A World Like That

Chapter XI

-Ariel-

The next day, he snuck the two bottles of wine into his basket and stashed them under some bushes when his friends weren't looking. He was determined to hang out with Dante today. After several hours of picking fruit with his friends, they were ready to go back to Heaven.

He handed Jael his basket filled with fruit. "Here, take mine up for me. I'm going to stay down here longer."

"Uh, do you think that's a good idea?" Jael asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't want to be afraid. I love being down on Earth and I don't want that to be ruined for me because I was attacked. I think it'll be good for me to explore one of the forests on my own. I need to be brave."

Jael didn't look convinced, but he took the basket of fruit. "If you do feel scared, promise you'll fly back up right away, okay?"

"I will. Don't worry about me."

Once Jael had flown off and was out of sight, he retrieved the two bottles of wine from under the bush and flew off to the small tropical forest he and Dante usually met in. Sure enough, he spotted the demon sitting by the pool, watching the waterfall.

Dante's face lit up when he landed next to him. "You're here! How'd you get away from your friends?"

"I told them I wanted to spend some time down here alone and that it'd be good for me to be brave after my attack."

Dante's smile faded slightly at the mention of how they'd met. "Well, I'm glad you're here."

He held up the wine bottles in response. "I brought more! Just for us though." 

He handed one to Dante and opened his. He'd never drank straight out of the bottle before, but it was easier than trying to sneak goblets down as well.

"Surprisingly, I'm not sick of this yet," Dante replied, drinking out of his bottle. "Although, look at you encouraging me to drink it like this after your warnings about not drinking it too fast."

He grinned. "Maybe I do want to get you drunk this time."

"Is that so? Why do you wanna do that?"

The answer that popped into his head surprised him. He wanted to be closer to Dante, closer than they already were. He found himself looking at Dante's perfect body and wanting to touch it. But that was wrong. He didn't know what he was thinking. It was already bad enough that they were friends and that he was sneaking around and lying to his own friends in order to see Dante. He couldn't be attracted to him. He was probably just confused.

"That's my secret," he responded, giving Dante a teasing smile. There was no way he could let Dante know what he had just been thinking.

-

A half hour later, both of their bottles were halfway empty and he was feeling sufficiently drunk. Since Dante was still new to wine, he was further gone. Dante laughed, his eyes half closed and his head lolling to the side as if he couldn't hold it up anymore. 

"Hey, let's try to fly!" Dante suggested.

"What? I don't think that's a good idea," he responded, unable to keep from laughing.

Dante got unsteadily to his feet and grabbed his wine bottle. "I want a pear. Let's go."

"Dante, wait! You're gonna crash!"

Not listening, Dante took off, immediately tilting to one side and almost falling out of the air. Dante tried to flap his wings to gain some height, but it was not a coordinated effort and it looked like he was struggling.