Dante's hair is still shedding little droplets of water when he returns to his perch on the couch. He's clad in nothing but a pair of jeans and the cool air inside Devil May Cry feels nice on his freshly clean skin. Nero only turns his attention from the T.V. when Dante slings his legs over the kid's lap. He does nothing to protest, just lets his eyes wander over his roommate's body and directs them back at the movie.

"What's happening?" Dante asks watching as a flurry of images whips by on the screen.

"The kid saw the tape," Nero replies, absentmindedly ripping a hangnail from his human thumb.

"Shit, her son?" The blonde lady on the screen is clutching the child to her chest, looking hysterical.

"Yeah,"

It's Dante's first time seeing The Ring, not really being a huge fan of horror movies in the first place. He sees scary shit like that on a regular basis, so he doesn't really have any desire to spend his free time looking at more scary shit. But Nero likes it, so he humors him once in a while. Really though, a video tape that kills you in seven days? How about a six-legged demon that tries to kill you right now, cause Dante has dealt with those more times than he can count.

He's almost a little bit into the plot when there's a knock at the door. Before Nero has a chance to ask if he's expecting anyone, the elder hunter is already opening the door and ripping a pizza box out of the delivery boy's hands.

"That'll be 14.75," the kid stammers.

Dante grumbles something about a shakedown and reaches his free hand into his pocket. He pulls out a fistful of wadded dollar bills and practically throws them at him before slamming the door shut.

"But wait- this isn't-!" Comes a muffled protest but it falls on a pair of deaf ears.

"Jesus, Dante." Nero huffs and heaves himself off the couch. He opens the door and the delivery boy is still standing there looking lost. He takes his wallet out of his back pocket and pays him the difference as well as a generous tip which he hopes will act as a decent apology for his companion's dickish behavior. The boy splutters a quick 'thank you' and high-tails it to his car.

Dante is already stuffing the last half of a slice into his mouth and Nero wonders how he ever finds this idiot attractive.

"You want some?" He asks with a mouthful of food.

"No." He can't put his finger on it, but something on that pizza smells weird. Though he knows Dante will eat just about anything, especially if it's smothered in cheese, his own standards are a little higher.

"You shouldn't have given that dude your money." He hears Dante say behind him. He's only half listening as he resituates himself on the old couch. "It doesn't even taste that good."

You're still eating it, though. Nero thinks to himself.

Seemingly satisfied, four slices later, Dante returns to the movie. He sits with his legs dangling over an armrest and his head centered on Nero's lap. Said half-devil is too caught up in the famous crawling-out-of-the-T.V. scene to make a snappy comment. Dante looks up at his face- a weird grimace on his lips with his pale eyebrows knitted together.

"Is this actually scary to you?" He asks with a laugh as Samara slithers her way towards the photographer guy on screen.

"No," the smaller hybrid replies though the tormented look on his face never fades.

Dante snorts. "If that bitch tried to crawl out of my television, she'd have lead in her skull before she even made it all the way out."

"She's a ghost, what good would bullets do?"

"Demon bullets, Baby, demon bullets."

While Nero's certainly an incredibly strong creature for being only half devil, he knows he has nothing on Dante. He can charge a bullet with his demonic power but unlike his companion, he can't simply fabricate them with it.

It's only 8:20 when the credits roll and Nero's hopping up to put something else in.

"There's more?" Dante asks, disinterested. He'd been going along with the horror movie marathon since noon. He's thinking that sticking his head in the toilet sounds more appealing now than watching another two hours of bumbling white people make dumb decisions in perilous situations. Once you've seen one Scream you've seen them all. And these English remakes of foreign movies are just... awful.

"C'mon, it's The Grudge. It's good." The intro is already playing and he knows if he doesn't leave now he'll feel obligated to stay. "Don't tell me it's your bedtime already, old man."

Dante sighs through his nose and stands up, Nero's eyes on him. "Sorry, kid. I'm beat." He actually does mean that and going to bed a little early does sound pretty good. There's nothing like a day of doing nothing to help you rest easy.

"See you when you come up?" He offers.

"Yeah," Nero replies, his face a little sad.

A while later, Nero's still watching the movie. Kayako is creeping down the stairs, her limbs looking bent and entirely unnatural. He knows it's all fake obviously, but he still catches himself stealing a glance at the staircase to his left. He admits that ever since Dante went upstairs to do... whatever, he can't seem to shake the feeling that he's being watched. The tall, uncurtained windows of Devil May Cry don't help the feeling of exposure. Demon hunter or not, if he sees a face in one of those windows he's going to piss himself. He considers going up to Dante but it's hardly even nine o'clock yet and there's no way in hell that he's going to admit he's scared.

The halfbreed doesn't realize he's fallen asleep on the couch until he wakes up and the ceiling is moving above him. The T.V. is hissing static and the heels of his boots are dragging against the wood floor. He realizes in a panic that he's being dragged, by the hood of his jacket, no less, through the front door of Devil May Cry which is propped open for some reason. There's something tightening around his throat as he goes to scream. His breath is punched out of his lungs as his back slams into the steps outside- once. Twice. Three times, and now he feels gravel underneath him.

His eyes are darting around but it's nighttime and he just woke up and the light from his devil bringer is obscuring his vision because it's so fucking bright right now. He hears the click of a safety being switched off and then there's a silver barrel aimed just below his sternum. The hybrid knows that getting shot won't kill him since his healing abilities are incredibly efficient but it'll still hurt. And besides that, he's pissed off and scared and for once he admits that he's a little more scared than anything else. All of his weapons are up in Dante's room- all he has is his Devil Bringer and he's still disoriented, and anyway how is Dante not here already? No doubt he should have been able to hear the fucking doors open or the sound of Nero's body being dragged across the floor; at the very least he should be able to smell that Nero isn't inside anymore.

The constriction around Nero's throat tightens and his foggy vision blurs at the edges and he's struggling to get air into his lungs. He's choking on nothing when he hears the shot and pain rolls through his body like a tidal wave.

Though his arms are tingling and he can't really feel his fingers anymore, he brings his human hand up to meet the wound. Blood blooms up through his shirt and jacket. With faltering focus, Nero tries to will the bullet out of his skin so he can heal and stop the bleeding. When he feels warmth soak through the waistband of his pants though, he knows something's horribly wrong.

He's only slightly aware that his body is still moving against the ground because the sound of it is very far away and he can feel his deafening pulse pounding in his ears. Dante's voice comes to him then, "Demon bullets, Baby, demon bullets."

Nero becomes dead weight.