Chapter Text
“You’ve disappointed me, Eleven.” Dr. Brenner’s tall frame stood over her, eyeing her coldly. “You know what that means.”
“But papa,” she pleaded, her voice trembling as fear twisted like a knife in her stomach. Papa was angry. Bad things happened when Papa was angry.
“How could you do this to me, Eleven? You made friends with that boy. You know that’s against the rules.”
“I...” El’s voice was frozen with terror. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t speak...she could only watch helplessly as Dr. Brenner advanced forward. Suddenly darkness encased her, and his voice echoed loudly through the void.
“You are going to be punished, Eleven. You must learn that your actions have consequences.”
Electric shocks coursed through her violently. Her vision filled with blood. Papa laughed maniacally.
“No!” Eleven screamed. Pain tore through her. “Papa, stop! NO – ”
Eleven’s eyes flew open. Her breath caught in her throat, as fear choked her awake. Her heart pounded violently against her chest. Gasping for air in the darkness of the room, she fought to remember where she was.
El sat up in bed, looking around the room at the unfamiliar shapes and shadows. Her eyes settled on the sleeping form next to her.
Red hair...pale, freckled skin...
Oh… Now she remembered. Sleepover at Max’s house.
The gentle sound of Max’s deep breathing was like a lullaby, calming El’s heightened state of panic. She allowed herself to relax, taking her own slow, careful breaths in time with the peaceful breathing beside her. She sank back under the covers, grateful for her friend’s tranquility.
As El’s breathing slowed down to a normal pace, she closed her eyes and thought back to the previous night. Max had introduced her to Wonder Woman. El remembered snuggling against Max as she explained the superhero’s back story. She had been shy, at first, at the physical contact with her new friend, not wanting to disrupt any boundaries between them. Their friendship was newly-formed, after all, and she wasn’t sure what a normal friendship between girls was like. But when Max had snuggled closer to her without hesitation, letting El see the brightly colored graphics of the comic, all her worry melted away.
El wasn’t sure how long they had stayed up for, Max reading the comics to her as she rested her head on Max’s shoulder. She only knew that she had been captivated by the redhead’s enthusiastic narration, her bright smile, and the calming warmth of her body.
Just like she was now.
El could feel the slight dip in the bed beside her from Max’s petite form. She had never slept next to anyone before; she was used to sleeping alone. But there was something so wonderful about having another person…there.
El closed her eyes and tried to shake the nightmare from her memory, but Papa’s evil laugh and cruel smile continued to plague her mind. It chilled her to the bone. She started to shiver. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, fear overtaking her. What if the bad men found her? What if they hurt her friends? What if Kali was right and Papa wasn’t really dead? What if, what if, what if…
A spiral of awful thoughts raced through her mind. El shrank down into the mattress, muffling her sobs into the blankets. She curled into a ball. Her foot accidentally brushed against Max’s leg, giving her a rush of body heat.
Heat. Warmth. Calm.
It felt good. Really good.
It felt…magnetic.
She inched closer to Max, slowly, so she wouldn’t wake her. She was close enough now, she could smell the rose hips and lavender of Max’s shampoo. El quickly found solace in the lovely scent.
El sighed with relief. The warmth, the heat. It began to steady her, chasing away the darkness and nightmares. It made her body come alive. Like El was a flower bud and Max was the sun, coaxing her to life after a long, harsh winter.
El was desperate to move even closer now, drawn to the redhead like a moth to a flame. Suddenly, Max stirred, perhaps disrupted by the other girl’s movement. After a few seconds, her face relaxed again and she continued her peaceful slumber. El hesitated. Is this okay? Would Max mind? Should she be so close to her? Should she stop?
In the darkness of the room, El studied her friend’s face. Her lips were slightly parted, allowing her soft breaths to escape. Her features were so gentle. Soft skin, kissed with freckles. Her red curls surrounded her head on the pillow like a halo. She felt the urge to run her fingers through them, to draw her fingertips lightly over Max’s freckles.
She was beautiful.
Beautiful and warm. El gently rested her head next to Max’s shoulder, breathing in the fresh scent of laundry detergent from Max’s pajama shirt.
El sighed, content with the physical touch. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to bask in the warmth and presence of her best friend.
Her heart felt like it was soaring, like the previous day when her and Max held hands and ran giddily through the mall. They had such a fun day together, trying on clothes and walking in heels for the first time and dressing up to take hilarious glamour shots. Eleven had never laughed so hard in her entire life. Even then, she felt an unfamiliar warmth in the pit of her stomach. Whenever Max looked at her, or spun her around in the mirror with her new outfit, El felt a rush. But she had been having too much fun to focus on it or question why.
In this moment, Eleven felt captivated by a feeling she didn’t quite understand. A flood of emotions rushed through her, a combination of a thousand feelings mashed together. Dizzy, like when she rode on the back of Mike’s bike and he pedaled too hard. Happy, like when Hop made her laugh. Excited, like the first time she tried on her new dress at the mall.
Dizzy, happy, excited…and yet, scared. Nervous. Unsure. Uncertainty gnawed at her heart.
Why did she feel this way with Max, but not with Mike? Yes, she liked Mike but this was…different. Was this normal? Was she weird? Was it possible Max felt the same way?
Probably not, Eleven thought. But then, moments from their day began to creep into her mind…
The way Max grabbed her hand, the redhead’s bright smile that caused El’s stomach to flip, the way her ocean-blue eyes seemed to be trained solely on El…
She felt hopeful.
El sighed again, letting herself relax in the quiet of the night. Thoughts full of the redhead and their day at the mall, sleep began to take her.
Being this close to Max. It felt strange. It felt whole.