Song Listened To :

The Good Ones by Gabby Barrett


*Chapter 210*

"So, I have a... Rather weird, specific question," Gideon started as he gestured his hands forward a little, he seemed confident with said question as him and Tessa caught eyes.

"Well, good news, I have a rather weird, specific answer," Tessa rattled before she popped a few chips into her mouth; Ralph and Vanellope had thrown together a small house party all topped with dinner and dessert.

"So, like... Let's pretend that..." Gideon's sweet voice started as Tessa politely chewed, though he trailed off in frozen contemplation. His gestured hands outwards hadn't wavered, his golden eyes slowly scanned Tessa's left shoulder and upper arm in almost aimless pondering, though as Tessa raised her eyebrows slowly in baited wait and was due to teasing Gideon for telling not even the beginning of his question before stopping, she faltered and took note that Gideon's cheeks were now turning red. Gideon's face began to slowly slope to a look of almost doughy, smiling nervousness. He sagged his hands back into his sweat pants pocket's and took in a huge, shaky breath of smiling embarrassment, "Y'know what... Never mind, I almost incriminated myself."

Tessa gaped in full annoyance and reached her hand back for a swat to Gideon's center. He flinched, choked a happy laugh and did what he could to keep his oldest sister's swatting at bay. Tessa stiffened her upper lip and was successful in getting a few more gentle swats into Gideon's chest before she settled, rolled her eyes and began to drag Gideon back to the kitchen island in which he had attempted to flee from. A few other people, from across the island, took note of Gideon's happy, carefree laughter and looked on in bittersweet delight, though Tessa waggled her hand in Gideon's direction, shook her head and picked up the glass of wine she was sipping on.

"You and I both know that's illegal, y'can't just say that you have a weird, specific question, amp up to ask it and then drop me," Tessa firmly rattled into the rim of her glass. She took a sip, gently lulled it in Gideon's direction and gave him a look of playful authority, "Spill."

"I-It's... Not..." Gideon fully fumbled on his words, his adorable smile was bashful and nervous, it was here did Tessa furrow her brows and do what she could to soften from the sarcastic nature of their relationship. Gideon sucked in another quaking breath and allowed a shake of a cute little laugh escape him as he shrugged and bravely held eyes with Tessa, "I-I just had a question about babies... Also when all I used to do was complain about the topic of babies, yet... Here I am."

"Well, you're allowed to have a change of heart, dude... I also have experience with babies, so... This works out," Tessa mumbled cutely, Gideon narrowed his eyes in contemplation and bravely continued on, however slow and staggering it all was.

"Well, so like... Obviously, when you change a baby's diaper, like... It covers the whole baby's butt, like up to the waist even, right?" Gideon innocently wondered as he gestured his hands to his hip bones, loosely.

"Yeah, they're massive," Tessa giggled with a nod, though as Gideon tucked his hands back into his pockets, he stiffened and looked off in further searching.

"Well, so... H-How would that work if the baby had a tail?" Gideon tenderly questioned, though before Tessa could move the muscles of her face into an expression of collected confusion, she easily sailed right on past it and allowed her face to slope into a show of delicate, loving stun.

Gideon's gentle eyes slowly dart back and forth between Tessa's equally as gentle, hazel stare, and as the two held in a bubble of warm understanding, Tessa finally scoffed a small, shy little laugh and rested her fingers to her bare sternum. Gideon held eyes tightly with her, as if even so much as showing a smile or looking away would cause Tessa to rouse into full, girly doting, a sweet eruption Gideon was desperate for Tessa to just keep concealed. Grateful that Tessa caught on to his very intense subliminal vibes, in the sense of just what his question pertained to, as well as the desperation for Tessa to keep quiet, he finally allowed a silent sigh to escape him as Tessa grinned and aimlessly looked down into her wine glass.

"Just when I think I've started to figure you out," Tessa's hushed, loving voice soothed over Gideon's soul, it was only here did Gideon release the smile he was harboring. He looked down with a shy little chuckle, looked about the room in nervous assessment and returned his doughy, twinkling eyes back to Tessa's. A hardened, beast of a man all dwindled down to the boyish, adorable glint in his fiery eyes, it was enough to make Tessa feel as if she was due to getting choked up. Concealed nicely, she lovingly pat Gideon's lower arm and pressed on, still in her hushed, loving tone, "You having a change of heart about having children? It's okay if not, but... This is unlike you."

"I-I've... If I'm being honest with you, Tess, I've never not wanted kids," Gideon started cautiously, he knew his next delivery of words could potentially hurt Tessa's feelings, so he tread lightly, "You and Oliver, well... Put a bad taste in my mouth. I hated talking about children and babies, and then you two had so many horror stories, it just really freaked me out. You guys are great parents, I just... Didn't have any positive retellings."

"Yeah, that's..." Tessa huffed a nervous breath and regretfully looked off, "Parenthood has massive ups and downs... It's easier to complain than to speak highly of a massive task, such as raising kids, when you're literally running on cold brew and fumes."

"Yeah, looking back, I remember feeling like I shouldn't have kids just to spite everyone, cause you all put such a horrible taste in my mouth," Gideon frowned, "I DO want kids... I always have, it just was impossible to talk to you guys about it cause you all were a billion years older than me and, like... What the hell do I know? I was hardly one year old, ditching Academy and hating anyone who so much as looked at me wrong."

"You didn't have good examples, and... I speak for Oliver, too, when I say that we're sorry," The look in Tessa's eyes was apologetic and sincere, "There's a lot I look back on and see very clearly how I could've done things differently. One of them being not painting my life to look awful, or had been awful. It's been wonderful, ups and downs, but motherhood is beautiful, and... I'm sorry I didn't express that to you, more."

"It's okay," Gideon mumbled tenderly, "Figured it was just circumstantial and I hoped that maybe I wouldn't feel so awful, but... You guys made it sound terrible sometimes."

"I mean, it is, sometimes, truly," Tessa shrugged as the two erupted into laughter, "But, it's equally as beautiful and amazing. Like anything, there are ups and downs. It just has to be worth it to you and... Well, you said tails were involved, so I'm assuming you'd make Kepa the other parent in this equation."

"Yeah, and... M-My question still stands," Gideon choked a small laugh, he knew Tessa likely couldn't answer to her full ability, though as he noticed Tessa's gaze broaden to the room about her, he bit his lip as her searching eyes dart about the space behind Gideon.

"Well, there are three people at this house party that DO have tails, so... Why don't we ask one," Tessa started, though Gideon now sharply panicked as she spotted Sezeke first, "Sezeke would know, obviously-"

"NO, User, no," Gideon's voice dipped in harrowing dread as he suddenly grappled Tessa's upper arms and shook her out of the motion of flagging down Sezeke and making him answer this blatantly awkward question, for Gideon's sake. Gideon sharply whispered down to Tessa as she peered her boggled eyes up into his, "I can't ask Sezeke right now, he'd literally murder me in front of you."

"What about Elley?" Tessa grunted as Gideon held onto her, the two only briefly scanned Ralph's and Vanellope's gape of a living room and failed to source Elkourra.

"No, she would do the exact OPPOSITE of murder me and assume Kepa was pregnant," Gideon rushed shyly, he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head in flustered terror, "Wh-which she's not!"

"I-It would be okay if she was, Giddy, calm down!" Tessa rushed as Gideon nervously unhanded her. She tidied her bangs and continued through an annoyed sigh, "Just ask Kepa, she's your last resort."

"I-I... I don't want to freak her out," Gideon rushed sorrowfully, to which Tessa furrowed her eyebrows.

"Bub, I promise that won't happen. Let me call her over here, you'll see," Tessa assured, and though she could see Gideon wanting to argue her, she tilted her head a little and peered her compassionate gaze into his, "You trust me?"

Gideon bit his lip and felt the urge to assure Tessa that he trusted literally no one, though as they tightly held eyes, Gideon finally released the shrug his shoulders were in and heaved a trembling breath through his nose, all concluded with a single nod. He felt his heart begin to wildly thump the second Tessa committed to broadening her gaze, in which she immediately sourced Kepa across the house.

"Kepa," Tessa called as she raised her hand; Kepa firmly perked her ears, turned her head and caught gazes with Tessa from across the way.

"Sh-she's gunna sit me down later and worry why I'm literally skipping all these steps," Gideon's voice gently trembled, he watched as Tessa politely gestured for Kepa to come over to her and Gideon, to which Kepa politely bowed out of the conversation she was having with Zed and Vanellope and made her way over to the two.

"I promise that's not gunna happen," Tessa mumbled cutely to Gideon as Kepa sweetly approached.

"Hey, guys," Kepa's sweet voice lilted, she scuffed to a small stop tight into Gideon's side and was sweetly welcomed into a side hug. She lowly wrapped her tail about Gideon's ankle, a habit she never fell out of. She peered to Tessa and swung up to Gideon, though peaked a curious little smirk and took note that Gideon seemed nervous, "What's up?"

"Well, Gideon and I were just talking, he brought up some good points about it but it just sort of left me with more questions than answers. It pertains to having a tail, which... You'd obviously know a lot about," Tessa and Kepa roused into knowing laughter as Kepa slithered her tail from around Gideon's ankles and brought it up to her hands, so to hold the last foot-length of it.

"Yep, all seven feet of it," Kepa cutely stated in smiling excitement, it was here did Gideon see just what Tessa was doing to alleviate his anxiety, something he sneakily smiled into her eyes about. Kepa now focused her attention away from Gideon, due to Tessa pretending that this genuine question was strictly her idea. Kepa perked her ears in continuation, "What's the question?"

"I was just thinking back on Ace's and Berri's childhood and wondered, how would you change a baby's diaper if said baby had a tail?" Tessa wondered in a pure show of innocence, though even with her very best, convincing act, the gears in Kepa's head almost immediately turned, something obvious in the fact that her whiskers twitched in readiness to fully answer the question and swiftly was replaced with a wipe of bewildered stun.

Kepa long-blinked into Tessa's eyes, opened her mouth to rethink just answering the question. With the hit of realization, and the ability to sniff out even the faintest hint of trickery, Kepa flattened her ears, lulled her eyes closed, turned her head to face Gideon and finally reopened her eyes so to peer up into Gideon's eyes. A fragile, golden gaze, the full suck-in of his bottom lip, his eyebrows were lifted upwards as if he was simply a fly on the wall, for this conversation. The two firmly held eyes in a grip of sudden understanding, and it was here did Tessa hold her breath and take in this tender, fragile moment. The way Gideon peered hard into her eyes with full, bashful question, the little gape of Kepa's mouth as she held in suspended, mild stun, Tessa could visibly see the butterflies and sparkly rainbows practically leak from the tops of their heads, shining with honey-glow. Kepa finally scoffed a cute giggle, peered back to Tessa and stole another knowing glance upwards into Gideon's eyes.

"Well, it truly depends. For someone like me, with a lion-gargoyle tail, it's a little easier," Kepa cutely explained, she shrugged as she continued, "For dragon-gargoyles? I'm not sure, but for kittens, you just have to get a specific type of diaper, one that seals on the sides and then also one that hooks over the base of their tail."

"Oh, so it's like the sticky-sides that hug the hips, but then also a sticky seal that hugs overtop the base of their tail?" Tessa inquired, Gideon long-blinked and looked to be fully taking mental notes.

"Yeah, otherwise it would just slide right off of them, because our tails are placed in a weird in-between, it's just an extension of our spinal cord," Kepa gestured to her tail, which she still held in her delicate, dark-brown striped hands, "It's not high enough on our spine to wear a normal diaper, but also too low that the tail would just awkwardly fold into itself... So yeah, just sticky seals on the hips and then again over the base of the tail."

"An ordeal on top of an ordeal," Tessa muttered cutely, Kepa brightened.

"It IS! You have the baby on their back and then have to flip them over, which is so difficult when they can't hold their head up on their own, just yet," Kepa gestured her hands a little and looked to be falling into old routines she was definitely used to, due to all the time she spent in the nursery when she lived at the castle, in Castle Run.

"User, yeah, the heck are you supposed to do, then?" Tessa lightly argued, Kepa shrugged and heaved a long, sweet sigh.

"Well, in my case, there were a few other cats down there that worked with me, it's a tag-team type of job... Can be done alone, but it's MUCH easier with a coworker," Kepa sweetly stated with the warmest smile.

"... Or boyfriend, husband, spouse, etcetera," Tessa waggled her hand loosely, she tried not to direct said motion to Gideon, though as Kepa continued to hold onto the mischievous little smirk of knowing, she finally peered up to Gideon and narrowed her eyes in cheeky question.

"If you wanted to know how that works, you could just ask me, Giddy, I know I have fangs but I promise I don't bite," Kepa mumbled lowly with a loving little smile; Tessa held her breath and watched as Gideon's face climbed back to the shade of beet red it was previously in, and with this, Tessa stood a bit taller and leaned deeper into their bubble.

"Welp, I tried, little bro," Tessa muttered, she gave Kepa a cute little smile, a wink, and a dainty chime of their clinked wine glasses.

With a zip, Tessa cued her incredible silver coding and glitch-hopped to another section of the party, leaving both Kepa and Gideon now stood tight in each other's presences. Kepa huffed a small laugh, looked over her shoulder to source Tessa, was unsuccessful and finally brought her eyes back up into Gideon's. He looked defeated, though delightfully so. The shy, apologetic smile on his face told Kepa a million things, all things she certainly was due to swooning over. She scoffed a small giggle, gripped Gideon's hand and brought the two to a more comfortable stand now facing each other at the kitchen island.

"Alright, my guy... Why are you asking Tessa tail-specific questions knowing full well that Tessa doesn't have a tail?" Kepa playfully snipped, Gideon heaved a long sigh, looked off and eventually lulled his shy eyes closed.

"I figured she'd give me an idea and I'd just piece it all together on my own, she has two kids, I don't know," Gideon mumbled warmly, to which Kepa set her glass down and lazily crossed her arms.

"Why piece it together, though? I'm happy to tell you outright, Gideon, you know how many kittens I've helped raise?" Kepa eased nonchalantly, though Gideon sucked in a nervous breath and now began to look mildly dejected.

"I-I guess... That's a majority of the reason why I didn't want to ask you," Gideon now frowned, causing Kepa to back-track any teasing notions, "I don't have experience in that realm... Tail or no tail, I don't think I've ever even HELD a baby. I know so little, I just... Didn't want you to think..."

"Ohh, Gideon," Kepa sighed in smiling defeat. She crossed her arms a little tighter, looked off in contemplation, and eventually eased a giggle from her body. She could swear she could explode with the sheer amount of giddiness now bouncing about her whole entire inner being, "Not only am I not batting a single lash at your inexperience, I also am well aware that I'll be your source for information. Were you asking Tessa that because... You want to know how to handle that situation one day? With me? Without looking like you don't have a clue what's going on?"

Gideon shyly nodded and held his eyes deep into hers, Kepa clutched her sternum and sweetly looked down for a moment.

"And you really thought I'd think poorly of you for not knowing how to change a kitten-gargoyle's diaper?" Kepa blurt with a sweet giggle, to which Gideon nodded, once more, "Quite the opposite, babe. It's really sweet of you to consider that... What made you think of all of this?"

"I guess I was just... Thinking about my future, I've been gifted this second chance, and I don't want to mess anything up," Gideon frowned, Kepa felt as if her heart was about to break, "My fate in The Block would've been to eventually swap and procreate with another Game Over winner, and, it made me think of... User, I don't know..."

"Say it," Kepa's voice lilted in innocent seductiveness as she narrowed her eyes and so sweetly side-eyed Gideon in full cheek.

"Kippa," Gideon murmured in annoyance as he shyly looked off, though Kepa stood to her full height and cutely gripped the ends of Gideon's red t-shirt.

"Say it," Kepa whispered into Gideon's jaw line, she eased off of him for fear of expressing too much public displays of affection, though Gideon kindly cupped the back of Kepa's left arm and breathed a long sigh of smiling defeat.

"I would've been forced to partake in all of that, but I promise I'd be thinking of no one but you, wishing you were the one," Gideon tenderly revealed, Kepa did what she could not to outwardly swoon.

"Wish granted," Kepa snipped as she smooched Gideon's cheek in an obnoxious smack, though he grinned and welcomed Kepa into a big hug. She continued on, on his shoulder, "Remember, I'm a point of safety... You can ask me anything. Literally ANYTHING."

"I do have a few more questions, but..." Gideon cutely looked down into Kepa's eyes as the two slowly pulled apart, "Maybe we should save that for the sanctity of my bedroom."

"Oh, that's right, lucid play," Kepa's eyes lit up, Gideon blurt a laugh and wrinkled his nose.

"Play? Lucid play, that's a new one," Gideon grinned, Kepa rubbed her cheek and shrugged.

"Kind of like when we were kids, you ask if your friend can come out to play, it's a playground-like place, I don't know," Kepa mused sweetly, Gideon nodded in encouraging warmth, "Where should we go tonight? Somewhere different?"

"The arcade is our oyster," Gideon gestured his arms outwards and donned an enthusiastic smile, "Just me and you, my babe."