Luca's next goal for the brothers was to take them to the climbing gym. After a month of being human, Enzo had reluctantly agreed to go to the park, two stores, and recently, the playground (under the condition that no other kids were there, of course).

Luca figured that the gym was the perfect next step, as both brothers already liked climbing. It would also give them a chance to interact with other humans, since the gym regulars all tended to be relaxed and easy-going.

As he expected, Enzo was against the idea at first, shutting Luca down immediately and refusing to discuss it any further. 

But Luca wasn't worried. He knew that this was just Enzo's pattern for processing things: he was always quick to veto something, but if Luca didn't bring it up again, then Enzo would eventually agree to it.

The older borrower was cautious by nature, but he was also too curious to not consider possibilities. And once he had enough time to acclimate to a new idea, he was ready to try it. With conditions and a safety plan for Harper, of course.

Some people might have found his thought process tedious, but Luca thought it was endearing. So long as he gave Enzo enough warning beforehand, Enzo usually ended up giving in around the time that Luca actually wanted to do something new with him.

It was the same with the climbing gym. Luca figured that Enzo would need about a week and a half to get used to the idea, and sure enough, ten days later, Enzo brought it up again, tentatively asking Luca what would happen if they did go to the climbing gym with him.

Gotcha, Luca thought smugly, trying not to grin. After walking Enzo through exactly what to expect from the moment they entered the gym to the moment they left, Enzo finally agreed to it.

And that's how they all ended up at the gym the next day, Harper bouncing on the balls of his feet at the thought of climbing. Enzo just looked grim.

Luca gave his shoulder a quick squeeze.

"It'll be alright, Enz," he assured the borrower. The breeze tugged at Enzo's dark hair as he stared up at the gym's towering sign. "It's just like everything else we've been doing; it's scary because it's new and unfamiliar, but it's very low risk. I promise."

Enzo nodded once, and Luca led the brothers inside, walking up to the check-in counter.

"Hey, Elise!" Luca greeted the woman behind the counter.

She looked up from her computer and smiled, tucking her dyed red and black hair behind her ear. "Luca! Good to see you. Climbing today with some guests?"

Luca nodded and smiled back, turning around in time to catch Enzo inching behind him and tugging Harper along with him. Harper pulled out of his grip slightly so that he could peer around Luca and get a better look at Elise's nose ring and eyebrow piercing.

Luca just shook his head with a rueful smile before turning back to Elise.

"Yep," he said. "I talked to Paul last time I came in and told him about them. He's excited to see some newbies in action."

Paul was the gym owner, a super laid back 40-something year old who loved climbing. Luca had talked to him just two weeks before about upgrading his gym membership to include guests, and Paul had wanted to know about the friends he was bringing. Looked like Paul had told Elise about them, too. 

Elise was already busy scanning his gym card. "Alright, looks like you're all set with the guest passes. I just need some ID and for you guys to sign these waivers."

Enzo stiffened, and Luca quickly spoke up. 

"Umm, they don't have IDs," he admitted. "But Paul said they could come in if they still signed the waivers."

Elise looked confused. "No IDs?"

Luca shook his head, and Enzo looked at the door, like he was planning to make a mad dash for it. Luca grabbed his hand behind the counter, where Elise wouldn't see.

Enzo turned to look at him sharply, but Luca ignored him and went back to smiling at Elise.

"You can call Paul, if you want," Luca suggested. "But he said I could bring them under my guest pass. As long as you write down their names and my phone number, he said it should be fine."

Elise waved him off. "No need, I believe you," she said, clicking around on her computer. She looked over the counter at Harper.

"And are you dropping this little guy off at the children's room?" Elise asked, smiling at Harper.

"Oh, no, he wants to climb," Luca corrected, and Harper nodded, tiny face resolute.

Her smile faltered a bit. "Climb?" she repeated. "But... there's an age restriction..."

"He's eight," Luca told her. "He should be able to climb if we supervise him."

Her eyes widened. "Eight?" she echoed. She took another look at Harper, who frowned and crossed his twiggy arms across his chest. Elise quickly backtracked. 

"Oh... umm... let me see if we have some harnesses that will fit him," she said quickly. "Be right back."

She disappeared into the office, and Harper looked up at Luca.

"Harnesses?" he asked, confused. "Why would I need a harness?"

Luca pointed at the rock walls behind the check-in counter. "We don't free climb the big walls," he answered. "Too easy to fall."

Harper eyed the towering rock walls. "That thing's so easy though!" he protested. "Look how many handholds they give you!"

Luca just shook his head and smiled. "It's how humans do things," he explained. "You have to follow the rules here if you want to climb."

Harper let out a huffy breath, but he accepted the harness when Elise came back.

After watching the safety video and signing the waivers, Luca helped Harper and Enzo get all set up in the harnesses before leading them onto the climbing floor. Harper's dark eyes were huge as he tried to take everything in, his white-blonde hair fluffing up as he swiveled his head back and forth. 

Enzo just held Harper's hand tightly, as if to prevent the small boy from darting off towards whatever caught his interest, holding on to a loop in Luca's harness with his free hand. His face was grave, black eyes watchful as he squinted suspiciously at the other climbers. 

He's fine, Luca tried to tell himself. He'll lighten up once he starts climbing. This is what he's good at. It's familiar. He'll be fine. 

Reaching the first wall, Luca turned to Harper, grabbing a free rope and clipping it to Harper's harness.

"I'll belay you," he explained, showing Harper how he was holding onto the end of the rope. "Just like in the video we watched. So, if you slip while climbing, I'll catch you before you fall. Ok?"

"Ok!" Harper chirped, giving a little hop of excitement. 

"Enz?" Luca asked, turning to the older borrower. "You good, too?"

Enzo stared at him, dark eyes boring a hole in Luca's face. But Luca knew him well enough by now to know that he wasn't mad; just nervous. 

Finally, he nodded, and Harper cheered. Luca led Harper to the first handholds, and after giving him the green light, the little boy began to climb.

As Luca watched, he knew that taking them to the climbing gym was the right choice. Harper zipped up the wall, his tiny form going higher and higher. He didn't linger on any of the foot or handholds, barely pushing off of them to get just enough leverage to reach the next ones. After being cooped up in the apartment all day, it was the perfect way to get Harper's endless energy out.

A small crowd started to gather at the base of the wall, growing larger as more and more people noticed and pointed out Harper to their friends.

"Damn, that kid's fast!" someone exclaimed.

"Yeah, has he been here before?" someone else asked. "I've never seen him."

Luca took his eyes off Harper for a minute to shoot Enzo a quick glance. Instead of looking worried about the gathering humans, the older borrower had a look of fierce pride on his face as he stared up at his little brother.

Luca smiled a bit, glad that Enzo was focused on something else for a change. Harper reached the top of the wall and looked down to wave at them. Luca waved back, and even Enzo lifted a hand.

"Alright, now, Harps, just kick off from the rock wall and slide down," Luca called up to him. "I've got you."

Harper did as he was told, kicking off the rock face every now and then whenever he got close enough.

By the time he was on the ground, his little face was flushed and glowing.

"That. Was. So. Cool!" he cheered, raising both fists in the air as Luca unclipped him from the rope.

Luca chuckled and ruffled his hair. "You did great, bud," he praised.

Several other climbers looked like they wanted to come over and congratulate Harper, too, but Luca noticed that Enzo's dark glare kept them back. He tried not to laugh.

Harper turned to Enzo and wrapped his little arms around his brother's waist. "Did you see me, Enz?" he asked excitedly, staring up at him. "Did I do good?"

Enzo offered Harper one of his rare smiles, eyes soft. "You sure did, Harps," he confirmed, smoothing Harper's hair back. "I think you set a new record for yourself."

Harper gasped and whirled around to face Luca. "I want to do it again!" he demanded. "And you have to time me this time!"

"Oh, yeah!" Luca couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that himself. It was something they did a lot back when Harper and Enzo were still small. Curious to see how fast the borrowers could climb, Luca had once timed Harper climbing up the kitchen counter, shocked by how fast he went.

It became a game after that, with Harper trying to outperform himself each time. They even got Enzo to play a few times, though that wasn't even a competition. If Harper was fast on a rope, then Enzo could practically teleport. Luca had never seen anything like it.

What he really wanted to see was how well Enzo would do on the rock wall. It was one thing to climb a free hanging rope. A rock wall would be a different challenge entirely.

Luca looked over Harper's bouncing head of hair at Enzo.

"Sure, bud," he said. "We'll time you." He grinned at Enzo. "And then we'll get Enzo to give it a shot. See if he can beat your best time."

Enzo raised his eyebrows, but he didn't say anything as Luca clipped Harper back to the rope.

Before Harper could climb, Luca handed his phone to Enzo. "Can you time him while I belay?" he asked, and Enzo nodded, that faint smile of his coming back.

Harper went up the big wall several more times, determined to break his record. After a while, they both convinced Enzo to try, Harper enthusiastically keeping time on Luca's phone while Luca belayed.

Through it all, Luca studied both brothers as they climbed. His little borrowers had finally started to fill out, especially now that they were human. He was most proud of the fact that Harper's little cheeks had rounded out, now flushed with color instead of looking like a hollowed-out ghost. 

But Enzo still had a hard, lean look about him that wouldn't go away no matter how much Luca tried to feed him. His body was just built to either fight or flee, and that didn't seem to be changing.

When it was Enzo's turn to climb, Luca found that he couldn't tear his eyes away. Enzo climbed so differently from his little brother. Harper climbed enthusiastically through trial and error. If a route didn't work, he'd quickly back up and try a new one.

Enzo was different. He was faster than Harper and much more methodical. It's like he could take one look at the rock wall and map out the best route, not even hesitating on the more challenging walls. He was fluid and strong, his hard muscles flexing through his shirt as he climbed. Luca was utterly mesmerized. 

But it was when they switched to the smaller bouldering walls that Luca really got distracted. No longer having to belay, Luca was free to climb with the borrowers, and he even managed to convince Enzo to race him up the wall a few times. 

Not like it was any competition. Enzo left him in the dust each time. But it was all worth it to Luca, as every time they reached the ground, Enzo's face would be flushed with victory, dark eyes sparkling as he laughed at the way Luca slumped to the ground in mock despair. 

And as Luca watched him laugh, he felt his heart skip a beat. 

Uh oh, he realized. I think I'm in big trouble.

_______________________________________________________

A/N: In case you need a visual, Luca is just this tall, easy going, and friendly looking jock with a really odd dye job while Enzo's a super fit tiny guy with major RBF. So, it's funny for the other gym goers to see them next to each other.

Also, please imagine Luca in a tank top and Enzo in the tightest long sleeved workout shirt imaginable. Thank you.

Also, also, you know that one meme where that kid's like "Haha. I'm in danger!" That's Luca rn.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote or comment if you want. See you in the next part!