Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, but there is a picture of Fang in my fridge. I also don't own Love Game or Lady Gaga.
"Are they done?" Max asked Fang, her voice groggy and croaky, as he came into her room with the laptop.
"Yeah," he replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I stood there the whole time and made sure they didn't miss a spot. Gazzy started it, but they all cleaned."
"Iggy too?"
"Yep."
"Good. He shouldn't be sleeping while they're destroying the kitchen."
Fang leaned against the headboard and turned on the laptop. "Speaking of sleep, you need some. It's 10:30."
Max moved her head to rest in the crook of his elbow, and they both watched the screen. "I slept all day, Fang. I'm not tired."
"Just try."
With a big huff, she said, "Fine," and rolled over so her back was to him. Smiling a little bit, Fang rubbed her shoulder and surfed the net with one hand.
0000000000
At 11, Max turned over. Fang jumped and withdrew his hand. "Whoa. I thought you were asleep."
"No. I was pretending." She grinned. "Fang, I'm really not tired. Tell me a story."
"You're kidding."
"I want to see what kind of bedtime stories Fang the Great can come up with."
"Maybe I should mention on here that the great Maximum Ride can't sleep at night without a story."
"Don't you dare," she said, smacking his arm. "Just tell me a damn story!"
"Fine, fine." Fang closed the laptop and placed it on the bedside table. He leaned his head back and thought as Max put a pillow in his lap and lay down on it, eyes looking up at Fang.
"Okay," he said calmly, once she was all settled in. "Once upon a time, there was a boy, and a girl, and a hope, and a dream--"
"NO!" Max shrieked-- it actually was more of a squawk, what with her voice being all but taken away lately. "Don't sit there and recite dirty lyrics!"
"Those lyrics aren't dirty," Fang defended himself. After a pause, he added, "I think."
"Yes, but the rest of that song is. Jeez, Fang, what happened to all your hard rock crap?"
For a moment, Fang said nothing, debating whether or not this was a good idea. He decided to chance it. With a completely straight face, he said, "I wanna take a ride on a disco stick."
"FANG!"
"You asked to hear a story. That's the story."
Max sat straight up and began whacking him. "You-- sexist-- perverted-- sick-- pig!"
She went to whack him again, but Fang caught her wrist and held it in the air. They stared at each other, and he grinned, that grin that always melted her heart.
There were some footsteps creaking down the hall, and then Iggy's voice on the other side of the door. "The kid with the supersonic hearing doesn't really want to hear you telling Max about your love game."
Max went red; even Fang was a little flushed. But he managed to call out in as calm a voice as ever, "Go to bed, Iggy. Better get some sleep if you're getting up at seven."
"I've been trying, but you two--"
"Goodbye, Iggy," Max called, and heard him sigh before stalking back down the hallway. Once they heard his door swing shut, she lay back down in Fang's lap and looked up at him. "You suck at bedtime stories."
Fang gave her a half-smile and moved the hair out of her face. "For some reason, I didn't think you'd want one about princesses, like we tell Angel."
"Good assumption. But, um, Fang? How do you know that song?"
"Nudge."
"Ah."
Sorry it's really short, I felt like that was a good place to stop.
This chapter had me laughing all day, every time I thought of it. Just the thought of emotionless, calm, Mr. Tall, Dark, Handsome and Silent sitting there with a straight face saying, "I wanna take a ride on a disco stick"… oh, man. Hahaha.
Review, pretty please with sugar on top??
