Stranger Things Oneshots & Preferences

M. M. Flutes and Feelings 💜 (f)

Summary: You're a musician, and a complete closed book. But once you meet Max, you start to really feel things and see the world around you differently.
Warnings: manipulative parents, reader is kinda emotionally cut off and a lil numb to feelings, parents control reader
Length: 1.4k

When you're a thirteen year old girl, you're supposed to have fun. Also definitely some friends, maybe a boyfriend, and a LOT of drama. However, you had none of these.

You had never really had feelings for anybody. You had read about it in books, but never experienced the butterflies, the racing heart, the sweaty palms, all those silly cliche things that humored you when you read books. But one normal day, that all changed.

You were leaving the trailer park from your daily flute lessons. Your parents were set on you being a incredibly intelligent and talented young woman who would earn the respect of adults and who would honor the family name. But then you saw a flash of bright red hair and heard a dog yapping. In a fleeting moment of curiosity and rebellion, you decided to investigate. And there she was. The prettiest girl you had EVER seen.

It felt like a cliche moment there. You froze on your tracks. The girl was stunning, with beautiful, long red hair, piercing blue eyes, and porcelain skin. She was feeding a yapping little dog scraps from a bowl. "You didn't think I'd forget you buddy, huh? No, I don't forget people and not animals either, not like they forget me," she said lovingly to the dog, though her voice soured near the end.

Realizing you were still frozen you shook yourself a little bit before walking over to the girl. "Is that your dog?" You asked cautiously. The girl backed away into a fighting position but relaxed when she saw it was just another girl. Now that you had seen her full face, you realized just how beautiful she was. The girl stared at you a little bit before shaking out of her slight haze.

"Oh, no, it's not my dog," she laughs nervously. "Do you live around here? I don't think I've seen you here before," she asked.

"No, I just come here for my flute lessons," you explained.

"Ohhh, that's cool. Should've guessed you didn't live here, I mean, look at you," she laughed. You looked at your outfit, confused. You had a skirt on with a nice blouse and a jacket over it. You didn't get what was wrong with it. "You're dressed like a rich scholar," Max clarified, "not a lot of us are rich around here." You nodded your head in understanding. Then your heart dropped.

"DAUGHTER!" You heard your mother screech. "WE ARE LEAVING NOW!"

"Oh. I guess I have to leave now," you said. Max frowned as you waved then turned around to walk back to your parents.

"What's your name though?" She called. You turned around. "I'm Max!"

"I'm... [full name]," you said softly. "Goodbye, Max. I hope to see you again," you said, your voice had a very slight tint of sadness to it, but it was practically unreadable. Max got it though.

Your parents weren't happy you had taken so long, and scolded you. You mostly tuned them out though. Your mind was filled with thoughts of that girl... Max. She was so pretty, and very interesting. You wanted to learn more about her, to see her again. You wished she was a book in your parents generous library so you could pull her out and read her again and again. You figured you were simply intrigued by her. It wasn't love- you didn't feel the sweaty palms, the butterflies, any of those. It was more like the passion you got for learning more about new things, which would be accurate to this.

Your parents had pretty much cut you off from the world. You were homeschooled so you didn't meet any friends there or anything. You didn't compete in any sports really, perhaps the occasional swim or tennis match, but nothing legit. It was more to keep you in shape than anything else. You had no friends, and no family your age. Instead, you grew up around the adults. You spent all of your time reading, practicing and playing the flute, learning Latin, or some other scholarly activity. This was how your parents designed you to be. That perfect, empty, mature, emotionless, shell of a girl. But now that shell was being flooded with feelings- all thanks to a random girl you met at the trailer park.

You purposefully began walking around the trailer park more, hoping to see Max again. Unfortunately, you hadn't so far. But little did you know, at the same time, max was wandering around trying to find where you took your flute lessons. The two of you still hadn't found each other. But you longed for the rush of simply feeling something, and Max wished to see the girl who she had practically fell head over heels for at first sight. But Max would never admit that. But eventually you guys began to run into each other again.

'I ran into Max today! She looked happy to see me. I got to talk to her more today. It was nice to speak to her again. She asked where I took my lessons, and when. When I asked why she wished to know, she said so we could hang out more. She said she wanted to be my friend! I have never had a friend before. I don't really know how it works other than in books. That's perfectly fine though, since Max said we could figure it out together. I am very excited to see Max again. I hope we can figure things out and become best friends. Maybe that's the rush of emotion I feel when I see her... perhaps it's happiness!'

That's what you wrote in your diary. You continued to write them down, until you encountered each other daily. You thought the emotion was happiness, but it eventually grew it into love. You would ask your parents to drive you to the trailer park for more lessons, when you were really hanging out with Max.

Then one day, Max and you planned to sneak out. The two of you were going to go shopping. Max was going to give you a makeover and help you find your true self, not what your parents wanted. The more you hung out with max, the more you truly became...well, you. You were finally becoming yourself.

And finally, it was the day. You carefully snuck out and Max easily snuck out. You walked half a block where max had said she'd meet you. And there she was, on that street corner, waiting by a car. You ran towards her, grinning. "Max!" You called before tightly embracing her. And that's when you felt them- the butterflies. You knew that's what they were now. She had wrapped her arms around you just as tightly. "Max, can I tell you something? Right now" you asked suddenly, your feelings and words unexpectedly spilling out of you.

Max furrowed her eyebrows for a minute before nodding. "Sure, what's up?" She asked.

"Max...I- I think I might... love you. It's hard to say since you're my first experience with feelings and things and I've only ever read about it in books-" you rambled before Max cut you off by kissing you.

"I love you too," Max said breathlessly.

You got what all the romance books that you had formerly thought to be silly were talking about now. This was it. It was love.

Then the car honked. "Get in losers, we're going shopping!" Steve yelled at the two of you, ruining your moment. But don't worry, the two of you had plenty more coming.

Kinda like a Epilouge ig? But MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SEASON FOUR VOL 2 AND VOL 1 SPOILERS SO BEWARE!!!!!!!

You and Max had been each other's saviors. She had helped you feel something and become an actual person. And you were the reason she survived Vecna the second time. When Max was about to die, she thought of you. Her life flashed before her eyes and she thought of you. She remembered your favorite song, and when the two of you discovered it. She remembered your first kiss, when you went shopping, all the dates you guys went on, when you officially became girlfriends- it all flew through her mind and she desperately latched onto it, playing those memories in her mind, and playing your favorite song in her head. Then El finally broke lose, and Vecna was defeated. Max came back down from floating into your waiting arms, and everything was as it should be, and all was right again.