Chapter Text
Max was stuck.
It was the week after Halloween, and she didn’t want to go home. Not because it was below her. She was fine with that, she could deal, a lot of people had it way worse. She couldn’t face her mother. All her mother wanted to do now was grieve and pretend Max didn’t exist.
Grieve the life she could have had. Pretend she wasn’t living her current one.
Which meant Max couldn’t. She had to help keep her mother together. Every wall of the trailer was like a coffin waiting for use on the last part of her life. If her mother finally unraveled, she was scared of what would happen on the other side. What that last rug pull would do to her.
Unfortunately, Lucas was out. He didn’t understand, no matter how much he wanted to. And she was so, so grateful for that, but she needed the space right now. He would want to talk about what she wanted, what she needed. She couldn’t even go and watch him at practice, because that would come with expectations: people would want to speak to her and have her pretend everything was okay.
Pretend she wanted to be there.
So she just started walking after school let out. It didn’t take long before she found herself by the first and only place she had ever felt at home in Hawkins: the arcade. It still smelled the same from the outside: stale popcorn and soda syrup, heated by electronics and bodies that had just gotten out of school. She reached her hand up to open the door and…
Couldn’t.
She couldn’t go back in time. She couldn’t go forward in time. Every part of her, every possible path, just couldn’t bring itself to take the next step. It was like there was a block in her head that wanted her anchored in time, stuck in moments she couldn’t get out of.
She moved out of the way of the door as a group of kids pushed their way in, then slunk down next to it against the wall. She pulled her knees up, ignoring as her Walkman jabbed into her ribs. The music was just loud enough that she could focus on it, but not loud enough that she couldn’t hear the sounds coming from inside. She let herself take a breath.
A month ago, this hadn’t been her life. Everything had been different but still carrying on. Will and El had left, but they knew it wasn’t forever and there were already plans of meeting up again. It had just been another part of life. Then Neil had left, and her entire home had finished collapsing. Everyone had expected her not to change.
She watched a few kids leave the arcade without even acknowledging her. She took a deep breath, deciding to give herself these few moments. She reached into her pocket, jingling the last few coins she had. Coins she had no idea how to replace. She closed her eyes again, turning the volume up. She just needed things to be normal again.
That was probably why she didn’t notice anyone standing above her.
“You know the games are inside there, right?”
The unmistakable voice of Steve Harrington carried over the cassette. She quickly pulled her headphones off, staring up at the older teen.
“Yeah,” Max said, blinking a few times, “But there is a new game out here. It’s called leaving me alone.”
“Cool,” Steve said, snorting, his hands on his hips, “Just checking.”
He paused, and she realized he wasn’t going to leave her alone after all. She sighed. That was the thing about Steve: he wasn’t hard to figure out. It was why they usually got along.
“You know, I’m fairly certain people would leave you alone inside the arcade as well,” he said, still standing above her but not doing the annoying adult thing of ‘getting on her level.’
“Don’t have the quarters,” she replied, shrugging, deciding to be honest.
He nodded, and she could see him coming to a decision almost immediately.
“Come into the store with me,” he said, offering his hand, “There’s a new game in there as well. It’s called: Max will still be left alone.”
“Is there?” Max asked, unable to keep the challenge out of her voice.
“Yeah,” Steve said, his hand still out, “Except there’s a chair, and it’s warm.”
She looked at his hand, considering if it was worth it. She wanted to turn him down but when she looked at his face, all she saw was honesty, not pity. Someone who just wanted to give her a break she couldn’t give herself.
“Why not,” Max said as she grabbed Steve’s hand and let him help her up. She followed him into the video store, the bell jingling behind her. It was much quieter than the arcade, though not silent. The smell was closer to ever-present plastic and carpet cleaner.
Steve directed her behind the counter, where, sure enough, there was a chair. She sat in it and smiled when she realized that if she slunk down, she wouldn’t be visible from the other side. For the first time in months she was grateful for her small stature.
Steve disappeared for a moment and came back with a soda, which very quickly ended up in her hands.
“Thanks,” she said, “Not sure when I can pay for this-”
“I’m the only one here until Robin’s done with band,” Steve said, waving her attempted offer off, “As far as I’m concerned, I saw you buy and pay for it.”
She couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face as the bell rang and Steve walked over to help a customer. She went to put her Walkman back on, but watching Steve grabbed her attention, and she realized something: he was good at this.
People enjoyed talking to Steve Harrington.
And then he didn’t come back and try to talk to her. No attempt to force conversation. No awkward small talk. He kept his end of the bargain.
After about ten minutes of observing she pulled out her homework, deciding to take advantage of the strange calm Steve had given her. He checked once to make sure she didn’t need anything, but he didn’t demand that she did. It came from genuine curiosity and he didn’t force his help on her.
When Robin arrived Max was sure the peace would be destroyed. She didn’t know the older girl well, they had never crossed paths for more than a few minutes at a time, but she knew Robin was the type who couldn’t stop talking once she started.
But that didn’t happen.
Sure, Robin barreled into Family Video in a bundle of uncoordinated limbs and noise. Max had no idea how that girl had played soccer and was now in marching band. She immediately invaded Steve’s space, practically hanging off him as she caught him up on her day. She watched as Robin followed Steve into the back for a few moments and rolled her eyes when they emerged and Steve’s top was slightly askew. They even kept talking while helping customers.
Max kept waiting for Robin to rope her in, but it never happened. Robin checked on her, yes, it wasn’t like she pretended Max didn’t exist, but just like Steve, she let her be.
Max couldn’t help but keep track of how close they stood, either. How Robin casually reached over and pulled Steve’s pen from his pocket. How they bumped shoulders while holding each other’s gaze. How they trusted where the other was standing. It didn’t take her long to ignore the twisting feeling in her gut that produced. She was here, after all, because she was hiding from Lucas.
Before really noticing it was closing time for the store, well past the time her mother demanded she be home by. Still, Max knew that it was still hours before she would be home anyway. She wouldn’t notice. Steve flipped the store sign to Closed as Robin quickly ran a vacuum through the aisles.
“You don’t mind the back seat, right?” Steve asked, coming behind the counter right as she was about to ask if he knew when the next bus would come.
“Excuse me?” Max asked, confused, as he grabbed his keys.
“The back seat of my car,” Steve clarified, like it was completely normal, “Robin has permanent shotgun, but you can move up front after we drop her off.”
“Oh,” Max said, blinking as it sank in that Steve hadn’t needed her to ask for a ride. “Yeah. That’s fine.”
The drive was calm, at least as calm as listening to two older teens have a rapid-fire conversation about everything and nothing could be. She tried not to notice the way Robin easily rested her hand on Steve’s arm, or how he let her choose the music. She smiled when Robin turned and specifically wished her goodnight.
At Steve’s urging, Max moved to the front seat and let herself sink into it.
They were silent for the rest of the drive, broken only by Max’s quiet directions. Soon enough, they were parked in front of her trailer. Steve put the car in park.
She went to leave, to just get out and let the day be strange. Just a nice thing that had happened. But the words came out before she could stop herself.
“Thank you,” she said, taking a deep breath and hoping he’d pretend it didn’t sound like she was about to cry, “Not just for the ride. For the… you know. Not asking.”
“Anytime,” Steve said, pulling a pen from his pocket. “Hey, do you have some paper?”
“Yeah,” she said, tearing a corner off her homework and handing it to him. He scribbled quickly before giving it back.
“That’s my home number,” he said, meeting her eyes, “If I’m not at the store, I’m probably there. If you need anything, just call. Seriously, anything.”
She nodded, tucking it into her pocket as she got out of the car with a smile. Maybe it could just be a nice thing that had happened.
The weekend was worse than she expected. Lucas was distant because she was distant. Mike and Dustin were too wrapped up in their own problems to notice her. Her mother never noticed how late she’d been out that night, and even when present, she was dazed. By Sunday morning, her mother was back at the plant, and Max was alone in the trailer.
It felt like there was no sound, yet it pressed in on her from every side.
Without thinking, she pulled the scrap of paper from her pocket. She read it once as Steve’s words replayed in her head.
She hoped he hadn’t just been being polite.
“Hello?” a groggy voice answered when she dialed. It was undeniably Steve.
“Did that offer extend to not being alone?” Max asked, her voice coming out smaller than she’d intended.
There was no pause.
“Yeah. Of course.”
She exhaled, only then realizing she’d been holding her breath.
“Give me twenty minutes,” Steve said, the sound of him getting out of bed unmistakable. “I’ll be there, okay?”
CODA
“So, Max watch update,” Robin said, no customers in Family Video for the first time since she arrived twenty minutes ago. She hated weekdays when Steve couldn’t leave to pick her up from school. It always meant they had more to catch up on and not enough time to do it.
“She would hate you if she knew you called it that,” Steve said, leaning back to let his back pop.
“Probably, but then she wouldn’t get free fruit snacks,” Robin replied, twisting to make her own pop, “Anyway, she’s spending less time with her headphones always on.”
“That’s a start,” Steve said, “That scared you the most.”
“When I had my bad year, I hid inside my walkman,” Robin said, sighing, “It was like I could pretend there was a literal wall between the world and me.”
“I just got into fights,” Steve said, causing Robin to giggle, "Probably would have been healthier to do it your way.”
“It would have been a lot lonelier,” Robin said, “I was in a very bad place until I came out to you.”
“Just because you’re around people doesn’t mean you’re not lonely,” Steve replied, grabbing a stack of tapes to shelve, “Everyone needs someone to reach out to.”
“That’s what made it lonely for me,” Robin said, leaning against him as he shelved, “I felt like everyone around me was disappearing and that there was a very good reason that nobody would want me to reach out to them.”
“I mean, there was Robin,” Steve said, as Robin tilted her head, “You have a terrible taste in music.”
“I never hear any complaints from you,” Robin said, laughing as she poked him with her index finger, “And is that any way to treat your "girlfriend?"”
Steve groaned as she skittered away to grab more tapes.
“I had just started getting more dates, Robin. Seriously, who started that rumor?”