Chiro opened his eyes.
He sat up and stretched his arms. He looked at the others on the bed. It seemed like Antauri, Nova, and Otto woke up already while Sprx and Gibson were still asleep. Chiro couldn't blame them; Gibson wasn't much of a morning person while Sprx was extremely tired compared to usual so he was sleeping in late. He kissed him on the forehead.
"Love you, Sparky." He whispered.
Sprx smiled in his sleep. He lightly caressed his cheek with the back of his hand. He then got out of bed and left the room. Chiro headed straight to the kitchen. He passed by Nova and Antauri, the latter of which held Kaminari in his arms. The moment Kaminari saw him, she reached out for him.
"Papa!" She exclaimed with a big smile.
Chiro took her from Antauri. "Morning, sweetie. Morning, guys."
"Good morning." Antauri responded.
"Are Sprx and Gibson up yet?" Nova asked.
Chiro shook his head. "No, not yet."
"Guess we'll have to wake them when breakfast is done." She responded.
Chiro nodded and the two headed over to the kitchen. Chiro followed, but he went into the kitchen to get a drink for himself. Kami held onto him tightly. Once he got his drink, he got out of the kitchen to stay out their way.
He sipped it as he sat down. Kami pulled away to look at him. He couldn't help but smile at her. Her smile radiated pure, innocent joy. Her hair was growing long, reaching her shoulder blades. In a few months, it'll go down midway her back. Chiro caressed her cheek with his thumb. That made her tail wag faster. Her hands went onto his arm.
It felt like only yesterday that she was born.
That reminded him about something. He took a moment to check the date. It was only a week before the other kids' birthday. Their thirteenth birthday to be exact. His eyes widened and his smile grew wide. Kami tilted her head in confusion and curiosity. Chiro ruffled her hair in response.
"Just thinking about what we can do for your siblings birthday, that's all." Chiro answered what she was thinking.
She smiled. "Can I help, Papa Chiwo? Can I can I can I?"
He chuckled. "Of course you can, my little angel. I just need to talk to your other parents about it first."
Kaminari nodded in response.
Once breakfast was done, Otto woke Sprx and Gibson up. He carried Sprx there while Gibson slugged his way to the table. All the kids sat at their own table besides Kami who sat with Antauri, Chiro, Gibson, Nova, Otto, and Sprx. Everyone started eating, with Chiro helping Kami out. Things still got a little messy though, but thankfully not bad to clean up. Chiro chuckled some before stopping and looking at the other table.
He couldn't hear everything that was happening, but Magma raised his fist and he nearly yelled. Diamond simply sat there with a smug look on her face. Marino held him back while nearly everyone else sunk into their seats. It looked like a typical morning for them, though in a way he wished that they didn't fight as much. Thankfully though it meant that they were too preoccupied to hear the conversation he was about to start.
Chiro looked back at the others. "So we have all the presents ready for them?"
They nodded.
"Okay, I wanted to make sure." He took a deep breath. "I know this is kinda sudden, but since their birthday is coming up, how about we make it a kelahiran semula hidup?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion, wondering if the others knew what he was talking about. Chiro himself raised an eyebrow at their confusion.
Oh. Oh wait a moment.
Right, it suddenly hit him that they wouldn't know every culture on Shuggazoom, just whatever was in Shuggazoom City. He nearly smacked himself in the head for thinking they would know. Just as he realized that, Gibson spoke up.
"I apologize, but what's kelahiran semula hidup?" He asked.
"I'm afraid it's not something we know, Chiro." Antauri added.
Nova nodded. "Mind explaining?"
"Yeah, sorry, forgot that you guys wouldn't know." Chiro chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "It's basically a tradition in the Japanese-Malaysian areas of Shuggazoom to celebrate a kid's thirteenth birthday in a major way, including traditional music, clothes, everything connected to their Malaysian culture and roots from Earth."
Antauri nodded as they took another bite. "Interesting that you bring this up instead of other birthday traditions."
"Oh, I'm actually part Malaysian, so it's something I learned about growing up." Chiro explained as he scratched his cheek with a finger.
Sprx leaned into his arm. "Mind explaining more about it? What on Shuggazoom does 'kelahiran semula hidup' mean?"
"It means 'living rebirth', though it's also known as 'reinkarnasi hidup' or 'penjelmaan semula hidup'." Chiro continued. "I don't know any Malay so I might be a little off. I'm mainly going off what I've been told, but I never had one myself because, well… You know."
"Yeah I don't doubt that. They did leave to find the worst milk in existence, don't think they ever cared that much." Sprx replied.
He and Nova high fived each other for that comment. Chiro snickered at what he said.
"I suppose it couldn't hurt. We'll do as much research as we can to do it right." Gibson added.
"Why not? It's not like we can do this more than twice!" Otto exclaimed.
It was then that Chiro noticed how much his tail wagged. He smiled looking at that. He was glad at least somebody was as excited as he was.
All they needed to do was prepare for the big day.
Over the week, everyone did what they could to prepare for the kelahiran semula hidup.
Antauri and Gibson did all the research they could and readied the decorations, Chiro and Otto took turns cooking and baking with Nova, and whenever Chiro wasn't with Nova, he and Sprx handled everything else that was needed. There were moments Otto tried to lick whatever mix was made for the baked goods though, it took them a few times to get him to stop. Kaminari tried to help out whenever she was allowed.
Chiro went through whatever stores that were in Bintang Town he could with Sprx to find good clothing for the birthday. They needed to fit them perfectly after all, so they'd need to try on different clothes. He could've asked Peridot to make everything for them, but the last thing he wanted was for her to stress over her shared birthday. All they would need was to go off Sprx's size and adjust the size for some of the others. Marino ended up accompanying them though.
He only knew because Kaminari was so excited about helping that she told everyone. Her telling everyone wasn't what Chiro had in mind, but he couldn't be mad. In a way, it was better if they knew a little before their birthday, they'd know what to expect.
When they entered the clothing stores and asked for traditional clothing, they'd gotten some looks. Some of those looks were cautious and curious, which Chiro couldn't blame them for being careful with him. It was possible people who were out of town and not Malaysian did some cultural appropriation, he wouldn't doubt the possibility as fucked up as it was. After some explanation, they gladly helped them out. It took a few hours getting everything they needed and when they were done, they headed back. Marino being there helped tremendously with who would be more likely to wear what.
On the way back, Chiro looked at Marino.
"You didn't have to come help out, Marino." Chiro started. "It's your birthday, after all, you shouldn't have to do much and just relax."
Marino chuckled. "I could, however I want to make sure everyone enjoys their birthday. I know I will, but I'm trying to take everyone else into consideration as well."
He softly smiled. "Well, I appreciate your help, thank you."
"It is no trouble, Uncle Chiro." He smiled back.
When they got back in, Marino immediately went straight to his and his siblings' room. He put down the bags that had everyone's clothes onto the ground. Everyone looked his way. Jasper was the first one to get up and run to see what was in the bags. Her tail wagged with excitement and she had a big smile on her face. All of that faded away once she saw what was in there. Her tail dropped to the floor and confusion replaced her excitement.
She pulled it out of the bag. Her birthday outfit was a light, pale orange with yellow accents. Jasper took a moment to look at the entire outfit, not just the kebaya. She then looked at Marino.
"...Marino, what'th thith?"
Marino slowly lifted his finger. Everyone's outfits were fairly similar, all of them having their colors but pale and muted like Jasper's. All eight of them joined in on inspecting their respective outfits.
"It's our kelahiran semula hidup clothing. They're traditional Malaysian outfits called-"
"Bah! Who cares what they're called?" Magma made a look of disgust. "And are you sure this would fit me?"
Marino looked at him unimpressed. "...I'm extremely sure, Magma, and this has cultural importance."
"Man, all I want is just relax and have fun!" Magma crossed his arms. "Not worry about tradition or all this shit!"
"Thith lookth uncomfortable and thrict… I don't like it." Jasper put her clothes down.
"Well I think I'm gonna look fabulous in this!" Dactyle's eyes gleamed.
Magma and Diamond could only roll their eyes in response. Soma snickered and smiled at their response.
"I, for one, have to agree and say that these clothes aren't bad. Uncle Chiro just wants to make this a good day for us." Soma said.
"I mean, it's not like we have to wear these regularly." Aero added, looking at the brighter side of things. "They're only for a day."
Astral nodded. "He is right. Personally, I think it's a great opportunity to learn about some culture from other parts of Shuggazoom and its history. We don't visit those areas as much, so I'm taking this time to appreciate it."
Peridot looked away from Emerald and quietly sighed. "I mean, the work put into these clothes is better than my current skills… It's not like I can do that much better."
Emerald had her hands up to sign, but she lowered them. She just held onto Peridot tightly and buried her face into her hair. Peridot rubbed her back in response. Marino noticed how nearly half his siblings weren't excited about this, but he couldn't tell if Aero was just lacking the energy despite trying to be positive or if he wasn't that excited either. Even Diamond seemed to be looking forward to this, and Marino knew she wasn't that huge on it. Kaminari being excited was no surprise regardless.
He could only hope that they would be more excited when the day came around.
Marino moved the clothes back in the bags and the bags into a safe area. He walked to the door.
"If any of you need me, I will be helping Father Antauri and Father Gibson." He said before he walked out.
The moment the door closed behind him, he heard some of them start arguing. He could only sigh.
It took him minutes to find where Antauri and Gibson were. The two were sitting down in the garden room, surrounded by flowers. Their tails were intertwined with one another. Marino came closer to them.
"What about king proteas? Those would certainly fit the meaning he would want for this." Gibson suggested.
Antauri shook his head. "While you're correct there, it wouldn't be the look Chiro wants for this. Scarlet pimpernels would be more suitable, and we have them so we don't have to worry about growing any."
Marino sat down next to them. "Purple carnations could work too. I remember seeing some here the other day."
Antauri looked at him. "That's true."
"We could combine the two. The added meanings for purple carnations could work in our favor as well." Gibson responded before he looked at Marino. "So what are you doing here, Marino? I figured you'd be with your siblings."
"As much as I love spending time with them, I thought it would be best if I helped out." Marino answered.
They chuckled and smiled. "Well, I'm certain we'll need the extra pair of hands."
All three of them got to work on the flower section of decorations.
When the day came, every adult spent the early hours of the morning putting everything together.
They talked as they did everything. Nova chuckled at the things Antauri said, Otto practically flapped his hands the whole time when he wasn't holding something and Gibson had to keep him focused, and Sprx messed around some.
He kept stealing kisses from Chiro and he had to make sure Sprx was working instead of goofing off. When he tried yet again, this time grabbing his arm and wrapping his tail around his waist, Chiro put his hand up. He couldn't help but laugh.
"Sprx, you gotta stop that. We can't be messing around right now." Chiro said with a smirk on his face.
Sprx pulled him down more. "I'm sorry, you're too irresistible right now, Chi."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, am I now, Sparky?"
He pulled him down where their faces nearly touched. A mischievous smirk crawled up his face.
"Careful, Kid, I won't be afraid to drag you to somewhere else."
Chiro laughed before pulling himself away. He freed himself from his grasp without messing up his clothes. He gave him a quick peck on the forehead.
"Leave that for some other time, Sprx. We can't leave this unfinished." Chiro said firmly.
Sprx leaned into his hand and smirked. "Party pooper."
"You say, as we're preparing a party for the kids." He joked.
Sprx snickered. They continued until they finished setting up the preparations. Until then, they didn't realize just how far out they went. It was huge with plenty of foods, decorations and even the light music that plagued throughout. Chiro felt happy and proud of himself. He went to wake everyone up, but they were already awake, especially Kami. They were all dressed and ready. Some of them didn't seem excited, but he supposed it was from feeling nervous.
Chiro led them all to the room. They all took a moment to take everything in. Once they did, they scattered around the room. Diamond, Magma, and Aero went on their own, Astral, Soma, and Marino went together, Dactyle and Jasper joined each other, and Peridot and Emerald were in their own secluded area. Kaminari just went everywhere and went to different people. Chiro leaned back and watched everyone enjoy themselves. Some of them were closer to him so he could hear what they talked about.
"So how much do you know about this tradition?" Marino started.
"Oh, I've been meaning to do research on that but I haven't been able to do that." Astral responded.
"I'm pretty curious myself." Soma replied.
Marino smirked. "Well, from what I've read, it started out as a celebration for any Malay kid who was born here and has been living on Shuggazoom for thirteen years. Not many Malaysians stuck around after arriving and left for safety reasons when the Skeleton King was more of a threat, even if it was more towards Shuggazoom City, so when they did stay for that long, they took it as a huge thing to celebrate."
Chiro smiled hearing that. He was glad at least some of them were quite interested in the tradition enough to learn more about it. He looked over to the others. His eyes were immediately drawn to Diamond next. His eyes slightly widened and his eyebrows raised a little. She was stuffing her face in the buffet that was made for the party, throwing more food onto the plate she held and ate from with each passing minute. He wasn't expecting her to hit the food table that fast in all honesty.
He walked over to her, but she didn't seem to notice his presence. Chiro simply cleared his throat to hopefully catch her attention.
"Hey Dia, honey, so uh what are you doing?" He asked.
She finally looked up at him. Diamond's face was extremely dirty, and her face was stuffed with so much food that her cheeks were big like a squirrel holding nuts in their mouth. She took a few seconds to swallow everything in her mouth.
"Eating my face out." Diamond answered honestly. "I know we can have food at any time and this simply shows my gluttony, but relatively speaking, I don't care. This is delicious and I want more."
Chiro lightheartedly chuckled. "I'm glad you're enjoying it, but please keep some for everyone else. I don't want Magma missing out on the laksa, or anyone on anything else."
She swallowed yet again. "I will keep that in mind. Where's the roti tisu? I want to grab some of that after I get the Hainanese chicken rice."
Chiro pointed. "Roti tisu should be on the snack table over there."
"Thank you."
Diamond put some Hainanese chicken rice on her plate before running off. Chiro only hoped that she didn't get anything on her clothes before picture time. He looked at the others.
Kaminari grabbed Marino's hands and pulled him with her. "Dance with me!" Chiro heard her say. Marino could only laugh and go with her. It looked like he said something as well, but it was too quiet for Chiro to hear. Soma covered his mouth as he chuckled while Astral simply smiled. He looked over to Dactyle and Jasper, who were laughing together. Jasper itched her neck and arm the whole time though. Chiro's smile vanished when he saw that. He wondered if the clothes were too uncomfortable for her. Dactyle seemed fine though.
He then looked at the other kids to see if they felt the same way. Soma, Marino, Kaminari, Diamond, and Astral seemed to be fine similarly to Dactyle. Emerald held onto Peridot tightly as the two swayed with the former's face being obscured. Peridot herself looked around anxiously. He then looked over to Aero, who simply walked around the room. His tail was dragged across the floor as he walked around. Magma pulled on the collar of the outfit and moved it in a way like he was boiling in them. The fur on his neck was frizzy and puffy.
Chiro frowned; maybe he should get the games out.
As he was thinking, he saw Jinmay and Slingshot come in. He walked over to them with a smile.
"Hey, Chiro! Sorry we're a little late, we lost track of the time." Jinmay apologized.
"It's no problem! It just started so you didn't miss much." Chiro replied. "In fact, I was about to get the games started."
He looked at all the kids. He raised his hand up to his mouth.
"Hey, kids! It's time for games!" Chiro called.
All eleven of them either took their time going to him or they came quickly in excitement. When they were in front of him, he continued.
"Now the games won't strictly be Malaysian games, there'll be the ones we usually do as well so we'll still have musical chairs and some of the others too!"
"So what's first?" Soma asked.
"We'll have to be in a more open and empty room for this, unless you guys want to be outside which you'll have to stay clean. The first game is eagle catch chick!" Chiro started. "I thought that would be a good game since everyone can play it."
They looked at each other.
"What's 'eagle catch chick'?" Aero asked.
"It's basically a type of tag." Chiro began explaining. "It originated in China, but it ended up being part of Malaysia's culture. A player will be chosen to be the 'eagle' while another will be the 'mother hen'. Everyone else are the chicks. The aim of the game is for the eagle to catch one of the chicks and the mother hen has to protect them from the eagle."
Soma hummed in interest. "That's certainly an interesting twist to it."
Chiro smiled. "So you guys wanna play?"
"It wouldn't hurt to give it a thot."
"Only if I get to be the eagle at least once!" Magma said.
Chiro laughed as he nodded. He explained the rules to them and how to play the game.
Everybody got ready for the game. Magma was appointed eagle while Marino was appointed mother hen. Everyone else hid in a line behind Marino and held onto the shoulders of the person in front of them. They stood at opposite points of each other. Antauri set the time for Magma to catch one of the others.
Magma ended up getting three of them on the run and he chased them. Marino tried to tag him and reset his progress, but Magma kept evading him. He tagged one, officially catching them. That round ended and the caught chick became the eagle for the next round. It went on for a few rounds before they went to the next game.
They then did musical chairs—Magma got annoyed that Emerald shared her seat with Peridot during the game—congkak where Chiro had six wooden boat boards ready so all the kids could play it at the same time, and even hitting the piñata which was admittedly Otto's idea. Everyone had turns with the kids as well with some of the games. It seemed like everyone had a good time.
After the games, Chiro made sure the extra gifts were next to the rest. He turned around.
"It's time for presents-"
"Chiro, we hate to inform you of this but…" Slingshot pointed towards half the kids.
Magma, Jasper, Peridot, Emerald, and Aero all left the room together. The ends of Chiro's eyebrows dropped and his lips curled downwards. He thought they were having a good time, but it seemed like he was wrong.
"We can go get them for you." Jinmay added.
Chiro shook his head. "No, I will. I threw this for them, I gotta see what's wrong. You and everyone else keep an eye on the other kids."
They nodded as he left.
In the meantime, the kids were in a dimly lit room. Magma and Jasper took the clothes off as quickly as possible without ruining them. Peridot helped Emerald take hers off. Once it was, Emerald held onto her tightly. Peridot rubbed her back.
"It's okay, Emmie, just breathe." She soothed.
"So… much… to feel… too much…" Emerald muttered. "Too muted…"
"I can't believe you weren't itchy from that. It wath tho itchy…" Jasper said.
"Itchy? More like it's fucking stuffy and uncomfortable!" Magma responded.
Peridot looked at them, her soft but tied expression staying the same. "At least that's the most you guys felt. Emerald and I feel overwhelmed and she's having a sensory overload."
"Sorry you two feel like that. I just feel uncomfortable during the whole thing." Aero responded.
Magma slumped down against the wall. He sighed.
"I just dunno why Uncle Chiro did this. It's so dumb and these clothes are uncomfortable and…" He groaned.
"I can tell you why."
Everyone looked at the doorway. Chiro stood there at the doorway. He walked closer to them and sat down with his back against the wall. He kept his eyes on them.
"Believe it or not, I didn't have a great life before I met your parents." Chiro started. "My parents never gave me a lot of attention, they didn't love me as much as they should've. I don't know if you remember, but you met them once when you were younger."
"I only remember a knife againtht my throat and my life flathing before my eyeth." Jasper stared into space as she said that in a monotone manner.
Everyone stared at her for a moment.
"And it's mainly because of that they're never welcome here again." Chiro continued. "I… never got a kelahiran semula hidup. Your other parents couldn't give me one because I met them after I turned thirteen. I just wanted to give you something I never had. I'm sorry if I went overboard."
Everyone gave him a hug. Magma hesitantly joined in after a few seconds.
"Thorry if we weren't the betht today. It wath really itchy though."
"We didn't want to be rude, it seems really important to you." Peridot added.
"No, I'm sorry." Chiro responded. "I should've taken your comfort more into account. I didn't realize how uncomfortable you could've gotten. If you can't wear them, I won't force you."
"Yeah, I can't breathe in them." Magma responded.
"Whenever you're ready to come back, we can open presents and then have cake."
Emerald nodded. "I want a few more minutes first," she signed.
"Same here." Peridot added.
Chiro nodded and stayed there with them the whole time. When they got back, Magma, Jasper, and Emerald put the clothes they took off and folded into a clean and empty table.
Chiro gave them their presents to open, starting off with their money pouches. Each one contained five hundred credits each. Some were surprised to get that much money while the rest simply thanked him. They then opened the rest of their gifts which included, but not limited to, gardening supplies for Marino—Antauri and Gibson noticed how interested he'd been in gardening for a while now so they thought it would be a good gift for him—gems and pranking stuff for Jasper, art supplies for Soma, and history books for Astral. Everyone was happy and appreciative of their gifts.
Before they blew out the candles and cut the first piece of the cake, Chiro wanted to make a speech. He cleared his throat before having everyone's attention.
"Before anything else, there's something I want to say about our dear decuplets here." Chiro began. "At first I wasn't too sure what I should expect. I knew it wasn't going to be easy being a dad, that's for certain, and even now I hope I'm a good one to them. However, after all these years, I'm more than happy to say that I'm proud of the people they've become thus far. I'm proud to see my daughters go from girls to young women, my sons from boys to young men, and Hermodactyloides from a child to a young adult, all like butterflies coming out of their cocoons. There's nothing more I could ask for. I know that they'll only become better people when they're older.
Kids, I love you, and nothing will ever change that. No matter what."
Nova teared up while Jinmay and Otto had some tears go down their faces. Sprx looked like he wanted to cry but he tried to keep it under wraps. Chiro could only smile a little wider seeing how he tried to keep it back.
"Now you kids can have a piece of your cake. We can take pictures afterwards."
Marino nodded and initiated the first cut. He handed his siblings their cake pieces before taking his own. Everyone else took a piece as well. After Chiro grabbed his piece, he joined the others.
"Ya did good there, Kid. Real moving." Sprx complimented.
"So moving you wanted to cry yourself. Don't think I didn't catch that, Sprx." Chiro raised an eyebrow as he smirked.
He rolled his eyes. "Okay, yeah I wanted to, but I can't have them seein' their cool dad cry like that."
Nova playfully elbowed him. "As if that would be the first time, ya dumb monkey."
All eight of them lightly laughed. Chiro took a bite from his cake and smiled.
"We did a pretty good job. I'm glad we made four tiers of this."
"Yeah, same. You'd think it would be overkill, but everyone's gonna want seconds." Nova responded.
"I'd want thirds!" Diamond called out.
"Take it easy, Dia! Don't go overboard!" Otto replied.
"Can't promise that!"
Gibson shook his head. "She's going to make herself sick."
"I'm afraid I agree." Slingshot sighed.
"That's our girl for ya!" Sprx snickered. "...But yeah, I'm not doubtin' it."
When they all finished eating, everyone got ready for pictures. All the kids got into position besides Kaminari, who stood next to Antauri. Chiro stayed on the side, letting them get as comfortable as possible. Before he knew it, though, multiple tails grabbed his arm and the kids pulled him forward. He grunted in surprise, but he didn't resist. Chiro was now in the middle of everything.
He looked at them. "I can't be in the main picture."
"You should though." Diamond protested. "They told us everything and we believe this should be yours as well. You never had a kelahiran semula hidup, so even if it's twenty years late, you're getting one too."
"Absolutely! After what you've done for us, we can't let one of our dear dads feel left out." Dactyle added.
"We are aware it doesn't make much sense now, due to it being a 'sweet thirteen', but I agree with Diamond." Marino said.
Chiro felt tears forming in his eyes. He simply hugged all of them.
"You're the best kids someone like me could ask for." Chiro responded, his voice cracking slightly.
Everyone else couldn't help but smile. Antauri's smile was soft, loving, and joyful. Chiro smiled for the camera with the ten kids.
They took the first picture.
A/N: I don't know anything about Malaysian culture so if I got shit wrong, I apologize so much XD feel free to correct me, I'm not afraid to accept that hey I fucked up on shit, that's the last thing I wanna do.
I dunno, I was watching a quinceañera episode and it just got me curious if any Asian cultures had a similar thing to a sweet 15/16 (which was a no afaik), then I had an idea to do this. Plus worldbuilding on sweet ole planet Shuggazoom, because damn it we deserve more worldbuilding and knowing about other parts of this planet besides the main city damn it XD
I simply figured it being a main thing for a 13th birthday instead of later is because I thought it would hit harder about Chiro not having a celebration like that and doing what he could for the kids. I mean if y'all don't like me trying to do something like this then fite me /j
