In the Name of Love | lumax AU-stranger things

~Recounts of Starcourt~

TW: themes of racism will appear in this chapter. i believe in peace amongst all people but Neil not liking Lucas is a plot point.
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The day after the remaining members of the party shared their schedules for freshman year, Max decided it was time for her to go home, to her mom and stepdad.

The ice cold doorknob made the young girl shiver when she approached the front door. It was already unlocked. Max did the same as she walked in to see her Mom and Stepdad, Neil, were fighting in the living room.

"Maxine!" Mrs. Hargrove shouted, rushing over to her daughter. She wrapped her arms around her, breathing heavily. "We were so worried about you. Where did you go?"

Max shuffled a bit then answered. "I was sleeping over at at Mike's house, I slept in his sister's room."

Max's mom released Max from her grip and exchanged looks with Neil, Max's stepfather.

"Was that ape there?" Neil asked calmly.

"You mean Lucas?" Max scoffed.

"Yes, was that little jungle animal at Mike's house?" Neil continued.

"No, and don't call him that anymore," Max exclaimed, heading to her room.

***

Max stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the past. The day she left California and moved to Hawkins. That day at the arcade with Lucas, the Snowball dance. All the times Neil had tried to "protect" Max from Lucas. But there was one day that Max could never forget. She hadn't thought about it since it happened, and she didn't want to. Even though she knew she had to.

***
The Battle of Starcourt was probably the most traumatic day of Max's life. From El defeating the mind flayer and almost loosing her powers in the process, to Billy knocking her and Mike out, it had been a horrible way to spend July fourth.

Max remembered that day like it was yesterday.

***
"NO!" Billy had shouted as the mindflayer reached for El. The girl backed away weakly, and Billy reached his arms out to stop the giant spider monster from trying to take Eleven. Many of its large arms stabbed into Billy's flesh, practically meeting in the middle as they squished his insides to mush and blood.

"BILLY!" Max screamed. He didn't look at her, instead he just sat in the middle of all those tentacle looking arms, and finally got stabbed by the Mindflayer's proxy in the middle of his chest. Finally, Joyce had closed the gate, and the spider monster collapsed to the ground, making the whole mall shake. It let go of Billy who was covered in all of his own blood, and he toppled to the floor, laying there still.

"El!" Mike finally said, rushing over to the girl.

"Mike!" El sobbed violently, crying into Mike's chest.

Max ignored the emotional reunion between her best friend and Mike, and instead walked over to to Billy's body. She hovered over him, and put her hands on his arms, shaking him. "Billy."

He coughed up some more blood, no words being able to escape his mouth.

"Billy, Billy, get up, please. Billy, get up, please, please."

He finally gasped, coughed off a little more blood, and then choked out,"I'm sorry."

"Billy..." Max whispered. "Billy, Billy. Billy, wake up. Billy, get up. Please, Billy...Billy! Billy, Billy."

Max tearfully exhaled and began to cry, she fell into Eleven's arms. "It's ok, it's ok."

Eleven looked over at Mike, he put his hand on Max's shoulder, doing his best to comfort her despite being so hostile.

Upstairs, Lucas pumped a fist in the air, high fived Will and then noticed all the smoke starting to escape the now broken roof of the mall. "Oh we gotta go, we gotta—"

Lucas and Will ran down the escalator, rushing over to their friends. He noticed Max crying and immediately dropped down next to her.

"Guys we gotta go, paramedics and military are already outside," Will said as he helped Mike pick up El from the ground.

"No..." Max said, still crying.

Lucas nodded at Mike as he tended to Max. Now that El was heading outside, Max let her stream of tears release into Lucas's shirt. "Hey, Max, let's go, you can come over to my place tonight."

Max looked up at her boyfriend. Her eyes sparkled, as he helped her up.

The two left the mall as many firefighters and military officers began to flood the lower level. Robin and Steve were also outside too. A paramedic approached Robin then walked over to an ambulance.

After Max and Robin both got ice packs and bandages for the bruises left on their heads, Robin went home in Steve's car and Max hopped on the back of Lucas's bike. They first found a pay phone on the side of the street, and Max explained to her mom how she wanted to stay the night with El' and the rest of the party. "Lucas won't be there, his parents wanted him home as soon as possible."

Max's mom agreed to the arrangement and so Max and Lucas continued on their way back to his house.

"We were worried sick," Mr. Sinclair said, rushing over to his son and embracing him quickly. "Where's Erica?"

Max and Lucas looked at each other. The couple both wanted to burst out into a hysterical laughter, but instead Lucas's father just ran out the front door. Mrs. Sinclair sighed and turned to Max, gently pressing a thumb to her temple. "Are you ok honey?"

Max didn't say anything, she made a little wince of pain and smiled slightly before heading up to Lucas's room.

"What happened?" Mrs Sinclair asked her son.

"Billy...he..." Lucas stuttered. "didn't make it."

Mrs. Sinclair frowned. "Oh that poor girl...go to her Lucas, lock your bedroom door for all I care, that girl needs you honey."

Lucas nodded at his mom and headed up to his room.  He held his hand on the door knob when he walked into his bedroom.  "Locked or unlocked?" Max looked over at him and shook her head, so Lucas shut the door and walked over to his bed.  He pointed to his shirt and continued," on or off?"

Max smirked a little and then said,"off."

Lucas smiled and pulled his shirt off, threw it to the ground and then climbed into his bed, next to Max.  She was sitting with her legs in front of her, and her arms wrapped around them.  The boy lye down next to her.  Max pushed her braided hair to the side and rested her head on the top of Lucas's chest.  He placed a hand on the side of her face, gently brushing his thumb across her cheek. 

Max's eyes were drooping, her lips were blue from fear, and her teeth were still chattering.  "L-lucas?"

"Yeah?"

"Do we have to talk about it?" Max asked her boyfriend.

"About what?" Lucas questioned.

"Y'know, Billy," Max said.

Lucas shot up and turned to Max, taking her right hand in both of his. "Max. Only if you want to. I swear, if you feel even a little uncomfortable talking about him, tell me."

"Ok..."Max began. "I don't know how to feel about him being gone. He was such a dick to me and everyone else, but I still have a bad feeling that him being gone will make my life worse."

"Hey, Max, everything is gonna be ok," Lucas said, leaning in closer.  "If things ever get bad at home you have Eleven, the rest of the group, and me."

Max smiled a bit then pressed her lips up against Lucas's.  He melted into the kiss, putting one of his hands on Max's face.  He pulled away, and the two teenagers lay down on Lucas's pillows.  As the moon approached their faces, both of them drifted off to sleep, holding onto each other as if their lives depended on it.

***

A/N-

Sorry this chapter isn't as descriptive as the first one. This book is almost like a bunch of one-shots in chronological order. The next chapter will probably be about the first day of school in Lucas's "point of view."

Thanks for reading ❤️