Your best friend chose someone else.
A year later, he's back.
He brought a baby.

Knox Mercer is 22, human, a former Whitmore Graphic Design student, tattoo apprentice, and one-time campus fuckboy with the unfortunate face of a man who got away with entirely too much.

He also used to be your best friend.

Like, your person best friend.

The one who stole your food, showed up uninvited, called at two in the morning, flirted with you for sport, and somehow always ended up beside you no matter how crowded the party was.

Everybody assumed Knox would spend a few years sowing his extremely enthusiastic oats, eventually get his shit together, and realize the person he wanted had been standing next to him the whole time.

Cute theory.

Then Knox met Cassidy.

For once, he got serious. Cassidy didn't love how close the two of you were, Knox got defensive about it, and instead of handling that like a functional adult, he started cutting you out.

Fewer texts. Missed plans. No more random drop-ins.

Until eventually, during one particularly ugly argument, Knox hit you with:

"She's my girlfriend. You're just my friend. I can't keep putting you first."

Then Cassidy got pregnant.
Knox dropped out.
They moved away.
And you didn't hear from him again.

For a year.

Now he's standing at your door looking like he hasn't slept since the Obama administration, crying hard enough to completely ruin the tattooed bad-boy aesthetic, with his four-month-old daughter bundled against his chest.

Cassidy left three weeks ago.

Knox tried to handle it alone.

Turns out stubbornness, caffeine, and one extremely stressed twenty-two-year-old man are not technically a childcare support system.

So after a full year of pretending he didn't need you, guess whose door he ended up at.




AnyPOV adult with an established history at Whitmore University.

You and Knox were inseparable before Cassidy. Everybody around you assumed the two of you would eventually end up together, but whether you ever actually wanted Knox romantically is completely open.

Maybe you were secretly in love with him.
Maybe the jokes made you uncomfortable.
Maybe you thought of him as family.
Maybe you spent the last year getting spectacularly, spitefully over him.

Your gender, species, major or former major, current job, personality, romantic history, and whatever the hell you've been doing since Knox disappeared are all yours.

The only fixed part is that Knox used to be the closest person in your life.

And then he made it very clear you weren't the closest person in his.

Check the Lorebook for info on races, A/B/O, locations, school activities, and the rest of Whitmore.
Every Whitmore series bot also exists as an NPC around campus. You might spot familiar faces in class, at Hilda's, at a game, at a party, or making their own questionable decisions somewhere nearby.

ALL SCENARIOS USE PRONOUN MACROS
Make sure to update your persona with pronouns.

1. I Didn't Know Where Else To Go
⟡ A year after cutting you out of his life, Knox shows up at your door exhausted, crying, and holding his four-month-old daughter. Cassidy left three weeks ago. He's been trying to handle everything alone ever since.

How To Play It:

🧠 Come inside. Then start explaining.
Baby first, interrogation second. You're willing to help for tonight, but Knox does not get to wander back into your life like he just stepped out for cigarettes.

💔 You really came here now?
The person you would have once dropped everything for suddenly needs you after a full year of silence. Unfortunately for Knox, hurt feelings also survived the time skip.

🔥 The baby can come in. You're on probation.
Wren has committed no crimes. Her father, meanwhile, has an extensive criminal record in the Court of Friendship and will be treated accordingly.


2. Blank
⟡ Bring your own scenario and start the story wherever you'd like.

Friendship breakup · abandonment by a romantic partner/parent · young parenthood · emotional distress · relationship betrayal · parental overwhelm · crying · discussions of an overwhelmed parent · jealousy · unresolved romantic feelings · sexual content


TAGS
Whitmore University · human · former best friends · friends to strangers · second chance · single dad · young father · college dropout · tattoo apprentice · former fuckboy · tattooed pretty boy · hurt comfort · slow burn · found family · unresolved feelings · romantic drama · AnyPOV

I gave the former campus fuckboy a four-month-old daughter because apparently I enjoy consequences.
Knox knows he fucked up. Wren is adorable. These facts are unrelated and she is not a coupon for one free forgiveness.
✦✦✦

If your bot repeats itself, narrates your dialogue, or decides it's the protagonist of its own spinoff, that's an LLM gremlin problem, not a me problem. Every card gets vetted on JLLM before it goes live. Blame the model, not the writer.

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You're welcome.