Chapter Text
After the events of Red Grave, Nero changed. It was mostly little things; nothing nearly as dramatic as regrowing a whole damn arm or acquiring the ability to devil trigger, though those were definitely the major changes. His senses, for one, had become sharper. He could see at much farther distances, and his sight was perfect even in the dark, though at the cost of being a bit more sensitive to sunlight. His ears also now caught every little noise with pinpoint precision, which made clearing out the rest of the demons from Red Grave much, much easier.
So those little changes were good, even if he could now smell Nico coming from a mile away. At least he knew he'd never lose her in a crowd.
They hastily returned to Fortuna the moment the last demon crumbled away in the decrepit streets, and Nero wasted no time scooping up Kyrie and the kids into a tight hug and refused to let go until the boys started squirming impatiently and whined about the affection. Kyrie just laughed, and hugged him back until they were forced to separate to make dinner.
That was the next little change: Nero's appetite. He hadn't noticed it right away, blissfully unaware until Kyrie asked if he was alright one day while they were cuddling on the couch. He felt fine, so he didn't understand the issue until she pointed out that he hadn't eaten in two days. Despite inadvertently starving himself, he hadn't gotten any weaker or lost any weight, muscle or otherwise so it didn't even register as a problem. Nico later pointed out that demons didn't need to eat as often as humans did, and that Nero's eating habits likely changed as a result of awakening his trigger.
The downside was that when Nero did get hungry, he now had new, very specific tastes. He wasn't much of a meat eater before, not in a moral "I don't eat animals" way but because Kyrie just didn't make meat-based dishes very often when other ingredients were cheaper and went further. But now he saw grains and greens as much less appetizing and found himself opting out of eating entirely if a meal featured them more prominently, turning his apparently-normal-for-a-demon bouts of not eating into definitely-not-normal periods of starvation that did, in fact, start to affect his health.
But his hunger strikes were fairly short lived. Kyrie caught on immediately and didn't take long to deduce that Nero was favoring meat and adjusted her meal plans accordingly, making separate meals for Nero (and Nico, once she found out and started whining about also wanting to eat more meat). Meat tended to cost a bit more, but with how much less Nero needed to eat, the expenses didn’t increase too drastically. Little enough that an extra side job or two was enough to take care of the costs for the most part.
With the appetite thing solved, Nero was more than happy to give Kyrie more appreciation for the trouble he’d caused her. Wrapping his arms around her while she worked, snuggling whenever they had a chance to sit down and talk about things, and just generally touching her at every opportunity he could take. Holding her hand, patting her shoulder, and little brushes of touches here and there.
When he wasn’t showering her with affection or working a job, he devoted more time to playing with the kids. Playing tag, wrestling, giving them piggybacks or swinging them around with his new winged arms. Their excited little shrieks and laughter filled his chest with a comforting warmth, and he couldn’t help but look forward to every chance he could get to spend time with them.
There could be another huge job at any moment, after all, and who was to say how long he’d be gone next time.
-
Nero opened the door to the garage, the muffled tunes of the music player from the van echoing off of the walls as he slipped in. Kyrie had taken the kids to the weekly church service, so in his boredom, Nero found himself gravitating to where Nico was working on whatever greatest invention she’d been hyperfixated on. As he opened the van’s door, he spotted her at her work bench hunched over her project with a deep concentration that Nero almost envied.
"What are you working on?" He asked when she didn't immediately greet him on arrival, making his way over to get a better look at her work.
"New breaker," she said, not even glancing up even when he leaned over her. "S' gonna be a good one. You like flames? It's gonna have flames. Should synergize real good with Red Queen."
Nero hummed, resting his weight against her back and setting his chin on her shoulder. "Yeah. That sounds pretty great."
Nico tensed up under him, her hands stilling as she suddenly stood up straight. Nero followed her movements, then was surprised when she abruptly turned around and gently pushed him away.
"Okay, look. I went along with all this before because Kyrie was around and I figure if neither of you were saying anything then maybe I'm just thinking way too much into it. But I draw the line when Kyrie's not around, alright? I like you, Nero, I do. But I don't like you like that, okay? We're friends. Bros. Partners in crime. That's it. Nothing more," Nico said, babbling on with only an occasional stutter as she... rejected him?
"Wait. Hold on," Nero took a step back despite his reluctance to do so. "What the hell are you talking about, Nico? I don't like you like that, either!"
"What do you mean what am I talkin' about?!" Nico's head shot up as she met his eyes for the first time since he entered the van. "I'm talking about all that touchy stuff! Like– okay, the back rubs can be kinda nice sometimes and I don't mind the occasional hug but this snugglin' and nuzzlin' is really uncomfortable for me!"
"Nico, what are you talking about?" Nero repeated, lifting his arms to grab at her shoulders.
"What are you talkin' about?!" She snapped back again, jerking away from his hands.
They stared at one another, both clearly very confused and a little flustered. Nero's mind scrambled to piece together what the hell she was even talking about with back rubs and snuggling or whatever. He massaged Kyrie’s shoulders sometimes, but he didn’t do that with Nico!
The music player switched songs just as Nico’s face suddenly lit up with an epiphany.
"Wait. So you haven't noticed."
Nero opened his mouth to ask what exactly he supposedly hadn’t noticed but was cut off when she shoved passed him towards the back of the van. She walked straight over where the box of her dad's old notes were buried away. When she didn't elaborate further on whatever it was she apparently figured out, Nero started tapping his foot impatiently.
"Okay, are you going to share what is going on with the class, or...?"
"Remember when you weren't eating for a bit and Kyrie was all worried?" Nico said as she dug through the box and pulled out a few notebooks. "So that was a demon thing, right? And you didn't notice until we pointed it out because you're a dumbass with no self awareness."
"Nico..." Nero growled.
"Listen. You haven't noticed that you're going around gropin' me and Kyrie every ten seconds?"
"I don't– I haven't groped you! What the fuck, Nico!"
"You have," Nico said as she peered up from the box and pointed one of the books at him. "You just haven't noticed because of the aforementioned dumbassery." She placed the book down and started digging again. "If you really don't have some sorta horny ulterior motives, then this might be another demon thing. Like your issues with food and my smokes."
"I have an issue with your smokes despite the demon stuff," Nero grumbled as he made his way over to her side, kneeling down next to her and pressing his shoulder up against hers.
Nico stopped what she was doing, pointedly looked down at their shoulders, then up at Nero. They held eye contact for just a bit too long before Nero noticed and apologetically pulled away.
"Again: friendzone," she said as she went back to pulling books out of the box. "I don't remember reading anything about clingy demons, but I'll start looking into it and make sure it isn't anything serious like you going into heat or something." She paused, then quickly repeated, "Friendzone."
Nero rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything back at that. If he'd really been as ‘clingy’ as Nico says– and judging from the fact his hand somehow snuck its way onto her shoulder again, he might be inclined to believe her– then maybe she's right about it being some new demon thing popping up. It was probably just another little change, but he wasn't going stop Nico from researching. No one had complained about it so far, so it couldn't be that serious. As long as it really wasn't a heat, anyway. But Nico was just joking about that. Probably.
-
The 'Clingy Demon Thing', as Nico started calling it, was a lot worse than Nero thought it was. Ever since Nico pointed it out to him, he was much more aware of it and caught himself doing it far more often than he expected. He knew he’d been doting on Kyrie, and that he’d been more hands on with the kids. But he didn’t think it was nearly to the extent that Nico was making it out to be.
What he hadn't realized was that he was touchy with everyone. Brushing up against strangers in crowds, slinging his arm over the shoulders of the knights of the Order whenever he went to take and turn in jobs, and, hell, he even found himself snatching lower ranked demons with his wings during missions and just tucking them close to his side until he realized what he was doing and immediately finished them off.
So, yeah, he might have had a bit of a Clingy Demon Thing problem. And unlike the other little changes since Red Grave, it was way more problematic when people kept thinking he was coming onto them. Even Kyrie, with her endless patience and understanding, made a comment one night that maybe it was just a little too much when he hung off her shoulders while she was trying to clean.
Nico wasn't having any luck with her dad's notes, either. She was growing increasingly more adamant about her "You're in heat!" theory, if only because it was the only thing she could find that was tangentially similar. But, thankfully, other than the incessant need to touch anyone and anything he could get ahold of, Nero was happy to announce he was not, in fact, experiencing any of the other symptoms Nico had listed out indicating any sort of demonic mating cycle.
But that just left them back at square one, except with Nero under temporary house arrest after someone from the Order accused him of sexually harassing them the last time he was out. Just sitting alone on the couch instead of hugging Kyrie while she was in the kitchen cooking because he didn't want to bother her any more with this than he already had, with an uncomfortable crawling sensation spreading under his skin with every second he spent away from anyone.
He was skimming over the words of the poetry book for about the twentieth time that evening when Nico burst into the living room, spotted him on the couch and grinned widely at him.
"Guess what!" She said as she plopped down next to him and purposely rested her weight against him. Once she'd gotten over the whole 'I'm not into you' thing, she had grown a lot more open to indulging Nero's new quirk. Something he was grateful for when the contact of her shoulder eased the growing tension that had been building just in the few hours of solitude he'd subjected himself to.
"Did you finally figure it out?" He asked, closing the book and setting it on his lap while he leaned back against her and reveled in the proximity.
"Well. No. But I had an idea!" She said, poking idly at his hand until he opened his palm to slip hers in. "So if there's nothing in my daddy’s notes, then wouldn't it be better to just ask a demon directly?"
Nero tensed, staring down at the book in his lap with a tight frown. The thought had crossed his mind more than once. He had combed through his memory, trying to think if Dante had shown any similarities to what he was dealing with now. The older devil hunter did seem more physically affectionate with him at times, but it was maybe slightly more than the average person. Not much more than Kyrie usually was and not nearly to the same degree as what Nero was dealing with, as far as he knew. But Dante was older and more experienced, so there was no way to tell if maybe he had just been better at managing it than Nero. Not without just asking him directly, anyway.
But... they still haven't returned.
"I called Lady," Nico continued, either unaware of Nero's inner angst, or all too aware and was quickly trying to distract him. "I asked her to ask Trish if she knows what's going on and guess what? Apparently they know exactly what it is!"
Nero's fingers wrapped around Nico's as he looked up at her in surprise. He hadn't even thought of Trish, but that... that was honestly smart, actually. Unlike him and Dante, Trish was a full-blooded devil. If this really was demonic in nature, then of course Trish would know.
"What'd she say it is?" He asked, consciously restraining himself from rubbing the tips of his fingers against Nico's.
"That's... where it got a little weird, actually. She wouldn't explain anything over the phone and wants to meet in person. She and Lady have a big job coming up and invited us along– even offered to split the pay four ways! Said she'd explain things after. I didn't want to just make any promises without talking to you first, though." She leaned back just enough to look him in the eye. "So? What do you think?"
His fingers paused in their circular motions (goddamnit) as he turned over Nico's words. "Why does it need to be in person?"
"How should I know? She didn't say," Nico said. "Maybe it really is more serious than we thought? Or maybe... you're in heat and she wants a piece of that ass?"
"Damnit, Nico, I'm not in heat!" Nero said for what had to be the umpteenth time since she first theorized it. That much he was sure of. What he was less sure of was whether or not it was more serious. Even if they ignored the fact he'd quickly become a public menace in the short time since it's been an issue, it was a bit concerning that whenever he takes any extended amount of time not touching anyone, he feels weirdly anxious. It wasn’t a major issue in a full house with rowdy children to round up whenever it started to get bad, but if another big job came their way that took him away from home for a long period of time...
Well, technically a big job did just fall into his lap, and the reward was the answers to whatever this Clingy Demon Thing really is.
He sighed, let his head rest on Nico's. He already knew they were going to have to agree to it if nothing else than to bring in more funds for the orphanage. The small jobs around Fortuna weren't going to last them too much longer, especially with his current blacklisted status keeping him from taking anything local. This would just be killing two birds with one stone. No big deal.
... he really hoped he wasn't in heat.