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Dante looked at the small strip of plastic. It showed two blue lines…. Shit.
He was pregnant again. Of fucking course he was pregnant. He and his twin had been fucking like rabbits since they had gotten back. "Of fucking course it has to be his." He muttered. He began making plans in his mind. He still had another spare room on the upper floor he could easily make into a nursery while keeping Nero's room the same. Nero being his first child of course Dante did not want to change his room after he moved out.
Memories came flooding back to him of Nero as a newborn. Almost 1 year after the Temen-ni-gru he had given birth after months of agonizing over money and scrounging any change he could. The monetary price of having a baby was something he had greatly underestimated before. Definitely not going to make that mistake with number 2.
Thankfully he could pull out Nero’s old clothes, toys and crib and reuse any that are still in good condition. And of course… he'd have to make a new bear. The box of bears was the first thing he found in the attic. He didn't know what compelled him to do it but he opened the box and started going through them.
There where six bears in total. All a fuzzy white with different colored ribbons tied on them and different names stitched into their feet. Hell he could even tell the order of them by how well he'd gotten at making them with the practice. Before he knew it Dante felt tears streaming down his face against his wishes. "I guess you're gonna be lucky number 7 huh?"
"Dante?" The sound of his brothers voice made the devil hunter blood run cold. He quickly wiped his eyes and cleared his throat before half turning to face his twin. "Hey Vergil. Didn't hear you come in. Job must've gone quick I thought for sure you'd be gone at least another hour." Vergil huffed at that "perhaps I just wanted to come home quickly."
That word rung in Dantes mind. Home, vergil called this place home. He wanted to stay, stay here with Dante in their home together. He seemed to react okay to finding out about Neros existence. But he'd yet to tell either of them that Dante was the one who'd given birth to the boy. How would Vergil react then?
"What are you doing up here?" Uh oh, Vergil was looking at him again and clearly expecting an answer. He tried his best to be nonchalant in saying, "Just going through some of Nero's old baby stuff. Ya'know, trip down memory lane and shit."
"I hadn't realized you were the sentimental type, little brother. Given your flippant attitude you always seemed to only live in the moment." Was that really how Vergil saw him? Okay maybe he was more like that as a teenager but.. shit that really was the last time they really knew each other. And even then it was only for a little while. It dawned on Dante in that moment that he and his brother didn't really know each other as people anymore. The last time had been this close was when they were children.
Lost in his thoughts again Dante was taken by surprise at how close Vergil had gotten whole he was spacing out. "Why do have a box full of only stuffed bears?" Shitshitshitshit
"Uhhhh no reason!" He quickly shut the box before the older twin could grab one. "Say you know what we haven't done yet since we got back?"
"What?" He wanted to praise any deity he could in the moment when Vergil seemed to take his bait. "We haven't gone out on a proper date yet! You've fucked me six ways to Sunday almost every day since we got back but you have yet to take me out on a proper date. Shame on you." He said the last part playfully.
Vergil thought about it for a moment "I… would not know how…" how to take him on a date. Wait has Vergil never been on a date before? Shit he should've realized of course Vergils never been on a date before. Though how he was able to sleep around enough to not have any clue who Nero's mother might be (even though he's standing right in front of him) Dante hadn't the slightest idea.
"Well let's do it together then. Something nice like a romantic dinner or a fuckin picnic on the hill where you can see the whole city." Dante blurted out. He'd thought he'd fucked up for a moment. Vergils eyes met his and his twin had a small smile on his face before reaching for Dantes hand. "Alright then, tomorrow evening. We'll have a picnic dinner and watch the sunset over the city. How does that sound?" He kissed Dantes knuckles and the younger twin could feel his face heat up at the action. "Shit you're almost too good at this bro. I think I might swoon." Pulling Vergil in for a kiss before turning to head back downstairs. "Let's figure out dinner for tonight at least first alright? I'm hungry, how bout pizza?"
Dante headed back downstairs while his brother protested having pizza for a fourth night in a row right behind him.
…………………………………………………….
It was the next day and Dante had been temporarily kicked out while Vergil made their dinner for later. He wanted it to be a surprise present or just that he didn't want Dante constantly stealing bits of food while he cooked. Dante had spent most of the day on various hunts with Nero in Redgrave. He started having a couple fits of nausea but was luckily able to pass it off as just being grossed out by the smell or that some of the demon goop had gotten into his mouth.
"Hey Nero how'd you feel if you had a sibling on the way." He'd asked out of the blue. "What!?" Was Nero's frankly understandable reaction. "Just a hypothetical don't get all bent outta shape about it." Dante managed to save himself. Nero seemed to think about it for a good few minutes before he answered.
"I don't really know how I'd feel. I guess excited because I always wanted a sibling. Nico and Patty are kinda like sisters already but their not really like us if that makes sense? Don't get me wrong I love them like family but they don't carry Sparda’s blood like we do so it's not quite the same. I guess yeah it would be really cool to have a little sibling." He blushed a bit at the thought of being an older brother.
Dante thought about his conversation with Nero while he showered and changed into nicer clothes for his date with Vergil. The boy had been furious when he found out Vergil was his father. His whole life he'd called Dante his dad and while he wasn't necessarily wrong he still wasn't happy about being technically lied to his whole life. Surprisingly his reaction to finding out about the twins relationship as mates was rather tame. "Look you're smiling, like really smiling, more often for the first time since I was a kid so as long as you're happy that's all that matters." And Dante will completely and totally deny crying when Nero asked "wait does that mean I can technically still call you 'Dad'?"
He had just finished buttoning his shirt when he heard a knock on the bedroom door. "Come in!" He yelled, swiftly exiting the bathroom. There he was. Vergil was also dressed nicely in a nave blue button down shirt buttoned all the way to the top and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a pair of black dress pants.
Dante was dressed similarly in a dark wine red satin shirt and black jeans. Say what you will, the leather pants he normally wears just doesn't go well with the satin in his opinion. "Wow. You clean up well big brother." He half joked. He really was blown away sometimes at his twins supernatural beauty. One of the few blessings from their father, though his mother was quite the looker too. Damn beautiful genes passed down all around.
"Shall we?" Verigl asked, extending his hand towards Dante. He led them downstairs where a large picnic basket sat on Dante's desk. Taking the Yamato in hand Vergil sliced the air to create a portal. Dante grabbed the basket before walking through, Vergil following right in step with him. On the other side was exactly the spot Dante had been thinking of. A hillside several miles out of town but one could see the entire city from there. The hill was particularly noted for its scenic area so the was a flattened portion of it specifically for picnics and pictures and the likes.
It didn't take them long to get settled, Vergil took back the basket with Dante set up the blanket. He began setting up the area, wine glasses and a bottle, the Tupperware of the food he'd made and even candles. Holy shit for a guy who's never been on a date before he sure knew how to bring the romance. And Dante saying so actually made his brother laugh. "You have no idea how many poetry books I read about love and romance just so I could shower you in it when we were children." Now it was Dantes turn to laugh. "And here I thought I was the hopeless romantic." "Oh you certainly are." They laughed together and it felt so easy. It felt so good to be beside his twin like this.
They talked more about their lives, how different things had been after the fire. How much each twin missed the other. and of course the Temen-ni-gru. "And you know after I had Nero I thought how glad I was that I still had at least one piece of you left." Dante hadn't realized his slip-up until he saw Vergils eyes wide. "What do you mean by that brother?" Shitshitfuckshitfuckfuckfuckshit. "Uhhhh, hey so what food did you make for us? I'm starvin and we don't want it getting cold right?" He quickly tried to steal the conversation away from what he'd just accidentally confessed.
Dante grabbed the Tupperware and opened it to fund a large helping of spaghetti, one of their childhood favorites. And oh christ not now, he thought as a wave of nausea ran through him again at the smell of the delicious food. Fuck he wasn't going to be able to fight it off this time. Dante got up and ran over to the nearest tree before half collapsing over it and chucking his lunch. "Dante!" He could hear Vergil yell in an alarmed voice. Dante spat out the excess spit and bile in his mouth before answering "I'm fine! Totally all good!" And then he heaved again. Fuck being pregnant sucked sometimes.
"Dante you are not alright." Vergil stated matter of factly, "what happened? Why are you sick? Did you contract something while hunting today? Did one of them get a parasite in you?" He sounded.. shit he almost sounded scared. But why should he? Didn't he know they could become sick sometimes?
"Well it's almost like a parasite I guess but I don't like thinking about it like that." Fuck his stupid defense mechanism of using humor to cope when he's scared. Dante knew he was just going to have to come out and say it but dammit all not like this. "I'm really fine I promise. I'm just pregnant that's all."
Vergil stayed quiet until Dante was able to catch his breath and finally stand upright with becoming nauseous again. When he was able to look his twin in the eye again he could see why Vergil had been quiet. The man was visibly stunned. Probably a first. So Dante kept going while he still had the courage. "Honestly two for two with you. First Nero now this one. I guess my body only wants it to be yours though. Wouldn't really take when tried with anyone else and the rare times it did well… they didn't last all the way through."
"You birthed Nero?" Was all he managed to say for a moment. And while Dante launched into explaining why he hadn't seen any reason to tell Nero that he'd been the one to carry and give birth to him all Vergil could think of was the other part Dante said. And then he thought back to the bears he saw Dante with in the attic the day before. How they were all the same with only slight variations. They were for babies Dante had tried to have but was unable to bring to full term. "I guess you're lucky number 7 huh?" Was what Dante had said. Meaning he had suffered through six failed pregnancies prior to this one.
Vergil took Dantes face in his hands, leaning in to softly press his lips to his brothers. "You are so strong for being able to carry our child." Dante was filled with emotion, he felt so loved by his brother, his twin, his Vergil in that moment he just started crying.
When he'd calmed down Dante told the truth of why he was in the attic and what he was looking for. "Will you make a bear for this one too?" Vergil had asked. "No guarantee this one will make it to term yet Vergil. Are you sure you want to go through that with me?" He knew what he was asking. What he he was about to put himself through. But the thought of Vergil seeing him like that. Broken and bleeding because his body refused to carry when he wanted. "I will do my best to ensure that our child is born healthy, to an equally healthy mother. Prepare yourself brother. You think you are romanced and pampered now." Dante found himself blushing at the, what he assumed Vergil meant as a threat? Oh well. He was happy. Still sick but happy now.
Now all they had to do was figure out how to tell Nero.