The pillows on the sofa were nice and inviting as a certain black-haired, nicely dressed Irish vampire collapsed onto it. The scent of a new and inviting house invaded his mind as he grinned up at the ceiling. It was a new start, a clean start. He'd finally have something to do other than wallow in self-pity; he'd finally know what it was like to be human. The best part? He wouldn't be doing it alone. He'd made friends with a werewolf (who would have guessed?) and they both agreed on one thing: they wouldn't let what they were define them. They were going to start a new life for themselves, and this was how they planned to do it:

Move to Bristol in a small, close-knit place that was known as Totterdown. Once they were settled, they'd try to mingle with the humans. As much as the vampire wanted to start this new life right away, the werewolf seemed keen on staying secluded inside the two-story house.

"Mitchell, will you get your lazy ass off the couch and help me with this?" Mitchell let out a long sigh and stretched his already sore limbs. They'd been unpacking for hours now, and what Mitchell really wanted to do most was sleep.

"MITCHELL!"

"Alright, alright!" Mitchell snapped, reluctantly lifting himself off of the couch. He blinked as the curtains were ripped open. "Christ, George," Mitchell groaned, shielding his sensitive eyes from the offending light.

"Oh, sorry," George apologized, shutting the curtains quickly. "Go in the other room then, so I can wipe this windowsill off."

Mitchell glared at the werewolf, but George didn't seem affected by it. When he wanted something done, he was going to get it done. Mitchell let out a disgruntled noise and moved to the kitchen, where there were boxes piled almost to the ceiling. He looked up at it with a completely mortified expression; how could he and George do all of this alone?

As though in answer, the doorbell rang; both Mitchell and George stopped dead. George had his leg against the wall to hold himself steady as he tottered while trying to clean off the upper windowsill. The rag he was holding in his hand slipped out of his fingers and fell on his face. Mitchell had frozen in place from where he had gone to take one of the boxes down. For a moment, all the two of them could do was stare at each other. The doorbell rang again, and both Mitchell and George swooped back into action, almost crashing into each other as they tried to reach the door.

"I'll get it," George said, while at the same time Mitchell tried pushing him out of the way, "no, let me."

For a small moment they struggled at the door, each trying to get a hold on the doorknob, when Mitchell elbowed George in the gut. George let out a grunt of surprised and released his hold on the doorknob, allowing Mitchell to open the door. Standing in front of him were two humans; a male and a female. The male sported his brown hair in front of his face. He looked extremely bored, and Mitchell had an automatic disliking of him.

The girl had her curly hair in a clip, grinning like a buffoon at Mitchell. Her eyes lightened when she saw the vampire, which managed to make Mitchell feel uneasy. Many people believed that vampires could seduce a girl right on sight, but Mitchell called that bull. He'd be laying someone every night if that were true.

"Hello."

Mitchell turned his head and spotted a grumpy looking George, who had obviously recovered from the blow to his gut. George sported a glare at Mitchell before turning to smile at the newcomers. "Who might you… lovely…people be?"

"Well, I'm Annie," said the girl in a bubbly voice. "And this is my fiancé – Owen!" Owen didn't look thrilled to be introduced as thus, but put on a fake smile anyway. "Nice to meet you," he said, shaking both Mitchell and George's hands. He looked at them expectantly.

For a moment George and Mitchell stared back at him, then, with a jump, both realized what Owen was waiting for at the same time.

"Oh!" "Right!" "Yeah!" Owen gave them an odd look at their small outbursts but didn't comment.

"I'm George, this is my friend Mitchell," said George, pushing up his thin glasses. "Yeah," Mitchell agreed in a slightly laughing voice.

"Oh, it's SOO good to meet you!" Annie said, practically bouncing up and down. "We live just across the street there," she turned and pointed to the house directly across from them. "We just wanted to stop by and see if you needed help with anything!"

Owen didn't look pleased by this statement at all, and both Mitchell and George picked up instantly on the fact that the idea must have been Annie's.

"That's very kind of you," started George, "but we don't really –"

"I think it would be great if you could help," Mitchell cut in smoothly, shooting a look at George. For a moment there was silence, then Annie cleared her throat. "That's good! Now um… do you want us to… you know… come inside to help? Or…?"

"OH! Yeah, yeah, be our guest," Mitchell said, stepping out of the doorway so that the two could walk in. George gave them a very false smile which turned into a venomous glare at George as the couple walked into the kitchen to grab some boxes.

"What are you doing?" George hissed as soon as they were out of earshot. Mitchell gave him a disbelieving look. "What does it look like I'm doing? Making friends."

"We don't need friends!"

Mitchell opened his mouth to retaliate but at that moment Annie walked in. "Alright," she said, "I was thinking maybe we could start with the downstairs, and then work our way up. I can make a list if you want!" she said enthusiastically. From behind her, Owen appeared, carrying one of the boxes. He rolled his eyes at the two of them, which practically stated that this enthusiasm was most likely a daily occurrence.

"Er, sure… that's fine then…"

"Yay!" Annie bounced around on the balls of her feet, looking around the room. "Alright, I think we should start…. over theeeere," she pointed to the opposite side of the room, where the sofa (and nothing else) was. "Maybe we should put the TV opposite the sofa! Oh this is going to be so fun!" she exclaimed, pushing past the two of them as Owen went back into the kitchen to grab another box. George plastered another fake smile on his face as he turned to Mitchell, "This is going to be so much fun!" He imitated, clearly not at all excited by this statement.

Mitchell shook his head, "No, she never said 'much'," and then left George to think about what he'd said. He knew how much it would tick George off, and he was right. George huffed and walked into the kitchen, almost crashing into Owen. "Sorry," he muttered, but Owen shrugged it off. "It's alright."

George looked after Owen in confusion, as though wondering why Owen hadn't snapped, then turned to Mitchell. "He's a nice bloke."

Mitchell didn't share George's opinion. "If you say so, I don't buy it."