Author's note: The Lumax begins

The quarters in Lucas' pocket jingled as he hit a pothole while turning from Elm street onto Maple. He knew the pothole was there, and he normally would have swerved to avoid it, but his mind was elsewhere. He knew that Max loved the arcade, so he didn't believe she'd just gotten busy doing something else and decided to skip on them. Sure, he and his friends weren't the coolest bunch in all of Hawkins Middle, but the arcade sure WAS. He could easily imagine Max turning down an invitation to a D&D game and instead going to the arcade, for example.

So he concluded that something must have gone wrong for Max. He knew her "brother" was an asshole, so visions began to swim through his head of Max locked in her bedroom, while Billy nailed boards across the door and windows, laughing maniacally to himself the whole time.

If Max needed help, Lucas was just the man for the job. He felt a little bad for ditching his friends, and for not inviting them to go on his rescue mission. But really, if Max was going to join the party, then he was currently going to help a fellow party member in distress. That was a noble and justified goal. The rest of the party should understand.

He didn't know exactly where Max lived, only that it was on Old Cherry road, and it would be dark soon, so his plan was to ask his dad to drive him down that road until he spotted Billy's car. That would be impossible to miss. He coasted past Mike's driveway and on into his own, past both his mom's car and his dad's. He walked his bike into the garage, climbed the three steps to the door, and had his hand on the doorknob when he paused. Lucas could hear raised voices coming from inside.

His hand still on the knob, he pressed his ear to the door, straining to hear. His mom and dad were arguing inside, though he couldn't make out what they were saying.

It wasn't the first big argument he'd overheard. In fact, there had been a lot more lately. It was a pretty new thing. He didn't really know how to process it, so he tried not to think about it. Maybe that would make it go away.

His stomach suddenly twisting itself in knots, he quietly opened the door and slid inside. He held his breath as he passed through the kitchen. His parents turned out to be in the living room, and he could probably make it to the stairs and up into his room without interrupting their fight.

"You're wasting yourself here!" Lucas' mom was shouting. "You could do so much more. Your brother would take you on at his firm tomorrow if you asked him. It's right there for you but you won't take it."

"Chicago? Really? That's what you want to do?" Lucas' dad yelled back.

"Just because you're too afraid to try for something more, you're going to keep our kids trapped here? So they can, what, work at the pizza shack? The movie theater? That's no kind of future!"

Lucas had made it to the stairs without being seen, but he paused halfway up. The words being thrown around downstairs didn't even register in his brain. It was yelling that upset him. His troubles with Dustin and Max seemed so much less important than they had just 30 seconds ago. The horrible feeling in his stomach grew worse. He didn't know what to think about his parents fighting. They hadn't done it when he was younger. He had no idea what had changed or how to fix it.

Downstairs, the fight seemed to have blown itself out, and Lucas heard his mom storm off into another room, and his dad sink into his armchair with a long sigh. Lucas stayed where he was. At first, he thought now would be a very bad time to ask his dad to drive him to Max's house. On the other hand, if he got his dad alone, maybe he could ask what all the fighting was about. Besides, he couldn't just go on up to his room now, or he'd just lay awake feeling sick to his stomach all night.

After waiting what felt like the right amount of time, Lucas shuffled back down the stairs and went into the living room. He found his dad still sitting armchair with a book in his hands, though it looked like he was staring at it rather than reading it. He looked up in surprise when Lucas approached.

"Dad, I, uh..." Lucas fidgeted with his hands as he stood there awkwardly. "Can you drive me to a friend's house?" To his surprise, his didn't refuse.

"Sure, I need to get out of the house for a bit anyway," he said, getting up slowly.

Counting himself lucky that it had been that easy, Lucas followed his dad out into the garage and climbed into the car.

His dad stared distractedly ahead as he turned the key in the ignition.

"Will's house?" he asked.

"Actually, no," Lucas told him. "It's a new friend. You haven't met her, but she lives on Old Cherry road."

"She?" His dad said in surprise.

"Yeah," Lucas said, almost a little defensive.

"And where does she live?"

"I've actually never been to her house," Lucas said. "I just know she lives on Old Cherry road. But if you take me there, I know I'll recognize their car."

His dad looked at him out of the corner of his eye, then shrugged and put the car into gear. He started to inch out of the driveway. "You know you can't stay too late. It's a school night."

"I know. It's just for an hour or two," Lucas said, deciding to press his luck. "And... do you think you could drop us off at the arcade?"

"Didn't you just come from the arcade?" His dad asked.

"Yeah, but, see, Max was supposed to meet us there. But she never showed. I thought maybe her parents were too busy to drive her or something."

"Max?"

"Well, Maxine, but nobody calls her that," Lucas explained.

His dad give him one last sidelong look before he said, "Ok, Max's house it is." They turned off of Maple street and onto Elm, bouncing over the same pothole that Lucas had hit a few minutes ago. "You know," his dad said gently, "Maybe Max didn't meet you at the arcade because her parents grounded her. She might not be able to come with you when we get there."

"Oh, that's not it," Lucas said. "She's a good kid."

His dad laughed. "Believe it or not, good kids get grounded sometimes, too. Just because you never cause us any trouble... Take your friend Mike for example. Good kid. Comes from a good family. I've never seen him cause trouble in all the years they've been our neighbors. But now? I heard he's graffiting the bathrooms, getting in fights at school, would have never believed it."

"That's different," Lucas said. "Mike's going through a hard time right now." He stopped there and said no more. His dad didn't know about El. At least, he didn't know the truth. He'd heard rumors about a Russian girl, which Mr. Wheeler now denied. Lucas had promised the party that he'd never talk about the things he'd seen in that science classroom that one night, or in that junkyard, or in the AV room at school, or in Mike's basement... Nobody outside the party could know the unbelievable stuff that had happened last year.

Thankfully, his dad took his word for it and left Mike Wheeler alone. They rode on in silence for a few more minutes before Lucas finally worked up the courage to ask about what was really on his mind.

"Dad? What was... Can you tell me... Why were..." He took a deep breath and tried again. "What are you and mom fighting about?"

His dad made a pained face and let out a long, slow breath.

"Well," he said after a long time considering his words. "Basically your mom thinks it would be better for you and your sister if we moved away from Hawkins."

Lucas shot up straighter in his seat. He hadn't expected that at all. "What? Why?"

"There IS a lot more out there in the world, Lucas, she's not wrong about that."

"We can't move!" Lucas spluttered.

"Your mom and I haven't decided anything yet," his dad said, trying to calm him down. "You know, in a place like Chicago, you and Erica would have so much more you could do. More schools, bigger schools with more arts and science programs and more sports teams, and when you get ready to go to college-"

"But I like it here!" Lucas protested.

"Did you know your mom is from Chicago? That's where we met. Did I ever tell you that?"

Lucas didn't answer. He wasn't sure if his dad was just trying to change the subject.

"I was a young, 23 year old law student going to John Marshall Law School in Chicago. We bumped into each other on our way to class one day, and that was it." A big smile slowly spread across his face as he told the story. "We got married as soon as we graduated. Now, I was this small town kid from a little place called Hawkins Indiana your mom had never heard of. I just always assumed after college I'd move back here and open my own law firm. The thing is... I never really asked her about it at the time. I didn't even think about it. I guess she always thought we'd settle down in the big city and start our family there. Only, she never said so until recently. I guess she's been keeping it inside all these years. I should have asked her first."

"Dad, we can't move," Lucas said. "We can't."

"Now, don't even worry about it. I'm sorry you overhead us fighting, but your mom and I will work it out. I want you to know, son, whatever we decide, your mother and I will always do what's best for you and Erica."

"But-"

"We're here," his dad interrupted, pointing at the road. They had arrived at Old Cherry. Lucas didn't want to drop the conversation, but he didn't know how to react. His mind was spinning, and he needed time to process it.

"Tell me when you see the car," his dad said, trying to sound all normal again. He slowed to an easy cruise and let Lucas swivel his head from side to side, checking each driveway. Old Cherry wasn't a long road, and quickly reached the end where it ran into Randolph road.

"You didn't see it?" His dad asked.

"It's a big blue sports car," Lucas said, spinning in his seat to look back down the way they'd just come from. "We can't have missed it."

His dad turned around at the stop sign and headed back down the same road, a little slower this time. Lucas's head swiveled from side to side. He even made sure to look inside any open garages, in case that was how he'd missed it. He frowned, the disappointment of not finding Max's house mixing with his already unhappy feelings.

"I guess Billy isn't home," he said to himself.

"Who?"

"That's her skateboard!" Lucas said, pressing his face against the window. "I'd know that skateboard anywhere."

There it was, lying in the grass in front of their porch. There were no cars out front, so maybe they'd all gone somewhere and taken Max with them. He wasn't about to turn back now, though. Lucas jumped out of the car and crossed their small front lawn. By the time he'd reached the front door, his mind was already blanking on what to say. It suddenly struck him how weird this all looked, showing up at her house after she'd been a no-show at the arcade. He stood there frozen, with his hand raised, ready to knock on the door, trying to think of how to begin.

'Hey Max, I was just in the neighborhood and I thought..." No.

'Max, there you are. The guys and I missed you at the arcade.' Nope.

'So this is where you live, you're a hard person to find, Max... Say, would you like to come with me to-" Just top.

The door swung open.

Lucas jumped back, his hand still raised, about to knock.

Max stared at him from inside, a confused look on her face.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I uh..." Lucas let his hand drop. "We just didn't see you at the arcade so I just..."

She continued to stare at him, apparently confused by his awkwardness.

"Sooooo... Do you want to go to the arcade with me?" He held his breath.

"Ok," she said. "Why are you being so weird?"

"Great, my dad can drive us. He's right over there."

"Yeah, I can see that," Max said, stepping outside and closing the door behind her.

"Do you have quarters?" Lucas asked, hiding his smile. "If you don't, I have extra."

Author's note: I feel really, really bad for doing that to Lucas and his parents. I don't want to see them fighting, and I sure don't want to see them move away from Hawkins, but it is going to lead into a lot more things in the Lucas Max Dustin story. I actually got the idea in the first place from reading the Montauk script (the original, older draft of Stranger Things by the Duffer Brothers). They had planned to have Lucas' parents going through a divorce, and Lucas was going to be very troubled (angry and acting out) over it during Stranger Things season 1. That's kind of interesting, considering that, in season 2, Lucas' parents might be the best in all of Hawkins. Anyway, I don't want Lucas' parents to get a divorce, and neither does he, but sometimes things happen that we can't control.