A/N: Posted one week early because I can :)

Before Mike knew it, it was Halloween.

Once, it had been his favourite holiday. He'd spend all year looking forward to dressing up and trick-or-treating with his friends, which in the past few years had evolved into stealing candy from their parents and watching scary movies all night in his basement.

Now it was nothing.

"Trick or treat!"

Sighing, Mike got up from the sofa and made his way to the front door, grabbing the plastic candy bowl on the way. Nancy was at the school covering the football game for the paper and his parents had taken Holly out, so he'd been tasked with handing out candy until they returned.

The twilight sky glowed a deep indigo, marking the crossover between the younger kids finishing up and the rowdier older kids just starting to go out.

Mike finished dropping candy bars into the open pillowcases of a group of four boys dressed as Justice League superheroes. His heart gave a painful squeeze as he watched them chatter excitedly, bags slung over their shoulders as they cut across the lawn to the next house.

Just as he started to shut the door, there was a sharp whistle from the street. Mike pushed it back open, eyes widening in surprise. It was Max and two other people.

The boy who he now knew was named Argyle straddled a bright green BMX bike, a plastic Nixon mask pushed up on top of his head. Normally he wore the brightest colours and patterns known to man, but tonight all his clothes were plain and dark.

The other boy, with his foot pressing down on the back of a skateboard, he was pretty sure was Derek Jones, who everybody just called Jonesy. A rubber Michael Myers mask concealed his face but the long, blond hair sticking out the bottom matched the frizzy brushed-out curls that exploded out from under the grey beanie he wore every day.

He was in the same homeroom as Mike and Max, and always sat with her in the back row. Mike didn't think he'd ever actually heard him speak.

"Yo Wheels!" Argyle called out. "Hook us up!"

Amused, Mike glanced at Max. She was looking off down the street, both hands jammed in her hoodie pocket as she idly rolled her board back and forth beneath her hightop. So, she had told them about his arcade name. Interesting.

He jogged halfway down the driveway and tossed mini Snickers into Argyle and Jonesy's waiting hands.

"Thanks, dude!" Argyle immediately unwrapped his chocolate bar and shoved it into his mouth. "Hey, you wanna come ride around with us?"

"Argyle," Max hissed, looking over at him sharply.

"What? Do we not like him?"

"Um, it's cool, I'm on candy duty anyways," Mike said, shaking off the sting of her reaction.

So he was okay to spend an entire afternoon alone with at the arcade but not in front of her friends? Well, he certainly wasn't going to hang around where he wasn't wanted.

He'd just started to turn around to head back inside when Max called out, "You got a bike, New Kid?"

Mike froze and spun back around. "Uh, yeah?"

She nodded at the candy bowl in his hands. "Put that shit on the porch and let's roll."

Mike hesitated. This was exactly the kind of situation he was meant to be avoiding. But he was also really fucking bored of feigning excitement over poorly costumed children…

Fuck it.

It seemed like the universe kept pushing him towards her. It didn't mean it had to be a whole thing. Maybe making some new friends wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.

"Gimme a sec." He darted back inside, hastily scribbled a post-it note that said "Take ONE" and stuck it to the bowl before leaving it by the front door. His parents would be home with Holly soon anyway.

"Uh, hey, I don't think we've really met," he said, waving awkwardly at the two boys as he walked his bike down the driveway. "I'm Mike."

Argyle dismounted his bike, letting it clatter to the pavement as he approached Mike, pulling him into a constricting hug.

Mike stiffened as warm arms and the dank smell of weed enveloped him. Okay… Hugging total strangers was not exactly something he was comfortable with. Like, at all.

After what felt like way too much time for a friendly hug, Argyle finally pulled back, holding Mike at arm's length as he looked him up and down. "Shit, you're tall. And skinny. What size waist do you wear, man? Twenty-nine?"

"Uh… twenty-eight?"

"No shit?" Argyle shoved him lightly as he released his shoulders before making his way back to his bike. "Better watch out you don't blow over there, dude. Let's ride!"

He lowered his mask and the two boys took off down the street, leaving Mike alone with Max.

She smiled apologetically as he straightened out his clothes. "Sorry about him. He has a very loose concept of personal space."

Mike shrugged, swinging his leg over his bike as he gave her a once over. "Too cool to dress up?"

She pointed at her head and he noticed the small, black devil horns attached to the headband nestled in her wavy hair. They suited her, strangely.

"Jonesy stole my mask so I had to make a last-minute purchase at the dollar store," she explained, pushing off against the asphalt and rolling down the street after her friends.

As Mike followed on his bike, he couldn't help but think of the pastor's sermons from when his mom still made them go to church years ago. And beware the devil, for he will lead you into temptation…

He rode silently at the back of the group, listening to Max and Argyle argue over something. The conversation was impossible to follow. It was like they had their own language—peppered with inside jokes he wasn't privy to.

Tuning them out, Mike took a moment to enjoy the feeling of aimlessly riding his bike again. It was finally getting cooler in the evenings, the night air bracing on his cheeks.

It reminded him of countless nights spent biking through Hawkins, flanked on either side by his friends, the warmth of El pressed against his back, her arms wrapped around him snugly, small hands clutching at the front of his jacket…

The group wove through the sea of trick-or-treaters flooding the suburban streets. Occasionally, Argyle and Jonesy would ride up behind a group of kids and spook them while Max rolled her eyes at their antics.

"Oh shit, this is Principal Vernon's place!" Argyle exclaimed, coming to a sudden stop. "We gotta TP it, dude."

Nodding, Jonesy took off his backpack and unzipped it, producing two rolls of toilet paper and throwing one to Argyle.

"You guys coming?" Argyle looked between Mike and Max as he tossed his bike into a bush and started towards the large house.

"We'll wait for you at the end of the block," Max called out, slowing down and falling back next to Mike. She shook her head fondly as she watched them sneak across the lawn, scurrying between plastic gravestones and skeletons. "They're so dumb."

They continued down the tree-lined street, and Mike stole glances at her as she did smooth, languid S-curves on her board. She made it look so effortless, like the skateboard was an extension of her body.

He slowly straightened himself up, practicing his hands-free biking. Just to see if he still could. Not because he was like, trying to show off or anything.

"So why did you guys move to Lenora?" she asked after a minute.

"Uh…" His palms landed back on the handlebars, stomach twisting as he scrambled to come up with a vague half-truth he could tell. He was a terrible liar and she'd see through it immediately. "Bad things kept happening in my hometown. My parents freaked."

Max looked over at him, eyebrows raised. "Really?"

"Yeah… a few years ago my sister's best friend disappeared, and then uh, a bunch of people died in a mall fire this past summer and there was this whole scandal with the mayor…"

"Shit. Well, your folks chose the right place. They call it Le-snore-a Hills for a reason. Nothing ever happens here."

They rode along in silence for a bit longer, coming to a stop at the end of the block. Max popped her board up and turned towards him.

"So what did you do for fun in the Hoosier State?" she asked in a scarily good impression of their homeroom teacher. "Cow tipping?"

"Ha ha," Mike deadpanned. He licked his lips, debating whether to make up something cool, but ultimately deciding on honesty. He didn't have what it took to maintain some fake persona. "Have you heard of Dungeons & Dragons?"

Max gasped, her expression immediately contorting into one of horror. "The Satanic cult board game?"

"Oh come on, that is such fear-mongering, media propaganda bullshit! It's not even–" He cut himself off when he noticed the smile she was trying to hide. "You're fucking with me aren't you?"

Her grin widened. "Sure am."

Mike sighed and rolled his eyes. This girl was clearly incapable of being serious. "Well, we played that a lot."

"So when are we playing?" She raised her brows challengingly. "You know, so I can beat you at that too."

"Uh, you don't actually 'beat' people at DnD, it's more of a cooperative game that's about the shared experience of working together to defeat an enemy, so…" he trailed off, cringing inwardly. Shut up, you massive nerd!

Miraculously, Max didn't seem completely repulsed by his rambling. "You all have like, different characters in that game, right?"

"Yeah, we all had a role in the party."

"And you were some kind of a… knight?" she ventured.

"Close," Mike said, surprised by how quickly she'd guessed. "A paladin. A law-abiding hero."

"Hmm, sounds a lot like a narc."

"It is not, " he scoffed, and then immediately chastised himself for the lame comeback.

Max smiled. "So what would we all be?"

"Well… I don't know you guys that well but–"

"I'd be a zoomer."

Mike pursed his lips. "That's not a thing."

"Could be." She arched a brow defiantly.

"You can't just make shit up," he insisted, the corner of his mouth twitching up in spite of his irritation. "There are set classes. Like, you can be–"

"Hey! Get back here!"

They looked back sharply to see Argyle and Jonesy sprinting to the street, hopping on their bike and skateboard respectively as a middle-aged man chased after them, shaking his fist in the air.

"Haul ass!" Argyle shouted through his mask as he biked furiously towards them.

"Oh, for fucks sake," Max groaned, taking a running start and jumping on her board.

Mike pedalled after her, heart racing. He could hear Argyle and Jonesy right behind him, and further back, the sound of steady footfalls.

At the next intersection, they careened around the corner and Max pointed towards a cluster of trees and shrubbery between two houses. "Over there!"

She and Jonesy jumped off their boards, sprinting across the lawn while Mike and Argyle hopped the curb and dismounted their bikes, dumping them into the trees.

Panting, they all crouched down behind a bush, peering over the top of it just as the principal rounded the corner, his head swivelling back and forth.

"You think this is funny?" he called out into the night. "I'll catch every last one of you hooligans!"

"Get down, idiots!" Max hissed, grabbing the backs of Argyle and Jonesy's shirts and tugging them lower.

"How the hell is this dude still going?" Argyle whispered as Vernon ran past them, clearly not tired at all. "He's like The Terminator. The Vernonator ."

Mike pressed his lips together to keep from laughing, and he could see Max's shoulders shaking next to him as she tried to do the same. As soon as the principal disappeared from view they all burst into half-hysterical laughter, falling back into the dewy grass.

"I think it's like… his hobby," Max gasped out in between giggles. "I see him jogging past my house all the time in these tiny shorts, it's completely tragic."

That set them all off again, clutching at their sides as they tried to catch their breath.

Once everyone had calmed down Max sat up and whacked Jonesy and Argyle's shoulders. "You fucking dipshits! We are getting Saturday detentions for a month."

"Chill, dudette." Argyle reached back and held his discarded Nixon mask over his face. "We had these on, he didn't know it was us."

"You think he didn't see this?" She waved a lock of her hair in his direction. "There's one other redhead in the whole school and I don't think he's gonna suspect purity ring-wearing, bible study leader Laura Richards of TPing his house!"

She turned towards Mike. "At least you're probably safe, he doesn't know that you're with us yet."

He smiled tentatively. With them. It didn't sound bad at all.

After that, they rode a little further, literally crossing the train tracks to what was clearly the slightly less affluent side of town in order to avoid getting spotted by Principal Vernon. Feeling more comfortable, Mike participated in the conversation more, answering Argyle's many inane questions about DnD.

Mike humoured him, although he could tell none of these people had the patience or attention span to actually play a full campaign. Well, maybe Jonesy, but he was just silently skating along beside them with his mask still on. Weird kid.

He lost track of time as they methodically made their way up and down the grid of streets. Occasionally Max or Argyle would see someone they knew passing out candy and asked them for some. They didn't invite anyone else to join them, though, and Mike couldn't help but feel a little smug about it.

"You could be a monk," he said to Argyle as they looped around a cul-de-sac. "They do martial arts by magically channelling the energy in their bodies."

"That sounds sick!" Argyle exclaimed before making a face. "But wait, aren't monks like, celestial or whatever? Cause I can't live like that, man"

"It's celibate, you dolt," Max interjected. "Which last I heard you already were."

"Hey, I got to third base with that girl who lives next door to my grandma over the sum–"

He was cut off by the sudden roar of an engine, and Mike braked hard as a familiar blue Camaro cut in front of them, screeching to a halt horizontally and blocking off the street.

The bright headlights sliced through the darkness, forcing them to lift their hands up to block out the light. The same boy who'd picked Max up from the arcade glared at them from the driver's seat, his lip curling with disdain as he leaned his leather-clad elbow out the window.

Up close, Mike could see that he had a dagger-shaped earring dangling from his left earlobe. He fought the urge to roll his eyes. What a poser.

The boy tilted his head at Max, and Mike reflexively leaned over to block her from his view. "Hey, shitbird. Your mom and Neil want you home."

"Are you serious?" She glanced at her yellow watch. "It's not even nine yet!"

"I don't care, get in the fucking car. I've been driving around for half an hour looking for you. You shouldn't be hanging out with… these kinds of people anyway." He pointedly sneered at Argyle, who smiled slyly.

"Dudes with long hair?" he supplied, and Mike couldn't stop the snort that escaped him.

Any trace of humour vanished, however, when the older boy's piercing eyes landed on him. "What are you laughing at, huh?"

"Leave him alone, Billy," Max snapped, stepping in between them. A shiver ran up Mike's spine at the vacant coldness of the boy's gaze.

He continued staring Mike down, keeping his eyes locked on him as he said, in an eerily calm voice, "Get in the car Maxine, I'm not asking again."

Sighing heavily, she muttered something that sounded like raging fucking asshole under her breath, making her way around the car as the engine revved impatiently.

She'd barely gotten the door shut before they were speeding away, leaving behind two black streaks on the asphalt and the acrid smell of burning rubber.

"Is he always like that?" Mike asked as the rumble of the engine faded.

It troubled him, the way Max seemed to shrink into herself whenever he was around; like all the spark inside of her just extinguished.

Argyle shrugged. "Pretty much. Dude needs to take a serious chill pill. Rad car, though." He checked the watch nestled amongst his numerous colourful bracelets. "Well, me and J-Man got the late shift at Surfer Boy. Adios Wheels."

Waving goodbye to the two boys, Mike turned back and started biking home, his thoughts still stuck on Max and the guy who picked her up. Billy. So, not a boyfriend, then. A brother.

Why did that make him so relieved?

Monday morning, Mike was buzzing with anxious anticipation as he made his way to his homeroom. He'd spent all weekend wondering if Halloween night had just been a one-time pity hang or the start of something more. The uncertainty had been killing him.

He entered the classroom, eyes immediately flitting to the back row. To his surprise, Max was already there; usually, she was dashing into the room just as the final bell rang.

Also surprising was the fact that she'd moved one desk over, leaving the one she normally sat in at the end of the row vacant. Mike looked over at her. She raised her eyebrows expectantly, tilting her head towards the empty desk.

Stomach flip-flopping, Mike made his way over, slowing down halfway so as not to appear too eager.

He nodded at Jonesy who was sitting on Max's other side before flashing her a smile. "Hey."

"Hey," she smiled back.

"So, Friday night was pretty fun."

Max propped her chin up in her hand. "Yeah, until I was forcibly returned to my prison.'

Mike chuckled, picking at a loose thread on his sleeve. "Your brother is uh… kinda scary."

"Step brother," she said emphatically. "I fucking hate him. He graduated last year but he's still living with us."

Mike nodded, filing away this new piece of information in the "Max Mayfield" folder in his brain, which was something he apparently had now.

The bell rang and they all stood to say the pledge of allegiance. Mike looked down as a folded note landed on the desk in front of him. He glanced over at Max but she kept her eyes trained straight ahead, her face expressionless.

As soon as they sat back down, Mike dragged the note into his lap and unfolded it beneath the desk.

Working at SBP after school. Come hang if you want.

A/N: Oooh he's in, y'all!

I hope everyone's enjoying the fic so far, because I'm having a great time writing it :)