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Eva blamed her husband’s snoring for her not realizing just how bad the storm outside had gotten until one particular peal of thunder shook the house on it’s foundations.
Yes, Sparda snored. She had no idea how. Devils didn’t sleep in the same way as humans, and she had always been under the impression that snoring happened when one was deeply asleep. Based on that, her husband snoring made no sense whatsoever. She had a feeling that he’s started snoring to mess with a friend centuries ago and never quit. It was, after all, how quite a few of his quirks came to be.
Regardless of how the snoring started, Eva found herself biting back a curse as she all but jumped out of bed, throwing a robe over herself as she hurried down the hall to her sons’ room.
Her twins had opposite reactions to thunderstorms, oddly enough. Dante loved them. More than once either she or Sparda had to grab him before he ran outside to play in the pouring rain, and even then he usually stood at the window watching the lightning split the sky in awe.
Vergil on the other hand, was more than willing to curl up under the covers or in either her or his father’s arms and wait for the storm to pass them by. Worse was when he had been asleep before the storm hit, something she suspected had happened tonight…
The soft whimpering she heard from her eldest made her open the door in haste, but the scene she saw inside made her pause.
Instead of one toddler curled up under the covers, trying not to cry out, and another either sleeping deeply or glued to the window, both of her sons were curled up together in the same bed. Dante was in his tiny and adorable devil form, hugging his shaking brother, wings wrapped around him in imitation of how Sparda liked to comfort all of them when he was in his true form.
It took all of her energy to not immediately rush towards them and squeal over how adorable they were and how good of siblings they were. Yes, they did bicker, but all siblings did that, and times like this showed just how deeply they cared for each other.
After taking a moment to be sure that she wouldn’t overstep, Eva walked further into the room, making two wide, innocent eyes look up at her, one an icy blue-gray, the other an inhuman amber that still somehow perfectly showed off his worry for his brother.
“Vergil, Dante,” she whispered, hands reaching out to ruffle their heads, “do you want to sleep with us tonight?”
Vergil immediately nodded frantically, his twin following a moment later, making her smile as she picked them up. Said smile only widened as her heart filled with warmth when she saw Dante refuse to let go of his brother even as she turned to make the short trip back to her own bedroom.
Luckily, Sparda was awake when she walked back into the room, even more inhuman red eyes a bright contrast to the shadows in the darkened room that widened with pride when he saw how their youngest was trying to comfort his elder brother.
“Nightmares?” the legendary devil asked with more than a little curiosity. Given how she’d long since learned that dreams and nightmares only came to those with human blood, she couldn’t quite bring herself to begrudge said curiosity even if she knew that it wasn’t about to help in this situation.
As a result of her husband’s lack of tact at times, Eva didn’t have to be able to see in the dark to know that he deserved a glare because Vergil’s face turned bright red in embarrassment. Dante, if possible, cuddled closer to his twin trying to show him more comfort.
Both adults knew that Vergil hated to be reminded that he gets nightmares from something as simple as a thunderstorm, feeling that if his father didn’t get any neither should he. (Oddly enough, neither of them caught their sons having nightmares anywhere near as often as other parents they’ve known. Either their blood limited the amount they get, or they were good at comforting each other before they could arrive. She hoped for their sakes that it was both.)
Thankfully, Sparda very quickly realized his mistake and immediately backtracked as Eva moved to help the twins settle between them. “Nightmares are not something to be ashamed of. Irked at for depriving you of restful sleep, yes, but absolutely nothing to shame you.”
Eva nodded, gently smiling down at the still cuddling twins as she laid down next to them and pulled up the comforter. “Your father is right- for once,” she teased, unable to resist the urge. Her husband left himself wide open to them, after all. “I get nightmares. It’s natural.”
Two already wide eyes widened even more. Seriously, how did anyone see a little devil baby and not think they’re adorable? And how could anyone ever think that a human baby deserved anything but the world? “You get nightmares?” Vergil asked.
“But mama’s not scared of anything!” Dante protested.
That almost broke her heart, and it took far too much energy to keep the emotions it brought up from leaking. Neither of them knew just how well their sons could sense other’s emotions yet, so she just smiled softly at them and ran a hand over their heads, one full of the softest white hair, the other of surprisingly soft hide. “I’m scared of a lot of things,” she said, managing to keep her voice light. “For example, I’m terrified of your father bringing back an endless herd of demon cows from Hell and all of our milk being a very disgusting red from now on.”
That got Sparda to groan as their children giggled. “Milady, how many times must I assure you that I refuse to associate with those demons? My sense of smell prefers to stay intact?”
“Hell cows exist?” Vergil asked, his fear giving way to curiosity, helped by the lull in the storm.
“Unfortunately. Disgusting creatures that their masters let roam wherever they please. I would in some ways prefer to fight those despicable Nobodies than be in the same realm after they have fed…”
“Nobodies?”
“Yes, Nobodies. They are named that for the fact that no one in Hell likes them. Or on Earth, the hunters I have known have gone to many different lengths to dispose of them in ways that avert a frontal assault. Some devils will use them as tools, but that is all they are ever used for.”
Eva smiled, her heart filling with warmth as Sparda entertained their sons with more tales of the various demons that populated Hell, distracting Vergil from the storm picking back up outside. Yes, a few occasional peals of thunder did make her eldest jump, but he was quickly shaken of his terror by his twin comfortingly cuddling him and his father’s soothing voice describing the denizens of Hell with occasional input from her.
She wasn’t proud of the fact that she drifted off before her sons, but she couldn’t help it. Not only did they need far less than her at this early age, seeing her family happy relaxed her too much, and she would much rather deal with some slight teasing than ever have them be even the slightest bit upset.