The next time Nero awoke, he knew exactly where he was. He also knew exactly what had just happened and his relatively small body was beginning to feel the effects.
Stiff and tired, he sat up and checked to see if Dante was asleep. The devil hunter was out cold, his arms wrapped around Nero's waist and his head resting on the boy's leg. Nero sighed and stroked Dante's hair fondly before slipping off the bed and standing, wrapping a sheet around him like before. His plan was to find his clothes and sneak away quietly, but he had forgotten about one thing.
The chain.
The goddamned, unbreakable, devil-proof chain.
Shit.
"Dante," Nero hissed, shaking his new partner. "Wake up, moron."
"W-whu-whyyy?" Dante yawned, stretching.
"I need you to get me my clothes."
"Why?"
"So I can leave," Nero growled. Wasn't it obvious?
"Why don't you just stay here?" Dante asked, pulling on the chain so that Nero had to sit on the bed beside him. "It's almost evening, anyway."
"Wait, we've been in here all day?"
"Yup."
"Crap!" Nero jumped up and tried to break the chain with his abnormal hand. "Come on! I have to find Kyrie!"
"What for?" Dante asked.
"To explain . . . explain . . . last night," Nero's voice trailed off when he realized that he had no way of explaining it. What would he say? "Oh, hi, honey. Sorry about how I ditched you last night. You see, I was upstairs getting fucked in my sleep."? Yeah, that would go over real well.
"Well, then I guess we had better find Trish," Dante sighed, rolling off the bed and looking under it. Nero tried not to look at Dante's naked body, but found it very difficult to ignore.
"Here," said the larger of the two, tossing Nero his clothes. "Let's get dressed."
It was an experience, getting dressed while being chained to another man who was also getting dressed. The way Dante kept manipulating the chain to force the still naked Nero into some very awkward positions ("I call this one 'riding the pony'!") wasn't helping either, but they eventually got their clothes on.
"I still think we should have taken a shower before going out," Dante muttered as Nero locked the door behind them. Sighing, the boy turned and put his hands on Dante's shoulders. It was a stretch, but he managed.
"Look, Dante, last night--and this morning--didn't happen." Nero explained. "The story is that you collapsed on me, and you didn't wake up until just now."
"And the handcuffs?"
"We stick to the truth on that: I tried to chain you to the bed, but it backfired."
"And then we had flaming hot man sex, to Janet's* pleasure and amusement."
"Who the hell is Jan--wait, No. No. We. Did. Not."
Dante laughed and nuzzled Nero's human ear. "Kid, once the maid cleans those sheets, everyone in town will know. You can't deny it."
"I can too!"
Dante rolled his eyes and tugged on the chain, leading the neko down the stairs and into the lobby. "Okay, whatever."
The walk to the Devil May Cry was uneventful, mainly because Dante had retreated into an icy silence. Nero assumed that he was upset about the whole "denial" thing. He felt bad about being so mean about it, but didn't say anything.
Trish wasn't at the shop. Actually, the old building was absolutely empty. Dante grabbed a magazine off his desk and plopped down on the couch, dragging Nero along with him.
The younger sat with a decent distance between the two of them. He removed his cap and pretended to be very interested in it. After a moment's silence, he asked, "Will Trish be upset?"
"Nah," Dante shrugged. "She doesn't really care what I do."
"Oh." That was good. Nero didn't really want to be on the receiving end of Trish's fury. After another silent minute, he said, "I'm sorry I'm being so . . . difficult."
"Don't worry about it," Dante grinned. He didn't look away from his magazine, but put an arm around Nero's shoulder. "It takes some getting used to."
Nero nodded and carefully rested his head against Dante's shoulder. He didn't know how the man would react, so he hesitated before totally relaxing. "When do you think Trish will be in?"
"I don't know," Dante admitted, pulling Nero closer and putting an arm around him. "She just comes and goes."
"How long until she gets here, do you think?"
Dante smirked. "Why? What do you want?"
"Well, I mean, if," Nero, blushing, stammered and tried to find the words, his voice growing smaller and smaller as he said, "If you still want to take that shower . . ."
Dante's eyes lit up and he kissed Nero's cheek. "You're so silly. No, let's not do that here. My shower isn't the best place for--"
The doors swung open and Trish entered before Dante could finish his sentence. Subconsciously, Nero had filled in the blank with "sex." Trish did a double take when she saw the boys snuggled up on the couch, but then crossed her arms and gave them a look that plainly said, "Okay, what's the story?"
Dante took control of the situation immediately. Standing, he held up his arm to show her the handcuffs and said, "To put it simply: Nero and I had a little accident last night."
"Is that so? I'm surprised you didn't break his back," Trish rolled her eyes and wandered over to the desk.
"Eh, well, I went easy on him," Dante looked over and winked at Nero. This was a lie and they both knew it.
"Right," Trish said. "Now you want me to give you the key so you can get on with your separate lives, hm?"
"Well, I wouldn't say totally separate," Dante laughed and pulled Nero into a hug.
The young man fought his way out of Dante's grip and said to Trish, "I need to get away from this creep so I can go talk to Kyrie."
Trish's face darkened and she sighed, "You really upset her last night, you know. She went home with Credo right after you . . . made an ass of yourself."
"Shit," Nero kicked at the ground, returning to his little emo state of mind. "Will you unlock us so I can go talk to her and explain?"
Trish thought about it for a painful moment, but finally said, "No. I don't think I will." It was more for her own amusement then for Kyrie's benefit, but she would be going with the latter when asked.
"What? Why not!?" Nero exploded. "What the hell is your problem!?"
"You need to tell Kyrie the truth. If I let you go, you'll probably ditch Dante and make up some stupid lie to win her back. Now you'll have to take Dante with you and tell the full truth," Trish explained, quite proud of herself for thinking that little lie up so quickly.
"That . . . that . . . that's insane," Nero gasped, deflating. He couldn't see anyway around it. "But you'll be inconveniencing Dante, too!"
"So?" Trish asked, just as Dante hugged Nero from behind and said, "Actually, I don't mind this set up."
"Shut up, then!" Nero hissed. "You're not helping!"
"So go apologize to Kyrie, Nero," Trish instructed, casually sitting on Dante's desk. "Then I'll let you go, alright?"
"You . . . you suck . . . you SUCK." Nero whispered, shaking with rage. Dante hugged him tighter and he had to admit that it was comforting. Annoying as all hell, but comforting.
"Don't get rude," Trish said, turning her back on them to signal that the conversation was over. "Just do it."
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*"Janet" is the person who requested this story :P