A Chocolate Kiss

By: XxVampireluvaxX

Disclaimer: Maximum Ride and all related characters are copyrighted to James Patterson.

Author's Note

Well, since I haven't been updating any of my stories in the past couple months, I decided to write a random one-shot that even I had no plans for (as well as to prove that I am alive).

I got the idea from my sudden urge to bake cookies, and they turned out to be delicious. I'll be sure to give you one if you review. Though, this is going to be so out of character, you may even gag. Max goes from sarcastic and immature to mushy and deep. Even her tone changes. It's despicable, but frankly, I don't really care seeing as how I finally got this out of my system. The Wings of Sanction story is going to be very like the end of this, and seeing as how I've made the whole Flock older, they're going to be a bit different.

The whole Flock is about two years older in this. Meaning Max, Fang, and Iggy are sixteen, Nudge is thirteen, Gazzy is ten, and Angel is eight. I had no idea what to do with Total in this chapter, he appears and disappears now and then.

On the other hand, has everyone read The Final Warning yet? Was I the only one who was disappointed in JP for its shortness, wildly changing plot, and obviously rushed chapters? I think I liked the first book the best. Anyway, read, review, and enjoy.

"Fang, we're making cookies from scratch." I declared, dumping heavy grocery bags onto the counter in the kitchen. Kitchen…when did we move into a house? Why would we bother to stay in a house in the first place, what with my constant paranoia keeping me from staying in one place for more than five minutes?

Let's just say that this four bedroom, three bathroom, fully equipped beach house was conveniently left empty for us this winter. Hey, bird kids gotta survive too, and with Iggy's lock picking skills we were in, in like two minutes. Tops.

Total clocked him at thirty-two seconds and claimed he had broken his old record. I'll make sure to bring a timer with me the next time we break and enter. Geez.

Going back to the cookies. We were safe, everyone was playing on the beach, and I hadn't had a decent cookie for a couple of months now so why not now of all times? Who knew when we would get another decent break. I watched as Fang raised an eyebrow from his seat at the table with the laptop resting on his lap.

"We? Don't you mean Iggy? I'll go and get him if you want." He stuck his thumb out in the direction of the beach behind us.

Fang put the laptop down on the table and began to head for the door, but I cut him off, "No, smart one, I mean you and me."

"You want me to make cookies for you?" Fang asked, easily implying with his tone on the likeliness of him providing baked goods for me, his brilliant and totally mature leader, out of all people. His dark eyebrows met and he frowned, "I'm gonna go get Ig."

It sounded like he'd rather jam a screwdriver through his head than make cookies for me. You can't get that guy to do anything. Anyway, since he was incapable of following simple directions, and I was incapable at cooking, I was pretty sure we could work together on this.

"No. Sheesh, do you need me to get Angel to transfer the thought to your head? You, as in Fang, are going to help me, Max, to make cookies." I said slowly, carefully articulating each word.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asked, walking towards me, reaching for my forehead before he froze. His eyes narrowed slightly and he took a step back, "Who are you and what have you done with Max?!"

"I am Max, you dolt." I whacked him upside the head with a frown.

"If you are Max, then why would you be want to bake?" His eyes scanned my face with a scowl.

"Well, I'm starving and chocolate chip cookies are all that come to mind." I answered swiftly, heading for the counter to take out packages of chocolate chips and other cookie making supplies from the grocery bags.

"But why the hell are you making them?" Fang asked sharply. Paranoia was a deeply ingrained emotion for all of us and if there were a clone who had taken my place, I'd be proud of him for being so suspicious, but honestly, I missed mom's cookies so bad that I didn't have much patience for this.

"I want chocolate chip cookies. Decent ones. Homemade ones. Since I obviously can't make them myself, I asked you for your help." I stated calmly, watching his expression change in my peripheral vision. He genuinely looked confused. I sighed, "Now will you help me or not?"

"I hope Ms. Bankcard has enough money to leave behind for the people who own this place or what will be left of it in a few minutes." He said darkly before he began opening the other bags and unloading their contents.

"I'm not that bad." I muttered irritably.

"Wanna bet?"

"Don't waste time. I remember the recipe. No point in making fun of my less than acceptable culinary skills." I snapped, pulling a pack of flour out of one of the bags while muttering under my breath, "I can't get you to do anything."

Fang watched me, confusion clearly distinguishable on his face at first, and then amusement. I poked his arm, "Move it."

He grinned.

I dropped the bag of flour.

"Don't drop the eggs." Fang said, struggling not to laugh.

"Shut up."

Let me tell you, vanilla extract, does not taste anything remotely like how vanilla tastes. Ick.

I had managed not to break the bag of flour and, much to Fang's doubt, got the ingredients into the bowl without too much frustration. In fact, all we had to do was add some sugar and chocolate chips.

I dumped the amount of sugar into the bowl and Fang took a large spoon and promptly began stirring the mixture. I had to get a picture of him like this. He had flour smudges on his face and he was wearing a green apron. An apron! It was priceless. Not that I was any better off. I got stuck with an orange one that said, "Kiss the Cook" and had plenty of flour and sugar all over my hands and face.

"What are you two doing?!" Iggy exclaimed as he walked in with Gazzy, letting cold air into the room.

"Baking cookies I think." Gazzy stated seriously. He looked at me in my orange apron and shook his head slightly. I frowned, was it really so hard to…okay maybe it was.

"A big disaster will happen tomorrow." Iggy said ominously as he turned in the direction of Fang who was rolling up his sleeves. I snorted and turned my back on them, and fiddled with the oven timer. Loud and annoying beeps filled the air and we all froze. I saw Fang sigh before he turned the timer off.

"I think it'll happen today, Ig." Fang replied with a smirk. I'm gonna smash their heads together…stupid, stereotypical dodos.

"Max, do you have any of those chocolate chips left?" Gazzy asked as I dumped a cup full into the golden brownish mixture on the counter.

"Two steps ahead of you." I said after placing the cup on the counter and tossing him two small packs of chocolate chips. He grabbed Iggy's arm and ran out the door.

"Share!" I shouted after them before turning around to help Fang put the cookie dough on the tray. Instead I caught him dipping a finger into the concoction and tasting it. He licked his lips and stuck another finger into the dough.

"Hey! Those are for baking…you better not double dip." I bumped him out of the way and sticking my own finger in to the batter. Sometimes I swear that raw cookie dough tastes even better than the actual cookies.

"Okay, the apocalypse is coming because this actually tastes good." Fang smirked at me before grabbing two spoons and handed me one. We both dug out two heaping spoonfuls and stuffed them into our mouths with as much grace a bird-kid could have used.

"We really need to put the rest in the oven now." I said seriously.

"Or we could just eat all of it." Fang suggested.

"I was considering that, but really, I don't think any of us want a case of salmonella at this point." I said, sticking the spoon into my mouth as I pulled out two baking trays from a cupboard above our heads. Thankfully this place was fully equipped with all the pots, pans, dishware, and forks civilized bird-children needed. I mean, what did they think we did? Dumpster dive? Yeah right.

I began rolling small balls of cookie dough and placed them on the tray before Fang grabbed the dough and started rearranging them, "You need to space them out a bit otherwise they're all gonna run into each other."

"Since when were you the baking expert?" I asked, pulling the spoon out of my mouth and tossing it into the sink.

"I've watched your mom."

"Ah."

After a few minutes, we stuck the trays into the oven and leaned back against the counter with a sigh. Fang reached over and grabbed a half-empty pack of chocolate chips. He tossed them up into the air and started catching them in his mouth before offering me some with a smirk. Show off.

"How long do we have before we have to pull those suckers out?" I asked, popping some into my mouth.

"About fifteen to twenty minutes." I watched as he reached over my head for a bowl and dumped the chips into it before sitting down on the floor, his back against the cabinets.

I sat down next to him and grinned, grabbing a couple of chocolate chips, "I can't wait to eat them."

"I hope we don't get food poisoning." He said, his smirk growing wider.

"You helped with it too you know." I shot back.

"Yeah, but you could've snuck something in without me knowing." Fang said seriously.

"But I'll be the first one getting my hands on them. Why the heck would I want to poison myself?"

"Or they could explode first." He considered thoughtfully, standing up to grab the laptop off the table.

"You don't have any faith in my baking abilities…" I muttered, narrowing my eyes. I watched as he sat down next to me again, grabbing a handful of chips before opening his laptop.

"Not an ounce." Fang quipped.

"A measurement…how appropriate." I said dryly.

"I try." He smiled before turning his attention to the laptop.

"Ugh. When are they going to be done already?" I demanded, looking toward the oven next to me.

He reached for more chips, and typed with one hand before replying nonchalantly, "Five minutes, more or less."

"The smell is torturing me."

"That's all the white coats need to know to get you on their side." He muttered, "The whole 'come to the dark side, we have cookies' comes to mind."

"Hey, how long do you-" I started to say before both our hands brushed in the bowl.

We both looked down. There was only one chocolate chip left. Fang's eyes narrowed and I stared back at him, both our hands hovered over the bowl.

"I call it!" I shouted, grabbing the bowl and jumping up. He ditched the laptop and scrambled after me shouting, "Hey!"

Fang ran after me, determined to have the last piece, though I seriously wondered why he bothered. Were we both on a sugar high? I considered that I might as well enjoy this.

I cackled and ran around the table, holding the bowl for dear life, and he stood on the other side, waiting to see which direction I would run for. It was the classic, cornered around the table position, and there was no way out unless one person was too slow. I considered my options: run and risk getting caught, surrender the chocolate (psh…as if), or…

I grinned at him and popped the chip into my mouth. I watched Fang's passive face suddenly change and dark feathers spread behind him. He smirked at me, and there was a strange, maniac glint in his eyes. It was too fast for me to follow, and the next thing I knew, I was pinned to the ground. I felt firm, callused hands hold mine on either side of my head.

My eyes widened, surprised by his antics. He grinned at me, evilly I might add, and suddenly his lips were on mine. I automatically felt my face heat up as I felt his tongue sweep across my lower lip, and I gasped, surprising myself. There was the beeping from the oven in the background, but I paid no attention. We were both too occupied with what was going on at the moment.

I was too surprised to move. He searched my mouth, and then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. His tongue swept the chocolate chip out of my mouth and he got off me, with a triumphant grin.

"Delicious." Fang stared at me with a smirk, leaning against the table with his arms crossed, chewing the chocolate chip.

"The cookies are done." I said faintly, wide-eyed, my heart racing frantically behind my ribcage. He grinned and headed over to the oven and grabbed a towel to get the cookies out. I was still lying on the floor, wondering what the heck just happened.

"Max." He called laughter in his tone, "Cookies."

He found me, lying exactly like I was a few minutes ago, and he extended a hand to help me up. Instead, I yanked his arm so he was sprawled on the floor next to me, glaring at him the whole way.

"Was that necessary?!" I demanded, trying to keep hysteria out of my voice as he propped his head up with his arm.

"Absolutely. All for the purpose of getting the last chocolate chip, why, did you enjoy it?" Fang asked, smirking. He had the devil in him today.

My eyes narrowed. It took a moment, but an idea struck me. I returned his grin and watched as his expression changed again. He looked almost nervous, "Max?"

"Follow instructions." I said, gesturing toward my apron, with that I pushed his shoulders back so he was lying flat on his back and leaned forward. I watched as his wide eyes as they slowly closed, and snickered to myself.

My lips barely brushed his, "You're a jerk, you know that? I think I will…"

"What? How will you punish me?" He asked hoarsely, watching me with half-moon eyes. He craned his neck slightly, but I leaned back, though close enough to feel the warmth of his breath and smoothness of his mouth.

I was almost tempted, but it would provide me with so much more satisfaction if I let him suffer. Though it was a pleasant surprise that I could tempt him like this.

"I'll treat myself to a cookie." With that I grinned, kissed his jaw and stood up, bounding off to grab a cookie. There was something wrong with me, either it was the cookies or Fang, I wasn't quite sure. I heard him exhale, sounding almost disappointed.

I grabbed a cookie from the tray and crammed it into my mouth, testing it, and then snickered again, "Delicious, and they didn't explode."

I watched as Fang slowly stood up, a blank expression on his face, though his cheeks were flushed, and he was breathing heavily. Weird. His face became serious as he walked toward me, and stood in front of me. I gulped the cookie down and grinned, "What?"

"That wasn't funny." Fang glared at me before pushing me backward against the counter, and crushing his mouth to mine. His hands gripped my arms, keeping me in place so I wouldn't run away again, though he was hesitant. I was stunned, though not as much as before, and then I found myself kissing him back.

I ignored the uncomfortable position I was in, with the counter pressing into my lower back, since this would most likely be another one of those kiss-and-don't-mention moments that we seem to be having since I first kissed him on the beach. I decided that I would not lose out on this.

My hands weaved through his dark hair and I felt his arms come around me after he was sure I wasn't going to back away, his hands rested between my wings, stroking softly. With shaking fingers I carefully touched his face, holding his face to mine.

Warm tingles raced up and down my spine and I felt my face flush. This was different from earlier experiences. These were desperate, open-mouthed kisses. We exhaled warm, sweet air every now and then, sighed contentedly before our lips met again.

Suddenly Nudge burst into the house, "Max? Cookies done yet, or have you burned the-oh my god! Oh my god! Ew!"

"Nudge!" We jumped a foot apart, faces resembling tomatoes.

"Oh god! Were you two just…uh, never mind…I'll just leave and…you go ahead and…" She covered her eyes and backed out the door to the beach. I trembled slightly, tingles still running through my body, along with a strange tickling feeling in my wrists.

Fang scratched the back of his head and stared at the floor, "I guess we should…uh…"

"Yeah, I'm sure they're hungry…um…" I grabbed a tray and some napkins, pausing to look away awkwardly, and heading for the door, "Back in a minute."

I could already hear Nudge blabbering away about how we were making out in the kitchen. It was a bleak, cold sort of evening, the sky was gray and it looked like a bit of fog was rolling in.

I put on my best 'I wasn't making out five seconds ago' look and found Iggy leaning back on his palms on the damp sand, listening intently to the ocean. Total was lying on a towel far from the water with his eyes closed. Gazzy and Angel were building a sand castle and Nudge was innocently looking for seashells along the shore. I noticed the two empty, and abandoned packages of chocolate chips in a wire trashcan near the door.

"Yo! Cookies are ready!" I called, trying to sound normal. I automatically clamped down on any thoughts of The Kiss part…dang I lost count, well, you get the point.

"You didn't burn them while you and Fang were making kissy faces to each other?" Iggy asked loudly. I groaned inwardly, mentally slapping myself on the forehead.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said firmly. The rest of the Flock grinned at me before snatching a cookie.

"Your hair is a mess." Total snorted, trotting over to Angel's side.

Gazzy wiped his gritty hands on his jeans before grabbing three more, shoving them into his mouth one by one, spraying crumbs everywhere as he tried to speak.

He swallowed, "Good cookies. And congrats."

"Ooo these are good." Nudge crooned, not looking a bit ashamed for spilling the beans only two seconds after she found out. Psh, teenagers.

"I read her mind, Max. You should bake more often after you and Fang kiss. We think it's cute." Angel smiled at me, before grabbing another cookie for Total. I placed the tray down onto the sand, and turned toward the beach house, slouching slightly.

It wasn't like we were together, and if it did happen again, there wouldn't be any acknowledgment of it. Emotionless, stiff, jerk with no freaking social skills. I trudged in to the kitchen, warily eying the cookies, and keeping an eye out for Fang.

Thankfully, I couldn't see him anywhere so I grabbed a tray and plopped back onto the floor with my back against the cabinets. I stared at the laptop for a moment before finally reaching for a cookie, only to see the tray being pulled out of my reach. Fang was suddenly kneeling on the floor next to me with a hand grasping the tray, preventing me from grabbing any.

His eyes were dark and narrowed, fixed pointedly on my own, and scowling, "We need to talk."

It was a blatant command, one that I had heard several times before. Though he didn't seem as serious as he did now.

"What?" I frowned. He shoved the laptop out of the way before sitting down next to me.

"I'm tired of this. I'm tired of you running away. What are we doing? We kiss, and then you run and never mention it again. I can't do this anymore." Fang muttered.

"Running and flying are fun, what can I say?" I mumbled.

"This isn't funny." No, it was hilarious. Why did he expect me to know everything that was going on between us? I mean, I'm good, but I can't read minds. Life is cruel that way...no actually it was the School that was cruel that way.

"So what exactly do you expect me to do? You attack me all of a sudden over a freaking chocolate chip. You should be able to tell me what the hell is going on." I snapped.

His scowl darkened and he shut his eyes for a moment and placed a hand on his forehead, "We need to get a couple of things straight."

"Care to elaborate here, pal?"

"You don't like it when I hang out with other girls, and I don't like it when you're with wie-…er other guys." He struggled. Geez, he was such an awkward guy.

"And?" I pressed. His face went blank for a moment, before he looked confused.

"Were you flirting with me? On the floor?" Fang asked slowly.

"Oh no, whatever shall we do?" I mocked, my eyes widened in horror.

"So what does that mean?" He demanded.

"Dear god, you're so slow, what on Earth would you do without me?" I asked dramatically, rolling my eyes.

"I'd die without you." It was so quiet and I barely heard it, but when I looked up he turned his face away, a tinge of red along his cheeks and ears. I touched his face gently with my left hand, turning his face toward me.

"I suppose that's reassuring." I mumbled to myself. He stared at me, waiting.

"Fang, you know the Valium Incident. At mom's clinic? What I said wasn't a lie." I said softly, my own face heating up at this. I was wondering if someone had hooked me onto that stuff while I wasn't looking.

"You mean…"

"I think I'm in love with you, Fang, more than a family member, or friend. No, I know I'm in love with you. I guess I was afraid to tell you this because, if you…didn't feel the same way I don't know what I'd do without you either." Yes, my mouth was a trap, and nothing important could escape it. Why wouldn't I shut up?!

I watched as he pushed the tray toward me, his hand gently brushed mine as he handed me a cookie, and his eyes did not meet my own. I think that his lack of response hurt the most. Silence was the only sound that I could hear, it burned my ears, and I felt my heart incinerating.

I needed something loud to clear this stillness, it was unbearable, and I suddenly wished that I hadn't mentioned anything at all or that something would spontaneously combust. Maybe I wouldn't have felt this way or we would be distracted long enough so I could think up an excuse. I hastily took a bite of the cookie, trying anything to make this feeling go away, and then I felt his hand clamp around my wrist.

Fang carefully touched my face with his other hand and with half-open eyes, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. My arms automatically went around his neck, and let my fingertips graze the feathers of his dark wings. I felt him shiver slightly, and his hand slid to rest at the base of my neck, feeling my uneven pulse. It was the sweetest kiss I had ever known.

"I love you too." Fang said, his face calm, though his eyes were light, and happier than I had ever seen them. I suddenly realized that he didn't need to say anything at all. I heard it echoing in his grasp, his shiver, and his lips on mine.

I had suddenly become poetic. It was kind of weird.

"So, are you still waiting for an explosion? My sorry excuse for baking skills?" I asked quietly.

"You weren't that bad with my help." Fang smirked.

"Jerk." I muttered, punching his arm lightly. I placed my head on his shoulder, smiling. Chocolate cookies couldn't compete with Fang.

"Besides, it already happened." He murmured, his thumb traced my lips, "Almost like…what happens when you taste a chocolate chip cookie."

-Fin

I don't think anyone but me got that entirely. Ah well. Let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is appreciated. I have been working on my stories lately, not as frequently as I would like due to the lack of inspiration and with the truckload of stuff to do on a daily agenda, but more so than I have in the past few months. I'm very excited about my Wings of Sanction story, which is coming along nicely, so look forward to it! Ja ne!