A/N: This is kind of a light romance story. AU, no lemons, but I rated it M for alcohol usage, adult themes, and language. What can I say? Dante's language is rough. No definite spot timeline-wise, because of the AU, but you'll should get the gist. It is a complete story, with three chapters. Tell me what you think. ;P
Naturally, Capcom owns these guys and their world. *sigh*
Kindred Spirits
"No."
Vergil's tone was flat and almost dangerous with the refusal.
Dante was undeterred.
"Tell you what, Verge, I'll flip a coin. Heads, you go. Tails, I go and let you get back to stroking your books."
Vergil half grinned; he knew what kind of abysmal luck Dante had with even the simplest of bets.
"Deal."
Dante flipped, caught the coin deftly, and showed it to Vergil.
Heads.
Vergil frowned; Dante grinned.
"Don't worry, Verge! It's just down the street, you'll love the place!"
"Not that wretched strip club."
Dante pouted, feigning hurt. "Vergil, you wound me. We'll go to a bar, not the club, I promise."
Vergil made a disgusted noise somewhere between a grunt and a snort.
They were sitting at the bar, but only Dante was drinking. Vergil was stubbornly sitting, impatiently waiting for this night to be over.
"Come on, Verge, don't make me drink alone."
"You're hardly drinking alone, little brother. You have two woman sitting with you crudely and wantonly vying for your attention."
One of the said women tittered, primly covering her mouth as she did so, although Vergil wondered why she bothered considering how she covered so very little else. The other looked somewhat affronted. Vergil was holding out some small hope for her intelligence. Dante shook his head somewhat dramatically.
"Just goes to show you that identical twins really can be complete opposites, right, ladies?"
He winked roguishly; Vergil felt the human urge to vomit.
"Aww, Verge, I know you're just jealous because I have all the charm."
Vergil snorted. "A useless tactic for the sole purpose of procreating."
Both of the women tittered this time, causing his opinion of the second woman to zero out.
"You know, Verge, if you don't remove that stick from up your ass, the ladies are going to believe you're gay." His eyes twinkled with mirth. "Then again, maybe having a gay twin will improve my popularity with the other ladies in the room."
Vergil eyed his twin, suddenly quite tired of Dante's shallow persona.
"Dante, I'll pay you the compliment of asking why you insist on playing the fool for the sake of two human women who are only interested in your face and body, if you'll allow me to remove myself from this farce and go home."
Dante grew suddenly serious.
"Maybe I feel the need to lighten up every once in a while, Vergil. Try it."
He grinned again, raising the bottle and sloshing its contents. "Have a drink. You'll feel a lot better about that stick."
"Absolutely not, Dante. Stay with your entertainment if you must, I'm leaving."
He moved to do so, but Dante caught his arm. One of the women spoke up.
"Aww, come on, if your no-fun brother wants to go, let him. We'll share you."
Looking at the two women far more seriously than he had all night, Dante replied, "How about he just stays and you ladies find someone else to share."
Offended at the rejection, they abruptly stood and stalked away from the twins. Vergil looked down at his brother in confusion.
"Why did you do that? You spend half our time here flirting with two females who were obviously interested in sharing your bed, just to send them away?"
Dante smiled, a genuine one, not his usual cocky grin.
"Any babes who don't want to spend time with my brother aren't worth the bother. Besides, there are plenty of others willing to do me the same service."
Vergil sat down on the stool, clearly nonplussed.
"Tell you what, Verge, how about we flip a coin again. Heads, you have a drink with me. Tails, we head home right now."
Vergil arched an eyebrow. "No human floozies?"
"No females at all, floozy or not."
"Fine."
Dante flipped the coin, letting it land on the bar between them. It was heads. Vergil swore rather colorfully. Dante chuckled.
"I've got just the thing to wash the bad taste out of your mouth, bro."
He got a double shot glass from the bartender and poured it full for his brother. Vergil grimaced, but drank the entire glass.
Half an hour later, Dante had another bottle of Jack at the bar, though the two of them had split most of it already. He poured Vergil another double and signaled to the bartender to get yet another bottle. Vergil was already more-than-a-little sloshed, but threw back the double with abandon.
"Here, Verge, can you pour us both another? I have need of the facilities."
He grinned as he watched his soused older twin very carefully fill his own glass, down its contents, then refill it.
When someone sat back down only a moment later, Vergil pushed Dante's shot glass, newly refilled, in that direction.
"That was fast. The way you spoke, I thought you were going to screw some woman."
"I beg pardon?"
Vergil looked over sharply at the woman now seated next to him.
"Sorry. I thought you were my brother."
"Oh! Is this seat taken, then? I'm sorry."
She moved to hop off of the seat, but Vergil grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
"Please. I prefer your company to that of my ridiculous twin."
"Well, if you're sure he won't mind..."
Vergil snorted. "As I said, I thought he'd gone to a liaison."
"I see. Does he often?"
"Not as often as he brags about, I'm sure."
She giggled, which Vergil found strangely attractive.
"Maybe I should leave, then. I'd hate to give your...twin, you said? Reason to believe I'd go for a knee-knocker." She giggled again. "Then again, if he's as good-looking as you are, maybe that's not such a bad idea."
"He resembles me. We're identical, but I'm elder."
He put back another double.
"So, do you come here often?"
Vergil snorted. "No. He dragged me here, and insisted I drink. I lost a coin toss."
"Wow, that's harsh, but if you want to quit or go home, why don't you?"
Vergil looked at her. She was pretty: brown hair, green eyes, sharp features. He suddenly wanted to hear her giggle again, watch her mouth as she spoke. He smiled at her. Her eyes grew a little wide, and he remembered that most humans thought his smile was dangerous looking. She cocked her head at an angle, her eyes roaming his face. The thought aroused him, but instead of shifting around uncomfortably or looking away, he focused on her, almost daring her to notice. When her eyes locked on his again, he deliberately looked downward into his lap. Her eyes followed, and she blushed, looking back to the shot in front of her. He grinned, only vaguely wondering what was wrong with him.
"You're gonna be all offended, but when you smiled, you kind of looked like some sort of walking death, you know like a really hot Grim Reaper. And your eyes, they're like this icy blue, like glaciers and icebergs. But then you made me look in your lap like, like some horny teenage boy."
She laughed, a sharp ringing sound that was surprisingly more interesting and arousing than her girly giggles. "You know, I'm really bad at this whole socializing/flirting thing. That's why my girlfriends drag me out of the apartment. Usually kicking and screaming."
"I know the feeling, my foolish little brother did the same to me. He's trying to get laid, I know it. He insisted on bringing me merely to use me as a foil for his sense of humor."
"Wow. At least my friends leave me to my own devices." She laughed again. "Although their usual comment is 'Leaving you to your own devices would be fine, except they're always doomsday devices.' Aren't they a riot?"
Vergil found himself smiling again. "Are you a mad scientist, then?"
"No, just one of those morbid freaks who like researching murderers, psychos, and torture devices. See, if my friends thought about it, they could say, 'except they're always torture devices', which would be just as funny, but more accurate."
Her eyes grew shiny. "I have schematics for some real classics, as well as some from various media, and even some little working models..." She trailed off, frowning at herself. "I bet you don't want to hear all this. At this point, my last few blind dates all suddenly remembered they had pressing engagements. To other women."
Vergil half smiled and shook his head. "No, I find this fascinating, please continue."
Her face shone with delight as she continued about her collection. A thought occurred to him.
"I have a book regarding the intricate devices used in the legendary Temen-ni-gru. I'm sure you would find it to your liking."
"Oooh, really? I would love to see that!"
When Dante returned from the bathroom, he found Vergil chatting animatedly with some small brunette. Vergil was drawing something with his finger, and she was paying close attention, nodding periodically. When he stopped, he said something that made her laugh, and she playfully swatted his shoulder. Dante expected Vergil to react poorly to that, but instead, he watched as his brother captured her hand. She tried to pull away, only to have him grin at her and waggle his other index finger at her. Dante had never seen his twin so flirty. The bottle of Jack was slowly disappearing between the two of them. He grinned to himself, then strolled up to them.
"Who's your friend, Verge?"
Vergil scowled at the arrival of his brother and released the woman's hand abruptly.
"Oh! Are you the ridiculous younger twin?"
Vergil laughed, and was it merely Dante's imagination, or did his twin's eyes rove over the young lady's heaving breasts as she laughed, too?
Vergil was waiting for his admittedly much more easygoing and charming twin to capture her attention. Dante grinned in a way Vergil could only suppose was called 'winningly'.
"Name's Dante. This is my evil twin, Vergil."
She laughed again, but Vergil scowled at his rather foolish twin.
"Aw, Dante, evil twins are people, too, you know."
She turned back to Vergil, who perked up at her subtle slight at Dante's expense.
"I guess I'd better let your brother have his seat and drink back. It was nice to meet you, Vergil. I guess your folks liked Italian poetry, huh?"
"It has an 'e', instead of an 'i'."
She smiled. "Vergil with an 'e', huh? Bet it looks better that way. Mine almost sounds like a Mary Pseudonym. 'James Grace Lee Black', but I like it. 'Sides, I usually just go by Jim, anyways."
Vergil wrinkled his nose.
"That's a very masculine name for a very pretty female."
Dante blinked at him in surprise, but she laughed, the ringing sound arousing him again.
"That's the first time I've heard that in such a complimentary light, Vergil. I'm not sure if you're blind drunk, hard-up, or just being kind, but I'll humor you. How about you think of something better suited for a 'very pretty female'?"
"Grazia. Since you like Italian poetry."
She shook her head, but she was smiling and her face had a slight blush.
"I like Inferno, but I read it in English. My foreign language skills are erratic, mostly concerning very naughty things, or words I researched for my flaky writing projects. But I like it. Well, good night, then, guys. It was nice to meet you."
She hopped off the stool, but Vergil caught her arm.
"Wait. I would like it if you came home with me."
She blushed, her eyes wide again.
"I find myself very attracted to you."
He looked down again, wanting to see how flushed her face would become. He grinned at the answer - very.
"Okay. Why not? Let me tell my friends, okay? That way when you do turn out to be some evil psycho killer, they can i.d. you to the cops."
She smiled brightly, then rushed to a darker corner of the bar.
"Well, well, Verge, way to go. I don't think she believed me about the evil twin bit, though."
Vergil scowled at his brother. "Ridiculous. It has been years since I tried to join the human and demon worlds. My goals have shifted."
"Yeah, apparently towards diminutive brunettes. Not that I blame you Verge, she's a cutie. I didn't expect the soft, feminine type to be your thing, but considering how you feel about Lady and Trish, maybe it's not so surprising."
"If you knew what she knows about death, torture, and pain, you wouldn't believe she was soft and feminine."
Vergil smirked, enjoying the confused look on his twin's face. She bounded back over towards the white-haired men and leaned into Vergil. They left together and Dante sat back at the bar, musing.
Lady plopped onto the stool his brother had vacated. Dante poured her a double, but she shook her head.
"You know, I thought I just saw Vergil walk by chatting, chatting, with some bubbly brunette about someone called Johann Philipp Siebenkees, whoever that is. I don't think I need any of your rotgut."
Dante pushed the drink back towards her.
"You did. I brought Vergil here, got him to knock back a few, left to answer nature's call, came back to see them flirting. She was going to leave, but he asked her home, instead."
Lady downed the double and jerked the glass, indicating she needed another. He poured it and watched her drain it before she spoke again.
"How did you even get him out of the shop?"
Dante grinned. "I won the coin toss."
Lady shook her head, and they quietly finished the bottle and its brother.
Dante helped Lady home, then slipped into the shop. He walked up to Vergil's door, but didn't hear anything. He shrugged, then went into his own room. He grinned to himself. He fished the coin out of his pocket, giving it a flip. Both sides of the coin had Trish's silhouette - heads. This night had been fun.