Ok guys, I know it's been….a reeeeally long time and I'm sooooo sorry! First off, I'd like to say that I guess this fic is AU because in it, Ari and Max ARE NOT brother and sister! Lol, hope u guys knew that….and also, Jeb is NOT the voice in Max's head. And of course, Max and Ari are ooc…cause…yeah… Just thought u guys should know that….I'm gonna be a little rusty I'm sure…don't be too hard on me : ) And I made a reference to go fish…Idt they ever played in the books….read and tell me if it works : )

Ari grabbed his cards from his nightstand drawer and ran back into his living room as fast as he could. He nearly knocked several things over on the way back…he'd always been a little klutzy. He never liked being so darn big, it threw off his center of gravity. He'd tried to get used to it over the last few years but it was really hard. But whatever…

He leapt onto the opposite end of the couch from Max and smiled, trying not to smile 'Evilly' again. "So what do you wanna play, Max?" He asked happily.

Max seemed to look thrown by something…but then she shook her head and actually gave him a very, very small smile. "I really wanna play Go Fish…I've heard people talking about it and I've tried to play but…I don't really know the rules." She asked quietly, sitting Indian style. Ari was sitting the same way, about two feet away and facing her.

The situation seemed so…comfortable. Which felt odd. So it was …oddly comfortable? Ari tried to stop thinking so much and just nodded "I know how to play that. Something Da-Jeb actually taught me." He tried to not sound bitter, though he knew he probably did.

He dealt seven cards for each of them and then placed the rest of the deck between them on the sofa, making sure it was stable.

"Ok, so those are your cards. And these are mine." Ari said sweetly, wanting to start from scratch since she most likely didn't know much about card games.

Max nodded slowly, picking up her cards and carefully arranging them in her hands. She looked really cute because she was concentrating really hard on it, even those it was just a card game. But she was fully focused on it and it was….adorable to Ari.

He hid his smile when she looked up for her next instructions.

"Ok, so if you have two of the same type of card then you should pull them out now, 'cause that's a pair." Ari said simply and looked down at his own hand. A pair of sevens. Cool. He pulled it out and set the cards down in front of him.

He looked up in time to see Max grin to herself and pull out a pair of Queens and a pair of twos from her hand. She set then proudly in front of her in a very decorative way and looked up. She blushed when she saw Ari studying her but gestured to her cards.

"Is that good??" She asked in a prideful voice.

Ari tried not to laugh at how she was into such a little thing. It made him happy she was so…in the moment and…happy-ish. He nodded with and impressed smile "Very good. Now, you start. Ask me 'Do you have any….' and then fill in the blank wit one of your cards you want a match to."

Max nodded and looked down at her cards once more. She seemed to go deep into thought again for a moment, deciding which card to choose. Then she looked up, as if she had finally made a life altering decision.

"Do you have any….K's?" She asked seriously.

Ari nearly laughed at how cute that was. Because she used the rather childish term of 'K' instead of 'King' and also because she was taking this oh soooo seriously! But he kept himself under control and put on an equally somber face.

"Go. Fish." He said seriously.

Max nodded and then paused "That means I draw a card right?" She said, breaking her seriousness for a second in her hesitance.

"Yup." Ari smiled.

Max nodded again, but mainly to herself it seemed. As if she was telling herself she already knew that. She drew a card and suddenly began bouncing excitedly in place. It was a VERY un-Max thing to do…

She was waving her newest card in the air "It's a K! It's a K! What does that mean?" She began excitedly and then seemed to calm, raising her eyebrow curiously, after she apparently realized she had no idea if she should be excited or not.

Ari couldn't help it, he actually laughed this time.

Max wasn't too happy about that. Her expression changed to grumpy and she made a cute 'Hmph' noise.

Ari calmed himself and cleared his throat "Sorry um…it means you get to go again, because you got a match." He smiled, hoping she wasn't really mad.

Max gave him a dirty look, but nodded obediently and put down her newest pair with the others.

Max studied her two cards carefully, but she seemed to be trying to be less business-like since Ari laughed at her.

"Got any twos?" She asked, still sounding a little grumpy.

Ari quickly handed over his two, which Max snatched away in victory. "Ha!" She stuck her tongue out rudely, as if to say 'That's what you get for laughing at the poor, depressed girl who was finally feeling happy because she was winning at Go Fish'. Or Ari assumed that's what the face she made meant…but what did he know?

"Are you cheating…?" Ari asked suspiciously as he suddenly realized how very good she was at this game…She only had one card left and had like, five matches!

Max scoffed, clearly offended "No! I'm just better then you." She stuck her nose up in the air in a snooty way and held her one card very proudly.

"Now, I get to go again riiiight?" She checked.

Ari nodded in a pouting way and she smiled evilly.

"Got any eights?" She asked, raising both her eye brows.

Ari's mouth dropped open and he stared at her in earnest. "You have got to be kidding me…."

Max bounced slightly again "You do huh!?!?" She asked excitedly.

Ari then smirked evilly "Nope, but I had you for a second didn't I?"

She gasped "Uh! You suck!" She squealed with an angry look as she drew another card. Needless to say, it wasn't a match…

"I don't want to play any more." Max announced, pouting.

"Are you seriously gonna give up at the first sign of trouble?" Ari asked, disbelieving.

Max grunted "Yes…"

"The Great Maximum Ride is giving up???"

"Yes!" She said grumpily and collected all of his cards and hers, stacking them with the remainder of the deck. Then she plopped them on the coffee table.

"Now do you know what that means?" Max asked slowly.

Ari was confused "Ummmm…no?"

Max grins "It means I win! Because when we stopped playing, I had the most matches!"

"Are you insane!? That's not how it works!" Ari complained, using his childish whine and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well I didn't know the rules and you didn't tell me that rule so…there!" Max said in a final voice.

Ari rolled his eyes "Gah!!"

Max snorted. "So…now that I whooped your ass at Go Fiiiish…" She asked casually.

"Psh." Ari grunted. "I'm going to go make my bed. And show you the guest room." He grumpily got up and walked toward the hallway. Well shoot…he was gonna regret being all grumpy very soon! He had actually managed to get her to sleep in his room last night! And now just because he was being stupid, he was showing her the guest room! He was such an idiot sometimes…

Max got up and followed him as he stomped around the house. "I don't want the guest room. You said there's no TV. I want your room. You take the guest room." She said matter of factly as she folded her arms against her chest.

Ari stopped dead as he had been about to make his bed. "What!?" He asked as if she had lost her mind.

Max seemed perfectly calm and non-shalant. "Hey, it only makes sense…I'm the guest. So I should get the best room."

Ari took a deep breath to calm himself "Ah, but see, you said it yourself. You're the guest. Hence, you should stay in the guest room." He said in the nicest voice he could force out. He was actually making his bed too….Multitasking had never been a strong suit of his but hey…he was growing.

And they were arguing like…like Max had been here for years or something. Ari actually…liked that. It sorta proved how perfect they were for each other. Because they could be this comfortable with one another this quickly. So awesome.

Max let out a frustrated sound and threw her hands in the air. "But I want a TV in my room!!" She complained.

Geez, quite the Princess wasn't she…Being leader all those years had spoiled her.

"Well then you can share my room, because I'm not leaving!" He said with a big, fake smile on his face. At least, he tried to make it look fake so it would seem he was still all into the fight and sarcastic…but it was really a real smile. Because it would be really cool if she stay in his room…

Max groaned "Fiiiine! But I get first dibs on the tuner for…Forever!"

"Fine." Ari agreed, because he had just won so what was a small thing like tuner control? Max was gonna stay in his room! Or at least when she wanted to watch TV anyway…

"Well, I'm going to find a chick flick to watch before lunch!" Max said as if it were a horrible punishment.

Ari just smiled in a complacent way "Whatever." he said, acting like he was happy in a cocky way. Which he sorta was…and sorta wasn't.

"GRRR! It's gonna be like, The Notebook or something!" She warned and jumped onto the freshly made bed, mussing it slightly. She grabbed the tuner and began furiously looking for a horrible, sappy, girly movie which would probably just torture her as much as it did him.

But Ari didn't care. Because really, how could he? This was the best day of his life!

He walked out of the room with a grin, just thinking

This could really work…it already is working…

"YOU BETTER COME BACK TO WATCH THE PUNISHMENT GIRLY MOVIE!" Max called after him.