Chapter One: Becoming One

Fang. It's like living a whole new life, breathing new and untainted air. I didn't know that being happy would feel like this. I suppose I, Maximum Ride, never thought that love and gushy stuff like that was important. Well, I mean – I knew that I loved my flock, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and my little Angel. I even loved our recent addition, Dylan. Fang had always been my right hand man, and now you could say that Dylan was my – left hand man?

After Fang had left me alone, Dylan was there. I thought Fang would never return. But he did. He came back for me. But, in the meantime, I subconsciously thought that Dylan could, I don't know, replace Fang. It just never felt right. I wasn't complete. Or comfortable.

Then came Dylan trying to physically KILL Fang. That pretty much sucked, but everyone got over it when we arrived in paradise, well, after the whole almost-dying-because-of-the-apocolypse type thing.

I love you, Fang, I remember saying, after it was all over, and boy do I love him. We've rebuilt everything. Our lives, the new improved community of mutant freaks. Fang and I now share a treehouse almost twice the size of the ones we had before. We have so much privacy, and we've been doing a lot of heavy petting with the privacy we're given.

"Fang," I said, looking over to see his half-smiling face looking over at me. I still hadn't gotten used to the vulnerable feeling I felt around him, but I grabbed his hand anyway and grinned back. "I still wrap my mind around, well... Not running. Not being in danger. Not being hunted down by some genetically enhanced mutants even more freakier than us."

"Max." He said it so quietly that I could barely hear him. "It's all okay now. Nothing to worry about." And just like that, my worries had disappeared. In less than ten words, Fang could somehow calm my nerves and make me feel content.

"I can't believe this is real," I sighed and leaned my head against his shoulder. "I can't believe I'm becoming a softy," I said, only half-jokingly.

"You're not becoming a 'softy,'" he said, seriously. Then, Fang put one hand underneath my chin, making me look up at him. "You're the strongest, most beautiful person I know."

He took my breath away. After a speech like that anything I said would ruin everything. Especially since even after everything that we've been through together, I still found it hard to express what I was feeling at times, so I just met my lips with his.

The kiss was intense. A new hunger had awoken, one that I'd never felt before. In our cozy room that we'd been sharing, not once had a thought like this even popped into my head, until now, as we lay tangled on the bed, lips connected.

I decided to try something new. Carefully, I positioned myself so that I was hovering over Fang as he was laying on his back with his wings fully extended. I let my wings out, too. It must be a bird kid thing. We were so used to keeping our wings tight up against our backs, that it was odd to just lay there, wings exposed. It was – intimate.

Fangs' wings were dark and sleek. I ran my fingers along them and noticed how it made him shiver. I pulled my hand away slowly and put both of my hands on his chest before lowering my lips to his again, creating another intense, hungry kiss. A moan escaped my lips as his wings encircled me, holding me closer to his warm body. I wonder if that warm body of his is tingling like mine, I thought, knowing the answer was yes by how hard he was shivering.

"Max –" he whimpered. "You're driving me crazy," he pulled his face back to look me in the eyes.

I just smiled down at him. We'd never really discussed what would happen if we ever wanted to, well, you know. But now, in this moment. The answer was yes. Yes to everything. Yes to being one with him.

"There's only you and me, together," I whispered as my lips found his again.

Suddenly, I was the one lying on my back, Fang hovering over me. I let my fingers roam at the hem of his shirt and slowly lifted it over his head. Fang then repeated the motion by helping me remove my t-shirt. I shivered, feeling exposed and vulnerable. It was absolutely exhilarating. I crashed my body into his, feeling the electricity pulsing through us.

Finally, we would be connected as one. Max and Fang. Fang and Max. Together.