N - New

Travelling away from home was an extremely new experience to Johnny.

Don't get him wrong - he and his family had gone on vacations every year to various places in various countries, and it had been fun. He'd been on school trips to different countries to see certain tourist attractions for weekends too, and it had been exciting. But each time he went on one of these vacations or trips before there had been an older person watching over him - his parents, elder brothers, teachers...and this time he was all alone.

It didn't hit him until he'd checked into his hotel room twenty four hours after he'd said goodbye to his parents and brothers. The red-head was used to racing down corridors with his brothers, laughing and giggling while their parents yelled warnings at them; not doing that now seemed strange and odd to him. He was used to his family talking loudly as they opened the door with the key card, not the silence that he was experienced this time now.

Johnny looked around the room as he shut the door, clutching the straps of his backpack tightly; he couldn't help but sigh slightly. It was weird, but he felt kinda alone without someone to talk to.

Well...I can't afford hotels forever...maybe I could stay at a youth hostel next time. The thought cheered him up a little for some reason, and he shrugged his bag off of his shoulders so that he could start disassembling it. He'd been planning to do a lot of camping and staying in hostels anyway - his money would run out pretty quick if he just used fancy hotels all the time, and he needed it for travel costs. The only reason he'd chosen to stay in a hotel that night was because he was way too tired to try and do anything after the long flight - and it'd be warmer too.

Johnny had gotten into bed that night, unable to sleep; half of it was, of course, because of the excitement he was feeling for the next day - he couldn't wait to get up early and start exploring all of the new surroundings - but then the rest of his inability to sleep was because of how nervous he was to be away from home. Like, what if he lost all of his money, or got robbed on the street, or just spent all of it and then ended up stranded with no way home? He tried not to think too much on that point, knowing there wasn't much point in worrying.

It took a while, but it really finally started to pay off; at first, having to travel without a parent or adult figure around was daunting, and he briefly wondered if he'd made the right decision by going so soon. Not to mention that on the first couple of days Johnny found himself getting extremely lost in the busy streets of various cities, not having any navigational skills to speak of, and he wasn't exactly sure where to find a map either.

But after a couple more plane flights and countless nights spent either under the stars or in youth hostels, Johnny finally started to feel more comfortable about travelling on his own. Sure, it kinda sucked that he didn't have any real friends with him, but he didn't exactly have that at home either...and yeah, he missed his family pretty bad too but he knew deep down that they were literally a phone call away if he needed them. Besides, some of the people he met at the youth hostels were completely awesome, and although they didn't exactly become friends or anything, they offered to take him around the forests and cities in case he got lost. He found that he gradually started to miss home less and less, until all of his thoughts were focused on where he was travelling or where he could go next. Johnny started to think about all the new people he'd get to meet too, and all of the adventures to be had out in the world.

Overall, though, he learnt that not all new things were particularly bad things - sure, they were often scary, as new things tend to be, but after initial shock they could end up being much better than expected.

They agreed to make the announcement on the third day after their arrival - this allowed the couple some time to bond (or, in Johnny's case, re-bond) with Johnny's family so that they'd see what Mavis was really like before they jumped to conclusions because of her...status as a monster.

Put simply, Mavis adored her boyfriend's family, in particular his mother. Having never had her own mother, the woman's kind and affectionate attitude towards the vampire made them immediately get along - hell, Jean didn't even seem to mind her slightly odd sleeping patterns too much, and made sure to have some kind of 'brunch' ready for when she woke up on those two days.

"What time do you go to sleep, sweetie?" Jean asked, chuckling slightly and shaking her head bemusedly.

"Late," Mavis yawned evasively; in truth, she stayed up until around four in the morning and woke at around noon. It was slightly odd, sleeping when it was dark outside still and being awake when the Sun was up, but she put up with it for her fiancée.

Because she obviously couldn't go out in the sunlight, Johnny had cleverly explained to his family that she couldn't be outside because of her "allergy to the Sun", comparing it to a film Mavis hadn't heard of. However, it had worked, although she was now resigned to sitting indoors feeling quite exhausted.

"Must be boring," Jake - the youngest brother - commented on the first day after their arrival and sitting next to her on the couch somewhat cautiously. "Not getting to go out, I mean. How did you guys even travel?"

"We just went at night," Mavis answered, somewhat nervously; she'd been rehearsing possible answers to questions since their trip had been booked, just in case. "I can still manage if the Sun's not out, I guess..."

"Going to Hawaii must have been difficult," Jake said, looking somewhat impressed by the fact they'd managed it with her 'condition'. "It's one of the sunniest places around, you know."

The vampire shrugged slightly. "Not really - I mean, it wasn't really that hard. We saw tons of great stuff at night - the fireworks, the parties, the music shows...all the good stuff happens overnight."

After an hour or so of talking to the youngest brother, the two seemed to be on quite good terms; Mavis found out that Jake wanted to create things called 'comic books' in the future, which was what he was studying at college currently. The vampire listened, absolutely fascinated as he described what this job would entail (it was basically a story told with pictures and things called 'speech bubbles'), and he even went on to describe some of his previous pieces of artwork.

"Can you show me?" Mavis asked eagerly - and she wasn't just asking to be nice either. She was genuinely interested in everything he was telling her.

Jake grinned slowly and nodded his head. "Sure. I'll just go get my sketchbook."

As it turned out, all of the brothers seemed to have a wide range of different talents: the eldest Matt was a lawyer who now resided in Chicago (Mavis quite liked the idea of someone helping to put bad people in prison) with his girlfriend; James was a journalist living in New York; Daniel only lived down the street, and he was trying to get some work as an actor. After Johnny there were his three younger brothers: the twins and Jake. Chris and Carl went to different colleges and studied different things; Chris had been given a football scholarship to a college in Kentucky, while Carl was studying media to be a movie director in Chicago. Because his college was in Chicago, he was currently staying with Matt and his girlfriend to save money. Jake, of course, was studying Art and Design at the local college, and so continued to live with his parents.

"And what about Johnny?" Mavis asked, intrigued while she looked over Jake's drawings in detail. They were good - in fact, they were fantastic. She briefly wondered if she could get him to do a few pictures to decorate the hotel with before turning back to the conversation, since she was sure her Dad would like a way to add modern touches to the hotel. "What did he study?"

Jake shrugged and sighed. "Nothing. He started traveling as soon as he graduated High School...although," He amended thoughtfully. "I bet if he ever decides to go to college, he'll study music or something - have you ever heard him sing or play?"

"Yeah...my birthday."

His face dawned in slight recognition. "Oh yeah! He told me that he wrote a song for a girl over the phone...I totally didn't realize it was you!"

"He's great," Mavis stated - and she wasn't just saying that because he was her zing. "He's not much of a dancer though."

Jake snorted. "No, definitely not," He agreed, nodding his head. "He could have totally been a great rock star or whatever - he would have loved getting to play and going all over the world at the same time..."

Mavis suddenly felt guilty; she knew that her fiancée's plans consisted of changing him, getting married and maybe some more traveling. College was not anywhere in their plans, and it was because of her. He wouldn't get the chance to study and create music, to rock out all over the world...

Jake seemed to have realized what had happened when she went silent. "But I don't think that's what he actually wanted," He continued quickly, and the vampire looked up at him. "Yeah...I remember him saying that it was cool and stuff - but he just wanted to travel. Not surprising really, considering how many of us there were in this house growing up."

Plans changed, she realized. Sure, maybe he had liked playing music and entertaining others, and he'd been good at it - but now he - they - had different things to look forward to in their future; new things that were much more exciting for both of them.

"We're getting married," She said quietly, not sure if he knew already.

Jake stared at her left hand, eyes wide and fixed on the ring. "Huh. Out of the seven of us, I never expected Johnny to be the first to get married...Hell, the way his love life was before he left none of us thought he'd ever do it. You must be special."

Mavis shrugged and smiled knowingly to herself. "Hmm...I think you could definitely say that."

"He really likes you - obviously," Jake continued, going red when he realized what he was saying. "Like...he looks happy around you...I know that sounds stupid and obvious, but it's the truth." The youngest brother sighed slightly but grinned at her. "You seem cool - I guess he has better taste than we thought." He paused for a moment, hesitating as if he were scared of saying the wrong thing. "I guess I should say...Welcome to the family."

Mavis couldn't help but pull him into a hug; she had a family back home, people whom she cared about and loved deeply, who loved her back. That was what a family was to her. The thought of having another new family who she loved so much already, and were starting to like her (even if they hadn't heard about the vampire thing yet) made the vampire feel fuzzy and warm inside, and she sincerely hoped that it would stay like this.

Don't throw eggs at me! :O I AM getting around to the "turning Johnny into a vampire" conversation but I'm planning it for another chapter where it's more relevant, so don't worry. Actually, that section between Mavis and Jake was written a couple of weeks ago during a trip to Ireland while we were waiting for the boat, and it was originally only meant to be a small conversation that happened before the big revelation took place - but then I kinda fell in love with the idea of a little bit of family bonding, so...