A few days later saw Rin walking to school with Yukio. Other than the grocery trip, this was the first time he had been outside in over a week, and although he wasn't a big fan of school, he enjoyed getting some needed fresh air.
Speaking of the grocery trip, he had yet to see Amaimon lately. Amaimon had said he wanted to play with him again, so he would probably show up at some point, but that didn't stop him from worrying about Amaimon not coming back.
Rin's opinion of the strange teen had warped since the their first meeting. Somehow his presence was comforting and calming to Rin, no matter how messed up that seemed. He had become accustomed to Amaimon's constant watch as well. He felt almost...safe around him.
"Nii-san?" His brother's voice snapped him back to his surroundings. "Are you ready?"
They were standing in front of the school gates. Although Rin was officially cleared by his father to go out, he had been frequently reminded that he was free to call home to leave early if he wasn't feeling well. It had gotten to the point where Rin was a little annoyed by the worried looks. The worst of them was Yukio.
Rin was sure that he had never met anyone as overprotective as Yukio was. When he had noticed that Rin was uncomfortable with the priests, Yukio had practically glared at them despite being unaware of the reason Rin was wary. Not only that, he was always hovering around him, asking Rin if he needed anything or how he was feeling. He had gotten a papercut the other day ago and his twin had freaked out and insisted on tending to it as if it were some fatal wound. It irritated Rin a lot (he was the older brother here, damnit), but at the same time he couldn't help but appreciate Yukio's obvious care for him. If there was one person he could trust, it would be his younger twin.
Rin smiled at his brother. "Yup. Better now than never, right?"
Yukio visibly relaxed at his words, filling Rin with guilt for worrying him so much lately. He knew his behavior had been off and he was still trying to set it back on the path it had been on before.
Rin took a deep breath and entered the school building with his brother.
.f.a.t.e.
Amaimon watched his youngest brother through the circles his fingers made, observing the distant look on Rin's face. Nowadays it seemed as if the boy was always daydreaming, persistently lost in his thoughts. It had been over a month since his last meeting with Rin Okumura, preferring to let him heal from their first encounter.
Amaimon bit his nail almost guiltily. When he had found out that he had a younger brother, he had immediately set out to find out as much as possible about him. Discovering he was half-human was a shock, but when it eventually dawned on him that Rin had no clue of his true ancestry, the Earth King was filled with rage.
How dare that meddling exorcist keep something like that from the young demon?! Denying him the truth and hiding him away from his true family was absolutely disgusting.
When his thoughts directed themselves back to Rin, he was almost sad. Rin would never know what it was like to race through the Dark Woods with other younglings, or to drink Ferida, a ceremonial demonic wine, or to see the white sun rise along with the fog during the mornings, creating a peaceful glow.
To be denied one's heritage was an outrage in Gehenna. If it was uncovered that the son of Satan himself was unaware of his true power, there would be riots, possibly even demands for war. Amaimon himself had been tempted by the idea.
As much as Amaimon wanted to pull Rin out of such a restricting atmosphere, it was impossible with the way he was always around his human brother or the members of the church. Not to mention the wards surrounding the church.
So Amaimon settled into a sort of guardian angel (hah!) for his younger brother. In the human books he had read, it was expected of the older siblings to look after the younger ones, after all.
And, after a while, he began to develop feelings for the younger demon.
Rin was brash and violent, as expected of any young demon. It was in his nature to be territorial and to assert himself as the alpha. When he saw anyone pick on the human brother, he would immediately protect what he considered 'his.'
After these fights, his human side would show, and Amaimon was both intrigued and disgusted by the emotions of guilt and remorse Rin would feel after beating the other children. It made Amaimon angry - Rin had done nothing wrong by establishing himself as the strongest, and yet he would be punished by that fake of a father. If he had been raised in Gehenna, like he should have been, the boy would be praised and receive special privileges for being the strongest.
Another thing that Amaimon had noticed was how Rin was almost endearingly...cute. He would puff up his cheeks when he was upset and he was always thoughtful of others. It was refreshing to see such an enthusiastic youngling whenever he cooked or babbled excitedly about his day.
After several months of observing the boy, he was already fond and slightly protective of him. So when he saw the dark-haired boy get cornered by a revolting human, Amaimon snapped.
Admittedly it wasn't the greatest decision of his life. At first he had been confused about Rin's reaction, so he went to his older brother Samael for advice.
Samael laughed at him for a good five minutes before explaining between chuckles that Rin, being raised as a human, probably wouldn't take well to seeing a man murdered.
Amaimon was mortified. And also furious. In Gehenna it was perfectly normal to kill, whether the thing being killed was a human or demon didn't matter. Once again Amaimon felt killing intent for the human named Shiro Fujimoto.
Amaimon was determined to ease Rin into demon culture, but he knew it wouldn't be as simple as that.
The next time Amaimon encountered Rin, he had made sure to act more like a human so he wouldn't startle Rin this time.
He was pleased that Rin had gotten better from the fear he had previously held. Not only that, Rin hadn't denied the cashier when she called Amaimon his brother, so that meant Rin was at least open to the idea.
Amaimon was led back to the present Rin when the boy was hugged by his human brother. Amaimon bit his nail a little harder, eyes narrowing. After some research he had discovered that the younger twin was already training to become an exorcist - meaning he knew the truth behind his brother and him.
Amaimon and his brothers were constantly playing games with each other, and often times they would hide things in order to progress the game. But this human, who was supposed to be the one Rin trusted the most, hid something so life-changing and important from his own twin.
Although Yukio Okumura was also technically his brother, Amaimon was unable to find it in himself to forgive him.
Amaimon watched as Rin was pulled to a decorated tree, adorned with sparkling ornaments. Under it was a pile of colorful presents. The twins sat down on the thick carpet, both smiling as their 'father' and the rest of the exorcists started singing happy birthday to them. A red and green cake was settled in front of the two, and together they blew out the candles.
Amaimon glared hatefully at the Paladin. Since Christmas was December twenty-fifth and the twins' birthday was only two days later, the church had taken to celebrating them both on the twenty-sixth. On Christmas Day, they would have a big feast and watch movies, but they wouldn't open presents until the next day. On their actual birthday they would go ice skating, or to the movies, or whatever the twins decided they wanted to do.
Amaimon was extremely offended that Rin had to celebrate his birthday with the day of Christ. The Paladin was obviously aware of the irony and went with it.
As Rin ripped open a present wrapped in blue paper, Amaimon thought of his own present that he had gotten for Rin, tucked away safely in his pocket.
.f.a.t.e.
The next day found Amaimon stalking the twins and Shiro Fujimoto to a winter festival. Rin was already running ahead, Yukio calling out to him in exasperation.
The next hour was spent with the boys going from stand to stand, Rin bright with excitement and Yukio with calm amusement at his brother's attitude. Fujimoto was smiling fondly at the two as they ran around.
And then Amaimon saw Rin once again run ahead without anyone noticing. The crowd was thick and only mere minutes later saw Rin looking around in confusion.
"Hello," Amaimon said, right behind Rin.
The boy jumped in surprise, eyes widening as he turned and saw the older teen. His mouth gaped open. "A-Amaimon?" he asked hesitantly.
Amaimon was rather pleased he had remembered his name. "Yes," he said.
"What are you doing here?" Rin asked, seeming to relax now that he wasn't alone in the crowd.
Amaimon subtly began maneuvering Rin to the side and away from where he knew Yukio and Fujimoto were. "I came to give you your present." Rin blinked at him. "It is your birthday, correct?"
Rin flushed in embarrassment. "Y-yeah."
Amaimon crouched down, slipping a simple small box into his hand. "Then, happy birthday, Rin Okumura."
Rin stared at the present for a moment before glancing up and hesitantly opening the box.
Inside was a small silver key. Rin frowned in confusion, picking it up. "A key? What's it for?"
"It opens the door to my home," Amaimon said, smug with the shocked expression on Rin's face. Amaimon had had an enormous home built once he had decided to meet Rin, and after bugging Samael, he had gotten one of those magical keys to give to Rin. "It's magic," he added. "If you put it in any door, it will send you to my house."
Rin stared. "Magic?" He scoffed. "Magic doesn't exist."
Amaimon tilted his head, then snapped his fingers. A thin black necklace looped through the key before hooking around Rin's neck.
"Woah!" Rin fumbled with the necklace reverently. "Can you teach me how to do that?!"
"Perhaps," Amaimon said, making Rin light up. Amaimon smiled, then suddenly picked Rin up so that Rin automatically wrapped his arms around Amaimon's neck.
"What are you doing?" Rin's cheeks were red in embarrassment. "Let me down!"
Amaimon hummed. "The fireworks are going to start soon," he stated instead of acknowledging Rin's demands.
Amaimon meandered into a secluded area, away from the lights of the festival.
"What are you-" Rin was interrupted as Amaimon suddenly jumped high into the air.
Rin shrieked, clinging to Amaimon as they landed on a building and then took off again. The process was continued until they reached a high tree that was overlooking the festival.
"You're insane!" Rin yelled, although he made no move to let go of Amaimon.
Amaimon nudged him. "Look," he murmured.
Rin peeked out from Amaimon's shoulder, eyes widening.
From here they could see the lanterns lit and scattered across the area. The people were small and Rin could see all the places he had gone to earlier with his brother and father.
Then a boom resonated and a crackling noise echoed through the air, a burst of color lighting up the sky. Amaimon examined Rin as the boy watched the show with undisguised awe.
"Amazing…" Rin mumbled, not taking his eyes off the colors.
Amaimon was secretly pleased to know that Rin hadn't been this happy with any of the other presents he had received.
.f.a.t.e.
Rin was chattering happily to Amaimon as they landed softly on the ground.
"Did you see the one that was super blue and made a fizzing noise? That one was my favorite, I liked the gold one too-"
Amaimon bemusedly listened to him as they made their way back to the festival, Rin holding his hand as they went through the crowd.
"Nii-san!" a voice suddenly called out, interrupting Rin's prattle. Suddenly the hand that was holding his was gone and Yukio was running towards him with Fujimoto right behind him.
"Nii-san, are you okay?!" Yukio's frantic face caused Rin to become guilty. "I was so worried!"
From the shadows, Amaimon scowled as Yukio hugged Rin close to him.
thanks 4 all the support guys, here's a kinda longer chapter
amaimon doesn't like yukio lmao he probs jealous of him
amai's perspective was surprisingly hard to write, pls tell me how you think about it!
also i've had a couple people already ask if this fic was going to be amaimonxrin and the answer is idk. obviously nothing is going to happen until rin is older so im not going to worry about it for a while but this fic is either going to be amaixrin or gen. maybe some onesided yukioxrin. who knows, im making this up as i go, it a surprise for me too lol
review pls ;)
