Reviews :

Snake557 : ikr as I was writing it, I was like damn I wish I had this candy right now haha. Thank you friend!

ThoreLB : I knowww me too x_x so tasty!


Song Listened To :

Hello by Kes


*Chapter 111*

"Your whiskers look longer," Gideon politely cued as he chewed on a few french fries he had before him; both him and Kepa had found their way to a busy, sit-down burger joint he had been wanting to go to after hearing Lash's and Mara's high praise. Sat at a high table for two in the building's gorgeous crawl of huge windows on the face of said establishment, the two had a lovely seat with a view of the park directly outside. In a nicer part of town, Turbotime locals, as well as many other Litwak's Arcade gamers, easily existed in Turbotime's cut of noontime sunshine. Gideon's golden eyes sweetly caught with Kepa's after she had cutely assessed her surroundings, ears perked, whiskered frayed out as she had been previously sniffling the air in adorable assessment. The smile that crawled her face grew as she went cross-eyed to look down to her faint, grey whiskers, Gideon choked a cute laugh and carried on, "Am I going crazy? They look healthier since I last saw you, it wasn't even that long ago."

"Hmm," Kepa's sweet voice piqued in curiosity as she set down her soft drink and plucked at her long, lovely whiskers, so faint that the only way you could see them is if they were frayed from her face, due to her own doing, or if they caught the light just right and twinkled due to their shininess. She giggled, softened the gape of her ears and adjusted her seat on the stools they sat on, merely a foot or two apart from each other, "Thanks... I was noticing them this morning, too. They are getting longer, aren't they."

"You don't trim those, do you? That would seem odd, right?" Gideon prod with an assured tone, he shot her a curious little side-eye before he went to take a bite of the big, juicy burger before him.

"No, no, and they fall out on their own," Kepa affirmed, she now began to stroke the whiskers on the left side of her face in further assessment, "Wow, you're totally right, these grew so fast, what the heck?"

"They're cute," Gideon murmured as politely as he could with his mouth full, he gave her a closed-mouth smile as he chewed and narrowed his loving gaze into hers.

"Thank you," Kepa said with shy sincerity, she slowly tucked her hair behind her left ear, eyed her food in contemplation and felt her heart thud in a flutter. Happy to finally have Gideon home, she could hardly contain herself in the avenue of wanting to potentially move their little ember of love into a labelled, tangible thing to hold. Although not sure how to even ask, how to go about any of this, she heaved a silently shaky breath, rested her elbow on the table and eagerly began to pick at her French fries, as well. She figured if an opportunity arose, to truly express to Gideon just what was on her heart, just how badly she wanted to steer their flirtatious, romantic acts into an avenue of progressing love, she would take said opportunity at any cost. Happy to go with the flow, she pressed on, "I think they're growing because I'm no longer stressed out. I actually have proper cups and plates and bowls to eat and drink from."

"Not having those things would cause your whiskers to fall out?" Gideon wondered politely, Kepa nodded and cupped her hands together.

"Yeah, when I was homeless, I would collect rain water in my hands and then drink that way," Kepa cupped her hands to her mouth and pretended to be in the act of drinking water from the tight bowl-form her hands were cupped in, and with such, her whiskers messily sagged into the edges of her hands as well, "Whisker fatigue..."

"Ohh, that makes sense," Gideon sighed, he smiled and looked about the sunny, busy establishment they were in, the atmosphere was alive with happiness, the smell of amazing food that wafted from the restaurant's kitchen, he fluttered his eyes a little and finally eyed Kepa with a cute smile in eagerness to prod more information out of her, "Can I ask you a question? Well... Several? I hope it's not too personal."

"Are they cat related?" Kepa wondered in a snarky, playful tone as she finally lifted her burger, as well, bared her fangs and took a slow, cautious bite, one of which Gideon curiously watched.

"Uh, yeah," Gideon huffed shyly, Kepa covered her mouth and chewed through polite giggling as she sat back a bit. She adjusted the tighter black t-shirt she wore, the comfy, baggy harem-like pants she wore cuffed the ankles about her longer, dangerous-looking feet, and with care, she had lofted her hefty, long tail into her lap so it wouldn't get stepped on by other gamers that could potentially pass by. Gideon continued to eat, though he eyed Kepa and lazily waggled a fry in her direction, "So, I already know that you have the ability to purr... And not just any kind of purr. Y'got that big-cat purr, the one that sounds like an engine."

"You like?" Kepa teased cheekily as she waggled her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders, Gideon choked a laugh and nodded a little.

"Uh, hell yeah," Gideon bugged his eyes and peered hard into the side of Kepa's face as she giggled through trying to continue her food, "So, what other cat-like sounds can you make? And are they equally as, erm... Big-cat-like?"

"Yes, I can make other noises, and yes, they're big-cat-like... Though, I'm not going to do them for you here because User forbid I have any other cat-like gamers about me, I could instigate predicaments I certainly don't want to put myself in, right now," Kepa blurt a giggle and eagerly scanned their busy surroundings; due to the multitudinous types of gamers that were in said burger joint, none looked blatantly catlike, though neither Kepa or Gideon could be entirely sure. Gideon bobbed a nod and knew taking her word for it was wise, though he was glad she continued on, "I'll make it easy for you. I can hiss, growl, snarl, spit, roar, and yes... You guessed it..."

"You can meow, PLEASE tell me you can meow," Gideon rushed under his breath, his deep voice and breath caused the longer fur on her upper arm to waft a bit due to it, only intensifying as he began to happily laugh in her direction due to the slump and deflate her alluringly sweet disposition displayed.

"Yes, I can meow," Kepa droned playfully, as if to be disappointed, though Gideon bobbed a nod and grinned.

"Right, so the second we get back home, you're well aware what I'll be asking of, right?" Gideon prod with a boyish smile of happy warmth, Kepa gave in and lulled her eyes closed with an annoyed smile she couldn't stifle any longer.

"Yes, I'm aware," Kepa muttered through a broader smile she absolutely couldn't resist, she finally locked eyes with Gideon and softened, "I trust you won't make fun of me."

"No, never," Gideon assured, he shrugged and prepared to continue eating, "I'll just pine over you and say how cute you are for the rest of the night, so, uh... Don't do any of that if you don't want to be showered with love."

Kepa softened and watched as Gideon took another bite of his burger, he perked up a bit, happily chewed with his mouth closed and tossed his carefree gaze down into hers as she remained prickled in romantic stun. He huffed a cute laugh through his nose, bobbed a nod, swallowed and reached for his drink as he continued on.

"I love how surprised you are," Gideon warmly mumbled as he brought his straw to his mouth and took a few solid gulps of his soda. He sighed in satisfaction as he finally set his drink down, "So, tell me, is it true that adults only meow to their babies, then?"

"That's true, so I wouldn't naturally meow to another adult," Kepa mumbled with a shrug, she tried to act nonchalant in all of this though her heart wildly fluttered as she began to prepare to ask Gideon the burning question she had brimming to the very top of her heart, "Kittens meow as one of their first forms of communication until they can speak, so... Yeah. Guess you never got the treatment of being meowed at, as a child, so, I'll fill the gaps of you want."

"I'm trying to imagine my parents meowing at me," Gideon grumbled as he looked off with a furrowed look of contemplation, Kepa snorted a laugh and shook her head, to which Gideon wrinkled his nose and joined in on her laughter, "Yeah, weird thought. You don't have to do that to me if you're uncomfortable. My ears, however, would happily receive it."

"It'd get old fast, trust me," Kepa mumbled as she munched a few french fries and continued on, "It's not me just simply SAYING the word 'meow'. Yowling, and all the vocalizing that comes with it, can get annoying. Trust me... I worked with all of the mothers and their newborn kittens."

"I guess it was oversaturated for you," Gideon mumbled with a nod, and though he, too, was feeling the thudding of his heart begin to pick up, he inhaled a shaky breath and felt bravery course him as the two caught eyes in a loving sweep, "So, hypothetically... If you and I had a baby together, would I be expected to meow at our child, then?"

Kepa raised her eyebrows, held her breath and now felt her brain brick at the idea Gideon had just so blatantly and so easily splayed right before her, clear as day. She scoffed a shaky noise of delighted surprise, looked down and to the side, tucked her hair behind her ear, once more and now desperately began to scrounge for the words. Gideon long-blinked, looked off in shy bewilderment and shook his head.

"Not that we even want kids of our own, now, anyways... I'm now understanding that may have been way too forward of me to bring up on a first date," Gideon muttered with a cute smile as he apologetically eyed her, "You don't have to answer that, it was just a hypothetical."

"Y-Yes, I think it'd be cute if you DID do that, if w-we, uh... Had a baby together," Kepa huffed shyly, she hardly could look into Gideon's eyes, though they held in a grip of bashful warmth, "I really have no clue just what kind of information would be given to YOU, from a, well... Code swap, but... Surely vocalizing wouldn't be too difficult to teach. Not necessary, since I'd be around to do all the vocalizing if need-be, but... Would be really sweet, nonetheless."

"Noted," Gideon nodded, a sincere notion, he nervously pumped the brakes and wondered why the hell he was taking all of these huge leaps and bounds ahead of himself when he had yet to even give Kepa every last ounce of his own personal information. He swallowed hard and cutely looked off, "Not trying to get ahead of you, or... Us. Whatever this is, I'm... Really bad at this."

"It's okay, it was really sweet," Kepa cued with a shaky giggle, "The idea was thoughtful. Who knows... Guess we'll see."

"So, stress causes your whiskers to fall out," Gideon segued back to where they started in hopes of avoiding much deeper conversations, Kepa nodded and sighed in mild relief, "What about fur? Hopefully you're on your way to not being stressed out, any longer."

"No, not since you gave me a proper place to live," Kepa stated with sincere gratitude, she nodded and reached for her drink, "No more loss of whiskers and fur. Who knows, maybe the longer fur on my tail will return."

"You had longer fur on your tail?" Gideon wondered, he subtly leaned back in his seat, looked down to Kepa's lap and eyed her tail, which was properly laid over her lap and draped down her legs in a dainty hover just above the floor, due to being on higher bar stools, "Where, just on the tip?"

"Yeah, see, feel right here," Kepa instructed as she cleaned her paw pads on her napkin, sat back a bit, unravelled her tail from her lap and, much to Gideon's whole entire surprise, she gently lifted her tail and thumped it straight over Gideon's lap in a drape of easiness. He froze in whole entire shock, the sheer idea that Kepa was actually letting someone touch her tail, something she was very sensitive to, he long-blinked in disbelief and watched as she pointed to the underside of the middle of her tail, confidently draped over Gideon's thighs, "See here? The underside had this gradual slope of longer fur that eventually reached the length of the much longer fur on the tip."

Gideon held his breath and shyly peered into Kepa's eyes in a hard show of almost terrified question. The second she noticed Gideon not paying attention to where she was pointing, she blurt a giggle, sagged her shoulders and cutely pat his upper arm.

"I'm giving you permission to touch my tail, Giddy, its okay," Kepa rushed in cute dismissal, and though Gideon believed her, he sagged with a trembly sigh through his nose and finally looked down to where Kepa was pointing. She lifted the end of her tail, the beautiful curl of the much longer fur that matched the color of her hair, she tapped where she was pointing and motioned for Gideon to feel, "You feel that coarse fur, right here?"

"... Yeah," Gideon huffed sorrowfully, his much bigger fingers so gently dug into the underside of her tail. What he felt was the result of fur loss that had only just began to grow back, rougher skin that felt as if it had been unfortunately either dragged on the ground or previously scabbed due to infections that had finally healed, he flinched a little as Kepa reached in a point to the tip of her tail, which sat ready for Gideon to feel, as well.

"Now, feel the fur on the end of my tail," Kepa patiently instructed, to which Gideon's cautious hand cutely wrapped about the fluff of her lovely tail and stroked the much longer fur there, similar to the length and color of the hair on Kepa's head. Gideon bulged his eyes in surprise and scoffed a little laugh as Kepa grinned with a nod, "See? Much softer, right? It's supposed to be this soft and healthy on the underside of my tail... It's on its way back, but it was a pretty big insecurity of mine, for awhile."

"Holy sugar on toast," Gideon whispered quietly as he continued to so gently stroke and cup the velvety soft fur on the tip of her tail, he gave Kepa a humbled look of floored happiness, "I never knew the fur on the end of your tail was THIS soft, this is like... Chinchilla fur-status."

"Why do you think I'm so protective of it?" Kepa playfully sneered, and though she lowered her tail, she sweetly draped the whole of her tail in a curl so that it looped back into Gideon's lap, so the tip of her tail was still accessible to him. Happy that he took the bait and wasn't too guarded to continue petting her tail, she relaxed back into her seat and was happy that his right hand remained stationed to the tip of her tail, as if to show that said honor wasn't going to be squandered, even if it meant finishing his food with only his left hand; he proved this the second he continued to eat fries with said only free hand, Kepa warmly continued, "Congratulations. You're the only person on planet earth of whom I've actually LET touch my tail."

"... EVER? I'm the only person ever?" Gideon gawked after a few moments of letting the noisy ambience about them soak their bubble, but only for said mere moments.

"Ever," Kepa cutely quipped with a nod, she gave Gideon a smiling, bratty side-eye and sagged her straw to her pink, pursed lips.

"I'm honored," Gideon huffed a shaky chuckle, he continued to pet the end of Kepa's tail with a great deal of tenderness, though his heavy, bigger fingers still had a hefty push of eagerness to them, something Kepa was at least happy about, the fact that he was now due to not squandering this honor. He daringly gave her a little look and shook his head, he bravely lowered his voice and carried on, "I have to wonder what I did to earn all of these things you've gifted me, Kitten."

Kepa perked her ears in high surprise at the very brave pet-name he had just given her, and due to her smiley, cheeky reaction, Gideon felt the bravery fly away from him at the speed of light. He huffed a shaky chuckle and gingerly slowed his careful petting.

"...Is that pet name off limits? I'm sorry," Gideon stated in low, polite defeat, though Kepa narrowed her eyes, looked off in pondering and now felt as if her fluttery, dreamy desires had come full circle, just as she had been manifesting.

"I'll let you call me that, under one condition," Kepa instructed, Gideon softened with a nod and a smile.

"Name your price," Gideon cooed confidently, Kepa politely flattened her ears and sweetly eyed Gideon as she proverbially laid all cards on the table.

"Will you be my boyfriend?" Kepa very bravely asked, a stark switch up, a situation she was absolutely sure she'd never see herself in, she could tell it equally shocked Gideon due to the way his chest stopped rising and falling, the held-breath of full shock he now silently marinated in, he finally scoffed a shaky little chuckle and eased a bashful grin across his handsome face.

"Y-You're asking me to officially be your boyfriend and we're not even finished with our first casual date?" Gideon cutely wondered with a floored, surprised little giggle of a laugh, and though he was worried this sentiment would make Kepa second-guess, he only grew more confident due to the quick nodding she gave, the warm, excited little grin that sprawled her adorable face, he scoffed a surprised notion, sat back and rested his palm over her tail. He scanned the sunny restaurant and sagged his shoulders, "Well, damn! That was... Look, I was SURE I was going to have to build up the courage to ask you with at LEAST three more of these dates."

"Aw, you were gunna ask me?" Kepa wondered, the two were now full of shaky little laughs, broad smiles that were kissed with happy, shy renewal, the two readjusted the way they were sitting in excited nervous fidgeting, though Kepa's tail remained lovingly splayed over Gideon's lap.

"I mean, YEAH? I was working up the courage, but... Wow, you just ripped off the band aid," Gideon's voice lightly trembled as the two smiled into each other's eyes, "Yeah, I'd... I'd love to make us official. It's a little soon, but... I'm not bothered by it, if you're not."

"All signs point to it, I've never felt so sure about anything," Kepa giggled, she shook her head and narrowed her gaze, "Before you left, you brought up code swapping, and... Gideon, you just now mentioned having a baby with me. Pretty sure making what you and I have official is probably in that mess somewhere, right?"

"You're right," Gideon scoffed a cute laugh and looked down at his half-eaten food, now feeling like he was due to shooting to the moon, he was sure leaving his food, as well as the building and the planet behind, was now next on the schedule, "Don't ask me how mentioning code swapping and babies was easier than actually asking you the dreaded question."

"It's cause I have the ability to say yes or no, but, because YOU were the one to mention all the scarier topics, I figured I'd help you out," Kepa erupted into giggling as Gideon rolled his eyes, grinned and looked off. Kepa waggled her finger to Gideon's lap, where his bigger hand rested lovingly over her tail, "Besides, your hand is all over my TAIL, of all things, and you just gave me the pet name 'Kitten', and... Pretty sure, the second we get more alone time, you're gunna wrangle me into yet another make-out session. You're committed to keeping me safe, fed and happy, we talk and hang out daily, we tell each other our secrets and hardships, we cry in each other's arms... Yeah, you're my boyfriend. Hate to break it to you."

"Dammit," Gideon mumbled, as if to be playfully disappointed, though he smiled into Kepa's eyes and sagged in full relief, "I promise whatever next steps will be mine to make, sorry you had to stick your neck out."

"I wasn't worried you'd deny ME of all people," Kepa stated with a full tone of brattiness, she cupped her hand to her collar and looked off in a full show of playful pretentiousness, she scoffed and flipped her hair, "Of COURSE you'd say yes!"

"I'd be stupid not to," Gideon grumbled cutely as he wrapped his left arm about her back and so sweetly snugged her into a tight side-hug, alongside the firm few press of smooches to her temple and side of her head. She grinned, lulled her eyes closed and happily marinated in Gideon's loving splay of affection, "Committing to you is a no-brainer. Thanks for trusting me."

"Likewise, babe," Kepa mumbled warmly, she caught eyes with Gideon in a warm show of their close proximity, and as she puckered her lips to request their first kiss as an official couple, she grunted a cute giggle on Gideon's mouth as he pressed a few firm smooches to her mouth, not caring about public displays of affection. They pulled apart, smiled into each other's eyes, blistered with the overflow of warm, exciting love that poured out of themselves, she perked her ears in cute confusion and shrugged, "We, uh... Still keeping this all a secret, then?"

"We can, though... I can safely tell you that Lash and Novus are on to us," Gideon shrugged as the two naturally sagged away from each other and continued to pick at their food, though they happily marinated in their new title with one another, "It'll come spilling out eventually, so long as it's okay with you if and when it does."

"I'm alright with it, pretty sure Mara's onto me, anyways, as well," Kepa shrugged, she cutely rolled her eyes, "She kept asking about you, while you were gone."

"How so?" Gideon prod shyly as he chewed on some of his fries.

"She kept asking things like... What I had you labelled as in my phone, my phone background is a picture of you," Kepa droned on and waggled her hand about, she rolled her eyes and smiled in mild annoyance, "You left your grey Turbotime hoodie behind and I wore it for the whole day."

"Not very subtle," Gideon teasingly scolded, Kepa nodded in defeat and grinned, she was certain she now couldn't wipe the smile from her face if her life depended on it. Gideon bobbed a nod and smiled, as well, "Welp... We're still meeting up with them at the shop, after this, right?"

"You think that's wise?" Kepa wondered coyly with a shrug.

"Wiser than running back to the lighthouse, I mean, really," Gideon grumbled cutely, Kepa bobbed a nod and scoot a bit closer to Gideon as they continued to eat together, "Best to hide in plain site, eh?"

"Famous last words, probably," Kepa muttered with a sneaky smile.

A/N : Hey guys, I just want to apologize for blowing up your guys inboxes, if you're following me on FF through notifications. I'm uploading my ENTIRE saga into one single collection onto FanFiction, all 1,000+ chapters, so I am sorry if you've gotten like 800 emails from me today alone. I have maybe 300 more chapters left to go before I'm done spamming the crap out of you guys. I'm trying to get it all uploaded before my big saga-comic reveal that I've teased this January. The saga will still be uploaded here, to Favor's Game, but at the end of every week, I'll load whatever chapters I've uploaded to the collection as a whole, as well. I just wanted it all to be in one place, I'm tired of linking people to like 82 different stories and then people getting confused about the order they go in. I'll still be writing Favor's Game, as well as the 6th story, to their own individual story slots, but... Yeah, I'll also have a spot for the entire behemoth as a whole. I'm so exhausted that 2 times in this paragraph alone I've almost slipped up and spoiled the title of the 6th story.

I'm wondering if this might be one of the largest piece of fanfiction ever written... I know there's one that has 4.1 million words, I think it's a Mario fic of some sort. As the saga stands, it's 3.9 million words long and counting. I still have the rest of Favor's Game to finish, which will easily be 250+ chapters (1 million words alone, surely), and THEN I have the entire 6th story, and the possibility of a 7th. I'm having WAY too much fun with this saga. If it's not obvious that I'm on the spectrum for ADHD and autism by now, idk what to tell you guys lol