After a good night's sleep, Jonathan woke up and decided to approach his Mom about his idea to invite El to come live with them. He was confident that it was a great idea, and he knew that if they all worked together they could pull it off financially. He flicked his eyes toward the digital clock on his nightstand and read 9:04. He crawled out from under the sheets, his body stiff as board.

"Ugh," he groaned, stretching out, hearing his back crack with satisfaction. He shuffled out the door and to the kitchen. He found his Mom and the dining table, her eyes half closed eating a bowl of cereal. She looked up at him and smiled groggily.

"Hi, sweetie," she greeted. "Good sleep?"

"Yeah, you?"

She chuckled. "Like a log, but I don't feel too great now. I think I had too much to drink last night."

Jonathan frowned. "You gotta watch it, Mom. You have work today, right?"

"Yeah, I have have to be there at ten," she replied, dodging her son's comment about her drinking. But when she finally looked him in the eye, she gave an exasperated sigh. "I know, I know, I'm sorry, Jonathan."

He walked over to her and leaned down to hug her. "It's okay, Mom, but just...don't overdo it, alright?"

"Yes, okay. I promise."

Jonathan poured himself some cereal, and sat beside his Mom in at the table. "Hey, Mom, I was, uh," he started, having trouble to find a way to break down the barrier. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about something?"

Joyce looked up from her cereal, and gave her son a warm smile. "Of course, sweetie, what's on your mind?"

Jonathan pursed his lips, and stirred is cereal in his bowl, deep in contemplation. "I was thinking about El, and her situation with...you know, Hop, and I...I thought it might be a good idea-"

"For her to come live with us?" Joyce finished the sentence. Jonathan looked up in surprise. "Yeah, I was thinking about it last night, too."

"Except you were drunk."

"Yes, but, I still think it's a good idea. We can work it out. And I have something else in mind too, something that might help us with that."

"With what?"

"El coming to live with us."

"Why do we need help? There's nothing wrong right now."

Joyce chewed her bottom lip. She was nervous about bringing this up with Jonathan. But she knew that he had to know. "I've been looking into selling the house. So we can get some money to move somewhere else, maybe a little bit better."

Jonathan did not speak for a moment. He just stared at her, as if the wheels in his brain we still turning, processing what she had said. He opened his mouth but did not say anything. He closed it, then opened it once again, but this time was able to form a sentence.

"So you're telling me that...that you want to move?" His emotions were hard to read. She couldn't tell if he was upset, or angry, or happy about it. She did not like that. She was used to being able to read both of her kids like books.

"I'm telling you that we are going to move. For sure. I just need to find a good enough place. I already have some ideas."

Once again, Jonathan sat there, indifference spread across his face. He looked down at his cereal, which was growing more soggy and soft by the second. His eyes once again met Joyce's. And they didn't look happy.

"We're moving," he repeated, incredulous.

"Yes, sweetie," she replied. "What do you think?" She moved to gently grab Jonathan's hand on the table, but as soon as she made contact, he yanked it away instantaneously, as if she were carrying some contagious disease.

"I'm leaving," he said, trying to prevent himself from breaking down in front of his Mom. He was seven-fucking-teen years old, he was past having tantrums in front of his Mommy. He walked briskly to his room and slid on some jeans over his pajama boxers. He didn't even bother putting on a proper shirt, he just kept on the plain white t-shirt that he was wearing. He walked toward the door and started putting his shoes on.

"Baby, where are you going?" Joyce asked, walking toward her son. She felt her heart sinking, eating away at her. If this was how Jonathan was taking the news, she was terrified of even bringing the idea up to Will.

"I don't know," Jonathan replied, tears already starting to form in the corners of his eyes.

"So why are you leaving?" She was turning desperate, Jonathan could tell.

"Because I don't want to be here right now." He stepped out and slammed the door loudly behind him, and didn't look back. He heard the door once again open behind him, and the calls of Joyce rang in his ears, but he didn't listen. He moved as quickly as he could down the driveway without running, and stepped into the car and started the engine. He drove off, and that was when he stopped fighting it.

His vision became blurred as salty liquid started collecting in his eyes, and he tried furiously to blink them away but his efforts were in vain. He realized that if he continued driving like he would get into an accident, so he slammed down on the brakes and pulled over on the shoulder of the country road that he was on. He put the car in park and rested his head on the steering wheel. His shoulders shook violently as he desperately tried to drain himself of his emotions, to try to get control of himself for long enough to form a coherent thought in his mind.

Why on Earth would his Mom want to move? And more than that, why would she El to move with them? El, of all people. The only people she had ever known were here, in Hawkins. All the people who cared for her and knew about her true past were here, not in some town in another state. And most of all...Mike.

Jesus Christ, moving away from Mike was going to destroy her. It wasn't like Jonathan knew very much about the state of their relationship, but he knew even before Independence Day how strong their bond was. And seeing how they interacted during those days when they were fighting the Mindflayer had only reinforced those thoughts. And now with Hopper gone, Mike truly was her last and only lifeline; and now it was going to be torn away from her.

Then he thought of Nancy. Dear God, Nancy...he loved her, even though he hadn't told her so yet. And the thought of leaving her behind made him sick. And what was all this for? Probably some bullshit like "to get a fresh start" or something. He never understood what people meant when they said that. He knew that his Mom has endured her fair share of challenges, but hadn't they all? And wouldn't running away from their problems only make it worse? And all the people who knew what they had been through were with them already. They had the support of all of those who had been there; all the kids, Steve, Robin (even though he didn't know her that well)...

Were they really better off in some random town with random people who didn't know a goddamn thing? He didn't think so.

Sucking in a deep breath, now fresh out of tears to cry, he turned the car on again and started to drive. He was going to pick up Will from the Wheeler's.


Will jolted awake. He found himself lying on the air mattress that had been given to him by Mike the night before, nestled underneath a blanket. He looked around, trying to identify what had woken him up, and his eyes fell on Mike, who was crouched over him, hand on his shoulder.

"Mike? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Your brother is here to pick you up."

"What time is it?"

"Noon. I think something is wrong, he seemed a little bit upset."

Hearing this, Will sat up rather quickly. "Is he at the front door?"

"Yeah, your clothes are on the table over there," Mike replied, indicating toward the pile of clothing that was slumped on the piece of furniture.

After getting changed quickly and saying goodbye to Mrs Wheeler on his way out, Will joined his brother outside and walked to his car. They got in, and Jonathan started driving, but something was off about him. Mike was right; something was wrong.

"Jonathan?" Will said, turning to look at his brother.

"What's up, bud?" Jonathan replied, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Is something wrong?" Will analyzed Jonathan's face, but it was hard to gauge what he was feeling. Jonathan sighed and looked out the window opposite to Will.

"No, I'm just thinking about work."

Will knew that Jonathan had been fired from his job at the post; they had had a discussion a few days ago about it. But he had a nagging sensation on the back of his mind that there was something else happening with Jonathan that he could not quite put his finger on.

"Are you sure?" Will pressed, trying to figure out of Jonathan was hiding anything. "Did something happen with Mom?"

"No," Jonathan responded quickly, almost before he had even finished his last word. He had spoken rather loudly as well, and it had startled Will. He narrowed his eyes slightly, but then gave up, and looked out the window on his side. Jonathan would talk to him when he wanted to about his problem, and he would just have to-

"Mom told me that we're moving."

Will's heart stopped. What? They were moving? "Pardon?"

Jonathan cleared his throat and visibly swallowed hard. "I was eating breakfast with Mom, and, uh…" his voice fizzled out, momentarily, before finding it again. "She told me that she was looking for a new house. We're gonna sell ours, and move away."

Will was speechless. "Not only that," Jonathan continued, laughing in spite of himself, sarcastically and laced with anger. "But guess what? After I mentioned to Mom that we should invite El to come to live with us, you know what her idea was? Bring her with us."

Will blinked, already feeling a swelling bulge in his throat. "El?"

"Yeah," he said. "Hopper is dead. I thought it would be a good idea for us to take her in, give her a home. Mom agreed with me, said she had been thinking about it too. Except in her version, we drag her out of Hawkins, and toward whatever fucking hellhole we're going to."

Will was stunned. How could his Mom possibly think that moving away was a good idea? Their roots were in Hawkins, their friends and family were in Hawkins. And El had made a life here, a life that she would never be able to get back if they left. And she had made that life with Mike, and Max, and the rest of the party. Sure, Hopper was gone, but she still had her friends.

"I can tell that you're upset about this," Jonathan said, wiping his eyes with the back of his wrist while driving. Will noticed that they were no longer traveling in the direction of their house, but he did not say anything. "I am too."

"But how upset are you?" Will asked. Jonathan turned at the next intersection and remained silent for a few seconds.

"Really upset," he replied. "I don't want to leave behind what we have here."

Will looked forward out the windshield, down the road that they were traveling on. "Me too," he choked, now feeling his emotions overtake him.

Jonathan realized this, but for once in his life, he made no move to try to comfort him. How could he when he was in as big of a wreck as Will was? And the sight of seeing Will beside him in the passenger seat made him want to punch a hole through the glass in front of him. But he knew he couldn't do that.

So instead, he pulled over for the second time that day. And when he did that, Will leaned into him from across the car, and Jonathan clung onto him in reciprocation, and they both cried together.

They stayed like that for a while.


It was half-past twelve when Max started walking home from Mike's house. She had successfully evaded Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler; the sight of seeing a girl coming out of the basement from a sleepover was one that would have caused a lot of problems. She had left El in the basement; after inviting her over to her house, El told her that she wanted to spend some of her free time reading through the magazines that she had given her the previous day. Mike had gone back to bed, so she wanted to take advantage of the alone time.

Max understood this. She knew that El wanted to start exploring stuff with Mike, and she couldn't blame her, as she had already begun to start trying things with Lucas; the boy who was currently walking beside her on her way to her house. They were hand in hand, enjoying the afternoon air. There was a cool breeze blowing through Hawkins, so it wasn't too hot to be outside. Although, she was looking forward to getting back to her house to have some alone time with Lucas.

"When are your parents getting home?" Lucas asked her.

Max turned her head sideways to return his gaze. "Later today, I think. You have to be gone by then."

A familiar pang of sadness and anger jabbed at Lucas's gut when he heard Max say those words. Not at her, of course, but her stepdad. He was not blind to the fact that Max lived in a very racist household. The attitude of Billy stemmed from his Dad. And because of him, he still remained a mystery to her parents. Max did not want to tell her Mom about him because, even though she would be fine with it, she would be putting her in an awkward situation with Neil, and she did not want to do that.

It pained her to have to force her boyfriend to date her through a series of lies and deception, but Lucas insisted to her that it was fine.

They reached the front of Max's house, and when they saw that there were no cars in the driveway, walked toward the door. Max unlocked the door with her key and stepped inside.

"You want some food? We never got breakfast at Mike's," she offered.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Lucas replied. "What do you have?"

"I was just gonna make some toast."

"I'll have some too, then."

After getting it prepared, the two of them sat at the dining table in silence. Max's thoughts started to drift again toward Billy and her parents. In probably a few hours, her parents would come home, expecting to find Billy and Max in the house, all fine and well. Instead, they would find a letter in the mail saying that their eldest son had passed away in a fire at the mall and that Max had been left all alone for four days.

It scared her to think about how they would react.

"Hey," Lucas said, reaching over the table to put his hand on hers. "You okay? You're not eating, and you've been like, silent, for like an hour."

Max looked at him, and then back at her untouched toast. "My parents are gonna be here later today," she said. "And they're gonna come here, and expect everything to be normal but they're not."

Lucas's face turned serious, and he squeezed her hand. "Hey," he comforted. "It's gonna be fine. It's not like they'll be mad at you, you didn't do anything wrong."

Max sniffed, trying to hold back her crying. She didn't want to embarrass herself right now. "I know, but...they're gonna be so mad and upset. And what if they take it out on me, or something? My stepdad isn't going to have Billy anymore. What if he turns to me?"

Lucas responded immediately. "He won't do that, he can't. Your his wife's kid."

"So?"

"So he won't do anything to you. And if he gives you a hard time, talk to your Mom. She cares about you." Max still didn't look so sure.

"And if you want to leave, get out of the house...you can always come to my place. My parents love you, and I will never say no to spending more time with you."

"They wouldn't me live with you."

"Yeah, but they'll still let you stay here as much as you want," he reminded her.

Max's lips curled upward slightly. "I'm so lucky," she sighed.

"Why?" Lucas asked, confused.

"Because of you," she said back, and before he could say anything more her lips were on his. After a few seconds, she pulled away. "Jesus, that was cheesy. I'm sorry," she giggled.

"No," he said. "It was nice. Cheesy isn't always a bad thing, you know."

He leaned in to kiss her again, but she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and restrained him before he could make contact. Lucas made a mock-hurt face. "What?"

"Want to take this somewhere else that's not the dining room?" she asked, a devilish smile playing at her mouth.

"What did you have in mind?" Lucas questioned, standing up.

"How about my bedroom? Hm?" she asked, growing increasingly flirty.

"Sounds good to me."

Pulling him by the hand, Max dragged her boyfriend down the hall, and into her room.

When they were inside, she closed the door, almost out of habit; she knew that no one was in the house to find them. Lucas had barely sat down on the bed before Max had thrown herself on top of him, straddling his hips. She leaned down and latched her mouth onto the dark skin at his neck, and began to suck the skin. She began to deliver small and smooth licks, with was met with a content sigh. She moved up and lightly nipped at his ear, an action that elicited further groans from Lucas. She traveled along his neck, and started to grind her hips on his body where she felt a growing hardness.

She felt herself getting more and more wet with each passing second. Desire was bubbling within her, and she knew what she wanted. Although, she was not sure if Lucas would be willing to do what she wanted him to do.

But she was pleasantly surprised when Lucas placed his hands firmly on her hips and moved her to the side, and rolled over on top of her. He gently started thrusting into her. Although they were separated by their clothing, the feeling of his dick jabbing into her crotch rendered her breathless.

"Oh, Lucas, that feels so good…" she moaned into his ear and gave it another soft affectionate nibble.

Lucas's head was swimming in testosterone at that moment. He wanted to take her pants off, but he really did not want to overstep any boundaries or make her feel uncomfortable. But he was grinding against her really hard now, and he could tell from her reaction that she liked it a lot.

But before he had to make the decision himself, he felt Max's hands leave his back and come down to her own pants, and she lifted her hips up to slide the clothing off her legs. He stopped moving against her for a few moments to allow her to wiggle out of the pants, and as soon as they were past her ankles and off her body, he threw himself back onto her with a newfound hunger and lust.

It was now his turn to give attention to her neck, giving deep kisses and nips and licks all over the left side of it. Max moaned lightly. It felt really nice, but she needed something more…

She nervously grabbed his hand and directed it down to her crotch. She placed Lucas's hand right on her vagina, only being covered by her wet panties. She felt Lucas freeze on top of her. Her heart stopped, and she thought she had made a mistake by making that move. But her mind went from panic to heaven when she felt Lucas started to clumsily rub her. Obviously he had never done it before, and yet...the sensation was incredible. It was so much different when she had done it herself, and it made her mind turn to mush.

He pressed right against her opening. Pleasantly surprised, she bucked her head upward and gasped. "Oh, yeah…" He started to stroke upward and downward, in between her folds, and gently grazing across her clitoris when he reached the apex of the stroke. Whether he was touching the clit intentionally or not (probably not), at that moment, Max was in heaven. But, she knew that with some direction, it could be even better.

"Lucas, go under," she murmured in between satisfied moans.

"What?" Lucas asked, a hint of confusion in his tone.

Without bothering to speak, Max slid her panties off, leaving her completely exposed for Lucas to see. She kicked them off, and they landed on the floor by her bed. Meanwhile, her boyfriend was looking at her, completely paralyzed.

"Holy shit," he breathed.

"Smooth," Max teased and pulled him on top of her again. Their lips once again started their aggressive dance of passion. Lucas's fingers ever-so-slightly touched her bare pussy, and she moaned loudly into the kiss, growing more and more turned on by the millisecond.

Lucas, at the moment, was scared. Scared, but at the same time, in ecstasy. He had never fingered a girl before. He had never even touched one before. And he had only seen them in Playboy magazines that he had snuck around his parents. So to be in this situation, with a sexually starved girl underneath him was both a dream and a nightmare. He decided to try the most logical thing, and just started rubbing in the general area with his ring and middle finger. They moved between the delicate lips, growing more and more slick with her juices. He started applying more pressure.

In response, Max started to raise and lower her hips to meet his hand, which Lucas took as a sign that he was doing at least something right. But he soon realized that keeping up this charade while in their current position was going to be a herculean task. His arm was already cramping. To mitigate this, as gracefully as he could, he shifted to the right of her so that he was lying right beside her, so his arm had more room to maneuver. He focused his mouth on the side of the neck. He found this position to be a lot easier to maintain.

Feeling his heart pounding in his chest, he slowly eased his index finger into her hole. "Oh, shit!" Lucas jumped and practically ripped away from her. "Jesus, oh my God, Max, I'm so sorry, I-"

"Jesus, stalker, shut up," Max laughed.

"Huh?"

"You didn't hurt me," she said, exasperated. Lucas opened is mouth to reply, but Max cut him off again. "Just keep going."

Lucas nodded and leaned back in. He kissed her a few times, then leaned back and focused all his attention on her pussy.

His fingers were now sort of dry, so he rubbed them along her folds to lubricate them for easier penetration. Once he was satisfied with his teasing, he slipped a single finger into her. She gasped again but this time he didn't pull back. He kept going in and out, slowly and surely, moving at a pace not too fast but not too slow. The feeling of her walls tightly gripping his digit was amazing; it was so soft and warm and nice.

"Two," she breathed. Granting her wish, Lucas added his middle finger next to his pointer finger. Max was so tight, and it made his dick so hard, watching himself pleasure her like this, her tight pussy squeezing his fingers.

But he still did not really have any idea what to do besides thrusting in and out. So he decided that he would do some experimenting, to see what was good and what was bad. He inserted his fingers as far as they would go so that the entirety of his fingers were now buried in her.

Max let out a high-pitched moan. "Oh, yeah...Curl...oh fuck- curl your fingers, okay," she managed to say in between her vocalizations. Following her instructions, Lucas curled his two fingers inside her and felt the soft ceiling of her cervix. "Ohhhh, fuck."

His confidence now flying, he started to roughly rub the inside of her vagina, trying to induce as much friction as possible. "Oh, that feels so good, Lucas, keep going, keep going," Max keened.

Lucas suddenly remembered something that he read in a Playboy magazine; the clitoris. He had heard about in sex ed, but it only really stuck with him after he read it in the magazine. He knew that if he could find it and stimulate it, he would be giving her the greatest kind of pleasure known to womankind. But he had also heard from his sources that, apparently, it was really hard to find.

He started alternating between penetration and rubbing her pussy, trying to find a way to access the sacred spot. He spread her labia and lips, and tried massaging just above the hole, and inched higher and higher, trying to locate it. And suddenly he felt something; almost like a small nub, nestled right underneath the flaps of skin, small and firm. And when he touched it, he saw Max claw her hands around the bedsheets and squeeze them, and her eyes almost shot open.

"Oh, FUCK!" she nearly screamed. "Oh fuck, fuck fuck, Lucas, yes, keep going, yes…"

Lucas continued to alternate between rubbing her inner walls and teasing her clitoris, determined to get her to reach her breaking point.

"Lucas, I'm close."

He kept going, his fingers were burning from exhaustion, but he was determined to get Max to reach her climax before he stopped. Her breath continued to become more and more rapid and shallow. And then, finally, the breaking point was reached and she exploded.

"Oh, fuck, Lucas, shit!" she hummed, and then pulled his face in to kiss him hard, to thank him for granting her that spectacular release. She broke away; it was not a long kiss, and then looked at him. "That was amazing."

"I'm glad," Lucas smiled at her. And with a laugh, he added, "if I'm honest, I didn't really know what I was doing at first."

"Well, you did very good," she replied with a sweet smile on her face. And she brought him into a loving hug. They spent the rest of the afternoon lying on top of her bedsheets, and enjoying each other's presence.

And for the first time in four days, Max was fully and completely happy.