A new morning breaks as we sit chatting on my bed. The doctor wasn’t entirely pleased with me letting Anon stay in my bed but considering what I’ve been through he let it pass. Thankfully the oxygen mask is gone, replaced with a nasal cannula that looks a little dumb on me but at least I don’t have a huge fucking thing strapped to my face anymore. I poke at the tubes going through my nostrils—they feel weird, but I’ll deal.

Anon flicks my finger, stopping me from fiddling with it anymore. “Cut it out, Sweet Tooth. You need that and I don’t want you putting any holes in it with those claws of yours.”

I shoot him a glare, flexing out my hand so my claws look even more terrifying as he flinches away from me. A look of pure fear crosses his face, and I realize my mistake and instantly close my fist, my claws instead piercing my palm.

“Ow…fuck!” I hold my hand out, wincing in pain as I squeeze it with my other hand, putting pressure on the new holes I’ve just given myself. Anon snaps out of his fear, snagging the attention of a nurse who quickly bandages up my palm before shooting me a look and leaving the room.

Anon comes over and sits beside me, gently rubbing my shoulder. “You okay, Fang?”

Shame lurks in my eyes as I try to look away. “I should be asking you that…I saw that look in your eyes when you saw them. I’m so sorry I completely forgot how I lashed out at you that night.” My halting gaze settles on his face as I struggle to keep calm. “How could you even want to be here when I threatened you? You have no idea what I could have done…what my claws are capable of. I—”

He puts a finger up to my beak with a shake of his head. “You wouldn’t have done anything to me. I admit, I freaked out a bit when I saw them like that. I’ve never seen you so upset, and I hope I never see it again.”

“How can you be so sure I wouldn’t have hurt you? That I wouldn’t have torn you to pieces?” The internal battle continues to rage in me, my wings trembling with fear of what he might say—that he might leave.

“Because I love you, and I know you love me. You were having the worst night of your life but even with that look in your eyes, I knew I wasn’t the target. Everything in you was lashing out in every direction. At any time, you could have torn into me when you were rampaging in my apartment, but you didn’t. I mean, you kicked the shit out of me but I kind of earned that one, especially with what I said after you did it.” He looks away, a frown growing on his face as he sighs.

“I don’t care what you said.” I grab him, pulling him into my arms and resting my head on his shoulder. “I just want to forget that night, forget everything that happened. Let’s just push it aside and start over. We can be a real couple this time…instead of barely existing to one another even when we went out.”

He rests his arms under my wings, pressing me close with a comforting sigh. “Alright, Fang. We’ll just shove it aside. None of it is important anyway. We’ll finish school and see what we can do from there. Still plenty of opportunities for the both of us…seems I’ll be going to college after all, even with how shit my grades are.”

“Oh?” My eyebrows lift as I pull away from him with a quizzical look. “How are you going to pull that off?”

He smirks. “I mean, you heard him talking to me about it. Your dad is gonna cover the costs for me to go to community college. We’ll see where I go from there, but he did make me promise to at least have a job while I do it.” He gives me a squeeze before pulling his arms away. “Seems I’ve earned some perks saving you. None more important than just still having you here, but I can’t complain about what is coming with it.”

The look of surprise on my face causes him to snicker and I elbow him in the side. “Dweeb. Still, it’s pretty impressive that he went from wanting to bury you in the yard to basically being your best friend. Considering my dad…that is no small feat.”

“You are the most important thing in the world to him and I saved your life. I think I could even sit in his chair and he wouldn’t mount me on the wall.”

I glare at him again, sternly shaking my head. “Do. Not. Do. That. There is nothing in the world that could save you if you sit in his chair. Also…” I lower my voice to a whisper, leaning close to his ear. “Do not tell him that we…uhm…danced the horizontal tango. Otherwise he is going to rip your fucking spine out and staple it to the wall.”

The look of primal fear on his face makes me giggle as I pull back away from him.

“Okay yeah, I am never going to let that one slip. I’m rather fond of my spine even if it’s a bit like jelly sometimes. Don’t want to lose the free ride either…not like I got any other options without it. Well, one…but it’d suck for both of us.”

“And what would that be?”

He sighs, placing his hand over mine. “If it weren’t for your dad planning to help me out, I would have been going to the military…and considering how shit my grades are, it would not have been anywhere good. More than likely would have been stuck on some godforsaken boat in the fuckin' ocean for years.”

I snap back as fear nearly overtakes me as my lip trembles. “But…but you aren’t going to have to do that, right? Right? You are going to stay?” I can barely hold a shaky gaze on his face as my wings start to bristle out behind me.

He quickly reaches over and takes my hands. “I’m going to be right here, Fang, don’t worry. Pretty sure I’ve got all the stupid out of my system and I’ll find some degree to work toward.”

“Promise me…?”

“Promise you what, Fang?”

“That you won’t leave. That you’ll stay here in Volcaldera with me.”

He leans over and kisses me on the forehead. “Of course. I’m not going to go anywhere. I promise.”

A shuddering sigh escapes me as I rest against his shoulder. “Good. I don’t want you to go anywhere.”

He sighs, softly stroking my hair as I rub my snout against his cheek. “I can’t be with you one hundred percent of the time. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know. Just some really shit times right now…I don’t really trust anyone as much as I do you. So, stick around, please?” My eyes plead with his as he nods, a smile gracing my beak. “Thank you, Anon.”

We embrace for a long moment and then I hear a knocking on the wall. We both look over to see Naser with a stack of homework in his hands.

“You two need a moment before I come in, or is right now good?” He taps his claws on the stack, looking between us both before settling his sight on me.

A blush grows on both of our faces before Anon and I pull back and look away from one another. Naser laughs as he shakes his head, placing the stack of papers on the end of the bed. “You guys don’t need to act like everyone isn’t aware of you two being together. Hell, looks like Anon’s going to be sticking around for a long fucking time with how Dad’s been talking about him.”

“Oh?” Anon perks up, leveling his gaze on Naser’s face. “What’s he been saying about me?”

Naser shrugs. “That I should probably get used to calling you brother-in-law or something. Pretty sure he’s laid claim to you.” Naser laughs again as Anon sits there dumbstruck in his chair. “Anyway, got all your homework for the week here, you two. A few quizzes are stuck in there too but no rush. Especially since school is being delayed a couple weeks because, ya know, sensitivity training…considering a student almost died.” I flinch a little, but he shakes his head at me with a smile. “Don’t blame yourself…plus it’s good for us, considering what they did. I’ll pick it all up as soon as you are done and drop it off for you.”

“Thank you, Naser.” My eyes linger, looking over the scars on his wings, wincing as I take in the detail of each one. I need to talk to him…honestly, for once. “Anon…” He looks over at me. “Can…can you give us a minute alone, please?”

He nods, getting up and kissing me on the cheek. “Sure thing, Fang. I’ll pop out into the waiting room, just text me when you want me to come back.” He picks his phone up off the table before stuffing it in his pocket, patting Naser on the shoulder before walking out the door and turning the corner out of view.

Naser looks back before turning to me, a confused look in his eyes. “What’s up, Fang? Why did you need to talk to me alone?”

I sigh, trying to gather my thoughts as I hold out my hand to him. He takes it as I pull him to the chair beside me and he takes a seat. “Naser, I need…I need to ask you about that day…”

“What day?”

“The day on the bluffs. Where you got…you got all of those.” I gesture to his scar-covered wings, my eyes already starting to mist over.

“What about them? They are just scars.” He flexes out his crippled wing. It’s not even half the size of his healthy one.

“But it’s my fault. You believed me and then you jumped off the bluff!” Tears shimmer in my eyes before trickling down my cheeks. “You could have fucking died and not once have you ever gotten mad at me for it! Why?!” I struggle to hold my gaze steady as my body trembles.

Naser shakes his head, resting his hand on my thigh. “Why in the world would I be mad at you? I was what…nine, maybe? We were both stupid kids and kids do dumb shit all the time. Not like you actually pushed me off the bluffs.”

“I all but did, telling you we could fly.”

He shakes his head again. “I’ve never once blamed you for that. I was dumb; I easily could have, ya know, not jumped off the highest fucking point on the bluffs to test if I could fly…but I dove right off. I was just lucky the bluffs broke up my fall while I went down. Anyway, even all fucked up, I saw you on that beach trying to reach me. I knew you cared, and I know you didn’t do it on purpose. Is that why you’ve been so distant since then?”

I slowly nod and he flicks a tear away from my eyes. “Fang, all I wanted since that day was my sister back. I missed us hanging out all the time. The only thing I wanted when I was in the hospital was to see you. I thought I had ruined your life and you didn’t want to talk to me anymore. Wish I had known it was just a misunderstanding…. I don’t hate you, Fang. I never will. I just want to be a part of your life.”

“R-really?” Tears glimmer in my amber eyes as a shaky smile grows on my lips. “You don’t h-hate me at all?”

“Of course not! I love you, Fang—you’re family. Do you know how much I would beat myself up every time I ruined something for you by trying to fix your problems instead of just supporting you? I fucked up a whole bunch for you, trying to wedge myself into your shit. I’m surprised you don’t hate me with how much of your life I screwed up in the process.”

I practically slam myself into his arms as I bury my face into his jacket. “I could never hate you, Naser. I thought I deserved to be hated by you after that day. I’ve wasted so much time—”

“Hey…” He wraps his arms around my back, gently hugging me. “We’ve got plenty of life left to live, Fang. Many more opportunities for me to totally screw up so don’t worry about the past.”

A weak chuckle forces its way out of my lips as I poke him in the ribs. “S-shut up, dork. You were just trying to help.”

“Thanks to Anon, I’ll have plenty more time with you yet. God, Fang…the idea of losing you fucked me up. I think I accidentally wedged Naomi into a locker when Anon called me at school to tell me what happened.” The mental image of that pink bitch rammed into a locker makes me giggle-snort. “Yeah, yeah…I know you hate her.”

Oh, you have no fucking idea Naser, I thought, my giggles stopping abruptly at the thought of Naser and Naomi together.

“I spent the whole night at home crying after we got back. The thought of knowing I might never have seen you again…I don’t think I would have made it.” He nudges me back gently, lifting my beak up to stare me in the eyes, his beautiful glimmering orange eyes peering down at me with the most intense brotherly love I’ve ever seen from him. “I care about you so much. Please never doubt that I do….and please…p-please…” He chokes up, tears starting to flow down his cheeks. “Just…tell me if something gets this bad ever again. I’ll do anything to help you…anything at all.”

“Oh Naser…” I grab him tightly, his head resting on my shoulder as he sobs, and his arms tighten around me like he’s afraid I’m going to disappear. “I promise this’ll never happen again. I fucked up when I thought it was over…I didn’t see how much I had right in front of me. I won’t make that mistake twice.”

I keep holding him, swaying him side to side as the pain pours from him in waves. Eventually he calms, loosening his grip on my back as his arms retreat to his side, and he dries his eyes with his sleeve. “G-glad to hear it. I don’t ever want to think of a world without you in it again.” He sniffles hard, wiping away the rest of his tears with his damp sleeve.

“You won’t have to, I promise. And thanks for listening to me. Sucks I wasted so much time trying to make you hate me so damn much…”

“Hey, no.” He shakes his head before snapping his gaze back to me. “We don’t need to worry about that anymore. We have plenty of time right now to do whatever we want. Soon as you are healed, maybe we can go hang out at Dino Moe’s or something. I’m sure he’d love to see you. Not to mention the free pizza.” His tongue hangs lazily from his mouth as he rubs his belly.

“Oooooh…yeah, a meateor special sounds really fucking good right about now. I’d love to, Naser.”

“Cool, I’ll get it all set up when it’s time for you to go. Anyway, probably should call back Anon before he dozes off in the waiting room or walks into traffic.”

“He’s not that dumb!” Naser stares at me dryly with a raised eyebrow. “Okay, he is an idiot sometimes, but he wouldn’t step into traffic.” Naser’s eyebrow continues to go up, nearly lifting off his face. “Okay…you have a point, but he’s getting better.” Naser finally relents before his eyebrow defies physics as he smirks at me. I slug him in the shoulder before texting Anon, who walks in moments later.

“Holy crap, you wouldn’t believe the thing I just saw in the emergency room. Some dude had a massive stick stuck straight up his ass. Snapped a picture before the nurse bashed me over the head with a clipboard—worth it.”

Both Naser and I facepalm at the dweeb as he takes a seat beside Naser. “So, how you two doing? Have a nice chat?”

Naser nods to him. “Yeah, we did…aired out a bit of old laundry that should have been dealt with ages ago. Oh, and I brought something else for you…lemme go get it out of the NasCar. I’ll be back in a sec.”

I groan at the nickname he’s given to his car before he smugly grins as he rounds the corner. Anon scoots up into the chair next to me now that there is free space before planting a kiss on my cheek. “How are you feeling?”

“To be honest, a lot fucking better after that talk. Though if you mean health-wise, breathing is a little easier and I don’t feel a fucking dull ache in my side all the time.” I touch my side before yelping in pain. “Okay…never mind. That broken rib is going to suck for a while.”

“You did fucking annihilate it. One hell of a shot you took. Kind of scared of how good a marksman you are, and I’m glad you missed.”

I chuckle as I smile. “Dad is a police commissioner, you know. He makes sure I understand firearms all the time with how dangerous the streets can be at night. Never know when I might need to pistol whip a fucker into oblivion.”

“Duly noted. Considering I am regularly defeated by inanimate objects, I’ll leave the badassery to you, Fang.”

“A good idea, probably. Didn’t expect to hear one of those from you, of all things.” I smirk as he scoffs.

“Hey. I’m plenty smart when I want to be. I just rarely choose to be. Good to see you’ve got your snark back, though. Let’s me know your mood is improving.”

I smile at him and kiss him on the lips. “It is…so much better than I felt a few days ago. It’s almost like it never happened at all. I don’t mind the thought of going back to school as much as I thought I would. Like I got something to push for again.”

“You always have, Fang. You’re smarter than you know, I’ve seen it. I never would have even come close to passing music class if I didn’t pester you outside of class.”

“You know you could have asked me for help at any time.”

“I know…but I had just moved. I didn’t want to get in your way or nothing…”

“Anon, you never would have gotten in my way. I love teaching people…well, people I think are worth the time, at least.”

“Was I worth the time?”

My lips curl up into a smile as I gaze into his eyes. “You always were, dweeb…”

He smiles as he leans over and kisses me, putting his hands on my cheeks and holding me still as we kiss. Our lips slowly part and he drops down onto the bed next to me. “So are you, Fang. Never doubt how important you are ever again.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

Naser comes around the corner, snickering as he sees us laying there. “I’d say get a room but…you are already in one. Anyway, last thing for you before I go.” He places my guitar case against the wall with a fresh pack of strings on the chair nearest it. “I figured maybe you would enjoy playing a bit when you’ve got time. I’ll leave you guys be…see ya tomorrow.” He gives a quick wave to us both before heading back out.

I stare at my guitar for a bit. “Well, I didn’t expect to see that so soon…”

“Did you want to play?” Anon holds himself up with his elbows, looking over at the case.

I sigh, shaking my head. “Maybe tomorrow. I really don’t think I’ve got the focus to restring a guitar right now.”

“Alright, Fang, no rush. Let’s get to work on those homework sheets, though. We don’t want to fall behind.”

I nod and snag a pencil off the table. “You’re right, don’t want to leave this to rot.”

We spend the rest of the day tackling the assignments, him helping me with the science homework while I help him with his music sheets. We clear out the stack in a matter of hours. Mom even stops by halfway through and leaves us a delicious platter of fried chicken to enjoy as we work away. The doctor comes in and shakes his head at Anon lying in bed with me but doesn’t bother trying to complain…not like we will listen to him anyway.

As we finish the final sheet, Anon tucks them into a stack before slapping a binder clip on them, all prepared to head back with Naser in the morning. The night comes swiftly, and we are fucking exhausted after so much work. Not like we needed to do it all in one day, but I just wanted it gone. It will give us more time to spend together without the worry of falling behind in class.

Without the oxygen mask in the way, we are able to settle face to face with him staring at me with a smile on his lips. “What you are thinking about, dweeb?”

“Just about how lucky I am to have you. That I’ll get to spend so many nights just looking into those beautiful amber eyes of yours. Minus the whole hospital and you almost dying shit, I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”

A dusting of crimson creeps up my face as I poke him in the stomach. “Stooop…you aren’t the only lucky one here. I wouldn’t be breathing if you weren’t there—”

“Shhhh.” He places a finger against my lips. “Don’t think about that anymore. It’s over and done with. Let’s just worry about every day from here on out, okay? Got a lot of work to do if we want to graduate.”

“You’re right.” I sigh as I pull him in close, wrapping a wing around us as my eyelids grow heavy. “I think it’s time for some sleep, Anon. I love you.”

“I love you too, Fang.”

He places an arm on my waist as we slowly drift to sleep. It’s nice to have plans again, the idea of a future instead of just one more depressing day after another. I’ve got to think of an idea of how my band could make a comeback, though this time I’m going to pack some fucking extra strings, goddammit.