Clemente
Clemente laughs automatically at Dante's outburst, eyes shining with mirth. "I don't control the time physics, asshole!" But the word is said with unbearable fondness, because Clem could never call Dante by any kind of nickname that wasn't spoken in such a way. He does playfully slap at him though, rolling his eyes at the notion Clem could ever replace him. "She's like, mom material! Unless you're gonna start doing my laundry you can shut it!" But he pauses, a shy look overtaking his face as it always does when he has to be sincere with the other boy. "Could never replace ya, Dante. 'm so glad you're here." Of course the boy knocks their foreheads together right after, and though Clemente doesn't feel the pain anymore he still wrinkles his nose up and startles at the connection. Drops his gaze away, unable to bear the knowledge that Dante knows - even in some small, insignificant way - how far Clem had fallen back home. He'd always known that Clem was a street kid, but he'd hidden as much as he could from Dante, not wanting to add to his already significant burden. "An angel? So she's just a regular girl then," he says with a heavy eye roll. Even so, a smile tugs at the corners of his mouth stubbornly. Dante's obsession with girls was amusing, but sometimes it grows tiresome, and Clem doesn't like to think about it.
Sharp eyes immediately take notice of Dante's shiver, and Clem removes his outer layers immediately. He dresses in them out of habit, but he doesn't feel the cold anymore, so what use is it? He drapes it around Dante immediately, glad that he cannot blush anymore as he becomes hyperaware of all the skin suddenly on display. "You know I wouldn't even if I was starvin', Dante. If you ain't eatin' then I'm not either, ya know the rules." Clem's rules, really. He'd put them in place when they'd first met and become close to try and put a stop to Dante's sacrificing nature. Which clearly worked. Clearly. And he twitches himself at the offer to Rexanna, shoulders growing stiff and face twisting up at the idea of...of somehow sharing Dante with her. Not that he'd ever objectify Dante that way, not when his friend was seen as a walking supplier of liquid money most of his life. But he shakes his head firmly anyway. And then like an anvil to the head, Rexanna's voice from their first meeting comes to him: “Essentially yeah… But, our bites do a similar feeling.”
Oh right. Fuck. Uh, kinda literally.
Hands lift to scrub a hand through Dante's hair again, somehow sensing his anxiety even if he doesn't know the root of it. Brushes his hand down and pinches Dante's cheek in revenge before releasing him with a warm smile. "Nothin' like that, dude. The Ascended here are different, we only really get fed through our goddess. And uh...the bite uh...it's different here," he admits, voice squeaking with embarrassment, and though his cheeks cannot turn pink anymore he is still ridiculously obvious about his flustered state. "It...it's like a weird sexual reaction." And that's all he can bear to spit out. But he does lift a hand back up to place over the curve of Dante's inner elbow, forcing himself to lift his gaze and find Dante's. "You don't ever gotta give us your blood again if you don't wanna, Dante. I promise. I can keep us safe now, we're stronger here." No more feeling weak and useless, unable to spirit Dante away from his terrible parents. No more getting his ass kicked in alleyways, unable to crawl to his best friend for help. So much had been lost, but even more had been gained in their entry to Caido.
i stopped being a kid the day
you sent me down here to die
