Connor spent the next few days desperately trying to call Jude. Jude never picked up. Connor wanted to stay at his apartment and wallow in isolation, and that's what he would have done, if Reggie hadn't called him every morning and reminded him to go to practice, as the biggest game of the year was coming up quickly.

Practice had been earlier that day, and Connor finally collapsed on his couch after closing his front door. He hugged the pillow close to him and resolved not to move until he absolutely had to. He was about thirty minutes into this mission when he heard the Spice Girls ring through the air.

Somebody was calling his phone. But nobody called his phone after baseball practice. Unless it was…

Connor jolted upright and ran towards his phone. He hadn't checked the caller ID before he answered, saying a breathy, "Hello?"

A feminine voice answered him. Connor's heart fell before he realized it was Daria, calling him for the first time since she and Taylor had left for their honeymoon. As much as Connor wanted to hang up and go back to the couch, he willed himself to listen.

Daria talked about San Francisco, and how she and Taylor were being sure to explore every nook and cranny that they could. Connor asked a few polite questions and Daria's excitement and happiness was evident in the way she talked. Connor was happy for her, he truly was. But it was just hard to focus on that when he was having his own issues.

"So what's up with you?" Daria asked, distracting Connor from his wandering mind.

Connor debated over whether or not he should tell her, before deciding not to. It was her honeymoon, after all.

"Not much, nothing new," he said, trying to maintain a solid voice.

"How's Jude?" she asked.

"He's doing good," Connor said, words mushing together. Connor cursed how not okay his voice sounded.

"Hmm," Daria said. "Well, if everything is going good, can you give me an explanation as to why, when Taylor and I facetimed Jude earlier today, his face looked like death and he paled even more every time your name was mentioned?"

Connor froze up a bit. "What do you mean?"

"Connor, he wasn't okay. You don't sound okay. What's wrong?"

And so Connor collapsed and told her everything. He told her about their moment on the beach together, how everything seemed to fall into place, and about how Fletching came up and ruined the moment, how Connor had introduced Jude as a friend, how angry Jude had been afterwards, how Jude left and hadn't responded to Connor at all since. Connor wasn't sure that Daria understood every word, seeing as Connor was crying pretty heavily the entire time, but she did encourage him to go on and vent and that was exactly what Connor needed at the moment.

When Connor was done talking, Daria asked him about his game plan.

"Game plan?" Connor sniffed. "What do you mean?"

"This mess is mostly on you, Connor," she said, and Connor cringed at the truth of that. "What are you going to do to fix this?"

"What can I do?" Connor asked. He felt hopeless.

"I can't decide that for you."

"He doesn't even want to talk to me."

"Why don't you make him?"

"How on earth am I going to do that?"

"I don't know, figure it out, Connor."

"I've tried calling him, texting him, skyping him, nothing is working."

"Then try something else."

"Like what?"

And then it hit him. The one thing he hadn't done yet, the one thing he tried to do, that first night, but was too drunk to complete. He needed to go to Jude's apartment. Now.

"Daria, I'll call you later," he said into the phone. He would've hung up on her then, but he reminded himself to be polite, seeing as she was taking time out of her honeymoon to help him.

"Go get your prince back," she said. "I love you, and I'll talk to you later."

They exchanged goodbyes before hanging up, and Connor rushed around his apartment to put on clean clothes. In record time, he was out of his apartment, locking the door behind him and running down the stairs to get out on the street. He got to Jude's apartment building quickly. Before he could think about how Jude would react to seeing him, Connor got to Jude's door and knocked on it, panting and bending down slightly as he did so. No baseball practice would ever compare to the work Connor had put into the run to Jude's place.

It took a few seconds, and Connor was doubting whether Jude was home or not, but eventually Jude opened the door. And Connor didn't care that Jude's face did, in fact, look like death. Connor didn't care that he was wearing baggy sweatpants and an old tee-shirt. Connor didn't care that there were a few Oreo crumbs near the right side of Jude's lip. Connor cared that Jude was in front of him, looking at him. Connor cared that they were in contact for the first time in days.

"Jude," Connor breathed. All of a sudden he felt like crying, but he held everything back. Not now, dear god, not now.

Jude's lips thinned into a straight line, and Connor watched his arm move as if he was about to close the door. Quickly, Connor stuck out a foot so that Jude wouldn't be able to shut it completely.

"Just give me a minute," Connor begged, before Jude could decide to slam the door into his foot anyways. "Please, Jude. I'm so sorry about what happened on Sunday. Please, Jude, give me a minute."

"I don't owe you a minute," Jude said. His voice was empty, though, and it killed Connor to hear it.

"Please," Connor repeated.

It took a few moments, but finally Jude relented, stepping aside to let Connor in before he shut the door.

Connor moved to reach out to Jude, but Jude stepped backwards away from his hand.

"What do you want," Jude said, more of a statement than a question.

You, Connor felt like saying. I want you.

Connor didn't say that. He didn't say anything. He couldn't.

Connor could tell Jude was irritated. "You come over to my house, insist on being let in, and you have nothing to say to me?"

Connor was silent. His eyes wandered to the TV Jude had in his main room. To his surprise, a baseball game was on screen. The LA Dodgers were playing the Baltimore Orioles, with the Orioles winning 7-3, bottom of the seventh inning.

"Are you even listening to me?" Connor could hear Jude talk, but his eyes wouldn't move from the television. The inning was almost over, with one more strike until three outs.

"I can't believe this," he heard Jude murmur. "I can't believe you right now."

Connor was looking at the television, but Jude kept talking. "Do you understand why Sunday was different from all the other days? Because I felt like we had a forever, Connor. Taylor and Daria were getting married and I imagined us one day doing the same. I wondered, for the first time in my entire life, what it would be like to be married to you. But then I realized it would never happen in the first place, no matter how much we love each other. Because you're so fucking scared, Connor Stevens. Too much of a pansy to admit that you love another guy."

The words settled deep in the pit of Connor's stomach, nestling uncomfortably there. Connor couldn't turn his eyes to Jude; his eyes clinged to the game for a source of comfort. The batter missed his next swing. The inning ended, and advertisements took over the screen. Connor wondered what in-between-inning event was happening in the stadium. For the Padres, after the seventh inning, there was the….

Ohmygod. After seventh inning….

Suddenly, Connor knew what to do.

"Come to my game tomorrow," he blurted out.

"No," Jude said. "Connor, you need to leave now."

"Only if you come to my game tomorrow," Connor begged. His idea would only work if Jude said yes.

But he said no again. "I don't owe you anything, Connor."

"I know you don't owe me anything," Connor said. "But I owe you something. Come to the game tomorrow night, Jude, I'm begging you."

Jude looked as if he might agree, but then his mouth wavered a bit. "I don't even have tickets, and it's a Friday night game tomorrow. I'm not going to put effort into this, Connor, so no."

"I have tickets," Connor said. "Front seat tickets." Only better for his plan. "Jude, please come."

Jude's silence lasted for what felt like forever. Connor felt himself physically shaking under all of the stress he was feeling. Finally, Jude nodded.

"Okay," he murmured. "Just tomorrow."

Connor wanted to hug Jude, but Jude's eyes were still wary and unwelcoming. Instead, Connor settled for a nod, before moving to leave Jude's apartment.

"You won't regret this," Connor promised. "You won't."

Jude looked at him for a moment, eyes as empty as his voice had been, before he shut the door. And for the first time in a long time, Connor didn't feel hopeless. He had hope that he could get Jude back. He had a plan.

-!-!-!-!-!-

"Hey, Devon!" Connor called out.

Reggie nudged Connor, but Connor ignored his friend as he jogged over to Devon, a cameraman that got footage of the crowd during the game to put up on the big screen at the stadium.

"Stevens," Devon said, obviously confused. Most players didn't talk to any of the cameramen, and Connor was extremely aware of this, as he felt Reggie's stare on his back.

"Can I ask you to do me a huge favor?" Connor plead, voice sweet as syrup.

Devon glanced around, obviously a bit edgy. "What favor would that be?"

"After the bottom of the seventh inning finishes," Connor said. "Can you keep the camera focused on the first seat of the first row of section 115?"

That seat was where Jude would be sitting later that night. That seat would be where Jude would be sitting when Connor finally did him right.

"I don't know if I can do that, Stevens," Devon responded.

Connor was prepared for this. "Fifty bucks if you keep it on that seat for 30 seconds, making sure it's on that big screen, no questions asked."

"I could lose my job for this," Devon slowly said, looking at Connor with fake sympathy. Inside, Connor was smiling. Devon had pretty much agreed to doing it, only if given the right amount of money. Outside, Connor kept on a poker face.

"How much do you want?" Connor asked.

"Two hundred."

Connor whistled, and then looked at the ground. "Two hundred? Are you being serious right now?"

"It's risky for me," Devon insisted.

Connor pretended to think for awhile before nodding. "Deal. Two hundred dollars, you keep the camera focused on that seat for 30 seconds as soon as the inning ends."

"Deal," Devon said, smiling.

"I'll give you the money as soon as the game ends, I promise," Connor said, before jogging away. "And if it's not on the big screen for the full 30 seconds, the deal's off!"

He saw Devon nod, and then he turned his attention away from the cameraman and back towards his team. Reggie sent him a weird look, but Connor shrugged, and the attention was turned off of him. The team got back into preparing for the big game they had that night, and Connor tried his best to push the plan out of his head until the time to do it arrived.

-!-!-!-!-!-

The stadium was packed. Never before had Connor seen any turnout quite like the one they got that night. Connor pushed his plan out of his head, because he knew that if he applied it to the setting he was in at the moment, the nerves would most likely make him want to die. So he focused on the game, or at least tried to.

During the second inning, he glanced over to where Jude was supposed to be sitting. Jude wasn't there.

He'll be here, Connor told himself. It's early, he'll get here, he told you he would.

By the fourth inning, he still wasn't in his seat. Connor tried to calm down his nerves.

Jude's still got awhile, Connor thought.

The fifth inning started and Jude still wasn't in the stadium. Connor was about to tell himself that yes, it was perfectly okay if he burst into tears in front of the thousands of spectators there to watch the game, when the inning ended and Connor looked at the seat to see that finally, Jude was there.

Connor breathed a sigh of relief.

His catching hadn't been the best during the game, mostly due to the nerves from his plan rather than the nerves from the game itself. As the end of the seventh inning came closer and closer, Connor's stomach twisted and tightened and did somersaults and the anticipation was almost getting to be too much. The top of the seventh inning ended, and Connor took off his catching gear and headed into the dugout.

"You okay, man?" Reggie asked him, sensing his anxiety.

Connor couldn't answer; he felt that if he opened up his mouth, he would throw up. Instead, he settled for a small smile and a nod of his head. Reggie patted his back before grabbing a bat and heading out to take a few practice swings before he'd be at bat.

There were three strikeouts in a row, and the seventh inning quickly came to a close. Connor stood up as everyone came off the field. His feet acted before his brain did, and he found himself leaving the dugout, even though everyone else on the team was getting in so that they could hear Fletching's speech.

"Stevens, come back here!" Connor heard Fletching call out, but Connor kept on moving.

The big screen at the stadium had changed to the little introduction to the kiss cam, a crowd activity done after the seventh inning at each game. The music for the introduction lasted for about ten seconds, during which Connor saw Devon step out and point his camera towards Jude's seat. Finally, the music stopped. Jude's face appeared on screen.

Connor kept on walking towards Jude as Jude's face turned bright red for everyone to see. Only he was in frame, so none of his neighbors made a move on him, and Connor could sense that he was beginning to get uncomfortable.

In a few seconds, Connor had gotten close enough to Jude that Jude noticed him. Jude's eyes grew as he began to understand why Connor had begged him to come to the game. Connor came closer and closer and just as Jude's mouth opened to say something, Connor leaned over the the little brick wall separating the two of them and kissed him.

For a small moment, Jude did nothing. The stadium quieted down, and Connor swore that he couldn't hear anything. Connor leaned back a bit, breaking the soft kiss, and whispered, "I'm sorry." It only took a heartbeat before Jude leaned back into Connor, reuniting their lips.

Connor could hear the stadium once again. He could hear their cheers, and Connor smiled into Jude.

Their kiss lasted for the rest of their 30 seconds on screen, before the camera switched to other couples that Connor didn't pay attention to. Jude was smiling, Connor was smiling, everything felt open and most of all okay.

"Forgive me?" Connor whispered, looking into Jude's eyes, which finally had regained the happiness they had lacked the previous day.

Jude nodded in response before leaning over to kiss Connor again. This time, there were no cameras, and although they were in a public place, it felt like a private moment. But the weight was lifted off of Connor's shoulders, and Connor realized that, as of now, their relationship had endless possibilities. They could hold hands in public, they could kiss in public, they could even marry each other one day if they wanted to. None of that, however, seemed important as Connor realized what he could do now.

Now, he could be with Jude without worrying about anyone else. He could give Jude all that he had to offer, and Jude could give the same to Connor. Their relationship had no more filter or boundary.

The future seemed exciting, indeed.

Author's Note: and with that, the story is over! I hope you guys have enjoyed this story. Thank you all for reading it, whether you started from when the very first chapter was posted or if you've just started two hours ago- all of the support you guys have given me has been overwhelmingly wonderful and thank you guys so much. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of the last chapter if you'd like to! If you want to reach out to me on tumblr, my blog name is muncaster, feel free to send me a message on there! This story has been a part of my life for a little over a month now, and it's been a joy to talk with you guys during this time, thank you all for being the best. Again, I hope you enjoyed the ending! Bye for now.