─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

ever since eagle fang and miyagi do joined forces, with a few of cobra kai's members transferring over, hawk had been trying to get gioia's attention. whether it was standing next to her during a lesson or trying to be her spar partner, the boy was following her around like a lost puppy for days as he tried to make amends.

gioia wouldn't lie and say she didn't appreciate the effort he was putting in to rekindle their friendship, but something stopped her from completely forgiving him. everyone else in the dojo was able to at least tolerate his presence, even demetri had half heartedly forgiven him.

"dude, this is embarrassing to watch." demetri sighed, stretching his legs as a cool down from that day's lesson.

hawk quickly took his eyes off the blonde girl who was packing up equipment, and turned to his two friends.

"just talk to her." miguel shook his head, surprised the two weren't instant friends again.

"i can't just talk to her." hawk groaned. "i see the way her mood changes when i'm around her, she flinches when i move too close. it's no use."

"the tension is dangerous." demetri told him. "maybe you guys just need to..." the boy winked, sticking his tongue out.

miguel gave him a look, weirdly knowing exactly what he was talking about. "why would they need to do that?"

"to ease their sexual tension." demetri stated.

"sexual?"

"who said anything about sexual?" hawk huffed, "she's afraid of me."

"well, you're just going to have to prove to her that there's nothing to be afraid of." demetri said. he looked at the boy for a moment before glancing at his now healed arm. "that might be hard."

hawk sighed, "yeah, i know. i'm really sorry man."

"just take her out somewhere." miguel finally suggested. "you're both over-exaggerating the situation."

"you think she'd want to be alone with me?" hawk questioned his two closest friends.

"it's not like it's a date." miguel explained. "just a hangout. you guys used to hang all the time, i mean you got tattoos together."

"i didn't get one."

"only problem is eli here wants it to be a date." demetri exposed him.

"dude!" hawk's cheeks heated up in embarrassment.

"look, even if you did want that, you can't." miguel began. "you have to mend your friendship before you can even consider anything more. so go over, give her a smile and ask if she's free tonight."

hawk nodded, walking over to the girl who was now in a conversation with both chris and nate. "hey, gb?" the blonde girl looked back at him. "can we talk?"

she nodded, "give me a sec." gioia mumbled to the two boys before walking off with hawk. "what's up?" he gave her a smile, making her give him a look. "you okay?" she questioned.

"are you free tonight?" he swiftly asked.

"no." gioia quickly said, truthfully. she watched him frown. "but i'm free tomorrow n-night, if we're doing something."

"yes!" hawk replied, too eagerly. "i can pick you up at 6?"

"sounds good." she nodded.

hawk turned around to the two boys who watched the conversation in anticipation. he gave them a wink and a thumbs-up, making them grin.

"who else is coming?" gioia queried.

"oh, no. i was just hoping i'd be you and i." hawk clarified.

gioia began to play with her hands nervously, shifting her feet. "sounds good."

"you sure?"

"yeah."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

at five thirty pm the next day, gioia was already ready. she wasn't sure what she and hawk would be up to so she dressed for anything appropriate. she wore low-waisted, grey flared jeans, a pale green knitted halter top and a knitted headband to match it. she was sat on the couch, spamming miguel with videos of her recent celebrity crush as she waited for the clock to strike six.

"where are you two going exactly?" fred questioned, walking behind the couch.

"not sure." gioia shrugged.

"is he coming to pick you up?" he continued, not taking the hint.

"yeah."

"what time?"

"six."

"he driving?"

"yeah."

"he has got his license?"

gioia finally turned around to face him, "obviously."

the man sighed, walking up the stairs. bianca sat down beside her daughter, a sad look on her face.

"you okay?" bianca asked.

"yeah." gioia nodded, "why?"

"you are icing your father out and it is upsetting him." bianca explained to her.

"i'm not doing it on p-purpose." gioia explained, "it's just awkward."

"but it does not have to be, figlia." bianca reassured her, "i know he went away for a long time and i know how that must have made you feel. but you guys use to be best friends-"

"yeah mamma, w-we use to be. but right now i don't need a friend, i need a father." gioia explained before sighing, "and it's hard, it really is. but i will try, for you."

"bambina, i do not want you to do this for me." bianca shook her head. "i want you to do this for yourself because you are right, you need a father. and your papa is more than willing to be that for you again."

"okay." gioia gave her a soft smile.

"and you look... molta bellissima." bianca gushed, taking a better look at her daughter's outfit. "the green really brings out your beautiful eyes."

"thank you." gioia beamed. below her right eye was a healing bruise, but her mother had been advised not to bring it up again.

"are you and eli okay now?" bianca tickled her in excitement.

gioia began to giggle, "i don't know. he just w-wanted to hang out, i'm not sure where or why."

"that is good. do you think you would go back to how you guys use to be?"

"i hope." the girl shrugged, "i'm going to get my shoes."

as she jogged upstairs, there was a knock on the door. bianca stood up and walked over to the apartment door, she opened it to see hawk standing with a bouquet of flowers.

"eli, lovely to see you." she glanced back at the clock, "you are right on time. and those flowers are beautiful, so this is a date?"

"no, these are for you." he handed the bouquet of peonies and baby breaths to her.

"really?" bianca smiled as she inhaled the floral scent, "thank you, you're such a sweet boy."

"okay, i'm ready." gioia sprinted downstairs, her black converse on. she gave the boy at the door a curt smile and silently acknowledged the flowers her mum held in her hands.

seeing her created a knot in his stomach, he was nervous about how she'd act with him and about how the evening was going to go. "let's go." hawk ushered her out the door. "see you later, mrs barbusca."

"bye, mamma." gioia waved, moving out the door and over to the car.

hawk rushed over to the passenger side, opening the door for her before walking back to the driver's side. gioia sighed, stepping into his black nissan sentra, a blue racing stripe down the middle, hood to tail.

"hawk, w-why are you doing all of this?" gioia finally asked.

"what do you mean?" he questioned, innocently.

"picking me up, the flowers for my mamma, o-opening the door for me?" gioia listed his unusual behaviour. "what's the catch?"

hawk sighed in desperation. "gioia, i'm just trying to make amends. i don't want things to be uneasy anymore, i want to be friends again. i can't stand it. i know it's my fault and i know i that scared you but i can't stop thinking about it, i just want you to be okay. i want us to be okay."

gioia nodded, understanding what he meant. "hawk, i'm glad you're feeling remorse. i think i just need some more time for things to be c-completely normal."

hawk nodded as he twisted the key into his car, turning the engine on. "i get it."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

the two were lying in the field area of the local park. hawk had brought a blanket to put on the ground, underneath them. he had also brought her favourite snacks, a bottle of diet coke for her and a dr pepper for himself. he had purchased a ham and cheese pizza for the main, the only topping other than plain cheese she would eat.

"this is just perfect, thank you." gioia breathed out, completely relaxed.

"i had some ideas of what to do but you have to promise not to laugh." hawk began as he sat up.

gioia grinned as she put out her pinkie, "promise."

"i was thinking we could do some trust exercises." hawk offered, wrapping his pinkie around hers. "you know, to rebuild our trust."

gioia quickly stood up, surprisingly eager to begin. "nothing funny about that. i think that's a good idea."

so the two began to do the basics, trust falls, which had hawk falling back to the floor due to the girl not being able to hold him up. for some unknown reason to him, this had gioia roaring in laughter everytime his back hit the floor. it made him wonder whether she was even attempting to keep him up.

next, they sat down cross-legged and just held eye contact with each other, seeing who would break first. this one was much harder for gioia, as it made her a little uncomfortable. hawk noticed, placing a reassuring hand on her knee. she didn't flinch, keeping her eyes on the boy. hawk couldn't hide his smile, she didn't flinch.

finally, they laid back down, playing two truths and a lie as they picked at the snacks.

"you did not use to be in a band." gioia shook her head, chuckling.

"did too." hawk fought back, "ask demetri."

"i know you guys have that one song about being binary brothers but-" gioia began to make fun of him.

"no! those are two different things." hawk explained, "demetri wasn't in this band, he was our manager. we played at the school disco." hawk bragged.

"wow, you g-guys must've been a big hit!" gioia laughed, "so, what did you do?"

"i, uh..." hawk stopped himself.

"go on."

"i played the ...." hawk mumbled.

"the what?"

"i played the tambourine." he confessed in a monotone voice.

for the second time that night, gioia burst out in laughter, nearly choking on the tortilla chips. "so you were there for decoration?"

"yeah, laugh it up." hawk scoffed, "laugh it up." he watched her with pure admiration, her laugh was like a symphony of happiness that lifted his mood always.

"you know... i w-was wrong about you." she shook her head, "you're different, you're not as bad. i mean, you've done bad t-things but you're clearly trying to make amends and i'm sorry i didn't see that until now."

"hey, you shouldn't apologise to me. you've done nothing wrong." hawk frowned.

"i shouldn't have let this go on for so long."

"everyone moves on at different speeds." hawk reassured her.

"you're right." she nodded, "thank you."

the two sat in silence, awkwardly staring at each other. unconsciously, gioia's gaze travelled from the boy's eyes, down to his lips and back up to his eyes. the air was filled with a sense of anticipation as they gazed into each other's eyes, their hearts beating in harmony.

hawk wanted to kiss her, he believed it was the perfect time to. but the last time he tried to kiss the girl, she was drunk and had swerved away, embarrassing him. slowly, they leaned closer, their breaths mingling in the cool night air, and their lips met in a sweet, lingering kiss. the world around them faded away, leaving only the warmth of their connection.

it was like the knot in his stomach was unraveling and instead was replaced with butterflies. the kiss was delicate and quick, but still, it had hawk in a daze. he had been waiting for that moment for a long time.

"was that okay?" gioia asked, sheepishly.

hawk was blinking rapidly, nervousness coursing through his veins. "yeah." he gulped. "yeah it was- it was great. it was good." maybe demetri was right, maybe they did need to do something about the sexual tension.

she took his nervousness as regret, instantly letting her walls back up. "i'm sorry, i shouldn't have done that." gioia winced in embarrassment. "that was odd, we just b-became friends again. i hope i h-haven't messed it up."

"no, no." he shook his head, "it's fine, a hundred percent." the boy sighed as he began to quickly pack everything up. "come on, i'll drop you home."

⎯ ❃ janine speaks!

act three is a wrap!! it was oddly a short one so i decided to make this chapter as a filler & of course development for gioia&hawk

i'm really struggling with motivation to start season 4 it's not my favourite season but i really want to write the tournament my baby gb needs to be back on the mat 🥱🥱