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“I’m going to hang out with Ambrosia, Yukio. I’ll see you in like a few hours to get things ready for dinner, okay?”Rin was happy to ignore the twitch his words caused in his twin at hearing where he was going, shoving his feet into his shoes and gathering his things to head out from the dorm for the rest of the day.“Did you finish your homework?” Yukio asked and Rin applauded his studious twin’s efforts at trying to keep him from seeing Ambrosia, knowing how un-enthused he was about the two of them dating. Especially with her being Amaimon’s “daughter”, his twin’s cool attitude towards demons very apparent.Well, Rin hid a snicker, Yukio would be a lot more upset if he found out who Ambrosia actually was, though Rin wouldn’t be telling him that just yet.He’d hold off on that reveal for a while longer. Maybe, Rin decided, once Yukio warmed up a bit more to Ambrosia he’d start to ease into the fact that she had a more demonic heritage than Rin had suggested when he’d introduced the two. And that she was actually Amaimon, demon king of earth and, yes, Rin was dating him.Also that Rin wasn’t actually going to see Amaimon, though he was happy to use him as a cover story.He waited until he was a few blocks away and into the city before pulling out his phone, feeling his heart fluttering in his chest at the call he was about to make.Rin pressed his thumb to the number and the phone was ringing before he could psych himself out, heart jolting when the click from being picked up echoed from the speaker.“Rin, what an unusual surprise,” came the purred voice from the other end.“Uh,” Rin swallowed around his dry throat, mind blanking on what he’d called to ask. “Hi, Mephisto.”“To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”Dammit. He knew demons were all about tempting others but did Mephisto have to make every word out of his mouth sound like such an intimate flirtation?Rin mentally shook himself, leaning back against a nearby building before responding.“Is Amaimon there?”“He’s out sightseeing. Again,” Mephisto sounded put out at the question, grumbling, and, even softer, “he’d better get me something nice this time or I’m revoking his key access.”Still, that was what Rin wanted to hear.“Good.”“Oh?”“I was wondering if you could help me with something,” Rin scratched his fingers against the brick behind him, finding claws had formed without his noticing as the surface crumbled into grit under the repeated motions.“And,” Mephisto drew out in a light tease, really not helping Rin’s nervousness, “what would that be?”Rin inhaled a long breath before getting his request out in a rush.“I was thinking about what Amaimon told me at the festival- about how you taught him to dance and I was kinda hoping you’d be able to teach me too.”Silence came from the other end and Rin almost thought he’d lost the call for a moment, rolling his bottom lip between his teeth as he waited for an answer.“Oh, Rin, I’d be delighted to.”He felt his cheeks heat at the barely hidden undercurrent of pleasure in Mephisto’s voice and his mouth pulled into a smile despite himself.“So, when can I come over, now or another time?” “Now works just fine, Rin, I’m not busy. Can you find your way to my office?”Rin gave the affirmative and hung up.He heaved a sigh, finding he’d become almost lightheaded without noticing as he set to using his transport key on the nearest door, figuring he could cut the travel time short.Although he almost decided to walk instead, a jittery feeling welling up in his chest and making his movements jerky, like he’d had too much caffeine. He didn’t know why he was so nervous, seeing as he was the one who’d made the choice to go to Mephisto. There was just something about the demon king that turned Rin into a restless mess in a way he wasn’t- as much, at least, around Amaimon. If he was the introspective sort, Rin might have tried to analyze why that was, but that was more Yukio’s forte than his, so he let it be. Rin forced himself to take a steadying breath and opened the door to Mephisto’s office, entering and leaving the sounds of the busy street behind.Mephisto was lounging on the couch and cheery electronic noises reached Rin’s ears from the handheld game he was playing, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration.“Not busy, huh?” Rin made his way over, hands on his hips as he surveyed the mounds of paperwork he could see piled on Mephisto’s desk.Mephisto grimaced as he paused his game, one hand tugging through his hair that Rin was just noticing looked disarrayed. Though, now that he was paying attention, everything about Mephisto seemed out of sorts despite how calm he’d appeared over the phone.“If I have to see one more report for the day, I might do something drastic,” Mephisto growled. The glare he sent his paperwork vicious enough that Rin was glad it wasn’t turned on an actual living creature for fear that it would literally stop their hearts.Mephisto’s growl deepened as his fingers caught in a knot in his hair, looking like he was about to rip out the stubborn strands when they refused to cooperate and untangle.He had his hand up and over Mephisto’s before he could think about it, both of them freezing at the unexpected move.Rin gentled the snarled mess Mephisto had made of his hair, pulling the black clawed fingers away to begin carding his own claws through the strands while Mephisto stared up at him with wide eyes.“Sorry, you looked stressed,” Rin mumbled, cheeks heating again as he averted his gaze to focus on a tricky knot he’d discovered like it was the most interesting thing in the world.“It always helped me calm down when someone played with my hair,” Rin continued when Mephisto kept staring. “Not that a lot of people ever did, but sometimes Shiro or Yukio would when I was a kid so…”Rin rubbed his thumb in a slow circular motion over where he’d just fixed another knot to sooth the sting Mephisto must have felt.I see,” for some reason that information made Mephisto narrow his eyes, the strange look gone just as quickly as he came out of his shock, “though didn’t you come here for another purpose?”“Uh, oh yeah,” Rin blinked, realizing he’d become deeply, deeply side-tracked somehow, and pulled his hand from where he’d buried it in Mephisto’s hair, feeling a sudden self-consciousness at his actions.“Sorry,” he said, shoving his hand behind his back like he’d been caught in the proverbial cookie jar. When Mephisto still hadn’t said anything Rin scrambled to explain. What, he wasn’t quite sure.“Er, I just figured if you had time- and I don’t have anywhere to be for like, a few hours to go make dinner, though I can always cancel and Yukio can eat whatever Ukobach makes. Um,” Rin was babbling, face heating with every stupid word that left his mouth. “I guess it all depends on when Amaimon is coming back, or if you really are busy then we can just start the lessons so you can get back to work, I’m fine with that too.”Rin drew in a deep breath, dropping his head to hide from Mephisto’s bewildered stare.“I thought it would be okay to just relax on the couch until you felt better,” he finished with another mumble, hands twitching behind his back until he clenched them into fists while he waited for Mephisto’s reaction.“That,” Mephisto started, and Rin gasped as a snap came, finding himself sat on the couch with Mephisto’s head in his lap, the demon’s green eyes piercing into his from where he was now sending an amused smile up at him, “is a marvelous idea, Rin.”Rin’s heart tightened at Mephisto’s acceptance, a smile breaking onto his face as he happily returned to running his hands through the purple hair now pooled in his lap.His smile softened as Mephisto went back to playing his game, the repetitive music filling the silence of the room while Rin got the last knot out.He moved on from his work to massage at Mephisto’s scalp, letting the pads of his fingers trace over the areas of tension as he relaxed into the motions.Rin gathered the thick hair, making sure not to pull any strands or leave them trapped underneath and began twisting it into a bun, only to let it unwind to start the process all over again.A sound reached his ears and Rin furrowed his brows as he tried to place it only to blink as he realized it was a soft purr, and it was coming from Mephisto.He’d never heard the sound coming from the other demon before. Always it was a growl or snarl or something deep and dangerous that had the tendency to send a thrill through his spine when he heard it.Mephisto purring did funny things to his heart, Rin was now registering, wondering if the demon was even aware he was doing it and paranoid that if he acknowledged it, Mephisto would stop.So he settled into the couch more securely to enjoy the rare moment of quiet.Time passed like that, Rin having pulled his phone out to mess around on social media and the mindless game apps on it, his other hand still carding through Mephisto’s hair in absent patterns.He’d taken to grazing the pads of his fingers over Mephisto’s brows and along the tips of his pointed ears when Mephisto sighed and flipped off his game, vanishing it in a pink cloud.Rin set his phone away while Mephisto stretched out of the position he’d held for the past hour with a satisfied groan and several popping sounds as he worked out the kinks in his body.He extended his arms over Rin’s lap and Rin smiled at the scrunched eyes and contented grin of Mephisto’s expression. Then those arms were pulling him down into a kiss and Rin couldn’t stop the surprised squeak the action prompted, though he was quick to return the kiss, the fluttering feeling back in his chest again.Mephisto’s palms were warm on his cheeks, claws lightly indenting his skin and sending shivers through him even as he tilted his head to deepen the angle.Rin closed his eyes to get lost in the sensation, ignoring the way his neck ached at the weird position he held it in to focus on mapping out the insides of Mephisto’s mouth.He was the first to break, drawing back to regain his breath and staring down at Mephisto with lidded eyes as he tried to remember why he’d come to him in the first place.“Thank you, Rin, that was a respite I hadn’t realized I needed.”Rin blinked, shaken out of the haze he’d been drawn into, “uh sure, no problem.”He leaned back as Mephisto extricated himself from his lap, finding himself left with a sense of disappointment even though his thighs had gone numb from sitting for so long.“Now,” Mephisto began, striding to the center of the room and grinning back at Rin with his hands on his hips, “let’s get to the real reason you’re here.”A snap and Rin yelped, the casual hoody and jeans he’d been in gone and replaced by the suit he’d worn for the festival- also he’d been transported off the couch to stand in front of Mephisto, wobbling at the sudden teleportation.Rin looked up from his body to find Mephisto was also in a suit, the deep maroon of it looking weird with his purple hair but still somehow fitting him perfectly and Rin felt his own grin try to overtake his face.Mephisto didn’t hide the enjoyment he was getting from yanking Rin around, though, and Rin crossed his arms, shooting him an irritated look. “I can walk, you know.”“And with my help, you’ll even be able to dance,” Mephisto teased, bringing his gloved hand up to his chin as he ran his gaze over Rin until Rin blushed from the obvious attention.Then Mephisto had his hand on Rin’s waist, pulling them flush together and leaning over him to smirk at the second cut-off squeak he’d surprised out of Rin that day, “did you have anything in particular you’d like me to teach you, Rin?”Rin glared but didn’t move out of the hold, putting his hands on Mephisto’s chest and thinking about the question, “I guess whatever you taught Amaimon would be okay. I don’t think I’m up for, like, ballroom dancing or anything.”“What has Miss Kirigakure been teaching you?” Mephisto sighed, probably put out by Rin’s lack of appreciation of the fine art of dancing.“Er, what do my sword lessons have anything to do with dancing?” Rin said to the seeming non-sequitur.Mephisto brought his other hand up to Rin’s hip, tapping a finger against his spine and Rin felt like the demon needed to be wearing glasses as he prepared for a lecture, “you have moved up from wildly swinging it around to some actual form and footwork, right?”Rin winced at the remembered pain of Shura’s lessons about watching his footwork, “oh yeah, those lessons.”“Yes, essentially you’re going to have to learn to not step on my feet, I don’t need scuff marks on my nice dress shoes, understand?” Mephisto arched his brow at Rin and nodded down to indicate where Rin was almost standing on top of him already.When Rin dutifully inched his feet away from the other’s Mephisto continued, “and the next essential rule-” Mephisto had his lips next to Rin’s ear a moment later, breath just moving the wisps of hair to tease along his skin and Rin shivered, fingers tightening on the suit under his hands.“Trust your partner to lead,” Mephisto murmured as he drew his hand up Rin’s spine, the shift of fabric and deliberate touch rubbing over where his tail was hidden underneath, “you can’t fight me, Rin. I know that will be difficult for you.”“I trust you,” Rin said without thought, then flinched as the hands on him clamped down. He pulled back to see Mephisto’s pupils lost in the acid-green of his irises, a strange and warped smile torn open on his face to reveal jagged fangs as Rin quickly amended his statement before he broke the poor demon. “I mean, at least to teach me how to dance. And to be yourself,” Rin added, words slowing while Mephisto recovered from whatever that reaction had been. “I trust that.”Mephisto looked more human-shaped, coming back to himself, though the bright expression on his face was flimsy as he tried to start where he’d left off, “yes, well, as I said, trust. You have to trust my unspoken signals. When I step, you follow, when my hand presses yours, it’s to lead. You can’t tug away or try to go another direction, or we’ll end up going nowhere.”“Okay, I got it,” Rin nodded his understanding.He found his attention drawn to the way Mephisto slid his right hand down his arm until he had their hands clasped together, his left hand moved Rin’s to settle at his bicep, then cupped Rin’s shoulder.Rin squashed the nervous flutters in his chest that tried to make their third appearance for the day, though that was made difficult by the fact that Mephisto was rubbing his thumb in heated circles over his shoulder blade and smiling like he didn’t know how distracting it was.“Follow my lead, Rin.” Mephisto began, then, pressing with the hand at Rin’s shoulder and pulling with his other while Rin tried to avoid stumbling into his chest. It kinda was like Shura’s lessons on footwork. The thought come to Rin in a flash as he concentrated on following Mephisto around the carpeted floor of his office, finding it both easier and harder than he’d expected.Easier, because Rin was quickly lost in the flow of movement, becoming surer of his steps with every slight correction Mephisto touched to his body.Harder because Mephisto kept touching his body in ways Rin was positive weren’t apart of normal dance lessons. Fingers caressed over the back of Rin’s hand, stepping so that Rin’s leg would brush between his or his between Rin’s, the heat of their bodies building until it was the only thing Rin could focus on.Then Rin found himself spun out in a twirl away from Mephisto, gasping at the shock of it when he came to a stop, held at the end of Mephisto’s outstretched hand and he would have dropped to the floor if not for that.“Hey!”Rin’s complaint cut off as he was pulled back in, dizzy and breathless when he came to a stop in Mephisto’s arms to stare up into sly green eyes and fangs just peeking out from quirked lips.“I’m sorry, Rin, would you have preferred a warning?”“Would you actually give one if I say yes?” Rin bit out, glaring at the wide grin his question earned.“Stranger things have happened in the world,” Mephisto hummed before leaning to shadow Rin, lips hovering just above his while Rin froze at the closeness.Anticipation built and Rin licked his lips, pulse spiking as his gaze flicked to Mephisto’s mouth.“Let’s continue, Rin.”Mephisto drew away, returning them to the straight-backed position they’d begun in while Rin’s heart dropped at the disappointment he couldn’t help feeling.But Mephisto was already moving again and Rin had no choice but to follow.They mirrored each other around the room, Rin becoming breathless for an entirely different reason as the physicality of dancing with Mephisto brought a thrill out in him and a fierce grin lit on his face.This time when Mephisto directed him into another spin, Rin was ready, feeling a bubbling laughter trying to force its way past his lips where it welled up from his chest.Rin couldn’t have said how long they danced for, only knowing it had been a while by the way his body began to shake from the exertion but not wanting to stop, chasing the buzz of being so in sync with Mephisto.Something gleamed in Mephisto’s eyes then, and Rin felt himself tense, having become tuned to Mephisto’s unspoken signals and realizing he was going to make a move, though Rin couldn’t guess what it would be.Within a few steps, Mephisto had Rin whirled across the floor and slammed into the wall, pressing flush against him and stopping his gasped exhale with a rough, open-mouthed kiss that Rin moaned into a second later.He shook against the demon king, adrenaline rushing through him at the sudden attack even as he did his best to get as much contact with Mephisto as possible, somehow keeping from digging his claws into the expensive suit through a minor miracle of self-control.Rin groaned into the kiss as Mephisto shoved a leg between his, dragging his hips there as he tried to get more friction despite the smooth fabric so frustratingly in the way. A snap from Mephisto and the clothes were no longer a problem, their heated skin now bared to the still office air, though Rin couldn’t register anything beyond the body pressed to his.He was finally free to claw into Mephisto’s back, eliciting a hiss and earning Rin a sharp bite to his lips that drew blood. The taste of his blood added to the feverish slide of their hips against each other, slicked with pre-come as the scent of the two became an intoxicating mixture in Rin’s senses and he released, shattered groan muffled by Mephisto’s tongue wound around his.Rin panted until he felt lightheaded, clinging to the still moving body until Mephisto yanked his head away to take in heaving gasps of air, neck arched in his own release and Rin didn’t waste a moment to attach his fangs over the proffered throat in a bite that only just didn’t break the skin.A growl vibrated out of his mouth, hips still rubbing against Mephisto’s as he chased the aftershocks of pleasure coursing through him, something primal satisfied to feel Mephisto doing the same as they both came down from the high.Rin laved his tongue over the captured jugular, eyes closing as his growl tapered into a purr, wriggling in Mephisto’s arms as he slumped down on him in a heavy weight.He became aware of a new sensation and cracked his eyes open, trying to place it, when he glanced down and saw that somehow Mephisto’s tail had wrapped around his calf, twitching the end of it to tickle at his foot.It was enough to get him to release Mephisto’s neck from his teeth, tongue tracing his lower lip in an absent move as he tried to understand the strange sight, though he couldn’t quite place why it was so odd.Rin tightened his arms, putting Mephisto’s apparent loss of control over his tail out of his thoughts to nuzzle back into his neck with a contented sigh.“You know, I don’t think that’s how most dance lessons go,” he mumbled, smile forming at the chuckle his words got out of Mephisto.Mephisto dropped his head to Rin’s shoulder and slid his hands to his waist to rub at his hips.“A pity, it might encourage more humans to learn the skill if it was.”Rin snorted, bringing his head away to rest on the wall behind him, “so how did I do?”Mephisto left his neck with a measured drag of his lips there, enjoying the shiver it got out of Rin if the smile on his face was anything to go by.“You’re a natural, Rin. It seems you take to this well.”The praise made Rin break into a beaming grin, reaching up to tug the newly mussed strands of Mephisto’s hair, “maybe I will learn the more advanced stuff. If you wanna teach me.”“Hmm, with such a willing student, I’d be a fool not to accept,” Mephisto bent to give his answer, finishing with a slow slide of his mouth against Rin’s.Rin dropped his hands to Mephisto’s arms to grip there until they broke apart and he let his lips quirk into a wicked smile.“I can’t wait to dance with Amaimon next. Do you think he’ll be surprised?”The slivering of Mephisto’s pupils and slow scrawl of a matching smile across his face told Rin all he needed to know about how his surprise for Amaimon would go.He couldn’t wait.
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Rin’s stomach growled and he ran his tongue over his fangs behind his lips, squinting down to the source of the offending noise where he was laying on top of Amaimon in Mephisto’s bed.A clawed finger idly tapped at the back of his neck and Rin tilted his head to look at Mephisto where he lounged on his other side.“Does your lazy day include eating at some point, Rin?”Rin sent Mephisto a sheepish grin as another growl came from his stomach, “as long as it’s not cup ramen, then yeah.”Mephisto sniffed at the insult to his taste in food, crossing his arms, “well, if you’re going to be ungrateful like that, I won’t be making any for you.”The urge to stick his tongue out at Mephisto was strong but Rin resisted.Amaimon shifted under him, drawing his attention back when clawed hands traced up his sides and Rin shivered at the ticklish sensation.He blinked down into Amaimon’s eyes, finding them focused on his with a strange look glinting in them. “What’s up, Amaimon?”“Will you make that cake again?”Cake?Rin frowned, propping himself up as he tried to recall when he’d ever made a cake for the earth king and came up blank.Though, either way, “you can’t eat cake for breakfast. Seriously? What is up with the both of your eating habits?”He ignored Amaimon’s exaggerated groan of disappointment, his head dropping back to thump into the pillow, and Rin hauled himself out of bed. A deep purr left his mouth as he lifted his hands above himself, arching his back in a joint-popping, full-bodied stretch and feeling his stiffened muscles shift after not moving for so long.His tail whipped out behind him in its own sinuous stretch and he sighed as he saw how matted the end of it was, glaring down at the realization that he’d be suffering the pain of brushing it out at some point that day.When he turned it was to see two pairs of slit-pupiled eyes zeroed in on him, or rather, a certain part of his body, from the bed and he felt a grin tug at his lips. The tail thing again. Rin let the end of his tail twitch against the floor once and hid a giggle when Mephisto and Amaimon tracked its movement like cats after a laser pointer.“I think I need a bath first, though,” Rin said and started heading towards Mephisto’s massive bathroom, letting his tail sway in a slow sweep behind him as he padded across the carpet.When he didn’t hear anything, Rin cocked his head back and scratched at his cheek, eyes looking towards the ceiling as if a thought had just occurred to him, “I mean, if anyone wants to join me. If not, that’s fine, I guess.”A toothy grin pulled at his lips as he heard the scramble behind him to get out of the bed from the two demons.Mephisto managed to reach him first, though given Rin had heard a mysterious thunking noise and a pained shout from Amaimon just a moment before, he had a suspicion as to how.A hand slipped around his waist and Rin grinned up at Mephisto’s triumphant face as he was led towards the bathroom.“An excellent idea, Rin,” Mephisto rubbed a thumb over his hipbone as he guided him like it had been his plan all along.Rin caught the sounds of Amaimon struggling to get out of the tangle of covers he’d been trapped in and he soon joined them, shooting an irritated look up at Mephisto from Rin’s other side.He stepped over the cool tiles of the bathroom, released from Mephisto’s hold so the demon could move to prepare the bath to his exacting standards, though Amaimon was quick to take his place.As Amaimon nuzzled into his neck, Rin eyed the palatial-sized tub being filled with random things that made the water bubble and the room smell like the Mephisto™ brand of bath products he always saw at the stores around the academy.And were those bones being tossed in the water? Rin decided to pretend he hadn’t seen whatever it was that had Mephisto practically humming with glee, the bath now looking more like a witch’s cauldron than any bath Rin had ever taken. While Rin was watching the spectacle with something like morbid interest, Amaimon left him to hop straight into the water without bothering to adjust to the temperature.“I wasn’t done yet, Amaimon,” Mephisto said, scowling as he wiped off the suds Amaimon’s careless splash had flung at his face.Rin laughed even as he joined Amaimon, shivering in pleasure at the hot water swirling around him as he sank down into the bubbles.“Hey, where’s your soap, Mephisto?” Rin asked, glancing around to search for something to wash with.Before Mephisto could respond, Rin found the bar soap, standing to grab it and lathering his hair. A moment later and he dunked his head, scrubbing it under the water and shaking it out to get the rest of the soap off.He noticed the stunned silence then, only the sounds of popping bubbles echoing in the bathroom reaching his ears.Rin turned to look back at where Amaimon and Mephisto were, wondering what had made them go quiet.Mephisto was holding some bottle in his hand, though his grip on it was limp to mirror the expression of disbelief on his face.“Er,” Rin started slowly, seeing the way Amaimon was eyeing the bar of soap he’d set back on the side of the tub like it was going to burst into flames any moment, “what’s wrong, guys?”“Rin,” Mephisto began just as slowly, hand clenching in a spasm on the bottle, “is that all you’re going to use on your hair?”Rin cocked his head, because, what?“Uh, yeah, what else do you use?”A strangled sound from Mephisto and Amaimon’s furrowed brows had Rin wondering where he’d lost the two demons, feeling very lost himself. He looked back at the soap like it had betrayed him in some way.“How do you wash your tail?” Came Amaimon’s abrupt question, tone sharp and eyes focused on Rin’s tail with sudden intensity.Rin edged away from what was somehow turning into an interrogation, though he answered quickly before he got pounced on, as it looked like what was about to happen, “I… don’t? Really? I just kinda let the soap from my hair go down it in the shower. Isn’t that enough?”Two horrified shrieks from his audience had Rin flinching and raising his hands protectively in front of him to ward off… something, he wasn’t quite sure.“That’s how I’ve always done it!” Rin said, trying to defend himself, though he still had no idea what for. “What else are you supposed to use?”Mephisto had a clawed hand clutching his robe over his heart while Amaimon furiously bit at one of his claws, eyes wide and unseeing.“Who taught you how to wash yourself?” Mephisto managed to gasp out and Rin scowled, crossing his arms over his chest.“Who else?” He sniped back, because it should have been obvious to the demon king who’d basically orchestrated his entire life, “Shiro did.”A lightbulb seemed to go off in Mephisto’s head and he dropped his head into his hand, groaning.“I should have known, that man’s habits were always deplorable,” Mephisto muttered into his palm.Amaimon was already stalking through the water Rin’s way, expression full of a steeled resolve that had Rin gulping and looking for an escape route.He yelped as Amaimon snatched his tail out of the suds.Rin reached to grab it back only to find himself maneuvered until he was sitting on the built-in tiled seats in the tub with his back to Amaimon in the time it took to blink.“Hey!”“Give me the conditioner, shampoo, and a brush,” Amaimon demanded, hand held out to Mephisto as he surveyed Rin’s matted tail from up close.Rin gave up protesting, bowing his shoulders and shoving his hands beneath the water to rest between his bent legs on the tiles.“Was that plastic comb I took from you the only thing you use to brush this out?” Rin frowned even more severely, knowing his answer wasn’t going to make Amaimon happy, “yeah, though I don’t really use it a lot.”“What do you do to get these knots out?”The question was enhanced with a tug on his tail and Rin tried to tug it back again, lip curling over his fang at the pain. “I’m not gonna let you do anything with it if you keep that up, dammit.”Amaimon narrowed his eyes in a glare right back at him, expression mulish, and Rin let out a huff in concession.“I just cut the matted stuff out with scissors when it gets too tangled to brush.”Another long groan came from Mephisto and Rin pouted, it wasn’t that bad, was it?And he was flushing a second later, biting off a squeak as Amaimon began lathering up his tail with the shampoo Mephisto had given him.“Should have known you weren’t washing your tail right when you had no idea how to play with it when we met,” Amaimon was muttering to himself as he focused on his task with single-minded determination despite the sparks of sensation his touches kept shooting along Rin’s tail.Rin wriggled where he sat in growing discomfort, legs beginning to go numb from sitting on the hard tiles, but another sharp tug from Amaimon had him freezing in place amongst the bubbles.Then Mephisto was at his side, the demon having moved around the tub to stand next to Rin. “I’m surprised your hair isn’t as bad as your fur.”And Rin was yelping as his head was accosted by Mephisto’s clawed hands and he had to squint his eyes shut to avoid getting any shampoo in them.“My hair’s fine,” Rin grumbled, pretty sure his face was beet red at the embarrassment of having the two ancient demon kings taking care of him like he was a kid.“Hmm, nope,” Amaimon hummed in response. Then his hand was on Rin’s shoulder and he was shoving him under the water before he could react.Rin pushed himself out of the water, sputtering and hissing in indignation, “what the hell, Amaimon?”“Hold still, Rin,” Amaimon said, smirk curling over his face as he had his hand once again on Rin’s tail in a warning hold, the other letting the bottle of conditioner float over it to squeeze a generous amount into his waiting palm.At least he’d been able to adjust how he was sitting so his legs were no longer going numb. Rin settled into place, giving up on resisting the ministrations. Mephisto’s hand felt nice where he’d begun massaging the conditioner into his hair and Amaimon stopped being so rough with his tail, leaving Rin to melt into the warm waters until it was a struggle to keep himself up.He felt his eyelids drooping, losing himself in the pleasant scratches running along his tail and the claws carding through his hair.Pain bit at his tail and Rin was wide awake, crying out and looking back at Amaimon with betrayal in his eyes as he saw the demon working the knots out of his tail with brutal efficiency.“Ow! That hurts, Amaimon.” Rin felt tears prickle at the corners of his eyes when Amaimon ignored him to continue pulling the brush through the long fur.“Let this be a lesson to you, Rin,” Mephisto tutted, clawed finger slicking his conditioner laden hair away from his forehead, “take better care of your tail and we won’t be forced to do it for you, hmm?”“Amaimon doesn’t even have fur on his tail, how does he take care of it?” Rin shot back, crossing his arms even as he leaned into Mephisto’s touch.Mephisto cocked a wry smile down at him, rubbing a warm thumb along the tapered point of his ear, “differently. Perhaps you’ll see one day, right, Amaimon?”Rin turned to look over his shoulder at Amaimon, wincing at another rough pull to his fur. But the thought of seeing the earth king taking care of his own lizard-like tail sparked curiosity in Rin and he suddenly very much wanted to see it.“Can I, Amaimon?”Amaimon slowed his brushing, hand hovering over the next sweep and his gold eyes flashed with something indefinable when he raised them to look at Rin from beneath his brows.A slow smile spread on his face and Rin’s heart fluttered in his chest to see it, though he couldn’t tell if it was from nervousness or anticipation or some mixture of both.“That should be fun.”Rin was flushing again as Amaimon rolled the tip of his tail between his fingers, smile turning sly at the deliberate teasing motions.“That’s just going to undo all your hard work, Amaimon,” Mephisto said, though the hand in Rin’s hair tightened until Rin gasped at the sparks sent through his scalp and he was forced to look back up at the demon.“Hm, I guess you’re right,” Amaimon didn’t stop and Rin’s breaths came out faster. His tail twisted in the hold on it to send up erratic splashes that hit his skin and slid down in heated trails back into the water.The whole time Rin stared up into Mephisto’s green eyes, his own half-mast while he struggled to keep them from closing, wanting to see the way Mephisto watched Amaimon play with him.Rin bit at his lip when Amaimon drew claws in a light touch against the grain of his fur, waves of sensation lighting along his nerves. He almost missed the way Mephisto’s pupils dilated at the sight, one eye squinting shut, though he forced it open a moment later, releasing his lip from his teeth to pant at the rising heat in the already hot water.He blamed the distracting way Mephisto dragged a slow lick at his own lips for how long it took him to realize he’d begun to steam, the water on his body and in the tub evaporating around him with the flames building just beneath his skin.“Wanted to do this since the bathhouse.”The low words from Amaimon barely registered until he dunked Rin’s tail back under the water to scrub it clean.“Ngh!” Blood welled up from where Rin had bitten into his lips and he lost the fight with keeping his eyes open, the tight pulls along his tail sending throbs of pleasure to coil in his belly and making his toes curl. He only just avoided piercing his hands with his claws, gripping them over his knees beneath the water instead.A slick tongue slid along Rin’s face, tracing the red tracks to his neck that Mephisto had forced into a strained arch to give him more access. Rin’s pulse pounded in his veins and fire chased after it when Amaimon deemed his tail cleaned of the conditioner and lifted it out of the water only to follow the drops sluicing back down with his mouth.A moan bubbled out of Rin, vibrating in his throat where Mephisto was sucking bruises after he’d cleaned the blood away. Sharp fangs clasped at the end of his tail in a gentle suggestion of a bite that had anticipation jolting through Rin, waiting for the sharp pain and not knowing when it would come.He didn’t think to consider a different angle of attack.“Ah!”Another set of fangs sank into his shoulder and Rin was coming, eyes squeezed shut and head thrown back at Mephisto’s sudden move.He shivered as Mephisto guided his body, limp after his release, back towards Amaimon and his tail drifted down to the floor of the tub.Clawed hands rubbed through his hair and Rin blinked his eyes open as he registered the soothing touches and water tickling further over him, finding he’d been submerged up to his ears so Amaimon could clean the rest of the conditioner away.A warm palm soothed at his forehead and Rin smiled up into Amaimon’s gold eyes, reaching to grab the hand not supporting him to bring it to his lips so he could press a kiss there.“Are you guys happy now?”Amaimon huffed at his question, cupping one last handful of water over Rin’s hair before allowing him to get up. “Only if you’ve learned something from all this.”Rin shot a look at Mephisto, mouth twitching into a grin at the raised brow that met him, “yeah, you guys are super particular, and I might need a few more lessons to get it right.”He laughed as he was shoved off the seat by Amaimon before standing to make his way out of the tub.A towel poofed to appear in front of him in a pink cloud and Rin sent a grateful look back at Mephisto for it, although he suspected it was more to keep the bathroom clean than real altruism. He’d reward the considerate behavior anyway.“Seriously though,” Rin paused to scrub the towel over his head, probably undoing all the careful brushing it had just gone through. But he wasn’t overly concerned, continuing once he’d dried his hair as much as he could, “I need food and I’m not eating something that came out of a Styrofoam container. So I’m going to the kitchen to make us breakfast now, okay?”“Wait!”Rin yelped as Mephisto appeared at his side and his poor tail was once again captured in the demon’s grasp.“What now?” Rin groaned in exasperation.Mephisto snapped and another bottle appeared in his hand, which was then brought up to the end of his tail so he could spray the contents into Rin’s fur.“Detangler,” Mephisto said, and Rin was about to ask what that was for until the name clicked in his head.“That’s, like, a million steps!” Was he whining? Maybe. But it all seemed unnecessarily complicated to Rin. “isn’t there a three-in-one I can buy or something?”“No,” Mephisto flicked a clawed finger at his forehead, vanishing the bottle and bringing out another brush to shove into Rin’s hands, “now, brush that out before you go dragging it along the floor or it will just get tangled again.”Rin scowled at him, tail yanking out of the loosened hold and tucking close to his body to hide. Although…His lips curling into a teasing smile, Rin rose on his tippy-toes to pull Mephisto down by the hair framing his face for a quick kiss to his nose. He released him just as quickly to head for the exit, calling out right before he left.“Thanks, mom!”Rin greatly enjoyed the affronted gasp and dropped jaw on Mephisto’s face as he closed the door to Amaimon’s snickering laughter.No longer able to ignore the hunger pangs in his stomach, Rin found a change of clothes folded in the nearby chair and dressed in the loose sweatpants and soft t-shirt, making sure to run the brush through the fur on his tail so Mephisto wouldn’t bother him about it later.He left the bedroom to head towards the kitchen, passing Belial in the halls and doing an about face to wave at the demon.“Hey, Belial, good morning!”Rin got a slow blink for his efforts, Belial cocking his head like a bird of prey that had just spotted said prey.“You as well, Master Okumura.”“Er,” Rin smiled faintly at the formality, “you don’t have to call me that, just Rin is fine.”Belial glanced back towards the direction of the bedroom before turning to respond, “I must insist, my Prince.”“Huh?” Belial was gone before Rin could puzzle that out and he shrugged, continuing on to the kitchen.Of course, once Rin got to the kitchen, he had to deal with the same problem he’d encountered the last time he’d been there, which was that the ingredients Mephisto kept seemed to be exclusively from the dark depths of Gehenna and were barely recognizable as edible.Rin opened the fridge and sniffed, wondering if the things he was looking at weren’t in-fact poisonous, let alone suitable breakfast foods.He let out a long sigh, hand rubbing at his scrunched brows as he tried to decide what he could even make from what little seemed usable.Well, he glanced up to one of the shelves, those kinda looked like eggs.Maybe…Pancakes. He was going to make pancakes.Rin smiled to himself as he moved around the kitchen, letting out a little happy noise when he found what passed for flour and a few other things to flavor the pancakes with, especially the chocolate chips that he was surprised had made it so long without being eaten by Amaimon.His tail had begun to wag behind him without his notice. He’d left it free, since, as it was his lazy day, he refused to keep it wound up under his shirt, damn whatever Mephisto and Amaimon thought anyway. Rin was going to be comfortable!He’d just started stirring in the sugar to the batter when a clawed hand tried to reach into the bowl and Rin was smacking it away with the wooden spoon without a second thought.A startled hiss had Rin yelping and almost dropping the bowl as he fumbled it, blinking up to see Amaimon holding his hand to his chest with a betrayed look in his eyes.“Amaimon!” Rin glared, twisting to hide the bowl from the demon, “it’s not ready yet, I have to actually cook it!”Mephisto walked into the kitchen a moment later, taking in the scene and grinning down at them before seating himself at the counter on one of the stools, “and what will you be preparing today, Rin?”Rin let out a huff, sending Amaimon a last warning look as he returned to stirring, “pancakes, since Amaimon wanted a cake I figured they would be the next best thing.”Amaimon draped himself on the counter in the chair next to Mephisto, severe pout pulling at his features.“Will you make that cake again later?”A polite cough from Mephisto had Rin focusing on him, “if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to second that request.”Setting the stove on to heat the oil, Rin raised a brow in question, deciding to get to the bottom of the cake thing, “when did I even make a cake for you guys, anyway?”The two demons looked at each other in confusion until Mephisto answered, “unless I’m mistaken- and that doesn’t happen often, you exwires left a Christmas cake in my office, and I’m not aware of any of your classmates showing a particular talent for cooking, so we assumed you must have made it.”Rin was blushing, then, eyes wide as the memory of not knowing the difference between a birthday cake and a Christmas cake during the summer surprise celebration they’d had amongst the exwires for Izumo. And that they’d tried to get rid of the extra cake by pawning it off on Mephisto as a “thank you for being our headmaster, here’s an appreciation cake.” He was only now realizing the irony of that ‘gift.’Rin dropped his head into his palms and mumbled his answer out, “I didn’t know what a birthday cake was.”“What?” Amaimon’s short word had Rin reddening further as he explained.“Me and Yukio. Our birthdays are right next to Christmas, so we thought Christmas cakes were birthday cakes.”The sizzling oil popping from the pan made Rin jump, turning to pour the batter and feeling his tail swishing in nervous coils behind him.“And,” Mephisto prompted, “what does that have anything to do with leaving one in my office?”Rin bit off a groan of embarrassment, hunching his shoulders as he let the rest of the truth come out, “I accidentally made a Christmas cake instead of a birthday cake for Izumo’s surprise party we had during the summer before- er, we started our thing, and we didn’t know what to do with it.”The silence in the kitchen besides the bubbling oil had Rin wishing the floor would swallow him up or that he could develop the sudden ability to teleport. He forced himself to finish, trailing off afterwards, “so I suggested we just give it to you.”He turned around, pancakes plated for the two demons with a chocolate chip smiley-face on each, accented with a whip cream beard for Mephisto and spike for Amaimon.Were Mephisto’s ears drooping? Rin winced at the dumbfounded- wounded? Was Mephisto upset? look on the demon’s face, fidgeting in place with the plates held out.“Ha-Haha-“The broken snickers starting from Amaimon sent hurt stinging at Rin’s heart and he brought the plates closer to his chest, nose twitching as he felt the beginnings of tears build in his eyes.“Hah!” Amaimon gasped his laughter out, fist coming down on the counter and forehead pressing against it, as the earth king’s body shuddered in mirth.Mephisto was still looking at Rin, though his lips were parted until he was almost gaping at him.Rin shoved the plates onto the counter with a sharp clack before the respective demons he’d made them for, turned on his heel, flicked off the stove, and stomped out of the kitchen.His ears burned at the shame, though he knew there wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, and also that Mephisto and Amaimon likely didn’t care that much about his mistake- that Amaimon was probably laughing at Mephisto, not him.But he’d always had a problem with others making fun of his upbringing, knowing it was unusual and that he’d missed out on what could be considered a ‘normal’ childhood by growing up at the church without parents. All of which just served to remind him of Shiro, his surrogate father, who done his best to raise the literal son of Satan as a normal human, and who Rin had thought had done a pretty good job, all things considered. And that all just made him think about the last argument he’d had with Yukio about their mom and the fact that he’d had a whole year and had somehow managed to grow further apart from his twin. It felt like any day now he’d hear Yukio was planning on moving out of the dorm they shared- that he was looking for a way to leave Rin behind for good. That Yukio was only hanging around because Mephisto was forcing him to. A whimper tried to make its way out of his mouth, heart thudding with the effort of keeping it contained.He missed his dad. He missed his brother.Rin sniffed as the tingling in his nose and in the corners of his eyes threatened tears, tail twining around his leg in an effort to comfort himself.Arms reached around his shoulders and he ran into a warm body ahead of him, sandwiched between the two demons who hadn’t been there a moment before.“Hey!”He was tugged more firmly back against Mephisto while Amaimon pressed along his front and he was forced to stop in his tracks.Rin ducked his chin to his chest, breathing in to steady himself with their mingled scents so he wouldn’t embarrass himself further than he already had.“Sorry,” Rin said, voice muffled by Amaimon’s sweater.Amaimon shifted against him, hands coming to rest at his hips while Mephisto tightened his arms around his shoulders.“What are you sorry for?” He chewed the inside of his cheek at Amaimon’s question but made himself answer, “you guys won’t get it, it’s a human thing.”Mephisto hummed, warm breath puffing at Rin’s hair where he was resting his face into, “try for us anyway, Rin.”Rin sighed, raising his head to lean it on Amaimon’s shoulder so he wouldn’t have to look at him, staring down the hallway instead.“I guess I’m still upset with Yukio and that stupid argument we had about our mom last night. And now I’ve just been thinking about Shiro too, so it’s all kinda mixing up in my head and making me emotional.”An unbidden tremor went through his body, his throat tightening around the lump that formed and making his voice break on his next words, “I just… miss my dad. And I miss Yukio, even though he’s not even gone. It feels like I’m losing him.”He quirked a wry smile, closing his eyes and letting out a self-deprecating laugh, “like I said, human stuff.”A soft growl came from Amaimon and Rin felt his shoulders hunching again as he wondered which part of his explanation had caused the reaction.“That twin of yours, upsetting you again,” Amaimon growled, claws digging into Rin’s hips.Rin was quick to wrap his arms around Amaimon, hoping the earth king wouldn’t take his current problems with his brother as a reason to threaten him on his behalf or something.“It’s not his fault,” he said, and, when that just made Amaimon tense, added, “we’ve never seen eye-to-eye on some things, I just need to get him to realize it doesn’t have to mean we don’t love each other- er.”Another statement Rin would have to amend.“Ah, I know you guys don’t understand that, either,” Rin’s cheeks heated as he failed to find another way to get his thoughts across to the two demons.Through the whole embarrassing situation, Rin’s tail had been practically twisting itself into knots at his feet, thumping into Mephisto’s and his legs without his notice until another tail halted its movements.Rin froze and tilted his head to look up at Mephisto, dislodging him from where he’d had his face tucked into Rin’s hair.Green eyes watched him back, almost cross-eyed, and Rin felt his bad mood abate a little more as he twined his tail more firmly with the demon’s, accepting the physical comfort.“It’s okay, sorry for walking out like that,” Rin said, “I know you guys probably want more than one pancake and I still want to eat too, so we can go back now. I’ll finish cooking.”Mephisto smiled down at him, leaning to press a kiss to his forehead and hugging him further into his chest, “no, Rin, I can take over for the rest of them, you keep Amaimon from eating the chocolate chips.”Rin shot a disbelieving frown at Mephisto, “I had your cooking once and it almost killed me, there’s no way you’re touching my food.”Mephisto’s smile twitched at the insult until laughter from Amaimon brought out a scowl on his face.“He made his oatmeal for you, didn’t he?”The two demons pulled away from Rin, content that he was no longer upset, and they made their way back to the kitchen.“How’d you know?” Rin blinked over at Amaimon.“He makes it too hot,” Amaimon said, complaint in his voice, “what’s the point of eating food if it’s too hot to taste anything?”Mephisto sniffed, nose turned up, “a little heat never hurt anyone.”“And,” Mephisto was shoving Rin into a seat at the counter next to Amaimon before he could say anything, “you’ve already made the batter so I should be able to manage frying pancakes without killing anyone. So, sit, Rin.”Rin steadied himself on the stool, smiling at the apron Mephisto poofed onto himself before settling against Amaimon’s shoulder to watch someone else make him breakfast for a change. It was a novel experience.---The truly impressive and slightly horrifying way Amaimon inhaled his stack of pancakes had Rin wondering if he maybe unhinged his jaw like an actual snake after-all.He snickered as Mephisto glared at the mess Amaimon had made on the counter, the demon currently occupied with licking the sticky syrup off his claws.Rin leant forward, interrupting Amaimon from his undertaking, to press his mouth to the syrup that had gotten on his face, happy to help him clean up.“We’ve just gotten out of the bath and you’ve already managed to make a mess of yourself, Amaimon,” Mephisto said, voice an irritated grumble as he swiped a finger through the last of the whip cream on his own plate to finish.Amaimon looked like he couldn’t care less, getting the remainders of the syrup off his fingers before turning to dislodge Rin from where he’d been mouthing at his jaw.It was only so Amaimon could twine their tongues together and Rin closed his eyes to better enjoy the sweet taste mingling between them as a soft purr started in his chest.They did somehow make their way from the kitchen to one of Mephisto’s many entertainment rooms without causing more of a mess for Belial to clean, though Rin had tried to do the dishes himself.“Trust me, Rin,” Mephisto had huffed, pulling the plate from his hand and setting it in the sink, “that lazy demon needs the work. Leave it be.”He figured he’d apologize to Belial the next time he saw the demon, but allowed himself to be led away without protest, knowing an unwinnable fight when he saw one.“Woah! You have so many games,” Rin gasped in awe, staring up at the rows of shelves not lined with books as they looked like they should contain, but countless video games for every system Rin could name and some he couldn’t.Amaimon sighed and dropped onto one of the massive beanbag chairs, already pulling out a sucker to amuse himself with while Mephisto went about turning on one of his systems.Rin flopped down next to Amaimon on his stomach, peering up as Mephisto loaded some fighting game he didn’t recognized.“Please make yourself more of a challenge than Amaimon is.”A controller appeared to float over Rin’s hands and he blinked in surprise, though he took it and tried to familiarize himself with the buttons.Mephisto sat on the floor next to them, lounging with his back against the cushions strewn around so his shoulder was in front of Rin’s nose. The lights flicked off and it was only the bright colorful flashes from the game start-up menu that lit the room.Rin had to force himself not to reach out and grab the tail Mephisto had relaxed enough to allow out from under his robe, draped in his lap and twitching in barely contained excitement.“We didn’t have video games growing up, so I didn’t really get to play any until Shima and Koneko showed me theirs last year in the dorms,” Rin said, voice an apology when his words only made Mephisto groan, the demon clearly upset at yet again not having a decent challenge.Rin snorted at the ridiculous customized character Mephisto chose, going for a random fighter as his own pick and already knowing he was going to get his ass soundly handed to him as Mephisto got a focused expression on his face.Button mashing it was, then.Amaimon curled up next to him watching them play with only the barest attention, and Rin was betting he was just happy to not have to entertain Mephisto himself anymore.Although… “Hah!” Rin crowed when he got in a good combo, hearing a growl come from Mephisto as he was forced to regroup.He still lost. But, getting to watch the way Mephisto’s tongue poked out in concentration, the demon becoming more animated as Rin learned the controls better, and feeling Amaimon’s chest rise and fall against him was a memory Rin would keep close forever.His tail wagged behind him as he got more into the game and Rin inched closer to the screen until he was laying on the floor next to Mephisto, biting at his lips and utterly focused on the fight.A toothy grin stretched its way over his face as, for the first time, Rin thought he might win a match.That’s why he totally blamed Mephisto for messing him up on purpose so he wouldn’t lose his win-streak.Rin startled at a touch to his arm, fingers slipping on the controller as he turned to find the surreal sight of Mephisto’s tail coiled there. He shot his gaze up to see Mephisto still thoroughly absorbed in the match, unaware that his tail had decided on its own to hug onto Rin.A sound from the screen had Rin yanking his attention back to it and yelping when he saw Mephisto pull off a finishing move, obliterating his character.“Dammit,” Rin muttered, glaring at Mephisto who smirked down at him until he seemed to notice what had distracted Rin and cost him the match.“That’s cheating,” he scowled up at the strangely quiet demon, Mephisto’s lack of response drawing Amaimon’s eyes to the scene.“Oof!”Amaimon was a sudden weight dropping down on him and Rin fumbled the controller, losing his grip on it as it fell to the carpet, “argh! Seriously, guys? I was so close to winning. I am not playing with you crushing me, Amaimon.”But Amaimon was focused on Mephisto’s tail, inching over Rin until he could bring his face next to where it tightened on Rin’s arm.Rin twisted his head to try to see what was so interesting only to catch Amaimon’s lips stretching into a wide, fang-filled grin.He darted a look up to Mephisto, seeing the demon glaring at Amaimon as if daring him to say something.“I think the humans have a saying for this,” Amaimon said, tone sly and eyes flashing with a teasing gleam in the light of the TV.“Amaimon,” Mephisto growled, tail tightening further on Rin’s arm and claws flexing on the controller in his hands.“I think they call it,” Amaimon tucked his chin between the palms of his hands, batting his lashes up at Mephisto, “cute.”Mephisto tackled Amaimon off Rin’s back with a hiss and the two absolute children tumbled to the floor in a ball of claws and tails.Well, Rin decided, moving back onto the chair, it was definitely more entertaining to watch Mephisto and Amaimon play fight than keep losing to Mephisto in the game.The impromptu wrestling match was decided when Mephisto sat himself on Amaimon’s back and yanked his tail, startling a yelp from the earth king.“Say it again, Amaimon,” Mephisto said, grin twitching on his face, half-irritation at the label Amaimon had applied and half-triumph at coming out the victor. “What do the humans say?”“C-cute!” Amaimon sputtered out, despite the warning tug Mephisto gave again, and his laughter was muffled as he found his face pushed into the carpet to shut him up.Rin snickered at the affronted sniff Mephisto released and the way Amaimon’s chest shook with mirth. “Amaimon, if you keep teasing him, he’ll stop doing it and then we all suffer.”Mephisto scowled over at Rin, giving Amaimon the opportunity to gasp air into his lungs and vanish himself out from the hold to appear behind Rin, using him as a shield against Mephisto’s ire.“Hey, don’t drag me into this!” Rin said, glaring over his shoulder where Amaimon was peeking around to watch Mephisto stand from his position.Were the shadows deeper behind Mephisto? And possibly moving? Rin thought they might be, gulping at the advancing demon.“I think I’m gonna make that cake now!” Rin said, blurting out the only thing he could think of to calm the coming storm.It worked like a charm, Mephisto appearing before Rin to haul him up off the bean bag chair, hands squishing his cheeks between them and smiling down at him.“And here I thought I would have to offer you another favor to get that cake.”It was Rin’s turn to scowl up at Mephisto, bringing his hands to the demon’s wrists, “you still might if I can’t find any of the ingredients in your kitchen.”Mephisto dropped a kiss onto his forehead before letting him go to lead the way out, snapping his fingers to shut the game system and TV off. “That’s what Belial is for, my dear, Rin.”Amaimon was already attaching himself to Rin’s arm, excitement lighting his eyes up at the anticipation of getting cake.Rin sighed, planning another apology for the demon he’d be sending on his errands.He found a paper and pen poofed into existence for him to take, moving to write the list of what he’d need. He was lucky he’d had to make the cake multiple times to get it right or he’d have had to search out the recipe again. But, as it was, he’d memorized it and was able to put together a list for Belial to get.Tying the apron strings around his waist, Rin propped his hands on his hips and surveyed his kingdom to two pairs of fixated, slit-pupiled eyes watching from the countertop. Rin prepared his work station, setting out the bowls, mixers and utensils and pre-heating the oven, now just waiting for Belial to return with the ingredients.A poof and the demon appeared, acquisitions floating to settle on the countertop for Rin’s convenience.“Thanks, Belial!” Rin chirped, already digging in to begin sorting what he’d need first and estimating the measurements out since the last cake he’d made had been a monstrosity and definitely more than required for the three of them.Belial bowed and left just as quickly without any sort of acknowledgement from Mephisto or Amaimon.Rin was swept up in the motions of baking, almost dancing around the kitchen and relishing in having so much space and so many expensive appliances to work with. They’d definitely not had anything this fancy at the church! His tail wagged as he got to play with the high-powered mixer instead of the hand-whisk he’d grown up using.He’d begun to hum some mindless tune, smiling to himself and rubbing at the bridge of his nose when flour got on it from pouring it into the bowl too vigorously.“There, now we wait,” Rin said, setting the batter into the oven and leaning back to stretch his arms over his head before turning to his audience that had remained suspiciously quiet the whole time.Amaimon’s chin rested on the counter between his clawed hands, which were clacking over the hard surface as he stared at Rin with unblinking eyes.Mephisto had his elbows on the counter, propping his head into his palms to stare Rin down.“Er, guys?” Rin felt himself blushing, hands twisting on the apron he’d been about to remove under their unwavering attention.“Cute,” Amaimon whispered into the counter, fingers twitching as if he wanted to squeeze something. Rin had a suspicion as to what.A strange sound came from Mephisto’s throat, muffled behind his lips like a strangled ‘mrrp’ that Rin thought might be an agreement. “You just want to eat him.”Okay, now Rin was glaring at Mephisto’s statement, “oh, so Amaimon can’t call you ‘cute’ but it’s totally fine for me? I’ve got my pride too, dammit!”Mephisto just bit at his lips, clearly holding back the delighted expression he wanted to give, while Amaimon almost looked ready to pounce on Rin.He shot a warning glare at the earth king, crossing his arms and growling, “keep that up and this cake’s gonna be a personal cake. For me.”Amaimon’s eyes widened at the threat, sharing a glance with Mephisto and Rin could see them calculating how serious said threat was before they settled down. The desire for cake had won out.He nodded sharply, “cool. I’m gonna make the frosting now. Maybe I’ll let you guys taste test it to make sure I balance the sweetness right. If you behave.”The sight of Amaimon’s tail wagging behind him broke Rin’s frown and he let out a huff of amusement before heading to begin the frosting.And if he made extra to give the demons something to enjoy while they waited for the cake to finish, that was only because Rin wanted a taste too, and not because the cat-like mannerisms were down-right adorable.Rin brought the bowl over, presenting it with a flourish, “try it.”Amaimon stuck his finger in without more prompting, tongue curling over the cream he’d scooped out and leaving nothing behind.Mephisto was next, eyes shuttering to savor the taste with an entirely unnecessary moan of pleasure.“More sugar,” Amaimon stated, though he reached for another scoop with the same finger.“Ew, you already licked with that!” Rin said, pulling the bowl away from the questing demon.Amaimon blinked up at him with a blank expression, “my fingers have been in your mouth, what’s the difference?”Rin let out a strangled noise, hand coming up to cover his flushing face, and he felt Amaimon take advantage of his distraction to steal more frosting.“It’s the principle of the matter- I don’t know. Germs,” Rin grumbled out, glaring again from between his fingers at Amaimon.“So, more sugar?” Rin prompted Mephisto, grasping for anything to stop Amaimon from continuing his line of conversation.He could see the sly smile on Mephisto’s face, clearly guessing at what he’d been avoiding, but he nodded, letting Rin get back to the frosting without further embarrassment.“Okay, try this.”This time when Amaimon tried it, a purr vibrated from his chest and Rin knew he’d gotten the ratio right, smiling at the reaction.He was about to go set it away in the fridge when Mephisto reached over the counter to grab his wrist.“Wha-?”There was a finger pressed to his lips and Rin opened them, startled, sweet flavor bursting across his tongue a moment later. He swallowed without thought, swirling his tongue to get a better sense of the taste of the frosting and attention turning inwards as he tried to see if he’d gotten it right.In the next second, he was disengaging from Mephisto and muttering to himself as he moved back to the fridge to get another ingredient, “too plain, needs vanilla extract.”A dismayed sound reached his ears as he finished mixing in the extract and Rin glanced away from the bowl to see Mephisto- drooping ears, sloped shoulders, gaping mouth and all, once again looking as heartbroken as a demon possibly could.And Amaimon practically wheezing, hand clutching his ribs as he gasped silent laughs into the counter until there were tears in his wide eyes.“Er, it should be good now,” Rin tried, unsure what Amaimon was making fun of Mephisto for this time, “I’m just gonna put it in the fridge to cool until the cake is done… baking?”Amaimon made a high-pitched gleeful noise, clawed fingers coming to his mouth as if to press it back inside and utterly failing to hide the grin on his face.“Okay, seriously? What now?” Rin stuck his hands on his hips to frown in exasperation at the two.“Amaimon,” Mephisto hissed, hand clenching into a fist until it creaked and raising it threateningly at the dying, well, soon to be dying, earth king.“Hah!” Amaimon burst out when he couldn’t contain it any longer, stabbing a black claw at Mephisto, “you’re losing your touch, he didn’t even notice!”“I’ll show you, ‘losing my touch.’”Rin sighed and leaned back against the far counter, crossing his arms and watching Mephisto yank on Amaimon’s tail until the other demon was crying out apologies.How was he the adult in this relationship?They did manage to control themselves by the time the cake was done, though Amaimon was practically salivating when Rin pulled the pan out of the oven to steam in the air.“Don’t even think about touching it, Amaimon, it needs to cool,” Rin warned, setting it in the fridge to speed up the process so he wouldn’t have to put up with more pouting.“So cruel,” Amaimon grumbled into his arms, entering into a staring contest with the fridge doors until Rin determined it to have been long enough and pulled the cake out to frost.“And done!” Rin grinned in pride at his creation, pressing the last strawberry into place around the edge and crossing his arms.“Who wants first bite?” Rin asked, then was blinking over at the devious look that had formed on Amaimon’s face.Before he could protest, Amaimon had a clawed finger digging out a section of cake and pressed to Rin’s lips, meeting them with his own a second later.Rin squeaked at the assault but opened his mouth to accept the kiss, eyes closing as he melted into Amaimon’s hold. He moaned as Amaimon slid their tongues together, tasting the decadent cake and swallowing so he could focus on kissing instead.When they broke apart, Rin was breathless and panting as Amaimon licked at his lips before turning a broad smirk on Mephisto, hand on Rin’s shoulder where he hugged him to his side.“And that’s how you do it,” Amaimon said, matter-of-fact and patting Rin’s shoulder in emphasis.Rin had a hand in the cake and was smearing it over Amaimon’s face a moment later, shoving him back into the counter to trace his tongue to the frosting covered cheek with a growl vibrating in his chest.Amaimon’s hands were at his shoulders, clinging in shock while Rin pushed closer until their hips met and he could begin rolling them together.A tsk came from Mephisto followed by a snap and Rin shuddered as his and Amaimon’s clothes were removed, gasping when Amaimon’s claws scratched into him without anything in the way.He was jolted further into Amaimon when Mephisto joined them, mouthing at his neck and rocking his hips in heated motions against him, the silk of his robe sending shivers along Rin’s bare skin where it bunched at their movements.Mephisto pulled him back from Amaimon with a hand on his jaw to pry it open and push another bit of the cake into his mouth, frosting catching at the corners of his lips to melt there. Rin moaned into the mouthful but slid his tongue over the pads of Mephisto’s fingers and sucked them clean, hearing the rumble of pleasure from the demon at his actions.Not liking being left out, Amaimon brought more of the frosting to Rin’s chest, leaning to chase the rapidly melting trails from the fire curling just beneath and leaving sharp nips every few inches. Rin gripped into Amaimon’s hair, head dropping back to rest on Mephisto’s chest as he lost himself between the two.But Amaimon left his wandering path when he’d finished the last trail of frosting, glancing up to Mephisto and they seemed to be having a silent conversation that had Rin’s pulse spiking in anticipation of its conclusion.The cake was totally forgotten as Amaimon hopped back up to sit on the counter and Rin found himself set in his lap by Mephisto, legs coming to rest on either side of his body.He didn’t hesitate, grinding onto Amaimon’s hips as much as he could and moaning at the light friction that he knew wouldn’t be enough, frustration making his movements erratic.“I see getting to sleep in has given you excess energy, Rin,” Mephisto breathed into his ear, hands stopping his hips from their motions so he could move them into a better position.“You’re the ones who decided to defile my cake, dammit.” Rin said, then arched his back as much as he could, tail lifting and coming to wind around as he searched out Amaimon’s and coiled them together in a sudden twist.Amaimon’s answering gasp had Rin smiling and tightening his tail further, watching the way it made the demon under him fall apart even as his own eyes began to glaze at the answering heat buzzing through him.Rin felt Mephisto press a heavy palm between his shoulders until he had to kneel over Amaimon, hands framing his head and the earth king sprawled over the hard surface beneath him with their tails still connected to the side.He grinned down, enjoying the way Amaimon looked in his shadow, green hair fanned around his flushed face and mouth parted around the points of his fangs.Before Rin could take advantage of the trapped demon under him, Mephisto tapped a claw to his neck, the pinpoint sensation drawing all his attention there as he bunched his shoulder-blades to soften the sting radiating out.The sharp line drawn down his vertebrae had Rin rolling his spine in a wave where it ended at the small of his back just over the base of his tail to tease at the black velvet fuzz there.Rin’s arms shook where they supported him and his head dropped, bangs sticking to his forehead as his eyes clenched shut.His neck was attacked in his distraction, Amaimon rising on his elbows to bring his teeth to nip at Rin’s fluttering pulse in a move that had Rin weakening until he was sinking to his forearms.A growl came from Mephisto at his display as the changed position forced Rin to spread his legs almost to the point of discomfort even as his chest met Amaimon’s, feeling the thudding heart beat there as an echo and he groaned from the stretch.And Rin was letting out a hiss as Mephisto began preparing him only for the sound to get swallowed in an open-mouthed kiss by Amaimon that he gladly lost himself in while he waited for Mephisto to deem him ready.The cry that came from his lips was muffled by Amaimon’s when Mephisto found and rubbed at the sensitive point inside him, the only reason he hadn’t slipped right off the counter because of the steady grip Mephisto had on his hip keeping him in place.He’d begun leaking onto Amaimon’s quivering stomach beneath him, wishing desperately that he could reach the last few inches to press their lengths together, anything to get the friction he needed. Rin felt his hips twitch forward without his say, breaking away from Amaimon to pant in an effort to get air into his neglected lungs, having forgotten to breathe as Mephisto continued his slow torture.“Meph- please!” His voice broke over Mephisto’s name, trying to push back onto the demon’s fingers and convince the demon to stop teasing, unable to think straight enough to form anything but the simplest words.Amaimon purred against his throat, hand cupping his jaw to tilt it as he spoke, “after that beautiful cake he made for us, I think he deserves a reward.”“Hmm,” Mephisto nudged his lips to the base of Rin’s tail, the warmth spreading there dragging a whine from Rin that had twin smiles shaping where they pressed at his skin. “You’re right, Amaimon. Hard work shouldn’t go un-rewarded.” The fingers stretching him left and he had the barest moment to whimper at the emptiness until Mephisto began pushing into him in a slow glide, delicious ache setting Rin’s nerves on fire.By the time Mephisto bottomed out, Amaimon was the only thing holding Rin up, his limbs going limp over the earth king.The first thrust shoved Rin into Amaimon’s chest, their skin sliding together and digging Rin’s forearms further down onto the hard countertop and he already knew he was going to end up bruised.A cry tore its way from his throat as Mephisto slammed against him, hands gripping at his hips to keep him where he wanted him under his punishing rhythm.His tail lashed where it was still entangled with Amaimon’s, writhing in a mirror to the way their bodies were, as much as Rin could.The kitchen echoed with their breathless gasps and moans, the sounds heightening Rin’s senses, winding him up and shooting heat straight to his belly.Amaimon bit at his collarbone with elongated fangs, drawing blood and a sharp growl from Rin as he scented out the coppery smell mingled with the sweetness from the cake still in the air. Red stained Amaimon’s lips and Rin was on them a second later, tasting himself on Amaimon, lapping into his mouth to seek out more.Their teeth clacked together from the force of Mephisto’s thrusts, the kiss sloppy and uncoordinated but Rin couldn’t bring himself to stop, needing to get as much contact with Amaimon as he was able to. His knees shoved hard into the counter, the painful throb pounding through him, though it only served to add to the pleasure twisting tighter inside.Mephisto’s release took Rin by surprise, the heat rushing into him bringing a moan from chest while Mephisto shuddered over him in a heavy weight that almost sent Rin down on Amaimon if not for the earth king holding the both of them up.Amaimon didn’t let Mephisto rest for very long, frustrated growl snapping out of his mouth as he bodily lifted himself into a sitting position, the changed angle making Rin shout as he was forced up.Pins and needles shot through Rin’s arms and legs now that they were no longer supporting him on the counter and his head fell back while he scrabbled with clawed hands at Amaimon’s shoulders for purchase.“Ah!” Another shout tore out of his throat when Amaimon got his hand around their untouched lengths and pumped them together, form and finesse thrown out the window in favor of coming as quickly as possible.Fangs nipped at his neck when Mephisto recovered enough to help them, the demon reaching around to grab their tails where they were intertwined and rubbing.Rin dug his claws into Amaimon’s shoulders and felt him tense as he came against their chests, the slick heat running down his length sending Rin over the edge a moment later with a long moan.His body heaved gasping breaths, limp where he was held by Mephisto and his legs throbbing at the uncomfortable angle they were bent at while his demonic healing kicked in and erased the bruises and scratches he’d acquired.The healing left him blissed out and pleasantly aching, Mephisto still inside him and his tail still wound around Amaimon’s.Amaimon dropped his head to Rin’s shoulder, breaking the spell and prompting Rin to remove his claws from where he’d lodged them.He was jerking his head up and around right after at a sudden realization, “I forgot to turn off the oven!”His panicked shout startled Amaimon, the demon jolting in his arms and glaring at him a moment later for the shock.Mephisto sighed into his neck, hand coming to rub his stomach as Rin flushed at his outburst, “all that and your mind immediately goes back to your craft. We really do come second string to your one true love.”Rin dropped his head into his hands at the embarrassment, muttering, “can we just clean the kitchen and forget I said that?”“And turn off the oven?” Amaimon teased, and Rin could imagine the smirk on the demon’s face, glaring into his hands to avoid it.“The only thing we will be cleaning is ourselves,” Mephisto huffed, waving a hand at the mess they’d made, “Belial will get all this.”He pulled out of Rin, then, drawing a hiss from him, and helping him down from the counter after.Rin leaned back, needing to use the edge for support as he got used to standing again and watching as Amaimon slid off to slump next to him, finally unwinding their tails.“Another bath is in order, I think,” Mephisto cocked a wry smile down at their mussed appearances, the look turning smug to see the results of his efforts.“Do I have to use all that stuff again?” Rin was definitely whining now.“Yes, Rin,” Mephisto raised to snap them back to the bathroom, “you have to use all that ‘stuff’ again.”The snap came and cut off Rin’s answering groan and the three of them went to continue their lazy winter break, thoughts of what events would follow pushed off for another day.---Belial entered the kitchen and sighed, heading to turn off the oven and setting about to clean after the demon kings and their prince.He eyed the cake, thought about possible consequences, and, after flicking his gaze around, finished the remainder, patting his mouth with a napkin.Having Rin around was doing wonders for the mood of the place, he decided.His fangs flashed in a rare smile and he got back to his job.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Shiemi, you gotta help me!”“Rin?”“What do I get him?”Shiemi blinked up at Rin from her desk in the first cram class of the day.Class hadn’t started yet and the rest of their friends were idling around the room, though at Rin’s outburst they looked over.“What do I get Amaimon for Christmas? I can’t think of anything!” Rin tugged at his hair in frustrated panic, “I’ve been trying to think of things and I got nothing!”Bon leaned back in his chair, “seriously, man? He’s a demon, he’s not gonna celebrate Christmas.”“Does he even know you’re supposed to get gifts for this? You don’t have to get him anything,” Shima said, waving his hand in nonchalance and brushing the whole subject aside despite the glare Rin shot him for his lack of help.He’d definitely be getting his demonic boyfriend a gift, dammit, and Shima could go jump in a hole.“But he did say he was going to help Shiemi set up the tree, so I think it’s only right to include him in the other parts of the celebration,” Konekomaru pointed out from the side where he’d been talking with Bon and Shima.Izumo snorted at Bon’s words, “yeah do you really want to tell him everyone else got gifts and he didn’t? Real smart, Bon-Bon. I expected something that dumb from Shima, but you?”Rin ignored Bon’s affronted squawk and the argument he and Izumo dissolved into, waiting for Shiemi to give him her suggestion.Shiemi brought a hand up to her chin in thought, eyebrows scrunching as she gave Rin’s dilemma serious consideration.Exactly why he’d brought said problem to her, no one else would have given him good suggestions and she’d already had that great idea about making Amaimon’s- and Mephisto’s, though she hadn’t known that part, birthday be the day they became an official couple.Which had also made finding Mephisto’s gift easy and Rin had been filled with false confidence about getting Amaimon’s out of the way just as fast only to still be stuck with just a few days until the party and gift exchange.He’d even managed to get small things for the rest of his friends and something for Yukio, too! But Amaimon? The demon didn’t have any hobbies to buy for like Mephisto’s nerd stuff and he wasn’t materialistic in the slightest, so Rin was at a loss.“Well,” Shiemi began, and Rin hung onto her every word, “he seems happiest when he’s with you, Rin, so anything you make for him is going to be better than something you bought, I think.”“He’s got a major sweet-tooth,” Izumo said, breaking from her arguing with Bon to offer her opinion, “just make him candy or something, duh.”“Exactly!” Shiemi beamed over at Izumo for her suggestion, “you love cooking and it’ll be sweet to make him something.”Relief had Rin exhaling loudly, hand on his heart, “oh my god, you guys are life-savers, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”Their professor entered and Rin settled down for class, though his attention was split and he spent the time writing down what he could make for Amaimon instead.---Amaimon lounged in Mephisto’s office after another boring day of classes while he waited for Rin to finish his even duller cram classes.He’d considered using the infinity key to explore more of Japan, but- he glared over at where Mephisto sat working at his desk, it was cold. He hated the cold.Of course, if he had Rin around with his handy inner flames that made the half-demon a perfect heater, Amaimon wouldn’t think twice about taking a tour of the whole of Assiah. He narrowed his eyes, Samael’s schemes were, once again, interfering with his fun.“I can feel you drilling holes into my skull from here, Amaimon,” Mephisto sighed, sending an exasperated look his way. “I will kick you out if you’re going to be a distraction.”“It’s cold. I’m bored,” Amaimon grumbled, not that he thought it would solve his boredom but Mephisto might offer him something to entertain himself, if only to get him out of the office and his hair.The agonized way Mephisto rubbed at his clenched eyes, clearly about to set his paperwork on fire- or banish it to Gehenna, had Amaimon hiding a smirk behind a blank expression.“You are going to that party the exwires are having, yes?” Mephisto finally said, hands coming away from his eyes to glare at Amaimon. “Shouldn’t you be focusing on getting Rin a gift for the occasion?”A slow smile curled its way onto Amaimon’s face, making Mephisto’s glare turn suspicious as he sat back in his seat.“What are you getting him?” He asked instead of answering, pretending to be fascinated with picking the dirt from under his claws.Mephisto’s eyes narrowed but Amaimon knew his evasion had made him curious so he played along. “I got the little ragamuffin some clothes that don’t look like he crawled out of the local flea market or like a delinquent. Some that actually fit him, for my sake, if nothing else.”Figures, Amaimon snorted, Mephisto had a hard enough time with his clothes, let alone Rin’s typical casual style of hoodies and jeans.“So?” Mephisto pressed, and Amaimon could hear the delicious irritation in his voice. “What did you get him?”“Hmm, it’s a surprise,” Amaimon said, flicking his gaze to see the way his non-response had Mephisto gritting his teeth, not liking a mystery he didn’t have the key to.“Amaimon,” Mephisto growled out, fangs extending and claws flexing like he wanted to wrap them around his throat. Which, Amaimon tilted his head at the thought, that had some potential to be fun.The sadistic gleam in Mephisto’s eyes that threatened Samael and his fingers raised as if to snap nipped that plan in the bud.Time to go, he’d worn out his welcome. Amaimon grinned and vanished from the room before Mephisto could trap him there until he forced him to answer.---“Um, thank you for helping me with the tree, Ambrosia!”Amaimon watched as Shiemi bowed to him after her stuttered out thanks, cocking his head to consider the strange human who Rin cared so much about.His silence was making her uncomfortable, or at least, he assumed so when her face began to redden until he sighed and nodded. The beaming smile he got from her made him shift in his own discomfort, not understanding why something so small was grounds to make her so happy.“O-okay,” Shiemi said, drawing him away from his musings, “I’m going to have Nee grow the tree, but I need your help to decorate the upper parts of it since you can reach those while I get the lower parts.”They were in a large room the exwires had rented out for the occasion. Everything else had been decorated already so all that was left was to set out the food the next day and finish their part, the tree.He stuck his hands in his pockets and watched while Shiemi’s summoned greenman demon hopped into her hands from her shoulder and down to the floor. There was something odd in the way she was able to use the weak creature that Amaimon couldn’t place but found himself bothered by all the same.The little demon leapt into the air, branches erupting from its stomach until they towered over their heads and filled the room with the scent of pine. Amaimon looked up at the top of the tree, totally lost as to why humans felt the need to do the things they did.He said as much to Shiemi, not expecting her to have a satisfactory answer but hoping it would provide some entertainment anyway.“Well, that is-” she blinked up at him from where she’d begun hanging cheaply made tinsel and plastic ornaments onto the lower boughs of the tree, “-to spend time with each other, or at least, that’s why I think so.”Amaimon glanced down from where he had risen overhead, once again confused. What did that have to do with bringing a tree inside and covering it in things?It would have been faster to snap his fingers and have the tree decorated in that same instance, but he was curious about the insights she might have that could lead to him understanding Rin better. Ideally enough to not get so completely blindsided by the strange things he did from time to time.It was tiring to his pride to have to need Samael’s help to understand Rin’s human aspects and he was determined to gain more proficiency in human mannerisms, if only to save his pride in the future.And earn another of those rewarding kisses the little half-demon doled out whenever he was delighted by something Amaimon had done. He chewed at his lower lip, draping more garlands of tinsel on a branch and wondering how many of those kisses he would get after playing nice with Shiemi.---“Mephisto, I need to use your kitchen, please!”The silence from the other end of the line had Rin fidgeting as he looked at the dorm’s kitchen he’d just been scouring through with Ukobach.“Whatever for?”Rin hid a frustrated sigh, glaring down at the list of ingredients and instructions he’d printed for the gift he wanted to make Amaimon. Figures. Mephisto never agreed to something without having all the facts.“It’s for a gift for Amaimon for the party but the stuff I need to make it and some of the tools aren’t in our kitchen and I know I saw them in yours.”Might as well sweeten the deal, Rin thought, narrowing his eyes in determination, “I’ll let you try whatever I make if you let me use your kitchen.”“You should start with that next time,” came Mephisto’s teasing response. “I suppose you’ll be wanting to come by when a certain overly curious earth king isn’t present to prepare your gift, so you don’t ruin the surprise.”“Yes, please,” Rin said, smile wry even as he sent a thumbs up to Ukobach at his success, the little familiar returning the gesture before starting to store away the things they’d taken out.That settled, he said ‘goodbye’ and hung up, gathering the ingredients he did have on hand to take to the mansion later and already excited for the party the next night.He couldn’t wait to see what Mephisto and Amaimon thought of their gifts!---“Do I have to wear this?”Amaimon plucked at the long black sweater Mephisto had brought out for him, holding it up to peer at the cartoonish reindeer face that had been sewn into the front. He turned it around and stared at the small pattern of a deer tail at the bottom where it would rest over the start of his own tail were he wearing it.“It’s very festive,” Mephisto said, lips tugging into a sly smile. “Go on, you can wear it over your leggings, the green will even fit the color scheme for once.”He thought about putting up a fight, just because Mephisto was clearly getting too much enjoyment from dressing him up to be tolerable. But, Amaimon sent a baleful glare at the sweater in his hands, he also had no idea what the humans considered acceptable wear for a celebration of this nature, so he had no choice but to use what Mephisto gave him. This time, at least.One last glare sent up at Mephisto’s unrepentant face and Amaimon let out a conceding huff of breath before snapping his fingers to exchange his coat, vest, pants, and shirt for the sweater. The green arm-warmers and leggings he left, if only to keep something between his skin and the chill winter air.The smile on Mephisto’s face broadened as Amaimon tugged the sweater further down over his thighs when it turned into a leer, Mephisto trailing his gaze over his body in appraisal.Did he want to start something? Amaimon brought his clawed thumb up to chew at it, wondering if he would get to celebrate before the party even began as Mephisto stood to stalk towards him from where he’d been lounging on the bed.His breath caught as Mephisto reached him and slid a hand down his spine, just brushing over where his tail was wound to end at the base of it, rubbing a thumb in measured circles. Amaimon stared, unblinking, into Mephisto’s eyes, waiting for his next move and arching his back into the touch to encourage him to press harder.Mephisto leaned down to bring his mouth to his ear and Amaimon felt it twitch when he spoke, voice a low murmur that sent heat spreading through him when his breath teased the strands of hair against the sensitive point.“It’s not quite as lovely as your tail, but I believe Rin will enjoy this look on you very much.”That, Amaimon’s focus turned inwards as he contemplated how truthful Mephisto was being and what sort of reaction he could get out of Rin just from the outfit he was wearing. That could prove fun.If Rin’s reaction was going to be anything like what he was getting from Mephisto, then he might wear these suggested outfits more often.He gasped as, in his distraction, he found his mouth claimed in a rough kiss, hint of fangs sending a thrill down his spine and coaxing a low purr from his chest. His eyes fluttered closed and he leant further into Mephisto, pressing up along him and tilting his head to deepen the angle.Only for Mephisto to pull away with one last sharp nip to his lower lip that had Amaimon’s purr turning into a frustrated growl. He opened his eyes, once again glaring at the smug look Mephisto wasn’t even pretending to hide.“Why don’t you go find our Rin now and I’ll meet up with you both later?”Damn him anyway, Amaimon vanished from the room without acknowledging Mephisto’s words.He would make this night worth the annoyance, even if he had to do everything himself.---Rin yelped as he appeared in front of him in his dorm room where he’d been getting ready.“Amaimon!”He cocked his head as Rin scurried to hide something from his view, curiosity piqued as he realized it must be his gift.Actually, now that he had a frame of reference, Amaimon studied what Rin was wearing to see if Mephisto had led him astray. In this case, at least. But Rin was dressed in a casual red and green plaid button up that he’d left open to reveal the t-shirt he’d paired it with underneath and his usual jeans.And there were antlers on his head. Or rather, a headband with cheap fuzzy antlers that somehow suited the half-demon. The thought of seeing real horns on Rin sent a curl of interest through Amaimon and he saved the thought for later consideration.While Rin’s back was still turned, Amaimon crept closer and placed his hands at his hips, leaning to rest his chin on his shoulder and smiling at the shiver he got as he nuzzled into the soft black hair there.“Is that mine?”“Yes, don’t peek,” Rin grumbled, though he nudged his cheek back against Amaimon’s, returning the gesture and making Amaimon smile again, though it was fleeting as the click of a handle rotating registered.A polite cough just verging on cool came from the now opened door and Amaimon scowled, though he hid it when he turned to the bratty human twin who’d just entered the room and interrupted them.It wouldn’t do to cause any strife tonight, not when Rin had been looking forward to it with such endearing excitement. If anyone upset Rin- especially his twin, well, Amaimon wasn’t sure what he would do if that happened, though he knew what he’d like to do.“Are you ready yet, Rin?”Rin left his arms and gathered the presents he’d been hiding Amaimon’s under, cheeks pink from the blush that rose at getting caught. “Yeah, sorry, Yukio, I’m good to go, we can meet up with everyone now.”That was when Rin must have noticed what he was wearing because the fading blush was back full force and he nearly dropped the presents.“Oh my god.” Amaimon raised a brow, wondering if the wide blue eyes and gaping mouth was a good thing or if he had to go back and attempt to kill Mephisto. He’d die, but at least he could get his point across before it happened.“Is that a deer on your sweater?” Rin’s voice came out in a whisper as he inched closer to Amaimon.“A reindeer,” Amaimon said, shrugging, though it was a poor approximation of the real creatures. For one thing, it had a bright red knit nose instead of the usual black, and Amaimon didn’t know what human had thought it was a good idea and he also didn’t really care.“Come on, Rin.” That damn twin growled out and Amaimon felt his hands twitch, wanting to wring them around his throat until he stopped interfering.“Ah, sure,” Rin stuttered out, snapping his jaw closed and shaking his head.Amaimon went on ahead of him, keeping his expression flat to match the look he received from the brat still watching from the door.A gasp came from behind him followed by the sound of objects dropping to the floor and Amaimon stopped, glancing back to see what had caused that reaction in Rin.“Is- is that a little deer tail?” Came the strangled voice from Rin before Amaimon found the ends of his sweater gripped and tugged down to better display the knitted tail at his lower back.“Yes.” Amaimon glared at the twin when he looked like he wanted to speak again, getting an irritated huff and arms thrown up in exasperation.The feeling of a hand rubbing over his actual tail had Amaimon jolting, startled at the pleasure it sent through his body. He jerked his head down to where Rin was tracing over the outline of the deer tail, utterly focused on it.“I love it.”Amaimon wouldn’t be dying tonight after all. Mephisto had chosen correctly when he’d selected his outfit for the occasion.“I’m leaving now, Rin!” Amaimon didn’t pay any attention to the complaint, lips curving into a grin at the delighted expression on Rin’s face.The door shut behind the twin as he left them alone. Finally. Rin took that as his cue to tug Amaimon around and bring his hands up to pull him into a kiss.Amaimon hummed, enjoying the feel of the warm pads of Rin’s fingers, firm where they’d been placed at his jaw, and he closed his eyes, knowing, at least, that Rin wasn’t likely to tease him the way Mephisto had earlier.No, he’d tease him in much more inventive and painful ways, Amaimon sighed into Rin’s mouth. He pulled back, breaking the kiss to a disappointed noise from Rin, even as he rubbed his hands at his hips in apology.Rin sent a sheepish smile up at him, leaning into the touch. “Yeah, I know, we don’t have time for anything now, Yukio would kill me if he ended up going to the party and I skipped when he definitely wasn’t planning on going earlier and I was all excited.”That made Amaimon narrow his eyes, though he hid the expression and stepped away to head towards the exit. “Shiemi would be upset-”-If the twin hadn’t agreed to come to the party in the first place, he continued in his head.And if Shiemi was upset because the damn twin didn’t show up to the party she’d suggested and worked hard on then Rin would be upset and then Amaimon would be very, very upset.Rin spun him around for the second time that night, shoving him into the door they’d almost made it to and kissing him with an enthusiasm that had Amaimon wondering what he’d done this time to get such a reaction.And how he could repeat it.“You’re right, Shiemi would be upset,” Rin smiled up at him after pulling back with a last slide of his lips over Amaimon’s.“Which is why we’re not gonna be late, come on, we might be able to catch up to Yukio if we hurry.”Well, he’d been hoping to avoid that, but if Rin insisted. Amaimon hid a sigh and followed after Rin, staying close as they exited into the cold air and made their way to the party.---Amaimon watched the arbitrary destruction of the room happen as if in slow motion when the greenman demon rolled over and laid waste to the tables of food, setting fire to still other tables in the vicinity.What hurt most was the cake that got demolished by the clumsy attempts Konekomaru made to save it. He’d wanted to eat that cake.Maybe he still could? It was only on the floor, after all. He eyed it with a claw at his chin only to get distracted by the humans rushing to put out the fires with the foam spray, effectively ruining most of the food.Last of the flames put out, the room fell still as the reality of the situation settled in.The humans bursting into laughter after their stunned silence only made his confusion worse and Amaimon couldn’t understand what there was to laugh about.“Hah!” Rin collapsed into giggles against his chest, clutching at his shoulders, and Amaimon decided it wasn’t so bad. He wondered what he could offer Rin to get him to make that cake again.“Hey, not all the food’s destroyed, there’s still a lot here! At least enough to make for a potluck.”For some reason that idea seemed to perk Rin up and he burst out with one of his own-“We can move the rest to our place and have the party there!”-So Amaimon didn’t show any hint of the disgruntlement he felt at having his meal and plans interrupted before they’d even begun to go back to the dorm they’d just arrived from.When the humans started cleaning and packing everything away, Amaimon sighed and snapped his fingers, vanishing the mess and boxing up what could be saved. For efficiency’s sake, if nothing else.Not that he’d be making a habit of doing things like that for the humans and if they thought he’d be their babysitter he’d be happy to remind them exactly who they were talking to.But…“Amaimon!”He blinked down into the adoring expression on Rin’s face, finding himself being peppered in tiny kisses by the exuberant half-demon clinging to his sweater again.“Thank you!”This night was proving to be very rewarding after-all.---By the time Mephisto appeared to join them in the room, he’d devoured his portion of the stew made from the remainders of the saved food and Rin had finished his own.The smile that lit on Rin’s face at the sight of Mephisto made Amaimon want to bite it off of him, but he settled for tugging him back into his lap before he gave away their secret to the whole group of humans.Although he didn’t understand why such a thing even had to be a secret or why the opinions of worms should bother Rin, but Mephisto had made it very clear that it had to be so. Amaimon assumed it had something to do with a game or plan of Samael’s that would be ruined if the humans knew.At least he wasn’t restricted from Rin anymore. That had been… annoying.Now wasn’t the time to reflect on past inconveniences, though. Now was the time for celebrating, or so he’d been told.Amaimon hid a smile behind Rin’s ear, nosing at the soft skin and inhaling the intoxicating scent there. He was ready to begin the first stages of his plan.He caught Mephisto’s gaze where he was sat at his summoned table at the other side of the room and let him see the wide smirk that flashed across his face, enjoying the suspicious frown he got in return.“Rin.” Amaimon delighted in the shiver he got out of the half-demon in his arms, restraining one of his own at the anticipation building inside him as Rin turned in his arms. “You like to tease, right? And he can’t do anything about it here.”Rin glanced back at Mephisto, who was now trapped entertaining Shura and that other exorcist that had joined the party and sat at his table. Amaimon could practically see the train of thought running through Rin’s head- and he also saw Mephisto noticing Rin.The set-up was perfect.“He’s gonna be so mad.”He had him.---Amaimon drew the sucker into his mouth, tonguing it suggestively and grinning at Rin’s frustrated glare. He’d never understood the human tradition involving mistletoe but getting to take advantage of Rin right in front of Mephisto and all those humans had been the icing on one of Rin’s delicious cakes.The humans had decided to open their gifts, however, so Amaimon had to set his fun aside for the moment.Although he didn’t understand why they needed to go outside to hand out gifts. Amaimon clung close to Rin to avoid the chill as they left the dorm to stand in the parking lot.“You sure you don’t want to put on more layers, Amaimon?” Rin sounded worried but wrapped his fire-warmed arms around him further and Amaimon glowered at the cold night scenery of the asphalt lot.At Rin’s questioning gaze he just burrowed into the heat, grumbling a non-answer, and hoped they finished soon so he could resume his plans.The humans were gathered around each other, exchanging simple gifts and cards. That exorcist worm had been smart and stayed away from Rin so Amaimon wouldn’t be forced to commit murder.He felt Rin perk up in his arms when a familiar scent approached from the side and they turned to meet it.That was when he found himself faced with Mephisto.Or rather, Samael.His heartbeat stalled in his chest and Amaimon forgot how to breathe.Samael had been neatly compartmentalized away but oh, Amaimon shuddered, he could still see him hidden behind that genial smile and in the acid of Mephisto’s eyes. The façade of humanity he wore for the feeble humans had become flimsy after two hours of torment, waiting to be peeled away like flesh stripped from bones until only the true monster remained.Just as Amaimon had known would happen. He almost felt sorry for Rin.“Mephisto!” Those green eyes slid away from Amaimon’s and he forced himself to breathe again, chest aching and cold sweat breaking on his skin. He hoped the shivers quaking through his body would be attributed to the cold and not the terror chilling his blood in his veins.But Rin just sent a sweet smile up at Samael and pulled one of the packages from the bundle he carried to present to him, “I got this for you, open it!”Amaimon could feel Rin’s tail trying to wag through his shirt. He wanted to get his hands back on it again, the earlier teasing hadn’t been enough. His claws twitched on Rin’s sides over the coiled tail moving there, but he held himself still, knowing if he interrupted Samael’s gift opening there really would be no reward tonight.The anticipation in Rin’s expression had Amaimon’s chest tightening, wondering what the little half-demon had gotten for Mephisto that could make him so happy.Samael used the edges of his claws to slit the tape around the small box Rin had handed him and remove the wrapping paper with careful movements.A black velvet box, like the ones humans used for their jewelry, revealed itself to Samael’s curious gaze and Amaimon couldn’t help but feel curious too.“Oh, Rin,” Samael breathed at whatever he saw inside.“Do you like it?” Rin asked, blinking those wide blue eyes up at Samael. He sounded hesitant, trailing off after his next words, “I wasn’t sure if you knew what it was from.”Amaimon couldn’t decide whether he should flinch back or offer his throat to Samael when he brought his attention, features contorted in a warping smile, up away from the gift to bear on Rin.And the wonderful, foolish, earnest thing just beamed right back in the face of the monster wearing the shape of a man.Samael closed the box, making Amaimon nearly groan out loud as he realized he was already being punished, even in such a simple way. Samael knew he’d been curious about Rin’s present and had refused him knowledge of it.“Rin,” Samael smiled, eyes crinkling as he leant over, still far enough not to raise any alarm from the humans nearby, but close enough to make his next words private for just the three of them.“I’m going to reward you so hard tonight.”Rin froze in Amaimon’s arms at the dark promise from Samael and he wondered if his survival instincts had kicked in after all, only to catch a glimpse of the flush on Rin’s cheeks and dilated eyes that spoke of arousal.Well, Rin would learn. Amaimon once again contained his own shudder, not wanting to show weakness in front of Samael. Not yet, at least.“Ah! Amaimon, I got you something too, open it!” Rin recovered, blinking to clear the glaze from his eyes and smiling up at him as he shuffled the presents to pull a large decorative bag out.Amaimon kept Samael in sight out of the corner of his eyes but accepted the gift from Rin- though he didn’t like that he had to step away from the heat coming off of him to do it, and tore into the package to see what had Rin so excited.“I made them! Mephisto let me use his kitchen since we didn’t have some of the stuff I needed in the dorm kitchen and I wasn’t sure if this was good enough but I didn’t know what else you liked so I thought I’d make your gift instead, uh, Shiemi and Izumo suggested it,” Rin babbled, a nervous stream from his lips mirroring the way he twisted his hands at the bottom of his shirt while Amaimon brought his nose closer to the contents now revealed.“See? It spells your name.”It being the green-colored candy suckers melted into shapes that formed the letters of his name and sticking out of a collection of what was clearly Rin’s work at hand. Beautiful miniature desserts and assorted chocolates made up the rest of his gift, the sweet smell teasing Amaimon’s senses as he felt himself start to salivate.He had one of those chocolates in his mouth and his mouth over Rin’s before he could speak again.“Mmf!”Exactly as he’d thought, Amaimon let his eyelids shutter as he focused on tasting the chocolate melting in the heat of Rin’s mouth against their tongues. He swirled the rapidly vanishing sweet until it was gone, pulling away to lick at the little that had gotten on Rin’s lower lip with a hum of pleasure.The low hiss, too quiet for the humans to hear, that came from Samael was beautiful music to his ears and Amaimon let a wide smile stretch over his fangs as he glanced out of the corner of his eyes to see how the further teasing had affected him.He vanished his sweets to save for later, already planning on how he could share them with Rin in more fun ways. But that was for another day.“I’m going to give you my gift now, Rin,” Amaimon said, purr rising in his chest to see the flash of reptilian interest go across Samael’s face. He hadn’t let him know what his gift to Rin was going to be and knew the not knowing would have been a thorn in Samael’s subconscious the entire time.For a demon that disparaged human needs like the pursuit of knowledge, Samael sure hated to be kept in the dark- and Amaimon enjoyed having the upper hand for once.But Rin was smiling up at him so Amaimon snapped his fingers to bring out what he’d kept safe for months now to hover between them, waiting for Rin to accept it.“Is- is that what I think it is?”Rin had his hands out to take the offering but held them an inch away. Amaimon felt the heat from his palms where he’d clearly lost some control over his inner flames and huffed an exasperated breath when he still hadn’t overcome his shock.“I preserved it with my powers,” Amaimon said, as it looked like Rin had short-circuited again. He kept the diamond containing the deep red carnation Rin had stuck in his hair that night of the festival floating with one hand and brought the other to guide Rin’s to take it.“It’s diamond, I hear the humans consider it valuable so don’t let it get stolen or lose it.”“You kept the flower I gave you,” Rin whispered out instead, fingers twitching against the clear fist-sized gem and eyes fixated on said flower.He still didn’t understand why humans and Rin assigned meaning to the plants that lived and died without caring about them at all, but…Amaimon bent to peer closer into Rin’s eyes, the blue of his irises and red of his pupils refracting through the sharp angles of the diamond to create a kaleidoscope in the dim light from the street lamp above them.His brows scrunched, noticing a sheen in those eyes not attributed to the diamond’s distortion.Were those tears? A frown tugged at his lips, did Rin not like his gift?Maybe it was the gem? Amaimon began to ask-“Do you want a different-“-And was tackled in a hug, Rin pressing hard, open mouthed kisses to any part of his face he could reach and letting out breathless laughter in between each of them.“I love it!” Rin answered and Amaimon hid the relief he hadn’t realized he’d been holding onto.“I love it, I love it, I love it!”Good, he didn’t need to reassess what he’d been learning about humans and about Rin this whole time like he’d thought he might have to if Rin didn’t like his gift.And, Amaimon smirked in triumph over at Samael, his gift was most definitely the superior of the two of theirs.Only to freeze in Rin’s hold as he saw the expression on Samael’s face.Possessive.Hungry.A yawning void into the jealous being at Samael’s core that wanted to play with its toys until there was nothing left of them.Samael would devour them whole and they would be begging him not to stop the entire time.“Jeez, Rin, what’d he get you, a ring?”That annoying human spy flinched at the furious snarl Amaimon let loose for interrupting Rin from rewarding him. But, before he could threaten the fool, Rin released his own warning growl.“Don’t make me remember earlier, Shima, because there’s no phone call to save you this time,” Rin hissed and Amaimon saw bared fangs, letting his own recede with a satisfied smile at the way Rin had handled that.“Ugh, Rin, could you get over here so we can give you our presents and go home? It’s freezing out here!” Izumo called out, breaking the glare Rin had pinned the spy with.That wasn’t a bad idea, Amaimon allowed with a grudging inner sigh. The faster they could get this human social bonding over with, the faster he and Rin could begin the demon social bonding.“An excellent suggestion, Miss Kamiki,” Samael, once again masked by Mephisto, responded, snapping his fingers and bringing out slips of brightly colored paper.“These are for you exwires and exorcists, enjoy!”The humans looked at the papers that had appeared in their hands in confusion until Konekomaru blinked up at Mephisto.“Aren’t these coupons to that monja place you treated us to, sir?”“God, you’re so cheap,” Shura grumbled under her breath, though Amaimon noticed she pocketed the coupon anyway.“Wow, thanks, Sir Pheles, these are great! I might have to go to this place more often if it turns out to be good, which I’m sure it will since you like it so much, ahaha.”Amaimon scowled at that damn exorcist. The man was clearly mocking Mephisto with the threat of running into him more often than he had to by taking over a restaurant he frequented. He'd definitely succeeded in angering him- and signed his death warrant, wondering if that was the outcome the worm had been aiming for. By the way Samael let his green eyes flash with contained anger, hidden from the humans by the obscuring light of the street lamp but visible to Amaimon, he’d say it had worked.“Delightful, Mr. Lewin.” Yes, Samael might just hate the exorcist as much as Amaimon did. He wondered which of them would be the one to kill him, or if Rin might decide to one day.Another snap and puff of pink later and an overly decorated gift bag containing what must be the clothes Mephisto had gotten Rin appeared to stop any rejoinder the exorcist might have had to release them from his disgusting words.“These are for you Rin, please, take care of them,” Samael leant to place the bag in Rin’s hands where he’d held them out to take, implicit trust in his automatic actions that made Amaimon feel a curl of his own possessiveness.“Thank you, Mephisto.” By the trembling in Rin’s form, Amaimon suspected he was doing everything in his power to hold himself back from rewarding Mephisto like he had Amaimon.“Not at all, Rin,” Samael said, allowing a brush of his fingers against Rin’s that was covered by the mass of bows and ribbons spewing from the top of the bag. “Why don’t you go exchange your gifts with your friends, Rin, I have something to give to Amaimon.”Amaimon felt his breath hitch, turning wide eyes to where Samael smiled down at Rin, who left with another cheerful ‘thank you’. He was alone now with Samael.His arms were cold in Rin’s absence, the chill seeping into his marrow and not mitigated in the slightest by the arm Samael brought up so he could rest his hand on Amaimon’s shoulder.He still hadn’t taken a breath when Samael leant so that his face was over the opposite shoulder.“I am gifting you with a promise, Amaimon,” Samael murmured, finger tapping just once on the side of Amaimon’s fluttering pulse while his other hand came up to curl over his mouth to hide the twisted smile and words from any eavesdropping humans.“Tonight, you will get everything you’ve been asking for.”Short breaths forced themselves from Amaimon’s nose, his chest heaved with them.He tasted blood when he sliced through his cheek with fangs that had elongated without his say in defense of the threat at his throat.“Bring yourself and our little Rin to me when you are done playing with the humans.”And Amaimon was alone, Samael vanished without a sound. The place where his hand had been now burned like a brand.“Amaimon?” He blinked, coming out of the daze he’d been in at Rin’s voice.A quick glance told him the humans were waiting for his presence for some reason, and that, thankfully, that exorcist had left so Amaimon wouldn’t have to smell his stench in close quarters- or worry about him being near Rin.Shura and that other exorcist of Mephisto’s had departed too, leaving just Rin’s humans behind.At least now he could hide himself in Rin’s warmth again, Amaimon was quick to stick his hands under Rin’s button up to get at the heat there once he’d reached his side.“We uh,” Amaimon tilted his head up from where he’d stuck his nose in Rin’s neck to warm it, since it had gone numb in the cold, at Bon’s hesitant words, finding the humans watching him. “We got you a gift from us, too, Amaimon.”“What.” Why would the humans get him a gift. He scrunched his brows, he hadn’t gotten them anything.Bon stuck his hand forward into Amaimon’s space, holding another gift bag in his hand for him to take. “It’s nothin’ big, but you did help Shiemi with the tree, so we pooled together and got you some stuff too.”At a subtle nudge to his side from Rin, Amaimon took the bag, handle between his claws like it might bite him, his eyes unblinking as he tried to figure out what he was feeling.“I didn’t know you guys were gonna get him something,” Rin said, voice bright and arms tightening around Amaimon.Amaimon opened his gift with the same careful movements Samael had opened Rin’s to reveal a mound of candy, including his favorite flavor of sucker.Why would they-He felt strange, his cheeks were hot for some reason.“Amaimon?”Rin’s voice again, Amaimon snapped his gaze back up to the humans and panicked.Earth rumbled. Amaimon dropped from Rin’s arms and slammed his palm on the ground to send the asphalt of the parking lot crumbling apart, letting the stone beneath it rise up in the air over his head.“Ah!”“What the hell, man!”“He didn’t like the gift! I told you guys we should have sprung for something more expensive!”“How were we supposed to know he wouldn’t like it!”“Oh no, I was sure he would like our gift!”Amaimon ignored the shocked cries from the humans and stood, raising his hand to separate the stone into six figures, distinct shapes forming from them as rock dust sifted away in the winter air.“Oh my god,” Konekomaru gasped, the first to figure it out.“Are those… us?” The twin asked, eyes wide behind his glasses.Amaimon flicked his hand and the figures floated to their respective human.“Ambrosia, they’re beautiful, thank you,” Shiemi murmured, her figure clasped in her hands as she brought it towards her face to inspect it further.A squeak came from Izumo, flush bright on her face as she stared down at hers before clutching it to her chest and bowing, wordless towards Amaimon, while Konekomaru gave his own polite 'thank you' from her side.“Hey this is pretty cool, Amaimon, thanks!” Bon grinned at him, the next to break from his stunned silence.“Yeah, they’re almost like little action figures!” The spy piped in, shaking his in his hand and grinning.“Thank you for the gift, Amaimon,” the twin finished, formal after something so unexpected.Well, Amaimon wouldn’t have given him one if he’d had time to think about it but he hadn’t known what the human culture required in an event like this and so had made one anyway.And at least Mephisto hadn’t been there to see him panic, he would never have lived the humiliation down.Gentle arms brought him around to face Rin and Amaimon cocked his head at the strange look he saw directed up at him, wondering if he should have made one for Rin too. He’d already made him a gift though, and if he was going to be creating a figure, he would use better material, anyway. Was Rin insulted?Warm fingers pulled Amaimon down to press their foreheads together and a slow smile broke out on Rin’s face, his voice low when he spoke, “thank you, Amaimon.”Good, he hadn’t committed an offense.He accepted the even warmer kiss pressed to his lips before Rin’s attention was taken by Shiemi telling everyone she had made something for them too.The preserved four-leaf clover in a small glass container once again sent a fission of familiarity through Amaimon but the reason eluded him again and he stifled the frustration for another time, vanishing the strange gift.The humans dispersed until it was just Rin and Amaimon in the empty parking lot.Rin’s hand, when it grasped his, chased the cold from his body.A shiver went through him.Was it time?“Hey, you two love-birds! I need to borrow Rin for a minute.”---Shura had called Rin away from him so Amaimon was forced to wait beneath the lamp pole outside the dorm, wishing Mephisto had chosen another country as his territory, one with less snow.The door slamming some time later had Amaimon narrowing his eyes, wondering why Rin looked one step away from combusting as he stomped towards him with jerky movements."I," he spoke, and Amaimon felt the barely contained rage shaking through Rin's body when he made it to his arms. He started contemplating murder, hugging Rin to his chest. "Am going to be staying with you guys for the next few nights, I think."Shura wouldn't have caused Rin to react like that, not after she had promised a gift, and there was only one reason Rin would want to stay with them and not in the dorm.His twin had done something- had hurt Rin in a way that he hadn't been able to yet, to force Rin to not feel welcome in his own home.Fangs extended in his mouth, itching to sink into flesh and tear. Amaimon kept them hidden, Rin would not be hurt a second time that night.He would kill that fucking twin, Amaimon decided, slowly, and with great pleasure, so he could never hurt Rin again.But not now. Now he had to take care of Rin. He buried the venom deep where Rin wouldn’t see it. With luck, he’d be getting it out of his system soon anyway."Doesn't deserve you," Amaimon muttered out for Rin’s sake, wondering how many more times he would have to repeat it before Rin believed him, and knowing he would keep saying it as many times as it took until he did to erase the damage Samael’s plans had wrought.He snapped his fingers and brought them back to the mansion.Then he felt danger, fear sending adrenalin through him and his pulse racing.Green eyes glittered with unrestrained malice from the shadows and Amaimon smiled.Samael had come out to play.“Eins. Zwei. Drei."Kuchen Kukucksuhr.” ---Darkness met his eyes and he stumbled to a crouch, pulse now pounding through his veins as he tried to guess where Samael might attack from.A heeled boot between his shoulders crushed him to the floor and Amaimon gagged around creaking ribs where it pressed with merciless, ever-increasing force.Amaimon screamed into the void, eyes glazing at the pain and not even bothering to hide his reactions as something pierced his arm in slow inches until it pushed through to the other sideSamael would enjoy it more if he didn’t hide his screams, and he hadn’t gotten his gift from Amaimon yet.“You must have been planning this for some time, at least as long as those humans were planning their little party.”The sibilant voice came from everywhere at once and Amaimon moaned when the spear through his arm was moved, shifting against the fractured bone next to it and lighting his nerve endings on agonizing fire.“That was a lovely gift you created for Rin.” The voice came from right above his ear and he could feel the heat of Samael’s form where he leaned over him. He must be floating in the void, the laws of gravity and the floor he was pinned against arbitrary when Samael could control its placement.“He’s brought out your inner romantic, Amaimon.” A tapered tongue traced along the shell of his ear, needle-like fangs following behind it in a suggestion of a touch. “It’s almost sweet, I’ve certainly never received anything so sentimental from you.”Those fangs bit down, sinking through the cartilage and bringing another ragged cry from Amaimon.He panted, eyes unseeing and hips twitching forward as he waited for Samael’s next move.“Do you want to know what that darling creature got me?”Amaimon nodded, a jerking motion of his head, knowing what would happen if he hesitated.A shape formed in the darkness, Samael allowing him to see as he brought his black clawed hand up, bloodless skin contrasting against the void and the black velvet box he held in his palm.The box flipped open, the snap echoing in the vast space and making Amaimon flinch.Samael chuckled, scratching a claw along his spine. “Go on, look.”Amaimon forced his attention away from the claw now lightly scraping over the base of his tail.Then blinked in surprise, wondering why such a gift had brought a reaction like it had from Samael.A silver pocket-watch with a strange dragon-like design engraved on the surface stared back at him. It was plain besides that and Amaimon opened his mouth to ask why it was so special, besides being from Rin, that was.The watch opened and, aside from the typical face he saw on most human time-pieces, nothing stood out to him, until he saw the inscription carved in crude letters on the inside cover.Don’t Forget. And a date.Sometime in the summer…Amaimon couldn’t stop the small gasp when understanding reached him about why that date was familiar.“It’s from one of the human shows I like to watch, not that you would recognize that.”“But I believe you do recognize the date of our ‘anniversary’,” came the cruel words, confirming his thoughts.“The day when that foolish half-breed told us he loved us and showed you such kindness, Amaimon.”A hand stroked along his tail and Amaimon whimpered, arching back into the touch, too gentle to belong to Samael. Unless it was followed by pain.“Did that please you, Amaimon? To be treated so tenderly?”Another spear was thrust into him, this time through his thigh. Amaimon screamed again.“I wonder what he’ll think when he sees you like this, the true monster that you are, delighting in things he could never imagine.”Wait.Amaimon smirked over his shoulder at Samael despite the pain he was trying to keep him distracted with.“Are you- hah-ah, are you sure- Ah!”Samael cut him off, twisting the spear in his leg.Amaimon panted through the agony, neck arcing back and mouth gaping from the exquisite torture as he writhed on the floor of the void before he could force his mind to recall how to speak.“-That you’re not talking about yourself, Samael?”The silence rang around him at his words.He was right.“Aha, haha-ha!”Shadows coiled from the void and shoved merciless tendrils down this throat, gagging the mocking laughter he’d been letting out and stretching his lips until the corners tore and he bled around the abyss.“If you can still speak, I haven’t been doing my job.” The shadows pushed further and Amaimon’s eyes rolled in his skull, lungs starving for oxygen because he’d been mid-laugh and hadn’t taken a breath.Tears streamed down his cheeks and his chest shook, body desperate for air as a burning started in his head and acid bile rose in his gut.The shadows left his mouth without warning, Amaimon dropping his head to the floor to retch around a ruined throat in a pool of his own saliva and blood.He wasn’t allowed to rest.Another blinding stab of pain tore through his body, this time at his remaining arm and leg as new spears were pierced there. Amaimon tried to scream and couldn’t, a weak rasping cry pushing more tears from his eyes to join the mess on his face.Samael was slowing his healing.His lips still bled, and he felt very human then.“How far can we push this vessel’s limits, hmm?”“Ahn~” Amaimon tried to respond, only able to release a wounded moan, tongue lolling from his open mouth and tasting the blood staining the void where it lay.“How far can we push it with a human’s healing, I wonder?”As far as Samael wanted to, Amaimon knew, breaths coming faster until he thought he might be hyperventilating.Samael had his tongue back to trace along Amaimon’s face, his own guttural moan of pleasure at the mixture of tears and blood there making Amaimon harden at the attention.Something prodded at his entrance and Amaimon whined, twitching and trying to chase the feeling only for it to vanish, leaving him to growl weakly in frustration and earning another dark chuckle from Samael.“I won’t be touching you anymore tonight, Amaimon.” The heat from Samael’s body vanished to emphasize his words, leaving Amaimon shivering at the lack of it.“I may not even let you come tonight, for the way you thought to taunt me.”Amaimon clenched his eyes shut, a sob shaking from his chest. “Please, Samael!”That touch was back at his entrance and Amaimon gasped at the cool slide of it, knowing it wasn’t Samael but unable to guess what it might be.“Hm,” Samael let out a short, uncaring hum at his pleas, letting the thing continue to toy at his rim, “I can’t decide whether I want to hear your screams or your silence. Which would you prefer, Amaimon?”He was letting him choose?No, it was an illusion of choice.Amaimon would be expected to answer anyway.“Screams, please, screams, Samae-”He gagged, shadows filling his mouth again just as he was impaled, the tear of the abrupt entry forcing a muffled scream and he arched his spine back in a harsh angle to escape it.His body jerked uncontrollably against the spears, dragging out louder screams, barely audible except as vibrations in his chest when the holes tore further- pressing him to stop or risk tearing straight through the muscle of his vessel.“I’d prefer your silence.”Sharp, thin breaths made it through his nose as he drooled around the shadow obstructing his throat almost entirely closed until he thought he might pass out, lightheaded and slumped in his bonds, now.The thing- more of the shadow tendrils, he was now realizing, inside him started moving without warning, each thrust pushing him along the spears in his limbs.Unwilling movements sent fresh blood slipping down to warm his skin against the cold of the void, feeling like hands- like Rin’s fire-warmed hands, caressing him as they had been earlier and he moaned, eyes squeezing closed to imagine Rin seeing him like this, knowing the human horror he would feel until the demon he was seized control to take full advantage of Amaimon’s body.An offering to Rin unlike any he would have ever been given before.Just the thought of giving himself to Rin in such a way had his length hardening again, and he shoved back on the shadows in desperate motions of his hips, tonguing at the shadow in his throat like he could taste Rin on his lips.His mind went back to the chocolate that had melted between them until a wracking sob shook through him as the shadows picked up their pace.Pain-pleasure mixed and coiled in his rapidly weakening body, the blood loss and slowed healing draining him and making him lose his rhythm- at the utter lack of mercy of the shadows Samael controlled.More tendrils came from the void to tighten in writhing knots over his limbs, slicking the blood on his skin but staying away from where he needed them, just teasing at his stomach and inner thighs, his filled throat. Just above the base of his tail.Even the shadows inside him avoided that spot that would send him over the edge, drawing the delicious agony out until his eyes glazed over and he gave in fully, falling limp in the bonds on him, his head only held by the invasive shadow in his mouth.He wanted to beg, he wanted to cry, he wanted to scream Samael’s name. He wanted Rin.He got a last sharp snap of the shadows against his hips and a wave of icy fluid rushing through to fill him from both ends, leaving him hollow and unsatisfied despite, as he swallowed to avoid choking, taking the ice further inside.Amaimon quaked where he hung, chilled to the core and too weak to do anything but moan around the shadow now slipping from his aching mouth.The shadow traced along his jaw, tilting it, probably to give Samael a better view of his bruised lips and exposed jugular.Amaimon released a thin groan, the effort almost too much for his damaged throat and he tugged his arms against the spears still in them, wondering if he’d be allowed to come down yet, unsure if his punishment was considered fulfilled.“You act as though you think we’re done here, Amaimon.”Not done. Not done at all.“It’s time to show Rin how real demons play, wouldn’t you say?”
Rin, Rin Rin Rin RinRinRinRinRin
Blue fire lit the void.Rin had joined them.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Man, they’ve really been running you ragged, huh, Yukio.”Yukio heaved a long sigh at Rin’s words, shoulders slumping. It was a rare moment he’d actually been home long enough to have a conversation, but Rin could see not much of that would be happening.“Yeah, with the increase in demonic activity they need everyone available,” he rubbed at his eyes beneath his glasses, “and between missions and my classes I really don’t have time for anything anymore.”Rin could see the evidence of Yukio’s exhaustion, lines under his eyes and the beginnings of bruised shadows building. It was no wonder Yukio never had time to talk with him nowadays.But, Rin shook himself from the depressing thoughts, going over to pat Yukio on the shoulder and getting startled eyes blinking up at him, “I’ll make soup, that’ll perk you up. It’s starting to get cooler out so now’s the perfect time for it.”His heart dropped when Yukio pursed his lips, almost expecting another decline, as had become the usual for them. Instead, a tired smile tugged at Yukio’s lips.“Yeah, sure, Rin, that does sound nice right now.”It did? He scrambled to reply, not knowing if Yukio would change his mind and unable to believe they were going to eat a meal together for the first time in...ever!“Awesome! You relax, pet Kuro, I’ll start dinner.”Outside, the air had begun to smell like winter, crackling with a building energy. Rin itched at his neck, feeling a shiver go down his spine seemingly without an origin.He started dinner, forgetting the sensation.Rubbing at the fading bruise across his face had Rin wincing, knowing the ones Koneko and Shima had gotten weren’t going to be fading anytime soon.“Ow,” Shima complained, drawing it out while Koneko looked at him with sympathy pain as he prodded his own welts.Konekomaru smiled at his side, “who knew vines could get so testy.”“I told you guys to just let me burn them,” Rin said, shrugging, but already knowing the response he’d get.“If we’d been in real trouble we would have, Rin,” Koneko said in confirmation of Rin’s thoughts.“Okay, can we forget the mission talk now? We’ve got way more important things to worry about, guys,” Shima cut in, waving a hand to get their attention and continuing when he was sure he had, “I’m pretty sure neither of you noticed the millions of orange and black posters that have started going up around the Academy since nobody but me seems to care about fun.”Shima’s grumbles just had Rin sending an unimpressed look at him and crossing his arms, waiting for him to make a point.Rolled eyes met he and Koneko, “the Halloween festival at Mephyland, duh!”The words “Halloween festival” stole Rin’s attention from Shima’s continued grumbling about not understanding how they missed these things.“You mean like the summer festival?” Rin said before he could get too sidetracked, an idea beginning to simmer in his mind.Konekomaru looked up from his phone and showed the page he’d opened up to Rin, “yeah, it looks like it’ll be a big event over there. Haunted houses, themed staff, costume contests. Plus, the whole place will be decorated to look like Halloween, they’re really going all out with it.”Hands coming up in a begging motion, Shima gave an exaggerated plea, “guys, please tell me you’re not gonna fight me on going to this thing?”That got a smile out of Konekomaru, “well, we have all been pretty busy lately, and this might be the last time we have before the year ends to have any kind of downtime, so I don’t see why not.”“Good luck getting Bon to go,” Rin snorted, shaking his head.“Yeesh, yeah, he’s been totally whipped by Lightning, I haven’t seen him for more than the time he’s been in class with me before he’s running off again,” Shima said, though he didn’t seem surprised by Bon’s dedication.Hearing Lightning’s name no longer made Rin tense. He’d learned to hide the reaction because he’d seen how it made the others walk on eggshells around him and he didn’t like the awkwardness of it all.Thankfully, with repeated exposure to Lightning in his cram classes, mitigated by Amaimon’s deadly protective presence, Rin had moved on to a low-grade dislike and a discomfort he could mostly ignore.“You know what this means, Rin?” The sly words from Shima jolted him from his thoughts, though hearing that tone made him throw Shima a suspicious look, especially when he went to nudge his side.“No, what does it mean?” He bit the bait.Gray eyes filled with Shima’s trademark leer as he beamed at Rin and spread his arms.“Ambrosia can dress up in one of those super revealing costumes if she comes with you~”Rin stopped walking.“Maybe a sexy nurse, or a sexy school-girl- wait, no, she’s already one of those- uh, sexy cat…”He slapped a clawed hand over Shima’s mouth, letting the tips needle into his cheek in threat.“Stop talking,” Rin said, narrowing his gaze at the nervous expression on Shima’s face, “why don’t you work on getting Bon to go and I’ll get Godaiin and see if Shiemi will help me get Yukio.”“Good idea, Rin,” Konekomaru piped up, “I’ll talk to Izumo and Paku and help Shima with Bon. This’ll be fun! We definitely need to take a breather.”“Cool,” Rin took his hand back, letting Shima loose, who gasped with a rough exhale like Rin had been holding his nose too, which, he hadn’t, so Rin ignored him to smile at Konekomaru, “thanks, I’ll see you guys later then!”Now, to Shiemi so they could hunt down Yukio.Yukio was cornered. Rin could see his eyes shifting behind his glasses like he was looking for an exit, boxed in by Rin and Shiemi.He hated being backed into a corner. Rin could already see the arguments forming.“We had so much fun at the summer festival, Yuki,” Shiemi said, earnest and hands clasped to her chest, “won’t this be great? I’ve never celebrated Halloween before.”Perfect, now Shiemi just had to keep that up and Yukio might wear down. Rin smiled wider.“Everyone else is going, too, Yukio, and we can pick out cool costumes!”“I really- that is…” Yukio stuttered, hands raised in the face of the combined forces of Rin and Shiemi, “I’m not sure I can get time off, there’s no telling if I’ll have a mission that day.”Trying that card, huh? Rin waved a hand, “no biggie, just ask Mephisto for the night off, he’ll definitely give you it.”That got him a twitching glare from Yukio, but he could see him running out of arguments to make.“That seems a little irresponsible, don’t you think? Someone needs to handle those situations or people could get hurt, and a party isn’t really a good reason to call off.”“Nope, sorry, Yukio,” Rin said and draped and arm around his shoulders, tugging him closer into a side hug, “with the way you work, you’ve probably got loads of free time saved up and if anyone needs a break, it’s you.”“Yes!” Shiemi piped in, leaning closer with a firm voice, “you need to relax, Yuki, or you’ll over-work yourself and get sick!”There was still a little fight left in Yukio. Rin narrowed his eyes, trying to dig for his final move.Shiemi bowed her head, “please, Yuki, I’ve always dreamed of having friends to do these kinds of things with and- and you’re my first friend, so it would really make me happy if you went!”One hit KO. Yukio’s resolve crumbled in the face of Shiemi’s vulnerability and openness with her feelings. Rin almost felt like clapping in awe of it, but also he maybe wanted to cry a bit too, because if Shiemi had come to him with that line he would be completely unable to resist.“Ye-yeah, okay, Shiemi, if it means that much to you, I’ll go,” Yukio said at last, turning his head to avoid the brilliant smile Shiemi turned up to him at his agreement.Right. Rin cheered inwardly, excited about a job well done.Now he just had to go convince Amaimon.“Oof!” Rin gasped, breath escaping him as he impacted the ground beneath Amaimon, trying to roll to get out from under him and failing as Amaimon hauled him up and slammed him down again with a snarl.He snapped his fangs when Amaimon got too close, fighting the flames that wanted to well up in retaliation and instead tried to get leverage to throw Amaimon before he ended up completely pinned.Fangs locked around his throat and Amaimon growled, the vibrations rumbling through the points of his fangs and into Rin’s skin where they stung.His body went limp in submission before he could stop himself and Rin arched his neck as an answering purr came from his chest.Amaimon’s lips curled in a slow smile and he dislodged his fangs, licking up the column of Rin’s throat in reward before settling more firmly onto his hips.“Really, you didn’t even try to get out of that!”Rin tilted his head back, staring upside-down into green eyes set in a peeved expression.“You said no flames or earth stuff, and Amaimon’s a better fighter, anyway,” Rin said, grin stretching his lips as Mephisto scoffed from his position floating in a lounge chair overhead where he’d been watching their fight.“Hmm,” Amaimon hummed to his throat, “you’re improving, soon you might offer me a real challenge.”The semi-mocking statement from Amaimon still had Rin smiling at him, happiness bubbling inside to know that he was showing signs of improvement and wondering how long he had to go to reach Amaimon’s level of skill.“Yes, well, that’s no reason to call it quits so early, you could have at least tried to gut him,” Mephisto said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms as he appeared next to their prone forms.That got an irritated scowl from Amaimon, though the look of interest that flashed as he glanced back at Rin had a sigh of exasperation escaping him for the suggestion.“No, because then he would have tried to gut me, and I can’t ruin another uniform- these things aren’t cheap, you know!” Rin pointed out, plucking at the already fraying fabric of his uniform and knowing it wouldn’t last much longer despite every effort to spare it the fate the last one had suffered under Amaimon’s claws.A guileless blink of Mephisto’s eyes on a face that looked like it had never told a lie had Rin glaring harder and muttering, “cheapskate bastard.”Mephisto turned his gaze to his claws, buffing them against his suit as he responded, “surely you have enough for a uniform, unless your food budget has somehow grown since the last time I checked.”Amaimon had lost interest, chin tucked to rest on Rin as he waited for them to finish talking.Good.“Yeah, normally, sure, but I have to budget for a costume for that damn festival you’ve got coming up so I can’t afford to buy a new uniform, too,” Rin said without preamble, hiding the smug smile that wanted to appear at the two shocked expressions now on him.Slit pupils slivered in Mephisto’s eyes, head turned to face him fully and body frozen at the revealed information. Rin would give him time to add up the calculations about another festival night. He just had to work on getting Amaimon, now.“I’ve never been to a Halloween party, so I’m really excited,” Rin began, bringing his hands to Amaimon’s waist and feeling a twitching coil of tail beneath the fabric of his jacket, “Shiemi’s going- I even convinced Yukio to go, and Shima and Koneko got Bon and Izumo to come.”He tapped his fingers to Amaimon as if in thought, “now I just have to find a costume, though I still don’t know what I want to go as.”Time to make his move.“Will you go with me, Amaimon?”Now, he had Amaimon’s undivided attention and Rin could see his own calculations happening as he realized what Rin was asking. He didn’t break from the grin, even when Mephisto took a few more steps until he shadowed them from the weak fall sun.“What kind of costume?” Amaimon finally said.“Well,” Mephisto cut in, an answering smile to Rin’s forming, “that will depend entirely on if we can find something to match with whatever Rin chooses.”More silence from Amaimon, though he hid behind a blank expression while Mephisto’s turned Cheshire-like.“This won’t turn out like the bathhouse,” Amaimon stated, a demand more than a question, as Rin nodded quickly to assuage him.“Fine.”“Yes!” Rin said with a cheer, reaching up to pull Amaimon into a kiss, but breaking away before he could deepen it, much to Amaimon’s disgruntlement.“Do you have any ideas, Mephisto?” Rin said as he sat up, Amaimon still kneeling in his lap, “I don’t know anything about Halloween- what are you supposed to go as?”Gleaming eyes bore into his as Mephisto raised a hand to snap them away, “I may have one or two costumes lying around for you to try.”Rin thought he might, and if it saved him money by motivating Mephisto into letting him borrow an outfit, then even better.The snap came and they left to find their costumes.The festival day fast approached. Everything became a blur of time sped up with missions and hours dragging on in class or Rin forcing himself to study for both regular finals and the exorcist exams until he thought his brain might melt out of his skull.“God, this thing can’t come soon enough, I’m gonna crash any day now,” Rin grumbled into his arms at the table they’d sequestered for lunch in between regular classes.Beside Rin, Amaimon, as Ambrosia, inhaled his way through a bag of chips, though at least he’d stopped glaring daggers into Bon since he’d arrived. Not that Rin didn’t understand the urge, what with how much like Lightning Bon tended to smell nowadays since he’d begun studying as his apprentice.Bon didn’t even look up from the laptop he seemed to carry everywhere with him now, always working on it whenever he wasn’t nose-deep in a textbook or on a mission. Rin didn’t know how to tell him his eyes were starting to look a little wild and that maybe he needed a break more than any of them without getting his head bitten off.“Did you get your costume picked out, Rin?” Konekomaru asked, his eyes lined with stress after his own rigorous studying but still bright as the excitement of the upcoming festival kept his spirits up.“Yep!” Rin gave a thumbs up, grinning at the memories of going through Mephisto not-so-small hoard or costumes and the ones they eventually settled on, “we’re going as a themed pair.”His announcement got a coo from Shiemi as she glanced at he and Amaimon.“So, what are you going as, eh, Shiemi?” Shima said, brows raising suggestively, though it flew right over her head.But, instead of answering, Shiemi just winked, “it’s a surprise!”An embarrassed huff came from Izumo, her head propped on her palm as she added, “she made us promise not to say what ours were- mine and Mr. Okumura’s. So don’t even bother, Shima.”“You guys are cruel,” Shima said with an exaggerated frown, “fine, we’re not telling, either, we’ll all surprise each other.”Rin snickered, leaning into Amaimon, who’d long checked out of their conversation, “I mean, I was gonna tell you guys, but if you say so, I guess I won’t.”The betrayed squawk that Shima gave at his declaration had Rin laughing louder, but he still refused to share until Shima gave up and pouted at them over his food.They spent the rest of lunch talking about the festival so they could avoid thinking about school or missions before it was time to head back to class. Rin sighed, slumping in his seat, and tried to stay awake.He cast a longing look at where Amaimon had already knocked out, wishing he could join him.Ticking clock hands captured Rin’s intense scrutiny, his eyes flicking with each incremental centimeter they moved.A loud ring shook him from his staredown and his heart leapt followed by his body as he jumped out of his seat and moved to Amaimon’s side, nearly buzzing with energy.“Come on! Let’s go,” Rin said, the smile on his face stretching until his cheeks hurt as Amaimon cocked his head at him, “we’ve gotta put on the costumes and get ready for the festival!”Amaimon shrugged and snapped them away to reappear in Mephisto’s bedroom where he already lounged across his bed playing a handheld game.At their arrival, Mephisto looked up from the game, “you do realize the festivities don’t begin for another couple hours, yes?”“Yeah, I know,” Rin said, sheepish and rubbing the back of his head, “but if I tried to go back to the dorms, I’d end up walking circles- I’ve got way too much energy right now.”The flash of interest over Mephisto’s face had Rin zeroing in on him, wondering if he would start something and readying himself to pounce. His tail wanted to lash where it was trapped under his uniform and Rin almost started stripping it off right there, his skin prickling against the fabric.“But, I suppose I can get started on Amaimon’s makeup early,” Mephisto said, sly smile meeting the pout Rin felt forming at the let-down, “why don’t you shower, Rin, and I’ll get to you after I’m through with our lovely Ambrosia.”Amaimon’s drawn out sigh and defeated expression sealed it for Rin, so he went to shower, considering whether he would just take the edge off on his own if Mephisto kept up with being so unhelpful.When he got under the hot spray, his tail whipped at his feet and sent water to splash the tiled walls as he rushed through it, even though he didn’t need to. His hands moved in jerking motions to clean himself that he barely felt, the shower ending before he’d even realized he was done.He came back to the room, still jittery. The shower had done the opposite of what he’d wanted and, instead of calming his nerves, he felt refreshed, energized.His gaze caught Amaimon’s when he entered, gold eyes tilting back to look at him until Mephisto tsk’d under his breath and prodded Amaimon’s face back into position so he could continue working.Rin flopped onto the bed and took out his phone, letting his tail twitch on the covers in an effort to distract himself and burn some of his restlessness out that way.“Hey,” Rin said, brows scrunching as a thought occurred to him, “why don’t you just poof him into his makeup? I’ve seen you guys do it before.”Mephisto sniffed down at him, dabbing something glittery onto the corner of Amaimon’s closed eyes, “this is art, Rin, and, once it’s set, he’ll be able to recreate it.”“Art,” Rin repeated, dry, “I’ve seen your pictures. How are you so good at makeup but so bad at drawing?”Now, Mephisto glared at him, lips twisted in hurt, “how rude, Rin. If I knew you would be like this, I wouldn’t be lending you a costume at all.”Oh yeah. Rin winced, realizing he had sounded like an ass and sending Mephisto an apologetic smile, “sorry, I don’t know why I said that, ignore me.”Blank eyes appraised him, though Amaimon didn’t turn his head, staring at him from the corners, and Rin shrunk under the attention.“Accepted,” Mephisto said as he went back to Amaimon and Rin ducked his head to his phone again.Time passed with the intermittent sounds of Amaimon’s bored sighs and Mephisto releasing absent noises after each correction he made. Rin zoned out.The next time he looked up, Ambrosia stared back at him, hair grown long into an elaborate waterfall of ringlet curls over one shoulder and perfectly done makeup making his gold eyes glow from a flawless face.Rin let out a squeak in shock, fumbling his phone at seeing Amaimon so close.“Didn’t you want to hurry up? Did you change your mind?“ Amaimon said, head cocked to the side while Rin won the battle with his phone, squeezing it between his palms to try steadying his racing pulse.“Oh, uh, yeah- no, no I’m ready,” Rin said in a mumble, shifting to get off the bed and trying to reconcile the image Amaimon currently made. His school uniform, purple skirt, black stockings, beige jacket-top and all, made for an odd juxtaposition next to the dark elegance of his face.Mephisto waited from a few feet away for him to get his fill of Amaimon’s appearance, smug look in his eyes.“Amaimon looks great!” Rin said, in part because it was very, very true, and also as another apology for his blunder earlier.“Yes,” Mephisto said without shame, though he sent a sharp glare at Amaimon, “and he’d better not mess it up, stuffing food in his mouth or touching his face- understand?”His warning got a sullen glare in return from Amaimon and Rin snickered at the exchange, pasting an innocent smile on when that glare turned his way.Snapping and poofs of smoke broke them from each other and Rin found himself with an armful of clothes.“Into you costumes, now,” Mephisto sang, fangs exposed in a bright grinWas his grin verging a bit on evil? The glint in his eyes and off his fangs had Rin waiting for the attack to come, knowing it would be when he least expected it. But there was no point worrying about the future strike, though it definitely didn’t help his edged nerves.He tossed his pile on the bed, reaching to grab the pants before aborting the movement, realizing he needed to remove his own clothes first and shaking his head at the blip in his scattered thoughts.But another question reared its head and he glanced at where Mephisto watched Amaimon slip his skirt and stockings off.“I know you don’t have to help get our clothes perfect so why didn’t you just poof those onto us?”“Really, Rin,” Mephisto said, features undeniably wicked now, and gaze tracking Amaimon as he let his tail stretch out, slow and deliberate, behind him, “I shouldn’t have to explain this to you. Never mind that we have plenty of time yet, there’s no need to rush.”That got a snort out of Rin, not that he didn’t fully agree with the motivation, as his own gaze swept down Amaimon’s lithe form.“Yeah, I gotcha,” he said with a last eyeful, returning to his clothes.It wasn’t until he had the last piece in his hands that Rin stopped, an idea forming that had him shivering. He felt fangs pricking into his bottom lip, fingers running along the short fur, then he let the wolf-tail accessory drop to the bed and peered from under his bangs to where Amaimon had finished.“Something wrong with the tail, Rin?” Mephisto said, brow raised and frown tugging at his mouth, “the costume will hardly work without it.”Rin’s expression turned sly as he scratched at his cheek, “yeah, I know, I was just thinking I had a better idea.”“Really.” Mephisto shared an alert glance with Amaimon as Rin waited for his audience’s full attention.Then, he revealed his tail he’d let loose from under his costume, bringing it to swing around until it curved by his feet as he leaned back to sit on the mattress with a broad smirk.Hissing met his ears from two sources and Rin knew his intended effect had hit.“You said this wouldn’t be like the bathhouse!” Amaimon said in a waspish snap, unable to look away from Rin’s tail.“Sorry,” Rin said, not sorry in the slightest and beaming at Amaimon’s betrayed glare.“You little imp,” came the breathy words from Mephisto, as if he couldn’t believe what Rin had done, “I didn’t realize Amaimon had done anything recently to warrant a punishment like this.”They didn’t seem to understand. Rin had been run ragged in mind-numbing mission after grueling class, after excruciatingly dull hours of studying. He had more energy than he knew what to do with and the itch that had been steadily growing in insistence throughout his body demanded it be scratched soon or he might get a bit destructive.He’d just have to make them understand.“I told you,” Rin said, voice tinged with the beginnings of a dark growl, “I’ve got a lot of energy tonight.”Epiphany seemed to hit Mephisto as he brought a hand to his face, “of course, I should have realized, the Gehenna gate nearing its release is having an effect on you- never mind the time of year.”That cut into the haze of Rin’s strange mood, “time of year? What’s that got to do with anything?”“Spirits, demons, you name it, if it’s of Gehenna- tonight, especially- then it will have an easier time appearing to humans,” Mephisto said, his voice taking on a sing-song quality, like he was quoting something, “as in Gehenna, so in Assiah~”It sounded like the plot of every bad horror movie he’d tried to convince Yukio to watch with him as a kid.“So, what, that means I’m gonna feel like I wanna crawl out of my skin all night?” Just saying it made Rin scratch at his arm under the sleeve of the costume.“Yes, not to mention the effects are exacerbated by the Gehenna Gate and you’ll be feeling this way for a few months still to come before I’ll have to release it,” Mephisto said in confirmation of Rin’s fears.Rin groaned, resisting the urge to dig his claws in deeper, “please tell me there’s a way to make it less distracting. I haven’t been able to sit still in class for like a month now.”A shake of Mephisto’s head and a teasing smile answered him, “you’ll just have to find some way to burn off all that excess energy, perhaps more missions.”On the one hand, Rin liked being out in the field on missions- the interesting ones, at least. On the other hand, he knew Mephisto was mocking him and huffed a frustrated breath out through his nose.“We can play some more, Rin,” Amaimon said, purr accenting his words as he stalked into Rin’s space, leaning between his spread legs and making Rin stare up at him as he brought his fingers to trace at his jaw. He tilted Rin’s head, eyes shuttering as he made to press their lips together.“Ack-!”Amaimon was tugged away- the ghost of his breath on Rin’s lips- by a finger hooked into the red velvet choker around his neck. He hissed, “Samael-”“You will not be ruining that lipstick just yet, Amaimon,” Mephisto said and didn’t release his hold until Amaimon grudgingly nodded, though he didn’t move away from Rin.And, now that Rin had him up close, he took the time to appreciate the costume they’d chosen, slipping his hands to run over the tight black pants that could have been painted on, “I don’t even know how you’re breathing in this- wait, I still don’t know where you’re hiding your tail, either.”Seriously. Rin stared at the equally as tight, high-breasted corset that went up to release the voluminous folds of the white shirt Mephisto had left mostly unbuttoned, revealing Amaimon’s collarbone and a distracting amount of pale skin.There was no way he was fitting a tail up that. Rin reached to the base of Amaimon’s spine and got a low rumbled purr for his actions, Amaimon pressing into his touch.Rin stopped, blinking. Then he pressed harder, working his fingers down as he searched for the familiar feeling of Amaimon’s tail.When he still couldn’t find it, Rin gave up, spinning Amaimon around and laying his hand flat to his tailbone.“Amaimon,” Rin finally said, looking up into matching toothy grins from Mephisto and Amaimon, “where’s your tail?”Instead of answering, Amaimon sat back on Rin’s leg, making himself comfortable as Rin grunted at the sudden weight but wrapped Amaimon more securely into his arms anyway, hoping someone would make sense of things.“Well, unlike a certain little monster, Amaimon is hardly going to show his tail- it wouldn’t fit his costume, even if he wanted to,” Mephisto said, though it was only half an explanation, so Rin tapped a thumb to Amaimon’s waist to prod him into talking.“Hm,” Amaimon hummed, dropping his shoulder in a distracting shrug just beneath Rin’s nose, his scent catching Rin’s attention until he hooked his chin over it and breathed into the crook of his neck, “I hid it.”“Huh, I didn’t know you guys could do that,” Rin said after he’d considered the short words, focus more on nosing further to Amaimon’s jaw, “can I do that with mine?”“Who knows!” Mephisto smiled, green eyes tracking the slide of the fangs extended in Rin’s mouth, “you’re quite the anomaly, there’s no telling what unexpected talents will pop up.”So, odds were Mephisto knew and just didn’t want to say. Another one of those things Rin would probably be a little more upset about if he thought about it too long.“You did want to go to the festival tonight, Rin, yes?” The question took Rin from tasting the now thrumming pulse in Amaimon’s artery, “or were you going to undo all the hard work I put into Amaimon without letting that outfit see any use.”Oh yeah, the festival. Rin forced himself to pull back from Amaimon though not without a sharp nip to his skin, allowing him to get off his lap. Not that Amaimon looked like he cared one way or another if they made it all the way to the festival or burned Rin’s restlessness sooner.Mephisto snapped his fingers, startling Rin as he tried to figure out what the snap had done, then he patted at his head and realized his own hair had undergone Mephisto’s rigorous grooming until it met his standards and huffed a wry breath.“We good to go?” Rin asked, just in-case Mephisto decided there was something else that needed to be done to them before they could be seen in public.Narrowed eyes swept he and Amaimon, Mephisto’s gaze analytic as he stroked his chin in thought.“Ah, yes,” the look that overtook Mephisto had Rin’s heart thudding, waiting for the strike as the suggestive smile stretched his lips across bristling fangs and he stepped with dark purpose towards Amaimon, “one finishing touch should do it.”Before Amaimon could decide if he would retreat or not, Mephisto had a hand to the back of his skull, bending him over and stretching his neck in a harsh curve to give him access to the revealed column of his throat.He sunk his fangs in without hesitation, eliciting a snarl from Amaimon that he ignored to bite deeper, blood welling up and seeping out around his lips. The vivid red of it contrasted with Amaimon’s pale skin, staining him and moving to the equally as bright shirt he wore to tarnish both.Mephisto released Amaimon, disregarding his panting breaths and glowing irises at the attack to drag him forward into a kiss as deep as the bite had been, smearing the blood he’d drawn into a macabre mess on his lips and chin.Rin stared, a bit wild-eyed at the sight, body stricken with adrenaline and heart now racing as he tried to understand, until he blurted out, “what? I thought you didn’t want to ruin his lipstick!”Tapered tongue now clearing the blood from his own lips, Mephisto smirked at Rin, wiping a clawed finger to the corner of his mouth to suck it clean and really not helping Rin’s threadbare impulse control.“What is a vampire without a little blood to color them?” Mephisto said, finally letting Amaimon’s hair free from his clawed grasp so he could right himself with a shudder.Had he asked a question? Rin was pretty sure it was rhetorical, fixated on the trail of red going down Amaimon’s neck from his mouth and strongly considering adding his own bite to the other side.“Now, off with you two, and remember to behave yourselves,” the wash of Mephisto’s words went over Rin’s head, the meaning reaching him more than the exact message as he forced himself to his feet. “I had better not hear about another statue being destroyed.”“Yeah, sure thing,” Rin mumbled, shaking his head to try dislodging the white fuzz filling it and making his way to Amaimon’s side. The hot saliva pooling in his mouth when he made it up close to the tantalizing scent trailing from Amaimon had him swallowing heavily, but he managed to break from the haze enough to look over at Mephisto.His eyes searched the pleased expression Mephisto wore, frowning as he readied himself to leave.“I wish you could come, too.”The expression wiped clean from Mephisto, his face becoming statuesque as he processed Rin’s words and his own frown formed.Amaimon scoffed, unconcerned, “there’s no reason he can’t.”That broke Mephisto’s silence and he crossed his arms, brows twitching, “there are several reasons that won’t be possible, Amaimon, that I have explained many times over by now.”“No good reasons,” Amaimon corrected, holding to his opinion that somehow Rin being involved with the headmaster of the Academy he attended and the Order’s director, never mind also being involved with Amaimon, wouldn’t create more than a few difficulties in Rin’s and Mephisto’s lives.Rin didn’t think there was any explanation Mephisto or he had given that would sway Amaimon’s opinion at this point, so he just sighed and wound their arms together.“We’ll see you later, Mephisto.”Amaimon snapped them away to Mephisto’s “goodbye.”The quiet of the manor was replaced by the chaos of a crowd. Lights and sounds bombarded Rin in a cacophony that had his heart racing in excitement as he adjusted and jerked his head around to take it all in.“This is amazing!” He watched a gaggle of kids dressed in costume run through the artificial fog coming from a fog machine, followed by several adults who must have been their parents shouting for them to slow down.Another group of people Rin’s age took his attention next, vaguely recognizing them from his regular classes and grinning at the costumes they wore.“Rin,” Amaimon’s voice pulled him back and he blinked up into stoic eyes, “your humans are there.”“Rin!” Sure enough, the sound of his name shouted from Shiemi’s mouth brought him around to see what they’d gone as, anticipation about the mystery of their costumes being finally revealed making him giddy.Their groups merged, Rin laughing along with Shiemi and laughing even harder when he saw Yukio.“We both went as werewolves!” Rin said, grinning at Yukio.“Technically, we didn’t,” came the correction from Yukio as he adjusted his glasses, “I went as the wolf from the children’s fable.”Shiemi in her little red-hooded cape had answered that for Rin, but still, “yeah but same thing, we’re both wolves. It totally counts.”“You didn’t have to use a fake tail on yours, though,” Shiemi added, smiling, “it looks so good, Rin!”Izumo huffed from besides them, her own guise being the hunter, fake plastic axe strapped across her hips, plaid shirt and all, “that’s not even a wolf tail.”“Yeah,” Rin said, scratching at the back of his head, feeling the headband holding a pair of fuzzy wolf-ears to him shift, “I know, I just wanted to try it out instead, I’d probably lose the fake one if I tried to wear it.”A short exhale from Amaimon’s nose had Rin hiding twitching lips and letting his tail accidentally knock into his leg as they walked to the entrance to get their tickets. The low growl he got for his efforts had him smiling wider up beneath his lashes into the intense gaze that met his.“Ambrosia, that’s such a pretty costume, “Shiemi said, a faint blush pinking her cheeks as she looked from the tips of Amaimon’s thigh-high, laced up heeled boots to the bat-wing hair accessory and finally ended on the red staining his front, “and the blood looks so real!”“Er,” Yukio started beside her, his own gaze flicking to the blood drying on Amaimon’s mouth, “Shiemi I don’t think…”“Shh!” Izumo hushed him, “yeah, Ambrosia makes a great vampire. Look! I think I see the rest of the guys over there.”Shiemi safely distracted, they were able to make it to where Bon, Shima and Konekomaru stood. They’d gone as a cat and two mice, Konekomaru looking especially happy in his cat tail, ears and whiskers while Shima looked his usual breezy attitude and Bon long-suffering.Rin started to compliment their costumes.“Oh my god,” Shima whispered once he caught sight of them, “look at those heels. I think I want Ambrosia to step-”“And we’re shutting up now, Shima,” Bon growled, slapping a hand over his mouth while Rin stepped closer to Amaimon and grinned with more fang than necessary at Shima.“Uh hey, did Paku not decide to come?” Rin asked when he was able to consider the group, “Godaiin is working this weekend and couldn’t make it.”Izumo waved her hand, explaining, “she’s inside already with that boyfriend of hers, we might meet them later.”They continued into the park, Rin nearly vibrating out of his skin when he caught sight of the rollercoasters and clutching at Amaimon’s arm, “okay we gotta go on that.”“No way, you guys can go,” Izumo said, looping her arm with Shiemi and heading to the teacups next to it with Yukio.Seeing Amaimon getting strapped into the ride had Rin laughing. The poor guy who had to check Amaimon’s seatbelt shook like he was trying to approach a tiger and Amaimon tracked him with slit-pupils and a placid expression until he jerked away like he’d been bitten, leaving them to wait for the ride to start.Though, Rin was reminded of the last time they’d been at the amusement park together and nudged his head to Amaimon’s shoulder, snickering, “you know, it’s too bad we can’t just surf this thing the whole way- maybe we can convince Mephisto to let us when no one’s here.”“Humans make things too complicated,” Amaimon grumbled, already impatient with how long it was taking to do boring things like safety checks.Still, gold eyes glowed when they reached the apex and began the descent of the first drop while Rin let out elated screams with the rest of the people until they reached the end with a whoosh of air and a jerking stop.“Okay, next next next!” Rin babbled when they got off, searching for the next ride and tail whipping behind him with his joy.Claws tugging at his sleeve had Rin turning to Amaimon to see what he wanted.“I want to get those,” he said, indicating a giant tub of floating apples in one of the festival game booths.“Ooh, yes! Bobbing for apples is great!” Rin went with him, getting them set up with tickets and settling back to watch.He should have thought it through more.“Oh- oh boy.” It was actually kind of fascinating in a horrifying way to watch Amaimon unhinge his jaw to swallow like, half of the apples in one go. But, he grinned and clapped when Amaimon took the prize from the dumbfounded booth manager, accepting the gift dropped into his hands a moment later.“Thanks, Ambrosia,” Rin said, gifting his own reward of a short kiss to Amaimon’s lips and tasting the intoxicating mixture of his blood and the sweet apple juices that had stained them. It was difficult to stop before he “ruined” the lipstick, almost giving in and going back for more before they were interrupted by their names being called.The soft growl from Amaimon echoed with the one in Rin’s chest, though he was able to shake himself from the reaction as they rejoined the group.“Oh!” Shiemi said as her head turned when something caught her eye, “we should try the mirror house! I had so much fun last time with the little ghost boy.”“This one I can do,” Izumo said in agreement.Rin and Amaimon trailed at the end of the group, entering the house of mirrors. Rin took the time to enjoy the way Amaimon’s pants clung tight to his body. Though he wished he had been able to keep his tail out, imagining the way it would be swaying behind him in slow curves at his calves, accentuated in the six-inch heels that Rin still had no idea how he walked in.Somehow, while he’d been distracted, they’d gotten separated from everyone, the sounds of their voices bouncing around the maze and warping in Rin’s senses until he couldn’t track them at all.Huh, that was weird. He focused back on the column of Amaimon’s throat, wondering if he could get a fun reaction from dragging his nails through the thick green curls to part them over his shoulder.They were far enough away from anyone right then, anyway, right?Wait.That didn’t make sense either. Rin forced his mind off Amaimon, trying to figure out why his instincts were starting to prick as if in alarm.The twisting halls seemed to go on forever, as if they’d been teleported to another plane of existence. Shadows grew darker, the white of Amaimon’s shirt and his skin bright somehow, despite there being no light source to explain the glow.But, if Amaimon wasn’t reacting, then there was nothing to worry about.He licked at his lips, grasping the remembered taste he’d stolen from Amaimon.Maybe they could-Amaimon vanished just as Rin reached for his hips with extended claws.“Wha-?” He turned, the hall reflecting only himself back from the endless surfaces. His heart thudded to his ribs, pulse a distracting rush in his ears as he tried to listen for Amaimon’s heart and, when he couldn’t hear it, loosed a confused whimper.Something was wrong. Very wrong.“Amaimon!” Rin shouted, fists clenched and claws stabbing into his palm, unworried about anyone hearing him call his true name because he couldn’t find him.Where was he? Where was he?“Amai-!”Footsteps, loud, despite his panicked cries, had him wrenching his head in an effort to pinpoint them.“Amaimon?”The name trembled out of him, eyes wide to try to see where the source of the steady steps came from.Then movement had him zeroing in to the long floors at the base of the mirrors, purple in the gloom as they revealed themselves to be the familiar heels of Amaimon’s costume boots.Slowly, from the deep shadows, emerged a figure.It looked like Amaimon, walked like Amaimon.
It wasn’t Amaimon.
Hands reached out to him to grasp his throat between black, dagger-like claws, coming at him from every angle so that he couldn’t tell where the touch would come from until it was already there.Rin swallowed, his voice croaked out from a dry throat just as long, pale fingers caressed shivering skin, tapping a rhythm to his pounding artery. Warmth pressed to his back and a nose to his hair, inhaling in a deep breath.“What are you doing here?” He whispered because his voice couldn’t seem to rise above one, rasping with his attempts to speak.“I wish you could come with us,” murmured Amaimon’s voice, “is that not what you said?”He had…“Mephisto?”“Mmn, yes, Rin?” Lips scrawled into a smile against his scalp. The hands at his neck traced down, playing with the ties of his collar, further, to explore each individual button of his vest in a suggestion of a touch to settle at his hips and knead there.Hips moved in light circles at his back, every slow press shifting Rin’s tail and sending sparks along the sensitive nerves.He spun around in Mephisto’s hold, growling and shoving him into the nearest mirror to roll their hips together in a rough grind. Capturing the grinning mouth in his, careless of the lipstick Mephisto could yell at him for smearing later, Rin released a long groan and closed his eyes to take in the scent enveloping him in the maze.“I’m happy you came,” Rin said into the mouth he couldn’t seem to pull back from for more than a moment to catch his breath.Though, one thing needed to be asked and Rin opened his eyes to glare into the heated gold ones staring down at him, “now, where’s Amaimon?”A thumb rubbed at the line of his bottom lip, likely to clean him of the lipstick Rin had no doubt kissed off Mephisto, before he answered, “I’ve explained that it’s only fair I be allowed a chance to spend some time with you tonight, he’ll be watching for a little while from the sidelines.”“Cool,” Rin said, content that Amaimon was okay, at least, before trying to capture Mephisto’s mouth again.Fingers at his lips stopped him and he growled, nipping at the tips in his impatience, before the wry smirk on Amaimon’s face forced him to think about what he was doing.“Did you not want to enjoy the festival, Rin?” Mephisto said, definitely mocking now.The festival. Right. Rin shook his head, forcing himself back from Mephisto, though his body protested the lack of the inviting heat that had built between their bodies.“Yeah, yes, we havta get back to the others before they think I ditched them,” Rin said to himself, an effort to convince his mind and body that he shouldn’t just go back to making out with Mephisto in Amaimon’s body in the house of mirrors at the amusement park on Halloween night.Right. Time to go, then.Rin turned, hoping he could get through the rest of the maze without running into a mirror because he was distracted by Mephisto.Mephisto stopped him with a hand to his wrist.“There’s one thing you have to do for me before we can leave, Rin.”Dark lust coated the words that dripped from Amaimon’s mouth, making Rin’s hackles raise and his heart leap to his throat when he was directed back to looking up at Mephisto.Neck tilted to bare his unmarked skin and shoulder dropped in open invitation had Rin’s fangs extending in a slow slide.“I’ll need you to complete the outfit, Rin,” Mephisto spoke over the pulse thrumming in Rin’s ears, blocking all else out, “what’s a vampire without a little blood to color them?”His fangs locked onto Mephisto’s neck before he could think, sinking down to slice into the muscle and veins until hot blood spurted into his mouth and slipped over his chin from the artery there.Mephisto’s gasp of pain and pleasure only encouraged him to bite harder, growls muffled into the rent flesh he worried at until both their clothes were stained with the liquid heat.Rin didn’t care, yanking his fangs free and swallowing the hissed breath from Mephisto’s mouth, painting both their lips red, more so when their tongues cut on needle-sharp points.He groaned, quivering in the tight hold as he lost himself to the strange sensation of being kissed by Amaimon’s form with Mephisto’s particular technique.But they couldn’t lose themselves completely here, a voice in the back of Rin’s mind spoke up, though he grumbled at the reminder, nipping to bring more red to Mephisto’s lips as he forced himself to pull back for the second time.Panting breaths filled the area, Rin leaning to rest his head to the heaving, blood-stained chest in front of him until they both stopped shaking.“Well,” came the words from Mephisto as he fingered Rin’s drenched vest, chuckling, “that was a little more than I needed and might, in-fact, create more notice than had I left it alone.”“Sorry,” Rin grunted, still not sorry at all, but finally able to let Mephisto free from his hold.A snap echoed in the hall and the blood that had soaked the entire front of his body was replaced by an exact replica of the pattern he’d left on Amaimon earlier. Rin huffed a breath, rolling his eyes at the guileless smile looking out of place on Amaimon as the blood staining his own clothes also vanished.“Ah, hey, wait,” Rin paused, worried frown causing one to form on Mephisto, “what happened to the rot? I thought holding the gate was causing it, are you better, now?”Mephisto’s frown deepened, expression blank besides that, until, when Rin thought he would brush him off, he raised his hand to the thick curls of Amaimon’s hair and drew it aside.The sickly-sweet scent Rin had begun associating with the smell of the ever-expanding rot on Mephisto’s body hit his senses then. A large patch of degradation went down along the bared skin until it disappeared beneath his shirt.“Oh, I’m sorry,” Rin muttered, and this time he meant it, wishing, not for the first time, that Mephisto didn’t have to deal with the constant agony that came with housing his concept in a too small vessel just to exist on Assiah.“Shall we, then?” Mephisto asked instead of lingering further on it, covering the degradation with Amaimon’s hair again.At Rin’s confirmation, another snap came and sound rushed back to fill the hall, purple shadows pulling away to leave a simple house of mirrors. Rin heard his friends’ voices coming from up ahead, able to pinpoint them and leading the way this time.Of course. They’d been sequestered by whatever crazy abilities Mephisto had in some weird dimensional space. Rin hid a sigh in disappointment that he hadn’t figured it out sooner.If his tail moved in deliberately teasing coils as he walked, then it was because Mephisto deserved it, the bastard.“Rin! There you are,” Shiemi said when they rounded a corner.“Yeah, we got lost," Rin shrugged, only putting a minimum into the lie.Shima’s brows waggled as he grinned at them, “oh, I’ll bet you did.”“Come on, we’re almost out of here,” Yukio said with a sigh.They made it out- and Mephisto attached himself to Rin’s side, tracing a clawed fingertip to the inside of his wrist as Rin jolted from the sudden move.Amaimon would do something like that- though the touch to his wrist had been all Mephisto- Rin knew, but not Mephisto, not usually.But Mephisto was pretending to be Amaimon for the night, which meant he would be acting very not like Mephisto.Gold eyes gleamed with the mirth Mephisto would have shown had he been in his real form. The rest of his face stayed in a carefully schooled expression of apathy.Then he spotted a cotton candy stand and yanked at Rin’s hand, pointing to it in a move perfectly Amaimon, “I want that.”“S-sure,” Rin stuttered, still thrown but slowly getting into the fun of it. “Hey, guys, we’re gonna get some cotton candy.”“Seriously? We’ve still got so many things to cover,” Bon crossed his arms, “and you’re going to get sick if you go on a ride with all that sugary crap in your stomach.”Rin snickered at Bon’s mother-henning, “nah, we’ll be okay, we’ll catch up again, you guys can keep going.”“If you say so,” Izumo said, not concerned with leaving them, though Shiemi added that they’d walk slow so they could find them easier. Rin didn’t have the heart to tell her it didn’t matter how slow they walked, they could just scent them out and warp to their location.“I wonder,” Mephisto said, startling Rin as he purred the words into his ear, “how obvious I can be without raising suspicion.”Shivering at the warm breath ghosting over his skin, Rin tried to imagine what, exactly, Mephisto might try to get away with in an effort to find the answer to his question.Though if he wanted Rin’s opinion…Lips curling in a smirk while they waited in line had Mephisto stilling against him as he responded, “I can just tell them you’re feeling funny because it’s Halloween, right? That’s what you told me when I got all weird.”Rumbling built in Mephisto’s chest, his cheek brushing Rin’s in a nuzzle, “very obvious, then, it seems.”“Yeah,” Rin breathed out from parted lips before Mephisto was forced to disengage so they could place their order. Rin was surprised when Mephisto actually pulled his card out to pay for them, not expecting it from the incredibly cheap demon.His reward was getting to watch Rin let the tip of his tongue out to swirl through the spun sugar as it melted to syrup.When Mephisto made to lean in to chase the sticky mess on his lips, Rin held his hand up, grinning.“Sorry, Mephisto said not to mess up your lipstick, Ambrosia,” he sang the reminder, enjoying the severe scowl Mephisto shot at him and moving to lead them back to his friends before he could try again.Just around the corner, though the next crowd of people, and there they wer-Rin stopped cold, hand clenching hard and crumpling the cheap cardboard cone as his flames flared inside him in a dangerous spike that threatened to burn outside his body.Hissing behind him from Mephisto made an echoing hiss pour from between his fangs he discovered bared and elongated.“Why is he here?” Mephisto cursed under his breath, “of all the nights.”Damn him.Rin wanted to set something on fire.Because there was Lightning, chatting with his friends and dressed in a mock-up of a soot-sprite, black tendrils bouncing from the headband they were attached to with his laughs he shared with Rin’s friends. They’re mine, back off- back off!One night. One single night, Rin had with Mephisto, even if it wasn’t entirely what he was able to have with Amaimon, it was more than he’d ever gotten yet. His friends and Yukio might have suspected something was wrong but they would never connect the dots.He didn’t need Mephisto’s warning hand at his elbow to know Lightning wouldn’t have any trouble connecting dots, had interacted with Amaimon enough in his cram classes, even if it was just to ask annoyingly pointed questions of he or Rin, to know his mannerisms.“Dammit,” Rin hissed again, “I hate him, this is so unfair. Dammit!”“Hush, Rin,” Mephisto soothed, ruffled feathers somehow settled already and running a warm touch to Rin’s back until his growls receded, “as annoying as this is, it doesn’t change the game, just gives us new parameters to work around, yes?”Exhaling in a long, controlled breath allowed Rin to unclench his white-knuckled grip on the cotton candy stick, though there was no saving it, so he tossed it in the nearest trash bin while Mephisto cleaned the melted sugar from his skin in the next moment.It didn’t stop Rin from stalking up to the outside of the group, knowing his smile had a sharp edge to it that he hoped Lightning saw.“Hey guys, we’re back,” he said, unable to help the growl that came out with his last word, though he managed to keep it below human hearing.Growling, definitely not below human hearing, came from Mephisto.Why was he-?Shock at the unexpected sound faded in the next instance as Rin realized, that, where Mephisto had to be polite to Lightning, Amaimon very much did not.And Mephisto wouldn’t be passing up his golden opportunity.Good. Rin almost let him keep it up, even though he could see the anxiety it caused in the rest of the group, but brought his hand to Mephisto’s arm, “it’s okay, Ambrosia.”The sounds tapered off, though Rin knew, if he looked, that those gold eyes would be glaring vitriol, as they usually did in Lightning’s presence.“Rin, what happened to your tail?” Shiemi broke in, freeing the rest of them from the spell of fear that Mephisto’s warning growls had created.“My tail?” Rin blinked, peering over his shoulder to see his tail had been replaced by the wolf-tail accessory he’d discarded earlier. Patting at his chest confirmed it, and Rin sent a grateful look to Mephisto for hiding it beneath his clothes before Lightning had seen it.The idea of such a vulnerable piece of himself bared to his eyes made his skin crawl with disgust that he contained to smile at Shiemi, “ah, it kept getting knocked into by people, so I hid it again.”Although, Rin shot a suspicious stare at Mephisto, wondering if there was another reason he’d hidden it. That reason being he wouldn’t have to suffer Rin’s torment like he’d been planning on subjecting he and Amaimon to that night.Humor had his mood lightening, figuring he’d have to make up for the lost opportunity to torment them another time.“That’s a bummer,” Lightning’s voice soured Rin’s mood in the next moment, “I’m super curious about your tail, almost as much as I am about Kurikara.”Leering eyes from Lightning had Rin narrowing his as Mephisto let his growls pick up again, snapping in such a perfect mimicry of Amaimon’s usual tone- filtered through by the voice he used as Ambrosia- that Rin would have never been able to tell the two apart, “none of your business, exorcist.”“Yeah, sorry,” Rin cut in, squeezing Mephisto’s arm like he would Amaimon, “you’re just gonna have to stay curious- can we go on more rides now, guys?”His question got everyone moving.“Sure, let’s keep going, we’ve got a lot more to cover still,” Yukio said in an effort to take charge.He fell into step by Konekomaru while Mephisto stayed close at his other side.Lightning being in their group made it difficult, but Rin managed to fall into a light conversation with Konekomaru and Shima. Bon had taken over wrangling Lightning as he always did and Shiemi kept Yukio and Izumo occupied by getting excited with every cool Halloween-themed thing they walked past.Rin had almost moved beyond the unwanted shock when Lightning just had to talk to them again."I can't believe how crazy it's gotten recently with the demonic activity, even the soot sprites are more energetic than usual," a piercing gaze from under Lightning's shaggy fringe of hair had Rin immediately on edge, "it's gotta be affecting you two, right? How does that feel? My familiars have never really been able to explain it all that well, ya' know?"How it felt? Rin wanted to incinerate something, preferably Lightning, and his question hadn't even been that intrusive this time.He'd been doing fine managing his flames as they fought for release in a million tiny ways inside him, playing with Amaimon or Mephisto to get it out of his system before it pressurized, but that night and being faced with the annoyance of dealing with Lightning was putting more strain on his control than he wanted.“Keep asking and you’ll find out,” Mephisto growled from Rin’s side, and, when he looked at him, he saw claws flexing and fangs bristling. How much was Mephisto and how much was Mephisto-pretending-to-be-Amaimon? The thought of seeing Mephisto able to cut loose a little broke into his own irritation, a sudden fascination blooming in his mind.“Ahaha, that bad, huh?” His carefree laugh had Rin exhaling to release the irritation before it returned but, luckily, Shima spotted their next attraction.“Uh, hey, guys, look!” He gestured to the tall pole with a bell at the top, “let’s go try the strength test.Did it count as cheating if him hitting the target would destroy the whole thing? Rin pouted, though he tried to hide it, knowing it wasn’t all about him and his friends deserved a chance to have fun, even if he couldn’t join them in something like the strength test.Mephisto brushed past him, moving with the deliberate gait he associated with Amaimon that always reminded Rin of a big cat prowling through the underbrush as it stalked prey, fluid power in every shift of his body.“Er, Ambrosia?” Rin called, getting a slow blink back before Mephisto continued on his path and shoved Shima aside just as he’d been about to go. Rin had a moment for his heart to drop as Mephisto raised the mallet over his head with one hand like he was holding air--Then he dropped it and a sharp crack rang from the base he’d slammed the mallet to as everyone flinched at the impact. Rin squinted from under his bangs, looking for the destruction that had to be there.“Here.”Rin found a massive stuffed cat plushie with a witch’s hat sewn to its head shoved in his face, hands coming up on automatic to grab it and pull it down far enough to gape in Mephisto’s still impassive face.He shot another glance at the pole, finding it somehow not destroyed, then back at the impatient frown starting to form on Mephisto’s face.“Wow, it almost looks like Kuro, Rin, how cute!” Shiemi’s gasp of awe jolted him from his stupor.“Yeah, cute,” Yukio mumbled, and Rin could see tension leaving him too, “where are you going to fit that in our dorm? We’re squeezed in enough as it is.”The question made Rin tighten the plush in his crossed arms protectively, “don’t know, don’t care, on my bed with the other one Ambrosia got me.”Yukio sighed, “as long as it doesn’t end up on my side.”“It won’t,” Rin said, sticking his tongue out. Then he sidled up to Mephisto and planted a kiss on his face, rubbing their cheeks together next since his arms were totally occupied by the giant stuffed Kuro that Mephisto had just won for him like they were normal people on a date to an amusement park.And Mephisto purred, something Rin so rarely heard from him outside of play, even if it was in Amaimon’s pitch.It made Rin want to reward him, to thank him for the prize and for being there with him, even if, in a perfect world, Rin wouldn’t have to choose between spending the night with Mephisto or Amaimon. One day, he would have both of them by his side, openly and without facades about who they were.Future thought had never been his strong-suit, but, in a flash of determination, Rin decided he would make that future a reality. Rin shook his head to clear it, not sure why his mind had taken a weird turn into such a serious place.Mephisto had been right. Lightning was an annoyance, but they would enjoy themselves no matter what. He was able to cheer Bon and Shima on when they both made their go’s at the test, mood lightened as they finished and went to the next attraction.Hunger had them deciding to grab fried festival food, everything Halloween-themed or named to get in the spirit of the night. Kuro plushie vanished by Mephisto, Rin sat between he and Shiemi, about to start in on the mound on his plate when movement from Mephisto brought him to glance his way.He stopped, chopsticks falling back to the plate when he’d just begun lifting them to his mouth.Jaw opened to proportions not unusual to see on Amaimon’s face but very, very, utterly out of place for Mephisto, had Rin’s own dropping. He watched in utter bafflement as Mephisto inhaled like he’d never seen food before then forced himself to pick his chopsticks back up and ignore the sight before anyone noticed him acting like it was odd.Well, Rin hid a laugh, feeling his lips twitch in humor anyway, as long as Mephisto was having fun. Though he wondered if Mephisto would complain about it later, or if he and Amaimon would get to tease him over acting so true to his role.Relative peace lasted over the course of their meal.“Guys, the map of the park says the haunted house is nearby, we should check it out,” Konekomaru said, getting a flurry of mixed responses.Shima’s exaggerated shiver of fear got drowned out and, once Shiemi spoke up with nervous excitement about wanting to try it out, that decided things.“You better not jump on me like you did last time we went to one of these, Shima,” Bon grumbled, though he already looked resigned to that exact event happening. Rin joined Izumo in snickering at him, feeling his own excitement at the idea of a haunted house.Wailing from hidden speakers heralded the entrance to the house, a line of people outside that made Rin antsy just looking at it, but they stayed, convinced of the worth by the real screaming they heard from people who’d made it in.Rin started bouncing his foot, the fidgeting keeping him occupied. Then arms wound around his shoulders and a chilled nose shoved to his hair.“I’m cold,” Mephisto said as he made himself comfortable, chasing the heat Rin gave off exactly like Amaimon did and making him squeak at the abrupt move.He was quick to wrap him closer, concentrating on releasing more heat. The energy expenditure, however subtle, allowed Rin to relax, his heart he hadn’t realized had been beating fast in his chest calming to normal levels.“Thanks, Ambrosia,” Rin said in a murmur to Mephisto’s collar, closing his eyes and inhaling to steady himself further. He’d forgotten the blood, though it had dried and begun flaking after so long, and the scent had his fangs dropping on automatic before he could stop the reaction.It definitely didn’t help that Mephisto had his throat arched just tantalizing inches away from Rin’s mouth and he scowled, knowing the bastard had done it on purpose. The sly smile curling against him a second later confirmed it, and Rin pinched Mephisto’s hips, getting a jolt of that pulse in his view for his retribution.“I hope it’s not too scary,” Shiemi said, drawing Rin away from thoughts of licking Mephisto’s throat.They’d reached the entrance, exchanging tickets and beginning the tour.“We’re so not making it through this whole thing,” Izumo said as she rolled her eyes. Rin noticed she crept closer to Shiemi, though.“Why? Because we won’t make it out alive?” Shima whimpered, eyes darting around the foyer as fog from machines spilled out around their feet from a long, dark hallway, “why would you put it like that, Izumo?”“Come on, you big baby,” Bon said, not waiting and pushing forward into the hall.Mechanical whirring had Rin jerking his head to the source, a moment later a puppet dropped from the ceiling to chitter and laugh above their heads while shrieks met it in response.“You can’t talk, Izumo!” Shima yelped, tears in his eyes from the fright even as they hurried on down the hall, “you totally screamed too!”“Sh-shut up, Shima!” Izumo said in a high-pitched version of her normal voice.“That was so much fun!” Shiemi laughed, clapping before returning to holding tight to Yukio’s hand.“Come closer~” A hissing voice rose in the darkness, coming from all sides and making Shima scream before anything had even happened.Hands, multitudes of them, jammed themselves in grasping, clawing motions from holes in the sides of the wall, belonging to real people as they brushed just shy of their sleeves, keeping them in a tight line to avoid being grabbed. Frantic music accompanied them, urging their steps faster.Rin got distracted from the path when a clawed hand skimmed down the back of his neck, raising goosebumps that had nothing to do with the haunted house and everything to do with Mephisto feeling him up in the dark.Strobe lights flashed across his vision in the next section. A confusing sensory whirl accompanied by bellowing howls made it even harder to concentrate. His attention split between keeping up with the group and the fangs now nipping at his vertebrae, Mephisto dogged in his torment.He growled, hand tightening on the wrist he still had captured, but it didn’t stop Mephisto from laving his tongue over the hot sting he’d left, clearing what was definitely blood his attentions had drawn from Rin.“Please tell me that growl was you, Rin,” Shima broke in, and Rin realized they’d made it to a quiet room, cutting off his growls with a sheepish smile, not that Shima could see it, what with how he’d shoved his face into the back of Bon’s costume.“Yeah, sorry.”Chains dragging on the floor from behind the far door stopped Rin from talking. Though, from what he could hear, even though the sound was, on the surface, of something big moving with heavy, thudding, steps, it seemed off somehow. More mechanical than like a living person.“Can we turn back?” Shima rasped, clutching to Bon’s solid frame and wide eyes now locked on the door where the steps had paused.Everything hung on a string pulled trip-wire taut. Rin concentrated and thought he heard more panting breaths than could be accounted for in the room.“Nothing’s happening,” Shima, voice a bare whisper, said after a moment, “maybe we can-”Several things happened at once.Doors in the wooden floors to either side burst open, nightmares rising from the depths in contorting, writhing movements that raced on jerking limbs towards them without hesitation.Shima screamed, blood-curdling, and leapt into Bon’s arms.Koneko clung to Bon’s other side, terror building and eyes so wide the image of the oncoming attack reflected there.Izumo and Shiemi wrapped their arms around Yukio with twin shrieks and tears in their eyes while Yukio shouted in surprise, either from the unexpected touch to his person or the mob encroaching on their position was impossible to tell.And Lightning tripped back from one of the doors that had opened too close to his feet, laughing until, at Shima’s flailing movements, Bon toppled over, knocking into Lightning.It seemed to happen in slow-motion. Lightning stumbled, twisting to catch his balance and hands outstretched.But they were outstretched towards Rin.A camera flash went off just as Lightning fell into Rin.
Too close.
The dirty, unwashed scent that always followed Lightning around filled Rin’s nose. Hands grasped at the front of his vest, blunt nails pressed to the shirt underneath where Rin’s heart pounded at his ribcage.His mind flashed back to the day in the office when Lightning had caught him in his hold, ignored his struggles to be released, and rubbed his cheek to Rin’s in a purposeful mimicry of affection. A mimicry of a claim.He whimpered.Piercing eyes bore into his, a smile on Lightning’s face as he hung on for one. Second. Too. Long.
Don’t touch me!
Black claws clenched into Lightning’s hair, drawing a yelp from him and taking that violating gaze from where it had pinned Rin’s.Rin was tugged behind Mephisto’s back, panting in the beginnings of a panic-attack as he took in the short snarl that erupted from his mouth in Lightning’s face. It covered the trapdoors slamming closed again with the retreating haunted-house employees that hadn’t realized the mess they’d caused.When Mephisto spoke, it was with Amaimon’s words, the facade of Ambrosia dropped, though he maintained that appearance, “you touched him. I told you what would happen if you ever put one of those disgusting hands on him again, worm.”
If you touch him again, I’ll bury you. Alive.
“I hope you enjoyed your pitiful existence on Assiah,” Mephisto said in a voice that sounded like striking serpents. Rin broke into a cold sweat upon hearing that particular tone as his blood rushed in his ears and he licked at his lips in a darting flick of his tongue.“Woah! Rin, stop him!” Yukio snapped out of his shock first, shoving Izumo and Shiemi behind him as his hands went for pistols that weren’t there.Mephisto snapped his fangs in a sharp clack at Yukio, but went back to the form that had gone slack in his hold, Lightning grinning like this was the most fun he’d had in his entire life, like he wasn’t staring death in the face.“Dammit, Rin, call him off before he kills him!” Bon shouted, pulse drumming wildly and the sour tang of fear joining the others coming from his friends until it washed the scent of Lightning from overpowering to safer levels.He had to play his part. He knew Mephisto wouldn’t kill Lightning, or he would have done it already. But it still took Rin another baited moment to act.“Rin!” Shiemi cried.Okay. Okay. His breath left in a long, controlled exhale.“Amaimon,” he said, voice calm, level, as he walked to stand at the arm that held Lightning, placing his hand at Mephisto’s tensed wrist and rubbing a thumb in soothing circles to the pulse-point.“It’s okay, it was an accident. I just panicked a little, but I’m fine now. It’s okay.” The words bubbled out of him in a steady stream as he locked his eyes to the sulphur-glow and slit pupils of Mephisto’s until he finally tore his gaze from Lightning’s.“Please, Amaimon,” Rin said, not flinching at the inhuman sound that tore from Mephisto’s throat in frustration before, with a last clench of his fist, he dropped Lightning. Then he tugged Rin in by the grip still on his wrist to gather him in the protective circle of his arms and vanished them to the wall farthest from the group.Growls became purrs as Mephisto lessened the agitated behavior, and they vibrated into Rin. He suppressed a responding purr, knowing his friends wouldn’t understand, not after something so dangerous.Silence echoed in the room. The sounds of people screaming in other parts of the haunted house were the only thing that covered what would otherwise have been a deathly still atmosphere.“Haha- wow!” Lightning gasped, hand coming to slap at his chest as he rose to his feet, beaming, “that was awesome!”“Are you kidding me?” Bon shrieked, stabbing a finger at the smile on Lightning’s face, “you almost died! Can you show a little common sense?”“I deeply apologize for that, Sir Lewin,” Yukio said as he bowed his head, “please don’t let this color your opinion of my brother.”Izumo laughed, voice slightly shrill from where she clung to Shiemi, “I think it’s a little late for that at this point, Mr. Okumura.”“W-we should really move on before the next group behind us gets here,” came the quiet words from Konekomaru, his wariness apparent as he shrunk further behind Bon.Away from Mephisto. Away from him.Konekomaru’s reaction got a wince from Rin, realizing that, to them, the fear had been real.“Yeah, can we leave this place now? And never go back to another haunted house ever again, please?” Shima pled.“I’m sorry, everyone, I shouldn’t have said we should try it,” Shiemi said in a mumble that suggested tears.Right, he had to stop everything from devolving further. “It’s not your fault, Shiemi.”A chorus of agreements went up from the others until the sniffles from Shiemi faded and they were able to head from the room, finding the nearest exit and leaving the haunted house.Lightning clapped his hands, startling everyone and drawing an abrupt growl from Mephisto before, at a soft touch to his arm from Rin, it quieted.“Thanks for letting me tag along with you guys,” Lightning said as if the whole last sequence of events hadn’t happened, “I’ve gotta head in for the night for an early mission tomorrow, so you kids have fun, now!”Vague muttered goodbyes met his cheerful words.“I don’t get that guy,” Shima finally said once he’d left their line of sight.Bon sighed the sigh of someone who’d had to deal with Lightning for too long and rubbed a hand to his face, “one of these days he’s gonna piss off the wrong person and no one’s gonna be around to rescue his ass and he’s gonna leave me with all his paperwork.”Mood somewhat lightened, Shiemi spoke up, though not without hesitation stuttering her words, “um, there was just one more thing I wanted to try that I didn’t get to with the little ghost boy.”“I understand if no one wants to,” she continued, prompting several encouragements until she smiled, “well, it’s a nice slow ride.”She pointed, “I wanted to try the ferris wheel!”Bright lights lit up the night high above the rest of the amusement park from the ferris wheel, almost a beacon.“Oh yeah, that’s much less likely to go wrong in terrifying ways,” Shima said with a hand to his chest to steady himself.“Okay,” Yukio said as he gestured to start walking, “one more ride then whoever wants to should head home for the night,” by which Rin knew he meant himself, but wouldn’t push him to stay longer when it was already a miniature miracle he’d come with in the first place.Also…He flicked a glance to the blank expression on Mephisto’s face, seeing he’d put on the appearance of going back to ignoring everyone around him and scanning the crowd for something to catch his interest.Rin didn’t get time to complete the half-formed thought. He let Mephisto climb into the cage of the ferris wheel cart they had to themselves, then, before Mephisto could tug him to the seat next to him, moved so that he sat across from him instead.At the furrowed brows, Rin just leaned back in the cart, neutral expression meeting the confusion his actions created in Mephisto.The cart began moving. Rin crossed his legs and arms while Mephisto stilled further at the look Rin held him by from beneath the strands of his hair that had come loose.Then, they reached the zenith and Mephisto made to speak.His attempts never took. Rin moved the moment his mouth opened to claim him in a rough kiss, claws gripped in tight fistfuls of the bloodstained shirt and at the base of his skull until he couldn’t breathe and he had to pull back.Their panting filled the cart, Rin unable to move very far from the lipstick he’d smeared over Mephisto’s lips, greedy for every breath he stole.“One day I will have his corpse tossed out for the crows to eat like the carrion beast he is,” Mephisto growled into his mouth, biting the words of his promise there.Rin groaned helplessly at those words from Mephisto, falling into him in desperate jolts of his hips, needing to get closer.Mephisto sucked at his bottom lip, worrying it until it reddened and bruised as he palmed every inch of Rin’s body he could reach.A poof erupted in the cart and a second pair of clawed hands started running over the fur of Rin’s tail they'd tugged from under his clothes until he moaned. The fur moving against the grain had him arching his spine, pushing at the hand there and dropping his head back to bare his throat to Mephisto’s fangs.“Shh, Rin, we’re not quite so private here,” Mephisto said in a low murmur, though his glinting gold eyes spoke of excitement drawn by the sounds Rin made, “unless you’d rather everyone know how...upset you are with your dear Ambrosia’s actions tonight.”Fangs grazed over the point of his ear as Amaimon joined the conversation, “I didn’t do anything wrong. You should have just killed the worm, then no one would tie it back to you and I wouldn’t have to smell him ever again.”The talk about murdering Lightning should have filled Rin with some kind of fear, some level of disgust. It should have.It didn’t.He turned his head to capture Amaimon’s lips with his, muffling the growls rumbling from his own and finally getting to taste Amaimon fully.After a night of too brief stolen kisses, stopped before they'd even begun, Rin was ready to take his mouth until he drowned in him.But the cart jerked and began its descent, halting their play until, with a heated gaze exchanged between them, Mephisto snapped his fingers to take them away from the festival.Would the others wonder about his departure? Probably not for long, and Rin didn’t really care.Not when Mephisto was setting him on the edge of the mattress and pressing him back to nip at his jaw. Clawed fingers tugged in delicate prods to the ties at his collar. He leaned into the light scrapes that glanced over his skin as Mephisto parted his vest and shirt so he could continue moving down.His stomach quivered under the teasing hint of fangs that Rin couldn’t take his eyes off of until his entire body shuddered when Mephisto made it to his pants and smiled up at him beneath dark lashes as he unbuttoned them.He hadn’t changed back into his regular form yet.It was Amaimon’s eyes, darkened further by smokey eyeshadow, that stared up at him. Amaimon, who smiled with a sly grin that belonged on Mephisto’s face.And Amaimon’s mouth, that parted to take his zipper between his teeth and pull down in agonizingly slow centimeters.The real Amaimon crawled on the bed to kneel behind him, hands coming to frame his cheeks and tilting his head back to expose his throat to another set of gold eyes.“Amai-mmn,” Rin mumbled his name through lips that felt numbed by the pleasure spiking through his body, getting a satisfied purr from Amaimon and the sight of him leaning down, his hair a dark waterfall to the side, to take Rin’s mouth in a deep kiss.Rin chased the taste of him on his tongue, mapping out every place he could reach as he tried to devour him while his hips twitched to feel wet heat ghosting over his length.“Mmf,” Rin gasped, breaking the kiss to bring his gaze back to Mephisto, panting to try getting air into his lungs before his attempts turned into whimpers.“Mephisto,” he whined, canting his hips to try to convince him to close the remaining distance, achingly hard and beginning to leak pre-cum onto his stomach when Mephisto just licked at his lips.While his attention was on Mephisto, Amaimon took the opportunity to capture one of his hands, biting stinging cuts to the sensitive pads of his fingers until he drew blood, though he only cleaned some of it as it started beading in warm drops to trail to the fluttering pulse in Rin’s wrist.Rin's focus split between Mephisto and Amaimon, body flushed, legs spread in open invitation, and tail lashing on the sheets with the heat building in his core. He tried to glare, but it came out weak once Mephisto opened his jaw wider to display the needle-sharp rows of his fangs that grew to fill his mouth.Then he ran those fangs over the sensitive skin of his inner thighs, making Rin’s length jump and release more pre-cum, chest arching off the bed and his head shoving to the mattress between Amaimon’s legs with a thin cry.Almost without his say, Rin’s tail snapped out to attach itself to Mephisto’s neck; anything to bring him to where he really needed him, to get him to stop the torment.A hand caught his tail, stopping him from completing the move and shocking another cry from him as he stared into maliciously gleeful gold eyes."On any other occasion, Rin, I would welcome your tail around my throat," Mephisto murmured, pulling the caught appendage to his teeth so he could nip at it while Rin shouted at the electric pain shooting along his nerves."But you did think to torment us with this very same tail so I think it's only fair we get to return the favor, don't you?"He couldn't think straight, pleasure-pain rolling his eyes back in his skull while Mephisto bit just shy of breaking skin.His hand scrabbled at the sheets before he felt warmth and dug his claws into the source. A low hiss met his senses as Rin registered that he’d latched into Amaimon’s thigh, though he only dug harder, inflicting the same torture he underwent until he had Amaimon hunched over him and moaning.With Amaimon’s hold on his hand gone limp, Rin stole control of the grip and wrested it to his fangs to sink them between fragile tendons and shred the veins inside. Blood spilled out over his lips as Amaimon snarled at the pain, though he didn’t pull away, pushed, instead, to deepen the punctures and soak the sheets under Rin’s head.“Hm, so you are punishing Amaimon, after-all,” Mephisto said, taking time to tease Rin with his tongue and his fingers rubbing in deep circles to the bundle of nerves at the tip of his tail.“Mephisto,” Rin growled, releasing Amaimon’s wrist as he let out a deepening rumble to echo the wild desperation inside. But he would try nicely once more, “please, Mephisto.”Mephisto appeared to think about it, cocking his head so his hair slid along his shoulder and he stared from the corner of his eye, “I think you can beg better than that, Rin.”Beg? Rin’s eyes widened at hearing that. He wanted him to beg?He would make Mephisto beg.Tearing himself from his prone position, Rin snarled in Mephisto’s face where he yanked his head back by his hair, neck arched into a painful curve and Rin’s legs locked around his shoulders to keep him in place between them.“Mephisto,” Rin hissed super-heated air, “please.”Slit pupils slivered before dilating to envelope the iris until only a ring of gold shone through. Rin purred at the sight, making to lean down and press Mephisto the rest of the way to his length.His efforts met resistance, Rin frowned, about to apply more force.And Mephisto grinned, a toothy baring of fangs, hand raising and snapping before Rin could stop him.The world spun, reality blipping out and reworking itself in the next moment as Rin yelped in confusion and jerked to try finding his feet.He couldn’t. Something wouldn’t let him.Twisting his head to the side proved almost impossible, caught in some kind of fabric he felt but couldn’t see.Rin whimpered when he saw the cause, eyes rolling to the side and yanking his hands again in the pink-polka dotted scarves that might as well have been made of iron- worse, because Rin could destroy iron as easily as the silk scarves supposedly binding him at his wrists, his ankles, his mouth, to various corners of the four-poster bed frame.In fact, the only thing free was his tail, whipping in the air behind him in his panic before he brought it to wrap around his chest like he could protect himself that way. Rin scrunched his brows, feeling an odd sensation on his tail that made him unwind it again to bring up to his face.Another scarf, this one wrapped in a neat bow right at the point the short furs turned into the longer black strands at the end, was the source of the weighted feeling.Trapped, Rin keened behind his bonds, frustration making him tug at them again until movement on the bed had him jerking his gaze up.It was to see twin gold eyes watching him like predators preparing to pounce on unsuspecting prey.His throat went dry, flush rising so rapidly to his head Rin felt dizzy at the desire he saw in the looks pinned to his bound and struggling form by Mephisto and Amaimon.When they saw they had his attention, Mephisto’s lips curled in a smile that sent Rin’s pulse thundering in his ears, then, in a deliberate show, turned to nose at Amaimon’s cheek.“Why don’t you stay there and think about correcting that attitude, Rin,” he said, punctuating his words with a soft kiss to the underside of Amaimon’s jaw that had tilted to give him further access.Rin whined, low and long in his throat as he realized what Mephisto was planning. His length twitched, still hard even without a touch on it. Just seeing Amaimon lean into the teasing press of Mephisto’s fangs was enough.Sweat dripped from his hair down his face, tickling him in a distracting way as his breath shook in quick bursts from his nose, bringing the scents in the room to his hyperaware senses.There was nothing he could do, short of setting things on fire, and Rin didn’t want to do that. Yet.Not when Mephisto, still in Amaimon’s form, kneeled over Amaimon’s hips and sank down. He ground their bodies together in circling motions, a teasing dance on the lap between his legs to send Amaimon moaning into his mouth.Nothing. Nothing would ever top this scene in his wildest fantasies, Rin thought in a daze, drinking in the way the two Amaimons thrust to meet each other. Except, maybe, the equivalent sight of two Mephisto’s, or possibly just Mephisto and Amaimon together in general.His thoughts were rapidly spiraling out of coherency, hips trying to move in time with the pair he watched as he imagined he could feel what they felt.Wait. Rin blinked, a sudden spark of clarity reaching his mind. His tail, which had been writhing in uncontrolled coils, slithered to his neglected length, wrapping around it and making him groan. Hot saliva wet the silk in his mouth as his eyes clenched shut at the tight heat, bristling texture adding an extra layer of pleasure as he began to stroke himself-A snap.Rin screamed behind the silk, tears rising to his eyes at the excruciating pain lancing through his tail where it now pulled taut behind him until the pressure stopped in the next moment and he dropped his head, limp, panting and shaking and trying to figure out what had happened.“Really, Rin,” Mephisto’s voice brought him back, blinking rapidly to clear the tears so he could see the wicked smile he wore, “you seem to misunderstand the point of a punishment.”Punishment. Rin felt more tears well up, knowing now that Mephisto leaving his tail free hadn’t been a kindness. It had been a trap.Seeing his tears only stretched Mephisto’s smile wider, warping past what a human mouth was capable of and even further removed by the red coating his face in a macabre mask.He wanted to lick that mask off of him- pain struck again, this time his own doing, as blood pooled in his mouth and stained the scarf, drawing a purr from Amaimon as Rin swallowed to prevent himself from choking.While Mephisto went back to his hypnotic dance, Amaimon decided to act, rubbing his chest to the one over his and reaching to settle a hand at the swell of Mephisto’s ass where the black fabric creased with every slow movement.Amaimon dragged his other hand up the spine of the tight corset to bury in the thick green curls of Mephisto’s hairThe bat hairpieces had long since fallen from where Mephisto had placed them at the beginning of the night, and Amaimon snatched Mephisto’s between his fingertips to toss to the side, letting the curls loose in a dark wave so he could pull Mephisto into a kiss, deep and probing.Their tongues slid together, wet sounds filling the air to join the intermittent gasps and growls they drew from each other until it was the only thing that mattered to Rin. His body ached from the strain of hanging from the ties, arms going numb even though he’d tried to stop fighting the pressure and hung, boneless, from them instead.“Did you know, Amaimon,” Mephisto spoke, conversational tone breathless as he broke the kiss to murmur in Amaimon’s ear where it had extended to a long point, “that our dear Rin was so overwhelmed when he saw that I had come to take your place that he nearly bit straight through my vessel’s windpipe?”He had? Rin’s memory was hazy, everything was hazy. He whined again behind his gag, tail giving a half-hearted attempt at moving where it lay over his burning calves.Amaimon shivered, arching his own neck back like he was imagining Rin’s fangs there. As if in response to the thought, Rin felt them extend to pierce his tongue again and jolted, loosing a muffled sob as more blood soaked through to trickle from the corners of his mouth.“It most certainly nicked a very important artery,” Mephisto said, still casual, though his heavy gaze tracked the wet line making its way over where Rin’s own artery pounded.Rin couldn’t take his gaze from the glancing brush of Mephisto’s fangs to Amaimon’s offered throat, wishing he could bare his own. The tensed muscles in his neck twinged when he tried anyway, hips thrusting without his say with the spasms that struck his body.Gently, as if placing a kiss, Mephisto sank his fangs down in one smooth press.“Samael,” Amaimon sighed the name out, hands clutching to Mephisto’s head and the white folds of his shirt, lost in the ecstasy and slumping forward.Blood sluiced out from the deep rents in his torn artery, spilling liquid heat and turning his own white shirt to a sopping red.The bed around their forms was the next victim to see a color change, Mephisto’s pink duvet cover now a deep red and the scent of it all sending primal signals to Rin’s demonic side.Renewed energy filled his limbs, making him wrench in the ties with a howl behind the gag. He wanted to join them, wanted to bury his teeth in their skin until he struck the essence inside them and brought it to the surface so he could consume it, could make it his own.His savage cries drove Mephisto and Amaimon against each other, Mephisto’s mouth tearing away so that they could writhe on blood-soaked sheets.Heeled boots dug to the mattress to give them leverage as claws shredded their shirts to tatters.But Mephisto had other plans.Amaimon snarled, face shoved to the mattress and hips raised by a bruising grip from Mephisto. His snarl turned to a hissed moan as Mephisto ground into him from behind.The front of Mephisto’s pants looked painfully tight when he brought his hand to release his length from its confines, not giving Amaimon time to prepare himself before he forced his pants down around his thighs and shoved in.Screams of animalistic pleasure had Rin thrashing in place, staring into Amaimon’s glazed eyes then keening as Mephisto fisted his hand in his hair to yank his head back at a severe angle, exposing his throat to Rin while Amaimon gagged.Black claws dug furrows to the bedding, Amaimon unable to do anything else as Mephisto fucked into him with brutal thrusts that shook his body and sent his hair bouncing at every impact.His pace sped up, soundless screams coming from Amaimon as the lack of air left him stunned while Rin’s screams stayed behind his gag, fury at being limited sending him to new, unbearable heights as the bed creaked with the strain he put on it.Any longer and he’d-Mephisto dragged Amaimon up and bit into the unmarked side of his throat before spilling deep inside him. He kept him there until he’d finished despite the claws Amaimon slashed to his arms where they held him and the ferocious snarls he responded with until he came, too, his release mixing in the red to slide down the dripping mess on his chest.But Rin wasn’t finished, though his body quaked like he’d been electrocuted. Desperate whines trailed to whimpers when he was ignored while they recovered and eventually to silent gasps behind the thoroughly soaked gag. Eyelids shuttered, Rin vibrating on such a live wire that he’d welcome anything, any kind of touch at all, just to get the contact he needed.He begged with his eyes, strength sapped by holding himself back from burning the room to cinders.
Touch me touch me touch me
As if hearing his wordless pleas, Mephisto opened his eyes and focused on him, letting his fangs recede from Amaimon’s neck so the holes could begin to heal.“Hm,” he purred, rough, guttural, and it would have sent Rin into a frenzy if he wasn’t so overwhelmed, “would you say he’s learned his lesson, Amaimon? Has his punishment been fulfilled?”“Yes, Samael,” Amaimon answered, voice raw with the screams from a still healing throat and lips parting in a sly smile over his fangs, “he deserves his reward now.”Two lithe figures crawled their way to his side, hands flicking to ghost in the barest touches but it felt like they might as well have been burned into his hyper-sensitive skin. A keening sob erupted from Rin’s throat, chest arching, either to escape the scraping claws now trailing down his stomach or push closer and unable to think straight enough to decide on which.The next time he could force his eyes open it was to see Mephisto, a wicked cast to his features and with his tongue lolling from red lips to hang just above his length, about to lap the pearl of pre-cum gathered at the tip.Before Rin could process that sight, knees came to frame his sides and a warm body hovered along his back. Amaimon fingered the silk ties pulling at Rin’s wrists, the tension in them meaning Rin felt it like he’d been struck as his numbed arms were jostled. He moaned, too weak to protest further.“Will you beg now, Rin?” Mephisto murmured, tonguing at his fangs instead of Rin.A rasping whine and his head dropping forward in an attempt to nod was all he managed.Please.Mephisto snapped, the gag in Rin’s mouth undoing itself and falling from his face.An arched brow and expectant expression from Mephisto had Rin working his jaw, lips moving soundlessly to speak.“Well, Rin?”Rin tried, a croak left his throat. He tried again, too quiet to hear.“What was that, Rin?”Please.
Touch me touch me touch me-
“-ouch me touch me touch me-”The words in his head ran from his mouth, a steady mantra that gained in strength the more he said it until he didn’t know if he spoke them aloud at all or if he was still gagged.“Oh, Rin, you need only have asked,” Mephisto crooned at his pleas.“Ahhhh!”A hot mouth enveloped him just as another mouth sucked at the tip of his tail, hands running over his fur and kneading at the base.He bucked into the all-consuming pleasure, starved for it and desperate for more as his pleas turned to screams, finally free to release them without anything in the way and unable to stop now that he’d started.Mephisto swallowed around him.Amaimon pressed at the same time to the bundle of nerves where his tail met his spine--And that was it. Rin came in a last frenzied thrust of his hips and a wet scream he choked on through fully extended fangs.Body drawn in a harsh line, scream fading in the room, Rin forgot who he was for an uncountable span of time.He drifted like that until, like a puppet with his strings cut, he slumped, spent and mind blissfully empty.Another snap came as if from far away. Rin floated, head dropping to the side and eyes cracked to slits, unseeing.It took him a longer moment to realize he actually floated, held up above the bed and forced his eyes to open more as his mind came back online.“Meph-” he tried to say, it got lost between his brain and his lips, both still numbed. He licked them in a flutter of his tongue, mumbling, “Amaimon.”Warm arms slid beneath his knees, allowing them to bend as gravity re-exerted itself, another pressed at his shoulders to set his head to the crook of a neck.Rin inhaled deeply. Amaimon. His arms lifted without conscious thought, pure instinct driving him to wrap them over his shoulders, just content to nuzzle into the bare skin he barely registered as no longer being draped in long hair.Fingers brushed the strands of his own hair from his cheek where they’d been tickling him and a pair of lips followed. Mephisto.Drifting away faster than he could stop meant Rin felt more than heard Mephisto’s words just as sleep claimed him for the night.“Happy Halloween, Rin.”