─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"i think the babies are going to both be boys." gioia sighed. "i have an unlucky feeling about this. is it bad i want a baby sister?" the two girls were in the larusso's living room setting up for the gender reveal party. everyone else was in the kitchen, chatting.

"absolutely not." mickey reassured her, bringing the balloons onto the coffee table. "robby and miguel are boys, it only makes sense you have a sister. and you've got a fifty fifty chance one of them will be a girl."

"i mean, as long as they're both healthy i think i'll be fine." gioia shrugged. "i am just so excited to be a big sister." she grinned.

"does that make me an aunt or a cousin?" mickey questioned, a confused look on her face. bianca came up from behind her, placing her arms around her shoulders. "you can be whatever you want to be. but you can't be the mom... that titles already reserved."

mickey laughed. "yeah, i figured that." she turned around to face the woman. "have i told you that your pregnancy glow is blinding me?"

"yes, you have told me, many times." bianca nodded. "and i am very appreciative every single time."

"are you team boy or team girl, mamma?" gioia asked her mother. bianca thought for a second before pulling out the blue pin from her pocket. "team boy! freddie and johnny have a bet. fred thinks carmen will have a boy again and i'll have another beautiful baby girl."

"sensei thinks the opposite?" mickey questioned.

"yeah." bianca nodded, "he bet fifty on it and i have never seen him so sure of anything before. the boxes should be arriving soon, come on guys."

the three moved from the living room over to where everyone else was. carmen wore a warm smile on her face, clearly pleased with the decorations and set up the girls had done. "this looks amazing, girls. thank you so much."

"hey, we were just the brains." mickey said. "these guys were the brawls." she stated, pointing to miguel, robby, hawk, tory and sam. "yeah, we didn't really have much choice." miguel spoke up. "they're very demanding."

gioia smiled, making her way around the table to hawk. "it's all for good cause." she shrugged as her boyfriend wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "you're team girl right?" she asked him.

hawk winced, glancing down at the blue pin on his white shirt. "no... sorry babe."

"traitor." she sighed, shaking her head.

"the blue just matched my look more than the pink did!" hawk exclaimed in self-defence, making everyone chuckle. gioia raised her eyebrow. "since when did you care about aesthetics?" she challenged.

"i don't." he quickly said.

"bad news, girls." amanda sighed. "there's no more cannoli." mickey and gioia gasped, "what happened?" they asked in unison.

"i ate them." chozen confessed, entering the room with a subjectively balanced tray of pastries."very good. may i have recipe?" he questioned.

"no, you cannot have the recipe. seeing as you ate them all, i'm sure you can figure out what's in them." mickey shook her head. "see, i knew we should've kept the desserts at my house."

after laughing at the interaction, hawk turned to gioia. "how you feeling?" he asked, even though her mood was evident. "a nine." she told him. "minus points for sensei chozen eating the cannoli."

"that's fair." he nodded. "where did your dad go? he was just correcting my pronunciation on some of the words i've been learning."

she shrugged. "i thought he'd be in here with you—" there was a loud crash noise, catching everyone's attention. they all turned to the entrance of the room to see johnny and fred staggering in. johnny was covered in a pink powder while fred's neck and t-shirt had been stained blue.

carmen and bianca gasped out with surprise before squealing, pulling each other into a hug. "the packages came early." carmen grinned, walking over to johnny.

"guess i was right and fred owes me fifty bucks." johnny grinned.

"yeah, whatever." fred rolled his eyes, positioning his arm around bianca's shoulder. he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, clearly elated with the news. "we're having a boy, they're having a girl. could this be any more perfect?"

"it couldn't!" gioia exclaimed, rushing over to them. "one of each! i am so happy." she squealed with excitement. everyone began to cheer, pulling one another into hugs and handshakes.

"where's daniel?" amanda asked, noticing her husband was absent from the sweet celebrations. johnny cringed at the question, "oh, yeah... uh." he turned around to see daniel walking in, two opened boxes in his hands. half of his body was covered with blue colouring and the other half with pink.

gioia stifled a laugh, trying to hold it in by placing her hand over her mouth. but hawk cackling from behind her was enough to make her burst out laughing, everyone else joining in too.

"we told him not to move." johnny shrugged.

"could i just get this on camera?" fred questioned, reaching back into his jean's pocket for his phone. daniel couldn't help but laugh himself. "i'm too old for this shit." he sighed.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

after the gender reveal party, the teenagers made their way to miyagi-do for training. gioia was stood on the okinawan sparring board, giving anthony some tips. "see, your front sweeps are good. but i feel like you're putting all of your energy into the sweep."

anthony gave her a look of confusion as he stretched his arms out. "where should it be going?"

"twenty five into the crouch, fifty into the actual sweep and then another twenty five into getting back up." gioia explained. "here, look at this."

she squatted down, and pulled her leg around into a circular motion— executing a perfect example of the kick. anthony tumbled onto the deck, landing on his bottom. as he groaned at the impact, gioia effortlessly got back to her feet.

"okay, that makes sense now." anthony winced pushing himself back onto his feet. "i need to work on getting back up, right?"

gioia nodded, "exactly that. because if you fall with your opponent, this could happen. go on." she ordered. anthony nodded, front sweeping the girl onto the ground. the two landed on their backs, but before anthony could stand up, gioia rose her foot and smacked it down onto his chest.

"see that would be a point." she said, pulling herself up into a sitting position. "and m-maybe the final point i needed to win."

"that makes a lot of sense." anthony nodded, combing his dark hair with his fingers as he stood to his feet. he put his arm out for gioia to take. smiling, gioia gladly accepted it and allowed him to haul her up.

"good job." she told him. "next, we'll work on your offence. your defence seems pretty good, but your offence could definitely use some i-improvement."

"i mean, my defence has got to be good, right?" anthony asked. "my dad can't be daniel larusso for nothing, right?"

gioia chuckled at his words, shaking her head. "who your parents are don't define you as a person." she told him, stepping off of the sparring deck. "i mean, my mom's a nurse but the sight of blood makes me pass out."

he looked over at her with a smile, "really?" anthony asked.

"oh yeah." she sighed. "i can't remember the last time i got my blood drawn and was conscious after."

"all right, tomorrow's the big day, boys." hawk said to the group he was surrounded by. he saw gioia and anthony approaching them and cleared his throat. "boys and my beautiful girl." he corrected himself.

"how sweet." she grinned, standing beside him. she noticed wyatt looking at her, an unreadable expression on his face. gioia just smiled, assuming he was greeting her.

"you know what else is sweet?" hawk questioned. "that we're finally gonna find out which country's hosting the sekai taikai."

"germany would be cool." kenny grinned. "my dad's getting stationed there next month."

"oh, sick." hawk grinned.

"my money's on taiwan. gonna get my din tai fung on." chris said, dancing around with happiness.

nate gave him a look of confusion. "there's a din tai fung in glendale." he said.

"word?" chris questioned with confusion.

"would it be biased if i said i hoped it took place i-in italy?" gioia asked. "yes." they all replied with no hesitation.

she scoffed, "you guys aren't nice." the blonde girl turned to wyatt, who was yet to speak. "what about you, wyatt? where would you want to go?"

"it would be sick to go to japan." the boy shrugged. "could see some of my family members that i've never met."

"awh."

"yeah, that's sweet man."

"i hope so too."

"really?" gioia asked, crossing her arms. "i'm biased for wanting to go to italy, but he's sweet for wanting to go to japan?"

"you just don't get the vibes." wyatt teased, shrugging his shoulder.

"yeah, his story was more heartfelt." nate told her. she sighed, "this is so not fair."

"lee!" johnny's voice boomed through the dojo, catching everyone's attention. "call your dad. tell him you're having people over tonight."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

sam and tory stepped down the stairs leading to devon's basement. they saw it was littered with pink decorations, mickey and gioia were perched on the couch and their sensei stood in the centre of the room.

"welcome to miyagi-do after dark!" johnny greeted them. sam quickly shook her head. "i don't think you should call it that."

"miyagi-do nights?" he asked.

"no."

"dark nights?"

"like the batman film?" gioia questioned. "demetri and i watched that last week."

"no, that's the dark knight... like with a k." mickey corrected her with her mouth filled with johnny's cookies.

"wait. is this a slumber party?" tory asked, stepping down onto the ground. devon re-entered the room with a wide smile and a box of nail polish. "i've never had one before. i didn't know what color nail polish you guys like, so i just got them all."

"i figured since you two are friends now, we can al have a girls' night." johnny explained. tory gave him a look of disdain. "with you?" she asked.

"hell yeah, i'm a girl dad now!" johnny exclaimed. he slowly glanced beside him to see gioia staring at him. "no... don't look at me like that. you don't count, you're my... what did i call you? girl son."

"and what's the first word of that?" gioia challenged. johnny paused for a second. "girl." he muttered. "fine, fine. i'm a two time girl dad, now. i brought cookies and tampons and everything." he smiled. "and uh... it seems something has already eaten most of the cookies."

"you said they were free to take." mickey quickly spoke. johnny sighed, placing his hand in his head. "yeah, free when the other guests arrive." he seethed.

mickey shrugged, grabbing another one from the plate and placing it into her mouth. "oh well... wait did you call me a something?!"

"come on inside. grab a sleeping bag. the mr t one's mine." johnny said, ushering them inside.

"trust me, it's all yours." gioia reassured him as sam and tory entered the room.

"so uh, what does everyone want for their main?" johnny questioned. "at first i was really thinking about seafood." gioia's head shot up at his words, she looked back at him with confusion. "but then i remembered sushi's called sushi because she can't have sushi... so that would defeat the purpose."

"right."

"so, who wants pizza?" johnny asked. "margherita? i know you're picky." he pointed at gioia. but the girl shook her head. "i was thinking... a meat feast?"

johnny audibly gasped at her words. he glancing at mickey for confirmation to see if she was being genuine. the girl nodded her head with pride, making johnny grin. "that's my girl! meat feast pizza it is! i hope none of you are vegetarian."

"hey, i'm glad you guys could make it." mickey said, sitting up to make more space on the couch. sam took the space beside her while tory sat next to gioia.

"hi." tory greeted her. gioia glanced up from her phone and sent her a smile. "hey, how have you been?" she questioned.

"i'm good... pretty confused about this whole thing, but i'm good." tory nodded. gioia beamed, "you didn't hear this from me but i think he just wants us all to be friends. i'm only here for the free food."

"i get that." tory chuckled.

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

"who's ready to have some fun?" johnny shouted, flicking the stereo on. girls just wanna have fun by cyndi lauper began to play, making gioia squeal with excitement. "first on the agenda, nail painting!" he announced.

"you know, you're more excited about this then i would've thought." gioia spoke. the were all sat around the coffee table, nail equipment laid out. gioia was currently painting tory's nails a metallic blue while devon braided her hair into two. beside them, sam was carefully painting mickey's nails black.

"what is that?" mickey questioned, inspecting the white blob on her ring finger nail. sam's face flushed red with embarrassment. "well, it as supposed to be a moon but... i'm not too good at nail art." she explained.

mickey laughed out, showing her fingers off to the rest of the girls. "sam, you're so cute." mickey grinned as everyone else chuckled.

once everyone had their nails painted, they moved over to the couch to let them dry. johnny placed a white sheet mask and two cucumbers in each of their hands for the next activity. gioia gave him a look of confusion, slowly moving the vegetable over to her lip. the man quickly smacked her hand and gave her a look. "really?" he asked.

she shrugged, turning over to see devon place the cucumber on her eyes. "ohhhh." gioia nodded, copying her actions. while the five girls relaxed, johnny came over and flicked tory's ear, hoping she would confront sam about it. the girl peeled the cucumber off of her eye, glanced between sam and gioia and just sighed. she placed it back on her face and leaned back onto the couch.

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

"ready? fight!"

mickey and gioia bowed to one another before raising their pillows. mickey quickly swung her pillow to gioia's head, but the girl quickly ducked down to block it. once she straightened up, she flung the pillow into mickey's torso, making her groan out.

"oh you're gonna regret that." mickey said with a smile. "devon!" the girl came out of nowhere, a pillow in her hands too. suddenly, the girls teamed up with eachother and began to pelt gioia with their pillows.

she yelled out with laughter, not having the strength to fight back. eventually, she found herself on the ground as mickey and devon continued to strike her. "this is cheating!" she cried out. "send help!"

sam and tory paused their own fight and shared a look, they rushed over to the three and unexpectedly joined in with attacking gioia. their pillows began to burst, feathers filling the room as they all laughed.

johnny watched the interaction with disappointment, taking another bite of his cucumber.

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

the group moved back to the coffee table, now set up with a ouija board. gioia was still pulling the feathers from her two braids as they sat around the table. "everyone, place your hand on the board." johnny ordered. they followed his  instructions and each placed a hand on the planchette.

"will mitch ever win the all valley?" devon questioned, making gioia snicker.

"who the hell's mitch?" johnny asked with a mixture of confusion and fear.

"penis breath." tory clarified. without hesitation, johnny pushed the planchette over to the 'no'. "nope." he shook his head at the question.

"i don't think that's how you play." mickey said with narrowed eyes.

"does tory want sam to fall down a flight of stairs, breaking every single bone in her little body?" johnny asked the board. gioia slowly looked up at him with perplexity, "what?" she asked.

johnny shrugged. "well, let's see what it says." he suggested. the man began to move the planchette to 'yes', but tory fought back and tried to pushed it away. quickly, the man pushed his other hand onto the board and used all his strength to move the planchette to the 'yes.'

"there it is. that's ugly." johnny sighed, making tory roll her eyes. "next question, if sam could describe tory in one word, what would that word be?" he asked.

they all glanced down at the board to see the answer. again, johnny was manipulating the game and moving the planchette by himself. "b... i... t—" before he could continue, sam and tory scoffed and got up to their feet. "what?" johnny frowned as they left the game with irritation. "it could've said "bitching." he tried to clarify.

"if mickey could describe johnny's plan in one word, what would it be?" the girl asked. they all looked down to see what the answer was. "d...u...m...b."

"dumb!" gioia exclaimed. "i agree with the spirits."

"yeah, whatever." johnny rolled his eyes, leaning back with frustration. gioia gave him a smile. "so... can i paint your nails?" she asked.

"absolutely not."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"since johnny has your... girlfriends' holed up in devon's house, i thought it was only fair us boys hang out." fred explained to the three boys in the backseat of his car. they all shared a look, knowing the real reason why he wanted to spend time with them.

"you just want some advice on raising a son, right?" robby asked him. fred sighed, "yeah, yeah i do."

"well i'm pretty sure hawk's the only one here with a... normal relationship with his dad." miguel said, pointing to the boy in the middle of them.

"i mean, mine's a work in progress." robby shrugged. "but, yeah. he's right. but, we could always tell you what not to do?" he suggested.

"i think you're going to be a great... boy dad, mr barbusca." hawk said, overly-flattering the man once again. "thanks, gioia's boyfriend." he nodded, making the other two snicker.

"he knows my name." hawk reassured them with a nervous chuckle. the boy was aware that he still hadn't solidified his relationship with gioia's father, but he wanted to make things right.

"i just really don't want to mess this up, again." fred explained. "i missed out on so many years of gioia marie's life and it kills me that i can't go to the past and relive those memories with her." he said.

miguel frowned at his words. "but she can see that you're trying to do better and that means so much to her."

"she told you that?" fred questioned. the diaz boy nodded. "we have great late night chats in our room." he explained.

"by late night, you mean 10:30pm?" robby asked. hawk chuckled at his words. "how much you want to bet she was gone by 10?" he joked.

miguel shook his head with a smile. "10:15 actually, have some faith in her." he corrected them before turning to face the front. "and where are you taking us?"

"a strip club." fred stated.

"oh!"

"no, wait—"

"i don't think that's the best place—"

"relax." fred laughed. "see that was a test. and you all passed, well done." he grinned. the three boys let out a sigh of relief. hawk was the most relieved as he didn't even know how he would explain to his girlfriend that her dad took him to a strip club.

"thought we'd hit up this steakhouse i know. it's got the best ribs in town, and i figured you guys could use a solid meal after all the training you've been doing." fred explained.

"i know exactly where you mean and i'm in." robby nodded with an excited smile on his face. miguel grinned with eagerness. "i'm starving. and i love steak. thanks for taking us out, fred."

"yeah, well, with everything going on, i figured it's about time we had some guy time." he shrugged. "plus, with the girls out of the house, it's probably the safest time to eat something messy."

they all laughed in agreement, but they was still some tension lingering in the air. fred paused for a second, glancing at hawk in the rear view mirror. "so, hawk... how's everything going with you and gioia?"

"it's going good." hawk nodded, trying to stay cool but he was clearly nervous. "she's... she's amazing. i'm really lucky to be with her."

"yeah, you are. she's been through a lot, you know? i just want to make sure she's treated right." fred explained.

"i know. and i'm doing everything i can to make sure she's happy." hawk reassured him. "i messed up before, but i promise you, mr barbusca, i'm not that guy anymore."

"he's right, hawk's been working hard to be a better person, and gioia's a big part of that." miguel spoke in defence of his friend.

robby nodded with agreement. "yeah, i've seen the change in him too. he's not the same guy he was when he was in cobra kai."

"good." fred nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. the car went silent for a moment, robby and miguel exchanging a quick glance.

"so, uh, fred... you and sensei must be pretty excited about the new babies coming." miguel spoke up, trying to lighten the mood. "you guys ready for that?"

"yeah, it's crazy." fred said with a smile, relaxing a little. "i think johnny's more nervous than i am, but he'll be a good dad. again."

"you two are going to have your hands full." robby reminded him.

"tell me about it." fred chuckled. "but, you know, i think it's going to be good for both of us. having a new kid around gives you a fresh start, in a way. a chance to do things right and make things right with you and gioia."

"i get that." hawk said, softly.

"yeah, i figured you might." fred nodded. "you've had your own fresh start, huh?"

"yeah." hawk said. "and i'm not going to take it for granted."

"wha about you two? how are things with you and sam? still going strong?" fred inquired miguel grinned at the thought of his girlfriend. "yeah, things are good. we've been through a lot, but we're in a good place now."

"that good to hear. i always liked sam." fred spoke. "and you, robby? you and tory seem to be getting along well?

"yeah, we're good." robby said. "tory's been through a lot, but she's strong. we're working on things together, and it's been great."

"you know, i remember last year the girl practically lived at our house." fred said. "her and gioia were really tight."

"well, let's hope whatever my dad has planned for them will help them get back on track." robby stated.

the atmosphere in the car was more relaxed as they approached the steakhouse. "all right, let's eat." fred announced. "and if any of you can't finish your ribs, don't worry—i'm here to help."

"i think we'll be okay."

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
guys graceland too by phoebe bridgers was written for mickey and gioia in case anyone was wondering

"no longer a danger to herself or others." that's gb in her season 6 happy era

"i will do anything you want me to, i will do anything for you." that's themmmmm?!!!