This one-shot is inspired by the scene in Nevermore where Nudge desperately wishes she was normal and wingless.
Summary: Night after first day of school. Nudge can't sleep because she's kept up thinking about how she'll never be normal, will always be running for her life, etc. She has a talk with fellow insomniac Fang on the roof (of Dr. Martinez's house). FangxNudge friendship fic.
"Max, you awake?" Nudge asks in a hushed tone, staring up at the ceiling. The room is dark, but her eyes have long since adjusted since attempting, in vain, to fall asleep. Her eyes had been closed, but she refused to drift off, thoughts from the day softly bubbling in her head.
There's no response, only sounds of hushed breathing. "Angel?"
She is greeted with silence, albeit the light shuffling of bodies in their beds. Nudge, who never seemed to have trouble with anything, (let alone sleeping) was now anxious without a need to be. The normality of the suburban setting once would have comforted her, but now it has lost all meaning. Nudge knew deep inside that she wasn't normal and as she learned earlier, no amount of homeliness could change that.
Nudge sits up in her makeshift bed, lovingly accommodated by Dr. Martinez, before leaving the room. The house is silent, an interesting contrast to the bustling noise it has at all other times. She creeps into the living room, almost afraid to disturb the quiet. Nudge settles on the couch to watch muted television, when she hears a noise that sounds like footsteps. Someone else is awake.
She seeks out the sound, following it to the attic, to find that she is alone; though, the window is open. A circular, dusty window is wide open. Looking through it, she can see the sidewalk. "Hello?"
A face appears, apparently hanging off of the roof. It's Fang. "Fang?"
"Nudge." He appears surprised, at least for a moment before his expression settles into his usual one. Somehow she got the feeling that this was a normal occurrence. "Coming up?"
Why not? She nods and his dangling head disappears, replaced by a hand to help her onto the roof. Before Nudge has tome adjust to the change in scenery, he is already lying with his arms tucked behind his head. Nudge sits beside him. "Come here often?"
He nods. "Only when I can't sleep."
"Then I must be in the right place." Nudge closes her eyes, taking in the night as it is. She opens one eye to peer at Fang. Both his eyes are closed and he is completely still, listening to the slowing of his heartbeat that assured him that he could sleep.
Only that wasn't on Nudge's agenda. After enduring another of her 'first' days of school, she found that she couldn't take it anymore; a heavy feeling was weighing down her chest. "Fang?"
"Hmm?" Slipping out of the early stages of a daydream, he opens an eye to look at her.
"Don't you ever worry?"
"About what?" Fang opens his eyes, staring down what seemed to be her outline placed against the darkening sky.
Nudge doesn't know where to start so she just speaks, her words tumbling out haphazardly. "Well, um, I couldn't sleep and found myself thinking about us and school and the humans. At school today, we didn't fit. I mean, I did. Well, not completely. I fit in with you guys, of course. And with the other girls. But together everything fell apart. I was trying so hard and-"
"Nudge, slow down. I don't understand."
"The girls. I mean, all girls. Humans. They don't treat us right. Or accept how different we are. Why are we trying so hard to save them?" Nudge found her feeling forming solid thoughts, ones she didn't know she had it in herself to think. Humans. As if she wasn't one of them. Well, was she?
"Where is all this coming from?" Fang is also puzzled by her use of the word.
"I'm just realizing it, I guess. Every time we try to go to school, we have to hide our wings and fit in. They don't even try to accept us. They just don't want to see us, like, completely. Wings and all. And I worry, you know? About the future. Like after we save them, whether they'll just abandon us or something."
Fang lets out a snorting noise that causes Nudge to jump in surprise. "Oh, that'll never happen."
"What makes you so sure?"
His confidence about the situation didn't fade and Nudge wondered whether he'd thought about this before. If it's all he thinks about on the roof. "The fact that we're not alone. There are others like us and others that have our sympathies."
"And what? We'll all settle down in a secluded area and forget about the rest of the world?"
"Precisely." He says, but correcting himself. "But, you know, not literally."
"Fang, no offense, but that's the worst idea ever. We've just got to face the facts. Life is always going to be hard for us, no matter how hard we pretend it won't be."
Nudge is met with silence. When she looks over at Fang, she sees that he is staring up at the star filled sky, regrouping his thoughts. What seems like hours later, he speaks again. "Nudge?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm not the most talkative person. You know that."
She nods.
"Ever wonder why?"
"All the time. But what's your point? What does this have to do with, like, the bigger picture?"
"Everything. For me, actions speak louder than words. The humans can only hold us accountable for as much as we let them. If we show them that we're no less human than they are, they'll have no reason to hurt us."
She frowns. "Until they see our wings."
"After they see our wings." He says. "They'll think of them like appendixes."
Nudge giggles. She couldn't imagine anyone thinking of wings like that. She couldn't imagine living without her wings; they are as vital as lungs to her. But then she thought of others who could only see wings as weapons for their control. "But what about Jeb, and the other whitecoats?"
"Well, they're just dicks."
Nudge chuckles. "And the sole reason we fight."
"Now you're getting it. So don't let those girls at school get you down. And don't blame them either, cause they don't know better."
"Then what should I do?"
"Nothing. Enjoy being at school, eating large square meals and daily showers while we have them." Fang lies back down, folding his arms behind his head.
"That simple?"
"Yeah. Just remember that things wont always be this hard for us. They'll only get better as we show them how awesome we are."
Nudge finds herself yawning so she rubs her eyes. "We are pretty awesome."
Fang senses her peaceful disposition and allows himself to finally doze off. Nudge speaks one last time before she drifts off to sleep. "Thanks Fang. You're the best."
"I know."