there is a surge of ugly jealousy that rises in his throat that dante struggles for a moment to shove back down into the depths, a strangely monumental task that takes longer than it should. he shouldn't be jealous, but he is, as much as he does like zulius as a person there is a part of him that growls at the very concept of his brother's affections, his attention, moving toward someone else. that is his brother, his. so after much, much, much more time than it usually takes for dante to respond to messages, especially zulius', the other man finally gets the following: ]
i mean sorta?? don't think it's the painting thing that got him zules you've been sitting there slapping him with compliment after compliment and actually mean it you finally got through his shell congrats :)
[Were Zulius even vaguely aware of the storm billowing in Dante's subconscious, he might feel a little bad for bringing it to the guy's door. Or at the very least, he'd assure him that he has no plans of stealing away Vergil from him.
As is, he genuinely wonders if Dante's LONG pause means that the painting thing is some weird...Sparda trait and maybe they're all a little weird about it. But hey, at least he gets an answer! ]
Tch, obvi! I wouldn't give compliments and not MEAN them. You gotta earn them. I don't-
[Oh, no. Wait. He's actually letting what Dante is telling him settle in and that same uneasy, quasi-panic that hit him when Wolfwood showed up with those opera glasses is making itself known again. Zulius isn't a complete idiot, he's pretty damn self-aware and he's certainly self-aware enough to realise his feelings towards Vergil have been swerving into a very much not casual direction as of late. Something about having someone you care about being kidnapped by psychopaths and being genuinely afraid they might have fucking died will do that to you.
But just because he's aware of it doesn't mean he wants to deal with it. He's kept his dalliances casual for over three years now, because he knows just how badly a person can tear your heart into pieces if you let them close enough to do it. He's done everything in his goddamn power to not let that happen to him again. So he put those feelings away and hid them in a shoebox under his bed along with flower presses from the bouquets Vergil gave him and those fucking opera glasses. They could just stay there and he could just not perceive them and it would be fine.
Because Vergil was safe. He'd been pretty sure at this point Vergil wasn't interested. So he could keep up with his flirting and exasperate the poor man with it and then everything would just carry on as normal. They had a familiar dance and Zulius was comfortable with it, but now it sounds like Vergil is changing the steps halfway through and that is, quite frankly, terrifying. ]
[ ugghhh, he is too sober to be dealing with this. if it were anyone else he'd made some excuse and remove himself from the conversation, but it's zulius - someone dante actually likes - and it's in regards to his twin brother. there is no getting out of this. ]
trust me it isn't the painting thing look vergil's always kept people at arm's length even in this lifetime he's always had these massive walls between him and anyone else most people don't even make it through the first couple before they get tired and give up on him entirely but you? shit zules you stuck around you kept going you accepted him for the awkwardly social idiot that he is you made it through the walls zules every damn one of them
[ well maybe not every one of them, but enough for his words to finally have an impact. ]
pretty sure he's realizing there is actually some meaning behind all those compliments that weren't just saying them to fluster him or get some sort of rise out of him
[Zulius really wishes he wasn't sober either, right now. This would be ways easier to deal with, three mojitos to the wind, he's pretty certain. Because right now? He has no idea how to handle this. He can't girlboss his way out of this one.
He read and re-reads what Dante's sent him a couple of times. He knows, oh he knows Vergil has about a million walls and he does not let people in easily. Zulius knows that getting in himself was nothing short of a small miracle. He knows it means a hell of a lot that Vergil has let him that close. But now he's here on the other side of those million walls and he doesn't know what he's supposed to do now. He didn't think this through at all.
The panic is there, to be sure, but it's not the only emotion. He does genuinely like Vergil a lot and there is a happy flutter in his chest that feeling might be reciprocated. And it's not like he thinks Vergil would ever actually mean to hurt him. He doesn't have any of the massive, warning red flags his ex waved about that he'd stupidly ignored. He and Vergil have actually talked about that, and he doesn't believe the other man has that level of vindictive cruelty in him.
But the memories of it are strong and it's enough to give him pause. It takes him a LONG fucking time to get back to Dante. More than once the little ... appears as he half-types a response, only to delete it quickly. For more than ten minutes, he puts his phone in the cupboard in the hopes that maybe if he can't see it right away he doesn't have to deal with it.
Eventually, though, after a couple of hours, Dante does get a response. ]
Hah. Wow. Wasn't expecting that. Kind of expected him to keep those walls up forever. Just be endearingly huffy and standoffish all the time.
[But something about what Dante has to say just scuttles, uncomfortable in his chest. He knows Vergil's social circle is depressingly small, but something about that really sticks in his craw.]
I hate that so many people gave up on him. He's a great guy. I know he's kind of weird and offputting and he doesn't understand social skills AT all. But he's good people. He deserves WAY more than people ditching him because they can't be bothered to make an effort. That's just shitty on their part.
[ dante only watches the message for about twenty minutes before he realizes that the conversation is most likely ended, that he said something that maybe resonated a little too hard with the other and threw him for a loop. relief is the first thing that hits him, putting down his phone and dragging his hands through his hair, relief he no longer has to talk about the fact his friend has some genuine feelings for his twin brother - about the fact that his brother may very well reciprocate those same feelings. because it makes something ugly and jealous twist in his chest, something he'd much rather shove down back into the depths of which it came from. maybe it's a demon thing, something about territory and jealously guarding things that belong to you (vergil is his, after all, his brother, his twin, the other half of his soul). maybe it's just from the trauma of losing everything he's ever loved.
regardless dante hates that it rears its ugly head here and now, and is beyond glad when zulius stops trying to type up a response. he's glad that he can toss his phone aside and continue about his day pretending that the conversation never happened and that his stomach isn't twisted into knots from it all.
he's in the study when his phone finally jingles a couple of hours later, shaking him from the book he had been staring at. stomach sinking as he realizes that it's zulius finally responding.
shit. ]
yeah most people are shit they hit that man walls and give up because it's too much trouble
[ terribly dante wonders if zulius would still consider him a good person if he knew some of the things vergil had done, whether he has the capability to look are vergil and not judge him for the sins of his past. ]
luckily he's somehow surrounded himself with people who are willing to put up with his weirdness so there is that moving to kaisou was one of the best things he could've done honestly
[At least Dante can find some comfort that Zulius won't be pulling at that feelings thread for the rest of the night. At least not externally. He needs that to just sit there and percolate a while. He's not ready to pick that apart and try and work out what the hell he's supposed to do with it, so for now, Dante gets a small reprieve from any fears the zebrataur's about to steal his brother away from him.
Not that Zulius would, of course. Dante would just gain More Zulius in his life and in Zulius' unhumble opinion who wouldn't want that? ]
Well. That's their loss, then. Boo to them.
[Zulius already figures there's something up there. No one has "devil" attached to their name as much as the Spardas have without something hinky there. He applies the same rule as he does to just about everyone, it mattering what people make of themselves now.]
Well. Good. Glad he's got that.
...
Anyway. I should probs get everything set up for the show tonight. You know me, busy busy. Thanks for the insight, Dante.
[They can just spend the rest of the night not thinking about this and it'll be fine. The finest.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
...
h u h.
there is a surge of ugly jealousy that rises in his throat that dante struggles for a moment to shove back down into the depths, a strangely monumental task that takes longer than it should. he shouldn't be jealous, but he is, as much as he does like zulius as a person there is a part of him that growls at the very concept of his brother's affections, his attention, moving toward someone else. that is his brother, his. so after much, much, much more time than it usually takes for dante to respond to messages, especially zulius', the other man finally gets the following: ]
i mean sorta??
don't think it's the painting thing that got him zules
you've been sitting there slapping him with compliment after compliment and actually mean it
you finally got through his shell
congrats :)
1/3
As is, he genuinely wonders if Dante's LONG pause means that the painting thing is some weird...Sparda trait and maybe they're all a little weird about it. But hey, at least he gets an answer! ]
Tch, obvi! I wouldn't give compliments and not MEAN them. You gotta earn them. I don't-
2/3
But just because he's aware of it doesn't mean he wants to deal with it. He's kept his dalliances casual for over three years now, because he knows just how badly a person can tear your heart into pieces if you let them close enough to do it. He's done everything in his goddamn power to not let that happen to him again. So he put those feelings away and hid them in a shoebox under his bed along with flower presses from the bouquets Vergil gave him and those fucking opera glasses. They could just stay there and he could just not perceive them and it would be fine.
Because Vergil was safe. He'd been pretty sure at this point Vergil wasn't interested. So he could keep up with his flirting and exasperate the poor man with it and then everything would just carry on as normal. They had a familiar dance and Zulius was comfortable with it, but now it sounds like Vergil is changing the steps halfway through and that is, quite frankly, terrifying. ]
3/3
Nah. Nah it can't be that. It's been AGES, Dante. I've given him SO MANY compliments before now. It's gotta be the painting thing.
no subject
trust me it isn't the painting thing
look vergil's always kept people at arm's length
even in this lifetime he's always had these massive walls between him and anyone else
most people don't even make it through the first couple before they get tired and give up on him entirely
but you? shit zules
you stuck around you kept going you accepted him for the awkwardly social idiot that he is
you made it through the walls zules every damn one of them
[ well maybe not every one of them, but enough for his words to finally have an impact. ]
pretty sure he's realizing there is actually some meaning behind all those compliments
that weren't just saying them to fluster him or get some sort of rise out of him
no subject
He read and re-reads what Dante's sent him a couple of times. He knows, oh he knows Vergil has about a million walls and he does not let people in easily. Zulius knows that getting in himself was nothing short of a small miracle. He knows it means a hell of a lot that Vergil has let him that close. But now he's here on the other side of those million walls and he doesn't know what he's supposed to do now. He didn't think this through at all.
The panic is there, to be sure, but it's not the only emotion. He does genuinely like Vergil a lot and there is a happy flutter in his chest that feeling might be reciprocated. And it's not like he thinks Vergil would ever actually mean to hurt him. He doesn't have any of the massive, warning red flags his ex waved about that he'd stupidly ignored. He and Vergil have actually talked about that, and he doesn't believe the other man has that level of vindictive cruelty in him.
But the memories of it are strong and it's enough to give him pause. It takes him a LONG fucking time to get back to Dante. More than once the little ... appears as he half-types a response, only to delete it quickly. For more than ten minutes, he puts his phone in the cupboard in the hopes that maybe if he can't see it right away he doesn't have to deal with it.
Eventually, though, after a couple of hours, Dante does get a response. ]
Hah. Wow. Wasn't expecting that. Kind of expected him to keep those walls up forever. Just be endearingly huffy and standoffish all the time.
[But something about what Dante has to say just scuttles, uncomfortable in his chest. He knows Vergil's social circle is depressingly small, but something about that really sticks in his craw.]
I hate that so many people gave up on him. He's a great guy. I know he's kind of weird and offputting and he doesn't understand social skills AT all. But he's good people. He deserves WAY more than people ditching him because they can't be bothered to make an effort. That's just shitty on their part.
no subject
regardless dante hates that it rears its ugly head here and now, and is beyond glad when zulius stops trying to type up a response. he's glad that he can toss his phone aside and continue about his day pretending that the conversation never happened and that his stomach isn't twisted into knots from it all.
he's in the study when his phone finally jingles a couple of hours later, shaking him from the book he had been staring at. stomach sinking as he realizes that it's zulius finally responding.
shit. ]
yeah most people are shit
they hit that man walls and give up because it's too much trouble
[ terribly dante wonders if zulius would still consider him a good person if he knew some of the things vergil had done, whether he has the capability to look are vergil and not judge him for the sins of his past. ]
luckily he's somehow surrounded himself with people who are willing to put up with his weirdness
so there is that
moving to kaisou was one of the best things he could've done honestly
no subject
Not that Zulius would, of course. Dante would just gain More Zulius in his life and in Zulius' unhumble opinion who wouldn't want that? ]
Well. That's their loss, then. Boo to them.
[Zulius already figures there's something up there. No one has "devil" attached to their name as much as the Spardas have without something hinky there. He applies the same rule as he does to just about everyone, it mattering what people make of themselves now.]
Well. Good. Glad he's got that.
...
Anyway. I should probs get everything set up for the show tonight. You know me, busy busy. Thanks for the insight, Dante.
[They can just spend the rest of the night not thinking about this and it'll be fine. The finest.]