"NooOOOooé!" Vanitas called from atop their roof.

Noé glared at the ceiling. He'd been writing a letter to his teacher. Vanitas's interruption caused his hand to slip. Teacher would be disappointed if there was a stain on the letter, Noé could barely reach his standards for good handwriting as it stood. He would have to start again from scratch. Noé would usually go up to see Vanitas but he was annoyed so he just called back.

"What!?"

Vanitas swung down to glare through the window, though Noé didn't see as he was still hunched over the desk. "Oi! Why are you giving me attitude?"

Noé replied without looking up, "I'm busy. And you should learn to be more polite. If you want to speak to someone don't yell from a distance!"

"What are you doing that's ever so important?" Vanitas crossed the room and leaned over Noé's shoulder.

"It's just another letter to Teacher. I have to update him every once in a while you know."

"That doesn't look like an update and... Ooh!" Vanitas plucked an already sealed letter off the desk. "You've been writing to Dominique as well!"

"Hey!"

Vanitas ignored Noé, instead breaking the seal and beginning to read Dominique's letter. "... I see. I hadn't realised it was this time of year again," Vanitas tossed the letter back onto the desk.

"Reading other people's mail is rude," Noé glared.

"The Lady De Sade doesn't have to know and besides, I'm not sure that rule applies when it hasn't even been mailed yet. I'll leave you be seeing as I've lost interest. If you plan to celebrate I would advise you do it well away from me."

"Vanitas, do you dislike Christmas?"

"I despise it. It's a terrible celebration and a miserable time of year."

"Why-"

"Drop it." Vanitas left through the window again without telling Noé why he came in the first place.

Noé finished his letters. He found Amelia, gave her the letter he wrote for her, and asked her to mail the rest for him. Well, most of them. Noé still had one that he kept to himself. He wrote one for this person. Every year. Without fail. It was usually the longest by far because he always had so much to say. And at the end of Christmas day he would burn it. It was of course addressed to Louis. Noé was glad he had yet to write it when Vanitas was snooping around. He wasn't ready to talk to him about Louis. Yet. One day he would.

For the time being Noé tucked Louis's letter into his coat's inner pocket. He wanted to speak to Vanitas now that his irritation had faded and he had finished his obligatory Christmas letters. So, Noé headed to the roof and found Vanitas sulking. He had his arms tucked into his sleeves and wrapped around his legs. Noé sat beside him.

"It's a bit cold to spend so much time out here." Noé commented.

"Shut up."

"What are you in a mood about this time?"

"I'm not in a mood. I always sit up here."

"Not for this long. Not in the day. Are you avoiding me?"

"What if I am?"

"If you are then that's pretty unfair. You were the one annoying me this morning."

"I was leaving you alone to be nice. Look, I'll admit I was being a pest, a delightful and whimsical pest but a pest all the same. And I hate Christmas. Bringing your mood down seemed unnecessary. How long until the fateful day? I know we're well into Winter but I haven't kept track of the date."

"It's two days."

"That is a lot sooner than I anticipated... Isn't it a bit late to be sending letters?"

"Vampires have better postal service than humans."

"You do? How unfair!" Vanitas chuckled.

"Is there a reason you hate Christmas?"

"Is there a reason you like it?"

"Difficult as ever, aren't you?"

Vanitas sighed. "I get the appeal. I just can't bring myself to enjoy it now since I spent so many years without the choice of celebrating it. I missed all of my childhood Christmases that I remember. I don't have any of the nostalgia that makes it fun for adults."

Noé stood up and offered his hand to Vanitas, "come on!"

"Hah?"

"You don't know that you don't like Christmas if you've never tried celebrating it! I'm going to show you how fun it is!"

"If you want to do something for me for Christmas then get me money." Vanitas responded dryly.

Noé snatched Vanitas's hand and pulled him to his feet, ignoring the human's whining, "You're coming whether you like it or not."

"How is it that I pissed you off this morning and you still want to spend time with me?"

Noé shrugged, "It's more fun to enjoy the holidays with other people and right now you're my only option."

"Rude!"

Noé and Vanitas climbed down the side of their building, neglecting to go back inside because it was faster. When they reached the ground Noé took the lead, Vanitas trailing behind like a petulant child. Eventually, they reached a bustling Christmas market. Vanitas grumbled and moved closer to Noé in order to avoid the rest of the crowd without losing him. It was clear Noé could run off at any moment.

"I've never been to a market like this! Vanitas, isn't it great?"

Vanitas looked up at Noé and saw his shining eyes. He hesitated. "Sure. Yeah, it's okay."

Noé pulled him over to a vendor selling mulled wine and bought them both a glass of it. Vanitas sniffed at it suspiciously while Noé took a generous sip of his own. After seeing that Noé was not in fact poisoned Vanitas started drinking his own and made an involuntary sigh of happiness.

"You're enjoying it!" Noé grinned.

"Shut up. The alcohol is just helping me forget about Christmas, that's all. Are you old enough to drink anyway?"

"I'm older than you!"

"So you say but I'm not sure I believe you. I think you may just be a very tall 5 year old."

Noé snorted, "thanks."

The two of them ended up staying out for much longer than planned. They continued to wander around for a while and bought themselves lunch and snacks throughout the day as they saw fit. When the sun was beginning to set they were planning to start heading home but Noé heard that they were going to turn on a huge display of astermite lights at about 10 o'clock. So Vanitas agreed to stay with him and wait. They found a spot on a rooftop, overlooking the market and still-off lights display.

"Hey Vanitas," Noé looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"Did you have fun today?"

Vanitas seemed to think about it before shrugging, "I suppose so. Have you pay for all my food and drink today was nice."

"Of course you'd say that. But how do you feel about Christmas specifically."

"Look, Noé today was never going to fix all of my problems with Christmas. I had fun and I can appreciate some aspects of the celebration but it will never mean as much to me as it does to other people. I'm surprised vampires still celebrate it given how closely it's tied to the church."

"I forgot that you have had poor experiences with the church. I suppose that's another black mark on the holiday season for you. Anyway, I think you'd be surprised by how many vampires are religious. They just have a different doctrine to humans."

"Interesting. Oh, I think they're going to turn the lights on."

Noé snapped his head away from Vanitas and out to look over Paris again and not a few moments later countless astermite lights blazed into existence. Some were surrounded by coloured glass, making the lights different colours from the usual bluish white. Noé stood up on the roof to see better and let out a small squeal of excitement you wouldn't think someone of his stature could make.

Slowly, Vanitas stood to join him. He smiled a tiny bit, seeing Noé's reaction. Vanitas saw the lights were pretty but he didn't particularly care about them. Noé on the other hand... he might be able to bring himself to care about that just a little bit. Vanitas reached a hand out and placed it on Noé's shoulder.

"I think I can tolerate Christmas as long as it involves spending the day with you, Noé."

---------------------------------------------------------

I had a lot of different ideas for what I could write for the holidays and this is what I ended up with. I feel like I just meshed five different fic ideas together and just rolled with it. I hope it was halfway decent. I wanted to get something out before Christmas and also before chapter 42. So here you go! Enjoy.