Boredom, Jerks, Poetry and Tears

The clock was ticking. Then tocking. Though, I think I saw some documentary on the human brain and it said your brain makes things up, like the difference between a tick and a tock, when in reality its the same noise. But anyhow, the noise(s) was(were) making my eye twitch. I might just go insane...

I heard Fang sigh for the... fiftieth time, I think, and finally gave in, glancing at him.

"Bored?" I muttered. He raised his dark eyes to me from where he was staring blankly at his laptop screen. He was scowling.

"No." I raised an eyebrow.

That had been my main problem, since we'd defeated Itex: boredom. It haunted me like the Voice I still had in my head. I cursed it every day. Hope you heard that voice.

Yes, Max, I did... Can you feel someone/something/a-voice-in-your-head sigh? I can. Guess youre bored too.

Im not bored persey, Im fed up with Fang. I blinked in surprise; Ive gotten over the shouting out loud thing when the Voice says something insanely shocking. Youre sick of Fang?

Yes. I can read his mind too, you know. Just ask him what he's doing on the laptop... Well, here we go again with cryptic messages and riddles... Hurray. Not the sarcasm Im currently choking on.

I guess Ill take the Voices advice anyway. (Die boredom, die!) (Weird, I just got a mental image of me strangling a cat.) "Whatcha doin'?" I quiried of Fang, who blinked quickly and rubbed his eyes.

"Nothing. I think Im gonna go for a fly... Ive been staring at this screen too long." He said a little too innocently. Whoa, weird image. Fang+Bambi eyes=Total annihilation of my mind. I cracked a smirk at him as he stood and stretched.

"Ive told you once, and Ill tell you again." I drawled, "Your eyes will be ruined by twenty." He rolled said human-anatomy-parts and started walking towards the sliding glass door that led outside. We had a great house, the view was awesome; and we could also take off immediatly, since we were in the mountains. We didnt have to fear anyone seeing us for what we were...

My goodness, Maximum, are you getting sentimental? Maybe Ill go frolick through the flowers and ride over the moon on that flying pig--oh. I snorted, and Fang looked at me questioningly. And this is where the irony kills you, Jeb. Seriously though, could you have picked a worse expression? The Voice huffed and left.

"Come with?" Fang cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Full sentence?" I mocked, but got up anyway. (A/N bet you thought she was gonna sneak on the laptop!)

We wordlessly headed to the edge of the cliff that was right next to our house. Stretching out our wings, contrastingly brown and white to black, we hurtled off the side of the cliff, into a steep dive. Wed done this a lot; we had way more time to enjoy flying, instead of flying for our lives. I wonder why...

I also wondered why Fang was hiding something from me on the laptop recently. For the past few days hed been shadowy and cryptic, kind of like the voice. This was the first actual day that he came out of his bedroom to see the light of day. (Hes blocked the windows in there with fabric. Apparently his eyesight is more developed than the rest of the Flocks--hes sensitive to light, bright things, and the color white. But he can make his way around a pitch black room with ease.) Thank goodness it was overcast today.

We landed in a cave we'd found a while back. On the walls the Flock had carved pictures of us, to "leave our mark in this insane, cruel world" as Iggy had (dramatically) put it.

I mean, the pictures were really sweet. Some of them were the whole Flock, some of them just the siblings, or Angel and Celeste. But there was one Id found, that Im pretty sure was Nudge or Angels doing, that was quite iffy to me.

It was a girl and a boy, holding hands and looking at the moon. The boy was smiling softly at the girl while she looked tense and confused. I could almost see it in my minds eye: The girl was confused by that, this, their relationship, and the boy was just happy she hadnt yanked her hand away, yet, like she inevitably would. The girl gets up, steamed by his lack of response to her outrageous, unanswerable questions, and storms off. The boy is left, staring dejectedly after her, about to chase after her, but immensely broken and suffering from the wounds she inflicted...

I was shocked out of my reverie by fingers snapping directly in front of my face. I clutched the hand and smacked Fang with it. (I made him smack himself. Cool.)

"Max Max Max, if you wanted to hold my hand that badly, you couldve just asked..." I gasped and my face went red. From embarrassment or anger Ill never know. What I do know is that I wont take this sexism any more.

Yanking my hand out of his grip, I couldnt help but notice how his face contorted for a second and his hand followed my leaving one like a magnet, before it dropped sullenly back to his side. "One, Fang, you sexist pig! I cant believe you! Thats Iggys thing!" I fumed. I kicked him, very close to where it would hurt a lot more. But I wasnt done there, ooh no. "And two, I dont want to hold your hand, and I dont want to have anything to do with you in that way! Youre a disgusting, terrible, rude and idiotic jerk, and I would date anyone in the world besides you! Even Iggy!" I was puffing slightly from this, and I looked down suddenly, all of my anger leaving me as suddenly as it had come.

I glanced at him, slightly terrifed at what he would do. Would he punch me? Would he kill me? Would I have to kill me, for that matter?

But after waiting a full minute he still hadnt done anything. I decided to break the silence. "Fang-Look, I mean-I wasnt-I didnt..." I trailed off confusedly. Why was I stuttering!? It wasnt as if he would be hurt by those words, right!? He was just messing with me... yeah, thats right, it was all a joke to him, and any second he'd look up and laugh, brightening my world monumentally.

It was real though, and when he finally looked up, his eyes held no emotion. But they looked glassy... "Lets go back." He muttered, turning on his heel and spreading his wings again.

"Fang! I-I wasnt thinking! Dont..." But he was already gone. He'd left so fast that feathers were floating down from his takeoff site. Unbelievably, my eyes teared up. I shut them violently, and breathed deeply through my nose. I opened them again, but the tears were still there and they spilled over. I raised my hand gently and traced the carvings on the wall. All of them. Until I finally got to the one of the boy and the girl...

This wasnt happening right... wasnt the girl supposed to leave the boy to suffer? Wasnt the girl supposed to be strong and ignore the temptation, and the poison, of their relationship?

Wasnt the boy supposed to try to chase her again anyway?

But the boy was sick of waiting, of hoping, and being crushed again and again.

Was that what I was doing? Was I hurting him? Maybe he wasnt just a brick wall like we all thought he was. Had I made him... cry?

All of these angry, hurt, and selfish thoughts just fueled my futile sobbing, bringing it to a new level. I was crying for him, because of him, and because Id hurt him.

Im a terrible person. I should rot in heck... Id never been one for self harm, but it was looking pretty good right now.

Max! NO! My goddess, you can fix this. Dont you know what Fang wants? Its what you want too... its what the Flock wants. So stop ignoring it "for the sake of the Flock", because youre killing Fang every time you reject him.

Reject him of what!? Its not as if hes ever clued me in to what hes doing, you know. Hes not completely inoccent! Stupid, blubbering and useless Max was leaving the bulding. Tough as nails Max was here again, and just as stubborn as ever.

Max Max Max... the Voice saying what Fang had said minutes before made me sniffle loudly, and it quickly continued, you know... just look at his laptop. If youre really clueless as to what I mean...

Okay, Ill admit I wasnt totally clueless. I knew. Love. The L word. But ignoring this was a lot less painful/confusing/sappy.

After a minute I got up and dusted myself off. Skimming my hands on the walls one last time before I left, I spread my wings and flew towards home. The sun was starting to come out; I hoped Fang was back in his room, so his eyes wouldnt hurt. I hoped he wasnt crying. I hoped he would forgive me...

When I got back I was disappointed; Fang wasnt here. But his laptop was still on the couch, open and running. Twice in one day Voice, you should feel honored. I muttered in my mind as I quickly sat on the couch and took the computer off of hibernation. There was a word document open, titled "."

Geez, even on the computer Fang was a wizard of words, I guess.

I clicked on it from the tabs bar and when it came up I gasped. About every five lines my name was mentioned. The others were mentioned too, but... not as much...

It was a bunch of poetry. A lot of it was confessions of love, or saying things like he never wanted to leave me, he was sorry that he ever had. But the thing was, his words were beautiful. Now, if you know me at all, in any way, even from the books, youll realize that this moment was completely out of character for me.

Goddess forbid I start being lovey-dovey or anything, but his words, that had apparently flowed freely onto the computers harddrive when he was angry, sad, or just lovesick, almost made me melt into a human-Avian hybrid puddle of goop, right then and there.

I clamly put the laptop down and then haphazardly shot out the door, speeding off to the tree house Fang went to when he was sulking, or in this case, being depressed because the girl he loves is just like Karma and Payback. (A/N Did anyone get that?)

When I got there the door was shut. I jiggled the handle, roughly, and banged on the door. I never was very subtle...

"If this is Iggy, go to hell. If this is Angel, sorry. If this is Nudge or Gazzy, arent you supposed to be doing your homework?!" I heard him get up and look through the peephole. Even through the tiny cut out in the wood I saw his eye widen. "And if this is Max, leave." He finished shortly.

I shut my eyes. Now, when I wanted to be... like that, with him, he just had to be on a warpath against me.

I put my forhead against the rough wood. "Fang... please, let me in." I felt and heard him kick the door. I pressed my forhead harder against it and slid down to my knees. "Im begging you. Im on my knees right now, dude. Thats as good as itll ever get. Now you have five seconds before I kill you." I tapped the door once more. I actually kind of felt the death glare he was giving me, and it sort of said, "No chance in hell."

"Dang it Fang! Youre acting like a--" His sharp voice snarked at me from behind the door. He tried to finish my sentence "disgusting, terrible, rude, and idiotic jerk? Ive heard that one before."

"Child." I said quietly. I sank to the floor completely this time, all the fight taken out of me. "Its okay though. Its only fair that I have to wait. You waited, at least a little while, for me."

Fang also slumped against the door, from what I could hear. I continued murmuring quietly to myself. And to him. The truth, the ugly, the bad, has too come out sometime. "I read your poetry. It was really... beautiful. You know, I thought flying off was my thing. Guess I see why you were so hurt when I did that. This isnt how its supposed to happen. Boy meets girl, in a terrible place maybe, but still, boy likes girl--right?--girls oblivious, until boy almost dies and she kisses boy. Boy falls in love. Girl is also in love, and is kind and happy and gives the boy her heart, because she trusts him that much. But this girl had to go and frick everything up because she had no heart to give, because boy stole it already and she was left behind, confused and hurt by this new developement.

"I can apologize for flying off Fang. If I hadnt I wouldnt have ever saved the world. I am sorry for what I said in the cave, especially in so sacred a place, but your comment was uncalled for. I got caught up in my anger... you know I do that. Your my right wing. Heck, you have my heart, and you live in my brain for many minutes of the day." I cracked a smile. But it faltered immediatly. Fang was silent. It wasnt unusual, but I was kind of hoping for more of a reaction after practically confessing undying love for him. I heard the door start to creak open too late, caught up in my thoughts, and I tumbled over onto the floor. I groaned when my head hit the hard oak.

"Oh. Sorry..." Fang helped me up. He scratched the back of his neck, looking anywhere but me.

"Uh..." I faltered, starting to blush. Crap. He had to have been talking about another Max. I just made a fool of myself. Somehow I keep doing that.

"Well... Ill.. go, now." I backtracked quickly, but Fang said something softly.

"What?" I whispered.

"Im sorry, too, Max... but not for stealing your heart. I am so glad I did that." And with that he walked forward and smashed his mouth to mine. We kissed for an eternity and it was amazing and--ah, who am I kidding. We knocked our teeth and noses together, and hed been so enthusiastic about it that my nose was actually bleeding.

"Max!" His face grew red, and he clutched his nose also. "Oh, god, I fricked that up, didnt I?" He muttered. He grabbed some ice out of the minifridge we had in here. I grabbed some tissues and put them to my nose. Then I looked at his face.

His nose was turning purple and he was rubbing his mouth. His eyebrows had come together and he looked faintly regretful of rushing into that so quickly. But his eyes were almost sparkling. And his lips turned up into a small, heartbreakingly cute and loving smile. But then a drop of blood tumbled down his chin, and something white fell out of his mouth.

I took one look at that tooth, and then I busted out laughing at the hilarity and cosmic idiocy of the situation. Fang joined in with me, clutching his sides--and his mouth--and grinning like a maniac. We got closer and wrapped an arm around eachothers shoulders. A few minutes later, after my nose hurt too much to laugh anymore and the tears of joy had dried, we were on the floor against the wall, and I was playing with Fangs fingers. The moment was gentle, and "ZOMG SOOO CUTE!" as Nudge would put it. Especially the part where Fang took my restless hand in his and put it to his lips. I was grinning like a Cheshire Cat still.

"So. Does this mean Fang, the Brick Wall, is in love?" I questioned.

It put butterflies in my stomach to think, let alone say, those words.

"So, does this means Maximum Ride, Tough As Nails, is in love?" He mimicked me.

"Yes. And I already know he is." and then I kissed him on the mouth, and luckily this time no injuries were sustained.

(A/N Max was ooc at the end I think. Btw, this is as if none of the fax happened in MAX. Fang was ooc too now that I think about it.

Hey, can someone clear up for me that ooc DOES in fact mean out of character? Id appreciate it ;)

Hope you enjoyed this little oneshot. I know I loved writing the fluffyness.

Seeya.)