Someone once told Iggy that the stars were beautiful, he didn't know whether they were telling the truth. By the time he'd had the chance; his sight had disappeared along with his childhood. He knew that stars were just lumps of hot gas and rock, the closer you got to them, the hotter it got, until you were burnt into unrecognisable ash. It was the same with humans, Iggy mused, the closer he got to them, the more he got hurt. His parents, for instance, he found them and all they wanted was TV coverage…and it had hurt. More than any tests at the School, more than the disappointment every single time they came to a dead end. The rejection ached every day, and nothing would heal it. Not bombs, not cooking, not Nudge's rambling, Angel's innocence, Gazzy's jokes or Max's overprotective mothering.
Even Fang couldn't help the pain he felt.
Or more to the fact that he wouldn't, he was too busy trying to deal with Max, and Iggy was being slowly left behind because of it. There were no long talks, no sexist jokes, no pranks against Max. It was all replaced by an emptiness that seemed to follow Iggy wherever he went. That hurt more than anything else. Because he'd realised that, although he loved Fang, the dark-haired boy would never love him back.
He decided to make a stand, not to tell Fang the truth, but to get away from it all, whether it was with the Flock or not.
"Fang, can I talk to you?" Iggy muttered quietly, Fang glanced up at stood to face Iggy.
"Sure, although I don't have long, Max's watch starts soon, she'd kill me if she found I got distracted." An irritated expression briefly passed over Iggy's face, before he composed himself and smiled
"Don't worry, I only have one thing to say." He breathed in deeply
"Ok, go on."
"I want to leave the Flock..." He said clearly, imagining Fang's shocked expression.
'Why?' Fang asked calmly, keeping all emotion from his voice.
'Because it hurts to stay here, it hurts being left behind, by you and the others, it hurts feeling lost. I…I want somewhere where I can stay and be safe, do you understand that? I want to go somewhere where it doesn't hurt me anymore, where being close to you doesn't hurt anymore.' Iggy choked out.
'Ig…I don't know what you mean.' Fang whispered stepping closer to the pale boy in front of him. 'I'm not leaving you behind, not now, not ever.'
'But you are.' Iggy hissed pointedly, 'You're leaving me behind because you have Max now, and all I am is a liability who can't save himself let alone you guys. And I can't cope with this!' He waved his arms dramatically,
'This?' Fang asked in a confused voice.
'This! I love you, more than a friend, and more than family.' He blurted out all of a sudden, then he quickly clamped his mouth shut.
'Y-you love me?' Fang stuttered
'Somehow yeah, and I can't cope with it anymore.' Iggy muttered, trying to turn away from the situation, before a strong arm pulled him back, lips were pressed upon his, Fang's wiry frame pressed up against him. Iggy stood in shock, his brain screaming in protest.
KISS HIM BACK YOU IDIOT!
But he didn't, instead he pushed Fang away gently
'F-Fang, what are you doing? You're not – you don't like – uh…what about Max?' Iggy finally managed to stutter.
'Who cares about Max, she's never going to return my feelings. Besides, I thought this was what you wanted.' Fang muttered,
Iggy's eyes filled up with tears, 'I do…but you clearly don't. You're just using me as a vent for Max. And that's not fair to me or Max.'
'I'm not using you as a vent Ig,' Fang protested, before leaning in to kiss Iggy again.
'Look, stop it, just…stop it. I'm gonna go for a flight, to think things over…tell Max I'll be back for breakfast.' He pulled away from Fang and with that, he took off out through the trees. Fang made no move to try and stop him. He flew as fast as he could, putting as much power into his wings as he could, effort enough to block out everything but the wind, blinking back his tears and cursing himself for bringing all this confusion on himself. His heart was pounding, and the pain in his chest was back…he turned and began to fly back to camp, before stopping, and turning back around and flying as far away from the Flock as he could, he needed to get away from them all, from Fang and his accusative stares, Angel would know what had happened by now and he knew he wouldn't be able to put up with her either. He knew one thing for sure:
People, like the stars, were overrated.