...
*Thump!*

...
*Shuffle. Thump!*

...
*Bang! Shuffle. Thump!*

...
*CRASH!*

"THAT'S IT! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Sleepy blue eyes opened to see a disgruntled man rising from their bed and stomping his way to the closet.

"Dante..." Trish said in a yawn as she sat upright, propping her head onto her hand, "Dante what are you doing?"

Dante suddenly emerged from the closet, throwing on a pair of sweat pants right over his naked lower half. He focused his attention on Trish, his eyes ablaze with annoyance.

"I'm gonna go tell them to keep it down in there. This is getting ridiculous!"

*THUMP! THUMP! CRASH!*

"See what I mean?! I gotta get some shut-eye before tomorrow. Otherwise i'm gonna be the walking dead while i'm working this Thompson case." He glanced at the clock, "It's 2:51 in the morning for crying out loud!" Dante began to storm towards the door.

"Dante, wait." She furrowed her brows and titled her head slightly.

Trish knew that there was a high probability of more than just words flying if Dante went storming over to his brother's room like he was at the moment, especially at this hour.

Dante turned on his heels, "Don't try to talk me out of it babe. It ain't gonna work."

Rolling her eyes, Trish slid from under the blankets and made her way over to Dante. She didn't understand why he was so upset. This wasn't the first time this had happened in the wee hours of the night. Heck, sometimes it happened during daylight hours. Regardless, usually Dante either ignored it, or slept through it. What was so different about tonight? Why was he so mad now?

She knew that the source of all the banging and crashing and whatnot had to be none other than Vergil and Ari. And judging by the pattern of the noises, she knew that they were not having a love session, as one would assume. But rather, a different kind of session that had become almost as regular.

She remembered the first time she had stumbled upon the two during one of these bouts. She was so stunned she had no idea what to do, so she just stood there watching until she needed to dodge out of the way... She could see it in her mind's eye so vividly. Her walking through the front door, and seeing Vergil and Ari seemingly engaged in hand-to-hand battle...

Ari would throw a punch and Vergil would dodge.

Vergil would grab Ari flipping her around and Ari would twist and roll, slipping from his grasp.

Ari would go for a kick and Vergil would catch her leg, discarding her gracefully.

Vergil would put her into a hold, and Ari would struggle and seek to distract, until she got free.

It happened so fast and fluidly, it almost seemed like very well practiced choreography to Trish. To make it even more peculiar, these battle sessions generally occurred at random. One minute the two could be sitting in silence and the next minute, they were trying to overpower one another.

Of course, Trish knew that if Vergil wanted to, he could easily best Ari. If not just because of the fact that he is a man and she's a woman, but because he's Vergil. This reasoning led her to believe that these had to be some kind of training activities, but she wasn't sure. Not to mention, most of the time, these sessions would come to an abrupt stop and they would either resume their previously abandoned activities or they would disappear, with sounds of pleasure emerging from wherever they had gone off to soon after. Trish shook her head. Whatever a husband and wife's practices are is totally their business; She got that. But these two were an enigma.

Trish watched Dante's eyes as she sauntered over to him. She purposely didn't bother to wrap herself in a blanket, leaving her nakedness for him to see. And although he still wore an annoyed expression, she saw him swallow and flicker his gaze over her form before staring her in the face.

She stopped in front of him, popping a hand on her hip, "What's up with you?"

"I'm sleepy." Dante replied quickly.

"Mhmm." Trish began as she reached up to play with his snowy hair, "Then why don't you go to sleep?"

"Do you not hear world war three going on next door?"

"I don't hear anything that is out of the ordinary, love." Trish lifted an eyebrow, "So what's the problem?"

Dante gazed silently at her with furrowed brows.

"Oh, I see." Trish smoothed her hand down his body and grabbed his hand, swinging it gently. She had a feeling of what was really bothering her hubby.

"Are you still upset about what happened earlier?"

Dante scoffed, "No. Why would I be..." He had a look of indifference, but Trish knew this was just a cover up.

"Listen honey, I know you want to spend time with your brother since he's back in your life now, but Vergil can't hang out with you all the time. I know you know that, right?"

Generally during the day, Dante had this knack for finding Vergil wherever he was in the house, and lingering. It didn't matter what Vergil was doing. Vergil could be eating, reading, or researching or something and Dante would come in and start talking to him about something random, doing some activity that was so loud Vergil would have to say something, or simply find some way to annoy Vergil until left he room. Of which, Dante would find him and the process would begin again.

Today was no different. Vergil had been working on something in the living room when Dante came in. However, as soon as Dante sat down and attempted conversation, Vergil closed his book, grabbed his notebook and went to his room. Trish had seen the exchange from the kitchen and watched as Dante called to his brother's retreating form. But when Vergil replied with a stern 'leave me alone Dante', the younger twin was indignant, claiming he hadn't done anything but 'tried to have a civil conversation'.

To anyone who didn't know the twins, Trish was sure that episode would have painted Vergil in a very negative light. But while she could understand Dante's feelings on the matter, she could also understand Vergil's side of things. Dante didn't seem to understand how to tone it down sometimes. With his personality, it was easier for him to keep a conversation going than knowing when to stop and let people be; At least, with Vergil. When Dante dealt with other people, this kind of thing just didn't happen. He was more or less still his light-hearted joking self, but he also had an indifference about him that reminded her very much that he was Vergil's brother.

She knew that, deep down, Dante felt like he and Vergil had a lot of lost time to make up for. And it seems he was not going to let Vergil wave him off for some "boring books" or "dumb research" when they had rebuilding to do. Now she also knew Dante understood that Vergil had Ari to tend to, that wasn't an issue at all. He gave them their space...sometimes. The issues came when Ari wasn't around, as Vergil and would seem to do mundane things until they were reunited. In Dante's eyes, this was just a way for Vergil to shut him out and avoid him.

Although she wasn't totally sure, Trish didn't think Vergil was doing it on purpose; But Dante begged to differ. And even though she had told him numerous times to just tell Vergil what he felt, Dante wasn't having it. 'He knows what he's doing.' Dante would say. She remembered when Dante attempted to talk to him about it just to prove a point, and it ending with her and Ari having to break up the fight.

"I told you already, I dont care about that." Dante waved his hand dismissively, "I just want some peace and quiet. Is that so much to ask?"

Trish could tell that Dante was being stubborn and it probably wasn't going to get better right this minute. She felt this was just his way of trying to get back at Vergil for hurting his feelings. The very feelings that he had a hard time talking about...

"Alright Dante." Trish sighed, "Just, let me go talk to them. You get back in bed."

"No. I want to-"

"You just want peace and quiet right?" Trish cut him off and was challenging him. She knew he was lying about his reason for wanting to go over there. There would be no fighting tonight. Not if she had anything to do with it.

Dante's mouth snapped shut. He paused before speaking again. "Yeah."

"Well alright then. I'll go over and talk to Vergil."

Trish kissed Dante's cheek and pointed a slender finger towards their bed. Dante smacked her bottom as he moved passed her, smirking at her surprised squeal. Recovering and throwing a glare over her shoulder, Trish quickly grabbed her previously discarded nightgown and slipped it over her head before leaving their room.

...

As she got closer to their door, the sounds became more defined and she could suddenly hear voices. Reaching the outside, she paused before knocking. She knew she shouldn't have been being nosy like this, but she couldn't help her curiosity. She listened briefly and could hear Ari telling Vergil to 'stop', but judging by the tone, she could tell she didn't mean it. Soon after, she thought she heard Vergil say something about mercy before Ari responded with something muffled that she couldn't make out.

*THUMP. CRASH.*

Trish jolted a bit before quickly knocking and mentally scolded herself for invading on such a private moment. Immediately everything went silent and not long after, the door opened partially to reveal a disheveled looking Vergil. Trish smirked at seeing Vergil so rough looking.

His hair had fallen over one of his eyes, his usually pale skin held a reddened hue, he was missing a shirt and his pants hung loosely on his hips. But make no mistake about it, that bored, steely expression that Vergil had mastered was still there, despite his appearance.

"Yes?" Vergil asked as he looked expectantly at Trish.

"Hey Vergil. Hey Ari-belle!" Trish sang loudly so she could be heard.

"Hey Trisha-bear!" Ari sing-songed back from somewhere in the distance.

With a smile Trish refocused on Vergil, "Your brother is feeling a bit, uh, irritable right now. Could you two keep it down just a little?"

"Of course, Trish. Our apologies." Vergil replied curtly.

"Thanks. Oh and by the way..." Trish knew that this was her chance to do what Dante should have done already. She knew Dante wouldn't have wanted her to do it, but she didn't care at that point. If this would coax him to start talking and stop holding in his feelings as of late, then she was gonna do it.

"Do you think that you could have a little chat with your brother sometime? He seems to be feeling a little...displaced."

Vergil lifted a brow, "Displaced?" Trish could almost hear a hint of annoyance in his voice at the mention of Dante.

"Yeah. He wont admit it. But I know he feels like you both need to spend some brotherly time together. You know, to talk and bond. He just...might need help in understanding how to go about it."

Vergil's expression did not change one bit and Trish was silently hoping she was getting her point across to him clearly and not about to accidentally place herself in the middle of Vergil and Dante's unfinished business.

"I suppose." Vergil replied cooly, "Now if you'll excuse me." Vergil slightly bowed his head in farewell. She had a feeling he just didn't want to talk about the situation.

Trish sighed lowly and gave a short nod, turning to head back to her room. She decided she would try to coerce Dante into talking to Vergil, peacefully, again. She really felt like if they just sat down and laid this out, it could be solved easily. She reasoned that now that she had put a little bug in both their ears, then eventually something would happen...minus the fighting hopefully. She wondered if perhaps she needed a little more back-up though...

'Maybe I should talk to Ari about convincing Vergil to-'

"Trish."

Trish stopped and looked back over her shoulder at Vergil as his voice cut into her thoughts. Slight confusion and anticipation invaded her mind thereafter.

"...I will speak with him tomorrow."

"Thanks Vergil." She smiled and gave a wink before hearing his door shut.

Blinking twice, she sighed in a mix of relief and accomplishment. She really didn't expect that little reassurance from Vergil, but she was glad he gave it. At the same time, she couldn't help but wonder if Vergil felt the same way Dante did in wanting to make up for lost time. She wouldn't even be surprised if Vergil knew the real reasons behind his brother's annoying tactics all along. He probably did. That could be why he seemed to put up with it occasionally. Either way, she knew Vergil would keep his word and talk to Dante, and for that she was thankful. She glanced back at Vergil and Ari's door with a smile one last time as she went to rejoin her lover for the remainder of the night.