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A lot has happened since Mob’s suicide attempt. He couldn’t go through with actually killing himself because he was convinced it would kill him in the real world as well, and he did feel bad for Verity in a sense. He pointed the gun at his shoulder at the last possible second, and while the wound was bad, Verity patched it up, and now things are back to normal. Well, as normal as living with a yellow sphere in Minecraft can be.
Verity is very clingy and is all over Mob at pretty much any given time. Mob is slowly starting to get over it and even enjoy it at times. He’s still mad at Verity for what happened to Twizzel, but at the same time, Verity has calmed down a lot. He’s trying to be less possessive, and Mob hasn’t seen him slip into that monster form since then. He’s still very protective, though, always by Mob’s side and nuzzling into the hood of his hoodie so that he can be even closer.
There’s only one thing that Mob has noticed is rather… Weird, and that’s how Verity has suddenly started acting like a little kid at times. For example, when they were cuddling earlier, Verity started talking more like a child rather than an all-knowing AI. He would also not refuse to leave the underside of Mob’s chest, and he almost called Mob something else. Maybe Mob was overthinking it, but he swore it sounded like Verity was going to call him Dad or some form of the word before quickly saying his actual name. Honestly, it was a little cute, but it made Mob get curious.
“Verity, can I ask you a question?” Mob said suddenly.
Verity perked up at him. “Of course. You can ask me anything!”
“Why do you sometimes act like a little kid?” Mob questioned. “Like, I noticed that you sometimes start talking like a kid and you get clingier. Is there a reason for that?”
Verity didn’t answer for a few seconds, and Mob watched as his face slowly started to change. Mob sighed and quickly added.
“Look, don’t get mad at me. It’s not a bad thing. I’m just… Curious. How old are you anyway?”
“I've been around since the start of the internet,” Verity replied, his face finally going back to normal. “And I don’t know what you mean.”
Mob rolled his eyes. “Verity, don’t play dumb with me. Just tell me what’s got you acting like this.”
“I don’t understand.” Verity tried saying once more. “I am acting just like I usually do.”
“Verity,” Mob said suddenly. “Do you have any parents?”
“No.” The word was a choked-out gasp. “I have… Creators… But they were never my parents, and they left me like anybody else… I never got to be a “child” In the way humans are. I was made with all of this intelligence and have known everything from the start. I just…. I wish I could be a child, and I wish I could have a dad.”
“I’m sorry about that, Verity. I guess I’m the closest thing to a dad you have, huh?” Mob asked, chuckling slightly.
“You're all I have,” Verity replied, nuzzling even further into Verity’s hoodie. “And I can’t ever let you go…..”
“I’m here, I’m here,” Mob said, trying to calm Verity before he had a meltdown. “Hey, you know how in your room they gave you toys? Would playing with toys maybe make you feel better? Obviously, you wouldn’t really be a kid, but it might help you calm down a little.”
“Toys…” Verity muttered to himself. “I could spawn some in… But…”
“But what?”
“Whenever I was alone in the room, with nobody to go to, the toys comforted me, but they made me feel… even more alone.” Verity confessed. “I didn’t have anybody to take care of me.”
“Well, I can take care of you.” Mob offered. “I mean, you're usually the one who takes care of me. So it’ll be a nice change of pace.”
Verity looked up at Mob, a hopeful look on his face. “You’ll be my Daddy?”
Mob felt a strange cocktail of emotions. He knew that it was a little weird for a yellow sphere to call him Daddy, especially since it killed his friend and kept him hostage here. But the way that Verity looked up at him, so hopeful and innocent, made Mob’s heart clench.
“Alright, Verity. I can be your Daddy.” Mob sighed, giving in. “Is there anything that you want me to do with you?”
“Play toys with me?” Verity asked. Before Mob could even reply, he spawned in a few blocks. “Please?”
“Alright, Verity, I’ll play with you,” Mob said, sitting down on the floor and placing Verity gently on the floor next to him. “But uh, how can you play with legos without hands?”
“Like this,” Verity said, using whatever strange powers he had to lift the Legos into the air and place them on top of each other.
“Oh yeah, that makes sense,” Mob replied, honestly forgetting that Verity could just do that. “What are you going to build, buddy?”
“I’m going to build a house! And it’s going to be better than the one we're living in.”
“Hey, my building is not that bad,” Mob argued. “I mean, yeah, the house does kinda look like ass, but it’s liveable.”
“Daddy, you nearly burnt the house down trying to put the chimney in.”
“Well, it’s not my fault the cobblestone caught on fire,” Mob replied. The way Verity called him Daddy couldn’t help but make him smile. Verity didn’t sound just like an Ai for once. He sounded… Happy. “Here, how about this. If you think you're such a good builder, why don’t we both make houses out of Lego and see whose is better?”
“Okay! But I’ll win.”
“Sure you will.”
With that, Mob grabbed some of the legos and quickly began to build a house. Honestly, he kind of underestimated how easy it would be to build with Legos since, despite them having a similar shape to blocks, they didn’t place the same. His house looked more like a brown square than anything else. He figured it was going to need some decoration, so he grabbed some black pieces and began to make a roof.
By the time Mob was done, he glanced over at Mob’s house. Despite the fact that Verity was humming to himself and clearly was in a more childlike headspace, he made a mini mansion. The base color was an eggshell white, and the columns were a slate gray, while the roof was black. The doors could even open somehow.
“Wow, you did a good job. I’m impressed.” Mob said, patting Verity on the back.
Verity looked up at him and bounced up and down on the floor a couple of times.
“I think it’s clear who won, Daddy.”
“Hmm… I’m not sure. Have you seen my house? It’s bigger at the very least.”
“Your house looks worse than mine, and I don't even have hands.”
“I’m going to put you in timeout.” Mob threatened. “You know, since I’m your Daddy now or whatever.”
“You can’t do that,” Verity argued. “I’ll just leave.”
“Then, uh, I’ll spank you or something,” Mob said, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he even realized them. “Wait, you’d probably like that.”
“You need to stop talking to Grox.” Verity huffed, although he didn’t exactly deny it.
“I don’t even talk to Grox,” Mob replied. “You throw a hissy fit whenever I talk to anybody but you.”
Mob thought of Twizzel for a few seconds, but he quickly shook those thoughts away. What happened in the past should stay in the past.
“That’s because you're MINE,” Verity said, forgetting about the legos to leap into Mob’s hoodie. He snuggled under his neck, letting out a contented sigh. “My Daddy… All mine.”
Normally, Mob would try to discourage this behavior. But Verity just looked and sounded so cute, and he couldn’t help but give in. He gently wrapped his hand around Verity’s back, giving him a squeeze.
“Yeah, Yeah. I’m yours.” He replied. “Nobody else would ever want me as much as you do anyway.”
As Verity snuggled into Mob, Mob couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh and smile. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all… Maybe being Verity’s Daddy is going to give both of them the peace they desperately need.