the bakery is open?

mammon's eyes were trained on the big plushie you were eyeing. the thing was a few hundred grim, and almost bigger than you were. every time he'd brought you shopping, you kept staring at that darn stuffie like you were in love with it, and mammon was having none of it. he wanted you to look at him like that!

"oi mc!" he called. "you tryin' to get lost? lucifer'll kill me if you run off somewhere you ain't supposed to."

once again, you were eyeing that damn toy. you smiled shyly as he stomped towards you. "sorry mams! i was checking out this stuffie. it's huge!"

mammon only grunted, gently pulling you away from the display case and not-so-subtly glaring at the thing. you raised an eyebrow. was he jealous of a stuffed animal? you smiled, that was such a mammon thing to do.

you cooed softly, allowing yourself to be dragged along to whatever store mammon wanted to go to next. hopefully it was to another cute store like this one.

back at the house of lamentation, you began writing your shopping list for the brothers. the new human realm perfume that asmo wanted, or the silky cow onesie belphie had been preening about. or some manga for levi, a gift card to beel's favorite restaurant, a romance novel for satan. and (almost) lastly, a new robe and set of fountain pens for lucifer. now...what to get mammon? money? no, not personal enough. defrost his credit card? no, lucifer would kill you.

maybe...yes! that would work perfectly!

so, with a new plan formulated, you went off to the nearest devildom mall to begin your christmas shopping.

meanwhile, mammon was at the toy store trying to wrangle that huge plushie onto the table to pay for it. he cursed it out while the clerk stared at him blankly.

after his...altercation with the stuffed animal, he then had to throw it into a huge bag and lug it home in his car. and then hide it from you. and his brothers.

you were coming home just as you heard a door slam upstairs. you quirked an eyebrow and ascended the stairs, aiming to place the bags in your room before confronting whoever was assaulting their door hinges. but when you saw lucifer, levi, and asmo standing outside mammon's door, you got more than a little worried.

"hey, what's going on?" you called, dropping your shopping bags on the ground. lucifer looked more pissed than usual, and levi and asmo didn't look too happy either. so what was up? "is mammon in trouble again?"

lucifer didn't respond, so you took to hammering your fist on mammon's door.

"mams! it's mc! are you okay? can i come in?" when the only answer was the sound of something falling on the floor and cracking, your worry grew even more.

"mammon!"

"hey, m-mc, stop bangin' on my door! i'm okay, just, uh, wanna be left alone right now!"

he wasn't convincing at all, especially when you could feel lucifer glaring holes into the back of your skull. but you knew mammon well enough that if he wanted to be by himself, you'd let him be. at least for a little bit.

the rest of your day was spent packing up the various gifts you'd gotten and wrapping them in festive paper with cute handmade bows. you wrote a sweet card, personalized for each brother, and slapped a few grimm inside for good measure. boom, presents were done.

except for mammon's. but that was more of an in-the-moment type thing.

you slipped into bed on christmas eve. the very next day, when you woke up you clambered down the stairs to silence. looks like lucifer let the brothers sleep in, you thought. with the presents in hand, you slipped them under the tree and crept quietly back up the stairs.

meanwhile mammon was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. he heard the creaking of the stairs and the slight noise of your door shutting. he yawned, putting on his clothes (which happened to be a ugly christmas sweater you bought him). the real challenge was going to be lugging that huge stuffie down the stairs without waking you up– or any of his brothers.

mammon managed to place it under the tree with little fanfare (but he sure almost jumped out of his socks when he heard belphie getting up to use the bathroom) and put the stuffed animal as far under the tree as it could go.

then he carefully crept back up the stairs, before he reached your door.

"mc!" he whisper yelled. "mc, wake up!"

you blinked your eyes open at the sound of mammon's voice, rubbing the sleep from them. was it morning already? “come in, mams,” you croaked.

“mc!” he cheered, hopping onto your bed and grabbing your shoulders. “that santa guy must’a came, cause there’s tons a presents down there!”

you couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, but you chuckled at how cute his excitement was anyway.

“uh-huh. that’s what santa does,” you yawned. “now, can i get some more sleep? normally you don’t even wake up until noon.”

suddenly mammon seemed to realize that he was tangled up in your blankets with you and unceremoniously fell onto the floor with a loud thump. “oh my god, mammon!”

with the loud thump (but more so your voice), all the brothers came rushing to your door to see what was wrong.

“mc, what was that— wait, mammon?!” asmo screeched, his face mask slipping out of his hand and onto the floor.

“ugh, m’ fine,” mammon groaned, rubbing his backside.

after explaining to asmo that mammon had definitely only come into your room a few minutes ago, you certainly weren’t getting any more sleep. so it was time for presents!

you descended the stairs with a gleam in your eye as you gasped at the sight of your stuffed animal. mammon had bought it? you squealed, throwing yourself on top of the white haired demon.

“thank you, mammon! thank you!” you kissed his cheek, holding him close. you nuzzled into his chest.

“h-hey, mc, uh,” he chuckled and cleared his throat, pointing upwards. “looks like you m-missed…”

you looked up to see a green ball of mistletoe hanging above you. blushing, you laughed. you’d be giving mammon his present already.

lucifer’s hands, which so gracefully lead the quill against the paper, come to rest on your shoulders. he’s introducing you to his brothers. you barely piece together what’s going on.

demon realm, exchange student, seven brothers.

there’s one with white hair, mammon, who’s fighting with the blue-haired one. levi? oh well, you’d learn eventually. “you’ll be staying here with us, mc. i’ll show you your room,” lucifer says, and you’re in awe of his voice. it’s so deep, so soothing.

his hands leave your shoulders and you’re suddenly aware that he was implying for you to follow him up the grand staircase. he takes you through the labyrinth that is the house of lamentation. eventually you reach a room; cozy and warm. it’s so homely and nice, and you immediately flop onto the bed, forgetting lucifer’s commanding presence.

he lets out a small chuckle, so tiny that he’s sure you don’t hear, but you do. and when you quirk you’re head up, face red and hair tussled, and lock eyes with him: there’s a flustered red covering his face. he clears his throat and covers his mouth with a gloved hand while the other gestures to what you think he said was your bathroom.

but you don’t really pay attention. you’re too busy thinking how you embarrassed yourself so badly in front of him.