A/N: I have been slowing down in my writing because of work, and hence my uploading schedule will be disrupted in the meantime until I can stabilize between work and leisure. I apologize in advance. 

This time, throwing spotlight on the Sparda brothers as childhood friends.

[Handsome Friends, Crazy Brothers]

Personality: Pre-DMC5 Vergil

Evie White came from a family of 5: Evie herself, her three elder brothers and her father. Her mother had passed away in a car accident back when she was much too young to be aware of her surroundings, and the only extent to which she remembered her mother was limited to the pictures in the house, as well as the memories that her brothers were willing to share. Still, Evie did not have a hard time growing up without a mother: she had very loving and caring family members.

Nathan White was a normal salary man with a managerial post who worked hard enough to bring in the dough to feed and put all four of his children to school. The man himself usually ended up leaving the house early and coming home late, but he was never blamed in the family since his children always knew that his hard work was all for the sake of their lives and their future.

Due to the absence of parents in her daily life, the role of taking care of Evie as the youngest remained on her elder brothers. Ethan and Evan White were twins 8 years older than our young main character, and played the handsome, overprotective elder brothers archetype. Even if she tried her best to be objective while viewing her brothers, Evie had to admit that they were good looking people. The scandals that did not go unheard about her brothers receiving confessions daily, having accidental playboy moments... all of those had reasons that ultimately boiled down primarily because of their appearance.

Still, it was very safe to say that Ethan and Evan played their archetype very well. Because Evie turned out to be the only princess left in the family after the passing of their mother, she grew up with the bulk of her brothers' obsessive, almost-abnormal attention. Back when she was younger, she might have mistaken it as normal, but as she grew older, she began to learn from her classmates that her elder twin brothers were a little... on the extreme side. She could not talk to anyone of the opposite gender because her brothers would find out eventually and punish her conversation partner in whatever way they could. School events were almost banned for her purely on the basis that it would put Evie 'at risk of having to make contact with strange boys'. She was thankfully saved from that pitiful ban thanks to her Third Brother Ryan.

Ryan White was –at least to Evie –the only one amongst her three older brothers that was considered normal. Unfortunately, 'normal' also included the fact that he was a genius and a high-flyer. He also had his brothers' good looks, but it was always coupled with an aura of complete and utter capability around him. And through it all, Evie knew Ryan as the reliable brother that she always looked up to since he always knew what to do in emergencies, never freaked out and solved all problems after asking the appropriate questions with solutions that were clearly explained. It was safe to say that even though Evie loved all her brothers equally, the one she trusted the most was Ryan.

But that was all about Evie's immediate family. While it might have been missing a mother figure, it was not the worst family dynamic with loving brothers and father. Evie had always been a happy child growing up, and never had anything to worry about because of a hardworking father and a steady Ryan. Ethan and Evan often did their best to keep things together, but... their characteristics basically often ran tangent to making things go smoothly.

Still, if Evie was forced to be precise, she would admit that Nathan, Ethan, Evan and Ryan were not her only family members. There was another family in her life, and in fact, if they did not exist in her life, Evie would never have grown up the way she did. Without them, she would never have had the semblance of a proper life.

This other family was the Sparda family.

________________________________________________________________________________

It was Moving Day, and the White family was mostly done moving their belongings into their new house. Evie's father had moved them due to an office transfer that came along with a promotion and wage raise.

"Remember to be on your best behaviors, boys. We might need help from them some time, so we don't want to start off on the wrong foot." The man warned as he opened the gate to the house beside theirs. Evan held the cakes that the family had bought as a greeting gift carefully in his hands, Ethan holding Evie's hand to stable her walk towards the door.

"We have our secret weapon right here with us, Dad." Ethan offered. "We can't possibly get off on the wrong foot when we have Evie with us. It's impossible to not like her."

"We want to start off on the right foot for all of us, not just for Evie." Came the knowing reply.

"As long as Ethan and Evan keep their mouths shut, I don't think there's any issue about getting off on any wrong foot." Ryan added as their father pressed the doorbell, hearing it ring on the other side of the door.

The imminent protests were cut off because the door opened, and a beautiful angel with long blond hair and a flowery apron donned on stood at the other side of the door. Evie blinked a few times in shock, then instinctively looked at her family's expressions, surprised to find them equally wordless. Biting her bottom lip nervously at the smile that the angel had given at the sight of her, Evie used her free hand to tug on her father's pant leg.

"Hello." The Angel said with a brilliant smile and a gentle curious tilt of her head. Her green eyes glittered in the evening setting sun.

"H-Hello. My name is Nathan White, and we just moved in to the house beside yours..." The introduction did not start strong, and Evie's nervousness only spiked at her father's nervousness. Back in her old neighborhood, there hadn't been anyone as beautiful as the lady standing in front of them.

"Oh, you're our new neighbors! It's nice to meet you!" The angel's eyes widened, brightening even more than she thought possible. "Give me a minute, let me call everyone here for introductions so you don't have to do it multiple times."

Without missing a breath, the angel turned and raised her voice. Evie knew that if it had been her father, it would have sounded something like an angry yell. Somehow, the angel managed to make her voice louder, but still gentle at the same time as she called behind her. "Honey! Boys! Come and greet our new neighbors!"

With her instructions given, she turned back to the White family with her brilliant smile.

"Please, come in and have a seat. Please forgive the state of mess the house is in."

"N-Not at all. I hope we are not imposing." Evie grasped tighter to her father's pant leg at his obvious nervousness, not daring to say a word towards the angel who had made her father look so flustered. She was beautiful, but was she a bad person to make Evie's father so unsure?

Evie looked over at her brothers' expression, but couldn't understand the grin drawn across Ryan's face, while Ethan and Evan seemed to have similar frozen expressions even while they quietly removed their shoes –and helped Evie out of hers –before stepping into the house.

The angel might have sought forgiveness about the state of mess of her house, but Evie thought that she had to be lying, because she could not see a single mess anywhere. Did angels lie?

"We brought some cakes as a little gift. I hope you don't mind." Her father said after regaining his composure, and Evan took his cue to step up closer to the angel, showing the box he had balanced carefully between his hands.

"Oh, there was no need for it, Mr. White! But thank you very much all the same. My boys will love it." The angel answered, then bustled to prepare for them while insisting that they made themselves at home in the sitting room that they found themselves in. Evie was sat on her father's lap to save some seating space, her brothers sitting to her fathers' side.

The White family had barely settled down when a new voice intruded, accompanied by the presence of the owner of the voice.

"Eva, you called?"

Evie wondered why she had suddenly walked into the home of angels, because the owner of the voice was an angel-man this time. Angel-man's eyes found Evie quickly, and she could not help but to turn her face away shyly, turning to hide her face against her father's chest behind her.

"Hello, you must be our new neighbors like my wife said. My name is Sparda." Angel-man's voice came closer, and Evie heard the sounds of the man taking a seat on the couch across them. "I apologize, I must have startled your beautiful angel girl."

"My name is Nathan White." Her father introduced again, patting her on her shoulders in a bid to calm her down. "Evie is just shy when meeting with strangers. Give her some time."

"She still seems to be of that age." Sparda agreed. "Do you mind if I ask how old she is? She is a beautiful one, by the way."

"Evie is 5. And thank you for the compliment. Do you have children?"

Evie slowly dared herself to peek back around at angel-man sitting across her, watching him smile back at them.

"Twin boys the same age as your angel. I wish they were half as shy as your angel, though. Dante is just a troublemaker, and when you put him with his brother they are tornadoes." Sparda shook his head with an amused expression that was badly paired with a resigned sign. "I have been trying to convince my wife to make me a lovely angel girl to brighten up the house, but she has been traumatized by our devils, so she is terrified at the thought of having more of those in the house."

"Surely they are not that bad?" Nathan asked with an amused raise of brow and a chuckle in reply at a fellow father's pain.

"The two of them have created a very special type of Hell for the both of us. They are nothing like your children; so well-behaved."

"Don't let them deceive you." Evie's father laughed, and even she could not help but smile as well, relaxing a little more to turn to give her grin at her brothers who were shifting uncomfortably beside their father. "Ethan and Evan were my worst nightmares when they were younger. They only became less of devils and more humane when their sister was born. I was lucky that my third son Ryan is nothing like his brothers, and Evie here is an angel."

There was a short break in the conversation when the original angel returned to the room with cups of tea. Evie drank a sip from the delicious tea after her father cooled the tea, smiling shyly in thanks to the angel who had sat down beside her husband.

Then, before anything more could be said, there were sounds of footsteps thundering down the stairs somewhere in the house, muffled laughing voices accompanying it.

"And that would be the tornadoes I was talking about." Sparda said with a chuckle. "Dante is a noisy one, but when he is with his brother, it gets louder than a concert."

"That experience is one I know." Nathan answered with a gestured to his sons, and Evie giggled again.

The conversation did not go far afterwards before a pair of boys burst into the room, jumping onto the sofa beside their father.

"I win!" The one wearing a red t-shirt declared. "You suck, Dante!"

"No fair! You started running first." The one called Dante, wearing a blue t-shirt and the same khaki pants as his brother complained as he hammered the sofa material beside him in tantrum.

"Boys, be nice." Sparda warned, and the boys finally realized that they had guests in the house sitting across them.

"Who are they?" The one in red asked.

"They are our new neighbors, Vergil. Come, introduce yourself. Don't be rude."

"Hello. My name is Vergil and I am five years old. I am older than Dante by half an hour, but Mum sometimes says that she feels like I am half a year older than him. That means he is stupid!" The mischievous boy turned to stick his tongue out at his brother, who immediately prepared himself to launch at his brother.

"Vergil! Dante! Behave yourselves." Their father barked, and Ethan and Evan snickered quietly. "Look at how obedient your neighbors are, and you two acting like rowdy kids."

"But Dad, they are older, so they have to be obedient. We are still too young to be obedient!" The one called Dante whined, crossing his arms across his chest in a huff.

"Look at that angel sitting on her father's lap. Evie is the same age as the two of you and she is being obedient! Look at her, she's laughing at the two of you being so manner-less." Sparda said, and Evie quickly pressed her hands over her mouth to hide her smile at the two boys. "As you can see, I only have these two rascals messing up my house, and they are only five. I don't know how you managed to bring so many boys up and still have energy, Mr. White."

"Please, call me Nathan. I got used to the noise and mess, and if I am to be very honest, my third son Ryan and Evie have been very obedient since young. Ethan and Evan are still troublesome at times, but they take very good care of their sister, so that's at least one thing I can trust them to do."

"Let me start the round of introductions now that everyone is here." The angel, who her husband had named Eva, started. "My name is Eva, and I am a housewife. This is my husband, Sparda, who works in crisis management in company XYZ. And here, we have our rascals, Vergil and Dante. Vergil is the one in the red t-shirt and the pushed-up fringe, and Dante is the one in the blue t-shirt with his fringe coming down. They are starting their elementary school in half a year's time."

"It's great to meet all of you. As I have introduced previously, I am Nathan White. I am with the promotional department for ABC Company, and I was brought over from another branch as part of promotions to a managerial role." Evie's father started the ball rolling, then gestured to Ethan sitting beside him.

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Ethan White, and I am the oldest of my siblings. Evan and I are currently in middle school, and Ryan is in his fourth year in elementary school. Evan and I are twins, but we've grown a little differently. Evan has longer hair and I have a mole below my right ear here." Ethan introduced as he pointed to show the difference. "And finally, we have our angel Evie. She is the same age as Vergil and Dante, so I hope that we can get along well."

"Very nicely done." Sparda complimented with a satisfied smile and nod towards Ethan, who accepted it humbly. "But if I may be so rude to ask; is your wife busy with unpacking?"

"My wife has passed on a few years back." The honest answer surprised Sparda and Eva. "She passed on by an accident when Evie was two, so we are actually a household without a leading female figure. This is also one of the reasons why I rushed to greet you and your family... Because my family doesn't have a female figure to care for the boys and Evie..."

The awkwardness hung in the air for a few moments –something that Evie could not completely understand as she looked up at her father curiously, wondering what had gone wrong in whatever he had told the angel and her husband.

"Do not worry! I will be more than happy to help you watch over your children, Nathan. It must have been so hard for you to bring them up while holding down a job." Eva expressed quickly; her hands pressed lightly over her heart as if she could not bear their situation.

"Y-You don't have to do much. I don't want to impose, particularly when you already have your boys. I just hope that I have someone I can turn to for help with Evie because... well, I haven't brought up a girl before, and there's only so much her brothers can teach her when it comes to being a girl."

"Nonsense, you are not imposing. Besides, I'm sure you've heard from Sparda about how he really wants to have a daughter; we would be honored if you would allow us to help look after your angel. I am only worried if you will allow her to play with my boys, seeing how noisy and rowdy they are." Eva said, passing a worried look at her own sons who were beginning to disturb each other –slowly starting into another fight.

"It would be good for Evie to get exposure to others her age. She has been taken care by her elder brothers for so long, and hasn't really had a friend her age thus far." A bright smile now hung on Nathan's face at the characters that had been shown through Sparda and Eva's actions. "You don't have to worry a single bit about my sons; they are perfectly fine taking care of themselves. Even when Ethan and Evan messes something up, I can still trust Ryan to keep things under control until I get home at night."

Evie once again giggled at the protests that came from her twin brothers, but they were silenced quickly with a warning glance.

"Dare I ask; who is it that prepares the meals in your household?" Sparda asked pleasantly, and Evie hid further laughs behind her hands because the man's sons were beginning to grab at each other's clothes.

"When my wife just passed on, we got packed meals. But Ryan is old enough to make dinner for his siblings now. I often work late, so I have my dinner outside."

"So capable at such a young age?" Eva exclaimed with surprise, at which Evie's always-composed brother finally showed some form of embarrassment on his face.

"We are capable too; we look after Evie and make sure nothing goes wrong!" Ethan interjected, as if desperate to receive some form of compliment.

"Well, other than that time we left Evie alone for a second and she almost toppled the kettle full of boiling water all over herself. Or the time her hair got stuck in the hairdryer and we had to cut it..." Evan bit his bottom lip, fading away slightly before sitting up straight again, bright eyes and face at Eva. "Please take care of our sister Evie in our stead when we are at school, Mrs Sparda!"

"Of course, dear. It is not only my husband, but I have always wanted to try having a daughter too. You can bring her over any time to play with my sons. And as for meals, please do come over for dinner every day. I will cook extra for your shares. There is no need for a young boy like Ryan to be busy with household chores while he is studying if I can help it."

"There is really no need to go to that extent, Mrs. Sparda!" Her father exclaimed quickly in alarm.

"Please, call me Eva. And please do not think that you are imposing on me. I am very glad to be able to provide for the meals of your children. In fact, I am always happier to have meals with a bigger crowd. With sons as obedient and mature as yours, I am only going to take joy in being able to cook for them. My only worry is my sons' behavior."

"They are still young; it is understandable." The excuse was for the two fighting boys now, rolling on the couch beside their father while Sparda tried to grab them. "Are you okay with this, Evie? Will you be an obedient girl and stay with Eva when your brothers are at school?"

Evie took a look at the smiling faces of the strangers that had just entered her life. They were beautiful.

"Yes, Daddy!" She smiled back at them.

_______________________________________________________________________________

"Evie, come here." Evan instructed, and she obeyed curiously to where he stood in front of the full-length mirror. Her big brothers were decked in their new high school uniforms, and even to the Evie who had yet to be exposed to many boys of her brothers' age, she knew that they were very handsome. It was not to say that her Third Brother Ryan was not equally handsome in his middle school uniform as well, but her twin brothers' new school uniform had a fresher look.

As was Evie's new elementary school uniform as well. It was the first day of school, and her anticipation was written all over her face, shining in her glittering black eyes.

"You are a beautiful girl, Evie, so that means there are going to be many boys who want to talk to you." Evan said as he knelt down, helping her to adjust her collar.

"Why will many boys want to talk to me?" She asked back, confused.

Throughout her childhood, Evie had always heard from her brothers that she was a beautiful girl. But she had always thought that it was only a brotherly thing to say. Besides, her best friends Vergil and Dante had never said that she was beautiful before. Dante had even said once or twice that she was ugly sometimes. It was hard to believe that she was beautiful, because Evie had not met many boys and girls her age yet.

"Because they want to date you. You must say no to them, okay? Don't talk to boys." Evan answered, combing her hair now. Of her three brothers, Evan had always been the best at braiding and thus had won the role of being her hair stylist whenever they went out.

"Why not?"

"Because they want to do bad things to you. All boys want to do bad things to beautiful girls."

"But Evan, you are a boy too. You don't do bad things to me." Evie tried to tilt her head to give her brother a confused look, it tugged painfully at her hair, and thus she stopped quickly.

"I am different. Ethan, Ryan and I are your brothers. We won't do bad things to you because we love you."

"But Vergil and Dante are also boys. Are they okay?"

Vergil and Dante were her best friends because they had hung out every day together ever since the White family had moved to the neighborhood. The twin boys had been noisy and rude at first and had always been fighting with each other. But with constant scolding from their mother and forcing, the two had turned out to be Evie's best friends –particularly when they played with toy swords. In those make-belief stories that they narrated themselves in the playroom in the Sparda's house, Evie had always been the captured princess waiting to be saved while Dante and Vergil took turns being the prince venturing to save the princess from the big bad monster who had captured the princess. She hadn't kept note when she was younger, but if she did, Evie would have realized that in 8 out of 10 times that Dante played the rescuing savior, he would have failed to win 'Monster Vergil' and would have walked away declaring that the game was boring to hide his shameful defeat.

"No, they are not okay too. They seem okay now, but when they are not with their mother, they will become bad boys too."

"But they are not bad boys. I have gone on errands with them before. Auntie Eva wasn't with us, but they were not bad boys."

"That's because they haven't started school yet. Just listen to me, Evie. Don't talk to them." Evan insisted, but she shook her head slightly so that her hair would not be pulled.

"But Vergil and Dante are my friends! I want to talk to my friends!" Evie whined.

"You will make many more friends when you go to school, Evie. There will be many girls at class in school, and they will want to play house and play with each other's hair with you. They will have lots of nice dresses to dress up in, and makeup to use. Don't you like those?" Ethan answered as he stepped out of his room, both his school bag and Evan's in his hands.

"I like those!" Evie clapped her enthusiastically for only a short moment, but paused with a thinking expression. "But I want to talk to Vergil and Dante too. I want many many friends!"

"You will have many friends when you go to school, Evie. Many people will ask you to be their friend. But if they are boys, you cannot say yes. Promise me that."

"But... But..."

"Are you done with her hair? We need to be out of here soon if we want to catch the train." Evie was given no space for more protests before her brother spoke.

"Done." Evan answered, tying the ends of the braided ponytail, then standing up quickly and receiving his bag. "Remember what we said, Evie. Don't become friends with boys. All boys except your big brothers are bad boys."

"Ryan, we are leaving Evie with you! Remember to see her off at the Spardas before you go." Ethan shouted his instructions to the missing brother who was still changing into his uniform. Evie was silent as she received goodbye kisses from her elder brothers before they were out of the door, and she sat down beside her new school bag on the floor, waiting for Ryan to be done.

It was the start of a new morning routine in the family. Because Vergil, Dante and Evie were starting school together, Eva had insisted that it was completely fine for her father to go to work as usual since Eva could bring the three of them to school together, and pick them up together after school as well. Ryan would bring Evie to the Spardas in the morning before he went to school to make sure that the house was locked up nicely, and now Evie sat by herself at the entrance waiting for her Third Brother in silence.

"Evie, what's wrong?" Ryan took a seat beside his sister after making sure that the lights and taps were off around the house, not completely surprised to see the tears clinging at the corner of her eyes and the very-focused glare that she made at their shoes with her furrowed brows. Evie had always had the habit of glaring at things whenever she wanted to hold back her tears, but it was usually a useless move, because she would burst into tears the moment anyone disturbed her focus.

"Ethan and Evan told me not to talk to Vergil and Dante!" She cried immediately at the question, but still glad on the inside that it was Ryan that she was crying to. Ryan had always been the one who would comfort her with his calm words, and always had a solution to her many troubles and problems without asking too much from her.

"You are crying because you want to talk to Vergil and Dante?" Ryan clarified, wiping her cheeks quickly.

"Yes! They are my best friends, and I want to talk to them!"

"Then talk to them." Ryan smiled, using his handkerchief now to wipe the tears and snot because they were clearly too much for bare hands to deal with.

"But Ethan and Evan said..."

"Don't listen to them. You trust me, don't you, Evie?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"You don't have to cry. You can talk to Vergil and Dante. In fact, talk to them all you want. Stay with them the whole time while you are in school."

"B-But I want to make friends too..."

"Of course you can make friends, Evie! You go to school to make friends. I'm just saying that you should make sure that everybody knows that Vergil and Dante are your best friends. They were your first friends, weren't they? You should let everybody know that you are best friends with them. They will protect you when your big brothers are not around." Ryan said with reassuring pats on the top of her head.

"S-So I can make friends... and talk to Vergil and Dante? Can I play with them too?"

"Of course. In fact, if you want me to not worry about you, you should always play with them nearby. I know Vergil and Dante, so I know that they won't hurt you accidentally or something. And if they are nearby, if something happens, then at least they can call Mrs. Sparda and she can come to school immediately to help you." Ryan explained, and Evie nodded quickly, the tears stopping quickly.

It had been a great idea to cry to Ryan. Ryan knew that Evie wanted to make friends, but also talk and play with Vergil and Dante. They were her best friends. Vergil and Dante could not possibly be bad boys...

"Thank you, Ryan." She wiped the last tears and snot by herself using a shirt sleeve, then broke into a beautiful smile.

Evie had no idea at that point, but it turned out that Ryan had thoughts more than just his sister's feelings when the instruction to keep talking to Vergil and Dante came. No, it was more than that. Evie only realized it many years later –after having obediently followed her brother's instructions and having had kept the Sparda twins close at school, talking and hanging out with them.

It turned out to be something much more cunning from Ryan: it was his strategy for keeping boys away from her –because he knew right from the start that Vergil and Dante's looks would eventually keep only girls close, and boys far from their side.

_______________________________________________________________________________

"Another text from the madman, huh?" Dante asked in boredom, looking up from the fortress that was his arms at his twin brother who was in the middle of checking his phone upon the sound of the notification of an incoming text.

"The madman's younger brother." Vergil answered shortly, brandishing the screen for Dante's perusal for a quick moment –long enough to catch sight of the sender of the text and its short content basically warning Vergil and Dante to keep a close eye on their friend and pseudo-sister.

"They are one and the same." Dante answered, hiding his face again behind his arms as he slumped across the table. "At this rate, one of us are going to have to end up married into that psychotic family because Evie is going to end up single until her brothers realize that it is illegal for brother-sister marriage, then force one of us to marry her so that they can control her husband."

"If it is Ethan and Evan, I have no doubts that they will try leading their fans into a protest trying to change that law." Vergil answered, typing his usual response back to Evie's third brother.

"I seriously don't understand what girls see in those two psychos. They are shit-deep in their sis-con issues, but they still get so much love."

"If you remove the sis-con issues, Ethan and Evan are hard workers and professional singers." Vergil answered from an objective point of view, looking out of the window in boredom since they were the only two left in the classroom. It was after school hours, and both Sparda boys and Evie belonged to the Go Home Club while the rest of the school engaged in their club activities. Outside, a fellow student caught Vergil's attention, and he followed the young man's journey out of the school with his gaze.

Kenton Yale was an unremarkable boy in school. Average in grades and actually labelled by the class to be a gloomy guy with his long black hair that covered half of his face and a perpetual slouch and bowed head, Kenton blended into the background wherever he went. In any story, Kenton would typically take the role of 'Classmate D' without his backstory explained and serve as nothing but an audience for the main characters of a story. There should be nothing that Vergil could peg onto someone as normal as Kenton.

But the truth ran tangent to this imagination. Vergil's attention was silently on Kenton for two reasons. One, Kenton was a complete opposite man outside of school. By pure observation and some luck, Vergil had found out over time that Kenton was in actuality a very well-favored martial artist/stuntman who had worked with and been lauded by many famous actors. Because Kenton pushed his hair back during his job and rose to stand at his full height, none of his schoolmates had ever thought to link the famed stuntman Kent to Kenton Yale in school.

But that was only one half of the reason why Vergil was interested in Kenton. The second reason was the more important one: Evie White had a crush on Kenton Yale.

And with brothers as possessive as Ethan and Evan White, paired with a manipulative brother like Ryan White, Vergil and Dante were in the worst position to watch their childhood friend get dew eyes at the sight of Kenton.

The door to the classroom opened just as Kenton Yale disappeared from view, and Vergil turned to greet the newcomer, hesitating when he found that it was not Evie. He could not remember her name, though he was sure that this newcomer belonged in the neighboring class.

"Um, are you free now?" She asked cautiously with hopeful eyes, a pink envelope clutched between her hands and pressed against her chest.

"Not for long." He answered evasively, giving an internal sigh as he briefly checked to see if Dante had woken up at the sound of a newcomer in the room. It was safe to say that his brother had fallen asleep. "We are waiting for Evie."

"I-Is what the rumors say about Evie, you and Dante... is it true?"

"Rumors?" Vergil asked pleasantly despite the fact that he knew exactly what the girl was talking about. Evie was due to come back to the classroom anytime, and he wanted to delay the confession for as long as possible so that he could get her into the room to interrupt the process.

"The rumors that you and Dante have been fighting with each other and sharing Evie between the two of you. D-do you like Evie?"

"What's there not to like?" Vergil asked deliberately vaguely, briefly remembering the many declarations that he had heard over the years from Ethan and Evan. The two psychotic brothers who had now become semi-famous idols could easily go on for hours on end listing a million different reasons why one should like their little sister.

"She is annoying, noisy and a pain in the ass." Vergil continued at the shock written on the girl's face. "There are so many things I can choose to say about her, but she is my childhood friend. Those things are all forgiven when you think about that."

Well, he was forced to forgive all of those things even if he didn't want to. Evie did not only have allies in her family forcing him and Dante to accept every bit about her. No, she had won the favor of his parents the moment she appeared in his life, and above their own sons, Eva and Sparda both adored Evie much more.

"Vergil, I heard you talking to someone. Who-" The young lady in question interrupted by entering the classroom by the backdoor, hesitating at the presence of a schoolmate standing a short distance away from Vergil. "Oh, I'm sorry. Please go back to what you were doing. I'll drag Dante out of here."

"What for?" Vergil answered, turning and giving his twin a heavy hit on the head, jerking Dante awake. "Let's go. Evan said to get you home before someone tries to confess to you."

"Nobody is going to do that." Evie laughed, but accepted that Vergil intended to leave the conversation where it stayed. A groggy Dante with the straps of his bag pressing on his forehead lumbered out of the classroom, and Evie followed with a sheepish apologetic expression towards the speechless girl. Vergil heartlessly refused to look back as he followed them out, closing the door shut behind him.

Ten minutes later, the three of them were on their way home from school. Dante gave an explosive yawn, stretching to the max.

"What were you doing? You took ages." He complained despite the fact that all that the young man had done while awaiting Evie's return was simply to fall asleep on the desk.

"I was throwing the trash away, but I saw Kenton reading behind the gym. I was watching him until he left." Evie answered.

"That Normie?" Dante yawned again. "Boring."

"His name is not Normie! It's Kenton!" Evie exclaimed quickly. "I told you to stop calling him that."

"Well, he's just a normal guy. He won't know that we're calling him Normie. Besides, he's not the only Normie around; most of the guys and girls in school are Normie to me. Normie Number 1, Normie Number 2, so on and so forth." Dante answered lazily. The biggest reason why this had happened was because Dante had been too lazy to try remembering the names of their classmates.

"I don't care what you say about others, but not Kenton. Call him Kenton, Dante. Or I'll get angry."

"Sure, go ahead." Dante scratched his chin boredly. "I doubt Ethan will try to kill me if he knows that you got angry because I refused to call a guy by his proper name. He might treat me to a good meal instead. Besides, I don't know what is so special about him that I have to remember his name for."

"He's the guy I like!" Evie declared all over again, and Vergil instinctively looked around just in case her words were picked up by her stalking brothers. None of the White Brothers had yet to learn about Evie's crush, and Vergil was content to keeping it that way, because he knew he would never get a day's proper rest starting from the moment they found out. "I can't talk to my brothers about Kenton, so you guys have to listen to me talk about him! You guys are my only friends!"

"I don't know if you have read enough of your comics to know about it, but guys don't listen to their friends talk about their crush. It just all sounds like Normie this, Normie that, blah blah blah..." Dante yawned again, looked around then suddenly perked up. "Look. Cheap ice cream on sale."

Vergil's walking came to a stop when Dante abruptly changed direction to cross the road to reach the ice cream shop that was boasting an hour-long discount. He watched as their childhood friend's face turn red with anger and annoyance. Evie's brows furrowed, her ears red as tomato as she glared sharply at the back of Dante's head. Still, his twin brother felt none of that intense gaze as he crossed the road with magnetic pull.

"I hate you, Dante!" Evie screamed at him, and took off charging without a second word, leaving Vergil alone in the middle of the street. He had been so used to a situation like this that he did not even bother sighing in exasperation, waiting for Dante to return with his goodies in his hand.

"Where is Evie?" Dante asked in surprise as if only then realizing that they were missing a third member of their small group.

"You pissed her off and she went running." Vergil answered, pulling his phone out and scrolling through the contacts.

"Then go collect her at the swings before Ryan spots her on his way home from school. Or, worse, if Ethan and Evan escape their dormitory again and see her crying at the swings, we're screwed." Dante answered, still licking his ice cream nonchalantly.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you pissed her off about Kenton." Vergil said, but turned away from his brother as he thumbed the call button, putting the phone by his ear and waiting patiently for the call to ring through. It surprisingly didn't take very long.

"Hello, Kenton Yale." Vergil greeted pleasantly. "This is Vergil Sparda, your classmate from school. I have a task for you: go to the playground behind the train station closest to our school and pick up our classmate that you see on the swings there. Bring her some ice cream, and stay with her until evening. If you do not do exactly as I say, I will announce to the school tomorrow that you are Kent Vale, the stuntman who has been gaining fame and reputation. I understand that it is stated in your contract that you will no longer be a stuntman if you true identity as a high schooler is found out. I'm sure you want to keep your job. Now, make your choice."

He didn't leave his classmate any space to wedge in a reply before he hung the call up, turning back to his brother to find Dante frozen.

"What?" He asked with disinterest, resuming his walk on the way home. "Your ice cream is melting all over your hand."

"Normie is actually Kent Vale? Are you kidding me?" Dante demanded.

"Normie is not so normal now?" Vergil guessed from his brother's shock. "Come; let's go. We have to keep eyes on Evie, or we will never get the end of lectures if any of her brothers find out about this."

________________________________________________________________________________

"This is disgusting." Vergil declared with a glare at the coffee sitting in the cup in front of him, turning to the young man sitting beside him. "Why did Evie drag us all the way here?"

"Please be nice, Vergil." Kenton whispered back to him in a fluster. "Evie and I were texting each other to confirm this date, but Ryan saw her texting me. She had to make this a group gathering to avoid her brothers finding out about us. You have met Denise and Bernice before in your classes before, haven't you?"

"Yes, but I have never talked to them before. I have no interest." Vergil answered, finally a little bit more understanding of the situation that he had ended up in.

They were currently in a café two stations away from their college, with the presence of two unfamiliar girls. He knew he should have been suspicious when Evie had insisted that they go to this particular café far away from college, but Vergil hadn't understood how an innocent dinner had turned into a triple-date setting. Apparently with Evie and Kenton as the only official couple at the table, Vergil had been paired with a black-haired girl named Denise while Dante was Bernice's target.

"Please, just make small conversation. Dante is doing well with Bernice. Even if you don't like her, try to pretend a little bit. This is the first time Evie and I are able to talk comfortably in ages, please just do us a favour." Kenton begged, and Vergil sighed. From the helpless and powerless Kenton that he had met in high school, Vergil's distant friendship with the man had grown after helping Evie get together with him. He hadn't realized it, but it seemed to him now that Kenton's character had changed a little after meeting Evie too: he was slightly more assertive, talkative and open to meeting new people now as compared to before.

"For Evie." Vergil sighed to show his reluctance, then turned back to his intended conversation partner who had remained respectfully silent across him while he shared his whispered conversation with Kenton.

It was mortally painful for him to hold a conversation with a woman that he had absolutely no interest in getting to know. He wasn't sure how Dante was doing so well keeping Bernice amused, but the fundamental difference in characteristics between he and his twin was extremely stark when it came to people skills. Dante was like an open book to anyone wanting to talk to him. Vergil was more appropriate described as a book locked close with the key missing.

He thankfully managed to struggle to a comfortable pause in the conversation as he finally checked his phone after having felt its vibration a few times. The number of missed calls surprised him, but Vergil decided to check his texts first since any urgent matters would definitely be texted to him if he did not pick up.

It took him a short second to understand his realities.

"Shit!" He jumped up, his chair falling backwards to the floor with a loud clatter as his movement grabbed the attention of everyone in the vicinity.

"What's wrong?" Kenton asked, slowly rising to his feet in concern as well.

But in turning to face Kenton, Vergil's eyes caught something past the young man, at the entrance of the café. The door to the café was open, and in the act of walking through the doorway was two very familiar figures.

"Get behind me, and sit down!" Vergil grabbed Kenton's arm, pulling the man behind him as he stepped to take Kenton's place sitting across Evie immediately. The shock at the table could not be erased even as Vergil forced himself to take a sit, checking for a quick moment to find that Kenton had quickly righted the fallen chair and sat down. Taking advantage of the confusion, Vergil grabbed Evie's hand where it was resting on the table, then leaned forwards at her.

"Look into my eyes!" He hissed lowly, and the flustered woman obeyed, though with heavy confusion and furrowing brows.

He didn't have to explain much at all, because two seconds later, someone grabbed his shirt from the back, and pulled him up. It was rather fortunate that Vergil had anticipated that move, and thus scrambled to his feet quickly all over again, affixing an appropriately-shocked expression on his face when he turned to face the intruders.

"E-Ethan, Evan!" Evie stuttered, rising to her feet as well in shock at the sudden appearance of her overprotective brothers. "What are you two doing here? Aren't you supposed to be preparing for a music show?"

"Thank goodness we trusted Ryan, or we would never have found out about this clandestine date that you have been hiding from us, Evie." Ethan declared, still having his fist twisted in Vergil's shirt despite the fact that Vergil had stood up. "How long has this been going on between you and this cockroach?"

"What are you talking about? Why are you calling Vergil a cockroach?" Evie was understandably flustered at the sight of her enraged brothers.

"Don't try to lie to us, Evie! We warned you not to talk to these two back when you started elementary school, but you went ahead and did it anyway. And now you're dating Vergil behind our backs? If Ryan never caught you texting him to set up this group meeting to hide the fact that you are dating him, we would never have known!" Evan interrupted angrily with the same intensity of glare at Vergil.

"What do you have to say for yourself? You, who betrayed our trust. We trusted you and your brother to protect our sister from boys, and you turn out to be one who deceives our beautiful sister into a relationship!" Ethan twisted his fist tighter, and Vergil felt his collar begin to eat into his throat.

"I have nothing to say." Vergil answered evenly. "Evie is already in college; she should be free to date whoever she thinks is worthy of her. I don't think any one of you should interfere in her relationship at this age; in fact, I would worry about my own lack of relationship if I were you. A scandal or two would make good paparazzi that will push your reputation further up."

"How dare you talk back to us?" Ethan began to shake Vergil roughly.

"Calm down, Ethan! You guys are in full public view; shouldn't you two conduct yourselves better as public figures?" Evie began to lean forward to save Vergil from some physical roughening, but was stopped by Evan instead.

"You still care for us, Evie? I thought you gave us up as your brothers the moment you started dating him!" Evan declared angrily.

"I didn't give anybody up!" The poor protected little sister declared with tears in her eyes. "I just want to date someone I really like; is that really such a problem?"

"Yes, you are not supposed to date anyone until we say you can! And now this guy has led you all astray: you are even talking back to us and hiding your relationship behind our backs! We were right from the start, Evie: it was a bad idea to let you and Vergil be childhood friends!" Ethan raised his fist, and Vergil looked away immediately to avoid meeting the punch face-on.

"Let him go." The punch didn't land, and instead a new voice intruded on the conversation.

Vergil turned back with surprise to find that a hand had intercepted the punch, and beside him stood the man he had been trying to save.

"This is our business, young man. You don't want to be a part of this mess." Ethan warned, but Kenton didn't let go. The strength of a man who had practiced martial arts since childhood and worked part-time as a stuntman showed in the way Ethan's punch could not be withdrawn nor continue while it was trapped in Kenton's hand.

"I am actually the main character in the middle of that mess." Kenton announced, a face full of determination that Vergil was dimly surprised to see.

"Kenton, no!" Evie exclaimed with tears already streaming from her eyes. Vergil was silently affronted that the woman had been completely fine with him being almost-punched by her brother, but the tears had turned on the moment her real boyfriend had joined the mess. So much for the loyalty of childhood friends.

"I'm sorry, Evie, but I can't let Vergil take the blow for me. I think it's time we tell your brothers to truth. I am ready to face whatever consequence they have for me." Kenton answered his girlfriend, forcing Ethan's punch to withdraw, then used his strength to forcibly separate a confused Ethan's hand from Vergil's clothes.

Understanding that his role as his childhood friend's protector had expired, Vergil quietly stepped back and allowed Kenton to take the spotlight.

"Ethan, Evan, my name is Kenton Yale, and I have been dating your sister Evie for the past year." Kenton announced.

"WHAT?" Ethan shouted.

"Good job, bro!" The explosive applause and sudden appearance of yet another intruder in the mess surprised everyone at how anticlimactic the revealing was. "Come on, everybody, clap in applause for one brave man here!"

The cajole from Dante as he burst in between the tension-fueled atmosphere was so sudden and unbefitting of the situation that Ethan and Evan could not help but freeze in confusion, looking around, at a loss as to what they were doing.

"Come on, cheer for my man Kenton who has the guts of steel!" Dante encouraged, looking around at the other patrons of the café and gesturing for applause that at first started awkwardly and unsurely, then quickly gained volume as people started applauding for reasons that they could not completely understand as well.

"Well, isn't it a great day for dates and relationships? My brother Verge here has been a pure virgin his whole life, and today is actually the first day in my life we've gotten him to agree to sit and talk to a girl for a minute more than necessary. You guys, clap for him too!" Dante was actually brave enough to stand in front of a shocked Ethan and Evan, forcing them to clap unsurely according to a situation that they had suddenly lost.

Vergil knew immediately what his brother was attempting, and half-stepped forwards, making sure his words were whispered.

"Take Evie and get out of here now." He instructed, and was thankful that Kenton knew to trust him and Dante enough. Making sure to keep beneath the angry brothers' radar, Vergil watched as Kenton grabbed Evie's hand, and then went sneaking out of the café while in the middle of the confused mess that was going on.

It was very romantic and all; a heroic declaration of love from Kenton, then a courageous escape out of the café.

Unfortunately for the childhood friends of the White family, Dante and Vergil Sparda were left in a situation that was one in a million.