Title: A Cage, Crafted by Gentle Hand

Summary: Turns out coffee shops are demonic hot spots or something. Things heat up at the shop in not so fun ways and Rin needs a cooldown after. Good thing Amaimon's great for blowing off steam!

Notes: Rin's shop is just a revolving door of demons at this point lmao Sorry to the regular customers, Rin should probably put a warning sign or waver out for everyone.

Hope u guys like this one, I did 90% of it in a car on the road and I'm posting from my phone so rip me amirite

Recipes:

Brown Sugar Milk Tea

Songs of the Chapter:

Are You Like Me by New Dialogue

Fangs by Night Riots

It would be time to bring out the seasonal drinks soon. Rin sniffed the air and scented the beginnings of fall.

Would Mephisto like those drinks better? He shook his head, at least he was sure Amaimon wouldn't be complaining about whatever he chose to make. Pride burst in little bubbles at the anticipation of Amaimon's reaction. Maybe, if Amaimon didn't come in later, Rin would bring something to him again.

"So, what's on the menu for today?" Izumo said from her station.

"Wha-I mean, the usual, I guess?" Rin tried to understand her question, drawing a blank at her pointed stare as she raised a brow, his response apparently not the correct one.

"No, Rin," she rolled her eyes, "for your 'bet' you've got going on with the literal concept of space-time."

The way she said it had Rin squinting in suspicion, though he answered with the truth, ignoring what he thought might be an insult to his intelligence. "It's still kinda warm out, so I figured I could make him one of our iced bubble teas. Maybe he likes tea more than coffee, or it's the amount of cream I mix into it, though it could also be the sugar levels?"

His muttering just got him a long sigh as Izumo returned to her work sketching out the new specials on their chalkboard menu.

Which tea should he use as a base? He debated it as several customers came and went, one of their regulars taking up the back corner with a book that told Rin he'd be there for a while. It occupied him through the morning, even when Mephisto didn't show up at his usual time, the tension stayed away. Rin found himself at ease, confident Mephisto would be back one way or another.

Shima came in from his last run, glancing around before turning to Izumo. "Anything yet?"

"Stop being such a vulture," she huffed as he made his way to lounge against the wall while he waited for Rin.

Rin let their bickering wash over him along with the sounds of the shop, waving the last few customers out. He hummed, contentment filling the smile on his face where it welled from his chest as he fought not to let his tail wag too hard beneath his shirt.

Today would be a good day.

As if to confirm his determination, Rin picked up the sound he'd been listening for.

"I don't even need super hearing," Shima piped up, grinning at Izumo. "I can just look at his face and know who's coming around the corner."

"He's an open-book," Izumo said with a nod, unimpressed by the quick scowl Rin shot at them before the door opening stole his attention back.

"Mephisto," Rin greeted, already starting on the drink.

"Rin," Mephisto responded, something about the way he said Rin's name warm, familiar, and warming Rin in turn. His tail tried to wag again, but Rin kept it contained to a twitch.

"Here, oolong milk tea with brown sugar tapioca pearls." He placed the drink into Mephisto's waiting hand and enjoyed the deep inhale he gave.

"Hm," came the drawn-out hum from Mephisto as he chewed one of the pearls, "warmer."

Rin's pulse jolted and a grin cracked onto his face. "Yes! Wait-you gotta give me more of a hint than that!"

What about this drink made it closer?

Mephisto shook a clawed finger Rin's way with a tut. "I won't make it that easy for you, Rin."

"Aw come on," Rin pouted, "I need something!"

It looked like he at least thought about it, gaze going skyward as he sucked a few more pearls from the bottom of the tea.

"Tell you what, Rin," he said just as Rin debated throwing something out to sweeten the pot, "I'll give you this much. It's warmer than the last drink, but colder than the one before that."

Giddiness filled Rin as he let out a cheer, though he quickly muffled it because that was definitely too loud for his small shop. Izumo's put-upon eye-roll had heat rising in his cheeks he hoped wasn't visible as he smiled up at Mephisto, making to ask if he wanted a pastry and move the conversation away from his embarrassment.

Something itched on the edges of his senses.

Mephisto's eyes narrowed, a deadening of the contentment that left them cold. Flat.

Smoke erupted in the space behind Mephisto, who'd already turned to face it with his body deceptively lax and his drink still in hand.

It cleared, revealing the source of the presence that sent Rin's skin prickling and nose twitching with the urge to sneeze. His eyes watered as he scanned the entity now taking up room in his shop while Rin fought to keep his hackles down.

A sickly sheen on pale hair like an oil spill swept over sallow skin and a dark suit. Equally as pale violet eyes scanned Rin before promptly ignoring him to focus on Mephisto. The smile that formed was anything but friendly, and it didn't reach the rest of his face as he gave a short nod Rin thought might have been the minimum of a bow.

"Samael, is this where you spend your days now?" came the voice as slick as the rest of him, though it didn't cover the condescension seeping past sneering lips. "Not the luxury Iblis enjoys, but I can't say I understand that whole mess either."

"Astaroth, I see Iblis got ahold of you." Mephisto's face stayed hidden to Rin, but his dry tone was a far cry to the light, teasing one he spoke to Rin with, and he positioned his shoulders in a way that had Rin straightening his own from the hunch he'd been in.

"Yeah, said you were feeling insulted or something." Astaroth's words sent Rin stiffening. Had that been meant as an attack? "So I tracked you down and here you are. Not your usual scene."

"Well," Mephisto said, bright, not moving from where he stood in front of Rin, "I like to change things up. I wouldn't want to go getting stagnant or I might as well lay down to rot."

Astaroth scoffed, shoving his hands into his pockets, though Rin had seen claws and white knuckles, strained as they vanished. "So? What's it about this hole in the wall that you like so much?"

The bored stare roved his shop in a slow pass and, despite Mephisto working as a barrier, met Rin's, snapping to him and staying. Pupils slit, predatory.

Fear hung heavy to Rin's senses, a sour tang emanating from Izumo and Shima and the customer unlucky enough to be stuck in the seat behind Astaroth, too far from the door to flee.

Rin's lip slid upwards over a fang and he smiled.

Then he stepped around the counter to Mephisto's side.

"Hey, welcome to the Blue Devil," he said, feeling Mephisto fall utterly still next to him as he stared Astaroth in the eye and refused to flinch. "It might not look like much, but I'm happy to get something started for you."

He gave a sharp gesture of his hand towards Shima, ordering him without words to get over to Izumo where she'd frozen behind the coffee machine Amaimon had fixed. It spurred Shima into gear, heart rabbiting in his chest but obeying Rin's unspoken command. Good, he was safely behind Rin, but he still had to get the customer away.

"Huh?" Astaroth grunted, gaze narrowing as he broke the distance he'd kept between his spot and Mephisto, though he only came forward a few steps until a soft hum from Mephisto stopped him from towering over Rin. He inhaled, scenting Rin out and not hiding it.

That put some space between him and the customer, Rin nodding to the man with a wide smile as he shooed at him with a careless wave. "Just one moment please-You look like you're done with that, want me to clear the table for you?"

At the desperate shake of the man's head, Rin steeled himself and walked past Mephisto. Another two steps brought him to Astaroth, the warmth of his vessel glancing over Rin's side as he blocked him from the shivering man giving off the worst of the fear scent. Rin had to get him out because it was getting hard to concentrate when he wanted to bristle, wanted to let his fangs drop fully, wanted to keep Astaroth in sight at all times.

But he couldn't, not when he had to keep everyone safe.

"Thank you for stopping in, have a good one," he said, placing a calming touch to the man's shoulder, patting him through the jolt as he directed him towards the door with a push, watching him stumble free onto the sidewalk.

Done. He just had to get back to Izumo and Shima.

Still keeping his body language relaxed, Rin turned with the empty coffee cup and plate in hand and met pale eyes appraising him without blinking.

"You," Astaroth said as if testing the word, "you're what's got him hanging around here."

Rin stilled, pulse slowing until it pounded a steady rhythm that rushed through his ears and made it hard to hear.

"What are you?" Astaroth moved closer, a faint glow in his eyes.

Hold his fangs back, he just had to hold his fangs back. Rin smiled and stepped around Astaroth for the second time. His instincts beat at his chest to turn, but he still couldn't listen to them, not when Izumo and Shima were exposed.

Keep the target on himself.

"Hah," he barked a laugh, remembering to answer what he hoped was a rhetorical question, "what do you mean?"

Ahead, Mephisto stood in a way that brought to mind serpents about to strike as Rin took another step across the divide between Astaroth and the relative safety Mephisto's side promised.

A shift of clothes alerted Rin and he jerked around to see claws reaching for his wrist. His lip curled, growls trapped behind the fangs he couldn't keep hidden anymore. Rin started to drop the cup in his hand just as Astaroth neared the final inch of space.

"That is close enough, don't you think, Astaroth?"

Heat brushed Rin's wrist, but nothing touched him, and he snapped his head up to see what had stopped Astaroth.

"What's it to you, anyway?" Astaroth snarled at Mephisto, sallow cheeks flushed. "You don't even have your mark on any of these worms. Why should I give a shit if I'm being disrespectful?"

The grip on Astaroth didn't loosen, skin reddening under the pressure and bones creaking in his arm.

"It's. Rude," Mephisto said between fangs bared just enough to be a threat, cold fury bearing down on Astaroth the longer he wouldn't be cowed. "Have a bit of pride and self-respect."

"Still with the gentleman act," Astaroth hissed out as Rin darted his gaze between them, body twisting so he stood in front of where Izumo and Shima cowered. "Haven't you gotten bored with that tired bullshit?"

"Enough. Remove yourself to my manor and wait for me there. We're going to discuss manners." The order from Mephisto left no room for argument. Astaroth argued anyway.

"Maybe I want to get something here, Samael." His smile dripped with a shallow mimicry of humor. "It'd be rude not to, right?"

Blood sang in Rin's veins, his muscles tensed until he vibrated with the violence in the air.

It crested, Astaroth speaking through crushed glass that shattered on every word snarled up at Mephisto.

"I want to see what's so interesting about this new toy of yours."

Time slowed with the claws of the hand not held at bay by Mephisto snapping out to grab Rin's wrist.

His breath escaped in a sharp whistle of pain as Astaroth ground his bones together just shy of true damage.

Fire flared in Rin's core.

A second shot past followed by another gasped breath. Astaroth stared at Rin with wide eyes, pupils dilating as his mouth dropped, frozen.

Enough.

Rin pinned Astaroth with his gaze, nostrils flaring on the slow breath he exhaled. He turned his wrist in the weak circle of Astaroth's fingers, his grip grown limp the longer Rin held their staredown.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Rin said, voice low, guttural, a promise of flames on his tongue as he took his wrist back. "Now."

"Ha-" Astaroth gasped again, chest heaving once around the stifled syllable that died as soon as it formed. His head shook, blinking in a flutter of lashes that broke the daze he'd been under, resurfacing to the shop.

In a jerky motion, he dropped his hand to his side as if to hide it from Rin and stepped back until Mephisto's iron hold on his remaining arm jolted him to a stop.

"My manor, Astaroth," the glacial words from Mephisto fell like a guillotine in the silence.

"Tch, I'm going," Astaroth spat, tugging away in a stumble when Mephisto let him free.

Smoke filled Rin's shop, a last snapshot of pale eyes locked onto his as Astaroth vanished.

Nothing happened for the next few moments besides shuddering breaths. The smoke dissipated to leave the spot empty except the rays of sun through the window as the scent of rot and moldering things faded.

Whimpering from behind Rin broke the stillness and he turned to see Shima slumping against the back counter, body limp and pupils pinpricks in his eyes as he stared at the space in front of him without seeing.

"Hey-uh," Rin began, moving to comfort Shima and Izumo because they clearly needed it.

"Rin."

Warmth on his bruised wrist pulled Rin to the grave expression Mephisto wore. His hands enveloped him, wrist wrapped in a soothing pressure as Mephisto drew his thumb over the line of Rin's veins.

"Mephisto?"

Green eyes swept up to scan Rin, ending on his face as Mephisto frowned.

"I apologize for his behavior," the touch settled in a firm press to Rin's skin, "it will not happen again."

Oh. Rin's heart fluttered and a weak smile tugged at his lips. "It's no big deal, I'm just glad he left without hurting anyone."

Things could have gone so much worse.

Mephisto knew it too. Danger still lay beneath his skin, though he kept it at bay, controlled as he met Rin's smile with one of his own.

"You did well, Rin."

The praise brought a stuttering of Rin's heart and he floundered under it, unsure how to respond and rapidly heating at the continued contact.

"Th-thanks, Mephisto," he said in a mumble, mind scrambling to find something to get the too-serious mood shifted to a more light-hearted topic. "Ah, I was going to ask-before he showed up-do you want a pastry?"

It worked, Mephisto's hands leaving Rin's and taking the heat that had built there along with them as he lost the somber air and switched to a grin. "Yes, I would love one."

"Let's try not to goad any more powerful demons, hm, Rin?" he teased as Rin grabbed the pastry he'd chosen. "I wouldn't want to lose my favorite shop if I'm not around to act as a deterrent."

Laughter bubbled from Rin, though he wanted to point out that it was Mephisto that had brought trouble to his door in the first place-but later, he had to do damage control.

He left, pastry in hand as Rin stared after until he shook himself and went to deal with comforting Izumo and Shima.

Samael appeared silently and without fanfare in the dark halls of his manor. He felt Astaroth deeper inside and slipped through the shadows to appear at his spine.

"Hurk-" Astaroth's gasp cut out with a wet sound as Samael shoved his fist through to the other side of his vessel's chest, past ribs that cut into his skin, until he lifted and curled his arm to bring him closer in a mimicry of a hug.

"I see now why Iblis punished you when you saw her," he said to the trembling form, though whether it was from pain or fury, he couldn't tell yet. "Her punishment clearly didn't stick if you're already behaving this way."

Gurgling answered him, not that he particularly wanted Astaroth's meaningless words at the moment.

He preferred his silence.

"After your little display, I think I'm owed an apology," Samael continued as if he'd gotten a reply.

With his other hand, he snapped, having raised it in front of Astaroth so that he knew what was coming.

Void collected at his command in a gentle embrace until it swallowed them into a pocket of Gehenna. A flick sent Astaroth from his arm to hang, blood sluicing down his body without anything obstructing it as he convulsed.

"Iblis must still have been irritated with you, to send you to me so soon," he hummed, clearing the traces of Astaroth from his suit and approaching. "She would have seen you were in this mood of yours and known you were looking for a fight."

His head cocked to the side as he considered the weak glare Astaroth sent from beneath bangs sweat had plastered to his forehead. Still defiant even now? There was probably a reason he would need to pick out from what remained of Astaroth once he'd finished with him, but Samael's good will had vanished.

It had vanished when Astaroth's claws had wrapped their way around Rin's wrist and made him wince in pain. He'd seen the reddening skin and heard the fragile bones grinding together, known it would take one thoughtless act to maim Rin.

"She would have known you would test me." He decided the proper punishment for Astaroth's transgressions.

"Have you been enjoying this perfect vessel?" Samael circled the shivering form, feeling the glare track him from eyes glowing with ire. Astaroth couldn't do much more than that. Not with the power Samael used to keep his aspect in place.

Normally, he would show lenience, using just enough force to allow whoever he'd caught the illusion of escape, that, if they struggled enough, they could break from the shadows he bound them with.

Astaroth wouldn't be breaking these bonds.

At the thought, Samael traced his claws down the taut line of Astaroth's arm. Layers of muscle and fat parted to the white bone beneath, red spilling to be absorbed by the tendrils winding bruises into his skin.

"And peacetime, how has it been treating you?" The question got more burbles in what would be growls if Astaroth had full use of his vocal cords.

In their pocket of Gehenna, he wouldn't be healing until Samael said he could. But, he had wanted to catch up, so, "Is it boredom that's got you acting out?"

A low moan of fury muffled in the dark as Astaroth arched his body until bones popped and dislocated. His fangs snapped together uselessly in a determined search for their target.

The efforts got him a sneer from Samael and the shadows pulling until his limbs threatened to dislocate completely.

"If it's boredom, why not find Amaimon and ask him to play with you," he said in careless suggestion. "He's no doubt languishing after spending so long fighting and killing anything that looks his way in Gehenna."

Fighting only ever took so much of Amaimon's interest before his destruction became internally focused and problems arose. He might welcome a playmate more at his level after the years of stagnation. Though it all depended if Astaroth's temper cooled enough from his current state to where he wouldn't destroy Amaimon in a fit of pique.

Panting breaths shook Astaroth, his chest finally healed enough to receive oxygen from both lungs. The sounds took Samael from his considerations on where to send Astaroth next to focus on the present.

"But I don't think you're good company right now," Samael said, tugging at the shadows to enhance his words and listening for the shallow gasps Astaroth released that spoke of agony. "I'm sure if I brought up the suggestion to the others they would agree a time-out is in order until you cool down."

"Sam-uh, Samael," Astaroth choked out in place of a scream, black, spade-like tail twitching in the darker shadows in a way that meant it wanted to lash.

"Hush, I'm speaking," Samael said as he reached to the tail and squeezed.

"Ahh-ah-hah!" Screams broke along with the tears his brutal pressure dragged through Astaroth's lips. Sightless eyes blurred as saliva and blood coated the gaping mouth before he took his hand from the tail now broken in its bindings.

"Manners," came his next non-sequitur as he stepped around to smile into the twisted visage Astaroth wore. "Manners maketh man, as the humans say."

Manners also made up their hierarchy, even if they were entirely dependent on the whims of the individual demon higher up the totem pole.

"And you know I like chaos and destruction as much as the next demon, but," he tutted, "not in my territory and not when you're ignoring me."

Samael's smile fell, losing the thin veneer of joy covering the emptiness at his core.

"Just so we're clear, and in case you forgot after avoiding me for so long, I'll remind you," he let the threat hang in the infinite space between them, saw the way Astaroth's blown pupils reflected the glow in his own eyes as he neared.

He placed a clawed hand to the trembling wrist, rubbing it as he recalled the look on Rin's face when he'd left him, and completed his reminder.

"Whether I have a claim on something or not, everything in my territory is mine."

Astaroth screamed as Samael closed his fist in a gentle, unceasing pressure. His skin reddened, then purpled, then flattened to the bone.

Bone began to crumble.

Slowly but as surely as the march of time, Samael ground bone and skin to pulp.

Gravity followed close behind, increasing and inescapable for Astaroth while Samael kept his hold on the mess he'd made of his wrist, a parody of the soothing one he'd laid on Rin.

Screams became the strangled rasps of Gehenna, Astaroth cursing in their demonic tongue as Samael collapsed the space around them until even speaking became impossible.

Then breathing.

Convulsions followed, an erratic dance Samael watched for several seconds stretching as long as he willed them to.

They stopped and he exhaled, lips curled in a humorless smile at a punishment fulfilled.

He snapped and brought them back to Assiah, reality returned along with the ragged gasp torn from Astaroth as his healing kicked in unimpeded.

"Now then," Mephisto said, bright and clapping once over the heaving, "why don't you make yourself at home. We can grab something to eat later."

Grunting answered him as Astaroth slumped to the floor. His eyes slit open, sightless for a moment, then rolling to find Mephisto's gaze as he nodded his acquiescence in a short jerk of his head before closing them again.

That done, Mephisto waved, tossing out, "I'll be back, you happened to interrupt my work day, you know."

"Ciao, Astaroth," he finished, taking himself from the room to his office and settling into his chair.

So far, he'd been visited, or visited, or at least spoken to everyone but the one being he really wanted to see.

His fingers tapped to the desk in a metronome as he went over the first ripple of the current wave of this timeline.

A spiderling had come to him some months ago with a message.

Beelzebub needed to meet. He would be stopping by soon.

Then Beelzebub never showed.

Now, without the spider around to act as a deterrent, the flies were beginning to move in. He'd already seen the pests on the edges of his territory and while traveling abroad. The rest of the web had gone to ground, all traces of their nests left barren.

And unless Astaroth was hiding their resident spider under a rock somewhere, this meeting would end fruitlessly as well.

There were only so many avenues left to him before he exhausted the obvious and had to get creative.

Mephisto set it aside to deal with the banalities his empire demanded. It was possible Astaroth had information he would suss out over their meal.

Until then, he had paperwork.

"If you guys need to go home early, it's ok, I can handle the rest of the crowd until the other guys get here," Rin said in the silence after Mephisto left.

His gaze flicked between the pale, strained expressions on Izumo and Shima as he waited for them to regain their composure.

Izumo opened her mouth, coughing when nothing came out. She shook her head in a violent toss and glared, though it seemed directed at herself as she tried again.

"N-no. No, I'm ok to finish out the shift," she said, glaring harder when Rin made to assure her she didn't have to.

"Yeah," Shima's usual casual attitude faltered, an attempt at a smile that faded and crumpled until a glance at Izumo firmed it. "Yeah-I mean, this is probably the safest place now. You heard him, it won't happen again, so we're under his protection. Right?"

"Hah!" Izumo laughed, shrill, "dumbass, we wouldn't need protection if he wasn't coming around here."

They were right. Rin winced, about to just order them home and thinking about if he had the budget for damage pay. Koneko would know.

"We're fine, boss," Shima said, hands coming up in placation as Izumo nodded along.

Her hands trembled as she righted a few things that had gotten knocked over on the counter when they'd shoved into it earlier. The movement seemed to jolt Shima and he straightened, the smile that formed next completely back to normal.

"Cool, so get cracking, boss, I have tips to collect on those orders," he said with a cheeky motion at Rin.

Rin mirrored him, exhaling to try releasing the tension in his body. He had to put the morning behind him, had to get back to business.

It didn't work.

Blood still sang in his veins, his claws flexing as he squeezed his fingers into his palms, trying for calm.

Around him, the world returned to its natural order. Customers came and went in a wave he barely registered beyond the rote responses necessary to serve them until the next wave arrived.

All because…

Where he'd been gripped throbbed with a phantom ache. A remembered threat of pressure that could turn from bruising to crushing at a whim.

At one point, Izumo and Shima left, replaced by Bon and Godaiin. Somehow, Rin managed his way through an explanation of the morning's events.

Claws pricked to his palms again, and again Rin forced them back.

He wanted, needed, something to get the violence pushing out from every cell drained off so he could breathe without heat filling his lungs.

He needed to get out. But where?

Black caught his eye, gaze snapping to the movement until he registered what it was.

"Kuro," Rin said, hoping he sounded normal but knowing he'd missed the mark by the way Kuro's ears pinned back to his skull.

"Hey guys," he began fumbling with his apron ties, "I'm going to head out early today. Let me know if anything happens you need me for, ok?"

"Yeah, ok, Rin," Bon said, not questioning Rin, a frown on his face and staring like he watched a dangerous animal, one that lived behind a barrier that promised safety to the viewer.

"Come on, Kuro," Rin motioned and felt more than saw Kuro fall into step behind him as they left.

Silence existed between them, the sounds of the city and each breath from Rin's mouth the only ones he tracked.

In the back of his mind, the morning played on repeat, but it wasn't until he sat on the bus that he came to and realized where he was.

"Kuro," he said, getting slit pupils locking onto his, "why don't we stop by Amaimon's and see if Behemoth wants to play with you?"

Kuro's answer drifted through his ears, an agreement, even if the exact words got lost in the static.

The scenery blurred outside the window, but it seemed so slow anyway, and Rin wanted to go faster than the train allowed. He clenched his hands over his tensed thighs, leg bouncing like that would help.

A blink, they arrived. He got off the train, time vanishing between steps until the door to Amaimon's shop stopped him in his tracks. His hand rose to push inside, and the scents he associated with Amaimon enveloped him, swallowing him in the green.

"Amaimon," Rin turned down one of the overgrown rows, meeting gold eyes that glowed from the gloom. He cracked a smile at the slow scan over his body.

"It was kind of a crazy day at the shop," his skin buzzed, he continued, "I was thinking-if you wanted to take a break-that we could go play with Kuro and Behemoth."

"Ok," Amaimon said after holding Rin's stare for another beat, whistling in a sharp note that brought Behemoth tumbling from under one of the shelves.

His next action took them from the shop entirely. A snap, and Rin sucked in a breath through his nose as he picked up the new scents.

An empty field greeted him, wind sweeping his hair over his cheeks and the tall grasses over faraway hills. It was the perfect spot.

"Rin," Amaimon's head cocked at him, bird-like, "are you playing, too?"

Aching filled Rin's lungs, his bones, every pore of his body with want, and he trembled once, before willing himself still.

"No, I can't," he said, the words pulling themselves past his teeth one by one.

Whether or not his smile convinced Amaimon, he settled to the grass anyway, sinking down and leaning back on his hands. "I'll just watch you guys."

Gold eyes wouldn't leave Rin's until shifting through the grasses revealed Behemoth rolling at their feet. Kuro brushed up along Rin, a comforting purr in his chest. Rin almost reached to grab black fur, but he dug his fingers into the ground instead and the moment passed.

Amaimon turned in a shift of his maroon jacket, Kuro and Behemoth having broken him from Rin. A ripple went across Rin's senses as Amaimon sloughed off the apathy he'd worn. His black dagger claws gleamed at his sides where they hung loosely.

Popping came from Amaimon's neck when he cracked it in an easy motion. Then he vanished.

Kuro and Behemoth darted after him and snarls shattered in the air.

Where before the image of a small cat existed, a massive body took its place, Kuro growing to his major form to better match his playmates.

It made him an easy target for Behemoth to launch towards, but Kuro growled and lashed with his twin tails to knock the incoming body away.

The distraction allowed Amaimon his opening, and he appeared from the sky, stones dropping in a pelting rain to batter the two caught by his attack.

Earth shook at his landing, though Kuro had managed to dodge despite the hailstorm while Behemoth clawed at Amaimon's ankles.

He got one of Amaimon's boots to his nose for his efforts, flinging him across the field with a broken yelp.

Yowling, and Kuro's claws gouged at Amaimon but just caught the edges of his jacket, adding yet more tears at the frayed ends. He met the same fate as Behemoth as Amaimon rounded on him and sent him flying in the opposite direction.

Their game continued with Behemoth returning and Kuro righting himself to charge back towards Amaimon. Laughter joined the growls alongside the destruction of the once quiet field.

As the ground heaved each time one of them met, Rin clenched his fingers harder together. Fistfuls of soil crushed and impacted until his knuckles whitened, then pain flared and Rin realized he'd pierced through his palms. Small, tented indents on the backs of his hands told him what the throbbing in his nerve-endings already did.

He'd nearly punctured through to the other side, hot blood seeping into the soil and staining the grass around him vivid red. He removed his claws one by one, forcing them from between tendons and muscle as he flattened his palms to the soil to stop from repeating the move.

Healing the deep wounds ached.

Rin ached. He ached with the urge to join them, the urge to fling himself into their midst, to feel the heart-pounding adrenaline and claws that weren't his own raking down his skin in glancing blows narrowly avoided.

Without his say, a low whine built in his chest but ended up squeezed behind his ribs because, if he was too loud, they might hear him over their cacophony.

They might hear him, and then they might stop. That would be worse than the way things were now. At least this way Rin could watch. He could imagine, and, with the wind tossed up from them, the power they called, it was enough.

It was enough. He could have this.

Inhaling brought the scents of petrichor even though there'd been no rain, not if the dried ground meant anything, which meant in turn that it was all Amaimon. His scent mixed with the familiar one of Kuro and Behemoth's lizard musk, carried over the horizon to Rin on every lungful.

Waves of power washed through the grass and brushed Rin's hair to whip at his face. It buzzed around him, an ocean welling, caressing, as if calling out the power at his own core to emerge. Rin couldn't let himself answer, keeping his core locked down tight with years of practice.

He lost himself, drifting in the flow of their playing. A smile tugged at his lips, happy in a distant way to see the wide, fang-baring grin on Amaimon's face and know he'd put it there. He'd been the one to replace the boredom Amaimon had complained about with something like joy.

Happy.

Kuro's excited chattering broke Rin from the light swaying he'd begun, body having taken up the pattern as if mirroring the pulses of energy.

"Rin!" Kuro cried, laughter breathless as he leapt into Rin's arms, once again in minor form. "That was fun!"

"You guys done?" Rin asked as he rubbed the mussed fur around Kuro's ears, accepting the nuzzles to his face before rising.

"Yeah! Did you see me? I was awesome!"

"Hah!" Rin joined him in laughing, "You bet I saw you, you kicked ass out there."

Amaimon touched down with Behemoth, panting but recovering in the next minute until the only signs of his hours of playing were the new tatters in his clothes and the gleam in his eyes.

"Hey, Amaimon," Rin said as he stopped a foot away, "have fun?"

Behemoth's wet nose snuffled at Rin and he grinned down at him, dolling out the praise for his efforts as he scratched the red ridges on his head. "You did amazing too, Behemoth."

"Yes," Amaimon's slow response brought Rin to look at him, "I had fun."

Searching his face for the truth in his words assured Rin and he nodded, content in the outcome as he launched into a play by play of their fight.

"That was so cool when you disappeared like that and came down with all the rocks! And then…"

His reenactment continued even after Amaimon took them back to his shop, complete with Rin waving his arms and shadow boxing invisible opponents until he wound down with a whoosh of breath and a broad smile.

"Thanks for agreeing to come out, Amaimon," he finished, smile softening as he collected Kuro into his arms. "Kuro can't play with me like this so it means a lot."

He left to Amaimon's lips twitching upwards in his version of contentment, the signs visible in the relaxed slope of his body that lingered in Rin's mind all the way to the train station.

"Rin," Kuro's soft call of his name interrupted Rin from the long stare out their window. A flinch tried to go through him when Rin saw the look on his face.

"I'm sorry."

Pity.

Something he'd seen so many times from Kuro, much as he made an effort to hide it because he knew how much Rin hated to be pitied.

"Don't worry about it, Kuro," he said equally as soft, hand coming up to brush along the drooping ears.

"Your hands, Rin," Kuro said, eyes snapping to his palms and making Rin realize he had dried blood and pieces of dirt stuck to his skin. He'd forgotten.

"Damn, I probably stained my clothes touching them or something, too." Rin sighed and laughed it off, anything to get Kuro to drop the line of conversation.

The rest of their ride passed in silence, and it continued when Rin opened the door to their apartment. He managed a light chatter when he fed them their dinner, though he couldn't remember what he said.

They stayed up a few more hours to catch up on the most recent show they'd begun. Kuro passed out an hour into it, worn from the activity from earlier. Rin watched without taking anything in, light flickering over his eyes, his smile fallen to leave him expressionless.

End credits rolled for the newest episode and Rin flicked it off, leaving without waking Kuro to his own room. He dropped into bed, muffling the silence further with a blanket over his head.

His pulse seemed loud as Rin focused on it, letting the steady sound lull him to sleep with each slowing beat.

And he dreamed.

He dreamed of hunting, chasing, claws in the dirt and sinking into giving flesh. Dreamed of fangs flashing, bared in playful snarls, joy reflected back at him from gold eyes.

Dreamed of the wild rush of energy clashing and melding in a whirling dance across a field that went on forever.

Rin ached.

End Notes:

Rip to Rin. Hopes he's got insurance on the shop lmao

If u guys wanna scream at me over this or just aoex in general I'm on Tumblr and discord as Thebeingofeverything and tboe 💪 I'm dying for more aoex convo lololol