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Max thinks that Steve doesn’t get enough credit for the things he goes through for the group.
From what she knew, Steve was their ‘protector’. He was more than just a babysitter in her eyes, but maybe the rest of them didn’t really see it that way. She watched as Steve fearlessly walked out, bat in hand, ready to face the demodogs. She thought he was insane the way he dived first into things before anyone else. The way he faced such danger without a single moment’s hesitation.
“Out of the way! Out of the way!” He shouts, pulling her aside as he faces the creature. He’s just about ready to swing before the thing gets called away. He sweeps a hand through his hair, breathless. Max wonders what would’ve happened if it hadn’t been called. She wonders if Steve would’ve won the fight.
Lucas was being held up against the wall, a look of terror in his eyes. She didn’t know what to do in that moment. She wanted to help him, she really did, but something kept her rooted in place. Maybe it was the fear of her stepbrother. All she could do was helplessly tell Billy to stop, knowing he probably wouldn’t.
“You are so dead Sinclair!” Max wanted so desperately to close her eyes. She dreaded whatever was going to happen next, whatever Billy was going to do to Lucas. But a familiar face walks in and shoves him aside.
“No, you are.” The way Steve said it, it sounded so heroic. And maybe it was, because truly he was the hero of that situation. His fist had collided with Billy’s face and he was winded. Billy let out a maniac laugh, which sent shivers up and down her spine.
Steve had the upper hand in the fight until Billy had smashed his face in with a plate. Billy ruthlessly beat into him. Max wondered what went on in Steve’s mind as he painfully took the beating. She wondered how he was able to do it.
And now, about a year later, after the events at Starcourt Mall and it seemed like her entire life went to crap, here she was in the front seat of Steve Harrington’s car.
There was this certain aura with Steve. He likes to make sure people felt comfortable with him. He liked to fill up the silence with noise, whether it be the music on his radio or conversation. He was talking about something, but Max had zoned out about five minutes ago, and couldn’t be bothered to listen in again.
“And I said- Max? Max are you there? You okay?” Steve asks, his eyes flicking to her. She’s brought back from her thinking and nods. Steve shrugs and looks back to the road.
It’s almost like she’s driving with Billy again. Except Billy never bothered to ask Max if she was okay. Except Billy was a reckless driver. Steve was none of that. He was calm and collected, relaxed, and it felt like she wasn’t going to die everytime she got into his car. Well, this would probably the first time she got into his car. Who knows if there would be a next.
After what happened at the mall, Steve had come up to Max to ask if she was okay. She thought it was strange, because Steve never really bothered to talk to her, he only ever really spoke to Dustin. He offered to let her stay at his house if she wanted.
At first she never really planned on going to Steve. She was doing just fine on her own, or maybe she just convinced herself she was. If she was going to be honest with herself, she really wasn’t fine. Billy’s death had shook her to her core. She had nightmares about it almost every night. Her mother and father’s relationship became even more strained, and things at the house became so much more worse. Her last straw was when her father had come home drunk one night, angry and aggressive, and she just couldn’t bear to be in the house alone again. It made her shiver at the thought. So, she had taken up on Steve’s offer. Here she was, on her way to Steve’s house.
“How do you do it?” she asked suddenly. Steve looked at her with confusion.
“Do what?” he replies. Max wrapped her arms around herself.
“I just don’t get how you do it. You throw yourself into danger every time it comes at us. You’ve been beaten up more times than I can probably count. You’re basically a human punching bag.” Steve lets out a huff and smiles.
“Well, I don’t really think about it that much. It just happens. It’s like an instinct. I’d rather it be me than one of you.” Steve shrugs as if it isn’t a big deal.
Max persists. “But why?”
“I don’t know. I just can’t stand the thought of any one of you nerds getting hurt. You guys are all a pain in my ass, but I still care about all of you.”
“And you don’t care if you’re the one getting hurt?”
“I can handle it. I don’t mind being the one you guys come to for help. You can come to me for help too, you know that right? Like, if you need help with some bullies or whatever..”
Max scoffs. “Bullies? What are you gonna do to them? Are you really gonna beat up a middle schooler?”
Steve laughs. “I mean, who cares right? If I can fight a monster from another dimension, I can handle a bunch of kids.”
“I have never seen you win a fight, Steve. My brother pummeled into you.” Her words casually slip in the mention of Billy. She inwardly scolds herself. She backtracks quickly.
“Also, about that- I’m sorry that Billy beat you up so bad. I should’ve helped sooner before things got escalated. He was my brother after all. That black eye looked really bad,” Max says, feeling guilty. She doesn’t like the way she had to say ‘was’. Billy was still her brother, he just wasn’t here anymore. The earth shattering truth of that scared her. She thought that Billy would always be there, always be there to torture her. She wished every night that something, anything would take him away, but when something actually did take him away, she was left feeling empty.
“Yeah well, I would’ve won if he didn’t grab that plate. I did win a fight against a Russian, ask Dustin about that, thank you very much. And it’s okay, Max. I did it to protect all of you. And that’s what ended up happening, right? You guys were safe and unharmed.” Steve brushed off being beaten by Billy like he was brushing off a paper cut.
“You know, I wish I was like you,” she says softly. Maybe if she were more like Steve, she wouldn’t have just stood there and watched Billy die. Maybe if she were more like Steve, she would’ve ran in to help. But she wasn’t like Steve. She was herself and she was a coward.
Steve’s eyes widen briefly, then he’s back to his cool and collected state. It looked like what she said had caught him off guard. “You don’t wanna be like me. I’m some jerk who peaked in high school and isn’t going to college.”
“Maybe not that part. I’m not a total loser.” Steve winces, and she wishes she could take that part back. She adds quickly, “But you’re still cool. I wish I was brave like you. I wish I was fearless.” She adds in that ‘cool’ part awkwardly.
Steve shakes his head. “That’s not totally true, Max. Trust me, I get scared. I get scared every time I face one of those things. But I get more scared when it’s after one of you. I’d freak out more if it was one of you who got hurt.”
She can feel herself smile at that. Steve truly was like the mama bear of the group, Dustin was right. Steve rolls his eyes at her, with no irritation truly behind them.
“What are you smiling about?”
“It’s just, Dustin was right; you truly are the mom.”
Steve scoffs indignantly and rants about how much Dustin was a lovable pain. She could agree, she could never really be mad at Dustin, he was a good friend to her, even though his nerdy topics got annoying from time to time.
“You know Steve, I don’t think you get enough credit for everything you do. So, thank you. Thank you for going out of your way to keep us all safe. And thanks for letting me stay at your place. It.. it means a lot.”
Steve’s face softens slightly, and he looks like he’s about to cry. Max rolls her eyes at him.
“Don’t get too emotional or I’m taking it back.”
He smiles. “Okay, I won’t.”
And for the first time in what felt like forever, she felt like things were going to be okay. Because she had Steve, and Steve wasn’t going to let anything happen to her or the people she cared about. Not on his watch.