Natural Highs
OH NO! I just looked at the prompt for this one! It's gonna be hard, and I'll have to exert… *groans* …effffforrrrrtttt. Ah, well. It's my vocation of choice, so it's a burden I shall have to bear. (Yeah, it'll be so hard to write a fanfic. I hate people who say that writing's hard. I mean, it is, but not if you have a really sweet idea. Know what I mean? Discuss in the reviews.)
Also, I feel like I owe you an explanation for updating freakishly all of a sudden. I know that earlier I said it was to reach ten chapters by the end of 2009 (well, we're chugging toward that goal, now aren't we?). Basically, I updated in, like… August or something, and then I started working more on my Harry Potter fics. In September, I decided it was time to start my break so that I could plan for NaNoWriMo, which I did, and which I won on the thirtieth of November (yay!). After that, I basically never wanted to see a Word document ever again, but after typing my obligatory chapter for One-Letter Stand (go to the profile of Tassel630 to read it), I was like, "THIS IS SO MUCH FUN WHY DID I EVER STOP DOING THIS?" So, yeah. Explanation probably going to be longer than the fic itself. We'll see.
Disclaimer: I don't own. I rent.
Chapter 9: Knowing That Somebody Misses You
Max looked at Fang and smiled. "Best friends forever?" she asked earnestly, and Fang nodded.
"Best friends forever."
They each stuck out their pinkies, sealing the deal with a definitive nod.
Max buried her head into Fang's shoulder, crying for the first time in his memory, in front of the flock and everything. They all stood soberly around a small wooden marker bearing Jeb's name in uneven carving.
Max yawned, stretching so that her pajama shirt rode up her torso. "Morning, guys," she said endearingly, her bangs falling into her eyes at breakfast.
Max fell from the sky, a look of mixed pain and numbness on her face, and Fang dove down to catch her, making a smart remark about her weight. Immediately he thought what a stupid thing that was to do: make fun of a girl's physique. But she shot back, as she always did, besting him again with her dry sarcasm.
She was the only person who could do that.
Max's figure was fuzzy, but it cleared up as Fang begged her – them, he meant them – not to take him to the hospital. He tasted blood, and then – whoa. It felt like the world shifted just then.
Max was kissing that dweeb. Fang hated him right from the off, he'd tell you any day. And then they were up in Max's room, and she asked him if he would do anything to protect the rest of the gang, if something happened to her, something bad –
But he didn't mean it.
Speaking of bad, here's one: Max II. She seemed normal at first, all right, but Fang knew before any of the others that this was not their leader. She didn't have that spark.
"I – I'm not sure about this," Max said, backing away, and he wanted to yell, No, come back! but she was already gone. He punched the cave wall, immediately regretting it.
And then Max was in front of his face, saying, "Fang… Fang…" calling him to her, and he followed.
"Fang? FANG!"
Fang yelped and punched out, feeling his fist connect with something. His eyes flew open. Oh, it was only a bird.
"Jeez, dude, jumpy much?" Iggy bristled, having felt the disturbance in the air and swerved aside just in time.
"Shut up." Fang moved closer to the fire, stoking it with a wayward stick.
"You were dreaming about Max, Fang," Gazzy informed him. No need, thanks, he was already aware of the fact. He'd been dreaming of her for weeks now, ever since they left, in fact. Left with that thing. Fang's face grew, if possible, even harder and more stoic.
"You were, like, moaning her name," Iggy added. "What, are you, like, in love with her or something?"
Fang didn't say anything, but the words imprinted themselves on the inside of his skull. It was funny – he'd never thought of that possibility before. But the weird burning sensation he suddenly felt in his stomach – and, uh-oh, on his face – told Fang that this was spot-on.
Fang was in love with Maximum Ride.
"I miss Max," the Gasman sighed after a few moments of waiting for a response from Fang that they were not going to get.
Iggy grew sober, the light in his eyes dulled. "I miss them all," he concurred.
Still Fang said nothing, just let possibilities run through his head. She would come back to him and run into his arms, smiling the beautiful smile that so rarely graced her features… She would find a way to contact him from wherever they were now, that melancholy edge to her voice telling him that she needed comfort, and he'd be only too happy to give her that… "I miss you," she'd say, and he could picture her teeth biting her lower lip.
Did she? Did she miss him as much as he was realizing he missed her?
"Of course she does," the Gasser said. Fang blinked in surprise. He'd spoken that last part aloud. "You're best friends."
"I'm sure she misses all of us," Iggy assured Fang, but it sounded as though he was trying to convince himself instead. "I'm sure of it." Iggy rolled over to face the dark woods, his back to the other two.
"She smiles at you, Fang," Gazzy pointed out. "She smiles at you the most. I think she misses you."
Fang let a wry smile slip through his hard look, and he ruffled Gazzy's hair. "Go back to bed, kid."
They both laid back down on the ground, and Fang went back to his dreams and memories of his beautiful, his wonderful, his sorely missed Maximum.
Awwww. I made a cutie. (This may or may not have been spurred on by the season finale of Glee. I'm jus' sayin'.)
I never knew Fang was such a softie.
