[Limbus Company] Steam (Dante, Hong Lu)

Dante was a man who had lost many pleasures as soon as his body had distorted.

He no longer could eat, he no longer had skin, and more importantly, he was no longer human. Things he had once taken for granted had been snatched away from him in a blink of an eye, leaving him floundering in the encapsulating void of the City.

He could still feel, however.

With a low groan, Dante sank into the hot spring and stared up at the stars in the sky. Although he no longer had skin, what remained now was a twist of wires and cogs that somehow transported blood through his husk of a body. What peeked out from between were black and copper bits of circuitry – somehow, it allowed him to continue feeling, although everything was much more muted now. It was something, however.

It also allowed him to feel cool hands upon his shoulders, which predated a pair of mismatched eyes peeking in from the edge of his vision.

“Hong Lu. Good evening.” Dante’s voice oozed contentment, although he ducked his head down so the man wasn’t singed by the fire.

“Good evening, Manager~! Would you mind if I joined you for this soak?” The pale man immediately dives in when Dante nods, slowly floating to the surface after the splash of hot water across Dante’s face and chest. The man’s blanket of hair sticks to his skin, and he has to pry it away from his back as he swims over and settles in next to Dante.

“You’re awfully eager tonight, Hong Lu. Didn’t you read the sign that prohibits diving?”

“They never enforce it~! Especially since we’re the ones who rented it out for the evening...you really know how to pick your rewards, my good man! Even if some of us don’t quite know how to appreciate them~!”

Dante knows instantly that he’s referring to the way Heathcliff looked like a soaked cat when he emerged earlier. He disappeared into his room, grumbling about the temperature of the water and how it smelled too floral for his tastes. Dante vividly remembered Hong Lu shooting him an offended glare at the time.

“He doesn’t have a lot, Hong Lu. Some people prefer the simpler life.” Dante braces his arms on the stone rim and uses them to crack his back – a cacophony of bone-like pops and screeching metal fills the room.

“I really don’t understand how the poor think…but, a learning experience is valuable indeed~! I will refrain from buying him any herbal shampoos.”

Now that gets a snort and chuckle out of Dante. He couldn’t imagine the ever-serious Heathcliff smelling like lavender, or something equivalent to it.

“More importantly, however...your body is quite interesting.” The man runs a slender finger over one of the gears on Dante’s arm. “I was aware that men could be composed of machinery, but this...this is something new. Something strange~! I like it.”

“I’m glad you do, because I don’t.” Dante groans again, allowing his body to float upwards as he keeps himself anchored at poolside. “I miss having skin, sometimes.”

“I can imagine that would be an issue, yes. Even though you can bleed from within the machinery, from what I’ve seen. It’s like you’re a human cocooned in a metal cage!” Hong Lu’s eyes are sparkling, but he is calmed when Dante flicks water into his face.

“All that’s human in me is my blood.” Dante taps the glass on his face, all while his clock hands begin to spin.

“You’ve got a good heart, though...in a metaphorical sense, not physical~!”

Dante would click his tongue if he had one.