DISCLAIMER: I do not own MR.

Everyone was trying to forget about the closet incident: Fang was trying to forget that he had accidentally pulled Max in and tried to kiss her; Max was trying to forget that she had just let herself get pulled in, and actually sort of subconsciously be fine with Fang's attempt to kiss her; Dylan was trying to forget that he had actually walked in on his twin sister and her best friend about to kiss.

Everyone's motives were good enough, but it was too much of a story to actually forget. And that made the next day awkward.

Max and Fang both arrived late, the same minds thinking that they could avoid each other by getting to school sixty seconds before the bell rang. Not communicating in shared classes was easy enough. But, lunch was a problem. Normal best friends would avoid each other even during lunch. And Max and Fang were considered by many a quirky pair, both thinking that no one would dare bring up the topic. Even if both wanted to bring it up for the sake of closure.

"Hey." Max said, setting her tray down on the table, across Fang who acknowledged her with a nod and did the same. Thankfully Dylan followed and eased the tension by demanding a dollar from either of them so he could by a soda.

"I'm still wondering why you're putting up with unknown cafeteria food when your mom's pretty much the best cook in the world." Max said, playing with the red sludge that was probably meant to be the day's pasta special.

"And I feel the same towards you." Fang replied.

Fang had realized too late that Max had also realized that Fang's words sounded like they were meant for a different statement, like they were supposed to be a reply to something else entirely. And right as they felt everything was about to burst. Dylan called over Max to get help in retrieving his dollar. In the second that Max stood up and turned around, Dylan gave Fang a look that was meant to be helpful. Dylan knew; he was trying to help Fang not lose her, sort of like what he had told him yesterday afternoon.

He seriously had to let things go.

He quickly grabbed his phone from his pocket, fingers flying over the keys in record speed. And right as he was notified that his message was sent, he received a new one. From Max.

Let's never speak of this again.

Whether it was a reply to his message or a different one, Fang did not dare to ask.

Fang had always wondered what would've happened if all the unspoken words burst out and Dylan didn't stop them, or maybe if Dylan just didn't talk to him that afternoon in the first place. Or maybe if Dylan didn't open the door just in time for Max and Fang to begin regretting their decisions. Though he rarely thought about that alternate universe, it was a thought that was hard to let go of. For a pair of words, "what if" was tough to beat.

Almost five years of knowing each other, about three years of best- friend- ship, a closet incident, and one Redheaded Wonder later, Fang was back to the summer in junior year, when he realized that he really did have feelings for her, that his brain was probably in too much denial to make sense of any of it during the past. It was weird, honestly. He forced Max to teach him the fine art of regular courtship for weeks, when the girl he was doing it for wasn't going to end up with him anyway.

Right then and there, Fang was processing Dylan's previous words. Go get her. Was it just him, or was Dylan actually giving him his blessing? It was too late now to turn things back to "just friends" anyway, considering what had happened. He was betting that this was going to be an even bigger story than the closet incident.

"Yeah, it's what you think it is." Dylan replied with a smile and a small nod upon seeing Fang's reaction. Both of them sat down on their own beds, Dylan getting prepared to catch up on sleep while Fang was just sitting there. "I don't think things will end with the two of you still being friends."

"So either we'll be more than friends or we won't be friends at all?" Fang asked with a hint of pessimism upon realizing the alternate conclusion.

"Pretty much, yeah. Although I am betting on the first one."

Fang lay down on his bed. "How am I supposed to break things to her? I mean, yeah, she probably knows by now about how I feel, but still. I think I'm supposed to do some confirmation for that."

"I don't know exactly, but I think you should just say it; it'll all come out naturally, anyway." Dylan replied with a yawn. "With that much emotion coming from you, that would be enough for Max."

Dylan had a point, though Fang was still trying to find where and what it was. But he knew that he didn't need to write a speech in his head, like that mushy part of him knew the exact words to say but wasn't about to reveal it just yet. His roommate switched off the light, the shared lamp in between their beds providing enough light for him to climb in and start to snore in record time.

"Erm, Dylan?"

"Yeah?" He mumbled back in reply.

"Would it be awkward if I thanked Lissa?"

"Yeah. But she deserves it, anyway."

Before he turned off the light and went to sleep, Fang grabbed the small pad of paper and the pen on the bedside desk. In big, bold letters, he wrote down Things to get for Lissa:

1. A lot of lilies (that meaning more than a dozen)

2. Chocolates/ Nutella

3. A new mix CD

4. Thank you note

"Remind me why I'm here at the mall with the fine Martinez- Ride twins again?" Fang asked, watching Dylan as he searched for the color of the shirt he wanted, which, according to Mrs. Martinez- Ride, should match his eyes.

"Because Dylan's going to the prom. And I'm supposed to supervise him." Max replied with a weary sigh as she sat down on one of the cushiony seats for the customers.

"Isn't he a bit too old for supervision?"

"Tell that to our mom."

"No thank you." He said, knowing how easy it would be for Max and Dylan's mother to take him down in debate.

"Also, I need male opinion on the dress I'm supposed to buy."

"Your mom's making you buy a dress? This is worse than I thought."

"Well I'd hate to ruin the dress code and not really ruin the night of everyone else's lives."

"Wait a second, why would you need male opinion? Don't you have Dylan for that?"

"The only female opinion I can get as soon as possible is from my mother, who will either make me buy a hideous dress or hide her feelings of contempt if I 'fall in love' with a hideous dress." She replied, forming air quotations with her finger as she said the words fall in love. "Plus, Dylan's my brother, so that doesn't count."

"Well, aren't I sort of brotherly, too?"

Max opened her mouth to say something, but quickly hesitated and changed her words. "In a way, yeah."

Fang could tell what she was thinking about. The closet story, once again. What did Max really mean when she said, in a way? Was that to imply that there was still something lingering in the air that was from the old, musky, and tension- filled atmosphere of the supply closet? After that afternoon, he thought he already knew where he really stood in Max's perspective, but now, the paranoid part of him started gearing up and overanalyzing.

"So why do I have to do that again?" He asked once he realized that Max was still waiting for some sort of indication that he didn't zone out.

"You know Dylan will be really embarrassed if I ask him if a dress makes my ass look too big. And you're pretty much the only resource left."

"Fine." He said with a weary sigh of his own.

"Wait, why aren't you buying a suit or something? Aren't you going to prom?"

He shook his head. "I have a feeling that the angry mob will only get bigger if I arrive at the scene."

"Not if you're with me."

Suddenly realizing what Max had implied, Fang turned to look at her with a curious look on his face. "Did Maxine Martinez- Ride just ask me to accompany her to prom?"

Max made a show of grabbing an artificial flower from the store display and kneeling in front of Fang. "John 'Fang' Karas, will you do the honor of being my not- date to prom?"

Fang acted all girly and fake- blushed as he retrieved the rose from Max. "Well, I better pick out a suit, too." He said, standing up and walking over to Dylan.

Max, Fang, Dylan, and pretty much everyone else who saw Max and Fang make their entrance knew that Max was there to supervise her brother, and that Fang was there to accompany Max in her task of supervision, so fortunately no assumptions were made. And while a small group or two had occasionally tried to piss of Fang for the sake of their friends or dates, the night didn't turn out to be so bad, after all.

If she hadn't asked Fang to go with her, Max would've probably spent the rest of the night staring off into distance as Dylan danced with his date. But since Fang was there, there were only few dull moments. He did the courtesy of being her first dance and last dance; he went dancing with her during the fast songs and joked with her during the slow songs; at one point they decided to knock off the boredom by hiding one of each pair of heels left by various girls near the dance floor. And when Dylan and his date wanted to go to a diner to sober up before finally going home, Max and Fang sat at a nearby table playing with their food.

Max had always wondered if it would feel the same if ever she asked him to be her real date.

In the end, Dylan and Angel managed to convince her to give it a chance, to try and dwell off to the unknown. Compared to Angel, Max was no witty debater, no matter how good she had become thanks to pessimism.

"Fang is your best friend." Angel had told her. "If he really knew you, then he would know that you don't know jack about being in a relationship, even if he asked you to do all those lessons. If he really wanted to be with you, then he would be prepared to take your relationship- clueless- self under his wing, albeit he's slightly less clueless than you are."

"And you cannot argue with a fourteen- year- old child prodigy." Dylan said, nodding in agreement with what Angel said.

"Well, what am I supposed to do now?" She asked.

"Why don't you rest for a day or two?" Dylan suggested. "It's been a crazy couple of days, and your brain is probably on overdrive right now. You'll need to calm down first."

"Well, who's going to speak up first? Should I go to Fang or something? Or do you think he'll be approaching me?"

"You're the person who knows him the most. So what would he most probably do?" Angel asked.

"You're right with that one. Seeing that when he asked out Lissa when she also liked him, I'm guessing he might go first."

"There you have it." She said. "So get some rest for a day or two, and if he ever approaches me or Dylan, we'll be sure to push him in the right direction."

Max gave Dylan a look that said coffee run, and as they stood up, Angel thought for a moment and called out to them as they were at the door.

"I hope the two of you don't mess things up this time."

A couple of days later

This was it. Or at least he felt like this was it.

How does one person prepare for confrontation? For him to admit his weakness of being clueless about proper dating and to get lessons, it took three arm wrestling matches. For him to ask Lissa out, it only took a warning glare. But how about now, that Max was supposed to be the effect and not the cause?

There was no training montage for this, no scene where he'd rehearse his lines and "train" with his bros. For the past couple of days, he did what he normally would: attend class, do- or try to do- homework, and get a lot of sleep. All the while he waited for something, anything, that would tell him that it was time to face the music.

Oddly enough, he had thought of confronting her late at night. Not because he would be busy for the afternoon and it was the same with Max, but because he just did. After all, there was nothing more romantic than a night under the stars, was there? That is, if the scene was going to turn romantic.

"Where are you going?" Dylan asked as Fang grabbed his jacket and headed towards the door.

"I just need a walk." He replied, hic childish side thinking that admitting to Dylan that he was going to face Max might jinx things.

He actually didn't know where Max would be at that time of the evening; she had a habit of being impulsive. At times that he would sneak out in the middle of the night to get some peace and quiet whenever his relatives were in town, Max would have beaten him to the latest sanctuary. And most times she was there for no actual reason, though at some times she would admit to not being able to sleep. That night, he took his chance and knocked on Max and Angel's door.

"What is- Oh, hey." Angel said, looking up and rubbing her eyes to see Fang at the door. "You need anything?"

"Is Max there?"

Angel shook her head and opened the door wider as proof that Max wasn't hiding from him.

"Do you have any idea where she is?" He asked. Angel turned away from Fang and shuffled through Max's desk and drawers. He didn't exactly know what she was looking for, but once she had opened the right drawer and stuck her hand in it to shuffle through the contents, her eyes lit up and she ran across the room to her own things. When she returned to the doorway, she handed Fang a key.

The appearance of the key and its ridges felt familiar to him. "Is it just me, or does this key look like the one to that one Science building Lissa and I had a date on?"

Angel grinned. "It is, actually."

"I thought you returned the keys?"

"We did, actually, but then we realized that the rooftop there is way better than the rooftop at your dorm, so we stole it and made duplicates."

"Oh. Thanks."

"You're going to do it, aren't you?" Angel asked, her smile turning from an eager grin to a soft, happy one.

He nodded. "Wish me luck."

Fang didn't make a sound as he climbed all four sets of stairs, and if possible, he made even less as he opened the door and stepped out to the rooftop, although all that climbing brought the beginnings of heavy breathing. He remained standing where he was, near the door, and for the next minute watched as Max watched the night sky.

He took a few steps forward, and even if he held his breath as he came nearer, Max was that good in sensing him.

"Hey." She said softly.

"Hey." He greeted in the same tone. "Angel led me here, if you must know." He added. Max still had her back turned to him, still looking at the view of campus even if the (hopefully) love of her life was standing less than a foot away from him.

"So, what's up?" She asked.

"We both know what's up. But I guess I have to say things anyway. Maxine Martinez- Ride, I like you. Not just as a friend; more than best friends, and even more than super best friends. And while it has taken me about three years to realize that my feelings for you were never gone, I'm willing to make up for everything."

At first Max said something, but then she spoke up. "John 'Fang' Karas, I like you. Not just as a friend; more than best friends, and even more than super best friends. But it took me three years to really fall for you."

"Should I ask why?"

"When I hurried out of that closet the last time, when I walked away from the bridge the last time, it was because I didn't want to ruin our friendship. I didn't want to ruin anything."

Fang reached for Max's hand, and firmly held it in his. Max gave him a squeeze in reply. "I do want to be with you, in the way that's supposed to imply that we're more than friends, but during those times I didn't want to destroy everything else in between when it's all over. But right now, you're just holding my hand over here and it just feels so good and I just don't want to let go, and not just of your hand, but of everything else. I just don't want to let go."

"So don't." He breathed in reply.

Max turned to face him. Her eyes weren't exactly twinkling under the moonlight, but those brown eyes were still so deep and full of emotion. She kept her gaze on him and her hand in his. Then she smiled.

"Who'd thought those lessons would go to waste?" She asked with a small smile. "All that work and in the end Lissa just convinced us that we should be together."

"It wasn't a waste." Fang replied with a small smile of his own. "If it weren't for those lessons, then I wouldn't have told you all of this. I wouldn't have gotten you."

THIS CHAPTER IS SPECIAL. Why is it special?

1. This is a post prom chapter. As in I published it after my first prom. (Yes, prom season is a lot earlier here.)

2. This is the last chapter.

Yeah, that's right. You just read the ending. You can go ahead and make up your own conclusions, like if you want to live your dream of having them kiss right after that conversation or something.

It was fun writing this story, and when I looked back I realized that it was a lot better than HOOML, my writing going from mediocre to slightly less mediocre. I want to thank all the people who took the time to read and review and appreciate, even if there was that unplanned hiatus and all.

SHAMELESS ADVERTISING CORNER

So… I have a favor to ask: don't remove this story from your alerts. I'm working on another MR project, though I'm going to confess that it will take more than a couple of weeks to finish. I know that some put me on author alert, but let's just say that his one's going to be a lot different. (Hint: It will not (and cannot) be put up on FFN.) BUT, I might also put out a new story here sooner or later.

See you in an indefinite amount of time :))