Reviews :

Burgie : Well, that's the hard part - Callum isn't just a friend, he's also family.

twistee the dark : yes indeeeeed

BanannaSammich : Thank you! I'm excited because Gideon definitely will be apart of more than just 2 or 3 major climaxes. Poor kid.


Song Listened To :

One of the Family by Henry Jackman


*Chapter 38*

"Gideon, dinner," Vanellope's voice lilted at a hearty volume that carried through their warm abode. Ralph grumbled a grunt as he pushed himself to a stand, from the living room. Happy to begin setting the table and help Vanellope with rallying, Vanellope stirred the food on the stove and flicked her ponytail over her shoulder, she tossed her gaze to Ralph, and though the two smiled upon catching eyes, she narrowed her gaze and softened her voice for Ralph's closer proximity, "How'd he do, today?"

"Really well," Ralph mumbled softly, he raised his eyebrows and shot Vanellope a look of almost nervous surprise, "Like... Really, really well. Scarily well."

"Oliver-well? Ralph-well? Ace-well?" Vanellope listed quietly; not knowing Gideon's whereabouts, in their home, she didn't want Gideon to hear the two discussing his skillset, "How well we talkin'?"

"He mowed down at least seven fifty foot candy cane trees nearly without breaking a sweat," Ralph whispered, his big and able hands so tenderly began to grab three dinner plates, so to begin setting their lovely dining room table, "He would do this thing, every so often, where he'd kind of start mumbling to himself... Like a pep talk, of some sort. I could never hear just what he was saying, but I thought it was interesting."

"Probably hyping himself up, but... Damn, seven whole trees? He's six months old," Vanellope wrinkled her nose in shock and shook her head, she looked down to the stove and continued to stir, "I'll have to text Tessa and ask her just when Ace starting sourcing his true wrecking power. Oliver started blossoming closer to ten months. Seems a bit early..."

"I can safely say Oliver and Ace have stiff competition as it stands, here and now," Ralph raised his eyebrows and shook his head, "The second Gideon's fully grown, I'd say he could easily have me running away with my tail between my legs... The kid's got fire in his eyes, favor on his side."

"Gideon, dinner," Vanellope's voice broadened throughout the house, once more, though it lilted more in annoyance. She softened for Ralph, once more, "Where is he?"

"He was watching the game with me... Though, I think he slipped down to the basement," Ralph mumbled, he carefully set the plates on their large kitchen island and eased his palm to Vanellope's lower back, "Why don't you go get him, I'll finish up here and set the table."

"Okay," Vanellope quipped, she handed Ralph the stirring spoon she was using and gingerly began to slap her bare feet in the direction of the basement.

Wearing a big, comfortable grey t-shirt and lazy, billowy black sweats, Gideon furrowed his auburn brows in a rile of frustration and urgently swiped away at the canvas before him. Following tight in his mother's footsteps, alongside her hobbies, Gideon was quick to take up painting and had happily set up camp next to Vanellope's much bigger, more elaborate easel set up. Happy to share her paints and supplies, Gideon was seen daily pickling away at paintings, canvas after canvas, beautiful, abstract splashes on nonsensical colors that somehow made sense. What usually was fueled by excitement and happiness, Gideon softly panted through his nose and felt a strange sensation lick at the underside of his brain, this time. Somehow, frustration and anger was the fuel for creation, today, a new, deathly kiss of a feeling that somehow felt good to feed, Gideon angrily swiped blacks and bold, vivid blues all along the canvas in angry snakes of intelligent hits.

His mind raced with all sorts of new feelings that had happened upon him. What was first just what he considered a fluke, the very first time Callum showed disinterest in coming outside to play, Gideon was well aware he was now fooled twice. Certain there was an antidote to this feeling, he felt stumped as to just what it could be, just how would one remedy being left out, how would you begin to soothe a grey soul left in outer space like a pointless, galactic, cold rock. Intuition told him that surely growing up and also becoming a man would fix this mess, though somehow, he was well aware the image of the bigger kids leaving him in the dust was something permanently glued to his brain, surely something he could never fully forgive; so easily and so flippantly, how could they? Gideon furrowed his eyebrows a little tighter, grit his teeth and angrily grunted a noise as he gave the canvas one last angry hit, though in the hit, he flinched in rocked surprise as his glitching abilities suddenly illuminated his pointer finger. The brush haphazardly slipped from his hand, and with the lack of a brush to swipe at the painting, his fingertips hit the paint and produced a brand new color Gideon wasn't even using.

Gideon largely flinched, softened the clench of his angry jaw and froze. Heavily panting through his nose, he cutely peered down to his fingers; now stained in black paint, due to touching his wet canvas, he shot his eyes back to the canvas to see a very vivid hit of electric orange where his fingers had touched. As still as a statue, his chest heaved as he continued to confusedly pant through his nose. Golden eyes that scanned the canvas in rocked confusion, he opened his mouth in a gape of innocent, boyish surprise and so gingerly pressed his fingertips to the wet canvas once more. Upon cueing his purple coding, all along the tips of his pointer and middle finger, he so softly dragged said live-wired fingertips down the canvas, only to confirm the drip of electric orange paint that he had somehow conjured the ability to produce. Gideon raised his eyebrows in a sting of nearly terrified surprise, the whole fact that he was able to will upon himself new paint colors, he ran the angry orange down the canvas in little zig zags of curiosity before his mother's hovering, gentle voice bursted his bubble.

"Got a lot on your chest, I see?" Vanellope so softly lilted, though Gideon gasped, jolted in a sear of entire shock and allowed his glitching abilities to carry him a few paces to the left of his canvas; Vanellope tucked her arms to her chest, stiffened and cutely caught surprised eyes with Gideon, "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I thought you heard me."

"No," Gideon mumbled, he accidentally touched his shirt, thus smearing only black paint all along his chest. Vanellope sucked in a sharp gasp through her teeth as Gideon realized, too late, that he had now smeared black paint all along his strong chest. Gideon rolled his eyes, lulled his head back and groaned, "Aw, man, I wasn't THINKING!"

"It's okay, bud, you can just make that your painting shirt," Vanellope giggled as she tenderly welcomed herself to the gravity of Gideon's canvas. Her eyes scanned the beauty in curiosity, though she furrowed her eyebrows and noticed the stark, unfamiliar orange, "Ohh, User, this color is REALLY cool. When did we get this color of orange?"

"I-I don't know, it was in your tub, I think," Gideon easily fibbed, although an amateur at it, his voice eased from his figure as soft as honey, as trustworthy as a grinning fox; Vanellope glanced to the tub, knowing damn well just exactly what kind of paint colors she had, and in the swing of eye contact, she glanced to Gideon's paint palette to find no amount of orange paint anywhere to be seen.

"Huh," Vanellope's voice squeezed a huff of a breath from her lungs, it was clear she didn't believe Gideon, though the way he almost frustratedly looked off in a nearly nervous glower, Vanellope was certain that she shouldn't press the issue. She knew this was something to revisit, once the dust had settled and the paint had dried. Vanellope cleared the air with her easy aura and shrugged, "Alright, well, dinner's ready. Dad's got the table all set, c'mon. Made your favorite."

"... Cheesy spaghetti?" Gideon's innocent little eyes so easily lifted from the doom and gloom he was in, he perked up a bit and finally eased a smile as Vanellope nudged his shoulder and gave him a wink.

"With extra meatballs," Vanellope whispered, to which Gideon pumped his fist and hissed a loud 'yes' of celebratory cuteness. Vanellope giggled as she began to press towards the downward slope she had just entered from, "C'mon, you don't want it to get cold."

As the evening pressed on, Sugar Rush's late winter snowfall had set in. The snowiest season had passed through January, and though February would brighten up, there were certain nights that would get a kiss of snowfall, something so light and lovely, it was usually all melted by mid morning. Vanellope bit her lip, cued her opened, live-wired palm to the wall shared with Gideon's bedroom, and in the tender switches of making the house a little warmer, on their intuitive thermostat, she jolted in surprise the second Ralph cutely clipped the side of her rear with his fingers. With a tiny yelp of surprise, Vanellope whirled around and watched Ralph slowly vanish into their bedroom, he had a little smirk on his face, one that read of seductive delight, even amidst an exhausting day.

"I was gunna take a hot bath, wanna join?" Ralph muttered quietly; although Gideon was all the way down the hall, his bedroom door still hung open.

"Maybe," Vanellope sneered, she shook her head and gave Ralph a very teasing look of mild detest, though it was complete with a drag of cute, excited eye contact, "I'm gunna tuck Gideon in, I'll be five minutes tops."

"Better hurry," Ralph grumbled as he vanished into their dim bedroom, though Vanellope bit her lip and peered down the corridor to Gideon's warmly illuminated space, a cast of light that beamed into the tall-ceilinged corridor of a hallway.

As silent as could be, a hover of a ghost, Vanellope snuck up to Gideon's bedroom and stopped short. She furrowed her eyebrows and could hear Gideon in his own bathroom, tucked away in his bedroom. Both doors hung wide open, she crossed her arms and could hear Gideon carrying on a conversation with someone. He seemed excited, his little, beginning-to-deepen voice hissed on in fleeting whispers of happy urgency, almost as if he was telling a friend good news. Vanellope leaned in a little, and though she couldn't make out much of any of Gideon's words, she could tell it was solid, intelligent conversation and not just simply talking to himself. After a minute of listening to Gideon cutely go on and on, Vanellope gently thud her knuckles against the wall and waited to enter; although she was well aware his door was wide open, and she could probably step in without catching Gideon indecent, she knew to give him this respect, to allow him the permission granted to enter his personal space.

"Alright, Giddy, bedtime," Vanellope called into his space; his peppy conversation halted and was replaced with gentle humming, on-key music he sweetly concealed, and though he could be heard shuffling around, Vanellope raised her eyebrows in baited wait and huffed a giggle, "May I come in?"

"Yeah mom," Gideon pressed nonchalantly, to which Vanellope finally rounded the frame and welcomed herself to Gideon's bedroom.

A boys room if she ever saw one, Gideon's space was littered with all sorts of fun toys; cars, dinosaurs, nerf guns, the works. His big bed was messily unmade, cozy faded red sheets and billowy grey pillows, the walls sung with all sorts of tacked, exciting posters and sheets of paper, hundreds of his own scribblings and art ideas lined nearly every inch of wall space he could reach. A tornado of a child, a vat of ideas and imagination, Vanellope smiled and was well aware this room of his had become a safe haven. He was here all the time, constantly creating, constantly at play, though as Gideon's figure popped out of his bathroom, she almost sagged in a swing of sorrow. Although he had a pep in his step, and he bounced towards his bed to prepare to dive-bomb it, the look of matured sorrow hung tight to Gideon's beautiful gold eyes. He uttered a call of soaring victory as he lunged for his bed, like Vanellope suspected, and upon the flop, he laughed with himself and began to cozily drape his heavy bedding over him in preparation to fall asleep.

"Mom, can Novus and I go off palace grounds tomorrow while you and dad are at work?" Gideon wondered excitedly, and though Vanellope's knee-jerk reaction was to immediately deny Gideon's stretch of request, she furrowed her eyebrows, turned off Gideon's main bedroom light and pressed closer to his big bed.

"... How come?" Vanellope cooed, she knew Gideon was massively a home body, so she was aware stamping out his desire to explore was likely not wise.

"Well... Since Novus can fly now, he wanted to see how fast he could fly around the perimeter of the palace," Gideon's sweet, raspy little voice pressed as Vanellope sat down on the edge of Gideon's big bed, he scoot over a bit so she could be comfortable, though he sat up a little and peered to her pleadingly through the cast of the nightlight left on in his bathroom, "I-I want to fly with him, I... I really want to see what that's like. Tessa does it all the time, with Lickity."

"Maybe Tessa and Lickity can take you two boys on an excursion, then," Vanellope agreed to, knowing that leaving Gideon and Novus unsupervised, like such, wasn't wise, though letting him have his way, in one form or another, was ultimately what she desired, "Does that sound fair?"

"Yeah, that'd be fun," Gideon cooed with a nod, to which Vanellope lovingly smiled and wove her fingers through the messy, thick hair on the crown of Gideon's scalp.

"Flying can be dangerous, best to go with a pro," Vanellope nodded as she gently combed her fingers through the sprout of auburn hair on his head, swept down his temple and lovingly cupped his becoming-chiseled jawline, "You doing okay? You have fun today?"

"I did, helping dad was a lot of fun," Gideon nodded with an eager smile, though he finally sat back and looked as if he was beginning to becoming comfortable, for good, though much to Vanellope's whole dismay, that same sting of sorrow coat Gideon's lovely little face, "Callum and them showed up... I miss him."

"You miss Callum? He hasn't gone anywhere," Vanellope wondered, though as reality began to hit her between the eyes, she frowned as Gideon's eyes aimlessly glossed down Vanellope's front in silent, mental searching.

"I mean... He doesn't want to play with me, anymore, he has better things to do," Gideon mumbled sadly; Vanellope's heart began to break the second Gideon's eyes began to well with big, glassy tears, "I-I don't know, I just thought... We'd be friends forever."

"Aww, bud," Vanellope scoffed softly, she shook her head and sweetly caught a few tears, on Gideon's jawline, before they splattered his broad chest, "Well... You two will ALWAYS be friends. Heck, you're family. Callum's just... Growing up, it's what you're doing right now, too. Callum is unfortunately a few months older than you, so his interests are changing. He's prepping for Academy, he's being taught swordsmanship from your Uncle Rancis."

"He has a Pre-Academy girlfriend," Gideon muttered, he wrinkled his nose and shook his head, "Aren't I cooler to hang out with than just some GIRL?"

"Oh, my love," Vanellope blurt through the softest giggle, she continued to wipe Gideon's cheeks, "One day, you'll be singing a different song. You're gunna find a girl so freaking cool, she's going to be the ONLY person you'll want to hang out with. I think Callum's just finding his place, as an adult. I say, enjoy your youth now, bud. You're only little, like this, for such a tiny amount of time, and then pretty soon, you'll be swamped with Academy homework, busy with friends you make there, and any of the drama that entails. Maybe even girl drama. You have to consider Callum's positioning."

"I just wish he'd come over and play, like he always would... I hate being left out, they ran off today, without me, and it really hurt," Gideon mumbled, Vanellope nodded and looked down.

"I know, bud, I know... But you had a GREAT day with dad, didn't you?" Vanellope prod, to which Gideon heaved a disheartened little sigh and looked off.

"Yeah, it was fun," Gideon mumbled, not convinced, though Vanellope held her breath and began to feel a sensation of urgency come over her; the sheer fact that Gideon had somehow produced a color of paint she'd never seen, and now was minding his business, carrying on conversation with User-knows-who, she bit her lip and wondered if she could be brave.

"Bud, y'wanna tell me where you found the orange paint?" Vanellope questioned as softly as she could, though she was shocked that Gideon didn't immediately tell her to buzz off, in the most polite way possible; he weighed his options and finally heaved a defeated sigh.

"... Can you scratch my back, like you do? With the glitch lines?" Gideon wondered gently, what would typically sound like entirely dodging the question, Vanellope raised her eyebrows and knew exactly what he was asking for; he wanted her to meet him on his core plane, the lucid place of freedom he had come to enjoy sharing with only her, a sacred space where he could be vulnerable.

"'Course," Vanellope nodded, to which Gideon gently flopped onto his front and buried his arms underneath his pillow.

He got comfortable and heaved a long, drawn out sigh as he closed his eyes, and as Vanellope gently lifted the back of Gideon's grey painting t-shirt, so to scratch his back, she gently dug her nails into the skin between his shoulder blades and began to swirl their purple coding all about his spine. Upon raised goosebumps, the firm sweeps of a back scratch Vanellope deployed on his whole back, she lulled her eyes closed and allowed for the easy escape from reality and straight into the core plane Gideon often invited her into. Honored to be his chosen safe spot, she smiled a little as she could feel the sensations around her fade away, and with the final pop of returning, she flinched in surprise and came to a calm glow of an area. As if on a playground on the surface of Mars, Vanellope looked about and noticed the red, warm aura of the place, accompanied with a grey haze that could certainly give an uneasy feeling, though somehow, she felt cocooned, safe, frozen in time.

"Thanks, mom," Gideon's now much deeper voice mumbled, Vanellope whirled about and caught eyes with Gideon's fully-realized form, here, though she flinched in almost grinning surprise and assessed Gideon's grey t-shirt; splashed with that swipe of black paint he had accidentally splayed along his chest, from earlier, though this time, it was blatantly accompanied with said orange paint.

"I KNEW it," Vanellope sneered cutely as she pointed to Gideon's strong, broad chest, though he raised his eyebrows and looked down at himself; he finally sagged and looked off in whole irritation, to which Vanellope cutely swat his center, "Oh, STOP. Will you just tell me what's going on?"

"I mean, I don't even really know myself, mom," Gideon mumbled, he turned a little and began moseying away; Vanellope quickly fell into step with his much bigger, taller figure, "I just... Was so upset, I was painting away at the canvas and my brush slipped, and my hand just... PRODUCED paint, I can't explain it."

"So, you can manifest paint through your coding?" Vanellope wondered gently, she peered up to the side of Gideon's face and assessed him; displeased to see, Gideon's matured, chiseled face held the very same amount of budding sorrow that his physical, child self harbored. His golden eyes glanced about their dim, easy, Martian-like sunrise settings, though the further they walked, the greyer everything became. Taking note that the angry, vivid orange splashed across Gideon's chest was remaining the same, Vanellope felt her mind begin to backflip with rising concern. Vanellope gingerly sagged her hand to Gideon's forearm, riddled with thick auburn arm hair, she gripped him as they slowed to a halt, "Bud, this is exciting, no? Why are you so glum?"

"I just... I thought I was enough, I thought me being myself was enough," Gideon mumbled sadly, he finally gave Vanellope sorrowful eye contact; although a fully realized adult here, his eyes still held a world of childlike innocence, bright and dewy, as if the hurt of the world maybe hadn't quite gotten to him yet. Gideon shook his head a little and looked down to his opened palms, "I don't know, mom, I just... Wish I wasn't left out."

"Bud, it's not YOU, it's just... The nature of the age gap. It's unfortunate, but it won't last forever," Vanellope stated softly, Gideon's shoulders and chest visibly sagged with defeat, "One day, you'll be a man, and you'll look back and understand. And, who cares, you have me and your father, and even Novus."

"Novus is a dragon, and you and dad are my parents," Gideon retort in a mumbling tone, his deep voice nearly dipped to bass octaves that Vanellope was still surprised over; any chance she got to meet Gideon on this lucid plane was always a trip, to see and hear Gideon's pure, adult form, she relished in it, though was grateful she could return back to reality and see Gideon's sweet, little, boyish face, once more. Like time travel, it helped her appreciate the special kid moments Gideon presented to them. His deep, husky voice pressed on with the crackles of promised tears, "I tried asking Callum, the other day, if he wanted to play fixers and wreckers, like we always did, and he rolled his eyes."

"I'm positive he didn't mean any harm," Vanellope cooed, she tsked a noise and looked off, "You, unfortunately, can't MAKE Callum hang out with you. He's figuring out his own crap, and you're gunna eventually do the same. One day soon, the big kids will be inviting you to hang with them, too. It's just different, for this small amount of time. Don't worry about growing up too fast, y'know? Just enjoy your time. You'll be running off to Academy soon enough, y'know?"

"Am I gunna be able to attend Pre-Academy, mom?" Gideon's deep voice whimpered, he pleadingly peered into Vanellope's eyes, his lip just barely quivered; Vanellope's heart melted.

"If that's what you'd like, your father and I can definitely work something out," Vanellope promised with a nod as she lovingly gripped his hands, "And, bud, methinks you should tell everyone about your special power... I mean, you can paint with nothing but willed coding. That's WICKED awesome..."

"You think they'd want to hang out with me, then?" Gideon wondered sorrowfully, big tears trickled down his chiseled jawline and into the hefty stubble on his chin.

"They'd want to hang out with you no matter what," Vanellope whispered lovingly, she tenderly reached up and stroked the tears off of Gideon's face, though in a warble of losing consciousness, she could tell Gideon was about to fall asleep with the way this plane began to grow heavy with gravity, sleepy with dark clouds and stars, "You just focus on how great you are, how wonderful and how handsome of a man you're becoming. Don't worry about being left out, or not. Just keep being YOU."

"I love you, mom," Gideon's deep voice whimpered, and before lights out could happen behind Gideon's closing eye lids, Vanellope rushed him a promise of a whisper.

"I love you too, Gideon," Vanellope assured, and like clockwork, Vanellope sucked in a silent gasp and was quickly brought back to her body, in Gideon's dark bedroom.

Vanellope panted through her nose and slowly ceased her swirling scratching on Gideon's bare back, though as the sound of his ceiling fan and homey ambience came back to her ears, she fixated her gaze tight to her sound-asleep child, his pillowy, boyish little cheek was sagged into his bedding as he peacefully snoozed. She eased a bittersweet smile and, as softly as she could, she leaned down and placed a few firm kisses to his cheek, just in the nook of his nose. Upon turning off excess lights, she pressed to his doorway and peered in, one last time; the image of his little, though becoming-bigger figure laid peacefully in his bed began to somehow seem as if it was slipping from her grip. She furrowed her eyebrows in a pang of almost intuitive pain, as if impending doom was somehow clouding upon her, she couldn't understand just why she felt this way, though the urge to protect Gideon's fragile heart and feelings began to amplify to a level she was uncertain was obtainable, as a parent. Nonetheless, she silently exited Gideon's room, prepared to further discuss Pre-Academy preparations with the rest of her family.