You're Safe With Me-Elmax/Madmage

First Day Of School (Max's POV)

A/n: I posted this story on ao3 as well

Max's POV

She tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear, There's a slow song playing on the radio in her room. She puts her hands on my waist and stands on her toes until she's eye level with me. She leans in closer and closer until her lips are inches away from mine. "el..." I whisper, so soft that I'm not even sure if she can hear it. Then the distance between our lips closes, her lips are soft and taste faintly of cherry. She moves her hands to my lower back and-

I'm woken up by my door being thrown open, and someone pounding their hand on my nightstand. "HEY, wake up shithead, I'm leaving in five minutes and if you're not ready and in the car, then you're skating your ass to school." Ugh. It's billy. Drunk at 8 am. Again. I hate being in the car with him when he's like this but it snowed last night and school is 6 miles away. Way too far to skate, especially because I don't have any warm clothes. I didn't need them in California, but here in Indiana, it's a whole different story.

I put on a thin sweater and some jeans. I attempt to brush my long tangled red hair because I know it's El's first day of school and I want to look nice. I give up though because it's too much of a mess to bother. I grab my skateboard and walk downstairs.

Neil, my stepfather, isn't here. Either he didn't come home last night (that wouldn't be the first time) or he left early for work (I doubt it). I'm not concerned though, This happenes about twice a month.

I grab an apple from the fruit bowl and dash out to door to avoid an awkward conversation with my mother. What would I even say if she asked me where I was yesterday? "Hey, mom, sorry I was out late last night, I was slow dancing with and kissing the chief's daughter, Jane Hopper, also, did I mention that I'm gay?" Ridiculous. Where would I even start?

Billy is waiting in the driveway. "Took you long enough"

"Sorry" I mumble.

He drives fairly slow. He's not an idiot, or maybe he just knows that Neil would kill him if he got a DUI. I'm glad because of

1. He probably won't crash and

2. If he got a DUI, then with my luck, chief hopper would be the one to catch him and he would associate me with Billy and that's the last thing I need him to know if I intend to date his daughter.

Billy interrupts my thoughts by driving into the middle school parking lot and breaking so hard that the breaks squeal in protest. Great entrance. "Meet me here by 4:00 or I'm fucking leaving" "OKAY" I shout, flipping him off as he drives away. I skate over to the bike racks and wait for the rest of the party to show up. Billy always drops me off early so he can do god-knows-what before school starts.

I pull out a comic book and attempt to read it, but I'm so nervous about seeing El after last night. What if she was weirded out? what if she doesn't want to be my friend anymore? I really care about her, platonically and romantically and I don't know what I would do if she hated me. She was my first REAL friend in Hawkins. Sure, the party let me in their group but I think everyone except Lucas and Dustin just saw me as a replacement for El, their Mage. I refused to take on that title so I made an entirely new category. I was Max Mayfield. Zoomer.

Once El realized that I wasn't interested in mike (ew), we became really close until it became something more...

I am jerked out of my daze when chief Hopper's car pulls into the parking lot. They park, but no one gets out yet. Knowing Hopper, he's probably lecturing El about safety and rules. He honks the horn one time and then she opens the door and steps out of the car. She sees me and breaks into a run "Max!" She yells, pulling me into a hug.

"Hi, Max! I missed you!"

I laugh "it's only been less than 24 hours Elli"

I'm the only person who's allowed to call her El or Elli. Everyone else has to call her Jane. She laughs that amazingly adorable laugh. "I know but I still missed you!

"Come on, I have to go pick up my schedule from the office"

She takes me by the arm and then slides her hand down to my hand. She leaves a spark of electricity wherever her hand touches me. Metaphorically, of course, She's not allowed to use her powers unless it's absolutely necessary. Hopper hasn't pulled out of the driveway and I worry about him seeing us holding hands. Luckily El doesn't completely grasp the concept of personal space yet so it should be fine. Others find it annoying but I find it adorable when she touches your arm when she's excited or strokes your hair when she's tired or bored...

"Where are your thoughts?" she says out of nowhere

"What?"

"What are you thinking about? you're staring into space and smiling. I want to know what's making you so happy!"

I immediately feel my cheeks and ears burn. "uhh, I don't know, I'm just happy that I get to see you 5 days a week now"

"I'm happy too"

Maybe I'm imagining it, but I think she's blushing. She squeezes my hand. Just a little.

I wait outside while she picks up her schedule and map of the school. While I wait I check of the bulletin board

Fall dance. November 10th

Tickets available for purchase now

Ugh, I hate school dances. Hawkins Middle has about a million dances a year and ever since Lucas and I broke up last spring, I've had no one to go with. Maybe El and I could go as friends, a lot of girls in our year do that. We could never go as a couple. Maybe back in California, we could, but this is Hawkins. It's not exactly the most progressive town in the US.

"Hey, Max whatcha looking at?" El says.

"Just the bulletin board. I haven't checked it in a while."

I say it sarcastically because no one EVER checks the bulletin board but El is immune to sarcasm and reads it over my shoulder.

"Oh wow, they're having a dance next month! Do you know who you want to ask?"

Yeah, you. I think

"I don't know if I even want to go, I'll probably just stay home and watch shitty romcoms." I say

"But that's not fun! Will said that we could go together as friends. I'm sad that he and Mike can't go together. I offered to protect them from the h-h-homophobic mouthbreathers that might disapprove of them but Mike said that I shouldn't use my powers around that many p-people."

Despite her improving vocabulary, She still has a bit of a stutter when she says long words or talks fast. I think it's kind of adorable, although I think everything she does is adorable

"Mike is right, Just because you're not on house arrest anymore, doesn't mean that you don't have to be cautious."

She sighs.

"I guess you're right. I just want to help them."

"Yeah, I get that."

She looks at me strangely. "Maybe we should go together."

She bites her bottom lip, leans in and tucks a piece of hair out of my face.

She shyly whispers "I may need more dance lessons like last night though."

I blush yet again. I guess she wasn't mad about the kiss last night after all...

A shiver runs down my spine and I take a shaky breath. "I'm free tonight? Can you sleep over?"

"I'll ask hop!" she says ecstatically.

I laugh at her enthusiasm "Let me see your class schedule"

She hands it to me and I scan it, we have several classes together.

"Come on, we have science together! Let's go look for the rest of the party on the way!"

El takes my hand and links our arms together. "let's go" she echoes

God, I love her.