Confusing people on whether you're a male or a female is really fun and something I enjoy doing a lot. I think Rin would enjoy it too, with encouragement from his boys.

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Rin recovered steadily and began to learn how to handle his new powers. As the Demon King of Love, he could see the bonds between people and his empathy was much more powerful. He'd had to be isolated for days and slowly get used to being around multiple people without being overwhelmed.

As the King of Tartarus, he had very....interesting new skills–he could look down at the students from Mephisto's office at the school and see the color of their souls. Souls went to Heaven, Azazel's domain, or Tartarus. Azazel's domain in Gehenna was like Asphodel. All the neutral, ordinary souls went there.

Tartarus was the Eternal Pit of Damnation and housed those who had done something bad enough to get them tortured forever. Rin was not looking forward to seeing people like Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Mao Zedong, or Bin Laden when he got there. The people that were already damned and would stay that way unless they changed had darker colored souls that shined with negative light, the worst being completely black souls. He'd only seen one black soul so far and it was unsurprising to him. He'd watched an Illuminati spy slink around amongst the students for a while before pointing him out to Mephisto. They only learned he was a spy once he was caught and interrogated. He went nuts before they executed him after seeing he was just an underling.

Being able to see people's souls was a terrible thing sometimes. Rin was always afraid to look at the souls of the people who meant the most to him. He knew without looking that none of them were going to Heaven. Because aside from Amaimon and Mephisto, they were all damned for helping him.

Rin finally gave in to curiosity and was mesmerized by the colors of Mephisto, Amaimon, and Bon's souls. Mephisto's soul was a vibrant purple, with rings of turquoise, dark blue, orange, pink, and green. Glittering gold shimmered in the middle of the myriad of colors and faded to white in the center. Rin almost couldn't look away.

Amaimon's soul was shades of green, fading to yellow-green and then shining gold in the very center.  There was an outer ring of browns, like rock. Between the browns and the greens, there were thin rings of purple, orange, and pink. Rin could stare into the gradient forever and still be fascinated.

After looking into the souls of the two Demon Kings, he wondered if Bon's would be that of a normal human's or if it would be different. He'd told Rin about his deal with Karura, how he'd be the Phoenix once Karura was part of him. When he finally got the chance, Rin looked into Bon to see his soul.

It was mostly in shades of dark burgundy, reds, oranges, and yellows–just like fire. Between the burgundy and the fiery colors were thin rings of pink, purple, and green. His soul glowed like a real fire. The bright colors were burning away the dark burgundy around the edges. Rin figured Bon had been damned for both loving multiple men and fraternizing with the Son of Satan and two Demon Kings.

Rin wondered what his own soul looked like. Would it be in shades of blue? He hoped not. He was beginning to hate the color blue. It was all he ever knew. Blue eyes just like his mother's and blue flames everywhere he turned. These damned flames were the reason he could never be a normal person.

One day, he stood in front of a mirror and looked into himself, just to see if he could.

He first saw a thin ring of electric blue around the outside. Then, bright reds and pinks on the inside, where it faded to white, with blacks, greys, purples, greens, and oranges ringing the outside under the blue. It looked like him. His status as the son of Satan didn't represent him. He liked going by his status of King of Love the most and being the King of Tartarus was unknown territory so far, but he didn't immediately hate it like he did his flames.

Rin decided he liked his soul and his "color scheme."

§~•~§~•~§

"Let's go on a date." Amaimon said suddenly as they were eating breakfast one morning. It was just them, like usual. Bon had school and Mephisto was the Headmaster of a huge academy and the Director of the entire Japan Branch of Exorcists, so he always had things to deal with.

Rin loved the peaceful mornings with Amaimon. He loved all his boys, but he loved being with them individually too. He usually ended up with Mephisto or Bon in the afternoon and Amaimon in the mornings and mid-day. It was nice to see everyone he loved nearly every day. Mephisto and Bon could be fun, but Amaimon was his own brand of fun, different from Bon's intellectual type of teasing or Mephisto's dramatic brand of humor. Amaimon's kind of fun was childish, but dangerous enough for only demons to be able to cause. It consisted of causing a racket anywhere crowded, being a nuisance to anyone around, and running from authorities trying to bust him–all without hurting a single person. He liked messing with people and getting away with it and that correlated with Rin's Authority Issues and love of pranks, so they'd gone pranking random people several times before things got serious and they didn't have time to have fun anymore.

"I have to train, Amaimon. We don't have time–" Rin began to deny the Earth King when Amaimon hugged Rin to him and nuzzled into his neck.

"You work tirelessly even when you don't have to go to regular school anymore. You've got so much planning to handle and so much power to master. I know it's a lot." He murmured. He pulled back, placing one hand on Rin's shoulder and cupped his cheek with the other hand, a frown on his face.

"That's why we should go on a date. Take a break from all this. Just enjoy how nice today is in another part of the world far away from here."

Rin had to admit, that sounded tempting. God, when had he gone from actually enjoying life to viewing it as work work work, no time to play or have fun? Christmas was the last time he'd had fun and that was half a month ago. New Years had come and gone, they'd celebrated at midnight and Rin fell asleep shortly after that because he'd been training in sword techniques with Shura that day. He'd actually been training a lot recently. He felt the weight of the war slowly weigh him down and he'd let it suck all the fun out of him in a couple weeks. How embarrassing!

"Okay. Let's go on a date. Just you and me." Rin agreed. Amaimon purred and pulled the taller demon down for a happy kiss. He'd taken to wearing higher heels on his boots, so it wasn't so far a distance this time.

Rin sighed into the kiss, simply enjoying the embrace and not thinking about anything else. Amaimon was warm against him and he fit into Rin's body perfectly. Rin liked wrapping his arms around Amaimon's waist and keeping the shorter demon right up against his body.

"You still have to teach me that cherry stem trick." Amaimon mumbled into his mouth. Rin chuckled and pulled back to look at the demon.

"Oh I've taught you how to do it several times, including just now. You're just too busy letting me finesse you with it to notice every time." The boy smirked, just a hint of fangs peeking out. Amaimon purred and kissed Rin's Adam's apple, just barely pricking it with his fangs and locking his jaw around the spot like a predator holding his prey in place. Rin bared his neck more and gave a soft keen, hands moving to Amaimon's hips and rubbing his thumbs absently in circular motions. Amaimon unlocked his jaw and moved down to nibble Rin's collarbone affectionately.

Rin gave a huff of amused laughter, reminiscent of Mephisto. I guess you really do pick up your lover's habits the more time you spend around them.....

"If we keep this up, we'll never get to go on that date." Rin laughed. Amaimon sighed, almost dramatically, at the words.

"Careful Amaimon, you're starting to act like Mephisto." Rin snickered.

"I blame it on you." The Earth King grumbled. "You're the one who pulled us all together. I haven't spent this much time around him since I was in my two hundreds. And I haven't let a human or a Nephilim get so close since I was in my Seventies."

"I just attract weird people." Rin snorted. "Though it's a lot nicer than attracting trouble like I used to."

"I'll say. You're a Demon King and the future King of Gehenna dating the Demon King of Time and Space, The Demon King of Earth, and a human merging with the Phoenix to live forever with you. And then Shemihaza is going to join us in a few years." Amaimon raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Wow, look at the emotions you can actually show with your face. Maybe spending enough time around humans is helping you learn how to actually use your facial muscles." Rin taunted.

"Go get ready, brat!" Amaimon spun him around, pushed him towards their room, and slapped his ass to get him moving. Rin yelped and then made his way down the hallway towards their shared room, laughing.

"And wear something warm, the place we're going is covered in snow this time of year!" Amaimon called after him.

§~•~§~•~§

St. Petersburg was covered in a fresh layer of snow that glittered in the morning sunlight that perked through the clouds. The clouds were quickly moving to block it out, but it was still beautiful. Very few people were out in the freezing temperatures, but Rin was primarily a fire demon and at full power, so he as able to keep both him and Amaimon plenty warm. Their clothes didn't keep the chill from seeping into their bones and numbing their faces, fingers, and toes.

Rin wasn't super bundled up because he hated feeling like a walking marshmallow all bundled up in sweaters and jackets and multiple pairs of socks and long pants with boots when he was little. He'd always taken most of those off when he got to school and threw the spare clothes at the kids who'd antagonize him at lunch.

He'd decided to switch things up and wear one of the few dresses he had, courtesy of Mephisto. He'd had Belial do his makeup(because he still wasn't that talented in that area of beauty just yet), and he'd left his hair down in its waves and curls, his bangs long enough to cover the tiny growing horns on his head.

His outfit consisted of a short, dark burgundy dress that both hugged his body comfortably and made him look like a model, black thigh-high heeled boots, a long white coat with black buttons and frills on the sleeves and hems, and black gloves. The gloves did help him keep some heat in, as did the fur inside the boots.

His makeup was simple–warm brown shades of eyeshadow that faded to silver at the edges and corners, dark red lipstick the same color as his dress, cool-toned highlighter drawing attention to his cheekbones, and black eyeliner and mascara that made his electric-blue eyes stand out. He'd put in all silver earrings and switched his gold tongue piercing for his silver one.

Amaimon hadn't said anything when he'd first seen Rin come out of their room, followed by Belial. He'd stood there in shocked silence, eyes wide in surprise. Rin got to watch Amaimon's cheeks slowly turn several shades of scarlett before he seemed to snap out of the surprised silence and held out a gloved hand–Amaimon was wearing fingerless gloves, of course.

Rin took the hand and yelped when he was roughly pulled closer and spun around. Amaimon used his imbalance to dip him and steal a kiss. Rin figured he had top-notch makeup when none of his lipstick came off on the Demon's lips. Amaimon pulled away and yanked Rin back up, spinning him and catching his arm to steady him.

"Okay, calm down there Mr. Smooth Moves." Rin had snarked.

Now, they stood in St. Petersburg, Russia. Amaimon already had a plan to visit certain tourist attractions he knew Rin would love to see and led Rin to the Winter Palace first. People they passed assumed Rin was a woman and overlooked their coupling completely, which was a nice change. They always had to be so secretive, never letting anyone see them together anywhere outside their tight circle of trusted people. Amaimon was always stuck between hating and loving the fact–hating it for having to hide the fact that he had Rin ad his lover and living it because at the same time, he didn't want everyone to be able to see Rin how Amaimon got to see him.

He focused on spouting facts about the tourist attractions to Rin, who seemed incredibly pleased that Amaimon had put so much effort into the date.

"The Winter Palace was where the royal family would stay during the winter. There are several Ballrooms, staterooms, and dressing rooms because the place was used to entertain guests as well." He said as they looked at the beautiful architecture of the building. "Of course, there's a lot of dark history here, but at least it's pretty." He added. Rin snorted and lightly smacked him on the arm for the cynical comment. They took a selfie in front of it and moved on.

Next, they went to see The Bronze Horseman statue of Peter the Great. It was covered in snow, but still majestic in the pale light of the Russian winter sky. The state sat on a configuration of rocks overlooking the street and Amaimon got a perfect jump-shot of Rin next to it. The picture was immensely amusing and Amaimon smiled down at it. Rin's hand covered his holding the phone and Rin kissed his cheek tenderly.

They took a lunch break after the statue and ate at a nice resteraunt that wasn't too busy. They went to a place that wasn't super fancy, but it wasn't just some regular diner either.
"They mainly eat bread, potatoes, and cabbage. A sad diet if you ask me. There's not even any meat in it." Amaimon pointed out. "Although, their diet today is a result of Soviet food shortages, so it's not really their fault." Rin laughed, shaking his head at Amaimon's dismissal. He was glad to have such a blunt boyfriend. It was both useful and entertaining sometimes.

Rin had trouble deciding what to get–mostly because the menus were all in Russian, but the pictures looked delicious and he wanted all of the displayed dishes. Amaimon decided that they'd order one of each main meal and share them all to try.

They ordered dishes of Pelmeni, Blini, Beef Stroganoff, Pirozhkis, Golubtsy, and Borsch.

Amaimon had had all of these dishes before when out sightseeing and explained all of them to Rin. Rin found it really amusing how Amaimon was just a database for information on tourist spots and foods from around the world.

"Pelmeni are considered the best drunk food here. They're like meat stuffed tortellini, but better than tortellini." He said as Rin purred at the taste of the delicious little pouches of meat. They were covered in a sauce called Smetana.

"Blini are a lot like crêpes, but slightly thicker and greasier. They are also incredibly versatile–they can be filled with meat, covered in cheese or dusted with powdered sugar. The traditional ingredients are smoked salmon, caviar, smetana, and dill. Russians like to put dill on everything. It's like americans with ketchup." Amaimon went on to see fine the crepe-like meal on the second plate. They ate bites with everything together and then picked it apart to eat some parts individually, like the caviar. Rin really liked the caviar, while Amaimon wasn't the biggest fan of it.

"I'm really liking this Smetana stuff. It's like heavy sour cream. I expected it to be more like gravy, but it's not." Rin commented. He'd have to find recipes for some of these foods, they were delicious. Maybe he could make Shura some Pelmeni after a long night of drinking. The thought amused him.

The Beef Stroganoff was good for a noodles, sauce, and meat type of meal. Rin wasn't the biggest fan. It tasted muted to him.

He absolutely loved the pirozhkis and decided he needed to make these for dinner sometime back home. "Pirozhkis are baked sourdough dumplings. They can be stuffed with pretty much anything–minced meat, onion, eggs, potatoes, cabbage, you name it. They can be made large as a main part of a meal or they can be made small as snacks. They're also very cheap here in Russia." Amaimon explained. The ones they were eating were filled with meat and potatoes and he could already see Rin thinking of all the foods he could stuff in these dumplings when they got home.

Next was Golubtsy, stuffed cabbage leaves. "They're usually filled with meatballs, but I’ve had vegetarian versions with mushrooms and rice and those were decent too. I prefer the meat." Amaimon enjoyed the meatballs and let Rin feed a bite to him, feeding the teen a bite in turn. Rin caught a server swooning at them being so affectionate and a waitress sighed fondly with a smile on her face. Rin's cheeks bloomed red in happiness. People looking at him without hatred was very different and very nice.

The last thing they had to try was Borsch. "It's beetroot soup spiced and cooked to perfection. People from all over the world love this dish, so they'll either come here just to eat it or they'll get it on a special occasion where they are." Rin thought it was cute how much Amaimon knew about food and famous places in Assiah. Well, he was an observer. He liked to observe the humans before he pranked them and he could process information very easily through means of logic. Anything he didn't understand that had to do with emotions, he went to Rin about and the younger demon would explain.

They enjoyed their lunch immensely and arin liked listening to Amaimon spout facts about everything they were eating. He knew Rin liked hearing new recipes.

After lunch, they wandered around the streets for a while and looked at all the ships along the roads.

They finally made their way to the Colonade of St. Isaac's Cathedral. "This is the biggest Russian Orthodox cathedral in Saint Petersburg, as well as the largest Orthodox basilica and the fourth largest cathedral in the world." Amaimon reported accordingly as Rin looked over the flawless architecture in awe and marvelled at how the light hit the building just right at this time of day. The sun was going down and the cold light was slowly fading to darker tones. "It took 40 years to complete and was commissioned by Tsar Alexander I." Amaimon finished his piece.

They climbed the 161 steps to the top and got a beautiful view of the city around them. Rin had kept a hand holding Amaimon's the entire time and the Earth King was enjoying the contact and the warmth from his boyfriend as they looked out over Saint Isaac’s Square and the Neva River. They were alone at the top. Anyone else out right now was too cold and numb to climb that many steps and that was what Amaimon had been counting on.

Rin had no actual parental figures and his brother was out of the question, so Amaimon had gone to Shura. Shura was like an older sister to Rin and the closest thing he'd get to a guardian. She'd been surprised to see him, but after he asked for her blessing, she understood and grilled him on how much he cared for Rin and what he'd do for Rin if anything and ever happened. After hearing his muttered response of how he would've probably collapsed the earth's crust if Rin died in Aomori, she seemed to approve and patted him on the shoulder.

"If you ever hurt him, I'll neuter you and send you whimpering back to Gehenna." She told him seriously. He'd nodded and left. Mephisto had been waiting with Bon outside the woman's apartment, both smirking.

"Should have figured you'd be the first to make this move. I applaud you, Amaimon. Congratulations, I'm already planning the wedding. Do you prefer daffodils or roses?" Mephisto had purred knowingly.

"Roses." Amaimon answered immediately. Bon smiled and pulled Amaimon in for a meaningful kiss. "Thanks for makin' him happy when I missed out." He murmured against the Earth King's lips.

This whole relationship was only possible because of Amaimon and they gave him the credit he deserved for it. They'd figured he'd be the first to propose to Rin and he deserved to be first. That, and multiple weddings would be a fun endeavor for all of them until the whole group was married. Amaimon and Rin had been the ones to talk about having a family first and it only seemed right they start the rest of their lives this way.

So here they were, in the frigid Russian winter, facing the sinking sun together. Amaimon supposed he should probably do this before it was too dark to see anything. He'd never understood why people were so nervous about asking their mates to marry them until now. It only matters when you really love them, huh?

"Rin." He called quietly. Rin turned to him and he caught his breath at those bright electric blues glowing in the sunlight. Rin's silky blue-white hair laid over his shoulders and framed his face in waves and curls perfectly. He took a minute to take in how Rin looked right now.

"You're.....I'm so glad I decided to help you instead of trying to destroy you when Mephisto freed me." He began. Okay, decently solid start.

.....

How the fuck do I propose to the love of my life?!

Rin smiled warmly and turned towards him more, tilting his head in that cute way he did when he was pleased. Amaimon continued, making sure not to just rush the whole thing out and make a fool of himself.

"I love that you invited me to eat with you instead of just kicking me out that day. I was going to find a loophole in my deal with Mephisto so I could destroy you, but you were so alone and sad that I couldn't in that moment. You're good at giving second chances and gave me mine. I got lucky that day. And I love everything you've done with me and for me since then. You've taught me how to understand this world and its inhabitants better. You've taught me what true honestly and loyalty are." Rin blinked in surprise, cheeks blooming red from the words that had so much reverance in them. And even more so at Amaimon's soft smile. He'd never seen that smile, but he decided it was his favorite expression on the Earth King.

My face hurts, but smiling is nice and Rin likes it, so I'll keep this up.

"You've taught me how to love. You've let me love you in my own way, even if it didn't seem like love. I joined your side in a war because I like being yours. So I want to love you for the rest of my life, eternal or not." He pulled the little velvet box from his coat pocket and opened it for the demon to see. Rin gasped and tears immediately sprang to his eyes. Thankfully, at this point, Amaimon knew the difference between sad tears and happy tears.

Rin watched Amaimon take the ring out of the box and slide it onto his left ring finger, a wide grin making its way into his face until he looked like the sun itself. He was actually glowing pink in the start of the dusk and in the fading light it the day in St. Petersburg, Russia, they sealed their engagement with a kiss at the top of the Colonade of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

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Don't yell at me, I have my reasons. Is Rin technically only 16 right now in the story? Yes. But that's only his body's age, in truth, he's over 50 bc what's er was left of Goro's would after Satan pushed it aside and took over his body went into baby Rin in Yuri's womb and melded into Rin's soul.

Rin is also immortal now. He's gonna live forever, just like Mephisto, Amaimon, Shiemi, and soon, Bon too. Rin is also the Demon King of Love and he knows his own heart the best. He knows what he wants and who he loves.

Things are even more serious now, but love is still a beautiful thing even in the face of war. Rin drew his strength from love even before he was the King of it. So, Rin and Amaimon are gonna get married sometime(not for a few chapters bc more stuff needs to happen in the plot)and I hope you still enjoy this story!

On another note, having Amaimon low-key flip out over how to propose to Rin was so entertaining to write, as were the scenes where he was just spouting facts about tourist destinations and the national foods. 😂

And I can prove to you that smiling not only in the freezing cold, but also when you don't use those muscles in your face very often is painful and straining! I almost never smile bc I have resting bitch face and I don't really socialize enough to be made to laugh, so my face muscles always hate me when something actually makes me smile. 😂