*Chapter 1,051*
"Yeah, he just entered the game," Lash muttered warmly into his phone, a conversation he was having with Vanellope. With his phone wedged between his strong jaw and shoulder, he sharply cocked an eyebrow and side-eyed Koko, who stood directly next to him. Only him and Koko stood in the common room's living area, although they each had their own individual homes with fully equipped kitchens, it was typical that the common room amenities were used, especially when the band was gone on tour. Having been filled in the night prior, Lash properly filled Nox and Koko in on the nonsense with Gideon this early game day morning. Lash whisked away his remote code room controls and patiently leaned against the counter as he watched Koko cutely prepare herself a morning smoothie, "So how easy do you want me to go on him? I'm sure you went full mom-mode on him, and I have no clue how parents are supposed to act, but I'm prepared to lay the smack down, Vanellope, seriously."
"Nooo, no, I beg of you," Vanellope quietly pleaded, it was clear she was exhausted, Lash scrunched his face in mildly annoyed dismay as Koko volleyed her eyes to Lash with an equal amount of warning.
"Tenderness," Koko mused nervously.
"It was brutal, I'm serious... He's already fragile as is, just... Give him space to exist, he's bouncing back," Vanellope muttered.
"I'm going to allow him to make his own way to the arena, then, I gotta cool off," Lash muttered, Koko heaved a long sigh and figured sticking around, for Gideon's arrival, was probably wise, now seeing how heated Lash was getting. Lash grunted as he rubbed his face in full, dreaded agitation, "Not acid, Gideon, for flying fuck's sake, GIDEON."
"There's not a single escape that's doing it for him," Vanellope pressed on, her voice wavered, and it was here did Lash soften with the trembling sound of promised tears. Koko could sense his sorrowful aura and firmly peered into his eyes in an equally as frozen prickle of dread as Vanellope carried on, for no one but Lash to hear, "L-Lash, I... The only greater frontier of a promised escape, that isn't the internet, is permanent death... Please, hear me-"
"I hear you, I hear you," Lash cooed nervously, his eyes dipped to a minty show of prickled dread that promised to tint closer to sorrowful blue, something that had Koko perking up in a spike of sad apprehension as she stopped prepping for the smoothie she was about to blend. Lash breathed a shaky sigh and shook his head at Koko, to assure her not to worry, "I understand... I'm sorry, Vanellope, I promise I'll be gentle with him."
"He needs us, you even said so," Vanellope now staggered into full tears, "We have to keep him glued to us, he's our family."
"Hey, it's okay," Lash warmly soothed, it was here did Koko stand back a step, put her hand on her hip and lovingly admire Lash's warmth. She was well aware the mixture of Mara's coding in him had massively softened his edge, though she thought it nice that he would willingly put it on display. Lash breathed a shaky sigh and peered deep into Koko's eyes, full of gentle regret, "That bad, huh?"
"It was scary," Vanellope whimpered quietly in the security of her's and Lash's phone call, "Please take care of him... Tell Koko to stick close to him, and if you see Kepa..."
Lash raised his eyebrows in gentle, baited wait as Vanellope nasally sighed a warm conclusion.
"Please thank her, for me," Vanellope murmured cutely as she inhaled a thick sniffle, "Gideon and I got to talking last night, after everything settled. He told me all about her... I've never seen him so animated and passionate about anyone before."
"Yeah, he adores her," Lash mumbled warmly as him and Koko eased little, knowing smiles across their faces, "I'll tell her... Hopefully soon. Soon it'll be okay."
"Yeah," Vanellope squeaked through tears, she inhaled a deep, revived breath and was in the process of shaking it off, "Okay, whew... We gotta get ready for quarter alerts."
"Yeah, he's almost here, don't worry, he'll be here," Lash assured, and as the two ushered each other kind goodbyes, Lash hung up and sagged his phone into his pocket; Koko hovered for a moment before she finally turned the blender on, allowed it to whirl for a spell before settling.
"Well, this'll be interesting," Koko stated in cheeky, sarcastic charm. She shook her head and poured herself her yummy smelling smoothie, "Probably the last thing any of us want, for Gideon... Surely that talk of yours scared everyone shitless."
"Well, if my talk didn't, Gideon exploring hallucinogens and other escape routes will do it," Lash muttered, he raised his eyebrows in attentiveness as the two could hear the arena's teleport pad buzz with life. Due to their arena home being void of nearly everyone, Lash and Koko knew it could only be one person. As suspected, Gideon rounded about the bend of the entrance to the common room, from across the way, and it was here did Lash swell the room with his warm, infectious sense of happiness, "Hey, bud. Get over here and hurry cause I gotta go win first for the whole entire day now that Turbo's spot is filled by a dummy."
"...What about Nox!" Koko cried with a loud giggle as Gideon cautiously came closer to the two, Lash and Koko tried not to ogle just how purely exhausted and sunken his eyes looked, his whole demeanor sagged in the true hit of last night's harsh reality.
"Nox isn't a threat, sorry," Lash muttered, he warmly peered into Gideon's eyes and broadened his arm for Gideon to approach. The three were silent for a moment as Gideon slowly moved closer to Lash's presence, as if to be curious if Lash was awaiting a hug or the like. Lash gave Gideon a knowing little smile of understanding and gestured his arm a little harder, "C'mere, c'mere, c'mon, I want to love on you but I don't got all day, my guy."
Gideon heaved a long, raspy sigh through his nose and sagged into Lash's presence, and without hesitation, Lash wrapped his arm tight about Gideon's upper back and squeezed him into a brotherly hug. Gideon sagged into Lash's one-armed embrace with a lull of his tired eyes, his chin rested over Lash's broad shoulder, and though he was well aware his mother likely cued Lash in to this whole mess, he felt guilt plague him senseless. There were no more tears left in his body, he nearly went limp against Lash in defeat, though the firm pats and rubs of Lash's hand to Gideon's upper back was a solid reminder that he was safe, here. Lash blurt a warm chuckle over Gideon's shoulder and finally wrapped both his arms about Gideon's back.
"C'mon, bud... We can have booze and maybe spoil you with some weed or some shit, in the sanctity of the arena, but let's maybe pump the brakes on the hard drugs, okay?" Lash muttered nervously, to which Gideon heaved a hard sigh through his nose, squeezed his eyes shut and bobbed a hesitant nod against Lash's shoulder. Both men slowly pulled away, to which Lash revealed the minty glow of his nervous gaze, something that had Gideon blinking in plucked surprise, "We love you. We need you here, in one piece, okay?"
Gideon nodded, though as tears began to billow in his eyes, he drew his teary gaze to Koko's and took note that Koko was already crying. Lash stiffly inhaled a trembling breath, cleared his throat, shook his head and firmly pat Gideon's upper arms with both his hands in a jostle of a grapple.
"Okay! Okay, I gotta go," Lash chirped as his eyes welled with tears, as well. He choked a shaky laugh as Koko wiped her cheeks and giggled at Lash's expense, "None of y'all are allowed to see me cry, so I'm going to leave now before I go entirely soft."
"Win all the trophies, you are number one soft boy," Koko eased a nasally giggle as Lash began to firmly leave the two.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Lash muttered, he pointed back at Gideon and gave him a warm smile, "Hey, you're either allowed to hang out with Koko, Beaux, Mara or Kepa today, okay? Today's not a day to be alone left to your own devices, I got Queen Vanellope's orders to follow."
"Yes, sir," Gideon muttered in defeated compliance, he bobbed a nod and shyly peered into Koko's teary eyes. As Lash finally left with a notion of departure, Gideon inhaled a deep breath and gave Koko a weak, depleted smile of exhaustion, "Sorry for scaring you guys... I-I... Had a moment of weakness, I guess."
"It's okay, Gideon, we all stumble, lessons need to be learned," Koko whispered sweetly as she shook her head and tucked her spirally, curly, chocolate brown waves of hair behind her ears. Still mildly a mess and in her comfortable pajama pants and t-shirt, she inhaled a huge, reviving breath of delight and reached for her smoothie, "I made a fruit smoothie, do you want one?"
"No thank you, I don't have much of an appetite," Gideon murmured, though he was unconvincing as he curiously eyed the swathe of fruit and such that Koko had yet to put away.
"... He said, fooling no one," Koko muttered with a cute giggle under her breath, Gideon did whatever he could to stifle a smile as he rolled his eyes and looked off, "C'mon, sit. Tell me what you want in yours, I'll make it special."
"By special, you mean..." Gideon trailed in nervous, now-smiling curiosity as he moved around the bend of the open-aired counter space and took a seat at the bar across the counter from Koko in patient wait.
"You want... Banana?" Koko stated in a goofy voice as she firmly held up a singular banana, she waggled her eyebrows and was floored to garner a wide, boyish grin from Gideon's exhausted-looking face.
"Sure, a banana," Gideon choked into a bigger roll of laughter as Koko unravelled the banana in playful aggression; always one to be girly and goofy, he softened and was floored Koko's approach, in this raw situation, was tender, innocent, child-like playfulness, something he wasn't aware he was desperately craving. Gideon sagged his elbows on the counter and shook his head, "Got ice cream?"
"... For breakfast, Gideon?" Koko loudly complained, she wildly rolled her eyes and kept up the act of full playfulness that had Gideon's cute, raspy laughter now growing, "Yuck, it's as if you were born and raised in Sugar Rush, or something."
"I might have been," Gideon cutely squeaked as Koko stomped over to the freezer and began to loudly rummage through it.
"Oh! You want a hot pocket in your smoothie?" Koko called from deep inside the wall of frosty air that ghosted out of the gape of the opened freezer, Gideon wildly wrinkled his nose and shook his head desperately.
"Okay, you're nasty," Gideon urged happily, Koko shook her head and grappled for the vanilla ice cream.
"No, I'm being polite to my house guest," Koko corrected, she came back to the counter with the ice cream and began to make Gideon a smoothie in whatever way she saw fit, with the proper ingredients she had. She eyed Gideon with a warm smile, her aura read uplift, this was something Gideon was fervently cued to. A different air about herself, it were as if she was given an assignment and was set to ace it. As if garnering Gideon back to home base was her little side quest, he watched her meticulous hands work to cut up the fruit for his smoothie and wondered just why her little trick was strangely working. For the first time in Gideon's life, without any shred of words, he somehow felt as if Koko had finally considered him an equal. In life, in partnership, in maturity, Gideon held his breath and prepared for it to all vanish within the blink of an eye. Koko heaved a small sigh and cutely shrugged, "Sugar Rush is cavity central... Y'ever wonder how we all have like near-perfect teeth?"
"Tessa and Ol got dad's gap," Gideon plainly stated, though Koko gaped and shot Gideon a wildly insulted look. He brightened and finally erupted into full, uninhibited laughter, "I-I wasn't insulting them, Keeks, c'mon!"
"Sure sounded like it, buddy-boy," Koko stabbed, she shot her attention to the freezer, across the way, "I was kidding, about that hot pocket, but I'll throw it in if you're not careful!"
"Only if it's pepperoni," Gideon wheezed cutely, he felt the licks of serotonin coat the underside of his brain, and with the rush of happiness he was eager to drown in, he knew adding his favorite coffee order to the mix would only make things that much better. He held out his hand and gave Koko a humbled, tired smile, "You want a cold brew?"
"DO I?" Koko ogled cutely, she shoved the blender on to its base and gave Gideon a happy grin, "Surprise me, pretty please."
Koko turned the blender on and carefully watched what she was doing as Gideon inhaled a breath and prepared to manifest himself and Koko tasty cold brews, though as he held his breath and peered down into his right hand, he fervently halted any magic brewing underneath his skin. Kepa's voice lilted through his head like honey, tenderly reminding him of his receiving hand, desperate to get through to him, to constantly be the angel on his shoulder, Gideon sagged and gently closed his right fist in understood defeat, and with the switch, he opened his left in proper preparation. His coding still felt sore from last night, it worked on overdrive to give Gideon the hallucinations he was quite floored to not have control over, for once, his imagination totally ran wild, though his muscles certainly felt it all the next day. He grimaced in worry, cued his magic underneath the skin of his left palm, though as his frosty cold brew order appeared in his hand, via his glitching and manifesting abilities, he scoffed a small, delighted noise of cute surprise. His coding wiggled down his wrists in delight, the promise that receiving goods in said receiving hand was promised health for his coded wellbeing had him now setting the notion in stone, and quietly thanking Kepa for it. The blender whirred to a stop, Gideon handed Koko her the second frosty cold brew he manifested, and in the trade, he received the yummy smoothie she had made him, as well.
"Cheers," Koko claimed with the lift of her coffee, they daintily clanked their cups together and accepted first sips in a swing of warm silence. Koko came up for air, from her coffee, and gave Gideon a brightened look of elated happiness as she hugged her cold brew cozily to her chest, "Mmm. Thank you, Giddy."
"No prob," Gideon mumbled cutely, he bobbed a nod and took a few big gulps of the smoothie she made him, suddenly the idea of hunger now hit his brain, "This is really good, too, thank you."
"Anytime," Koko sighed warmly as the two settled in each other's seemingly recalibrated energies.
"You and Nox enjoying the quiet?" Gideon wondered gently, he now felt a strange sweep of camaraderie with his older sister, a weird feeling he had never had the luxury of feeling before, it were as if simply no past troubles were between them.
Gideon wondered if Lash had wrangled her and Nox into his corner, if Lash's fervent desire to brother was now leaking onto even Gideon's own siblings. Much like Zed and being a master of correcting behavior, Gideon smiled into Koko's eyes and felt his heart swell for his best friend, Lash's ability to follow footsteps and good examples, no matter how irritated with Zed Gideon currently was, how little he wanted to admit Zed's incredible, Kingly traits.
"We like it for like... Two days," Koko murmured, she lazily leaned her elbows on the counter and noisily slurped her coffee.
"Uhg, don't," Gideon snipped in a grumble of brotherly delight, Koko wrinkled her nose at him and shook her head.
"We get lonely after day two," Koko continued sorrowfully, though she brightened, her alluring brown eyes gripped Gideon's in a rise of zest, "Having you and Beaux here, though, really makes up for it! Bring Kepa around, too, y'know?"
"Yeah," Gideon's carefree, happy smile immediate sagged as his eyes aimlessly looked down to the counter, Koko stiffened to a slow stand and frowned.
"Uh... Sore spot, then? Are you and Kepa okay?" Koko worried, it was here did Gideon feel Kepa's adamant words hug his heart; it's okay to lay vulnerable to the trustworthy. He cautiously eyed Koko and pondered just how trustworthy Koko was, now that stern talking-to's were delivered, now that the gossipy group chat was deleted, he wondered if extending warmth, to the sibling he was right with, was a good move.
"We're okay, we just..." Gideon heaved a trembling sigh, looked off and could nearly visibly see his cheeks turn an aggressive red in his peripherals. Gideon stifled a small laugh as Koko loudly and obnoxiously began to coo teasing noises his way.
"Oooo, Kepa and Gideon, sitting in a tree," Koko daintily sang as she twirled her fingers, though she inhaled a deep breath and allowed the mature conversation to cure their rocky foundation, she stood a bit straighter and shrugged, "Testing the waters? You're lucky you two are self-programmed, swapping with Nox was terrifying."
"Was it?" Gideon prod with a nervous smile, he was floored to finally be included in on an adult conversation for once in his life, one that didn't feel forced or edged about.
"Yeah, timing it was scary, you're not thinking about landing on a target the size of your thumb while you're skydiving with a partner that relies on you to pull the parachute, but your arms are tied and it's raining pellets of fire, and-"
"Jesus, Koko, I get it," Gideon and Koko erupted into happy laughter, the common room sung with their renewed sibling love, Koko flagged her hands in guffawing dismissal and sighed.
"Ahh, just be grateful. You guys feuding over it, or something?" Koko wondered lovingly, it was clear she was digging so she could help Gideon, a stark difference from her previous, digging attempts strictly for gossip. Still, Gideon tread lightly.
"Not over that, no... We..." Gideon paused and shyly rubbed his arms in stimming anxiousness, his sunken eyes warily glanced about the messy counter space before giving Koko a vulnerable show of scared, golden eye contact, still full of loving promise, "I'm... Having a hard time talking about this, to be honest. Can this conversation stay between us?"
"I promise this conversation will stay between you and I," Koko lovingly assured, she narrowed her gaze amidst her sweet, knowing smile and quietly ushered Gideon a wall of vulnerable humility, "I know that group chat has ruined you... I'm sorry I participated in it. You don't owe me your trust, like this, but, just know that I'm doing whatever I can to earn it back."
Gideon peered deep into her eyes in patient contemplation. Although telling his sister any sexual encounters he had with Kepa was something he was certain was entirely abnormal, he inhaled a trembling breath and understood this predicament in conversing with his family wasn't anything usual. Desperate to begin building a foundation, to build trust with at least one of his siblings, he bobbed a gentle nod and understood he could at least dance about this embarrassing topic all whilst getting solid relationship advice.
"I know I screwed up somewhere, but I'm having a hard time finding out where," Gideon murmured in humbled, shy regret, he eyed Koko for clarity and was happy to see her patient eyes keep glued to his, "We, uh... Well, let's just say we had a really nice night together, yeah?"
"Yep, got it, leave it there," Koko snipped cutely as she crossed her arms and eased a knowing giggle, "Love you to death, don't need the details."
"S-So, she stayed the night, we had a nice morning, she made breakfast, kissed goodbye, I went to my art class and she went to the lighthouse," Gideon tenderly explained, though he shook his head and frowned, "But... Before she left, she asked if she could just have alone time, for the rest of the day. I could've sworn she'd want me to come back over, have lunch, the beach, her gardening, I draw for her, maybe pick up where we left off the night prior... I don't know, she suddenly walled off."
"Well, did she explain why?" Koko contemplated.
"She said she wasn't expecting to be invited to the hang out the previous night, with the band... And, on top of that, spend the night with me," Gideon now felt clarity due to actually spelling it out for someone. He heaved a long sigh through his nose and shrugged, "I-I guess she said her social battery was drained and she just wanted space."
"... It's written in the sky for yah, love," Koko bursted into giggling, to which Gideon sighed and looked off in frustration towards himself, "I'm a bit more of a social butterfly than say you or Kepa, but I can see where she's coming from. It had nothing to do with you, it was nothing personal."
"Just... I immediately felt guilty for how kindly she treated me the night prior," Gideon staggered, though he snapped his jaw shut and felt his face get hot the second Koko long-blinked in firm surprise.
"Okay, damn... Yeah, the girl's battery was drained, Gideon," Koko's giggling resumed, "She stopped what she was doing, for you. She stayed the night, for you. She... Did whatever she did, for you."
"Yeah, now that it's all said out loud, I'm..." Gideon sucked in a huge, deep breath and nodded, "I'm an idiot."
"You are," Koko muttered in smiling agreeing, wholesome teasing that Gideon finalized with a dirty look of a smile, "So, what, is she mad at you?"
"She compromised with me and said I could come over after my class, but when I texted her, so to come over, she wasn't answering her texts," Gideon explained, "Then Callum invited me out, and-"
"Callum?" Koko's face sloped into hot, dreaded surprise, to which Gideon now understood he needed to cut the story short, right here, "The hell were you doing hanging out with Callum? I thought you boys like hated each other."
"N-No, he apologized long ago, we're fine," Gideon glazed over, he waggled his hand and shook his head, "Doesn't matter... Bottom line is, I left Turbotime to hang with Callum and an old Academy friend, mutuals of mine and Callum's... Kepa then texted me and was like, 'Yeah! Come over!' but my reception was horrible so I didn't get them in time..."
"And then she thought you were ignoring her, oy," Koko rubbed her temples, though she brightened and shrugged, "Just be honest... Why don't you invite her here? Go out to the courtyard and have an honest chat with her, just apologize for being stuffy."
"I can't keep inviting her to keep coming to me, surely I should go see her, right?" Gideon prod curiously, Koko bobbed a harder nod and fingered her lip as she looked off in contemplation.
"Yeah, good point, she's already stuck her neck out several times, it's now your turn, my guy," Koko mumbled into her hand as she continued to ponder, Gideon heaved a long, dreaded sigh and rubbed the back of his head.
"Here I was thinking I was in the right, getting all worked up," Gideon muttered, Koko shook her head and gave Gideon a loving smile.
"Don't assume, you have a bad habit of assuming the worst," Koko's loving words laid over Gideon's shivering heart, "Ask questions. Go into it with warmth, and humility. It'll get you further than assuming the world's out to get you, bub."