Chapter 5: The first morning
When Dante entered his bedroom, he didn't bother to turn on the light. He knew exactly where everything was, he enjoyed the darkness of it. He undressed down to his boxer briefs, made his way over to the bed and threw himself onto it. He was tired. The whole day was stressful for him but in a different kind of way. A new, good way. He didn't expect just being around Nero again and spending a day trying to make a good impression to be this exhausting.
He couldn't believe the way he was acting that day.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" Dante said to himself.
'I usually barely even pay for my own pizza, now I'm paying for whatever he wants? And I'M the one offering it? I even offered… no, practically forced him to stay here! Hell, I've even been observing him a little too closely, I'm going crazy…'
Dante knew just how out of character he was acting. This wasn't his usual carefree, no-fucks-given persona. He cared.
'Shit, this could be bad.'
He ran his palms across his face and turned around, trying as hard as he could not to think about Nero and fell asleep shortly after.
._._._._.
Dante was woken up by the sun gently peeking through his bedroom window, sun rays falling on his skin. He covered his face with his hand, the bright direct sunlight feeling painful to wake up to.
'Ah, crap, what time is it?'
He glanced at the old clock on his bedside and quickly sat up when he noticed it was already well past 11 in the morning. He grabbed his clothes off the side of the bed where he left them the previous evening and made his way out the bedroom once he was dressed.
He walked to the railing and looked down, stopping in surprise to see Nero still asleep motionlessly on the couch. He leaned on the railing and observed for a bit, the corners of his mouth turning into a soft smile. He watched the covers that were completely hiding Nero from Dante's sight slowly rise and fall.
'Damn, I wonder when he's last had a good night's sleep.'
Dante walked downstairs quietly and sat down at the desk, letting Nero sleep for as long as he needed to. He deserved some rest after a rough bunch of days.
._._._._.
Nero awoke to a pleasant smell of coffee and stretched, unsure of where exactly he was before he remembered the previous day.
Dante noticed the movement under the covers and smiled.
"That couch must be really uncomfortable."
Nero groaned in response. "It really is."
He sat up, pushing the covers down into his lap. He ran a hand through his slightly messy hair, trying to fix it at least a little bit to look the best he could, it felt like a subconscious move he made around people. He wore a dark blue T-shirt that was just a tad too big for him.
"How do you handle all this leather. It's the least comfortable material there is," Nero said, pointing at the couch's surface.
Dante laughed, "Says the guy who wears denim everything."
He got up from his table and walked over to Nero, handing him the cup of coffee he had prepared for him earlier.
"How did you sleep?"
Nero took the cup, holding it with both hands. "Honestly? That was the best sleep I've had in months."
Dante crossed his arms smiled, their eyes met.
"Well, minus the couch," Nero added while taking a big sip of the coffee.
"Can't say I didn't offer you the bed," Dante teased back, walking over to the table and picking up a piece of paper. "I got a call while you were asleep, sounds like a bunch of demons decided to show up around town. You in?" Dante looked back at Nero over the shoulder, the younger one nodding back in his direction.
"Hell yeah, I am." Nero got up from the couch, grabbed his bag and headed for the bathroom, placing his already empty coffee cup on Dante's table while passing by.
Dante hated to admit this, but as Nero passed him wearing nothing but the oversized T-shirt and boxers that emphasized his features perfectly, his eyes followed. He got a pretty good glance, checking the younger one out, thinking to himself. 'For fuck's sake, contain yourself. Damn.' He mentally shook his head, looked down at the paper again, trying to distract himself from the intrusive thoughts. Finally, Nero disappeared from his field of view and closed the door behind him. Dante sighed, running a hand through his hair. 'This is gonna to be a long day.'