Summary: It wouldn't have been so important to win if she hadn't wanted it so much. But to Nudge, her entire life resided on asking Iggy that one question. So for twenty-four hours she said not one word. NudgexIggy
Author's Note: Yeah, I know it's not terribly original for Nudge to shut up for a day on a bet, but I wanted to try my hand in it. I wrote this ages ago, never quite getting up the courage to put it up here. But reading over I thought it wasn't as bad as I previously rated it, so here goes. I like Niggy enough to do this, so I hope you like Niggy enough to read it.
Disclaimer: I own not one word of this. Go ahead, take it. It's yours.
Max
It was a mildly funny sight to behold. It was only mildly funny because Nudge looked like she was about to cry. Cry, or break Iggy's neck. I wasn't sure which was which. Tears were rolling down her face, but she was looking at Iggy with the malice of a thousand murderers. Iggy didn't seem to notice the black aura that had surrounded Nudge; he was too busy laughing. He rolled about on the couch and cradled his stomach in his arms. Tears were rolling down his eyes too, but it was a whole different emotion.
I shot Fang a look asking him if he knew what was going on. A swift smirk told me he did. His looking away told me that he wasn't about to explain, so I had to step into the danger zone, previously our living room, and ask Nudge what was going on. I figured Iggy wasn't in any position to talk coherently, so I turned to Nudge and asked her what happened.
Her big brown eyes widened and sent me a pleading look. She lifted one arm to point to the laughing bird-kid on the couch opposite her. Then she pointed to her mouth and the theatrically large tears fell harder.
"Iggy...?" I tried to make sense of the situation. I turned and walked to the other couch. I couldn't wait for him to stop laughing -it probably would take a while- so I kicked him. Noticing that the pain in his gut wasn't for laughing too hard, but from an outside force, he stopped rolling around and tried to locate where it came from. A smile was still on his face though, and his cheeks were flaming red. It made me a bit mad as I looked to the other couch where Nudge was looking at me as though her world had fallen under her. "What did you do?" I asked.
This set him off again. At least this time, in between his snorts and giggles, he told me what was happening. "I... giggle... bet Nudge... chuckle... she couldn't... loud snort... stay quiet... laughing spasm... for twenty-four... chortle... hours!"
It was hard to make it out, but I got the general effect. Now I could see why Nudge was pain-stricken. I looked back to the middle member of the flock and noticed she was holding a notepad and waving it wildly in the air. "ONCE I BEAT THAT IDIOT IN THE BET, I GET TO ASK HIM ONE QUESTION." She looked at me meaningfully, and I finally got it. Yeah, silence must've been hell for Nudge, but I knew why this was so important to her.
Only two days ago we had been bored so we were asking each other random questions. It had started with her asking me the meaning of life. Just for kicks I said, "Cookies."
Nudge had looked at me, and knowing that I wasn't serious, she put on a deadpan face and asked, "Chocolate-chip or oatmeal raisin?"
"Chocolate chip," I said matching her serious tone.
"Ah, I see."
We had gone on like that asking each other questions. Then we got into a "What would you ask?" game.
"If you could ask Fang one thing and he had to answer it what would you ask him?" I'd blushed and countered her question with one of my own.
"If you could ask Iggy one thing and he had to answer it what would you ask him?" I'd expected her to blush and throw off the question. I had my suspicions that she and Iggy had gotten "closer" over the days, or at least she'd started to see him in a different way. But Nudge didn't blush, instead she looked me straight in the eye and said, "I'd ask him how he feels about me."
So I knew how important this was to Nudge. That's why I took Fang by the elbow and led them out of the living room.
"You're not going to stop it? He's torturing her!" Fang said in half amusement, half concern.
I shook my head and smiled to myself. I'd already gotten to ask Fang my question, Nudge deserved a chance to ask hers.
Nudge
6:52PM Okay, breathe. You will not crack. You will not crack. You will not shove a bass down his throat. You will be relaxed, because you must ask this question.
It wouldn't have been so important if not for the fact that this was one free question. I wasn't just out to prove that I could be quiet. I might never get this chance again, I had to take advantage of it. And I was. But it was getting verrry difficult to not take Iggy's neck and squeeze. Hard.
My usual mode of attack would be to yell his ears off, but I couldn't here, so I just settled for glaring at him. Which, of course, didn't freaking work! I tried to focus on my goal, which was to ask Iggy how he felt about me in a no-barriers situation. I tried to focus on the clock which told me that I only had a few more minutes left to go. In just eighteen more minutes, I thought, I'll know the truth. It was enough to calm my breathing, but barely. Instead I tried to ignore the kid in a laughing spasm on the couch in front of me, and think back to how I got myself in this situation.
Yes I talk alot, and around Iggy I talk more than around anyone else. I read that awkward silences are not good for relationships, so I try to fill every silence that I possibly could. As soon as the conversation starts to turn down-hill I pop in with any random thing that enters my head. I didn't know it was that aggrivating until Iggy slammed down his book and began shouting. It was the first time he ever dominated the conversation, and I knew it was important to listen to your partner when he was talking, but I couldn't help but notice how hot he looked when he was yelling. And that vein that appeared on his forehead should have been a clue that things were not good, but I couldn't stop looking into his blue eyes and swooning. Which is why I missed half of the lecture, until he said something that I could use.
"What was that?" I asked interrupting.
Iggy groaned and said, "You wouldn't last twenty-four hours with your mouth closed!"
"Wanna bet?" I asked, curious.
Iggy paused, his angry mood half burnt out by the constant yelling. Now he was just confused. "What?"
"Do you want to bet, that I can keep my mouth shut for twenty-four hours? And the winner..." my voice trailed off as I tried to think of a way I could use this bet to get what I wanted. Which was for Iggy to confess his undying love for me. "The winner gets to ask the loser any question, and the loser has to answer it." My heart started thudding. The prospect of me winning. What I knew my question would be. Iggy shrugged figuring that he had nothing to lose. He even started grinning as he stuck out his hand. "Deal," he said as we shook.
And I thought, "No problem, I can do this. I have to do this," But that was 23 hours and 52 minutes ago when I was sane. When you shut up and can no longer vent your emotions in the form of words, they build up inside of you and then blow up. The problem is that they have to blow up without me shouting and screaming and yelling. I had gone through horror, sorrow, hysterics and anger all in the course of 24 hours. And now? What was my emotion as I realized I was eight minutes away from knowing the most important peice of information of my life? I think it might have been classified as "homicidal".
Iggy had finally beaten his latest fit of hysterics. He was now sitting on the couch quite tamely, but still holding his stomach as though it would fall out without his hand there. "What time is it?" he asked.
I shook my head. I would not be swayed by his questions again. He'd almost gotten to me when one time he asked what I planned on being when we could come out of hiding. It was my favorite question and one that could send me rambling on for hours. I had even begun to open my mouth, and Iggy gave a knowing smile like he knew what was gearing up in my head. That smug smile was what stopped me, and made me clamp my lips shut firm.
"Hmm, it feels colder so it must be close to night-time. Didn't we start the bet around nighttime? I wonder if you'll make it..."
6:54PM. I smiled to myself. Only six more minutes. Six more minutes and I'd know. Iggy drummed his fingers on the couch and whistled softly. "I wonder what you'll ask me. You obviously have a question in mind or you wouldn't have started the bet in the first place,"
I had to bite my lip to keep from calling out. One glance at the clock calmed me down though. I sat on my hands. What was I going to do with my hands? Strangle him for putting me through this? Kiss him for being so... Iggy? Didn't know, but I sat on them just to be sure.
6:55PM. "It's got to be something that I've never told anyone, or you could talk Max's ears off to find it out. Ultimately it will be something that will ruin my pride, and force me into my room, doors locked, never to feel the light of day again." Iggy said all of this nonchalantly but I could hear a hint of nervousness. Heck, I was nervous to. It just dawned on me what would happen if Iggy said no. If I asked Iggy if he had romantic feelings for me, and he got a look of utter disgust on his face and said no. How would that make me look? So as Iggy's voice was showing hints of nervousness, I kept fidgeting as possible scenarios flashed in my mind.
6:57PM. "Crap. And I have to answer this don't I? I mean I could flake out, but that wouldn't be cool. Besides all the crap I put you through in the past day? It wouldn't be fair. But JEEZ all the things you could ask."
6:58PM. I wondered what was going through his mind right then. I wondered if any of the questions he was thinking of matched the question I was thinking of.
6:59PM. I stopped thinking of the bad scenarios, and I started thinking of the good scenarios. What would happen if Iggy said yes. I pictured rose petals. I pictured Iggy (somehow he had donned a tux) sweeping me into his arms and then giving me the biggest, softest, most heart-wrenching...
7:00PM. "YES!!" I gasped a breath of releif and immediately everything I was feeling came out. Every random thought that I couldn't let loose was let loose now. "Turtles! Stickers! Unnessecary bells are fun! God, British accents are awesome! Four score and seven years ago...! Nobody knows the trouble I feel! Nobody knows the sorrow! Hot potato! Free potato! What the crap? Potato?"
Iggy was laughing hysterically. I could see his thoughts now: So that's what happens when you shut Nudge up for a day. She spotaneously combusts. Did I have time to feel embarassed? No; and I wasn't. I had a mission. I had completed my end of the bargain, now it was time for Iggy to fess up. My mouth was just opened a crack when Max rushed in.
"Nudge!" she called out. She looked over at the clock and cursed. Then she flipped back her gaze to me. She looked worried. What was wrong? "You haven't talked yet, have you?" she asked, rushed.
"No, I mean, yes." I said.
Max cursed again.
"What's wrong?"
"Daylight -flipping- Savings Time. I forgot. Fang put forward the hours. So when it says seven o'clock, it really means..." Max waited for me to catch on. When I just stared at her blankly she said, "Six o'clock. You were only quiet for 23 hours, Nudge. I'm sorry."
Iggy had stopped laughing to hear this. When he heard the "23 hours" thing, he frowned and donned a look of pity. 'Ouch,' he mouthed.
"So you mean..." I looked from Max, to the clock, to Iggy and then back again. No. No no no no no no no no no. I had to get this question in. I kept it all of my thoughts for the past 24-excuse me 23- hours for... nothing. It was the same as me losing.
"Sorry," Max said. She soon exited, I guess not wanting to stick around to see the after effects of this sudden realization.
"Uh..." Iggy didn't know what to say. At first I thought this could be a trick pulled by Iggy, but I saw his face drenched in pity, and I knew that it wasn't it. It had just been an honest mistake. I could send hateful waves to Fang, but he probably hadn't been thinking of our bet at the time.
That sucked. I mean, I know it was just a bet, and it didn't mean anything but... I wanted to know.
"That sucks," Iggy said. I just nodded. Funny, I had just spent the last 23 hours not saying anything, and then I spilled out a bunch of random crap just to say something, but now I couldn't think of anything to say. Anything except my question. The question I wouldn't get to ask.
"Well... how about this? You can ask me a question anyway, and I'll answer it truthfully."
My head lifted from its sorrowful hanging position. I scanned Iggy's face to see if he was serious, but his face held no hint of a joke. Was actually going to let me...?
All of a sudden I got nervous. You know that feeling you get? It's as though your heart has lodged into your throat, and you can't say anything, and you want to last in that moment forever? That's what I was feeling.
"Well, I..." I looked down and twiddled with my thumbs. "I wanted to ask you..." my voice sounded weird. I cleared my throat in order to get rid of the heart-in-throat feeling, but it didn't work so I had to continue talking feeling breathless.
"I wanted to ask you if you had any romantic feelings for me," Silence. Know how I said I hated awkward silences? I rushed to fill this one. I hated the fact that none of my scenarios fit. He didn't look at me in disgust and he didn't sweep into my arms or carry me out into the sunset either. He just stood there. I wondered if he was having a heart-in-throat moment too, and that's why he looked paralyzed. But no, that only happened when you felt a certain way about someone, and there was no way he felt that way about me. "Cause, well, I mean, Max told me this one time that she caught you looking at me, and I got all embarrassed, and when she asked if there was anything going on between us, I said no, but I didn't really know if there was or not on account of the fact that I couldn't really read your mind. And it just-- and I just-- and I wanted to find out, but I didn't want to openly ask you cause who knew if you'd tell the truth or not?"
Iggy stepped forward. It wouldn't have been so mind-boggling if Iggy hadn't been in total paralysis a second before. But now he stepped forward. Toward me.
"Uh... did you know that over the past 500 years, Iceland's volcanoes have erupted a third of the total global lava output? I learned that on the Discovery Channel." What are you doing Nudge? I asked myself. Uh... spouting a bunch of random animal facts in order to ignore the advancing winged sixteen year old? came my answer. "And, you know, also that Norway is home to six species of shrew, including the Common Shrew, and Eurasian Water Shrew? Um, ditto the Discovery Channel thing. Why are you walking toward me? I mean, uh, um..." I was cut off. Iggy was coming closer. He was now inches away from me. And --I couldn't help thinking-- his lips were inches away from mine. Maybe he was thinking of that fact too, because slowly he closed the difference between them, and our lips met.
So, um, was this my answer?
Author's Note: I'd only do something this cutesy for Nudge and Iggy. And yes, this is cutesy for me. Review please. If you like Nudge centric stuff then you can check out my other story: Taking Off: a Nudge Story. If you like more Niggy then check out my other login SomeKindofAuthor and my other story on this login, Operation: NudgexIggy.