Fangs PoV

Max slipped her hand into mine. I breathed a sigh of relief in my mind and squeezed her hand. She would be ok. She leaned into my side, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, switching her hand to my free one.

"Are you ok?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah." she responded. "Sorry. I just-"

"I get it." I interrupted. I knew what it was like. She lay her head on my shoulder with a sigh. I lay my head on top of hers, rubbing her arm reassuringly.

"So I take it he tried again?" I asked.

"Yeah, but he didn't actually touch me this time, thank God." My jaw tightened. I was still furious, but at least he didn't succeed. But... he still scared her. And that in itself is enough to make me want to beat him into next year.

"Quit brooding, I'm fine." Max said, lightly hitting my arm. I smiled to myself. She was back to her old snarky self.

"Alright, no more brooding." I told her with another smile. I pulled her in and kissed her forehead. "I just wanted you to be safe."

"And I am." she responded, giving me an impish grin. I gave a faltering half smile in return.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her brown eyes concerned.

"Nothing." I sighed. "I'm just... tired."

"Tired of what?" she asked, obviously catching my real meaning.

"Of everything. Of people treating others like they're less than them because you do something they decided was bad. People are supposed to be kind to others. We're all taught to respect each other and 'if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all.' But people still hurt others so badly, then call them weak or pathetic because other people in the world have it worse. I'm just so sick and tired of all of it. I'm just... done."

I hadn't meant to rant. But it was all swirling around in my head, and if I didn't let it out, I would just end up with more scars.

"I hate the feeling." I continued. "When you hate everything around you and you can't and escape. You know you can't escape and you know that nothing you say or do will change it and you just feel so unbearably trapped."

Max sighed and rested her head on my shoulder.

"I know the feeling." she whispered. "Trust me, I know. And I hate it too."

"And when you try to tell someone else, all they do is tell you to take your emo shit somewhere else, or insult you until you want to throw yourself off a cliff. Why are people so cruel?" I sounded just like Max had out on the roof.

"I don't know. I really don't. But I promise you, I won't be like them." Max reassured me, rubbing my arm.

"Thanks." I said, kissing her cheek.

"I already told you, you don't have to thank me."

Time Skip

Half an hour later, all the scientists had gone. The group gathered back into the living room to discuss their encounters. This time, Max sat beside me. We didn't touch hands or anything, but sat close enough together that our legs pressed against each other. Gazzy didn't even wait for Iggy to start, he just leapt right in.

"The doctor said I can go home!" he cried happily.

"Thats amazing! When?" Max said, an enthralled look on her face.

"In one or two weeks!"

Nudge grinned, very unlike her, and walked over to Gazzy. She bent over and hugged him.

"I'm happy for you." she said, in a louder tone than usual, before returning to her seat beside Iggy.

"That's great Gaz." Max said with a large smile. "We sure will miss you around here."

"The first one to go home. Congrats." Iggy said with a grin.

"I'm sure your parents will be very happy to see you." Either Gazzy didn't catch the sarcastic glint in Angels voice or he just chose to ignore it. Probably the latter.

"They'll love having you back." I put in. I ignored everyones stunned looks and gave Gazzy a half smile. He grinned at me.

Time Skip Again

That afternoon, when the others were all off doing whatever in the rest of the house, I laid on the couch with Max. She lay in front of me, and I had an arm thrown loosely over her waist. The TV was on, but I wasn't paying attention. I was too busy playing with Maxs hair with my free hand.

"I really will miss Gazzy." she said with a slight sigh.

"Yeah, me too." I replied absentmindedly, still twirling one of her curls. She twisted around to face me, thus pulling said curl from my fingers. I just picked up another one and continued with what I was doing.

"Why are you so amused by my hair?" she asked, a slight laugh in her voice.

"Because it's pretty." I answered honestly, making her smirk at me.

"Oh really?" I nodded to her, keeping my eyes focused on her hair and not on her just to irk her. Unfortunately, she ruined my plans by kissing me. I smiled and kissed back.

Man, I was so whipped.

Third Person PoV

Nudge froze on the stairs. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Max and Fang, laying on the living room couch, kissing each other. She continued to watch, her jaw on the floor, as Fang ran his hand down Maxs side, not going any farther than her hip. Max rolled so that she was straddling him, her hair falling forward to cover both of their faces. Both of their heads turned to the side to deepen their kiss.

Nudge knew the two had grown closer, but she hadn't known it was this close. Now that she was over her initial surprise, she shut her mouth and observed closer. She wanted to make sure that one of them wouldn't hurt the other, mainly Fang hurting Max.

After a few more seconds, Fang pulled away and gave her a smile bigger than Nudge had ever seen on his face. He nuzzled her neck, making Max giggle slightly, then shifted so that they lay side by side again. Fang closed his eyes and buried his face into Max's hair, holding her protectively. Max looked more relaxed than Nudge had ever seen her.

Nudge was satisfied. She would still tell Iggy about them, but she was assured that no one would be hurt in this relationship.

They were just too cute.

(A/N Ok, I gave you a fluff ending to make up for the rant in the middle. Sorry, I just seem to be getting really frustrated and angry lately and I tend to take it out on fanfiction. Sorry again. Review please.

UNC-

Silence)