I can't believe I'm posting another story... but I feel like this one has a lot of clout. I know I keep doing these takes on Fang that are seriously OOC, but he doesn't talk that much in the books anyway (or rather, he's not supposed to), so this isn't that big of a stretch.

Basically, I'm tired of reading high school stories where Fang's always the hot player who gets with every girl, ever. That's not his personality at all. I mean, I certainly did not get that vibe from him in the books. His heart belongs to Max, and Max alone... but he has some serious personal issues that he left the Flock to work out. This story focuses on those personal issues, and what might have happened in an AU where Fang didn't have the bird-kid-added-hotness going for him.

He woke up promptly at 6:15, when his alarm went off. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, and the morning light filtering through his bedroom window was not hitting him in the eyes, for once.

Unfortunately for Fang, another morning meant another day at Ridgefield High School.

Another day of wandering through the halls, avoiding peoples' gazes. Another day of sitting in the tiny stairwell behind the cafeteria, quickly eating his food so he wouldn't have to interact with any people. Another day of sitting in the back of every class, squinting at the board and trying not to get picked on to answer complicated trigonometry questions.

Basically, another day of hell.

He could hear his sister Ella in the bathroom as he got out of bed. There wasn't a single day that went by that Fang did not wish he was more like his sister. They might have been twins, but they were polar opposites. Ella was friends with everyone in the senior class, while Fang was only friends with Iggy and the spider that lived under his desk in Chemistry. Ella was a champion soccer player, while Fang spent his after-school time working in the library, where it was quiet enough that he didn't have to talk to anyone. Ella wanted to go to Boston University to attend law school, because she loved to talk. Fang wanted to attend Harvey Mudd, a small college with about 400 kids, because he absolutely did not want to talk at all.

He reached into his closet and pulled out the same outfit he wore every day- dark jeans with a dark shirt on top. The perfect outfit to blend in and be unnoticed.

He waited with bated breath behind the closed door of his room, for his sister to finish her usual beauty routine and exit the bathroom. Usually, it would take her about fifteen minutes, but today she was taking longer, for some reason. Fang waited until he could hear the click of the door unlocking and then ran to the bathroom, silent as a cat.

Unfortunately, Ella had left her mascara in the bathroom, and she stuck her foot in the door to keep Fang from hastily closing it. "Fang! Wait!"

Fang winced as Ella entered the bathroom, smiling at her brother. Her dark brown hair had been styled up today, and she began putting on another coating of whatever makeup she wore.

"Sorry. I'll only take a minute. I want to look extra-gorgeous today." She stopped pouting in the mirror to grin apologetically at Fang, who forced a smile on his face.

"It's- It's fine," he managed to get out, sounding nearly normal. "T-take your time."

Ella was gone within two minutes, leaving Fang to turn the water in the shower up to nearly boiling heat. The shower was one of the few places he could relax and just be himself. The fog engulfed the bathroom to the point where he couldn't even see his own body if he looked down, which was exactly what he was aiming for.

Fang had been diagnosed with extreme social anxiety disorder at the age of three, when his parents noticed that he tried to bury himself in the sandbox at preschool instead of interact with other kids. His father had pulled him out, gasping for air, and had shook the sand out of Fang's head, and had taken his son home early. While Ella learned to recite her alphabet and write her name in the company of twenty other 3-year-olds, Fang watched National Geographic at home and learned how to predict tornadoes and make a homemade seismograph.

Then kindergarten arrived, and the Walkers were left stumped. Homeschooling wasn't an option, as both Walker parents were busy running the family business. But running a zoning development business had made them quite wealthy over the generations, and Fang was taken to the best therapists money could buy and given the best medicine that was available. However, Fang's problem only increased in magnitude, until he tried flushing himself down the toilet during afternoon recess after being asked to give an impromptu show-and-tell.

Finally, the problem was found. Fang Walker was incapable of talking to people if he could see their face. A strange phenomenon, but the Walkers found it to be true after multiple experiments and trials. So Fang was sent to regular school with express permission from his counselors and teachers to not have to make any eye contact and not have to talk to anyone.

It was a lonely life, but Fang had been living it.

He turned off the shower reluctantly, after noticing that the time on his waterproof watch read 6:50. Fang dried his dark hair and pulled his clothes on, loping quietly down the stairs so as to not alert anyone in the home to his presence.

But Fang was unlucky a second time. He entered the kitchen to find both Walker parents, Anne and Jeb, sitting at the counter chatting animatedly about zoning laws. His sister Ella was also present, making herself cereal with warm milk, one of her many weird quirks. All three of them looked up when he entered the room.

"Good morning, Fang," his mother said gently, and Fang nodded.

"It is," he said simply, looking at the toaster instead of his mother.

"There's French toast from the bakery in the fridge, but there's also cereal if you're counting calories." Anne looked pointedly at her daughter, who struggled to swallow a mouthful of cereal.

"Hey! Coach Martinez says we need to be in top shape for our game on Friday!" Ella defended.

Fang let the words of his mother and sister wash over him as he, too, walked over to the pantry and pulled out Corn Flakes. How these were healthy, Fang didn't know, but he quietly dumped some into a bowl.

He had just finished eating when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Fang pulled it out to find a text from Iggy, his one true friend.

Where r u? Parking's a bitch. Also, we're switching seats in homeroom so u better get here fast unless u wanna sit without me.

Fang began typing back. Coming. Ella took a while in the shower.

"Hey Ma!" Ella yelled from the foyer. "Where the heck are my soccer cleats?"

Fang grabbed the keys to his black SUV, a present he had been given for his sixteenth birthday two years ago. Jeb Walker had thought teaching his son to drive would allow the two of them to bond. And it worked... until Fang began having an anxiety attack behind the wheel, and nearly ran over a preschool hopscotch game on the sidewalk. So Fang drove alone, although sometimes he drove his sister back home from soccer practice. Ella had her own car, but she hated driving and preferred getting rides from other people.

"Leaving for school?" Jeb's voice startled Fang, and he nodded, not looking at his father. "Got your homework?"

A small smile came to Fang's lips. His lack of a social life had given him ample time to focus on his grades, and Fang was a straight-A student. He appreciated his father's joke, but could not formulate a response to it. "Yeah," was all he said after a pause.

Jeb Walker nodded. "Go kill 'em."

An ominous message, Fang reflected as he backed out of the driveway. But he appreciated his father's comments all the same.

As someone who was personally diagnosed with mild social anxiety disorder, this story also hits close to home. If you feel I'm portraying the struggles of it unfairly, please tell me! I need to know!

P.S. I'm going to update Enigma of Infatuation within the week. Hopefully.