Summary: Wow, Mephisto, good luck digging yourself out of THIS hole.
Notes: Mephisto will get his time to shine, I swear. And Amaimon has his own major oopsie on the horizon~
Also sorry this took like over a month to get out, I have been SO BUSY holy shit T.T I think I got two weeks out of the month to write and most of that was done in the morning on my phone while walking on the treadmill or the hour of the day I have coffee during breakfast/lunch hahahaaaa :,D
Only 6 more chapters to go and I can start up Incandescence again~ ;D
…and after that imma start writing my original novel trilogy ayyyyyyy
Recipes of the chapter:
Marzipan cakes
Wagashi
Stollen
Holiday/Christmas Cake
"Who do they think they are? I'll bet you it's all baked a week ago and frozen. Probably telling people it's fresh-baked too. Coffee beans are probably old and stale and…"
"Are you still talking to yourself-is he still talking to himself?"
Izumo's question took Rin from glaring at the poster he held to see her standing with crossed-arms next to Shima, who didn't hide the grin at Rin's scowl.
"Why don't you just get your suitor to tell them to get better stuff?" Shima asked.
"What?" Rin tried to understand what Shima meant. What suitor-Mephisto? Amaimon?
Rin's mind flashed to an irritable Amaimon coming down like a meteor on that damn Cafe True Cross and savored the idea for a long, beautiful moment.
"Your teeth are kinda scaring me, man," Shima's mumble snapped Rin away from daydreams of his competitors going up in flames and he dropped his lips over his fangs.
"But seriously what are you talking about?" Rin pressed as he leaned back against the windowsill by the bonsai.
"You're kidding me," Izumo said, then seemed to think better of it and sighed, "You know he owns this whole city, right? The cafe is one of the things under the Pheles subsidiaries. And he's a beneficiary of the Academy, which runs the cafe."
"No way!" Rin said with a betrayed yelp, hand coming to his heart like it broke, "How could he?"
"I think suitor number one just fell into second place," Shima said as he nudged Izumo.
The deep urge to set the poster in his hands on fire burned through Rin in an underground ripple he tamped down to settle for a seething glare.
On the paper declared the winter seasonal specials for all to see. He'd pulled it from a bulletin board at the train station on his ride to the shop that morning, and his breath had released a little more steam than the surrounding people.
Winter had come to them, and that meant the seasonal events were out in force. Including his competitor's.
Which meant Rin would also be hosting an event. He narrowed his eyes, grin growing into a smirk as plans formulated.
"He's doing it again."
He ignored Shima's weak words and crumpled the poster in his fist.
"Get ready for our first winter seasonal event, guys, we're gonna blow those bastards out of the water."
"This is a lot, Rin, did you sleep at all last night?" Shima said upon sight of the mounds of packages filling the storage room that hadn't been there the day before.
Rin hadn't, actually. But, staring at the evidence of his efforts let him ignore the burning in his eyes as he grinned and propped his hands on his hips.
"Yep, I had to make it all at home last night because we don't have the space or equipment here," he said, remembering the brief thought he'd had that maybe he should just make what he could in the shop, then thought better. There was no way he was settling for a limited menu, not for the holiday event.
"Kuro helped me drop it off," he gestured to the sleeping bundle of a cait sidhe in the center of the room. Guarding things, or so he'd said.
"And the plants?" Shima wheedled with a glance behind them, though something in his voice sounded like he already knew the answer.
Two large poinsettias graced the entrance to the shop, bright red making the atmosphere seem warmer, more inviting beneath the holly garlands strung along the walls and ceiling-at least to Rin. He beamed at them, crossing his arms at the memory of their gifting.
"Amaimon gave me them when I mentioned the event, he'll take them back in a month." A month after the holidays had passed so the poor plants wouldn't die if Rin looked at them wrong.
The event would last the day, with holiday specials and samples and whatever music Izumo determined wouldn't hurt her ears after listening to it for hours on end. Rin decided it was best in her hands and left the decorating in Bon's, knowing how particular they both were.
In the end, his shop had transformed into a winter wonderland and he breathed a sigh of pleasure, tail wiggling beneath his shirt at the sight.
Izumo handled a few of the customers inside already, and Rin's heart had fluttered to hear the exclamations the change in the shop had caused when they'd arrived.
While she handled that, Rin hummed to himself and began arranging the display of wagashi treats. He'd shaped them into little snowmen and holly sprays for the season. It had taken him hours and multiple lumpy, misshapen tries before he'd gotten them right.
Hot tea samples sat on burners beside the trays for customers to take, each gasp of delight and pleasure from his customers who saw them making Rin beam.
Already, the gift-wrapped treats vanished, his customers promising Rin they'd spread the word about the event that day before heading back into the cold.
Besides the wagashi, several loaves of stollen and marzipan candies he'd molded into winter plums framed the crowning jewel of the day.
A sigh escaped Rin as he stared, heart swelling at his masterpiece.
"I still have no idea how you got that here without it falling or breaking, man," Shima said.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Rin sighed again, "We made these all the time for our birthday as kids."
White frosting contrasted brilliantly against the red strawberries of the three tier Christmas cake Rin had made. It glistened in the warm lights of his shop, contained within the glass display case he'd gotten specifically for such a cake.
"We get to take some home if there's any left, right?"
Rin rolled his eyes, "Yeah, everyone can take some home, Shima."
Expensive? Very. But, as he'd reasoned with himself, the money they'd saved by not needing to replace The Beast meant they had extra to spend on a special event.
He left the awed stares to go help Izumo get Shima's orders out. In the back of his mind anticipation curled along every nerve. His reactions stung with it even as he forced the jumpiness into his tasks.
Everything was perfect. He had a good feeling about the day.
Especially about the drink he'd chosen for Mephisto.
It was just a matter of patience, something he'd spent his whole childhood getting instilled into him, but which had never come naturally.
So Rin wouldn't be checking the door when the bell rang above it like he knew Shima and Izumo teased him for, but if his ears twitched for the sound of a car then that was nobody's business but his.
Another person came and went with a smile. Rin flitted station to station, from one wall to the other, checked his store room, paced the length of it before going back to the window to stare at the bonsai, inhaling, calmed when he looked into the deep green leaves.
At least for a moment.
A moment was all it took.
"Get ready," Shima whispered under his breath from behind Rin, probably to Izumo.
His heart definitely hadn't lept in his chest when he heard the rumble he was waiting for, but it might have skipped a little.
The bell rang above the door and green eyes widened, then crinkled with a smile as Mephisto came towards Rin.
"Mephisto!" Rin said in a chirp, feeling his own eyes crinkle in a return smile.
"You've decorated," Mephisto scanned the shop before stopping in front of Rin. "Marvelous job."
"Mmhmm. We didn't have the budget the first two years but Koneko helped a lot and I can finally go all out!"
Koneko's help had meant Rin could finally do the things he envisioned for his shop, and, "It's totally better than those cheapskate, no soul, pre-packaged bastards at the Academy now."
"Yes, well, they're missing one essential piece that makes it very difficult to compete."
They were missing a lot of pieces Rin could go on about to his dying day but-he blinked, frowning at Mephisto and asking, "What piece?"
Which piece was Mephisto talking about? Was it the lattes? Rin had been working on them especially hard after he'd made the bet-not that they weren't leagues beyond Cafe True Cross anyway!
But he still had to find Mephisto's favorite drink, dammit. So he'd be perfecting and expanding his arsenal.
Claws came to slip down Rin's chest from his collar. They pressed while he startled, ducking his chin to watch them drum in a slow pattern until Mephisto's light laughter drew his gaze up again.
"I pride myself on my Academy and the level of excellence the students enjoy," Mephisto said, palm resting flat to Rin's chest where his heart refused to run at a normal pace. "But I've since realized that I may as well have not bothered with all that, not when it pales in comparison to you."
Rin's heart stopped, a sound escaping from his lungs before it squeezed into a pitiful squeak as heat rushed over his cheeks to leave him dizzy.
"Ah-" he coughed and stuttered, gaze dropping back to the hand Mephisto still hadn't removed- "Y-yeah, exactly. They don't love it, so that's why!"
"Why-why don't you try some of the samples, I'll just get your drink going," Rin said as he stumbled around to rush to the counter in what definitely wasn't a retreat.
Something burned its way into his spine that Rin pretended he didn't know the source of, forcing his shoulders not to hunch. Despite the usual commotion in the shop, he still picked up on steps belonging to one towering demon king as they trailed his.
Seeing Mephisto holding one of the samples of plum stollen when he turned stripped some of the nerves making Rin tense, and his next smile came easier.
"Stollen, wagashi, and this magnificent cake," Mephisto murmured, turning the treat over in his fingers, "you're certainly gifting me just about everything I could want."
The way Mephisto's pupils flicked between Rin and the dessert sent his heart tripping, though he couldn't say why, about to ask which he wanted to go along with his drink.
Ringing at the entrance to the shop distracted Rin. The person who entered distracted him entirely.
"Shura?" he gasped, almost dropping the spices he'd been about to add to the drink at the sight of a familiar cropped head of fiery hair, windblown after coming in from the elements.
He saw the second Mephisto took her in too.
"Hey kid, please tell me you decided to add some real drinks to the menu," she said with a wide grin at her usual crack about adding alcohol to his shop.
Shura came to the shorter length of his counter, already shucking her winter coat to reveal the tight undershirt beneath and dropping to rest on the free space in a slump.
"If you want to pay for the alcohol license, I'll add it," Rin shot back, "And when did you get in town anyway? Why didn't you tell me?"
She waved a careless motion at him, cheek pressing to the palm of her other hand as she responded, "Don't get all irritated with me, this was the first place I stopped after I dropped off the truck."
"Besides," her grin turned teasing, "you know I wouldn't miss you two brats' birthday. I'm here for the month."
His parents would be ecstatic. Rin began to smile too, excited for the next month of Shura's visit.
"Hmm," a low purr shook Rin from his thoughts, "well now, you'll have to introduce us, Rin. Who might this vision be?"
What? Rin snapped his head around to see hooded green eyes roving the arch of Shura's spine, lingering on where her crossed arms pressed to her chest.
"My sister, Shura," he said without hearing the automatic answer leave his mouth. His gaze tracked Mephisto's path as he prowled around the counter to lean besides Shura. Shura, who leaned back on her elbow with an appraising once-over of her own and a toothy grin.
"New clientele, huh, Rin? Shura said from beneath her fringe as she began tapping a finger to her cheek, "This is a little more than the usual college brats and old grannies who hang out here."
"What, did he woo you with his lattes or was it the baby blues?"
Mephisto tilted his head further into Shura's space, hair falling to frame the glow in his irises and glint of light off his fangs. "A certain spark caught my eye, it seems to run in the family."
"Gotcha, the baby blues," she said, scoffing, and Rin's heart squeezed, stomach twisting into heavy knots until he thought he couldn't breathe.
He'd finished the drink, but his body wouldn't move, words wouldn't come. Nothing to interrupt the scene in front of him broke his paralysis.
"Flattery might get you somewhere," Shura continued over the rush in Rin's ears he couldn't place the source of until he realized it was his pulse. She shrugged one shoulder that let the strap of her shirt slide against her skin, "But you've got your work cut out for you."
A heat built in his head as he watched Mephisto's gaze trace the path the strap had taken.
"Flattery usually gets me everywhere." Black claws gleamed, Mephisto humming as he popped the sample he'd been toying with into his mouth. It vanished in the flick of a tapered tongue, hidden by a cheshire smile.
"Yeah, I can see that," Shura said, expression haughty and leaning back on the counter to raise a brow. "But you've never met a challenge like this one."
Movement at his side and a voice speaking had a creak going through his neck when he tried to turn to see the source, though the words didn't register.
"Rin, hey, Rin," Izumo said in a subdued call of his name he finally recognized.
A hand at his elbow stiffened his body, Rin tensing with the sudden overwhelming urge to lash out. To burn.
"Are you ok? I-" Izumo stopped, and Rin saw her taking in what he couldn't turn his eyes from. "Oh."
Her voice faded from his focus. Everything faded, wrapped up in the scant space between Mephisto and Shura, the smiles they shared, the laughter after their words.
Instincts clawed a hole through his insides, releasing acid bile that seared his nerves and ate him down to the marrow.
"You'll be in town long, then?" Mephisto said, Rin helpless to do anything but listen and unable to stop himself from picking up every word from his mouth. His fangs itched behind his lips with an insistence growing harder to ignore with every inhale of Mephisto and Shura's mingled scents.
"Yeah, I've gotta spend time with my favorite brats-speaking of." Shura turned to Rin, the sudden attention shaking him from some of the acid edges of his thoughts.
"I just came by quick, I've gotta go pick up four-eyes and then we'll be heading home."
"Uh, ok," Rin said in a thick voice as he tried to remember speech.
"Is this the drink you've chosen today, Rin?"
Rin flinched up at Mephisto's question, nodding with a mumble as he handed the drink over. The gingerbread-man cookie smiled from a frosted mouth where he'd placed it in the whipped cream, a sprinkle of crushed gingerbread topping it all off.
It should have filled Rin with the usual pride to see Mephisto's deep inhale and shuttered eyes, but his gaze kept going to Shura. They stood so close.
"Mm-Rin," Mephisto purred his name, "you've outdone yourself. This is your warmest yet."
"I'll gladly take a selection of all your seasonal pastries and a piece of that cake, too," he continued, and Rin moved on automatic, gathering the plum stollen and holly and snowman wagashi and the cake he'd prepared as if someone else controlled his body.
"Have you had the chance to try these yet?"
Who was he-Rin glanced up from boxing the cake slice and froze.
"I grew up taste-testing this kid's food, but I never turn down freebies, thanks," Shura said, accepting the offered wagashi from Mephisto with a twist of her lips into a smirk under his pleased observation.
"You're very welcome. Ah-and thank you, Rin, this is wonderful, how much do I owe you?"
Before he could try coming up with the price, Izumo stepped in, arms crossed and glare searing into Mephisto's curious face at her sudden interjection with the price. She sniffed, holding out her hand and taking the money to deposit it in the cash register, all without letting Rin handle it.
"Thank you, have a good day, sir," she said to the furrowed brows and searching expression Mephisto scanned her with.
Her hand came to Rin's shoulder, bodily turning him to the side like she guarded him as she spoke in a voice that carried, "Come on, you've got orders to fill out for Shima."
"Don't worry, Rin," she shot back when he started to protest, though for what, he wasn't sure.
"Demons are just like that."
Oh.
The urge to curl inwards hit him, his instincts unable to find the source and screaming at him to hide so he could recover where no one could see.
But he didn't have a reason for feeling like that, and he had an event to oversee, and Mephisto's cautious farewell he left on didn't make him flinch because he wasn't bothered by the lack of warmth at all.
He'd said warmer, warmest, actually, but all Rin felt was chilled, like ashes burnt out and leeched of the earlier heat.
"'Scuse me hon', Shura said to Izumo, nudging her so she could throw an arm around Rin's shoulder and drag him close to mutter, "Just checking, but does Yukio know about this?"
Shura's question sent him hunching, ears drooping as he answered, "Yeah, he knows."
A hand slapped his arm, Shura nodding to herself. "Ok, good enough for me. I already know you haven't told ma' and the old man yet, otherwise I'd have been called straight back here to wrangle you out of the city in the middle of the night into witness protection."
"Yeah," Rin had seen that exact future the moment their parents found out. "I didn't want to worry them. I've got it under control."
"I can see," she snickered, "and at least if you don't, your attack dog sure does, damn, I thought there was gonna be some blood."
When he didn't laugh along, Shura slowed, glancing at him as he flicked a look from the corner of his eye, unable to muster one up.
"Hey, are you sure you're ok? You know why this is so dangerous, so if you need to, I can take you tonight, I don't-"
Rin shook her off with a jerk of his body, glaring in sudden ire, "I'm not running. It's-he's-this is my shop. Mine."
Snarling at Shura wouldn't be right, but it didn't stop his chest squeezing to restrain the sound from escaping.
Exasperated sighing and Shura's lop-sided smile soothed some of the ruffled feathers, at least enough for him to force himself from the worst of his defensiveness.
"Listen, the option's always on the table, I'll drop everything and get here as soon as I can, just say the word."
At Rin's tight nod, she clapped his shoulder one more time and disengaged with a long stretch of her arms overhead.
"Cool, I'm gonna head out and grab Yukio now," she said, waving as she tossed her coat back on.
New customers kept Rin busy, but the atmosphere had lost some of the color it contained earlier, and he didn't know how to regain it again.
Shura had spent enough time with Rin to recognize when he was in a mood. But, she also knew him well enough to know he was going to be stubborn if she pried anymore.
Which meant she had to go to her little mole on the inside for the scoop.
Luckily, Rin was distracted pouting at the register, so she made a detour to the back room she'd seen the little sneak disappear into earlier on her arrival.
There, a pink head of hair startled at seeing her entrance as she ducked into the back.
"How's my favorite skeezy spy doing?" she said with a toothy grin. "What's the low-down here?"
"Eh-heh, well, you've seen the biggest one," Shima giggled nervously, looking shifty as usual as he explained away the walking disaster Shura had just witnessed. The exact thing their parents had given themselves gray hairs worrying about had just flirted over Rin's tea candies with bedroom eyes a demonic green.
Wait.
"The biggest one?" Her eyes narrowed on the requests for forgiveness Shima muttered under his breath before he answered.
"Uh, well, so around the same time another suitor popped up. Kinda."
Another? Shura tapped a finger to her arm pointedly.
"So Amaimon-you know, the earth king-showed up and fixed the coffee machine and he's been coming in ever since! He likes Rin's pastries, and his drinks. Actually everything, that guy's an eating machine," Shima blurted out, the words rolling into each other like a freight train as Shura pieced them into recognizable order in her head.
"Shit," she dropped the word and her arms, only to bring her hands to scrub at her face.
Shima winced, rubbing at the back of his head in commiseration. "Yeah, you could probably put it that way. Things haven't been boring here since they showed up. Almost everyday it's Sir Pheles in the morning, Amaimon in the evening."
She stopped, hands falling away and glaring at the last sentence.
"Are you telling me they're both showing up here and there hasn't been a fight yet? Did they decide visitation hours or something?" How was Rin's shop in one piece? Where was the ground zero explosion in the news?
"Well, funny story," Shima interrupted her visions of a nuked downtown with Rin in the epicenter, "they kinda haven't met here yet. I don't think they know the other has been here at all."
"No," Shura exhaled the word, eyes wide, "how is that possible?"
A shrug conveyed Shima's shared disbelief. "Beats the hell outta me."
Nothing made sense, except that it involved events surrounding Rin, so of course it made sense.
"Alright, so where is it?" she said shoving the urge to scream down with a force of will and a huff of breath.
"Haha, what?" Shima stepped back, hands raised for mercy.
Her hand went out to make a grabbing motion, voice a no-nonsense demand, "I know you have your little pool going on, so pull it out."
Recognition entered Shima's eyes as he scurried to a corner and revealed the jar, a grin tugging at his lips, probably because he was excited to have another player in the game.
Shura cocked her hands on her hip as he came around with the jar and set it on the small table, pride in his voice as he gestured widely at it and said, "So, two suitors after one oblivious heart. What're you putting down?"
"First, what did Yukio put down?" she asked, knowing he wouldn't have been able to resist after the no-doubt fraught meeting he must have had.
"Geeze, you guys are sharp, how'd it skip Rin?" Shima said in a mumble. "He put down that Rin was gonna break both their non-existent hearts."
"Yeah that sounds like him," she nodded, pulling out her wallet and throwing her bet in.
Eyes narrowing and grin flashing in a smile that screamed danger, Shura revealed her bet to Shima's nervous watch. "I'm saying the two suitors eventually meet and get into a territorial fight over Rin before he shuts them both down to save his one true love, the shop."
And Shima could count on that. No one besides an actual demon knew them like she did, not even mom with all her encyclopedic knowledge got them as intrinsically.
Rin's pouting visage right where Shura had left him graced her vision when she exited the store room. She gave a wave and got a pitiful one in return before she strolled out into the cold to pick up her errant brother.
It would be a fun discussion she was about to have with Yukio, that was for sure.
Humans were always celebrating some event or another, and Amaimon could never keep track of them all, let alone cared enough to.
Still, he'd remembered Rin's event.
The uncontained joy Rin had expressed when he'd told Amaimon about his planned day and the viciousness in his voice for his supposed competition-not that Amaimon knew how any could compete with Rin-had kept the knowledge in his head like a countdown.
Something to build excitement for the coming days, a gift, even if Amaimon knew Rin was unaware of it.
And today was the day.
"Come, Behemoth," he said, gathering his familiar into his arms and vanishing to Rin's shop, mind filled with what treats might be waiting for his arrival.
Red filled his vision, the poinsettias in the window and bright holly berries he'd provided warming the small space. Amaimon didn't wait, hating the chill winter brought in this hemisphere of Assiah and once again wishing Rin existed in another warmer climate.
One outside of Samael's territory. He hid his irritation and escaped the cold, inhaling deeply as the rest of his ire fizzled away with the scents inside.
Now, where was Rin?
A massive cake distracted Amaimon the moment he saw it, drawing him forward as he felt himself start to salivate. Surrounding the towering mass of frosting were little spots of color he recognized as various sweets, inviting him closer to what he knew was Rin's work.
Shuffling in his arms had him releasing Behemoth to the ground, attention only half on his surroundings and the meaningless worms avoiding the path he took.
"Er, Amaimon, sir," a voice piped up on his peripherals. The boring human that reeked of nerves in his presence stood to the side with hands that looked like they wanted to tremble, though he at least covered that reaction.
He narrowed his eyes, waiting.
"Ah, if you're looking for Rin he's in back."
That was helpful. Amaimon nodded and diverted his path from the sweets. It was always better when Rin offered them, anyway.
Amaimon's nose twitched as he searched out Rin's distinctive scent amongst all the others, enjoying the indefinable he still couldn't place in either Gehenna or Assiah.
One more step, brushing aside the curtain, and he found Rin.
"Amaimon?"
His gaze narrowed, sweeping down Rin's form, alerted to something, though what, he didn't know.
Was it that he was hiding in the back room when he'd expected Rin to be out front flitting around with his typical cheer? That his voice had shook on Amaimon's name? Or the way he'd been hunched over the supplies, sorting them with an apathy Amaimon recognized in himself when he started wondering if crystallizing might be better.
Moving closer and inhaling got him Rin pulling on a smile that even Amaimon could tell was faked. He didn't like that.
"You look miserable," he said, blunt words causing a flinch in Rin as he waited for an explanation.
"What? No, no I'm ok, I just-I'm just checking stock back here," Rin said in a clear diversion.
"Hn," Amaimon grunted, glaring harder at the lie. For all the mystery surrounding Rin, he was incapable of hiding his emotions.
"Really, it's nothing," Rin said with a sigh that told Amaimon his resistance was breaking down. A glance to the side, and Rin heaved a breath out with his explanation, "My sister came into town and surprised me-and I'm really happy! Really."
Could have fooled Amaimon. He snorted and Rin's shoulders hunched again.
"It's just, there's this guy-another demon, you know? He comes in all the time and it's really fun talking to him."
It took all of half-a-second for Amaimon to parse the sentence, a vicious, biting heat building in him as his claws flexed against his arm.
Another demon.
"And I know it doesn't mean anything-and my sister's awesome! So she always gets attention."
Shuffling, and a weak smile tugged at Rin's mouth as he gave up the mimicry of organizing shelves to lean back on them in a miserable slump.
"I know it doesn't mean anything," he repeated, "Demons are just like that."
Amaimon saw red again, putting two and two together.
What demon would walk into the shop, catch Rin's scent, and ignore him in favor of some lesser creature? No human or nephilim held the same candle.
More, there was another demon edging in on what was Amaimon's-or what would be Amaimon's.
Following his instincts, his aspect churned around his core as Amaimon wondered if a claim on Rin would keep that other demon away, or if he'd have to crush it into slime to make a point. He tried to narrow down what demon had made itself comfortable around Rin, but whatever scent might have been there was muddled by the various humans that had passed through afterwards and he grit his teeth until they creaked at the dead end.
Growling rumbled in an undercurrent from his chest, soft, dangerous in the enclosed space, not quite loud enough for human ears, but growing.
"It's ok!" A hand gripped his, shocking Amaimon from bloody thoughts as he returned to the room.
Rin held him in a warm curl of his fingers, firm where they pressed and a stronger smile replacing the previous ones.
"Like I said, it's nothing, I'm just happy you're here. Have you tried the cake yet?"
Before Amaimon could answer, Rin pulled him from the room. He followed without hesitation.
Good. He didn't want Rin's mind lingering on another demon. If he was happy to give Amaimon offerings then that other demon wouldn't be stealing his attention after all.
How could Amaimon be sure, though?
The question turned in Amaimon's head as Rin led him to the cake, strange mood gone, or at least repressed for the moment
While a claim would work to keep other demons at bay, the way Rin spoke, it sounded as if he enjoyed this other's company, and so might invite his claim alongside Amaimon's.
His hand spasmed in Rin's hold, getting a curious look he shook off with a non-committal hum before they made it to the display.
"Here, it's a Christmas cake!" Rin said, handing him a slice covered with the sugar-glazed strawberries and surrounded by the smaller sweets he'd made.
Did that other demon get Rin's treats like this? Amaimon upended the cake into his mouth, fangs clacking with the force as he bit down like he could tear the thought to bloodstained shreds.
"It's good, right?" Rin beamed at him, then was distracted by Behemoth nosing at his leg for some of his own.
"Oh! Where'd Kuro go? He's around here somewhere," Rin rambled, trailing off as he searched for his own familiar under Amaimon's observation.
He seemed to have recovered from the slight he'd received earlier from whatever wretch of a demon hadn't given him his due attention.
But…
Amaimon chewed at one of the candies, picking it into gooey pieces he tongued as a previous idea planted in his mind grew the longer he watched Rin.
Blue eyes glanced back his way and Amaimon decided.
He would go to Gehenna and get Rin a gift he couldn't ignore.
One that would make him forget about other demons besides Amaimon.
"Haa, that turned out amazing," Rin said in a happy sigh to Kuro.
The raised brow from Kuro didn't phase him as they left the now dark shop to head home. He pretended he didn't know what Kuro's judging silence was for, realizing he would have to hide it better or risk his parents asking about it when they inevitably wanted to know how the event had gone.
His night wasn't over, but he wasn't going to be psyching himself out thinking about preventing potential disaster and he had a long train ride to get through.
"Hey, it'll be fun to see everyone together tonight, right?" he said, prompting Kuro to begin a happy chatter that kept up all the way to his place where they restocked on the extra treats Rin had made specifically for his family.
Then the rest of the ride passed in long silence, Kuro's chatter evening out into purrs where he settled on Rin. He kept up a pattern, fingers digging into soft fur over the gentle rise and fall of the body as he stared out the window into the dark.
Finally, they made it, Kuro giving a bone-cracking stretch with his yawn and hopping down to trail behind Rin from the train.
Lights from his parents' home welcomed him when it came into view, and he saw their shadows moving in the windows. The knot in his stomach he'd been carrying eased at the familiar sight.
He exhaled, breathing in to pick up the scents he remembered from day one and muffled voices that had been there even before that.
Rin was home.
In the back of his mind, a sleepy grumble made its irritation known, something he would always hear because even if he was home, it wasn't his, not in the way parts of him really needed.
Long experience had him calming the instincts that his claimless territory always aroused and Rin opened the door.
Voices halted the conversation he'd walked in on, followed by footsteps darting over wooden floors, and Rin watched his mom appear to fling herself into his arms.
"Rin!" she said with a laugh as he wrapped her petite form in a hug with a return laugh, picking her up to spin her before setting her down.
They grinned at the routine, Yuri completing it with a squeeze to his arm, saying, "Have you gotten stronger since I last saw you?"
"Do I look like it?" Rin asked, flexing as he lifted the bags of dessert he held.
"Hm, I don't know," Yuri flicked a finger at him, turning to lead the way to the kitchen, "something about you seems different but I can't figure out what."
Her long black hair bounced in loose curls ahead of him, Yuri not noticing when he froze a step. By the time she passed the kitchen threshold, Rin recovered and firmed his grin as he entered to see the rest of his family.
"There he is!" Shiro called, waving over his shoulder at Rin from the counter where, by the smell of things, dinner was almost ready. "Just in time to help, you know I can't cook worth a damn."
"I love your food," Shiemi piped up from the table. She sat beside Shura and Yukio, each holding their favored mugs of tea, though Shura had her usual can of beer she'd also cracked open.
"And that's why you're my favorite," Shiro said, nodding and pointing a spatula Shiemi's way.
"Thanks, dad," Yukio muttered with an exasperated eye-roll.
"What's that? Something from my errant boy who never comes home?" Shiro held a hand to his ear, "I'm beginning to think my prescription needs updating again, it's been so long since I've seen you."
"Then what does that make me, huh? Do you even recognize me?" Shura said as Yukio began to retort. "And would you learn to answer your texts, old man?"
"We don't play favorites," Yuri said, coming forward to swat at Shiro before bumping her hip to his, stealing a teasing kiss to the corner of his lips. "And Rin doesn't need to help cook, he's brought cake!"
Rin found a mug pressed into his hands and the bags taken to set aside, Yuri ushering him to sit as she went back to helping Shiro at the counter.
Dinner passed, each minute letting Rin relax further as he fell into old conversation patterns. It had been awhile since they'd all been together. He let it carry him through to dessert until he found himself in his childhood room he'd shared with Yukio, staring at the things he still hadn't moved to his new place without really seeing what he looked at.
"Hey, I brought ice cream, Rin," Yukio said from behind him, his voice shaking Rin from the strange mood.
"Thanks, Yukio!" Rin took the bowl with a cheer, moving to drop onto the small bunkbed.
Yukio joined him, glasses reflecting the lights from the streetlamp outside as he picked at his own bowl. The room was dark besides the orange light, a deep blue Rin saw through just fine. It let him pick up that Yukio seemed tense, and he waited for him to speak.
"I talked to Shura."
Rin's heart sank. He'd known it was coming.
"You didn't tell mom and dad, right?" he eventually got out in a low rasp, though given he wasn't being knocked out and vanished into the night right then told him he didn't need to ask. Not that it couldn't change at any minute.
"No," Yukio said after a while, gaze darting to Rin from the corner of his eyes.
"Thanks," Rin muttered with guilt eating at him for reasons he didn't want to acknowledge.
"I've just-" Yukio cut the abrupt words off before inhaling a breath to steady himself and continue. "I just don't understand why you're doing this."
That made two of them, except not really, that piece of Rin said in another grumble.
Yukio probably wouldn't understand, but their mom had hammered it home that hiding things like this from each other would only hurt, in the end.
"It," Rin started, then scooped ice cream into his suddenly dry mouth, forcing himself to explain after he choked it down. "It feels good. Right."
The inner part of him purred its agreement, followed by a sensation like a cat rubbing up against his mind.
"The shop is for me," Rin said, and it had been but, "and they're also for me-I don't know, it's hard to explain."
They were, his mind insisted, even if Mephisto had ignored him-
Rin shredded the thought into ribbons before it fully formed.
"And I've been careful!" he reiterated, "they haven't even seen my tail or horns!"
Well, Mephisto had kinda-but that was fine! Maybe he chalked it up to clothes under Rin's uniform, but he hadn't physically seen anything.
And he didn't think Amaimon had seen anything the day he'd had to change at the shop…
They definitely hadn't seen his horns or there'd be real problems. Rin winced and shoveled more ice cream into his mouth.
His explanation made Yukio bow his head and shift, likely to piece together his thoughts.
"I'm-that's good Rin," he finally said on a weary exhale.
"I'm just scared."
Cold blew out the contented feeling that had filled Rin thinking about his instincts he'd never been so close to satisfying than he had in the last several months.
Others rose in place. He'd never liked Yukio's fear.
"I don't know what to do," Rin said, pleading as he dropped the now empty ice cream bowl on the bed and twisted to face Yukio.
"It's like I'm missing something and it's not perfect, but when I'm at the shop and they come in it-it's not as bad," the words dragged themselves from his chest, Rin clutching a hand claws had formed on as if he could rip the ache that always existed there free and fling it away.
"I can't give that up. I can't." Even just saying it out loud shattered fissures in his gut, panic forcing his pulse faster until his heart thudded to his ribs.
If he gave up, turned tail and ran like he knew his parents would want, Rin wouldn't be able to watch Amaimon play fight with Kuro and Behemoth ever again. He wouldn't hear the rumble of Mephisto's limo approaching the shop or challenge him to a wager, wouldn't ever scent them out as they moved through his space and imagine them mingled permanently with him like they should be.
A ragged breath escaped him, another. Rin searched Yukio's face for an answer.
Blue eyes that always reminded Rin of their mom's searched his right back as the moment stretched between them and guilt began wearing through some of the desperation.
Maybe he was being stupid, maybe he should listen and run before things got too far. How long could he keep up the act anyway? He was putting everyone in danger by giving into his instincts as much as he had. His fingers dug harder into his shirt.
"I know, Rin" Yukio's sudden words jolted Rin up, heart leaping as he tried to understand.
"It's why we're not telling mom or dad," he followed with, mouth quirking into a wry smile. "We know how much this means, even if it's probably going to all go up in flames."
Rin's heart started fluttering as he realized what Yukio meant, a small smile beginning to form on him, too.
"You don't think it's stupid?" Rin asked, hesitant because he was pretty sure his decision was the definition of the word.
"Incredibly," Yukio nodded, grinning at Rin's indignant sputter, "but there's nothing we can do now. What's done is done. We'll just be cleaning up the mess when things inevitably go wrong."
"Dammit, I'm not trying to cause a mess," Rin grumbled and crossed his arms as he relaxed from the stricken bow of his body with Yukio's teasing.
"Yeah, we know that too."
The surety in Yukio's voice and casual shrug sent Rin forward to wrap him in a tight hug, trying to instill as much gratitude as he could without words because he didn't think he could speak right then.
"Thanks, Yukio," Rin whispered when his hug was returned.
"Don't thank me yet," Yukio said with an indulgent sigh, patting his back before pulling free.
"Come on, mope here too long and mom'll get suspicious and then your cover's really blown."
Yukio rose and gathered the empty bowls, Rin nodding with a wince because they both knew how their mom got when she sniffed out a mystery to solve.
Rin would just have to be careful. He could have both worlds for a little while longer.
As long as he could keep up the secret.
End notes:
Famous last words, or not, we'll see how things go for poor Rin ;D
In other news I did not expect that short little slice of life scene with Shiro and Yuri to get me all emotional guys, like, it's just making me want more Yuri Lives! AU content pls T.T I just want good things for that OG monster lover lmao I'm just going on a flashback to the chapter of the manga she dies in and remembering her describing the life she always wanted to live with Shiro and the boys and ahhhhhhh T.T