In a little cabin, in a little clearing, on a little hill, in a little part of some random woods, in a little country we call the USA, six avian-human hybrids were resting for the night from their little mission of saving the world. In this little cabin, there are three rooms, which means two people to each room. Immediately, Gazzy and Iggy claimed the "biggest" room and Nudge and Angel claimed the "prettiest" room (they were all the same). So that leaves…
…Max and Fang rooming together.
And this is where the story begins.
After the futile attempts to switch rooms and after the murderous thoughts directed from Max and Fang to the rest of the Flock were interrupted by sleep, the cabin settled into a state of peace and quiet. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…
Ahem. Anyways, the cabin was quiet as can be and the hour was around two in the morning. Max had graciously allowed Fang to sleep on the hard floor with a flat pillow and thin blanket, while she slept on the soft bed with the poofy pillow and warm blanket and of course, Fang hadn't objected to this at all.
But hey, it was less awkward than sleeping together on the same bed, so eventually he settled into a grumbling mood that was ultimately conquered by sleep.
Silence reigned in the little cabin.
And then…
"Maaaax…"
Max's eyes lazily opened and she paused, wondering why she was awake.
"Maaaax…"
Oh right, someone was calling her name.
"Maaaax…"
Oh, it was Nudge. Not relishing the idea of getting up from the comfy bed after getting around three hours of sleep in as many days, she threw her pillow at Fang, hoping he would go see what was wrong. But as soon as the pillow left her hand, she groaned, because now she didn't have anything to rest her head on.
"What?" Fang hissed once the pillow hit him on the head.
"I want my pillow back."
"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered. "Did you throw your pillow just to order me around?"
"Give me my pillow back; I'm tired," Max said, yawning. "Oh, and go talk to Nudge. I think she had a nightmare."
Fang gave her a disbelieving look. "I don't do those kinds of things," he reminded her.
But Max had fallen asleep.
"Unbelievable," Fang said. He threw the pillow at her, hard, knowing it wouldn't hurt and thinking payback was nice.
"What was that for?" Max was still barely awake, but she was awake enough to be mad.
"I don't do those kinds of things," he repeated.
Max stared incomprehensibly until another moan floated through the hallway.
"Maaaax…"
"Right, can you go check on her? I'm incredibly tired."
"You always check on them when they have nightmares."
"So you should have a turn. Have fun."
"Haha, no. I had to deal with Gazzy and Iggy's latest bomb fest, you deal with this."
"Maaaax…"
"Please, Fang? My whole body is tired from flying all day, but your big and pretty wings probably use less energy to make you fly."
Did she just call my wings pretty? Fang thought, amused. "Have you had some Valium lately?"
"What are you talking about? Just go check on Nudge."
"You really think my wings are pretty?"
"Sure."
"How about handsome? Pretty sounds a bit too feminine."
"No, they're pretty."
"Not even a bit handsome?"
"Nope, you're handsome, but your wings are pretty."
"Really. Are you sure you're not high or something?"
"I'm just so tired. Please go check on Nudge."
Fang realized that lack of sleep probably had the same effect on Max as Valium did. "So Max," he said, deciding to experiment, "Do you love me?"
"Of course I do," Max sighed. "I love you sooo much."
"How much?"
"This much!" She lazily spread her arms out, but her half-asleep trance only let her hold them there for a couple seconds.
"Enough to let me sleep?"
"Nope, you're the daddy and it's your turn."
Well, this was an odd turn of events. "Erm, what?" Fang asked, confused.
"You're the daddy and I'm the mommy and Nudge is our kid and we're arguing over whose turn it is to go comfort her just like a real mommy and daddy," Max explained sluggishly.
Okay, this is getting awkward, Fang thought in his head.
Apparently Max's brain started to realize this too, because it slowly, and I mean slowly, started to whirr to life. Blurting out every thought you have is a bad idea, it realized.
However, the damage was done. After going over what she said in her mind (it took a while, she was still dead tired), she concluded that this was definitely an uncomfortable situation.
And he'd been staring at her this whole time, waiting for her to speak.
"Well, let's just forget that happened," she offered hopefully.
He still stared, rightfully disregarding that pitiful excuse.
"Or not…"
Silence and staring.
"Well it didn't mean anything, I mean we are the oldest it's just natural we would be seen as parents and Angel's only six and Gazzy's only eight and Nudge's only eleven they could never take care of all of us, and Iggy's our age but he's too busy gallivanting off with Gazzy in their daily blowing up of something to really understand how to take care of people and it's just natural, I mean, we can't trust adults look where that got us: Jeb, Anne, Jeb, all the doctors from the School, Jeb, Dr Amazingly Wonderful Brigid Dwyer, Jeb-"
"What was that last one?"
"Jeb?"
"No, before that."
"I don't really remember, but I said Jeb a lot…"
"Whatever, keep on going."
"Yeah, so we can't trust any adults, and there aren't any children we can trust to take care of six bird-human freaks, so it has to be one of us, and Angel's only six, and Gazzy's only eight, and Nudge's only eleven…"
Fang listened silently as Max's argument ran out and she resorted to repeating herself. It did make sense; he and Max were looked up to as the parents of the group. Why should she be embarrassed for thinking the same thing too? Well, she shouldn't, but watching her stumble through an explanation was just too entertaining. Sighing inwardly, Fang realized he should probably spare her from more embarrassment.
"…and it has to be one of us who is like the parent because adults are just out of the question and I mean, who am I to stop the others from thinking we're like their replacement parents-"
"That makes sense."
Max's mouth closed abruptly as she realized her rambling was actually helping her. After some struggling to come up with a decent response, she settled with, "Of course it does. Now go to sleep. I'm tired."
Fang's grin flashed silently in the dark. "Yes mommy," he said obediently, in a pitiful voice.
Max couldn't keep a smirk off her face either.
…
…
…
"Maaaax…"
"Oh shoot, Fang, go be a good daddy and comfort her."
"No."
Erm yeah, based on my experiences with being slap happy. Especially that one time when I stayed up all night, then went to intense volleyball conditioning, then had a sleepover and I said "It's just like I'm drunk!" about 50 times and it was just as mind-blowing every time I realized it. Anyways, that was my first fanfic tips are welcome!