A Red Rose, A Love Letter and Other Valentine's Day Clichés
"Love is just a bunch of exaggerating and lies, all dolled up in pseudo-poetic language and all for the singular universal purpose of... uh, you know."
- Seamus Harper, Andromeda.
If only...
What? What do I want? What would I change?
Fang's mind about leaving? Dylan never existing? Never becoming a mutant?
Too many things I could change. Would change. It's hard. Life is hard. I've learned to accept that.
I suppose you're wondering what made me think this, what's making me write this down.
I'll get there. Just bear with me.
Words don't usually flow from me like this. I've spent endless hours trying to write a reply to Fang's letter, but with no avail. I just can't write. The words never come out right. Ever.
With the exception of today.
I think the most important thing to note is the date. And it's funny, in the years before now, today would have meant absolutely nothing to me. Just another day on the calendar.
But this year is different. Like every single thing in my life right now.
Today is Valentine's day.
I know what you're thinking "Don't get all mushy on me, Max!" but trust me, mushy is not my forte.
I'm just writing what comes to mind. And if what's on my mind is mushy, then so be it.
So it all started this morning.
I woke up, realized the date, punched my pillow and tried to fall back to sleep. Failed miserably, I might add. I was only brought out of my room by the smell of bacon.
Damn bacon for smelling so delicious. I could have avoided this whole thing.
So, I stumbled out of bed, down the hall and into the kitchen.
At least I got to eat my bacon before all the shit went down.
The rest of the flock, add Dylan, were already in the kitchen, eating bacon and eggs. I grabbed a plate and piled it up wordlessly, sitting down at the table and eating the whole thing in about a minute.
"What's the problem, Max?" Dylan asked.
"Does there have to be a problem with me?" I growled.
"I- You ate that really fast," he murmured.
"Oh, and that can't mean that I'm just hungry? There has to be something wrong with me?" I almost shouted.
"I didn't mean-"
"Oh, sure you didn't. And I'm sure you didn't mean to make Fang leave either. But guess what, you did."
It was harsh, and everyone knew it. Good. That was what I had intended. Everyone else may be babying Dylan as the new Flock member, but I certainly wasn't.
"I'll be out flying," I said, heading for the door. "If anyone needs me."
"I wouldn't go out there if I were-" Angel started, cut of by my opening of the door.
"-You," she finished, and the rest of us were stunned into silence.
Because I had just walked into the Winged Houdini. And by the Winged Houdini, I mean Fang.
Now, if it had been, say, Jeb, after he'd disappeared from out last house, I probably would've said something snarky like, "Nice of you to drop by."
But this was Fang and..
He was a holding a rose.
Fang. Had. A. Freaking. Rose.
Remember the date?
Yeah.
There was also a letter lying at his feet. Can you guess who it was addressed to?
Iggy? Nudge? The Gasman? Uh, no. It was addressed to me.
This was going to be a great day. Note the sarcasm.
Finally, Dylan broke the silence.
"Fancy seeing you here, Fang."
I swear, one day I would beat that boy senseless and he would never see the light of day again.
Fang ignored Dylan and looked straight at me before jumping off the balcony.
You're not getting away from me that easily, I thought. Not this time.
I launched myself after him. Flying, I'm faster than Fang, thanks to my handy-dandy Warp Drive option, so I caught up with him pretty quickly.
"You know," I shouted. "Running away is the coward's option."
I figured an angry Fang would stop and argue with me. And all I wanted was to talk to him. That's what I told myself, anyway.
"You run away all the time," Fang called back.
"Touché," I muttered, then raised my voice. "At least talk to me!"
Fang stayed silent.
"I won't ask you to come back," I tried. "I just want to talk."
Then he stopped, allowing me to catch up with him completely.
"Thank-you," I said, and he just nodded.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I just want to talk to you, like I said," I explained. "I want answers, Fang. And I know that if you were in my position, you would've hunted me down to find out the answers a long time ago."
He nodded. "I understand. But remember, I can't stay. I didn't mean for any of you to see me."
"Then why didn't you go invisible man on us?" I questioned.
He shrugged. "Can we land? I get the feeling this conversation is going to last a while."
"A first for you, huh? Long conversations?" I smirked.
Fang rolled his eyes and angled towards the ground, with me on his tail. (On a completely unrelated subject, what would've happened if we actually got given tails? Just a thought.)
When we banked in a small cave, Fang was the first to speak.
"So what did you want?" he asked.
I sighed. "I want a lot of things, Fang. But my first question's easy. Why did you leave?"
"It's complicated."
"I'm not an idiot, Fang. Did you think your absence would lower my IQ?"
"I thought I explained this. In the letter."
"Did you ever stop and think that maybe the letter wasn't enough? Because that's exactly what I think."
"Max-"
"Don't you 'Max' me!" I shouted. "You knew how I would feel. And yet, you still left. All I want to know is why. Is that so hard?"
"I can't tell you that, Max," he explained. "I just can't."
"And why would that be?" I raised one eyebrow.
"Thant comes under the heading 'I Still Can't Tell You That,' Max," Fang rolled his eyes.
"Did I mention that I hate you?"
"No, but I'm pretty sure you implied it."
We stood there for a moment, staring each other down. On one hand, I was happy to see him, and on the other hand, I wanted to punch his guts out for leaving.
I live such a hard life.
"Was that all?" Fang asked, sounding a little annoyed.
"I haven't got any answers out of you yet!" I shouted. "And you think I'm done?"
"Well, not really, no," he admitted.
"Good," I muttered. "Now, there's a whole lot of things I could ask you, but at the moment, I'm just asking you to hear me out, okay?"
Fang nodded, so I continued.
"This may not have occurred to you, but I'm not the only one you affected when you left. You saw everyone else's faces just then."
"Where are you going with this?" Fang asked. Trust him to push me straight towards the point. I had a whole long speech prepared.
"Where am I going with this? I'll tell you, but you have to listen to me, okay? No running – or flying – off, or I swear, I will lock you in an airtight room with Gazzy for a day. Then beat you to a pulp, just because I can, and quite frankly, I would've earned it by that point. You got that?" Let it never be said that I don't know how to threaten people.
"I won't leave just yet, Max. But-"
"I know your terms," I cut him off. "I can't ask you to come back, no matter how much I might want to, I can't. I know," And I hate it.
"You know, I thought you'd be happier," Fang remarked.
"What?" I stepped backwards for a second, puzzled.
"I thought you'd be happier to see me," he smiled slightly, and I had to roll my eyes.
"Well, your ego hasn't changed one bit, I'll give you that," I told him.
"So, what was it that you simply had to tell me?" he asked, smirking.
"I want a compromise," I said, giving him my most intimidating look. Which to anyone but Fang, would be extremely intimidating. Damn him for knowing me too well.
Fang just stared at me as if to say, Well, get on with it.
"You know as well as I do that everyone wants you back. Except you don't want to be back. Not yet anyway," I continued. "So, I figured, why can't you simply visit us or something?"
Fang shook his head.
"Oh, come on!" I shouted. "You're not being fair. You can contact me whenever the Hell you want, but I wouldn't even know where to start! I-"
He cut me off with a kiss.
To be honest, my first thought was 'Finally.' No matter what I told the rest of the Flock, I had missed him. A lot.
But then I realized he was using the perfect distraction. So I pulled away.
"Fang-" he tried to cut me off with another kiss, but I pushed him away.
"Look," I said. "You show up with a rose and a letter and-"
"The letter wasn't from me."
"What?" I had read my name on it. And unless my name had changed from 'Maximum' to something else since I last checked, it was for me.
"That was the only reason you caught me. I was just planning to drop the rose and run. But the letter was there. And it was addressed to you," he explained, and I saw his fist clench.
"Uh, okay then," I paused. "But anyway, you're coming with me."
"No, Max."
"Just for a visit," I clarified. "Then you leave. No questions asked. Although, it would be better if you at least tried to stay in contact this time."
He just shook his head again.
"God dammit Fang!" I screeched. "I didn't want to have to bring this up, but remember after the first time we split up, on the beach? Remember your promise?"
"You've dealt with broken promises before," he muttered.
"Not like this," I snarled. "Never like this."
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Fang murmured. "I'll just leave now."
"Oh, you're not going anywhere," I grabbed his shoulder as he turned. "I can't let you leave."
"You don't have a choice," he shook me off, so I held both of his arms and turned him towards me.
"You're staying right here until I say so," I said firmly.
He looked at me as if to say sorry, and then he punched me. In the face.
Boy's got guts.
I lay flat on the ground, and Fang knelt down next to me. For some reason, I didn't punch him back. I should have. He deserved it.
"You left me no choice," he told me.
Lies. You're bullshitting, Fang, I thought, but I ended up sputtering, "So... You punched-" and Fang nodded.
"You were always too stubborn for your own good," he smirked. I was going to kill him. "And if it's any consolation, I swear I feel bad about this. Really." Well, he did look sorry. But that didn't make me feel any better.
As he got up to leave, I managed to ask a final question.
"Will I see you again?"
"If you're lucky," he said, then added in an undertone, "If I'm lucky."
I don't think he meant for me to hear that last part.
So, he flew away and I was left half-unconscious and freaking pissed off in a cave. I give him a reasonable offer, and he just punches me and flies away.
And for some reason, I had decided to act like a lovesick teenage mutant and use up all the energy I had left crying and yelling and hoping like hell the Flock wasn't nearby.
Of course, I had the energy to bawl my eyes out, but not enough to go after Fang and beat him until next Tuesday. Freaking typical.
My life, Ladies and Gentlemen.
When I finally got back to the house, I was greeted by the rose and the letter on the front doorstep. I sighed and picked them up, then walked inside. Straight into the view of five curious mutants.
"What happened?" Nudge asked. I ignored her and rubbed the spot above my nose where Fang had punched me. Prick.
Soon, everyone was asking me questions all at once and I just about killed them all.
"Shut up!" I yelled. Surprisingly, everyone went silent. I must have looked especially murderous in that second.
"If you want to know anything, ask Angel," I said. "I'm sure she's deduced today's events already."
Angel gave a small smile.
"I'll be in my room. Disturb me only if the world's about to end, okay?" I put as much venom into my voice as I could. Which was still a lot. I'd already done my moping. I was into the 'make-one-wrong-move-I-decapitate-you' stage.
So that's where I am now. My room, writing this. It's just past noon and already I've had possibly the worst day of my life.
I only read the letter about ten minutes ago. The one Fang said wasn't his.
It went like this:
Dear Max,
Happy Valentine's Day!
I just want you to know that though I love you, I think you should choose Dylan.
I mean, I left you and stuff. Isn't that just so horrible? And Dylan was made for you. Like, actual. How can I compete? And he's all pretty and cool and badass. Plus he's not emo like me. Who wants to date an emo, right? So gross.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure he loves you lots and lots and you should go make out with him right this second, okay?
Love, Fang.
P.S: This is a poem from Dylan (Who you should go and hug or something. This poem is awesome!):
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
I love you lots
And Fang is like, poos.
Three guesses who that was from.
I had to smile (Well, half-smile) at that. Just for a moment. So, now I have to go and kill Dylan for thinking I'm that stupid. And for being so pushy. I mean seriously.
Here comes Terminator Max. And believe me when I say, I'm worse when I'm angsty.
If you don't see Dylan around anymore, you'll know why.
- Max.
A/N: The title at the top was what I was going to use orginally. But, of course, it was too long for Fanfiction. Typical. Anyway, I just thought you should know that.
A bit different than was originally intended, but I like it. And before anyone says "OMG FANG WUDNT EVUN PUNCH MAX!" (Bad spelling and grammar intended) I think that the version of Fang from the first few books would. And if Fang wasn't around Max for a while...
Well, I think it's plausible, okay?
Anyway, a Valentine's Day special. Probably not as mushy as a lot of the other fanfics going up today, but still. I haven't written for Maximum Ride in ages, so it was nice do that.
Also, the quote at the beginning is from a TV Show called Andromeda. Science Fiction. It's pretty good. And that quote is quite true.
Reviews are loved lots. And lots. As much as cute puppies and kittens (So. Damn. Adorable.)