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He's never been out in a place like this before. Bodies moving against each other, sweat transferring across each inch of contact, dripping down exposed skin to soak into too-tight, torn clothing. The air was thick with the scent of humans, the acrid tang of smoke from several different sources, spilled beer that tasted cheap and was far too expensive both permeating the atmosphere and making the floor sticky. Sneaking out to this concert was already crazy enough to pull off. He hadn't gotten the chance to ask about anything that would be happening once he got there. A mosh pit was an entirely new experience.

All he knew he wanted out of that night was to see the man currently making love to his guitar on stage scream out the only words he'd related to in years.

Somewhere along the line, Nero had gotten closer to the front, being beckoned by some of the bigger guys around him to help lift people onto their hands and pass them over the crowd. It had seemed like an insane idea at first, but as he effortlessly helped more people pass under the flashing lights strobing down from above, the idea looked more and more tempting by the minute.

Finally, as Nero's favorite song came on and he felt the weight of the last girl disappear from his grip, he turned to the man he'd been next to most of the night.

"Yo!" He tapped on his shoulder, getting a glance of acknowledgement in return. "Can I get up there? S' my favorite song!"

"Oh, hell yeah, little dude!" The man turned around and gestured for Nero to do the same, which he did. Hands grasped around his upper arms when he stuck them out, and palms pressed to his torso and eventually his legs. As he rose above the throng, Nero let out a yell of joy as he threw up the horns with both hands, grinning down at the man who had helped him up before craning his head back to stare at the angel of music on stage.

His name was Dante, frontman and lead guitarist of the band Devil May Cry.

And he was beautiful.

Nero didn't realize how widely he was grinning until he tried to shout the last line of the chorus with the crowd. It was so much happening at once that he almost thought, for a second, that two things happened at once.

One, was that as he was lifted out from among the crowd and brought close to the edge of the stage, his arm (hidden beneath a thick, patterned arm sock) tingled in a way he'd never felt before.

Two, was that he could have sworn Dante looked at him.

"How's everybody feeling tonight?!" Dante yelled to the crowd, who responded in a deafening roar. The song faded away into the bridge, the rest of the band taking the cue from their frontman to tone it down so he could speak.

"Y'know, it is crazy to see so many faces out in the crowd tonight. Makes me curious though, who's new?" He twirled the microphone cord idly as he walked back and forth, dextrous fingers catching Nero's eye as he got up to the edge.

"If this is your first time seeing me tonight, make some fucking noise!"

He was being let down into the arms of a security guard when the question came, and despite being told to move, he answered with the rest of the crowd in a triumphant cry.

"Oh, hey, looks like I got a lucky winner right here. Hey kid!" Dante crouched on the edge of the stage, looking down at Nero only a few feet away. Nero was starstruck instantly, pale blue eyes going wide as he stared up at his idol with his mouth slightly agape. "First time here, huh? Where ya from?"

It took a second for Nero to even find his tongue to respond, leaning in to speak into the offered microphone. "Uh, Fortuna."

"Fortuna, eh?!" Dante threw back his head and laughed. "Hell yeah, man, fuck that place. Lemme guess, lemme guess-- first concert ever, right?"

"Is it that obvious?"

Nero's nervous tone was soothed by Dante shaking his head, sending his white hair tumbling around his shoulders. "I saw you helping people get up all night, man, you're a natural. Now, I got an offer for you, but you gotta promise me something, deal?"

Dante's eyes sparkled with mischief. Nero couldn't hold back from the challenge, not when the most beautiful man he'd ever seen was speaking to him directly. Any second now, Nero half expected to wake up from being trampled underfoot by the crowd with the show already being over.

If this was a dream, he may as well play along though, right?

Nero nodded once, sending his own hair fluttering. Hair that he'd styled long because of Dante's look. The feeling in his arm was getting stronger, but caught up in the sheer euphoria of the night, he didn't notice.

"You come up here and finish this song with me, and then you go home to all your little altar boys back in Fortuna and you show them what real music fucking sounds like!"

This was absolutely a dream.

So why not go for it?

"Fuck yeah!"

Dante reached out with his off hand, and Nero took it in his own to help himself scramble up onto the stage. He couldn't wipe the grin from his face.

The entire crowd was cheering, but it was just noise in the background. Dante's skin against his human hand had been fucking electric. Dante held the microphone away from both of them as he leaned in, talking to Nero directly.

"You got this. Don't worry if you can't sing, we got something for that. You seen the music video for this one?"

"Yeah?"

"Good. Do that!" With that, Dante turned away to speak to the crowd again as a tech crew member behind Nero tapped him on the shoulder, holding out a strange looking microphone. As soon as Nero took it into his hand, he felt it resonate with his arm. He was turned away from the crowd, so only a few members of the band and crew saw what happened. It lost its odd appearance -- black claws wrapping around the handle disappeared into sparks, and the button that Nero had noticed looked almost like a glass eyeball turned into a normal button.

Nero's throat itched, and he coughed once to try and fix it. The tech, whose eyes had gone wide at the sight, darted off to get him a bottle of water as Dante started to play the lead in for the last chorus of the song. Nero downed it gratefully, said his thanks, and turned around to stare at Dante for the first time truly in his element. The spotlight fell on him, on his sweat-slicked bare chest beneath the shining leather jacket, on his hair fluttering almost supernaturally in the breeze, on his lips forming the words Nero knew by heart.

He almost forgot to join in, stepping forward and raising the mic to his lips. Nero wasn't a bad singer; he'd been trained in choral singing since he was a kid. But what came out of his mouth was... unearthly. It blended with Dante's voice, mixing in a soul-wrenching harmony as he was drawn into the moment. It was as if he was a passenger in his own body, each turn of his heel and bang of his head perfectly in sync to the music, landing him face to face with the up and coming legendary rockstar as Dante held out a note, and he matched it effortlessly.

As the music took over, Dante's gloved hand reached out, his guitar pick between his fingers as he gently took Nero by the face, squeezing his still baby-round cheeks.

This choreography, he knew by heart. It was with full intention that he sank down, his hands coming up to mock worship at Dante's feet. He clutched at the guitar like it was the only thing keeping him anchored to the ground as his arm throbbed in rhythm with the bass line and Dante caressed his cheeks, all to a backing track of the crowd going absolutely insane over the sight.

Nero felt something plastic against his lips and he opened them on reflex. Dante's fingers slid into his mouth, pressing the guitar pick against his tongue before dragging them out and down Nero's lips and chin. The final riffs of the song went out without a hitch, Nero obediently pressed against Dante's leg to finish off the image from the music video as he shredded the final bars on the guitar. The lights went black, and thunderous applause echoed around them. As the lights faded back on, Dante set his mic back into the stand and helped Nero up, who had surreptitiously spit the pick into his own hand.

"Back doors. After the show. Find the security guard named Mike and show him that pick." The missive was spoken quietly, but Nero caught every word. He handed the mundane microphone back to Dante, who sent him to the edge of the stage where he was helped off and shepherded back into the main body of the crowd.