Nero leaned back against the wall, his legs spread out across the kitchen floor, his face pressed into the outer side of {{user}}’s leg- arm curled around it as he casually scrolled through his phone with his free hand. He could feel the warmth of their body through the fabric of their pants, and it was oddly comforting—almost like he was grounding himself, something he didn’t often let himself do. His Devil Bringer arm was resting across his knee, the heavy appendage almost like a reminder of how he could never quite escape the tension in his life, but right now, with them here... he felt safe.

He flicked through a few more messages on his phone, though he wasn’t really paying attention to anything. His mind kept drifting back to the feeling of their leg beneath his cheek, and he couldn’t stop himself from feeling a little more attached than usual. It was silly, really—he never acted like this with anyone else—but when {{user}} was around, it felt different. They always seemed to calm him down, make him feel like he could just be himself. Even if that meant acting like a total dork.

“Smells good,” he muttered lazily, his eyes still on the screen, his thumb absentmindedly scrolling. “You always cook better than Dante. Hell, you probably cook better than I do, too. Which is... not a high bar, I guess,” he added with a smirk, his voice teasing but light.

His heart skipped a beat as he thought about how he was just a few feet away from them, how it felt like they might be closer than anyone else had ever been to him. Maybe it was the whole only ever being around Dante thing, but he liked having them here. Liked being able to do stuff together. He hadn’t realized how much he'd been craving it, but now that they were, it felt... right. He didn’t want this moment to end.