If there was any time of the year lots of people loved, it was that time of the year dedicated to them, the day that celebrated the very day they came into the world. A birthday!

And not just any birthday was coming up at this time. It was a Jedi birthday.

Under the Old Code, the Jedi did not celebrate birthdays like ordinary citizens did with balloons, cake, and noise makers. But now that they made changes, they decided they would celebrate in any way they could put together for those who wanted to celebrate their special day in a special way. Some liked to have parties, others liked to have a simple picnic with their friends. Some liked to have a special birthday dinner, others just liked to have a day to relax and do nothing.

But with this birthday, it wasn't just for one person. It was actually for two people. Twins.

And those twins were none other than the Skywalker-Jinn twins Anakin and Carmine.

It'd been only a few months since Carmine and Anakin found each other again, and they had so much catching up to do with each other and their kids. They'd missed each other's childhoods and their teenage years. And, they'd missed twenty birthdays together. But in three days, they twins would be turning twenty-one. Their wives and the kids already had great plans to put together a special dinner for the two of them, it being their first birthday they would celebrate together.

But while the twins were excited to celebrate their birthday together, there was one thing on both their minds that was identical.

What would they get each other as a present?

For the longest time, each of the twins had separate birthdays and celebrated in different ways.

When Carmine was a boy, he lived with his grandmother Miranda Jinn, Qui-Gon's mother. Even though she had magical powers, Miranda worked for the things she had, which was not a lot. In part, she did so because she had to hide that she was a princess so those who sought to rid the galaxy of Solaris would be unable to find her or her grandchildren or any future great grandchildren she might have.

Despite having little, Miranda was able to provide Carmine with the necessities. But she always managed to save just enough to get Carmine a nice little cake every year for his birthday, as well as a special present, which was most often a garment she made by hand. And his favorite present was always whenever his father came to visit him and spend the day with him. It was the one day a year Carmine had with Qui-Gon, so he tended to spend all year making a list of things he wanted to do with his father on his next birthday. Playing games, singing songs, learning lightsaber stances, dancing. All the fun stuff. And Qui-Gon always had a special surprise for his son. And Qui-Gon inherited his mother's creativity, which was how he was able to give Carmine a special gift of his music box that played their lullaby so Qui-Gon could sing his son to sleep every night, even when he wasn't there.

The last gift Carmine had from his father alone was the locket he wore around his neck, which held a photo of the second-to-last time he'd spent with both his father and grandmother, and later a second photo was added of Carmine's wife and daughter to serve as a reminder of keeping his heart close to where he came from, as the true last present he'd ever received from his father was his prized guitar.

Qui-Gon had planned to give that guitar to Carmine for his tenth birthday, but he died before he could finish building it. Luckily, Miranda found it when she snuck into the Temple to search for his belongings, and she finished it for him and gave it to Carmine on her son's behalf for Carmine's thirteenth birthday. Sadly, that would be the last birthday he would have with Miranda.

His fourteenth birthday, he'd been an orphan working as a cleaning assistant at Melody Prep Academy. But he soon got adopted by a kind ballet teacher named Susy Lamura who loved him as her own and gave him a new home. And like his grandmother, Susy knew just the right gift to give him for his birthdays. Caroline and her friends even put together a surprise party for Carmine's sixteenth birthday.

And even after he became the famous pop star Count Crescendo, Carmine never forgot his family or how much they meant to him.

Anakin, on the other hand, had even less than Carmine did where birthdays were concerned.

To put it simply, let's just say when you are a slave, birthdays tend to be pretty much non-existent. So, Anakin never even tried cake when he was a child. He'd never seen balloons, confetti, or party games. So, you can imagine he had a blast when he finally got to see and break open a pinata when he got older and off Tatooine. And play Musical Chairs.

The one birthday gift Anakin had was a bracelet his mother made by braiding together some wires and rope. It might not look like much to those who grew up getting all kinds of expensive toys, jewelry, bags, or even a puppy for their birthday, but to Anakin, it was very precious because his mother made do with what she could find, and most importantly, that gift came from her heart. She adored her baby boy and wished she could give him more than they had, but Anakin was smart enough to know that he didn't need a ton of stuff. He had his mother and her love and that made him happier than any material object he could ever ask for.

Material objects couldn't tuck him in or kiss him goodnight. Even if you programmed a robot teddy bear to cuddle you with extra warm hugs, those hugs would never be as meaningful as the hugs of a living, breathing, loving mother. Machines and man-made objects could make various tasks easier, but the love of a living parent that Mother Nature intended for all babies to have was one thing technology would never be able to replace, no matter how advanced it was.

But even after Anakin was brought to the Temple, he still didn't have much for his birthdays, as back then Jedi did not do anything for birthdays except for a Jedi's thirteenth birthday, when they went through a special ritual, which did not involve anything party related.

Now, Anakin had two beautiful children of his own who he could love and spoil on their birthdays. One of them, he'd adopted, and he was not much older than Anakin was when he was taken into a new home, and the other was a biological daughter Anakin intended to give the father he never had. For both of his children, Anakin intended to give everything he never had as a child. Toys, a stylish wardrobe, proper education, opportunities to play with other kids, and most importantly, freedom.

And now that Anakin knew he wasn't an only child, he would be sharing his birthday with his long lost now found twin brother.

Despite having the same face, Carmine and Anakin had totally different personalities.

Carmine was obsessed with all things music. He didn't just do it for a living. It was his favorite hobby too. If he wasn't singing on stage for a concert as Count Crescendo, he was dancing or playing one of many instruments he knew, his favorites being the piano and his guitar.

Anakin, he was more into mechanical engineering and anything to do with piloting. When he was a kid, he was also the only human who could race pods, which he used to do a lot on Tatooine as part of his work for Watto, who like many crime bosses and slave owners on the desert planets loved to place bets on racers.

What would be the perfect gift that each of them could give?