A/N: Sooo, this is my first attempt at a DMC fanfic..hehe, yeah, so this was a prompt from a friend and it MAY have spiraled out of control...maybe...just a little bit, I'll stop talking now and let you guys read!
I hope it's okay! :) ~nikki
Disclaimer: I don't (very sadly) own Devil May Cry or any of it's characters...such as Nero...if I did I'd be wayyyy to preoccupied for writing, wait what? Moving on! I do however own the character of Eri/Erinya so yeah, she's mine!
Okay, so maybe there were worse ways to spend your birthday but come on spending it clearing out a nest of freaking hellhounds had to be up there with the top few worst ways, especially when it takes all freaking day.
And of course, it had to be this week. The one week Dante had left him in charge of the shop while he went out of town on another job and because she didn't trust Nero not to get into trouble, at least that was her excuse, Eri was staying with him for the week. And then to top things off it just had to be today, couldn't have been yesterday when he was bored out of his mind…nope of course not, had to be his birthday and of course him and Eri couldn't both go since it was only the two of them. Some days, Nero did wonder if some higher power out there had it out for him.
The walk back to Devil May Cry seemed to take ages, though he attributed that to the current fatigue washing its way through his body. Exhausted and weary Nero genuinely thought that right now the familiar, faulty and flickering red sign advertising his home and work to the public had never looked so beautiful before. With a tired sigh escaping him, his left hand went to turn the handle to the large, wooden doors signalling the entrance to his home so he could finally relax.
Of course, nothing ever goes like he planned and instead of giving and letting him inside so he could dramatically flop on the old, leather sofa the doorknob wouldn't give. Just. Great. His head fell forward, thunking against the door in exasperation, a soft growl escaping him. And then as his eyes slipped closed a thought hit him.
Why were the doors locked?
Eri was in there, he could tell, he'd know that scent anywhere: mint, cool and sharp but interlaced with dark chocolate, smooth and elegant. Besides, the little demon in his head would've started bitching at him by now if it couldn't sense the huntress' devil. Deciding to ponder the whole thing once he was actually inside, Nero dug his hands into the pockets of his denim, trench coat to try and find…nothing, of for…he'd forgotten his damn keys. Snapping open his sky blue eyes and leaning back slightly, Nero glared at the doors…they'd taken more than enough abuse from Dante and Lady alike, what more damage could he do?
Using what little effort he could muster, he kicked the door, the wood giving under his foot and finally, FINALLY he could step inside and just…dodge the bullet passing right by his head.
"Damn it Lady! I told you I wasn't kidding!"
Nero would've chuckled at the familiar voice of his lover, barking at Lady, annoyance clear in her tone, had he not just been shot at, if he hadn't been severely pissed and just so damn tired.
"Maybe you should look at who you're shooting before you pull the fucking trigger" he growled
Finally, chocolate brown orbs locked with his own deep blue ones from the kitchen area and the barrel of Luna, his partner's left-handed gun of choice, was slowly lowered.
"I wasn't expecting you back yet"
"So, you just assume I'm Lady and try to blow my head off?"
"Trust me, I have my reasons"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Finally something clicked as the look on Nero's face turned into a quizzical scowl "What are you even doing in the kitchen?" Eri avoided the kitchen like the plague, preferring, similarly to Dante, to stuff herself on some form of takeout.
A look of shock crossed over Eri's features as if yet again she was expecting to have more time to sort out an excuse and for the first time, Nero noticed the speckles of white in the otherwise black streak that naturally ran through her hair. He was just about to comment when he noticed the woman's not-so-subtle movements to close the door separating the kitchen from the living area. As quick as anything, with new sudden energy stemming from curiousity, he managed to get over to the kitchen door and stop it from being completely slammed in his face by grabbing it with his demonic, right hand.
"Something you don't want me to see?"
A dark glare was sent his way for that one and the pushing force against his hand increased, however, he matched it easily smirking down at the still glaring woman. Eventually, her eyes softened and with a defeated sigh she turned her back and walked back into the kitchen, relinquishing her hold on the door.
Nero's triumphant smile fell as he saw the state of the small room, flour was tossed everywhere, which explains Eri's hair at least, there were various cooking implements scattered across counters that had a variety of ingredients that smelled suspiciously like chocolate covering them, the only sane thing in the utter chaos was the warm glow of the, actually working, oven.
His eyes then settled on the crazy half-devil responsible for the mess, she was currently slumped into one of the way too underused dining chairs, head in hands only being successful in rubbing more of the white powder into hair chestnut brown hair and accompanying black streak. Aforementioned hair was a disheveled mess as if she's clawed her hands through it over 100 times today. Not to mention her clothes would need a damn good scrubbing to get some of those stains out.
"Do I really want to know?"
Her reply was muffled by her hands, which were still firmly clamped on her face, even though Nero could see the pinkish hue that had crept up onto her pale cheeks.
"What?"
"I said," her hands finally slipping down to rest in front of her on the wooden dining table "go look in the damn oven"
Doing as instructed, Nero kneeled in front of the appliance and peered into the window and saw…a cake, what the…oh.
Birthday. His birthday. So, that means…
Turning back to look at his partner, only to find she'd now decided to introduce the table to her head, he murmured
"You did this for me?"
"No, I did it for the pixies living in Dante's bedroom while he's gone," the usual sarcasm actually made him smile "Of course I did it for you, you moron"
"I thought the rule was that you're supposed to be nice to someone when it's their birthday"
"My stores of nice have been depleted for today, please come back again tomorrow"
He chuckled at that and the gesture, this whole thing was actually quite sweet if not a miniature disaster. Going back over to his collapsed lover, he tapped her on the shoulder.
"What?"
"You gonna look at me?"
"No"
"Why not?"
"Like hell are you seeing me blush"
"And why are you blushing?" Nero kept his grin to just that, a grin, anything like another laugh would probably result in injury due to their close proximity now "Well?"
"This was supposed to be a surprise, I was supposed to be done ages ago, this was supposed to be easy" was the grumbled reply
"Take it that it didn't work out like that?"
"What was your first clue, genius?"
"Okay, come on, what happened to cause all this?"
Still not looking at him and keeping her head down, Eri just turned her head minutely so her words weren't as muffled.
"Well, first I actually had to find out how to MAKE the fucking thing and have you tried to look for a cook book in this place, and you wonder why we eat so much takeout…"
"Stop stalling"
"Fine, fine, so by the time I'd actually found out what I needed and got everything I then got a call from Lady who I promptly told to piss right off only to get a reply along the lines of I'll come by and teach you some manners to which I replied I'd like to see you try before I blow your fucking head off…don't look at me like that, I was stressed"
"That explains the bullet whizzing past my head, lucky you missed me, you really could've hurt me you know"
An expression of mock hurt crossed Nero's face and although the punch to his arm stung slightly the grin he got in return as Eri lifted her head up and looked at him was worth it.
"Shut up jackass, you'd be fine and we both know it"
"I don't know, I do bruise easy don't you know, anyway you were saying"
"Oh yeah, anyway, the whole thing bubbled down to one problem…I've never actually…well, made the effort to do anything like this before"
"What, cooking?"
"Celebrating someone's birthday…I know Dante looked after me all these years but he's never been a birthday person and to be honest I've never really cared enough about anyone else to try…so my cake making abilities are somewhat lacking"
"Well it looked pretty good to me"
"That one cooking right now…that's attempt number 25"
"Oh…right"
"Yeah"
"Look, thank you, seriously, I know you said that you've had someone that you cared enough about and the truth is I've never had someone care enough about me before anyway, so really all this is just…it's great"
"Happy birthday, Nero"
"I know I totally don't say this enough but you know I love you, right?"
"Yeah, I know, I love you too, and by the way, you say it enough for me"
As Nero's hand slid other the table over to gently grasp his lover's hand, he finally noticed something…off about her attire.
"Wait a sec…is that mine?" he asked, gesturing to the familiar looking t-shirt
"Yep"
"Why are you wearing my clothes for this?"
"I knew I'd get dirty"
"So, your solution is to wear my clothes?"
"Yep"
"Gee, thanks, go on and changed so I can throw all that in the laundry"
"You want it? Then you have to come and get it"
"That a challenge"
An answering grin was the only warning Nero got as Eri tore out of the room, giggling manically. He was hot on her heels seconds later though. Okay, so maybe there were worse ways to spend your birthday then chasing your bonkers girlfriend around your house trying to wrestle her out of her filthy clothes so the two of you could spend a pleasant evening together…yep, worse ways indeed.