thesharktanksdriver

[thesharktanksdriver]

Vergil: Foolishness, Dante — My child is an angel >:(

( we all know he’s not )

Forgot to post this Uncle Dante here! ✌🏼✨

[thesharktanksdriver]

Saw the quote "i wanted you to hate me so you'd know i was still there" and my mind immediately went to that ask you answered a while back about how HP would react to the reappearance of our favourite repressed brother in blue

🎉

Oh god that fits them way too well lol.

Vergil especially after coming back from hell In dmc5 is sadly kinda ok with Honeypie potentially hating him for the rest of their life because at least they’re not indifferent of him. Hating someone at least has you thinking about them, and since Vergil thinks they’ll hate him forever he surmises that at least they’re thinking of him even if it’s not favourable.

I think a lot of these feelings probably stem from his loneliness and a need for feeling acknowledged.

Because if they hated him after the temen-ni-Gru at least when he was being tortured by Mundus he wasn’t a footnote. Maybe while he dreamed of their eyes they were thinking of him.

I feel like after dmc3, dmc1 after being released from Mundus’s hold and especially after dmc5 he’d feel a lot of inadequacy that he’s not like Dante. He isn’t as strong as Dante nor as loved as him, he doesn’t get Honeypie to smile as Dante does but so long as they feel something, anything towards him it’s better than nothing. Anger and hate is the opposite of love yet both occupy the same amount of space In Someone’s life and mind.

Vergil probably stared blankly into a wall for a full hour when he learns that Honeypie doesn’t hate him, not really at least. their upset (rightfully so) but they want to work on things and make it better. To grow a proper healthy friendship and relationship with him.

[thesharktanksdriver]

(English learning anon. We had a thunderstorm the day before yesterday and they turned off our electricity and turned it on only today so I was inactive all this time.)

Also

Dante: do you think we'll be together in every universe?

Honeypie: wha-?

Clockwork dissonance reader and Soma (for some reasons they gave me these vibes)

Will you write something about reboot and netflix series? Not like a full chapters and oneshots you write for the main series but tiny like who is Honeypie there, how did they met the other characters, their relathionship to each other or something?

I watched some reviews on devil may cry anime and one author had a crashout on a demon in first episode because he is a lawyer himself and in an irritated manner explained that the question of disposing of the inheritance should be dealt with in court and it doesn't matter what this old man wrote. So I had an idea related to the fact that the Honeypie's parents wanted them to become a doctor or a lawyer and they had taught them about law in advance and i think it would be funny that Honeypie will have a similar crashout.

Damn! Sorry to hear about you having ur power going out due to a thunderstorm! I hope you’re doing alright!

Also ksisuehwiishsiwisjwouw - my heart at the “do you think we’re together in every universe” question with Dante and Honeypie. Also W mention of clockwork dissonance (which I have to start making the next part of…hopefully soon cause I’m really proud of the first even if it’s not super popular lol).

As for me writing for reboot and the Netflix adaptation I wasn’t really sure of it at first since I don’t like either very much (for various reasons) but I have thought of who Honeypie would be in both those adaptations.

For DMC: Devil may cry from 2013 a lot would be different considering it was a major departure from the regular dmc. Honeypie in this would have a lot of the same beats as canon honey but a lot would be different as well consider circumstances.

For 2013 Honeypie was raised in a really rich socialite household (kinda like original Honeypie but in that their wealthy middle class at best) their parents are just as cold and calculating as the original but with the added unfortunate of them something being physically abusive on top of that.

Them being rich comes to play because their not only friends with Vergils adoptive parents but also shareholders of silver stacks which is run by Mundus/Kyle rider. With all of that it leads to their parents kinda pushing them towards Vergil and telling them to be friends with him for the family’s benefit.

Despite this Vergil and Honeypie actually get along pretty well. Honeypie because of their upbringing is very quiet and polite but also extremely fidgety which Vergil picks up on. They bond because of poetry once more but after seeing the signs of abuse Vergil kinda begins to form an unhealthy mindset about having to protect them and being the only one who can protect them since no one else is stepping in which links back to his view on humans being fragile and needing him to lead them.

This unhealthy mindset eventually leads to him having their families to arrange that they get married which is something that freaks Honeypie the hell out. The problem with Vergil is that he does stuff for Honeypie without asking, he does it for their safety and sake but never stops to confirm it’s what they want for themself. It’s moreso what he wants.

While that’s happening Honeypie in this adaptation also meets Dante fairly early on as well. They go to the same fancy private school as Vergil in limbo city but would frequently sneak out which is where they accidentally met Dante.

He was bruised and bloodied in an alleyway from scuffle from a riot with the police hot on his tail, Honeypie stepped in and covered for him before tending to his wounds. Admittedly he’s pretty volatile and doesn’t hold back his words but Honeypie finds themself liking him because of that. He doesn’t hide behind fancy words or is two faced, he’s upfront with himself and it’s something they never really experienced before. To Dante’s surprise after the experience Honeypie keeps coming back to meet with him and they gain a weird genuine friendship.

They both confide in each other a lot even if it took a long ass time for Dante to open up even a smidge. But Honeypie keeps coming back and that’s a lot more than anyone’s ever done for him.

Eventually when Honeypie learns they’re gonna be engaged they freak out and run away, leading to Dante letting them stay at his trailer. It goes by like this for a long while for the two, Dante still sleeps with a bunch of people (mostly to try and make Honeypie jealous once he realizes his feelings not knowing that makes them in return think he’s not interested in them at all. Dumbassry 101) but in the morning when the bodies warming his bed are gone and he’s alone their always the one at his side giving him water, graval and breakfast.

I won’t go into the rest of the game but that’s the general set up for if they were in dmc:2013

Meanwhile for Netflix adaptation

Honeypie is childhood friends with Mary before and after Arkham becoming a demon and killing Kalina. Before the attack Honeypie and Mary actually had a good childhood together minus honeypies home-life which is relatively the same to canon. There’s a breaking point though after the death of both Mary’s parents, Mary becomes heavily dependant on Honeypie especially since the night that happened Honeypie was staying over for dinner and their parents were late in picking them up again.

Honeypie got hurt during that attack alongside Mary, but it’s Mary who fought back to protect them even as a kid.

After that Mary leans on Honeypie as the one good thing in her life. Like Vergil in dmc:2013 she gets the unhealthy idea that she’s the only thing that can protect them and that they can’t protect themself. They can’t stand up to their parents and could only cower on that night when Mary had defended them, therefore she’s the only thing keeping them from being hurt or taken advantage of.

Similar to canon Honeypie gets kicked out by their parents but ends up staying with Mary and even at one point they both begin dating. But Mary’s habit of undermining them for their own safety and being overwhelmingly overprotective to the point of Honeypie realizing that they traded one bad situation for another and that Mary like their parents isn’t letting them really live for themself even if it’s dangerous.

So despite how much it hurts them they leave and Mary is both heartbroken, bitter and cynical.

After the break and in need of cash Honeypie eventually ends up working for Enzo as a secretary of sorts. For as sleezy as he can be he has a heart especially when finding Honeypie sobbing on the streets one night and offers them a job plus a place to stay. He sees a lot of Dante in them with how aimless they are in life so he may or may not set up various opportunities for them to meet which leads to Dante and honeypie becoming friends.

By that point Enzo also views Honeypie as his kid and they confide in him their entire life lol. With learning that he decides to “lend his helping hand” to Dante via sending Honeypie to essentially work as Dante’s secretary instead since “I’ve got a handle of things here but that kid can’t file a document without causing some sort of gun fight”. Enzo mainly does this because both are traumatized kids that maybe can help one another and this gamble works out really well.

Despite technically now working for Dante, Honeypie still checks in on Enzo on the weekends and helps out when they can.

After the diner scene Honeypie gets separated from Dante and gets captured by the white rabbit which leads to them being kept at the apartment complex for awhile where they then meet nelo Angelo/vergil plus the white rabbit. While there and being interrogated/held hostage by various demons they somehow trauma dump and these demons feel bad for them lolololol.

White rabbit initially was holding them for the sole purpose of having an upper hand against Dante but when learning that they not only dated Mary and Mary became toxic af he is just sitting there in his stuffed rabbit filled room listening to them spill the tea. Meanwhile when with nelo Angelo/vergils they’re awkwardly trying to read before noticing him watching over their shoulder and offers to read aloud for him to listen as well.

Also Honeypie being taught being their parents beforehand of law because they demanded Honeypie to become a lawyer is funny as hell cause they would do that. lol Honeypie when panicking starts listing off all the law violations their doing and starts using that as a way to cope before getting upset at ancient demon magic law for not making sense at all.

[thesharktanksdriver]

I got an ask asking about what the crew would do for Honeypie birthday. The user forgot to make it anonymous but I thought I’d answer it like this instead of revealing them lol.

“And what would happen on HP's birthday? Like, what would the gang™ cook up, I'm extremely curious” - curious anon

No doubt the crew would go all out but on what they do exactly depends on what era of dmc it is!

For dmc3 with just lady and Dante I think the two would plan a bit of a surprise for Honeypie. Since this is the first game they probably wouldn’t surprise it at all thus the surprise would work this time around. Due to a tight budget because of store repair costs I think lady would cover it this time around but Dante would handle actually setting up the shop. A homemade banner is set up, their favourite songs in the jukebox, a cake sitting on his desk along with snacks. Both would go the full mile that they can with limited resources of the circumstances. Lady had to drive an hour out to find a bakery still making things after the temen-ni-Gru tower destroying most of Redgrave.

In the morning when Honeypie walks into devil may cry expecting the usual their met with both lady and Dante throwing streamers and yelling “surprise!”. Having someone celebrate their birthday is kinda something new for them, mostly because “birthday parties” that their parents threw were essentially excuses to socialize and network rather than celebrating their actual kid.

So having a real party just for them catered exclusively for them is something Honeypie isn’t used to and kinda stuns them. Lady on their birthday always brought them a small handmade cupcake and a gift to school but having a full little party is new.

I think honestly Honeypie would get a bit misty eyed that someone would even go through that sort of effort to make something about them.

For dmc1 I’m gonna combine it with the anime as well since Trish didn’t meet lady until the anime plus I love patty.

Honestly I can imagine an entire filler episode of patty dragging Dante around trying to help him pick out the perfect gift for Honeypie while lady and Trish plan and book a nice dinner for everyone. The villain of the episode is Honeypie having a nice day off and repeatedly almost running into both patty and Dante lol all the while lady and trish jump through holes trying to find a nice place to have dinner for everyone.

At the dinner the crew all band together in making sure the dinner goes well. Dante for once saved up and not only helps cover the bill (for once) but also made sure to get Honeypie a really nice gift a la the help of patty as well.

Every year Honeypie says that they didn’t need to get them anything and that the party was enough and every year the others disagree.

During dmc2 considering Dante’s mental state plus returning fresh from hell I think Honeypie would opt for something a bit more quiet. Everyone gathers at Honeypie’s apartment for a nice cozy hangout with cake and a movie. It’s a bit more put together than dmc3 due to both Trish and lady planning beforehand once again, but it also serves as an opportunity for Lucia to meet the gals as well! (This is for the 6 other Lucia fans).

Everyone squishes together on the couch as popcorn, cocktails and cake is served on handpainted ceramics.

There’s a very silent competition between lady, Trish and Dante over who gets to sit closest to Honeypie all the while Lucia is just happy to be there and included…plus it’s maybe funny seeing Dante who had been very stone faced and depressed during their adventure suddenly getting flustered and fighting with Trish all the while Honeypie remains oblivious talking to her about random shit as lady slides an arm around their waist.

For dmc4 with the inclusion of Nero, Kyrie and Credo the birthday probably once again has to be held in DMC due to how many people are now attending (not to mention patty coming plus Morison swinging by to drop off his gift as well) as well as fortuna being in repair.

Trish, Dante and lady are planning to the T all the while Kyrie helps out and credo and Nero awkwardly watch. Both are still kinda processing everything and very much watching Dante fumble repeatedly like and idiot.

Trish and lady get both former order of the sword members to help decorate while Kyrie this time makes a home made cake plus other foods. Honeypie is about to be blessed with home made Italian food blessed by Sparda himself once Kyrie is done with her cooking. Through the entire day patty is keeping them distracted and taking them shopping as the others get ready.

The group tries to make it a surprise but Honeypie definitely knows their plan and it secretly warms their heart.

The entire night Nero sabotages Dante purposefully for all the bullshit he put him through….mainly royal guard

As for dmc5 with the entire crew it’s chaotic to say the least and that’s saying something after the ones proceeding it. Nico for one is definitely making some bullshit to help decorate and is helping everyone with the planning. She’s running between each room with a new set of things in her hand and somehow being able to flip flop effortlessly.

Nico really appreciates honey, so she’s doing her best to make sure that effort is seen and felt. She likes to think it’s also a subtle way in paying them back for all the flowers they sent to granny Nell over the years. It’s a gesture she still remembers after going to her grandmothers grave and finding bouquets there each and every anniversary.

Meanwhile for Vergil he’s….honestly unsure of what to do. Listen, he hasn’t exactly celebrated his birthday beside caving and buying himself a chocolate bar before dmc3 so he kinda is disillusioned with birthdays…unless it comes to honey. But still he’s unsure of what to do as he watches everyone run around like chickens with their head cut off.

It’s because of this he uses the opportunity to help patty distract honey and unironically makes a really funny duo. Her sass plus his general personality make for a very fun day of watching them bicker or ruthlessly tear down any rude passerby’s for Honeypie’s amusement.

When returning back to dmc and everyone yells surprise Honeypie can’t help but laugh with tear lined eyes as confetti rains down around them.

Something for once Dante promised to clean up.

So many birthdays over so many years, and yet now it feels complete as they laugh with Dante over old jokes, eat kyrie’s hand baked cake made to their preference, wipe off some frosting from Nero’s forehead much to his embarrassment, watch patty team up with Trish and lady against Dante, dance with credo to their favourite songs, open up nicos hand made gift wrapped in uncharacteristically delicate wrapping paper and share a quiet moment with Vergil in the alleyway.

They wouldn’t trade this day for any amount of money.

(Enjoy this cursed gif)

[thesharktanksdriver]

sparda family

[thesharktanksdriver]

Hi, genuinely love you DmL series right now. Sorry for the bland way of texting but seriously, I'm breathing in your work like it's the oxygen. pls hear me out on this.

I wanted to share this headcanon of Honeypie where the mop or broom(whatever that cleans up the office) has a hidden blade and HP can unsheathe it for defend. Imagine NOBODY on the team knows about it until they found out by some random accident and HP is like:"bought it from a store, found it useful and the guy at the store said someone blessed it for minor in convenience."[shrug] or...

POV: your HP working and demons suddenly crash in, broke the door for the 100th time so you decided to unsheathe the broom to wrap up the situation while Dante's having a "HP is in danger notification"on a mission, runs back, finds them unharm ,currently sweeping the floor, meanwhile at the back of the building ,demons bodies lay there, not moving at all and Dante is like:[surprised pikachu face].

the teams reaction to seeing the blade disguise itself as a random object would be on your words of describing(I'm talking about you author).

Another thing I wanna ask is have HP ever crash out? like infront of everyone and I was wondering about how the others would react to that? would they be scared or concern... Technically HP have multiple reasons to have a valid crash out, like pent up emotion, stuff in the past or just demons breaking their spine by destroying the wall constantly. Look if you were Honeypie while working, having a really bad day, you should be AND allow to throw a chair at someone and they can't blame you for it. I'll be at the back clapping my hands.

Anyway, that's all I wanna say after going through a crisis whether I should ask this or not. Again I love your work, it's great to see good fic being serve in a while, your dishes were delicious[kiss chef, sprinkling you with appreciation and love].(P.S BIG sorry on this one....you don't have to reply, I would be fine with it).

Thank you so much!!!! I love hearing people’s opinions and headcanons so no worries!!

Ngl Honeypie having a decent blade in the broom would be genuinely fucking funny, especially if it’s something akin to a Katana or some shit. Like they all rush back to find Honeypie putting the blade back into its sheath to then sweep up the mess and everyone has the expression of “holy shit that’s scary hot” and Vergil is practically Olympic sprinting over to convince Honeypie that “I’m experienced in that sort of blade, I can help” before Dante, Trish, lady and credo are trying to stop him.

But seriously tho that is something I’d 100% see them having as an extra pro caution if anything had happened and they couldn’t get any gun or devil arms. Better safe than sorry especially when dealing with demons who don’t lightly hiss like a cat as Dante and Nero do (Vergil just pouts and mumbles about how it’s an ineffective weapon).

As for you other question, yes Honeypie has crashed out before and can but under very specific conditions.

Due to their aforementioned childhood Honeypie struggles a lot with perfection andbeing useful to others to achieve a sense of worth plus. If they feel like they failed in some degree of being useful to someone and being good at something they would very quickly and quietly spiral. It’s the kind of spiral where their self worth tanks and they go silent for a long time kinda just staring at their hands.

Dante and most others would notice quick, but especially him. He’s been with them through a lot of moments like this when they forgot to fill out a form or couldn’t do a task for him. He very quickly is able to remind them that they did X amount of other things ok and it’s alright to mess up or not be perfect at something. He holds their hand through it and Honeypie makes this a way to ground them.

For as thankful as they are for dante I think Honeypie would really dislikes anyone seeing them in moments like this. Because they aren’t being professional or keeping up their nonchalant facade and letting a bit of their bottled up emotions leak through. They’re appreciative but try not to let others seeing them with such vulnerability to their feelings like that since they’d been taught to discard a lot of those emotions.

However for a more loud/visible crash out I’d definitely say seeing their parents again. It could be a nightmare, seeing them in a crowd or being fully confronted by their parents but they’d very visibly shatter. Like they’d have a full on panic attack and depending on what the situation is they’d be yelling at them to get away. It’s kinda an outpouring of all they felt during their childhood coming out now that they were free Of their controlling behaviour, they can’t go back to that after a taste of freedom.

[thesharktanksdriver]

The amazing 🎉 anon here again!

Will the gang ever meet/find out more about HP's parents? Because they haunt the narrative in such an interesting way I can't help but wanna know What'd happen

(and thanks again for giving us such detailed answers to all our questions fr)

Hi!!!!!!!!!!! I love giving detailed answers because I’m so down bad for dmc it’s crazy and I’ve dragged myself friends into it lolololol

As for Honeypie parents they are gonna keep serving as a kinda invisible but haunting presence until fortuna. Honeypie gets along well with credo due to their shared experience of exponential pressure from authority figures. It’s something that Honeypie recognizes in him kinda Subconsciously and makes them seek him out into helping him in what they can.

Dante knows a bit about them but I don’t think Honeypie ever really went into detail about it because “he had worse with watching his mom die, he won’t want to hear my shitty parents” while for lady she always kinda had suspicions but her talk with Honeypie kinda cemented them and she at one point after their heart to heart in the aftermath of 3 led to them fully telling her.

Trish would have her thoughts as well though due to her being relatively foreign to human culture and ect she doesn’t think it’s her place to comment or ask unprompted. But she picks up subtle signs that reminds her of when she was working under Mundus so she definitely realizes it wasn’t a healthy situation.

Vergil had genuinely no fucking idea lololol until Honeypie opened up to him and he’s aghast…plus potentially contemplating the fact that 2 more people dead after the qilpoth wouldn’t matter-

I plan maybe in the future Honeypie running accidentally into their parents and the dmc crew going a bit berserk. Parents like Honeypie’s don’t let go after finding them again and would try to gaslight, guilt and if neither of those works downright force them back

Something none of the crew would very much like

All would have various reactions especially depending on Honeypie’s emotional state, the surrounding and with what tactic the parents are trying.

But either way it wouldn’t be pretty

[thesharktanksdriver]

Ok….im trying to start a Trish playlist since im working on Vergils and lady’s.

Do yall think she’d like ABBA?

[thesharktanksdriver]

(English learning anon)

Can't wait to see interactions between Nero and Honeypie and what thoughts other characters will have about it. I have a feeling that the first one who will see and hold grandchildren is Honeypie.

Dante teaches Honeypie how to play on guitar he has at Devil may cry so they could use Nevan later.

Honeypie not on purpose proving Vergil that humans are not so weak as he thinks by getting their own devil arm. V probably will ask where they got it

Also about that devil arm, will it be willing or unwilling? Like in first case scenario demon will give them respect because they, an ordinary human, defeated him/her, a powerful demon.

(This one is more like suggestion) Dante and Honeypie had got separated before latter faced that demon so they will defeat him/her themself without any help.

Honestly I can’t wait to write Nero and Honeypie as well! I think Nero would initially be shy and embarrassed about viewing Honeypie as a parental figure until they accidentally refer to him as their son and suddenly all his insecurities are gone. After that point he 100% lets them ruffle his hair or treat his wounds whilst complaining because he wants felt this level of care before beside Kyrie.

I’m debating if at some point Honeypie legitimately adopts him or if it’s just kinda something they both don’t need a pice of paper to acknowledge.

I’d say most characters think it’s really sweet, but Dante is kinda having his devil side loosing its mind because “kin! Mate is taking care of kin! Must give them the heads of enemy’s to show love-“. Trish finds him bashing his head against a wall half-devil triggering and arguing with himself. She just pats him on the back and leaves him to deal with that himself. Mostly because that gives her ample time to slide right beside Honeypie and attempt to woo them.

And absolutely 1000% if Nero has kids (besides the ones he and Kyrie took in after fortuna) Honeypie is the first to know about them and is the first relative to hold said kid. He doesn’t trust Dante to not do something stupid.

If Honeypie didn’t know to do guitar before they certainly learn from Dante. I’d say it isn’t even for the sole purpose of being able to use Nevan but moreso because Dante just really like spending time with them and indulging in hobbies together.

It makes him feel closer to Honeypie, not just physically as he sits behind them and guides their fingers but also emotionally as they both take the time to enjoy something that the other enjoys as well. I think he’d find something like this more intimate than just about anything he does with honey, mostly because theres something about just enjoying and sharing hobbies with someone that feels more touching than just physical contact (though he very much enjoys that as well)

Though onto Nevan (because I love her) once she meets Honeypie she’s very much enjoying this soap opera unfolding in front of her lol. I think she just instantly kinda likes Honeypie because of all the drama plus they’re just plain and simply a cute human. A cute human who has been accidentally blue balling several powerful demon hunters for years and a cute human who while using her in battle pause to make sure she’s ok.

Their a cute little thing and honestly she’s glad that of all humans it’s this one that has caught so many people’s attentions

Partially because it gives her unlimited sexual frustration she can feed on and because genuinely their a good person who has people who’d fight tooth and nail for them

…also maybe because they also let her watch shitty tv while not being actively used lol.

lol Honeypie really do be accidentally proving Vergil wrong by stumbling over themself. First it was warning him that the tower might not give him what he wants and now it’s being able to get devil arms by complete fucking accident not knowing that making an offering would gain some weird status goddess’s interest. By the time V is around and at their apartment he’s kinda just gobsmacked alongside shadow and griffon who’s watching Honeypie use their dmc1 devil arm plus whatever other devil arms they’d collected up to that point. Not to mention Agni and Rudra plus Nevan chilling on the couch watching TLC.

Once Vergil is back he’s probably trying to justify his feelings for them as “see! They aren’t just a regular human! Their powerful and have proven themself to be a suitable candidate. Their just not like the other weak humans-“ meanwhile Dante’s just “mmmmmm their hot when kicking ass and dragging me across the floor”

As for your question the devil arm that Honeypie receives is willing but there’s a complication with it when the transfer happens. It’s hard to explain without spoiling but let’s just say the devils soul died during the transfer but because the transfer had begun it still became a weapon even if it’s consciousness hadn’t carried on its will did.

As for your suggestion I’ll have to think on it. Dante being apart of that fight is important due to his devil arm (you’ll see eventually) and it causes a realization, but I could potentially have it so he throws them into the fighting area as he tries to get in to help Honeypie.

During that section I might write the pov of the demon to better give an explanation as to why the change of heart happened. That boils down to trust, mostly because Dante trusts Honeypie and treats them as a partner and not a pawn as Mundus does to all his servants.

I’m probably spoiling too much already lol so I’ll leave it there.

[thesharktanksdriver]

Devils may love?: Trust of caring, Taking an offered hand and thundering feathers

Love making Dante and Honeypie bicker like a married couple lol. Their both idiots in their own right

Links: masterlist, part 1, part 2, part 3

So uh yeah newsflash Dante was upset, justifiably upset but upset nonetheless

You see it in how his eyes harden and his grip of ebony and ivory tighten

But most importantly of all you see fear and worry

It wraps around and coats him in an intense smog

Like a chimney puffing out large thick gusts of smoke that choke the sky

Instead it chokes you as he stares wide eyed

Words lost in his gaping mouth

It’s clear that unlike last time you’d come here of your own volition evident by the briefcase and handgun

That not typically something a hostage is given or allowed to take

So you can’t exactly use that excuse

“So…uh…surprise?” God he’s rubbed off on you too much, normally you wouldn’t say such corny ass shit-

“Are you insane!” He moves forwards grabbing your by the shoulders to shake you lightly “what the hell are you doing here?!? How did you even get here in the first place”

“Evidently yes - to help you - Trish plane-“ each answer takes a moment on account of your brain slamming against your skull every few seconds. For as gentle as he tried to be he was still overpowered as hell. You still remember the time he grabbed the door handle too hard and it warped.

He looks at you with an expression you can only describe as hopeless and exasperated. Finally he knew how you felt half the time, he knew a faction of your pain. “God…no you shouldn’t be here! You’re not supposed to be here! You should be back at the shop where it’s safe“

“Dante you can trust me, you and lady trained me and I’ve survived this far already…” looking behind Dante you see the demon knight from earlier at the openly balcony doors “uh Dante behind you-“

Dante doesn’t have time to turn around since by then the knight had already grabbed him, it then chucked him out into the courtyard. Distantly you hear a loud bang and Dante groan as it turned its attention back to you and held out a hand, staring once more intently. It really seemed to have a thing for staring at you…

“Uh thanks you’re a real gentleman? You’re a guy right?” It nods and You take its hand, cold metal meets your palm as it then used your grip to pick you up. It was really leaning into the knight bit since it did a princess hold all fancy like as it descended into the courtyard from the balcony. Then placing you down just as Dante dusted himself off from a small crater in the ground…the dirt would probably be the least of your cleaning worries.

“Wow, you have more than just gutsy your downright ballsy” he sounds annoyed as all hell when he utters this, especially when the knight after placing you down still kept a hold on your hand and…for a moment laced its fingers with yours, squeezing your hand before pulling away?

That action though small seemed to push Dante since ebony and ivory were quickly unloaded into the knights armour

An action that quickly turns into a clash with the knight and a new sword Dante had surging with electricity

Lightning rippled across the blade and two swords danced in a dangerous clash

All the while you took a second to process the knights previous actions and then begin unloading your own clips into it

As expected it shrugged off your bullets as it did Dante’s

But it seemed to do enough as a distraction as it jumped from the first level of the courtyard to the second

Dante followed quick

Not wasting any time with running and jump off walls and such

Meanwhile you look up blankly to where their fighting

Dramatic ass fuckers-

Sighing you try climbing your way up the ledge

Unfortunately you didn’t take rock clinging class, you didn’t know that would be a good damn prerequisite to this

Maybe you need something to help

Looking down to the briefcase you quickly rummage through

Pushing past the shit you stuffed in there like enough bullets to pay for rent for at least an entire year and then

“Bingo!” You pull two swords from the case, one blue and the other red in an irony not lost to you, especially since Dante once used them during the tower. “Alright uh…guess I’ll stick them in the wall and climb-“

Just as you jam the swords into the stone to climb up you pause when hearing something…more like someone? “Your not Dante?…” at the hilt of the sword a gemstone with a face talks before the other sword responds “their the one he was after remember? Uh Honeypie was it?”

They talk…the swords talk….how is this the least weird thing today? “Uh hi yeah…that’s unfortunately what Dante calls me but my real name is…actually you know what we can cross that bridge later, I didn’t know you both talked?”

“We were sworn to a vow of silence” “by Dante once we became his devil arms”

“Do you guys like being qui-“

“No”

“Ah…uh well I don’t mind you guys chatting if you can help” at that you see both faces eyes widen

“Really?! You’ll let us speak again!”

“Yeah, so long as you both help me I don’t mind.” At that there’s an immediate response from the two, the red sword in your hand directing you to grab his brother. When you do so your then immediately filled with some sort of energy, it buzzes In your veins and with a swing of both swords with the twos encougment your sent upwards. Fire and wind swirling around you in a vortex propelling you upwards.

“I am Agni” “and I am Rudra”

“We are at your service”

With that you were finally able to catch up to both the knight and Dante after doing some more parkour across the old castles crumbling walls

And your met with the sight of Dante being held up by the neck against a stone wall

God damn it

Running to action you swipe Agni and Rudra at the knight’s arm holding Dante up

It doesn’t do much damage but it does make the knight drop Dante

Letting the necklace hidden from under Dante’s layers of clothes jostle free

An-

Electrify surges across the knight as it screamed in pain clutching its head

Whatever the sight of the amulet did to it was immediate

It backed away in pain

Energy surging around it once more as it screamed while Dante wheezed finally having air back in his lungs

With a final yell the knight disappeared off into a ball of energy soaring through the air

But not before staring at you and the amulet once more

“So…that was something”

“We- still- aren’t done- talking-“

“Dante save this for when your not wheezing”

With that and a roll of your eyes you helped the red hunter up

His grasp shaky as he regained his everything

Something about that fight threw him off and you can’t blame him

That knight was no joke but it was also weird

Why did he not hurt you? And more importantly what was with it and Dante’s amulet?

Hopefully questions to be answered later when the armoured demon wasn’t trying to pull chivalrous moves only used to make girls in romance novels swoon

What was with all that anyways?

Ugh, too much work and not enough pay

“You alright?”

“As I’ll ever be” Dante responds taking a moment to crack his neck “wait…how’d you get up here? You couldn’t even reach the paperwork I place on the top shelf let alone here!”

Wow

Asshole

“For your information Dante me and lady do week end trainings-“

“Wait what!”

“-And I had some help” with that you held up both Agni and Rudra, the two devil swords chiming in with “they brought us with them” and “we agreed to help”

“Oi what did I say about talking-“

“That rule is overturned now that I’m using them”

“Your gonna regret that, their chatty”

“If I can deal with you I can deal with anything at this point”

With that a shadow demon leapt out from nowhere to claw off Dante’s face

The shadow cat? Thing is dealt with rather easily by Dante and Tori combined effort

An enemy he seemingly already dealt with before by how he grumbles from under his breath

Curses fall from him when looking at something inside his coat pocket

Something he tucks away before grabbing you and basically high tailing it from out the area once the cat was done with

You hadn’t even had the time to breath before being dragged through the mirror room the knight came from

And then thrown over Dante’s shoulder with a thud and him leaping down from the top of the tower to the bottom

The laughter of black robed demons laughing as you screamed on the way down

Then being safe and let down once whatever Dante kept anxiously checking on was slotted into a blue door

A sewer

Your were both now in the sewers

“We are burning both of our clothes once this is done, I’m not washing sewer water out of your shit”

Dante looks like he wants to fight back that argument before he takes a long whiff of the air, his nose coiling back in disdain “…ok, yeah I can’t argue with you there”. Once saying this he looks down at his boots and pants that slosh in the muddied water “no amount of fabreeze can mask this”

“More like I’m not touching this shit. We have no idea if the stuff down here has marinated”

“Ugh…don’t say marinated when talking about sewage”

“Oh don’t pussy out on me now. You dragged us down here and I’m typically the one to wash out blood and gore from your shit” with saying that you then flick your finger at his forehead

“Ow what was that for?!”

“For tossing me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes, then making us go through a sewer when I just bought this new shirt and for doing this without telling me anything”

“We were on a time limit! Plus, I didn’t know this led to the sewers”

“And you didn’t tell me that Dante. You didn’t tell me anything at all Dante…” your small bit of insecurity seeps in at that last part, becoming more and more quiet. Though you’re usually one for addressing the problem, solving it head on you can’t find the will to do so this time. So instead you begin to try and find a way out even as Dante tried to get the words out.

Agni and Rudra are surprisingly decent company for a pair of bickering demon brothers now stuck as swords

They had explained to you a lot about the demon world you hadn’t understood

Alongside how exactly demon arms like themself worked

That had always been something you were admittedly curious about

When Dante returned from the tower with various weapons made of demons you were intrigued

But it always slipped your mind to ask after he had put them away into safe keeping

Or sold to get enough remaining funds to repair the shop

So you listened to the two

Apparently there were two types of devil arms

Willing and some unwilling

They along with others in the tower willingly became Dante’s weapons once impressed by his will

So once defeated they transformed willingly into weapons thus allowing them to retain some level of consciousness

Specifically their soul survived even if their body didn’t

But a point here was that they were defeated, not properly killed

That was apparently a very important factor they had to specify

Demons rarely become devil arms willingly due to pride and not seeing others a worthy

So the ladder option was typicall

Plus lower level demons didn’t have the power of becoming devil arms, only powerful ones

But on the mention of the other type of devil arm that one was more common

These types of devil arms could only be attained by killing the demon

Thus meaning their consciousness not being transferred with the new form

Well new form was maybe a stretch since it was more like its power transferred and was condensed into something useful for its new user

Thus the reason between why they retained some level of living while others were dead conduits of its previous owners powers

It was kinda fucked up but you guess that’s just how it was in hell

“Besides” Agni adds while Rudra finishes “these form aren’t so bad. Being trapped in that tower for 1000 years was much worse. At least now we see different environments”

“Wow that’s still kinda fucked…”

“Not really, we voluntarily let Sparda seal us there…we just didn’t expect to be there that long considering Mundus and his forces”

“Wait Really? You both willing let yourself be sealed there?”

“Yes, we were both intrigued by humans and their customs. So we’d rather let them live than die, we are most gracious hosts after all. It would be rude for demons to intrude and kill all humans in their home world”

“Well uh…that’s rather nice?”

“This is why I told them to be quiet” Dante buts in, “they talk way too much.”

“Their teaching me Dante”

“Stuff I could tell you”

“And stuff again that you didn’t” that makes him go quiet again.

You hate this sewer

You hate its demons flys that you burn to a crisp with Agni after making wind draw them with one place with Rudra

Then picking off the last ones with well placed bullets

That’s not even mentioning the annoying scissor wielding burden that trapped you and Dante in a small fighting space

Making the two of you maneuver to avoid its swinging attacks and two blades snipping your head from your shoulders

And then comes the fact your very much concerned about your wounds getting infected

And all that for a key

A fucking key

You hate this place

And you make it very known

Treading beside a still quiet Dante you mutter curses under your breath

Agni and Rudra commenting here and there to fill the relative silence

Before eventually a loud bang echoes down the corridor making both you and Dante pause

His hand instinctively pushing your back behind him

As-

Oh what the fuck-

A giant spider

A fucking giant spider made of solid rock and bubbling magma crawls its way down the narrow hallway behind you and Dante

Quite literally hot on both your heels

Dante doesn’t have enough time to grab and throw you over his shoulder like he did before

So instead he grabs you by the hand and runs

You both run and run until stumbling through the doors

Down the sewage filled halls

Shooting at scythe welding assholes and out the sewers back to where you both once came

You almost want to kiss the grime covered stone floors since at least these were a tad bit better than the sewers

Hopefully nothing here could get worse than those sewers

…well maybe besides all these puzzles and keys

A god damn sociopath must’ve once lived here

Guess it explains the location

Placing the sun key into its slot the sun face’s rays shift and turn

Pulling up to reveal a new entrance

Above the entrance area you take a moment to look over the grandiose of this place

Even if you heavily began to dislike it you can’t deny the place was a marvel to look at

It’s just a shame it was marred by what was happening now

It’s beauty of old stone and carved statues ruined by the cries of demons and the maniacal plan of the one behind all this

“What’s wrong?” Dante asks holding your wrist as you stood on the platform looking over the entrance room. Eyes tracing the statue behind the grand staircase holding blue light in its palm.

“Just sad this place is ruined by all this…could’ve been some beautiful historic place people would go to visit…not this hive for evil”

“Yeah….but what’s really wrong?” That makes irks you a bit, making a small bit of irritability snap in you

“You tell me Dante. Except here’s the thing, you won’t. Seems like you won’t tell me anything!”

“Do…” he looks at you as if your insane “do you think I don’t trust you or something?”

“You act like you don’t” it’s quiet but it echoes in the silent area, you look down at that statue and it’s blue light. Crossing your arms and pulling away from his grasp “or you have a weird way of showing it…and I get it. This is a lot for you, you’re scared and I can’t blame you for that…but I still can’t help but feel hurt that after all this time it feels like you can’t trust me to help”

“I didn’t want you involved and dragged into my shit again…I don’t want you hurt like last time”

“I know…” you turn back to him and trace a healing cut just beneath his eye “but did you not think that I wouldn’t worry? That I don’t like the thought of you going into this head first when it’s obviously a trap set for you and act like it’s fine? 10 years ago you were on my ass when I pretended everything was ok with my injuries, if you could be on my ass then for being reckless then I can be on your ass now for the same thing fucker. You don’t get to come here acting like you signed a god damn death warrant and planned your funeral and not expect me to follow you here and be upset that your acting like your expecting death and you didn’t have the Gaul to think of how the people in your life would feel!”. All that comes out in a rush, angry tears cling to your face “how do you think I’d feel telling lady that you’d hadn’t returned?! How do you think I’d feel knowing I couldn’t even give you a burial since you never told me where you went?! Do you not think that would weigh on me? On her? Or how about Morrison or Enzo?! Your not alone anymore, your not a scared little boy running for your life with no ties to anyone Dante, your a man with various people who care for you, who’d die for you”

He looks gobsmacked, various emotions flipping through his mind before his stupid ass focuses in on one thing “you’d…go through the effort to give me a funeral?”

“Are you a fucking idiot?! That’s what you’re focusing on?!? Of course I’d give you a funeral! I’d drag myself to hell if I had too for you! And you seriously think I would leave your body to rot without a proper rest?! I wouldn’t care if it was the last day on earth, I’d still arrange you one because I care for you Dante!” You pinch the bridge of your nose “god your an emotional constipated idiot”

“…you care for me?” It’s whispered breathlessly as if he couldn’t believe you, god he had rocks for brains when it came to others emotions.

“Did you literally not hear what I screamed out into this fucked demon mansion? I care for you a whole fucking lot and I don’t appreciate you not telling me anything and coming here expecting to die and thinking everyone would be ok with that. Not when we’d all gather behind you in a heart beat” by now you’re jabbing your finger into his chest to accentuate your points, hopefully to get it into his thick head. “Do you get it now? You stupid meathead”

“…….I’m sorry” his apology is genuine and at that you sigh, opening your arms that he quickly pulls himself into. Like usual he smells disgusting, even moreso than usual due to both your stenches of the sewers.

“It’s ok…like I said I get your afraid and your stupid as hell when it comes to stuff like this…just think next time about how it’s not just you your affecting, but a whole lot of other people as well”

He nods into your shoulder “I just want you safe”

“I know, but you have to trust in me too that I can handle myself as well. That you can trust others in this fight instead of being alone all the time, because that’s what we’re there for in the first place…and I just want you to come back not in a casket Dante”

It takes a few more minutes to recompose but by the end your both good enough to continue

Maybe the burning sewage both made you hazy enough to emotional open up

Or maybe that plus being dead tired did the trick

Either way that was mostly talked through

Those insecurities of both you and him being calmed

Perhaps not gone completely but now like calm waves under control

Not thrashing or dragging you down

Just simply at ease

It would take a whole lot more than a talk to make them go away

Just as your fear of heights when Dante once again picks you up and jumps with you to another place from a deathly height

That was something that would take a whole lot more experience to go away

….though maybe your yelling and clawing of his laughing chest could eventually do the trick

But by his smile

A smile he’d been lacking as of now

Maybe you could bare it a few more times

If only for that alone

What you don’t tolerate though is when he calls you again by that nickname when Agni and Rudra try to ask for your proper name

The bastard making a deal that if they call you that as well he’d tolerate their talking

Sadly they agree

Traitors

Entering the room across from the platform your met with yet another statue

One that Dante takes a moment to leave some sort of tribute to

So you do the same

Now being able to offer some of the blood still remaining of Agni and Rudra that they willing give up

An action that leads to both commenting on how they feel more powerful than before

When Dante isn’t looking they make a jab about it being his fault their rusty in the first place

You chuckle under your breath

An action that makes the aforementioned hunter quirk a brow before offering a hand to you

Above on a ledge leading to a new door he offers to lift you up

Instead you use Rudra to use his wind powers

Then walking past Dante with a certain smugness in you due to the amount of times the bastard had held shit out to you before holding it over his head with his freakishly long arms

He looks like a kicked puppy before you take his shoulder and drag him along

With yet another ledge to climb you both make it to a big open area-

“I think we’re about to be ambushed”

“Why’d you think that?” Dante asks walking towards the open exit

“Well think, aren’t you always attacked when you enter some big open room with a statue before it-“

Right before your eyes the gate slams down and the same damn spider from before appears. It crawls over the castle walls and slams down into the arena “recess time is over boy! Here there’s plenty of room to get real nasty” he grows a scorpion tail “this time there’s no holding back and I get to kill that little human pet of yours!” Its tail slams down into the ground sending rubble and debris spraying down

“Wow seems you’re right Honeypie. Finally, I was getting tired of playing your childish games” the first part is muttered to you with a small tired edge before he turns confident in the face of danger.

The battle begins and off to a great start as the magma bug kept leaping at Dante

It was clear its main priority was him

So you were in the clear to get shots in on it when it was more focused on him

Round after round fired into the creature

Only going in for hits when Dante hand stunned the demon in its fiery eight legged horror

Agni was useless against the thing so Rudra would have to suffice

A fact the demon seemed to brag about to his brother as you slashed and dashed away from a spider leg nearly hitting you

Or a scorpion tail being parried by the talkative sword

Wind swirling around you and working to cool down the intense heat

Dante didn’t particularly show off his devil trigger form to you often

Moreso out of necessity if anything

But you see it full circle as within a split second he’s transformed

Sword slicing down on the arachnid scorpion in rapid succession

Until

With a final screech the demon falls onto its back toppling down onto the skylight

Glass shattered beneath your feet

A scream tumbling out your throat as well as your hand outstretches

It’s grabbed by claws and lightning that softly ripples across your arm in a soft warmth

You can’t pay much attention to that when the spider fall and is impaled on the statue of a horse riding hero

The spear the solider proudly held piercing through the stone shell letting magma pour out as glass danced mid air and shattered on the floor

It screams as both you and Dante look down at it

“You!…your not just any ordinary human. what are you?” It screeches out looking up to Dante who says nothing in his devil trigger form, he either didn’t speak in that form or he couldn’t, you didn’t know. “no…the legendary Sparda?! It can’t be”

“You’re right you eight legged creep! He’s one of his sons, Dante!” Dangling over the creature you answer for the man holding you from falling to your death.

It gives a last sigh before melting away, dissolving most of the statue beneath it.

Immediately after you jostle as Dante lifts you up with one hand tightly grasping you. Him in his devil triggered looking at you with dark purple eyes reminiscent of storming clouds as bat-like wings spread out from his position on one knee as he pulled you up. Even after pulling you to safety and untriggering he keeps a firm grasp on your hand

“So now you accept my hand huh?” He lifts an eyebrow and a cocky smile appears on his lips

You roll your eyes but can’t help but laugh “oh shut up”

(“Brother is this what humans call sexual tension?” “I think the better term here is slow burn”)

“Oi what are you two yapping about back there?”

“Nothing”

“Stop being mean Dante”

Down below watching from beneath the broken window Trish watches the scene. She sees how he still holds your hand as you roll your eyes with a grin.

Running through more rooms and sections you both end up with a trident and end up back to a place to stick said trident

Which then made a mechanism that temporarily opened a gate on a timer that you both narrowly got through via rolling under the closing gate

You got a face full of Dante’s chest in return

But you both got through in time and walked through the double doors to the drawbridge that had been thankfully drawn

Once arriving at the other side though it drew back into place

Leaving forwards the only path ahead

And ahead unfortunately lead to new lizard demons that burrowed their way out the ground

But dealing with them went as per usual so far

A struggle but something that was doable

A thing you’d never expected but like most things in life you had to learn and adapt

That’s perhaps the only thing your thankful to your parents for

After throwing you enough times in the water and telling you to swim eventually you get used to it

And you force yourself to learn whatever they threw at you

Even if you didn’t particularly enjoy it

Every instrument

Every extra curricular

Every single thing they wanted you to master in order to gain social prestige

To get your way into a good university to slave away at grades once again

Jokes on them you were now using those sink or swim skills to kill demons

Oh how the mighty have fallen

Though perhaps Dante has fallen more as you watched him attempt, keyword attempt, to do parkour up to a platform

“You’re doing a good job Dante! Little to the left this time!” You yell with cupped hands with amusement. You propped up Agni and Rudra to watch as well, both their faces curled up in smiles as they held back laughter at seeing Dante fail and fall again

“Honeypie your being real-“ he looses his footing and falls to the ground with an audible thump and oomph “sour…”

“Maybe because that nickname is stupid and almost anything would be better”

Dante mocks thinking for a moment and gets up from the ground, dusting himself off “nope, your still Honeypie through and through”

“If that’s the case I’ll keep laughing at your failure to jump slightly to the left like your on ps2 tank controls”

“Hey!-“

Eventually he gets to the platform

After around 10 more minutes of trying

Each of which you laughed at every time he fell

Though the reward was good enough since he gained a new weapon to play with

A pair of firey gauntlets that spew fire off in a showy display

They were put to quick use due to some marionette demons

They didn’t last a chance

But the tables quickly turned

The sky became dark and this is her loudly as you entered a big open area free of demons-

“Hey isn’t this what you mentioned before-“

particular large volts of lightning in red dance across the sky around the darkening clouds as a being emerged from them. A large demonic bird reminiscent of an eagle flapping its large wings that sent gusts of wind towards you and Dante before it perched atop a coliseum. “You two! Are you the human, son of Sparda and his pet that challenge the darkness Mundus?”

“What is with them calling me your pet? Seriously I’m his secretary not a some servant! Hear that?! SEC-RE-TARY! SECRETARY!-“

“Flock off, feather face! Or you can stick around and find out the hard way!”

“Apologies, puny second in command” This was spoken in a mocking tone, accentuated by the demon birds booming deep voice.

“You know what, that’s at least better than pet-“

Dante pushes you out the way in time to avoid the birds literal air strike of electricity bombs headed your way

The damn avian nearly carpet bombed you like you were land with oil- oof maybe a little too much of a dig considering the sociopolitical climate-

This time you switch the Agni as Dante started using the new fire gauntlets he had

Using Rudra probably wouldn’t do much considering the demon being an avian, wind was quite literally on its side here…plus electricity

Seemingly like Trish though that would probably be a problem for later

Unfortunately the metal outside of the briefcase probably put you in a more worse position than Dante

So you were a chicken running around with your head cut off attempting to avoid being fried

Though thankfully with this the evil bird was divid in its attention half the time

He’d periodically switch between you and then back to Dante when the hunter would hit him with a flame coated haymaker

“Dante! Use the platforms!” You thankfully dodge two beams of lightning closing in on you within a V formation by jumping up on odd disc-like platform summoned. Though you aren’t the best a parkour you climb upwards, Agni in hand and bursting with fire

“Already on it!” With his fancy new weapon he does some flips and tricks but ultimately goes up the platforms and take a running plunge to the bird. He lands and begins punching away, making the demon go down and give you the chance to run jump and plunge down in the creature.

You keep plunge your sword as Dante keeps repeatedly hitting it

Fire and flames swirling and scorching demonic feathers to an ashen tinge

But the demon doesn’t stay down forever

He gets up with a screech wings flaring up and sending you tumbling off

Being shaken off by the bird leads you to skidding across the ground if not for Dante taking the brunt of it

Immediately running to catch and shield you from the blow

The giant eagle looks pretty injured but keeps fighting even after that beat down

Only eventually admitting defeat after several more minutes of Dante shooting at it

Then disappearing in several strikes of red lightning hitting the ground all the while you and Dante were lefts alone in the courtyard

Once again all the while the coliseum loomed in the back

“….im feeling like KFC for when we get back”

“For once I can’t disagree, but don’t for a minute think I’m paying-“

Through tunnels and new areas plus fog covered bridges that sent you back if you took the wrong way you end up in yet another new area

Whoever designed this place must’ve hated themself or was the ancestor of that famed architect George Trevor

This place was all too complicated for your taste

Too big and too hollow even in its open garden areas

Not to mentioned all the god damned puzzles

For fucks sake why couldn’t people be straightforward for once-

“Were there this many puzzles in the temen-ni-Gru tower? Because I for sure don’t remember ver-rrrry many times of doings stuff like having to get a “sign of chastity” to get a special grail” nearly said Vergil there but you caught yourself, you knew it wouldn’t make Dante upset but you’d rather not remind him or yourself of…that

“there actually were a lot of them? But to be honest I kinda just rushed through them without paying much attention. Just wanted to get them done and over with”

“Why’s that? You weren’t really on a time limit”

He gives you an incurious look, raising an eyebrow as if you’d said something ridiculous “you? I was rushing to save you?”

“Oh” you take a moment to process that, I mean you guess it was a given but still.

“Really just oh? Jeez Honeypie, you think I was taking my sweet time in that tower when I didn’t know if you were dead or dying?”

“Well I don’t know? I’m not very important in the grand scheme of things” It comes out fast from your mouth as you try to defend yourself “they kidnapped me for the reason to lure you there so I guess i assumed they’d keep me around until i served my purpose and they’d slit my throat or something. So you probably could’ve taken your time”

“Oi stop talking like that”

“Like what?”

“Don’t say your unimportant and talking about dying all causal like that” he pokes a finger at you “your important, so don’t think like that”

“I just do the cleaning and paperwork, I’m not atlas losing up the sky or being a hero like you Dante”

“You are to me, you came here to help me despite my warnings. Don’t say that when you came here all the same to do this when you can’t bounce from injuries back like me. Do you not know how brave and stupid that is? How can I not see you as a hero as well?”

“Oh….”

“Keep saying that and I’ll find a way to drive it through that thick head of yours”

“Hey wait thick head?! Your the one here who was acting confused earlier when I said I came here because I cared for you-“ before you can finish what your saying you suddenly feel the cold sensation of eyes on you. Piercing you down to the core. It sends a shiver down your spine.

Dante notices quick, “hey what happened?”

“Sorry…just feels like I’m being watched again��

He doesn’t say anything but just grabs your hand, pulling you along with him though with a small distance between you two so he was in front while you were behind him.

Ending up back in the room for the chalice the sensation of eyes boring into you gets stronger

Your one hand grips Dante’s while the other clutches Agni

Even if it was that knight again you still can’t help but get a bit of the creeps

These other demons here were predictable in their aggression towards you

But he wasn’t and that was a bit more disarming

Plus it was confusing as to why he was so friendly and polite just to you?

Maybe he had some sort of honour code but still it was weird as all hell

A hell you’d experience once more as just after placing the sign of chastity to get the chalice (something Dante urged you be the one to do since in his words “your as chaste as they come”)

Then the air suddenly shifted

And the doors were blocked by stone walls

And electricity surged in the small gazebo structure holding the chalice creating chains of lighting that kept you in its structure

“He’s right behind us isn’t he-“

And behind both you and Dante atop the exit was that same knight again

He draws his sword and drops down nearly plunging it into Dante

It seems like every time something emotional happens it gets ruined by a demon

Tag list: @galaxylibella @dragon-lord-lysander @idleviewer @rosvaline @superbfuryfest @localeggdealer @mellophoned @justnotherweeb666 @her-majesty-horiko @treelogirl @angstylittleb1tch @coinduck

[thesharktanksdriver]

HELLO!!

What are your thoughts on character reactions if Honeypie was a flirtatious drunk; or if Honeypie had an accidental flirtatious moment (you know, because of how oblivious they are O_0).

Just thought this would be a fun idea to capture!

Nice skies,

good night!

Ohhh boy do I have have some thoughts on that.

When it happens to Dante he’s both happy in the moment and kinda dying internally. Because in that moment he’s basically grinning ear to ear asking you to say that again while mentally adding that to his core memories. But at the same time it’s both sweet and a little bitter to him on the fact that it was an accident, you hadn’t completely meant it. But his ass has been pinning so long that at this point he’ll take anything even if it’s a mistake. Sometimes when he’s down in the dumps he’ll think back to that moment and smile before chuckling that for as much as you complain about him being emotionally constipated you sure are as well. He sighs but can’t help but smile when he picks you up after you passed out in an uncomfortable position on the couch and instead moves you to sleep in his bed instead. He tucks you in with an almost tactical precision before leaving a bottle of Advil and a bottle of water at his beside. Before closing the door he takes a final look at your peaceful face before heading down to crash in the couch. He won’t admit it but he maybe enjoys the fact that your scent lingers there a bit too much.

Vergil on the other hand cannot compute what he just heard, he’s asking for you to say that again but unlike Dante it’s to ensure he wasn’t having an auditory hallucination. During his days whilst being tortured by Mundus and afterwards when he wandered hell he may or may not have used the memory of Honeypie to cope with what he was dealing through. He isn’t delusional in thinking what he imagined was real but is was his only comfort at those times, so hearing you say something similar to what he always imagined you to say is a little bit of whiplash for him. And once he confirms they said that for real? Well this poor Victorian man is standing there processing for a full minute whilst you’re oblivious to his internal panic. He knows you didn’t mean it in the way you said but he can’t help but hope a least a little bit of implicit feelings leaked out and some part of it was true. Later on when he reads garden of love he can’t help but imagine it in you voice as he reads.

Lady is very much used to this because her best friend is a dumbass but each and every time she smiles and pulls them close. She can’t help the rapid beating of her heart of the splash of rosey pink that colours her cheeks plus the giggle that escapes lips that desperately wish to kiss another pair. After so much she’s been through accidental words of love are enough to make her feel like a regular school girl again. She’s knows you said it in a haze of alcohol or a heat of the moment thing you didn’t realize had connotations but all the same she cherishes the feeling of softness that it creates in her along with the sense of normalcy now all but lost to her with her demon hunting and distance from normal civilians. It brings her back to the summers the two of you used to lay in the grass listening to the smiths or the cure with one earbud and the flavour of pink lemonade slushies staining the tongue as a confession note sat in her pocket with glittery heart stickers decorating the envelope with dried flowers inside and sealed with a dusty rose kiss.

For Trish she takes this accidental flirting with a certain stride befitting a confident woman as herself, flirting back. Her finger trails your arm in a sly seductive manner creating small sparks and shocks that sends pleasant pins and needles up the arm. She wonders if her electricity ever trails up to your heart, if perhaps for a moment the beating symphony stops or beats even harder as she twirls a small bit of your hair. Trish’s rouge painted lips spill lines as smooth as silk and as soft as whispered confessions at night as she lay awake in the bed you for made her in your humble home. She can’t help but try to pull more words of affection from Honeypie even if it’s half truths and perhaps a bit underhanded. Trish knows that lighting does not strike twice in the same spot and yet each time words of accidental flirty nature leave oblivious lips her heart is struck by the element she controls with the slightest movement of her manicured nails.

Credo is used to saccharin sweet compliments and velvet lined words from others as they attempt to pull him into their pockets. With his position as supreme general is perhaps expected as he deals with these comments with practiced ease and polite patience. There’s politics in fortuna and both fortunately and unfortunately Credo is typically one of its centre points. Everyone has a motive from what they say whether good or bad, they either attempt to sway him or lead to his downfall. Yet, the words that come from your lips are unabashed and completely honest even if slurred by a few glasses of fine wine. It’s a more than just disarming to hear something so truthful without motive and yet can throw him off his feet better than any well practiced line others have tried. Credo despite it being unbecoming of someone of his station becomes visibly flustered very quick, something he hides behind coughing into his fist and his eyes suddenly finding the floor a great conversation partner. And yet despite his embarrassment with a healthy mix of both shame and religious guilt goads him into perhaps yearning for more of their obliviously words that pierced him like Eros incarnate.

V is the human half of Vergil yet he can’t quite consider himself fully human in the sense that humans are what they are through experience. He’s but a temporary creation, made by desperate resolve and left to live feebly and then die too soon. That was his fate, but then fate had decided that for the few weeks he could live they’d be blessed with the experiences that make someone human, or at least made him feel more human than being a discarded husk of a broken man. Case in point V experiences a flood of emotions fill him as words of accidental romance fall from honey sweet lips. Despite all the poems of love and Aphrodite’s grace he’s read he’s yet to understand their true grasp until that moment when the words settle in his mind and his heart races like it never has before in his short life. For once he feels if for a moment truly human as the world seems to become irrelevant and Urizen becomes a momentary afterthought.

(Platonic) in the corner of the van both Nico and Nero watch the accidental salacious words and the fumbling of who it was accidentally meant for. Neither are particularly surprised considering your track record but one is amused while the other the other is shaking their head. Nico finds the entire thing to be like a soap opera in real time, she takes a long drag of her cigarette and huffs out smoke with a cheeky grin. She doesn’t particularly root for anyone but she does perhaps help a lil bit depending on if someone had paid her in cold hard cash or new devil arm materials with maybe goading you into talking about your feelings towards that certain someone (typically Trish or lady). Meanwhile Nero can’t help but a migraine watching all this go down, he loved you, he really did but never has he thought he’d seen his pseudo parental figure somehow flirt and fumble at the same time. It’s honestly impressive if it weren’t kinda mortifying for him. He only roots for Credo in This entire ordeal, mostly out of spite….at least kyrie will get her fill of gossip when he calls her later to update her on the matter. He can’t help but fold when hearing her giggle about how much of an unintentional player you are.

[thesharktanksdriver]

Curious anon again, I was wondering what would happen if hp ever got drunk, or like if she'd drink at all in general?

I think Honeypie would occasionally drink though it’s moreso a rarity due to their upbringing over again. In a strict household like theirs they were very much encouraged not to partake in things that could hinder them academically or potentially lead them to embedding themself at social events.

But now on their own with Dante they drink once in a blue moon, but when that does happen though I’d imagine they’d have a low alcohol tolerance due to not having much experience with it.

I’m leaving it up to reader interpretation as to what exact drunk Honeypie is since they’re meant to be a reader insert but I shall go over what the characters would do with happy or sad drunk Honeypie!

For sad drunk i can imagine Both Vergil and Dante kinda internally panicking though Dante very much hides it better. For the both of them neither know what to do to cheer Honeypie up for various reasons. For Vergil it’s him and his disconnection with humanity and being unable to normally interact with other humans while for Dante it’s the fact that Honeypie has always been his rock so seeing them in this state is really weird and foreign to him. Dante does his best in comforting them even if it’s not exactly his forte, he makes a fool of himself in any attempt of lifting their spirits or just letting them cling to him and cry as much as they need. It’s kinda eye opening for him to how much they hold in or hold back for others sake and makes him want to do better and be there for them not just when their this emotionally vulnerable due to alcohol. Meanwhile Vergil awkwardly sits beside them and expresses care in letting them rant while also making sure they don’t hurt themself accidentally or by drinking too much. He doesn’t really know what to do since dealing with drunk people isn’t exactly somethings he’s experienced before besides seeing drunkards stumble out bars. It does really stick with him as it did with Dante just how much pain they hold onto deep into themself. It makes his chest ache that even if both their circumstances were different they know what it’s like to feel powerless and under the control of someone else’s whims regardless of your own wellbeing.

Lady on the other hand knows Honeypie and has seen them drunk before (while hanging out as teens she probably helped them have their first drinking experience, they both drank some beer she snuck for the two of them) so lady knows what to expect and how to handle them. She lets Honeypie cry if they need and offers a pillar of support whilst also tricking them into drinking water and eating something. Trish similarly to Vergil and Dante is a bit awkward but after some time in the human world she’s gotten a hand at dealing with drunk people after various trips to bars and clubs. There’s a small disconnect at first and a bit of panic but as she lets Honeypie cry it out or stare blankly into their drink she uses her powers to distract them from their thoughts or holds them if they need it.

For Credo indulgence is similarly to Honeypie not something he partakes in often due to the order and his role as an exemplary figure to the people of fortuna. Though, he does have a nice glass of wine occasionally after a long day. So like Honeypie he’s honestly not experienced in drinking but he is decent with dealing with drunk people including sad drunks! With him being apart of the order of the sword some of his duties when a lower recruit back in his training days was helping the people of fortuna including the occasional person who had drank too much. Though this is a bit more personal to him regarding his feelings towards Honeypie he generally knows what to do when seeing that drinking brings out their more repressed sadness and anger about their childhood. He lets them rant, and more importantly lets them know that they aren’t alone in feeling the overwhelming burden of pressure from a young age. If they need to cry into his shoulder he doesn’t mind even if it stains his uniform, as supreme general his duties are to help not only the people of fortuna but also those he considers family, and if it means letting the person closest to his heart sobbing into him then that will be his greatest honour of being their shield. V however is like Vergil and is mostly clueless as to what to do even as Vergils human half since Vergil didn’t exactly have many experiences with inebriated people. But his somehow much better than Vergil since he’s much more in tune with his and others emotions. While crying he’s very easily is able to coax Honeypie into discussing their feelings with not only being persuasive but also because he convinces them to do so with both Griffon and Shadow. Speaking of the two their also another reason V is much better at this than Vergil because of their presences and knowledge of trauma due to being literal nightmares. Shadow ends up placing its head on Honeypie’s lap while Griffon perches on their shoulder and V coaxes them into crying into his shoulder. It’s honestly interesting for both V and his Familiars because they’ve seen Honeypie at their best due to Vergils memories. They’ve seen them in the tower un-phased and strong despite it all, so seeing them breaking down is extremely sobering to them in the sense their seeing Honeypie as a fully rounded person rather than the idealistic version from the snippets of Vergils memories.

(Platonic) Nero unlike Credo has some more experience with alcohol with some rebellious behaviour leading him to sneaking some beer and maybe stealing a bottle of wine from the church once before….but dealing with other people drunk isn’t something he’s exactly good at. Like Credo he’s helped a few people who had too much but his response to that is essentially dragging them home and getting them some Tylenol before heading off to his duties. But dealing with sad drunk Honeypie? Someone he genuinely cares about and is basically the parent he’s never had? Well he’s kinda stumped but stumbling over himself to do his best and help them. He’s acting as honeypies impromptu side to lean into as they sob into him. Admittedly he’s not good at shit like this but after a well places call with kyrie as Honeypie cries into the counter about Nero seeing them like this he’s reassuring them that he’s not only dealt with worse but they could never be a burden to him like their worrying about. Honestly he probably opens up a bit that he could never see them as that especially when he holds them on a pedestal that no one else had raced to occupy. He probably almost starts sobbing though when Honeypie gets upset and goes from crying to grabbing him by the shoulders and telling him whisky stumbling over their words that everyone would be lucky to have him as their son.

However with fun drunk Honeypie!

Fun drunk Honeypie is honestly sending Dante to another plane of existence with how much he’s laughing his ass off. Listen, he’s used to Honeypie being responsible and the only one with a smidge of common sense (a smidge because of how oblivious they are) so seeing them let loose like this is honestly funny as shit for him. He’s 100% encouraging them to do fun stuff like dancing and karaoke but he makes sure they aren’t making too impulsive of decisions that could affect them like big financial decisions or getting something crazy like a tattoo. By the end of the night he’s probably taken 50+ photos to hold over honeypies head the next day lol but their might be a few in which their smile meets their eyes that he keeps in the pocket just above his heart while on missions. A memento of what exactly he’s fighting for and a reason as to why even when things are shitty that he needs to come back alive. Vergil just like the previous scenario above does not know what to do with drunk people all together but unfortunately for him drunk Honeypie finds him hilarious. They’re practically leaning into him giggling about how he’s so sturdy and reliable while he’s mentally screaming about it that was them coming into him. Vergil unlike Dante won’t encourage them into their endeavours but somehow he will be dragged into them. He can’t refuse them and their requests especially not when they look at him like that, their eyes looking at him with such bliss as they pull him into dancing to something on the jukebox. After an activity or two like this he drags Honeypie to bed much to their displeasure mostly to ensure they don’t hurt themselves and also to save his dignity because his heart can’t handle much more.

Lady is having a god damn blast with seeing Honeypie being all giggly and free. It especially makes her particularly happy due to the fact that even in high school they never really let loose or enjoyed life like they should’ve. It’s weirdly healing to her in the sense that she’s seeing Honeypie truly let go and be themself unabashed and not held back by the lingering beliefs of their parents. She encourages them but in a positive way to be open and happy and engage with things they’d normally be afraid to do when sober. She sits down with them and joins in, she’ll let them talk about what interests them and watch with love hooded eyes as they ramble impassioned about whatever they want with a small grin as she wrests her head on her fist to simply watch and listen to them. Trish is going shit for shot with Honeypie even though she can’t get drunk at all lol. Trish finds human things like drinking and going out to be exceedingly interesting considering what life was like in the demon realm under Mundus. She particularly finds how alcohol seems to make humans exceedingly honest to Both others and themselves in ways that not even torture could draw out. Case in point Honeypie as she asks them exceedingly embarrassing questions to watch them answer honestly or stutter and have even more blood rush to their face. Listen she’s still a bit of a demon, she’s 100% taking a slight advantage over this in learning embarrassing shit to tease Honeypie about later or to learn stuff to hold over Dante or lady. With this however Trish is also equally honest with them knowing that they won’t remember this in the morning condone they just had 9 shots of vodka and can’t walk without clinging to her like koala. Trish is honest just as they are about whatever they ask her of, both embarrassing and gutturally raw and to her core. She’ll party and laugh with them to pretend to feel even a fraction of what it’s like to be as beautifully human as they are in her eyes.

Credo is very flustered in dealing with a fun drunk Honeypie because in fortuna they’re very traditional in things. He’s dealt with drunk people and then needing help to walk but it’s another thing having Honeypie leaning up against him and hugging him. Open affection in fortuna is kinda taboo besides small things like hand holding or lingering a certain distance from a lover, behind close doors is a different thing but still somewhat restrained by their religious views. So having the person he very much loves pressing up against him unaware of just how taboo this is for someone from fortuna let alone someone of his status is making him internally blue screen. He keeps trying to explain that this is improper but the minute he attempts to properly explain it he stumbles over himself since their dragging him and asking him to help them remember how to do fancy dancing (aka waltzing, they meant waltzing) and suddenly Credo is back to step 1 through 10 again. V meanwhile is watching curiously while Griffon encourages Honeypie to drink even more because the demonic bird finds it funny how they keep nearly tripping over their own feet if not for Shadow. V is mostly amused but slightly concerned since he knows being inebriated can lead to being potentially taken advantage of in one way or another, something he’d rather never Honeypie have to deal with. He’s quiet in watching them but quiet doesn’t mean he isn’t watching them have for or listening to them talking, he’s just simply introspective and nods as shadow and griffon help them.

(Platonic) Nero is plain and simply very much mortified that they’re acting wild and partying like mad. They’re like his parent in every way but blood so seeing his only parental figure whooping it up taking shots and stumbling over their feet is kinda embarrassingly funny and mortifying to him. He’s shaking his head and attempting to convince them that maybe sitting down or having some water is a good idea before he’s dragged into an impromptu parent son dance with them saying they’ll do it after he has some fun and boogie with them (he cringes too hard at that). He relents and suddenly he’s reminded of all the parent kid dances he never had as a kid and maybe relents a little for just one more minute or two of just letting the feeling of his inner child healing a bit before dragging them to bed whether they want to or not.

[thesharktanksdriver]

I’m still working on devils may love but thought I’d show my sketch book Dante collage page

All of this is off Etsy minus the Sanrio and Minecraft which I got from my friends dollar store stickers

[thesharktanksdriver]

Hihihiiii! I'm officially back!

I was curious about how the mysterious lady in red is going to fit into your story, have you thought about that already or are you gonna leave her to be mysterious as the game series does?

Your lovable local 🎉 anon

Hi!!!! Welcome back!!!

The lady in red is gonna remain mysterious for the story since I don’t really have anything in mind for her story wise. She shall remain as she is in canon, forever there but always a consistent mystery.

I will be probably making mentions of her though due to both Vergil and Nero.

For Vergil it’ll probably be him reflecting on that brief relationship when compared to his feelings for Honeypie, while for Nero it’s him also reflecting about the woman though moreso wondering if she had been in his life would she be like his current parental figure now (aka Honeypie once more)

Meanwhile for Honeypie their just moreso confused cause honest to god they thought vergil had sworn off sex or something lol

[thesharktanksdriver]

(English learning anon)

It had been said in dmc3 manga that Dante drinks and had gotten drunk on many ocasions, how Honeypie will take care of him in this state(extra idea)? In the mentioned above manga it had been said that in that state he proposed to a mop, imagine he got so drunk he somehow mistakened a mop for Honeypie.

I like to think that to get drunk Dante would have to drink a shit ton due to his body’s ability to withstand most things which makes his tolerance absurdly high. When he does get drunk though Honeypie would legit think he’s dying when seeing he straight up drank something that was like 90% alcohol in one sitting and was asking for more.

I’d definitely think depending on their era of Dante and his general mood he’d either be a depressed drunk a la dmc2, dmc1 and after dmc3 but during dmc4 and 5 he’d be more of a fun kind.

While he’s a depressed drunk he’d be clingy towards them since he’s likely crying because of lingering trauma plus Vergil. He’d be sniffling and crying into their shoulder while Honeypie did their best to either coax him into getting some rest or at least getting something into his system like water and bread (aka leftover pizza crusts). With his crying depending on what time this was happening at for Honeypie they wouldn’t really know how to handle him because of their own childhood, but if it’s later on down the line like dmc1 or 2 then by now they’d have some semblance of kinda knowing how to help besides awkwardly attempting to pay his back while he sobbed into them.

At some point they would drag him to the couch or the his bedroom depending on how well he’s able to walk without stumbling over himself and he’d probably pass out. Honeypie however wouldn’t leave him like this, instead they would sit down either against his bedside or curl up beside the couch because of being worried to leave him like that.

When Dante wakes up in the morning somehow not hungover as hell and not dying of alcohol poisoning he can’t help but feel both guilty they had to see him like that but also an overwhelming amount of gratefulness he has someone like them in his life…plus he got to fall asleep holding their hand.

However when Dante is a fun drunk Honeypie has all hands on deck. Fun drunk Dante sees rules and decides to throw them further out the window than sober Dante does. He’s somehow convincing the raccoons in the back to help him get free pizza via tmnt trench coat and fedora shenanigans that starts a legend of a new cryptid in Redgrave. Honeypie looks away for one moments and suddenly drunk Dante is devil triggering and attempt to hang off the ceiling like a bat because and I quote “bats have wings righ?!? That means I’m a bat!” As they desperately try to say “no your not a bat please come down before you break the ceiling again-“

However as well with fun drunk Dante he’s equally as affectionate as depressed drunk Dante but in different ways. Sad drunk Dante leans on Honeypie to cry on and sadly soak up their affection like a mopping wet sponge, meanwhile fun drunk Dante is pulling Honeypie into dancing with him to a random cheesy love song and sputtering about how this song and Honeypie makes him feel light and airy on his feet like a butterfly while Honeypie is desperately trying to make sure he doesn’t accidentally break something in his drunken twirling.

The mop thing is 100% something he’d do while being both fun drunk Dante and depressed drunk Dante.

Depressed drunk Dante would confess to the mop thinking it’s Honeypie and sob when he doesn’t get an answer. Honeypie finds him on the floor crying asking what he did wrong and asking why they won’t respond to him before poor Honeypie has to tell him that what he’s talking to is a mop. He then has a breakdown that he confessed and tried to propose to someone other than Honeypie and promises that he didn’t know-

Honeypie drags him to bed.

Meanwhile for fun drunk Dante he’s a bit more lucid than depressed drunk Dante who’s caught up in his feelings but by the 6th bottle of guzzling down cleaning alcohol (yes I mean the alcohol meant to clean wounds that’s 99%) he literally can’t tell a shoe from a imp. It’s because of that he dramatically dips the mop and in a slurred voice professes his love all the while Honeypie watches unimpressed in the corner but is just glad he isn’t causing mayhem.

In the morning Honeypie holds this over him though since “you married the mop, that means your married to mop duties from now on fucker-“

[thesharktanksdriver]

(English learning anon)

Will Vergil leave all his memories of Honeypie and feelings for them in V? Because they make him soft and weak like his human body and heart or something? Imagine there(when he separates V from him) would be a page or two full of memories of Honeypie from Vergil's perspective.

Yep most of the memories of Honeypie goes to V since he’s Vergil’s human side. It’s kinda a 50/50 split since some also go to urizen, but for the most part V as you very well put it has all the soft memories.

He remembers their talks of poetry, their gaze and outstretched hand as he tipped over the edge, the feeling of their soft touch, a warning made out of care despite the circumstances and most of all an overwhelming ache in his chest that remains ever now tender and raw. These memories are the ones V gets because they connect to his humanity, his weakness incarnate. Yet they are also Vergils most treasured memories of them, the ones he could not let go of.

But urizen also gets some memories of them or associated with them. He gets the burning jealousy of how Vergil felt when they look at Dante but did not give him the same awe and the overarching feeling of not understanding why Dante yet again has to win over him at everything.

It’s ironic in the sense that V the so called weaker unwanted human half he wished to discard got all the memories that had helped push Vergil to stay alive while Urizen the stronger half got the memories Vergil wished to discard.

[thesharktanksdriver]

Playlist in normal font incase it isn’t working.

Iris - the goo goo dolls

“And I’d give up forever to touch you ‘cause I know that you feel me somehow, your the closet to heaven that I’ll ever be and I don’t wanna go home right now”

“And all I can taste is this moment, And all I can breathe is your life, And sooner or later, it's over, I just don't wanna miss you tonight”

“And I don't want the world to see me 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken I just want you to know who I am”

Sweet child o mine - guns & roses

“She’s got a smile that it seems to me Reminds me of childhood memories Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky. Now and then when I see her face She takes me away to that special place And if I stared too long, I’d probably break down and cry”

“I’d hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain, Her hair reminds me of a warm, safe place Where, as a child, I’d hide And pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by”

Livin on a prayer - bon jovi

“She says, "We've gotta hold on to what we've got, It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. We got each other, and that's a lot for love, We'll give it a shot"

“Gina dreams of running away, When she cries in the night, Tommy whispers "Baby, it's okay, someday We've gotta hold on to what we've got, It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. We got each other, and that's a lot for love, We'll give it a shot"

You give love a bad name - bon jovi

“Chains of love got a hold on me When passion's a prison, you can't break free”

“Woah, you're a loaded gun, yeah, Oh, there's nowhere to run No one can save me, the damage is done”

“Shot through the heart and you’re to blame You give love a bad name (Bad name) I play my part and you play your game, You give love a bad name (Bad name) Yeah, you give love a bad name”

Lips like sugar - echo and the bunnymen

“Just when you think you've caught her, She glides across the water, She calls for you tonight To share this moonlight”

“You'll flow down her river She'll ask and you'll give her”

“Lips like sugar, Sugar kisses. Lips like sugar, Sugar kisses”

Talking in your sleep - the romantics

“When you close your eyes and go to sleep And it's down to the sound of a heartbeat. I can hear the things that you're dreamin' about, When you open up your heart and the truth comes out”

“You tell me that you want me, You tell me that you need me, You tell me that you love me. And I know that I'm right ‘Cause I hear it in the night”

Abracadabra- Steve miller band

“I see magic in your eyes, I hear the magic in your sighs. Just when I think I'm gonna get away I hear those words that you always say”

“Abra-abracadabra, I wanna reach out and grab ya. Abra-abracadabra, Abracadabra”

“Every time you call my name, I heat up like a burnin' flame. Burnin' flame full of desire Kiss me baby, let the fire get higher...Yeah, yeah...”

I melt with you - modern English

“Dream of better lives the kind which never hate (You should see why) Trapped in the state of imaginary grace (You should know better) I made a pilgrimage to save this humans race (You should see why) Never comprehending the race had long gone by”

“I'll stop the world and melt with you (Let's stop the world) You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time (Let's stop the world) There's nothing you and I won't do (Let's stop the world) I'll stop the world and melt with you”

Smooth - Santana

“And if you said this life ain't good enough, I would give my world to lift you up. I could change my life to better suit your mood, Because you're so smooth. And it's just like the ocean under the moon Oh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from you. You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it.”

My Antarctica - Duran Duran

“Once I thought that I was in control But that was just another trick of fate. Playing with my life, There have been some times I was so tied up And I said to myself. Gotta break it all But didn't really try”

“Two hearts beating in this place you've made, You know nothing changes my Antarctica. One life pumping, We make love to make our heat And we throb in my Antarctica”

“We'll keep the rhythm going And we'll remember, We'll keep the laughter flowing And we'll remember. We let the music jangle, And we'll remember.”

Devils may love?: Dante’s jukebox playlist

Kinda semi-canon, originally meant this as just a playlist with a small blurb at the beginning but made this instead. Hope you enjoy these two dumbasses fumbling hard.

Links: masterlist, part 1, part 2, part 3

Taglist: @galaxylibella @dragon-lord-lysander @idleviewer @rosvaline @superbfuryfest @localeggdealer @mellophoned @justanotherweeb666 @her-majesty-horiko

The jukebox was always playing in devil may cry, that had been a habit of Dante’s that you had noticed years ago when you’d initially joined him.

From dusk to dawn the machine played its selection of songs back to back. The old machine somehow surviving after years of it being hit and being half hazardly fixed after the Temen-ni-Gru tower with the trashing of DMC. Yet still it played the small vinyls that Dante had hand selected individually.

He’d made it somewhat of a habit, a tradition to change them up every once in a while to not keep things stale. Giving you the task of placing the songs he’d picked into the machine after carefully curating the song list he’d created. The songs could vary from 80’s rock to 90’s grunge and everything in between considering he wasn’t too picky so long as something had a good beat and could fill the comfortable silence.

Yet with each they all matched each other in some sort of theme.

Sometimes genre

Other times it was the era

But usually though it had correlated to a certain emotion or mood it had persisted.

that was another thing you’d noticed you’d noticed with your time here.

Dante had expressed himself through music.

It was hard to tell for sure at first. Just subtle songs and certain track lists he’d cycle through, occasionally changing the 7 inch vinyls to whatever he’d wanted and even adding your suggestions as well that matched. But with each rotation you’d began to see a correlation based on the small mock playlists he’d made and would put in the machine.

The one usually on was his neutral and regular soundtrack.

80’s rock mixed with some late to early 90’s stuff as well. Familiar bands such as AC/DC, Guns & Roses, motley crew, Metallica, U2 and Billy idol. God by now you’d practically memorized “white wedding, pt. 1”, “bullet with butterfly wings” and “dirty deeds done dirt cheap” with how they'd play every few hours in a day. Dante humming along as he looked through a dirty magazine on the nearby couch or polished ebony and ivory at his desk.

When upset he’d play slower and more emotional pieces. It happened once a year during what you’d slowly pieced together to be his mothers death date and later on for Vergil’s as well. Nirvana’s “come as you are”, R.E

.M.‘S “losing my religion” and led zeppelin’s “stairway to heaven” being frequent in the building's halls. Unlike before he wouldn’t hum along, there was just an empty silence filled with the music played aloud paired with your pen gliding across paper.

With this knowledge you're not exactly sure what emotion to correlate to his newest playlist he asked you to load into the machine while he was out. Well he maybe didn’t ask you directly, but when you found the list on his desk that was typically a sign of him requesting you to do something. But either or, you weren’t sure how to feel about the playlist in front of you.

Why per say?

Well….

“These are all love songs?”

Yeah, looking at the list in your hand and the box of 7 inch vinyl discs your left at a weird standstill. Perhaps even more odd was the fact that this list was different from his usual playlists he’d write down for you to place in the machine. Typically they’d just have the song name and the artist on a crumpled piece of paper but this has full on lyrics written out. Not only that, it was also neat and in calligraphy of all things with red pen.

You’d known Dante long enough to see when he was putting effort into something and when he wasn’t. Typically when it came to things such as paperwork he’d lazily scribble his signature down in chicken scratch, but if it came to something he’d enjoy he’d pull a 180. Suddenly he put effort into it and this was seemingly included.

To be honest learning he was actually good at cursive was a surprise, like even more surprising to finish out he was only part demon. Yet it seemed to be one of the things Sparda or Eva had taught him. He just never used it often.

Well until now at least.

Your eyes scour down at the lyrics on the page, quirking a brow as you picked out the songs he had chosen for the list.

10 in total and too many questions to count in your mind.

Oh well, Dante didn’t pay you to ask questions, he paid you to keep his shit in order even if it bit him in the ass. You shrug off the remaining things you’d probably not get answers to and began the process of placing them in the machine.

𝐈𝐫𝐢𝐬 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐬

“𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 '𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰, 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐠𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞 '𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐈 𝐚𝐦”

𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 - 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬

“𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐲. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐈’𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐲

𝐈𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐈’𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲

𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 - 𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐣𝐨𝐯𝐢

𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬, "𝐖𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭, 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭.𝐖𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐖𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭"

𝐆𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 "𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭, 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭.𝐖𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐖𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭"

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 - 𝐁𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐯𝐢

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞, 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧'𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞.

𝐖𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐮𝐧, 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡 𝐎𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐧,𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞.

𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 (𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞) 𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 (𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞) 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞

𝐋𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫 - 𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐓𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐡𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫

𝐋𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫, 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬. 𝐋𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫, 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬

𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧' 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 '𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭”

𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐚 - 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝

𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐬. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲

𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚-𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐚, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛 𝐲𝐚. 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚-𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐚, 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐚

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧' 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧' 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫...𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡...

𝐢 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 - 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡

𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞�� 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 (𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐲) 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 (𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫) 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 (𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐲) 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐲

𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 (𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 ��𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝) 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 (𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝) 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐝𝐨 (𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝) 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮

𝐒𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡 - 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐚

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩. 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡. 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮.𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧' 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡, 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥, 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭

𝐦𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚- 𝐃𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐃𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧

𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐆𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐲

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐖𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐛 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚.

𝐖𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝐖𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫. 𝐖𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫

Finally done with the day you can’t help but collapse onto the nearby couch just as the doors to dmc were kicked open by a triumphant looking Dante. There was a certain pep in his step as he walked through the doors, rebellion swung over his shoulder with a few drops of blood splattering on the floor…the floor you just polished earlier today…god damn it-

“Hey Honeypie! How’s my lovely assistant today?” He says this with the most shit eating grin you think you’d ever seen. All teeth and gums as he dropped rebellion to the ground, letting it clatter on your once beautiful wooden floor and draping himself over your shoulders. Arms snaking themselves to pull you close, the back of your head hitting his too sturdy chest that was comparable to a wall of bricks.

“I was fine until you walked in”

“Oh c'mon,honey don't be so cold. What did I do this time?” His voice is dripping in mock sadness, all the while he kept his grin and squished his cheek against yours. “Was it cause I didn’t give you a goodbye kiss?” WOW he was laying on the fake flirting hard today.

“Well for one you ruined my floors again” You push away from him, hand smushing his face and escaping from his grasp to stand up. He looks vaguely like a kicked puppy.

“Technically their my floors-“

“Uh huh? But who cleans and maintains them?”

“Uh-“

“Exactly!” He doesn’t have any time to give a proper response or react as you then list out what else you’d done today. Citing all the things you did for this store and how by now this entire place was maintained by you and therefore should technically be in your name, including the jukebox you restocked today-

“Wait, wait…you changed the set list?” This time he’s the one to cut off your rant. Placing a disgusting gloved finger over your mouth to shush you, you’ll have to scrub your face later. You’d rather not get demon blood on let alone in you. “Uh yeah? You left a list so I assumed you wanted it changed” you respond back watching him close.

There are few times you’d ever seen Dante look properly panicked let alone flustered. He typically didn’t break his composure no matter the situation, he’d literally walk into hell and still not break a sweat.

And yet now-

“Shit, which list did you grab?” He looks mildly anxious.

“The one you left on your desk what’s the deal-“

The white haired hunter practically sprints to the jukebox, a chant of “shit! Shit! Shit!” Under his breath as his gloved hand flew towards one of the buttons blindly. The song he chose without looking at the buttons displaying the names was Iris by the goo goo dolls. The recognizable intro beginning as the diamond needle began its journey across the small vinyl plate of groves and rings that capture both sound and the soul of John Rzeznik’s voice filled the shop.

You think you can see the 5 stages of grief flash through his blue eyes.

First there’s denial. Because maybe, just maybe this iconic opening couldn’t be the same song for this playlist he’s made. The opening lines of “and i'd give up forever to touch you, ‘cause i know that you feel me somehow” play and that hope quickly dies.

Second bargaining. Maybe this wasn’t the same playlist, it could be a mistake. He presses a different song to play, “abracadabra” by Steve miller band begins….fu-

Thirdly, anger. It’s not directed at you but more so himself by how he mutters curses under his breath and bangs his head against the machine that sings the lyrics “you make me hot, you make me sigh, you make me laugh, you make me cry. Keep me burnin’ for your love, with the touch of a velvet glove”.

Fourth depression. He keeps banging his head against the machine creating dull thumps, it ciphers through more of the songs before landing on the romantics “taking in your sleep”. It’s ironic that the lyrics that are sung are “when you open up your heart and the truth comes out” since he’s neither being honest to you nor himself by the looks of it.

And fifth and finally acceptance in the most brutal sense as mortification and embarrassment flooded him. It makes him slump his shoulders in shame and some sort of embarrassment.

It’s perhaps a first for the man who once talked with a client in nothing but a towel tied around his waist after a fresh shower. All the while you gave the poor man across the desk apologetic looks, safe to say the man did everything afterwards over calls instead of in person. Though you maybe had lost some sympathy when he attempted to slip you his number via a business card.

A card that Dante quickly ripped up and tossed into the trash.

Yet now this same man was red up to his ears because you accidentally found his weird love song playlist…wait was it like his sex playlist? Or did he have this planned as a surprise for someone? The only person you could think of was lady.

Well…you can’t say you didn’t get a certain sexual frustration vibe from the two of them. Their burning gazes at one another from across the room as you sat in the middle of their weird tango.

Maybe that’s why he’s horrified, this was meant to be on the down low.

Well shit…you feel a bit bad now, maybe telling him that it’s ok and you approve of them would help? Yeah that was maybe the best course of action. You take the action to move towards him as he continued to hit his head in an accepted despair. He only stops when you gently placed a hand on his cheek, guiding his gaze to you.

There’s a brief silent moment letting him stare at you.

“It’s ok Dante. I know who this is for” there’s a brief moment of both fear and hope strike up in his eyes. Like a lighter creating a flame for a moment before a few more tries at the flint wheel.

“Hon-“

“Shhh” now both your hands cup his face, it instantly quiets him down to nothing but a small breath that races past his lips. His heart rapidly beats in his chest, from anxiety for sure since you now knew. His pupils dilate like that of a cat, and like a cat you can imagine him practically purring…or he could be actually potentially purring considering his inhuman capabilities.

“I approve of you and lady. You guys are a good match”

There’s yet another pause but now longer, so long you could hear the raccoons in the back alleyway break a mirror. his face falls drastically but you're too busy patting his shoulder to notice.

“What?”

“Don’t worry if neither of you want to make things official yet I’ll keep it on the down low”

He makes several attempts at saying “what? No-“ but they were quickly shushed by your confident pats on his shoulder before you walked off presumably to call lady and let her know. Dante can’t even care for the fact that the canon slinging woman was definitely either gonna use him as target practice for Kalina Ann or up his debt by 50% at least. So he’s left there to stare at the jukebox and the love songs he curated for you to play in vain as you believed he meant it for the person he’s competing with for you.

His head thumps against the jukebox once more

Changing the song to Echo and the bunnymen’s “lips like sugar” in another cruel irony.

“Just when you think you've caught her, She glides across the water\~”

“Go fuck yourself McCulloch”

“-Lips like sugar, Sugar kisses\~”