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Lunar x Eclipse: Winter Vacation:

After what seemed like another sleepless night, Lunar woke to the incessant chirruping of his cell phone.

“Yes?” He mumbled sleepily into it after he’d picked it up. He shook his head, working his fingers through the tangles of his silver hair.

The reply was a sultry purr. “I’m outside right now. You haven’t forgotten about our trip to Lapland, have you?”

“Eclipse!” The surprise, caught in his throat, barely registered itself as he spat out the caller’s name.

“What?” Lunar could hear the swagger in the other man’s voice. Most likely, a mischievous smile was playing at the corners of the other man’s lips right now, wherever he was. “Did you oversleep? Remember, the plane’s leaving at 5:00 AM. It’s 4:45 AM right now.”

“…I’ll hurry then,” Lunar muttered, trying to contain his irritability at Eclipse’s accurate guess.

~~~~
Gällivaire Airport, Sweden
2:00 PM

“We’ve finally arrived, Lunar,” boomed Eclipse’s cheerful voice. Lunar, who had been sleeping since they boarded the plane, shock his head in alarm. “Blerrghh.”

I must look terrible right now, Lunar thought as he spotted a fleeting image of himself reflected on one of the glass panes in the terminal. Disheveled silver hair framed a pallid, lethargic face.

I need caffeine.

Feeling himself weak in the knees, Lunar accidentally fell against Eclipse.

Eclipse chuckled amicably. "My, my Lunar, getting a little excited , are we?"

Lunar felt the blood rush to his face. That Eclipse was SUCH as tease! As well as a fool...

"What are you implying? By the way, why did you pick Lapland out of all places for a winter getaway? There's nothing to do, literally. I'm already freezing cold and we haven't stepped outside yet."

Eclipse just smiled, that smile which made Lunar's skin prick with annoyance. Filled to the brim with self-assurance and smugness, yet charismatic, just like Eclipse himself.

"You'll see, vampire hunter..,"

~~~~~~~~~

After a good night's sleep at the hostel (Lunar had to agree Eclipse had a feeling for atmosphere), Lunar felt rejuvenated. Every cell of his slender body felt energized, ready to tackle this...boring day to come.

In disappointment, he threw the cushion onto the floor. He was beginning to feel cold already.

Eclipse, still sound asleep in the bed next to him, snored peacefully. In sleep, Eclipse looked almost innocent, with his sooty eyelashes resting against the tepid pallour of his skin.

Lunar shrugged, feeling confused. This is like a waking dream, he thought to himself as he shuffled towards the kitchen, his stomach rumbling.

Tossing a packet of instant noodles into a pot of boiling water, Lunar used another saucepan to scramble an egg. He let the heat cook the egg and tossed the noodles into a bowl and then carefully carried his steaming food to the bedroom, where Eclipse sat on the bedside, now clearly awake.

"Eh? Lunar, what's that?"

"Well, I'm cold. "

"Eh? We could've just cuddled," Eclipse replied with a grin.

" Not funny."

"Now's not the time to be pissy. It's Christmas!"

With a shock, Lunar realized that it was, indeed, Christmas. "Oh my God! It is, isn't it. Doesn't concern me that much since I'm not religious."

"Such a mood spoiler, as always, Lunar. We're here to have fun, not debate over...irrelevant things."

"Who're you to say what's irrelevant or not?" Lunar sighed, punctuating his words with a roll of his eyes. "Why don't we just leave this pointless conversation behind and go outside and see what we can do to pass this boring day?"

"You're in a bad mood."

"Well, clearly."

~~~~~~~~~~

Hanno, the Sami herdsman, noticed that day that the reindeer Abo was behaving strangely.

"What's wrong, Abo? Something you ate?" the short, sturdy man asked kindly.

Abo continued to paw the ground nervously, his head twitching strangely towards two tourists standing a couple of feet away.

Strange.

As the tourists approached, Hanno noticed that one was wearing a perpetual frown on his face, while the other seemed to be enjoying himself greatly. The latter was tall, pale-skinned, with straight, long hair so dark that it seemed to be dyed. His companion, short and slender in comparison, had light blonde or silver hair, with a bored expression on his face. Probably American, Hanno thought. That face was possesed by a sense of insularity that only Americans could show, he thought to himself with a smile.

And it was at the dark-haired German/Swede that Abo was snarling at.

Ironic that he was snarling at the friendly one, was it not?

"Guten Hag," Hanno began as the dark-haired stranger approached him, eager to practice his German.

"He doesn't speak it, I'm afraid. English?" the stranger smiled.

"Good morning, gentlemen. And Merry Christmas," Hanno tried again. "What do you want to ask of old Hanno?"

"We want to try your reindeer sled," the dark man stated, with a nervous glance at his apathetic friend, who was staring blankly at the ground.

"Ho ho ho! That's the spirit! As they say, Lapland is the best place to experience Christmas!" Hanno laughed, and slapped both men on the shoulders. The fair haired one just glared at him in return.

"Cheer up!" Hanno grinned at him.

Lunar glared at Hanno. He was a stout, middle-aged man with dark brown hair and crisp grey eyes, he observed, with crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. He knows how to laugh, he thought. Unlike me. I'm burdened with the death of----

Then he noticed Abo snarling at Eclipse.

Perhaps he can sense vampires. Perhaps that Hanno is...

What an absurd thought.

"Never mind Abo," Hanno said, noticing Lunar. "He's harmless. He's just a bit...riled up today."

"Fine. Let's go on the sled then," Lunar said flatly.

Eclipse turned to look at his companion, confusion in his eyes.

What is wrong with him? Recently, he's just been...so much more anti-social.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sled ride went smoothly at first. Eclipse thought it was exhilirating; with the wind caressing his hair, and the surrounding landscape blurred due to velocity, it had almost seemed like flying.

Freedom...from work!

But then he'd noticed Abo--the troublesome reindeer. He ran along with the rest of the reindeer, but turned back continuously to snarl at him.

"What a rude creature," Eclipse snapped.

"Yes, I've noticed that," Lunar replied. "I have my own suspicions about that one."

"Do you now? Whatever. You're always paranoid."

Lunar grumbled at him. "You know, you irritate me."

"And you know what? YOU are the one being horrible these days. I took upon myself the responsibility to let you chill here, to have a good holiday, but no, Mr. Lunar goes out of his way to spoil all that Eclipse--"

"No, stop it. I don't think--"

"What is it? Spit it out! What has been pissing you off these days? Was it...Raoul?"

"No, it was not Raoul."

Eclipse sighed, exasperated. "This is going nowhere."

Now Lunar smiled. Was it a trick of the light, or were Lunar's eyes sparkling mischievously? "Oh, Eclipse, this IS going somewhere."

And with that, the slight form with the silver hair embraced the larger, darker form.

Abo, panicking, spun out of control and broke his own rein. He was no longer a part of the running reindeer.

He continued to snarl at Lunar and Eclipse.

But in that moment, neither the vampire nor his companion was aware of that. They were absorbed in a world of their own making as their lips met and their consciousness fused.

Neither one understood the other, but it was this utter confusion that would one day lead to mutual understanding.

For love involves giving and taking, and giving is the spirit of Christmas.

Hanno, from afar, watched the two with interest. "Merry Christmas!" he whispered.

~~~~~~

Hope you liked it, and yes, I did leave some questions unanswered. Hopefully, one day they will be answered.

Merry Christmas, everyone