Reviews :
Firesong-Writes : I really appreciate you saying that! These vacation arcs are a guilty pleasure of mine, and you're totally right, it does feel nostalgic, I think that's partly why I gravitate to them. I like to write fun family vacations where they get away and bond, although I went on a handful of family vacations when I was younger, I was always left out because of my early bed time or adult activities I couldn't participate in. And even when I did get a little older, I felt unimportant because I didn't have a significant other with me, like everyone else did. I can maybe think of one family vacation where I genuinely had fun, and the only reason that is was because my oldest sister didn't come on the trip and I wasn't the third wheel in my sister group. That's the vacation I usually draw from, when I write these scenes. I'm desperate for camaraderie and familial love. So... I write. It fills the void a little, but it's all I got.
ThoreLB : Kittieees :D And, CONGRATS! You're my 300th review! Thank you!
Burgie : Yep! That's partially accurate, though we'll discover it has to do with something else, as well :D
Snake557 : Thank you friend! :)
Song Listened To :
What's On Your Mind by Alessia Cara (first half)
Stuck With U by Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber (last half)
*Chapter 109*
Having showered, packed and tidied his very own vacation room, Gideon ruffled his damp, messy auburn hair and stepped across the lovely splay of sunlight that cast across the sleek, light wooden floors of his room. With the shlep of his phone o his nightstand, he pulled his bedroom door open and stepped outside for the first time since waking up. Everyone's doors were open, lazy murmurs of quiet conversation filled the air, it was clear that although today was the day they were leaving, the group moved like molasses, as if leaving was something no one really wanted to do. Had it not been for wanting to be reunite with Kepa, Gideon likely would opt for begging his parents to stay at least another night or two, though the urge to scoop Kepa into his arms and really marinate into their new, secretive love was something that overrode the need to hull away in the snow. Having spent a decent amount of time yesterday harvesting candy for her and preparing to see her once more, he scuffed his heels to a halt on the wood underneath him and grappled his jawline. He heaved a raspy, annoyed sigh at the fact that he had forgotten to shave. Knowing Kepa wouldn't mind either way, he still begrudgingly tossed his eyes to his parent's bedroom and battled with himself, the fight to decide whether or not he should return to his room to shave or not was now won by the sound of his siblings laughter that carried from said main bedroom.
"Gideon's awake! Okay, he can settle this, then, Gideon, c'mere," Oliver called from down the hall, having seen Gideon step out of his bedroom. Gideon perked up a little and assessed what was going on. As he approached the gape of his parent's bedroom door, he felt his heart soften with a wiggle, as if he had stepped into a childhood memory he had never had, all of his siblings were lazily cuddled and sprawled on their parent's bed. Ralph and Vanellope's voices could be heard bickering in their echoey bathroom nearby, Koko and Tessa cutely whispered to each other and played with each other's hair whilst Oliver's boyish, excited eyes gripped to Gideon's, a look only true joy, upon seeing your favorite little brother, could convey. Oliver firmly pat the bed between the gape of him and his sisters and gestured Gideon over, "Okay, Gideon... Tell me what you think about-"
"Don't bring your little brother into this, Oliver," Vanellope loudly complained from the bathroom, both Tessa and Koko erupted into cute, girly giggling.
"Olly, you're digging yourself a deeper hole," Tessa muttered.
"What are we fighting about this time?" Gideon grunted as he flopped onto his parent's fluffy, unmade bedding, all ablaze with the hit of sunlight that warmed the room, as if he had stepped into heaven's gates. Gideon eased onto his back, smiled up to the ceiling and grunted a chuckle as Oliver's much bigger hand firmly pat the center of Gideon's chest, to silently express he was happy Gideon made himself present, "I'm probably not the person, to go to, to end an argument, I'll only make it worse."
"Tell me, what power do YOU think is the dominant power? Wrecking, or glitching," Oliver grunted, he shot a cocky smile to his sisters and was absolutely certain of Gideon's answer, until Gideon spout said answer confidently to the ceiling high over head.
"Oh, glitching, no question," Gideon huffed nonchalantly, everyone stiffened into an outcry of hard laughter.
"WHAT!" Oliver cried in full frustration, Vanellope came prancing out of the bathroom.
"HA! I TOLD you!" Vanellope firmly pointed to Oliver, "It's two against four. We win."
"Sorry, dad," Gideon called sheepishly as everyone was lost in laughter.
"I'll live," Ralph mumbled in a teasing show of depressed defeat.
"Wait, why do you think that? It's clear that wrecking is the dominant trait, it's much bolder and louder than glitching," Oliver urged in full frustration, he now thud the center of Gideon's broad chest in a show of playful frustration that could easily ruminate it's way into a wrestling, shove match Gideon didn't have the energy for, currently.
"Because, glitching is SO much more versatile," Gideon started as he grunted to a sit, he was surprised to catch eyes with his sisters, who were obviously in agreeing to Gideon's and Vanellope's stance, with Oliver and Ralph as the outliers, "You can do far more with glitching. Sure, wrecking is the brawn of our powers, but glitching is the brains. It can be big and bold, it can be quiet and lethal, you can access stressors, you can jump away like it's nothing... I don't know, it may feel like the more feminine trait, because it came from mom, thus stereotypically being more recessive, but I think it's the dominant trait. Hell, even Nox didn't pick wrecking up right away. It was recessive."
"Wow, Oliver, it's almost like I JUST said that," Koko sneered in Oliver's direction, to which Oliver sagged and eyed Gideon in full frustrated cheek.
"You're supposed to be on my team, bro," Oliver grumbled cutely, Gideon grinned and shook his head.
"Hey, I am, wrecking can be perceived as a dominant trait. Either could be dominant or recessive in their own right," Gideon cooed, Ralph slowly came out of the bathroom with a fresh shirt.
"Son, my masculinity is still in tact, you don't have to go to war for my ability this hard, as much as I appreciate it," Ralph mumbled cutely to Oliver, Tessa finally rested her hand to Oliver's upper back in a kind swing of camaraderie.
"It's alright Olly. You're gunna make it out of this alive," Tessa sneered sarcastically, Oliver rolled his eyes and playfully shrugged her hand away, both Tessa and Koko erupted into happy giggling.
"Happy I joined you guys now?" Gideon wondered dryly as he closed his eyes, and though he was certain Oliver would deliver a full plate of sass his way, Oliver only sighed and looked off.
"Yes, I needed the perspective, thank you," Oliver eased honestly, though he still shot Tessa and Koko a dirty look due to their persistent, stifled giggling.
"Mom, I don't wanna leave," Koko complained sweetly as she flopped her head into her mother's big, downy pillow, her gorgeous, chocolate brown hair sprawled in rings of mild chaos about her face, of which she playfully puffed with her mouth so it stayed out of her eyes.
"Me neither," Tessa whimpered cutely, Gideon grunted to a half sit and rolled onto his side.
"It has been nice to be away from the palace," Gideon mumbled, he shyly tossed his eyes to his siblings.
"It has," Oliver agreed gently, "Though, I kept hearing shit in our room, last night."
"Yeah, mom, this cabin is haunted," Koko worried as Vanellope began to put her hair up, she stood a few feet from the bed and allowed her eyes to briefly visit each of her children's eyes, all sweetly peered up to her in a draw of warm, sunny innocence that could never be pried from them, "I've had a few experiences while staying here, this cabin feels totally fine during the day, but once night hits, it's a completely different place."
"I know," Vanellope sighed, she rested her hands to her hips and looked about her's and Ralph's sunny bedroom with curious purpose, "Well, kids, you wanna go somewhere else for winter vacations, then? We can find other spots in the game that are snowy, I just know how much you guys love this cabin."
"It's a love-hate," Tessa muttered cutely, Oliver bobbed a nod and breathed a loud sigh.
"Why don't we try somewhere else out next time? Make new memories with all of us," Gideon chimed warmly with a shrug.
"Next winter?" Koko inquired, Gideon nodded, though much to Tessa's dismay, Koko continued on with her brave streak of mentioning Kepa with no holds barred, "That would be good, cause by then, Nox and I will be married, and hopefully you'll invite Kepa, y'know?"
"Koko Bree Von Schweetz and a half," Tessa barked with a hard giggle, Gideon grinned and shyly looked down to his lap.
"You guys really want to meet her THAT badly?" Gideon pressed, though much to his surprise, everyone bugged their eyes, even Tessa's sneaky attempt to hide such fervor failed.
"UH. YEAH," Oliver loudly urged, to which Ralph pressed into the room with purpose and rested his large hand to Vanellope's upper back and the tops of her shoulders.
"All in due time, kids, stop trying to rush it, this is on Gideon's time, ease up," Ralph curtly urged with a nod, to which Gideon raised his eyebrows and gave his father a warm, surprised look of silent gratitude, "Who knows what the next vacation will bring. You guys are completely skipping summer vacation."
"OH, which is my pick, this year, remember?" Koko urged, Oliver furrowed his brow and gestured to Gideon.
"No, it's Gideon's turn, he was too little to pick this past spring and summer vacation, remember?" Oliver corrected, "YOU picked last time."
"Dammit," Koko mumbled cutely, Tessa rolled her eyes.
"We have to go in order," Tessa gestured to herself, then Oliver, Koko and finally landing on Gideon, "Gideon's turn next. Gotta wait four more years, baby."
"Gotta wait four more years, baby," Koko mocked in a high pitched, silly way as she stuck her tongue out, though she choked a hard laugh as Tessa firmly pocked her bigger finger into Koko's side.
"Thanks, guys," Gideon sighed.
Finally feeling included, finally feeling validated, he felt relieved that now his next steps were to focus all of his attention on Kepa, to cultivate a relationship there and hopefully ease her into the idea of all of his hidden secrets, everything the palace offered; though a huge feat, he looked on with hope instead of dread, like usual. Eager to get back to the light house, he happily chose to soak in this sunny bubble of familial love for as long as it was possible, knowing full well that palace life was a lot more demanding, a lot quicker to grab everyone else's attentions away from said sacred bubble of love. With the knowledge that these little family vacations are where the good conversations were, the hug of distraction-free love shown freely, Gideon was at least grateful that he had the key to said snug of love he craved, and with this bout of relief, he felt wholly committed to now giving all of his energy towards Kepa due to the idea that they were now headed down more serious avenues of their fresh, lighthearted bout of romance.
Dressed in a cute pair of white shorts that cut to her upper thighs, as well as a loose, ratty black t-shirt she wore whenever she gardened, Kepa took a small break from said gardening, down in the base of the lighthouse's spire. Having climbed to a higher platform about twenty feet from the ground, she laid cozily sprawled in her solitude, having had her phone propped up against a half-empty cup of creamy coffee she sipped, her long, lovely tail twitched in content, girly delight as she slowly made work of grooming the fur all along her right thigh, inner and outer. Slow, long laps as she remained with her eyes closed in cozy privacy, she watched a funny, lighthearted video on YouTube, all to herself. She knew today was the day Gideon were to return home, though she was in full belief that it'd be much later in the evening and had fully assumed he'd likely be too tired to visit her until tomorrow morning. Accepting this, she continued her lazy day activities with no plan to spruce up or prepare for Gideon's arrival. She perked her ears in confusion, slowed her grooming and listened as her youtube video dulled to silence and segued into the cute, dainty little chimes in which to alert her that she was getting a phone call. With a wide smile, upon seeing Gideon's name plastered across the top of her phone's screen, she sat up, sat cross-legged and happily answered the phone with a shy sag of her device to her bigger ear.
"Hey!" Kepa eased with a wide smile, she lulled her eyes closed and happily marinated in a cut of late morning sunshine that hit her singular platform just right.
"Hey! What's up?" Gideon wondered nonchalantly, Kepa sighed wistfully and trailed her eyes up her nearby curved wall, which was ladened with dangerous claw marks, and all the way up to the spire's incredibly high ceiling.
"Oh, just chilling, I was gardening earlier, and now I'm just grooming myself and watching crap on YouTube," Kepa stated in warm, methodical nonchalance, "How are you? You still inside Sugar Rush?"
"Yeah, though, I stumbled upon this really cool looking building," Gideon huffed, he sounded like he was out of breath, due to the feedback of wind on his phone's microphone, Kepa sagged a bit and truly believed all of this to be real. Gideon nonchalantly carried on, "I took a picture of it, lemme send it to you."
"Okay," Kepa cooed cutely, mildly disappointed that he was still deep inside Sugar Rush, she assessed her sharp claws in an easy swing of acceptance, put Gideon on speaker phone and tabbed to their messages. She patiently waited for the picture to send, her lovely voice continued on as she brushed some of her pale pink bangs from her dilated eyes, "You sure it's abandoned? Don't take pictures of people's houses, y'never know who lives there..."
"I mean, last time I went rummaging through a building I thought was abandoned, I ended up meeting this really awesome chick inside," Gideon muttered cutely, Kepa flattened her ears in a sag of blushed, glowy girliness as she lulled her eyes closed in a flutter of heart-racing delight, "I don't know, here's a picture of the front door. This place is HUGE."
"What kind of a place? You're still near the cabin?" Kepa wondered in unsuspecting cuteness, though as the picture arrived with a soft buzz of her phone, she furrowed her brow in whole entire confusion over the fact that Gideon had sent her a picture of the light house's beautiful, turuoise front door, something of which Gideon had previously changed due to their secretive, would-be code color. Kepa long-blinked in full confusion and scoffed a mildly annoyed giggle, "Did you mean to send me a picture of the light house's front door?"
"Is that what this place is?" Gideon grunted loudly in full confusion, though upon the hit of realization, Kepa sucked in a long, silent gasp of full, rocked surprise, and in the frozen lick of time she had suddenly shifted into, she gaped, looked down to the ground in a squeeze of pulsing adrenaline and choked a happy, exhilarated laugh out to the atmosphere.
"WAIT," Kepa loudly urged through a roll of an excited giggle, and with a kick, she grunted to a lurch of a hunched stand and leaped clear off of her platform, abandoning her phone and coffee altogether. With lightning quick agility, she kicked off of the bend of a nearby wall, scuffed to a lower platform with the aid of her dagger-like claws, launched from that platform and finally thud to the ground on all fours. In the scuffle to correct herself, her hefty tail swat the ground with a thump, and with full speed, she barreled into the common room and yelled out to the room in full, unadulterated excitement even though she left her phone high in the spire of the lighthouse, "You're NOT right outside, there's no way!"
"I'm in a tunnel, I'm gunna-hafta call you back," Gideon barked cutely, his deep, happy voice could be heard through the front door, and with a scuffling skid of her paws and claws to the tiles underneath, she clumsily unlocked the door, yanked the handle and firmly swung the door open with a brisk waft of said suddenness. She grinned wider than she thought she could as she came face to face with Gideon, stood cutely leaned against the front entryway's post, he hung up their call and lazily slumped his phone into his black, ratty jean's side pockets, "Never mind, somebody lives here. I probably should head out."
"You're BACK!" Kepa squeed in a push of fluttery, overly excited joy, and with a lunge, she eagerly stood to full height and dove into Gideon's prepared, welcoming embrace.
"Ohh, I missed you so much," Gideon grunted a happy laugh and easily swallowed Kepa's little figure in his squeeze of an embrace. Kepa tightly fastened her arms about Gideon's neck, hooked her tail in a tight, spiraled curl about his left leg and even felt comfortable enough to quickly unfurl her wings and equally swallow Gideon into a matched, swaying, squeezing embrace of a lifetime. Gideon grinned into Kepa's littler shoulder and cutely lifted her up off of the balls of her bigger feet and claws, she squealed another happy giggle into the base of his neck and gripped onto him like he had been gone for weeks, the fur on the back of her neck began to raise as his lovely, whispery voice softened for the close proximity he had to her sensitive, gaping ear, "Did I have you fooled?"
"Yes!" Kepa choked a shaky giggle, and as the two swayed once or twice, they finally eased in a gentle, slow sag out of each other's embrace. Although Gideon was sure she'd sneakily make her wings vanish, upon Gideon properly laying eyes on her, he was delightfully surprised to see her leave them exposed, albeit cutely tucked behind herself in a lazy sag. She cutely draped her little hands into his much bigger ones, they peered into each other's eyes in an overflow of stifled adoration. The sun clipped the top of Gideon's head, his loving, excited smile peered headlong into hers, nearly as if both beings were beams of light due to blinding the other. Kepa scrunched her shoulders, assessed Gideon for everything he was and heaved a trembly sigh, her hands equally as trembly, "I-I'm... I wasn't expecting you so soon, I woulda done my best not to look like a whole bridge troll."
"I forgot to shave this morning, so we're even," Gideon huffed down to her, though before Kepa could guffaw at his notion and fawn over his handsome show of stubbly facial hair, she flinched in grinning surprise as Gideon pulled on her hands and yanked her into another huge scoop of an embrace, "User, I missed you."
"I missed you too," Kepa sighed wistfully into Gideon's collar as she sagged to the flat of her feet, she sweetly raveled her tail and wings about Gideon's bigger body, once more, and marinated in the squeeze Gideon's powerful arms had her in, the chokehold she was blissfully okay with. She sagged her ears in a delirious draw of inhaling Gideon's intoxicating, manly scent, all delightfully mixed with the fresh smell of sweet, sugary snow powder. Her little nose firmly sniffled at the collar of Gideon's t-shirt, tucked into his lazy, black zip-up hoodie, "You smell really good... Like candy."
"Of which I brought for you, like I promised," Gideon so tenderly whispered into the bigger gape of her ear, though he flinched as she tightly pinned her ear to her skull, scrunched both shoulders in a show of ticklish, bashful swooning, she silently choked a giggle into his chest and pushed deeper into his embrace, as if to express said notion was due to driving her up a wall. He grinned, lulled his eyes closed and sweetly kissed the side of her head, just above her bigger, still pinned ear, "You smell good, too. Not candy, but, still."
"I've been pampering myself all morning," Kepa mumbled with a smile, the two slowly sagged from each other once and for all, their honey sweet gazes still marinated tight into each others, Kepa was certain the sky had turned pink due to all of these gooey, romantic notions.
"What's the occasion?" Gideon gently wondered, his eyes briefly left hers as he curiously scanned the common room behind her, in the gape of the opened front door she had erupted from.
"Oh, I don't know," Kepa sighed quietly as she sagged her shoulders and peered up into Gideon's eyes with a show of unreserved adoration, she knew now this lovestruck feeling was due to suffocating any and all of her proper brain functions and inhibitions, "Just cause."
"Welp... Y'got me for the day," Gideon stated cutely with a nod, "I might nap, I didn't get good sleep last night, and Novus will be by later, but otherwise... I'm all yours."
"A dream," Kepa eased warmly, she perked up and began to cutely tug Gideon into their lovely lighthouse, a beacon of new love, "C'mon. I want to see your cut, make sure you've been taking care of it."
"I've talked with you every single time I was dressing it, while I was gone," Gideon cutely complained as his heavy feet gently thud into the common room and sunny front foyer.
"I actually might be able to take the stitches out, by now," Kepa cued, to which Gideon felt the lovey, rose-tinted aura about him brighten and lift with a prickle of fear that Kepa caught onto. She grinned, blurt a giggle, shut the front door and shook her head, "C'mon. It won't be so bad."
"I might end up stress-eating all the candy I brought," Gideon mumbled amidst Kepa's sweet giggling, and with an official seal and lock of the front door, the two melted into their sunny abode with nothing else on their minds but each other's irresistible company for the rest of time.
