A.N… Thanks again to so many great reviews! You're all really supportive, and I'm always happy to get them! And I just want to say… You guys are awesome! :D

And I know that in the A.N. in the last chapter, I said I was going to do something with "mutton" and "mayhap" in this one.
But I just want to tell you guys that I started it, and it's over half-way finished… But I'm having major writers block with that one. It will get finished soon, but I need a little more time to work on it!

So, in the meantime… I wrote this one!

I've always imagined this scene ever since I first read the Second Maximum Ride book;

This scene takes place in School's Out Forever, and its right after Max gets back from her date with Sam, and then she and Fang have that mini argument that turns into talk about Max seeing her doppelganger and weirdly flirtatious brother. But I've always wondered:

What if… The after-date talk between Max and Fang would have gone… a bit differently? ;)

Meh-heh-heh, that wink was because I have something mischievous in mind!

But nothing inappropriate, don't worry!

And for this one-shot, I'm going to pretend that Max doesn't bring up her brush with Ari or Max II.

But this one might be a bit OOC, since Max doesn't freak out like she probably would if this would have been in the books.

I'm not going to say any more! Read on, delightful people! :D

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I watched as Sam drove off with his sister, my heart pounding and blood rushing in my veins. I just had my first kiss. I had just kissed someone! As their car turned the corner and sped out of sight, I couldn't fight the excited smile that broke its way across my blushing face.

I slowly turned around and opened the door to the fancy entryway of Anne's house, shutting it tightly behind me. I felt… different. Weird, like everything was extra bright and colorful. Huh. Was this even normal?

Striding quietly through the lavish living room, I noticed Anne sitting on one of the plush leather sofas. She had been waiting for me to get home, and, what? Gush about my date? Uh, no thanks.

"How was it?" She asked excitedly, standing up and smiling widely at me, dressed in blue flannel P.J's.

"Fine." I said, blunt as always. I should really work on my people skills. "Well, good night." I kept walking and ran up the stairs, heading down the hallway towards 'my room'. I felt kind of bad for brushing Anne off like that, but I wasn't used to opening up to people. Especially strangers outside my flock, no matter how kind and hospitable they were. And squealing about girly stuff? Max don't do.

Pushing open my door, I walked to my bed and immediately collapsed on the edge, reliving my date. And, I admit it; I was reliving that kiss again, too. I know, I know; I'm such a sap. But I still couldn't get over the fact that I just went out to a real movie and got ice cream with a cute boy!

A quiet creaking noise came from my left and I swiveled my head to see the door to my room opening slightly. Fang poked his head around the door, his face unreadable as per usual. He walked in and held a hand over his eyes. "Whoa." He said. "Your happy glow. It's blinding." That noob.

I rolled my eyes at him before pulling off my oversized hoodie. I threw it on the ground and relaxed my shoulders, unfolding my wings slightly as I stretched them. Man that feels so much better! I had had them tucked in all night out of nervousness and stress, and it was nice to be able to relax again. Not that the date had been bad, because it had been the total opposite. But still, home was the flock, and the flock was my comfort. Well, except for Fang recently, but I digress...

Fang shut the door silently behind him. "The kids wanted to stay up and wait for you, but Anne made them go to bed." I was glad for that. I don't think I ever would have been able to live that kiss down if the rest of the flock got wind of it.

"Good thinking on Anne's part." I kicked off my sneakers and wiggled my toes. Ah! Freedom!

"So," Fang began, walking over to my desk at the far corner of my room and leaning against it. He crossed his arms against his torso, his face unreadable. "How was it?" Something was off in his voice, and my eyes snapped to his. Now, if I was anyone but me, I wouldn't have been able to notice the almost imperceptible twitch of his jaw muscle, or the way his eyes barely tightened. But I had noticed, and me being me, had to find out why.

"I saw him – What's the phrase? Oh yeah – 'stuck to you like glue.' So I guess you got along alright." What the- Oh. Ohhhh. Fangles was jealous! Wait… He had been watching me?

"Yeah," I said after a short pause. I had Fang pinned here. "There's a lot of that going around."

Fang looked a little bit embarrassed; his cheeks flushed the tiniest amount. I pulled off my socks, aiming them for the laundry basket in front of my closet mirror. I rolled on my comfy bed until I was lying against the headboard, fluffy pillows propped up under my back. Fang slowly strode over and scooted in beside me, copying my position and folding his arms against his chest again.

"So you like him. I don't have to kill him." My best friend stated tensely, staring at the door.

"He was really nice and sweet." I murmured, wringing my hands together. You know how I said that I didn't like talking about my emotions? Well, babbling about them to Fang, especially romantic feelings, was not on my list of fun things to do, ever. "And funny. He was respectful?" Man, I'm really not good at this kind of thing.

"I hope so, or I might have had to teach that kid some respect." I couldn't help it; I snorted. Fang snapped his narrowed eyes to mine. "What? You don't think I'd do it?"

"Oh, no," I smirked, holding back a sarcastic laugh. "I think you would do it. It's just funny that you'd actually want to." Usually he let me handle things by myself, knowing that I could deal with problems just as easy as he could. But apparently today was an off day, because he shifted on the bed and brought his face closer to mine.

"You don't think I'd try to protect you?" He questioned angrily, his eyes glaring into my own. Something was definitely bothering him. Fang usually never got angry this easily. Or showed anger, unless he was fighting a hoard of erasers or whitecoats.

"And you don't think that I can protect myself?" I retorted. Watch where you step, Fang; you're on thin ice. Fang stared at me, annoyance in his eyes, before he simply shrugged and turned his head to stare absently at the wall. My fists clenched. If there was one thing I hated more than anything, more than talking about mushy feelings even, was being made out to be weak. Especially by another guy. And extra-especially by Fang.

So I did what I do best; I shoved him hard. Perhaps a bit too hard, as he went tumbling off the bed, wings flailing around him, narrowly avoiding the end table at the side of the mattress. Oops!

Fang instantly popped up from the floor, murder in his eyes. He braced his curled fists against the comforter as he tried to contain his anger. His shoulders were slouched slightly and his expression was dark and dangerous. I gulped. Fang could be really scary when he wanted to be.

"Max," He growled, nostrils flaring. I don't think I've ever seen him this upset about anything before. "What. The heck. Is your freaking problem?" His voice was deadly calm, filled with warning and dark undertones that I didn't really want to try and decipher at the moment.

"What's my problem?!" I exclaimed, rolling off the other side of the bed and matching his position. "What the flip is your problem?"

"My problem is that you just attacked me!" Okay, now he was definitely over exaggerating.

"Well, you deserved it! You practically called me a spineless cream puff who can't defend herself!" I was practically seething with anger now. I was having a perfect night, and then Fang had to come along and ruin it.

"Maybe sometimes you do need defending!" Fang replied, his voice rising. We were practically having a stare down right now across the bed. "Face it, Max. You're not Superwoman!" That really hurt. I had always tried to be the fearless leader, the one who was invincible and always had a plan. But according to Fang at the moment, I was doing a crap job of it.

"How do you know? Not all girls are like your little red-headed school-girl who constantly throws herself at you and tells you how attractive you are!" I knew I was being childish, and maybe sounded a tad bit jealous. Which I was so not. At all!

Fang raised his eyebrows as a humorless smirk quirked his lips. "Really, Max? Because as I recall, you've thrown yourself at me more than a couple times in the past!" My mouth dropped open in disbelief. Oooh. That did it. Before I knew what I was doing, I was striding around the bed towards him, my finger pointed at his torso as I fumed. His angry eyes catalogued my every move.

"Look, F'Nick," I hissed when I reached him, poking him in the chest and getting up in his face. "I don't know what you have deluded your pea-sized brain into thinking that I feel for you, or that I 'throw myself at you,' but let me tell you; you have never been more wrong." Fang stared down at me silently, the tension between us practically crackling in the air.

Fang's jaw clenched and his chin rose slightly in defense. "I don't like you." I continued, practically glaring holes through his livid eyes. "I will never like you. You want to know why?" My voice was deathly calm as I spoke. I leaned up even closer to his face, our noses close to brushing. "Because I refuse to ever be with a jealous idiot who calls me weak or who thinks I'm a damsel. Newsflash for you Fang; I could kick your skinny white butt from here to next week in a fraction of a second. And I think you've forgotten that I can handle my own. I can do what I want, go where I want, date who I want, and there's nothing you could ever do to change that about me. I don't need your permission; I don't need you trying to 'defend my honor', or any of that bull crap. And I most certainly don't need your protection."

By the end of my rant, I was practically exhausted. I've never had this bad of an argument with Fang in my whole life, and I knew that I would most definitely regret what I had said later. But I was just so angry at him! And he was angry at me too, for reasons I didn't completely understand.

Fang and I stood there, locked in our stare-down, for what seemed like hours. Fang's eyes bore into mine, lit with an indiscernible passion. Whether it was driven by anger or hurt, I couldn't tell. Or maybe it was-

Fang suddenly grabbed my face and closed the little distance between us, smashing his mouth against mine. I stood paralyzed in shock as he kissed me hungrily, fueled by all of the anger and fury and tension that had built up from our fight. His hands slithered from my cheekbones and into my hair, wrapping around the back of my head and pulling me closer, tilting his head to kiss me deeper.

Okay, for all of you people who've never kissed Fang before (that better be all of you), you should know that kissing Fang was more addicting than eating Lay's potato chips. I mean, you can't just eat one and stop; you end up eating handfuls at a time, because it's so addicting... Okay, maybe that was a really bad analogy to describe kissing with… But my mind had instantly cleared when Fang's mouth touched mine, and I kissed him back with the same amount of passion that he was presenting to me. I couldn't help but keep kissing him, even though I faintly remembered in the back of my mind that I hated him at the moment.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins for the second time that night as I threw my arms around his neck, standing up on my tiptoes to reach his mouth easier. Fang crushed me to his chest with one hand as the other stayed in my hair, tangled up in my knotted brown curls.

I sighed against his lips as Fang ran a hand over my wings, the sensation sending shivers up my spine. I tangled one of my hands in his dark mane of hair, knotting my fingers through the short strands. Neglecting our hair for the entirety of our lives, being on the run and all, you would think his hair would be rough and coarse. But his felt soft and silky against my skin, and I couldn't help but play with it while our mouths slanted together. Anne must have amazing conditioner!

Fang pulled back slowly, smiling faintly at me as I twirled a longer lock of his hair near the top of his neck. We were both panting hard from our heated kiss, our arms still locked around each other. But as soon as his lips left mine, the world came crashing down on me again and I sucked in a breath, my eyes widening at Fang's dark ones. We had kissed! Fang and me… Oh, no. This was not good! But his eyes were calm and a bit… Happy? Pleased? Satisfied? Sometimes it was hard to tell with him.

"I bet that spineless wiener would never have kissed you like that." Fang stated breathlessly, his face still too close to mine. My hands were still locked in his midnight black hair, and my body must have a mind of its own, because my hands were making no effort to part from his head.

I was still shocked by the whole kiss, so I said the first thing that came to mind. "Wiener?" I did a mental face palm. Wow, real eloquent, Max!

Fang's small smile widened into that half-grin that I loved, his eyes searching mine. "Yep. Face it, Max. You dated a wienie."

"What?" I asked, still confused and very very light-headed. "How does that work out? He was really cute!" Fang rolled his eyes

"Well, compared to me? I mean, come on!" Now it was my turn to roll my eyes as I smacked his arm. Such a tease! I slowly dropped my hand from his hair and stepped away from his embrace, peering into his eyes. This was… Different. Fang and I. Like this. Kissing each other, and holding each other like we had, when we were just hurling insults at one another moments before.

I felt really strange, even more strange than when Sam kissed me. The kiss with Sam was nice… But the kiss with Fang washed his out indefinitely in comparison. But still, I had just gotten back from a date just moments before, and here I was kissing my best friend. And Fang had kissed that girl at school, and now he was kissing me… And my mind was foggy, and everything felt so strange now.

"Fang, what about… That red headed girl? Your girlfriend?" Fang shook his head, looking deep into my eyes.

"She kissed me, Max." Fang murmured. He maneuvered around me to sit at the edge of my bed, staring at me. I decided to join him, but made sure that there was a great deal of space between us.

"Yeah, but you kissed her back." I didn't want Fang toying with me, or whatever it was that he was doing now. Actually, I really didn't know what I wanted at the moment. Part of me wanted to yell at Fang and shove him out of my room… But part of me still really liked that we were beginning to work things out.

"And you kissed Sam." Fang replied softly, leaning back on his arms, his eyes boring into mine. I spun so my legs were bent and my feet were resting on the bedspread, pointing towards Fang. I locked my arms around my knees, resting my head against them.

"Were you jealous?" I questioned, only half-teasing. I really wanted to make sure I had read him right. "When we kissed? Or when we went out to that movie?" Fang seemed to debate with himself before replying.

"I didn't like it." Fang admitted grudgingly. He looked down at his boots. "When I saw you and him together… I don't know; I got really angry. Like I wanted to punch his lights out." I smiled slightly. I could totally relate to this feeling.

"I guess I felt the same way when I saw you and that girl together, too." Fang nodded, his lips quirking up.

"Soo…" Fang trailed off, kicking off his boots. "Where does this put us?" He shifted to match my position; arms locked around his knees and head on his arms; his socked feet were only just touching my bare ones.

I sighed. "I'm not sure." Everything was still so confusing. I needed more time to think. Fang looked up at me from under his dark lashes, his long bangs flopping in front of his eye. His hair was still pretty short from that free makeover we got in New York, except for his long floppy bangs. Don't tell him this, but I kind of missed his longer shaggy hair.

"I think the fact that we both get mad when we see each other with other people has to mean something." Fang was also working this out in his head. At least he wasn't the only one who had no clue what to think. "I mean, why get jealous if there wasn't something between us?" Hmm… Good question, Fangles.

"I don't know." I retorted, frustrated. "Because we're best friends?"

"What does that have to do with us dating others?" Fang raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding.

"Because we're afraid that they're going to steal us away from each other?" It was a possible reason. I didn't ever want to lose my friendship with Fang, and now he was hanging around that girl at school all the time instead of me… But something in the back of my head told me that I was missing the full picture.

"I just really don't think that's the reason." Fang must be thinking the same way I was.

"Well, then what is?" This was more frustrating than I could have ever imagined!

"We're… Close. We've always been close. But lately, things have been changing? Tell me you've noticed it too." When I gave him a questioning look, he continued his explanation. "Things aren't really that easy between us anymore. We fight a lot, and there's always this weird tension around us when we're together. It's not exactly unpleasant, just… Stressful. It's like we're straining to go back to how we were when we were kids, but I don't think it's possible anymore."

"So you're saying that we're not best friends?" I murmured quietly. That hurt. Fang and I had always been inseparable, and now he was telling me-

"No!" Fang reassured, reaching out one of his arms and tapping my ankle lightly in comfort. He moved his arm back to rest on his knee, stretching it out slightly. "We are, and we always will be. I'm just saying that there's something new between us, something… Different, that wasn't there before.

"Wait, are you talking about feelings?" Oh wow, that was a dumb question to ask! Of course he was talking about them! What else would he be talking about? Potatoes?

Fang shook his head in disbelief, a small amused smirk on his lips. "Yes, Max. I am talking about feelings." I felt really stupid right now. "And the fact that we may have them for each other."

"So… You're saying that you like me?" I asked. I knew I was a bit slow at understanding this, but hey! I just got introduced to all this mushy stuff a few hours ago!

"Would I have kissed you if I didn't?" Fang replied, raising a challenging eyebrow.

"You could have. You were pretty mad." I argued. Fang shrugged his shoulders in a 'so?' gesture. I rolled my eyes at him. "You kissed me pretty aggressively. I thought you just acted on a spur of the moment, thing." His face flushed a bit at the mention of him 'kissing aggressively'.

"It wasn't like I planned it…" Fang trailed off, running his hand through his short hair, "But I don't regret doing it." He flicked his eyes to meet mine again, his gaze intense as he waited for my reaction.

I opened up my mouth a couple times to speak, but I wasn't really sure what I felt at the moment. Fang liked me! Fang didn't regret kissing me! But yet, we were still a family, like brother and sister... Eew… Well, maybe not anymore… But still! I just… I didn't know.

"Fang," I began, stopping to gather my thoughts while Fang waited patiently. "I don't… I don't know what I feel right now." I definitely needed to think things over, but my mind was so foggy at the moment… Fang nodded in understanding.

"Anything I can help clear up?" He asked, stretching one of his legs out so it rested to my right. The thing was, I had a lot of questions I needed cleared up. But I was suddenly exhausted from the day's shenanigans. School, date with Sam, kiss with Sam, kiss with Fang, and then a huge talk about major feels? I was beyond tired.

"Maybe later," I sighed, lifting my head and stretching out my arms. I shifted so that my legs were twisted to the side beneath me. "Right now, I'm just…"

"Drained?" Fang finished for me, his lips quirking up the tiniest amount when I let out a big yawn. I nodded.

"Yeah, you could say that." I affirmed. Fang removed his leg from beside me and slid from the bed, padding over to me.

"Should we continue talking about this tomorrow?" Fang asked questioningly, standing beside the end table he almost smacked into earlier.

"Yeah. That would be nice," I stated, rubbing at my eyes. Fang nodded again and leaned forward. I tensed and sat stiffly as he leaned closer, my senses hyper-aware. He gently placed his lips on my forehead, kissing me quickly before stepping back and turning towards the door with a quiet "Good night". He picked up his boots on the way, raising his hand to turn off the light as he reached the doorway.

"Oh, Fang?" I asked suddenly, wanting to get something off my chest. He raised one of his eyebrows for me to go on, his hand still hovering by the switch. Dang, he really has that down to an art! He's like a… eyebrow speaker, or something. "I'm sorry. For, um... Saying those things, and pushing you off the bed, and telling you I didn't like you. Which is totally untrue!…" I trailed off.

"No problem," Fang smiled slightly, nodding his head. "I deserved it."

"No, you didn't. If I could take it back-"

"Go to sleep, Max," Fang interrupted, flipping off the switch.

"…Goodnight, Fang!" I called after his silhouette as he opened the door. Now I kind of wished we would have talked longer… Oh, I don't know!

"Yeah. Sweet dreams." Fang exited through the door; quietly easing it shut as not to wake the sleeping inhabitants in the house.

"…Superwoman," He murmured softly. He shut the door, and I was left alone in the darkness of my room. A huge grin snuck its way onto my face.

I turned and flopped onto my pillows, smiling onto the fluffy fabric. Fang, Fang, Fang… Oh, geez, not this girliness again! But I couldn't help it;

That boy just made me smile sometimes.

Ya' know; when he's not annoying... Or stubborn, or obnoxious. Or a total butt.

I sighed happily and rolled over, staring at the ceiling. I closed my eyes, trying hard to block my mind of everything that had just happened between me and my best friend and willing my heart to relax, since it was practically pounding as hard as it would if I had just taken out a hoard of Erasers! I shut everything out, attempting to forget about the date with Sam, and my two first kisses.

And after two hours and forty-three minutes of trying to fall asleep… I finally drifted off to dreamland.

And boy, did I dream!

I bet you can guess whom I dreamed about, too.

Yep, that's right…

… Fang…

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A.N… Soo… Whatcha' think?

I hope it wasn't too cheesy! I re-read the ending, and I was like 'eh… This seems kind of sappy.'

The next one will most definitely be the chapter I said I was going to do last time, which will include a lot more humor and shenanigans than this one and the last one, since those were dealing with a lot of feelings! Plus, the next one will have the whole flock in it, and won't be just Max x Fang centered, although it will have some Fax in there!

Please review! Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated!

And thanks again for reading!

And remember; if you have an idea for a possible 'what if…', please review and tell me your idea! I would love to have your guys' input!