Reviews :
Snake557 : Ace beats Nox to the whole skeleton thing in this chapter! Except he only scares himself lol
Burgie : well, it's only the beginning. Even 100 chapters in haha. Gideon wasn't manifesting, he was utilizing Nox's powers, he took them on... and you'll see in this chapter that he gets to keep it...
A/N : Hey all! I've posted the sketchdump to my deviantART, username Vyntresser. I apologize to I think one or two of you who requested much larger scenes that showed height differences of each person, I think it was while the gang is at the cabin - those kinds of pieces are extremely time consuming and I'm struggling to balance work and play due to midterms. I do apologize. Hopefully my next sketchdump will fall over my winter break, where I can really dig in and flesh out requests. If you'd like, circle back around in the next sketchdump and I'll happily fulfill the request. Again, apologies - midterms are wildin' right now.
Song Listened To :
Side Effects ft. Emily Warren by The Chainsmokers (first half)
This song was among the first songs I listened to, back in 2018, when I was first dreaming up Kepa's and Gideon's romance! It is special to me!
WARNING : This chapter briefly expands on human male anatomy and genitalia in an educational/mildly sexual way. In other words, Kepa has no clue how human male anatomy works and poor Gideon has to sort of explain it to her in the form of aggressively beating around the bush. Nothing sexual happens in this chapter, just a mildly spicy topic for my sensitive readers who may not enjoy that.
*Chapter 107*
"It's weird not having you come by every morning," Kepa's gentle voice mumbled, she grunted to a sit, with the way her voice now became echoey, it was clear to Gideon that she was inside her bathroom.
"Well, soon enough, only one more night," Gideon cooed cutely, he, too, was in his own bathroom tending to his wound. Something that was beginning to heal nicely, he was grateful for the salves and wraps Kepa had given him. Certain her love had made his healing experience a lot quicker and brighter, he winced a little and dabbed the salves onto his exposed, stitched wound with the world of tenderness his big fingers could provide. Having put in his earbuds to so privately talk with Kepa, now suspicious of Tessa or someone eavesdropping due to this same predicament the night prior, Gideon's eyes patiently held tight to his chore as he continued on to Kepa. Having heard a roll of thunder, once more, Gideon sharply furrowed his brow and frowned, "Is it storming at the lighthouse AGAIN?"
"Yes, kill me," Kepa complained in genuine sorrow, "The second you leave, the second the game decides it hates me. I may love water, but I don't do well in loud storms... I'm really glad you're having fun on your trip, but... If you were still in Turbotime, I'd definitely ask if you could come keep me company, right now."
"You know I would," Gideon grumbled sorrowfully, he brushed his hand on the cloth of his sweats, on his thigh, and inhaled a deep breath. His broad chest stretched his tank tight over his pecks, he grunted to a stand, though on the way up, he had forgotten his wound had yet to be bandaged and he sharply rubbed said exposed wound into his side, into the dry fabric of his shirt. With a sudden lurch of a stiffened spine, he grit his teeth in a full growl of a grunt and scrunched his whole face in a tight grimace as he stifled a hard complaint out to the air, "Ahhh son of a bitch! OW."
"Are you okay?" Kepa urged nervously, Gideon huffed a shaky chuckle as he could feel the blood leave his face, though as he opened his arm and assessed his wound, he was at least relieved to see nothing was torn or messed up.
"I'm okay," Gideon wheezed tightly, he heaved a long, trembling, echoey sigh and sagged, though as the physical hit crawled his main frame, his body lightly blipped with the royal purple pixels his skin was securely made of, an unglued little wave of confusion that rolled over his arms, though in said roll, he flinched in a double-take on his hands and was shocked to find that in the scatter of his own coded information, he got mesmerizing glimpses into the inner workings of his own hands, just like his experience with Nox earlier in the day.
"You bumped it, didn't you," Kepa complained in a show of teasing, motherly authority, "Gideon, you're making me so anxious, I'm serious... Can you take a picture of it and show me if it's okay?"
"Yeah, I can," Gideon grunted in forced nonchalance, though as he opened his palms and brought them in front of his eyes, he cued his incredible coding and was now absolutely floored to find one stark reality that hit him square in the face; due to the share of powers and coding he had endured in his and Nox's exterior swap, he was floored to find that his own coding adopted Nox's invisibility powers. Gideon huffed a shaky, silent little breath as he successfully melted his coding down to nothing but the bones in his hands, a foreign, terrifying sight to behold.
"Don't move TOO quickly, there, my guy," Kepa barked with a sarcastic giggle that finally had the edges of Gideon's lips curling.
"Sorry, sorry," Gideon huffed shakily as he stood, grappled his phone from the counter and felt his brain do a somersault due to the sheer sight of his own skeleton now fully exposed to his naked eye. He heaved a silent, shaky breath, pulled his phone a bit closer to his eyes and watched as his phone blipped in little slivers of purple coding, only to completely vanish in his now entirely invisible hand as well. Gideon cocked an eyebrow, peered himself dead in the eye, in the mirror, and with a held breath, he cued his coding to bring his whole figure into an entire vanishing act. Gideon huffed a shaky chuckle and jolted to step closer to the mirror, mind-boggled that he was growing closer to said mirror but his reflection was now gone, "I'm sorry I just got insanely distracted."
"Uh, YEAH, I can tell, Spazzy-McGee ," Kepa barked a harder laugh as she stood in her bathroom in anticipated wait, her hands cutely on her wider hips, "What'd you get distracted by?"
"I thought I saw a ghost," Gideon murmured in a playfully fearful, trembling tone, he steadied himself and willed only his skeleton to be visible, though with the sheer sight of nothing but an animated skeleton staring back at him in the mirror, Gideon gasped, yelped a noise of now genuine terror, fumbled backwards and toppled rear first into his bathtub.
With a hefty thud and the chaotic crash of his shower curtain and body soaps, he scoffed a loud cry of full, irritated pain and lay chaotically crumpled in his bathtub with all of his facilities, now in full visibility once more. Gideon froze as everything settled, he heavily panted, he was absolutely certain everyone outside of his room heard the nonsense, though he swiftly reminded himself that his bedroom was sound proof. Kepa could be heard urgently calling Gideon's name over and over again, and it was here did Gideon realize that his headphones had fallen out of his ears due to the crash and Kepa was now in the dark. Gideon trembled, grunted to a sit, winced with the raw rubbing of his exposed wound and grappled for his headphones. Upon sagging them back into his ears, he nervously scanned the mess he was sat in and opened his mouth with a curl of an incredulous humbled smile.
"I-I'm sorry, I'm fine! I'm fine," Gideon urgently cooed with a shaky, boyish chuckle, "I tripped and fell, my... Whole shower curtain came down, I'm an idiot."
"For User's sakes, the hell's your problem?" Kepa cried nervously, though it trailed with a girly giggle of curious worry.
"I'm fine, ugh, I'm sorry... Lemme just..." Gideon cautiously grunted to a stand outside of the tub, hurried to re-hang his shower curtain, tidied the few bottles of body soaps, shampoo and conditioner, and now hesitantly turned to look at his reflection in the mirror. Glad to see his own flesh, he almost flinched in the act of looking himself in the eye, "My cut is fine, I just... Rubbed it against my body, but I'm okay."
Kepa crossed her arms, side-eyed her illuminated bathroom in cheeky, aimless curiosity and was now quite enjoying hearing Gideon be so flustered and out of sorts. She crowned a devious little grin, lulled her eyes closed and bravely inhaled a readied little breath, the scheming air of feminine, feline curiosity sapped her being as she methodically tapped her claws against her upper arm in pondering thought.
"I've never heard you so flustered before, Gid, y'sure you're alright?" Kepa's lovely voice cooed in cute, sassy charm; Gideon sharply cocked an eyebrow and now hovered in frozen, baited wait as he aimed the camera of his phone into the gape of his outstretched upper arm.
"... Y-Yeah, I'm okay," Gideon huffed nervously, he dart his eyes about in a brand new swing of emotion, the rollercoaster of curiosity for his new brand of invisibility, fear for seeing his own skeleton, shock from rocketing into the tub was now viciously dolloped with the heat of the innocently seductive allure of Kepa's gentle wonderings.
"Send the picture, babe, you're gunna be okay," Kepa soothed lovingly, Gideon raised his eyebrows in a prickle of rising, boyish terror as his now trembling thumb prod into the touch screen of his phone, in the camera application. Within seconds, the picture was sent, not thinking much about the background or anything, he sat down on a nearby bathroom bench available to him, locked his phone, hung his head in his hands and now cutely tried to fully collect himself. Kepa's voice chimed loud and clear, "Oh, yeah... It looks okay, you should wrap it... Gideon, what's... That thing in your pants?"
Gideon sharply raised his eyebrows in an electric shock of now unadulterated terror, he spread his thighs on the bench, urgently looked down to his clothed lap, and upon firmly patting himself down and finding nothing out of the ordinary, he fumbled for his phone, tabbed to his and Kepa's messages and felt his face wash hot white as he expanded the picture he had just sent Kepa. He urgently scanned it, and though he didn't notice it at the time, he had taken a picture of his outstretched arm with the visual of his own reflection in the mirror he stood before. His eyes scanned the crotch of his pants in full terror, though he wildly furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and now had no clue what Kepa was talking about.
"Wh-what do you mean? There's nothing unordinary going on," Gideon rushed in terrified relief he desperately tried to conceal, his wound now began to throb with the plow of all sorts of heightened, stark emotions hitting his brain coding head on.
"I-I... Am I just not understanding human anatomy? Is it different than a lion gargoyle?" Kepa rushed, it was now clear to Gideon that she may have stumbled upon being uneducated, something Gideon visibly sagged to. She blurt a shaky giggle and now seemed to drop her girly, seductive sass and was en-route to prodding Gideon for shy answers, "... I've always wondered, do y-you..."
"What are you referring to?" Gideon huffed in a bark of elevated laughter that trembled from his core, he urgently shook his head and now aggressively zoomed in to his crotch, on the picture he had sent Kepa. Worried that maybe his manhood had unfortunately been slightly erect, he was entirely confused to only see the flaccid, yet prominent poke of his genitals from the crotch of his sweat pants. Gideon huffed a roll of a daring chuckle, shook his head and urgently looked out into his bathroom with a wide grin of full disbelief, "I know you're not doing this to me right now. I KNOW you're not."
"I-I was just... Confused as to what it was," Kepa muttered shyly, "Is... Is that y-your penis?"
Gideon long-blinked in now full confusion and felt his face crawl with heat. He froze, wildly furrowed his eyebrows, looked off in a different direction and was now uncertain if Kepa was being serious or not. He scoffed a trembling, bashful laugh out into the echoy bathroom and was desperate to hear Kepa shrug this off and blatantly make clear that she was kidding, though the silence on the other end of the line was now totally deafening. Gideon narrowed his eyes, looked back down to his lap in full confusion and grinned in sneaky, daring playfulness.
"No, it's where I keep my tv remote," Gideon mumbled sarcastically.
"O-Oh, oh, I'm so sorry, I-I don't know why I thought..." Kepa now sounded serious in this venture to get answers, to which Gideon stiffened and felt wholly bewildered.
"Yes, it's my penis, are you genuinely serious right now? You better not be messing with me," Gideon barked, his voice trembled, wholly shocked that the two were even talking about this, Kepa huffed a shaky breath and now sounded as if she had sourced a place to sit due to her exasperated grunt.
"Y-You actually have one of those?" Kepa gawked nervously, Gideon now squeezed his eyes shut and froze.
"... And lion gargoyles DON'T?" Gideon erupted into wild, happy laughter that he was glad he wrangled Kepa into.
"N-No, they do, it's just different, I-I just... Whew," Kepa wheezed cutely as she began to fan herself, she sat back on the chair in her bathroom and fidgeted to cross her legs in her lazy sag of a lean, "I am SO sorry, I had no clue humans were so... Exposed like that."
"Okay, never wearing sweatpants around you ever again," Gideon choked more laughter out into his echoey bathroom, to which Kepa grinned and tucked her hand to her forehead.
"I'm so sorry, I should've maybe articulated that a little bit cleaner than I did," Kepa rushed with a wistful, trembling little giggle, and it was here did Gideon sag a little and fully understand he now had a full dollop of power, a full show of a cute, trembly little weakness of Kepa's now adamantly on full display. Although the two were nowhere near close to diving into sexual activities with one another, Gideon somehow was floored that Kepa was so curious to have an understanding of just what she would be working with. Kepa grunted to a stand, heaved a long, refreshed sigh and acted as if she was shaking the conversation off, "A-Anyways, yeah... Just bandage your cut quick, bub, no more... Rubbing it against your body on accident."
"Yeah, and now I got my tv remote to worry about, too," Gideon grumbled in sarcastic annoyance as he grunted to a stand and reached for his bandage wraps, he grinned as Kepa loudly erupted into full, adorable laughter.
"Oh shut up," Kepa instructed through her giggling, "What's the plan for the rest of the night? You headed to bed, then?"
"Yeah, everyone's kind of escaped to their rooms for the night, I might go out and get a midnight snack, but otherwise," Gideon stated through a long sigh as he finished wrapping his wound, all safe and secured, "I'll be going to bed shortly. I can text you when I'm about to turn in."
"Sure, that'd be fine. Y'got it wrapped?" Kepa wondered, the tremble in her voice was still mildly prominent, to which Gideon's charming, handsome little smirk of devious delight crowned him the victor of this exchange.
"Yes, it's all set, I won't send anymore pictures though," Gideon muttered cutely, "You filthy pervert."
"I did NOT mean to make you so uncomfortable," Kepa urged seriously, though she choked out shy laughter as Gideon stood and began to tidy his bathroom in preparation to leave and gain said midnight snack.
"You didn't, I'm just teasing you," Gideon's deep voice cooed, "Although now I'm really curious how male lion gargoyles are doing their thing if their situation isn't exposed, or anything. Is it like INSIDE their bodies? Where as mine's just hangin' out?"
"It's hard to explain," Kepa staggered through a continuous strain of nervous giggling, "I-I can just... Explain it to you once you get home."
"Oh, right, cause telling it to each other's faces is gunna be WORLDS easier," Gideon urged loudly, the two were rocketed into happy laughter, once more, "I'll just take your word for it."
"It's not a big deal, I guess none of it matters yet, anyways," Kepa concluded sweetly, though Gideon halted his footwork, raised his eyebrows in a prickle of rocked surprise and fervently crowned a wider, devious grin of now full, approving tease. Due to Gideon's silence, Kepa now eagerly began to backtrack, "N-No! What I meant by that was like... Yet, like... W-We can just TALK about it later, like... The conversation hasn't happened yet-"
"What do you REALLY want, Pebbles," Gideon's deep voice instructed, his tone made it blatantly obvious that he was grinning.
"I'm fascinated by you, okay? Is that what you want to hear?" Kepa urged in full, playful annoyance.
"Yeah! That feels great to hear," Gideon chimed cutely, the two eagerly laughed with one another, "Same to you, toots."
"... W-wait, what?" Kepa staggered through a trembling inhale, Gideon shook his head and grinned in cocky delight.
"Goodniiiight," Gideon cooed in a lilt of boyish tease.
"Gideon," Kepa urged through a choke of a giggle, though Gideon coyly hung up the call and now was fully aware he was being a tease.
