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Vergil comes and attacks him for Yamato, but this time Nero fends him off. Then realizes that Yamato yearns, and this stranger looks like Dante. He already knows Dante is supposed to have a dead brother, but wtf is going on? So he just, tosses Vergil over his shoulder
Vergil snarls and hisses and Nero is like, jesus for a dying man you fucking hit hard. Vergil keeps making grabs for his arm and Nero sighs and smacks his hands off like a thieving little five year old. eventually nero is like, look I'll give the sword back but you have to calm the fuck down alright? Vergil is all ‘hiiiissssss I'll never comply with’ -coughcoughpuke- down Nero's back. Nero is just, Sigh. He's got a bunch of kids now, he's used to getting puked on by this point. still kinda gross. Dumps vergil in a bed and takes his shirt off
Vergil practically yowls when he does, and gets Nero going 'you fucking puked on me man! Chill!!'
Vergil: whatever you plan on doing, stop planning on it!
Nero: I plan on a fucking shower
Vergil: -growling-
Nero: And I plan on giving the sword back alright?
Vergil: -growling a bit less- really? you would give up yamato just like that?
Nero: She's yours right?
Vergil: ...?
Nero: Yamato wants to go back to you, I can feel it. Dante mentioned she belonged to you too. I'm not a thief y'know.
Vergil: ....
Nero: Just one thing
Vergil: -tenses again- And what, pray tell, would that be?
Nero: Rest here for a bit. At least until you're healed. You look like shit.
Vergil: -laughs, genuinely amused, but bitter-
Nero: What's so funny?
Vergil: You would give me Yamato, to keep me prisoner-
Nero: You're not a prisoner??
Vergil: You would keep me here and let me rot!
Nero: Buddy, you're already rotting from the looks of it
Vergil: -snarls- Give me the Yamato and leave me in peace!
Nero: To what? Die? The fuck are you going to do out there with Yamato?
Vergil: That is none of your concern!
Nero: It kind of is, seeing as you're Dante's brother brother 'n all.
Vergil: So my brother has put you up to this? To what end!?
Nero: I don't know what your issue with Dante is, but he saved my life. The least I can do is help you.
Vergil: My brother.. Wants me dead.
As certain as he seemed of that, Vergil still agreed to stay under the condition that Nero did not tell Dante that he was there. Nero promised to look for a way to heal him too, and gave back Yamato. His heart hurting a little that vergil seemed so surprised about him keeping his word. Still, Vergil sleeps, and though there's a lot of distrust from him still, violence just under the surface, he allows Nero to feed him and occasionally try to clean the dust and cracks and corruption that was once his body.
Introducing Vergil to Nico was an interesting experience. She of course wanted to start studying him immediately and was only held back by Yamato in her face and Nero reminding her that they were here to save him, not turn him into a devil arm. Still, the devil arm comment did get Vergil to loosen up and get curious. He had a deep understanding of making them, and was cautiously willing to trade that information for Nico keeping her hands to herself.
The kids of course were kept away, though they still snuck in to see Vergil. Who, surprisingly, did not act like a total shithead to them. It was clear he had no idea how to interact with a child, but he was far less distrusting of them. He even helped one of the older ones with a book report.
Kyrie was far less enthusiastic about their new house guest. Considering he did try to attack Nero. But though Vergil and Kyrie never really warmed up to each other, she still took him meals and they were polite when Nero was off on a hunting trip.
Hunting trips he took less often these days. The first time he'd left, Vergil managed to shuffle about halfway down the block before any of them noticed he was missing. Chasing him down and dragging him back had been a trial for both men. So now he took fewer jobs and asked for more money from them. He didn't like doing it, (except when they were assholes who tried to cheat him) but with another mouth to feed and (not wanting to be gone too long from Vergil, just in case) it was necessary.
Nero's not sure if Vergil told him about temen-ni-gru to test him, or just to brag but at some point, he learned all about how the brothers fell apart. How Vergil came to be like this. It hurts more than he thought it would, to know he's got a mass murderer in his house. One who doesn't even regret it. But the more he learns about his childhood, Mundus, what happened leading up to temen-ni-gru and Arkham. The more he understands Vergil. He tries not to think about how he's given Vergil back Yamato, he can't take that back now that Vergil's come to trust him. The only way to keep Vergil from doing something that bad, was to make him feel safe here, Nero decides. So he keeps trying to get through to him.
It was almost three months before Vergil finally began to realize they weren't suddenly about to turn around and kill him. It took Nero offering his own blood to help him heal for one of Nico's experiments before he accepted Nero's presence and that nobody wanted him dead. The blood exchanged only helped so much of course, but they were pretty excited that it helped at all.
After she left, Vergil snuck up behind him, grabbed his neck, and nuzzled into it with a big sniff. He wanted to react, but his human side was stunned, his demon thrashed in confusion, in need but unwilling to move. When Vergil lets go, Nero jumps away and slams into the door, and smacks a hand against his nape going what the hell???
Vergil, who's sat heavily back on the bed, explains that Nero's blood should not have worked. Being part human, the two of them should have been incompatible. Demons could consume each other for sure, but human equilibrium required a little more delicacy. The only way they could have actively helped Vergil with his blood, was if they were related in some way.
Nero rubs his neck and admits he's supposed to have the blood of Sparda.
Vergil smirks and states he knows, he could smell their kinship in Nero's scent.
It's the first time Nero's seen him smile, and it's doing things to him. Things it really really shouldn't. So he coughs and turns away, grumbling that Vergil shouldn't act so damn weird about it then. And stays up really late that night thinking about the feeling of Vergil's nose at his nape.
After that, Vergil seems both happier to have Nero around, and also more depressed. The most important thing is that he starts teaching Nero about being a part demon. Self regulation, what reactions relate to what instincts, even how demonic society works. He's not all that interested, at first. But Vergil manages to make hearing about it compelling. And he even learns how to control the devil bringer better. But it's hard to be as happy as he normally would when he sees the way Vergil looks off into the distance wistfully. And when he growls at his ailing, uncooperative body that they've only managed to buy time for.
He tries to find things that make Vergil smile again.
Show him the weapons Nico makes, bring him books and read to him. Help him sit outside when the weather allows and he feels stronger, even chocolate when he can afford it. And these do perk him up for a bit. But then he quiets down and gets all wistful again and Nero can barely stand it. He begs Vergil, was there any way to save him? Any way at all? And is horrified to learn of the quiploth. More horrified that, for a moment, he considers it. Again, he begs for a way to save Vergil, but if there is one, Vergil doesn't know it.
It's not too long after this, that Vergil teaches him one last thing. Nero almost doesn't want to, it feels too final. They make sure to be alone when it happens. Kyrie and Nico at the grocery, kids at school, and Vergil tells him how to awaken his demon. To stand himself with Yamato and think of that power flowing through. What he wants to fight for. It hurts. Of course, he's stabbing himself for fuck's sake. But it works. The devil bursts out. Sees the changes it makes to him. And when the rush is over, and he's human again. All of him is human. His devil bringer is gone.
Seeing his humanity returned to him, the demonic energy finally fully under his control, Nero can't really defend the actions he took next. He was just so happy, so desperate, at the very pleased yet wistful look on Vergil's face. The moment he stalks back to where Vergil is, heart aching at the way he suddenly turns wary, Nero gingerly leans over him in that chair and kisses him full on the lips. Nero means to keep it gentle, keep it chaste, but when he pulls away, Vergil chases. Their teeth clack awkwardly, Nero has to be careful of the taste and feel of skin flakes and blood the kiss brings. But they don't stop. Vergil drags himself to his feet so they're facing each other as they keep kissing. Nero knows he shouldn't- Kyrie, Nico, and the kids will be back soon. They shouldn't see him like this- especially not with Vergil- but the hunger he has, mirrored in the older part demon, makes the rest of the world fall away and Nero gives in to his instincts.
It's difficult to pull away, so they don't, Nero just picks Vergil up and carries him back to Vergil's room. Laying him gently on the bed and stripping the two of them. Vergil tries to help, but Nero kisses him quiet and begs him to let Nero take care of him. It's with reluctance that he does, but he does and Nero takes the victory for what it is. It becomes apparent that, though he's never actually been fingered, Nero is the one with more experience between them. So he opens himself for Vergil's viewing pleasure, then sinks onto his hard cock. Vergil can really only lay back and take their frenzied rutting, careful of his hips, but he still grips and presses into more sensitive places that makes tortured noises leave him. By the end of it, their cum paints each other's bodies, and Nero is laying back, Vergil delicately laying over him. It's only then, does Nero realize just how deeply he's fallen in love with Vergil, and his heart breaks all over again when he wheezes.
It's a long while before Nero gets out of bed and cleans them both off, changes the sheets like nothing happened. Like he didn't just make a huge earth shattering mistake he can never take back but can't bring himself to regret. Vergil at least doesn't wake, asleep the entire time and his peaceful face is hopelessly endearing. He kisses Vergil's hair, promising that he's going to save this man, he just has to.
Of course, he should have known nothing in life was that simple. He leaves the room and heads downstairs just as everyone comes home. Except, they don't come home alone. It takes every ounce of willpower to tamp down on the sudden desire to maul the ever loving shit out of Trish the second her energy enters the house. Worse, Vergil also wakes up, and Nero can practically taste the tension when she notices Vergil's sudden, very intense desire to force her to leave. It's enough noise in his head that he doesn't notice everyone's seen his new arm until Nico is practically yanking him off his feet to get a better look. And then it takes all his willpower not to snap at her. Lady, who unsurprisingly came with Trish, is also shocked and confused, and more than a little suspicious. But Nero knows he can't tell them what's really going on. So he bullshits something about learning how to control his demon side better through Yamato- which technically isn't a lie- then does his best to bully Trish out of the house so he doesn't go insane and asks Kyrie to run interference.
Trish ends up knowing exactly who it is Nero's got hiding away, apparently having met the man before. And she informs Nero that she can smell Vergil's scent all over him and he hates the way he both pales and blushes. Thankfully she promises not to say anything, in return for him calling Dante so he'll stop sulking over Nero not calling him for so long. Which makes him feel warmer than it really should that Dante apparently cares so much, but promises to do so and with that, the two women leave.
Of course, he should've known she'd tell Lady, who told Dante. He only got one whole day of peace to explain to everyone about the arm and what Vergil did for him before Dante lands on the lawn.
There’s a scuffle between Dante and Nero, after a very long shouting match, but it ends when Vergil finally hobbles his way out of the house and demands Dante cease at once. Which does work, to an extent, considering those two start arguing instead. At least, Nero notes with some relief, Dante might be yelling, but he’s making no move to attack Vergil.
His relief is short lived when Dante makes a bitter joke about Vergil caring more about hanging out with his son.
Nero can feel his veins ice over, heart in his throat when Vergil frowns and insists he has no idea what Dante is saying- he'd been certain Nero was Dante's son. (Which Nero kinda of wanted to strangle him over thinking fucking his nephew was okay anyway) But some pressing does seemingly make Vergil remember that yes he'd passed through Fortuna before spent a night with someone though the memories were foggy.
At some point, everyone migrated into the house, Nico and Kyrie filled Dante in on the details of Vergil's condition while Nero numbly helped him shuffle back to bed. When he tries to leave without saying anything, Vergil catches his hand, asks him if his human morality is going to interfere with the two of them. Nero (horribly, he realizes that no, it doesn't bother him, if anything his demon outright purrs over the idea) tries to shake him off without responding at first. Only to flinch and break down a bit when Vergil's cracked lips are against his hand. He shudders, trying to say it's wrong and tug his hand away, Vergil stands and presses a kiss to his neck, and unwillingly Nero melts into it. He murmurs softly, saying that incest is nothing to demons, actively beneficial even and a part of his nature. He need not worry about the morality of humans that have mistreated him his entire life.
Nero still pulls away, he can't deal with this. Not now. And leaves Vergil in the room alone. By the time he's gone back to check on the girls, Dante's all caught up, and eyeing him strangely. But this time, despite his instincts screaming, Nero lets Dante pass to go speak to his brother.
Nero doesn't tell the girls any of this. He just weakly smiles when they congratulate him on having a dad finally. Then sneaks out and buys a beer for the first time in his life. It tastes just as bad as he thought it would. It also doesn't make him feel any better, like he thought. By the time he drags himself back home, Dante has gone, Vergil and Kyrie and the kids are asleep. The only one left is Nico, and she is not about to let him get away with any more secrets. He hates how well she can read him, but he's been burned by Trish being a tattletale already and he doesn't want to open up to her and they have a bit of a nasty spat about it. But he breaks down and tells her everything anyway, he needs to talk to tell someone. And Niro, freaky little gremlin that she is, is completely chill about the whole taboo thing, even agreeing with Vergil that incest was fine for demons. That also doesn't make him feel any better. but he's man enough to thank her anyway. Even if it has to be sarcastic because it's them.
She also lets him know that Dante had an idea to save Vergil, which perks him up, because despite everything, he does still want the man to live. She encourages him to go spend more time with Vergil for now, make sure he doesn't go shambling off in a tiff over Dante saving him and Nero has to agree. So he goes and crawls into bed next to his father.
The next few days are tense to say the least. Nero still can't tell Kyrie. Not until he has a better idea for what to do next. Fix Vergil first, worry about that stuff later. When Nero wakes the next morning, Vergil is gone.
-
Vergil finds Dante exactly where he thought he would. At the shore. Waiting for him. Vergil is furious to be looked down on by Dante- and have it be right. He longs to put his younger brother in his place with Yamato, but the two have a bigger problem to solve. So Vergil settles himself with glaring, Dante's inane grin plastered across his face, and cuts both of them into Mundus' throne room.
The bastard's stench makes Vergil's skin crawl, and the faintest traces of his consciousness press down on them both. But Dante remains standing, and to Vergil's disgust, catches him when his knees buckle. The two argue when Vergil snarls he can hold himself, and when Dante lets him go, he falls to his knees. They spit at each other, no doubt to Mundus' amusement, but it's only after Dante finally loses that damn smile and snarls 'can you stop being an uppity asshole for once in your life! you're my fucking brother of course I don't want you dead! You think I spent the past years testing the limits of demonic healing on my liver cause I was happy??' They both go very quiet about it, Dante no doubt because he never meant to reveal that since he quickly tries to laugh it off. Not that the laugh had any real sound to it.
They didn't get long to process however, what with mundus trying to use their distraction to kill them. Vergil meant to fight, as he always did, but was shocked by Dante spending the fight protecting him over himself. Getting terribly bloodied several times when choosing his safety over a better attack. Foolishness, but Vergil knew he wouldn't survive even one of these weak attacks. But that didn't make him useless. When the time was right, Vergil dove in, and severed the power of the quiploth from Mundus, and greedily took it for himself. Dante didn't even interfere.
The twins take longer than they mean to, coming back. Vergil needed time to make the power of the quiploth his own, and they both needed out of Mundus' old territory even though now he was gone for good. Then they had an old score to settle, which turned into more scores to settle, but they were far less willing to die for it. Especially since both of them silently agreed that they wanted to return to Nero.
Returning to Nero turns out to be much more difficult since he slams the door in their faces. Dante surely being right about how pissed he is at the two of them for leaving. Dante also wisely decides to vamoose for the duration of his anger and merely claps Vergil on the shoulder and says to visit devil may cry if Nero doesn't end up killing him. Vergil curses him for being a coward, then uses the Yamato to get into Nero's room, ignoring his screeching, and shoving him through another portal to somewhere far away from the rest of the squishy humans that lived there.
The fight is a brutal one. Nero's full strength is wondrous to behold and match himself against. They destroy quite a few parts of the coastline and that old eyesore of a demon lab Nero had told him about. When the two are busy panting and trying to recover from some nasty blows they'd taken, Vergil idly tells him they should be thanked for ridding Fortuna of it. Causing Nero to laugh, bordering on hysteria, and pouncing him again. This time to kiss him so viciously, it's a wonder he's not eaten alive. But as before, being able to roll with Nero as a proper mate at full strength. Both of them in partial demon form, biting and clawing and marking what was theirs, taking Nero deep into his body until they didn't know where one ended and the other began. On and on until they have their fill and lay naked together in the ruins of their lovemaking.
_
Nero's starting to worry that insanity, or at the very least, being a huge horny dick weasel without a single lick of common sense (as Nico put it after he'd finally broken down and told the girls what he'd done when his fears that the twins had abandoned him hit the peak.), is genetic. He'd sworn he wasn't going to do this again after Kyrie forgave him and told him he didn't know. But here he was, having fucked his father and just happy he's finally back. Something was definitely wrong with him. Vergil was no help, mostly because he was laying there, curled up with him and faintly purring while his tail (holy fuck his demon form was really hot and Nero worried about his new fascination with that tail) and being cute. Desperately, Nero tried to drag his anger back up when he gruffly got Vergil's attention and they had a good long talk about running off in the middle of the night and never doing that again. And also that Vergil was not going to be /kept/ anymore and he wanted the freedom to do as he pleased- "as long as you don't kill anyone and at least try to tell me when you're going and how long for fuck's sake"- mate or no mate. The conversation took a turn into what all that meant and Nero was the opposite of the freaked out and disappointed in himself he really should have been to discover that they were a bonded pair until one of them died. And that Vergil had no intention of letting Nero go because of morality that didn't apply to them. That feeling of being wanted clicked back into his soul and Nero quietly promised to stay, but next time, take him too.