Reviews :
Burgie : Oh thank you so much! Kepa and Gideon definitely are the most passionate couple I've ever written for. Their 3 or so sex/swap scenes are amidst the juiciest, most intense and romantic scenes I think I've ever written.
Song Listened To :
Neon Lights by Demi Lovato
Everytime We Touch by Cascada - this song was released when I was 14 years old and shaped me as the tiny creative bean I am today so you're gunna let me continue to enjoy it without bullying me k? k. Let me live in my millennial bubble of nostalgia lol
*Chapter 205*
"Here, kitty-kitty-kitty," Novus playfully whined as he flattened his ears and gestured his big, scary claw on his pointer finger in a curl towards himself, though as Kepa neared him first, in the dim cut of the lighthouse's back patio deck light, Novus wildly wrinkled his nose and scoffed a trembling breath off to his left, "Wh-whoa, holy shit, y'guys out here code swapping or something?"
"Cat-calling Kepa, in any sense of the form, is only reserved for me, my guy," Gideon muttered as he slowly trudged up from about a dozen feet behind Kepa, and though both Kepa and Gideon held onto the gentle glow of their turquoise coding, plain as day on the insides of their palms, Novus didn't notice until Gideon was closer to his poor eyesight, where Novus could now properly see it gaped in Gideon's much bigger palms.
"... O-oh, shit! I was right?! You guys were really out here swapping codes?" Novus suddenly gawked in prickled discovery, though Kepa firmly flattened her ears, stiffened and tossed Gideon a wildly embarrassed little smirk, as if to make clear that she was strictly embarrassed that Novus was making a big deal out of this, like what was predicted, though sticking to his word, Gideon sharply rolled his eyes and tried to stifle a smile, though failed.
"No, we're just exterior swapping," Gideon mumbled, he could feel the pre-Game Over version of himself somehow in Kepa's lovely coding, the desire to sag and feel the need to justify himself, though as Novus pressed on, Gideon began to stand a bit taller, a bit prouder, he knew his and Kepa's love, in any way, should be celebrated.
"Well, damn, you both reek, you guys over there making out or something?" Novus coughed a little, flattened his ears and shot Gideon a wide grin, though softened once Gideon didn't immediately banter back.
"Yeah, we were, Novus," Gideon stabbed with a playfully annoyed chuckle, "Look... I only NOW understand what you both mean about others... Reeking. I can smell it now, I get that being hit with it is confusing and maybe annoying, but it's probably not going to be going anywhere anytime soon, dude, so-"
"Gid, it's fine, it's fine," Novus beamed and shook his head, he rolled his eyes and looked off in smiling cheek, "I used to be numb to it, but I haven't been around you two in so long... I'll get over it. I'm really glad you two are getting along so well, and so soon into your return."
"Well, I'm only now understanding that pheromones play a HUGE part in this," Gideon muttered cutely, he shrugged his hands, expanded his palms and looked down to the glowing, swirly circuitry on his skin. His senses were still heightened to Kepa's coding standard, the smell of Kepa's person still hung tight to his sense of smell, he lulled his eyes closed in a flutter of secretive, shivering delight and relished in this new moment. He was floored that Novus's words were definitely true, they were getting along well, given the circumstances. Not only that, but he was thrilled that him and Novus were on talking terms, once more. Gideon sighed, smiled into Novus's eyes and began to paw at nostalgic feelings, still securely saddled with Kepa's incredible coding, "I'm... I'm really happy we can do things like this, again. There was a point in time that I had blocked all of this out, so much as thinking about our past flights would make me unravel. I'm pretty floored I'm even so much as having this conversation with both of you."
"I know, I keep pinching myself," Kepa giggled softly as she put her live-wired hands on her hips and looked down to her clawed feet, in the pillowy sand.
"It's been this whole entire time since I've had a rider... Hell, I have hardly even talked to anyone," Novus mumbled sorrowfully, "I... I would only come back for maybe twelve hours at a time, get filled in by my mother, and then... Head out. I couldn't bear the thought of living normally knowing you just had up and left."
"I know," Gideon eased sorrowfully, though Kepa bravely spoke up and peered to Novus in a swing of stinging confusion.
"Novus, is there any reason you didn't come find me?" Kepa wondered sadly, Novus sagged his ears, glanced to Gideon in a sting of apologetic worry and peered hard into Kepa's defeated gaze, "I really could've used your comfort... You're Gideon's familiar. Being with you would've been nearly the next best thing."
"... Yeah, I think about that often," Novus mumbled in full regret, he bobbed a nod and shrugged, "I just thought of no one but myself... I needed to be alone, I thought being with you would be way too painful, because... I knew JUST how much Gideon loved you, and knowing that you didn't return the notion killed me, because I can SMELL you fools!"
Kepa and Gideon erupted into happy laughter that pierced the sky out of nowhere, as if they were certain Novus was going to get all existential and make this night flight a moody, somber yet romantic experience, though with the way he shifted on his big paws and lazily sprawled his wings a little, this caused Kepa to also stand a bit taller, unfurl her own wings and shake out the stress with a few stretches of the entirety of her wingspan; Gideon ogled her, unabated, it was something she noticed and was almost floored to find that he didn't care if ogling, stolen glances were obvious.
"Yeah, have me standing here like... If only I had THESE incredible cat-powers in the moment, I wouldn't have been able to turn heel without calling you out on the true feelings you were hiding," Gideon stabbed in Kepa's direction with a cute little chuckle, contagious laughter that caused all three to send their laughter off the bounce of the gorgeous stone work of the lighthouse, all freshly painted in it's minty swirl up the spire.
"Coulda woulda shoulda," Kepa muttered as she looked up to the black sky over head and flagged her still live-wired hands.
"C'mon guys, I'm itching to get into the sky," Novus eased with smiling excitement, though he eyed the two and fervently peered up into Gideon's sweet, doughy gaze, "Uh... So, what's the exterior swap for, then?"
"Well, mostly because we're trying to figure out the quadratic formula each DNA strand, inside coding, supplies while we reach an altitude of ABOUT four hundred and thirty two feet, with windspeed of twenty eight miles an hour," Gideon skillfully rattled in concise, sarcastic seriousness as he playfully squinted his eyes and pointed his glowing turquoise-coded finger off into the ocean's horizon. Kepa erupted into a huge fit of laughter as Gideon stifled his own giggling and carried on to Novus, "Like... If we come maybe eighty-one degrees off the cusp of THAT patch of sky, just right there, we can maybe-"
"WHY! Tell me why!" Novus stabbed with a huge laugh that Kepa was now entirely lost inside of, due to hunching over and putting her glowing hands to her knees.
"Because we're two idiots in love and ALSO, you're probably more blind than human-gamers and need a light source to see!" Gideon firmly delivered through laughter that escaped him as well.
"I have the lighthouse!" Novus playfully complained as he sprawled his huge right wing upwards and out, in the direction of the lighthouse's thrown beams.
"I just look back, and-" Kepa inhaled a huge breath through her tears of laughter and began to twirl her glowing finger into the air. She desperately tried to get the words out through stammering, choking laughter, "He's just circling the spire like a moth to a flame!"
"Oh, he would, and I'd be the stupid idiot aboard him just sitting there, helpless," Gideon loudly urged as Kepa flailed her arms up, took a step away and howled laughter out to the windy ocean-scape behind her.
"Y'guys are REAL funny, putting a LOT of trust into a being that could easily just dump you overboard," Novus growled through a grin as he peered hard into Gideon's eyes in brotherly cheek.
"C'mon, it'll be fun. Gives Kepa a chance to get used to the idea of it and, well... I can see in the dark!" Gideon perked up and cutely looked about his surroundings, nearly as clear as day.
"Wow, must be nice," Novus muttered as he sagged in hot annoyance, though Gideon flagged his hand and gestured to Novus in a show of worry.
"You, uh... You didn't bring your saddle, Nov?" Gideon worried cutely, he knew he could easily fly Novus bare-back, it just made for a more excitingly dangerous flight.
"No, I... I haven't worn it since you left, it kind of, well..." Novus sagged and looked off in almost embarrassed seriousness, "It makes me sad. I hate thinking about the gap of time where you were gone. Even with you here, now, it still reminds me of bad times and I just... Can't bear to do it."
"Y'gunna be okay flying Novus bare-back?" Kepa worried as her giggling calmed down, the two kindly stepped closer to Novus in a swing of comfort, "Surely you've done it before, right?"
"I have, it's... It's not insanely difficult, I'm sorry Nov," Gideon mumbled sorrowfully, though as he skillfully cued his and Kepa's shared coding to escape his hands and shoot up his arms in a temporary escape, he tenderly pressed his code-free hand to Novus's snout and lovingly stroked his velvety fur, "Let's... Let's overwrite old, bad memories with fresh, good ones. I'm excited to take to the sky, once more. It's been months."
"Can you two just... Do one thing for me, before we take off?" Novus innocently pleaded as both Kepa and Gideon swung their curious throw of eye contact tight into each other's eyes before peering down into Novus's lovely blue eyes. He shyly continued on in a tone that was genuine and lacked any shred of tease, "Can you guys exchange 'I love you's? As much as it maybe has haunted you, that you didn't get any response out of Kepa the first time, I'm... I'm still stuck thinking you guys never exchanged confessions, even though Kepa clearly has molted."
"I love you," Gideon mused sweetly as he peered down into Kepa's eyes and lovingly took her hand, which now flood with the mix of their shared coding amidst their skin coming back into contact; Novus perked his ears, held his breath and felt grateful the second Kepa took a breath and gave Gideon a loving, confident little smile.
"I love you, too," Kepa assured with a nod, to which the two peered back into Novus's eyes in sweet, baited wait.
"User, thank you," Novus whispered as he sagged and bobbed a nod of sighing relief. He chuckled as Kepa and Gideon continued their cute hand-holding, all alive with the glow of their lovely shared coding, "May seem tiny, but I needed that reassurance that you two are really, truly... Okay."
"We're great, Novus, there's... There's still a long way to go before we're all sunshine and rainbows, I'm fairly positive more issues will crop up, but the difference this time is I won't run off," Gideon mumbled cutely, though he looked down in regret and squeezed Kepa's hand, "I've learned my lesson... I'm sorry, you guys."
"It's okay, I won't throw you overboard this time," Novus teased with a smile as he stood a bit straighter and sucked in a revived breath. Kepa giggled and shot Gideon a cute little smirk as he sagged his shoulders and looked off in annoyance, though Novus swung about and knelt down a little, so to get into his positioning to let Gideon aboard, "Alright, alright, c'mon. No time to waste, I wanna dive about and have some fun."
"Me too, this is gunna be awesome," Kepa squeaked cutely as she clapped her hands together amidst the buzzing electricity of her's and Gideon's shared coding.
"It's been way too long, huh," Gideon mused as he skillfully climbed aboard Novus's bare, furry spine, he gingerly gripped Novus's mane and understood just what it meant to fly bare back, though now that he was back in the proverbial saddle, he swallowed a gulp and knew he had to switch gears, he had to swiftly remember just how all this worked, though he figured it was like riding a bike; one just never forgets.
"Y'can say that again," Novus grumbled cutely, though as Kepa took aa few jogging steps backwards, she turned to correction, sprawled her beautiful wings and scuffed into the air with a sandy jump and strong few flaps of her incredible wings.
Gideon allowed a shaky breath to escape him, the primal instincts that were sapped inside of Kepa's coding continued to course him, and in the act of watching Kepa now swiftly escape him and Novus, he fixated his predatory gaze tight to her and was floored that he could see her so clearly, due to her own abilities surging through his arteries. He firmly peered to her escaping figure through the bow of his down-tilted glower, and with ease, he sucked in a thick breath, mounted Novus's spine in a readied pose and successfully fell back into every single rhythm and movement he was certain was lost on him, due to all the time that had passed. With Novus's lurch of a gallop forward, Gideon fluttered his eyes in delirious shock that any of this was real and allowed his body to feel the sudden launch Novus took into the sky, the dip of his stomach with the hit of warm, nighttime ocean air that brushed through his wild auburn hair. Knowing Novus couldn't see Kepa, Gideon gripped Novus's fluffy mane and understood this wild ride was all his for the taking.
Like a hefty strike to the flint, Kepa suddenly cued her's and Gideon's shared coding to soak down the whole of her backside in a ripple effect of a light show, and with said display, Gideon raised his eyebrows in a swing of surprise and took note that the delicate, gorgeous lay of the stripes all along her incredible wings, the intricate artwork that rewrote her heart in the name of Gideon's love was now glossed in the sheen of hot turquoise that lit the night sky like the drag of a comet's tail. Novus perked up and allowed his flapping to become a little bit more animated and educated, and as the two easily caught up to Kepa's moseying, lofty glide, Gideon sucked in a huge breath and looked up as him and Novus easily began to fly underneath her gorgeous, illuminated wingspan. On top of feeling the hefty downswing of Novus's much more powerful wings, the noise of dragon webbing hitting the warm ocean air, Gideon sat back a little and relished in every single sight and sound afforded to him right now. With the rush of everything hitting him all at once, he fluttered his eyes and began to try opening new doors inside of his and Kepa's shiny new coding, even if it was temporary. With this, he raised his eyebrows in delirious surprise and could feel a strange bout of heat hit his esophagus and lungs. He gripped Novus's mane, bugged his eyes, choked a small noise of nervousness and firmly looked up to Kepa, who held in a lovely glide nearly directly above him.
"I-I guess now would be a good time to tell you I think I've discovered the ability to breathe fire," Gideon called over the easy breeze as the two flyers lofted in an easy flap of wings, a warm up before they tumbled upwards into the ever-expanding universe about them.
"Oh HELL no!" Novus suddenly shouted, to which Kepa loudly erupted into happy laughter and looked down at Gideon from her dozen foot gap above him.
"It's gotta come from the gut, don't think too hard on it or else it could come out your nose," Kepa instructed over the wind, her beautiful wings continued to surge with the intense glowing light show that spilled all down the gorgeous stripe work along her wings, with each flap, a new wave of turquoise speckled the sky with a blatant boast of her's and Gideon's love.
"You're telling me that Gideon can not only now breathe fire, but turn to stone AND potentially fly?!" Novus loudly squealed as he swat his huge, heavy wings downward, and though Gideon wanted to get absolutely lost in Novus's and Kepa's laughter, he bugged his eyes and shook his head in terror.
"I-I didn't realize all of this until just now," Gideon worried with a cute, shy smile, though he flinched as Kepa sprawled her talon-like claws and snipped the top of Gideon's head and hair with it, barely catching him, she flapped her wings in a down-swipe that cutely clipped the sides of Gideon's bare shoulders, though she eventually fell back a little bit so that Gideon and Novus were a half a pace ahead and diagonal of her.
"Try it out!" Kepa called cutely from behind, Gideon swallowed a nervous gulp and peered out to the vast, black ocean they hovered over, to which the only thing on the horizon was the city lights of Sugar Sun Island. He squeezed his eyes shut and allowed his new coding to swirl about in his stomach, it was a knee-jerk feeling of terror that suddenly spilled over him. Swiftly reminded of the code-ejection he endured in the code room, with Ace and Lash, he winced a little and felt the urge to chicken out, though Kepa's sweet voice, from back and beside him, glossed over all of his worries, "Don't worry about it, just feel the heat in your stomach and... Try not to expel it all at once, let it all out like you're blowing bubbles. Don't worry so much about the taste or smell, the first time around, you'll get used to it."
Gideon heaved a shaky breath and was grateful Novus cut all of his bantering notions at the quick, though as Novus and Kepa banked, so to not go too far out to sea, both beings took a full one-eighty and now faced the once-vanishing shoreline. With said shoreline now in sight, alongside the dome of the flyer's enclosure and the whole of Tessa's massive palace, Gideon raised his eyebrows in a prickle of heart-stopping surprise and fixated his gaze to their infamous lighthouse. With the huge, sweeping throw of beams, each toss of blinding light that lead him home, his true-north he swore to keep his sights on from here on out, no matter what, he bobbed a nod and knew these new feelings and abilities were of goodness and everything gifted to him, in this night, was raw and beautiful, all his for the taking. With a kick of bravery, a smirk of an idea that hit him, he allowed his and Kepa's turquoise coding to fervently source the intricate lay of tattoos, all along his back, though kept a very tiny amount of it in his fingertips.
With a huge inhale, a lull of his nervous eyes closed, he bravely snapped his fingers and sent a frenzy of cute little turquoise pixel-cubes out into the air, due to said snap. As if said little kiss of expelled coding was simply the vessel for fire to latch onto and expand tenfold, Gideon followed Kepa's instructions and allowed it all to come spilling out of him in the form of acting as if he was simply blowing bubbles. With his head tilted up and back, he fluttered his eyes closed in the sudden hit of heavenly feelings that hit his chest, a strange kick of hot electricity soaked his lungs, stomach and throat, though as the color of the fire kissed the backs of his closed eyelids, he allowed his eyes to look at the mess of it that spilled from his mouth. It was much to his total shock that due to his little snapping trick, he had successfully splayed the black night sky with a huge billow of turquoise fire. Gideon hotly exhaled the last of it, grappled Novus's mane, hunched over the back of Novus's neck and hugely sucked in a trembling, gasping breath as the tattoos on his spine messily surged in a light display all along his backside. As the now much colder air about him drew into his lungs, he urgently peered his wide eyes straight into the beams of the turning lighthouse, far in the distance, and felt as if this was the one true reset he needed. His coding surged underneath his skin with a kick of fiery electricity, his limbs shook with the adrenaline rush of it all, and as he heavily panted through the strange, raw sensation gifted to his throat, he shook his head with a huge beam and erupted into trembling laughter, alongside Novus and Kepa.
"That DIDN'T look like it was normal fire, what the heck happened?" Novus called as he firmly flapped his wings and began to pick up speed due to Kepa's added, flapping fervor.
"That was freaking AWESOME," Kepa stabbed as she cued her's and Gideon's coding to her fingers as well, and in following Gideon's example, she easily splayed a mess of turquoise fire out before her, skillfully avoiding hitting Novus and Gideon; it was here did Novus wretch his neck to get a good look at the mess, though as Kepa's bright eyes peered hard into the dissipating blue fire that she fervently pushed through, she popped out the other end of it with heftier flaps and a look of wild, riled excitement that Gideon easily matched, "Ohh, this changes EVERYTHING! How the hell did you come up with that, Gid?!"
"I-I have no clue, it was just a quick idea," Gideon mused happily as he sat back and looked blistered with pride, though as Kepa flattened her ears and looked up, she grinned in scheming delight and banked upwards.
"C'mon, let's find colder air," Kepa cutely suggested, and with said mess of turquoise stripes she was becoming, she skillfully flapped a few times and began to dive upwards into the sky, something Novus fervently did whatever he could to keep up with.
As Kepa lead the charge in a near-straight rocket up into the atmosphere, Gideon flinched as the glow of their coding suddenly collided with a mess of thick clouds. The only way Gideon and Novus could still see and keep up with Kepa's figure was due to the alluring glow of turquoise the two spilled all over the dark clouds they now were truly getting lost in. The muted beams of the lighthouse through the bottom of said clouds were the only thing truly giving the three a solid understanding of knowing their positioning in the sky, just what was up and what was down. Gideon choked a shaky chuckle of sheer wonderment as Kepa let loose a huge billow of turquoise, once more, and as said hit of heat caused the glowing clouds about them to hiss into a messy display of steam and blue fire, Gideon hunkered tighter to Novus's spine as the three skillfully aileron rolled through the heat of it all. Wings and tails expanded to the true, final stretch in fast-turning spins they took, visions of melting blue clouds swirled like collapsing stars all about them, and with the final kiss of the lighthouse's bright yellow beams to be thrown into the mess, they erupted out of the top of said patch of clouds and into frigid, colder air high above the ocean's warmer atmosphere below.
Gideon bravely snapped his fingers once more, he lulled his eyes closed and allowed the heat of his and Kepa's coding to assure him that every single last new pixel inside of him was truly his home, he spilled a mess of said turquoise fire out before him and Novus, straight for Kepa's figure. A brave act he knew to be safe due to the way Novus flattened his ears and dove head-first upwards into the mess, and as the two flyers came to rocketing speeds to heights they didn't have a true grasp on, they hovered in a slow motion sag as gravity desperately did what it could to take the three captive, though not before Gideon got a huge eyeful of the incredible creature of a woman he was very swiftly falling harder for with every single passing moment. Kepa erupted from the misty clouds with the gape of her incredible wings to a full span, she faced Gideon and Novus as the two slowly crawled to a halting climb upwards into the sky until gravity truly had them in their grips and began to tug them back to the planet, though not before Kepa and Gideon fervently held in a swing of knowing, enchanted eye contact. The hot glow of their shared coding illuminated the beautiful stripes on Kepa's face, she was an ethereal vision of beauty, an enchantress of whom truly knew the magnitude of her weight, in this situation. She donned Gideon a seductive little smirk as she began to fall first, and as she swiftly wrapped her glowing wings about her body, she began to fall backwards to the planet in a sudden dip of gained-speed, due to closing the webbing of her wings and turning into a true, heavy falling object.
Novus swiftly followed suit, and as Gideon kept his eyes tight to Kepa's tail, which stiffly whipped in the wind, it, too, held the adamant glow of their shared coding, it was something the two held onto with as much strength as they could afford. Novus grumbled a hard roar down into the atmosphere as they picked up speed and viciously cut through the misty, blackened clouds that continued to glow in sweeps of the lighthouse's thrown beams, a beacon of light that could be seen from a whole galaxy away. Kepa uttered a hard whoop of a call, trailed with an adorable giggle, as Novus and Gideon continued to chase the hot beam of a comet tail she had become. They sliced the black sky in half with such a blatant light display, the ripples of the dark, scary ocean water underneath easily rejoiced with every single last ounce of light and color the two had to offer, and as they cut above the spray of warm ocean water before they collided with it in a splash of a collapse, both flyers cut upwards and now continued on in the direction of their infamous lighthouse, now finally gaining within a few hundred feet. Gideon readjusted his messy mount to Novus's spine, due to being saddle-less, though he easily grunted a happy laugh, alongside Novus and Kepa, and heavily panted with the rush of all of these incredible feelings that continued to hit him, head on. They easily climbed up the roaring waves that hit their cozy, familiar beach side, and as they tightly banked about the beautiful spire of their lighthouse, they let the intense beams swipe them from such a close proximity.
"Holy shit, what a rush," Gideon loudly huffed as he sat back, though only due to Novus's wingspan gaining pockets of air and allowing him to slow down to a loftier glide.
"You guys never fail to surprise me, y'got code-fire," Novus messily yelled through laughter that all three were easily lost in. Kepa heavily panted, came down to a glide closer to Novus's spine, and with the aid of Gideon's careful arm, he managed to help Kepa come to a gentle sag of a land to Novus's spine, directly sat behind Gidoen. She eagerly grappled her arms about Gideon's midsection, though not before she allowed her eyes to ogle the mess of of his glowing tattoos, all proudly boasting their incredible coding so full of endurance and stamina. Novus allowed a few huge flaps as he adjusted for the small weight-change aboard his spine, though now that he had the two of them in his care, he now knew he was flying blind, save for the lighthouse's helpful beams. Novus slowed down and made physically clear that he was due to taking flying directions from Gideon, from here on out, "Y'doing okay, Gid? You burn your throat off?"
"Surprisingly, no! It didn't hurt at all, I was sure it would," Gideon mused excitedly, Kepa heavily panted into the backs of Gideon's bare shoulder blades and mumbled a sweet, though nervously trembling notion into his cold skin.
"I guarantee tonight you'll have to keep nose bleeds at bay," Kepa instructed, she squeezed her eyes shut and relished in the feeling of Gideon's bigger body in the grip of her tinier arms, "I remember the first time I breathed fire..."
"Nose bleeds," Gideon worried, though more so to make clear that said notion would be more of an annoyance than anything.
"Yeah, surely all the hairs in your nose are singed," Kepa grit her teeth as her and Novus erupted into a giggle-fit, "It'll all grow back stronger, but... Yeah, tonight might be weird and uncomfortable, for your face"
"Not much different from any other night, Keps," Novus muttered teasingly, to which Gideon grappled the scruff of Novus's mane and jostled him about; Novus choked a grunt of a laugh and firmly flapped his wings in a show of defiance, though Gideon settled, once more, into Kepa's loving arms.
"This has to be one of the best nights of my life, that was awesome," Gideon whispered loudly above the wind, Kepa grinned on his skin and allowed the melt of their lovely coding to continue to forever-shush all of her worries.
"Your next task is turning to stone and scaring the living shit out of everyone on palace grounds," Novus eagerly mused as Kepa's smile now strained to grow wider.
"Ohhh, that's SUCH a good idea," Kepa excitedly mused, Novus bobbed a nod and continued to hold in a lazy glide.
"I'm full of 'em," Novus chirped.
"...Thank you, Novus," Gideon mumbled cutely as Novus began to bank closer to the sandy shoreline, and with an easy downswing, he managed to allow a scufling few gallops bring the three to the ground, once and for all. Novus eventually sagged all four of his paws into the pillowy sand and stood still with Kepa and Gideon still glued to his spine, his heavy breath panted out into their bubble of stillness, to which he eventually began to tidily tuck his wings in a fold back to his body.
"For what?" Novus sweetly wondered as Gideon lovingly rubbed his bigger hand between Novus's strong shoulder blades, of which eventually spilled to the huge, strong muscles that attached to his incredible wings.
"For making nice with me, for being so willing to pick back up where we all left off, I'm... I'm just grateful for both of you," Gideon mumbled as his eyes drew to the incredible lighthouse they called home, which now was a mere fifty feet off where they stood, on the sandy shoreline, "I made a massive mistake, ran off and eventually came back, but... You two could've easily disowned me and... None of this would be mine, ever again."
"Well, we love you," Novus snipped in mild irritation as he shrugged, "You're making strides to right wrongs, and... To be honest, I don't see either Kepa or I holding such a massive grudge on someone as great as you, and disregarding the sheer, colossal importance you have inside both of our lives..."
"...Aww, Novus," Kepa mused sweetly in a lilt of warm, caring delight, she lovingly reached up and rubbed Gideon's chest, over his heart, as she remained sat behind him in their sag of a mount to Novus's spine.
"Just... Promise me that these night flights will become a regular thing, and we're even," Novus mumbled cutely as he flattened his ears and peered to Gideon in a swing of sweetness over his shoulder, "Sound good?"
"Absolutely," Gideon promised with a nod and a long, hard sigh. He narrowed his gaze in enchanted cheek and peered up to the infamous, warm glow of the lighthouse, a twinkle of knowing hit his eyes as the beams continued to hug his soul and welcome him home, "I wouldn't have it any other way."
