wish I wasn't." He said, "See why I don't like talking about my family now?"

"Jesus Christ."

"He would burn my uncle to a crisp, and laugh while he did it."

"How do you know for sure? That he's in the Klan?" Jude asked.

"I found his hood and robe." Jeremy said, "Got caught. I'm the only one who knows. Dad and Mom are completely oblivious. He tried to threaten me, but he's about as scary as a Chihuahua."

"Why didn't you tell them?" I asked.

"Simple." Jeremy said with a sigh, "He's out of our lives. He got what he deserved. He's living on the streets. He threatened to hurt my little brother. The only regret I have is not getting a few good punches in myself. James means everything to me. He can't protect himself, so it's my job as his older brother."

"What do you mean he can't protect himself?" Jude asked.

"He's fragile." Jeremy explained, "He was born with one leg, plus he has asthma. He's the sweetest kid on the planet. Smart. Kind. Considerate. Funny. Lovable. He and I have always been close. He's my confidant. He figured out what I was... that I was g-gay all by himself. He only read my journal to confirm it."

"You never did say what your parents do." Jude pointed out.

"Dad's a lawyer." Jeremy said, "Mom is an accountant. She does a lot with the church in her spare time."

"You said your dad knows?"

"Yep." Jeremy said, "He uh, caught me, uh, admiring somebody at the mall. I was so scared, I started crying. He just held me and told me it was alright. Asked me if there was anybody I liked after I calmed down. Told him I had one crush."

"You had a crush?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah. It's gone now. New one took its place." He said.

"Who was it?" I asked, "Your old crush?"

"You don't want to know." Jeremy said, a grimace on his face.

"It wasn't me, was it?" I asked him with a laugh.

He shook his head.

"Nope."

"Come oooooon. Tell me." I teased.

"Promise not to punch me in the face?" He asked.

"Promise." I said.

He sighed.

"Fine. Him." He said, pointing at Jude.

"Seriously?" Jude asked surprised.

"Yeah. Sorry." He said sheepishly.

"You're soooo lucky I'm not the jealous type." I joked, "Can't fault your taste in men. Ten out of ten."

Jude reached over and smacked me on the arm.

"Oh, be quiet, you." He said before turning back to Jeremy, "Who's the new crush? Anybody we know?"

"Yeah, actually it is." Jeremy said nervously, "I don't know why I'm trusting you guys with all this. It's your guys' buddy Austin."

"Reeeeeeeeally?" Jude said, grinning.

"Yeah. He's cool. Confident. Stylish. Great sense of humor. The general 'don't give a damn' attitude he has. Plus he's hot as hell."

Jude and I shared a look.

"He is single." Jude pointed out.

"Yeah." I said, "We could probably hook you two up if you wanted us to."

Jeremy turned extremely red.

"I doubt he'd say yes." He muttered.

"You never know until you try." I pointed out, "You never know. Think about it."

Jeremy looked away, deep in thought. He sat in silence for a few minutes before turning his head back to look at us.

"Fine. If you guys think it would work." Jeremy said with a sigh, "I just hope I don't screw it up."

"This'll be your first real relationship," Jude said sympathetically, "Connor is my first relationship, and I was worried about the same thing at the start. I know for a fact that he STILL worries about it."

"I'm getting better." I said, feigning offense.

Jude smiled at me.

"Yeah. You are."

I smiled back.

"So," I said, changing the subject, "What games did you bring?"

"I brought Fallout 3." Jeremy said, pulling the game case from his backpack, "Best game ever, I'm telling you right now. You're gonna love it. It's only one player though, so you'll have to take turns."

He popped open the case and turned on my XBOX 360. He pressed the button to open the tray, and inserted the game.

About an hour into playing the game, Jude and I shared a look. He tilted his head to Jeremy, and gave me a small nod.

I knew what it meant.

Jeremy was one of us now.

We sat up playing that game until four in the morning before we finally fell asleep.

AN#2: Please leave a review.