Lucas Sinclair

Will chuckled and shook his head. “Looking forward to it! Why?” he asked, genuinely surprised and curious. He could guess that maybe it was because of the novelty; the way that drunk people would say things that they likely wouldn’t say sober. Unfortunately, that was part of the reason why Will knew he couldn’t. Maybe drunk he’d get a wild hair to tell Lucas something that he couldn’t come back from. And then Lucas would know, and there would be no way to un-know it. There was a large chance that Lucas wouldn’t hate him outright for the way he was, but a part of him was still hoping that maybe someday he’d stumble upon the right girl, and all of his confusing feelings would just…. Melt away. It would sure make his life a lot easier. “Thanks,” he replied, a little distracted when Lucas offered to let him stay with him. “Although, somehow I feel like it would be worse for your mom and dad to find me drunk. Why do I feel like they’d have me call home myself to tell my mom?” He grimaced at the thought of it. Worse even would be Lucas’s parents thinking poorly of him. He really did like the Sinclairs, and he felt like he had a decent impression with them. He didn’t want to ruin that with one stupid decision.

Oh, damn. He really shouldn’t have shared about the girl from Lenora because Lucas looked at him like he’d won the damn lottery. Meanwhile Will had felt more like he’d won Shirley Jackson’s version of it. He scratched his nose to keep from wrinkling it when Will asked if she was cute. “I mean, she was fine. There was nothing wrong with her looks.” That was the thing about girls. There was never anything wrong with their looks. They just…. Weren’t. Ugh. Ugh! There wasn’t anything wrong with any one of them. Will was the problem. He tried his best not to look visibly uncomfortable. “It just came as such a surprise, I guess,” he said, dodging the question over whether or not he regretted it. “I mean, I’d hardly ever talked to her. I think I borrowed her a pencil once, but it’s not like there was a connection there, you know?” Hopefully that was a good enough excuse to get the attention focused away from him and the whole footsie debacle. What had been an attempt at empathy had somehow managed to blow up in his face, and now he needed to navigate through the wreckage without giving himself away or making Lucas suspicious.

Oh, shoot. He hadn’t intended to make Lucas panic with the possibility that Tiana might ask him out. “Hey,” he said, forcing his own voice to remain calm as he reached out to touch Lucas on the shoulder, hoping it would ground him. “Breathe, okay? There’s no way of knowing if she will; I was just putting out the worst case scenario because it’s always good to be prepared, right?” he asked, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze before withdrawing his hand, not wanting to be too touchy with him since that was one of the problems he was already dealing with with someone else. “And yeah, okay, maybe you did screw things up with Max sometimes. But as a wise man once said, you won her back every single time.” He cracked a smile, remembering Lucas putting on his advisor hat for Mike when he was having problems with Jane. “Max doesn’t take any shit. Which means that you were able to win her back because she cares about you, and she knows that your dumb mistakes were just that. You being a dumb teenage boy. A temporary condition,” he joked with a grin. “But what doesn’t go away is the fact that you’re Lucas. A kind, caring, funny guy who always puts others before yourself. Smart as a whip and whiz with a slingshot. She sees you.” Will paused, considering some more practical advice. “So if worse comes to worst, and Tia asks you out, just… Tell her the truth,” he suggested. “You could even blame it on Max if you wanted to because it wouldn’t really even make sense for you to be with someone else when that’s not where your heart is, you know?”

"Because I think it'd be funny to see you drunk," Lucas replied with a little giggle. Tilting his head, he studied Will for a moment. "You always seem so composed and serious to me lately. I honestly can't even picture you drunk... but maybe you'd turn into a total goofball or get ridiculously reckless or something!" Lucas spent another moment trying to imagine a drunk Will. Maybe later he'd have to coax a few more drinks into him just to find out. Especially if Lucas stayed sober himself, it might actually be pretty entertaining. To Lucas, the whole thing was just amusing, and he had no idea how much Will was quietly worrying in the background. If Lucas had known, he would've felt awful, and he would've done everything he could to take at least some of those worries off Will's shoulders. Because of course Lucas would always have his back, no matter what. And of course Lucas didn't care who Will was or wasn't crushing on. Thinking about his own parents, though, he paused for a second before giving Will a crooked grin and nodding. "Yeah... I can definitely see that, unfortunately," he admitted. "They're really strict about stuff like that too... I'm just glad they didn't catch me either of the two times I got drunk!" And thankfully Erica hadn't found out either, or she definitely would've ratted him out.

Lucas couldn't remember Will ever telling him a single story about a girl. Naturally, that meant he immediately latched onto the footsie story. At the same time, though, he could completely understand why Will had panicked. Even if it would've been for different reasons than Will's, Lucas would've hated being in that situation too and would've shut it down immediately. "Well, just because there's nothing wrong with a girl's looks doesn't mean you automatically want to play footsie with her," Lucas said with an amused laugh, shaking his head. He snickered, then gave Will an approving punch on the shoulder. "But apparently you totally swept that girl off her feet," he teased, wiggling his eyebrows. "She obviously couldn't control herself anymore... Man, I would've loved to see that!" Even though Lucas could genuinely imagine how uncomfortable the whole thing must've been for Will, he couldn't resist poking a little fun at his friend. He would've loved to see the expression on Will's face in that moment.

Meanwhile, Lucas himself was quietly panicking over the whole Tiana situation. He listened to Will with wide, nervous eyes. When Will quoted him back to himself at one point, Lucas gave a crooked grin. "Every time... until the last time," he added quietly. Because he'd actually thought there might still be a chance to win Max back again, but then everything had fallen apart. Now Max was awake again, but she was still far too weak for him to even think about something like that. She had much bigger things to worry about than whether she wanted to get back together with Lucas. His thoughts drifted for a moment, but he still caught every kind, understanding, and encouraging thing Will said about him. He shot his friend a warm, grateful look in return. Then the gears in Lucas's head visibly started turning. "So... you mean if Tia brings anything up or tries something, I should just tell her I'm still in love with Max?" he summarized, making sure he'd understood correctly. But he hadn't actually meant to blurt out that he was still in love with Max, cause after all they were just friends now. Lucas cleared his throat awkwardly and briefly wished he had a drink in his hand so he could take a sip to distract himself. "But... do you think it'd bother Max if she knew other girls were trying to flirt with me?" he asked instead. His eyebrows drew together thoughtfully as he waited for Will's answer.

“Wow, that’s awesome!” Will enthused. “I’m really excited to see the storyline unfold. Plus, that makes it super replayable to see what happens if you make different choices.” He smiled as Lucas went on about his plans for not if but when they got super successful. It must be so nice to have that level of confidence. Maybe one day he’d get there if he followed Lucas’s lead. It was hard to tell if it came from having not one but two parents who both believed in him and were there for him. Or maybe it was just intrinsically who Lucas was. The person he’d grown into after everything he’d been through. “I’ll have to get really good at it to keep up with all of your ideas,” he pointed out when Lucas mentioned he could be their graphic designer. “Like, I’ve never tried to do art for a video game specifically. I’ll want it to actually match your guys’s vision,” he explained.

Oh, boy. Now he was committed. With Lucas looking at him like that, there was no way to back out now. He’d sealed his fate. He was going to have to go for a run with him. At least he’d be able to complain about it to Jonathan before it actually happened. He’d need to get it all out of his system before the day came when his legs hated him and he got winded within five minutes or less. “My coach!” Will repeated, simultaneously surprised and amused. “I agreed to run with you one time,” he pointed out, but at the end of the day, he was a pushover just like his older brother. If Lucas asked him to go another time afterward, he’d have just as hard of a time saying no as he’d had today. “How little is little?” he asked warily, sure that their definitions of little would be very different. Running the mile at school was already a tall order, so anything over that sounded even more unpleasant. Still, it was for Lucas, and there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for him.

Lucas’s smile was, as always, contagious. Will couldn’t help but smile back. Then when their food arrived, he dug into it like starving wildebeest. “Jeez, you weren’t hungry, were you?” he laughed, easygoing as he plucked a french fry from the basket and popped it into his mouth. It made total sense that he would be considering he was apparently running all the time these days. It made sense to want to try to stay in shape for when basketball season rolled around again, but at the same time, that was obviously not a concern for Will. He couldn’t imagine himself in any kind of organized sport. By the way that he was always one of the last chosen for teams in gym class, the people of Hawkins had clearly come to the same conclusion. He’d let Lucas have at it, though, not needing much to get by himself, and hoping that if this filled him up, it wouldn’t add even more to the bill they’d eventually split.

Lucas was thrilled that Will was just as excited about the whole Stardust thing. But when Will said he was worried he'd have to get even better for it, Lucas immediately shook his head. "You seriously don't have to worry about that," he insisted. "You're already more than good enough! Your art is way beyond anything we've come up with. If anything, we're the ones who could learn from you!" Dustin and Lucas really had come up with a lot of great ideas already, and Dustin was an absolute genius when it came to programming. But Will was definitely even more gifted and creative than that. "Honestly, I'm kind of the most useless one in this whole thing," Lucas admitted with a crooked grin. "I can't program as well as Dustin, and I have basically zero artistic talent. But I bring good vibes, moral support, and a couple of decent ideas!" He grinned again, happy that they all complemented each other so well on this project. "Oh, and Mike's gonna handle all the marketing and stuff," he explained to Will. "Basically be our manager." Of course, all four of them were supposed to be part of the project. That had been the plan Dustin and Lucas had come up with from the very beginning.

Lucas loved doing just about everything with his best friends. Sports had always been the one exception. Which made it all the better that Will had actually agreed to go running with him now. "Oh, come on," Lucas said, waving him off. "We're starting with one run. But then there can be a second one after that. And you'll see: with me as your coach, you'll be having fun in no time! It'll be good for you, too. You'll feel more in shape, put on a little muscle, and eventually you'll just feel healthier overall." He smiled broadly, full of encouragement, before his expression turned more serious. "And you know..." he added quietly, "...if we ever have to run from something again... it definitely won't hurt if we're good at it." He bit his lower lip for a brief moment. It sucked that thoughts like that always had to linger in the back of their minds. But this was still Hawkins, and strange things just kept happening around here. At this point, they always had to be prepared for the possibility that someday there'd be something else they'd have to run from.

The fries, the wings, and the milkshake eventually lifted Lucas's spirits again, though. Happily alternating between all three, he kept stuffing bites into his mouth, savoring every single one. He didn't actually want to eat any of Will's part of the food, but he was really hungry and, honestly, his appetite was even bigger than it had been lately, simply because talking to Will felt so good and calming.

“It’s good to know that about yourself, though. Usually it takes people a lot more than a handful of lessons to get that figured out,” Will replied. Not to mention the fact that Valentine’s Day had to be the worst holiday. He could see wanting to get drunk just to avoid it, which was why he knew he had to be careful himself when it came to alcohol because that’s not supposed to be the point of it. “Oh my god, no!” Will said with a laugh of his own, smiling as Lucas bumped his shoulder with his. “I’m it looking to get plastered. A slight buzz is fine, but cut me off if I start acting like an idiot,” he said, knowing that he’d hopefully cut himself off before that point, but it never hurt to have a backup plan. “But thank you. I feel like my mom would freak out about it if I came home drunk. And I’d probably never hear the end of it from Jonathan either, which is ridiculous because it’s not that different from weed.” Which Jonathan had gotten very into with Argyle. Luckily when shit hit the fan, Jonathan was sober. It was probably also lucky that Argyle very much had not been because at least they could blame the general weirdness on the marijuana. For the moment, though, Will just finished the limited remains of the beer and set the cup down by his feet. Maybe he’d refill it later, but right now he wanted to be totally present with Lucas, meaning fidgeting with the damn cup wasn’t allowed.

Will continued to listen as Lucas gave him more context to the situation, nodding along. He wasn’t wrong. From the extremely limited amount of experience Will had with this sort of things, all of the signs pointed to yes, Tia was probably crushing on him. Which was unfortunate because Will was pretty sure anyone could see that the guy only had eyes for Max. He was pretty sure that they hadn’t been officially together when she went into a coma, but that didn’t mean Lucas’s feelings just went away. Even not being together, it seemed kind of in poor form to go off and date another girl when she was in that state. He kind of doubted Lucas would even want to if Max had been perfectly healthy this whole time. “I really don’t think you’re imagining things,” Will said, wanting to be clear about that before moving on to answer the question Lucas had posed to him.

“It’s not the kind of thing that tends to happen to me, thankfully,” Will said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I mean, the girl I’m closest with is definitely El, and she’s my sister now, so just. No.” He paused, considering whether he should mention the girl from Lenora. “I mean, there was this one girl who kinda tried playing footsie with me in class once out in California, but I yanked my foot back so fast I’m lucky I didn’t bang it on the desk.” He was at just the right level of buzzed where he could laugh about it now. “So I feel like that doesn’t really count. I didn’t know her at all, you know? There was nothing there besides suddenly her foot, and it was just— weird.” Or he was weird, but he wasn’t about to start talking about that right now. “Honestly, if you’re asking what I would do, I would probably just politely ignore it until she flat out asked me out, in which case I’d have thought of a polite way to let her down easy in advance and practiced it in the mirror, so I don’t have one of those deer in the headlights moments.” He rested his elbow on his thigh to put his chin in his hand. “But that’s probably not the right answer either.” He sighed and looked up at the sky. “I dunno, Lucas, I mean, even if she does expect something from you, it’s not your job to give more than you have to offer.”

Lucas pouted dramatically, sticking out his lower lip for a second. "Aw, that's too bad!" he replied with mock disappointment. "I was already looking forward to seeing Drunk Will!" He kept looking at Will like that for another moment before breaking into a grin again. Either way, Lucas would make sure to look out for him, but honestly, he hadn't really expected Will to suddenly get completely wasted tonight. Somehow, he just couldn't picture Will doing that. Will always carried himself with so much grace that Lucas couldn't even imagine what he'd be like drunk. (Which, on the other hand, was exactly why it would be so interesting to see.) "If you change your mind, though, you can totally crash at my place," he added with a conspiratorial grin. "That way neither your mom nor Jonathan would ever have to find out..."

After Lucas had explained the whole situation with Tiana in more detail, he felt relieved that Will understood and didn't think he was just imagining things. That was comforting... and unsettling at the same time. Because it meant the problem was real, and that Lucas really did need to keep thinking about how he was supposed to deal with it. And for that, he was genuinely hoping Will would have some advice. Lucas looked at his friend with wide eyes, but first he listened to the story about how apparently some girl in Lenora had tried to play footsie with Will. "Wait, wait!" Lucas said, staring at him in surprise and amazement. "You mean she just randomly started playing footsie with you? Wow!" Lucas completely understood why that had overwhelmed Will and why he'd immediately pulled his foot away. Lucas probably would've reacted the exact same way. "Did you regret it afterward?" he asked, because he thought he might have in Will's place. "I mean... pulling your foot away? Was she at least cute?" Lucas flashed him a slightly crooked, mischievous grin. He knew Will had never really shown much interest in girls before, but... maybe that had changed by now.

For the moment, though, Lucas focused on the rest of Will's advice, which he actually found really helpful. He nodded through all of it, trying to memorize every single word. But then his eyes went even wider, this time with genuine alarm. "Do you really think she might just flat-out ask me out?" he asked in a panic. He really hoped that wouldn't happen. Because how was he supposed to say no? Was he seriously going to have to practice that in front of a mirror? For a brief moment, he remembered standing in front of his mirror before the Snow Ball, rehearsing how to ask Max to dance. That hadn't exactly gone smoothly either, even if it had all worked out in the end. "I'm really, really, really bad at stuff like that!" he emphasized again, even though Will probably already knew. "I seriously have no idea how to talk to girls, and I can't read their signals at all! That's why I kept screwing things up with Max," he admitted with an embarrassed sigh.

Will just grinned and shook his head when Lucas puffed out his chest in sheer indignation at his claim. “When someone compliments you, you’re supposed to say thank you. It’s like the social contract or whatever,” he pointed out. “That would be pretty cool,” he admitted. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t want to be movie star famous, but having some notoriety in the art/video game world might be kind of cool. Mainly because his audience would be fellow nerds, and it was easier to talk to nerds because of the common experiences of it all. “You know what would be cool? A D&D video game,” he said, thinking of the summer before he moved when not a one of those three were really interested in playing, and the void of missing it weighed so heavily in his chest. He wasn’t really sure if that would have even worked because it wasn’t just the game he’d been missing at the time, but it’d still be cool.

Lucas was so enthusiastic about running that it was kind of impossible not to be endeared as he rambled on. “Oh, god,” he murmured when Lucas suggested he could come with him running sometime. “That sounds….” He didn’t want to reject him out of hand, but running? “I’d be eating your dust within the first thirty seconds. And that’s being generous,” he said with a self-deprecating grin. At least he wasn’t asking him to play basketball. It was hard to say which one would be more embarrassing. But spending time with Lucas was always time well spent, so he’d have to hype himself up to go on a run one of these days. “Just pick a day when it’s not ungodly hot outside. And maybe could go swimming afterward or something.” A way to sweeten the deal would definitely make him more motivated to actually do it.

It was beyond sweet the way Lucas’s whole demeanor brightened the second Max was mentioned. Admittedly, he hadn’t given Max a fair shot when they first met, feeling very much like he didn’t fit in when Dustin and Lucas were stumbling over each other to impress him whereas Mike was missing El, and he was dealing with the now memories of it all. At the end of the day, though, Max was pretty cool, and Will was glad that Jane had a close girl friend after putting up with all the guys in the party for as long as she had. “I can’t even imagine it,” Will said sympathetically. Sure, he’d spent more than his fair share of time in hospitals, but it was nothing compared to what Max had gone through.

"Oh, absolutely!" Lucas agreed immediately when Will said it'd be awesome if they programmed a D&D video game. "Dustin and I are actually trying to make our game a little like D&D. You know, where you always get to make choices, and those choices send you down different paths in the game. Obviously it's not really like D&D, though." He grinned, his eyes lighting up as he talked about it. "But once we're super successful, we can buy the rights to some D&D stuff and turn that into a video game!" Lucas continued excitedly. "And of course you'd be the graphic designer for all of it. How awesome would that be?" he beamed. By now, Lucas had completely fallen back in love with D&D. That short phase where he hadn't been all that interested in it anymore was long gone. Sure, Max was still incredibly important to him, but in his mind it wasn't an either-or situation anymore.

Their excitement for D&D was something they shared equally. Unlike the one for running. That was exactly why it meant so much to Lucas that Will was willing to give it a try just for his sake. "Deal!" he said without hesitation, his eyes still sparkling. "We'll pick a day with perfect running weather. Then we'll jump into the lake afterward," he agreed. "And we'll start really slow, of course! I could be your coach. I bet you'd get really good in no time if you stuck with it. I started out really slowly too, with tiny little runs." Back then, Lucas hadn't had any stamina at all. He'd started with very short runs. But eventually running had become something that genuinely helped him clear his head and forget about all the things that were weighing on him.

Then again, this conversation with Will was helping just as much. So the next time he took a sip of his milkshake, Lucas gave his friend another grateful smile. Right at that moment, their fries and wings arrived and were set down in front of them. Lucas's eyes lit up all over again. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, he dove straight into the food, immediately stuffing fries and wings into his mouth at the same time.

“Seriously, what is even the point of that? Besides showing off probably,” Will replied with a roll of his eyes, returning Lucas’s smile. He couldn’t ever see himself doing something like that. Well, okay, maybe to impress a guy, but he was pretty sure that wouldn’t do anything for the only guy he was really interested in impressing. Now that he and Jane were no longer a thing, he didn’t feel as bad for the feelings he was harboring toward a certain someone. It was still probably bad form to feel any kind of romantic way toward your sister’s ex, but in his defense, he’d known him first. Not to mention the fact that if it was within his control, he’d have feelings for someone more…. Convenient. The best friend aspect of it all made it the second most complicated thing about his feelings.

“Oh, I’m sorry. If it bothers you, I can totally dump the rest of this.” He said this with the utmost sincerity, knowing all too well what it was like when a person you cared about was drunk and things got ugly. He wouldn’t have been caught dead with the beer in his hand if he’d spotted Jonathan milling around, but Jonathan wouldn’t be caught dead at a party, so he figured it would be okay. At the end of the day, though, his friends’ comfort levels would always be more important than a stupid drink. He was of course curious about aforementioned stupid things Lucas did while drunk, but he wasn’t very well going to put him on the spot by asking. Probably best left to his imagination anyway since Lucas had always been kind of a pragmatist. Will doubted he’d done anything that bad, but there was no reason to make him relive the memories either.

“Hey,” Will murmured, waiting until he could catch his eye. “No judgment, okay?” he promised, just feeling glad that Lucas trusted him enough to be open with him about something more vulnerable. He stayed quiet as Lucas carefully navigated his sentences, giving just a few “mms” to acknowledge he was still listening. As Lucas explained, Will could only think of how he was the last person to be giving advice when it came to girls. Still. This wasn’t really about girls, per se, it was about Lucas. He could do this. “Has she said anything different lately, too, or is it just the touching?” he wondered, figuring it would be best to have all of the information before speculating. “Not that I think you’re wrong about it, just asking,” Will was quick to clarify. “I think the fact that it’s happened more than once is definitely enough on it’s own, but maybe she’s also dropping hints that you just kind of read at the time as her being nice?”

"I don't think there's any point to it other than showing off" Lucas agreed with a shrug, flashing Will a crooked grin. "At that Valentine's Day party by the lake, I got pretty drunk too. I was drinking with the guys from the basketball team, and honestly, it was fun. But by the end I felt awful all over again... drinking just isn't for me," he explained, smiling a little sheepishly. It was sweet that Will immediately offered to pour out the rest of his alcohol because of that, but Lucas really didn't think that was necessary. "No, no!" he said quickly, waving him off. "Don't be ridiculous! I don't mind if you drink at all. Go ahead and get wasted!" Lucas laughed, wiggled his eyebrows for a second, and gave Will a light bump with his shoulder. "I'd actually love to see you drunk," he added teasingly. "It's hilarious when you're the sober one! And I promise I'll look after you and make sure you get home safe." For a brief moment, Lucas looked completely serious, wanting to make it clear that he truly meant that promise. Maybe it would even do Will some good to have a few drinks and loosen up for once.

Lucas wasn't drunk himself, but now he finally brought up a "problem" that he hadn't talked to anyone else about yet. He felt embarrassed, and part of him was afraid Will would think he was full of himself. After all, he was basically claiming that a girl they'd grown up with was suddenly flirting with him. Normally Lucas would never jump to a conclusion like that. But with Tiana, the signs just kept piling up to the point where he thought it might actually be true. Luckily, Will took him seriously instead of laughing at him. But somehow, that only made the worried lines on Lucas's forehead deepen. He thought hard about the questions Will had asked him.

"Well... we've been doing homework together a lot lately, like I said..." he explained, nervously chewing on his lower lip. "But she keeps asking me to come over to her house more and more. And sometimes I catch her looking at me... kinda weird. Or she'll bump her leg against mine. Or laugh way more than usual. Or... I don't know, she's just really nice to me. She lets me copy all of her homework and stuff like that." Lucas scratched the back of his head again, looking embarrassed. "Maybe I'm just imagining things. But I'm starting to get scared that maybe she's... expecting something from me?" he admitted, looking at Will with complete helplessness. "Has anything like that ever happened to you?" he asked quietly. "What am I supposed to do now?" Maybe Will the Wise would have some advice for Lucas...

“Now who’s exaggerating?” Will countered immediately, but the grin that spread across his face was just as quick. It was sweet that Lucas thought so. It made him feel good to be complimented on something that he spent so much time working on. He hadn’t always worked on it with the intent of being good at it, but somewhere along the line, the recognition of whatever talent he had did start to feel good. It was something that made him thrive rather than the sheer surviving he did every time things went amok with the Upside Down. “Thank you, though. You’re very kind,” he was sure to add, not wanting to be rude and ignore the compliment entirely. “Hey, whatever works. I’m really excited to play your and Dustin’s game,” he said honestly. It would be good to get a feel for how the poster should look too.

“That sounds terrible,” Will lamented, but he was laughing. “Give me a green thing to eat any day over having to run when something’s not chasing me.” Although honesty Lucas probably had the right idea. Maybe he should start running every day. Imagining doing that in the dead of winter in Hawkins sounded less than ideal, but being able to run potentially faster and for a longer period of time wouldn’t just be for aesthetic reasons. When Will finished eating the cherry, he simply stuck his tongue out at Lucas in response to his question.

“Some salads have cherry tomatoes. Close enough.” It was way better than a salad, but he wasn’t about to give up the silly argument that easily. He sipped at the milkshake which tasted pretty much like the nectar of the gods, resisting the urge to ‘mmm’ out loud thus proving Lucas’s point. “We’ll have to bring Max one of these. Hospital food is the worst.” It was a small gesture, but he didn’t really know Max all that well, and it felt like the kind of gesture that couldn’t go wrong. Unless it was too melted by the time they got it to her. Maybe if they kept it in a cooler or something that would help.

"I am not exaggerating!" Lucas insisted, puffing out his chest. He had absolutely no problem saying with complete conviction that Will was an incredibly gifted artist. "You don't have to thank me for that. I'm just telling the truth," he added emphatically. "Besides, we're all gonna end up rich and famous together anyway, because you're gonna be our graphic designer!" Once Stardust Industries took off, the whole gang would make it big together. Everyone already had an important, permanent role in Dustin's and Lucas's master plan to conquer the video game industry.

While Lucas stubbornly refused to eat salad, Will was being just as stubborn about running. "I used to think the exact same thing," Lucas replied with a lopsided grin. "At first it's really exhausting, and honestly pretty frustrating. But once you stick with it for a little while, your stamina gets better really fast! And then it actually becomes fun. It's a great way to clear your head, too! Maybe we should go for a run together sometime! You might actually end up liking it!" Even though Lucas was pretty sure he wasn't going to convince any of his friends to share his new enthusiasm for sports. If anyone might actually agree to go running with him, it would probably be El. But there was no way Lucas could ever keep up with her.

"Oh, yeah!" Lucas answered immediately, his eyes lighting up. "Max would love this milkshake too! I seriously can't wait until she can finally do normal stuff again. Nobody should have to spend that long stuck in a hospital bed..." There were probably very few people who understood that better than Will. He'd spent far too long confined to a hospital bed himself.

It’s pretty crazy to think that they’re now at the age where alcohol is casually being served at parties. He’d watched Lucas avoid it like he avoided that girl’s foot when she reached over and tried to make contact with his that one day in class at Lenora. Will was less reluctant to give it a try, but he wasn’t about to be stupid about it either. He saw some guy stick a knife in the side of a beer can and chug it all at once, and that was definitely not what he was going to do. Instead, he was nursing one, about a fourth of the way full at this point as the two of them sat together and waited for the fireworks to start.

He could understand the term buzz now because that was exactly what it felt like. Will felt good, still very much in control of his faculties, but also just relaxed. Maybe it was the combination of the alcohol and being with a good friend. When Lucas spoke up about something seemingly serious, Will’s brow furrowed in concern. “Yeah, of course. Anything,” Will replied immediately, hoping that whatever was going on, Lucas was okay.

“Mhm,” he acknowledged when Lucas brought up Tia. He dint know her well, of course, but it was Hawkins. He knew everyone in their grade by name. “It doesn’t sound stupid,” Will was quick to reassure him, wanting Lucas to know that he really meant it when he said he could tell him anything without judgment. “Weird how?” he probed gently, wondering for a split second if it was the same kind of weird that girl in Lenora had acted around him before he swiftly shut it down. But— No. Because that wasn’t weird. Girls were supposed to get crushes on guys and vice versa. Lucas had already had a girlfriend for God’s sake. That was just normal to him like it was to everyone else. He took another swig of the not-so-tasty beer, stopping the thought spiral before his brain ran away with him to let Lucas clarify what he actually meant.

Lucas noticed the guy slicing open the side of his beer can before chugging the whole thing as well and it made him wrinkle his nose. "Man, I'd throw up so hard..." he said to Will with a crooked grin. "I'd seriously rather stay away from alcohol. Every time I drink, I end up doing something stupid..." Of course, Lucas didn't mind if Will had a couple of drinks. Since Lucas was completely sober, he could always keep an eye on his friend. As for himself, though, he'd rather use the chance to actually talk to Will now that they were alone and, despite all the partying and drinking around them, had a little bit of peace and quiet.

Lucas had been the one to bring up Tia, but that didn't make the subject any less awkward for him. Especially since Will obviously wanted a more detailed explanation. "Well..." Lucas mumbled, fumbling for the right words. "I don't really know... maybe I'm just imagining it. And honestly, it's kinda embarrassing to even say something like that... I don't want to sound full of myself or anything." He just couldn't seem to get to the point and only grew more flustered by the second. Nervously, Lucas ran his tongue over his lips, then pressed them together for a brief moment before continuing. "So... she's been helping me with school stuff a lot lately. 'Cause I was really falling behind... we've studied together, and honestly, sometimes I even copied her homework. But lately I've kinda been getting the feeling that... I don't know... that she's been looking for excuses to like... touch me. Which is weird, because we've basically known each other forever. We've always been friends... but lately I've kinda started wondering if she's... trying to flirt with me."

Lucas wasn't even sure himself if that was really what was happening, and it showed. He looked visibly embarrassed and uncertain. "I don't know..." he admitted quietly. "Girls never flirt with me... at least they usually don't. But lately... this has happened more than once." Growing even more flustered, he looked over at Will with a helpless expression, silently hoping his friend could make sense of it.

“I think Michael Jordan would like a word,” Will said with a laugh. He didn’t know much about sports, but that guy was a household name. “But seriously, things don’t have to be useful to be worth doing.” That was part of the reason why he wasn’t sure if he wanted a career as an artist, or if it was just going to be something for himself for the rest of his life. He didn’t want his relationship with his art to change if all of the sudden there was pressure to make a living associated with it. Sure, it would be nice to get paid to do what he loves someday, but a part of him wondered if that also risked sucking the joy out of it. Mostly he was glad they still had some time before they graduated high school because at the end of the day, he had no idea what he wanted to do afterward. A darker part of him wondered if he’d even make it that far, but he knew it wasn’t helpful to think that way. He did his best to keep those kinds of thoughts at bay.

“Quit underselling yourself!” was Will’s immediate retort, but then a part of him immediately panicked about doubling down over something he’d just realized that he probably shouldn’t have commented on at all. At least he had the excuse of being gone during part of the time that Lucas had put on that muscle. It meant that the shift would look all the more drastic to him, not that he was looking at Lucas like that. God, it would be so nice to just be like the other guys who never had to overthink these situations. Who could make an offhanded comment without worrying how it would be received. Luckily, Lucas didn’t seem too off put by it, but he was going to have to be more careful in the future. He was supposed to be noticing girls, their hairstyles and makeup and the way clothes looked on them. And he did, to an extent. But mainly to wonder what it would be like to try on makeup for himself. He tried to convince himself that it was only because it was sort of artistic, but lying to yourself could only work for so long when the truth lingered in the back of your mind like a bad habit you just couldn’t shake.

He was pulled out of his thought spiral by Lucas admitting that it was all part of a distraction, something Will understood all too well. “That sucks,” he said with a sympathetic expression, releasing a heavy breath. “I’m sorry it’s been so hard.” The awful thing was that they’d been so close. Jane had been there, right there beating back Vecna with her mind. She’d tried so goddamn hard, and Max had lived, but Will knew it didn’t feel like enough. He remembered being the one in the hospital bed, but at least he’d woken up. He hoped that it just felt like a long nap when all was said and done, but there was no real way of knowing what she’d gone through. He smiled at the casual pat on the shoulder, reassured that he’d managed not to say anything wrong about his muscles after all. Then he laughed. “Oh, no. Supporting one of my best friends at his basketball games. The horror,” he teased. Might he get a little bored during the times Lucas wasn’t actually playing? Probably. But he was sure that Mike and Dustin would join him, so at least he wouldn’t be sitting awkwardly by himself.

“Yeah. You’re apparently supposed to eat those green things sometimes,” Will joked, glad that at the very least Lucas didn’t seem to pick up on the fact that he was worried about how much this spontaneous dinner outing was going to cost. He really needed to get some kind of a part time job, but his mom and Jonathan seemed so against it. “Thank you,” Will told the waitress when their milkshakes were dropped off. Then he went immediately for the cherry on top of his, giving a faint “mmm” of approval as he bit into it. Begrudgingly, he had to admit this was a solid call. And maybe it was fine to splurge every once in a while if he found a few people’s lawns to mow or something.

"Okay, okay," Lucas laughed, waving him off. "If you're as good as Michael Jordan, then yeah, playing basketball is definitely useful. For guys like him it's pretty useful for fame and fortune too!" Lucas couldn't exactly argue with that, so he had to admit Will had a point. "But you're way more the Michael Jordan of art than I am the Michael Jordan of basketball! I'm decent, but I'm not, like, insanely talented," Lucas went on. And Will was insanely talented when it came to art. Lucas could easily picture him making a living from it someday. "I'd definitely rather get rich and famous making video games than playing basketball, though!" Lucas added firmly. After all, he and Dustin were already working on something that was going to be huge...

Lucas was still flattered by Will's comments about his new muscles, though he didn't think they were weird in the slightest. He just never really knew how to respond to compliments like that, so he decided not to say anything else about it. Honestly, it didn't seem strange at all that Will had noticed how much he'd changed physically. If anything, Lucas thought it was really sweet. Dustin and Mike had never once complimented him on getting into better shape. They apparently thought the whole sports thing was even dumber than Will did. Before all this, Lucas never would've guessed that out of his three best friends, Will would end up being the one who supported his basketball the most. But maybe Mike and Dustin would start being a little more supportive too if Will encouraged them.

"Oh, come on, Will," Lucas said next, trying not to laugh. "I go running almost every single day on purpose. That's more than enough for my health. I really don't need to eat vegetables too!" There was no way anyone was going to change his mind about that. And the enormous milkshakes the waitress had just brought them were all the proof he needed of how awesome unhealthy food could be. As he took another sip of his milkshake, Lucas watched Will happily eat the cherry on top. "Way better than a salad, don't you think?" Lucas asked, raising his eyebrows in a silent told you so.

Will & Lucas at the 4th of July fireworks

Near Lovers Lake, it felt like pretty much every teenager and young adult in Hawkins had shown up today, drinking, partying, and enjoying the warm weather. Will and Lucas had already spent some time talking to different people. But after Lucas had very obviously drunk way too much at the last party out here, he decided to skip the alcohol today. The only two times he'd ever had too much to drink had both ended really badly.

So now, later that evening, Lucas and Will were sitting together on a fallen log. From where they were, they could see the other groups scattered around the lake and hear their quiet laughter and the low murmur of their conversations while they were all waiting for the fireworks to start. "Can I tell you about something that's been bothering me?" Lucas asked out of nowhere, glancing over at Will with a slight frown. "Or... ask you for some advice?"

There was something that had been weighing on his mind for a while now. "You know Tia..." Lucas began. And of course Will knew Tiana. After all, she'd grown up right here in Hawkins with them. Lucas paused, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "So... I don't really know how to say this, or if it's gonna sound stupid. But... lately I've kinda had this feeling that she's been acting... weird around me..." He let the words hang there for a moment. Nervously, he bit his lower lip, glanced over at Will for a second, then looked back out across the lake. @awakenedsorcerer

“It’s okay; we’ll get it figured out,” Will told him. “Some of us are good at shooting baskets, and some of us are okay at art. Basketball’s gotta be the more useful skill in high school, anyway,” he said with a shrug and a smile. It came as a surprise that Lucas seemed genuinely miffed by the jock comment. “First of all, you’ve put on more than a little muscle,” Will huffed in return. Then he internally cringed because he probably wasn’t supposed to be noticing things like that. Shit. “And second, I’m sorry. I won’t say that if it bothers you,” he said sincerely. “You’re right. Your personality hasn’t changed at all.” The word jock sort of did have a negative connotation within their friend group, and he could understand why Lucas wouldn’t want to be associated with it.

It felt less like a cop out when Lucas told him there probably wasn’t anything he could have done. He made a good point. Bullies were going to bully, and calling them on it rarely worked unless you had the social status to back it up, which Will definitely didn’t have in Hawkins or California. “Thanks,” he murmured, looking down at the tabletop, not able to completely rid himself of the guilt. But this was supposed to be about the two of them having a good time and catching up, so he couldn’t get too down on himself. “I would have been at every one of your games, you know? You’d have to explain the particulars to me, but I’d catch on eventually.” He just needed Lucas to know that he wasn’t judging him for the basketball thing because he was sure Mike had words for him about it.

Will laughed at Lucas’s overdramatic reaction to the mere mention of a salad. “What’s wrong with eating healthy?” he defended himself, glad that a reason other than the financial one had presented itself to pose in his defense. “Lucas—“ he tried to intervene, but Lucas was confident and smooth, and he was awkward, and the next thing he knew, the waitress was walking off with their order. Of course Lucas read his mind down to the strawberry milkshake. “Ridiculous,” he said with a shake of his head, but he couldn’t hide a smile. Then he peeked at a menu, mentally calculating what half would be and hoping he had it on him.

Lucas couldn't help but smile. Will always talked to him with so much positivity and kindness, always encouraging him and making him feel capable of doing anything he wanted to do. There was something so calming and genuinely affirming about the way Will treated him, it was just one of the many things that made his friend so special. "I think, in the grand scheme of life, art is probably a more useful and important skill than basketball," Lucas replied, sounding oddly wise even to himself. Still, high school had definitely gotten a little easier now that basketball had made him a bit more popular and helped him put on some muscle. People couldn't shove him around or bully him quite as easily anymore, and more importantly, he was better able to protect his friends.

When Will pointed out that Lucas hadn't gained just a little muscle, Lucas grinned, obviously flattered, and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Oh, quit exaggerating," he laughed, waving him off, though it was painfully obvious he was enjoying the compliment. What made Lucas even happier, though, was knowing that Will understood none of that had changed who he was on the inside. "Honestly, I mostly started working out more just to distract myself from everything I was worrying about," Lucas added with a crooked, slightly sarcastic smile. Sad but true.

Lucas's eyes sparkled with emotion when Will assured him he would've come to every single basketball game last school year if he hadn't been in California. "I believe you," Lucas replied immediately, grateful as he gave his friend a quick pat on the shoulder. "And it really means a lot to hear you say that." He flashed Will another warm smile before it slowly turned into a slightly mischievous grin. "Well, now that you've basically promised, I guess you'll have to come to every game from now on," he said in a mock-threatening tone, making sure to hold his friend to it.

Just as firmly as he'd settled that, Lucas also decided what they were going to eat and simply ordered for both of them. He didn't mean anything by it, he just wanted Will to treat himself to something that actually tasted amazing. "'Eating healthy...'?" Lucas repeated, making a face like it was the most disgusting suggestion he'd ever heard. "This is supposed to be fun!" he laughed. It didn't take long before the giant milkshakes were brought to their table, one set down in front of each of them. Lucas's eyes lit up instantly. He grabbed his straw without hesitation and immediately started noisily slurping away at his milkshake.

kiingsteve

Steve sighed, standing up straight when the younger tried to press for answers again. Unfortunately, he had no real answers to give him. "I don't have any answers for you, Lucas. Do you want to play or not?" He asked, knowing that he was failing at his job of being the responsible adult.

But all Steve really knew was that he had been having too vivid dreams for a while, and now he was struggling to maintain the boundaries between the dreaming and the waking worlds. He had no idea if it was just all the bullshit they had been through catching up to him or something more. He had a feeling it was something more, but he was unwilling to admit that just yet. There was no way he was saying it out loud to Lucas.

Lucas had asked so many times by now that he was starting to realize it wasn't getting him anywhere. Apparently, Steve either couldn't or wouldn't give him any answers. Did he really not know what had just happened himself? The whole situation was getting more unsettling by the second. "Uh... yeah, okay," Lucas said hesitantly. "All right, then... let's play for a little while longer."

So he started dribbling the basketball again and moved toward Steve, who was blocking his path. But Lucas's mind wasn't in the game anymore, and he couldn't focus on playing. As a result, he ran straight into Steve's defense, and in the blink of an eye, Steve had stripped the ball from him. "Shit!" Lucas cursed as he saw the ball in Steve's hands. He took a few steps back, ready to make another attempt if he got the chance.

#ft.steve

It became immediately obvious that the two of them were in full agreement about Mona, and of course Will’s curiosity was piqued at the mention of her famous pancakes. “Well now I know that, she has one more hungry teenage mouth to feed,” he joked. He was glad that Dustin had sort of an older sister figure in his life. He’d privately thought that it would feel pretty lonely if it was just him and his mom, so he’d always been grateful for the presence of Jonathan. And as much as it irked him to be babied, he knew it was probably for the best to have a big brother looking out for him. “Tough, but fair. With plenty of praise where it’s due,” he promised, not knowing if he had it in him to be really tough on the pair of them. Will shook his head, not quite able to conceal a smile when Lucas went on about his and Dustin’s anti-talent for art. “You’d just have to set reasonable goals for yourself. Don’t start trying to make the Mona Lisa.” Maybe he did have some talent, but it wasn’t like it had fallen out of the clear blue sky. He’d spent so much time doing it and got better with age. “Oh, my mistake. The basketball talent had me fooled,” he said with a teasing lilt to his tone. “What are you, then, a jerd?”

“Thanks,” Will said with a little smile. It was nice that his friends thought so, but he was pretty sure that all of them had wound up wise beyond their years simply by virtue of all of the things they’d been through together by this point. “I mean, we lived together, Lucas.” He shrugged. “She’s my sister. Not by blood, but that doesn’t matter to us. It’s not what makes us family.” El was more family to him than Lonnie was, so obviously it wasn’t blood that made the family. It was showing up for each other. And even though he’d sometimes had to tamp down on feelings toward her that he didn’t want to name, they certainly weren’t romantic. “It did. And I— I didn’t do a very good job of protecting her,” he admitted, voice low and laden with shame. He wished he’d had more courage to stand up to the bullies at the time, but he’d been so fearful of what the bullies might see in him if they turned their gazes his way. Sometimes it felt like the way he was different was so obvious that it might as well have been written in red paint across his forehead. If they’d started to put those pieces together in Hawkins, what was stopping the people in California of all places from doing the same? “I kinda flew under the radar more. Easier to blend in because I was actually in normal school my whole life and Jane obviously wasn’t.” It was nice to know that Lucas was glad they were back. Sometimes his late night worries included the what if his friends didn’t miss him at all? Luckily, being back proved that wasn’t the case pretty quickly. “Me, too,” he agreed simply before grinning over at Lucas. “Yeah? Well it’s not much, but my money’s on you.”

“Hm, good question.” Honestly, whatever was cheapest on the menu was probably what Will was going to go for, but that wasn’t the sort of thing you said to a friend if you didn’t want to make things awkward. “I’m not that hungry; maybe I’ll go for a salad or something.” It was just nice to be here with Lucas. Even if he got hungry later, he could always find something to eat at home without Lucas being any the wiser. “What about you?” he asked, making sure to avoid a longing gaze at the strawberry milkshake with a cherry on top that they passed as they made their way to a booth.

Lucas chuckled as he remembered Dustin and himself trying to draw their poster. "Man, trust me, we weren't exactly trying to paint the Mona Lisa," he said with a laugh. "We were actually going for something really simple. But even that was way too hard for us..." Will would probably fall right out of his chair if he saw what Dustin and Lucas had come up with. For now, though, Lucas shot Will another dirty look for calling him a jock. "Just because I work out a little doesn't automatically make me a jock," he complained. He knew his friend was only teasing him, but he still shook his head. "I'm still the exact same nerd I've always been," Lucas insisted. "Not a jock, and also not a jerd. Just because I've put on a little muscle doesn't make me any different than I was before!"

It really was nice that Will and El had built such a sibling-like relationship. Even though Erica could be seriously annoying sometimes, Lucas was glad to have a sister himself. So he was happy that Will and El could feel that way about each other, too. That was also why he understood why Will felt like he should have "protected" El when she'd been bullied. "We all know what it's like when bullies decide to come after someone," Lucas said with a sigh. "I don't think there was much you could've done to help her. And there probably wasn't anything you could've done to protect her." He gave Will a light pat on the back and offered him an encouraging smile. "I'm glad you didn't end up getting bullied too." And right now, Lucas was simply happy that Will and El were back. If anyone tried to bully either of them again here, he'd definitely do everything he could to help and protect them. Maybe putting on some muscle hadn't been such a bad thing after all.

"A salad?" Lucas echoed, making an exaggerated gagging noise. "Come on, man, you've gotta be kidding me! Let's share some fries and get some chicken wings! And obviously milkshakes!" The thought that Will might just be trying to save money never even crossed Lucas's mind. Instead, he confidently waved the waitress over and immediately ordered a large basket of fries, an order of chicken wings, and two large strawberry milkshakes. Then he flashed Will a wide grin, suddenly realizing just how hungry he was. Much hungrier than he'd even noticed a minute ago.

Max & Lucas ~ Sinclair House

Lately, Lucas had been at the hospital with Max as often as he possibly could. It hadn’t been easy for Max that everything was getting better so slowly and that she was still so weak. Lucas knew Max well enough to know that she absolutely hated not being able to be independent and strong. But he tried to be there for her as much as he could, without overwhelming her and without making her feel like she was helpless or that she needed him.

And now the day had finally come when Max was allowed to leave the hospital. After everything that had happened, Max’s mom was currently in rehab and didn’t have a permanent place to live. But Lucas’s family had seen the whole time how much Lucas was suffering along with Max and how much he blamed himself for not being able to protect her better or save her. That was why Lucas’s parents had immediately offered that Max could stay with them in their guest room.

And that was why Lucas and Max had just arrived at the Sinclairs’ house. Lucas’s mom had served them some food first, and they had all talked together for a little while. But Lucas could tell that Max was tired and exhausted. So after a while, he turned toward her.

“Do you want me to show you your room now?” he asked, because maybe it was a bit too much for her to keep talking with Lucas’s entire family the whole time. Max was sitting in her wheelchair at the dining table, which unfortunately she still had to use for now. “Your room is upstairs, though,” Lucas said. “I… I can help you up the stairs… or carry you up.” As he suggested it, he immediately grew visibly embarrassed and looked down at the floor a little ashamed. Lucas had been training a lot lately, and he was absolutely sure he could do it. But it was still somehow an offer that made him feel awkward, so he scratched the back of his neck nervously. / @madmax-ste

#ft.max

tianacarter-ste

Tiana’s grin widened when Lucas called her a genius, her cheeks warming just a little. She tried to play it cool, but the way his smile reached his eyes made her chest flutter.

When he raised his hands defensively and asked if she’d be strict, she narrowed her eyes at him in exaggerated suspicion. “Oh, I can be strict,” she said, tapping her pencil against the table like a gavel. “Don’t test me, Sinclair.” But then he wiggled his eyebrows, that stupid eyebrow wiggle, and Tiana’s composure cracked. She snorted, covering her face for a second.

“Please,” she said, trying to sound unimpressed even as she laughed. “You distracting me? You can barely distract yourself.” She leaned in a little, lowering her voice like she was accepting a challenge. “But fine. Bet. Try your best. I’ll still drag you through this homework.” He kept crunching his chips obnoxiously, and she nudged his knee under the table. “Loudest eater in Hawkins,” she muttered, but she was smiling.

When he finally pulled out his notes, or the half‑notes he managed before giving up, she scooted closer, their shoulders brushing as she looked at the page. “This is where you stopped?” she asked, eyebrows lifting. “Lucas… this is like ten minutes into class.” But there was no judgment in her voice, just fond exasperation.

She flipped open her own notebook, neat handwriting filling the page. “Yeah, you can copy mine,” she said, turning it toward him. “And I’ll explain it while you write. Then we’ll do the exercises together.” She nudged his arm gently with her elbow. “See? Told you I’d keep you on track.”

Lucas’s eyebrows rose even higher when Tiana briefly claimed that she could actually be very strict with him. He didn’t really believe her, because he could already make her laugh with nothing more than a simple eyebrow wiggle. “If you really want to be strict, you’re gonna have to practice a little more!” Lucas replied teasingly, sticking his tongue out at her. “If you get distracted this easily, you’ll never be a strict teacher!”

Messing around like this was just so much more fun to Lucas than actually doing the schoolwork. “But you are letting yourself get distracted all the time,” he continued to tease Tiana. “I’m not as bad at this as you’re pretending I am!” And just to annoy her even more and keep being goofy, he made an exaggeratedly loud smacking noise with his next bite. Lucas was hoping that he would actually learn something here today. But this silly mood was also doing him good right now and was a nice distraction from all his worries.

The smile faded from Lucas’s face, though, when Tia finally realized that he had really only written along for ten minutes in math class at school. “Sorry…” he mumbled, lifting his shoulders a little uncertainly before letting them drop again right away. “I am a mess right now…” he admitted, as he willingly pulled Tiana’s notes closer. He started copying her notes into his notebook from the point where his own notes from school had stopped. “You’re really a lifesaver, Tia,” he said in between. “Thank you!” And he truly meant it. The lines on Lucas’s forehead became more and more pronounced as he concentrated on copying Tiana’s words while also trying to understand what they actually meant.

#ft.tiana

kiingsteve

Steve threw his hands up, knowing that the most normal route was that he owed Lucas a lesson in basketball. The kid was good, but he still knew a few moves that he could teach him

"Fine, we can keep playing," he gave in as he set down his water bottle.

He moved back onto the court, feeling somewhat guilty because he knew what the younger had been through. "You start again," he spoke, unwilling to give him answers, but he wouldn't leave him alone. If he could get through the rest of this practice without acting weird, Steve believed he could put him at ease.

"Alright, stop talking and show me what you got, Sinclair," he urged, trying to take his mind off what had just happened. For both their sakes.

The whole situation was becoming more and more absurd and Lucas had no idea how he was supposed to deal with it anymore. First Steve had gotten angry at him for no reason, then he had simply wanted to leave and now he suddenly wanted to just keep playing basketball with Lucas. Uncertainly, Lucas still held onto the ball as Steve stepped back onto the court and told him to keep practicing.

Steve could be very convincing and intense, so Lucas was tempted to just do what the older boy said and continue training. But his thoughts were racing and in his mind he kept replaying how angry Steve had seemed toward him just moments ago. So he kept holding onto the basketball and didn’t do Steve the favor of simply going back to normal as if nothing had happened.

“What just happened?”, Lucas asked again instead. “Why were you suddenly so angry at me? Why did you suddenly talk to me like we’re enemies and hate each other?” Again, Lucas tried to study Steve, trying to read from his response what was really going on here. His gut feeling was getting worse and worse and Lucas genuinely felt like something was seriously wrong.

#ft.steve

vi-ckiedunne

"I was so bad, I quit for two weeks before trying again," she laughed, embarrassing herself, "and of course it's going to be good! I'm your teacher, after all."

"Kate Bush is cool. But listening to the same songs over and over can get old pretty quick," she agreed, turning her needles to start another row, "I like, um, rock music. Stuff like The Psychedelic Furs and," Vickie laughed softly, shaking her head, "The Cure. My friend likes to make fun of my music taste—she says I'm not niche enough."

She looked back at Lucas, offering, "Maybe next time you visit Max, you could show her some of the music you like. I'm sure she'd be okay with it for a day." She could imagine why Lucas would play her the same music over and over, but it couldn't hurt to change it up every now and then, could it? After all, it wasn't like her favorite song could help her wake up or save her life. That would be crazy. "Maybe you'll even get her to enjoy something new."