A.N Sorry to all those who are waiting for me to update Always the bad guy! But I just had to put this up here. The majority of it actually happened with me and a bunch of friends at lunch today and Frivolous Flare insisted I write it as a romance. So here it is and I hope you enjoy it! Oh and Maximum Ride is not mine sadly.

"Fang! Quick! Throw her boots off the balcony!"

It was a normal day at St. Paul's college. Nudge had been poking and generally winding her friend up and he had finally decided to retaliate. Pinning her to the beanbag they had been sharing, he called for his best friend's aid. Nudge chose that same moment to attempt another struggle for freedom and soon the pair were wrestling for control, laughter shaking their bodies the whole while.

Max had been observing from the close by table all this time. She knew that her friend was enjoying all this but could barely contain her laughter at the sight all the same. That was until she heard the boy's cry for back-up. Suddenly calm, she stretched out her legs in front of the tall, dark haired man before her, a childish grin all over her face. This could be fun she thought to herself as she watched him move to the other side of the table. Quickly she jumped off her perch and blocked his route to the balcony, where the boots lay from when they had been dropped out the window minutes before. This surprised Fang; he had not been expecting so much resistance from this girl. He was only doing what he was told after all and from what he had seen earlier, she had found Nudge's predicament hilarious. So why stop him now? Shrugging to himself, the boy stepped to one side, meaning to pass his friend. She mirrored him. Frowning, he turned to Iggy for help.

"I can't push against her, she'll fall over!" There was not a single response. Iggy was too preoccupied with his adversary and their other friends were too amused to interrupt the scene. Fang tried to push past Max again. Perhaps this time she would let him off so he could get the boots, he really didn't want to hurt her. He repeated the line again. But no help came.

Max on the other hand was excited by this standoff between the two of them. Somehow they had got themselves into a position where they he was holding her arms while she was pushing against his chest. Or trying to. The problem was that in her flip-flops, she just couldn't grip the ground and was, instead, slowly sliding out of them. Quick as she could, Max slipped them off, only to stand on a vacant beanbag by the door. She continued to push against her friend's chest but this had the reverse outcome to the one she wanted, for it made it easier for said beanbag to slide out through the unlocked door.

"Haha the door was open" Fang noted. He was glad the beanbag had slid. For although he enjoyed the contact this stalemate had given him, he really didn't want to use his full strength against her. On the flip side of that, he hadn't particularly wanted to back down either. What was it about her? He didn't mind stepping down most of the time. But when she was involved, he just had to take up whatever challenge lay ahead. Only twice had he ever turned her down on one and all because he was just too darn busy. He had regretted it later each time though.

Once outside, Max desperately tried to hold the giant back from the boots. Clinging round his waist, she desperately tried to pull him back. But to no avail. After many struggles, they reached where the boots lay, just under the open window. Max saw her chance and snatched one up. She had been aiming for both, but this one would do for now. She threw it back through the window to her closest friend, hoping against hope she would catch it and not Fang's evil counterpart.

It was then she saw him moving away from the window, other boot in hand. She shot straight ahead, grabbing him once again around his waist and tried to get said boot out of his grasp. She knew she was not quite yet a match for him when it came to strength, but she did have plenty of practice in wrestling objects off people and hoped she could at least prevent him from throwing this one over the edge.

Fang was no longer sure how he felt about this. He had seen Max's fun side before. Yet somehow this was different. She was playing with him; laughing and chasing after him like she hadn't been asking him for distractions from a crisis just that weekend. At last a laugh escaped his lips. What the heck, he thought, shoving his feelings to one side, he was going to relax and have fun with this new game too.

Max sighed, she was glad he had finally got into this game. It was odd playing like this when the person was only half with it. There was one problem, he was now serious and so had gotten the boot back off her and was running to the balcony edge. There was only one way to stop him. She had to catch up. Leaping onto the picnic tables that were barring her opponent's way, she ran along them until she was, once again, forming a wall between him and his goal.

"Ahhhhh" she cried out. Unlike her normal self, she had overestimated the length of the bench and was currently falling forward at a slight angle. Desperately, she flung her arms out in front of her in an attempt to catch herself. Instead, her right arm fell on her friend's shoulder just as he reached out to catch her. The result was that by the time she came to a stop, her hand was round his neck whilst both of his were on her waist.

That was when she made her greatest mistake; she looked up.

She was lost. She finally understood that cliché about drowning in someone else's eyes. Shocked, she felt her heart beat double time in her chest and a slow blush crept onto her face as she discovered her true feelings for the handsome man who was holding her.

He had reacted by instinct. That cry had invoked in him a compelling need to rescue and protect the girl he loved. Backtracking, he was forced to admit that yes, he did love her. As hard as he had tried to distance himself after the scar Esther had left on his heart, he had fallen again. This fact was only confirmed to him when he looked down at the angel he had caught. It didn't escape his notice that her hand had somehow landed on his neck. In fact the realisation sent a slight shiver down his spine.

As he continued to look into her eyes, he started to notice the blush that was rising on her cheeks. His first thought was to how cute she looked with her face coloured an even rose shade. However his second was to the cause of her blush. In that moment he became super aware of the fact that his hands were on her waist and how that was clearly (to him) making her feel uncomfortable. Moving to get out of their awkward position, he saw her gentle smile as she slid her hand down his chest to return to her side. It was then he heard the one thing that could stop him in his tracks and freeze him to her:

"Fang"

She had meant to add the word 'thanks' to that but the look in his eyes stopped her. It was only a brief glimmer but it caught her attention. It was more than the affection that had been in his eyes a moment before. It was something fierce. Yet something wonderful. And it made her stomach flutter.

"Dude turn away NOW" screamed his head as he continued to look into those beautiful eyes that had so enraptured him. Her voice. The way she had said his name just then. It messed with his insides and did crazy things to his heart. He knew he would regret it in a second, but he simply had to make her understand what she had just done to him. Heck what she had been doing to him the whole time she had teased him with closeness – be it her word games or the one they had just been playing. Painfully slowly to give her a chance to back out, the teen placed a hand on the girl's cheek and leant down to capture her lips with his.

She barely saw it coming. She had become so consumed by his eyes that all else had faded away. They were just so deep and so kind. So full of tenderness that she couldn't look away. The hand that landed on her cheek brought her back to reality, just as his lips finally met with her own. Taken aback, the poor girl froze for a second before finally clocking on to what was happening. That second was long enough though. Sighing, Fang pulled away already muttering apologies and looking crestfallen. Max was having none of that and quickly replaced her hand to where it had rested on his neck and pulled him back down so that she might give him a kiss of her own.

When they finally parted, they rested their foreheads against the other's and smiled a tender smile at each other before silently agreeing to return to the rest of the gang. The boot had been totally forgotten by the pair. As had two other things; the window through which the entire group had been able to watch everything and Nudge's love for cameras.

A.N This is probably riddled with mistakes and I was sad not to have Angel or Gazzy in there. Please review! It's not too hard :p
God bless