friends don't lie.

[DONALD GLOVER, CISMALE, HE/HIM/HIS] When’s the last time anyone heard anything about [LUCAS SINCLAIR]? Old friends remember them as [LOYAL & ATHLETIC] but also [HEADSTRONG & SENSITIVE], no wonder they’re still known as [THE RANGER] around town. Today, in 2006, they are [35] and some people say they remind them of [COZY SWEATERS, BLACK COFFEE, EARLY MORNING RUNS, RED MARKS ON PAPER, THE SOUND OF A BASKETBALL BOUNCING ON A HARDWOOD FLOOR, SCUFFED BASKETBALL SHOES, HALF DRUNK BEER BOTTLES WITH PEELING LABELS, CAT FUR EVERYWHERE EVEN THOUGH HE’S NOT A CAT PERSON (ALLEGEDLY),]. [dani, 23, she/her/hers, est].

when lucas extended his pinky, max’s scoffing was inevitable. it trickled into laughing territory as she told him, “you are…unreal.” her expression fell as she very seriously hooked her pinky with lucas’. max began to shake her head in disbelief when lucas kissed his fist. she eyed him through her brows, sly smile forming, “you are still so lame.” it was important lucas know that. but max followed suit and pecked her own skin before dropping her hand. “most binding contract i’ve ever made.” she deadpanned at lucas. 

max made an effort not to acknowledge what lucas was saying about el and visions. mostly because she didn’t want to talk about it, but also because hearing el’s name so much lately was starting to bug her out. if only, if only. if one thing was certain to max it was that as  these dreams and visions were starting to get worse for her, whatever that mean, the last thing she should be doing was thinking about how it should have been her over will and el. in case of the worst or whatever. guilt seemed to make it worse. in the past. god, just the thought made max cringe and hurriedly suggest, “let’s get going.” 

but she kept thinking about it more. el specifically while she cozied up to lucas so she didn’t fall to her death. about how scared she must have been all of those times she did the unbelievable, the heroic. max wouldn’t give fear that power over her, she refused to, but it did make her wonder if denial was the brave thing to do. max decided she was being open minded about it! and she was! but she wasn’t going to buy into the vecna-upside down-wacky shit agenda until she had concrete proof, innocent until proven guilty and such. though it seemed when she entered lucas’ apartment, perhaps there would be a chance for them to gather some evidence. the thought of it made max nauseous. 

to help the feeling, she crouched down and held her hand out for the cat to sniff. it was a good enough distraction to stabilize her. max remained close to the ground and silent as lucas explained the thinking behind the lights. what was their to even say? they were testing a method pioneered by a dead woman to find her also now dead son. it felt cursed to even consider, like how oujia boards were bad juju, brought shit in. but desperate times, right? if some of that shit they brought in included luke, it would probably be worth it right? save an innocent? max was starting to understand lucas’ thinking. and she wasn’t sure that she liked that. when he disappeared to grab, something, max adjusted to sitting fully cross-legged, the cat on the ground in the center, and petting him. 

aside from the name yoda being terrible, max was quick to retort, “people? do you mean mike and dustin? because they hardly count as people. and yoda would be more than justified in not liking them.” she snickered as she looked down to lucas’ pet, “motherfucker,” she told him, “you don’t even look like yoda.” the amusement ended there when she realized lucas was holding a walkie. solemnly, she took it and flipped it around in her hands, fiddling with it for a second. for a beat, she stared at it, then looked up at lucas. with a defeated sigh, she held it up to him, “i don’t remember how to work this shit.” maybe she was stalling. just a little bit. 

.

he called over his shoulder as he went to collect the walkie. “and erica. and both my parents. and tracy.” lucas’ stomach dropped a little bit. he hadn’t meant to mention her. as he returned to the living room with the walkie and handed it off to max, lucas continued on like nothing had happened at all. “or willa and ward. he likes luke, though. probably star wars solidarity.” before sitting down, lucas plugged the christmas lights in and then wandered over to the kitchen and dug around in the fridge for a couple of cheap beers. he opened them and passed one off to her before he slid down to sit opposite her, legs crossed, and held a hand out to the cat. yoda flicked his tail and turned his lamp-like eyes away from lucas and back to max, purring away. 

“traitor,” lucas muttered as he tipped the bottle back and set the bottle aside. he took the offered walkie and rested it against his knee. he fiddled with the controls and bypassed the frequency he and the party used to communicate (still) and the one the kids used to talk in ‘secret’. he found a frequency that held nothing but static and set the walkie aside. he remembered walking in on mike fucking around with his walkie, the year el had left them, and he’d left it on one frequency for a while and left it, just in case el would pop in. he figured that was a decent enough starting point.

lucas picked at the label of his beer just for something to do with his hands and looked across at max, head tipped slightly. maybe it should have been weird to have her in his apartment, but it didn’t. it felt fine. normal, almost. yoda meowed at her as she talked and lucas couldn’t help but scoff. he mimed cat ears with his hands. “triangles,” he said, as if that explained everything. and then, because the question had been eating him up for days now- 

“how long do you think you’re gonna stick around?” 

to be fair, if lucas still asked him today about that baseball, mike would totally claim it as his own. why wouldn’t it be? if lucas cared so much about some stupid baseball, maybe he shouldn’t have thrown it so far. mike didn’t even like sports, or baseball. in fact, he detested both ever since he tried to play kindie soccer and the kids would trip him or the boys would swipe the ball away before a kick, straight out of a peanuts comic. it was humiliating. but mike kept lucas’ baseball hostage, offering comic books “read” together before they could even really read, playing batman and spider-man, and perpetually trying to drag will out of his house because mike needed lucas to meet him ASAP! then eventually, the ball was forgotten and here they were thirty-some years later, deep in the woods, searching for something far more precious that had been lost. 

“he could’ve! i don’t know! it could be anything!” mike insisted tensely, then reeled himself back in with a few deep breaths, “everything but that.” he made that distinction clear. he didn’t want it to be true. mike didn’t want to get his son back, hooked up to hospital tools, coughing up slugs and tortured by nightmares for the rest of his life. he couldn’t watch another person he…really really really cared about go through that again. luke couldn’t be there, neither could will, or el, because there didn’t exist anymore. “i think he ran because he’s smart. if he was dumb, we would have found him by now.” mike argued, but welcomed the ambient sounds of the wood consume them for the next stretch of their trek. 

mike belatedly called out after lucas, “luke! it’s dad!” his shout sounded so heartbroken, it only got worse when the deer rustled past. for a split second, mike thought maybe luke had decided to give up, come home, and when he realized it was a deer, his heart shriveled in his chest like a coke can. mike fell to a crouch, covering his eyes with his hands. the more lucas spoke, the more mike shook his head, “no, lucas, no!” he interjected, then shot up to full height, “you can’t do this to me, man.” he sighed, shaking his head, “it’s like drugs or something. i don’t want to go all cuckoo again and…and…not be here for when luke is found…” this was so fucked. mike reiterated urgently, “lucas i…that is a whole other can of worms. we should not open it. not this time.” 

.

“okay, sure, the kid’s a genius and he’s probably hiding out at cindy’s.” lucas’ tone made it clear he didn’t think that was the truth at all, but it would be a much kinder fate. he just didn’t believe in coincidences anymore. not in hawkins. if it had been any other kid -any other kid except for maybe willa or ward- maybe he wouldn’t be so hung up on the idea of it being more than a coincidence. maybe if it had just been the receipts at the restaurant and not a time capsule of their dead friend’s things, maybe if max wasn’t having dreams again-

twice was a coincidence. this was way more than twice. instead of going to mike’s side, lucas moved a bit deeper into the trees, giving him a bit of space while still staying within earshot. he was glad that he hadn’t thought to snag the spare walkie out of his trunk. it probably wouldn’t have helped and would only have bothered mike more. he turned on his heel when mike popped back to his feet, instantly closing some of the space he’d intentionally left between them and shining his light in mike’s direction. “hey. you’re not going anywhere, alright? i’m with you. let’s just...”  he still thought there was something more at play here, but he could keep that under wraps for now. he could do some digging, look for luke, and keep mike calm. that was kind of his job as best friend and favorite uncle, right? he could deal with this. he’d been doing it for years. privately, though, he was thinking it’s already open. “...keep going.” because what else could they do, really? lucas didn’t really think they were going to find luke out here but...if they were going to find him in hawkins, why not mirkwood? why not where it’d all started in the first place? he kept going. 

He should be doing more, it was hard not to feel like he should be doing more when there were so many people around doing so much for the missing kid. Sure Ryan would join a search party here and there, who in Hawkins hadn’t joined their fair share at this point. Walking the same stretch of forest that had been walked a hundred times before, or wandering the side of the road looking- hoping for a sign. Anything. But at the days went on, it was getting harder to ignore the fact that there was just no signs. Nothing. 

Still there were the handful that held nothing but hope, and really Ryan couldn’t fault them on that.

“Got up at two in the morning yesterday to help along one of our old girls giving birth to a calf.” The moment the words left Ryan’s mouth, brought the glass up to his lips trying to swallow them again with each sip. He was certain a baby cow wasn’t the thing Lucas wanted to hear when he asked the question, but these days Ryan’s life wasn’t much more than drinking, leaving other’s motel rooms as the sun rises, and well- the farm. But he figured at least it was something, some idle way of passing the time besides for talking about the weight of everything else. Which is probably why he still felt the need to add as an afterthought, “I still haven’t given her a name yet..”

Again he takes some moment to consider the week, or past few weeks since he’d last seen the man before him. It was as if these bar talks had become a regular form of catchup for them, “Speaking of old, the old man called the other day. Wanted to know how things were here, I told him Hawkins will always be Hawkins.”

. 

see, this was exactly the reason lucas had decided to stop and have a drink instead of going on to the next local establishment with a pack of flyers that were going to do fuck all to get luke wheeler back home safe and sound. he tipped his glass back to finish off the first beer and nodded at sam as he passed by. another was presented to him without ever having to ask. say what you want about hawkins and what a shit hole the hideaway was, but you couldn’t beat this service. he took another long pull from the glass, briefly considered ordering something stronger, and then thought better of it. it was too early in the night for that. he leaned an arm on the bar and a hand against his head. “boy or girl calf? actually, doesn’t matter. jedi is a gender neutral name.”

he quirked an eyebrow, then, and leaned forward almost conspiratorially. “your dad?” he considered this with a thoughtful hum as he swirled the contents of his glass. “where’d he escape off to anyway? nice to know some people don’t stick around here forever.” not that lucas was particularly mad he had. sure, there’d been a time when all he’d wanted to do was leave hawkins, but he was perfectly content here now...except for when weird shit started happening again. this? the bar, on a thursday night, with ryan? this was normal. if he tried hard enough -and got drunk enough- maybe he could escape his own worry about luke. at least for a little while. 

who: Dustin Henderson & @sinclairss where: Yoda’s apartment (Lucas pays the rent)

After another unsuccessful search for Luke, complete with another Hawkins perimeter search for any gates or electromagnetic disturbances of any kind, Max had gone home. Or, somewhere. Dustin didn’t really know where she went– he never had. But he was glad to finally have Lucas alone, because he’d been buzzing with questions since he’d found them in their compromising situation earlier this morning. The second the door clicked shut, Dustin listened for Max’s footsteps to recede and turned to Lucas, with an only-slightly-crazed look on his face.

“Okay! So!” he said, expectant eyebrows raised at Lucas. When his friend didn’t jump at his prompt, Dustin crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes. “Oh, come on. Tell me! What’s going on between you two?” he demanded, then looked around the room to avoid Lucas’ eyes. “You don’t have to… it’s okay, obviously, I’m over it.” And he was! The tightness in Dustin’s gut when he saw Max was so much more than an unrequited middle school crush– it was a longing for simplicity. For a time before shit got so… complicated. God, he hated being an adult. More than that, he hated how completely he’d messed everything up. Maybe it was too late for him, but it definitely wasn’t for Lucas.

Dustin doubled down on his line of questioning, threatening: “Just tell me or I swear to God I’ll call Mike! And we’ll fucking… we’ll fucking wet willy you!”

.

after giving max a frankly pathetic i-can’t-believe-you’re-leaving-me-alone-with-him kind of look, lucas had shuffled into the small kitchen to do what felt right: fix them both a drink. instead of hot tea, though, he rummaged around for the bottle of whiskey his dad had gifted him for...his divorce? lucas couldn’t remember why charles had passed him the bottle. maybe it was as simple as sue not wanting it in the house since charles’ heart attack. either way, he busied himself with the ingredients to make hot toddies. if he focused on that, he wouldn’t have to look dustin in the eye. 

“nothing’s going on with us. we both ended up in the same spot looking for luke and i wanted to show her this.” he jerked his chin towards the christmas lights haphazardly decorating his living room. it wasn’t even a lie. that was exactly what had happened. so why did he feel like squirming under dustin’s gaze? once he had the drinks made and put into a pair of mugs that looked like snoopy and woodstock, lucas met dustin halfway and handed off one of the mugs. he took a long pull from his own drink before walking to the center of the room and staring at the lights and the letters accompanying them.

his lips twitched. “you really think mike would be on your side with this?” lucas checked himself. of course mike would be on dustin’s side. this was lucas-and-max they were talking about. mike wheeler had never been max mayfield’s biggest fan. they were too fucking alike. lucas shifted gears. “what makes you think you two could take me?” and then, with a sigh. “nothing happened. it was late. she fell asleep on the couch.” he held up his free hand in the boy scout salute. “scout’s honor.” 

there was no contesting her own line being used against her. it would destroy max’s validity in any past arguments, so instead she met lucas with that same playfulness, “what? it didn’t? i’m not sure if i should be hurt or not, stalker.” she told him, laughing lightly, trying not to feel guilty for doing so. it was awkward to talk about after all these years. how many minutes of max’s life were spent tearing herself apart over leaving? over feeling weak and unworthy to be standing here instead of will and el? she didn’t blame lucas or anyone else for whatever feelings they might’ve had, but it was still strange to be shedding light on these people and memories that felt so dark and intimate. fitting that it would be lucas sinclair of all people to actually get her talking. she tried to keep it as light as she could given the circumstances, “it’s okay. you don’t have to say it. i know you missed me.” she taunted, letting her words hang in the sticky summer air. 

volleying with lucas was much easier than it was to speak so openly about her nightmares. what she wasn’t quick to tell lucas was how chronic they were, how’d they’d been keeping her up at night since she left hawkins. though she often saw different events play out in her dreams, they all felt the same– like a cold fist slowly squeezing her, juicing her like an orange, then discarding her. despite how unaffected she wanted to seem or deliberately vague she was going to be, the sheer fear in max’s eyes was undeniable. but if it could help someone else, it would only prove she was a bad person if she didn’t disclose to information with someone. and somehow, through the tests of time, she still trusted lucas to be that someone. at the reminder of her new chrissy nightmare, max burped with her mouth closed, then swallowed what was either a lot of saliva or vomit. “i don’t see what else it would be.” she said as casually as she could, then shrugged, “but you never know.” max was fairly successful in maintaining her signature aloofness, but it faltered when she asked very earnestly, “lucas please though, don’t tell anyone. seriously.” 

max wondered if she had been pitiful or something because the way lucas was looking at her when their hands grazed was different. her chest felt tight and max briefly felt like she was a teenager again. it was silly and it passed as soon as they parted to exit the building. when lucas revealed his bike, she stared for a long moment, then eyed him through her brows are you fucking forreal right now? “oh i remember.” max snipped, tilting her head and clenching her jaw as she looked at it. “i remember how it hurt my ass.” she frowned. “oh fuck you.” max said dismissively when lucas dared her, climbing on the bike. 

the ride was more awkward than when they were kids. max wasn’t young, ignorant, and fearless anymore. she gripped lucas as tight as she could, which made it hard to watch the compass, but it at least meant she was less likely to fall off. needless to say, max was relieved when lucas’ apartment rolled into sight. she climbed off the back once they were completely stopped and admired the outside of the building. it was…quaint and max smiled earnestly, “awesome.” she told him, liking the idea of lucas having a place of his own. but it was back to business, “what am i here to see again?” 

.

he did. miss her. of course he missed her. there had been a time that the four of them had been all lucas needed. his party, his family. but then will went missing and they’d met el and she’d fit so seamlessly into their group. when max moved to hawkins, lucas had really tried his best to keep her at arm’s length. he’d seen what had happened to el and he worried that dragging her into their party would just put her in danger. (and he’d been right, hadn’t he? she’d nearly died.) but max had a way of worming her way into getting what she wanted that lucas had always envied. so she’d jointed the party, too, and that summer, after dustin got back? the six of them? that was lucas’ perfect summer. of course he missed that.

he’d never admit that to max, though. he was too busy trying to process what max’s dreams might mean. “i mean...” he swallowed around a lump in his throat. it was always kind of weird, talking about them. but he had to put it out there, just in case. “el used to get visions of the upside down, too.” it hung their between them. it was different, obviously. max didn’t have super powers (other than maybe getting her clients off with community service), but since the vecna thing, maybe she was connected to the upside down? or maybe it was just ptsd. he didn’t know. he was just trying to make sure she wasn’t about to get sucked into some gate that had been closed but not locked up properly. he held his hand out for a pinky swear. “secret’s safe with me.” he kissed his fist once she linked their hands and that was that. it was max’s business. if she wanted to share with the others, she would.

 he hopped onto his bike and headed for home once she was situated. “try and hold on,” lucas said as he took a sharp turn. it took a little longer to make it back. he wasn’t used to riding with a passenger anymore or really used to riding at all. his calves burned and his bad knee ached a little bit as he pulled up to the apartment and stowed the bike in the hallway. 

“so, it’s not much,” he warned her as he walked backwards down the corridor. “but it’s home.” when lucas opened the door, yoda made a break for the open door. he scooped him up and held the cat like a baby until max closed the door behind her. predictably, the tabby dug his claws into lucas’ jacket until he let him go, then promptly weaved through max’s legs while lucas flicked on the lights, revealing the string lights and alphabet letters. he shoved his hands into his pockets as he stepped further into the room. 

“when will was missing, joyce communicated with him like this. i guess i thought maybe...” he shrugged. his conversation with erica the other day made him feel kind of stupid about it, but it hadn’t stopped him from asking the christmas lights questions a few times a day. he never got any answers, though. “hangs on.” he left max and yoda in the living room while he ducked into his bedroom and poked around in his closet. he ignored a shoebox and grabbed the walkie he usually kept on his desk at school and met them back there, he held it out wordlessly, like maybe max would be able to make contact when he couldn’t.  “that’s yoda. he usually hates people.” 

lucas had always been…like a breath of fresh air, whether it be to mike’s dismay or not. for about three minutes, give or take, lucas performed usher in his passenger seat, and it made mike crack a faint smile. it was times like that mike was grateful for lucas being so different from him. as opposed to when they fought, that’s when their differences irritated him most. it had always been that way and mike didn’t see any reason why that would ever stop. his tired eyes darted beside him to lucas and his crooked smile murmured, “you look so dumb.” mike wouldn’t want any other best friend in the world. or anyone else to venture with him into the thick woods. 

mike sized up the treeline before they moved at all. forever ago, he entered these trees and his life changed permanently. he was hopeful, because he had to be, that it could happen again. for the better, for luke to come back. he was probably too smart of a kid to get lost in the woods, but in hawkins you could never be certain. mike double checked the car was locked by tugging on the handle, but frowned when lucas procured a compass. no, no, no. 

“lucas, you don’t really think…” mike trailed off to eye the compass for any abnormalities. reliance on a compass meant a gate, and a gate could mean anything. it could mean luke was stuck like will had once been. it had heavy implications when it came to will and el? what did they die for if a gate was able to open? what if they didn’t…? mike could feel himself slipping into a spiral and snapped at lucas, “put it away. we don’t need it.” before forging ahead and into the wood. 

it was still. too still for his son to be anywhere nearby, but maybe they just had to go further into the wood. mike flashed his light in all directions, then cupped his mouth when one hand, “luke! it’s dad! luke wheeler!” nothing. agitated, mike finally turned to lucas again, to see if maybe he had any leads, but the compass in his friend’s hand burned his eyes and mike scoffed, “dude, why do you still have that out?” it was a weird role reversal for them. in the beginning, lucas had been insisting will was gone and el was a weirdo and mike was buying into the unbelievable. time was funny that way. “put it away.” he urged, a second time. mike didn’t even want to think about luke and the upside down. 

.

“and you’re friends with me,” lucas chirped as he climbed out of the car and stretched. he paused to peer in to the open car door. “so what does that make you?” logically, if lucas was dumb for singing along to music mike didn’t like, mike was dumber for being friends with him. but, hey, if making a bit of a fool out of himself took mike’s mind off of things, if only for a minute, it was definitely worth it. they’d been friends since they were little kids, since lucas’ baseball ended up in the wheelers’ back yard and mike initially wanted to keep it (finder’s keepers, after all). this was just another outing in a long list of things they’d done together.

it was a lot less fun than the school dances and d&d campaigns and camping trips, though. 

he blinked between his friend and the compass in his hand. “i mean,” he rubbed the back of his neck and pulled the hand holding the compass back, half expecting mike to smack it out of his hands. “shit, mike, you don’t really think he just ran off, right? he’s not stupid.” he wanted to tell mike about what max had told him, but max was always a touchy subject between them, even before she’d walked back into town for the funeral. besides, that wasn’t really his thing to tell, so he bit his tongue and followed after mike into the trees.

luke wasn’t stupid. he wouldn’t have run away for this long and if he had, he’d have been somewhere they could find him: at dustin’s or lucas’ or cindy’s. he was none of those places. and ever since the time capsule, lucas had the sneaking suspicion that they just because they’d closed the gates, it didn’t mean they couldn’t be opened again. he kept the compass in hand as he walked deeper into the woods, flashlight swinging. 

“luke! it’s uncle lucas. if you’re out there, speak now or forever hold your peace!” his voice echoed off of the tree trunks and something rustled ahead. lucas’ heart rocketed into his throat as he turned his flashlight in that direction, but it was just a startled deer that burst through the brush, looked him dead in the eye, and then darted off. lucas’ heart started up again and he cursed under his breath, one hand on his knee. “because i’m worried that it’s not just a missing person’s case. it’s happened before.” 

it wasn’t the first time that will hung between them. it wouldn’t be the last. he shifted his light and did a quick sweep of the clearing they were in. if he squinted hard enough, he saw shadows that looked like a girl with superpowers. he blinked and she was gone. lucas rubbed his tired eyes and exhaled on a sigh. he pocketed the compass, but only because of the way mike’s voice shook. “have you tried the walkies?” he asked as he stepped past mike “checked the old frequencies?” 

erica let out a scream when she saw lucas bang his head against the table and then saw as that stupid cat hissed at her. erica had to resist the urge to kick it - if it came to it, she would. but she saw as the cat ran off into another room and she raised an eyebrow as she looked down at her brother. “that cat is the devil! you’re lucky i didn’t kick him just right there and now.” she said, taking off her blazer and shaking her head, placing it on the back of the chair, before her attention was back on her brother.

she looked around the room, watching the alphabet letters on the floor, written on pieces of paper and the lights too. erica tried to decipher what was going on, but even that was too much for her. “lucas, i swear to god if you don’t tell me what’s going on right now, i’ll call mom and she can see that you leave all of your stuff like this. she might not put you in a psych ward, but i will.” she said, shaking her head slowly as she stared over at the lights once again, waiting for some type of explanation. she looked over at her brother and ran a hand through her hair softly, scratching it as he talked about luke and will. the talk of will made her stomach turn, remembering everything about the funeral. erica might not have been that close to will, but her brother was. and when he did, she had to be there for him.

“why would luke be there? even better, how would luke be there? we closed everything down after we took down that creepy guy in the haunted house… right?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. she was hoping that her words were true and then letting out a sigh. “plus, if… that were even possible, don’t you remember that everything in the upside down is the same as in here, except… it’s upside down? if luke was in fact there, wouldn’t he be hanging out at his house?” she asked, trying to reason with him.

.

“yoda’s just a good judge of character,” lucas scoffed. “he hates mike, too.”  aa if that meant the orange tabby was clearly of superior intellect. he walked to the middle of the living room and placed his hands on his hips, aa perfect imitation of a certain teenage babysitter from years past. “do you really not remember what joyce did to the living room? it was just like this!” he flung his hands into the air, which probably didn’t help his case of being completely calm, cool, and collected. but ever since he’d talked to max, well...he wasn’t so sure about the upside down being closed off completely. “will talked to her through the lights. i guess i was just hoping maybe...” his words died off. it was a stupid idea, probably. but a guy could hope.

he dropped down onto the couch and rested his elbows on his knees. “luke comes here or the hendersons’ when his dad’s annoying him. and i can’t do this at mike’s.” if anyone was going to end up back in a psych ward...well, lucas didn’t want to be the reason for that. so he was keeping his little extracurricular activity to himself. he shook his head and met his sister’s eye. “you really think it’s likely that luke just got kidnapped or ran away?” lucas’ tone was doubtful. luke could be a little shit, but something in his bones told him that just wasn’t the case. “this all started happening when everyone got back here. and he’s not the only one missing. you saw the news.” he sighed. “i’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.” 

katherine began to unload the washer and put clothes into the dryer. she hadn’t even realized lucas was there. maybe she had get better at checking her surroundings. but, now they had spoken and she couldn’t be rude. it was hard for her… she wanted to hate everything about dustin. but, it was a small town and while she understood why they had taken his side in the divorce it wasn’t exactly easy to forgive so easily. but, to save face in a small town she chose to be kind. save her anger for dustin. he was the one who was disloyal. what had any of his friends to do with it?

“i’m fine as can be, lucas.” kathering stated with a sigh, “how have you been?” then she began folding the clothes from her basket again. “any big wins for the team?”

.

the washer beeped, saving him from the awkwardness for a moment. lucas practically dived for the washing machine and started methodically transferring the practice jerseys into the dryer. “i’m...” he shrugged. it didn’t feel right to lie, even if they were just exchanging smalltalk. it wasn’t like katherine would know if he was lying; they’d never exactly been close. still, he let it hang there between them. lucas didn’t know how anybody could be fine when there was a kid missing, let alone one he’d helped raise. 

the regular basketball season wouldn’t start until the fall, but he didn’t expect people not heavily invested in girls’ middle school basketball to know that. he shut the dryer door and set it to the proper setting before hopping up onto the empty machine next to it, feet dangling off the edge. “we’re in a summer league. it’s going okay. lots of kids are away for vacations and stuff, so...” it would take another hour or so for the clothes to dry. lucas considered his options: he could walk across the street for a coffee, but this was around the time tracy got her afternoon latte, so he settled for digging into his pocket and pulling out a joint. it was a self-serve laundromat, so it wasn’t like he had anything to worry about... except maybe for katherine. lucas sized her up as he grabbed his lighter and held up the joint with a crooked grin. “do you mind if i...?” he let the joint dangle from the corner of his mouth as he held the lighter in one hand. “i’ll share, if you want.” 

As much as Akeem thought Hawkins was… well, whack, everytime he got a call from Cole Montgomery, he was reminded all over again how glad he was to be here and not in LA. He didn’t know what Max was thinking, leaving him with some white dude who did labor law. The fuck did labor have to do with Akeem? He went out of his way not to labor, and Max knew that damn well.

But, well, there was other shit on her mind, obviously, and Akeem had basically decided that she wouldn’t ditch town until that one kid was found, so he decided to do his part. He didn’t really have a flashlight or anything, but he had a lighter, which he brought with him on the trail by the lake. Of course, pulling the lighter out reminded him that it’d been at least two hours since his last hit, and he couldn’t do something as fucked up as look for a missing kid sober, could he?

So Akeem lit up in the woods, puffed on his joint, and held his lighter up as if it was illuminating anything other than his own hands. It was so dark that he didn’t even notice the other until their shoulders brushed, and Akeem let out a breathy laugh. “Oh, shit, you’re that dude!” he exclaimed, clicking his lighter to inspect the man’s face. Yup. It was him– the guy who’d been… weird at the school but then, like, way cooler later. They had to stick together, anyway.

“‘Sup, man, what you doing out here? You need a ride?” Akeem hadn’t seen any other cars in the parking lot… or, at least, he was too distracted trying to stash his stash in the trunk so no fucking kids got too nosy. But anyways, he rocked forwards on his feet toward the dude. “You need a hit?” he offered, before thinking again. “Who are you, by the way?”

.

lover’s lake had been a gate to the upside down years ago, so once he’d started trying the compass trick, it was only a matter of time before lucas ended up there. he’d once again taken his bike. his logic said that luke was too young to drive and he and the rest of the party had gotten pretty much everywhere on their bikes at thirteen, so he was trying to get back in that headspace. besides, it meant he didn’t have to walk the entire trail around the lake. 

still, about halfway around it, lucas had hopped off of his bike in favor of walking along beside it, compass in one hand and his trusty flashlight in the other. he kept his eyes on the needle, but it didn’t spin as he made his way along the shore towards the spot where he’d watched the older kids take off by boat during that fateful spring break. he’d gone to a lot of parties here in high school, too. that log was where tracy tyler told him she loved him for the first time and he’d so eloquently answered with a mumbled thanks, but what he remembered most about this place was being eleven or twelve, skipping stones with his friends, and, later, splitting their first shitty warm beers on the shore. 

he didn’t expect to run into anyone out here and jumped slightly when he did. lucas heard akeem before he felt their shoulders brush, so he swept the beam of his flashlight almost right into his face before realizing he knew the guy. sort of. “shit, sorry.” lucas dropped the flashlight towards the path again and quirked a brow. “could ask you the same thing.” he wasn’t entirely sure about akeem, but he figured it was a better interruption than the useless hawkins p.d. “looking for luke,” he conceded with a sigh. he gestured to his bike. and then he took the joint with a shrug. why not?

he took a hit and passed it back. leaning his palms against the handlebars, lucas said “i’m lucas sinclair.” and then, realizing that probably would mean fuck all to akeem, he added “i knew max when she lived here.” that was an oversimplification, but lucas was never sure how to talk about that time in his life. sure, he could call max his ex, but that seemed so much less than what had happened to them back then. and it wasn’t like he could tell akeem about all of that. so vague it was. “did you ever play d&d when you were a kid?” lucas was skeptical, but it was an easy way to explain it in his mind. “she was part of our party. only she left for a while.” his fingers itched and he held a hand out for the joint to take another puff. maybe it would ease some of the tension in his shoulders. 

“...and who are you, exactly?”

starter for: katherine and anyone!  location: spincity laundromat

things hadn’t been going her way for a while now. but, katherine couldn’t complain considering her children were safe and sound. she just wished the washing machine hadn’t gone out… and the last person she wanted to ask to fix might be one of the only people she knew who could. gathering a load of the children’s clothes from the dryer she began to fold them and put them in her basket. there was a flicker of white paper blowing from where it was pinned to the bulletin board. the oscillating fan blowing the corner of the paper and the bolded font caught her eye. missing child.  katherine felt her breath hitch as she froze, looking at the picture of luke wheeler front and center. god, her heart ached for mike. she couldn’t imagine that pain, the fear of the unknown. she couldn’t imagine it. she didn’t want to. willa and ward were her world. she loved them so much and to have either of them taken away from her or go missing with no explanation. she couldn’t even stand the thought. the sound of the washing machine timer buzzing jumped her out of her thoughts and she dropped ward’s shirt from her hand. “shit!” she cursed under her breath as she grabbed it from the floor. she looked around and spotted someone, “they really couldn’t make those things any louder.” she said trying to recover from the slight sting of embarrassment she felt as her cheeks flushed red. 

.

lucas usually did his own laundry at his parents’ place. what? his apartment was tiny and didn’t even have a washer/dryer hookup and, besides, he was at his childhood home at least once a week for thursday dinner, so it just made sense to throw in a couple of loads while he was there. it wasn’t like he made his mom do it or anything. that would be rude. he just used the machine. he even brought his own detergent and dryer sheets, so it wasn’t a big deal. but he didn’t do the team’s laundry there because the practice jerseys hawkins middle had handed out to the girls’ team had been handed down from the boys team and they reeked. 

as the head (and only!) coach of the team, he had a lot of responsibilities. scheduling practices, setting up scrimmages, making sure they had proper equipment, and...making sure the practice jerseys weren’t going to kill anyone with their stench. he was sitting in one of the plastic chairs while the jerseys spun in the washer, lost in the latest episode of sports illustrated when someone broke the silence. he lowered the magazine and blinked, trying to process what she’d said. “well, yeah. otherwise you’d actually be able to think here and i think laundromats are one of those luminal spaces like airports or truck stops in the middle of the night.” he shrugged, eyes drifting back to the article about the pacers, but now that he’d engaged, he felt kin of obligated to not be rude. 

“uh. how are you?”  fucking brilliant, lucas. really.

who: erica sinclair & @sinclairss​ where: lucas’ place

the sinclair siblings had made it a pact to call each other every week when they moved away at first. of course, at first, erica thought that it was lame and lucas was often the first one to call, but after a while, she had to admit that it was nice to hear lucas’ voice on the other side of the phone. but now that they were both in hawkins, they had decided to turn their weekly phone call into a dinner. just the two of them, no parents, no one else. it would be a nice time to catch up on things that they couldn’t talk on their parents’ table and stuff that erica was sure would give sue sinclair a stroke. she had been in charge to pick up food. and so she did, picking the restaurant where they used to go all of the time with their parents. erica thought that it had been a good idea, as she always had them.

“i’m here, loser, you better have set the table because i’m not doing all the work for you. i’m not your…” erica said as she walked inside of lucas’ apartment and looked around. christmas lights? erica was sure that she was hallucinating in that very moment as she turned to look at her brother, a shocked looked on her face. was this real or had lucas lost his mind completely. “…mom. lucas, what the hell is this? have you gone completely crazy? because i don’t think i’m ready to visit you in the psych ward every day.” she said, placing the food on the table and looking around.

.

he’d taken a page right out of joyce byers’ book and ran the lights throughout the apartment, down the hallway and into the bedroom. the only place that was left untouched was the bathroom because, well, he hoped that would remain a place of solitude. the living room wall even had the alphabet, though lucas had opted use notebook paper with a letter each instead of painting them on the wall. he needed his security deposit back, okay?

the only problem was yoda. the orange tabby was the reason he couldn’t have an actual christmas tree. the cat was obsessed with the glowing lights and had ripped them off the wall multiple times since he’d first hung them. when the door opened, lucas was crouched down under the little two-person table he had in his kitchen trying to extricate one of the bulbs from yoda’s mouth. “if you swallow that, i’m not paying to save your dumb a- fuck!”  lucas jumped slightly at his sister’s voice and smacked his head off of the table while yoda darted out into the living room, dropped the string lights in his mouth, and promptly hissed at erica. 

lucas landed promptly on his ass and poked his head out to peer over at his sister and then checked his watch. of course this would be the one time erica showed up on time. and of course lucas hadn’t forgotten about their weekly dinner! he wasn’t an asshole. “hello to you too,” he grumbled, pushing himself to his feet and rubbing the back of his head as he shuffled around fathering paper plates and silverware. “what, you don’t like the new decor?” he waited a beat as he handed a plate off to her. “i just thought...maybe if luke was...where will was, maybe he’d be able to talk to us.” he scratched at his ear, suddenly self-conscious under his sister’s gaze. “it hasn’t worked. yet. but.” he shrugged and started pulling food out of the bags like nothing at all had happened. “was it busy?”

As he walked to the back, John realized he really had to get his storage together. No wonder he was having an issue. The store’s backroom wasn’t big enough for all storing, so they had an additional shed for that nearby. Somehow he always seemed to be too occupied to come up with a good system. It was summer, after all. Christmas lights should not be here anymore. Oh well. He sighed. His own mind sometimes really made him tired.

John came back with two boxes of big, colorful bulbs on a string. They were the classic kind his parents used to hang around the house. “Of these, I got two left. It think it’s what you described, right?” He absently rubbed at the sore spot in the curve of his neck, as his free hand pushed the box towards the other so he could decide whether or not to purchase. “Even the enthusiasts are not starting decorating until September. You got some special project?”

.

since he’d left most of his grocery shopping behind the last time lucas had been in melvald’s, lucas took a leisurely stroll through the aisles to pick up canned tuna, a box of pizza rolls, and a six pack before circling back to the register just in time to meet john. his eyes lit up and he snatched one of the boxes right out of the poor guy’s hands. “there are perfect. thanks. i’ll take both.” he slid the rest of his items across the counter while he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and flicked through a few bills. 

“hm?” he blinked a few times, allowing his brain to catch up with the question. “uh. something like that. i teach and my kids complained i didn’t decorate last year, so i figured i’d just...get a jump start on it.” lucas wasn’t sure why he’d made up such a stupid lie, but he also didn’t think johnny melvald would necessarily judge him for putting up a bunch of lights in his apartment, either. he just didn’t want word to get out. he’d seen how people had treated joyce when will was missing, how they were already treating mike. he had enough bullshit to deal with without being the talk of the town. again. “what do i owe you?”

Ryan wouldn’t remember when it stopped feeling like he was living in the town, and when it would start feeling like he was something of a ghost himself. Haunting the same places, like an after thought. The town would feel like that all too easily, like it could open up the jaws of its mouth and swallow you whole. It had always been that way. You’d hear it in the hum of crickets at night, and see it in the chipping paint on the walls, like a current through the wind- that the town wanted to keep you. 

He’d remember being a teen, boots crunching twigs in the forrest, running from the sheriffs flashlight with his heart pounding. Like the most thrilling thing on a Saturday night was sneaking to those secluded spots with too loud of music, and friends who’d each steal something from their parents liquor cabinets. Those types of gatherings that start small and the odd group of five, would grow into something larger. They’d laugh, helping friends over tree roots that tangle on the ground, and under branches that get in the way. Out running something that wouldn’t matter. Back when Hawkins felt like his own little rebels playground.

Now he sits in quiet, soaking up any sense of others around him. It was a long formed habit not to be alone, one that now Ryan lie in a silent and secluded house each night he doesn’t quite know how to handle. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want,” It felt like every time he came face to face with someone else searching, unless he was doing the exact same thing Ryan wouldn’t know what to say. He wasn’t good at pity, he was even worse at offering compassion most days. “You just looked-” He trails the sentence with a gesture, “How anyone would look.”

He can’t help the way his eyes trail to the flyers, the boy he’d seen around time a hundred times before. Hawkins was meant to be a safe town, wasn’t it? The kind of things you think in time, the kind of things that run through your mind as you grow older- as you forget. The kind that make you swallow the idea of noises you hear outside the window at night, or push back the thoughts of that irking feeling that you remember so well of being watched through the forest, or when the dark settles in too close at night. It was that Hawkins bad luck after all.

“Yeah, yeah I’m alright.” Which always feels more of a formality than anything along with the shadow of a smile he offered. “How’ve you been though?”

.

as if to answer the question, lucas tossed back the rest of his drink in one large gulp and flipped the glass over for good measure. he paused to ask the bartender for a second before leveling ryan with a long look and a one-shouldered shrug. “it just feels like i should be doing something, but i’m not sure what else to do, you know?” he thanked sam when he collected the empty glass and left another in its place. lucas took a smaller sip this time and spun the glass on the bartop, just to keep his hand occupied. he popped a couple pretzels from the communal bowl in front of him into his mouth. when was the last time he’d eaten? had he even had anything today? for as much as he was preaching to mike that he couldn’t take care of anyone unless he took care of himself, lucas wasn’t being much of a good example. 

lucas sighed heavily, decided then and there that he wasn’t going to make much headway that night anyway, and sank further into his seat. “tell me something,” he said, nodding and waving his free hand to coax ryan along. “i need to take my mind off of it. tell me something that’s happened to you this week.” he didn’t care if it was a good thing or a bad thing at this point. lucas just wanted...an escape. 

that felt selfish to him. he should be with mike and dustin, mapping out the places they’d already looked, but he was just so...fucking tired. when was the last time he’d slept more than a couple of hours? before the funeral? definitely before luke. well, he was going to fix that tonight, one way or another. but first, he was going to hang out with his buddy and knock back a few drinks. that would help, probably. it usually did. 

“mm, teen rebel phase, i would’ve paid to see that.” max hummed fondly. tagging a building felt pretty minor in comparison the her version of rebelling in california, but she supposed everything felt smaller in hawkins. it was suffocating in that way, “what? did you steal candy from a baby too?” she asked, but a more pressing question came to mind, “seriously, what made you so upset you threw away that incomparable moral compass away?” max was worried what his answer might be. but it was so long ago, very little from her own teenage years still bothered her. or at least, she thought so. maybe lucas would be the same? 

there wasn’t much max had to contribute about luke and cindy and all of the other tidbits of information she’d willingly forfeited learning about in real time. instead, she started formulating more leads of her own. if she was in luke’s shoes, she’d probably figure out whatever the hell bus to hop on to meet her parent. thirteen was a difficult age, especially in a place like hawkins. that was the year she first moved there. that was the logical rationale, the one max’s gut was telling her to trust, but of course, with the visions she was having left and right, full confidence was off the table. 

“no, no clocks.” max cut lucas off quickly, staring down at her hands. her brows threaded together as she tried to arrange the words to describe them. “it’s like…i had this dream about joyce before i got the invite…” she sucked in a breath, tapping her foot anxiously. this wasn’t exactly something she talked about often, or ever. “and then…” max’s voice caught forcing her to stop, “after the funeral it was like…” she shook her head, “i don’t know. like vecna’s lair, but different.” max appeared to be in physical pain as she recounted the last and most recent, “then at the school, it was chrissy. i…saw her…” she had to turn her head away from lucas. there was no way she could get into the dreams, waking up at starcourt, the torment that sleep brought her the last twenty years. pull it together. max sucked all of it in and faced lucas again with the suggestion, “but it could just be ptsd. i don’t know. so…don’t freak.” 

max said it like it was simple, but all of this was so very complicated. hunting monsters and rescuing kids wasn’t like a criminal court case. it was easy to prove someone innocent or guilty with facts, but this stuff was unpredictable, always steps ahead. lucas wasn’t that way though. she eyed his palms, touch lingering when she swiped the compass out of his left hand. max looked at him through her eyebrows, eyes flicking back and forth. she didn’t get what he was trying to do. “do you want me to watch the compass on the drive or something?” max asked him skeptically. she looked at lucas some more, quickly deciphering he was being genuine. that earnest smile was hard to ignore. max sighed, “fine. let’s go.” 

.

lucas shrugged. it had been a combination of things. losing will and el, losing max, his parents putting pressure on him to get a scholarship, all while balancing two varsity sports and hellfire club. it wasn’t that bad. he could have had it much worse, but at the time, all he’d wanted to do was escape this place...and then once he had, all he’d wanted to do was make it back to his friends. “don’t worry, madmax. you bailing didn’t send me into a tailspin or anything. that’s presumptuous of you.” it kind of had, but mostly because he’d missed his friend. he’d been worried about her since she’d been gone. he didn’t say that, though. it didn’t seem like the time or place.

relief loosened the tension in shoulders when max confirmed that there were no clocks, but the things she was describing weren’t that much less worrisome. he was freaking, but he rearranged his face into a nonchalant look. lucas couldn’t help but go to her and he only hesitated for a fraction of a second before reaching out to her, a gentle squeeze to max’s bicep before sliding his hand down to take hers for a moment. he didn’t thread their fingers, just held her hand like they were thirteen at the movies again, hoping it was reassuring and not weird. “you really think that’s it? now that you’re here, it’s just sneaking up on you again?” he sounded doubtful. he didn’t doubt max so much as he doubted her explanation. this place had always been fucking weird. 

he let go of her hand when she took the compass and chose to ignore the little spike of electricity he still felt. he called over his shoulder as he stepped out of the building to retrieve his bike. “i didn’t drive. figured i could cover more ground this way.” he flicked the headlamp on and perched upon the bike, giving her a pointed look. “come on. just like old times, right? you still remember how to do this, don’t you?” and then, in case max was still skeptical. “it’s not far. i dare you.” you couldn’t say no to a dare, after all.

as they emerged into the daylight, mike frowned as he glanced in the direction of his own car, “i wasn’t going to play sad music.” he protested with a sigh before following after lucas. fine. he could pick the music. mike stuffed himself into lucas’ low to the ground car, waiting for him to decide on a soundtrack. when he held up usher’s confessions, he grimaced, “really? i can’t believe you listen to that college kid shit.” mike shook his head. he hadn’t listened to usher really, but all of the new stuff was the same repetitive, thoughtless, garbage. it didn’t really matter, like at all, but it gave mike brief reprieve from all the horrible, frantic thoughts he had been having about luke on a loop since that night at enzo’s.  he braved the sunlight again and stretched himself back out, walking back over to his car. he climbed in and started the car up, not hesitating greatly. mike was nervous about poking around in that area, but knowing he didn’t have to go it alone gave him whatever sliver of peace of mind he could have given the current situation. “wait hold on…” mike grumbled before lucas popped in his CD and popped out all the right reasons by nickelback. his car didn’t have a disc carousel. mike carelessly disposed of the nickelback cd into his glove compartment, then pulled out of the parking lot.  the intro wasn’t so terrible, but mike figured nothing was going to actually sound pleasant to him right now. he wouldn’t be able to properly enjoy anything until luke was home safe and sound. it wasn’t that the following song mike figured was probably called yeah, was bad, it was simply…an interesting choice on lucas’ end, “wow, lucas.” mike said, stifling laughter even though he felt like he wasn’t really supposed to, “incredible choice.” he shook his head, smile fading when he refocused on the road. 

eventually, mike pulled off to the side of the road. he looked at the woods on the passenger’s side like they were haunted. will went missing around here, they found el around here, maybe they’d get lucky for a third time. it seemed probable, but mike couldn’t seem to muster up the courage to get out of the car. slowly, he turned the nob on his car radio down. he held his breath momentarily, staring past lucas and out into the thick trees. mike let the breath out then eyed lucas, “you ready?” he asked, like he wasn’t the one hesitating. 

.

lucas held a hand to his heart dramatically. “college kid shit,” he parroted back, his tone matching mike’s with an exaggerated eyeroll. “excuse me for wanting to be relatable to my students.” not that a ton of his eighth graders were listening to the masterpiece that was confessions, but a handful might! and, besides, it was better than whatever sad shit mike had in his rotation. once they returned to mike’s car, he raised his eyebrows and mouthed nickelback? in a way that would tell mike all he needed to know about how he felt about his friend’s music choices. 

he kept aa fairly neutral expression as mike drove. ever since they’d been kids, he’d really preferred being the one behind the wheel between the three of them. it gave him a sense of control over the situation. he couldn’t help the death grip he had on the handle near his head as they rolled through hawkins’ residential area. it wasn’t that mike was driving particularly erratically...it was just that lucas wasn’t driving. he hated that.

still, he made a show of singing along to the chorus of the second track, pitching his voice higher and bobbing his head along to the beat. it wasn’t like he wasn’t still worried. if anything, his pulse rate had ticked up. but if he acted like everything was mostly okay, maybe some of that would rub off on mike. besides, it was a good song, no matter what mike thought. 

as they rolled to a stop, lucas turned to follow mike’s line out sight towards the tree line. this shortcut always kind of gave him the creeps, but he’d never admitted that to the rest of the party. now, he felt a little bit justified in it. not only had their best friend vanished from this very piece of woods, but they’d also run into a weird girl with powers here. granted, that second bit had ended up alright, but the weird fog settling on the ground didn’t give him much confidence that this would be another lucky time. 

much like when they were kids, lucas didn’t admit that. he just turned on his keyring flashlight, handed the package of batteries over. “i was born ready,” he said with more confidence than he felt. he opened the door and stepped out onto mirkwood, making his way towards the woods while flicking his compass open. “you think we should head in the direction of the lab or...” lucas rotated on the spot, letting the compass settle. “maybe the cabin?” 

“no way.” max laughed in soft disbelief as lucas revealed troy walsh had not pissed himself just once as a middle schooler, but twice later in life, “how’d you manage that?” she asked, clearly amused, but her voice didn’t reach above a whisper. the mischievous awe fell vaguely over her expression, the corners pulling up at her lip despite it feeling forbidden. despite. despite. despite. despite given circumstances, it twinkled willfully in her eyes. which were…staring at lucas’….which were staring back at her…and max was really grateful that she remembered blinking was a thing. that seemed like a good time to let go.  her hands folded in her lap, though they bobbed up and down rapidly along with her legs. it wasn’t long after that max had to stand, trying to paint a portrait of who luke was. she felt useless. max hated that feeling. she was mulling over options in the form of rubbing her lips together when lucas snapped her out of it. it wasn’t a dig, but max could only scoff in response, “luke would be lucky to have his very own max mayfield.” she joked, glancing sideways at lucas before her own words sunk in. maybe not the most appropriate comment. too late to do anything about it now but suck in a breath and hold it for a second. 

max craned her neck trying to look at what lucas was scribbling on, but it was too dark, “what is it?” she asked, kicking lucas’ foot with her foot, “next stop?” she extended the offer subtly. given how he’d crept around breaking down on the couch, max figured he might appreciate some company right now. hell, she appreciated the company. max began to pace as lucas divulged more into luke’s personality. he didn’t have to say more than he’s mike’s kid for max to understand.

 to her, that meant he was angry. and he felt alone in the world. which was so blatant to her that mike did way back when, but she never thought he had much valid reason to. luke on the otherhand…he might have some real reasoning for feeling that way from what she’d seen. max cleared her throat and stopped, casually suggesting, “well maybe he took a bus to the town over. or tried to find his mom? has anyone checked those things out?” she asked, less frustrated and more an olive branch. i will help you. i will help you do the hardwork if nobody else has. it was glaringly apparent to max now, that just because she had forgotten how strongly she felt for all of the party, it didn’t mean that it faded.

the information max was given in response was enough to make her lean against an unsturdy table and mull over it. she didn’t have any clues to offer lucas, or leads that she hadn’t already given, and now as she scanned benny’s, she couldn’t make out anything of importance… well, maybe there was one thing. she’d been trying so hard to avoid making it a whole thing, but as she stood empty handed without any other practical explanation, she realized it was less of a her issue, and maybe a public safety thing. “so…” max stood up, smacking her lips and staring at the floor. where did she begin? 

max knew lucas already had his suspicions, but she didn’t want to freak him out, so she unhelpfully said, “i don’t want you to take this as…” she scrunched up her face, “a big deal, don’t freak out.” max swallowed her words, all casualness subsiding. afraid to say it. afraid to make it real, “you were right.” with an uncharacteristic shame, she looked at lucas, “i have been seeing things…like a lot of things…and dreaming. it’s been… weird lately.” max didn’t give lucas any time to respond and quickly tried to usher him away from that revelation and to the point, “but that’s not incredibly important, what i’m saying is that, have we tried…the walkie thing? or…the light thing? or…the compass thing?” 

.

it struck him then how much max had missed. when she’d left, he was a benchwarmer for the high school basketball team who still hadn’t grown into his skin. now, he coached  (and taught) for the middle school he’d met her in. having her back in his life -back in hawkins- felt so natural that he’d almost forgotten she wasn’t always here. (and that she’d eventually go back where she’d come from.) “you missed my teen rebel phase. i was tagging hawkins middle.” he patted the spray paint in his cup holder almost fondly. “he walked up on me. i just told him i wasn’t afraid of his bullshit anymore and that i was pissed enough to want to hit somebody, so he would be doing me a favor.” it’d helped that he’d shot up about four inches that summer, but troy was the least of lucas’ problems back then. 

a hoarse laugh surprised him when he realized it’d come from his own throat. “can you imagine mike if luke found a max?” the laugh built in his chest. it might have been the stress that caused the little laughing fit, but it felt good to let some of the emotions he’d been holding back out. when she stood, he just stretched his legs out in front of him, tapping the notebook idly with his fingers. “yeah, maybe. i’m not so sure he’s there but...” but they’d first really made contact with the upside down, defeated the demogorgan there. hawkins middle seemed as likely a place as any to have weird shit going on. he often saw things in the shadows when he was there late grading exams, but he always blamed too much caffeine and too little sleep. he looked up at her with raised eyebrows. it was weird that max didn’t know about cindy but then...max didn’t know about tracy, either. 

“luke’s mom practically handed him off two minutes after she had him and skipped town. but i guess maybe he could still be curious...” he scratched her name down on his paper and circled it. he wouldn’t make mike call her. he could handle that. “i dunno if luke would even know how to read a bus schedule.” but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t just hop on a random one for the hell of it. he was mike’s kid after all. 

but lucas couldn’t shake the fear coiling in his stomach that this wasn’t some regular old runaway story. it only worsened when max warned him. he sat up straighter just at the shift in her tone, but he did cut in to say “what was that? i was right?” with a cheeky grin. it faded almost as quickly as it appeared, though, when she admitted to seeing things. a million questions were on the tip of lucas’ tongue at once, the first of which was “are you seeing clocks again?” 

but then she was asking about the walkies and the compasses and the christmas lights and lucas popped to his feet, not without digging around for the compass tucked away in a side pocket of his bag. he held it out to max. “i think you need to come over.” he held up his hands palm out, a sheepish grin crossing his face. “i just have to show you...something.”