Chapter Text
Things settle down in Hawkins as quickly as they took a turn for the bizarre. In a way, it’s good. Will gets better - gains color back in his cheeks, starts eating well again, but he’s still on guard all the time, and it’s not like Max can blame him. Being lost in a creepy ass monster dimension and then being possessed by a creepy ass monster is bound to take its toll on anyone, and Will is a quiet, sensitive kind of guy.
She doesn’t know him that well, but she wants to. She wants to know all of them, but making friends - real ones anyway - has never come easy for her, and this time is no different. This time might actually be more difficult than usual as she’s met with alternating passive and active resistance from one Mike Wheeler.
Admittedly, after the night she’d threatened Billy’s life with Steve’s bat, then stolen Billy’s camaro and helped set a whole lot of other-worldly plant life on fire to distract demodogs in an effort to help a girl she’d barely met, that resistance had become a lot less active than before. A begrudging nod of the head in greeting when she approached, a reluctant invite - still extended usually by Lucas or Dustin rather than Mike himself - to the next D&D night at his house. A shared tub of popcorn with everyone on movie night.
There were other things, though.
She was not asked to go with the group on the biweekly trips to visit Eleven at Hopper’s cabin. She wasn’t asked if she was interested in AV Club. She didn’t go to one of their houses every night after school to work on homework or just hang out.
She sat with them at lunch most days, but she was constantly aware that she wasn’t really in the party. They were her friends, but she was still as much on the outside as she’s ever been. She tries, repeatedly, to remind herself that these things take time, but at the end of the day most days, she just feels tired. And hurt. And disappointed.
But most of all, Max feels alone.
***
“Hi.”
Max looks up from where she’s sitting outside at one of the picnic tables, book in her hands, to see Lucas standing there. She offers him a small smile. “Hey.” A gust of wind blows her hair into her eyes and she swipes it away absently.
He sits down beside her. “So movie night this week is at my house. You’re coming, right?”
She gives him a contemplative look. “Hmm. I don’t know. I’ll have to check my social calendar.”
He smirks at her. “Pretty busy these days?”
“Only when I’m fighting demodogs and monster plants.”
“Hopefully you’ll never have to do that again.”
“Hopefully none of us will,” she remarks with arched eyebrows. It’s not an experience any of them exactly found enjoyable. Terrifying, yes. Exciting, definitely. But enjoyable...that was a different case.
“Agreed.” He smiles.
She holds his gaze for a moment, then looks down at her book, dog-earring the page and closing it so she can give him her full attention. Plus, where Lucas is the others are rarely far behind. The time for reading is over. She’s okay with that. It’s not like she doesn’t have plenty of time to read at home when she’s avoiding the rest of her family.
“You ready for the English test?”
“Yeah. I’m not worried about it,” she says with a shrug. English is one of her best subjects.
“Not worried about what?” Dustin asks as he plops down across from them, tugging his backpack off.
“The English test,” Lucas supplies.
“Son of a bitch.” Dustin makes a face. “I forgot about it.” He heaves a sigh.
“You read the book though, right?” Max asks him. It had been assigned three weeks ago. Then again, that was right as they were all recovering from other-wordly trauma.
He shrugs. “It wasn’t high on my list of priorities.”
Fair enough, she thinks.
“Yeah, what? Too busy trying to hit number one on Dig Dug and bump Max out of the lead?” Lucas teases.
“Hey, any day now. That’s going to happen, asshole.”
“Good luck with that, Loser.”
Max rolls her eyes at the two of them. If there’s one thing she’s learned it’s that Dustin and Lucas bicker almost constantly, but it’s generally a harmless kind of bickering. The kind of bickering that old friends do. She wonders what that’s like. Wonders if it’s something she’ll ever experience herself.
“Hi, Max.” She glances up as Will sets his lunch down on the table across from her, next to Dustin.
“Hey,” she greets, spotting Mike approaching, too, stormy expression on his face that makes her tense involuntarily.
“What’s wrong?” Lucas asks as Mike joins them and all eyes turn to him.
“I’m grounded.”
“Again?” all three boys say in unison, and a bemused smile touches her mouth at how in sync they are.
“What’d you do this time?” Dustin asks, popping a french fry into his mouth.
“Got a detention on Friday for missing class last week,” he grumbles.
“I told you not to skip,” Lucas points out.
“Easy for you to say. You get to see Max every day. I get to see El twice a week if I’m lucky.”
Max feels her cheeks grow warm and Lucas scowls at Mike.
“How long are you on lockdown this time?” Will asks, and Max can tell he’s doing his best to diffuse the tension. He seems to do that a lot and she thanks him silently.
“A week. I’m gonna miss movie night. And no campaign this week.” He stabs a green bean with his fork.
“Least it’s only a week this time,” Dustin says.
“Yeah. You guys can still come over and do homework, though,,” he tells them, glancing around at his friends.
“Your mom lets people come over when you’re grounded?” Her eyebrows furrow. That’s not how grounding works in her experience.
“We’re practically siblings,” Will tells her with a small, faint smile.
She wonders what it’s like to have a sibling who doesn’t despise you. She knows that’s something she’ll never experience. Oh well. It’s probably overrated anyway, she reasons.
“You should come, too,” Lucas tells her and automatically her gaze flicks to Mike, who stuffs a bite of meatloaf into his mouth, not looking at her.
Max glances at Lucas sideways. “Raincheck. I’ve got some stuff to do for my mom after school.”
He searches her eyes and nods slowly. She feels another set of eyes on her and looks over to see Will gazing at her with an unreadable expression on his face that makes her uneasy.
“Well. I need to hit the library before class. Catch you guys later.” Max rises to her feet, grabbing her book and making a quick exit before anyone can respond.
Will’s mouth settles into a frown as he watches her go. “She’s upset about something,” he murmurs.
“I don’t think she really feels welcome at your house,” Lucas tells Mike, who raises his eyebrows.
“She’s been there before,” he points out. Just once, but still. It counts.
“Yeah, but…” He shrugs. “I think she still thinks you don’t like her.”
Mike frowns, but doesn’t argue one way or the other. He likes her better than he used to, but he still doesn’t love that she’s around all the time. Things aren’t the same.
“You’re still not really including her,” Dustin tells him, taking a bite of his burrito.
“How is this my fault?” There’s exasperation in his voice.
“It’s not,” Will assures him. “It’s just an adjustment period for all of us.” Having someone else in the party was definitely new too all of them.
Lucas shakes his head, looking disappointed. “I’m going to class. See you guys later.” He heads away.
Dustin looks around. “Annnd then there were three.”
***
“Max! Hey, Max!”
She’s heading down the sidewalk, backpack slung over her shoulder and skateboard tucked under her arm when she hears Lucas calling for her after the final bell. She turns to see him hurrying to catch up with her, gripping onto the straps of his own backpack. “Hey, Stalker.”
He smiles at her. “Are you really busy after school? Cause if not, I thought we could hit the arcade for awhile.”
She arches her eyebrows. “I thought everyone was going to do homework at the Wheeler’s.” It had certainly seemed that way at lunch, anyway.
“Not everyone. You aren’t.”
She wants to point out she doesn’t count, but she doesn’t. Instead, she studies him for a moment, then finally looks away. “I don’t wanna push it.”
Lucas frowns. “What do you mean?”
“With Mike,” she admits.
“Max - “
“Look.” Her voice is quiet, more sincere than she usually is. “I know the difference between when someone wants me around and when someone is tolerating my presence.” She’s had a lot of experience differentiating that exact thing, in fact.
“He’s coming around,” he says just as quietly.
“I know. I just don’t want to force it, okay? So I think - you should just go to Mike’s so he doesn’t think I’m like, trying to steal his friends away.” So he doesn’t see her as a threat. At least not anymore than he already does.
He looks crestfallen at her words, so she steps closer and presses a kiss to his cheek.
“Maybe we can hit the arcade tomorrow night,” she tells him and his expression brightens.
“Can I call you later?” he asks hopefully.
She holds her breath, then shakes her head. “I’ll call you, okay?”
Worry flickers over his face. “Is everything alright? You know, with Billy?”
“Everything’s fine,” she reassures him. “I just want to keep it that way.” She knows the peace between her and Billy isn’t going to last. She’s not stupid. She knows him too well, and at the end of the day, she knows he’s not really scared of her. Plus it’s not like she has a stock of liquid sedatives and a bat full of nails lying around in her room.
Lucas sighs but nods in agreement. “See you tomorrow then?”
“Yeah. See you tomorrow,” she responds.
“Okay. Have a good night, Mad Max.” He grins before turning to head and find the others.
She watches him go, then sets her taped-back-together skateboard on the ground, hopping on it and speeding toward the parking lot.
Billy’s leaning against his camaro, cigarette in hand, perpetual glare on his face. “Get in.”
She barely looks at him as she grabs her board and crawls into the passenger seat of the car. He climbs in a moment later, starting the car and throwing it into reverse before squealing it out out of the parking lot. They’re most of the way home before he speaks.
“So is that nigger your boyfriend now?”
She turns her head to glare at him. “Don’t call him that.” Her voice is sharp.
“Nigger? Or boyfriend?” He smirks, speeding the car up and taking a drag off his cigarette.
Her jaw tightens and she stares out the window, hands clenched into fists.
“I told you to stop hanging around him.” His voice is even this time, all traces of humor gone.
“He’s my friend. You don’t get to tell me what to do.” The words are out of her mouth before she can stop them.
He chuckles, low and dark. “Is that right?” He slams on the brakes, jerking the car abruptly off the road and pitching her body up against the door with the suddenness. He throws the car into park and she stares at him, wide-eyed and then glances at the door handle, tempted to tug on it and run.
“My dad put me in charge of you, Maxine. So I’m gonna be a good, responsible brother and make sure your ass stays out of trouble.”
When she doesn’t respond, he reaches over and grabs her by the collar of her shirt, jerking her closer and shaking her none too gently. “Do you understand me? Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” she whispers, just wanting him to let go of her.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” He shakes her again.
“I said yes.”
Billy smirks and lets her go, turning his attention to driving the car again. “You’ve got a lot to learn, Max. Don’t worry, though. I’ll teach you.”
She stares out the passenger window, blinking back tears.