Luminescent

Happy Merry Christmas Birthday!

I don't actually like Michael Buble's version of All I Want For Christmas Is You, but I wanted a decent playlist for this chapter. I love the original Mariah Carey version, lol. I hope you enjoy!

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It was finally Christmas break. They'd all finished their finals and we're excused form Exorcist work to prepare better for their Exam that would come at the New Year.

They'd managed to get the friend group together(minus Yukio)for a Christmas/Birthday party since everyone but the twins had passed by their birthdays and never celebrated. It was actually Shima's idea and Shiemi agreed with it.

They decided to have it at the Old Boy's Dorm. Shura, Lightning, Mephisto, and Amaimon were all invited as well. Rin made a huge Christmas)Birthday dinner with the help of Belial to get it done in time since he also had to make desserts. Together, the two had managed to make a buffet of food and desserts (Rin saved a plate to have Belial deliver to Yukio later.)

They ate and caught up with each other. Izumo had surprisingly mellowed out since she didn't have to  live with her deal with the Illuminati anymore and she knew her little sister was safe. She was still a huge Tsundere, but she wasn't so bitchy now, thankfully.

Konekomeru apologized for missing out on so much. He'd been studying hard for the Exorcist Qualification Exam. He wanted to be prepared to take down a high-level demon and get a good rank as an Exorcist. Shima was off doing "Spy Things~" or so he said. Bon leaned over to tell Rin he'd been mainly flirting with girls and studying for finals, occasionally going off to be a spy. Unfortunately for him, there were wards against him on Yukio that neither the spy nor Rin's brother knew about, courtesy of Mephisto.

"And wow, Rin, you look great!" Konekomeru complimented him. Rin blushed and smiled down at his food. He'd let his hair get longer, he'd gotten a whole new wardrobe of clothes tailor fitted to his body, and Mephisto told him that he glowed. He'd looked like death before, but Amaimon and Mephisto pulled him out of it and made him glow. Rin knew he looked good now and he didn't deny the fact anymore. He'd changed a lot in the past couple months. "Thanks, Koneko." He smiled.

Rin was enjoying being surrounded by friends as they laughed and joked and ate the food he'd made for everyone. Classic American Christmas songs played from somewhere as background music(Rin assumed that was Mephisto's doing). He hummed along to it, long since having memorized the songs that were played repeatedly around his birthday.

Mephisto held up a bottle of wine from the "adult table" and raised an eyebrow at him and Rin threw him an unimpressed look. The Time Lord shrugged, grinning. "Stop trying to get me drunk, asshole!" He called. Mephisto threw his head back and laughed before pouring himself and Amaimon some. Lightning asked about it, but the two Demon Kings vanished the bottle. "Not for humans." They said in unision. The man pouted.

While they were eating, Shima got a call from Juzo. He put it on speaker so Bon and Komeko could hear the news about Mamushi's pregnancy and then Juzo ended up inviting his little brother and all his friends to their official wedding ceremony even though they were already married.

After, they exchanged gifts, all sitting in what used to be the common room on couches Mephisto had summoned. They were all harshly colored and patterned, but Rin found it charming at this point in their relationship.

Shiemi gave everyone four-leaf clover charms and Deja Vu hit Rin unexpectedly hard. The last time he'd seen Shiro as Shiro, his father, was the morning of the day he was attacked. Shiro had been talking to a little girl, Yui. Demons kept picking on her, so Shiro had given her a four-leaf clover charm to protect her and sent her away with her parents. He smiled at the memory. His last good memory of Shiro before that hellish night took place and he'd lost the man who's raised him forever. Shiro was in no way a great father, but he taught Rin how to control his strength and emotions, how to cook and clean, how to tend to his own injuries when Yukio wasn't around. He'd taught Rin how to balance a checkbook and how to save money efficiently too. He'd been very patient until Rin was in middle school. Then he'd beat Rin with The Slipper.

Rin was pretty sure every Japanese kid knew the horror of The Slipper.

Next was Shima's gift to everyone. The spy was surprisingly considerate and gave them all different pictured they'd taken together throughout their adventures during the last year. "I know....I'm a spy and you guys don't think I can be trusted. But I wanted you to know that I trust you. You're still my friends, to me." He told them, a rare moment if sincerity from the boy. "Aw, Shima!" Konekomeru hugged the pink-haired boy to him. Shima smiled, cheeks burning at all the attention being on him.

Konekomeru went next to spare the boy any more attention. He'd gotten them all various books–he gave Rin a book full of foreign dessert recipes, which he'd cheered over excitedly. Bon got a book on anger management as a joke, to which he threw said book at Koneko, who was laughing loudly. He'd gotten Izumo a book on meditation. He'd gotten Shiemi a book full of flower/plant meanings. She squeaked excitedly and called to Amaimon to look at it with her.

He'd gotten Shima a book of pick-up lines and told the boy "Maybe if your pick-up lines were actually good, you'd be dating someone by now." The whole table laughed at that one as Shima whined, saying he'd given them all meaningful gifts.

They moved on to Izumo's gifts for everyone, which were little handmade voodoo dolls of themselves made of thick threads. "Woah! She even did the flames!" Rin showed Bon excitedly.

Bon's gifts to everyone were albums from their favorite music artists. Which was both embarrassing and sweet, because Rin and Shima both loved American pop music that girls usually listened to.

Finally, they got to Rin's gifts for everyone. He was good with his hands, good at making things. He could make pottery, food, dolls(don't ask), and he could sew, knit, and crochet very well. When it came to things that were made from paper or drawing, Rin was just as bad as his twin.

This year, he'd made little clay figures of things that represented each of his friends and painted them. Izumo had a miniature version of the doll that had been her little sister's. It had taken a lot of time and effort and Izumo was close to tears when she opened it.

Shima had a miniature clay bottle of pink hair dye. He looked surprised, but very pleased. "You can't stand the fact that your family wants you to be your dead older brother, so I figured I'd give you something that defined you more." Rin examined, smiling. Shima was blinking back tears and Rin laughed uncomfortably. "Oh God, I made him cry!"

"Thank you...." Shima choked out, wiping his tears away hastily and giving the half-demon a watery smile.

Konekomeru got his family crest. Rin and asked Bon about it and got a picture of the Miwa crest. Very meticulous work to get the colors and symbols right. Konekomeru found himself crying with Shima.

For Shiemi, Rin had made a very delicate clay lotus on a lilypad. The lotus was a gentle pink and the lilypad was a lovely green. Pink like Shiemi's cheeks when she blushed and green like her bright eyes. She loved it enough to be very careful when handling it, which made Rin really happy. Those petals had been a massive pain in the ass.

For Bon, he'd give his present to him later, along with Mephisto and Amaimon.

"HAPPY MERRY CHRISTMAS BIRTHDAY!" They all cheered.