Reviews :

chuckiboo : Yyyyep. It's a slow brew, but it's all coming. This chapter has some very heavy foreshadowing to such drama. Hate to leave you guys on a bit of a cliffhanger for the week but that's how it shakes out I guess haha


A/N : Hey guys, I'll return on Monday the 29th. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but I have the week off of school so I'm going to take this time to recharge and write a bunch of chapters. Have a good week guys, I'll be back next Monday :)


Song Listened To :

Stepping Stone ft. Mark Johns by Lemaitre


*Chapter 123*

"This better not be some sick setup to get me outside of a safe area," Gideon's deep voice grumbled, almost under his breath.

"If I wanted to knife-yah, I woulda done it by now," Callum retort, obviously a joking notion, Gideon furrowed his brow in a draw of almost vengeful frustration and looked off with a glower that so desperately wanted to sprawl to a boyish smirk.

Having travelled from Arcadia Station and all the way to Game Central Station, Callum and Gideon stood inside the massive courtyard outside of Cyclone City's entrance, the ticket machine's glowing inner outlet made clear just where the return to Game Central Station was. Gideon stood in his lean, both him and Callum loitered in the neon lights that barely speckled the dark cobbles underfoot, Cyclone City was an aggressive catch-all of Arcade's bravest souls, a darker equivalent to EZ Living, the closest and most accessible thing to Tron that Litwak's was going to openly get. Gideon watched as Callum's dark eyes looked about in a skulking manner, he searched the loose crowd in anticipation to meet up with Chase.

"Real adorable of you," Gideon chuckled.

Gideon sagged his thumbs into the tattered black jeans he wore, in true-Ralph fashion, the cuffs of his ankles were loosely ripped a bit. He wore a soft, dark green zip up underneath a heftier, grey jean jacket that hung open to reveal a simple black t-shirt. His usual colors of neutrals and warm browns and reds were something he knew would have him mildly sticking out inside a darker game like Cyclone. Callum's attire was similar, Gideon scanned his eyes about and was thrilled both boys at least understood the assignment. Callum answered a phone call, it was obviously Chase. He loudly bantered back and forth with Chase, and it was here did Gideon's heart begin to thud in hot realization. His eyes hazed off into an aimless, dissociative episode of stillness, the blur of the blue neon lights in the far off cityscape burned into the back of his retinas, he held his breath and felt the weight of the situation he was suddenly in. Not only was he willingly hanging out with someone so closely branded as being a palace traitor, a childhood best friend in his own right, Callum, Gideon was also en route to doing what he could to be civil to another being that emotionally abandoned him in Pre-Academy. Gideon heaved a breath to steady himself, he knew seeing Chase again would be difficult, though not nearly as difficult as eventually gathering the straws grasped at to forgive Callum.

"Yeah, I have Gideon with me, he wants to give you a big hug and kiss," Callum cheesed obnoxiously into the phone he held loosely to his ear, Gideon shot him a dark, annoyed glower and stood frozen as Callum thumped a playful hit to the broad of Gideon's left peck. Gideon lulled his eyes closed in seething irritation as Callum's laughter only grew, "Oh, you BOTH need to get the sticks outa your asses! Flint has alcohol, right? You both need it, Jesus."

"He asks the man that has manifestation powers," Gideon muttered in smiling annoyance as Callum only half caught what Gideon said and carried on his conversation with Chase in a downswing of a nodding conclusion.

"Yeah, yeah, we're sorta near the entrance," Callum stated dryly into the phone.

Gideon eyed the side of Callum's face in a subtle side eye, the blonde stubble on his face illuminated a soft blue due to the darkened nature of Cyclone City, the blinding neon of the city was ethereal and enchanting, though equally haunting and seedy. Callum's eyes glossed the place in a skulking-like manner, as if he was becoming mildly nervous. Not one to blame Callum, Gideon stiffened a little and felt his brain wash cold with the idea that he and Callum had been incredibly privileged, having been raised in a glorious royal palace with the certainty that outsiders would assume both men were born with silver spoons in their mouths. Cyclone City was EZ Living's dark equivalent, it was the closest thing to the internet Litwak's Arcade was going to get without actually being the internet. Since the game didn't feature any game days, any main characters, any goals or dire straights, it was a catch-all for Litwak's. A darkened place with a lively, never-ending nightlife of a city. No sun, no sky, no true atmosphere, it was housed in a seemingly never-ending dome of neon light pollution. The Tron experience for those not brave enough to go to the furthest reaches of Arcade to actually find Tron. Although discount in almost everyway possible, Gideon still did what he could to shake the urge to proverbially clutch his pearls and understand this city was not the place to lallygag, not the place to let your guard drop for even two seconds.

He could tell Callum was strangely well versed, and it was here did Gideon nervously stuff his sunny lighthouse ideals, the romantic urges to scoop a lover into fuzzy blankets, purring, trilling little kisses exchanged, wistfully planned artistic stories while sipping on a cold brew. Somehow, the opposite, darker side of Gideon's carefree, misfit personality began to peak from around the corner with glee. Callum bickered with Chase in a drone of murmuring noise as Gideon finally allowed himself to ponder this hardly touched extension of himself. Hardened, cold, villainous tendencies he had spent his whole life stuffing somehow felt safe to play in Callum's dark aura. He felt relief, strangely, as if he could escape to his and Kepa's sunny lighthouse for a refill of love, though equally escape into his and Callum's strange, newfound friendship for a bit more of a harder, harrowing experience to his soul. Not ever allowing himself a taste of it, he felt his heart thump in the rile of stifled excitement, as if the yin-yang that his soul was, was now floored he was exploring the darker aspects of his personality, something he had denied himself for so long. Fearing that just one taste of allowing his heart to harden in an equal ebb and flow of being both lovingly tenderhearted and unapologetically awful, he knew the exchange wouldn't ever find a grey area. The spectrum for chaos and calm was something he was worried his now two-sided life would battle to the death for, the claim of his soul once and for all, wherever the cards fell.

In all of these messy thoughts, his mind kept nervously coming back to Kepa. Callum hung up with Chase and carried on with Gideon in lazy conversation as both men stood on alert of their surroundings and the unique strangers that inhabited it. An expert at acting like he was paying attention whilst in the midst of disassociating to satisfy the constant run of the hamster wheel in his brain, Gideon followed Callum's facial cues, allowed the conversation Callum droned on about to effortlessly carry due to the mildly narcissistic way Callum continued to talk without inquiring for Gideon's opinion on anything. Gideon worried that Kepa would call or text him, the facade of being big and tough would fall aside and Callum would see just what a big, tenderhearted goon he really was. Gideon subtly turned his phone on silent and felt further dread with the little notification on his lock screen notifying him that Kepa had previously messaged him about ten minutes prior. In the week or so between Callum and Gideon making nice, Gideon took note that somehow, Callum and Chase had gotten ahold of Flint, and further evidence supported that Callum and Chase likely had been having hangouts with Flint without Gideon, prior to this meeting. Although this initially made Gideon nervous, he couldn't decipher if he should stick to said nervousness or feel relieved over the fact that he was branching out and hopefully falling into a cultivated friend group that was now so far removed from the palace and everything it entailed. Before Gideon could continue to mull over his anxious thoughts, he double-took the entrance and noticed Chase now pressing in Gideon's and Callum's direction.

"Hey, man," Callum stated with a subtle nod upwards, both men fell into a normal routine of a lazy high-five, handshake combo, though as Callum swung his brightened, almost goading, curious eye contact back to Gideon, the atmosphere tensed in this particularly tricky reunion.

"Gideon," Chase stated with clarity, as if to make clear he was hopeful to properly move on from their quick and tricky past, though as the two looked each other up and down, they both happily erupted into knowing laughter, "Damn, man, that last week or two before Academy was kind to you. You suddenly gained like ten feet of height, or what?"

"I'm six five," Gideon muttered in smiling annoyance as he shook his head and peered to Chase. Previously a cute, salamander-like being that didn't hold much of an intimidating air, he now stood nearly at Gideon's height with nearly Gideon's big build, a scary beast with spines that lined his jaw, skull and spine. Vivid pops of oranges and blacks that coat the speckles of his scales, both beasts looked as if they were a perfect match, were a fight to break out. As if by looking at them, no one would be certain the victor. Gideon side-eyed Chase in cute, boyish remembrance and peaked a bullying little smile, "How's Academy treatin' yah?"

"Like ass, man," Chase spat, all three men erupted into deep laughter, Chase flagged his hand, armed with claws and heftier scales, "I'm honestly thinking of transferring to End of Line Academy, or something... Arcadia is so..."

"Prissy," Callum muttered.

"Sunny?" Chase added in annoyance, "I don't know, everyone cares about status and girls and good grades and healthy lunches. I'm over it."

"You don't care about girls?" Callum goad, Chase rolled his eyes as all three men began to head in the direction of Flint's home, not too far away from the entrance of Cyclone.

"Not Academy girls, you kidding?" Chase staggered, he seemed as if he had already had this conversation with Callum, so he spoke more in Gideon's direction, "I was seeing a girl a few weeks ago. Code blocked a few times, she then turned around and said she wanted to full-on code swap. Got outta that situation real quick."

"Was this before or after Zee and Nemi booted you from their group?" Gideon muttered darkly, it was clear that Chase could play ball, from the experiences of banter he had previously had with Chase, as children, their friendship dynamic quickly resurfaced.

"Said girl I was seeing WAS Nemi," Chase stabbed with pride, Gideon double-took to Chase's eyes and hovered for a moment of hot shock, though flinched the second Callum erupted into a full cackle. Gideon and Chase's laughter soon followed, they skulked the dark, dirty concrete of the city en-route to Flint's home, the bright skyscrapers above hung over the town in a hover, the city noise and traffic nearly overrode their conversation, "Sorry, Gid, I... I guess I forgot you sort of knew them. For some reason, I blacked it all out."

"Knew them," Gideon scoffed, he looked ahead as the three effortlessly part any oncoming pedestrian traffic they ran into, "They're part of the reason I'm fucked in the head."

"Yeah, not the brightest people," Chase muttered, he softened for once and gave Gideon a look of brief apology, "Sorry, Gid... Hope we can move on from it."

"Yeah, we're cool, it's over with," Gideon shrugged, he so easily allowed Chase to believe it was all hardly anything to worry about, though Gideon clenched his jaw in secret and wondered why the urge to hold onto grudges was now something he was certain he'd take to his grave. Every single last little thing any single person in Arcade had done to him, in the form of wronging, was written on the underside of Gideon's heart. One turn-over was all it took for Gideon to remember who would ever be on his hit list lest shit hit the fan; he cocked an eyebrow and secretly eyed Chase, understanding the two men he sauntered with were on said list in bold letters. He bobbed a nod to himself and understood that keeping his enemies close was likely wise. He was quite enjoying fooling the people in his life, playing make-believe roles no one could see through. Feeling like a professional chameleon, Gideon felt the high, he pressed forward with both men in pride, somehow he felt as if he had them both on a leash and was due to being King of the whole world. His raspy voice pressed on in dark cheek, "I don't forgive you, but... I can be civil."

"It's okay, he doesn't forgive me either, just take what you can get, he'll get over himself eventually," Callum muttered to Chase in dismissive irritation, it was here did Gideon roll his eyes and swiftly remind himself that no one took his mild displays of threats seriously; he wondered when a breaking point would arise, what would truly make them take him seriously.

"You boys look like assholes, get in here, stop walking so slow like you own the place," Flint suddenly barked as they approached Flint's ratty stairwell, a simple ten-step ramp that lead up into his narrow city apartment. A worn down brick building smushed between much bigger, newer buildings, all three boys approached Flint's front door with smiles of irritation as Flint swung open his front door, it loudly screeched in the heavy swing and beamed the aggressive, florescent entryway light out into the street, "You look like you're up to no good."

"Maybe we are?" Chase volleyed in boyish cheek as him and Callum filed past Flint's smaller stature, to which Flint grunted in annoyance and flagged everyone to come inside. Flint softened once Gideon was last to climb the stairs.

"Gideon," Flint stated in low kindness, he smiled into Gideon's eyes and bobbed him a nod, "Glad you were able to make it. Too much sunny Sugar Rush and Turbotime, eh? Gotta tour you 'round this city, sometime, you'll love it."

"Yeah, the garbage-lined streets and the cracked-out homeless person asking you to pet his imaginary friend," Callum retort as him and Chase so easily made themselves at home in Flint's apartment, further proving that they have had several hangouts already.

"Remember that hooker that flagged me down?" Chase muttered, both men erupted in grime-like laughter.

"Yeah, her tits were everywhere," Callum scoffed in a sleazy tone under his breath.

"Come in, come in, don't let the rats in," Flint urged to Gideon as Gideon filed past Flint and stepped inside the croak of worn, wooden floors, Flint's little home.

Gideon allowed his eyes to casually swing about his surroundings, though he did what he could to not outwardly grimace. Suddenly, this stoic, impressive guidance counselor Gideon once saw as a child was now this grizzled, hardened adult Gideon had finally leveled with. Flint's run-down studio apartment had walls with dainty, charming wallpaper that was greasy and peeling in some places. Floorboards and door frames looked worn and scuffed, gathered with grime in certain spots. Flint's furniture only consisted of a huge, well-loved leather couch with the whole of the cushions nearly rubbed bald into a muted orange from it's previously potentially beautiful, dark brown leather. Added was a long, low coffee table trashed with an ash tray, empty beers, crumpled papers and what looked to be a dirty bong half hidden underneath the table. Flint's home reeked of cigarette smoke and weed, a ratty ground fan in the corner oscillated with wobbling difficulty, the carpet was so worn with dirty foot traffic that Gideon hardly wanted to ponder the idea. Although a small little studio with the only thing separating the main room from the kitchen being a higher bar-top counter with two mismatched bar stools, Gideon felt an odd sweep of confusion fall over him over one jarring fact he was sure was just unspoken oddity.

For being such a shorter, littler individual, Flint's home looked to be perfectly situated for someone either as tall as or taller than Gideon himself; there were at least three step stools in Flint's home, visibly. Flint's kitchen was a strange combination of dirty and tidy. Things were put away in an orderly fashion, though the crevices and details of his kitchen were caked with grime and build up. Gideon sighed in forced nonchalance and joined Chase and Callum at the bartop of the kitchen, Chase sat on one of the stools and Callum helped himself to one of the nearby cupboards. Callum began to cheekily inquire about what food Flint had to offer, which resulted in a very familial-like banter between both men. Although Flint's home felt a little dirty and seedy, Gideon still somehow felt that strange, stoic sweep of nostalgic comfort being here, as if he were simply visiting an older, distant uncle's home, a being who was estranged from the normalcy of palace life. Flint's aura and welcoming disposition offset the unkept version of his home, and though Gideon was eager to dissect maybe just why Flint's dwelling place was on the verge of being in shambles, he sagged and somehow, someway felt cozy amidst the smell of old weed and leftover pasta cooked hours ago in a dirty microwave.

"I don't know why you're trying to argue with ME about a lack of food when you could just be getting on your knees for wonder boy, here," Flint barked upwards to Callum as he gestured his hand back to Gideon's figure, Flint began to shoo his hands upwards in Callum's direction so he could get to his fridge, "Ask nicely and maybe the kid will pull some beer from thin air."

"And some smokes," Chase bobbed a nod, he tossed Gideon a hopeful smile and communicated, in said hopeful smile, a sense of easiness, a sense of non-urgency, as if to say to Gideon he kindly didn't expect anything and knew that manifesting was an energy-draining task.

"Only if you actually do get on your knees for it, Call," Gideon stabbed under his breath as he cocked an eyebrow and shot Callum a smile of a dirty look. Desperate to fit in, desperate to cultivate a guy-group of friends, no matter how tattered and different, he felt happy that he could sag into a starkly different vibe of a hang out than he was used to. He almost laughed at the thought of Kepa, Lash and Mara being included in on this nonsense. Gideon knew they'd check out of this situation faster than the speed of light. Gideon held out his hand and lazily manifested a frosty can of beer, thus tossing it in a loft at Callum, "Though I'm sure you'd rather do that behind closed doors."

"Look, I got no problem with gay people, but I do have a problem with incest. If you two boys start kissing, I'm gunna hafta kick you out," Flint muttered playfully as he sighed and leaned against his closed, off-white fridge. It wobbled due to instability, the broken bread box on the top shifted a little, "Been awhile, Gid, you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great," Gideon blindly agreed, a mask he was willing to brandish for the sake of keeping everyone out of the deeper, intimate inner workings of his heart that only Kepa had access to. He manifested another beer and lofted it at Chase, both boys lazily clacked open their cans and took a few swigs as Gideon gave Flint a beer and finished it off with manifesting himself one, as well. Uncertain about the cigarettes, he was at least grateful that he had the ability to manifest them with ease due to Lash's tendencies to occasionally have a smoke. Nervous about the smell of abundant weed, he prayed they wouldn't ask for other substances to smoke, though reserved the idea unless someone asked, "Trying to keep from trouble."

"Yeah, I heard there's a wild mad-man with a dagger going around slicing people," Flint loudly emphasized, he shot Callum an upward glance of dark authority, "The poor boy loved you more than air all during your adolescent days and you pay him back by nearly killing him. You realize this is Gideon's villain origin story, right?"

"Wait, you nearly killed him?" Chase argued loudly, everyone, but Gideon, erupted into riled laughter, "You made it seem like you just barely got him!"

"Yeah, barely got me," Gideon barked in full, sarcastic irritation as he wormed his bigger arm from his thicker sleeve and revealed the healing slice Callum had delivered to Gideon's upper, inner right arm. Chase's alluring, big lizard-like eyes widened in illuminated shock as he stabbed his now uncertain gaze into Callum's sheepish one.

"Look," Callum started as he held his hands out in defense, he jostled his opened beer about in hand-flagging annoyance as Flint now erupted into louder laughter and shoved on Callum's lower arm, "I MAY have let myself get carried away."

"Yeah, count yourself lucky that I was the one that kept the majority of my composure," Gideon muttered darkly, the cunning smile laid into Callum's eyes was enough to get a nearly-visible shiver out of Callum's figure. Gideon took off his coat and schlepped it over the available bar stool next to Chase's sat figure, "Shit sucked, man."

"Aw, wah, you ran away to your new girlfriend and she took care of you," Callum argued, banter Gideon was glad everyone could fall into, though the mention of Kepa had Gideon's intuition on high-alert.

"Code room reset?" Chase held out both of his palms, as if to weigh his options, "Orrr... Night of sex and boasted battle wounds."

"You kids shouldn't be code blocking and having sex and all that bullshit, you guys literally JUST turned one," Flint argued in full, authoritative frustration as he crossed his arms and allowed his long, fluffy black fox tail to curl about his legs in a lazy sag.

"Yeah, code blocking sucks, doesn't it?" Chase muttered to Gideon in disparaged, bittersweet curiosity, and though Gideon felt the knee-jerk reaction to lie and fully agree with Chase, so not to single himself out as a virgin, he felt his brain short-circuit over trying to find the right words to utter so to make his honesty not sound so juvenile. The gap of silence carried on for too long, and before Gideon knew it, Callum rolled out a parade of howling, cackling laughter from all three of Gideon's peers.

"Gideon and his cute little kitty-cat of a girlfriend haven't taken things to the next level, aw," Callum darkly chimed, Gideon sharply rolled his eyes, nodded in full annoyance and took a heavy swig of his beer.

"Kitty-cat?" Flint cheekily inquired, "I remember you telling me about a certain woman in your life, but... What's that all about?"

"She's a lion gargoyle from Castle Run's unplugged version," Gideon mumbled in easy release, though he somehow felt his pupils tighten as him and Flint caught gazes, somehow Flint's aura rose from the dead, the fur on Flint's shoulders raised in hackled stun in the most subtle way possible, it was enough for Gideon to feel a shift happen between the two, something that confused the pants off of him. Gideon shrugged in forced nonchalance as Callum and Chase continued on the train of teasing Gideon for being a virgin, and though Gideon was about to explain just what made Kepa cat-like, he sharply furrowed his eyebrows and glowered Callum down, "Hey, fuck off, we just started dating like two weeks ago."

"My man's going in reverse," Chase staggered through laughter, Gideon looked genuinely confused.

"Y'gotta move quicker than that, Giddy, that house cat's gunna bolt out the front door if left open for too long," Callum cutely warned with a shrug, and though Gideon gave him a smiling glower of annoyance, as if to warn that Gideon knew Callum also had no experience in the realm of sex or code swapping, he bit his tongue in the hopes that the attention would be off of him, and this topic, soon.

"I've got it under control," Gideon loudly whispered, Flint chuckled and pat the back of Gideon's bigger hand, which rested at his side.

"What's her name again?" Flint casually wondered, Gideon sighed and glanced down to Flint.

"Kepa," Gideon uttered, Flint's ears gently laid back in musing delight and nodded.

"You should bring her next time," Chase suggested, Gideon wildly furrowed his eyebrows and felt the urge to laugh in Chase's face simply brim at the back of his throat.

"I'm not in the business of stressing her out," Gideon chuckled, Flint pat Gideon's hand a bit harder and nodded.

"Slow and steady wins the race, from what you told me previously, you sound like you have something really special with this little lady," Flint stated in polite reservedness, "Chase is an idiot and got with the first girl to give him sexual attention."

"...Wowww," Chase droned as Callum exploded with callous laughter, Flint sagged and gave Chase a smile as if to prove he was simply teasing.

"Thank you," Gideon stated in easy politeness, he looked about Flint's home in a rise of hidden nervousness and scratched his chest, "Uh, can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure, sure, it's back here," Flint lazily gestured to a darkened doorway Gideon stood by, "It's past the washer and dryer, at the end."

"Thank you," Gideon eased as he set his beer down and vanished, though Callum choked continued laughter.

"He's gotta go take a stress-dump after being put on the spot," Callum muttered, obviously loud enough for Gideon to hear, and as Gideon genuinely choked a laugh that everyone else joined in on, Gideon pressed through the strangely tall and narrow hallway and into Flint's smaller bathroom.

Upon the florescent bathroom light angrily flickering on with a dull, constant buzz of electricity, alongside the scatter of a roach near Flint's barren shower area, Gideon largely rolled his eyes and locked the bathroom door behind him. He grimaced and now understood he'd have to take a long, scalding hot shower upon getting home due to his bare feet being all over Flint's dirty home and bathroom. He lifted the lid and seat of the toilet, unzipped and unbuttoned his jeans and took care of his own business. In the aimless downward sight he had, the typically mundane act of simply using the bathroom, Gideon furrowed his eyebrows and now took note that the flusher, to this toilet, was very high up, a lever almost near the ceiling. Gideon's eyes followed the path upwards, and once he got to Flint's lone, tattered bathroom mirror, he took note that the mirror was a singular foot-by-foot, foggy haze of a mirror cracked in the bottom left corner. Gideon's brain did what it could to just segue away from the strange way everything was built for an incredibly tall individual, though he couldn't shake it. Finishing his business, he zipped his pants and reached upwards to flush the toilet, though as he came to the mirror, he curiously peered into his own eyes in furrowed, smiling bewilderment.

Although he knew he shouldn't be nosey, he allowed his hand to reach for the mirror. It being offset from the wall, it silently clacked open to reveal a mini bathroom cupboard, though as Gideon gripped the right edge of the mirror, his thumb sagged into a groove of worn use, as if someone of this incredible height was regularly opening this little mirror cupboard. Upon a peak inside, and the curiosity of tall placements of these items, Gideon sharply furrowed his eyebrows in now full confusion and took note of the odd, singular item inside. Beak balm, a small tub of a sundry item seemingly for a bird species, Gideon gently clacked the mirror shut in still-furrowed confusion and swung his eyes downwards. The sink was barren of anything, no tooth brush, no brush for Flint's fur, nothing. Gideon wondered if maybe Flint put his more private things away when expecting company, though he jolted in the halted action of preparing to leave upon his eyes visiting the tattered little trash can tucked behind the toilet. Tossed inside was an empty cigarette pack, crumpled all to hell, though more importantly, a few dirty, dark brown and red feathers peaked from the sorry excuse for a garbage lining, a dirty grocery bag. Desperate to lean in and get a closer look, Gideon shivered at the thought of getting his head into the dirty crevices of Flint's home and opted for turning the light out and leaving, so not to spend a suspicious amount of time in the bathroom. Although Gideon revisited the hang out, he spent the whole of it now actively searching for oddities in Flint's home, somehow running into someone far more reclusive and secretly mysterious, than himself, fascinated him to the point of craving answers.