Rin hadn’t initially considered the possibility that Benjamin would say yes to his invitation. Frankly, it had taken a fair amount of courage to extend it; as direct and warm as Rin generally was, over time, he had gotten more and more discouraged from trying to seek his colleagues’ company, especially complete strangers. He could never know or even guess if someone had some shitty Blue Night memory or just was predisposed to hate him for who he was, and over time, he’d mostly given up on going out of his way to make a good impression.
Of course, there was also the fact that Benjamin’s first impression of Rin was a particularly tough mission, where Rin had been forced to rely more on his demon side than he usually did, which in turn (of course) scared the other Exorcists shitless. Given that the rest of their party gave him a wide berth on the way home, Rin was so shocked Ben attempted any kind of conversation with him at all, that he came up with the idea on the spot and invited him over. Thinking about it later, it was likely out of pity that the other man accepted – but, no matter, Rin would take what he could get. Now that Ben was coming over, perhaps there would be a chance to changing opinions.
First impressions were a funny thing, sometimes – of Rin’s home and family, Ben’s would be the opening of the door to reveal a curious face at about knee high, with a chirp of “Hi!” and then almost instantly, a clatter from the kitchen, and the half-demon hurrying out into the hall, looking a bit harried, until he saw the visitor. “Oh, hey, come on in,” he greeted, followed by an instant, “Junou, did I not tell you to wait for me?! What did I say about opening the main door?”
Not any less cheerful for being chastised, Junou replied dutifully, “When the knob is lower than my eye level!”
Maybe it was a little strange that being greeted by a small child put him at ease, but Ben couldn’t help but smile at the familiarity. Back home, every household was practically teeming with children; the Japan branch was practically childless in comparison, which had taken him a bit of time to adjust to.
Kids were usually good judges of character, too, and Junou didn’t seem the slightest bit afraid of his father. Maybe the mission really had been some sort of strange fluke... or maybe children with demonic blood didn’t feel threatened by that kind of behavior. Junou seemed to be a relatively brave little kid; usually kids were at least a little intimidated by the tall foreigner with a beard, but he’d answered the door as chipper as can be.
“Your father’s right, leave opening the door to people who can reach it without being on their tiptoes,” Ben said, stepping inside and carefully closing the door behind him. He dropped into a crouch and offered a hand to the kid. “Nice to meet you, Junou-kun. I’m Ben,” he said warmly.