"Come on Jude, can we please go, just once?" Connor pleaded as the two stood in the hallway of school, getting ready to go home. The two had a date that night and right now, they were trying to get a plan together for what they would be doing.

"Give me one good reason for why I should spend an evening embarrassing myself," Jude insisted.

"Because you love me?" Connor replied.

"Well it's not good, but it's a reason," Jude answered, throwing an arm over his boyfriend's shoulder as they began walking down the hallway.

"White Christmas? Really, Jude, really?" Connor groaned as Jude giggled.

"Oh shut up, you know I like making obscure references," Jude defended. "And I know you love it when I do."

"That's debatable," Connor commented, trying to keep a straight face.

"You know what I change my mind I actually hate you," Jude pouted (or at least tried; they were both laughing pretty hard at this point).

"Aww babe, don't be like that," Connor implored, pressing kiss to Jude's cheek.

"You know just how to turn me into mush don't you?" Jude chuckled, lolling his head on Connor's shoulder as they continued to stroll, now out of the building and headed towards Lena's car.

"Yep I do," Connor quipped proudly. "All I have to do is kiss you somewhere and call you babe and you're putty in my hands."

"I'm both pleased and also a little scared at this new information," Jude responded. He didn't like the idea of being a pushover, but dammit, Connor was just so cute and adorable; he just couldn't help it.

"You should be scared," Connor tried to say threateningly, but it came out mixed with hearty chortles and all seriousness was lost. "So can we go?"

"Yeah, I suppose," Jude sighed. "But you can't laugh at me!"

"I make no promises."

Connor watched as Jude came down the stairs for their date, wearing skinny jeans and a striped t-shirt, his hair carefully styled, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey! Why are you already laughing at me?" Jude whined.

"You look like you're ready to go to dinner or a movie, not the batting cages," Connor giggled.

"Why is that?" Jude asked, his eyebrows tilting up in confusion.

"Well let's start with the fact you're going to be wearing a helmet the whole time," Connor pointed out.

"Ugh," Jude groaned. "And I spent so much time on my hair already."

"Second of all, it's summer in San Diego," Connor continued. "You're going to want shorts."

Jude sighed, trusting Connor's judgment and trudging back up the stairs and coming back down a few minutes later wearing black athletic shorts.

"Much better," Connor said, wrapping his arms around Jude in pulling him in, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Let's just get this over with," Jude mumbled, pecking Connor back before pulling away, intertwining their hands as they left for the batting cages.

"Remember the last time we were on this bench?" Jude asked, placing a hand on Connor's back while he changed his shoes.

"Yeah," Connor muttered. "I still can't believe that my dad thought you were gay because you were patting me on the back."

"Well it was pretty ridiculous, but look at it this way," Jude began. "If it wasn't for your dad freaking out like that, there's a chance we may not even be here now."

"You think that I would've never asked you out if my dad hadn't tried to separate us?" Connor inquired.

"Well maybe," Jude shrugged. "You never know how things would've turned out if something about our story was different."

Connor stood up, grabbing Jude's hands and pulling him to his feet.

"Jude, if it wasn't for my dad, I would've asked you out way before I actually did," Connor whispered, drawing Jude in close and kissing him. "I wanted to ask you out when I first met you, 'cause you were the cutest person I had ever seen, inside and out, even though you had that awful bowl haircut."

"Hey!" Jude giggled.

"Don't give me that, you know it looked terrible," Connor countered.

"Okay, yeah it did," Jude conceded.

"Well now that we have that settled, how about we take some BP?" Connor urged.

"BP?" Jude questioned.

"Batting practice."

"Oh."

"So here's your helmet," Connor said, taking the blue headgear and gently placing it on Jude's head, making sure to tip up the brim for a moment to give Jude another quick kiss. "And here's your bat," he added, handing Jude a powder blue metal bat. "And here are your tokens," he said finally, dropping a small handful of gold coins into Jude's hand, making sure his touch lingered for an extra beat before removing his hand.

"So that's it, you're just going to give me my stuff and say 'go hit'? I know nothing about baseball, remember Connor?" Jude reminded Connor.

"Well if you want my help—"

"Please?"

"Okay," Connor grinned. It was cute seeing Jude so nervous about this. Connor was sure he'd do fine, but far be it from him to stop Jude from wanting him in close proximity just in case he needed help.

Jude stepped into the cage, Connor following close behind, and inserted a token into the machine, standing stiffly in the white box painted on the ground. The machine whirred to life, spitting out a white ball towards Jude, who immediately cowered, stepping back away from where the ball was coming towards him. Connor, who was standing behind Jude, gently pushed Jude back into the batter's box as the machine hurled another baseball in his direction. Jude immediately reacted, trying to step back, but Connor was there, firmly holding him to the spot.

"The ball's not going to hit you while you're standing here, okay?" Connor murmured soothingly into Jude's ear. Jude nodded almost imperceptibly, and Connor backed away, letting Jude stand there on his own as the pitching machine sent another ball flying towards him. Jude closed his eyes, lifting the bat from his shoulder and swinging, missing making contact with the baseball by a mile. Connor now moved out from behind Jude to stand directly across from him (but out of the path of the baseball).

"You can't close your eyes Jude," Connor directed, after observing Jude's eyelids, squeezed tightly shut. Right now Jude had a few more pitches to see, and then Connor would get in closer to help him out, but for the moment, Connor didn't want to waste these last few pitches. The last few baseballs went speeding past Jude, who swung at and missed at all of them. Connor stopped Jude before he went to put in another token, grabbing another bat from the bag and standing next to Jude.

"So that was a really good start," Connor encouraged, gently squeezing Jude's shoulder.

"Are you kidding?" Jude scoffed. "I didn't even hit a single ball!"

"Yes, but you got the most important part of batting," Connor explained, "staying in the batter's box. Everything after that is just a bonus."

"Now here's the next thing," Connor began, giving Jude some instructions on his stance and his swing. Not that Jude was actually paying attention. Instead of focusing in on his words, Jude was watching his face, seeing the fiery passion in his eyes as he explained the basics of hitting a baseball, but also the gentleness of his expressions. Jude found himself caught up thinking, what did I do to deserve a boyfriend this cute?

"Got that?" Connor asked, and Jude stared at him blankly, still lost in his thoughts. "Jude?" Connor asked again, waving a hand in front of his face.

"O-oh I'm s-sorry what were you saying?" Jude stuttered, his face beginning to darken as the blood rushed to his cheeks.

"Nothing all that important," Connor replied, leaning over and briefly connecting their lips. "You're really adorable when you get flustered, did you know that?"

"Shut up," Jude mumbled.

"Okay here, I'll help you get set up," Connor continued. "Now place your feet shoulder width apart and squat down a little," he instructed and Jude did so. Then Connor moved over in front of him, taking his hands which were firmly gripping the bat and softly guiding them up so that they were just slightly in front of and above his shoulder. After that, Connor maneuvered so that he was behind Jude, overlapping his hands on top of Jude's on the handle of the bat.

"So what you're going to do," Connor outlined, "is just pick up your front foot and place it back down. And when you do, you just let the bat fall down over the plate and through, like this," he added, carefully guiding Jude's hands to swing the bat. "Now you got it?"

Jude nodded, so Connor stepped away, placing a token in the slot for Jude to hit again. The pitching machine spluttered, sending a ball racing towards Jude, who did exactly as Connor instructed, and there was a loud metallic "ping" as the ball made contact with the bat, smoothly tumbling through the air back in the direction of the pitching machine. Jude looked back, grinning at Connor before setting up, swinging at the next ball and hitting it, letting out a small whoop. Connor felt a big smile splitting his face; seeing Jude so excited made his heart skip a beat and his brain feel overwhelmed with love and affection for the boy standing in front of him. Jude hit the rest of the baseballs for that token before turning to Connor and offering him the bat.

"Okay, I think I'm done," Jude said. "I can't do any better than that! Might as well quit when I'm ahead, right?"

"Fine by me," Connor replied, inserting another token and taking the bat from Jude. Suddenly he felt really anxious, and as the ball went flying past him, he swung and he missed. And the next one he did the same thing. And then again.

"Relax Con," Jude whispered, giving him a peck on the cheek and a gentle hug from behind. Connor let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and stepped back up, swinging hard at the next pitch he saw, blasting it back into the rickety pitching machine and knocking it over.

"Oh my god!" Jude exclaimed, laughing hysterically as the machine continued to spit out baseballs, even as it lay on its side.

"W-we should probably be done," Connor stuttered, grabbing Jude and pulling him out of the cage and leading him out of the building.

"We still have an hour left before my moms pick us up," Jude mused. "Whatcha wanna do?"

"Well we could—" Connor started to say before he was interrupted by a tinny rendition of Turkey in the Straw floating on the air to them. "Hey, how about some ice cream?"

"I could go for that," Jude answered.

So five minutes and a few dollars later, they were leaning up against the fence outside the athletic center where the batting cages were located, eating their ice cream. Well, Jude was having an orange push pop (which he chose even after much heckling from Connor), and Connor was enjoying a drumstick.

"This was a lot of fun," Jude commented. "I'm glad you convinced me to do this."

"I am too," Connor mumbled as he shoved the last little bit of the cone into his mouth. Jude giggled, finishing up the last of his treat, walking over and tossing it in the trash before coming back and leaning on Connor so they were up against the chain-link fence, face to face.

"Hey," Jude breathed out, his face so close that Connor could only focus on his eyes, their breaths washing over each other.

"Hi," Connor whispered, and then Jude closed the gap, pressing his lips against Connor's, using his hands pressed up against the fence to keep upright and gain leverage. Connor reached up, snaking his arms around Jude's neck as he moved his lips against Jude's, eagerly kissing him back. They let themselves get lost in the feeling; just the two of them, bodies pressed together, lips connected, enjoying the sensations of kissing each other.

Jude didn't know how long they had been kissing when he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. He immediately split from Connor, spinning around to see who had interrupted them, and finding his mama standing there with a smirk on her face.

"H-hi mama," Jude spluttered.

"Having fun?" Lena questioned. Jude nodded, his cheeks flushing as he avoided all eye contact with Lena. "Well as much as I hate to cut you two short, we should get going. We need to get Connor home."

"Y-yeah," Jude replied, grabbing Connor's hand and following Lena to the car. Connor wasn't blushing though, he was grinning from ear to ear. "What are you so happy about? We just got caught making out. Aren't you embarrassed?"

"I don't care," Connor shrugged. "I got to make out with you. That made getting caught worth it."

"I hate you," Jude muttered.

"I love you too babe," Connor said, quickly brushing his lips against Jude's warm cheeks.

"Okay fine, I love you," Jude replied. "But we gotta be more careful when we kiss. I don't like people walking in on us."

"Okay, we will be."

But as it turned out, only a few weeks passed before they weren't careful enough, and got caught again. Only this time, the consequences were a little more serious.

To be continued…