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Lucas was absolutely terrified of meeting his soulmate.
His Mom claimed that everybody was- she’d been scared to meet his Father, of course, but once they’d met, they’d completely fallen in love.
“Everyone’s nervous,” she’d said, showing him her own tattoo, on her palm- the words Can you please pass that book? “Your Father’s says Get it yourself. We were both very surprised, but very happy to find each other. Are you scared that your soulmate’s words are too vague?”
Lucas had shaken his head. Honestly, he’d been scared because his words were… well, a little creepy.
They’d learned about Soulmate Markings very early in Kindergarten. Lucas had been sitting next to Mike, who was wide-eyed and fascinated as their teacher explained that everybody had a soulmate, a person to spend the rest of their life with. Once a child turned ten, their soulmate’s first words to them would appear in the place that they’d first touch. That had been the subject of all the kids’ discussions for the next few days, all imagining the grand ways they’d eventually meet their soulmates.
Will’s tenth birthday was first, and the boys had all bugged him to see his tattoo. He’d shaken his head, reminding them that it wasn’t considered polite to show it off to other people. “Plus,” he said sourly, “You’d just tell everyone what my words are and try to set me up.”
The boys had all been upset, but agreed to keep theirs a secret, too. The only one who broke the promise was Mike, who’d come to them, very confused, to show them a No written on his hand.
Lucas, meanwhile, had been incredibly worried by his mark.
His was on his hand, too. But when he’d woken up on his tenth birthday, scouring his body to find the tattoo, and found it, he’d frozen in shock.
Because his words read, Yeah, I know. The Stalkers.
What did that mean? Was he going to save his soulmate from stalkers? Was he going to be a stalker? He didn’t want to be a stalker.
So he’d just decided to keep some fingerless gloves on at all times, so nobody would ask about it. Fingerless Gloves were actually quite popular nowadays, what with soulmate markings commonly being on hands. Once he started wearing them, nobody questioned him.
Mike had met his soulmate when they were twelve.
They’d found a girl in the woods while looking for Will, who’d vanished that morning. They’d been looking for him, hoping that maybe he’d just wandered off the path, that he hadn’t gotten into any trouble.
Of course, once they’d found the girl, Mike had wanted to bring her back to his house. She was cold and wet and muddy and looked like she was in trouble. They’d hidden her in the basement, and she’d refused to speak for a while, until Mike had let her into the bathroom to change into his sister’s clothes. They’d had some kind of conversation while Lucas and Dustin argued, but when Mike had come back, his face was red, but he was smiling for some reason.
“This is mental.” Dustin had said.
“What’s up with you?” Lucas had asked, glancing at his face.
Mike was beaming now, before saying, “Guys, she’s my soulmate.”
There was a beat, before Dustin said, “We found your soulmate in the woods? Fucking wonderful.”
“How do you-” Lucas had asked.
Mike showed them the tattoo on his hand- the No. “She didn’t want the door closed.” he said. “She said No.”
“She still hasn’t touched your hand. And, plus, a lot of people could say No to you.” Lucas said. “There’s something wrong with her, Mike, don’t get your hopes up.”
But, no, it turned out Mike was right. El- her name was Eleven, apparently, but Mike had offered her a nickname instead- had grabbed Mike’s hand a few days later, while they were searching for Will, and it turned out that her words were “Are you okay?”- the first thing Mike had asked her.
Of course, she’d disappeared by the end of the week- it turned out that Will had been captured by a creature from another dimension, what were the odds? And El had psychic powers. She’d used them to take the creature out, but it had resulted in her vanishing into thin air.
Mike had been distraught, almost inconsolable for a few weeks.
“What if she’s gone for good?” he’d asked Lucas. “What if I never see her again? I only just met her, she’d only just gotten free… and she’s… she’s gotta be out there, right?”
Lucas hadn’t known how to respond. He liked El, too- he hadn’t at first, but they’d slowly become friends over the week of wild shit that had happened. But… they’d seen her vanish into the air, ashes the only thing left behind.
It was Lucas’s turn to meet his soulmate on October 30, 1984.
He hadn’t known it was the day, of course. He’d just been ready to go to school, having an argument with Dustin and Mike over the incident at the Arcade the day before- someone named MADMAX had taken Dustin’s highscore. Will was a little quieter than normal, but, well, he had been a lot more reserved since the events of the year before.
That day, they’d been sitting in class when Mr. Clarke had introduced their new student- Maxine.
“Nobody calls me Maxine.” she’d said quickly, glaring at him. “It’s Max.”
“MADMAX.” Dustin had whispered to Lucas.
They’d watched her on the playground at recess, kicking around on a skateboard.
“There’s no way that’s MADMAX.” Mike had said.
“Yeah, girls don’t play video games.” Will had said.
“And even if they did,” Mike said, “You can’t get 750,000 points on Dig-Dug. It’s Impossible.”
“But her name is Max.” Lucas had said, a little defensively, though he wasn’t sure why.
“So what?”
“So, how many Maxes do you know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Zero. That’s how many. She shows up at school the day after someone with her same name breaks our top score.”
They kept bickering for a bit, until Dustin said, “Shit, I’ve lost the target.”
They turned, realizing that she’d disappeared, only to spot her at the top of the stairs, throwing something into the trash can below. The second she disappeared, the boys rushed to the can- Mike about five feet behind them, he was so unathletic it was kind of sad- and Dustin dug through, finding a piece of paper with a simple message written on it.
STOP SPYING ON ME, CREEPS.
“Well, shit.” Dustin had said, a little dismayed.
Something, however, clicked in Lucas’s mind.
Creeps.
Stalkers.
… oh, fuck.
Lucas didn’t even talk to her until the next day, and he was nervous as fuck.
After he and Dustin had confirmed that she was MADMAX- they’d just watched her a bit at the arcade, they weren’t actually stalkers, were they?- they’d decided to invite her to go trick-or-treating with them.
“It’ll be nice.” Dustin had shrugged. “She’s new, we can be her friends.”
Lucas, meanwhile, was terrified.
She might not say it. She might not say it. She might not say it. Please, God, don’t let her say it.
They approached her at the end of the school day.
“Um, hi, Max.” Dustin had said, as they stopped in front of her locker. She turned, her long red hair falling over her shoulders, and it looked kind of pretty, and shit shit SHIT.
“I’m Dustin,” Dustin said, “And this is-”
“Lucas!” Lucas interrupted, starting to feel a little flustered, hoping that his face hadn’t gone red.
Max stared at him for a second, looking completely horrified. Lucas paused, suddenly realizing that those were the first words I said to her, fuck.
Her shock passed after a second, though, and she tossed her hair over her shoulder, rolled her eyes and said…
“Yeah, I know. The stalkers.”
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck…
Dustin started stuttering, stumbling, saying something about how they weren’t stalking her, they were just concerned. Lucas, meanwhile, just stared. She tried to avoid his gaze, saying something sarcastic back to Dustin, but kept glancing his way once or twice.
When Lucas got home, after the encounter, he spent ten minutes screaming into a pillow.
He might have found her. He might have found her it was almost certain…
She did end up trick-or-treating with them, and Lucas tried to act casual. No need to tell the others that he might have found his soulmate, especially if… well, if she didn’t feel the same way. And, well, there was also the fact that Mike had lost his own soulmate, he probably didn’t want to hear that Lucas had found his.
What infuriated Lucas was that, all that night, they didn’t touch once.
He had a faint fear- hope?- in the back of his head, that maybe she’d punch his shoulder, or poke his face, or, well, touch him anywhere that wasn’t his hand. But she just walked besides them, laughing at his and Dustin’s failed jokes, barely even glancing his way.
And then trick-or-treating got cut short, because Will had an episode, running off and panicking behind a building. They had to run off to find him, and then Mike insisted on taking him home, glaring down the others as they did. They went to a few more houses after that, but none of them were in the mood to go longer.
The next day at school, Lucas got to talk to Max alone. He wanted to ask her, show her the marking on his hand, ask her if hers was similar, maybe grab her hand. But all she wanted to know was why Will had panicked, why people were calling him Zombie Boy, all that stuff. Lucas did his best to explain, and by the time he’d figured out a version that didn’t sound like total insanity, class had started and he couldn’t tell her anything else.
That day didn’t go great, either. Dustin brought a new creature he’d found in his trash to the AV Club, dragging Max in to see it, too. And when Mike and Will thought it could be from the Upside Down, they kicked Max out, making her wait outside. She picked the lock, and the creature escaped. They rushed out to find it, and while they did, Will had another Episode.
They all rushed home after that, and Lucas still hadn’t asked her about her mark.
It was at the end of the next school day when she blew up at him.
She was storming off, and Lucas chased after her, and she yelled at him. “You guys act like you want me to be your friend,” she shouted, “But then you treat me like garbage!”
“That’s not true-”
“Yes, it is! You go and hide in the AV Club, keeping secrets like we’re in second grade or something. You know, I thought you guys wanted me in your party.”
“We do.” Lucas said. But, he couldn’t tell her. She’d think they were insane. “But it’s-”
“It’s what?”
It wasn’t just insane, it was dangerous. The Lab that had controlled the portal, that had Eleven, were government-owned. If they started blabbing about it…
“There are just things. Things we can’t tell you, alright? For your own safety.”
She hadn’t liked that.
Lucas decided, the next morning, to tell her everything.
He’d asked his parents what they did when they were fighting, and his Dad had advised him to give her what she wanted. So he rushed to the arcade, bribed Keith to get Max into the back room, and then he told her everything. About El, about the Lab, about the Upside Down.
And, just as he’d feared, she didn’t believe him.
She tried storming away, but he ran after her, reaching out to grab her hand.
“Wait!”
And that was when they both froze.
He’d grabbed her hand.
And that was when he realized she was wearing gloves.
She ripped her hand away as if she’d been burned, and continued running off.
He had, eventually, been able to prove to her that he was serious.
Dustin had called, saying that the pollywog he found had, indeed, been a baby Demogorgon, and now he was hunting it with Steve of all people, and he needed backup. So Lucas biked over to Max’s house, and told her that he had proof. She’d had to climb out her window so as not to alert her Stepbrother, and then they were off.
They were at the junkyard all day, setting up traps for the Demogorgon, before hiding in the bus. Lucas climbed up on top to be a lookout, and eventually, Max joined him.
And she’d finally admitted some things, then. How much she missed her old home in California, how much she missed her Dad. How her Stepbrother was always angry, and mean, and how… how he took his anger out on her.
“It’s just… I know I can be a jerk like him sometimes.” Max said, tears in her eyes. “And I do not want to be like him. Ever. I guess… I’m angry, too, and I’m sorry. Jesus! What’s wrong with me-”
“Hey.” Lucas said, letting his voice go soft. “You’re nothing like your brother, okay? You’re cool and different. And you’re super smart. And you’re, like, ‘totally tubular’.”
He let the last words out as a joke, and Max laughed, and she had a beautiful laugh, and an even prettier smile, as she said, “Nobody actually says that, you know.”
“Well,” Lucas grinned, “I do, now.”
They smiled at each other, and then he admitted, “I like talking with you, Mad Max.”
“And I like talking with you, Stalker.”
And then Lucas hesitated, and he pulled off his glove. He flinched at the cold, and then showed her the tattoo. She stared at it, and her face changed. She didn’t look worried, or even surprised. It was as if he’d just confirmed to her something she’d known.
Slowly, she pulled the glove off of her hand, and showed him her tattoo.
It read Lucas.
They hadn’t been able to talk after that, because then the Demogorgon Baby had arrived. And then it went wild- they’d run off towards the Lab, gotten caught up in the current supernatural situation, and then Max’s stepbrother had shown up. He’d tried to beat the shit out of Lucas, though Lucas had managed to get in a good kick to the balls before Steve had shown up to fight him. And then Max had stabbed Billy with a syringe full of knockout drugs, grabbing Steve’s nail-bat off the floor.
“From here on out,” she’d said, a dark look in her eyes, “You leave me and my friends alone.”
And she’d meant it.
After that, they’d had to fight more of the Upside Down- they went into the tunnels under the town, apparently connected to the Other Dimension, and lit them on fire. They’d escaped, gone back to the Byers’, and promptly fallen asleep.
All but Mike. Because that day, El had come back. And he waited for her, like he’d waited for three-hundred and fifty-three days. She came back from closing the Gate to the Upside Down, permanently, and Mike had hugged her and cried.
When they woke up, Mike and El had passed out on the couch, holding hands.
“Soulmates?” Max had asked, glancing towards the others, who were still a little sleepy.
Dustin and Will nodded, and Max exchanged a look with Lucas. They didn’t want to talk about it now- it was too early, too soon after all the shit that had happened…
But they’d talk about it soon.
The next Monday, Max came up to Lucas before class.
“So,” he said. “I guess you believe me now.”
She laughed a little. “Yeah. Lot of shit went down, didn’t it?” They stared for a second, and then she said, “Hey, you wanna go to the Arcade after school? I can show you how to beat Dragon’s Lair.”
“I’ve beat Dragon’s Lair.”
“Hmm, are you sure? I memorized all the scenes, I can get us through without dying once.” she smirked, before holding out her hand for him.
She had it ungloved, he noticed. He could see his name written on her palm, held out for him.
So, he slowly took his own gloves off, and grabbed her hand.
“So,” Max smirked, “You wanna walk me to class, Stalker?”