Sneaking into the loft above the dojo was completely impossible. Between a retired vigilante and an immortal angel of death living inside the place there was absolutely not a chance that anyone could try to quietly enter through the front door. Even though it was extremely late, it didn’t matter. As soon as Gio got the door unlocked with his own key and barely cracked it open, both Isaiah and Myla were standing in the doorway of their bedroom. Arms crossed and hands on hips as both of them looked at Gio like they were disapproving parents.
“I went to see Tate,” he started his explanation, “and… well…” He started to get nervous as their eyes continued to stare right at him. It was Myla that moved first. Taking her hands off her hips as she started to walk over to him, and raising her eyebrows as the realization hit her. Shortly after Isaiah followed. “I kissed him.”
The uproar of excitement from both of them caught Gio off guard. Both of them rushed over and patted him. Myla grabbed at his shoulder and gently shook him as Isaiah grabbed his face and squeezed with one hand right at Gio’s cheek dimples. Both of them were beaming at Gio, clearly proud of him. They’d both given him plenty of advice during the entire time he was working through his feelings. Listening to him talk about his feelings and helping him realize that he cared far more deeply for Tate than just a friend. Myla sat and listened for hours, encouraging him to go and have a conversation — or just lay everything out and take a risk to make the leap. She truly was a gentle giant, even now as she stood there barefoot and in her night clothes she was an inch taller than him.
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“I am so very proud of you, little star.” Myla reached up and rested her hand on his cheek. “I wish it to be a love story that the heavens recite in the cosmos for infinity to come.” Much like Myla and Isaiah’s relationship itself was, Gio thought. The healthiest relationship that Gio himself had ever witnessed, even stronger than his own parents’. He’d never met two people more in love, even after so many years together. They could conquer the world together, but instead chose to just stay inside their little sanctuary with each other.
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The way Isaiah rested his hand on Gio’s shoulder was similar to all the other times he’d accomplished something. Graduating high school, mastering everything Isaiah could throw at him, getting accepted into college — he was truly like a father that was proud of his son. Not even mad that he’d wandered in so late and disturbed them from their sleep with what some would consider silly news. Instead, they wanted to hear all about it.
They offered their praises for how much he’d grown. All the feats he’d accomplished on his journey of discovering who exactly he was. It made him feel visible, like the real him. He didn’t feel like he had to hide anything about himself from them. They were so open and loving; they would have made wonderful parents. It had to be why they both worked with children still.
Though Gio didn’t tell them every little detail, he got lost in a daydream while trying to sleep. Thinking about everything that had happened that night. Remembering exactly how Tate’s lips had tasted like cigarettes, harsh but minty. The way he’d wrapped his arms around Gio’s neck and just held on for a while. The jacket Gio kept whenever he left smelled exactly like the detergent and cologne that Tate used. It wrapped around him exactly the way Tate had, warm and tight. There probably hadn’t ever been another person that Gio wanted to protect more in his life.
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Not being able to sleep due to thinking about Tate caused inspiration to strike. Why couldn’t he protect Tate? Sure, maybe he couldn’t turn his skin into the hardest material like Tate could — but he could do something just as good. Why not design both Tate and Tana new suits? In fact, that’s exactly what he’d do. He’d nearly lept out of the bed that he used whenever he stayed with Isaiah and Myla, quickly darting to the desk and pulling out his notebook.
Sketches of how the suits should look, trying to stay true to their current designs, were all over the place. Different theories and equations were written down with arrows drawn to different parts of the sketches. They needed to be able to hold up against the siblings’ powers, but also offer more protection while still remaining light. The bullets that Warmonger had used were powerful and experimental, armor piercing but also fragmenting on impact to cause more damage. If Gio had to, he’d design graphene plates specially for this. It wasn’t even a question of if he could do it, because Giovanni Capitani could invent nearly anything if he really put his mind to it. There was a reason that he’d been credited as a top designer and inventor on nearly all of his father’s company’s tech they’d been releasing recently.
Before he realized it, the sun had started to rise. He could smell bacon being fried in the kitchen and hear both Isaiah and Myla ambling around. Not even the slightest bit tired as he continued to write and draw, working out all the kinks he could. Would gauntlets work? Why would they need gauntlets? What about their masks, should they still only cover their eyes? Better yet, what if he gave them something that could constantly keep them charged if they needed to during a fight? Like a battery pack on their back! He’d really gotten it figured out now.
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The knock on his door startled him slightly, causing him to jump before he looked back. Isaiah was standing there, leaning against the doorframe with a brow raised and his arms crossed. It was a look that just knew Gio hadn’t slept a wink. He was wide awake and positively vibrating with enthusiasm. He often got excited over designing new things, having a way with technology that even Isaiah couldn’t grasp. It was an intimate knowledge that allowed Gio to know exactly how something worked with just one use. He could probably take apart and put together a rocket all by himself. In fact, he’d once designed his own space station concept just for fun. His high school science teacher was less enthusiastic about a young teenager’s energy drink and adderall fueled scribbled madness. That teacher did go on to join up with a space program, though.
“Breakfast’ll be done in a few. I was coming to wake you up, but I see that was pointless.” Isaiah snickered. He shook his head as he looked over Gio’s disheveled appearance. “What have you been working on?”
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Asking Giovanni what he was working on was like breaking open a dam. The flurry of complicated words that were about to come out of his mouth, ones that even someone as intelligent as Isaiah would struggle to understand, was going to be epic. It was nerd speak on an entirely different level. One of the reasons that Isaiah had chosen Gio to take his place was because he was truly so much more than just a football player.
Isaiah could tell that he was about to be ambushed with a new hypothetical device that was backed up with several theories on how exactly it could work, all the way down to the exact equations that would be needed to make it run just from the look on Gio’s face. His eyes lit up and his eyebrows raised. He nearly hopped out of his seat with excitement as he turned the notebook around and revealed the entire pages that he’d filled out. It spanned across several pages, front and back, showcasing mediocre artistic ability with scrawled handwriting. Tate had always been the artist out of the two of them, but at least his drawn concepts looked like something rather than blobs like they used to.
“I want to make new suits for Tate and Tana.” Gio started explaining, pulling the notebook back and pointing to different areas on one of the pages. “I think I can use an alloy that will be heat resistant enough to withstand the output of their powers, but also still be flexible and offer protection. It needs to be durable, so I was thinking about the possibility of a graphene lined interior. Then I thought, what if I give them a power source? I made up a few concepts, but I would have to make it small so it wouldn’t be a weak point.”
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“Giovanni… are you wanting to strap a nuke to the Crawford kids’ backs?” Isaiah looked slightly astonished, probably both at how well fleshed out his concepts were and the fact that he was actually suggesting to hypercharge two already very powerful people. It was just asking for trouble, but Gio did sometimes really put the ‘mad’ in ‘mad scientist’.
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“Well- no, okay… not exactly. A nuclear reaction, yes. I think I could design a device that allows them a means of fusion energy offered for them to absorb whenever they need.” Gio looked up at Isaiah and then back down at his notebook again. “I mean, it has to be better than them just wearing leather jackets and t-shirts, right?”
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Isaiah was silent for several long moments, just looking over all the notes that Gio had taken. It was obvious how passionate he was about this. He only wanted both of them to be safer from now on. It took a while, but eventually Isaiah spoke again. “You should probably get their measurements before you start sewing anything together.” Gio’s face lit up again, a huge and toothy grin taking over.
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“Breakfast is ready, boys!” Myla’s voice came from the kitchen. Both of them eventually made their way to the table that Isaiah had set. Myla finished serving them, smiling at Gio as he pulled out his phone and began texting. “You should invite him over for dinner with us someday. I would love to meet the boy that makes you smile at that screen so.”
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“Maybe when you decide to take the Crawfords’ measurements, huh?” Isaiah smiled at Gio whenever he looked up from his phone, having just finished texting Tate. “Just please build that fusion battery away from the dojo. I’d like to not have my home blown up.”
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If only Isaiah knew what was to come…
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