In Season

Notes: Stayed up until 2 in a random burst of inspiration to type out the outline for this so it looks like you guys get the sequel to Scent Thing finally XD Heed the tags, tho, this one's getting wild lmao

It's absolutely wild how this thing fought me for so long and then 90% of it got typed up in like a week :') But this year has been utterly abysmal so writing was difficult in general. Things are looking up now tho and it's been much easier now that I got some of the stress off my shoulders.

We're also moving into production on the aoex fanzine Byakko Zine and I'm thrilled to finally start getting the merch and physical copies in so I can ship those out to ppl :D

Song of the Chapter: Arsonist's Lullaby by Hozier

Fingers swept over his nape, a shiver running through Rin's body when claws followed to trace the thrumming artery beating beneath the skin of his vulnerable throat.

At the stage he'd come to, it wasn't fear making him shiver.

"So, how long is this part going to last?" His question earned him a light hum from Mephisto and a tap of his claws.

He knew it was too soon to be asking, might as well have been saying another form of "are we there yet?" Never mind that getting a straight answer from Mephisto was as impossible as getting Amaimon to stop inhaling his food.

"Why don't we give it a week and see where you're at, hm?"

Rin blinked at what sounded like an actual answer from Mephisto.

"I hope it's just a week," he muttered, head tilting to the caress over his cheek. "I don't even want to know what Yukio is gonna do if I'm gone longer than that."

Actually, he didn't want to know what excuse Mephisto had given Yukio for his absence

"Try to sleep, Rin," Mephisto said, and Rin felt his eyes shutter as if beyond his control.

Gold eyes gleamed in the dark at his side, and, when he gave in, green filled his hazy vision overhead, Mephisto and Amaimon watching as he fell asleep.

In the space between, before Rin fully went under, a beat of energy went through his veins, and his skin felt too tight to contain him in it. He shuffled against the pillows until the feeling subsided and slept.

"Ah" Rin shouted, spatula in hand that he waved threateningly at the wide-eyed expression Amaimon shot him, beginning to eat faster despite the growl from Rin.

"Hey! That's not ready yet!" He reached for the bowl, a shriek of affront erupting when Amaimon bolted from the kitchen, stolen gains in hand as Rin spat flames.

Laughter took him from his fury and he snapped a glare at Mephisto. "That was your food, too. Why are you laughing?"

It was a rhetorical question, Rin knew.

"Ah, sorry, Rin," Mephisto wiped a tear from the corner of his eyes. "You'll have to be more watchful if you want to complete a meal. Or pick something quicker to make."

Rin grumbled, but gave up, knowing he'd have to accept the loss this round and be more prepared for the next.

At least he had more than enough packed in Mephisto's cabinets and fridge to make whatever he happened to want. In fact, it never seemed to run out, new things showing up to replace what he'd gone through the next day.

And yet, Rin tossed a side-eye at Mephisto, instant noodles were the go-to meal when he wasn't around to cook anything.

He managed to make something without more interference, though it wasn't as appetizing as it had been other times he'd made similar things, and Rin fought a frown that wanted to form.

Either something was missing or he was losing his touch. It wasn't anything he could fix then, though, so he huffed and began cleaning until Mephisto snagged the back of his shirt and hauled him away.

"What have I told you, Rin?" Mephisto said over his yelp.

"Leave it to er-Bel-Bali–that guy," Rin finished with a sigh and ignored Mephisto's raised brow to readjust himself before attempting to finish his breakfast.

Later, Rin found himself alone.

The shower ran hot around Rin but he barely felt it, breathing in the humid air and eyes sightless.

He'd just gone through one of the most confusing weeks of his life, survived it somehow, only to begin another just as bad.

A rut. The word was something Rin hadn't even known the definition of before Mephisto had explained it.

Amaimon had looked excited by the prospect of Rin's rut, and initially, he had too, having come to enjoy the strange company he'd fallen into.

Now, though, after he'd been left to his own devices for the night, a sense of unease wouldn't leave him alone.

Where the heat had consumed his body, set it on fire until he burned it out on any demon his instincts deemed "strong enough" the mind frame his rut put him in was more subtle. It had swept in like a shadow, telling him to hunt down Amaimon and take from him until he'd been satisfied.

Maybe, Rin thought as he watched the individual droplets of water on the tiles, he would go find Amaimon now and see if he could offer any more insight.

A twist of his hand shut the shower off, and a thought sent his flames welling to dry him, one of the more convenient uses of his abilities he'd discovered.

Then Rin dressed in the robe Mephisto had given him, a new one after the last had been destroyed during his heat, and went to go hunt for Amaimon. Not that it would be much of a hunt when he could scent him easily. Could feel the tether between them.

The trail Amaimon had left took Rin to Mephisto's room, finding it dark when he entered.

His bare feet padded over the carpet and Rin registered the feeling absently as he caught sight of Amaimon curled within the mounds of blankets on Mephisto's bed.

Sleeping.

Not for long, though.

Rin cocked his head and approached another step, wondering when Amaimon would wake, when he would notice.

Blinking, Rin found himself standing over Amaimon, his shadow lost in the already dark room.

Claws had appeared on his hand he noted when he reached out, fingers splayed where they closed the distance to the soft skin of Amaimon's cheek.

"Rin," Amaimon said, his eyes gleaming gold from shuttered lids. He'd woken.

He gagged a second letter when Rin closed his hand in a fist to his throat, pressing him back to the soft mattress until it nearly swallowed him and ignoring the grip Amaimon brought to his wrists, the way he struggled beneath his body where he'd settled.

"I don't understand this, Amaimon," Rin said over the wheezing breaths.

"When do I know it's starting?" He tightened his fist, watching beneath his bangs as Amaimon arched and scrabbled at him, bright flashes of pain etching themselves into his skin with every slash of claws.

That was good. He liked when Amaimon put up a fight.

Purring, Rin leaned forward, releasing Amaimon just so he could force a tongue into his mouth. Fangs sunk in viciously and severed it to the last thread.

A moan broke from Rin as he allowed Amaimon to take the rest of his tongue before growing a new one in a wash of flame and continuing.

He wanted Amaimon's breath, wanted the electric energy coursing through the vessel containing him, and the blood running in heated rivulets over their bodies where they bucked and writhed together. Wanted his violence and the wild light flashing from his eyes.

He wanted it all.

His motions paused as a disturbance in the air registered to his senses. Rin let a growl rise in his chest when the door to the room opened wider, though the intruder didn't come any further, staying in the shadow of the doorway.

"Mephisto," Rin said with a sibilant hiss he almost didn't recognize as his own. He raised his head from Amaimon and crawled behind him, dragging him into his hold with possessive arms.

"I see I'm interrupting something," Mephisto murmured, gaze and voice steady where they reached Rin across the room through the heavy curtains draping the canopy bed.

A growl came from Amaimon next, eyes narrowed on Mephisto and tail winding around Rin in a possessive move of his own. Likely, he wanted to return to their play, upset that Mephisto had stalled them in the middle of things.

That, he could fix.

Rin coiled his tail around Amaimon's throat, using it to pull his head back to expose the now-pounding artery to vicious fangs.

"He can stay," he decided, feeling the growl deepen in Amaimon until he yanked his head back further to quiet him as he spoke.

"I want him here," Rin said in a dark growl, filling the room and sending both kings' hearts jolting, "I want him to watch when I make you scream."

The beginnings of a whine squeezed from Amaimon's chest where they pressed together, Rin gripping tighter until skin bruised under his touch and a gasp of pain-pleasure drew from Amaimon.

"I want him to watch," Rin repeated, lower, deeper, staring from flame-filled eyes up into the green ones flashing with reptilian interest from across the room as he let each word fall from his lips, "So that when I'm done with you, he'll know what's coming for him."

Blue flared in his eyes, flames spilling from his body until they cocooned Rin and Amaimon in their heat. It bordered on searing, Rin toying in licks of fire, each gentle flicker sending Amaimon twisting as if to draw closer, despite having nowhere to go.

"Oh, Rin," Mephisto purred over the crackling flames and Amaimon's desperate panting, "you make such sweet promises."

He stepped closer. The flames Rin controlled bit into Amaimon and tore a scream from his lips.

Mephisto smiled and it showed teeth. "I wonder if you'll be able to deliver."

That was a challenge.

One Rin would gladly accept if only to show Mephisto what he would get for playing his games.

Another increase of the flames and Amaimon arched, sightless and mouth gaping on a silent cry as his skin began to burn away.

"Don't stop, Amaimon," Rin said at his ear where it had extended to a point, nipping to draw blood that burnt to ash as quickly as it fell. "Keep screaming."

His robe had fallen open, and Rin rolled his hips to Amaimon's, sliding up along the small of his back so that he could feel the crease of his tail where it shuddered at every twist of Rin's.

"Mmn, Amaimon." He nuzzled to the shoulder bared to him, purring. "Mine."

Hunger dropped Rin's jaw wide and he set his fangs to Amaimon, licking at the charcoaled skin that fought to heal the damage Rin hadn't let up.

Mine. He sank his fangs in and moaned, hips thrusting in harsh jerks to Amaimon until he came across his back. His arms tightened in their grip and his eyes shuttered. If he concentrated he thought he might have felt the energy that made Amaimon up, could feel it where they connected.

Something beat inside Rin, a pressure welling that distracted him from the sated motions of his hips to draw out his release as long as he could.

It was enough to make him frown, pulling away from Amaimon.

The bubble popped and his flames guttered out in a hiss to a quiet room, only Amaimon's wheezing breaths and whimpers echoing.

"What?" Rin whispered, horror threatening to rise in his gut to see the ruin he'd caused.

"Amaimon?" Could he even hear Rin?

"Oh god, I'm sorry, I–"

"None of that, please," Mephisto tutted, jerking Rin's helpless gaze to him as he approached.

"What happened? Was that the rut?" Rin scrambled to think of how he'd even gotten to that point. "I was just taking a shower!"

A nod answered him as Mephisto glanced down at Amaimon, uncaring of the state Rin had left him in while Rin tried not to hyperventilate.

"He's fine, Rin," Mephisto said, a wave of his hand forcing Rin to look.

"I thought you said I wouldn't be as bad as the heat?" Rin hissed, fury rising in his veins to mix with the rest of the emotions tangling there.

"Ah," Mephisto nodded, ratcheting Rin's fury higher, "but you didn't want to destroy him, yes?"

"Huh?" Rin blinked.

"Just take a piece for yourself."

Rin stared at the fingers Mephisto pinched together as if the distance were equivalent to whatever Rin had taken from Amaimon.

"Yeah," he said, hesitating, "I guess so."

Shifting drew him to see Amaimon propping himself up on his elbows, beginning to heal.

"Sorry, Amaimon," Rin said again. A rush of self-directed frustration bit at Rin until a claw flicked at his nose and he startled.

"You should use your flames more often," Amaimon said while Rin flushed at his meaning before shaking his head and biting off a groan.

His hands went to his face where Rin scrubbed. This was too much to think about. "I need to sleep."

"I'll leave you to it, then," Mephisto allowed. Then paused at the door, Rin seeing the hint of fang in his smile that set him on edge waiting for the knife to fall.

"And I'll be waiting for you to fulfill that promise."

Dammit. Rin fought to keep the screech he wanted to loose from forming with the last tethers of his will and dropped into the pillows face-first. Weight shifting on the bed alerted him to Amaimon moving to join him, the feel of his body next to Rin's a comfort he clung to with quiet misery.

Sleep crept up on him, thoughts slowing until he drifted away, wondering if he would wake to find he'd done something else outside of his control.

Morning came and Rin woke, staring into the canopy of the bed and checking that he still had his mind.

Would he ever know when the change overtook him? Even looking back at the night before, Rin couldn't say when the decision to talk to Amaimon had become the need to hunt him down.

A gurgle from his stomach reminded him he needed to hunt down breakfast.

Rin hauled himself from the bed and made his way to the kitchen, finding it already occupied.

"Morning," he mumbled to Mephisto, getting a waggle of fingers his way in response.

"You're usually much more chipper," Mephisto said in observation while Rin searched the pantry for ingredients. "Not still pouting about last night, are you?"

He shot a glare Mephisto's way before sighing and beginning on his omelet. "It's not that, I just hate that I don't have a choice."

When he did anything with Mephisto or Amaimon, he wanted it to be his own mind at the forefront, not some stupid bodily instincts.

"Well, there's not much we can do about that," Mephisto said with his usual lack of empathy.

His eyes tracked Rin, the attention tightening his shoulders until he huffed and looked back.

"What?"

Mephisto glanced at his claws, then peered at Rin beneath his brows. "You wouldn't be making extra, would you?"

Bastard. Rin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I got it."

The beaming expression he got for his agreement soothed Rin somewhat. A part of him would always enjoy when others ate what he made. And another part that he'd just become aware of especially liked when it was Mephisto or Amaimon accepting anything from him, specifically.

"Here," Rin said, sitting beside Mephisto and letting his meal take more of his worries away.

He didn't need the pleased sounds from Mephisto, but he'd grown to look forward to them, and cooking was something Rin had worked hard at.

And, more than that, Rin liked when Mephisto was happy. Whether it be when he happened to get a good jab in whenever they bantered, or when he asked Mephisto about one of his interests, or any other number of ways he went about it. And there were many ways he could go about making Mephisto smile in that way that meant he was truly happy.

A rumble began in his chest, Rin setting his plate aside before he'd gotten halfway through it as he thought of all the ways he could make Mephisto happy.

Food had been a good start. He could see Mephisto's eyes closed as he enjoyed the next few bites on his plate. But there were many other ways Rin could help him feel good.

"Ah, I see breakfast is over," Mephisto said as Rin pressed up behind him, rubbing his cheek to the fabric of Mephisto's robe.

"You liked it," Rin stated, purring loudly and wrapping his arms beneath Mephisto's so he could find the skin of his chest. "You're happy."

"Yes, darling Rin, I'm 'happy,'" Mephisto laughed. Rin liked the sound of it.

"Mmhm," Rin nodded his agreement, hands questing lower until he found Mephisto's length and began palming him through the fabric. The other he slid over the coils of the tail hidden beneath the robe, liking the way Mephisto leaned into his touch with a soft sigh.

His body slumped languidly to Rin, hair tickling at his neck where Mephisto rested his head as he gave himself over to his efforts. He rolled his hips, neck arching as Rin mouthed at the pulse there like he could already taste the blood thrumming beneath the skin.

It wasn't time yet, though the energy he could feel in Mephisto's aspect urged him on like a lure.

Without his notice, he'd closed his eyes, lost in the way Mephisto began panting in his arms. Rin cataloged every shiver and tremor of his body. He felt it as Mephisto began to tense, knowing he was close.

Rin smiled and nosed into Mephisto's jaw, inhaling the scent there as he increased his pace until Mephisto came in a stutter of his hips.

The robe had stained with Mephisto's release, Rin rubbing his thumb to the wet patch and getting a hiss for his actions.

"You're happy," Rin said into the throat he nuzzled into, getting a breathless chuckle and a nod of confirmation.

"Good," Rin nipped at Mephisto before his claws found the back of his hair and shoved him down to impact the island counter they'd been eating at, ignoring the cry at the abrupt move.

"Now, it's my turn," he said as he pulled the robe up where he had Mephisto bent to reveal the tail he'd just been fondling where it arched in presentation at his gaze. The sight sent Rin forward in a press of his hips so he could rut against the bared skin.

He moved, catching Mephisto's rim with the head of his length with every pass, but he didn't have the patience, not now that the hunger in his gut had roused at the sight Mephisto made.

Rocking forward, Rin pushed in, a deep growl breaking from his chest at the pressure enveloping him until he bottomed out in a hard slap of their hips together that forced Mephisto into the counter.

"Nng, are you enacting your promise, Rin?" Mephisto said in a pained gasp, the impacts of Rin's thrusts bruising his hips against the hard surface.

"Promise?" Rin said, head cocking as he took in the way Mephisto looked beneath him, the way he clung to the counter as he met Rin's gaze over his shoulder.

His hair had mussed with Rin's rough movements, strands falling across his eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Oh, that," Rin remembered in a flash that he'd promised Mephisto screams, "I can do that."

After all, he'd made Mephisto happy, now it was his turn.

Rin reached out with extended claws and dragged them down Mephisto's spine, tearing the first scream free as blood welled and followed his path to stain the surrounding fabric.

"Amaimon screamed a lot," Rin said conversationally, his lips beginning to stretch as he kept Mephisto in place with a hand at the base of his tail.

He fisted the length of it, rubbing his thumb to where knew the nerves were concentrated while Mephisto trembled and fought to move despite the threat. Saliva pooled from Mephisto's mouth to the counter around needle-point fangs, unable to stop the panting breaths, or, more likely, not caring to. Not with the way he spread his legs and wound his tail to Rin's arm as if to draw him closer.

So, Rin obliged, yanking Mephisto back onto his length by his tail and grinning to see the whipcord line he bent into.

Then he let fire tease in flickers from his fingers up Mephisto's tail and the screams poured close behind, a torrent from his mouth that Rin drank in.

This was what he'd wanted, what he'd imagined on the rocky field surrounded by the corpses of the demons who'd come for him in his heat. Taking Mephisto apart until he'd become the same mess he'd made of Rin.

Now, Rin fully appreciated the way Mephisto groaned and clenched around him, the way he gasped as he fought to bear down on Rin with every thrust, though Rin didn't let him, forcing him to heel with the hand he kept on his tail.

"Don't stop, I want to hear you," Rin said when his last crushing grip on the tail ended with Mephisto's mouth gaping in a gag. He released a breathless giggle at the sight, stroking over the healing appendage to soothe it while Mephisto writhed.

Mephisto's legs did the barest to hold his body, already shaking apart around Rin. He leaked in spatters to the floor, achingly hard again when Rin traced a claw to the delicate skin there and elicited another scream.

"You taste good," Rin licked at his fingers with a purr, taking in the mix of blood and pre-cum staining them as he leaned to blanket Mephisto. His fangs scraped teasingly to Mephisto's shoulders and he shivered when it made him arch back for more.

"I want more," Rin breathed, vision hazy with the desire filling his body in a thrumming energy.

Tension coiled in Rin until his focus narrowed on drawing everything he could from Mephisto and ecstasy sent him dragging claws down the heaving flank to gouge into Mephisto's hips.

Mine.

He held him there, forgetting about his games to chase the pleasure tightening in his gut, the stinging welts from Mephisto's tail where it impacted him making a long groan exit his mouth until he thrust in a final time and came.

Rin ground into Mephisto, pressed along his flushed and heated skin he wrapped immovable arms to.

A shudder went through Mephisto before a long whine broke free and Rin realized he was still achingly hard, fighting for Rin's touch and moaning as he failed to find his release.

"Mm, sorry, Mephisto," Rin said to the frustration he could see. He let the tip of his tongue trail to the blood he hadn't collected as he toyed with the path his hand took over Mephisto.

The insistent rutting Mephisto fell into encouraged Rin, riding out the oversensitivity each rocking motion brought him before he took pity and ran a rough grasp to the length he'd been avoiding.

"R-Rin," Mephisto came in a stutter of his name as Rin milked him through his completion. It sounded like the most breathless prayer and his lips continued to shape Rin's name.

His thumb slid over the slit to gather Mephisto's release, rubbing in slow circles to spread it while he watched the sightless eyes of the blissed-out creature Mephisto had become.

An impulse sent Rin gathering it, shifting to bring his fingers to the spit-slicked lips where he shoved them in.

"Mmf." Mephisto's tongue lolled around the fingers Rin used to press his mouth open further, a strangled sound escaping that had him humming his pleasure.

Rin came back to the feeling of his fingers coiled with the tapered length of a tongue to them, freezing where it slipped over the sensitive skin.

"No," he groaned, head dropping to Mephisto's back as he pulled his fingers free and tried not to think about what covered them.

"Mmm, yes, Rin," Mephisto said, and Rin could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Though I did expect a little more from you." Rin's gaze shot up, a growl in his chest before he stifled it and stepped back, sliding from Mephisto and trailing his release.

It went down the backs of his thighs, Mephisto's tail flicking in contentment as he straightened and propped himself back on the counter. The remains of his robe had long slipped free to pool in tatters on the floor.

"That was–" Rin cut off as he dragged a hand through his hair, then cursed when he remembered where it had just been– "I'm going to shower and play games until my brain turns to mush."

His hair stuck up in tufts as Rin stomped from the kitchen, ignoring the satisfaction in Mephisto's Cheshire grin.

The plate lay half eaten and forgotten in Rin's haste to leave, but he felt full and the desire to be clean overrode his usual need to tidy up after himself in the kitchen.

Video games were one of the few ways Rin could find entertainment in the manor, something that didn't include demonic instincts or the piles of homework he worked on without much else to do. Mephisto had suggested reading from the massive library and Rin had glowered at him for the idea. At least until he'd seen the manga collection.

Fighting with Amaimon was one of the other options he had, but he had plenty of time later, and he'd likely be needing the activity after sitting inside so long.

He padded over the long hallways as his mind drifted.

It wasn't all bad. He had grown to look forward to the days he spent in the company of the two demons. Mephisto was an ass, but it wasn't as if Rin didn't give as good as he got, and Amaimon had brought some of the most fun Rin had ever had to his life.

A need he hadn't even known he'd been missing was filled. Rin thought he couldn't live without it, not after the week he'd been through.

The host of other problems that came along with his forced quarantine was the only thing preventing Rin from fully enjoying himself, even if Mephisto had repeatedly told him to relax and let go.

If the stupid instincts would stop stealing his control from him, Rin would have been thrilled to spend a week pestering Mephisto about his shitty food choices and showing him how good food was supposed to taste.

He would have begged Amaimon to take him somewhere new to fight, to show him another cool technique, or try not to look flustered when he learned something and got one of Amaimon's praises for it.

Even the sex had awakened parts of Rin he'd been unaware of, or just too inexperienced to know about.

Sighing, Rin dropped to the bean bag chair in Mephisto's game room, a light shiver running down his spine when he remembered the first time Mephisto had taken him there in his heat.

Though, given the week he'd had, most places in the manor had ended with Rin taken in some capacity against.

That wouldn't be changing. Actually, the only thing that would change was who was being taken from.

Rin huffed as his meandering thoughts left him gunned down. His tail flicked, mind refusing to be distracted like he'd hoped for when he'd come to the game room.

It smelled like a mixture of the three of them, something Rin noted with his inhale.

Petrichor and ozone and his flames swallowing both. Comforting, even if it only made the distraction harder to ignore.

Another match ended with dismal numbers Rin barely paid attention to.

He could load one of the slower games like Mephisto kept prodding him to try with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. Rin knew it was half-faked, given Mephisto was equally as likely to tease him about anything he played.

His options had narrowed and the thought of wandering the manor slid itself into his mind. A last desperate attempt at entertaining himself before he gave up and tried studying.

There was one place he'd only breached once in the last week. He'd been barred from it because of what he might do in his altered state of mind to the one hidden behind the doors he'd burned down.

But, Rin remembered, Mephisto had told him it was fine now.

Wandering sounded good then. Very good.

His tail flicked again behind him as he left, music from the forgotten game trailing him out of the room.

A scent brought Rin down the long halls, hum softly falling from his lips as he traced claws to the many oddities Mephisto kept on display.

The sound of his claws on the wallpaper echoed. Rin scratched and looked to see he'd left an etching behind. Mephisto would probably be angry at him for that.

Rin smiled, licking at his fangs as he considered just how angry he could get Mephisto.

He could get him really angry. Then, when he had him fuming, Rin would press him down and keep him there while he fought. That would be fun.

Before he could act on that option, the doors he'd been searching for appeared before Rin.

"Oh!" he said, changing tracks as he remembered his initial plans.

"I'll get him later." Rin entered the room, laughing to himself as he wondered where his target was hiding.

Sound in the far hall perked Rin up and he happily went to open the door, smiling in delight at what he'd found.

"It's you!" Rin chirped as he went to the stunned figure by a side table he'd been dusting.

"My prince," the demon gasped. His name started with a 'B.' Rin had known it, though it slipped his mind then.

It was polite to know names, though, so he stepped forward, crowding the frozen demon against the edge of the table until he flinched and Rin realized he must have been too rough.

That was ok, Rin knew. It was all part of the game.

"I'm Rin," he said with a widening smile, still sweet, playful. Human. "What's your name?"

"Belia–ah!" he gave a choked-off cry as Rin shoved their hips together, but, at the expectant look, forced himself to continue. "Belial, my prince."

Slit pupils dilated in charcoal eyes, and a flush had begun to redden the pale cheeks as Rin peered up at Belial. He hadn't stopped his movements, enjoying the friction of their clothes along his length, even more when Belial hardened in turn.

He could smell the arousal coming from Belial, and, as he pressed further along him, his fear, too, heady to his senses.

"It's good to meet you, Belial," Rin purred into the shivering throat he'd nuzzled to.

Shifting in a sinuous slide, he ground himself to the tensed leg he bracketed with his own, arching at the sparks of electricity shooting over his nerves with every rocking motion.

Belial's throat bared itself to Rin in an instant and the vulnerability drew him in further as he nipped the pulse there. It held the energy of his core, though it was so much lesser than anything from Mephisto or Amaimon.

Oh well, Rin would take his fill happily.

"Please, pl-please, my prince," the whispered pleas came hoarse to Rin's ears, a stream constantly interrupted by gasps and whines the longer his torment continued.

So Rin obliged, the hand not mercilessly rubbing to Belial gripping at his hips, Rin finding his tail and forcing him harder into the sharp edge at his back.

"Ah-nng!" The cry came with a stutter of Belial's already rushing pulse. He dropped his mouth open, fangs extended and eyes sightless as he bucked against Rin.

Still, he never touched Rin, hands at the table behind him as Belial held himself up that way.

A wetness stained Rin's skin, pre-come seeping through the pressed suit Belial wore, rumpled now. He'd gone from the put-together butler Rin had found to a mess, panting and trembling with the strain of keeping still under Rin's assault.

"Hey," Rin stared up into the taut features, "why'd you close your eyes."

Belial whimpered, head back in submission. But that wasn't what Rin wanted.

"Look at me." The command, growled and enhanced with fangs grown to wedges pressed in threat to the column of Belial's throat, shot his eyes open.

"Thanks, Belial," Rin said once he'd pulled back, tongue sweeping over the skin he'd broken to collect the blood there.

The taste drew him in, his hips picking up the pace while Belial fought for every touch Rin deigned to give him, not breaking from his helpless stare.

A last, frantic jerk of hips, and Rin moaned, locking his fangs to the bared throat and taking.

Wet heat spread against the hand Belial rutted to as the savage bite put him over the edge with a shout abruptly silenced.

Rin kept up the idle motions, enjoying the state of bliss he'd fallen into. His claws toyed with the belt until he cut it, the button of the slacks following next until he could reach and see the results of his latest play.

"Sorry," Rin murmured to the fluttering pulse he hadn't released, "you got your suit dirty, Belial."

He drew his fingers to the over-sensitized slit and smiled at the stricken arch it sent Belial into before taking his hand away.

"Mmn," he sighed, pulling away to lick the release from his fingers only to find himself distracted by the sight Belial made.

Flushed and panting, skin sweat-drenched and hair mussed from the careful style he'd started with, Rin drank in how utterly wrecked his appearance had become.

"You look better like this," Rin said in a grin that bared his fangs, getting a heavy shudder from Belial and slivering pupils.

Then awareness returned and Rin blinked.

Everything rushed back to him at once, cheeks heating at the rapid blush rising so fast he got dizzy and stumbled back to the far side of the hall.

Gasping, Rin took in the demon–Belial, the one he had literally just met–exactly where he'd left him after clarity hit like one of Amaimon's punches.

A squeak left his mouth, any other sound he might have made shriveling up.

He'd just–he'd just taken advantage of a random stranger he'd never even introduced himself to before and left him like–like that!

That being the slackened mouth and legs just beginning to find themselves beneath Belial as he recovered, still watching Rin like he didn't know what he should do. What Rin wanted him to do.

Something in Rin purred, not seeing a single thing wrong with the picture Belial made covered with his scent.

Smoke poofed into the hall with them and Rin gasped, tearing his gaze from the parted, stained slacks to see Mephisto staring down with an arched brow and crossed arms.

Never mind Rin's pants clinging to his skin in uncomfortable patches after his own release.

"I didn't mean to!" Rin yelped, shoulders hunching to his drooping ears.

"Ah, excellent," Mephisto said, expression morphing as he clapped his hands. "It seems you've finally met each other. Belial, you are no longer barred from the other side while Rin is present, best get cleaning, my allergies are acting up from all this dust."

"What?" Rin tried to get his mouth working as he gaped, then jerked a hand towards where Belial already tried to neaten himself, any hint of the earlier attack tucked behind the mask of a polite butler.

"But I thought Belial was already cleaning, you had him doing the dishes!" Rin tried to reason, coming up blank.

Mephisto sent a sly grin towards him, not helping in the slightest as he let his gaze rove the signs of Rin's actions.

"Ah, yes, but that was while you slept or were gone from the vicinity. Now you can both be in the same room together, as you've just demonstrated."

"Great. Sure, why not," Rin said, strained and trying not to sound like he whined as he avoided looking at Belial.

"I'm just," Rin sighed and forced himself to nod at Belial without wincing too much when he noticed the way interest filled the otherwise stoic features. "Gonna go shower again, I guess."

"Excellent idea, Rin," Mephisto said, his overly cheerful smile following him from the hall.

Rin curled to the floor of the shower and tried not to growl at himself.

Would his whole week be like this?

The heat had given him some form of downtime between waves, but four hours was practically forever in comparison to what he dealt with now with his rut.

Forget his homework and study material from Yukio, Rin would be lucky if he even made it out of one wing of the manor. The concept had Rin screwing his eyes closed, snarl on his lips as he lost the fight with himself and growled.

He forced the water off and ignored the protest of metal when he twisted too hard as he flared his flames to dry himself before pulling another robe on. If he damaged the newest one it would be just another in a string of destroyed pieces of Mephisto's property, which he might have felt guilty about if Mephisto hadn't just abandoned him to another humiliating encounter with a strange demon he'd never met before.

Well, Rin winced, they'd met now, that was for sure.

His tail swung dejectedly at his feet as he padded through the halls for his destination, having given up on games for the moment. There was really only one thing he did when he needed to take his mind off things and it wasn't studying.

"Best room in the house," Rin muttered to himself, lips twitching as he entered the kitchen. He'd begun to think of the place as his one sanctuary in Mephisto's house and it already felt like it belonged to him, even though logically he knew it was just for the however long it took him to get through his current issues.

Rin would miss the place when he had to inevitably leave, though he wondered if Mephisto would let him come back to visit. He could bribe him with food or something. He'd get creative.

Without thinking too hard, Rin took several ingredients from the pantry and fridge and began throwing them together mindlessly.

Stress baking wouldn't be the weirdest thing he'd done the past week.

The act of mixing and prepping eased some of the tension Rin hadn't realized he'd been carrying. A little longer, when he began shaping dough into a ball, and he'd taken up humming under his breath.

Something about the flavor was missing, though, that Rin couldn't place.

He frowned as he pulled some of the dough into his mouth and searched for what ingredient he could have forgotten.

Vanilla and chocolate mixed with some of the nuts he'd used in one batch, and the next contained the perfect amount of sugar and lemon. The third and fourth batches of cookies each had everything in them the recipes called for usually.

So, what was missing?

Rin felt some of the tension coming back and crossed his arms, scanning the batches as if they would reveal what they lacked if he glared hard enough.

"Oh!" The answer came and he sighed, happy when it dawned on him, and began to put the dough in the fridge for later.

"I need to find Amaimon!" he said in a chirp, washing his hands and removing the apron he'd used to go track Amaimon down so he could ask him what was missing.

He trusted Amaimon to be able to taste test his cookies and let him know what he needed to add, although, if he couldn't find Amaimon then there were two others he could bring to try what he'd made. Rin needed to get it right so they would be happy. Then he would be happy.

Besides, he was still full from the breakfast he'd had earlier that morning, so of course it would be harder for him to decide what to add to the cookies when he wasn't really hungry.

"Amaimon," Rin sang, hearing his voice echo in the long halls he lightly walked down. His steps had a bounce to them, joining his humming as Rin scented the air for petrichor and what was his.

Faint scent trails led him on a winding path. The tether that attached to Amaimon stretched further than usual, and he sped up as frustration prickled at his skin the longer it took.

Actually, he frowned, a fang jutting against his lower lip, his whole body seemed to itch, skin too tight, as if it stretched thin over his shivering muscles. In response, he scraped long claws over his arms, the feeling abating for a bit so he could continue his path.

But, a few corners from his last position and the itching picked up again, Rin's frown deepening to a scowl as he drew his claws over his arms until the skin reddened in welts that healed and raised with every pass.

He needed to find Amaimon.

"Amaimon," Rin called the name again, ears twitching as he listened for any hint to where Amaimon might be in the maze of Mephisto's manor. His heart beat in his chest and he became aware of a pressure there, tugging him in another direction.

Relief surged through Rin as he sped up, knowing the pressure would lead to Amaimon without needing to be told.

Amaimon. His mind whispered the name, it became the only thing Rin pictured in his head as he rounded a corner and leaped for the green shape he barely registered the outline of before tackling Amaimon to the wall with a deep rumble in his chest.

A gasped breath whooshed from Amaimon at the impact, though he caught him and readily accepted the hips Rin rolled against his with a steadying purr vibrating through his chest.

"Amaimon," Rin murmured at his lips, "my skin is too tight."

The itching had returned so Rin brought one of Amaimon's hands to his chest between the part of his robe and dragged it down, head arching back as he moaned at the sharp relief.

"Make it better?"

Red slipped between Amaimon's fingers to run down his arm and chest, but, after getting a taste of it, it wasn't nearly enough for Rin.

Luckily, Amaimon complied, hands going to Rin's flanks and drawing down to his hips, blood sluicing behind the paths his claws made as Rin bucked in pleasure.

"More," Rin ordered, lost in getting rid of the annoying too-tight feeling and the way Amaimon looked covered in his blood beneath him until it was all he could focus on.

Maybe Amaimon would appreciate the same relief Rin did.

His claws tore into Amaimon next, their blood mixing over his arching chest as he cried out and sunk his own deep between Rin's ribs where he'd been running them.

He scratched at Amaimon until he couldn't tell the bloodstained shreds of his clothes from his skin he tore free, red filling his vision and the scent consuming him as his pulse raced at the sight.

Rin grinned around fangs bared to wedges and abruptly shoved Amaimon back against the wall, hiking his legs up and sinking into him in a sharp thrust that made him snarl and force Rin deeper with claws in his back.

"Yes," Rin hissed as he pounded into the writhing body beneath him, accepting the reward of Amaimon's claws taking the maddening pain away and replacing it with a sweeter one.

They slid over the carpet that had grown sodden with the hot blood from both their bodies, and Rin leaned to take Amaimon's mouth in a rough kiss, realizing in an instant what flavor he'd been missing from the cookies.

The claim between them sang with energy, Rin inhaling as his pace lost its rhythm and he bit at Amaimon's throat, already bared to him as if knowing his intent before he'd even opened his jaw.

Mine.

A final snap of his hips and he came, juddering against Amaimon and hissing at the bite of claws in his shoulders as he ground into Amaimon until he felt him tense and join him in his release.

His length slid to Rin's stomach, Amaimon huffing contentedly at his throat where they wound together on the floor. Their tails found each other, and Rin twined his around the reptilian scales, enjoying the slick slide of them even when it tugged at his fur.

"Thank you, Amaimon," he said into the bite he lapped at between words in slow passes of his tongue. "I knew you'd help."

Purring answered him, Amaimon allowing the indulgent pampering as Rin cleared the blood from his skin and stretched to bare his stomach to his ministrations when he made his meandering way down.

He'd just made it to his hip bones when Rin paused and looked around.

The sight that greeted him fully registered and he groaned, dropping his head to rest on Amaimon's hips.

"I literally just put this new robe on," he muttered into the skin currently coated in a layer of blood beginning to dry. "I was just trying to bake cookies!"

At least he thought he'd remembered to put the dough in the fridge before he'd left on his mission to hunt down Amaimon and shred him apart in Mephisto's hallway.

"I took a shower!" he continued, fighting not to beat his head against Amaimon like he was a wall, though, he would hold up better than one, if Rin really thought about it. Maybe he could just knock himself out on Amaimon and wake up in a week.

Even a day shaved off his week from hell would be better than lasting barely a couple of hours!

Gold eyes just watched him when Rin gave up thinking about it and sighed.

"Do you want me to clean you?" Amaimon offered when Rin whimpered pitifully.

"Yeah."

A snap cleared the blood and evidence of Rin's violent actions away, clothes once more covering their healed skin as he rose, Amaimon following after.

"You want cookies?" he said for lack of anything else he could possibly say, seeing Amaimon's excited nod and leading them back to the kitchen.

Though, he would not be putting the missing ingredient into them.

"This is worse than the heat," Rin groaned, " so much worse."

He could see Mephisto nodding along at his desk and scowled at the mock sympathy before going back to his studying. The slight smirk on Mephisto's lips said all he needed to about how seriously he took Rin's complaints.

"I don't know why you're so cheery," Rin scratched out what he thought might have been an answer of some kind if the reader happened to be squinting. "You're the one who keeps having to replace all the ruined clothes."

Fangs gleamed in a wide smile from Mephisto as he pointed the pen in his hand at Rin. "You're right! My clothing bill is far too high these days."

The pupils in his eyes pinned like a cat spotting prey, spelling clear trouble for Rin as his grin stretched. "You should just go naked, save everyone the trouble, hm?"

Bastard. Rin shot a glare his way and didn't bother responding to the suggestion. If Mephisto was going to be like that he wouldn't care so much about the property damage.

The worst part about the whole thing was it didn't follow any cycle he could figure out. So far they'd determined at least an hour before Rin lost his mind and started tracking down whoever his instincts happened to fixate on when it happened. But, even then, he'd woken to find he'd barely gone thirty minutes before another episode.

That too-full feeling always accompanied the bouts and food had begun to look less and less appealing.

Rin glanced at the sandwich he'd prepared along with one for Mephisto and grimaced, stomach roiling at the thought of eating. He'd managed a few mouthfuls at breakfast and a few more of the sandwich, but when he'd nearly gagged on the last bite, he'd set it down and told himself he'd eat later.

At least Mephisto had enjoyed his. Rin tried not to sigh again, knowing it was pointless at the stage he'd come to and turned the page, wondering if he'd even retain any of the things Yukio had left him with.

Instead, his thoughts shifted to Yukio.

Not being around his twin for so long was...strange.

Sure, he'd grown used to Shiro and Yukio taking what he now knew to be exorcist-related trips that would keep them away for a weekend, but things were different now in ways he couldn't quite put into words but left him off-kilter.

His gaze stilled on the paper and Rin bit at his lip, mood falling.

Lying. It was because he was lying.

Something in Rin hated the realization, even if a smaller part of him thought of all the lies he'd been told and then hated himself even more for thinking about it like that.

That part of Rin who wasn't over being lied to reared up and made itself heard.

Maybe he'd finally confront Yukio about his lies to Rin.

It was–wasn't Yukio's fault and he needed to stop. So what if he'd lied to them first when he should have known he could trust Rin to help him, protect him, or even just be by his side when he was scared? That didn't make Rin keeping things from him any better.

'It's not Yukio's fault, it's Shiro's,' the piece of him hissed, sounding louder in his head.

It wasn't Shiro's fault either. Rin bit harder to his lip and glared. Who cared who's fault it was? Nothing would change because he started getting angry at someone who wasn't there. At someone who wasn't there because of him and his actions.

It wasn't their fault!

It wasn't.

So maybe he was still a little upset about being kept in the dark, but it was something he needed to talk with Yukio about and not blame him over.

Hurt bubbled in his chest that he couldn't crush back down fast enough as Rin's glare deepened. He shouldn't even be thinking about this kind of stuff and he didn't know why he was all of a sudden just because of some homework, agonizing as it was.

There just wasn't anything else to focus on when his mind wanted to escape and he was already an emotional wreck from whatever the hell his body had decided to torment him with this week.

He had to cool it, distract himself with anything else and when he saw Yukio again he would find time to actually talk, even if Yukio made another excuse to avoid it like he always did.

'He'd just lie again, because he thinks you're too stupid to deal with secrets like that. Like you.'

Shut up. He hissed under his breath at the intrusive thought and heard his pencil creak in irritation.

Why wouldn't his brain quit it? He didn't want to torment himself with Yukio's or his or anyone's lies when he was trying to force himself through the homework piling up with his avoidance. Rin barely had time to work on it as it was during his bouts of lucidity.

"If you glare any harder at your work I think it may combust," Mephisto said, followed by the sound of Rin snapping his pencil in half at the sudden interruption.

"Shit."

A pout met his curse as Rin jerked his gaze towards Mephisto.

"First you destroy my robes, and now my pencils," Mephisto chided. It sent heat into Rin's gut and his grip tightened on the remains of the pencil until they threatened to splinter.

Mephisto went back to his paperwork with a shake of his head, ignoring Rin and tsking about budgets and the cost of taking care of him and other unimportant things that only made his glare harden.

Really, if he was going to assign blame it would be on the demon currently rambling as if Rin cared about his complaints. He snorted at the thought, knowing it was dumb to blame Mephisto for something like that. He might have been emotional but if there was one thing Mephisto wasn't, it was a liar.

He was mocking, though. Rin's eyes narrowed on Mephisto's form. His mind flashed to the first time he'd climbed Mephisto's desk when he goaded Rin during the worst of his heat.

So much attitude from a lesser king who hadn't learned his place.

It was time to show him where he stood.

Rin rose, letting the remains of the pencil fall to the table surface as he made his way to Mephisto.

By the twitch of his ears, he'd heard Rin, was aware that he approached.

Good. He knew what was coming for him, after all.

Instead of calling to Mephisto as he'd done the first time, Rin moved in a casual stride to the desk, looking down at whatever it was he worked at.

"Hm," Rin hummed as he idly skimmed the papers, not seeing anything that could possibly be that interesting to Mephisto there. He moved on, taking a path that ended with him behind Mephisto's high-backed chair where he peered from the side.

Still, Mephisto, besides a slide of his gaze when Rin had moved, stayed focused on his work.

Rin let his hand wander the edge of the gaudy chair, claws scraping at the varnish, then trailed them over the individual vertebrae that showed above Mephisto's suit collar. So much of his skin was hidden beneath layers of clothes.

Someone might have thought he had something to hide, the way he wore all those masks. Rin smiled at the private musing, watching the fine hairs on Mephisto's skin rise at the soft scraps to the thin sliver at his collar.

He reached the shorter hairs at Mephisto's nape where he drew his claws in a harder scrape.

"Have you given up on your studies, Rin?" Mephisto said, hand still moving to fill in signatures and numbers on the form he currently worked on.

Another hum was Rin's response, gaze on the idle path he took along the shell of Mephisto's ear.

"What do you actually do all day?" Rin said as he tweaked Mephisto's ear and got a sharp scowl for the sudden attack.

"I'll have you know I have many duties that I have to perform not just in running the Japan branch of the Order, but in my own personal ventures," he sniffed, ear flicking to shake off Rin's assault on it.

"Sure," Rin said with a growing smile. He leaned against the arm of the chair as he let his fingers run over the outline of Mephisto's tail beneath his robe. "And it's got nothing to do with getting to draw all over stuff with gel pens, huh?"

"Mm-brat." Mephisto's insult lacked heat, and he'd slowed his writing. Beneath Rin's hand, he could feel the twitches of his tail.

Show him.

Hm, okay.

Rin gripped the base of Mephisto's tail and dragged his fist there, watching the way he finally gave in and dropped the pen in a clatter. That was better, he didn't like when Mephisto focused on other things. Unimportant things. Things not Rin.

He drew his attention out until he had Mephisto hunching to the desk, back displayed and hips arched to get more of his touch, though he still hadn't allowed him to remove the suit. It began to grow rumpled, Mephisto giving shuddering sighs and skin growing flushed as he gave himself over to Rin's mercy.

So, Rin stopped his touch.

"Hah," Mephisto gasped, eyes shooting open as he jerked his head to Rin, affront painting his features beneath his mussed bangs while Rin grinned at the disheveled appearance.

"Rin," Mephisto began, a growl on his tongue.

His complaint cut off as Rin shoved him back into his chair and hopped up on the desk, ignoring the crinkling papers and sounds of complaining from Mephisto that didn't cover the fact that he strained for more.

Hips twitched and Mephisto's slivering pupils were locked on Rin, waiting for his next move with bare restraint. He could see the way his tail fought not to lash and it stretched his grin wider.

At Rin's prolonged teasing, Mephisto huffed and turned his head, arms crossed and missing as Rin let his tail unloop from the coil it had rested in, shivering in anticipation where it draped through the part of his robe.

"Well, if you're not going to keep going then you should get back to your work and let me get back to mine," Mephisto said with a sniff, a toothy frown on his face and eyes closed, back to pretending to ignore Rin, it seemed.

That wasn't what his body said to Rin, though.

Rin smiled and let his foot skim over Mephisto's thigh absently, getting a pout sent his way and Mephisto preparing to collect himself as if to chase Rin off.

"Go on, shoo." Mephisto flicked a claw at Rin's calf.

Enough. Mephisto clearly didn't know what the rules of the game were. Rin would teach it to him.

"What was that?" Rin moved his foot from its soft nudge to Mephisto's thigh and ground the heel into his groin, getting a shout. "It sounds like you wanted my attention."

Claws came to his leg, Mephisto clinging to Rin as his shout turned into a groan with the pressure.

What was so interesting in his duties anyway that he needed to focus on them when none of it mattered? What mattered was Rin's claim and the energy he could feel thrumming along it, building with every harsh press of his heel and inch Mephisto dug into his flesh.

When whines began falling from Mephisto's lips, Rin let up the pressure, head cocked to see how Mephisto panted against him, vision hazy beneath ragged bangs where he stared up at Rin where his attention belonged.

He didn't see the tail Rin had slung beside him, but he definitely felt it when Rin coiled it around his throat and tugged him in.

"Ah-Ri-mmng!" his shout muffled into the folds of Rin's robe, Mephisto scrabbling against the desk until he accepted his position between his parted thighs and shuddered there, waiting.

His eyes had gone dark, pupils blown and neck straining within the coils as his cheeks flushed the longer he went without enough air.

"I thought at first I should set all this stuff on fire so we don't have to worry about it anymore," Rin said conversationally. He brushed the tip of his tail to Mephisto's darkening cheek, watching his eyes roll towards it and mouth gape silently.

"But if I burnt mine it would make Yukio mad, and If I burnt yours, you'd just find more stuff to work on and that would be boring."

Rin traced his toes along Mephisto's length, noting the way it jumped and let pre-cum pearl to stain his robe. He was already hard and Rin wondered if he could come untouched like that.

"Then I thought," he ignored the hands grasping at his front, accepting the claws that pricked bright spots of red where they scored hits, "maybe I'll just burn everything so there's nothing to distract you from me."

The clawing hands stilled and Rin heard a groan catch in Mephisto's chest, held there but vibrating through him where they met.

"That would be boring, though, and Yukio would be sad then," Rin said as he traced the backs of his claws to Mephisto's face, nearing him until he eclipsed everything in the room and was all Mephisto could see.

"So, I won't end things, ok?" He smiled and released his tail from around Mephisto's throat only to catch the whoosh of air from his mouth, tongue delving inside to swallow all the ragged cries as Mephisto came. It looked like Rin had been right, he could come from a little mocking and the suggestion of a touch.

"Mmm." Rin mouthed at Mephisto's slackened lips, smiling into the kiss before swiping his tongue across them to taste the way they mingled together. "You messed up another robe. Sorry."

He decided he liked Mephisto the way he was, hunched over his knees and clinging to him as if he would collapse without Rin there.

But, "Hey, don't sleep, we're not done."

Green eyes shot open just as Rin hauled Mephisto up with his tail and forced his jaw wide to press his length in.

Saliva ran over his length, Mephisto not able to control himself as Rin pressed deeper and moaned at the sensation enveloping him before beginning to thrust in a rapid pace, heedless of the fangs that ran bright lines of pain down his length until Mephisto gained control.

Rin took from Mephisto, head tossed back as he let himself be consumed by the wet heat and tongue Mephisto wound along his length. It twisted, writhing and sending Rin tightening his hold on the hair he'd grasped between his claws. His tail still held the captured throat and he felt each time he thrust down it in the coils, making him hiss in pleasure.

Another harsh jerk of his hips and Rin came, dragging Mephisto over his length until the last shivered pulses went through him and he sighed, pulling back to release Mephisto from his grip.

The claim glowing between them consumed Rin, gaze traveling the sight Mephisto made and content. Mephisto was his and Rin would sear the fact into his core until he understood.

He came back between one beat of his heart to the next.

Cursing wouldn't even mean anything anymore, Rin knew, but that didn't make him want to release them until they covered the entire last hour of his life and he forgot what it was he'd just done. What he'd just thought.

A tired heat still tried to rise in his cheeks, made worse by the way saliva and his release slipped over Mephisto's lips and coated his cheeks where the rough treatment had spread it. More had ended up in Mephisto's hair, not helping his disheveled appearance. Rin clawed through the strands, neatening them despite himself.

"Mmn." Mephisto's eyes slid open, gaze catching Rin's as a slow smile spread across his face where he rested on Rin's knee. "You're being quite considerate for a little wretch who just bullied me into abandoning my work to fuck."

"Nng," Rin strangled on the deliberate way Mephisto worded his actions, face definitely red then as heat raced to the points of his ears and he pulled his hand back from where he'd still held it to knotted purple strands.

There wasn't anything he could say to defend himself at that stage of things. Not when Mephisto had clearly recovered enough to mock him for it.

Except–his lips twitched and Rin flicked a claw at Mephisto's ear, getting a mock squawk of affront. "Hey, at least you just have to wash your robe this time."

Irritation bled into laughter and Rin let a wry smile form, picking at his own frayed robe where Mephisto had clawed as he sat back. He watched the little ways Mephisto huffed and fretted over his rumpled robe and tried not to think about the things he'd threatened in the middle of his rut.

He couldn't actually burn everything, that was just the instincts in him telling him he could.

Right?

Rin's chest rose in the gentle patterns of sleep as Amaimon counted the beats between his breaths.

At his side, Mephisto stood, contemplating the same things Amaimon did, possibly.

"His moments of lucidity are lessening," Mephisto started, his murmured voice breaking the silence.

"Ah," the sound of agreement left Amaimon. He'd noticed the time between Rin's lucid moments and the ones consumed by rut instincts had begun to melt into each other with higher frequency.

Barely two days into the week and already Rin had cornered him in the manor several times.

He shivered as he remembered the last, Rin's blood raining down on him in a warm waterfall as they'd torn each other apart.

The creativity was nice, a piece of Amaimon enjoying the overt attention and his instincts soothed by how often Rin chose to come to him over Mephisto. But, something had begun to prickle in the back of his mind he hadn't experienced before and it took up his focus as he tried to unravel it. A warning he couldn't understand.

It wasn't as if he'd wanted the claim from Rin, or to claim him, despite the strange fascination Rin pricked in Amaimon with every move he made. He'd accepted the claim for the term of the heat and now Rin's rut, but he had never accepted one before, let alone from a nephilim. And even one of Father's shouldn't have meant anything.

Yet the bonds felt as natural as if they'd always been, and the immediate comfort made him wary, so Amaimon wanted them gone.

"I expect he'll worsen before he gets better just as he did during his heat," Mephisto's voice brought him back to the present, though he wasn't saying anything interesting or new.

At Amaimon's noncommittal hum, Mephisto sighed, waving a hand as if done with the topic.

"In any case, I have other duties to attend. You'll have to distract him."

Amaimon scoffed, eyeing Mephisto. He had human duties and was leaving Amaimon to handle his mess, knowing he wouldn't be leaving because of his own curiosity and interest in Rin.

As usual, his reaction was ignored as Mephisto left with a, "Be happy, this is what you like. You were bored before this, right?"

Maybe. But his boredom didn't mean Mephisto could leave him with any menial task he could come up with. As if Rin heard his comparison to a menial task, he shifted, snuffling to the pillow and hand grasping at the sheets. Searching. Probably for one of his claims.

His gaze roved the nephilim of Father's where he lay in the bed. The light caressed his face, soft black hair already showing signs of the bedhead Rin would inevitably wake with. Whether that was in a few hours, the rest of the day, or the next breath.

And, even more, the odds varied on if Rin would wake consumed with the instincts telling him to find the nearest source to glut himself on their energy, or with his own mind.

Blue eyes opened, and Amaimon knew which Rin he faced.

Purring vibrated through Rin and he stretched in a sinuous coil of his body, muscle bunching as if in preparation to pounce.

"Let's play, Amaimon," Rin said through a mouthful of fangs. He'd let his claws become daggers that reached as if to catch Amaimon in his grasp, and his tail twitched beneath the covers in inviting flicks.

But, if he was asking to play, Amaimon would indulge him. Both of them.

He snapped his fingers and took them from the room to the barren land, tackling Rin before he could react and rolling over stone and shrubs.

Their path halted as Rin kicked Amaimon away, chasing immediately after and laughing when they met again. Amaimon's laughter joined his, wild and ripped from his lungs after Rin scored a successful hit into his center that flung him into the earth.

It was fun.

Amaimon threw stones in vicious shards toward Rin, energy singing in his veins and unleashing some of the restraints he held on his form as scales rippled over his skin.

The iridescent sheen gleamed in the light of the moon overhead, even when blood splashed to coat the scales at each successful strike they made to delicate skin and muscle. Bright heat filled Amaimon with a fever and he snarled as he sunk claws deep into Rin's middle when they impacted the ground on their next coupling.

Then, heat pulsed, a flare of Gehenna overwhelming Amaimon with calls of home and the start of it all, of eternity, and Rin released his fire. Blue licked over his skin where he gripped tighter to Rin in an uncontrolled spasm as pain tore through Amaimon and sent him crying out.

Ecstasy seared along Amaimon's nerve endings with the fire at Rin's command and he bucked and writhed mindlessly beneath him, at Rin's mercy, yowling until fire poured into his throat and silenced his screams.

Mine.

Their claim burned between them and Amaimon lost himself in the glow, submitting to Rin with a soundless groan as he arched to his touch.

An abrupt jerk took him from the ground and Amaimon registered he'd been pulled into Rin's lap. A hot tongue joined the flames in licking over his skin as a hotter palm wrapped to his length and pumped it without preamble or teasing–giving Amaimon everything Rin had in a deluge he drowned under.

Pain warred with pleasure and Amaimon couldn't see through the blue enveloping his vision or the nerves Rin set on fire with each pass of his hands and flames.

RinRinRinRinRin

Amaimon forgot himself as fangs sunk into his shoulder and he came with a scream in Rin's hands.

His breaths rattled through him, chest heaving while Amaimon recovered enough that his throat could function and let him pant where he lay in Rin's arms. He'd started tracing over his skin in idle patterns Amaimon slowly began to feel as he healed.

At his throat, Rin began purring, giving light laps of his tongue to the holes he'd left in Amaimon that made him shiver.

"Are you okay, Amaimon?" Rin crooned over him, making him open his eyes to find them bleary until he could blink the tears away.

"Are you mine?"

The question and Rin allowing his energy to brush along his core had Amaimon wanting to respond with an immediate answer.

Yes.

Amaimon turned in Rin's hold to stare up at him, wondering when he would break from the rut and fall back into that nephilim who didn't know what a claim was or what it meant.

An endless gaze looked back, pinning Amaimon in Gehenna flame and red pupils that said they would keep him regardless of his response.

A blink and Gehenna fell away, back behind irises that didn't flicker with eternity and a being who didn't understand Amaimon's silence. Back in safe waters.

"Oh shit, did we do all that?" Rin's groan of dismay pushed the rest of Amaimon's wariness aside as he waited for the usual adjustment period to pass, nodding to another long sigh from Rin.

He brought them back, following Rin to Mephisto's room where he fell into the covers, flush with energy Amaimon could see thrumming around his core even as he nuzzled against his pillow.

Moments passed, Amaimon standing in silent observation as Rin's breaths evened into the patterns of sleep.

Without Rin awake to see him, Amaimon unfroze, releasing a shuddering breath and rubbing at his chest.

Weariness stole over his limbs and he gave an internal shiver.

He was getting tired.

Morning light streamed in through the wide veranda and woke Rin from the sheets he'd twisted himself into during the night.

The bed was cold, but Rin could smell that Mephisto had been in the room recently, and Amaimon must have left soon after. It was a strange thing to know that if he concentrated he could follow a trail directly to both of the demons at the other end–Belial, too, now.

He'd only just come to accept the massively enhanced senses that came with his unsealing. And, while the claim took up a majority of his attention, the physical senses consumed the rest. Where unsealing the sword had been like waking from a dream where you saw but didn't really smell or feel, his heat and rut had taken things to a whole new level.

Some days, Rin found himself listening to scattered drums beating out of any rhythm he could parse, only realizing later that it was the heartbeats of the living things around him when he'd traced one particular beat to Amaimon.

Other days he'd notice himself following scents, hunting, almost through the halls, and unsure if it was a side-effect of the rut or just his instincts.

More and more, Rin thought it was just him.

Was that what Shiro had tried to protect him from with his lies? Had he really been any better even before he'd drawn the sword?

All those times he'd acted out and proven himself the demon everyone said he was, and Shiro had been there to tell him it was wrong. They were wrong. But, looking at where he was now, at a demon's home and feeling more comfortable in his own skin than he ever had as a kid, Rin didn't know what to feel.

They'd lied. And he'd never know if it would have been better to have known all along or not because that was all in the past and it didn't change a thing now to worry about it. Shiro had done his best, and Yukio was just listening to their dad like he always did, the good son where Rin wasn't.

His tail coiled beneath the sheets as he stared at the canopy overhead, thoughts tangling together the longer he lay in the bed alone.

Rin closed his eyes and ignored that they burned at the sudden thoughts, forcing himself from the covers and tucking it away because he wouldn't accomplish anything by thinking about stuff like that.

Instead, he left, trailing down the hall to the kitchen to see if cooking would take his mind off things. It was better than laying around waiting for the rut to take hold, at least.

"Oh," Rin gasped as he entered the kitchen, "Belial, sorry, er, are you using the stuff here?"

At the counter and working at prepping something, Belial paused and bowed his head to Rin with a, "Yes, my prince."

The formal greeting didn't stop Rin, though he felt his face heat at being called by a title.

Laughing it off, he waved a hand and sat at the island. "It's just Rin."

"Yes, my prince," Belial continued, getting back to whatever meal he was working on.

Rin frowned at his insistence but curiosity had him sitting back to watch Belial cook. Would he be like Mephisto? Creating some horrifying monstrosity from the depths of Gehenna that made Rin want to banish Mephisto from the kitchen forever? Or did he know how to make something that was actually edible?

"Are you hungry, my prince?" Belial said while whisking something that smelled like eggs.

His question brought Rin's hand to his stomach, and he shook his head.

"No, I'll probably find something later today," Rin said and tried not to look like he wanted to be sick at the thought of food right then.

Still, even if his stomach protested, it was nice to watch Belial cook, Rin decided. Most times he ended up supervising in the kitchen for anything but the most basic meals–especially after the knife incident with Yukio, who had managed to nearly cut his own finger off trying to prepare a cucumber.

"What are you making?" Rin said, peering closer to try guessing.

"Lox eggs benedict and a side of Hunny Hunny-shaped pancakes, my prince."

Hunny Hunny? Rin paused as he tried to remember why that sounded familiar. Then he saw the row of colored tubes and realized they were dyed batter meant to make one of the new trendy pancakes designed to look like a picture of something and gaped.

"It's for Mephisto, isn't it?" He didn't even need to ask, it was obvious. Amaimon wouldn't care in the slightest what his food looked like as long as it tasted good.

An affirmation from Belial had Rin shifting, tapping his foot against the island counter as excitement trickled past the earlier melancholy.

"That's so cool," he said as he watched the artistry begin with wide eyes. His tail flicked beneath the robe and he stood. "I want to learn how to make it, too."

"If that is your wish, my prince," Belial said, ear twitching at Rin's smile and gaze flicking back to his work as he laid out the list of ingredients and the process he followed.

If Belial could make things like that, then there were probably other dishes Rin might be able to glean from him, something to add spice to his week.

He left the counter and made his way around, eyeing the steady motions Belial made as he poached the egg before whisking a hollandaise sauce on the side. It was an art form and Rin appreciated it, wishing he was hungry enough to actually enjoy what Belial made.

Still, it was enough just to learn.

Actually...

Rin cocked his head as a thought occurred to him that Belial should get some sort of reward for helping Rin the way he was.

"You do so much work around here, Belial," Rin purred. The sound seemed to stiffen Belial's spine, his movements slowing, though he didn't stop as he acknowledged Rin.

"Do you ever get time to yourself?" Rin mused. He moved closer and traced a finger to Belial, following the line of his spine down and watching the faint shivers pick up.

"You deserve a break." His purr became a low rumble, Rin palming the base of Belial's tail he'd ended at and enjoying the cut-off whimper it drew free.

He pressed forward and reached a hand to the front of Belial's slacks, popping the buttons open so he could reach inside to the rapidly hardening length.

Another choked moan broke from Belial, shoulders hunching and hands gripping the edge of the stove as Rin let his pants fall to the floor around his feet.

"Relax, Belial," Rin said. He smiled, letting his fangs scrape over the vertebrae and enjoying how it made red lines across the pale expanse of skin.

His movements hadn't stopped, still running a hand to Belial and spreading the pre-cum that pearled from the head with every pass.

Rin began rutting against Belial and the motions brought him to spread his legs, pressing back to Rin with his tail arched in wordless presentation.

That wasn't right. Rin squeezed his hand and got a yelp quickly hidden behind grit fangs as Belial forced himself quiet.

"I want to hear you," Rin said in a dark growl, hand going to Belial's throat. He tapped claws there in reminder, at the same time nudging the head of his length to the rim he'd so far been just toying with the suggestion of breaching.

"Y-yes, yes my prince," Belial said around a thick swallow Rin felt against his fingers.

"Good."

He thrust in, a slap of their hips together that the hoarse shout from Belial covered.

"Mmm," Rin thrust in time to the rhythm he set with his palm over Belial's length, "this is your reward, remember, Belial? Enjoy yourself."

"My prince, thank you, my prince, thank you-" the stuttered words from Belial repeated themselves, his neck falling in an arch as he took what Rin gave him until they trailed into broken moans.

His pace increased, Rin guiding Belial back with the hand on his throat and sinking deep into his willing body, feeling him tighten whenever he brushed the head of his length or met the sensitive point inside with his thrusts.

"Go on, let me hear you," Rin said as he traced the tapered length of his tongue to the shell of a pointed ear and nipped to bring blood out. The pain made Belial jolt in his hold, a long whine following before Rin made his move and bit deeply into the side of his throat with a savage growl.

"Ahh!" A scream escaped followed by the stutter of Belial's hips as he came, and Rin picked up his pace, milking him through his release until he found his own.

When he stepped back, his release followed, joining Belial's on the floor where it had slid down the front of the oven he'd come against.

"Whoops, we accidentally made a mess," Rin chirped. "Don't worry, I'll help you clean."

He sent his flames to take away the signs of their coupling while Belial recovered from the slump he'd fallen into.

Then Rin noticed black smoke rising from the pots left on the stove and giggled. "Sorry, we burnt breakfast."

Mephisto would probably be angry if Belial was late with his food so- "I'll go distract Mephisto while you fix it so he doesn't punish you."

"Thank you for your generosity, my prince," Belial said through the breathless panting he fought to calm.

With a last laugh, Rin waved, a light bounce to his steps as he went to track down Mephisto.

He still wasn't satisfied, Belial's energy was so little compared to the draughts he took from Mephisto and Amaimon.

Where was he?

Rin's gaze swam over what he thought were tiles.

When had he gotten wherever 'there' was?

A roiling in his stomach sent Rin heaving against the toilet bowl he'd come to crouched over in between blinks of his eyes, gut wrenching without success as he failed to do anything but bring up acid bile from his stomach.

"Hah-ah," Rin groaned, falling to the side and breathing in steadying breaths when he managed to stop trying to throw up something that wasn't there. As he lay against the cool tiles, the room began to take shape. One of the many, many, bathrooms in Mephisto's manor without a purpose, seeing as there were exactly four beings in the place and Rin mostly used Mephisto's fancy main bath.

Idly, he wondered if others usually populated the manor when he wasn't stalking the halls and making it a dangerous place.

His head rolled to his shoulder, too tired to complete the train of thought.

How had he ended up in the bathroom when he'd just been–what had he been doing?

He searched his memory, but a clear picture refused to form. Snapshots of scenes knit together, of wandering the manor, conversations he could only half-remember, and through it all, increasingly, a haze of bloodlust and instincts.

They overrode his mind and all he could picture was the energy he hunted down, taking it into himself until he was satisfied. Flashes of gleaming eyes and breaths panted out from the bodies he took from whirling together until he wound up in a moment of utter stillness like he had just found himself in.

Was this what being drunk was like? If so, he needed to remind himself never to pick up the habit, because Rin had come to realize he hated being outside of his own control. Which, was a weird thing to realize, because control had always been Yukio's thing, and something Rin struggled with regularly.

It was just–Rin scrubbed a hand to his face and winced at the ache in his gut that he'd almost managed to ignore–it was just that when he did things, he wanted it to be himself and not his body making the decision.

He wanted to go to Mephisto and Amaimon of his own free will, he wanted to cook in the kitchen with Belial without burning a meal because he'd decided sapping him of energy was a better idea.

He wanted to trust his own mind.

At this point he was getting repetitive even to himself.

Rin heaved himself from the floor and rinsed his mouth before taking himself from the room to head to the kitchen.

Whining wouldn't change things, he just had to ride out the remaining who knew how many days and then he could begin actually living in his new reality instead of being a passenger.

Food probably wouldn't change things either, but he could at least try to put something in his stomach so that when he inevitably wound up in the bathroom again he had something to show for his efforts.

Maybe something light like soup would help, Rin determined as he began to scrounge for things he could use.

But, when the scents of the food cooking began to simmer in the air, Rin already knew it was a lost cause. Even a light broth, which should have been appetizing no matter how full he was, had his stomach turning.

"Stupid," Rin hissed, continuing with his plan. His rough motions ended with hot liquid splashing from the pot to his skin, something he barely felt except as another annoyance to add to his list.

Stupid.

Rin sat at the island, determinedly staring at the bowl before him, more a cup than anything, and forced his hand to bring up a mouthful.

He swallowed.

A moment passed. Another. Rin started for a second.

He gagged and ran to the sink, heaving up the small amount of broth as quickly as it had gone down. Bile followed as if punishing him for thinking he could fight his own body like he'd been trying to do the whole last week.

Irritation flashed like fire across his mind, and Rin thought for a minute that he had released physical flame, before shoving himself from the sink to go hunt down Amaimon.

This time, he decided, he would go to Amaimon of his own will. He wouldn't let his body tell him when he had to seek anyone out.

And he would get the too-full feeling out before he tore his own stomach away to escape it.

"Amaimon," Rin said when he found him, smiling and hoping it didn't look as drawn as he felt. "Do you want to play?"

The urge hit to tell Amaimon it was him, not the rut, as if Amaimon would care one way or another. After all, he was only there because Mephisto told him to help.

They vanished from the manor with a nod and snap of Amaimon's fingers, depositing them in the field they'd decimated enough times that it had begun to smell like them on the rubble they'd left behind.

Would Amaimon keep hanging around Rin after? Would he want to?

Did he feel like Rin did every time they clashed?

Claws scored over his cheek when the sudden thoughts distracted Rin and he snarled, more at himself than the pain. The fight was supposed to be clearing his head, not making him more distracted!

Once the unbidden questions had arrived, though, Rin couldn't stop them from erupting.

When his rut ended, what reason would Amaimon have for sticking around?

And would Mephisto go back to just being Rin's absent benefactor? The director of the Order and nothing else?

His tail lashed flames beneath the ragged robe already dusty and stained after one too many meetings with the ground. Fire left his mouth on an exhale and burned at the tips of his fingers with every swipe he took at Amaimon.

It wasn't up to Rin if things went back to the way they were before his body had decided to turn on him, anyway. Even if everything inside him railed against going back to that state.

Even if before he'd had a life that had confined him as neatly as his body did now.

Before, he couldn't fling himself at Amaimon faster than humanly possible and know he'd be caught, that Amaimon could handle him without the brakes he'd always had to apply. Before, he hadn't had Mephisto to tell him to let go and stop thinking so hard about things that had always tripped him up and left him trailing behind his peers.

Rin didn't want it to end.

He stared down into glowing gold eyes and saw the flash of a future where he went to class and ran at a human's pace and fought to read words on a page that swam and refused to focus no matter how hard he squinted. Where he didn't fit in amongst a sea of people who all seemed to know the rules to a game he hadn't been invited to play.

Aching built in his stomach and fury joined it, a hot mess flooding his veins with fire he drove into Amaimon.

Faster, Rin moved, a haze narrowing his sights until his thoughts matched his racing pulse. He snarled and the sound wasn't enough, didn't stop the feeling of his energy shoving through every cell in his body with the need to explode.

Or implode, whichever came first.

It hurt. An infuriating itch built every mounting second. He snarled louder, a roar that shook through him and sent Amaimon shaking in turn with a wild light in his eyes that lacked humanity in a way that excited Rin every time he saw it.

He didn't want it to end.

His mouth split and fire followed the roar from inside, an outpouring billowing from every aching cell until it swallowed gold from sight and Rin couldn't see anything except flames and hear the echoes of his own voice deafening every other sound.

A snap covered the flames roaring in his ears and an abyss followed, taking his sight from him as he fell into the void.

The fire roared, his pulse roared, Rin roared until the bounds of the void shook with the vibrations, fraying at the edges until it almost seemed like it would rip open.

It went on, Rin shaking apart in the center of his inferno as each frustration burned inside his mind. A torrent of 'he lied' and 'it's not his fault' and 'I wantdon'twant it to end' all expelled like the acid bile from his throat where he clawed. The too-full sensation throbbed in his stomach along with the words and sense of betrayal that wouldn't leave no matter if he had stopped eating or forced the thoughts of the lies about his whole life from his mind.

Despite himself, the torrent did end, flame fizzling into sparks as they crept closer to his body and left a ragged darkness behind.

Rin's eyes began to fall. The heaviness was something he couldn't fight after expending so much energy, though it felt like such a small piece, a hole in a dam that only let out some of the raging flames from the other side. But his body couldn't hold out anymore.

Void fell away, revealing Mephisto, though Rin couldn't focus on him, barely aware as he drifted, carried in the cage of his arms. The pulse of his claim contented him further, and Rin sighed, pressing his face into the folds of Mephisto's robes where he inhaled.

Another blink and Rin gave into unconsciousness.

"We've reached the pinnacle of his rut." And, "We're lucky I was able to arrive in time or his little eruption would have alerted the Order to his presence too soon. Much too soon."

Amaimon stared down at where Rin had been placed beneath the covers after their play fight had become something more like a fight for survival and thought that Samael had overestimated the whole situation.

After such an outpouring, it was likely they had some time before Rin awoke again, though. Whether he had his mind when he woke would be another matter.

Then Mephisto had left him and Amaimon had stayed. His gaze roved Rin's body, trying to understand the dichotomy it contained.

Something that should have been weak, a bare spark of Gehenna compared to the immensity of Father's flames, yet Rin didn't act in any of the ways his reality ruled that he should.

It made Amaimon intensely curious in a way he hadn't been in centuries.

He was almost grateful Samael had roped him into his schemes or he might have taken too long and missed his chance at meeting Rin before he was claimed for Father.

As if summoned, a presence entered behind Amaimon in the room, something about it tensing him on instinct.

When he turned and saw the way green eyes watched him, he knew his instincts had been right.

"Samael," he got out before his voice was stolen from him and Gehenna swallowed the light from the room.

He couldn't see for countless moments, ears ringing in the silence until his pulse flooded his ears with the sound.

All at once, Amaimon regained his senses, stunned and crying out with the sensory overload.

"Do you know why you're here, Amaimon?" Samael's cruel voice filtered through the noise like parting silk with the sharpest of shears, impossible to ignore.

"Did you think I had forgotten?" came the follow-up question.

It sent Amaimon's heart thudding to his ribs, scrambling to think of what had merited his current situation and arriving immediately at the source.

"I'm sorry!" he burst out, remembering the near destruction of his vessel, only staved off by Rin's desperate pleading.

"I know," Samael said from all around and crooned right into Amaimon's ears where they pinned to his skull.

"But, I gave you one simple, very important order to follow, Amaimon."

Samael gave many simple orders to follow. Things like not biting the heads off his figurines or leaving wrappings on the floor.

Orders Amaimon knew he could break or ignore without real consequence.

Leaving Rin, even if he'd seemed nearly finished with his heat, and Amaimon had thought he'd had time, wasn't one of those orders he could break.

Snapping brought another presence in with them, something weak and of Gehenna, and Amaimon finally saw the gleam of Samael's fangs bared in a humorless smile.

"I think it's only fitting that you accept the fate that your actions nearly caused to befall Rin that night, don't you?"

Heat at Amaimon's spine made him realize he was in nothing but a thin robe and his tail trembled, half in fury, half in anticipation of the promised punishment for his transgressions against Samael, against Rin.

A whimper echoed from the simple demon Samael had summoned, and the massive clawed hands that wrapped to his waist shivered when they pressed there, eclipsing his vessel's slim frame.

He could smell the thing's fear at being so near him, knowing either he or Samael could tear it apart to its atoms if it did something to displease them; if they felt like it.

Amaimon could also smell its desire, heady in the wuffed breaths that sent the strands of his hair tickling at the back of his neck with every pant.

It was in rut.

His limbs grew taut in the bindings Samael held him with as a rigid length slid over the fabric covering him in a stuttered thrust that ran up past the small of his back.

"My king," the behemoth said in a guttural, helpless voice, hips shoving with insistence at him, each motion rucking his robe higher on his body but not taking it further even once it exposed him to the void.

Not before Samael said it could.

"Your carelessness would have seen this same thing happen to Rin," Samael continued as if he'd never paused. His gaze hadn't left Amaimon, though.

"A lowly beast, thinking it has any right to touch him," Samael leaned in as he spoke, his smile warping into something ugly and raising his hand. "To claim him."

The idea alone brought a sharp growl to Amaimon's lips. He'd kill the demon that even entertained such thoughts about Rin, their young prince, dark prince, the one who so effortlessly wormed his way under Amaimon's skin to his core.

Snapping tore him from his thoughts just as pain split him in two.

Screaming, Amaimon's neck arched back, eyes sightless as the behemoth Samael had summoned impaled him in a long thrust that didn't seem to end for several merciless seconds.

"Enjoy this, Amaimon," Samael murmured to his cheek, thumb brushing away the unbidden tears. "Or don't. I'll enjoy it enough for the both of us, hm?"

The hand caressing him left as Samael pulled back, Amaimon vaguely aware of the chair he summoned to settle in. Every flinch his vessel made tore him further apart and already heated liquid ran down the backs of his thighs, blood from his entrance that couldn't heal around the intrusion thrusting further into his body.

It strained his vessel far past the limits, filling him more than was possible for a human to survive.

Saliva slipped out of his gaping mouth to drop in the void, Amaimon's head following as he gave up holding it.

Each long thrust jerked his head like a doll on strings, whiplash stealing any semblance of balance or comprehension from his mind.

He'd seen the bulge in his belly threatening to pierce him from the inside, his groan interrupted by the increasing movements of the behemoth.

Agony and fury howled a storm in his head at the weak creature daring to injure him in any way.

Samael's power over both of them rendered his rage impotent and without any avenue to escape besides the wordless screams he loosed from his raw throat. They caught in his chest, adding to the pressure building until his ribs shook with the strain of holding him together.

His legs numbed, the lack of circulation sending prickling waves up to the where the behemoth's hands brought him back onto the length breaking him open.

A ragged snarl echoed from his lungs when fangs glanced across his spine at the indignity of even the suggestion that the low demon could think to mimic a claim through its bite.

"What's the matter, dear Amaimon?" Samael said with a cackle, the sounds making him jerk his head up to glare into the grinning face. "This is what would have happened to Rin. Surely if you were fine with that, this should be acceptable?"

Kill it, he'd kill the beast that touched Rin. Had, in fact, killed nearly every demon that had come for Rin, and would do the same to any that weren't worthy.

So why couldn't Samael see that?

Howling his rage didn't stop the confusion, didn't prevent the erratic judder of hips to his that fractured them faster than they could heal, and it didn't stop the rush of warmth filling his gut until he thought he'd pop.

Dazed, Amaimon's head fell, eyes and lips gummy with tears and blood after he'd gnashed the inside of his mouth to ruin.

The release joined the length still buried in him to make his stomach swell, taking his attention before a tongue lapping at his shoulder jolted an automatic hiss free.

"Hm, beautiful, Amaimon," Samael purred, mocking.

Just as he prepared to respond, the world rippled around them as if something battered the edges of it.

"Oh n-" Samael's eyes widened, jaw dropping as reality split behind him and blue flame sheared the dimension he'd wrapped them in to let a pale, fire-wreathed hand through followed by a grinning face.

"Found you, Mephisto," Rin sang in the void as his arms came to wrap over Samael's frozen shoulders.

"Ha-" Samael said in a failed breath while Rin nuzzled at his throat, already releasing contented purrs at having captured his prey.

Then his gaze met Amaimon's and the contentment hardened, brittle as something inhuman flickered through the flames in Rin's eyes.

"Mine," the word whispered through trembling lips, and the hands wrapped to Mephisto clenched.

Blood welled up under Rin's claws where he dug them while Samael arched in the hold.

"Mine!" Rin roared, hand snapping out over Samael's shoulder to curl in a fist as he pulled.

Amaimon's cry was lost as the behemoth screamed in pure agony, bucking into him uncontrollably as it scrabbled at its chest until flesh fell away in strips to the void and blood splashed to coat Amaimon.

Slowly, before his eyes, a demonic heart formed above the doomed behemoth's chest.

He realized who'd called it forth when blue fire enveloped it, the screaming turning to shrieks as Rin incinerated the behemoth from existence without mercy.

A last howl rang through his ears before the fire consumed the heart entirely.

Without anything to stop it, the release making Amaimon's gut heavy spilled out down his legs and he moaned at suddenly being so empty, body finally allowed to heal after he'd been stretched so far.

"Amaimon!" Rin cried out, now reaching for him as he left Samael's side to appear at his.

Hands tilted his head to allow Rin access to his throat, a nose shoving with insistence as he scented him out only to retch as he must have caught the behemoth still coating Amaimon.

"No," he spat the word, face warped in an exaggerated scowl as sparks caught and seared the rest of the behemoth from existence.

The blue flames sought out every trace down to his core where they prodded, Rin determining if he'd been claimed or not before sighing happily at finding he hadn't.

"Where were you, Amaimon?" Rin said in a whine as he draped himself along his spine while fleeting brushes of his hands ran over every piece of Amaimon he could reach as if assuring himself he hadn't vanished.

"I slept and then when I woke up I could only find Belial," he added, nosing at the back of Amaimon's neck with a sigh.

"He's sleeping now," Rin giggled, "I think I wore him out."

A glance of needle-point fangs to Amaimon's skin told him how Rin had most likely worn Samael's servant into unconsciousness. Much the same way he'd been claiming them into exhaustion, actually. And it was exhaustion, Amaimon had no choice but to admit the truth to himself now that every claiming from Rin put shivers in his body that lingered long after their climaxes faded.

Already a hot length slid at his entrance, the abused ring of muscle still healing and making him wince at the sudden friction. Despite himself, having Rin laying possessive touches to him in the deepest part of his rut had Amaimon reacting.

The scent of Rin and the signals his body gave off teased him into an arch of presentation, Amaimon giving in to his instincts, knowing he was as safe as he could be while Rin stood between him and Samael's mercies.

Their claim burned between them, Amaimon soothed after the weak demon Samael had summoned for his punishment no longer threatened it with its inferior one.

"That looked like fun, Amaimon, was it?" Rin asked. Though Amaimon couldn't think of what he meant, a questioning sound rising in his throat.

Fingers at the underside of his tail arched it further the moment the sensation registered, body already attuned to whatever Rin asked of it. Amaimon twisted his head to see Rin's gaze on the length of tail curled in an arc over his shoulder and stilled, wondering what he would do in his current state, what human creativity might be meshing with the demonic instincts of his rut.

"Make this bigger." The command startled him, and Amaimon frowned.

"Come on," Rin squeezed his hand, firm pressure sending a wave of pleasure curling up Amaimon's spine, "like before, when you killed all those demons."

Before. Before...

Almost without thought, Amaimon's tail grew, and once he got a happy rumble from Rin, let a little more of his human facade drop.

Reptilian scales rippled over now lizard-like appendages, and the comforting weight of horns swept back over Amaimon's crown. His tail took up the space over Rin's shoulder where he trailed possessive fingers to the ridges.

"Thank you Amaimon," Rin said, smiling as he nuzzled to the tail against his cheek.

"Now, I want you to fill yourself up for me."

He stopped, eyes widening even as he moved on automatic to comply at the growled command from Rin.

The length of his tail wound back in a wide loop, thick muscle bunching as he swept the tip over his rim and gazed ahead without seeing.

"Keep going," Rin rumbled from overhead, and when Amaimon looked back an inhuman gleam had taken over in the flame-warped irises staring down as he pressed his tail at his entrance.

His obedience brought a smile to Rin's face, intent on every inch that passed through the tight ring of muscle.

A possessiveness filled the caress Rin laid to Amaimon next, hand sweeping along the red-lined ridge of his tail and over the swell of his ass. Claws joined the touch, sending Amaimon arching with a purr and his tail another few inches.

He'd reached the point of strain, cracking an eye to see Rin still wasn't satisfied with his efforts and continued.

Breaths began shivering from Amaimon when his stomach stretched, tail nudging to the point the behemoth's had gone and the thick girth pressing in a heavy, endless weight that sent sparks through his nerves.

"Good, Amaimon," Rin said in a murmur and accompanied the praise with a firm rub over his scales before trailing his claws over the small of his back. He made his way up to his shoulder blades, claws slipping occasionally to prick blood free in delicious needles of pleasure that wound Amaimon up until he trembled with anticipation.

"You're mine," Rin said, a growl under his tongue. His claws cupped Amaimon's head, tilting it until Amaimon was caught in a Gehenna-flame gaze he couldn't escape even if he'd wanted to.

Amaimon inhaled and was surrounded by Rin, the increasingly familiar chant of his name thrumming through his mind as if it were a physical presence filling every corner until all other thoughts fell away.

"That demon wasn't worthy of you," Rin's hiss sent Amaimon startling, pupils slivering and heart tripping in his chest.

There wasn't time to process Rin's words as he guided Amaimon to take his length in his mouth, Amaimon dropping his jaw on automatic. His gaze shuttered, a moan muffled by the hot weight he curled his tongue to, getting a pleased rumble from Rin.

"Amaimon," Rin brought him back, "I want to see you fuck yourself."

Blearily, vision swimming and senses full of Rin, Amaimon broke from his stasis and began moving, legs falling open as he thrust his tail further before pulling it free and shoving it back in.

He ached, but the steady stream of praises cascading from Rin's lips pushed him to pick up the pace, giving himself over entirely to the nephilim who so effortlessly consumed every part of him.

Rin.

Hips rocked, Amaimon allowing Rin full access to his throat as he relaxed.

Rin.

Pre-cum slipped over Amaimon's tongue, and he swallowed despite the way it made a choke threaten, desperate for more of the taste.

Rin.

His tail shoved to the point inside himself and electricity crackled in a line of pleasure straight to his length, sending him bucking at the pressure.

Rin.

Amaimon cried out around Rin's length, a long groan following that made Rin tighten under his tongue and his hands fist in his hair.

"Amaimon," Rin gasped, neck arched back on the cry of his name and the way it rang in his ears sent him joining Rin in his release with a broken moan.

It trickled out while he swallowed, taking what Rin gave him until he was spent and fighting for anything more he could win free. Light twitches of the length in his mouth and the fingers in his hair sent him purring as he slipped his tail from his entrance. A last brush of the tapered end made another tired spark jolt through him before Amaimon let his eyes fall completely shut, body numbed by the bliss filling every cell.

He registered when Rin stepped back and he could breathe normally again, lips slackened and buzzing after the rough treatment, but was too contented to care what happened next.

"Mine," Rin murmured against him with a warm press of lips to his shoulder. He laid to Amaimon in a weighted blanket and brought his arms to wind across his middle before fangs sank in, gentle and possessive.

It felt right in a way Amaimon couldn't bring himself to fight just then.

There would be time to fall back to defending the few slivers of hard-won independence he still had left to himself as he always did later.

The warmth of summer still filled the sun where it fell on his shoulders as Shima trailed along in Bon's wake through campus after their last class.

"It's been a while since we've seen Okumura in class," Koneko said, worry in his voice as Shima blinked over at him for the sudden statement.

"Er sure, but what brought that on?" Shima said.

"Tch! Yeah, well, it's been way quieter since that guy ditched," Bon scoffed, scowl overtaking his face at the topic. "We actually get some learning in without him snoring in class."

"Ah, yeah," Koneko gave a nervous laugh, scratching at the bristles of his shaved head. "It's just, I'm sure Mr. Okumura is worried. They're brothers, right?"

Yeah, twins, and sometimes Shima could even see the resemblance, though the completely opposite personalities made that difficult most days.

"If they're brothers then why doesn't Okumura seem to know a single thing about all this basic pre-school level stuff we're learning in our classes, huh?" Bon said, growling as he fell into what would probably be a long rant about Rin Okumura's lack of seriousness for his schooling and the shoddy schooling they were getting from the supposedly top-notch exorcist academy they'd been forced to go to by their families.

Shima didn't know much about any of that, but he did know things were definitely "up" given his extracurricular activities he had chosen to take.

For instance. The last few times he'd seen Sir Pheles, he'd looked almost frazzled, and it was an appearance that had been consistent, so it didn't seem like the cause was a one-off situation.

Some might say that it was impossible to really know if a demon was putting on a facade or not–that a demon of Samael's caliber could pretend at any mood he chose for any reason he chose–but Shima figured the put-together demon king of time wasn't a creature that really lost his cool too often.

He was an observant kind of guy, though, and he knew the signs of someone off their game when he saw them. The strands of hair out of place, eyes a bit more wild than the casual conversation should have warranted, and the speed they'd finished their meeting. His scarf had been rumpled, which was the most damning sign of all, in Shima's opinion. And when he'd pointed it out, Mephisto had thanked him and tossed him from the room almost immediately after, citing having too much work and too little time to extend their "little chats."

Did it have something to do with Okumura's absence? Definitely his brother was as out of sorts as Mephisto, despite trying to teach as usual. Shima had noticed the way his gaze avoided the empty seat where his absent twin should have been.

"And what was with that explanation we got for Okumura being out? Bunch of nonsense is what it is," Bon spat, drawing Shima out of his thoughts.

Then his gaze went to a figure that hadn't been there before and he froze.

"Uh," he started.

"I'll bet he got into some kind of trouble and the director is covering it up," Bon kept growling to no one in the courtyard, Koneko having seen what Shima did too and gasping.

The gasp broke Bon from his ranting and he raised a brow before turning to see what they had spotted.

"Okumura?" Bon said, the wind gone from his sails at the completely unexpected sight. "What the-what are you doing here?"

Eyes pierced straight through them with a fae light in a slow scan over a smile that stretched at their attention. What was even weirder were the clothes Rin wore. A striped robe like the ones you got at the bath houses that was way too long on his frame, though the back looked rumpled strangely, like something lay beneath it where it trailed on the ground.

"Hey, guys," Rin said, and the movement stilled Shima further, because those sure looked like fangs in his mouth. Was he possessed? But that wouldn't make sense, how could he get on campus through the wards?

If he were somehow possessed, he'd have to have been let in by someone on the inside, because the alternatives were that the demon possessing him was stronger than the one who had put the wards in place, which unless Lucifer or Satan themselves had possessed Rin, wasn't likely, because Mephisto had been the one who put the wards up and only those two and the strongest of their kin could bring it down.

"Where's Mephisto?"

What?

Shima managed to flick his gaze to Koneko and Bon, sharing a wild glance with them as he tried to understand why Rin would ask after Mephisto.

"Wait, forget that," Bon sputtered out, "Answer my question? Aren't you supposed to be out?"

A blink came from Rin, and a frown replaced his smile as he hummed. "Oh, yeah."

Still, he didn't answer Bon, and the smile had returned, Rin's lips curling as he took a step towards them, another, slow and steady, and it brought to mind images of a stalking predator about to pounce on unsuspecting prey.

His throat squeezed, Shima fighting between the parts of himself that said Rin wasn't a threat despite the way his hindbrain screamed that he needed to escape before it was too late.

They screamed that it was too late already.

Smoke poofed into existence between them and the advancing Rin, Shima's stomach dropping in sheer relief as his legs weakened and threatened to send him to the ground.

"Mephisto!" Rin said, immediately distracted and beaming up at the cross-armed stance Mephisto wore where he stood before him like a bulwark. "I found you. I was looking for you."

He wanted things to start making sense again, and the thought sounded like something Bon would say, not helping the surreal situation at all. But, the piece of Shima that had gotten him onto his current path in life told him to pay attention, things were about to get interesting.

"Yes, excellent work, Rin," Mephisto said–exasperated? Or, more than that, harried–as he moved towards Rin with his hands out as if to block Rin from their view. "Come along now. We must get you back to where you belong."

Instead of agreeing, Rin shook his head and moved into Mephisto's space, easy as you please, familiar, actually. Or was it the usual disregard for social cues that Rin seemed to have? Except that while Rin might miss the mark on social cues, he was kind of prickly around people when it came to physical affection–gun-shy, Shima had figured.

"I want to stay with you, I'm bored," Rin whined. There was a full-on pout on his face.

Except...

Shima shared another baffled look with Bon and Koneko before his gaze was dragged back to the show going on in front of their eyes.

Except that beneath the pout, he could see the corners of Rin's mouth twitching, like he fought not to go back to that strange smile that showed fangs Shima hadn't noticed being quite so long when they'd first met.

His eyes still held that fae-light that set Shima's teeth on edge.

*"Unbelievable! Ich lasse ihn bei Amaimon und dennoch ist er jetzt schon zwei Mal weggelaufen, um mir Ärger zu machen." Mephisto threw his hands up, falling into muttering in what sounded like German Shima would have killed to know the content of.

Fine," Mephisto finished with a huff.

As he made to snap them from the courtyard, Rin cheered, stepping close enough to touch, to hug–and where was his hand going?

Silence filled the courtyard rapidly clearing of the pink cloud of smoke Mephisto had left behind when he'd taken them from the space.

"Uh," Koneko started, unsure and trailing off when he couldn't seem to decide what to say.

"Holy shit," Shima filled the silence for him, "did Okumura just grab his as-"

"Shut it, Shima!" Bon cut in with a strangled yelp. "There's no way–and stop talking about it. "

He began to stalk off, growling, "I'm going to forget this whole thing ever happened."

Good for him, Shima thought weakly, except he knew what he'd seen and that was definitely Okumura grabbing ass.

Or would that be catching tail?

"Come on, Shima!"

Shima would think about it in detail later. It looked like he had a new mystery to stick his nose into.

The peace of his office broke as Mephisto arrived with his errant charge in tow. He accepted the possessive hand Rin groped at him with in a slide of claws over the folds of his suit before slipping free.

"Aw," the brat sighed as Mephisto made his way to his desk, knowing his work was through but wondering if he couldn't at least finish signing the last few documents.

"I thought you were going to bring the guys, too," Rin continued. "Do you think they want to play? Maybe I can next time I see them."

Playing with a human during rut. Mephisto nearly laughed, knowing it was akin to a cat playing with a mouse before deciding its fate. Rin really was an utterly charming imp, to suggest such a thing.

"Wicked thing," he said, allowing the fondness into his voice. "You'll have to wait to play with them and settle for demons who can handle you as you are right now."

"Okay," Rin said in a long sigh as if Mephisto asked him some difficult task. Sounds of rummaging came behind him and he allowed Rin to rifle through his office in the hopes that it would distract the little beast.

He made it to his desk unaccosted, pulling out several of his favorite gel pens and scrawling through the pile that he swore grew every time he turned his back on it.

Although he needed to read the document in more detail before he signed it. Mephisto frowned and skimmed the paper, tsking when he saw the utterly unnecessary expense that his darling exorcists were attempting to squeeze from him for a project budget.

"Do they think I'm made of money?" He scoffed and made a mark to set up a meeting later.

That was when he registered the silence in his office and stilled, ears twitching to hear for where Rin might be in his room.

A heated presence directly behind him was his answer and Mephisto managed a curse before hands spun him around and slammed him to the desk. The edge dug into his spine and the coils of his tail, lancing sharp pain through him as he gasped up into Rin's frown.

"Rin," he began, arching to relieve the ache throbbing in his spine to no avail. "If you'll just let me–"

Rin leaned forward, the pressure of his power welling in a super-heated wave that stifled his words as Mephisto felt the growl beneath human hearing where it vibrated against his body.

"You're ignoring me," Rin said without humor. He held Mephisto's hands together overhead, fingers gripping tighter until the tendons creaked and Mephisto hissed.

Oh, Rin, delightful fiend that he was, Mephisto thought as he kept up his minor struggles even as heat pooled in his gut and his length twitched in interest where Rin pressed to his body.

His hips slid to Rin's, a tease he saw Rin acknowledge with a flick of his cold gaze. So he bucked as if to throw him off, relishing the hard retribution he received in return as Rin slammed his hips back to the desk and snarled a warning.

What would he do with Mephisto when he'd been so disrespected?

"This paperwork is just a human concern, right?" Rin growled into his ear, flames licking over his skin.

"Nng, yes, Rin, but–" Mephisto groaned at the increased pressure on his spine, tail fighting to writhe beneath his suit– "I have certain duties to attend. My work is piling up, as you-as you can see."

He saw Rin's eyes narrow and allowed his lips to twitch at the corners, knowing how his mocking would be taken.

"No." Sharp pain struck him through his hands and Mephisto shouted, eyes rolling to look at where Rin had pinned them in place with the pens he'd been using.

Blood welled around the obstructions as his skin tried to heal, pooling in his spasming palms and splashing to the papers beneath them.

"Remember what you told me?" Rin's voice dropped, dark, his claws beginning to draw down Mephisto's flanks to his hips, his thighs. "For this week, you should put your human concerns away."

The claws found their place in the creases of his pants, and Mephisto let out a last sound of protest before they dug in and Rin shredded the expensive fabric to leave him bared to the rough grind of his hips.

"Enjoy yourself," Rin purred, echoing his words back to him as he let the shreds fall from his grasp and parted his thighs to gain greater access to Mephisto's rapidly hardening length.

Moaning at the treatment and Rin's words, Mephisto dropped his head back and accepted the pace Rin took up. Their hips rolled together, faster the more Mephisto chased the building pleasure as Rin nipped at his throat.

But it wasn't enough for Rin, clawing more of Mephisto's suit from his body so he could bite at his collar and bringing sparks of pain and pleasure that made him press into Rin's fangs for more.

"More, huh?" Rin's breathless question made Mephisto realize he'd loosed the demand.

"Yes, Rin, please, I–"

A sharp tug and his tail was freed from the rest of his suit, Rin gripping it a moment later and running down the length. Mephisto gagged at the the sensation strickening him when he yanked against the forceful hold just to feel every bit of Rin's call for him to heel.

Friction burned between them, lessened by the pre-come beginning to dampen their remaining clothes until Mephisto met Rin's hungry gaze and tilted his head in submission, releasing a low whine.

"Please, Rin," he panted, trying to arch his hips into Rin's despite the punishing press of his fingers keeping him in place, "more."

He let a stream of pleas and encouragement fall from his lips, twisting his body in a sinuous slide to Rin's as he wound the end of his tail around his forearm, the end flicking in beseechment.

His legs spread until they ached, opening for Rin just as claws tore the remaining fabric away and the head of his length began brushing at his entrance with his thrusts.

Rin brought his hand to caress the ones he'd trapped to the desk. His fangs glinted beneath parted lips he took Mephisto's mouth with, tongue delving to curl against his he gladly responded with as a purr passed between them and Rin finally sunk into his body in a single, long thrust.

Then he began moving in earnest, allowing Mephisto to wrap his legs to draw him closer, feeling the sparks of pleasure add to the heat in his vessel with every brush of Rin's length through him and each scraping kiss to his skin.

"Don't–hah–don't hold back on me now, Rin," Mephisto gasped, nipping at Rin's lips when he adjusted their positions until he had him nearly folded in half.

"You wanted my attention, you have it," he finished against Rin's mouth in a groan.

He wanted Rin's flames, his vicious glinting fangs, the claws he gouged to his thighs where he held them over his shoulders, and the tail he twined with Mephisto's to wring moans free as easily as his blood.

It spread over his desk, warming his vessel until the building fever overtook him and Mephisto's pleasure crested, fingers scrabbling to the pens still stabbed through his palms where he'd left them in place.

Now, Rin would take his fill–ah, Mephisto pushed his throat into the bite Rin sunk deeply into his vessel as the claim between them glowed and pulsed with the energy running into Rin.

So greedy, but Mephisto let the wash of "Mine" run in his veins and through his core until his mind whited out and Rin thrust a final time before filling him with his release.

A buzzing ebbed in Mephisto's ears, giving way to the ragged gasps he became aware of as it began to fade.

With luck, the little terror would be satiated for long enough that he could get back to work.

Just as Mephisto prepared to crack his eyes open, he felt the usual stilling of Rin's body as he returned from the headspace of his rut, and waited for the inevitable reaction he woud give to the disaster he'd caused.

Arms came up in a slow crawl and a forehead pressed to his ribs in silence, the unusual lack of reaction making Mephisto frown as he opened his eyes to see what the cause was.

Rin's mussed hair greeted him because he hadn't lifted his head. His hands curled over Mephisto as if Rin was using his body to ground himself with.

"Rin?" He began, trailing off as his frown grew.

"Thank you," Rin mumbled, and Mephisto froze as he brought his arms around him in a hug, shoulders hunched and a slight trembling in his body he couldn't understand the source of.

"I'm not sure I follow."

There didn't seem to be a cause for whatever emotions were going through Rin currently, and it sent his mind searching for what he'd missed.

"Thank you for stopping me when I tried to go after my friends," came the rasped explanation.

A shuddering breath exhaled from Rin as he continued, Mephisto's eyes widening. "I was going to go after them. I was going to hurt them."

Blue eyes suddenly speared into Mephisto when Rin looked up with a snarl on his face. "Except they aren't like us, they won't heal from stuff like this."

His gaze flicked to the pens still keeping Mephisto's hands in place, and at the reminder, he slowly lifted them away and allowed the wounds to close without anything to obstruct his healing until the only trace was the blood drying to his skin in tacky trails.

As if beyond his control, Mephisto let his hands fall in a soft touch to Rin's shoulder blades where he could feel the trembling pick up.

"Thank you," Rin repeated and let his head drop again.

It warmed the skin it pressed to, but Mephisto shifted in discomfort at the strange tonal change from their earlier activities.

"Why don't we get you back to Amaimon," he said instead, a snap returning the room to working order, his miserable pile of paperwork exactly where he'd left it and no shorter than before.

"I need to finish more of those human duties, after all," he said with a teasing smile.

Rin rubbed at his eyes with a palm, nodding as he pulled away from Mephisto, both clothed again. He still felt the heat through the layers and purposely didn't shift, fixing his suit in an unnecessary movement and going to the other side of the desk.

"Yeah, yeah," Rin grumbled, though he still didn't seem in his usual frame of mind.

None of which Mephisto would worry about just then. There would be plenty of time for it afterward.

He snapped and was alone in his office again.

A text stared Mephisto down and he scowled, happy for the privacy of his office where the only one he had to present a mask to was himself.

'I need to see Rin.'

Damning words, because Yukio Okumura would not be deterred for much longer, not unless he put him under for the rest of Rin's rut. But he would have to be because there seemed to be no end in sight to the rut, and to let him near Rin at the current stage would only lead to disaster–even if it would be immensely entertaining in the short term.

It was a miracle already that Yukio hadn't stormed his office with his demands, helped by the long mission Mephisto had shipped him off on.

He assuaged Yukio's concerns again and released a long sigh, setting the phone aside and ignoring that he seemed to have developed bruises under his eyes usually indicative of advanced rot eating at the rest of his vessel.

Rin was sapping him quite dry, the little glutton.

Snapping from the office brought him to his manor where he didn't doubt he would be besieged at any moment.

Except–Mephisto peered down the hall he passed and caught sight of Amaimon pinned to one of his expensive furniture pieces by Rin. The bags under his eyes when he'd noticed his presence were as deep as his own and he shared a look of solidarity before taking his leave.

The veins in Rin's throat he'd bared as he swallowed around Amaimon had glowed with blue flame just under the pale surface of his skin. It had been happening more frequently until pulses of energy spread through Rin like fire burning through roots beneath the ground.

His rut was consuming more than he could take.

Amaimon breathed heavily through his nose where he lay on his back and admitted that it was true exhaustion making recovery difficult. His body shook in intermittent tremors and the sweat cooled on his skin along with the drying blood from his healing wounds.

At his side, Rin had passed into sleep, curled in contentment after the meal he'd made of Amaimon.

He frowned and corrected himself. Rin only seemed content on the surface, but he looked and saw the flush to his cheeks overlaying pallid skin that stretched too tightly over swollen muscle. He saw the twitches of his body, hands covering his stomach as if in pain.

No, Rin was not content.

A pulse of blue ran through the veins in Rin's eyelids. The energy spread from where his core nestled under his ribs in waves, reaching his extremities to highlight his features with every beat of his heart.

"He's reaching his capacity," Amaimon said and glanced at where Mephisto had just arrived through the door to stand overhead.

"Yes," Mephisto sighed, sweeping his gaze over the patterns of blue fire. "This truly was poor timing."

It was. Normally, a demon experienced their heats and ruts when their cores fluxed in their natural ebb and flow of energy. The heat was for when they needed to disperse energy, and the ruts when they needed to consume it. Except that Rin's body had gone into one from the other so quickly he hadn't had time to reach an equilibrium, and still, his body demanded more.

"Will he burn up like Father?" Amaimon mused, clawed thumb clicking between his teeth as he watched Rin wince as if in pain.

"Father burned out because he was not in his perfect vessel, but one he shaped to his needs," Mephisto corrected. "But you have a point, Rin must ride out these instincts before his body takes on too much or he risks immolation."

Amaimon's gaze flicked to Mephisto. "He's sealed."

That was the crux of the matter. Unsealed, Rin might have been able to tolerate the sheer quantities of their energy he absorbed, but his current body, even with the first seal undone, couldn't hope to handle it and it was miraculous that Rin had lasted as long as he had.

"He was better after he flared up the last time," Amaimon said, thinking back to the fireball Rin had exploded into during their play fight. "Should we just let him release his flames on Assiah then?"

But Mephisto shook his head. "Impossible. It's far too early for such things."

"Gehenna, then," Amaimon said as he fought not to growl. Mephisto's games made things too complicated, as usual. His concerns for the illusions he put on for the humans and following his self-imposed rules made less sense every day that Rin worsened.

Again, Mephisto shook his head. "No. Father is in Gehenna, and it would be difficult to control given Rin's volatile state. It's far too dangerous to risk."

That, at least, Amaimon could agree on. There was no telling what a confrontation between Rin as he was and Father would result in.

"Break the seal, then," Amaimon snapped out, irritated for reasons he couldn't say, except that he was tired of the promise of power hidden beneath the last seal containing Rin. The small taste he'd had throughout the last two weeks only made him want more.

He looked and saw the way Rin lay as if he would burn from the inside, flames barely contained, forcing the maddening desire to draw them out from his mind.

"The sword is a dam on the full force of his flames," Mephisto grimaced. "It keeps him from burning out, but it worsens the pressure he's under."

"His body may not be able to take the full force of his flames."

A growl vibrated in Amaimon, frustration filling him at the artificial roadblock they were under.

"What's more," Mephisto said with a sigh and prodded at the bruises revealed under the robe he wore, "this little devil is voracious and we're only just managing to keep up with his appetite."

Understatement. Amaimon hadn't reached the point he was at since before he'd gotten his perfect vessel. His ribs stuck through bruised skin that had become slow to heal the more Rin took. He'd grown gaunt, skeletal, in direct reversal of Rin's state.

"We can bring in one of the others to mitigate things," Amaimon tried. Another king would be the only real option. As it was, Mephisto's servant could barely walk anymore, a listless husk Rin no longer fed from because there was nothing there to entice him with.

"Beelzebub is neutral," he said as he sorted through who else might be an option. Though really, he didn't think even Lucifer would refuse Rin. Any of their siblings would set aside the game they played for the time being.

Except for one.

"No, no," Mephisto said with a wave of his hand. "It's too soon for any of that. Much too soon."

Of course, Amaimon scowled. Only Mephisto would refuse to set aside his games or pride.

"Truthfully, even you being involved is far from ideal in this situation," came the grumble that sent Amaimon's ears pinning back at the thought of being denied Rin at this stage.

"But, we're here now, and you do make a good distraction for him," Mephisto said in admittance, soothing some of the ire from Amaimon despite the obnoxious way he'd put it. "I certainly wouldn't have been able to do this on my own and maintain my other duties."

Which meant he thought he would have been able to handle Rin alone and would have if he wasn't determined to keep up his games with the humans. Amaimon scoffed at the pride under his breath and let a hand out to trace along the blue veins in Rin's skin, following the path the fire took through them with the pad of his finger.

"With the way you dote on him, one might think you'd grown attached." The sly words from Mephisto stopped his motions and Amaimon jerked a glare towards the fanged smile he saw gleaming beneath acid-green eyes.

Claws brushed over the front of his robe, Mephisto pretending to buff them to the fabric in a way that sent Amaimon's hackles rising as he prepared for the strike he knew was coming.

"Is this your way of telling me you'll be choosing a side in this war finally?"

There it was. Amaimon hissed, scowl deepening as he removed his touch from Rin and stood back. "You brought me into this as a favor. I said I'm not joining your fight."

His outburst brought a long sweep of Mephisto's gaze between him and Rin, and he knew he followed the tether of the claim between their cores.

"Yes," he grinned, "tell that to the bond radiating energy like a supernova connecting you two."

The imagery he conjured took hold of Amaimon's mind for a moment before he hissed again, dangerous and telling Mephisto exactly how he felt about his suggestions.

"I can break that at any time I want. It doesn't mean anything," he said through his growl. "I'll drop him as soon as he's no longer interesting."

A thud of his heart at the statement sent his fangs extending on automatic, fury spinning in his gut and a part of himself even more viciously rebelling at the thought of extricating himself from Rin after the rut ended.

Just as Mephisto made to respond, a voice broke in, soft and strained.

"I'm sorry."

Amaimon snapped around to see blue eyes opened to slits, glassy with exhaustion.

Rin had woken.

"I–you don't have to join any side," Rin bit out, claws clutching to his chest once again covered in a sheen of cold sweat and straining with barely contained energy.

"I won't make you, I won't–"

Enamel squeaked with the force of Rin's clenched jaw, eyes squeezed closed and trembling before he jerked his head as if fighting an internal battle.

"You don't have to keep the–my c-claim."

Emotion warred in Amaimon, eyes wide and unable to breathe as Rin's words sank in.

Despite the agony of his own instincts and a mind barely lucid anymore, Rin was saying on no uncertain terms that he wouldn't force Amaimon into anything.

The tether he'd connected to Amaimon could be removed at will, or kept.

A claim without chains attached.

His heart skipped and Amaimon froze as the apologies rasped from Rin's lips.

But, even as he watched, unable to think of a response that would make sense beyond the urge to flee so he could understand the strange emotion tightening his hands to fists, the awareness began to leave Rin's eyes. He went under before Amaimon could come to a decision.

"Amaimon, I'm sorry." The rasp became a croon as Rin reached with claws to encircle his wrists. "Do you forgive me?"

Those blue eyes flicked to Mephisto and Rin smiled as he nuzzled to the underside of Amaimon's wrist. "Mephisto, you forgive me, right?"

"Of course, darling Rin," Mephisto said, already putting the conversation behind him to come beside Rin, robes falling around his body while Rin gave a pleased sound into the crook of his throat.

Left without a choice, Amaimon gave himself over, though his heart still fluttered when Rin pressed lips to his chest as if searching for the source of the irregular beats.

It took the both of them for Rin to feel satisfied at the late stage they'd come to, Amaimon's claws finding a hold in Mephisto where he clung while Rin twined their tails together and fucked into him until the pleasure chased the thoughts from his head.

But, instead of waning into sleep or lucidity afterward, Rin pulled them down into the den he'd created out of Mephisto's bed and kept them there.

"Stay," the growl paused Mephisto from where he'd been about to roll from the bed, settling back down into the covers.

Rin nestled in the center of their pile, arranging them so he had access to coil his tail along their limbs and trace claws over any piece of bared skin he could reach.

The idle touches relaxed Amaimon, lulled into a light doze until an uncounted time later when Rin purred, mouthing to the skin of his throat as he grabbed at his hips and pressed inside.

Again, he arched and scrabbled to the body against his, roused by the energy between them and the rut instincts urging him to open himself to Rin. And again, his release slid through him, his low moan taken by Rin along with the energy.

The rest of the night passed in that way as Rin alternated between fucking them or drifting in a light sleep. He'd stopped resurfacing like he had before, staying in the rut headspace.

"His rut is breaking," Mephisto said during one of the intermittent moments. His chest shook with his breaths and a cold sweat dried on his skin still healing after Rin's latest claiming. The words from him made Rin crack an eye open and yawn, exposing fangs lengthened to wedges in his mouth before he subsided again after seeing they weren't trying to leave.

"Likely, he'll crest and it will be over by morning."

"Ah," Amaimon made a sound of acknowledgment, not wanting to think beyond the claim softly glowing in his mind's eye. If he thought about the future, he would have to come to a decision, and if he thought about the past, it kept leading to the point he'd reached now.

He hid his face against Rin's shoulder and waited for the next bout.

A sound echoed in the manor.

Rin raised his head, disorientated and trying to think if he'd just been hearing things. His head swam, mouth gummy, and eyes dry, but his mind felt clearer than it had in a long time.

Another sound came, closer, like a door slamming somewhere.

Who would be slamming doors?

He glanced around, spotting the rumpled and torn blankets twisted around Mephisto and Amaimon where they lay in sleep next to him, wincing when he saw how worn they looked.

But if they were there, then the only other being in the manor was Belial, and Rin knew he wouldn't be the one making any noise.

So who?

His heart skipped in shock when a demon he didn't recognize appeared to hover overhead.

"Wha–"

It bowed its head–some kind of sprite? He hadn't encountered any of its type yet–and spoke. "Sorry, my prince."

Then it vanished, leaving Rin twice as lost and wondering if he should wake Mephisto and Amaimon up to figure out what was going on.

Suddenly the slamming sound moved closer, and Rin reached to shake Mephisto's shoulder, nudging Amaimon at the same time as he glanced around, beginning to wonder if he should be getting ready for some kind of attack.

Groaning came from Mephisto as he raised himself on his elbows. A grumble left Amaimon's mouth as he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling as if trying to understand why he had been disturbed.

Slamming came again, nearly upon them, and sent them jerking looks at each other, Mephisto's mouth dropping as if about to speak.

The handle to the room twisted and opened hard enough to impact the wall, revealing the livid form of the source of the slamming doors.

"Yukio," Rin yelped, "I can explain."

Brittle shards of blue pierced into Rin, having replaced the eyes that now glared frozen daggers at Rin beneath his lenses.

Yukio's lips parted but only a breath shivering with rage exhaled free, his hand raising before he clenched it back to his side.

"Get dressed," the words came out low and furious and Rin wilted, knowing Yukio was truly angry with him then. "We're going."

"Ah," Mephisto broke in smoothly, standing from the bed and snapping to clothe them as the room fixed itself. "Mr. Okumura, allow me to explain–"

"This is your fault!" Yukio shouted, the layer of ice he'd arrived in shattering in a whirlwind he directed at Mephisto. "I should have known from the start you were behind this."

His words stopped Rin from the fidgeting he'd been doing and he scrambled from the bed to step in front of Mephisto, hand thrown out to redirect Yukio's attention.

"Hey, It's not his fault," Rin said, trying to soothe Yukio. "He helped me."

"And you," Yukio hissed, turning on Rin and stalking into his space with a glower. "You lied to me this entire time. Didn't you even think for once in your life about what you were doing?"

"Don't you know how dangerous this was?" he finished in a snarl.

Lied? Rin stilled, looking up into Yukio's hardened expression and hearing the words in his head as if through miles of ice.

"I lied?" he started to say, barely hearing himself as Yukio's gaze narrowed.

"I lied?" He couldn't stop repeating the words. A burning had begun in his chest that melted through him as the thoughts he'd tried to shove away throughout the week made themselves known again as a roar.

"I Lied? How about the one you told me my entire life?" Rin dragged Yukio closer by his uniform lapels, snarling in his face.

"You never trusted me." He was the older brother, the one who Yukio should have gone to if he'd been scared or needed help. "You lied to me and dad lied to me and no one has told me the truth except them."

He flung his hand back towards where Mephisto and Amaimon stood, the fist he still held to Yukio's clothes squeezing until claws tore into the fabric. "I got more honesty out of demons than anyone else–from you!"

It hurt. It hadn't stopped hurting from the moment he'd unsealed the sword and had everything ripped from him except Yukio. And Yukio refused to talk to him, distancing himself even further than before, when the only times Rin seemed to get his attention were to fix him up after a fight or find some new thing to be disappointed in Rin about.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Yukio spat, his glare jerking to Mephisto before setting on Rin again.

"Trust a demon?" He laughed, cold. "And lying? What was I supposed to say? Should I have told you everything from the start? You? You don't understand anything!"

"You could have trusted me!" Rin's voice broke, rage twisting up inside him with Yukio's distance.

"And what?" Yukio said, the distance between them growing. He didn't touch Rin even to take his hand away from the hold he had on his clothes. "You would have grown up knowing everything those people said was true? That all the exorcists hate and fear you for what you are?"

"That you're not human?"

Rin shook his head in denial, grip flexing as he floundered for what to say.

"I would have helped," he insisted, "I would have protected you."

"I had to hear it from Suguro and Koneko that you were on campus doing who knows what," Yukio snapped, withering in his judgment.

"And I find you apparently deciding it was better to fuck around than face the consequences of your actions," he said, finally reaching up to brush at his uniform.

A chill settled in Rin, and he let his hand drop from Yukio, the rage in his gut hardening into a kernel where it ate a hole.

"You're right," he said, pausing Yukio from his motions. "It was dangerous. I'm dangerous. And I didn't rely on you. I made Mephisto think up an excuse to tell you instead of facing it myself."

He squared his shoulders. "I'd do it again."

Maybe it was stupid of him, maybe he was the idiot Yukio said he was. But Rin hadn't seen any other option than the one he'd taken and he didn't regret a thing.

Yukio reared back and punched him.

–Or tried to.

His fist swung towards Rin's face, Rin watching as if in slow motion as it approached, only to see a bright light flare between them, halting the strike.

The symbols made from golden light laced the air in front of Rin, forming meanings he couldn't parse before fading away to leave the room deafened by silence.

"It seems," Mephisto began, coming forward to place a grounding touch on Rin's shoulder as Yukio stared at Rin in horror he didn't understand, "that we have a much bigger problem, now."

What?

"You're pregnant, Rin."

"What?"

End Notes: Mpreg, but NOT in the way you expect, trust me, guys XD Though you'll have to wait until the third and final part to this series for that and who knows when that'll happen with all the wips I have on my list lmao

*"Ich lasse ihn bei Amaimon und dennoch ist er jetzt schon zwei Mal weggelaufen, um mir Ärger zu machen."

Translates to: "I leave with him Amaimon and yet he already ran away two times to cause me trouble."

Aka: I leave him with Amaimon and twice now he's escaped to cause me trouble.

Thank you to Himiko for the German translation~ It's not a Meph fic without some thrown in there for spice lol I'm just glad I have ppl to check over my German now so it makes sense and isn't a shitty Google Translate :D

Here's hoping I have time to get thru Incandescence and the billion of other wips in my list so I can write the last part to this series :D