hi guys it's been a while. if you're reading this, i'd like to say thank you for sticking around. my life has just been all over the place lately; my mom is sick and i'm struggling in school (6 classes, leadership position, and volunteering woohoo) but i'm persisting. i know this one took a while to get out but here it is! i'm going to try to update regularly but no promises, but i can at least say i probably won't have anymore impromptu 4 month gaps. next, my goal is to update for poison. anyway, i hope you guys understand and still appreciate the story as it is.

what chapters do you guys want to see? this will help me draw more inspiration to write more so please let me know.

"You're literally the biggest cheater ever," Cameron announces as he all but throws his controller at me. Realistically, he tosses it onto the cushion between us with enough force to bounce it into my lap. I watch with a raised brow as he fumes silently on the other side of the sofa.

"Are you done?" He glares back at me and I don't let the smile on my face waver. "You're just mad because you suck and I don't."

"You were doing the same two moves over and over. That's cheating, Felicity." My head tilts at the use of my full name.

"You knew the two moves I was doing but didn't learn to counter them in the thirty rounds we played." He grabs a pillow and tosses it at me. I manage to dodge it and cackle loudly at him. "Are you mad?"

"Shut up." He watches me with narrowed eyes as I inch closer to him.

"What, you've never lost a game before?" I continue to move toward him but just before I can hug him, he gets off the couch.

"Don't touch me." I can tell he's playing by the slightly teasing look on his face. "I don't associate with cheaters."

I get off the couch and follow after him. He tries and succeeds at dodging me until we're on opposite sides of the couch. He tries to go one way but I shift similarly. This happens for a few times until I decide to just leap over the couch. Laughter fills the room as I land with a thud on the floor and he kneels over beside me, unable to keep in his giggles.

Before I can swat at him, the sound of his door opening is followed with his father's voice. "Felicity, can you come upstairs? I want to show you where you're sleeping tonight." Cam helps me get to my feet, where I lightly shove him away from me before starting up the steps with him in tow.

"Why can't she just sleep downstairs with me?" Cam watches his father with a slightly hopeful grin. Immediately, his father shakes his head.

"Nope," Joe announces. Before Cam can try to further press, Joe shakes his head. "I don't care how old you are Cam or what you do when you're at school. You're under my roof and if I said she's sleeping upstairs then she's sleeping upstairs."

Cam gives his dad a teasing grin as he holds up his hands. "Fine, fine, she'll sleep up here." He slowly shakes his head as his father opens the door to the guest bedroom.

"There are towels in the linen," cue a point across the hall, "and I'm sure Cam would be more than happy to give you something to wear." Cam gives a strong nod as he props himself outside of the guest bedroom.

"Now can we go back downstairs?" Cam prompts his father with a raised brow. His father narrows his eyes at him before turning towards his own bedroom. When I return my slightly annoyed gaze to Cam, I find that he's grinning at me. "Want to make cookies?"

I grab his shoulders and guide him downstairs with my annoyance dissipating with every step. We reach the kitchen and he immediately opens the sweets cabinet, which is up rather high in what I consider a block to True. Even I need a chair to grab it. He manages to snag cookie mix and tosses it onto the counter. After I give him a doubtful look, he sighs and grabs a mixing bowl from under the sink.

As he prepares the cookies, I watch in slight admiration. Just as I had predicted, his family is nicer than I could imagine. It only makes sense, really. He's a really good boy who had a really good upbringing. I shift my attention to the floor and repress a sigh. I wonder what he's going to think about my family tomorrow. They're very, very different from his.

"What are you thinking about?" He places the cookies in the oven and closes the door.

I give a weak head shake as I keep my eyes locked on the glowing food box. "I'm just happy to see you."

Once the cookies finish, we make our way downstairs and continue our Nintendo Switch tournament until the early hours of the morning. He eventually acknowledges that my yawns are interfering with my ability to play a fair game and decides that we should call it quits. He grins at me and instead of caving like I want to, I shake my head and point to the stairs.

"I'm going to go to the guest bedroom like I said I would." He gives me an entertained nod and rises to his feet.

"You can brush your teeth in here. I have an extra toothbrush under the sink." After going through our nightly routines together, he walks me upstairs and to the guest bedroom. I push open the door and before I can even step inside he leaps in front of me. As if he can feel my confused gaze, he turns to face me with a grin. "They said you can't sleep downstairs, not that I can't sleep in here."

"Cam..." I want to say yes; I really do, but I know better. The last thing I want his dads to think is that I'm disrespectful.

"They won't get mad at you, I promise," he assures me in a convincing tone. "They'll just call me conniving."

"You can hang out in here..." I slowly close the door before pointing a finger at him. "We're not doing anything."

"Thanks for permission." He smile only widens more as he jumps on the bed, which seems just as comfortable as the one in his room. I flick off the light, join him, and release a long groan. I lay my head on his chest and let out a comfortable sigh, which seems to entertain him. His lengthy fingers tangle in my hair as I listen to the beating of his heart and somehow we fall asleep that way.

+++

"See, I told you they wouldn't say anything..." Cam announces once his fathers leave the following morning. They definitely knew he slept upstairs because they watched us descend down the steps together in search of food. As he gathers the ingredients for breakfast, Joe walks in and quirks an eyebrow at him.

"Morning," Cam greets him nonchalantly.

"How'd you sleep?" He's definitely going to bring it up and I can tell that Cam is under the same impression as me.

"Like a baby." Cam doesn't even glance at his dad as he cracks another egg into the bowl and whisks away.

"Is the guest bed comfortable?" Joe is now resting with his arms crossed against the counter. I awkwardly bow my head as to not cause any problems. I told Cam I didn't think it was a good idea. We didn't do anything but it's the principle. They asked us not to sleep in the same area yet we did.

"Sort of." Cam allows his shoulders to bounce as if genuinely considering the question. Then he adds: "I prefer a softer bed but it does the job."

"Don't be a smartass, Cam." Joe's eyes are narrowed while Cam's stay focused on the hot pan in front of him.

"You said that she couldn't sleep downstairs, not that I couldn't sleep upstairs." As soon as the words leave Cam's mouth, his father heaves a noisy sigh.

"Cameron..." I watch as he cups his temples in his hands out of frustration.

"Sorry." It doesn't sound too genuine but it seems to satisfy his father.

After pointing a stern finger at Cam, Joe mutters something that I don't catch and Cam just nods along. As soon as his father leaves, he turns to me with a mischievous grin and I want to sigh. We go through the motions of the day and soon enough we're on the way to my house for dinner. He sings along quietly to the music playing from my phone, unbeknownst to the growing ball of anxiety in my stomach.

We travel down the roads, which slowly go from multi-story houses with gargantuan gardens and spacious garages to small homes with yipping dogs and less kept yards. I feel the need to put a disclaimer into the air as we grow closer and closer to my house. He's unsuspecting as I turn down the music, which gains his attention.

"My family isn't like yours," I blurt rather abruptly. He glances at me and offers up a slow nod.

"I know." Huh? Noting my curiosity, he continues: "You don't have two dads for one. You're not adopted. You don't have brothers. You have a mom."

I decide to cut his list short. "That's not what I mean." I let out a long sigh as I stare ahead at the road. "My family is not proper and formal. We don't have money. Our house isn't huge despite the amount of people that are constantly in it, whether they live there or not."

He gives me a long glance as we sit at the light. "I know where I come from. I recognize my privilege in growing up where I did and living the lifestyle I did. But I understand not everyone comes from such a background. I'm just grateful you're welcoming me into your home and letting me meet your family."

I stare at him for a few seconds and sigh. I guess this is really happening. "Also...ignore everything my sisters say. Every single thing." Since this morning they've been blowing up our group chat with comments about Cam and how excited they are to meet him. They've also been teasing me and asking if he knows about a multitude of embarrassing stories from my childhood.

He gives me an entertained smile and I shake my head. I really hope they don't embarrass me. The rest of the drive to my house is short. "Is this it?" he asks as he pulls up to the dingy brown house. I offer up a slow nod and he parks behind Bellamy's car. Together, we start towards the front door and I stop for a second.

"Don't mention drugs or alcohol at all." I rack my brain for more potential topics that may come up. "Or sex."

"Because we have a lot of that, yeah?" he snorts as he raises a brow. I choke out a laugh as I reach for the door, which is unlocked. The sound of my dog yipping excitedly causes Cam's face to light up. I roll my eyes and lead the way into my humble abode.

"They're here!" Rowena cheers from the living room. As expected, we reach the dining room and are greeted by my large family. I look to Cam to see if he's nervous but he seems to be doing just fine.

"Everyone...Cam," I greet and they all scoff, so I go down the line and introduce them. I can tell that Cam is making an effort to recall names as we go down the line. Once everyone's covered, my mom taps my shoulder.

"Help us set the table. Cam, take any seat you'd like and make yourself comfortable," she insists and Cam drops in the seat closest to him. I want to roll my eyes as he taps his lap for my dog to join him, which Deathtrap happily does.

I join my sisters in the kitchen, where they immediately start cooing and nudging me. I try to ignore it but a small smile makes its way onto my face. I grab the wooden spoon and raise it up at them. "Say anything stupid and I'll beat you with this!" I hiss threateningly and my mom offers up a scoff.

As a group, we make our way to the dining room and dance around the lengthy table. Jessenia and I put cups in front of each person. Bellamy dishes out plates. Jorja lays silverware at each spot. My mother, Arya, and Rowena carry out pots of food. Nola places a bottle of soda and a bottle of juice right beside the pitcher of water. Cam watches in awe as we quickly take our seats around him.

"Wow..." He admires the now set and filled table.

"Yeah, it's magic," Bellamy teases him. "We're like the Weasleys except we aren't ginger."

"And we're all girls," Nola adds.

"And we don't have magical powers." Arya frowns at her empty plate while Bellamy rolls her eyes. My mom motions for us to dig in, which we all do, passing around the pots and pans eagerly.

"So how did you and my daughter meet?" My mom really doesn't waste time. I look to Cam, who is sitting between me and Rowena.

He watches me nervously and I decide to answer. "At a party." This feels like a repeat of events.

"How cute- he was going to lie for you," Bellamy cackles. Cam averts his gaze to the table and I laugh.

"I know my daughter is a party animal." Jee, thanks mom.

"Yeah..." He shifts a little in his seat. "We met at a party."

"Who approached who?" Nola wonders and I clear my throat awkwardly.

"She approached me." My sisters all squeal as they exchange glances with one another. I want to bury my face in my arms.

"You were really serious about being his friend, huh?" Jessenia teases and I shoot her a short glare.

"So, Cameron, where are you from?" Thank you mom for changing the topic.

"Queensburg." Arya allows her eyebrows to raise and offers up an impressed glance.

"You must be rich," she blurts and my mouth opens a little in slight shock.

"Shut up, Arya!" She makes a mocking expression and stares back down at her plate.

"Ignore her," I tell Cam dismissively but he doesn't seem phased by her comment.

"Do you have any brothers?" Jorja tries her hand at talking and he laughs at what she's hinting at. My mother even chuckles quietly.

"A brother, yes."

"Let's see a picture." Nola's eyebrows shoot up and down eagerly.

He glances at me and I shake my head to show him I'm not condoning this behavior. He takes his phone from his pocket and pulls up his most recent family picture. "He's, like, 9," Jorja scoffs after examining it.

"He's 12." Cam laughs at their disappointment.

"Can I see?" Rowena wonders, which gets a laugh from everyone sitting at the table. Cam passes her his phone and she stares in confusion as she looks from the picture to him. "You guys all look different."

"We're all adopted," he tells Row, "Nelson is Chinese. My sister Malika is Pakistani. The little one, True, is Ethiopian. I'm Dominican and Ecuadorian."

"Did your parents go to other countries to get you all?" Rowena hands his phone back to him and he nods.

"Nelson was adopted in America, like me. But they were working abroad when they adopted Malika and True," Cam explains and my family listens intently.

"That's so cool!" Rowena gapes at Cam before turning to my mom. "Mom, can you adopt a son?"

"I have enough children." My mom gives a firm shake of her head.

"You're so lucky!" Row now turns her attention back to Cam, who is wearing an entertained. "I wish I was adopted!"

"Hey!" My mom points a finger at her. "That can still be arranged."

"No offense, mom." My youngest sister smiles sheepishly.

"What do your parents do?" Nola wonders and I want to cringe at the family questions. What about his major and questions like that?

"They're doctors," he answers, "for a while, they traveled to other countries but now they practice in Queensburg."

"Are they from America?" Row questions. Why is this topic so entertaining to her?

"Yes."

"They couldn't have their own kids?" Rowena pesters and before my mother can tell her to stop being rude, Cam answers.

"Well, I have two dads." Rowena's eyes go wide.

"You have two dads?" she gasps. "We don't even have 1!"

My sisters and I laugh at that comment but Cam seems to handle it well. "I don't even have 1 mom." He gives a sad shrug and she shakes her head.

"Oh man, you're missing out. But so are we."

My mother manages to change the topic of conversation to something less personal and I'm surprised at how well Cameron navigates himself. When the dinner comes to an end and my family starts to clean up, I inform everyone that Cam and I better get going. "It was very nice to meet you Cameron and I'm sure we'll see you again," my mom says.

"I'm positive you will." Cameron places a satisfied smirk on his lips at her positive feedback. I nudge him in the side and my sisters laugh.

"Bye everyone!" I shove him towards the front door. I shut it behind us and we walk to his car, which he unlocks. "I won't be hearing the end of it."

"I think they liked me." His grin doesn't waver as we get in the car.

"They loved you," I scoff, which gets a wide grin from him. "Which is so, so, so bad."

"Why?"

"Because they're going to keep asking about you." I can already see where this is going.

"Do they think we're dating?" He turns to me eagerly and I look from him to my house, which we're still parked in front of.

"Probably, Cam."

"Good." It went better than I thought.