"Are you seeing someone else?" Max screamed at Fang, hurt by seeing him talking intimately with another woman.

"No, of course not!" he desperately tried to explain.

Max and Fang had been going out for 4 years now, and things were going great, until now.

"Then explain why you're never home anymore, why you're looking through all of my personal things, and why you're going around talking about personal things with other women!"

Max herself thought she'd been acting like a jealous girlfriend, which was true, but didn't want to admit it to herself, or even less Fang, for that matter.

Other than this recent incident with Fang talking to another woman, she had also caught Fang looking through her phone- her contacts list specifically- and she felt as if he were never home anymore.

The two resided in an apartment (one apartment, not two separate ones) in upstate New York, and the two had even gotten themselves jobs and all. They went to the same college -so they could be together.

In the past three months or so, Fang hadn't come home earlier than about 11 at night, and it scared Max. He'd make up some excuse about having work, but she knew it wasn't that, and it was seriously freaking her out.

Max and Fang had already talked about this recurring issue many, many times, but this time, Max was convinced that Fang was cheating on her.

"You know what, Fang? I don't want to hear it," she yelled at him, clearly agitated and frustrated. She grabbed her purse, cell phone, keys, and left the apartment, leaving Fang guilty for not tell her what he was actually planning.

Max headed to the bar about 10 minutes away from the apartments, where Iggy and Gazzy worked. She needed a drink, badly.

It'd been forever since she'd seen the two of them. It'd been forever since she'd seen Ari, her own sibling, and Ella and Nudge, some of her closest friends. To Max, forever meant at least 3 months. She still kept in touch with them through phone, but never actually found time to meet up with them.

She pulled up in the parking lot, got out, and headed into the bar.

"WOOO! There she is, everybody! The great Maximum Martinez!" Iggy screamed as soon as she entered.

"Shut up, Igs," she mumbled, and found a seat to sit down in: right in front of Iggy while he was making the drinks. She really needed someone to talk to.

"What's wrong, Maxie?" he asked her after noticing how sad, tired, and angry she was.

She thought about it for a second, considering whether or not she should tell him. She decided to tell him anyways, whether he cared or not, and said, "I honestly don't know anymore, Igs."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked bluntly.

She sighed deeply and said, "I think I'm going to break up with Fang."

The two hadn't clearly broken up already, they just had a disagreement; at least, that's how it was through Max's eyes.

"And why's that?" he asked slowly, this time looking her straight in the eye, setting down the drink he was making.

"I don't know," she grumbled. "He's never home anymore, he's looking through my personal stuff, and I always catch him talking to other women really closely and quietly and everything," she groaned. She propped up her elbows on the counter and buried her head in her hands, rubbing her temples furiously.

"I don't think that breaking up with him is going to help," Iggy said unsurely. "You need him and he needs you. Just like Ella and I," he grinned.

Recently, Ella and Iggy had hooked up, and they were doing better than everyone (their friend circle, at least) thought they would. They've been going strong for about half a year.

"Max," he said, catching her attention, "have you tried talking to him? I mean, rather than just yelling at him?"

She thought about. She thought about it for so long that Iggy was able to serve at least 5 drinks. "W-Well, of course," she tried.

"So you haven't?" Iggy asked.

She shook her head sullenly. "I tried to, but he'd give me some excuse that I really don't believe because it's probably not true, and then we'd end up yelling at each other. Or, I'd mostly end up yelling at him."

Iggy nodded, slowly processing all of this information. "Have you thought that maybe he just needs a break? Like a guys' night out or something?"

"He's come home no earlier than 11 at night for three months, Igs," she pointed out.

"Hm," he pondered.

Iggy and Max sat (or in Iggy's case, stood) in silence for a while until Iggy was called for duty.

"You know what, Max? There's a reason for everything he does, okay? Gimme a couple of days to think about it, alright?" Iggy told Max.

"Sounds good, Igs," Max said, standing up.

"Wait!" Iggy said frantically. "Don't leave! Have a drink! All you did was sit here and talk to me! That defeats the purpose of even coming here!"

"Sorry Igs," she said reluctantly. "I gotta go." She checked her watch and thanked Iggy multiple times, and then took her leave.

Gazzy came up to Iggy and asked, "Do you think she'll ever find out on her own?"

"I dunno, man. I dunno."

"Max, please come back. I love you. Call me back when you get this message."

Fang had left at least 15 messages much like this one on Max's cell phone, hoping for her to come back.

Max eventually did come home to the apartment, but it was very, very late. Fang figured she'd paid Nudge, Ella, Angel, Iggy, Gazzy and even Ari a visit during these late hours of the day.

Fang was lounging on the couch when Max came home. She shot him a glare, set down her purse somewhere in the living room, and headed for the bedroom. When she came back out, she grabbed some food, and sat down on the other couch (not the one that Fang was sitting on).

"Max, I'm sorry," Fang finally said, breaking the ice.

She looked at him with saddened eyes and said, "I don't think I can accept that."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not enough," she said firmly. With this being said, she dumped her bowl in the sink, muttering something along the lines that she wasn't hungry anymore, and went back into the bedroom.

Fang groaned, but not too loudly, so Max wouldn't hear him.

He called up Iggy.

"Hello?" Iggy said in a funny voice.

"Hey man," Fang grumbled.

There was a slight pause, and then Iggy said, "How's she doing?" Fang didn't need to be told twice who "she" was.

"Still not accepting my apologies," he muttered to Iggy. "She's clueless, man."

"I think it's time for you to use that old 'tissue box of love' again. You remember that?" Iggy suggested.

Fang pondered on that, and finally said, "That's a good idea. Thanks, Igs."

"No problem, man. You do whatcha gotta do, man."

"Alright, thanks. See you later."

The next morning, Fang went into his closet and pulled out his dusty old tissue box. He really didn't want to get a new one and decorate that, so he'd just pulled out the one he'd used 4 years ago. He dusted it off and replaced the tissues.

Max, all the while, was getting ready to head to work.

When she saw Fang in the closet, she asked, "What are you doing in there?" rather harshly.

Fang pretended to still rummage through the closet, so she wouldn't have to see him bring out the 'old memories.'

"Nothing," was Fang's meek reply.

She quirked an eyebrow, but didn't question anything any farther. "Well, I'm going to work. Bye."

"Bye," Fang mumbled, still pretending to rummage through the closet.

After Max left, Fang plotted and planned. Max worked at a pretty prestigious place (so does Fang, but that's irrelevant) so if Fang were to go through with his "final plan" that he thought of to win Max back, she would be pissed for the sake of her job, but her boss is a softy, so she wouldn't get fired or anything for what he was going to do.

This is going to be great, Fang thought to himself giddily, adding his finishing touches to his "plan."

About an hour later, Fang arrived at Max's office.

"Hey Fang," a girl swooned.

"Hey Fang," another one said, catching his attention. "Call me," she mouthed, making hand signals and winking.

"Nah," he told all the girls that were sighing dreamily. "I already got someone."

Max looked up from her cubicle to see Fang looking down at her, smiling widely, and all the girls in the office glaring at her.

"What do you want now?" Max groaned. "I already told you -sorry won't cut it."

"I know," he said to her, still grinning.

"So what is it that you want?"

"Take a tissue," he urged suddenly. "I brought them over because I know you have allergies," he said, making it up as he talked.

Max started to say that she didn't really have allergies and that he should know this by now, but Fang shot her a look as if to say "Go along with it."

So she ended up taking a tissue, gasping slightly at the memories the tissue box held. "You kept it?" she whispered to him, and he nodded.

She grabbed a tissue and unfolded it.

It read: Max, I am so, so sorry.

"Fang," she said, sighing heavily, "we already went over this. I'm not going to accept it this time."

"Take another one," he whispered.

She muttered something incoherent and grabbed another one.

It said: I love you so much.

"Really?" Max asked. She smiled a little, and then whispered, "Then why won't you tell me why you're acting so…weird?"

He silently pushed the tissue box closer to her, urging her to take another. She sighed, and read it.

I would like to explain why I've done the things you've pointed out:

That was all written on only one tissue, so it indicated for her to grab the next couple.

I'm never home anymore because I'm looking for the perfect one.

"Perfect one?" she asked him. He didn't answer and she went ahead and grabbed the next one.

I looked through your personal things because I wanted to ask your parents for their blessing.

By now, Max was getting where Fang was going at.

I was talking with other women because I'm asking them for help on how to find the perfect ring.

"Ring?" Max whispered, tears brimming in her eyes.

She used the last tissue to wipe up her eyes, and grabbed the next one.

I would like to spend the rest of my life with you, Max.

She let a couple of tears drop, knowing she had misunderstood Fang.

The last one read: Maximum Ride, will you marry me?

Max looked at Fang with watery eyes, and by now, he was on one knee, holding an opened box with a beautiful ring inside of it.

"Oh my god," she said, crying now. "I'm so sorry!" she burst out. She used up all of the tissues that Fang had written on. Fang knew her too well, meaning it was a good thing he had brought tissues.

Fang stood up, confused. Did she not want to marry me? he thought dejectedly to himself.

Fang silently closed the box, grabbed his tissue box, and started to walk away, but Max called out, "Wait! Fang! Where are you going?"

"I thought you didn't wanna marry me," he mumbled, taking a step closer to her.

"Why in the world would you think that?" she sobbed.

"'Cause you said sorry…" he trailed off." I thought you said sorry because there was another guy or you didn't wanna marry me or something…"

Max cried even harder, for he misunderstanding her and for earlier, when she misunderstood him. Fang started to turn away, and she said, "I'm so sorry for misunderstanding you!"

Fang stopped in his tracks. "Of course I'll marry you! I love you!" Max cried a little more, using a couple of more tissues.

Everybody in the office "Awww-ed," except for, you know, the crazy girls that were still madly in love with Fang even though they know they can't have him.

Fang enveloped Max in a hug and said, "It's alright. You didn't know."

"I feel awful," she sobbed. "How could you want to marry me even after I did all of that to you?"

Fang let go of her and grabbed a tissue.

He wrote: Because I love you.

Then on the same tissue, Max wrote: That's great, because I love you too.

Yo! 'Sup?

Well I decided to make it into a two-shot, so yay! I just really wanted to show the progression of their relationship...yeah.

So that's it for this story. Check out my others if you haven't already please!

Please review! Thanks so much!

Peace,

~UnicornsBubblesAWESOMENESS.