Had he known what this was going to turn into, Nero would never have gone to the party hosted by the Devil May Cry crew. At least it wasn't in the shop itself. Dante had rented out the lobby of some local (yet surprisingly fancy) hotel. Where the extra money came from, Nero didn't know. Nor did he know what the hell he was doing, marching up the steps to the noisy building. But Kyrie insisted, and she was hanging onto his arm with a vice-like grip that made sure he couldn't escape.

The devil child had to admit that he wasn't very shocked by what he saw when he and Kyrie pushed open the heavy doors. The hotel's interior was covered in the usual signs of a party: paper cups and plates littered the floor, the buffet table was picked clean, chocolate icing (Nero hoped it was chocolate icing, anyway) was smeared across one of the walls.

The party goers were in their usual place: Trish and Mary were having a cat fight that was refereed by Vergil, clients were acting slightly more normal then the DMC crew, and Dante was singing drunkenly as he attempted to dance on a three-legged bar stool.

"Do we really] have to go in there?" Nero asked, pulling his navy blue cap down on his head. He had ticked off an old witch a few days ago and she retaliated by hitting him with a curse that caused him to sprout white cat ears and a matching tail.

The hat did a decent job of hiding the ears, and the tail was tucked into his pants. It was uncomfortable, but at least no one knew about his . . . mutations.

Instead of answer his question, Kyrie just laughed and pulled him into the fray.

The first couple of hours were okay. Nero talked with the clients, danced with Kyrie, and avoided Dante. The crowd was starting to disperse and Lady and Trish had resolved their differences (for the next twenty minutes), so they rounded up the remainder of the party for a nice, relatively quiet chat around the grand fireplace.

Nero managed to grab one of the big easy chairs towards the back and Kyrie sat on his lap. He was starting to fall asleep just listening to the drone of the more talkative guests when Kyrie mentioned that her cup was empty. Without a word, Nero obediently slid out from under her and went to get more soda.

Honestly, he was glad to have a break from all the boring chit chat, even if it was just a short trip to the other room and back. He quickly changed his mind, however, when the pushed open the swinging doors and the following words assaulted all four of his ears, "Heeeeeeey, you know, I've dated a mop] before, but you're something else!"

Searching for the source of the drunken outburst, Nero found Dante sitting on the floor beside the stool he had been standing on earlier.

"What are you doing, moron?" Nero asked, opening the fridge and rooting around in search of strawberry soda.

"The real question," Dante smirked and tried to get on his feet, but failed miserably at both. "Is: what are you doing, wrecking our evening?" He held the stool close and whispered, "Just ignore him, honey."

Nero rolled his eyes and opened a can of soda. He filled the glass and by the time he was done, Dante was leaning on the counter beside him with the stool in one hand.

"Hey, Nero," Dante grinned, waving the stool slightly. "How many gay guys can you fit on this stool?"

"I don't know, Dante," Nero said with mock interest. "How many?"

Dante flipped the stool over so that the three legs were in the air and shouted, "Three!" He collapsed on the ground, shoulders shaking with mirth. Collecting himself, he stroked the legs of the stool, mumbling, "Don't worry, baby, I'm kidding. You know I'm the only guy for you."

"Idiot," Nero growled, heading out the door. Dante was pretty quick for a stupid drunk, though, and he managed to grab one of the boy's legs and used it as a way of standing via "crawling" up to Nero's shoulders.

"Ow! What are you doing?" Nero demanded as Dante wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close.

"You're so little," the man remarked as though he had just realized this. "You're like my little brother!" He laughed and started to give Nero a noogie.

"Stop it!" Nero could feel the cap working its way off. His new ears were twitching spasmodically beneath Dante's knuckles. He would just die if Dante saw--

As if it had waited until that moment to ruin his life, his hat popped off and his ears were totally exposed.

It took Dante a minute, but when he noticed the cat-like features, he let out a squeal. Yes, a squeal. It almost shattered every window in the hotel, not to mention Nero's brain.

"Ears! They're so cuuuuuuuute~!" Dante exclaimed, setting Nero on the ground and examining his ears. The half-devil swooned dangerously, almost falling on Nero, who was replacing the cap upon his head.

"You're covering them up? ¿Por queeeeeeeee?" Dante whined.

"Because they're…they're…a nuisance." Miraculously, Nero randomly noted, none of the soda had spilled during that whole traumatic incident. He needed to get it to Kyrie.

He started to leave, but Dante grabbed his shoulder. Shaking him off, the newly dubbed Neko hissed, "Leave me alone."

"But, Nero, you--"

"Go away!"

Nero pushed open the door to rejoin the group, but just as he went to walk over to Kyrie, he sensed movement behind him. He turned to see the drunk idiot chasing after him.

"But Nero!" Dante was yelling, his hand reaching out dramatically. "YOU CAN'T BE ASHAMED OF WHO YOU ARE! YOU--" The half devil tripped and went sprawling to the floor. His hand reached out for something to stop his fall and alighted upon Nero's belt, which, unfortunately, went down with him.

Nero welt an unsettling breeze on his legs as his pants fell to his ankles and threw off his balance. He fell to the ground and the cap went flying off his head as the cup of soda splashed into Trish's lap. There was an awkward silence before Lady bust out laughing and everyone else followed suit.

Nero blushed a deep vermillion and sat up to survey the damage. Dante was on the ground behind him, apparently unconscious. One of his hands still held Nero's belt.

Nero's pants were utterly removed from his legs, and would have been completely off if they hadn't been caught up on his boots. Luckily his boxer shorts were still on, even if half of his butt was peeking out and the white cat tail was waving like a flag in the wind. Well, at least Credo wasn't here to see--oh, no, wait. There he was, in the back. Crap.

"Why don't you just take Dante up to bed?" Vergil suggested as Nero got his pants back on and stood. The blue-clad half-devil was the only one who remained serious. He handed Nero a key and said, "Room 22--upstairs."

"Why should I?" Nero demanded. This was answered by a whispered threat from Vergil that ultimately resulted in a blushing Nero leading a half asleep Dante up the stairs.

They finally made it to room 22 and Nero had to let Dante lean on him as he fought to unlock the door. He finally got it open and dragged Dante in and sort of dropped him on the bed.

"There, you idiot," Nero muttered. He shut the door behind him and went to the full length mirror to examine the carpet burn on his face from when he hit the floor. It wasn't so bad. The embarrassment hurt worse.

"Neroooooo~! Neroooo~!" Dante was calling from the bed. His voice was obnoxiously high.

"What?"

"Will you get me something?"

"No."

"Please?"

"If I do, will you shut up and go to sleep?"

"Yeeee-essss~!"

"Okay, what?"

"My bag, it's by the dresser."

Nero did as he was told and brought the duffel bag over to Dante. He set it on the bed and opened it, laughing at what he found.

"What's this?" Nero asked, waving a pair of handcuffs that were about 3 feet long in Dante's face. "A little toy for you and Trish's kinky fantasies?"

Dante just smirked and stretched out on the bed.

Nero giggled mischievously, his tail swishing back and forth, and cuffed one of Dante's hands. His plan was to chain him to the bed, but before he could act he found himself thrown down amidst a collection of silky sheets and there was a terribly heavy object crushing him.

Dante grinned victoriously and cuffed Nero's "normal" hand with the other cuff, so that the two of them were chained together.

"These were a gift from Trish," Dante murmured sleepily, resting his head on Nero's chest. "Not even I can break out of them…and she has…the only…key…"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Nero gasped, trying to shove Dante off of him. It was no use, and Nero gave up and collapsed back on the bed.

"Dante, get off!" Nero ordered. "Get off!"

His only answer was a loud snore. Dante was out cold, and the neko was stuck.