Disclaimer: I'm not JP-I don't own Maximum Ride.

Thanks, Hellewise14, first reviewer! Glad you like it.

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Day 30

"I'm kind of hurt that Max isn't sending me letters."

Fang glanced up to see his tall brotherly figure standing in the doorway. He was clearly pleased with his joke, but Fang rolled his eyes and reminded him, "you can't read."

Iggy snorted. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"You're welcome, Lieutenant Sarcastic."

"Charming. Really witty."

Fang clenched his teeth, exhaling forcefully before replying. Yes, Iggy was the closest thing he had to a brother. No, that didn't mean he didn't sometimes wish he could kill him. "Are you here for a reason?"

Ig barked a second laugh. "You're welcoming today. Yeah, I was wondering if you have any insecticide."

Fang finally spared a look up from the computer screen, eyeing the blind pyromaniac warily. It was times like these when he couldn't tell if Iggy was kidding or not that unnerved him.

"Yeah. In the closet. Next to my supply of bleach." He said dryly. Iggy shuffled his wings impatiently, a few feathers protruding from his shirt. Instinctively, Fang froze up and took a look around the room, just waiting for someone to jump out screaming, "MUTANT BIRD KID!" before he turned back to Iggy.

"Your humor is killing me, Fang."

"Well why would I have insecticide?"

"I was kidding. I have that. No true pyro goes anywhere without a basic kit."

Fang decided it would be wise not to mention this in his brief post on Max's wall. She had made it so only friends could post, and her only friend online was Fang. It really infuriated his bloggers (half of which thought her penname was a great joke, and the other half was furious that she had the gall to use it. This second half was mostly female.) She did, however, allow people to view her profile, and Fang couldn't help but feel slightly irritated that there was a particularly large number of boys clicking "like" under everything she commented on. Yet another thing he didn't write in his post.

"No," Iggy said as if answering a question and catching Fang's attention. "I am not here for flammable supplies, although your shorts are a fantastic consistency. As are Brook's t-shirts, found that out when I had laundry duty. Anyway, I'm actually here because of the amount of time you spend contacting a certain flock member."

"I'll tell Total you were thinking of him."

"I think she's becoming a bit more than "best friend…"" Iggy continued casually as if they were merely discussing the weather, not Max and that absurd topic. Fang thanked God that the other boy couldn't see the color rising in his cheeks and inflected all the steely resolve he had built up over the years into his voice.

"Total's a guy, Ig. And a dog. I don't roll that way."

"I also think you're avoiding the very true subject. Don't try to deny it, I know how much time you spend talking to her. I remember our reunion on the beach. Very touching remark."

"Shut up."

"And of course, I heard you muttering her name in your sleep when we separated. I think this is surpassing the "friends" part of a relationship, don't you?"

Fuming, Fang clicked the "post" button and quickly exited out of Max's profile. It seemed traitorous to be sending her a message while Iggy talked of that.

"Iggy, why the hell do you feel the need to talk about this?" Fang snarled quietly, aware of Brook fetching her riding boots a few doors down the hall.

"Because it's true," he shrugged. "And since you've obviously fallen into the star-crossed lover category-"

"Iggy-" Fang warned.

"That leaves me with the protective older brother role. The older is just for conventional purposes, of course."

Fang got to his feet, but Iggy had already assumed a defensive stance and neither wanted to make much noise with two campers using the phone downstairs. Not seeing any other option, Fang hissed,

"Has it ever crossed your mind that you can just miss someone?"

Iggy rolled his grey eyes, sightless, but still sparkling. "Yeah, duh. But I miss her, and I don't spend the majority of my time talking to her anyway. I just came to say that Angel thinks it's kind of adorable, even if Max is too boneheaded to recognize it, and that you've got my full support as long as you don't hurt her."

The fact that Iggy missed the flock too hadn't really occurred to Fang before, but right now it was under the radar. Not important.

"Get. Out."

"So the whole point of this conversation," the blond continued, completely uncaring about the quiet and placid tone of voice Fang had used that usually meant the world was about to end. "Is that Max has a helluva lot of uncertainty in her life. Even moreso than the rest of us because she's the leader and has that crazy Voice in her head. I don't think you would, but I wanted to tell you anyway, that flock family or not flock family, if you break that little stability she has, I will personally oversee the breaking of every bone in your body. Paired with past experiences and your imagination, I think you can get the picture. But again-this is just a formality."

"I'm going to break every bone in your body if you don't get out quietly this second."

Iggy just raised an eyebrow and a moment later, the quiet upstairs hall was no longer presumed uninhabited by the twelve and thirteen year olds down below.

XXXXX

"Do you even know what I had to come up with to explain the noise you two made? Moms were ready to dial 911, sure I had a terrorist in my house, and almost did for star's sake before I assured them it was an ancient china cabinet that the cat knocked over!" She wiped the sweat off her brow with a dirty sleeve, but despite her disheveled appearance, the small woman's eyes blazed with fury. "Now I know I can't control you, nor do I have any desire to. I'm glad you came, but what on earth happened up here?"

If anyone else had witnessed the confrontation between the thirty three year old and the two boys, they would have been unable to disguise how similar she was to an angry Fang. She hadn't raised her voice a single decibel, rather spitting the words out with cold efficiency, like a rattlesnake ready to strike. Her dark brown eyes flared, matching her son's in a way that no one else noticed during the argument, and like she would have done if on the receiving end of the torrent, Fang remained stiff and silent until she had finished.

Her dark eyes dared them to speak, but Fang lifted his chin defiantly and met her gaze without words. He wouldn't explain his overreaction to her, wouldn't admit to starting the fist fight if she had pulled a gun out and held it to his head. Although almost a head taller than she, the woman didn't back down. There was no sound in the hall except for the heavy breathing of all three.

"It's obviously a guy thing." She finally spat, throwing infuriated looks at the pair of them. "Keep it to yourself. But I am going to go back out there and teach those girls to canter if it's the last thing I do and I don't want anything like this to happen again. I am not going to uselessly threaten you. I am not going to send you packing. But I am going to remind you that this is my house with my rules that I left my controlling parents for and worked my butt off to keep, and I'd appreciate it if you could respect that and at least take it outside."

She didn't wait for any acknowledgement, sweeping around and walking back outside. The motionless pair could hear her brief explanation about the pathetic and unwanted family heirlooms and that the old shelf had finally given away. Fang forced his fists to unclench, cast one last look at Iggy, then bolted to the nearest window, his wings already unfolding.

That wasn't something he should bring up, Fang thought as he sliced through the air. Faster, he pushed himself. Faster. Nothing like pushing yourself to the limit to distract you from things that you didn't want to think about. Like Max running away. Like him breaking the flock apart. Like Iggy reminding him of it all. Like how he really felt about the whole thing anyway.