A/N: Hey guys! So I had a busy weekend, some of you who follow me regularly seem to know that I tend to take the weekend off, but for those of you who don't, I usually take the weekend off, not only from fanfiction, but from my original work as well. It gives my brain time to recharge, not to mention I tend to have full weekends… Plus everyone's having their grad parties on the weekends and I'm just like "AAAAHHHHHH!" workworkworkgradpartygradpartygradparty…. Yup, those are my weekends and when I'm not doing that I'm like, "Ian! I'm gonna use you as a pillow, kay?" Yup. Anyway, enough about my boring life, on to the chapter!

Disclaimer: Do we ever see Nero at age ten? No.

Secret Identity

Nero was at his locker, putting his stuff in his backpack when Mitch approached him, the blonde carrying his own worn looking backpack.

"Hey Mitch," the preteen was deftly managing with one hand, it was habit for him to avoid using the bandaged one, whether he could or not. People tended to have fewer suspicions if he didn't use it as often.

"Hey Nero, um… well, I just wanted to know if you wanted to come over to my house for awhile, my mom always makes a really good snack and it's kinda my fault you didn't get as much lunch…"

"Is it okay with your mom?" the white haired boy looked to his new friend in surprise; the boy must be lonely if he was inviting the new kid over to his house on the first day.

"Oh yeah, she runs a daycare during the day, she won't mind. Is it okay with your family if you come?" Nero didn't think Dante would care that much if he went over to Mitch's so he just nodded. He could take care of himself.

"Yeah."

"I walk here, that okay with you?"

"Yeah, I did too." By this time, the partial devil had finished putting his stuff in his backpack and Mitch grabbed his hand with a grin, pulling him down the hallway.

It was a short walk and the blond was practically skipping in front of him, Nero wondered why he didn't have many friends, not that he himself had many but the white haired boy was okay with being a loner. Mitch on the other hand… he seemed nice enough, maybe a little shy, maybe a little too eager to please but that didn't seem like a reason for his classmates to leave him out. Perhaps he was just an easy target, the slayer's son thought.

"It's right here!" the other boy pointed the cream colored house with a lawn full of toys and playthings meant for children years their younger. Mitch knocked on the door and walked in, calling out.

"I'm home mom! I brought a friend over!"

"I'm in the kitchen Mitch! Could you grab Betsy's blanket on your way in? I think it's in the hallway." The blond snagged a worn baby blanket and led the way, Nero still in tow. In the kitchen there was a small picnic table with a few toddlers sitting at it, snacks in front of them; hugging Mrs. Galvan's leg was a small girl.

"Oh thank you Mitch!" the woman turned from the sink where she'd been washing another apple and paused when she saw Nero before handing the blanket to the distressed girl and sending her over to the table.

"Hi!" she greeted cheerily "Mitchel, aren't you going to introduce your friend?"

"Mom, this is Nero Redgrave, he just started at our school today."

"Nero Redgrave huh? That's an interesting name."

"Redgrave is my father's last name, he's also where I got the white hair." Nero piped up.

"Are you parents divorced? I'm sorry that was rude, forgive me." Mrs. Galvan shook her head

"It's fine," Nero grinned lightly, she was nice "I never knew my mother, I was raised in an orphanage, they only recently located my father and now I'm staying with him."

"You must be used to this kind of thing then?" Mitch's mother gestured to the toddlers who were either occupied with their food or staring at the boy with the bright hair. Nero blushed and rubbed at his nose.

"Yeah, it's pretty familiar."

"Well! You boys are probably hungry and I won't keep you around the boring old lady anymore. Here," she handed them a plate piled with apple slices and a huge gob of peanut butter "go on, go play, shoo!" she ushered them out of the kitchen, both the boys thanking her and running off to Mitch's room. Once there backpacks were tossed to the floor and shoes were toed off.

"Your mom aways ike that?" Nero managed around a mouthful of apple.

"Yeah," Mitch chuckled, taking a slice for himself. "Hey uh Nero, you have peanut butter on your bandages." He pointed to the white haired boy's forearm.

"Crap!" the partial devil wiped at it, only succeeding in smearing it across the white gauze. It didn't help that he'd managed to get it right over the large glowing mark, the place that got the hottest.

"I think we have bandages, you can change it out if you want."

"Uh, nah, I'll just wait until I get home." Nero waved his hands in front of himself. "It's fine, really." He didn't need Mitch finding out about his arm, especially on the first day he met him.

"Alright, hey, do you play video games?" the partial devil inwardly sighed, that was a disaster that didn't need to happen, he needed to be more careful!

"No, I wish though, the orphanage didn't have a consol; they didn't want us all fighting over it."

"Man, I just got Mario Party 10, you gotta play!"

"Okay."

The afternoon was spent playing games, at which Nero picked up very quickly, much to Mitch's disappointment. When Mrs. Galvan told them that dinner would be soon, the preteen paled, had that much time really passed?

"I gotta go! My dad's probably gonna kill me!" Nero jumped off the bed, snagged his shoes and backpack, and bolted down the stairs.

"Thanks for having me!" he shouted to Mitch's mother before taking off out the door.

A/N: Next chapter we'll get to see Dante again! Finally! And what his reaction will be to Nero just kinda doin his own thing!

Till next time,

-Winged Element