Two things for sleepless nights by whiteknightgirl

Max's POV

I sighed, lying back on my bed, eyes wide open. I couldn't sleep. We were at Mom's for the summer and I couldn't seem to relax, sleep, nothing. My flock fit in perfectly, even Fang, but I couldn't mesh into this normal lifestyle like everyone else could. I just couldn't.

So, here I was, lying here on another sleepless night with not a clue in the world on how to get to bed. It was another miserable attempt at comfort, but I kept at it. Who knew, maybe it'd pay off? Yeah. Right.

Just then, I heard someone walk into my room and lay down right next to me on my bed. Weird, it was really late. I looked over. Iggy.

"Ig…?" I asked, my voice showing my confusion with a blend of sleepiness sprinkles with irritation.

"You were making too much noise, I couldn't sleep through it. Everything okay?" He asked, looking me directly in the eye. I shivered. I still couldn't understand how he did it. I sat up and so did he.

"Yeah, just… I don't know." I really didn't, it was one mystery no one could solve. And on top of it, my head hurt.

"Just being uptight, stressed out Max?" He offered, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his pale pink lips. I blushed a little.

"Uh, I, yeah…" I muttered, feeling like a fool. What kind of person has trouble sleeping when it may be their only chance in the world?

"You need to relax." He said gently, his eyes softening. He put his hand on my shoulder and I blushed harder.

Then he got a sly, mischievous grin on his face. Shoot. Not good, abort mission and all that jazz popped into my head at once.

Then, he tackled me. "What. Are you doing?!" I said, my eyes shooting wide open in fear and slight confusion.

He chuckled, "Tackling the undeafeated Maximum Ride like I never could before." I tried to push him off of me but his weight was way too much and he was actually stronger than the last time we'd wrestled. We'd been about ten.

"Dammit." I said through clenched teeth.

He laughed and got off me, rolling over next to me. I glanced over and his face looked serene and peacful. I couldn't help but smile slightly. It felt good to know that he was somewhat happy.

"Whatcha thinking about?" I asked carefully.

"Eh, how you guys all looked before I lost my sight. I'm comapring it to how you looked up against that white background." He answered without thinking, then blushed. "Eh heh heh.."

I glanced over at him, my mind racing. I wondered if he really was happy. Or if it was all a facade? Maybe. Iggy's not the expressive type. Even less so than Fang in some ways. Ah Fang... what about him? We were on and off ever since we said we were on. I loved him, but I couldn't tell id I really loved him as more than a brother anymore. Myabe at one point but now? I wasn't sure.

I was awoken from my minds rampage to Iggy looking at me, concern on his face. "You alright?"

"I, uh, yeah." I said slowly, kind of fast at the same time though. It was fast out loud but slow to me anyways.

His face sofened. "You do so much for us Max. And I know it's hard. I know sometimes it doesn't seem like it, but we all apperciate you so much. Thank you." I smiled.

"No Ig, thank you." I sighed contentedly. Maybe I'd be able to fall asleep tonight after all. I already felt myself drifting. But that was only because of two things: Peaceful thoughts and Iggy.

Max's POV

The next morning, I woke up in a very comfortable position. My eyes shot wide open when I felt something mobve around me. Someone. I glanced over my shoulder. Iggy. I'd fallen asleep next to Iggy last night and somehow... somehow ended up wrapped in his arms. I tired to move carefully out of his loose hold around my waist. No dice. He woke up the second I moved.

"Max?" His voice sounded confused and slightly slurred by sleepiness, "that you?"

"Yeah Ig, it's me." I felt myself stumble through the right words in my head, finally just choosing to be straight forward with him, "Can you, um, please remove your arms so I can get up?"

He blinked, as if comprehending my words, and then blushed a tiny bit. "Yeah, sorry." He undid his arms from around me before sitting up slowly. "Whoa." He shook his head slowly. I watched him carefully.

"Headache." He confirmed, "I'm gonna go get some Tylenol then make breakfast, wanna come help?" He held out his hand to help me up. I felt my eyes meet his, though he didn't know that. Or did he? I wasn't sure.

"Me, make breakfast?" I asked, unsure, taking his hand.

He chuckled, "Under supervision." He answered motioning to himself. I couldn't help it, I laughed a little and he tilted his head to hear the sound.

I was smiling as I walked downstairs, after changing and washing my face. I walked into the kitchen to see Iggy beating eggs. He looked over, smiling at me and I felt something weird click in my chest. I was still smiling, wondering what the heck just happened as I walked over to help him. He looked over at me again.

"Alright, you'll finish beating the eggs." He started, "All you have to do is move your hand like this." He demonstrated before handing the bowl of half beat eggs to me. I nodded and started beating them. Man, it gets hard after a while. Iggy cocked his head in my direction and walked up behind me.

"Smoother Max, like this." His arms wrapped around me, like he was hugging me from behind, but he grabbed my hands and showed me the correct motion. Too bad all I could focus on was his chest on my back and his hands holding mine.

Eventually, breakfast was done and set out on the table. "Breakfast!" Iggy called, a small smile gracing the corners of his mouth as he heard all the kids come down the stairs, running.

When they got down to the kitchen they looked from me to the food then back to Iggy, "Did she help?" Gazzy asked, voice nothing but a sqeak. Angel's eyes were wide and mom's were worried.

"Yes, she did, but everything tastes fine." Iggy assured them. I smiled again. Fang was looking from me to Iggy and I felt a small bit of ice form in my stomach. Yikes. What was that?

After breakfast, I went back to my room and took a long nap only to be awoken by a certain blind pyromaniac. "What do you want?" I growled, irritated at being disturbed.

"Brought you chocolate chip cookies." He laughed, and that's when the aroma of cookies made their way to my nose. I sat bolt up in bed and grabbed the tray, licking my lips.

"You're forgiven."

Iggy rolled his sightless, bright, cloudy blue eyes. "When trying to stop Miss. Ride from saving the world, arm yourself with cookies. She'll catch each cookie you shoot in her mouth and explode from the cookie's sweetness."

I lightly punched his shoulder. "Shut up." I said, though with my mouth full of cookie it came out, "Shootap."

He chuckled and grabbed a cookie off the tray, taking a bite. "Really now? Cookies must be the answer because they can even stop your back talk." I glared but it was wasted and he just laughed. I felt something else click in my chest and a shiver went down my back. I blushed. He looked over at me curiously, his hand coming up to touch my cheek.

"You're blushing." He murmured, voice quieter, gentle, smooth. A light tingling sensation coursed through my body like some new kind of Adrenaline rush. I shook my head furiously, swallowing my cookie and putting my hand on top of his which was still on my cheek.

"I-I... uh... no." I gave up, my voice was shaking and I was stumbling over my words like I'd never done before, still blushing a deeper scarlet in the process.

His face turned to one of different emotions. Curiosity, indifference, longing, and... love? No, no. Maybe it was... playfulness? That was definately there too... but there was something else. Then I realized we were subconsciously leaning forward. And I didn't stop. I was so out of my mind right now.

Then our lips met. Fireworks went off inside my stomach. My heart shot into my throat. And so much more that can't even be described. It was great, wonderful. No word could describe it, not even perfect. Then we broke apart for air. Dang lungs.

"Whoa." We said in union.

And reality hit me like a bullet as the third piece of a small puzzle clicked into my chest. I was head over heels in love with Iggy. And that was okay as long as he loved me too.

This was originally supposed to be a one shot, but someone asked if I could please do another chapter. So I did. Read and Reply please. ;) Thank you for your time. Flames adn critique welcomed. Critique encouraged.