Summary: Amaimon finally gets some quality alone time with Rin, then some quality alone time.

Notes: I've had fanart sketched for this chapter for like a year now, just waiting for it to get written so I could share it XD Now I just gotta actually sit down and finish it .

Recipes:

Hokkaido Cheese Tart

Song of the Chapter:

Gold by Chet Faker

The shop idled around Rin, a slow day during the week. His one bright point had been Mephisto's stop in the morning where he'd managed not to look like a total idiot after the last time.

As it was now, though, time seemed to drag its feet.

He was bored.

Memories of another voice complaining of boredom drifted across his mind. It took a few seconds for something to click and he blinked, rising from where he'd been slumped on the counter.

"Hey Bon, doesn't look like there's much happening today so I'm gonna let you guys handle things," he said, movements hurried with his renewed energy at the idea he'd just had.

His day was looking up!

Rin snagged a few of his newest test-pastries before he made for the station, dropping into a seat and leg bouncing at the slow pace.

Despite not really knowing what he would do once he got to Amaimon's, Rin couldn't find it in himself to be deterred. He'd figure it out once he got there.

Dust from the road to the town outside the station kicked up around his shoes as he lept from the train doors, almost running to Amaimon's shop, giddy for reasons he couldn't explain.

Inhaling deeply as he opened the door brought the scents of the shop to his senses and Rin sighed before heading further in.

"Amaimon?" he called, half-prepared for another hole to appear at his feet. Soft sunbeams made puddles of light on the ground that he walked past, and the cooler weather didn't penetrate the warmth kept at a steady equilibrium inside. It brought a shiver of contentment through Rin, something he usually only felt when he was in his own shop.

Peace warred with excitement to leave Rin anticipatory, inhaling again to see if he could distinguish Amaimon from the patchwork of scents, his path becoming more of a stalk through the filtered gloom.

Something shifted in the plants above him, Rin glancing up too late as a figure fell from the vines an inch from his face and blinked.

"Ah!" Rin yelped into gold eyes staring at him upside-down, heart jolting as he backpedaled into a shelf and winced at the pots cracking together from the abrupt force. Did he break one again?

Amaimon hung where he'd dropped, vines twisted around his limbs and holding him as he lightly swung in place. It should have been painful with the way his body contorted, but he made it seem like he could stay there all day in his position. Green strands of his bangs swayed when he cocked his head at Rin, who hadn't moved from his half-seat on the bench, using it as a prop while he gripped his chest.

"Dammit, how do you keep doing that?" Rin said in a whoosh, heart calming after the newest shock it had just undergone courtesy of one unrepentant demon still watching him from the eaves.

"Doing what?" Amaimon's mouth said one thing, but the faint tug of his lips up-or down-wards and the glow in his eyes said he knew exactly what he'd done.

Rin grumbled and shifted off the bench to walk up to Amaimon, trying to scowl but failing. "You know, sneaking up on me. How do you keep doing that?"

"Oh?" Amaimon said with a hum, rocking to send his body swinging in the vines until his nose just missed brushing Rin's and momentum took him away again. "Do you think you can find me here? You make so much noise it's not hard to sneak up on you."

"Are you-is that a challenge?" Rin reached and tugged at one of the tendrils dangling by Amaimon's shoulder to pull him back. "Because I'll definitely do it one of these days, just watch!"

"Besides," Rin pushed him away again, "it's not like I can smell you in here, you just smell like all the plants."

Amaimon's head jerked up-down-and he zeroed in on Rin, pupils slivering and causing a burst of apprehension in his chest, though also not, more of that anticipation beginning to sing in Rin's veins.

Claws snapped to fix into the front of his work clothes he'd forgotten to change out of in his haste to get to the shop and Amaimon pulled himself to Rin. "Do you want to play? Try to find me."

"Do I-" Rin cut himself off as he stumbled forward, righting himself just before they crashed together and staring into intense gold eyes as he processed the question.

"Yes!" he answered without thinking. "That sounds so fun. Hurry up, hide! I'll find you."

Already, Amaimon released him with a laugh and vanished into the vines again, the thick greenery coating the walls and ceiling swallowing his form before Rin could blink.

"And no cheating by doing that poofing thing," Rin added, ducking into a crouch as he began stalking through the aisles. His body became a livewire, flooding with adrenaline as he tuned every sense towards the slightest hint of Amaimon.

The bag in his hand slipped to the ground from limp fingers that curled into loose claws. He flexed them like he had Amaimon in his grasp already.

Rustling sounds came from various corners, but every time Rin froze to pinpoint them, they faded and left him circling the rows of the shop. His ears twitched, tail wound taut around his torso with the instincts to lash tightening it in intermittent spasms.

When he inhaled, nothing but the shop scents identified themselves, even after he dropped his jaw to pant through his mouth. Various humans, demons, and even the scent of Behemoth drew over his tongue, and he eliminated them one by one.

"Do you give up?"

Rin jerked his head around and yelped. Gold peered from the leaves at eye level on the nearest shelf of plants, and, now that Rin looked, the rest of Amaimon's body took shape between the green, his maroon jacket somehow muted.

"No, again!" Rin said to the smug expression Amaimon sent his way.

A shrug and Amaimon vanished, leaving Rin staring at the plants that seemed to have taken his place. Colors from various flowers caught his attention as he began the hunt.

Actually, now that he looked closer…

A giggle escaped Rin, stifled as he bit into his lips and examined the flower closer.

Had that been in the shop the whole time? How had he missed this on his usual walkthroughs while Shiemi did her thing and Amaimon subtly stalked around them as they browsed?

Flowers dangled off a deep green stem, and on the flowers dangled...well. They looked like little men. He shook himself from laughing at the strange plant and refocused.

Except, once he'd noticed one plant, others started to pop out of the usual backdrop of endless green. One he thought he recognized, though definitely not the shape it was grown into because that was some kind of edible pepper. Rin almost reached out to touch it as if to confirm what his eyes were seeing until he remembered the last time he'd tried to touch a plant in the shop and resisted.

Rustling above him snapped Rin from considering the plants and he glanced up, then startled.

"Pft!" he snorted, gaze following the thick vines running overhead and the seed pods or something hanging from the thin strands. Was that some kind of fruit? Why had they grown like that? And why did Amaimon have them in his shop?

Focus. Had to focus.

Trying to ignore the plants that kept appearing in his peripherals worked up until shifting had him glaring over his shoulder. A few vines seemed to sway towards him, and he was pretty sure the flower heads hadn't been facing him before but definitely were now.

They didn't move any more under his direct attention, and Rin turned after a last suspicious squint.

"Wuh-" he got out, going cross-eyed as he blinked. Red petals caressed in a soft press to his lips on the plant he'd just run straight into. Those hadn't been there before, but they didn't move from their new positions, despite looking like they'd fall out of the pot they grew from if they reached any further.

And the flowers were shaped like lips puckered into a kiss.

Rin burst out laughing, hunching in on himself with his hands around his stomach as he shook with mirth.

Sudden heat around his ankles broke Rin's fit and he looked to see clawed fingers circling him leading along limbs wrapped in the familiar green armbands all the way to the maroon jacket pooling beneath the body they enveloped.

Amaimon's brows furrowed over narrowed eyes and a frown.

"You stopped playing," he said, pout evident in his voice.

"Sorry! Sorry," Rin said in a gasp as he crouched to grin down at Amaimon. "I got distracted. I'll take it seriously now."

He flicked the top of Amaimon's strange horn on his head, smile stretching when it got him a startled blink and claws flexing their grip as if in confusion. At Rin's continued silence, he gathered himself, gaze shifting to the side like he couldn't look Rin head-on.

"Hn," Amaimon grunted with a short nod and slid back under the shadow of the bench.

Not even the dust looked disturbed, like Amaimon had erased his presence and gone to ground.

Maybe he had. Rin scanned the packed ground and rough bricks and remembered Amaimon appearing without a sound, the earth obeying him to open in a noiseless ripple. He hadn't sensed him then, either.

Staying still wasn't working, so he started to pace the aisles again. The silence of the shop seemed to press in on him, every sliver of shadow a potential hiding space for Amaimon to crawl from. His shoes scuffed in the dirt to join the thud of his heart, his even breath, until it blurred together over his ears in a singular rhythm he left in the background.

The entirety of his senses refused to unveil Amaimon to him, so Rin huffed a breath of frustration, flexed his claws, and dug deeper.

There was something distinctly "Amaimon" that settled over the entire town and concentrated in his shop. It had registered to Rin as the prickling touch of his energy before he'd discovered the source, and now it muddled further, like every rustling leaf radiated a piece of Amaimon.

Some of those pieces glowed brighter in his mind.

Was he…

Rin frowned, concentrating harder, his steps slowing until he stopped. Searching. Searching, because Amaimon was right…

"There!" Rin darted around the corner of the bench to duck beneath several broad-leaved plants, a wide smile breaking on his lips only to fall when it revealed nothing.

"Aww, dammit, I thought I had you," he grumbled. His ears drooped and he prepared to renew the hunt.

"Almost."

Breath puffed against the back of his neck just as Rin stepped into a body. The squeak that tried to escape escaped anyway when a sharp claw poked into his cheek.

"You were close," Amaimon said from behind Rin. He cocked his head, body shifting in a way that Rin heard more than felt, not quite touching with only the heat building between them to fill the space. "Did you figure it out?"

His words took a few seconds to filter meaning into Rin's head as his tail wrapped tight to cut off the shivers. This close, the scent he'd been trying to track amongst the plants distinguished itself, something immeasurable filling his lungs with each breath.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, you," Rin licked at his suddenly dry lips, "you were dispersing your energy in the plants and ground so it's harder to pinpoint the source, right?"

A nod and a light hum answered him, but when Rin realized he'd been right, he turned, smile breaking on his face to see Amaimon staring back.

"Not bad, right?" he said as he propped his hands on his hips and shoved the rest of his body's reactions deep down under his grin.

"I wanted to play longer," Amaimon said in what Rin would call disappointment.

So had Rin. But, "Maybe we can play in the forest next time. It'll be harder with more plants, right?"

That worked. Amaimon perked up, if the gold flash in his eyes meant anything.

"Yes." Amaimon's usual blank statement of agreement didn't surprise Rin at this point, but it still buoyed him from the earlier disappointment.

"So what were you doing today?" Rin asked, "You know, before I showed up."

The pressure Amaimon exuded just by standing in Rin's space dispersed as he stepped away to walk down the aisle, waving a hand over his shoulder Rin took to mean he should follow.

"Restocking," Amaimon said as they returned to the center of the shop. Another motion of his hand brought several plants and flowers to fill the area at their feet.

He sat amongst them, prompting Rin to settle at the edge of the circle to watch him float one of the plants to his side. The other hand drew up with a pinch, earth from the ground of his shop flowing close behind.

Under Rin's rapt attention, the earth began to take shape. It began to take shape into something like…

"Is that a pot?" Rin yelped, jabbing his finger at the clay pot Amaimon blinked away from that had just solidified with what looked like less effort than breathing.

"Like a clay pot?"

Amaimon nodded again.

Rin shrieked.

"You scammed me outta pastries!" he slapped his hands on the ground, kneeling into Amaimon's space and scowling at the revelation he'd just had.

"I felt really guilty for accidentally running into you and breaking the pot, but you could have totally just fixed it in two-seconds!"

"I like your pastries," Amaimon said, claw coming to his mouth where he gnawed it down to the quick, severe scowl of his own tugging his lips. "And your drinks."

His shriek strangled in his mouth at Amaimon's blunt words and Rin hung his head with a groan.

"Does this mean I can't have any more?" A clear pout filled Amaimon's voice, sending Rin's ears pinning against his head as he raised it to see Amaimon and his face inches away from where he'd also kneeled.

"I'm sorry. Can I have them still?"

That had to be the worst apology Rin had ever heard, and Amaimon was definitely more worried about not getting pastries ever again than actually remorseful for his deception.

They held the stare between them, Rin matching Amaimon's pout the longer it continued.

"Yes, apology accepted," he released the answer in a grumbled huff and sat back on his heels, "but only because you're taking care of that pretty flower at the shop. And you fixed The Beast and that cup, even though you didn't have to, and you play with Kuro."

"And," Rin's gaze flicked to a preening Amaimon as he began to dig around in his bag he'd picked off the floor when they'd passed it, "because I like coming here to hang out with you."

Pastries revealed themselves to Amaimon, who cheered when he saw them and reached to accept Rin dropping them into his waiting claws.

"I wanted to try my hand at cheese tarts so you're my taste-tester," he admitted.

Sitting back to look at Amaimon ended with the rest of Rin's ire dissipating. An exhale sent his bangs puffing away from his face before the crooked smile he'd been fighting formed. He leaned on his palms next to one of the plants to be potted, content to watch Amaimon devour the tarts

Rustling distracted Rin and he glanced to the side, seeing a few of the plants shifting where they'd been placed. The one nearest to him caught his eye and he reached without thought to poke the strange red bulbs shooting from the base to arc overhead.

It looked like some weird kind of fruit, and the urge to bite into it hit Rin. His touch to the waxy surface of the almost scaled ridges of the bulb made a new shiver erupt from the plant, startling him back from it.

With his luck, his hand would start melting off or something.

Great. This was exactly what Shiemi had warned him about.

Nothing seemed to be happening, though. His hand wasn't burning, at least.

Instead, the bulbs nodded at him, definitely moving like they had a mind of their own. As they tipped towards him, a liquid that must have filled the scales began to drip along the ridges, adding a sheen over the already bright surface.

"Uh," Rin started to say, suddenly finding himself hemmed in by the bulbs, "Amaimon? These aren't going to eat me, right?"

"Hm?" Amaimon's questioning hum trailed off as he looked up from where he'd been cleaning away all traces of the pastries. He stopped, pupils slitting as they snapped to where the bulbs were now prodding at Rin's shoulders, releasing more of the fluid.

Gold eyes narrowed and Amaimon scowled, snapping his fingers without hesitation. The plant stopped its curious exploration over Rin's clothes, returning to its original unmoving position like nothing had happened.

"No," Amaimon said, glaring at the plant a final time.

"Cool, sorry I touched it, I forgot," Rin said with a laugh, then winced and poked a finger to the clear fluid staining his jacket. "Uh, whoops."

"Good thing I had the extra clothes, I guess." His gaze had landed on the bag by his feet, the one containing said change of clothes.

"Lemme just-" Rin stood, remembering at the last second to unwind his tail, the end slithering out of sight behind his back as he shucked his jacket and shirt, both having been stained through by the liquid, to change into another.

"There!" he said, dusting his hands, proud of himself for the quick solution and stuffing the dirty clothes into the bag.

For reasons Rin would probably never know, Amaimon's glare at the plant contained an unexpected level of vitriol. It lessened somewhat when he looked Rin's way, but then it just seemed pained, also for reasons Rin couldn't place. He was probably just wondering at Rin's intelligence, something he was vastly familiar with.

Sheepishness filled Rin's laugh as he rubbed the back of his head and made sure he was a healthier distance from any other plants. Healthier, in that it was impossible to be any real distance from a plant, given they filled every available space.

Amaimon blinked, coming back to himself and his task, more pots forming at his direction. His tension eased and time passed in comfortable silence.

Something about watching Amaimon work was hypnotic. The subtle flexes of power effortless but drawing Rin to fall deeper into the flow of energy singing along his senses.

It continued until every plant found a new home, even if the chastised red-bulbed plant seemed to shrink under the narrowed gaze Amaimon kept on it while placing it in the last pot.

"Mm," Rin shook himself, glancing down to pull his phone out, "oh, I can't believe I stayed this long."

Standing with a stretch and a contented sigh let him know it had been long enough to make his bones pop. He let out another wry grin as he tossed his bag over his shoulder.

"Thanks for playing earlier, and sorry for messing with the plant. I'll see you soon!"

"Wait," the short word from Amaimon brought him up, "Here."

At Amaimon's direction, one of the newly potted plants floated over to Rin.

"Oh! Is this for the shop?" Rin asked as he took hold of the base and examined it.

Broad, dark green leaves appeared glossy to Rin's eye. The deep red underbelly drew him to touch, enjoying the cool temperature and hard texture as his fingers ran there in a repetitive motion.

"No," Amaimon stood too, his answer pausing Rin with confusion, "it's for you."

Er, "Me? Oh man, I've killed so many plants, I don't wanna kill this one, too!"

The plant became a ticking time bomb in his hands. Rin gripping it as if it would decay just because he held it too long.

Scoffing from Amaimon interrupted his panic. "You won't kill this one. It's a Gehennian rubber tree. The leaves will curl when it needs water. Don't wait longer than a week after to water it. Don't touch it otherwise. Easy."

That did sound easy. Rin cast a suspicious frown at the plant like it would somehow act differently when no longer under Amaimon's attention.

But, "Thanks, Amaimon. I'll do my best."

His heart fluttered in his chest, smile blooming despite the new responsibility he'd just acquired.

He left to the nod from Amaimon, waving and heading home with contentment making sleep come easy that night, even when he had to toss his bag along with the clothes into the wash. Nevermind dealing with Kuro pouting over Rin's long absence.

Rin borrowed into his covers, inhaling like he was still surrounded by the scents of Amaimon's shop. He slept watching the new gift taking up residence in the corner of his room.

Amaimon didn't know whether to laugh or scream. The urge to destroy something accompanied both strange emotions he had never felt in quite these extremes before.

He replayed the last hour in his head like it would make any more sense the second time around.

It didn't.

In fact, the more he analyzed things, the less they fit.

Every new encounter with Rin deepened the mystery that Amaimon couldn't uncover no matter how he dug at it. His claw ended up back in his mouth as he gnawed away the new growth without thought.

How had Rin-the game he'd proposed, letting Rin attempt to find him in his own territory, that had been meant as a way to startle him, not for Rin to actually narrow his location down. What kind of nephilim had that ability?

Blood trickled down his chin and Amaimon registered he'd bit into his thumb, continuing to chew like the pain of his fangs against his bone would jog an answer free.

Infuriating and naive while also being neither of those things. That was Rin.

Most infuriating of all, though…

His gaze flicked to the plants around the shop, glaring at them as if they'd been the source of all his problems. Several Gehennian varieties bowed their flower heads at his pique.

Above everything was the way Rin walked up to him with a smile and asked to play.

Sharp pain lanced through his now fractured bone where he ground his fangs and Amaimon loosed a growl as he yanked his thumb free of his mouth.

Either Rin asked or gladly accepted Amaimon's invitation, all seeming without an ounce of understanding. Not that Amaimon hadn't had fun, which was the strangest part. Humans were boring, no matter what Samael said. Nephilim were almost as bad, too fragile even when they took more after their demonic lineage. Their inherited features never matched up to any real potential.

Watching the way Rin stalked through his territory, he could almost see extended claws, ears grown to long points, a tail.

All things that Rin, by rights, wouldn't have.

Like the common sense not to touch the plants he didn't recognize in Amaimon's territory. Usually. He'd thought Rin had learned after nearly touching one of the plants best known for causing excruciating pain when he'd first come in.

Though the one he'd been about to touch this time…

"Hn," he grunted out loud, sending a quelling glower to the ginger plant that had been touching Rin the second his attention was taken with the gifted pastries.

A memory flashed across his mind, of Rin laughing and standing to change, something Amaimon wouldn't normally care about at all, given the number of naked humans he'd seen throughout the ages.

Things were different, in part because the mystery of Rin had captured his interest, but also now because, for a split second, he'd seen something slip from sight behind Rin's back.

Red caught his eyes and an impulse bore him down on the ginger plant. His blood had started to pick up in his veins the more he replayed the scene in his head, and he gripped the flower head that had pressed to an oblivious Rin, unable to decide if he should destroy it or-

Amaimon squeezed, tracking the shivers in the plant and the clear liquid that spilled over his fingers. The frustration peaked and he yanked the flower closer, at the same time flooding power into the plant.

The effect took over immediately as leaves began to shudder with uncontrolled growth, new flower heads erupting from the base and surrounding Amaimon. He released the captured stalk while the rest dove towards his body without anything to stop their intent, gathering along his limbs and lifting him into their twisting embrace.

Rin hadn't known what plant he'd been sitting next to. He'd reacted as he had to any perceived misstep in the past, with a laugh and a sheepish smile.

His spine twisted, limbs pulled by stalks that tightened in winding nooses threatening to constrict too far. One made its way up his chest, around his throat, to his lips where the head shoved itself with insistence.

He opened his mouth and snarled, sinking his fangs down to taste the sweet nectar flooding over his tongue as he destroyed the flower that had touched Rin.

It didn't discourage the rest of the stalks from fighting to take the ruined one's place. Amaimon let them, violent urge sated for the moment and instincts pushing him in other directions.

Snapping removed the clothes hindering the progress of the stalks on his now bared skin. His tail flicked from his waist to beat away the restraints until he brought it to drape over his stomach.

Sensation sent his hairs rising as more liquid dribbled from the flower heads to stain his skin. The humid air cooled wet patches of gathering droplets sluicing over the contours of his body to the ground.

The rough drag of the stalks mimicked hands grasping for purchase until one found his tail and twined with it in a single, harsh move. Amaimon gasped as he jerked his hands to his tail, hips juddering and the shock of pleasure making him harden.

Unable to stop himself, his mind turned to Rin.

Had that been a tail? Or had he just imagined one. Demons didn't have an imagination, but Amaimon felt his mind begin to pull pictures of what sort of tail Rin would have. What would suit the fearless creature that had wandered into his territory?

His tail slipped in restless coils around his hands, constricting as he wondered if Rin's would be like his, reptilian with rasping scales he could wrap a firm touch like-

Amaimon arched into his palm and stroked down, tail moving like it had a mind of its own and forcing the stalk to join its erratic dance. The heavy limb thumped against his body as he lay back, surrounded by earth and the scents of his den. He wanted a different scent, wanted it to mingle with his, to inhale and surround himself with Rin.

What was that scent? It danced along the edge of his memory, something primordial that reminded him more of Gehenna than Assiah, but didn't fit either, or was both. His thoughts scattered, the first press against his entrance taking him from thoughts of Rin to the present.

Pain radiated as a burning stretch sent him hissing and his eyes watering. More flower heads nudged alongside the one already past his rim. He let them, eyes shuttered and glazed as his mouth dropped so he could pant through the humid air.

He choked and lost his breath when the flower heads nearest him took his opened mouth as invitation.

Sweet liquid seeped past his stretched lips and down his chin, the rest he swallowed before it could gag him as he took shallow gasps through his nose. It sent his vision blurring, a dizziness adding to the kaleidoscope of sensory stimulation each thrust of the heads inside him caused.

Each thrust inside him lifted Amaimon, his body contorted by the stalks pulling his legs wide until even he felt the strain.

Demons didn't have imagination, but Amaimon imagined Rin. He imagined the startled gasps and crying his name and the scent teasing him every time he caught it.

And he imagined Rin bound like he was, mind gone to the pleasure Amaimon wrung from him and voice breaking on the calls of his name. Groaning around the heads in his mouth and thrusting back to meet those filling him in a final hard motion broke Amaimon's cresting pleasure.

He came, release spattering to the flowers and mixing with their sweet liquid coating his body.

They didn't stop their thrusts, fucking him through his climax until it verged on too much. Annoyed, Amaimon bit down, swallowing the heads in his mouth and tearing the ones from inside him, finished with his game.

Cowed, the ginger flinched and regressed into its initial state, leaving Amaimon kneeling on the ground covered in the evidence of his actions.

Then it was just his panting breaths filling his shop until they faded. The last of the adrenaline that had pulsed through his veins dispersed, and Amaimon slumped, eyes shuttered in thought.

Rin.

Maybe…

Maybe his gifts weren't good enough.

His eyes closed and he inhaled a slow breath. Considering.

Humans liked gifts. Rin liked his gifts. But not enough. At least, not so far, though time might see progress, and Amaimon had learned something of patience in the centuries of peace.

So, he would see if his gifts were enough for a while longer, or if he needed something more.

Maybe, he needed something else.

Something he couldn't get in Assiah.

End notes:

Now if someone wants to draw me that spicy solo scene...

Sorry poor Mephisto didn't get his time in the spotlight today, he'll get it in a later chapter~

If ur curious, those plants referenced ARE real:

Shampoo Ginger

Hooker lips flower

Peter pepper

Man orchid

Annnnd penis passionfruit aka Passiflora quadrangularis Erotica

Always knew my interest in plants would come in handy one of these days 😂