The next evening, Arrow blinked himself awake and rolled out from underneath his shelter to fetch himself one of the bottles of blood Paris carried. Arrow was permitted to feed on his own now, but he didn't think Paris would have approved if he had tried to take Mika along with him or left him in the camp alone, so he didn't risk it.

The previous evening had not been the start to their relationship that he had been expecting, but Arrow patiently reminded himself that this was the start of a new night, and that his new friend would have had some time to sleep off his bad mood and come to terms with his new life since yesterday.

He took a quick look around to find out where Mika had been sleeping – and then located him in the exact same spot he had been in when Arrow had fallen asleep.

"Have you been there all day?" he yelped, shocked.

Mika's shoulders moved as he sighed, and then he turned around with the same sneer on his face as Arrow remembered from the evening before.

"What of it?" he snarled. "I wasn't going to burn, like you would."

Arrow coughed uncomfortably. "Sorry," he said, feeling significantly awkward. He scuffed the cap of one shoe against the ground, avoiding having to look at Mika's sharp eyes. "But you should get some sleep. You have a period of adjustment when you're first blooded and it really helps to get a lot of rest."

Mika scoffed. Now that Arrow had worked up the courage to look at him again, he could see that he was squinting, even though it was dark, and that his eyes were bloodshot. It might have been the lack of sleep, but suddenly Arrow remembered his first few days as a half-vampire and reached over to fetch one of Paris' bags. He rooted through it for a moment while Mika turned his back again.

"This might help, too," he continued, approaching the younger vampire carefully as though he was a dangerous wild animal. He had already proven to be rather unpredictable. He came to a halt a reasonable distance away and held his arm out, with a vial of blood in the centre of his hand. He felt a little bit like he was trying to feed meat to a tiger. "I had bad headaches, until I drank."

There was a long moment of silence, and Arrow realized that Mika might be hesitant to try blood for the first time. He had never personally had any trouble with the concept – Paris had introduced him to vampirism slowly, and he had watched his master drink several times before he had ever done so himself, so by the time it was expected he barely thought anything of the final stage in his transformation.

"Sorry," he spluttered, withdrawing his hand and kicking himself for being so stupid. "I didn't think –"

"No," Mika interjected quickly. This was probably as close as they had come yet to a conversation. "No, you're right. I have got a headache."

He held out his hand and Arrow stepped forwards again to hand him the bottle.

"You can wait for Paris, if you want," he suggested. "He probably won't be more than another night."

Mika chuckled darkly. Arrow was halfway between being pleased to see him reacting positively to conversation and being wholly unnerved.

"What's the point of waiting?" he asked, and unscrewed the top. Arrow almost told him that he could start on animal blood instead if he was squeamish, but then he remembered the way he had tried to assure him that he was safe in the dark last night and almost had his head bitten straight off in the process, so he decided to keep his mouth shut this time. In spite of his nonchalant words, Arrow noticed the momentary pause Mika couldn't help taking when he brought the bottle up to his lips, the way he had to close his eyes before he took the first sip.

He managed to swallow once, and then gagged violently and had to spit out the rest. Arrow hurried forwards, forgetting his trepidation, and handed him a flask of water instead, taking the bottle away and placing it into his back pocket.

"Sorry!" he cried, mortified. It really did seem like he was destined to mess up with his new friend, no matter how hard he tried. "That was my fault. I should have told you it takes a bit of getting used to."

Mika chuckled again, and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before taking a grateful sip of water. Arrow noticed that as he sat down, feeling sorry for his mistake, Mika was regarding him slowly as though he wasn't quite sure what to make of him. He didn't look as furious as usual.

"Can I ask you something, Arrow?"

Arrow wasn't sure how to respond to that, and he wasn't sure whether he was being set up for a nasty trick, so after a moment he just nodded dumbly.

"Do you ever say anything that isn't sorry?" he asked. Arrow wasn't quick with words or very good with people, and he had to take another couple of seconds to think of an answer to that one. While he considered, Mika carried on laughing, and then shook his head.

"Don't worry about it," he said, eventually, and Arrow could have sworn he was almost smiling. He didn't particularly mind if Mika was laughing at his expense – he was just relieved that he wasn't being as horrible as yesterday. "You were only trying to help, right?"

Arrow couldn't stop himself from grinning. He had known that they were going to get on in the end! He smiled gratefully, thinking of what to say next. He didn't want to try again to bring up the reason that Mika had been staring off into the woods all day, because that had done him no favours the last time he tried, and he wanted to steer clear of all topics that might cause any offence.

"You want some food?" he asked, rubbing his hands nervously on his thighs. "I caught some food yesterday and I didn't finish it all."

Mika smiled, looking as if he was caught somewhere between finding Arrow's behaviour strangely amusing or being genuinely thankful. Arrow didn't bother waiting for a response, and instead shot up from his seat to hack off a piece of the deer he had killed yesterday. Mika turned to watch him and noticeably balked when he was handed a piece of leg, completely raw and with skin and fur still attached.

"Thanks," he said, frowning vaguely and taking the piece of meat carefully between his fingers as though he didn't really want to touch it. He rested it on the log beside him. "I think I'll come back to it."

Arrow shrugged, and came back to join him.

"I'm sorry if I was annoying you yesterday," he said sincerely. "I know sometimes I don't say the right things."

Mika was smirking again, now clearly finding Arrow amusing.

"That's fine," he said slowly, as though he was speaking to an idiot. "Not too many questions though, alright?"

"Alright," Arrow agreed, beaming. Mika was staring off into the woods again, and after a moment the older assistant was unable to contain himself.

"Are you from that town nearby?"

Mika let out a small sigh through his teeth.

"Yes," he said at length. "But, remember, with the questions –"

"Did you only meet Paris a couple of days ago? We haven't been here very long."

"Enough," Mika hissed, losing his newfound patience as quickly as he'd gained it. "I told you I don't want to answer too many questions."

Arrow clamped his mouth shut and smiled apologetically.

"Do you want to ask me anything, instead?" he tried, after a couple of minutes of silence. Mika rolled his eyes, but then suddenly paused, as though he realized that there were things that he wanted answers to. He shifted to turn towards Arrow. He opened his mouth once, and then promptly closed it again. Arrow waited patiently, with bated breath.

"Go on," he encouraged. "I like questions."

Mika gave him that look again, as if he was trying to figure out whether he was as much of an imbecile as he seemed, and then finally decided to ask what was on his mind.

"Has Paris mentioned me to you previously?"

Arrow thought back, but he was pretty sure that he would have remembered if Paris had hinted to him previously that he would be taking on another assistant. He shook his head and Mika frowned in a bemused way.

"So why are you being so…" Mika paused for a moment, struggling to find the right word, then clicked his fingers when he was sure he had remembered the right one. "So insufferably friendly?"

Arrow knew that wasn't a compliment, but he was too grateful that they were managing to have a successful conversation to really mind. He shrugged, at first thinking that he would just brush off the question, but then decided that it wouldn't hurt to be honest.

"I haven't spoken to anyone except Paris for a few years," he admitted, deciding not to disclose that he had spoken to very few people even in the years before he was blooded – Mika had rejected his attempt to discuss his past the first time, and Arrow wasn't angry with him for it, but he still wasn't going to try it again. "I like the idea of having someone around to talk to. I think being a vampire can be lonely, after a while. It's difficult to talk to humans."

Mika seemed to consider that for quite a long time, with a serious look on his face. Arrow wondered whether he had said the wrong thing, but he had been honest and he wouldn't take something back if it was the truth.

After a few minutes of silence, Arrow spoke again.

"Some vampires have just one assistant, and some can have several at once," he explained. "When I was first blooded, me and Paris linked up with one of his friends who had three assistants, all around the same age."

Mika's head turned suddenly, as if he was genuinely interested in what Arrow had to say next.

"I like Paris," he explained. "But I was jealous of them. I never had any friends when I was a human, even though I would have liked to make one. They spent every day together – it was like they were brothers."

Mika had frozen on the spot, his black eyes trained on his hands. Arrow thought it might be a good idea to pause and ask what was wrong, but he didn't want Mika to get angry with him again, so he just continued.

"When Paris told me about you, I thought we could be like that in a few years," he concluded, smiling. "I never had a brother, but I'd like one."

Mika's posture changed completely on the word brother, and he suddenly leapt to his feet before Arrow had finished speaking. The older vampire furrowed his brow and stood as well, eyes trained towards the forest, wondering if Mika had caught sight of something dangerous out there, but when he looked he couldn't see anything in the darkness. When he looked back at Mika, his sharp jaw was clenched and his eyes were full of fire.

"No," he snarled, and Arrow took a stunned step backwards. He wasn't sure what he had said that was so terribly wrong, but he had a horrible feeling that he had made a big mistake.

"I –" Arrow felt suddenly tongue-tied and very, very confused.

"I don't want to be your friend, or your brother," Mika growled, putting his hand out in front of him as though to hold Arrow at a distance. Arrow felt the sharp pang of rejection in his chest and though he tried to get a fix on Mika's eyes he couldn't seem to force them to meet his. "Just stay away from me, alright?"

"I'm sorry," Arrow said, and even he was getting tired of hearing himself apologize. He didn't know what he had done wrong but he was truly sorry for whatever it was. This just reinforced what he already knew about himself – there was something wrong with him, there was a reason he'd never known his parents or been able to make any friends, no matter how hard he had tried.

Mika looked like he was gritting his teeth. "You stay away from me and I'll stay out of your way too," he instructed coldly. He turned his head to look towards the woods again.

"I'll be back," he said abruptly, and then turned on his heel and disappeared into the trees.

Arrow thought it might be best to start off after him, with Paris' warning fresh in his mind, but then he paused. His patience had run out.