"Everybody wants to sell what's already been sold
Everybody wants to tell what's already been told"

"Well love, how is the search going?" Gelato asked.

The study room was dark. Pale light of the computer screen barely illuminated Sorbet's features. Most of the light was blocked by his body and left the rest of the room shrouded. The hallway light carved out a small section of the floor but only left contours of surrounding furnishings. A sight familiar to Gelato. Sorbet often got absorbed into his hunts for information. He saw no reason to turn the lights on if he was going to be staring at a screen all night. So much so that the outside world didn't exist to him. Like now.

Gelato sighed when he barely got a hum in response. He shook his head, walked over, a cup of hot coffee in each hand. Sorbet offhandedly reached to grab it, only for it to be pulled out of reach. Playfully he chided, "Uh-uh, answer me first."

Sorbet conceded. "On which search?"

"Both." Gelato relinquished the coffee. "You've been at all week, but this is the first time a while that you've pulled an all night'er."

"It has been..." Sorbet held a pause of realization. He looked to his partner with faint surprise. "It's morning already?"

Amused Gelato pecked him on the cheek. "That's right. I knew you had to be onto something if you didn't come to bed. So, I left you be."

Sorbet gave a hum of appreciation. "Thanks. As for what I found...It's interesting. Firstly, I found no record of this "DIO Brando" in Cairo at all. Nothing in airport records or hotels." He took a brief pause for a drink of coffee. "Or of any homeownership, records, nothing. Far as I can tell, he was never even there."

This caught his partner's intrigue. He leaned forward to get a look at the computer screen, and read briskly over what Sorbet had collected. Gelato pursed his lips thoughtfully. "An alias perhaps?"

"Or he used an alias wherever he stayed." Sorbet said in response, eyes kept on the screen.

"That's possible." Gelato agreed. He held the side of his jaw, mulling over the prospects. He sighed. "I guess without much to go on it'd be hard to tell whether this name is real or not." A thought occurred to him and the blond frowned. "If it is a fake name though, to give a photo with it-for what? Just to keep the possible mother of his back? Why give the photo at all really?" He huffed. "Some ego."

Sorbet scrolled down along the document he'd built up. "Possibly." He clicked on a link he'd copied. A newsletter translated into Italian, originally from a post in Africa. As Gelato skim read it over, Sorbet summarized it. "Ten years ago, an unmanned cruiser was found. On board was a strange metal coffin with a hidden compartment inside. Apparently forced open with a blowtorch. Only signs left by the missing crew was three half cups of coffee."

Gelato only tilted his head towards Sorbet. Still propped against the desk. "How does this connect with Giorno's biological father?"

"This." Sorbet clicked onto a closeup shot of the coffin. At first Gelato just thought it was a just some fancy gold plating, but quickly he noticed that the gilding was letters: D-I-O. At first, his partner gawked at this reveal then quickly motioned for him to click off. Sorbet did so and let him double-check what he'd read before.

"Love, sorry, but I can't buy that Giorno's father-apparently-survived for who-knows-how-long, it takes for barnacles to collect on something -inside a metal coffin. In the ocean!" Gelato indignantly objected, looking bewildered that this was even suggested. He held the side of his head as he took a breath and gathered himself. He looked at the still collected Sorbet. Even with knowing his partner well, he couldn't believe this train of thought was about to continue. "Okay. Why do you think it actually has anything to do with Giorno's father?"

Realizing the obvious possible answer, he held a hand up for pause. "Besides stands."

A faint, amused, smirk briefly appeared on Sorbet's collected countenance. He turned the black office chair to face Gelato, whom pulled back from the desk to keep a less cluttered space between them. "DIO, is not a common name in the African area. This was the only published record I could find in the area at the time-and this occurred one year before Giorno was born, 1984." This perked the fellow hitman's interest a bit, but skepticism remained in his eyes. "Unfortunately, nothing seems to come of it. Interest appears to have vanished from the public conscious shortly after. There wasn't anything for the local police to go off of."

Sorbet turned back to the screen and scrolled down to a table he'd constructed. "As for stands being involved, well, I have evidence to back it up. Do you recall where the stand arrow was recovered?"

It took a moment of thought but Gelato replied, "Egypt."

"And Giorno's father was in Cairo." Sorbet added.

"Dear," Gelato started, "unless you have more evidence-that sounds like mere coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidences." Sorbet answered evenly. A bit of an edge was on the tips of his words. "Not with stands involved. And, I do have more." Gelato conceded and nodded for him to go on. "Two years later, 1986, Passione was founded with the discovered stand arrow from Egypt. The arrow was given to Polpo from the Boss. Three years after that, 1989, there was a string of unexplained occurrences in Egypt. A plane from an organization called Speedwagon was found crashed in the desert, two pilots were found dead. One was drowned in the desert the other looked to have somehow been decapitated by unknown means. Not far from that a man was freshly buried. A man called Alessi was taken to the hospital after crashing face first onto a sidewalk in Luxor; however, a majority of his wounds seemed to have occurred prior to falling. No explanation was found to how he'd been seemingly launched into the air.

On the same day, a woman called Mariah was found, nearly crushed to death, in a mound of metallic objects. Every one of the bones of her body were fractured. Witness claimed that she was having some sort of fight with two men, one American the other Egyptian, both had large amounts of metal clinging to them somehow. During their exchange, she mentioned a "Lord DIO". When she regained consciousness and was coherent enough for questioning, she denies remembering what happened. Alessi claimed similar."

By this point, Gelato was taken in by the information and sat himself down on what was usually Giorno's desk chair. He furrowed his brows as he went over what he'd been told in his head before he responded. "Giorno's father was still in Cairo four years after Giorno's birth. With Stand users fighting for him..." His eyes lit up at the meaning of that. "Then, there's a good chance that Giorno has a Stand."

Sorbet nodded.

"We have to tell Risotto then." Gelato stated. He shook his head and gave the other hitman a knowing, wry, smile. "He's not going to like it."

"If it will help keep Giorno safe, he'll do it."

"Should I call, Risotto, now?" He questioned. The blond tilted his head forward pointedly towards the collection of evidence. "You know he'll question this until it's undeniable."

"I know. Call him." Sorbet unwaveringly answered.

Gelato stood up from the chair, but paused before and then asked. "Oh, did you gather more information on the La Meravigli meeting places?"

To this, a look of realization flashed in Sorbet's eyes. He ran a hand down his face and shook his head.

"You haven't found anything?" Gelato asked in surprise.

"No, I have something but I got caught up searching for information on Giorno's father. I should have focus on our squadron's assignment, but my intrigue got the better of me." Sorbet took a drink of his black coffee then shook his head. Gelato took him from his moment of self-deprecation with a kiss. Once over brief surprise, Sorbet willingly returned the gesture. Put at ease he listened to his love's assurance.

"Don't worry, it'll be enough for Risotto. He and I, both know you'll have those bastard's number before the end of this week." Gelato went over to Sorbet's side and traced his collar line with a finger. "Now, how about after I call Risotto. We go and take a quick shower? After sitting all night at the desk, I'm sure you could use a hot one to unwind."

Sorbet rubbed his stiff neck. "Truthfully, I really could use one." He got up and gifted a kiss to the cheek to his love. "I'll get the shower ready." One at a time, as he stood before Gelato, he began to unbutton his light, blue-grey dress shirt. He stopped right at the edge of his chest before he turned away. Enticed, Gelato grinned at the allure presented to him. He watched intently as Sorbet began to leave. Just as he left the room, he added, "Don't take too long."

Once his footsteps headed upstairs to their shared bathroom, Gelato melted back against the desk. Simple as the words were, Sorbet said them in a way that sparked an excitement in him. He was the one to suggest the shower, but now Sorbet was the one pulling him in. He loved that about him. Reserved but took the lead. Eager to join Sorbet, Gelato went off to go make the phone call.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay. Thing in IRL got in the way. Then, this took a lot of fact checking and a rewrite. I have the next part underway already, and I'm sure you all can see where this is going. Ahead of time but it fits.