Ok. This is my first Maximum Ride fanfic and it was written for my friend Touch_of_an_angel4 because she was down. It is a one shot and (in a way, I guess) sort of an unconnected carry-on of my other Naruto "How to" fanfic "How to wake a sleeping ninja" (Which you most definitely do not need to read to understand this; as I've already said, they are unconnected apart from their titles)

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any othe the characters (wah!)

"Speech"

Thought

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It was a beautiful, sunny, summer morning. The sun was high in the sky already and Fang was relishing in the peace and quiet that had befallen the home he shared with his 5 "siblings"; Max, Iggy, Nudge, The Gasman (or Gazzy for short) and Angel.

Now, usually at this time in the morning the rest of the flock were up and about doing... whatever they did at 11:32am. But not today. Ooooh, no! The night before, they had decided to watch a film. A loooooooooooong film and by the time 12:45 came around no one wanted to go to bed because it was just getting to the exciting part.

No one, that is, except Fang who had somehow seen the film before and had made the wise decision to go bed when they that started the film... at 10pm...

Anyway, returning to the present... Fang was enjoying the silence and was just about to open a book he had been meaning to finish when he heard soft patter of footsteps in the kitchen.

Closing his book, Fang rose from his comfy seat and walked to the kitchen and leaned against the door frame.

"'Morning, Angel." He said softly, seeing the tiny head of blonde curls moving slowly around the table.

"'Morning, Fang." Angel replied as she rounded the table and stood before him, clutching a teddy in one hand and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with the other. "Are the others not awake yet?" She asked, sleepily.

Fang shook his head. "Nope. You're the first." He said, giving her a rare smile; one he only showed to her.

Just then, a soft rumble came from Angel's stomach and she looked up at Fang with a sheepish grin.

Fang's smile widened slightly and he pushed himself away from the door frame and towards the fridge.

"Let's get you some breakfast." He said, rummaging through the fridges contents.

"Hm." He said as he emerged. "Looks like it's cereal, kid."

Angel smiled brightly. "That's ok. I like cereal." She said, walking to the cupboard where the bowls were kept.

Pulling out her 'My Little Pony' cereal bowl, Angel seated herself at the table while Fang brought the milk and cereal.

A few minutes later, the two heard footsteps on the stair and then in the hallway and very soon Gazzy entered the kitchen, took a seat opposite Angel and promptly did a face-plant into the table-top.

Fang raised an eyebrow from his spot next to Angel who swallowed a spoonful of cereal before poking her brother with her spoon. Gazzy gave a very faint groan but otherwise did not move.

"He's fine." Angel said matter-of-factly before going back to her breakfast.

Fang rolled his eyes and placed a bowl before Gasman's head. He then poured cereal into it followed by milk.

The sound was enough to get Gazzy's face out of the table cloth as he slowly lifted his blonde head and stared through droopy eyes at the bowl of food.

"Hmmm..." He groaned, reaching out a hand and pulling the bowl towards him. "Food..."

Fang placed a spoon in the bowl as Gasman sat up... sort of... and began to eat, still in a sleepy stupor.

Fang rolled his eyes again but was thankful for the silence that had fallen, save for the slight clanging of spoon in bowl.

Ten minutes later, Fang once again heard footsteps coming from the hall. This time it was Iggy. The blind boy stumbled the kitchen and grumbled out something that sounded like "Food?"

"'Morning, Iggy." Fang said to let the boy know who was there.

"Oh, 'morning, Fang." Iggy grumbled, walking towards the stove where he proceeded to turn on the gas, light it and place a pan on top for eggs.

Fang watched the younger boy with bored interest but was interrupted by the appearance of Nudge in the door way.

"Good morning." Angel greeted, having finished her second bowl of cereal. Gazzy was still on his first.

Nudge yawned, gave a slight wave in there general direction and stumbled over to Iggy who was frying enough eggs to feed all five of the rooms occupants.

"Hmmorning, Iggy." Nudge grumbled watching the boy but not really registering what he was doing.

"Hey, Nudge." Iggy replied. "You hungry?"

Nudge nodded and then, as if remembering that he couldn't see, said "Yes please."

Iggy nodded and pulled put another plate while Nudge took a seat in between Angel and Gazzy.

Minutes passed and the eggs were served... and devoured in seconds. More minutes passed and Angel and Gazzy left to get ready for the day, leaving Nudge, Iggy and Fang to wonder what had happened to their sixth and final member, Max.

"Maybe one of us should go check on her." Iggy suggested from the sink where he stood doing the washing up.

"Yeah." Nudge chirped in from her place next to him. She was drying up and as she passed one item to Fang to put away, so another would appear on the draining board.

Silence fell once more in the kitchen.

More minutes passed...

Fang sighed, before placing the bowl he was holding on the counter top and exiting the kitchen to go see what had befallen Max.

As his footsteps faded up the stairs, Nudge and Iggy broke into identical grins. Neither of them wanted to be the one to wake Max up but they knew that if anyone could handle Max's non-morning-ness, it was Fang.

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Fang neared the door at the end of the hall. He knew what he was letting himself in for but it was better than having to deal with a Max who was wide awake and capable of fighting and chasing him around the house.

Slowly, he took the last few steps until he was standing right outside the door. He swallowed before raising a hand and knocking three times on the hard wood.

No reply. Figures. He thought with a hint of amusement and grasped the handle.

Turning it slowly, Fang pushed on the door. It opened easily which meant that Max hadn't locked it last night.

Stepping into the room, he quickly pushed the door to, know that if the smallest bit of light were to hit the bed, then Max would know he was there.

Carefully stepping over random item of clothing that were strewn all over the floor, Fang made his way toward the large mass of blankets and pillows that made up Max's bed.

Standing at the head of the bed, Fang could see a few golden strands of hair sticking out from under one of the blankets. He smiled. (A rare occurrence for him but there was no one to see it anyway so he really didn't care.)

Moments passed and still Max didn't stir which was unusual do to how hard Fang was staring.

He sighed, see that this was getting him nowhere. Reaching out a hand, a gently grasped the edge of the blanket and, taking a deep breath, he ripped the cloth from the sleeping body.

Having prepared for the onslaught of insults and inaudible screaming that was usually the case, Fang was shocked (another rare occurrence) to see that Max was still asleep... under another blanket.

Fang glared. You were prepared; I see... he thought bitterly.

Right, this time... Taking hold of the second blanket, Fang braced himself and pulled...

Ouch! A hand shot out from underneath the blanket and grabbed Fang's wrist tightly.

Fang looked down and was met with a pair of fiery blue eyes.

"Don't. Even. Think about it." A sharp voice growled.

Fang smirked "Well, you're awake now so I might as well... Get you up!" He finished pulling his wrist free and with it, the blanket.

Fang knew what was coming and, without another moment's hesitation, about turned and bolted.

"FANG!" Max's murderous scream rang out from the bedroom moments before she did; ripping open her own door and running after him.

"FANG, YOU LITTLE (this part was drowned by something convenient)! GET BACK HERE!!!"

Fang ran as fast as he could, down the stairs, across the hall, through the kitchen (where both Nudge and Iggy were currently trying to stay upright through their laughter) and towards the front door.

Pulling at the handle, Fang cursed himself for locking it before he went to bed the night before. Turning, he saw Max tearing down the stairs, heading straight towards him.

"Crud." He muttered, quickly unlocking the door.

Thankfully, by the time Max had reached the door, fang had already made it out the door and into their 'front garden'.

"Fang." She said venomously. "You can run as far as you want but just so you know, I will be waiting for you when you return."

"Sure." Fang called, spreading his wings. "Whatever you say, Max." And with that, he took off, not planning to return until much, much later that day... or until he got hungry, whichever came first.

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What do you think? please tell if you like it and if you don't please still tell me why and how you think I can improve. Thanx!

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