Reviews :

Firesong-Writes : Aw, of course! Yes, all sunshine and rainbows - for now xD

Burgie : YES Agreed, this chapter is super ooey gooey to top it all off. Next chapter though...

Snake557 : It's okay! I'm really flattered, I really love Novus as well. I love Lickity the best, because I'm biased, but Novus definitely could rival that. He's way more argumentative and stubborn than Lickity, which is saying a lot lol. He comes around entirely in Chapter 201! I know that seems super far away but I promise it's coming :D


Song Listened To :

Stuck With U by Ariana Grande & Justin Beiber


*Chapter 193*

Mere moments into the illuminated lighthouse, a million sensations rushed both Kepa and Gideon all at once. The smell inside the common room remained hovered in the delicious smell of the dinner Kepa had made the night before things went horribly awry, as if more than two months hadn't passed at all. Due to Lash putting the lighthouse on the courtyard's wall, in Turbotime, he diligently kept the interior of it all on pause. The food in the fridge was still nearly brand new, the slop of the throw blanket on the huge sectional across from the kitchen remained freshly tossed, Kepa's precious Sugar Rush-grown plants, everything was preserved perfectly. With this, the two slowly looked about the gape of the foyer area, near the stairwell, and peered hard into the glowing kitchen and common room. Their lovely safe space, the origin of their friendship, the blossom of their romance, everything inside this building was precious and sacred. Knowing this, Gideon nervously peered to the two huge tiles the two had stood on in Gideon's infamous confession and Kepa's freeze. He held his breath and felt as if both tiles were about to ignite in an eruption of fire, as if those two tiles were the only things tainting this experience, and with such a drive to turn over new leaves and heal past trauma with Kepa tight in his circle, he gingerly gripped her hand and brought the two to the same spot.

"C'mere, let's... Let's start this out right, before we go nosing around, before we get comfortable, before anything..." Gideon sucked in a trembling breath and put Kepa directly in the same exact spot that she was standing on Valentine's Night, the last image he had of her before he nearly ruined everyone's lives due to his choices. He narrowed his teary gaze and peered hard into hers, he squeaked her a cute little notion of steadiness and prayed she'd understand this weight, "Please... This was where it all fell apart, this is where I got it wrong and didn't let you tell me what you needed to tell me. Let's replay the conversation as mature adults, and... You tell me everything you wanted to say, and I'll receive it how I should have, like a man and not an immature child running away when things don't pan out to my liking."

Kepa bobbed a small nod and felt her heart begin to flutter with renewal, she could hardly believe she was sat in this very moment, a moment she had dreamed she could redo, it was now something Gideon was so sweetly affording her. Both lovers gripped hands as they stood facing each other, and though Kepa felt her stomach turn at the raw image of Gideon in this very moment of her literal nightmare scenario, one that haunted her for months, she was floored that the image of him was now replaced, albeit ironically and delightfully harrowing. The healed gash on Gideon's face was smoothed over and not so blatantly obvious, though it still proved aggression in some form. His stark, black piercings darkly sparkled underneath their warm home lights, the bold, dark tattoos on the sides of his face, of which spilled down his neck and into his black t-shirt, as well as all down his arms and covered backside, promised harrowing scenarios he had put himself in, the image of a changed, hardened man, though one thing continued to so fervently stand out, one singular thing that promised everything underneath his flesh was still tender, innocent and pure; the fierce, golden glint in his youthful, romantic gaze, a gaze that pierced her heart straight through.

Kepa sucked in a trembling breath and felt her heart wildly flutter at the sheer handsome beast she was stood before, it was only in this instance of both of them hitting the play button did a sudden rush of romantic, flirtatious remembrance come flooding her veins in a wiggly sense of ironic, confused certainty. It was here did she understand that she had been massively restraining the overload of sexual feelings she had for Gideon, she did absolutely everything in her power to forget that one romantic night she had with him, back when he first moved into the Thunderbird Arena's courtyard. She already felt as if she couldn't possibly take her eyes off of him, though now that he had dove out into the world and came back a beast of a man with hardened experiences that couldn't quite get it's grips on the secretive, tender, gooey core he meticulously sheltered, Kepa bit her lip and began to feel frustrated at literally the whole world. The chisel of his face, the gentle mess of sexy stubble on his jaw, the sprout of fresh auburn from the crown of his head, the way he'd lift his thick eyebrows in a swing of musing, innocent curiosity, the thick inhale through his nose that caused his hefty, tattooed jugular and clavicles to broaden, the adorable little smolder of a smile that caused his badass piercings to glint in proverbial winks at her, all of it made her hate the fact that he had done so many things to make her so angry. It was only here did she truly understand that the uphill battle, that she had previously warned him that only he would have to endure, was simply her projecting. It was only here did she begin to wonder when revealing to him that the desire to dive on him in the throes of passion was about to ruin her strongholds.

"I don't remember how the conversation started," Gideon so gently whispered, Kepa's heart leaped clear out of her chest as she burst into a hard giggle and looked into the scrunch of her adorable shoulder.

"Y-You revealed that you'd make me dinner and we'd light the lighthouse lamp," Kepa stammered in cuteness, she felt her tail flick upwards, she flattened her ears and now sharply scolded herself, inwardly; a million green flags were what she was suddenly waving in Gideon's face, something she now was adamant about not even thinking of allowing him, just yet.

"Welp... You beat me to the latter," Gideon mumbled as his shy eyes looked beyond Kepa in contemplation.

"Apologize to me and make me dinner," Kepa gently instructed, clearly playful, Gideon suddenly broadened in a huge grin of youthful, brightened adoration, to which Kepa sighed and shook her head in further, secretive frustration, "I'm kidding, carry on."

"Before we carry on with this night, I want to make clear my intentions... I want to move forward with you, on the same page," Gideon cautiously pressed, he sucked in a deep breath and silently made clear that this was just as hard for him to do as it was for Kepa to equally endure. He fluttered his eyes through his relieving exhale and lovingly peered into Kepa's eyes, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Kepa fervently pressed as she bounced on the balls of her feet, though Gideon sharply furrowed his eyebrows and donned that handsome grin, once more.

"No, Kepa," Gideon complained with a cute chuckle as he rubbed his forehead, "You're supposed to tell me why you CAN'T say it to me, right now."

"O-Oh, oh, sorry... I just..." Kepa waggled her hand, inhaled a shaky breath and looked as if she was about to become teary, "I... Spent so many nights wishing that THAT was how the conversation went. You said it, I returned it, I molted, easy."

"But, it wasn't ever that easy, you had your reserves," Gideon stated lovingly as he narrowed his gaze and looked through to her soul with such care, "Sure, you loved me, and you would mean your reply, but you were nervous because it would cause you to molt. You were nervous... Explain to me why, get it off of your chest as if this was that exact moment. Tell me everything you wanted to so I could comfort and reassure you like the good boyfriend I was."

"Are," Kepa corrected sorrowfully, she wondered if she would eat her words, though Gideon faltered in brightened surprise.

"Are?" Gideon pressed cutely, innocent and humbly delighted, "Y-You... Still consider me your boyfriend?"

"Gideon... Gideon Fox Von Schweetz," Kepa stabbed as she tightened her ears to her skull, to which Gideon squeezed his eyes shut and reopened them in a bulge of dizzy surprise.

"That wasn't the weirdest thing you've ever said, no, not at all," Gideon muttered quietly as Kepa blurt a giggle and loudly continued.

"Gideon, you've done so much bullshit, you've laid your mark on my life, you've hurt me so bad and are in the process of putting us back together, I am LITERALLY wearing your artwork," Kepa rushed in smiling annoyance, "Why don't you think, for a moment... Do you see yourself dating another woman? Do you see us eventually not being a thing? What kind of a 'move forward' situation is this?"

"Oh, like... You're searching for a 'will you marry me' type answer out of me?" Gideon mused shyly, his face flushed red, ultimately giving Kepa her answer, though she shrugged, bobbed a nod and wanted to hear it all from him, "Yeah, I... My version of 'move forward', then and now, was a one-way track to engagement, to marriage, to forever. I just... Didn't think you'd want me to just return to being your boyfriend so fast, after everything I'd done..."

"Yeah, me neither," Kepa muttered in confusion as she rubbed her forehead, though she returned her hands to his and lulled her eyes closed in sighing frustration towards herself, "We said we'd take this slow... That doesn't mean I don't want to pick up where we left off. I didn't feel comfortable returning the 'I love you' because I was blindsided. I didn't get a chance to really marinate in the permanence I was about to saddle you with. I was worried it'd scare you off, just because you love someone doesn't always mean that you can see an eternity with that person, y'know?"

"You're worried that you molting, right in front of me, would freak me out and I'd realize that I was now superglued to you? Lest I leave the relationship, break your heart and return you to the world with my artwork on your skin," Gideon scoffed the rest of this nonsense out of him as if he didn't even want it in his body, he sighed in chuckling, smoldering, slow head-shaking as he gave her the sweetest narrow of his handsome gaze, "You've called me home twice, now. You've made loud and clear that YOU are my home and I circled around once, twice was enough for my stupid-ass to understand that, yeah... You may think I'M the sunshine inside lighthouse, but you were the power that struck the flint."

Kepa did everything she could to not pant through her nose in the upheaval of butterflies in her stomach, she gripped Gideon's hands and felt her gut turn in twisting delight with the slow squeeze on her littler palms that he returned, the tender stroke of his huge thumbs to the backs of her knuckles, he narrowed his gaze for emphasis and coat her shivering soul with his warm, deep, raspy voice.

"And, so now that you've molted, you returned the 'I love you', you're here before me with the fear that THIS huge shred of permanence would scare me off, even after the stepping stones of trust we had been building upon and making a path for easy-flowing love," Gideon stated in seductive warmth, all-encompassing humility that had Kepa's eyes welling with tears of full relief, "You really think I'd look at this... INCREDIBLE creature before me and run? This creature that now has just proven that her feelings for me were so important that it became a permanent part of her? There's no part of me that suddenly wouldn't want to move forward with plans to propose, swap codes, get married, have babies, all that silly, domestic stuff only people who are mad about each other do..."

Kepa nodded in fervently listening, looked off and allowed a crumpling grimace to come to her face as tears spilled down her cheeks, and though she scrunched her shoulders in preparation to wipe her eyes and keep herself composed, she flinched as Gideon removed his hands from hers and hovered over her in the loving cup of his big hands to her adorable face.

"I know this is the world of reassurance you needed, and... Instead, you froze and I fled," Gideon whispered down into her face, he squeezed his eyes shut and hovered over her in a swathe of romantic warmth as her trembling hands rested firm to his pecks, "I still can't believe that I've been somehow given another chance to turn this all around and do right by you... I need you to know how insanely honored I am that your molt was due to how you truly feel about me. You didn't give me enough credit to stick around and I didn't give you the space to reveal to me how nervous you were. We both sucked... But, now?"

"Now, we move forward," Kepa whispered up into Gideon's face in a smiling plea of relief, and as his bigger thumbs so tenderly stroked underneath her eyes, to catch her falling tears, he bobbed a nod and peaked her a little smirk of warm understanding.

"I love you," Gideon solidified, to which Kepa sucked in a huge breath and slowly gripped the chest of Gideon's black t-shirt.

"I love you, too," She whispered in return, she fluttered her teary eyes in anticipation and was floored to feel him so gently tug up on her face, bend down in the gap and meet her for a tilt of a passionate kiss.

Kepa raised her eyebrows in heart-jumping relief as she slowly draped her arms about Gideon's thick neck. His hands eventually wormed from the cup of her face and sat securely tucked about her rib cage in a slow draw about her upper and middle back. As the two stirred in slow, trembling inhales of each other's scent, they kissed each other's smiling lips fully aware that they had finally landed on that same page they were desperate for, once and for all. Gideon fluttered his eyes in the feel of Kepa's gentle claws through his hair, the feel of her new fur on his fingertips, he gaped in a trembling inhale on her lips as they just barely part and met once more as he cupped the back of her neck and skull. His heart pounded like crazy in his chest, he tucked into her in soft little hums of gasping inhales they exchanged, their lips quietly smacked in the release and return of said passionate kiss warmly dribbling to something they desperately tried to keep tame and easy going. The bridled fire inside their bubble of exploding passion was something Kepa was certain the two wouldn't be able to hold back for long, even though they diligently promised each other this would be a slower burn than it already was.

"Does this mean our anniversary has changed?" Gideon cutely mumbled on her mouth, Kepa beamed and blurt a giggle on Gideon's face as he scoffed a hot breath of a chuckle onto her wet lips. He cutely gripped his arms about her body and so lovingly began to sway her, "I'm serious... Is THIS our fresh start or are we holding fast to that one time I called you 'Kitten' and then you told me that nickname was only reserved for your boyfriend's use?"

"Would changing our anniversary to today make more sense?" Kepa giggled quietly as she hugged his neck, they pressed their foreheads together in the easy love they marinated in, "I finally know your full name and you finally know I'm not a thoroughbred lion-gargoyle with Vye Ketton as a big sister."

"Hmm... Is this third date information?" Gideon wondered cutely, Kepa felt as if she had slept with a hanger in her mouth due to just how glued her cheeks were into a smile.

"We're gunna be on date four thousand with the world of information we'll exchange in this night alone, Giddy," Kepa mused sweetly, Gideon gently caught her in another press of a kiss as she cupped the back of his head and eagerly welcomed it, they parted with a smack and hovered in fresh breaths on each other's lips, "Y'still want to let the scratching pads in the spire take the brunt of it?"

"Ohh, yes please," Gideon grunted in smiling, nervous annoyance, "I got lots of fun things to tell you, and... I'd like my face to be spared, I've already taken a beating, if it's not clear."

"Yeah, I was gunna ask how this happened," Kepa wondered innocently as the two just barely loosened, so that Kepa could see the gash of five claw marks down the right side of Gideon's face, thankfully not too incredibly prominent.

"Why don't you put your hand on it and you tell me," Gideon muttered in dull annoyance, to which Kepa furrowed her brow in frozen confusion, though the second she rested her left hand to the scar, she sucked in a huge, shocked breath as said claw marks lined up with her hand perfectly.

"Gideon, nooo," Kepa gasped as she covered her mouth and took a few steps away, her eyes were huge in shock, "My sister did NOT claw the crap out of you."

"I am the luckiest man alive that she somehow didn't manage to knick my eye, in the scuffle," Gideon mumbled in hot dread, Kepa shook her head and couldn't hardly imagine laying this sheer amount of aggressive force to Gideon's face, like this.

"That must've hurt so bad," Kepa hissed in full terror, Gideon bugged his eyes and looked down in fervent agreeing, "What the hell did you do to make her jump at you, like this?"

Gideon sucked in a huge breath, looked across the lighthouse common room and donned a dorky little smirk of impending regret. He knew everything he had just told Kepa, every last shred of true, doughy, romantic notions they had with each other were due to being wildly littered with reasons to make Kepa mad, though as he peered down into her eyes with the swathe of never-ending love they had for each other, he scoffed a small chuckle through his nose and bobbed a nod.

"C'mon... Let's let the spire deal with these difficult questions," Gideon concluded with a knowing smile, and as the two gently gripped hands and proceeded into the gaping archway that lead into Kepa's garden, her layered lounging posts, the spiral staircase that lead all the way up the lighthouse spire, they finally sagged into a new facet of normality they had fervently promised each other, one of reserved space, of safety, it was something that finally glued the two together for good.