Chapter Text
In an apartment in Los Angeles, a man in seen grabbing some clothes from the drawers. He knocks on the bathroom door and says. "Dante, here's a change of clothes for you to wear after your shower and when you're done, we'll head to the doctor for a checkup and then get you some clothes to wear." "Kay!" Dante calls out cheerfully and Vergil hears the water turn on. He smiles at this and places the clothes next to the end table he has for things like this.
He walks into the living room and collapses on the couch with heavy sigh of Exhaustion. They had gotten home late last night and didn't get home until three in the morning. Poor Dante was also exhausted so much that he looked like a zombie because of his injury, jet lag and all the people he saw at the airport overwhelmed him. He didn't blame him at all since Vergil was in the same boat. The stress of his work, his brother getting shot, jetlag and the crowd got to him too. So, first thing they did after locking the door was collapse on the bed, not even bothering changing his clothes.
Vergil could remember feeling Dante taking off his shoes and placing them on the floor before crawling onto Vergil like a cat and going to sleep. He smiled at this before falling asleep as well.
He ran a hand through his hair as he thought about his next moves. He knows he has to report to miss Goldstien soon, but she gave him the day after he got home to make his report. As he rubs his eyes, a knock on the door knocks him out of his thought, realizing that it was Mary and his cousin. Before she left, she said that she would bring his cousin over to see if it was true that Dante was alive.
He gets up and heads to the door. Once its opened, it reveals Mary and a woman with blonde hair. "Mary, Trish. Hello. Come on in." "Where is he?" Trish asks excitedly, wanting to see Dante after hearing stories from Mary. "(Gestures for them to come in) Oh, He's in the waterfall-shower. He's taking a shower as to not be dirty."
When Vergil closes the door the two women were jaw dropped at what they saw as Trish says. "Not anymore." Confused, Vergil follows their line of vision and gasps at the sight. "Dante!"
In front of them was a wet and very naked Dante whose skin looked red as he rubbed his eyes. "Oh. The water was cold and then very hot that it boiled skin. (Holds up soap) Also I slipped on this." Dante says, the bar slipping out of his hands as he notices his brother, Mary and Trish, the twin's cousin, staring at him.
"Oh, hey. I'm Dante, king of the jungle." "I can see that." Trish says with a grin as Mary stares with a blushing face and Vergil looked horrified that his brother was naked in front of two women, again. "Dante! Why aren't you wearing the clothes I left for you?!" Dante looks at his brother and tilts his head to the side and says. "Can't find." "They were on the table near the door!" "Didn't see because of steam." "Ugh!" Vergil says, having no words to the excuse he gave because he naïvely believed that Dante would know how the knobs work to make it cold and hot.
"Okay, let's get you out of here and dressed." Vergil says, taking off his jacket and ties it around his brother's waist while saying. "Okay, cover up the private part and the ass. (Looks at the girls) Take a seat while I take care of this." Dante waves with a smile as Vergil pushes him into the bedroom while the girls watched.
"No wonder they called him the king." "Uh-huh." Mary agrees with Trish while in a daze.
-
"If it weren't for Dante's help, we would've never found out that Mundus was planning on making a casino in Africa and was using deadly weaponry to keep the animals at bay." Vergil says to the girls while standing up as he explained what happened during his time in Africa. "So, what are you gonna do now? Nell gave you until tomorrow for your report." Trish asks, looking at her cousin Curiously at what he plans to do now.
"Well, I'm taking Dante to the doctor for a check-up, maybe his shots and to check his wounds and then after that I'm taking him shopping for some clothes he'll be needing while he's here. Maybe even explore the city? It really depends on Dante if he wants to explore or if he wants to rest first." Vergil says, Collapsing onto the couch with a sigh and says. "I really hope Dante doesn't want to explore the city too much until tomorrow." Trish chuckles and says. "I think that's asking too much of your brother Vergil." "(Sighs) I know."
Trish then shifts her attention onto Mary and asks. "So, what are you gonna do about your father and stepmother?" Mary sighs and says. "I have no idea. Matthew is in African prison; I came home with a monkey man that happens to be my guides Deceased twin brother and the Engagement party is tomorrow. How am I going to explain to my father and that witch that I called it off because he tried to leave me for dead?"
Vergil looks at her and says. "Probably that and he's coward." Mary looks at him annoyed as he looks back up at the ceiling and closes his eyes. "Vergil is right Ann. Why are you stressing about it? Just tell them the truth. What's the worse they could do? Cut of your trust fund?" "No, they'd tell me that it was a onetime mistake and to wait for him to come back." Mary says monotone, causing them to sigh because she was right.
Trish then says. "Well, how about this, tell them that you found someone else that you love." Mary looks at her in confusion before realizing who she meant. "Dante? No! He's just a friend!" Trish and Vergil, who lifted up his head and opened his eyes, looked at her with unbelieving looks but she just smiled and says. "Aw, that's too bad............does that mean I can have him?" "Trish! No! Besides you two are cousins!" "(Holds up a finger) Adopted. Sparda's brother adopted me."
Mary laughs and says. "Whatever. (Sighs) I'll just tell them first thing in the morning before the party to let them know." Trish hums before looking up and says. "Make that step two, step one would be, Vergil teaching his brother how to put on clothes." "What?" Vergil asks as he lifts his head up and looks while Mary does the same to see Dante slipping on the button up shirt backwards and says with a smile. "I ready! But need help to button back." His pants were on backwards as well.
This caused them to start cracking up with laughter at the sight. Dante pretends he's holding a sword and pretends he was blocking something.
As Vergil laughed, he says. "Oh Dante, I love you."
Dante grins and winks while doing a peace sign near his opened eye and says. "Yaomai!"
-
After helping Dante with his clothes, the brothers head to the hospital with Mary and Trish. As they sat in the waiting room, Dante was on the floor while playing with some toys that were left for some children to play with while waiting and the others were reading from the book/magazines they had.
After awhile, a nurse appeared and says. "Dante Alighieri?" Dante lifts up his head in response and Vergil stands up saying. "Here. (Lifts him up) Come on Dante." "Kay!" He says, standing up and follows his brother while the girls wait for them.
In the room, the nurse does the standard checkup and notes that Dante was a little underweight but says that all he needs to do is eat more chicken. After hearing his heartbeat and drooling over his abs, it was time to wait for the doctor. As they wait, Vergil is reading while Dante kicks his legs back and forth a little for entertainment.
After awhile, the doctor comes in and says. "So, you must be Dante Alighieri." Dante nods and hums in agreement as Vergil says. "And I'm his twin brother Vergil." "Ah, yes. I've heard about you. My niece and nephew go to the zoo allot and sit in on the animal shows." Vergil blushes at this as Dante grins at him.
As the doctor takes a look at his notes, he remarks that he would like to see the wounds and scars on Dante's body, prompting him to taking off his shirt to reveal the bandages wrapped around his chest and arm. The doctor gently pokes Dante's chest and says. "I'm gonna upwarp the bandages and check how it's healing along with the other wound." He nods for the go ahead and the doctor starts unwrapping the bandages to take a look of his wounds.
After he was done, he removed the gaze and commented that the wound was healing nicely, and the stitches could be removed in a month or so. After rebandaging the wound, he moves on to the scratch and says. "This one is also healing nicely but I'm concerned about the rawness. Maybe let this breath every now and then for an hour."
Dante nods and Vergil asks. "Anything else about his wounds we need to be concerned about?" "(Shakes head) Not really, no. But what I'm concerned with, is the scar on his shoulder. It looks deep and very old." Dante instinctively placed his hand his shoulder and says. "Got when was 8 by Sabor." The doctor looks at Vergil in confusion and he answers. "When we were 8, we were separated and our mother was killed by a very violet man-eating leopard in Africa while our father was killed by poachers. Dante was wounded by said leopard."
The doctor looked horrified at this but didn't press further and just rebandaged Dante's arm. After he was done, he says. "Okay. We are done here but as you are aware that flu season is right around the corner and since Dante hasn't been exposed to any illnesses since he was eight, I am fearful of his health if he contracts it. So, I suggest doing his shots that he needs." "And what are those?" Vergil asks, noticing his brother tensing up at the mention of shots. "The flu and rabis shot, since he's been in the jungle since he was 8. It shouldn't take too long."
They nodded and the doctor leaves while informing them that a nurse will be coming with the shots soon. As soon as he left, Vergil looks at Dante who was visibly pale and says. "Dante, I know your very healthy, but your immune system could be very weak right now and the flu is a very dangerous common illness." "Know." "That's good, and you know that I will be right here with you, right?" "Right." Dante says, making Vergil smile at him and walks over to him. He takes his hand and says. "I'm right here brother. (Shakes head) I won't leave you again." Dante smiles softly at his brother and nods in thanks just as the nurse walks in with two syringes.
"Okay, Mr. Dante. I'm gonna give you your shot now." She says, causing Dante to tense up and squeeze his brother's hand as the needle touches his skin. After the flu shot, she gives him the rabis shot. After it was done, Dante lets go of Vergil's hand so that he could talk to the nurse. "So, we recommend your brother staying here for about five minutes to see if he gets an Allergic reaction from it." "Okay. Anything else?" "Yes, the flu shot might cause a fever but that's normal. When-."
'Thud'
They jumped and looked over to see Dante passed out on the floor from getting the shots. Vergil looks at her and says. "He just hates needles." "O-Oh. Of course. Uh, if he does get a fever at home, then just basic Benadryl or Tylenol will do." "(Nods) Okay, thank you." The nurse laughs nervously and then leaves as Vergil crouches next to his brother and says. "I forgot that when you first got your shots, you fainted. I remember when it happened, I was laughing while mother and father were panicking over you on the floor. (Chuckles) Fond memories." He runs his hand through Dante's hair as he moaned a little in his sleep.
-
After the hospital visit and Dante woke up, they were walking in the crowd as Dante looked around all the people and kept jumping to look more. When they passed a light pole, Dante climbed up it and looked around. His brother, cousin and friend laughed and tried to get him down.
After getting him down, they make it to the store and start going through the clothes. In length, him and Dante were the same height with Vergil being a little taller and width wise as well but unfortunately, they were having a problem with Dante and choosing clothes. The pants they picked out fit him perfectly and were not too tight, but the problem was the shirts.
He always had an excuse about the shirt. That it was too tight, too itchy, the tag bothered him and the color was wrong, which Vergil thought was ridiculous because all the colors were red and black because Dante loved red. Vergil sighs as Dante tossed another shirt saying. "Too tight." "Dante-." "It's tight!" He yelled slamming the door shut, making Vergil jump.
He facepalmed as he tried to think of why Dante was refusing to wear a shirt other than him being used to it. When he couldn't think of a reason, a memory flashes in his mind as he remembered something from a long time ago, right after the fire.
After the fire ended and they were all safe, they slept at a hotel and went shopping the next day. Dante was never the picky type for his clothing, but he refused to wear the shirts his mother brought him until she asked him of what was going on and if he was alright. They were whispering as Dante was extremely embarrassed but seeing the tears in his eyes and apologizing for being weird, Vergil understood that he was scared of something that the shirts reminded him of.
What that was, Vergil has no idea because he didn't ask and was just there for his brother as they got different sizes of shirts. Standing up, Vergil heads to the door and knocks, asking. "Dante? Can I come in?" ".........May." Vergil hums and opens the door to see his brother sitting on the floor with his back against the wall hugging his knees. Vergil sits on the chair and leans his knees, saying. "Dante, can you tell me why you don't like the shirts?" "Already did! Their-!" "Too tight. I know. But what I don't know is how they're making you feel. Not physically but mentally."
Dante froze at this as he continued. "I remembered that when we had to get new clothes, you were picky about the shirts you wore, so mother got you bigger sizes that you were Comfortable with. I know I never asked because I respected your privacy but Dante, what do the shirts remind you of?" Dante looked like he was holding back tears as he starts to explain. "Too close. Suffocating. No way out. Like-(Chokes out a sob) Like the cabinet." Vergil's eyes widened before softening. So that was it, why Dante had a problem with shirts.
"'M Sorry." Dante says, a few tears falling from his eyes as Vergil looks at him in shock as he continues. "I-I know tired from yesterday 'nd from the doctor. I wasted so much because of something stupid-!" Dante was interrupted when Vergil brought him into a hug and says. "You're not stupid little brother. You just have Unresolved trauma from the fire that you never truly got over it. Allot of people, me included, have trauma that stays with us little brother. It never really leaves us, even into adult hood."
"Really?" Dante asks in a soft voice as he looks up at his brother when they separate. Vergil smiles and nods saying. "Yes. It's normal to have fears and I'm glad you told me, it makes things easier to understand you better." He gives a wobbled smile before losing it and says. "Not only shirt. This too." "What do you mean?" Vergil asks, confused on what his brother was saying. "(Touches wall) This! Too small! Hard to move."
Vergil smiles at this and says. "It's okay Dante. You just have claustrophobia." Dante cocks his head to the side and asks. "What's closet-phobia?" Vergil holds back a chuckle and says. "Claustrophobia. It's a fear of tight spaces." Dante looks at his brother in surprise and points to himself saying. "Have that?" Vergil nods and says. "Yes, and with time you'll get over the shirt problem but still have problems with tight spaces. Here, let's find you some bigger shirts for you to wear." Dante smiles and nods.
After another hour, they left the mall with the next size up shirts and pants as well as shoes. They also had Dante fitted for a coat when winter came because he heard that Vergil had one as well and wanted to be twinsies with his twin, which made the group laugh. After that was done, they all walked back to Vergil's apartment.
But unknown to them, was that Mary's meddlesome stepmother had taken a drive and saw her stepdaughter holding hands with another man. As she watched them, she was calling someone. "Hello?....Yes, I'd like to talk to Matthew Jenson.......What? Arrested? Why?......Well, that's ridiculous.........I'm gonna have a serious talk with her."
-
"Thank you for helping with the errands. I don't know what I would've done without your help Trish." Vergil says, putting up the Groceries he got. "It's no problem. I'm always happy to help my cousins out." Trish says, helping Vergil put the groceries up. "I'm forever grateful for your help Trish. Will you be staying over?" She shakes her head and says. "Nah. You need some time spent with your brother and I have work. That's why me and Ann came together." "Ah. I get it. Be safe going to work." "(Nods) We will and take care of your brother." "Always." Vergil says as they leave the kitchen to see Dante laying the couch, taking a nap while Mary stroked his hair.
Trish and Vergil glanced at each other with a knowing smile that Mary was indeed in love with Dante. After saying their goodbyes, the girls left and Vergil was now alone with his brother. He glanced over at his sleeping brother with a smile and decided to go through his photos and Evidence in the living room with him.
After setting up his little workspace, Vergil got to work. He was sorting out the pictures he printed up between the animal life and the construction site, then went through his notes and filed them away, along with the pamphlet Dante gave him.
During this, Vergil failed to notice that Dante had woken up and moved over to him. Vergil jolted when he felt arms wrapped around his waist and looked down to see Dante cuddling up to him. He smiled softly at this and ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I'm tired too." Vergil sighs before leaning his head back while closing his eyes.
'Work can wait until tomorrow. I'm too tired.' Vergil thought as he slowly fell asleep with his little brother with him after so many years apart.
To be continued.