Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own the rights to Devil May Cry. I own the games and am looking to get my hands on an actual copy of Visions of V when I can

It was Vergil who broke first and suggested they go back. He claimed it was because he was sick of Dante’s complaining but really it was because he was starting to get worried about his brother. During their breaks Dante would stare off into the distance and it would get harder and harder to catch his attention. It was annoying at first but then it got dangerous when he didn’t snap back until a demon was almost on top of him. The younger twin had put up a fight but it was clear to both of them that it was just for show.

Now they were back at Devil May Cry with Dante trying to comfort Patty. It had started at the three women lecturing him. Patty couldn’t take it anymore and her anger turned to grief and she launched herself at the man and sobbed into chest. The scene had taken the wind out of Lady and Trish’s sails and the two warned Dante they weren’t done and walked off to get more pizza they had ordered in celebration. Morrison was seated on the ratty couch next to Virgil smoking a cigarette. The information broker hadn’t said too much after saying how glad he was that Dante was back but was still watching the younger twin closely.

Nero had taken to sitting near the pizza and talking with Nico and shooting sideways glances at him. It was clear he wanted to approach the man that had been revealed to be his father but either figured now wasn’t the time or needed to work up the nerve. Apparently, it was one thing to bash his father’s face in and another to actually talk to him. Not that Vergil minded much. He wasn’t sure what he would say when they did have that undoubtedly awkward conversation.

Eventually, the party started to wind down. Patty mentioned she had classes in the morning and after shooting Dante one more glare for leaving, she heads home. Lady and Trish left once the last of the pizza was gone. Nero and Nico left when Nico ran out of cigarettes and started getting a little too interested in looking at Ebony and Ivory. Morrison was the last to leave. He had spent the remainder of his time there talking with Dante and still watching him closely. Eventually the half demon got annoyed with it and shooed the broker towards the door. Morrison handed Vergil his card with the message “call me if there’s trouble.”

Finally, there was just Vergil and Dante. The younger twin examined the empty pizza boxes before tossing them back onto the table and flopping onto the couch next to his brother. Vergil made an annoyed noise but didn’t move. They sat in silence and Vergil was almost convinced that Dante had gotten lost wherever it is he goes when he starts staring. “Only got the one bed,” Dante finally spoke and Vergil certainly did not jump at the sudden noise. “Why don’t you take it? You’ve probably gone longer without than me. We can argue about what to do next tomorrow.” The older twin stared suspiciously at Dante who just shrugged and propped his feet on the coffee table. “Not like it’s the first time I’ve fallen asleep on the couch.”

Vergil stood up and headed for the stairs. “It had better be clean, Dante.”

Vergil woke up sometime later to the sound of glass smashing. Years on edge had him out of bed with Yamato in hand before his brain caught up with him. He wasn’t in The Demon World. He was in Dante’s room. A quick listen told him no one was attacking. Dante had probably knocked something over. He was about to crawl back into bed when he realized the scent of Dante’s blood had wafted up the stairs. He mentally groaned and decided to make sure his idiot brother wasn’t being more dumb than usual.

He got downstairs and the smell of booze made his nose burn. He flicked on the light and saw Dante sitting on the couch, staring into nothing, with an almost empty bottle of whiskey in hand and almost as white as his hair. If he knew Vergil was there, he didn’t show it. The younger hybrid tipped the last of the whiskey down and when he realized the bottle was empty, he threw it to the floor and got up to get another bottle. He walked barefoot over the broken glass to the mini fridge. Explains the blood Vergil thought. Dante grabbed another whiskey and walked back to the couch over the broken glass again and didn’t even seem to notice the shards embedded in his foot.

“Dante,” Vergil called out, hoping to get his brother’s attention. Dante didn’t even blink. He pulled back half the bottle in one go. Still staring at nothing. Vergil stood in front of Dante and yanked the now empty bottle out of his hand before he could smash it. Dante seemed to finally realize his brother was there and stared at him blankly, like it took him a moment to realize what he was looking at. Vergil had to wonder just how much his brother has had to drink to get him to this point. “Hey, Verge. Couldn’t sleep?” He slurred and stood up and started to head to the mini fridge again but Vergil grabbed him and pulled him away from the broken glass. Dante glared at him and made another move for the fridge.

“Are you blind and well as stupid, Dante? There’s broken glass all over the floor.” Vergil pointed at the glass when Dante stared blankly at him again. Eventually his inebriated brain caught up and he looked at the patch of glass on the floor.

“Huh, wonder how that got there.” He stepped over, still not seeming to notice the shards still buried in his foot. He grabbed the last bottle in the fridge and glared at the now empty appliance. He walked back to the couch and had to be once more reminded of the hazard on the floor.

“How long have you been drinking?” Vergil asked.

Dante polished off the bottle in one go and shrugged. “Don’t know. What time is it?”

“I don’t know. You don’t own a clock.”

“They’re depressing.”

“They’re necessary.” Dante shrugged and moved to smash the bottle but Vergil took it away from him again. “There’s enough glass on the floor.” Dante shrugged again and staggered towards the phone. A quick argument made it clear that Dante wasn’t getting anymore alcohol delivered until he paid his tab. He slammed the phone down and the elder twin was surprised the antique phone didn’t break. Dante dug in his coat pockets and pulled out a small glass bottle with a triumphant grin. Vergil wasn’t sure what was in the bottle until Dante popped the cap. “That’s holy water!” He moved forward to take it away from Dante but wasn’t fast enough. The younger half demon downed the contents and tossed the bottle onto the desk and wobbled back to the couch. Vergil took a closer look at the desk and realized that this wasn’t the first bit of holy water that Dante had drank. At least that answers how he got so drunk. His body is too busy healing the damage from the holy water to neutralize the alcohol. “There are easier ways to kill yourself,” he commented and stood in front of his brother with his arms folded across his chest.

Dante snorted. “You’d think.”

Ice ran through Vergil. “What do you mean?” The Devil Hunter shrugged but said nothing. “Dante. What do you mean?” He demanded. His brother decided to ignore him and headed towards the kitchen. Vergil growled his frustration and followed after him. He grabbed his brother by the shoulder and spun him around to face him. “Don’t make me ask again. What do you mean by that?”

Dante yanked his shoulder from his brother’s grip and glared at him. “Really, Verge? You think you’re the only person trying to kill me? You think you’re even the first? I’ve had demons burn down towns trying to kill me. I’ve been stabbed with Rebellion more than once. I’ve been shot in the head more times than I want to count. Hell, even Nero tried to turn my head into pulp first time we met. I just keep getting back up.” The defeated tone in Dante’s voice in that last sentence made Vergil pause. Dante took the surprise as an opportunity to finish his trek to the cupboard under the kitchen sink. Vergil shoved his feelings aside when the smell of bleach hit the air. The elder half demon sliced the bottom off the bottle before the opening could make it to Dante’s lips.

“That doesn’t mean you should add yourself to the list of enemies trying to kill you.”

Dante snorted again. “That name’s been on the list for a long time already, Verge.”

Vergil was getting sick of Dante stunning him like this. If his brother wasn’t so drunk, he would think he was doing it on purpose. Dante pushed past Vergil and headed towards the bathroom. The elder twin didn’t think for one second it was because Dante had to answer the call of nature. His suspicions were right when he caught Dante going for the rubbing alcohol in the first aid kit. He took it away from him and pulled him away from the bathroom while the younger twin swore at him.

The second Vergil’s attention drifted even slightly from Dante; the younger hybrid would immediately try to sneak off to get at whatever he could get his hands on. Vergil had no choice but to get help. He summoned his doppelganger to watch Dante while he called the number on the card.

The phone rang twice before being picked up. “You got any idea what time it is, Dante?” The broker lectured, still half asleep.

“It’s not Dante,” Vergil answered and watched as Dante tried to get around his doppelganger.

“Vergil?” Morrison sounded completely awake now, “what’s going on?”

“It’s Dante,” he sighed and made the mistake of looking away from his brother. He looked back and Dante had a bottle of floor cleaner to his lips. “Don’t drink that!” He ordered and dropped the phone to get the cleaner away from his brother. Dante swore more at him and tried to get the bottle back, clearly having enough of Vergil stopping him.

Morrison listened to their argument for a moment while he changed out of his pajamas. “I’ll be there with backup soon.”

Morrison arrived with Patty and Nero as quickly as he could. They opened the door to Vergil sitting on the couch with Dante using his leg as a pillow. Dante was staring off into space again and Vergil kept a hand on his chest just in case Dante tried to get up again.

“Damn,” Morrison sighed, “I thought we had more time before he self-destructed.”

Vergil’s eyes snapped to Morrison. “This has happened before?”

Morrison kicked empty bottles out of the way and sat on the coffee table and examined Dante. “It doesn’t always get this bad but yes, he’s done this before.”

“Damn, I thought that episode after Fortuna was bad,” Nero commented and moved to the end of the couch and saw the empty holy water bottles. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him chug holy water before.”

“He did once after Mallet Island.” Morrison informed. “Trish and I ended up having to hide his guns on him.” Vergil’s heart sank.

“You did?” Patty asked. “I didn’t know that.”

Morrison nodded. “Kept trying to shoot himself.”

“Why?” Nero asked and made his way to Dante’s still bleeding foot. Vergil had been unable to treat it. He had tried once and Dante kicked him in the face.

The information broker shook his head. “Never did find out. Dante refused to tell me and never knew for sure if Trish knew what happened or not.” Vergil really wished right now that he either still didn’t have a heart or had found it sooner.

Nero grabbed the first aid kit from the bathroom and started pulling the shards from Dante’s foot. The devil hunter’s foot shot out but Nero caught it and held it down. “Don’t even think about it, Dante or that slap from before will seem like a love tap,” Nero warned.

Patty huffed and leaned over to be directly in Dante’s face. “Wake up, lazybones. It’s rude to sleep when a lady’s present.”

Dante stared blankly for a couple more minutes before blinking and focusing on Patty. “Hey, Pattycake, what are you doing here?” Nero pulled a rather large piece of glass from his foot and he swore and moved to sit up. Vergil held him down and Dante swore some more.

“What did we tell you about telling us when you get like this?” Morrison gently lectured.

“Didn’t want to burden anyone,” Dante answered and tried to sit up again. Vergil held him down again and growled a warning at his brother. Dante hissed back but didn’t try to get up again.

“You’re not. We care about you. It hurts to see you like this.” Patty took his hand and held it.

Dante scoffed but didn’t pull his hand away. “Of course, we do. Even your asshole brother does whether he admits it or not,” Morrison argued. Vergil glared at the man.

Dante started laughing but it was a terrible and broken sound. Tears streamed down his face. “He only came back into my life because I had something he wanted when I refused to give it, he tried to kill me. I got to watch him fall into the Demon World because that was better than being in the same world as me. He let me think I killed him for years!” He fought to get up again and Vergil almost didn’t stop him in time. “He only came back because he fucked up and needed someone to fix his mess! If I hadn’t been useful, he would have let me believe he was dead!” Dante was getting steadily more and more agitated. With every shout, he would transform for a second before shifting back. Tears still streamed down his face. “The minute I’m not useful to him, he’ll abandon me again. You all will. If I didn’t owe all of you so much damn money, you wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

Vergil surprised everyone, including himself, when he yanked Dante up. Nero had started to swear when Dante was moved and looked up to yell but it died in his throat when he saw Vergil holding Dante close. Dante was dumbstruck at first and looked like he would fight to get out of his brother’s embrace but all fight left. The younger twin returned his brother’s hug and buried his face in his shoulder. His whole body shook with the force of his sobs.

Vergil remembered while he was Urizen that he complained that Dante shouldn’t have been so powerful because he never lost anything. He realized now how wrong that was. Vergil finally believed Dante when he said that their mother didn’t abandon him. She had died trying to find him. Vergil hadn’t been abandoned as he had thought for so long. But Dante had been. By him. Over and over. He realized that Dante had wanted the same thing as him; to be protected and loved. He regretted deeply his past actions and wished desperately he could go back and change them. The past couldn’t be changed though, all he could do was keep going forward and try to make up for his past mistakes.

“I’m here, Dante.” He wanted to comfort his brother but had no idea where to even start. “Can I see anothers woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see anothers grief, And not seek for kind relief.” He quoted.

“You and your damn poetry,” Dante complained into Vergil’s shoulder but he seemed to be calming down. “You’ll have to tell me what the hell you’re talking about.”

Vergil could hear that Dante was running out of energy. “Perhaps. For now, you need to sleep.”

Patty gave a light tug on his shoulder. “Come on, let’s get you into bed. Things will look better in the morning.” Dante grumbled but finally let his brother go and shifted to sit beside him. Patty looked like she would try to get him to get up but Vergil shook his head just enough for the teen to see. Morrison sighed and went upstairs and pulled the blanket off the bed.

“You two are going to be sore tomorrow.” He threw the blanket over the two half demons.

Dante was already asleep and snoring softly near Vergil’s ear. The elder twin looked at his sleeping twin, he was reminded of when they were children and how Dante would climb into his bed when he had a nightmare. He remembered that his brother would also do it when he had a nightmare and was too proud to go to him. Somehow, Dante always knew when he had one and wouldn’t leave no matter how much Vergil told him to. They weren’t children anymore but if Vergil closed his eyes, he could almost pretend they were.

“We’ll come by tomorrow to check in,” Nero informed. The door shut softly when they left. Vergil closed his eyes. This wasn’t the worst place he ever slept but he still wasn’t looking forward to the stiff neck he would have in the morning. Still, it seemed like a small price to pay.

Chapter Text

Vergil had forgotten how tiring it was to the main focus of Dante’s attention. As a kid he had enjoyed reading in silence and that hadn’t changed as an adult. The only difference was that he was slowly learning he didn’t have to watch his back at the same time and could lose himself in the book if he wanted to. That was hard to do with Dante around. The younger twin didn’t harass him all the time to play with him like he did when they were kids but he also wasn’t quiet.

The elder twin had to give his brother credit, he tried. When Vergil pulled out a book from his steadily growing collection, Dante did his best to be quiet. But Vergil was convinced that if Dante was quiet for more than five minutes he would spontaneously combust. Sometimes while he was reading, Dante would do maintenance on his guns; always paying special attention to Ebony and Ivory. He would start off quiet but as his attention got more and more focused on his task, he would start humming or tapping his foot to a tune only he could hear. If Vergil was particularly unlucky, Dante would start whistling. Vergil would snap at him to stop and Dante would until his attention drifted and the cycle would start again.

The hybrid wasn’t quiet even when he was asleep. It had been a slow day and Dante had fallen asleep at his desk. Vergil had thought that it would be a good time to read that book he had been meaning to get to for a little while now. Once he would start getting into the plot, Dante would start mumbling in his sleep. Vergil would throw whatever was in reach at his brother. If he was lucky, he would startle him and the half demon would fall off his chair. Dante would swear at him and play pool or start messing with the jukebox to get the abused machine to play something just to annoy him.

Today Dante was starting to hound him to find a place they could go spar. Dante had started taking smaller jobs that normally he wouldn’t give the time of day to now that when he needed a good fight, he could bug Vergil, sometimes Nero, but mostly Vergil. It was helping with his crippling debt. Vergil hadn’t taken his brother up on his offer to join him on jobs yet. After so long of having to look over his shoulder and trying everything to be stronger, he wanted to learn how to relax again before joining Dante in feeding demons to the pavement. Dante didn’t press him on it and didn’t talk about it unless Vergil brought it up. He had tried to touch on the subject once but Vergil made it quite clear he didn’t want to talk about it so Dante let it drop.

Vergil was about to throw his brother into his beloved pool table if he didn’t stop bothering him. It would get Dante what he wanted, but at least it cost him the pool table. Thankfully, Nero chose that moment to stop by. After that first night back, everyone made more of an attempt to visit Devil May Cry instead of only stopping by when they needed something from Dante. Patty would come over a couple days a week and drag Dante somewhere or take him into the kitchen and have him “help” her with her homework. It wasn’t the quiet Vergil wanted, but at least his brother wasn’t whistling. Morrison would come by with some project or another that would capture his brother’s attention for a bit. Lady and Trish would occasionally come by and take Dante somewhere and he would return several hours later walking funny and fall boneless onto the couch and sometimes read whatever magazine that was close by and fall asleep reading it or skip the magazine and fall asleep immediately. Nico would come by and bribe Dante with ice-cream from his favourite place in exchange for stories about her adoptive grandmother. Those days would usually lead to a guilty looking Nico dropping Dante off, mumbling an apology, and leaving. Dante would sit in the couch and stare into nothing. He was quiet but it was the wrong sort of quiet so Vergil would read out loud to his brother until he was ready to come back.

Nero would have various reasons for visiting. Sometimes it was to get Dante’s opinion on what his adopted children would like saying that Dante would know best because “he never grew up in the first place.” Other times it would be to get him to come along on a job that Nero could easily handle himself with the excuse that Dante would get rusty if he didn’t take on jobs. Today it was convincing Dante to spar with him. His reasoning being that there were no demons challenging enough for him so he turned to his uncle -the name still sounded odd to all of them but Nero was determined to use it- for “something fun.”

Vergil enjoyed the quiet office with the only sound being the quiet ticking of the clock he had forced Dante to get. It was dark when Dante came back. Nero stayed long enough to shove Dante towards the bathroom to shower the blood off and return whatever book he had borrowed from Vergil. Things were still awkward between the two of them but Nero was nothing if not determined so it was slowly improving.

Dante plopped onto the couch next to Vergil in nothing but a pair of old sweat pants after his shower. Vergil put his book down and waited. He knew the routine by now. Dante would sit in silence for his five minutes before asking Vergil what he wanted for dinner. Vergil would say “anything but pizza.” Dante would complain and offer suggestions once it was clear Vergil wasn’t going to change his mind. Tonight, it was Thai food. They sat and watching some awful movie on a TV Patty had gotten him after his old one finally couldn’t be fixed anymore. Neither of them really liked the movie but both were too stubborn to suggest something else. So, Vergil rolled his eyes at the characters on the screen and refused to give Dante the satisfaction of knowing his comments about the movie were actually a little funny.

Things were better for the brothers but things weren’t perfect. Dante still sometimes got lost in his own head. Vergil was still haunted by his childhood and time as a slave of Mundus despite the worst of his nightmares dying along with his familiars. On the nights where his brain wouldn’t let him sleep, Dante would come into his room and sit on the floor by the bed and either read from whatever book he had grabbed on his way over or talk about a funny or memorable fight he had until Vergil’s thoughts stop spinning and he can sleep. If he lets his hand dangle over the side of the bed so Dante can lean against it, well, no one needs to know that. Sometimes he would wake up to find that Dante had fallen asleep beside his bed and was still leaning against his hand. Mornings like that were slow since Vergil wasn’t all that willing to get up right away and Dante was just as happy to sit like that until he couldn’t ignore the fact, he was Dante and quiet and still went against his very nature. Those mornings would end with the brothers sitting at the kitchen table nursing cups of coffee with terrible bedheads and bickering over who’s turn it was to make breakfast.

Their routine didn’t change until a few months later when Vergil decided to join Dante in getting groceries. Vergil said it was because he wanted to make sure Dante got something more than junk food. The real reason was because he was getting bored hovering around Devil May Cry and decided it was time to reacquaint himself with the human world and its many mundane qualities.

Now that they were at the store, Vergil debated whether this was a good idea or not. They had gone during the day of a weekday to have the least amount of people as possible, but there were still more than Vergil was comfortable with. He had to kept reminding himself that not everyone was out to kill him. The people here weren’t staring at him because they were sizing up a potential enemy but because he and his brother stood out like sore thumbs. Dante was a little infamous in certain circles and now that it was impossible to hide the fact that demons were real, those circles were getting bigger. So, the younger twin was used to gathering attention no matter where he went. He ignored the eyes on them and would turn to Vergil and ask him what cereal he wanted or if he wanted some bananas this go around.

The elder twin would force himself to turn his attention to Dante and examine the boxes being held out to him. Vergil would look at the choices Dante offered him and lectured him on choosing something where the first ingredient was sugar. Dante would put the boxes back and grab the most “adult” cereal he could find and stick it in the cart. “There’s your raisin bran, old man,” he’d joke and Vergil would glare at him and put the box back and put cheerios in instead. Dante would laugh at him and they would move onto the next item on the list.

Vergil would push for Dante to add more fresh produce and Dante would bitch and wheedle at him until they went down the candy aisle and got some chocolates and gummies that they both enjoyed but Vergil denied vehemently.

They would get to the cashier and stick their items on the belt and bicker over buying some of the impulse purchases around the tills for people like Dante with limited impulse control. The cashier would scan their items, politely ignore their arguing, and interrupt when it was time to pay. Dante would pay with a grin and a wink that would make the teenage girl roll her eyes and Vergil would shove some of the bags into his arms and leave with the rest of their purchase.

Dante had managed to save enough money and they got a small camp barbecue that they promptly put on the roof. The brothers tried their hands at making hamburger patties with various success. They ate their creations while they watched the sun set over the city skyline.

Vergil thought back to when he would be too on guard and obsessed with getting more power to stop and enjoy the sun set. He thought back to even a year ago and how he would react if someone had told him he would be eating mediocre burgers with his brother on the roof of his rundown office. He would probably would have laughed derisively at them and then killed them for even suggesting such a ridiculous thing. Now, he was hard pressed to think of a better way to spend the evening. Dante still wasn’t quiet but, in this instance, it was okay.

“Beautiful day,” Vergil commented and finished off the last of his burger.

“Yup,” Dante agreed, “good day to be alive.”