Even at 26, Jacob had still spent the majority of his life in the U.K, so sometimes he would have to ask to clarify what exactly his partners were yapping on about.

"Okay, so back when I was a sophomore, Steven proposed." Connie giggled at the memory and then harder when Steven gave her an unamused look and pointed to the ring on her finger.

"I'm sorry?" He chuckled. "That doesn't even matter now cause look at your ring." He lifted his shirt and held her hand against his gem. The color matched exactly. "Sophomores or not, I knew I had to have you and it was Ruby and Sapphires fault I proposed."

Jacob raised his hand. "I'm sorry, a what?"

Connie blinked. "Proposal?"

"Don't get smart with me," He scolded, stuck in his British accent for the day. "A soft more?"

Adam choked on a laugh. "God, I love the British."

Jasmin pinched Jacob's cheek and snaked an arm around him to snuggle him into her. "When he gets confused he goes European again. It's so cute! It's like how Steven and Hazel tip their head, it gives puppy vibes somehow," She mused.

Jacob grumbled his protest bashfully then cleared his throat. "What is a 'soft more'? Is it like a hard no?"

Now all of them were belly laughing and Steven caught his breath to give Jacob an apologetic smile. "You don't know how funny that is yet, but you will. A sophomore is like the last year of school or something."

Hazel shook his head. "Almost, baby boy. It's Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior."

"So not really close at all." Alex snickered when Steven glared at him.

"Bite me," He mumbled as the giggles added his lack of knowledge as a reason.

Jacob scoffed in disgust. "God, I hate the way you people are forced to function. It's so sad, us Brits make it so much easier."

Connie raised her eyebrows and crossed her legs. "So what do you limeys call it then?"

"I can't wait until cancel culture makes that a slur," He groaned with a laugh. "We start with Year One for Kindergarten and go to Year 13 for the last year. College is sometimes called sixth form, but it depends on the dialect."

They stared at him quietly for a while before Anna wrinkled her nose. "That's not necessarily easier, Jacob."

Mumbling to himself, he dug out his phone and called Rebecca. "How do you do, Rebecca? Care to settle a quick disagreement with our British charm?"

"Alright! I'd love to! River is here too!"

"Hello, Jacob and company! What's the fresh tea?"

They started giggling quietly at his attempt at American slang and Jacob sighed, casting a rueful glance to the ceiling. "I get it now, I really do." He then tossed them all a bright and happy smile because he loved his adoptive parents. "Anna says the English school system sounds more complicated than the American gibberish they use here. I politely disagree."

Rebecca laughed outright. "Am I on speaker?"

"Yes, Mum."

"You guys are brainwashed," She comforted as River giggled in the background. "You don't know any better, a good majority of English is derived from Latin and Americans use it more because they think they're cool."

Adam scoffed. "I am cool!"

"You're also a bit more than a quarter hispanic," River countered. "And fluent in many languages. You get a culture pass."

Adam smirked at the others with a significant lack of melanin. "Good point."

Jacob said his goodbyes and set down the phone victoriously only to see them all grinning at him. "What's this, then?"

"We just love your parents," Hazel assured. "I don't know why but it's like, a massive dopamine rush every time I see you guys talking or you talk about them or something."

Jacob blushed and wrinkled his nose. "I'm a grown up."

Hazel pinched his cheek. "You've been saying that a lot lately."

"Sounds like he's trying to convince himself more than us," Jasmin teased as she climbed on his lap. "Does my husband need to be babied?"

He frowned deeply and picked her up. "I'll be back in an hour."