#cullens

She had met him in the school parking lot, when he picked up a dropped notebook she hadn’t heard fall. His golden eyes had met hers, full of curiosity, caution, and something else that she couldn’t quite place.bSince then, he’d been around. A lot.

Sometimes he sat near her at lunch. Sometimes she’d catch him watching her during class, head tilted like he was trying to solve a mystery. She didn’t mind. He never spoke at her. Never got impatient. He just… watched. Then one day, he signed something.

Badly.

“My name is… Jasper?” He looked almost apologetic, his fingers fumbling. It was clumsy, but the effort made her heart stutter.

She smiled and signed back. “Close enough”

That's how it started...

Jasper didn’t just learn a few signs to flirt. He learned entire sentences. He practiced fingerspelling until it was smooth. And when he needed help, he turned to the one person he trusted for quiet, unwavering support.

“Esme?” he asked one evening as they sat in the living room. “Would you mind helping me with something?”

Esme smiled gently, always pleased when one of her children came to her with something meaningful. “Of course, what is it?”

“I want to learn more sign language. I’ve been studying on my own, but I think I need actual help”

Esme lit up. “For y/n?”

Jasper nodded once. “I want to be able to talk to her. Really talk. Not just ‘hello’ and ‘how are you.’ I want to know how to say everything”

Esme smiled warmly. “I could help you with grammar and facial expressions, too. You’ll catch on quickly I'm sure”

From the couch, Emmett let out a dramatic sigh. “Ugh, look at you. All soft and romantic”

Jasper didn’t even flinch. “You’re just mad because I’ve got better manners”

Emmett gave his usual shit eating grin. That grin that said he was definitely up to something. He stood, cracking his knuckles. “I know some sign language, too, you know”

Jasper sighed and turned to his brother, raising a brow. “Do you?”

Without missing a beat Emmett grinned like a troublemaker and held up his hand - Middle finger.

Jasper groaned. Esme rolled her eyes, smacking his arm. “Emmett Cullen!”

“What?” he said, laughing. “that is a useful sign!”

~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~

Y/n noticed Jasper improving. Fast. He used more complex signs now, “I missed you,” and “You look beautiful today”

He started asking her real questions, not just how her day was. “You like to draw?” he signed one afternoon at school.

She nodded, signing back, “Sketching. Sometimes painting.”

Jasper’s eyes lit up. “Show me sometime?”

She could feel the effort in his fingers, the sincerity in every sign, even if it wasn’t always perfect. But what mattered most was that he never looked at her like she was a puzzle. He looked at her like someone he wanted to understand.

One day, they sat together on the porch of the Cullen house, the forest just beyond the trees. “Why did you learn?” she asked.

Jasper paused. The wind ruffled his honey-blond curls, but he stayed perfectly still otherwise. Then he signed, “Because I’ve never heard your voice. But I want to hear everything you have to say.”

Her throat tightened.

He reached out carefully, fingers brushing hers before he signed again. “I’ve lived a long time in silence, too. Not like yours. But a silence in here” He tapped his chest. “Then I met you”

She felt the tears before she realized they’d gathered. She blinked fast, looking down at their hands. He noticed. Slowly, Jasper reached out again - not with words, but with his touch. His hand closed gently around hers. And she understood, even without a sign.

He cared. He saw her.

Later that night, Jasper signed something new. Something she hadn’t seen from him before. “I love you”

Her heart stilled.

She smiled, then signed it back. “I love you, too”

~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~✿~

From the house window, Emmett was watching with binoculars. “Aw,” he whispered dramatically. “Young love”

• they are defo very much attuned to you. like they can sense your emotions, your scent, even your heartbeat from across the room. You never have to explain when something is wrong bc they already know if you're sick, on your period, stressed, etc.

• every plan that they make pretty much circles back to you and how it might affect you. they never go away without telling you (they learned that lesson with Bella) and they rarely go hunting all at once; half of them will go out, half of them will stay with you. you think it's silly, that you can look after yourself for a day or two whilst they trek up the mountains, but they really would rather stay with you

• same goes for if you're living at home: if you want to live outside of the cullen house, they respect that (one of them is defo checking in on you nightly though. whether you know it or not is another question), but they'd be just delighted if you ended up living with them. if you're a student, they'd relocate for you. carlisle would make some excuse like "people are noticing our age, anyway"

• they are endlessly patient, gentle, and fascinated by your humanity, even though they once were human, too. bc time moves differently for them, they have infinite patience for you. A day to you is a second to them, so they really are believers in quality time with you.

• they are 100% tactile creatures. expect constant casual touches, whether it be fingers brushing your arm, a hand on your lower back, forehead kisses, being pulled into one of their laps... physical closeness is their love language, and how they make you feel safe (and subsequently, them)

• that being said, they will go to extreme lengths to keep you safe— sometimes to the point of being overprotective. they worry about your fragility as a human constantly, even though you don't feel all that fragile. this wld probably be the main point of contention w them.

• they also try (sometimes unsuccessfully) to give you a normal life, bc they consider your mating with them to be somewhat of a sacrifice (obviously you feel like the luckiest person in the world being quasi married to 7 majorly hot vampires).

• as was the case with Bella and Edward, the immortality question looms. they struggle with the idea of watching you age and die, or the moral weight of turning you. it's a question you want them to get on with and decide (with your input, of course) because you don't want to be a 60 year old vampire; might as well get turned at 30 and be in your prime forever

The tears had started sometime between when Paul left the room and when she finally managed to zip herself out of the dress. (Y/N) avoided the mirror at all costs, knowing her face was streaked black from the mascara and still stained from the dirt when she hit the ground. The girl didn't want to face the aftermath of what was supposed to be a memorable night, much less the marks that made her skin ache.

The day had started perfectly—normal, in fact. She had shared a special moment with her sister, her hair and makeup had been done beautifully, and for the first time, she had been able to wear a gorgeous designer gown. Everything had been going smoothly after that as well. Paul got to spend time with the friends he had neglected, and they welcomed (Y/N) as if she had always been part of the group. The night had gotten her to believe they were capable of having a sense of normalcy even when thrust into the whirlwind world of vengeful vampires and angry werewolves.

Yet, all it took was a few words from Victoria to crack the unsteady foundation Paul and (Y/N) had built for themselves. The base wobbled and settled askew, setting them on separate sides. They were still reaching for each other, but distance had started to grow in the way.

With a wet washcloth, (Y/N) wiped her face as best as she could. She could hear a car engine nearing the house, and there was no way she would miss a single second of the conversation. The red gown was replaced by a pair of sweatpants and a sweater, and her curled hair was wrapped in a messy ponytail. Some strands were pulling at her skull, and she had tied it slightly to the side, but all she cared to know was what they were planning to do to protect her and Bella from Victoria's wrath.

The vampires were already inside the house when she got downstairs, and she could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Paul stood on one side of the room, his face frozen in a deep, angry scowl. On the other, the Cullen family stood as still as marble. Then there was Bella, sitting on the couch, wishing she could be anywhere but there.

When (Y/N) finally made her way to the first floor, a “thank god” left her sister's lips as she joined her side. “So,” she started. “Can we finally talk about what happened here tonight?”

“Alice,” Edward called. His stare was threatening, his tone demanding. “Anything to say?”

“I have no idea,” she answered defensively. “I didn't see anything.”

“How can that be possible?” he seethed.

“Edward,” Bella hissed under her breath. The boy was angry, frustrated over the fact that the girl he loved was once more in the front lines of danger. But she could not stand being misdirected to the wrong person.

In that moment, he didn't really care. “He was in here, Alice,” he argued. “He could have still been here when they got home.”

“You already have me watching the Volturis’ decisions, watching Victora's return, watching Bella's every step. You want to add another?” Alice offered, resentment lacing with her words. “You want me to watch Charlie, or this house? Might as well watch out for the whole street while I'm at it. If I do too much, things start to slip through the cracks, Edward.”

“Looks like they already have.”

“They would have been fine, leech,” Paul scoffed. “I was here with them.”

“And look how well that's worked out for (Y/N).”

Before he could do anything, (Y/N) got between Paul and Edward, stumbling as he collided with her. The mocking scoff that left the vampire did not go unnoticed. And as right as he technically was, everyone knew it was the least opportune moment to say it. “How about we keep all the insults and jabs for another time?” she offered. “I, for one, would love to keep the house standing for when dad comes back.”

“(Y/N)'s right,” Bella added. “We won't get anywhere by fighting amongst each other.”

“Of course,” Edward sighed. “We have to think about this logically. Here's what we know. Someone came into the house while Charlie was home. He was left unharmed, and all they did was take personal belongings from both Bella and (Y/N).”

Everyone seemed to calm down then, taking a seat wherever they found space. Names were being thrown around—Aro, Caius, Victoria—but (Y/N) couldn't quite catch all that was said. Her head hadn't stopped spinning since she had left her bedroom. The situation was overwhelming, and her fight—if one could call it that—with Paul had left her feeling rather vulnerable. The Cullens spoke of vampires with personal vendettas, dragged anger, murderous revenge. The girl felt she'd been thrown into the middle of a bad fantasy movie.

If she had stayed in Florida, she thought, the hardest thing she would have been going through would have been which college she would go to. There would be no wolves or vampires, no imprint bond or natural-born enemies. If she had stayed, maybe her sister wouldn't be staring at a life-long death. Maybe if she had chosen to stay behind, Bella would have brought herself out of her depression. Maybe if Renée had been able to take back her older daughter, they could have found a way out for her back in the sunny state. Instead, they were facing death every day their eyes opened again, being hunted by creatures far beyond comprehension.

(Y/N) looked around the room, and suddenly everything felt strange. A year before, none of those people meant anything to her. The Cullens were just her sister's in-laws, Edward was her weird boyfriend, and Paul was a forgotten memory of her childhood. Now, they were discussing what mysterious vampire had been written into the story. A curious traveler passing through? An angry Volturi checking on Bella's immortality? Another vampire thirsty for some Swan blood?

The kitchen door slamming snapped the girl out of her thoughts. Emmett and Jasper walked in, an exasperated look on the former and a grimace on the latter. “Well, he's long gone,” the dark-haired boy said, disappointed. He took his place next to Rosalie, draping his arm around her shoulders like it had always belonged there. “Trail went East, then South, and disappeared on a side road. Seems like he had a car waiting.”

“Tough luck,” Edward muttered. “Would've been good for the dogs to make themselves useful.”

“Edward,” Bella reprimanded. “We agreed on no insults.”

“It's not really an insult. I'm just saying it would have been good if the wolves could have tracked the vampire into their territory,” the older boy shrugged. “It'd be nice if they made themselves useful.”

“Funny how we wouldn't have any of these problems if you and your family had never shown up,” Paul grumbled. His neck was slowly starting to turn red, his anger bubbling slowly and loudly under his skin. The boy was using every ounce of his energy to keep it at bay, fighting his explosive nature to keep himself under control. “If only you had steered clear of Forks as well as you did from Bella all these months.”

The laugh that left Edward's throat was mocking, laced with a secret only he seemed to know. He took his time to let the chuckle die, allowing Paul's ire to fester for a little while longer. “As much as you hate us and the fact that we live here,” he grinned, “you wouldn't have reunited with (Y/N). Matter of fact, all of the things you're most proud of in your life would not have happened if we had not come here. I mean, you’re a wolf because of us. (Y/N) is here because of us. I think you should be a little more grateful that we’re here.”

“You're giving yourself far too much credit,” the wolf growled. “(Y/N) and I have been destined to each other for far longer than we've known any of you exist.”

“Are you sure about that?” Edward pushed, and he knew exactly how to keep pressing those buttons. “Do you really think (Y/N) would have chosen you had it not been for the imprint bond? Think of the life she could’ve had if she hadn’t gotten stuck with you.”

The shaking started instantly, and there was almost no time to get the boy outside. (Y/N) pulled him by his blazer, pushing him out through the kitchen door. The wolf ripped through his suit, sending pieces of black fabric flying onto the grass. He growled toward the house, his mouth trembling and slobbering with rage.

(Y/N) was trying her best to lead him toward the woods, keeping a safe distance while keeping him away from the street's view. But nothing she did worked. Her words fell on deaf ears, silenced by the sound of his snarls. The girl pleaded and cried for him to disappear into the woods, but his gaze never left the figures trickling onto the back porch.

“You just had to keep going?” Bella scoffed at Edward as she made her way through the Cullens. “Look at what you did. You just can't help yourself, can you?”

Edward remained quiet as he watched her move toward her sister. He knew teasing Paul would wreak havoc in the house, but something in him snapped whenever he was near one of them. Maybe it was their incessant and rampant thoughts that drove him crazy; maybe it was their scent that made him insane; maybe it was the fact that Bella kept defending them every chance she got.

“Paul, I know Edward fucked up, but you need to go,” Bella said, pulling (Y/N) behind her. “You won't be helping anyone if one of the neighbors sees you. So, please, just go.”

“Please, Paul,” (Y/N) cried. “Don't make tonight worse than it already is.”

Those words snapped something in him, stopping his growls immediately. His eyes snapped to hers, finally realizing what he was doing. A small whimper left the wolf as he tried to take a step toward the sisters. But seeing (Y/N) recoil into herself as he walked closer broke something in him. In the myriad of mistakes he had made, losing control had been the worst.

“Just go home,” Bella instructed once more. “We'll call you with whatever we decide, but you cannot stay here in this state.”

The boy was in the wrong; he knew that. Even if Edward had been taunting him, it was his responsibility to keep his wolf at bay. He'd spent months controlling his rage, finding ways of keeping his anger from (Y/N). But those months had been devoid of any Cullens, and any interaction with a vampire had warranted a shift. Control had been easier to master because the obstacles were gone.

He tried to get closer to (Y/N) once more, lowering his head in an effort to show his regret. But all it did was push her another step farther away. Her cheeks were stained with tears, her shoulders shaking with the strength of her sobs. She was overwhelmed, weighed by the array of events she'd already lived through that night. She wanted him to go, and he was sure of it.

“Paul,” Bella repeated, her tone stern and menacing. “Go. Home.”

“You can call later if you're that worried about her,” Edward called out. “But it's obvious you can't stay here in that state.”

“Thank you, Edward, but I've got this,” she interrupted. “Go home, Paul. You can call once you've calmed down and we can talk next steps, okay? Matter of fact, everyone should go to their respective homes. The night's been long enough.”

After a beat, the mind reader vampire spoke again. “We'll be around if the vampire decides to come back,” he said. “We've been keeping an eye out every night.”

When a menacing growl left Paul, (Y/N) finally stepped in between. She wiped away her tears and stared the wolf down. “Just go already, please,” the girl stated. “They will stay guarding the perimeter of the house like they've been doing for a while—you know that. We're safer with them being here, and you know that. But you're not safe while you're like that, so go home.”

“He says he'll come back as soon as he's calmed down.”

“Just come back for your truck, and that’s it,” the girl sniffled, wrapping her arms around herself. “I’ll tell you when you can come over later.”

“He says…”

“I don’t really care right now,” (Y/N) argued. Frustration was growing in her. There were too many people around, too many things shifting at the same time. It was too much to process. “Just go!”

Without another thought, the younger Swan backed into the house, the kitchen door slamming shut behind her. At that point, she didn’t care if anyone found them out. She was exhausted, stressed, angry, confused. Emotions flooded her all at once, forcing her under and keeping her from staying above water. Her perfect—normal—night had been ruined, and all she wanted was to sleep it away.

Edward’s words played in her head. Everything he’d said had been to anger Paul, dug from the deepest corners of the younger boy’s insecurities. He’d carefully picked the vocabulary, slowly piecing together the ticking bomb that he was. Yet, they had been sewn with a truthful thread. The rewriting of their story had been entirely started by the Cullens. From the moment they had come back to Forks, they had chafed the very fabric of their reality and staged a new narration.

The vampires’ presence had triggered the shifter gene in the reservation boys. Bella’s breakup with the Cullen boy had prompted (Y/N) to visit the town that had seen her be born. Before that, she had been more than happy staying in Florida with her mom, working as hard as she could on her studies to get into a good university. Before Forks, she’d had the next few years of her life planned out. Now, she wasn’t sure if she would even make it to her senior year.

“Oh, (Y/N).” Bella’s voice mixed with the sound of her sister’s cries. The bed sank where she sat, the hinges of the old bed creaking as she did. Gently, she moved the girl’s head onto her lap, running her fingers through her hair in an effort to calm the younger Swan’s sobs.

“When did everything go to shit?” (Y/N) whimpered. “It was all going so good.”

“Well, honey, you know things going good is not in our DNA,” she chuckled softly, trying her best to lighten the mood. “What really happened tonight, (Y/N)? I don't like seeing you like this.”

Truth clung to the walls of (Y/N)'s throat. She didn't want to worry Bella even more and push her to immortality even faster. After her trip to Italy, the days left of Bella's humanity were numbered, and she wanted to do nothing to shorten that timeline. But secrets had been the detriment of many of their relationships, and she didn't want to add another to the list.

But at the end of the day, she cared more about having her sister by her side than a threat that may never come to fruition. “Everything just got away from us,” she sighed. “One minute we were having fun and feeling like we were just normal kids, and the next, Jacob was running in saying Victoria was there. Then, after she was gone, Paul got very short with Jake for trying to help and the whole vampire thing here... it's just too much!”

“What do you mean Jake tried to help?”

“Victoria dropped me on the ground, and he tried to help me up. Paul didn't like that,” (Y/N) shrugged. Her cries had begun to settle; the soft caresses from Bella's hand were slowly lulling her to sleep. “I know what he's done and that Paul's angry at him, but he just took it too far.”

“Like Edward did tonight,” Bella said, her eyebrows raised in amusement. “How did we manage to find the most intense men in existence?”

“Being Swans?” The sisters laughed for a moment, still finding a sliver of happiness in the middle of the chaos. But it didn't last long, not when too much weighed on them. “Do you think he was right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think the only reason Paul and I are together is because of the imprint bond?”

Bella felt a chill spread through her spine, forcing every move she was making to freeze. “Do you think that?” the older girl asked. “You were just saying last weekend that you were close to telling him you loved him, (Y/N).”

“I do love him, and I told him that today, but...” (Y/N) breathed deeply, mustering every ounce of courage that she could to say what she was going to. “I can listen to him reassure me until we die, but I will never know what he's really thinking. I have to just trust that what he's telling me is the truth. But Edward has an insight I will never have. He can read Paul's thoughts, and it's clear that everything he used to push him over the edge is just things that are running through his mind.”

“So, you think he still believes the only reason you two are together is because of the imprint link?”

“He has, too, right? I mean, just this morning I really thought there was absolutely nothing or no one that could drive a wedge between us,” (Y/N) exclaimed, straightening herself out as she spoke. “Then Victora shows up, and everything got in the way, and now I don't even know where we stand.”

Frustration built inside (Y/N) once more, and she couldn't stop herself from muttering more. “What would you do if I were turned into a vampire?” the girl blurted. “Like, how do you think you would react if that were to happen?”

“Whoa, where is this coming from, (Y/N)?” Bella questioned. “Is this something you've been thinking about?”

“It just sort of came up,” she muttered. “But that's not the point. How would you feel about it? Actually, how do you think Edward would have reacted if you had told him you wanted to stay human?”

“That's an entirely different conversation about an entirely different person,” Bella argued. “Edward always wanted me to stay human. I was the one who kept pushing him to turn me into a vampire. But I wouldn't want you to be one, as hypocritical as it may be.” The older girl studied her sister's face, finding the words (Y/N) wanted to keep hidden. The more time passed, the easier it became to read the unsaid, learn the subtitles of the younger girl's silence. “Is that what you were fighting about with Paul? About what would happen if you were turned?”

(Y/N) sighed, wanting nothing more than to hide from the conversation she had started. “It's part of it, yeah,” she said. “It just made me question how much love can actually withstand. Like maybe there are limits. And if that's true, how can I believe that what Paul and I have is meant to be for life?”

“This isn't something you should be questioning right now, (Y/N),” the older Swan cooed, wrapping her arms around her sister. “You should be head over heels in love right now, not wondering if forever is a possibility for your relationship.”

“And you shouldn't have to turn into a vampire. And we shouldn't be hunted by them. And my boyfriend shouldn't be a werewolf, and yours shouldn't be a vampire, but here we are.” (Y/N) let out a sigh of frustration, slumping her weight onto Bella. “We are literal walking fantasy stories. Remind me to be born as a house cat in my next life. Their lives seem a lot simpler.”

“I can’t really talk about a next life, but I’m hoping that after we've dealt with Victoria, things start to fall into place.”  

A/N: *cough* *cough* it's a bit dusty here after months of inactiveness. i honestly wish I had a better explanation other than life and my health have gotten in the way, and the brain fog has been fogging. almost 80% of this was written under the effects of cold medicine so I'm not sue just how coherent it might be, but i hope you guys like it 😅 and again, so sorry for being gone for so long. my head could only take so much at a time If you’d like to be tagged in this or any other story:  click here Make sure you have my notifications on so you know every time I post!