Neither of them could remember the last time they had hugged in this way.
It was maybe prior to their relationship, which was years ago, and ever since, Dante and Raphael didn't really express their affection since Dante treated him poorly. But in that moment, his mere natural scent was enough to cause Dante's eyes to start stinging, which he held in, not wanting to make Raphael worry. Dante's arms snaked around Raphael's waist, squeezing him tightly as he leaned his forehead into the crook of Raphael's shoulder.
As he had predicted, Raphael had been crying, and Dante wasn't surprised when he heard another, "...hic!..." The moment Dante slightly pulled away, a grin on his face, Raphael rapidly lowered his face embarrassingly, wiping as many tears as he could as he sheepishly mumbled, "Don't listen to my...hic!...hiccups."
"Don't worry," Dante chuckled, his palms resting on Raphael's waist as he examined him wiped his tears as if he was a little boy. "I'm not listening to them," he lied, which Raphael knew since he started chuckling as well through sniffles. Both Dante and Lucius had noticed this from Raphael, which they had both secretly found adorable—although Lucius scolded him for it. Instead of using a few fingers to wipe his cheeks, he would plaster his entire palm across as many times as he needed. "You'll get pimples that way," Dante snickered, his eyes squinting alongside the content he finally felt.
Raphael looked upwards at him confusingly, and Dante had never imagined how all these slight details were things he had missed. The swollen red eyes staring back of him, the redness of Raphael's cheeks and even his trembling palms; those were all aspects of Raphael he never realized meant so much to him. Raphael eventually glanced at his palms and realized what Dante was referring to, which made him grin.
They were still near one another, and as Raphael sniffles calmed and he finally felt calm enough to speak, he explained, "Lucius got upset with me and...hic!...he ran off. I've been looking for him all over...hic!...I didn't think I'd find anyone here." When Dante didn't respond, Raphael realized that he was merely staring at him, studying him as if he was attempting to memorize every single crest and crevice on his face. It made him feel flustered as he breathed, "Stop staring at me like that."
"I can't," Dante sighed, tilting his head to the side. "You're going to leave again."
Raphael paused, exhaling a long shaky breath. "I thought I wanted to stay with Wolf with Lucius, but seeing you all the other day." He shook his head as he lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry, I should've came back when I could."
"No Ralphy, I'm the one that should apologize." Their gazes connected again, and a saddened look equipped Dante's face as he lowered his hands apart from Raphael. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you. It was awful and I hurt you, really bad. You didn't deserve that, you didn't deserve any of that." When he saw Raphael's eyes begin to overwhelm with tears again, Dante couldn't help but grin. He had always known Raphael's feelings were easily worked up, but that had never prevented him from bashing him before, for which the guilt couldn't eat him enough. "We were best friends, then we became partners, and then I took out my anger on you, without realizing how much it affected you. That will always be one of the biggest regrets of my entire life—"
"What happened to you...hic!...? Why are you being so nice?" He again began wiping away tears that overflowed as he whispered, "I don't usually cry this much. You're making me cry."
"This is pretty boring." Both of their eyes narrowed at the same time, Raphael even stopping his wiping to glance over Dante's shoulder with a scowl.
That was when he again took notice of the two individuals that were standing by the kitchen counter, one with a murderous glare across his face and the other nervously bouncing from tippy-toe to heel as he glanced elsewhere, acting as if he didn't look at him, they wouldn't see him. When the attention was finally diverted to him, Nate raised an eyebrow in disgust and hissed, "Can we wrap this up?"
"Maybe that wasn't a good idea..." Jules muffled, seeing both their eyes shift to such menacing stares that he even stepped away from Nate, not wanting to be in the crossfire.
Half-drunk, half-sober Nate, had one left forward tapping the floor and one hand on his hip. The jealousy was resonating from his face as he kept his narrowed glare towards Raphael, who didn't skip a beat in challenging it.
Dante was seconds from exploding when Raphael took the reigns. He had his own series of curses he wanted to share with Nate, and this was the perfect moment to do that. Although Raphael's emotions were sensitive, he was still taller and intimidating, his narrowed navy gaze was easily frightening enough. He stepped around Dante and began walking towards Nate who only straightened his spine.
"This is the thanks I get for saving your life?" Raphael spat, getting closer to Nate but feeling a sudden tug on his arm, preventing him from getting any closer. "You realize I was exchanged for you?"
Nate raised his eyebrows challengingly, shrugging his shoulders and letting the smirk lingering on his lips as he spat, "Good riddance."
"Good riddance?" Raphael gasped in disbelief, glancing towards Dante who could not tear his shocked gaze away from the smug smirk across Nate's face. He stormed past Dante and menacingly approached Nate who only broadened his shoulders even more. "We almost died to save you. Molly was killed at fifteen years old to save you, and all you can say is good riddance?"
"No one asked you all to make that sacrifice," he yawned, shrugging his shoulders.
That made Raphael instantly see red. After all he had gone through with Wolf—being restrained until he listened, having Lucius almost killed trying to rescue him—or even all he had endured during their planning to save Nate—ambushing Dante when he was interrogating Jules, getting into harsh arguments with Lucius to decide what to do—this was the respect he received? The worst of all was that he was rooting for Dante and Nate from the beginning; he had even gone to Nate's apartment to help Dante overcome his feelings when he got plastered at bars to avoid them.
He had gone through too much to let this insolent brat diminish all the misery they faced.
It was evident Nate had gotten a bit too confident, since although Raphael was not as strong as Lucius, his training techniques and speed still surpassed those of the other Hercules—there was a reason as to why he was trusted as Dante's bodyguard.
Nate didn't even realize that his airway had been cut off, but all of a sudden, he was pinned against the wall with fingers wrapped around his neck, and he scratched at the hand holding him against the wall. From the blankness in Raphael's gaze, there was no way in making him stop, and he could already feel his arm begin to weaken and his eyes threaten to roll to the back of his head. He attempted to resist, but had never realized how strong Raphael truly, barely even needing to put in an effort to choke him.
He was only released when Dante finally gripped Raphael from behind, around his shoulders, and pulled him from Nate. At the same time, Jules reached Nate who tumbled to the ground, gasping for air as he began to wheeze, his throat feeling as if it was on fire.
"This is who you wanted to save?" Raphael snapped, shoving away Dante's grasp and turning to face him, enraged. "You chose that over me?" Dante was appalled by Nate's insults. However, he didn't know how much time he had with Raphael before he decided to leave again, hence his focus was merely on wanting to communicate with Raphael. That was why he ignored the panting Nate on the floor and again reached for Raphael who kept glancing at Nate, as if he was fighting off the urge to lunge towards him and finish him off for good. "You chose this kid over your entire family?"
"Raphael, let's go talk in the bedroom," Dante urged, gripping him by the wrist and pulling him away from Jules and Nate.
Nate, who had not yet calmed his breathing, still pushed himself upwards just to shout, "Right! Go in the bedroom! Maybe you two can fuck one last time too!"
YOU ARE READING
The Submissive Assassin (BxB)
Romance''After a few seconds of them staring at one another, Dante finally spoke. But his voice had changed; it was breathless and soft, echoing with a sweetness that Nate could have never imagined existed within him. With the knife left on his palm for Na...
