Chapter 6: Stay

They've been driving around the city for about an hour now. Dante explained to Nero that the caller spotted several lesser demons all around town in smaller groups so they just drove from one location to the other, taking them out and moving to the next spot, both not saying too much to one another.

Dante was trying to keep his mind and eyes off of Nero, and Nero was not too sure about what to say, what to talk about with the older hunter. He already felt intrusive by staying at the office, he didn't also want to annoy Dante with pointless chat. So, minus the occasional comment, they spent most of the car rides in silence.

Dante was the first to speak after a long pause.

"So," he started.

"Where were you planning on going once you left Fortuna?" He didn't want to pester Nero with personal questions, but he was interested nonetheless.

Nero froze for a bit. He knew he couldn't just tell the truth directly, as he already lied about it when he was first picked up by Dante.

'Oh, I don't know, I didn't plan on finding you for months now or anything. I definitely didn't agree with Kyrie when she told me what I needed most was to go look for you, the one person I know who's part demon like myself. And I for sure did not look you up and consider asking you to stay with you and learn from you in the first place. Not at all.'

Just thinking about this made him embarrassed. His cheeks flushed red and he looked out the window, pretending to recall his plan.

"I had a few places in mind. I was gonna look for the cheapest apartment and settle in, for starters." He had no idea how to continue since anything but finding Dante made no sense.

"Then, well… I'd look for any demonic activity, see if anyone needed my help. I figured maybe I'd bump into you, ask you for some advice and all that..."

He immediately regret saying that, it was as bad as just straight up telling Dante the truth.

Hearing Nero's words genuinely surprised Dante. Hearing that he was, in fact, part of his plan all along. The end goal, even. He smiled.

"Well, what do you know. You skipped the middle man entirely."

Nero paused for a bit. "Not really. I just mixed up the order of things. I found you, now I just have to find myself an apartment."

He felt uneasy saying that as he really wished he didn't have to leave the office. But at the same time, he didn't want to just stay there without Dante being the one to ask him to stay. The pressure in his chest was getting stronger, he really didn't want to have this talk right then and there. At least not until he found an apartment he could pretend to want to move into. Then, when he'd bring it up and Dante would ask him to stay at the office, he'd smoothly agree to stay, probably having thought of some clever excuse about the benefits of sharing the place or some shit.

Dante interrupted his thought process.

"... Something wrong with my place?"

He genuinely wanted to know why Nero kept going on about leaving.

Nero's heart skipped a beat or six as the weight lifted off his chest, Dante's words being exactly what he wanted to hear but he absolutely hated admitting it. He finally looked at Dante, the blush still very much present on his cheeks.

"...What? No! Of course not."

"Well then. You skipped the middle man. You're settled. " Dante gave him a warm smile, trying to be convincing. Nero was staying there, like it or not.

Nero paused again, unsure of what to say next. He looked down in embarrassment, clearly having trouble maintaining eye contact in awkward situations.

"... I guess I am." He scratched his nose and Dante knew exactly how Nero felt, recognizing that particular move he always made.

Dante noticed that Nero was finally smiling, even if just a little bit. He could tell Nero wanted to stay and just wanted to be polite about it.

"I know the couch isn't the greatest, but we'll figure it out, alright? Now stop worrying about that." Their eyes met again. All he wanted was to reassure Nero that he was wanted there. By Dante. A lot. Maybe too much.

"I wasn't worried," Nero laughed back.

"Yeah, right. It was written all over your face," Dante messed with him to lighten the mood.

Nero rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

They laughed it off, both glad that it was finally out of the way so they could relax and continue on with what was left of the job.