Luminescent Ministories

Holiday Traditions

Rin was in love with Mephisto's huge kitchen. It was nearly industrial-sized  like the dorm's was, but the Manor's kitchen still managed to be elegant, with red cherrywood cabinets, marble countertops, stainless steel motion activated sinks and faucets, stainless steel appliances, and marble floors.

Mephisto gave Rin free reign of the kitchen whenever he wanted and when the scent of food or dessert carried far enough into the house, the Time Lord would sometimes visit the kitchen to sit at the breakfast bar and watch Rin work. Amaimon would usually already be there, trying to sneak tastes of whatever the boy was making.

It was like a dance–Rin moved around the kitchen so fluidly while also spinning around to smack Amaimon's knuckles with a wooden spoon when he tried to sneak a taste of the seprate components of a treat, gracefully spinning back around to continue his work. He moved easily from counter to sink to fridge to the island and back to the counter. It still amazed the two demons how amazing he was in the kitchen.

Rin was very precise and very particular about his ingredients, where he kept them, and where he placed them when he was cooking a meal. Because he was so particular about it, he usually kept everyone out of his kitchen to the best of his ability. Mephisto had watched Amaimon quite literally get thrown out bodily by the half-demon while he was cooking. He'd once thrown a knife between the Earth King's feet when he went to step in. Amaimon had stayed out if the kitchen that day and as a result, got to enjoy the traditional Chinese dish Rin made.

So when Rin pulled them into the kitchen, they were both surprised. "Is there something you need, Dearest?" Mephisto asked carefully, suspicious of Rin's behavior. Rin saw the looks on their faces and laughed. "I don't need anything except for you guys to help me build a gingerbread house." He said with a smile. He'd set out all the components on the island and gestures widely to them, proud of his organization.

He turned back around to say something else but faltered when he saw Mephisto's face. The demon looked like he'd been slapped in the face. He blinked, mouth slightly hanging open. "What's wrong?" Rin asked, stepping up to the Time Lord. Mephisto shook his head and then smiled down at Rin–a real smile, not one of his predatory grins. "You are too good to us, Darling." He leaned down to nuzzle Rin's hair and leave a short kiss on his lips. Rin need at him.amd grabbed both of the demons, intertwining their fingers comfortably as he pulled them over to the island where he'd pulled the stools from the breakfast bar up.

"It's something the American kids in my elementary school talked about around Christmas. They were either transfer students or moved because they were military families, you know how it is. But they talk about all these traditions they have in America around Christmas time and it always sounded like so much fun! So many things to do with the people you loved just because it was the month if giving. I think we should make out own Christmas traditions for every year. And when we have a ton of kids it'll be a huge mess, but it'll be worth it." Rin looked so fond of the traditions he talked about, smiling down at the pieces of candy and gingerbread. He also looked like he couldn't wait to have tons of kids to do these traditions with. Kids with them–demon King's who had done horrible things to millions of people over the years, including Rin himself. Mephisto and Amaimon exchanged a look–They didn't deserve him. So thank everything that he wanted them.

Amaimon hummed in agreement, keeping his hand holding Rin's. Mephisto leaned down for another kiss that was unusually soft and Rin sighed happily. "I love you." He murmured when the kiss ended. "And I love you too, Rin." Mephisto placed a kiss on the boy's cheek and then pulled away, pulling Amaimon over to deliver the same words with a kiss.

They started building the house by setting up the walls of gingerbread and gluing them together with frosting. "Mh, this one is small. You realize that were going to need a gingerbread mansion when we have children?" Mephisto commented with a huff of laughter as Rin pulled the frosting away from Amaimon's reach.

"It'll be worth it!" Rin said, completely serious as he picked through the gumdrops to get link and purple ones to line the driveway. "Yes, it will. Maybe by then we'll be able to help you bake all the Christmas treats for the kids, hm?" Mephisto strategically placed tiny dollops of icing on the edges of the roof to stick colorful pieces of candy as Christmas lights.

"I can't wait for a bunch of little sprouts destroying our house and eating all the sugar." Amaimon agreed, licking the sides of small green swirled candy canes and sticking them between the gumdrops on the driveway. Rin giggled and put a circular pretzel as an attic window, filling in the "glass" with some blue icing and dropping white icing from it like icicles. He did the same with two square pretzels for the normal downstairs windows.

Mephisto got ahold of the green icing and used it to paint the front door, a yellow piece of candy as a doornob. They were so concentrated on making the house silly and perfect that Amaimon forgot to sneak pieces of candy while they worked.

Amaimon busied himself with making Behemoth out of a gumdrop, red icing, and tiny candy pieces. He plopped the goblin on the front lawn. "To scare off nuisances." He said in explanation at Rin and Mephisto's raised eyebrows. Rin snickered and placed his own fondant Kuro on the roof tiles. Mephisto laughed at his lovers.

They spread icing around the ground outside the house and driveway and used coconut shavings as fallen snow. They put the finishing touches on, like attaching the independent Christmas lights around the roof with chocolate icing as the wiring, a fancy design on the green door, and then they were done.

They looked proudly down at their work. Mephisto snapped a camera into Rin's hands and he snapped a couple pictures. This was the camera they used to commemorate things that were important to them, like when Rin got his piercings, or when Mephisto taught Rin how to ballroom dance, or when Amaimon was showing Rin Gehennan flowers and explaining their uses and qualities, or the picnic they had with Bon and Shiemi in the garden.

"So what do we do with this now?" Rin wondered. "Wouldn't we eat it?" Mephisto prompted. "Yeah, but I hate most of the stuff on that. And gingerbread." Rin admitted. After a second of silence, he heard Mephisto quiet "Me too." And they laughed loudly, sitting around the island in the kitchen amongst a mess if sweets they didn't even like, Christmas just around the corner as it snowed outside.

"I....let's just give it to Ryuji." Amaimon suggested. Rin laughed harder at the unspoken fact that Amaimon also hated the candy on the house before nodding. "Yeah, we'll give it to him tomorrow when he comes over for lunch. He's probably not as lucky as we are when it comes to candy." He agreed.

They carefully protected the gingerbread house in a cake case and went to bed, cuddling comfortably in the warm sheets days before Christmas.