Well, I originally planned to do a one-shot. Then I decided I wanted a plot and... you see where things lead to? I'm planning on doing three chapters of this story.

Here's numero uno.

Enjoy!

"What the hell is mature fan-fiction? Fang, these stupid bloggers of yours are REALLY starting to creep me out."

"Those stupid bloggers of mine happened to save our asses six years ago, Maxine."

"Don't call me Maxine."

"Don't call my bloggers stupid."

"Shush."

This was another typical conversation starting off a typical dinner in an atypical household of mutant-bird freaks.

Need I say more?

... you know, I feel like saying more and when I feel like doing something, I FREAKING DO IT.

Anyhow, as Fang indirectly mentioned, we are now twenty years of age. By we I mean myself, Fang, and Iggy. The big two-oh. Do the happy dance, come on!

Whoop-de-flocking-doo.

Oh, yeah. Speaking of flocking, the rest of the flock have grown up pretty fast, at least in my eyes. Nudge is now seventeen (big-butt included), Gazzy is fourteen (rocker-phase finished, thank god), and my darling, Angel, has twelve years on her now.

But that all will be changing when the big hand and the little hand hit twelve tonight.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Cue the confetti!

Okay, I have no idea when our actual birthdays are (neither does ITEX or the School apparently. In case you were wondering, we blew their asses sky highyears ago.) so, being the creative fools we are, we decided our birthdays would be the one day that seemed easiest to remember according to us and the government. The first of January!

Which made remembering birthdays for the flock a heck of a lot easier, too.

Fang, Iggy, and I are all living in an apartment off campus- yes, campus. We're in college now. I never enjoyed school and don't plan to buy a house in suburbia, get a stable-job that makes forty-thousand a year, have my 2.1 children, and marry within my religion.

Bor-ing.

So instead, as soon as I graduate with my oh-so-valuable degree in Art (I liked making the little ceramic pots on the pottery wheel, if that explains my choice of major), I will be cart-wheeling my way through Europe, living on the money I got from CBS for a few interviews I did back in my teenies and possibly getting some extra cash from prostitution.

... just kidding. Think of the clientele... I shuddered in my chair at the thought of it.

Which brings me back to reality.

"Max, stop shivering and pass the salt," Iggy said, shoving a bite of macaroni and cheese down his throat. I mmhm-ed, pushing it in his direction. His hand moved quickly to stop it from slipping off the edge of the table. He's still blind, by the way.

Just really, REALLY used to it now.

Fang was sitting on the counter next to the fridge. The table was in the middle of the kitchen, placed in the perfect spot so that when you stumble through it at night, you always manage to hit your shin on one of the chair legs. Fang's feet swung back and forth, making a "clunk" whenever his sock-less heels knocked against the cabinets.

"You guys ready to party tonight?" Fang said, smiling. His bangs covered part of his face, concealing the side that dimpled slightly when he smiled. He smiles a lot more often but other than that, not much has changed about Fang... well, accept for the amount of muscle, his height, shoe-size, favorite color, build, and level of hotness.

They've all gone up. Except for the color one... that can't really go anywhere...

I inhaled a bite of Mac and Cheese, swallowing quickly.

"Hells yeah," Iggy mumbled, still chewing. How attractive.

"Sure. Can we really call it 'partying' though? That sounds weird when I think about doing it with the two of you," I turned my chair to the side, looking at Fang. "You know what I mean?"

"No. I'm always glad to party with cute girls," Fang laughed, winking at me. I rolled my eyes, used to this by now. He coughed once. "And Iggy."

Fang had once said, "There will always be an us." Well, he was right. And there still was.

Fang and I dated all through high school. We were that couple who met up before and after each class, scheduled our curriculums to be identical, and talked like best friends with the occasional public kiss. On the outside, I guess you could call what we had "young love."

But on the inside of our relationship, people never saw the two to three hour make-out sessions in other peoples cars just for the thrill of it. They never would have guessed the nights we would spend cuddling in his room, sleeping side by side. And they most DEFINITELY did not see the three times we almost did it.

Almost did it.

But for college, we decided to go to different places. I wanted to go south, where it was warmish year-round, and he wanted to go north with Iggy. So, without too-much crying and fights, we did. Honestly, I was only heartbroken about missing the rest of my flock. I wanted to try the whole "independent flock-member" thing and I left the rest of them behind. I knew we'd end up together again at some point, and we had.

There will always be a you and me, Max.

I transferred to Fang and Iggy's college my second year and eventually moved into their apartment.

Things were weird at first.

Iggy had a girlfriend named Natalie, a cute little blonde that thought he was GOD on this earth, then broke it off a month after I had shown up. Soon after, Iggy got another one, Naomi, then another, Nina, then another, Nadine. All starting with N's. Odd. Just really odd.

But the weirdest part was this: Fang had a girlfriend.

Jessica.

I.Did.Not.Like.Jessica. Maybe I would have liked her if she wasn't Fang's girlfriend, but she was- end of story. I hated that bitch.

Apparently, they started dating about a month before the transfer worked out and I (immediately) moved up. They stayed dating for another four months until she finally couldn't stand me anymore. Hahahahaha.

Fang was mad for a long time, but started talking to me at the end of sophomore year. We're juniors now, if that puts things into context.

"Maaaaaax," Fang hit his feet on the cabinets, hard enough to snap me back into reality. I was spacing out a lot lately. "Focus."

I shrugged and finished my food while Iggy and Fang discussed sports. Sports bore me. Being on the run for a few years when I was in my teens was enough "sport" for a life-time.

When the guys were done, I stuck our dishes in the sink and told them to go put on some decent clothes.

"What's wrong with what we're wearing?" Iggy mumbled, tugging at his dirty white shirt with stains on it. He was blind, so I cut him some slack.

"Just go change, guys. If we're going out to celebrate the New Year and our birthdays-" Fang cupped his hand, put it to his mouth and tossed his head back, pretending to down a shot. "-and legal drinking, I at least want for you guys to look..."

Was nice the word? It shouldn't be if you're planning on getting rowdy and smashed...

"Awesome?" Iggy finished my sentence, laughing. I mmhm-ed and left the kitchen, heading back to my room. The guys shared the same bedroom, I had my own little closet.

Well, truthfully, its not quite a closet. Just really close. I opened the door and walked inside. The walls were a light blue with pictures of the flock covering the entire wall opposite my bed. On the floor, there were tons of clothes and books and probably the essay paper that's due next week for Advanced Statistics (I'm good at math, okay?).

I pried open my closet within a closet, shoving clothes out of the door's path with my feet, and surveyed the rack of dress clothes hanging up. There were about four pairs of pants. No pants. Skirt, I'm wearing a skirt... or a dress. I WANT TO LOOK FEMALE!

Then I remembered the red cocktail dress that had to be in here somewhere... I shoved shirt after pants after shirt after pants after pants onto one side until I found it.

My little haltered red cocktail dress. I actually would look pretty tonight.

Oh snap... wings! I frowned, remembering my two feathered-friends poking out of my back.

Don't get me wrong, I love my wings. They're awesome. I wouldn't trade them for anything- even the best chocolate-chip cookies ever made. But sometimes, especially when trying to look feminine and (dare I say?) sexy, they posed some problems.

I undressed and pulled myself through the top of the little red dress feet-first. It wiggled over my hips and I had to try a little harder to get it around my chest. My breasts aren't huge. I'm mostly muscle, okay? But I do have a big chest cavity because of my gigantic lungs.

My head ducked through the halter and I was in! Yay! And not a single bone broken.

I turned once, twice, and thrice in my full-length mirror, checking myself out. I was pretty hot, if I do say so myself. Now if I only I could manage to feel hot in front of a crowd... and Fang. Not like I'm thinking about his reaction when he sees me wearing this for the first time.

I slapped on some mascara, eye-shadow, and lipstick. That was about all I needed- my face can't handle much make-up.

Okay... so. Dress? Check. Heels? Check. Make-up? Check. Underwear? ... Check.

... What am I missing?

I spun around four times, trying to see if anything would jumpstart my memory. Oh, now I know. I spotted my wings in the mirror.

I ducked into my closet, grabbed a semi-long black coat, and bolted for the door, tucking my wings into the dress before I closed it.

Iggy and I were sitting in the living room, extremely bored, waiting for Max to hurry up.

She had only taken seven minutes, but I'm impatient. And because guys are always done faster than girls (edit: Did anyone catch that??),the four minutes we had to wait were torture. Iggy had dressed himself. He might be blind, but he's not colorblind. Everyone got cool powers except me...

...and I still can't do anything but blend in with the wall while Max is changing...

... You never read me think that.

But when Max strutted out of her room, decked out in red and heels, holding onto a jet-black jacket, I figured this was worth the wait.

I suddenly remembered why it was nice to see a girl with curves. Max wasn't particularly curvy, in fact she's lanky, but every little twist of her body, from her neck to her wrist to knees, had me stand at full attention.

... In more than one way.

I snapped up and sat straight in our bean-bag chair and swallowed air. Oh, Jesus. Not now, please not now. My legs automatically clenched together when she bent over, back-side facing me, to check the strap around her ankle. Her hair fell over her arms when she tilted her leg to get a better angle on the buckle, accidentally flexing.

Why are you doing this to me?

Iggy tapped his finger on his chair, in perfect time with the tune he was humming. Lucky bastard, being blind. I silently took that back and dared to look at Max. She flipped her hair once, looking in the living room mirror, then turned to check on us. "You two ready?"

"Yep," Iggy said, standing up.

"Fang, you okay?" Max tilted her head, looking sexy but cute at the same time. I should KILL HER for doing this to me.

"Great," I lied, putting on my poker-face the way I used to. I don't use it as much anymore... I grew out of the whole silent-but-deadly phase when I was seventeen. At least with the flock.

Max nodded, followed Iggy to the door as I trailed behind, shaking my head free of anything risqué. Just when Iggy turned the doorknob, the doorknob turned back, revealing Nudge on the other side.

"Hey!" She yelled, smiling.

Nudge hugged Iggy, then me, then Fang, still beaming. When she caught the site of my purse (NOT MY RED-COCKTAIL DRESS! Groan.),she glared. "Where are you three going? Aren't we going to celebrate together?"

"We were going to go out..." I spared the detail of our real intentions. Party hardy, mo-fo's.

"And celebrate legal alcohol consumption- responsibly," Fang added with mock excitement. I twitched, sending him a mental why the hell don't you get when things are secret post-it note. He actually looked confused for a second, then glanced at me! Hah! Success!

"Oh!" Nudge frowned, pouting her lips. "That's so unfair! What am I supposed to do all night? I can't drive back home- its an hour away and I blew all my money buying these cupcakes."

She held up a bag which was, indeed, filled with a box of cup-cakes. Iggy inhaled through his nose and let out a hissing breath. "I smell cup-cakes..."

"Down, Ig. Nudgie, honey, we're sorry, but we already had this planned," I said, fixing her hair. A very tight girl poked out by her ear. She sighed, pretending not to care.

"Okay... can I crash here tonight?" Nudge looked at me with her big, brown eyes. We were the same height now. Nudge had grown a lot, in many directions, over the years. She had the kind of curves I would kill for and the confident, talkative charm that made her unique.

"Sure," I smiled. "Bottom drawer has a few gigantic shirts in it- you can wear those if you go to sleep, okay?"

"Cool!" She rushed in behind me and into the kitchen. I heard her unloading cupcakes and the POP of the fridge door opening. That was our cue to vamoose.

"Where the hell are we?" was the first thing Iggy said when Fang parked our minivan (I know what you're thinking: Ha-ha. Minivan. Make any comments about that sucker and face my winged-fury.) outside of The Summit night-club and bar. I opened the door, laughed at his parking job, and stepped out onto the curb.

The air was cold and crisp- winter in Pennsylvania. I stuck my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket and made sure my wings were covered. They were and I looked back just as Iggy closed the door. Fang was standing beside me, adjusting his jacket.

All-set.

"Here we go," Fang sighed, pulling out his ID. We got through the bouncer no problem. Yeah, we're all pretty attractive I guess. No harm in adding a few giant, muscular freaks and a tall, toned freak with a cute face into a busy club, right?

The moment we walked through the heavy metal door, the loud sound of dirty-music-that-makes-you-want-to-dance-even-though-its-completely-degrading-to-women assaulted my ears. Iggy's hands covered his for a full minute, until he adjusted to the sound.

The club was very dark, with the exception of the strobe lights and Technicolor disco ball on the high ceiling. Countless people were moving on the floor, dancing and grinding to their hearts content until the crowd became one pulsating, throbbing mass of lust and fun. A DJ's huge stereo system lay right ahead of us, on the opposite side of the dance floor, elevated on a stage with red, green, and blue lights flashing across it. To the far left, a set of double-doors led to the bar and tables. It was slightly brighter over there, so I decided to head over. Fang followed me with Iggy trailing behind, listening to our footsteps through the roar of sound. I don't know how Blondie does it, but he does.

We passed through the doors and the sound managed to die down a little. I could hear everything clearly, even though it was still pretty loud to normal humans. One ditzy brunette standing next by the door and some guy yelled, "DO WHAT?! DANCE? OKAY."

I winced. Waaay too loud. The guys and I found an empty table in a far corner and sat down. "Wow," Iggy said, rubbing his temples. "I think my ear drums are bleeding."

"Oh, shut up," I smiled, knocking him on the shoulder. I was pretty excited! There are other clubs out there, but this one is the most awesome, by far. My head unconsciously bobbed to the music and I smiled, seeing Fang raise an eyebrow at me. I laughed, hitting him on the arm.

"What? It's a club, silly. You need to dance!" I did the wave one time before he burst out laughing. Maybe I'd be able to get him dancing at some point...

Iggy stood up and asked us, "What do you guys want to drink?"

"Wat- I don't know. You pick!" I grinned at him, realizing I was old enough to try those drinks everyone in Advanced Statistics was talking about.

"You're a big girl, now," Fang sing-songed, not looking at me. I shot him a glare and he turned to check my reaction then burst out laughing. "Get me whatever, Ig. I'll have what you drink."

"Right. Be back in a minute," Iggy walked away, perfectly dodging every chair and person. He knew where the bar was, we'd been here before.

"So, you psyched?" I asked Fang, leaning over to put my head on his shoulder. He stuck out his tongue and I giggled, watching his face. I sat back up, twirling my hair in my fingers and looking around. There were lots of very attractive male specimens not too far away... I could probably chat a few up later... get to dancing... have them touch my wings and freak.

I winced. Maybe I'd just dance with Fang and Iggy... wait. Ew. I'm wearing a freaking dress, heels, and besides- I CAME TO PARTY WITH SMEXY COLLEGE BOYS.Not my brother and... well... my ex-lover? No, that doesn't sound right... my... what exactly was Fang to me now?

My eyes wandered to him. Fang was looking away, browsing the people around us the way I just was. Was he thinking about that cute girl over there? Or what's-her-face by the couple making out? I was suddenly very jealous, knowing I shouldn't be. If Fang wants to look at girls, that's fine. If I can, he can... but I don't want him to.

Sighing, I rubbed my eyes. Iggy trotted over, carrying three shot glasses and a bottle of something clear. "Bought the whole bottle," he explained, putting the glasses down on the table and popping off the cap. He poured each glass perfectly, even for someone who could see.

I smiled. Iggy really was amazing. I grabbed the glass in the middle and put it up in the air. The guys did too, getting ready to toast.

Just then, the clock struck eleven. The club went up with a very loud cheer of "ONE HOUR!" then died down with clapping and laughter. I smiled, too. So did Iggy and Fang.

"To the New Year and our twenty-first birthdays," I said, starting to laugh. "And legal drinking."

"CHEERS!"

Take my word for it, things will get better.

I'm even going to attempt... well... maybe possibly a lemon later on? Well, that was my orignial intention. A one-shot, minus the fluff- cut right into the deep, twisted core of alcohol consumption and sex. Haha.

Hope you liked! Please review and alert yourselves- I think the next chapters will be coming pretty soon... this is sort of delaying my other story though... but I need some refreshing material and this was the ticket! Oh joy!

Again, hope you liked, blahblahblah, please review, blahblahblah, favorite me as an author... blah... -wink- and continue being awesome! Thanks!