#madwheelclair

•Lucas and Mike room together, obviously. Max probably isn't technically allowed in their dorm, but she sneaks in all the time anyway and nobody says anything about it because she's highkey kind of intimidating.

•I like to think Lucas continues playing basketball—whether on the official college team or just recreationally. This time around Max and Mike do make an effort to be there for all his games, because they feel guilty about not doing so back in freshman year of highschool. Max actually gets super into it. Mike's sports-hating ass never does but at least there's cute boys to look at.

•They probably would have started doing this way before college, but I'm really into the idea of Lucas and Max trying to teach each other basketball and skateboarding. It's like 50% a reason to get all touchy-feely with each other, but they really do enjoy getting to share these parts of themselves with each other. Sometimes they rope Mike into it and he HATES it and eats shit every time, but for some reason he can never actually definitively say no to them.

•I imagine Lucas is very popular due to his being nice and friendly and handsome and generally very lovable. He's probably constantly getting approached to hang out or go on dates and every time it happens you can see Max and Mike just SEETHING with jealousy in the back. They often complain together about how these people don't even really know Lucas like they do. On occasion they will even turn on each other about who knows Lucas best. Lucas is simultaneously amused and annoyed.

•Mike is an English major in my heart, and I've heard that Lucas On The Line also establishes Lucas as a literature-lover, so I like to think that these two have at least ONE literature or literature-adjacent class together. You can often find them discussing and debating the books they're reading together. Max calls them nerds for it, but likes witnessing their talks anyway even though she could always go do something else.

•Max is super cool but she also comes across as kind of prickly, so it takes a while for her to find friends. But I like to think she eventually finds, like, a group of fellow skater girls to hang out with, because I think she deserves to have loads of female friends. The group is mostly athletes, but Max introduces them to video games and D&D and they actually end up really liking it.

•Any time Max has her girls' nights, Lucas and Mike end up hanging out together. Unfortunately for them, however, being alone around each other always causes them to become 10× stupider, so they ALWAYS end up getting into some bullshit. Max's girls' night routine thus involves her having fun with her friends, and then coming back home to laugh her ass off as Lucas and Mike regale her with the story of whatever chaos they got into this time. It's a good routine.

•I find it difficult to believe that Max came out of that whole getting-Vecna'ed experience completely unscathed, so I imagine she probably has, like, chronic pain or flare-ups or something like that, at the very least. On her bad days she'll crash in Lucas and Mike's dorm. Lucas will do his best to ensure she's physically comfortable and Mike will start stupid arguments with her to get her mind off of the pain.

•Both Lucas and Mike are often woken up by the sound of the other having nightmares. Somehow they've come to the silent agreement that the way to deal with these situations is to climb into the other's bed and cuddle the night away. They don't talk about it EVER, except for when Lucas told Max about it. She gets nightmares too so all she really felt was a yearning to be able to experience the same. Eventually I like to think all three of them get their own small apartment together and so she gets her wish. (Is this typical friendship behaviour? Debatable. But tbh you can't really expect typical friendship behaviour from people who have gone through what they have.)

•Mike has pretty bad separation anxiety and abandonment issues after Everything, and the consequence of this is that he is constantly crashing Lumax's dates. He's their perpetual third wheel(er) that they can't get rid of. But as much as they both complain about it...they don't actually mind all that much, because they both also have separation anxiety. And anyway, despite how annoying Mike can be, he's actually pretty good about giving them alone time when they specifically request it (though you best believe they have to endure a dozen jokes at their expense before he finally leaves them be).

•There is, however, ONE Lumax date activity that Mike will never crash, and that is their monthly movie dates. Those are sacred to them. They never EVER miss it, no matter what else is happening in their lives or their relationship. Sometimes—especially when it's a bad movie—they'll spend the whole runtime making out like teenagers, but for the most part the movie dates are a time for them to decompress and just sort of exist with each other.

•Actually! There is one other date activity that Mike will never crash, and that is when they go clubbing. Mike hates partying on principle, and also all of the lights/sounds/crowds are super overwhelming for him. So Lucas and Max only ever go with each other. They're both very athletic/physically-oriented so I imagine they'd both be super good dancers, and of course they're also extremely in tune with each other, so they always tear up the dance floor. Maybe they even develop a reputation for it lol. On these nights Mike is their designated sober friend who is responsible for picking them up and dropping them off and generally being in charge of their well-being. Does he complain incessantly? Of course. But in truth he really enjoys getting to take care of them.

•Mike's preferred method of getting drunk is downing a bottle of wine all alone and reading sad poetry or some shit. He takes after his mother like that. Unfortunately for him Lucas and Max refuse to let him wallow in his misery like he wants. They always end up interrupting his drinking sessions and he always ends up crying on their shoulders about something or other.

•I imagine El probably haunts them all day and night. It's difficult to talk about her at first, but they don't want to let her just fade away from their lives and memories, so slowly they start bringing her up more and more. On the anniversary of her "death" they try to celebrate her life by doing stuff she loved (like arts and crafts!).

•Max and Mike both struggle with depression and they both recognize this about the other. Do they ever talk about it? Of course not. But on bad days they'll attach themselves to the other because they know the other person Gets It and won't ask any questions that they don't want to answer. The other person's response is usually to provide some sort of distraction in the form of ridiculous arguments or stupid dares and bets. Sometimes, however, they'll also just sit together and bask in each other's silent company.

•Lucas, of course, also struggles with trauma and nightmares and sleepless nights and a constant anxiety about something happening to his friends or family and not being able to do anything about it. Unlike Max and Mike, however, he's pretty good at not letting it affect his personality or relationships, so it takes a WHILE for them to catch on that something is up with him. They feel pretty guilty about not realising sooner—especially because they both have personal experience with closing yourself off from the world and not letting on that you're struggling—but then they start making more of an effort to check in on how he's doing and soothe his anxieties. Lucas is a bit resistant to it at first because in his mind HE'S supposed to be the protector and caretaker, but he does eventually let them in.

•Okay, back to more light-hearted stuff! They all start experimenting with fashion and style now that they're out of Hawkins' oppressive conservative environment. Lucas WILL become one of the most stylish people on campus (shout out to Caleb McLaughlin for being the best-dressed of the cast!). Max and Mike WILL start dressing alternative (I imagine Max is probably more punk and Mike is probably more emo or goth). And Max WILL throw away Mike's straightener and bully him into growing his hair out again.

•Mike remembers how much fun he used to have playing dress-up with Nancy as a child (the ONLY explanation for how he knew how to do El's makeup in S1), and tentatively starts getting into makeup again. Admittedly this is mostly my personal desire to see him in eyeliner coming through, but I really do think he would enjoy it—he's a creative soul! Max isn't really into makeup, but Lucas will let Mike do his sometimes, and he ends up looking so beautiful that Max simply has to kiss him about it while Mike squawks in the background about how she's ruining all his hard work.

•I mentioned earlier that I think all three of them would end up getting a small apartment together. I imagine it's a glorious disaster. None of them are really any good in the kitchen so every attempt to cook something is an adventure. (They slowly get better together though.) Lucas hacks his way out of having to ever clean by inciting a competition between Max and Mike about which one of them is better/quicker at cleaning up. Max and Mike are aware that they're getting played but they REFUSE to let the other person win so they let it slide. They all have super different aesthetics so the decor is a chaotic mess but somehow it works. BOOKS E V E R Y W H E R E. Multiple landlines that are always ringing because they all keep in constant touch with their families and friends. And you know how Mike's basement served as a kind of safe space and "home base" during the show? That's what their apartment becomes.

i’m getting obsessed with three bisexuals again