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For as long as Max Mayfield has been alive, her heart has been empty.
It was a typical Thursday evening in Hawkins. While most of the hardscrabble kids were off drinking in preparation for the weekend, including the party of misfit boys, the Hargrove's modest (tiny) and reasonably decorated (absolute hell), bungalow sat the 'parents', if they could be called such.
Susan and Neil Hargrove were seated in the spacious living room, sipping on some ridiculously priced wine they'd someone scrounged up the money that should have been set aside for college funds to afford, whilst the unlikely-college bound teen sat on the cold floor beside the fire place that was lit pure cult off cigarette butts and syphoned gasoline Billy had brought home. She sat reading Pride and Prejudice, wondering if someday her 'parents' might find a man to sell her off to for a pretty penny , with the more valuable promise of no longer having to carry the burden of seeing her every day or, if fates would have it, ever again.
It was nothing far from possible, honestly. After setting her up with Jason Carver- his parents bristling at the 'trailer park trash', but being lulled by certain illicit drugs; and a multitude of other wealthy young men. It was probably what would happen, in time. Maybe, at least, a man with a single decimal point higher in their tact bracket.
That is if she could keep a man long enough. They never lasted long enough, probably because of Max's natural talent to press everyone's buttons until they just about snapped. She remembered fondly having to date some blockheaded son of a business CEO and how he stated never wanting to see her again after she 'accidentally' dropped one of his first place trophies he earned in a heated match of golf atop his less than average groin.
Max's relationship with her mother had always been strained- especially after the death of her shithead, yet belowed stepson, Billy, in the summer a few years prior.
She could swear at times, when she was meant to be asleep, her mother whining to Billy's father about how she wished it had been her, or maybe she just had heard them say that enough at yhat douchebag's funeral that it became a mantra. And she would truthfully be lying if she said she hadn't wished she had met the safe fate of the car crashing, a few times as well.
"So, Maxine." Susan began, prompting the teenager to close her book, not before folding the corner of the page. It was one of her only escapes; books. And losing her place in them caused her to feel even more at a loss in reality. "Which activities will you be participating in this coming school year?" She continued, Neil casting a glance briefly at the girl, his eyes empty voids as they so often were. The only time he looked happy was as he circled the pews in church, screaming about a passage of the bible every Sunday morning. Maybe for appearances, but he was also an avid man of god.
Under his brief scrutiny, Max sat up stiffly, folding her hands in her lap respectfully. God forbid she ever, for even a moment, be any less than perfect to the Hargrove patriarch. Even in the comfort of her own home. "Uh, Im gonna continue being head of the prayer group, and.. mainly work on the student council."
Max puffed her chest out slightly in pride, knowing it pleased her parents when she was involved in the more proper activities. Which resulted in a looser leash and less punishment. Susan smiled warmly, as Neil dipped his head in a gruff acknowledgment. So maybe her mouth got the better of her, as she spoke again. "And I was thinking, if I had the time, I'd help out the AV club."
Her mother quirked an eyebrow, sizing her daughter up with a sharp gaze. Max wasnt one for interacting at school; and frankly, she was the bottom of the proverbial food chain, aside from the sweetest kid alive, and best friend, Will Byers, but still she was ranked lower than anyone on Angela's list of Hawkins finest. So, the fact she willingly decided to join something so out in the public eye, aside from the two groups actually regarded as meaningful, well, was strange.
"And why is that?" Susan asked, sipping at her moderately sized glass of Cabernet. "You're already doing good work."
Ah yes, the good work that her step father had to bribe to get her apart of. And even then- she was treated like shit by the popular, outgoing better-than-thous every single fucking day.
"Well," Max cleared her throat, suddenly feeling uncomfortably clammy under her mother's scrutinizing gaze, numbly wiping her palms against the fabric of her pants.
"I just thought since it was senior year, it would look good on college applications for me to... expand my horizons; socially and interest wise, that is."
Neil, silent till now, bellowed out a laugh so sickeningly hoarse and humourless that Max felt a physical tremor shoot up her spine, tilting her head up to meet his steely gaze. "You have a perfect 4.0 GPA and I go for dinner with the head members of Princeton's school board every other Sunday. And I baptized most of their children, so, I don't think that will be an issue."
Max nodded, taking in a deep breath in hopes the gruff man wouldn't notice the way she was visibly shaking. She tightened her lips into a forced smile, trying to convey her ever bright gratitude and praying to the heavens above it didn't come off sardonic.
So many kids would be lucky to be in such a position that provided her with endless opportunities. But maybe she just wanted to be her own person and get in to a good university because of her brain, not her stepfathers brawn. For him to actually be proud of her wanting to branch out of her social anxiety.
To stop coming home shit faced and lingering a little too much in the entrance of her room that was prohibited to be closed off more than three inches.
Max felt the familiar thickness clotting in her throat, as his eyes hazy from the rum in his hand raked over her agonizingly slow.
"May I be excused? I'm very tired today."
"Yes, pumpkin. Goodnight." Neil mumbled out, his words slurring while his eyes fell to the paper in his lap.
The Hargrove's loved to blow ridiculous amounts of money on liquor to satiate their every needy priority of being hammered, and next to God, getting drunk each and every single night was Neil's passion. But at least it gave her an out, even if he sounded so goddamn nonchalant about even saying goodnight.
"Goodnight, mother, father."
She quickly made a beeline for her bedroom, closing the door with a soft click. With shaky hands, she popped open the lid of the sleeping medication she'd been prescribed for nightmares; and passed out in tartan pajamas as her head hit the pillow.
-
The reflection staring back at her in the church glass pane was anyone but her, and yet possibly the most familiar version of herself.
Knee high socks, a modest dress covering every inch of her skin except her hands and face. Minimal makeup, and hair coiled in a top-knot. With a sigh, she looked down at the light blue flats she wore and tapped them together. Blue was not her colour. But it was the colour of innocence.
The colour of the pastors daughter.
"Max?" With a deep breath, she turned on her heels to face Mike Wheeler. "Hello, Mike."
His mouth was agape looking at her appearance,
his face stretching oddly to make room for his boyish grin as he sized her up.
"Have you suddenly been kidnapped by the soviets and forced into a cult?"
Max couldnt even bring herself to fake a laugh, at the memory of playing D&D with her group of misfits in freshman year, just as her mother had met that godforsaken man and his son. The Soviet union had been added into the last campaign she was able to play, and her heart clenched painfully at the last semblance of normal life. "No, just the refining image of St Faustina Kowalska, courtesy of the ever lovely town jewel; the Hargroves."
Mike's face pinched up in quiet acknowledgment, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder with a soft squeeze and grimace. "Come on, let's go see what Pastor Prick has to say today."
That made her laugh for probably the first time in months.
"1 Corinthians 7:4. A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does. Now, what is being said in this passage?"
That I am doomed to be trapped in a loveless marriage and will never be my own person.
Max looked back to where she entered the church only 20 minutes ago, and yet it felt as if she'd been locked in the church for hours. Dark mist stretched over gateways cavernous above the exit. Faint and far beneath the earth rolled the slow drum-beats: doom. An end. Nothing else was to be seen; the expanse of the world ahead; all around was empty. Except her. Alone. She screamed but nothing came out. She cried but she had no tears. She couldn't breathe and yet she needed to gasp for relief.
"Max? Hey, MadMax?" The redhead met eyes with her best friend once again, who crouched by the pew she sat at with a hand rubbing the material of the dress covering her bicep. "Are you okay?"
She blinked away the tears threatening to spill over and looked around at the congregation leaving the church. She must have been so lost in thought, (or her panic attack) that she missed the procession. With a shaky breath, she wiped at her face "Yeah, yeah I'm fine..." she mustered. "Just need to grab some water."
"Okay well, I can wait for you?"
She quickly shook her head. "No no, I'll see you at school tomorrow. My dad probably wants help cleaning up."
Mike nodded solemnly, fixing his tie and her with a soft look. "Call me if you need anything at all. You know me and the boys are always here for you." At her nod, he smiled warmly at her before jogging to catch up with the retreating form of his sister and mother.
With legs feeling of jelly and knees knocking together she stumbled to the bathroom, with the exception of an older woman she hazily remembered as Mrs. Sinclair- Lucas' grandmother, she was alone. "Fuck... fuck fuck fuck..."
She splashed cold water on her heated face, willing the feeling of confusion to wither away. She felt displaced.
Her eyes met the ones of her reflection, except... no, those weren't her eyes. They were far too brown- and her eyes sometimes turned a little green, but never this dark. Her freckle splattered skin was flushed, and with every blink to dispel the darkness clouding the edges of her vision, she grew more and more tired. A force willing her to sleep.
She slumped down against the wall, fluttering her pale eyelids close. A groan slipped her lips, swallowing the cotton feeling in her mouth down a sand-paper dry throat..
...
"Ughhh..."
"Maxine!"
Her eyes snapped open at Susan's voice filtering from just outside the bathroom door, and she quickly scrambled to her feet despite the nausea in her head, and coiling in her belly. Skipping breakfast probably wasn't the smartest idea, but her mother bought the dress two sizes too small. How else was she to fit in to it?
"Sorry, mother, just using the washroom before we leave!"
Her voice was shaky but her mother seemed to either not notice or care as her footsteps retreated. Max turned to the mirror, gripping the porcelain edge until her knuckles turned white. The door flew open again, as a woman entered and shot her a quizzical look. Max smiled thinly, splashing her face with some more cool water, and maybe it was the dizziness clouding her better judgment but she could've sworn she saw someone slipping out of the swinging bathroom door a second ago.
-
Max quickly slipped to her bedroom that night after cleaning up the dining table, her stomach filled with the perfectly proportioned amount of salad she was allowed, whilst Billy was allowed steak and pasta.
Her mother insisted, to keep her body in shape for her tailored clothes and that it would be harder to sell a fat cow rather then a lean calf.
Max couldn't stop the inane laugh that bubbled up from the memory of that insane metaphor, but over time learned it was best to just bite her tongue so she could live a far more peaceful life with far less threats of belts and bible study.
Her room greeted her, a deep mahogany paint encompassing the silk and gothic aesthetic. It was her personal space- the only place in the world her parents allowed her to make her own. And what better way to piss off Neil without facing repercussions- or worse, have him enter sober- then to create the perfect bedroom in the eyes of Satan.
She took a deep breath, folding her church outfit on the chair adjacent her bed before throwing on her pajamas and collapsing onto the queen size bed. She melted into the plush mattress, but it was cold, and empty and, so so lonely.
"God..." Max breathed out, running her hands over her face and being met with damp cheeks. She hadn't realized she was crying until now, but she couldn't stop it. Her hands were trembling, and she had to stifle a sob by biting into her bottom lip as hard as she could, the indents familiar from where she worried them, tasting the bitter crimson sensation on her tongue from where blood formed in crescent indents on her skin.
She felt like she could barely breathe; the pressure of her life all too heavy on her chest.
She sat up, snatching the sleep-aid bottle from her dresser and pouring a generous amount into the palm of her hand, tossing them back and recoiling at the scratchiness in her throat.
"Your music taste is shit."
Max shot straight up, eyes wide enough to eat dinner off of as she stared at the taller girl who was now in her bedroom, leaning relaxed against the record player, a hand twirling a mozart record around while the other fingered the sleeves neatly put in the drawer. She only dropped them when she heard the redheads shrill scream.
"Jesus Christ! Stop screaming bloody murder," the mysterious woman said, grimacing at the ear-piercing scream.
"I'm going to call the cops if you don't get out of here within the next 5 seconds!" The redhead declared, jumping to her feet and clutching her comforter to her chest despite being dressed modestly. She also grabbed her textbook on the bedside table for protection.
"I don't think that's going to help you very much," the woman smiled softly, wandering around the moderate bedroom and letting out a low whistle "Quite the place you have here."
"Who the hell are you!" Max growled, though it sounded more like a whine. She cowered as far from the brunette as she could, begging the mattress to swallow her whole, trying to think of an escape plan but the pounding of her heart was all too distracting and loud.
"Right, my bad, courtesy and shit is important still..." The woman stepped forward into the light of the lamp, and only then did Max take notice of the woman's dissheveled appearance. Her head was shaved, but not completely down to the skin, and wore a baggy hospital gown with dried dark patches in random spots, the seam on the back torn and giving her a flash of taut skin.
Max staggered out of her bed and pressed her back to the wall, avoiding the warmth spreading through her.
Smiling brightly, the woman gave a slight wave. "I'm Eleven."
"Okay, Eleven, who the hell are you and how did you get in my house!" The redhead seethed, dropping her weapon of choice to glower at the taller girl "Because I swear to god my father will kill you."
There was something knowing in the way El looked so... sympathetically at her. And wait, is she glowing?
"Magic," the sympathy was replaced with that same shit-eating grin, as if she was reading her fucking thoughts, as she touched one of the canopy bed posts "Hm, very nice. Is this oak?."
Her glassy eyes are trailing over the wooden frame, crouching as if she was seeing the most glorious thing ever. Max nodded dumbly, swallowing what felt like her entire tongue as she struggled to breathe properly.
Dumbfounded and probably having some sort of epileptic induced hallucinations she grabbed the glass of water on her dresser and greedily chugged it. She felt like everything in her was on fire.
"Why are you here." Max asked again, after forcing her tongue to rest in her mouth and getting her lips to move.
The girl- Eleven's shoulders tensed, turning to look at the redhead with sad eyes. "It's late..." was all she said, as she continued examining the wood as if it was the single coolest thing on earth.
Max felt a pang in her chest at this strange girls sadness- or maybe because she was having a heart attack from the entire fucking event- and couldnt help but empathize. After all, no one knew why they were ever in Hawkins in the first damn place.
"Well, Max, you should probably get to sleep. You look like shit."
She grinned- blindingly bright and sweet and her eyes were lit with mischief and mirth.
Max staggered back from the glare of a thousand suns.
"What... how do you know my name..?" Max's eyes were foggy as they closed on their own accord, the sleep medication finally taking its tole. It felt like her body was floating to her bed, encompassed by a warmth that felt so cold at the same time. When she could finally fight the exhaustion and forced her eyes open, she saw that the room was empty and passed out.
-
Max tried desperately to keep her face held in her hand, attempting to focus on what Mr. Wheeler was saying but she couldn't help but let her eyes wander the courtyard shielded by the dirty window and her mind with it. The thoughts of Eleven came flooding in faster than she cared to admit, but there was just something about her. The way she was so sweet and yet that damn smirk- if only she could reach out and slap it off her beautiful tanned face. No not beautiful, what was she thinking? She was the pastors daughter, she couldn't ever allow herself those thoughts.
Especially since it was a dream. She fabricated some girl in her mind because of the sleep medication and she was completely out of it. That's all.
Her eyes felt heavy, and the bags under her eyes were luckily covered up with heavy concealer, refusing to give the rest of her classmates yet another excuse to mock her, or the satisfaction that she was any less than the Hargrove's shit head daughter.
At that very moment, the dream girl- Eleven- appeared beside her in the empty lab stool, wearing the same tattered clothing and thousand watt glow, stirring the girl from her thoughts "Hi."
"Holy f-" Max exclaimed, unfortunately garnering the attention of her teacher and classmates who began bursting out in laughter and murmuring about her
"Maxine?" Mike's father smiled warmly, eyes tender and kind as he searched her over in concern. Mike's family coupled with the Byers had been her only saving grace, and understood her perfectly without her saying a single word. "Are you okay?"
"Mmm? Yeah! Oh, yes, sir! I'm sorry for the interruption. Thought I saw a spider." Max cleared her unnecessarily squeaky voice, scratching nervously at the nape of her neck while a blush crept its way into her cheeks
"Sorry, Zoomer. Didn't mean to scare you." The... thing? smirked, leaning back with elbows propped up on the lab table behind her .
"Zoomer- how did you- What are you doing here Eleven..." Max hissed out, glaring at the blue aura surrounding the other girl
"You thought of me, so I appeared. It's kinda how this whole haunting thing works." The brunette shrugged, deep set eyes scanning the classroom.
"And you," Eleven continued, turning with teeth tugging intoxicatingly a plump lip. Max swallowed, her head spinning as Eleven leaned in so close Max could smell her earthy tones.
"Think of me quite a bit."
Wait... did this girl just say haunting? Am I beiing fucking haunted like some fucking geek in a thriller?
"You got it, MadMax."
Max silently cursed herself for the way the brunette's smooth and husky voice seemed to tug at her heart.
She was getting a migraine from this whole situation.
"I'm a ghost. Super spooky scary shit." Eleven slipped from her stool and twirled around the room, Max's eyes glued to her every graceful movement. "Murdered back in the 30's, and now here I am, haunting you."
Max tore her eyes from the adorable head tilt and narrowed gaze, praying her blush would neutralize as she looked over at Mike and Will who busied themselves playing paper football with each other under and stomping on each other's feet under the desk in the back of the room, stifling their laughs at whatever they were sharing in their little bubble, while the desk ahead housed Lucas and Dustin, watching the lesson with a dull, spaced out look.
"God it's so boring telling the same story over and over, but the look on your faces never fails to amuse me." Eleven spoke from where she was leaning right beside Mr. Wheeler. chuckling, putting her index finger to her lips as if encompassed by a profound realization.
"Also if you don't want people to think you're crazy, I'd suggest not to talk. You kinda look like a nutcase talking to yourself." Eleven smirked that same arrogant little lilit, a pout taking its place as the redhead so blatantly ignored her. Max resisted the urge to roll her eyes, turning her attention to the lesson, despite wishing she was literally anywhere else. But that fucking bright blue aura seemed to muddle everything else around her like she was underwater.
"Oh come on," The girl mewled, apparating in front of Max's eyes. "I'm so bored. talk to me. I wanna know what everyone does now a days!"
Max would almost find it adorable, how Eleven brightened at the latest trends other teens were wearing, and looking curiously at the school books as if it were a foreign language. Luckily she didn't, because brunette was so infuriatingly annoying.
Max crossed her arms and leaned back, eyeing the brunette.
The redhead shook her head softly to herself, swallowing the lump forming in her throat and chewing down the meaningless apology she had biting at the tip of her tongue.
"I used to play the guitar."
Eleven, relentless, clearly couldnt catch a hint, and knowing she wasn't able to speak outwardly and tell her to shut the fuck up without the 30 so other people looking at her like she lost it, she just sat there, begrudgingly giving her full attention to the ghost. She could tell her in her own thoughts to fuck off, but she didn't want to give her the satisfaction of letting her into her most sacred of places.
"I don't know if I was the best of singers, Hop used to say I was" Eleven smiled faintly at the memory. "But I loved it. I'd be up all hours of the night perfecting some mildly shitty song to perform for that old man at the breakfast table. He pretended to hate it; all grumpy as he sipped awful coffee but he never told me to stop."
A sad smile hinted at the ends of chapped lips, but Max fixed her composure and started doodling, not wanting the poor man in front of the science class to catch on to the fact she couldn't care less about what he had to say
"I'd leave the cabin at about 5 am, make my way into town on foot, and exchange some bits and bobs for a decent breakfast at the only place around, since we only ever had some burnt toast ready."
Eleven chuckled sadly, casting her eyes to the floor, her voice small as she spoke "Tim Hammond never charged me. He knew my situation. He was a good man. I put the guitar down when my dad died. And I never got to pick it back up."
Hammond. Like, Benny Hammond? Max mused.
"Max?" Came the soft voice to her side, and she turned to the smallest of the group with genuine smile. "Hey, Will."
"Seriously? That's how you talk to your best friends? Didn't you guys used to dress up and play board games?" Eleven laughed, the sound warm and making Max a little dizzy,
"Join us for lunch?" Lucas asked, eyes wide and face hopeful, the rest of the boys eagerly clamouring to get their own form of please put.
"I'm staaaaarving!" Dustin whined, Mike reaching behind Will to punch him in the shoulder. The pair started arguing, though it was more teasing and light than anything, and Will shook his head as he met her with an amused glare in his eyes. Lucas stepped between them, handing reaching out to mess with pageboy hair and a bucket hat.
Max's chest constricted painfully at the familiar jovial interaction, casting a glance to knowing doe eyes.
It had been forever. In the last couple of months, she'd put more and more distance between herself and the party. It was easier than to put all her darkness onto them. But she fucking missed them more than anything, and just simple greetings at the church or in the hall weren't enough to fill her up the way goofing off for hours in the Wheeler's basement or down in the park did.
Determined to let herself feel something for once, Max beamed, quickly gathering her things and poking at Lucas until he poked back, speeding off to avoid the onslaught of hands trying to tackle her down.
The rest of the day lacked the brunette, and Max would never admit it out loud, but she felt as if she had stepped into the shade after hours in the sun.
-
"Do you know anything about a murder in Hawkins 50 years ago?"
Mike looked up from his tray filled with two burgers, large chilli cheese fries, 3 donuts and a large gulp. It was crazy how he could eat so much, that even Dustin looked sort of grossed out by it. Mike had shrugged them off and blamed his growth spurt that had been happening for the last three years.
"A murder? In Hawkins?" Lucas cocked an inquisitive brow, leaning over Dustin to snatch one of Max's potato chips. Will had forcefully poured them onto her tray when she had reached for an apple and cup of water.
"I thought the biggest thing to ever happen around here was when Troy and James got caught looking up naked pictures on the school computer, just for it to be Walsh's mom!"
The party laughed at the memory. Mike sobered up, swallowing a bite of his fries.
"There was this guy, Martin Brenner, a crooked doctor, real fucktard, that was basically God's gift to humanity. He took in kids that were put in the system. He was awarded as being this hero to the needy." Mike rolled his eyes, leaning forwaed conspiratorially. "These kids all aged up and out of his guardianship- living normal lives and scattering around the globe. But one girl- the eleventh kid, Jane-"
He took a breath, four eyes watching him intently. Max felt her lungs as if they were in an iron vice, each breath puncturing holes so she couldn't get enough oxygen into herself. Eleven kids. Eleven...
"She didn't make it out. Murdered- only a few days before she turned 18. They found her almost unrecognizable- in ripped up, bloody clothes and her head shaved but looked more like it'd been ripped out. She was so bruised and chained up to the wall. No one would have found out either, but one of the older girls- who the victim was gonna move out to Chicago with- came forward when Jane never made it to the station to meet up with her. Apparently that sick fuck had them all call him papa."
"Jesus, fuck..." Lucas exhaled, rubbing at his arms to probably warm away the goosebumps.
"El-Jane," Max swallowed, looking around at the suddenly all-too fluorescent washed cafeteria. "Did they ever find out why she was put there? In care?"
Will looked at her curiously, and she refused to meet his gaze. He always knew when something was up.
Mike nodded, eyebrows furrowing as he undoubtedly shuffled through the mental folders of information.
"Yeah. Her dad, old chief of Police, died from lung cancer. She had no living family so, got tossed into an overfilled, underworked orphan system."
Max felt like she was going to be sick, and the rest of the day passed hazily.
All she remembered was Dustin asking her if she still skateboarded- she hadn't in a few years- and the party begging her to hang and play D&D with them on the weekend.
Her heart was full from the nicknames, teasing and lingering hugs from the guys who were practically her brothers- and yet so broken by El's story.
El. Since when did she start thinking of her as El?
-
Max got home after prayer group, stretching her muscles out as she climbed out of Billy's hand me down blue Camaro, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes as she entered the dark house, being otherwise quiet except for the low bass booming from upstairs.
She let her keys fall neatly into the bowl on the mantle before climbing the stairs two at a time, twisting the door knob to her room hesitantly
The room was lit a glow by the lamps around her room, all set to red, while she watched the apparition dance around the middle of the room without a care. The blue and red made her look purple- which suited her, Max silently decided.
Max would've been swayed by the well- swaying hips of the brunette, but she cleared her throat, stomping in to face the smiling brunette "Hi!" Eleven beamed, spinning around her and giggling
"What the fuck are you doing? What if my parents had come home early and thought a goddamn ghost was haunting us?"
Eleven chortled, staring down at her with those all-knowing eyes, "Well, I kinda am, arent I?"
Max clenched her jaw, feeling like she was about to implode from the whirlwind of emotions she'd gone through that day.
"Relax, Zoomer." theres that stupid nickname again, that she someone found out. She hadn't used that name since she was in middle school. "You look like you're going to burst into flames."
Something about Eleven's voice cooled the fire bubbling in the pit of Max's stomach, and she nodded absentmindedly, dropping her things to the floor and flopping down next to them, yawning as she settled her head against the wooden foot board.
"I'm pretty sure you're a hallucination, you know?"
Max confessed, risking a look up at the ghost who smiled down at her, before sitting down on the floor across her.
"You arent dreaming, MadMax."
"-And stop calling me that. Or Zoomer, or whatever else the hell you've stolen from my memories- because you're clearly doing something to my fucking head and-, you don't know me." She snapped, the sudden calming energy in the air being replaced by hostility emulating from the redhead.
"But I do," Eleven placates with her hands up in surrender. "I've been watching you since you were 15 years old, Max."
"... what, the fuck?"
Eleven's face was unreadable, her hands fiddling with the hem of her wide legged pants. After a moment of wriggling a frayed string, she locked her deep warm eyes with the lighter pair curiously watching her. Max felt the air being squeezed out of her lungs, sucking her lips in because for some reason it felt like Eleven was going to crawl into her skin at any moment.
"I have every single memory of your life the day you tried to-" she swallowed visibly, shaking her head sadly. Her eyes were drawn to the sleeping pills on the table.
Max felt her stomach bottom out, her head taking on a spinning feeling again.
"I- my- it's public record it's not... my friends or- god probably Mike hired you, didn't he? You're an actor right? he apparently knows every detail about your life or maybe Billy because he's a fucking turbo douche-"
"Max." Eleven's voice was gentle but firm, her hand hovering loosely over the one shaking, the immediate coolness calming and yet unerving by the sudden spike in her heart rate "I'm real. As real as a dead girl can be, anyhow."
"I've officially lost my mind." Max said to no one in particular, her eyes fixated on a particularly interesting piece of fluff on the carpet. "I'm actually going to be committed into the Hawkins Memorial Psychiatric unit."
Eleven chuckled, leaning back with kind eyes that crinkled at the edges, "Just don't be the girl that cried ghost."
After a beat, Max raised her eyes to those imploring, deep depths.
"So do you um... watch me like... al the time?"
"No, I just appear when you need me or when you think about me. Sometimes just for fun, too, though."
Max pantaomimed a punch in mid air, grumbling, 'jackass' under her breath, before her face went slack with the sudden realization-
Ever the mind reader, El cut her off from an internal mental breakdown. "Never when you're changing. Though, I wouldn't mind the show," she winked, the flush tinting pale cheeks not going unnoticed.
"Are you hungry?"
Eleven had to suppress the laugh that threatened to spill by coughing into her fist. "I don't eat, Zoomer."
Max coughed lamely, standing on unsteady feet and nearly running into every wall possible, "Um, right I knew that, I'm just gonna go... make something.."
—
Max turned down a rural road, her fingers drumming against her Z-28 steering wheel, the ghost in the passenger seat had her eyes shut as the breeze form the open window rushed in.
"So, where do you go when you aren't annoying me?"
Eleven feigned offence, but couldn't help the smirk that toyed at her lips. "I'll have you know my presence is a gift. And I don't know, I kind of just... well it's like if you just woke up in a dark void and there were just tiny balls of light in the distance. I can't see other souls until they've apparated, and you can only do that I guess when you... have a reason to?"
Her explanation was more so a question in and of itself, but Max just nodded, eyes back on the road while humming along to a tune Eleven wouldn't know after being dead for so long, but she gives her another one of those appreciative looks that sets Max's heart rate thrumming, and she changes subject quickly, because friends don't stare at each other like this. God.
When did I become friends with a dead girl?
"Can you do anything humans can?"
"Are you insinuating I'm not human?"
"No I just-"
"Kidding."
"God, you're irritating."
Eleven smiles triumpanthly, fading out the passenger seat once they arrived in the familiar pea gravel parking lot, following the blushing redhead into the neutral diner, smiling fondly at the restaurant she'd loved when young.
"God, it's barely changed. Woah!" Eleven giggled, and Max decided she loved that sound. "They have my old booth still!"
The ghost ran off to a centre table, admiring it with childlike glee. Max watched, biting at the skin of her cheeks to stop from smiling like a lunatic at an empty space. She quickly followed after her ghost friend, slipping into the seat and watching as Eleven did the same.
"Hi, Max, good to see you again! what can I get for you?" Benny greeted warmly, and if he noticed the fact Max was flushing and chuckling to herself awkwardly, he didn't seem phased.
"Uh..."
Max stopped herself, suddenly remembering she hadnt exactly planned what to get on her unplanned diner drop in. She flicked thru the menu quickly as if the words were just going to shout themselves at her.
Eleven noted the anxious expression on the younger girls face and moved to stand, hovering behind Benny. "Strawberry milkshake and a burger."
"I'm..." her mind was foggy, and ignored the burning gaze trying to catch hers. "A milkshake- strawberry please."
Benny nodded before dissapearing around a wall and into the kitchen. Eleven just shot her a pointed look, eyes sharp and voice right, "Why arent you eating?"
Max shrugged, "Half my calories intake for the day is in that milkshake. Itll keep me full for a while." Her words flowed out so easily and it made Eleven look even paler under her diluted pale hue.
"What was your favourite song? You said you're into music." Max asked in hopes to distract her, fiddling with the napkin and tearing it into little pieces.
Eleven's eyes narrowed, but took the bait, thankfully. "Back in the 1930's? Oh man, where do I start..." she laughed merrily, shaking her head fondly in memory. She bit her lip- the same she had the first night they met, and Max felt a jolt like electricity crackling from the sight.
"My favorite of all time was probably Putin' On The Ritz. Always got me and my sister dancing-"
Max looked elsewhere, praying her traitorous mind wouldn't scream Kali at the ghost repeatedly. After a few tense moments, in which the milkshake was delivered, Eleven spoke again.
"I don't eat, sleep, shower, or any of that." She prefaced the earlier question, Max scrunched her nose st the later fact.
"I um... I died in these clothes. Can't take 'em off."
Max worried her lip after swallowing her small sip, glancing up at the ghost. "Why can I only see you?"
In a brief moment of confidence surge, and just pure density in her skull from how much the party's need to know all has rubbed off on her, she reached out and touched the cold tan cheek
"W-woah you arent...."
"Yeah I'm not invisible, thats an old wives tale," Eleven scoffed, waving the idea away off-handedly. "And for why no one else can see me, It's because you need me."
"For what?"
She pursed her lips. "Why do you need me?"
Max's eyebrows drew together as if she had been asked the answer for why the universe existed.
Eleven smiled warmly, reaching out to interlace their fingers. "That's exactly what is for you to figure out."
-
"Are you doodling when you should be taking notes?"
Max couldn't help the small smile flit it's way to her face at Eleven's unprompted visit. Or maybe it wasn't so unprompted as she had though, when she moves her ink-stained hand to see doodles of brown eyes and buzzcuts.
She looked up at her math teacher who continued to write down conjugated fractions on the board, glancing back down to the girl with wisps of blue streaks in curls and floral pattern shirts on the page
"Probably, but shouldn't you be dead?"
Max's joke was lame, but Eleven smiled brightly at it, anyway. "You envisioned me with blue stripes in my hair?" Her voice was amused
"Yeah, I feel like it would add some more flare with the hospital gown. That way you can join me in my highly likely inpatient stay if anyone ever figures out I'm talking to myself."
Eleven moved behind the desk, peering at the drawing over her shoulder, and Max felt the tips of her ears get hot at the soft breath hitting her neck. But ghosts didn't need to breathe. She was totally doing it on purpose.
"I like it, Zoomer." Eleven decided with a nod, stepping back to survey the redhead.
Her face pinched up in a grimace as she took in the sweater vest and pleated shin length skirt.
"But I have some notes about your outfit."
Max didn't like the mischievous look on Eleven's face, and at the same time wanted to taste her smirking lips.
-
With her muted yellow sweater and afternoon pin cords splayed haphazardly on the floor, Max stood back to her mirror, waiting with bated breath as Eleven added finishing touches to the outfit. Her fingers played out on her flat stomach, flexing as the other finished applying a dangerously deep shade of red to her lips. "Okay, you can look."
She didn't really want to, mainly due to the entrancing way Eleven's tongue was poking out from the corner of her mouth as she focused intently on the task at hand.
"How you know so much about style and makeup for someone who lived in the depression astounds me..." she murmured earlier, as her waves were straightened out with a hot iron Eleven had stolen from the mall. Apparently, a moral compass was not something she took with her into the afterlife.
Eleven laughed that deliciously husky laugh, leaning a little closer so the raggy gown fell off her shoulder and it took all Max had in her to force her gaze away from creamy pale skin.
"I know a lot about a lot of things a proper lady shouldn't, Max Mayfield."
Her words were carefully enunciated, as if she wanted Max to hear every meaning behind each syllable.
Max shook herself back to the present, as she span around to look at herself.
Eleven looked excitedly but nervous over a waterfall of red hair in the mirror, gouging the redhead's reaction. She was now clad in a form fitting black turtleneck, high waisted jeans and healed boots, paired with gold accents in her rings and and earrings.
But her eyes were drawn past the heavy eye makeup to the red lipstick. Bright, matte, and somehow made her look incredibly intimidating in a way that would have Angela shitting herself.
"So, what do you think?"
Eleven's voice was shy, shifting nervously from foot to foot and gnawing at her lower lip while the redhead stood agape. Her eyes met curious brown- and for a split second she wondered if the red lipstick would look nice under a blue hue and over pale skin.
"I look..."
"Yeah?"
"Badass."
"You look like you. Not what anyone else wants you to be. Just, perfectly you."
Though she wore her argyle sweaters and oversized bottoms to school, she quickly got into the routine of changing into all black and leather- with the sweet serenity that was Eleven by her side.
-
"MadMax! Look at you!" Lucas shouted from across the room, and she rolled her eyes and flushed brilliantly as she for the first time ever, wore what she wanted as she entered Mike's basement.
Dustin wolf whistled, as Will clamoured to his feet and nearly knocked Mike over in his haste to get to Max. "Okay, tell me where you got that -" he tugged on the red scarf, eyes lighting up at the soft material under his fingertips "-right now or I'm robbing you."
"Yeah and you better cough up about that leather jacket or I'll be helping him bury the body." Mike chirped up, his eyes wide and dropping half his handful of popcorn as he looked at the dark material.
Max felt her insides swirl, as she picked up the skateboard by her feet that she had spent a while dusting off from cobwebs and dirt once she found it hidden away in the attic.
"Are you guys gonna be absolute fashion waistoids the whole night, or come watch me fall on my ass? Cause I only have two hours before I'm put back into proverbial prison-"
The boys all jumped up, racing her and tackling her into the overly warm, sweaty and love filled group hug she'd ever felt. Her heart was ready to burst, and over the tangle of limbs and teasing, she spotted brown eyes filled with so much warmth she was pretty sure she was about to pass out from heat exhaustion.
"Okay, enough! You guys smell like shit." She grumbled out, feigning annoyance and giving each a knock to the stomach or shoulder and a ruffle of perfectly styled hair for the smallest member of the group.
"Shut it, hooker." Mike bit back, ducking under her flailing arm and booking it to the abandoned pile of bikes by the door.
And she did fall on her ass a few times, and a few times El had kept her balanced with the inane amount of powers she still couldn't get a sparknote list of.
The boys looked at her strangely, when she reached out as she was about to fall and miraculously stabilized as if holding onto something, but they didn't say anything, and they laughed the night away as if there hadn't been any issues beforehand.
-
Max sipped on the milkshake she had swooped up from Benny's, her to go bag with a large portion of fries by her crossed legs. She balanced herself on one elbow as she looked over the skyline on the grassy hillside. The pollution didn't quite reach this high up- so the stars sparkled almost as much as El's starlit eyes.
They were on the cliche teen topic of dating, now.
And she had changed from a black romper and waved hair to loose in a ponytail and a blue top hoodie that hung loose off her, at Eleven's insistence.
"Blue looks good on you," El murmured from within the closet, sorting through racks of clothes in search for something suitable for the cold evening.
Max flushed brightly, and had been wearing a lot more blue than black lately. She got a little careless, in the safety of big blue sweaters than when leaving the house after Neil had- her mother had just stared at her retreating form and said nothing.
A small win, but a win nonetheless.
"If not by song-"
"-because that's horribly cliche, Max."
"-how would you ideally like to be asked out? You know, if you weren't already dead. Can ghosts hookup? Um, and I mean, I'm not ... asking for me, I'm just.. making conversation,"
Mama rambles on, sucking her lips in to forcefully prevent herself from speaking any more. She briefly wondered how it could be possible that someone with a perfect 4.0 GPA managed to sound so dim every time she had to talk to this one soul. It's almost a science exhibit at this point: homosapien, first of her species, loses its ability to function because of homosexual urges!
Eleven grins at her, the blue hue around her seeming brighter with the moon shining down on her. "Do I make you nervous?"
"What on earth would've given you that idea?" Max manages, rolling her eyes at herself and collapsing into a heap on the picnic blanket. She covered her eyes with her sleeve, but her morbid habit of embarrassing herself seemed worth it at the angelic chime of laughter from the girl beside her.
El leans back on the uncut grass with her palms, eyes shut as the breeze jostled her gown a bit. Max lolled her head to the side to take in the breathtaking sight of pale skin near glowing beneath the moon light filtering in under leaves.
"I guess the person that I'd really want to go out with would just ask me in a way that was true to them. Not the way that they think I would want them to ask, and not by listening to the stereotypes that a more dominant looking person should be the one to do it, but... it would be someone who would just..." El trails off and then shrugs, sighing wistfully at her own rambling, although if Max could shed get every word tattooed on her rib cage where Eleven had managed to worm her way beneath.
"I guess what I'm saying is that it would nice to be surprised."
Max nodded curtly, sitting up and swiping the cherry from the top of the whipped cream strawberry shake and popping it between her teeth. El had insisted that she got a strawberry milkshake everyday for the last week because the pink matched her freckles apparently, and Max was hooked. More so on the way El's face lit up, and the aura pulsed brightly like a surge of electricity when she took the first sip of a new shake then the sugary delight itself
"You're cute."
Max nearly choked as she took a large gulp, and El looked at her as if she hadn't even said a thing and that Max just lost control of her throat. And she had- as her heart made itself a permanent home there.
"I can't bring you back from the dead so it would be so cool if you didn't join me in the void, Zoomer." El knocked their shoulders together was Max took a deep breath of air but the air smelt so much of El and her brain was short circuiting, as a bare shoulder bumped hers.
"I'm not... cute."
"Oh, no?" Eleven smiled warmly, "Has your new style made you too cool and mysterious to associate with me now?"
"That- what? That isn't what we're talking about!"
Max stanmered, and Eleven let out another full belly laugh. "Oh but if you weren't too cool for me, you'd let me call you cute. And beautiful, and amazing, and smart an-"
Max reacted by pressing a palm to cool skin and full lips. Her body froze, despite the thousand sun burning smile beneath her hand and starlit eyes looking at her as if she was something.
Eleven slowly lifted a hand of her own to grab Max's wrist, her thumb rubbing cooling circles against her pounding pulse point. Max shivered and El let go,
"Didn't mean to make you cold," she whispered, her smile soft and eyes kind as she looked at Max.
"You didn't." Because you set every inch of me on fire like nothing else every could.
-
Max wandered into the school, nose deep in Pride and Prejudice after neglecting it for buzzed hair and kind eyes, too involved in the literature to notice the foot sticking out before she fell face first onto the linoleum.
"Fuck, what the hell is your deal?!" Mike stormed over, Will and Dustin hot on his trail. The two former boys helped Max up, Will's eyebrows furrowed as he looked over her injures.
"Oh, if it isn't the notorious dork master and his herd of virgins! Coming to save the day, queers?"
Troy stepped forward, grinning wolfishly at Mike who stood half a head smaller than him.
Lucas rounded the corner as Mike went to draw his fist back, only to be socked in the stomach by Walsh.
Mike collapsed breathlessly, and Lucas rushed the football player, who threw him easily against the lockers. He prowled to stand in the middle of the hall, arms outstretched as he looked with a grin from both groaning boys. Will and Dustin kept Max in their arms, her face facing him.
The lights overhead flickered ominously, and Max furrowed her eyebrows before looking back to where Troy was advancing on Mike, a foot to his chest.
"Fuck off, Troy! She spat, blood splattering onto the tips of his shoes. "Are you just taking it out on us because mommy likes to fuck men that aren't daddy?"
"You little bitch!" He screamed, running for her. But before he could touch her, the bulbs bursted and bathed them in darkness, as a loud thump his the lockers and Troy whined from where he lay on the floor.
Principal Gibbins and a few faculty members came storming their way, and Will quickly helped Max to her feet.
"Go, clean yourself up. We'll help Lucas and Mike."
She nodded numbly, stumbling into the girls bathroom that was thankfully close by as the ruckus outside grew louder.
She groaned, placing her book and bag down onto the floor and sinking her hands into her elbows that leaned heavily on one of the sinks.
"El?" She called out, and the girl appeared with a frown.
"Hey," Eleven cooed, stepping to cup heated cheeks in her hands. Max tried to blink the spots away, her vision blurry as she focused on watchful eyes darting over her face and a scarred bottom lip.
"Sit down," El instructed, motioning to the heater as she wet some toilet roll and made her way over, kneeling in front of her.
"whu-mgh..." Max winced and El clicked her tongue. "Shh, your nose is broken and you have a concussion. You also look like you just went swimming in blood so, relax for a moment."
Eleven flashed her a warm smile, cradling Max's face with her thumb and forefinger as Max did the pages of her books, while the other gently cleaned fresh blood away from her nostrils and lips.
"You know," El began, tossing the paper out and getting a clean one, "If anyone walked in right now they'd just see taps turning on by themselves and levitating tissue paper."
Max's lips cracked a smile in the corners of her mouth, and El chuckled sweetly.
Max swallwoed the acrid taste of blood and bile down- grimacing, as she spoke, "Was that you... with the lights and... and him being thrown?"
Eleven winked.
"How strong are you to send a huge guy like Try flying and short circuiting the wiring in the hall?"
Eleven shrugged in response, "I'm not really superhuman. But I'm also not a human. So when I'm charged enough, and emotionally inclined I can... well, do that." She motioned lamely at the door, stepping back to examine her work.
"How's it look, doc?"
Eleven chewed her lower lip, head tilting and eyes narrowing in thought before she broke out that beaming smile that coupled the concussion beautifully, the way it made her head spin.
"Gorgeous."
-
"What would you name a dog?"
Eleven turned her face to look at Max who smiled at the question, basking in the warmth of the sun beaming down on her. Her nose was bandaged and she hadn't seen the boys since they valiantly took a week long in school suspension, while she recovered at home.
So they sat in the backyard, relaxing in the daylight before the shitstorm of her parents came to suck all the serotonin away.
"Cactus."
Max snorted, and Eleven looked at her in disbelief .
"Okay, that's awful."
"What, so Duke Ellington the second would be better?"
Eleven chuckled at the reference from her ramble about music when Max was half asleep. "I'll take that over Cactus for the dog name, honestly. Duke was ahead of his time!"
"Id Ellington is the dogs name, is he also a French bulldog too?" Max asks, as Eleven starts grabbing the pitcher of lemonade to refill Max's glass.
"Yes."
Max thanks her, and takes a sip as she ruminates.
"Fine. If we go with that, we should probably get two and name the other one like..." her mind immediately wheeled on itself-
"The music! The records you saw in my room- not mine. Mozart's cool but, Kate Bush. I love her music.
The brunette nodded, eyes twinkling beneath thick lashes.
"That would be terribly obvious," Eleven says, "Naming a dog Kate Bush." She made a face. "I'd go with something more obscure like, Lionheart. I'd say hounds of love, but that's precarious."
"Ellington and Lionheart? Our future friends are going to think you're a genius and I'm an imbecile," Max says, shaking her head.
"Our future friends sound like very observant, wise people," Eleven says, with a small grin, before reaching over to grab a chip to fling at the redhead.
Max takes her hand, playing with her fingers for a moment, and then, interlaces them.
"Do... will we have a future?" Her voice is barely above a whisper, but the impending doomsday has been haughtily in her mind for days now.
Eleven tugs on the hand, so their eyes meet.
"You know, I've met other spirits in the void. And none- not one, have been able to touch a human like this." She squeezes her hand firmly. "Not even their parents or life long friends and there's no rule book to any of this. It doesn't make sense. But... maybe. You needed me, so I'm here. "
Max swallows hard, sitting up straight and rearranging the table of drinks and empties the chips into a bag that El expertly tosses over the fence as the car doors shut outside.
She pulls her hoodie on tightly, and frowns as Eleven waves goodbye, speaking to the air.
"I think I'll always need you."
-
"Lord have mercy, Maxine. You're five pounds heavier then you were two weeks ago!"
Susan growled, circling like a shark the seamstress who was busy at work measuring the youngest Hargrove's inseam.
"How is this possible? You exercise every day and eat the exact amount we allow you to." Susan narrows her eyes suspiciously, coming face to face with Max who cowers under her mother's scrutiny, all progress shed made the past month suddenly stripped.
She huffed and stormed out of the room, shouting for the seamstress to follow after her who smiled apologetically at the redhead.
Max was given the privacy of changing without an audience, and now stood at her vanity, the palms of her hands planted firmly on the table as she stared at her reflection. She hated how she looked. Eyes too big and empty, hair that always got her teased for in middle school, and was the reason everyone around town knew exactly who she was as if it was familial brand seared into her flesh.
Max let a sigh escape her lips before she began removing the perfect military bun from her head, collapsing on her bed in a heap while some sad tune played off her speaker, too lazy to even change it. Unknown To You always had her reeling in her feelings, Jacob Banks managing to encompass every painful emotion she felt into words, and this time she didn't care that the ghost would see her cry. She just wanted to dissapear.
Shortly after the first few lines, the brunette appeared, leaning against one of the four posts of Max's bed, looking down at her in concern "I don't know why you play pin up. You're beautiful all the same in your pajamas."
Maybe it was the music or all the pent up feelings of the past 17 years, but Max broke down. Years of tears spilling down her face, and she for a moment wished she could feel the warmth she was positive Eleven radiated in life, and turned over in her bed to look up at the eyes that were constantly on her "Why? Why are you here. Why?" She sputtered out, and Eleven remained with a soft smile, lowering herself to sit on the edge of the bed.
"I don't know why I'm here. You need me-" Max cut her off with a loud huff, sitting up abruptly and pulling her knees to her chest.
"I know that. But why me? Why am I who you have to go see everyday? No matter where I am; school, home, the mall, even fucking church you're there. Just some blue spirit who I never even met constantly staring at me."
Max felt guilt pool and coil tight in her belly at the pain-stricken face, casted to the floor. If spirits could cry, Max would swear she saw a tear roll off her cheek like a perfect diamond. "I don't know, Max. All of us- are just..." she let out a shaky breath. "I don't know why I'm still on this side of the veil, I'm dead. I don't belong here anymore."
Max sniffled, letting a bitter laugh out, "you and me both, Jane."
Eleven stiffened, her back ram-rod straight and eyes vacant as her aura pulsed darker and darker until nearly no light emitted from her radiance.
"I- El, I didn't-" Max cleared her throat, voice taut and weak, while furiously wiping her face clean from the tears and leaning forward, desperate to have the bright hue reflecting around her like a halo.
"I'm so, so fucking sorry. I was curious and Mike's a genius and I just- it was earlier and I didn't-"
Eleven licked her lips, blinking a few times before turning to look at Max, her aura lightening softly and quelling the nervous ache in the redhead's every limb.
"I'm not upset I just... haven't heard that name since Hopper. I..." Eleven looked wildly around the room. "I haven't been called anything except Eleven. Since I was..." she trailed off, unsure and shifty.
Max didn't hesitate hoisting herself forward and nearly knocking the other girl over with the velocity of her body. Eleven was stiff beneath her- and slowly allowed her arms to circle and hold tightly around her waist.
Max felt it all, like a shot of adrenaline or dunking herself in a pool on a hot day. She felt the lightening shooting through and frying every nerve and neuron and cell. Her skin tingled like a blush of autumn breeze blanketed her comfortingly and she didn't think she could ever not be in El's arms again.
"Im glad you're here. But if ever getting okay enough that you disappear.... I don't think I want to ever be better." She murmured into a tense neck, her voice vibrating and muffled. El nodded slowly, her face buried deep in red tangles.
"I don't think I ever want to move on, if I had to lose you, either."
"I think..." Max huffed, gripping on for dear life to the material of a gown that started to tear from her force. Her silent confession died on her tongue, as she scrambled to her feet.
"Take your clothes off."
Eleven blinked. "What?"
Max flushed deeply, shaking her head so hard her hair whipped her in the face. "No- not like that. Just- do you trust me?"
Eleven tilted her head to the side, her questioning gaze softening as she took Max in. "Of course."
"Then just- wait." Max tripped over her own two feet in her haste to get to her closet, tossing random articles around the room as she pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a soft cotton shirt.
She thrusted the clothes into Eleven's outstretched hand, smiling shyly. "Just try."
"I've tried-"
"-try for me then."
Eleven stilled, and took a deep breath as she reached for the bottom of the gown and it didn't budge- besides billowing from the air. But it was almost glued to her, and Eleven winced painfully at the tug against her. Her eyes sadly met blue.
"Max it's not gonna-"
Max, daring and willing her clumsy feet to move as she took several large lunges to be nose to nose with the brunette, who's eyebrows rose, but she didn't move away. Max reached a hand out, soothingly running her sweaty palm along the side of Eleven's waist. "Trust me." She murmured, shutting her eyes and leaning forward to bury her face in a cool neck.
Eleven nodded against her, and Max slowly, deliberately and carefully lifted the hem of the gown up, and up, until it began to bunch and move like Vaseline on sheets. It was a struggle, as the clothing resisted, but it moved until she had it bunched up by El's shoulders, pulling back to meet glassy eyes and silently asked for permission. El nodded once, and was finally stripped from the gown.
-
"I think you should meet my friends."
Eleven was fiddling with a button up- similar to the one she had seen in Max's picture that she 'borrowed' from a store. Getting her to keep clothes on was a dizzingly heart stopping side effect of finally freeing her from her most traumatic event, and now she was excitedly wearing everything she possibly could and then a few minutes later freaking out that they'd stay permanently on. She'd spent a few days, wearing Max's clothing because if she had to be stuck in anything again- she wanted it to be within Max's clothes and she'd blushed like an idiot while the ghost giggled.
Their last venture out was... strange. They'd gone to Benny's, as usual, and sat at a table waiting to be served when Benny came out and eyed the spot where El sat curiously.
"Who's this?" He had asking, smiling and lifting a hand in acknowledgment. Max's eyes had nearly bulged out of her head, while Eleven just stared at the man like she'd been caught committing a crime.
"Uh- she's- Uh-"
Eleven smiled, blinking to force herself back into reality and stuck a hand out in greeting. The bigger man shook it with a great big hand that rattled the brunette a bit with the force. "Jane."
"Jane! You knew around these parts, Jane?"
Eleven nodded, and Benny had dissapeared to grab her some testers of food to give her the full experience.
Max immediately asked for her order to be to go.
Eleven turned around, cocking her head to the side where curls had sprouted overnight- now resting weightlessly by her chin. Max swallowed thickly.
"Your friends?"
"Yeah I-I mean... Benny saw you and you got to change and your hair and maybe- I don't know?"
Eleven laughed while Max helplessly clasped her hands over her face. Eleven moved closer, sitting next to Max on the bed and waiting for her to look at her again, before smiling and tucking a errant red strand behind a flushed ear.
And Max felt a gravitational pull to Eleven- like every dimension was willing then to get so close they'd just morph into one. Eleven looked between lidded ocean depths curiously, biting into a bottom lip and Max's eyes followed the action.
"Do you think ghosts can kiss people?"
Eleven's face twitched up in a soft smile, finding whatever she was constantly searching for in Max's eyes, as she closed the distance.
Mint and tea- she tasted like mint and tea and Max never wanted to stop kissing Jane Hopper.
-
"Guys!" Max announces over the four boys arguing about the schematics for the campaign they were setting up.
The boys looked up, and Dustin's jaw dropped, Lucas's eyebrows in his hairline, Will smiling kindly and Mike still glaring at the D&D character sheet.
"This is... uh." Max looked uncertaintly to the brunette who was playing with their laced fingers, leaning to hide a bit behind Max.
"El." She murmured against her shoulder blade, and Max had to look at Dustin chewing a handful of candy with his mouth open to sober up enough to speak.
"Eleven. El."
"Hello, El." Will smiled, the first to recover at the fact there was now a second girl in their sacred space. Lucas stood, jogging over and going to clamp a hand on Eleven's shoulder in his usual brisque greeting- but his hand didn't land, as she flared blue and he fell from the unexpected push back.
Mike accidentally tore the sheet, as the four boys stilled and watched her like she'd grown a second head.
"G-g-g-ghoooost?" Dustin drawled, falling forward into Will's back.
"Well- yeah, see I didn't expect to have to announce it like this but, well- Eleven to put it easily, was haunting me since junior year because of my attempt and well- haunting is a poor choice of words," she glanced apologetically at the giggling brunette who moved to stand beside her now. "But she's been around for a while and... yeah. She's a ghost but also not because she's able to be seen and touched and she's not stuck in her death clothes and can eat-"
"Ms. Mayfield, maybe I can be of help."
A man in a police uniform with a cigarette in his hand appeared behind the group, who screamed and flailed as they scrambled away from the newcomer. Eleven dropped Max's hand, stepping forward with tears freely falling.
"Dad?"
His eyes softened, rough eyebrows pinching up affectionately as he embraced the girl who sobbed into his chest.
"Hey, Janey."
"Jane? As in Jane Hopper? Mike squeaked, "the girl who-"
"Watch it, young man." Hopper growled out, his words coveted by silent threats as he thrust an accusatory finger in his directions.
He pulled Jane back by the shoulders and looked down fondly at her.
"How- I searched for you, I-I couldn't find-"
He pursed his lips, a frown tugging at the corners of his beard. "I know you did, kid. You couldn't find me because I wasn't in the void. I was ready. It was my time. I made piece with it long before I died. But more than that- it was my time."
He looked over at Max, and she felt her palms slick with sweat as she returned the heavy eye contact. "And you- you found my girl. You found her in that hellish place and brought her back."
His voice was gruff, but his words were softened by the crackle of emotions as he ran a hand through Eleven's dark curls. "I didn't do anything, sir."
Hopper shrugged one shoulder in consideration. "You fell in love with her. Wanted her. Cant explain it all, because there is no set of rules. But the power of love brought her back; a force so strong even evil couldn't compare."
"Wait- back? As in... she can stay?" Will murmured, standing up to flank Max as the boys slowly followed suite.
His lips quirked, amused. "She died, for a long time. Cant explain it all, again- not in the short time I got here, anyhow. But the way she saved you- you saved her the same. Brought her back to life when she found a reason to live it. Gave her a second chance."
El met Max's eyes from lashes wet from her tears. She smiled watterily, and she felt a dry sob escape her as she nearly collapsed in relief.
"You said limited time..." Mike questioned, tentatively looking between Max and Hopper.
"Yeah. Just here to let you know you're good enough for my girl." El giggled, and he softened even further. "But I'm always watchin'. And between us- Byers mom is gonna offer to take you and my girl in."
Will smiled blindingly, as he tightened his arms around Max. "So don't worry, any of you. You'll be safe and happy for a very, very long time. Long as I got a say and-" he sniffed up, haughtily. "Everyone listens to me."
He looked down at El, sighing heavily.
Max swallowed, standing shakily and nodding toward the door to the outside. "Let's uh, give them some privacy."
"Max?" El called, looking frantically at her retreating frame. Max stopped, eyes and knees jelly under that those starlit eyes.
"I'll be just outside. Back before you can say 'Duke Ellington'." She winked, pulling the snickering boys with her with a punch to the shoulders.
As soon as the back door shut behind them, four giddy faces were looking at her expectantly.
"So... you and a girl, huh?" Lucas waggled his eyebrows, dodging a slap to the chest with a laugh.
"Oh- screw that!" Dustin shouted, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "She's dating a frickin ghost!"
Max rubbed at her face, a laugh of exhaustion leaving her as relief flooded her. She wasn't gonna lose her. "I really thought you'd need like... a huge essay to get you guys on board but- you're taking it weirdly well?"
Mike shrugged, "This is the coolest thing ever. And now that we know about her- the stuff with the lights and Troy makes more sense! Saved our asses."
"Couldnt sway detention, though." Lucas grumbled, and didn't react quickly enough this time to Max's fist.
"Hey! That's my girlfriend you're talking about." The edge to her words fell flat as her toes to the tips of her hair flushed brightly. Girlfriend. They were girlfriends.
"We're happy for you, Max." Will smiled kindly, wrapping her in a hug.
"Hell yeah! Group hug!!!" Dustin threw himself onto the dog pile- stumbling them into the wall and resulting in several pained groans. A soft giggle from the doorway had Max shoving the boys off as she got stuck in those shining eyes and thousand watt smile.
She didn't realize she was approaching until Hopper loomed ominously from behind his daughter, eyes firm and mouth planted in a thin line.
"You take care of my little girl, you got it? All of you. She's still different than the rest of you- can do shit that could get hurt seriously hurt. So all of this? Under wraps. Not to be spoken about to anyone or I'll come crawling back and drag you all down with me."
The boys and Max swallowed audibly- comically so, that even Hopper broke into a laugh. It was deeper, rumbling and Max watched as Eleven twisted around, voice watery and tight. "Goodbye, dad."
He leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead, ruffling her curls. "See ya, kid."
He looked up at the redhead, before in one swift movement he had her and Eleven tightly in his embrace.
"Group hug! Again!!" Dustin whooped, and the boys all joined in until Hopper huffed and shoved the boys off.
"Glad I don't gotta worry about them hanging off you..." he murmured, and Max laughed heartily.
"Be safe, kids."
He waved, and walked away. He was by the corner of a wall, turning to salute the group as he pulled a drag of his cigarette and disappeared.
Eleven collapsed into Max's chest, and the redhead hushed her sobs while carding her fingers through tousled curls. "You're okay. I got you. I'll always have you."
Eleven's fingers held a firm grip on the back of Max's shirt, her fingers digging into her so deeply it would probably bruise- but she couldn't find it in herself to care, as she breathed in earthy tones and kept their bodies aligned so that there wasn't a gap separating their desperate touches and soft kisses pressed to wherever lips could meet.
"Jane?" Will spoke up, startling them and making them aware of the other people standing grinning in the moonlight. El rubbed at her eyes, nodding.
"Is that what you'd like us to call you?" She nodded again.
"Please."came her little murmur, muffled by the sleeve wiping at her mouth.
"Alright- Jane, former ghost, and still super cool girl, you can be our mage. Jane The Mage. You get to roll a few times to get your traits, but as we were saying earlier, we're not adding new traits in!" Mike hustled forward, bickering with Dustin as he led the group in doors and Jane leant her head against Max's forehead, in the quiet.
"I love you."
Max pulled her back a little to look into heady brown eyes, clouded with emotion, and felt her heart thrum all throughout her body as it always did, and probably always would, with Jane Hopper giving her that starlit gaze.
"I-I love you too, Jane."
"I love you so much, but now we seriously have to think about dog names, because it's actually gonna happen now and-"
Giddy, Max cupped warm cheeks and stumbled back as Jane met her lips just as passionately, swallowing Max's moan as her fingers explored hungrily and desperately over muscles and slivers of skin-
"WAS THAT YOU, JANE?"
Dazed, Jane pulled away and looked over where the Christmas lights strung up were blinking through the window, and the bulb overhead the door burst.
"THATS SO FUCKING COOL!!"
Both girls giggled, joining the excitable chatter with laced fingers and for the first time, Max Mayfield's heart was completely full.