Jonnor at a Padres Game (ch. 2)
Hey everyone! I’ve wrote another chapter of “Jonnor at a Padres Game!” (read chapter 1 here).
A note on chapter one: During the flashback, I used only italics to show that Jude was thinking about why Connor wouldn’t ask his Dad to drive them, but on my phone (and probably some other mobile users), the italics were omitted. Which can make for a confusing flashback. So please read that flashback section as if Jude was thinking the first three questions, but only actually asked the fourth.
I’ll be more explicit from here on out about what they are thinking versus what they are saying. Enjoy chapter 2!
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The sun had passed over the top of Petco Park stadium, and Jude and Connor were now sitting in the shade at the bottom of the 3rd inning. Arizona was up by four, and Connor was fully engrossed in the current batter. Jude, while enjoying being so close to Connor, was fighting back some sleep in his eyes. The shade coupled with the hot air in the stadium (as well as talking with Connor on the phone until 2am the previous night), was causing him to fight to keep his eyes open. He was very cognizant of the fact that his head was jerking every few seconds, but was trying to negate it by back-channeling with Connor’s commentary (“Mmhmm, yeah.” “Yeah I can’t believe he didn’t hit that.”).
Connor looked over at Jude at the exact same moment Jude shut his eyes for a second before jerking them back open again. Jude glanced over at Connor, his face flushing red in an instant. “Sorry,” Jude muttered before looking intently back at the game.
Connor’s lips turned upward at the corners for half a second, and then put his arm around Jude’s shoulders. “Hopefully my arms are more comfortable to catch some zzz’s on,” Connor teased, Jude snorting at the cliché.
Connor loved clichés. He also loved being with Jude, and Jude seemed to be bored out of his mind right now. “Jude let’s talk.”
Jude stiffened in Connor’s embrace. “What do you want to talk about?” Jude said carefully.
Connor’s eyes widened when he realized what Jude was thinking. “Jude I love you. Nothing is going to change that. I just mean, let’s chat.” Jude relaxed again and said, “Okay. What do you want to talk about?”
“…Do you think Callie likes me?” Connor said, while very carefully looking at the baseball game.
Jude sat still for a moment. Although he had put himself out there with this question, Connor wasn’t worried about Jude not speaking. Jude had gone weeks without speaking before they were dating, and whenever Jude took the time to say something, it was because Jude was being the extra-perceptive person that Connor had fallen for.
“What makes you think she doesn’t like you? Like, has any of your interactions given you the thought she doesn’t like you?” Jude asked.
“Well, we really haven’t talked much, but the few times we have, I just feel like she doesn’t like me.” Connor admitted.
“I think… she hasn’t really gotten to know you. Since we were young, Callie was the more closed-off of the two of us. And while she’s gotten better at opening up to people since we moved to our current home, her overall nature is of careful distance first, trust second.”
“So you’re saying she doesn’t trust me?”
Jude sighed. Jude loved Connor, and he knew that the amount of affirmation Connor received at home paled in comparison to what he got from Jude and his family, but that didn’t help whenever Connor was feeling less-than. Because Connor still needed affirmation.
“Callie doesn’t trust anyone she doesn’t know. That doesn’t mean just you, but to anyone she hasn’t really gotten to know, you know?” Jude said.
“Yeah. I’ve been trying to make our interactions positive, especially considering the crap I put you through last year.” Connor was stroking Jude’s hand as he said this.
Jude sat up in his seat and looked at Connor. “Connor, I love you dearly. If it helps, know that you and Callie have one thing in common: you are both way too hard on yourselves.”
Jude made a mental note to talk to Callie next time he saw her. Connor was his everything, and he loved it when Connor opened up to him. Connor’s sensitivity under his hyper-masculine veneer meant that Connor was extra-susceptible to disapproval from people who were closer to him. Regardless of how Callie actually felt towards Connor, Jude would make sure she understood that Connor needed to see nothing but approval from her.
Connor sighed in slight annoyance. “Jude, that doesn’t help me feel any better.”
“I know,” Jude replied, “Callie just wants my best interests at heart. So while I KNOW she likes you, she has taken last year into account, so I guess she’s just… anxious? To see where this is going. She doesn’t want me to get hurt”
-Connor was rising up in his seat, about to speak in protest-
“And while I KNOW that you have no intention of hurting me, just like I have no intention of hurting you, Callie is still in a place where she needs to ‘see it to believe it,’” Jude finished.
Connor sighed again. “I’ve been trying…”
“I know. That’s what I love about you. You don’t give up on something when it gets too difficult. And, while you understand that we don’t need ANYONE else’s opinion of our relationship in order to feel validated as a couple, if it would make you feel better, we can start hanging out with Callie more often. Maybe see a movie with her or something,” Jude said.
Connor snort-laughed. “Maybe not a movie. I highly doubt she would want to see her precious Judicorn being intimate in the dark with his boyfriend.”
Jude blushed as he laid his head back on Connor’s shoulders. At the bottom of the fourth inning, the Padres had just scored two runs. But Jude and Connor’s thoughts were both elsewhere.
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That was really fun to write! Yay! Hope you all enjoy! More chapters to come!
