Hello my lovelies! This is my very first post! Be warned it is almost completely unrevised and was honestly written on a whim. Regardless, please enjoy and let me know if you like it!!
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Penelope
Lucas is sitting by Max’s side, speaking soundlessly about his day. Telling her about how they perfected their crawl method this time. Really perfected it. The sound of her monitor is loud in both of their ears, the dull hum of sterile room around them.
Is it you? Have my prayers been answered?
Max is asleep in the upside down, but Lucas’ voice echoes in her mind along with the spaced, but steadfast sound of her heart monitor. She tosses and turns in her makeshift bed, the sound of fallen leaves crunch beneath her. As her dream materializes, an image of Lucas appears. It’s foggy and distant. It’s like the night has been ripped apart so she can see a sunny image of him. He’s standing in front of a door, back towards her. His hair is a mess, a sign of exhaustion—she thinks.
Is it really you standing there? Or am I dreaming once more?
Max reaches out, though she immediately catches her own arm, pulling it back, nervous her greatest fear will become reality the moment she tests it. In real life, Max’s heart rate rises in the slightest, the beep becoming a fraction of a second quicker. It’s miniscule, nothing worth noting, but not to Lucas. He notes it silently, then continues his one sided conversation, his hand still delicately placed on Max’s.
You look different. Your eyes look tired. Your frame is lighter, your smile torn.
It’s hours later, though it’s only been seconds for Max. Lucas is at home, sleeping as peacefully as possible. He’s finally entered REM state when a familiar foggy image begins to appear. Max is warring with her inner dialogue as the image of Lucas with his back turned disappears. Both images in both minds begin to unfog, and clear as day, Max and Lucas are staring straight into each others eyes. For a moment the world is quiet, the silence deafening. Then finally, they run towards each other, Max melting into Lucas’ arms as she throws herself into him. When they pull away, their eyes meet, a soft smile and tear streaked cheeks plastered on both of their faces. Max looks different, her hair is frizzy— not that it wasn’t frizzy before, it just looks unbrushed. Her features have chiseled, she no longer looks like a girl; she’s grown into a woman, tall and confident, though fear still plagues the bags under her eyes and the wrinkles in the center of her brow. Lucas is tired. His eyes look heavy, his face slightly sullen as he stares down at her. His hair is indeed a tired mess. He’s lost sleep over her, over everything, and now—even after a full night's sleep— his nightmares still haunt him, hence the perpetual tiredness.
Is it really you my love?
She holds him tightly, grasping at his arms as she tries to gauge the reality of her dream. He feels real, his skin, his smile, his tired eyes. They’re a picture she could never forget, a memory she’s relived a million times. But she— she seems foreign to him, a far cry from the girl lying in a hospital bed at Hawkin’s Memorial.
I am not the man you fell in love with. I am not the man you once adored.
He looks down at her, his face betraying him as he tries to recognize the woman before him. She looks back, her sense of safety washing away as she realizes his hesitance. She looks different now; wild, stronger, older. A new being entirely.
I am not your gentle husband, and I am not the love you knew before.
A flashback floods their minds, images of the two spending time together. Dates at the mall, movie nights at his house, Erica pestering them constantly. One memory lingers longer than the others though. The sound of music slowly rises and a hawk's eye perspective of a dance floor begins to emerge. It slowly makes its way to eye level, and Lucas and Max are dancing slowly and awkwardly at their first school dance. Lucas is stumbling over his own feet, grinning like an idiot while Max stifles a laugh, holding his shoulders loosely as they shuffle poorly to the sway of the music. The image is then ripped away, and instead replaced with two separate visions. One is Max, running wild across the upside down, desperately searching for an out, and the other is Lucas mid game, sweating and smiling as he comes down from the rush of scoring the three-pointer of the night.
Would you fall in love with me again. If you knew all I’ve done. The things I cannot change. Would you love me all the same?
More images fly by, Lucas and Max let go of each other in their dream. Lucas is tossing and turning in real life, fighting his sleep. The sound of Max’s heart monitor begins to rise. It echoes more constantly, a soundtrack to the images that plague their occipital lobe. Images of Lucas hanging out with the well hated jocks. Images of Max purposefully hiding her trips to Billy’s grave, images of every little thing that had begun to rip apart their relationship while both were awake.
I know that you’ve been waiting,
An image of Lucas by Max’s side immediately following her hospitalization. The room is dark and his head is lowered, soft sobs and the sound of the insistent heart monitor can be heard.
Waiting,
A scene of Max falling to her knees, sobbing openly as the sound of Kate Bush taunts her. The quiet background beeps and the sickening sounds of the upside down begin to over take the music and the visions fade.
For love.
Max and Lucas are young again, barely teenagers, clutching each other’s hand in terror on a bus. An action made entirely out of adrenaline, fear, and being in the moment. The bud of their love beginning to bloom
—-Jump in the song cuz idk what to put hereee; skip to 3:47—-
Penelope
Lucas and Max are together once more, though only in a dream, it feels real. Lucas presses a hand to Max’s dirt caked cheek, rubbing away what he can with his thumb. She’s different, but the same. And he loves her regardless.
I will fall in love with you, over and over again
Images of Lucas on Halloween, silently talking to Max, trying desperately to make her laugh. Another vision: Max and Lucas stargazing, taking turns listing their favorite songs. Another vision: Max riding her skateboard alone, Lucas watching with the boys.
I don’t care how, where, or when
Their childhood floods back, moments of the two together, every tiny argument, every sleepless night after one of Max’s nightmare, every study date for a test neither had any intention of passing. Every miniscule detail that became the glue to their relationship.
No matter how long it’s been, you’re mine
Max and Lucas look at each other, recognizing their differences, reveling in their similarly tired eyes and exhausted frames, tears begin to spill as they collide in another teary eyed embrace.
Don’t tell me you’re not the same person. You’re always my husband and I’ve been…
They recognize the changes they’ve both experienced, but to Max, Lucas is still the awkwardly charming stalker who somehow stole her heart. And to Lucas, Max is the same bluntly honest and fiery girl who called him a stalker and somehow still fell in love.
Waiting…
The sound of the heart monitor grows louder. Max begins to disappear, they hold on to each other as she fades. The muffled sounds of frantic nurses grows in Max’s ears and suddenly a new split in the realm uncovers itself. It’s her hospital room. Max looks at Lucas, her eyes wild with fear and desperate for reassurance. After a moment Lucas finally opens his mouth, but before he can speak a nurse beats him to the punch. The hazy world begins to clear as she speaks, “She’s waking up!”
Waiting…
Max begins to run from Lucas, barreling towards the gash in dimension. When she finally reaches it, she hesitates. Was she really going home? Would she finally see Lucas again? Before she steps through, she looks back to Lucas, tension high. Her eyes never find his though. He’s gone from her, now all that’s left is his empty space and a distant memory. She steps through.
Penelope!
Lucas snaps awake, and without a second thought he jumps out of his bed. He doesn’t bother changing, doesn’t bother putting on a jacket. Instead, he slips on a pair of his father’s ill-fitting dress shoes and begins sprinting towards the hospital. His lungs are burning, his face is icy, but his pace remains urgent, never taking a moment to breathe.
Waiting,
Max steps into the real world, falling head first into a new realm. The sound of her monitor begins to rise, spiking unnaturally. The sound of Kate Bush and Lucas’ voice over the course of her coma floods her senses, visions of his speaking to her about anything and everything every day.
Waiting, (Penelope)
Lucas books it down the hall, arms and legs moving in a tandem precision as he explodes through every door, rounds every corner, until he finally makes it to her floor.
Waiting, Waiting
Max’s eyes begin to flutter open, the faint scent of rubbing alcohol and the almost silent hum of the fluorescent lights begin to overtake her sense. The bright and almost foreign light of the room blinds her for an instant. Then finally, she bursts up, her chest heaving, the nasal cannula falling from her ears. She rips the IV from her wrist, careful not to be reckless, only critical.
Waiting!
Lucas finally reaches Max’s room. His heart sinks as he looks through the small window. She’s nowhere in sight, and he fears he’s too late. A wave of dread washes over him as he tries to stay optimistic, praying to anyone that Vecna hadn’t gotten her, begging to the air that he’d see her one last time. He sinks beside the door, his head in his hands. He quietly sobs as time ticks on, Max nowhere to be seen. Only the faint sound of the doctors seemingly arguing with each other seeping from the crack beneath the door.
For…
A soft click slices through the air as an elongated shadow engulfs the hallway. The door opens slowly, and Lucas’ head is on a swivel, immediately looking to identify the shadow’s caster. Finally, tufts of blazing red hair appears above the blinding fluorescent lights, and Max emerges. Her face is thin, more akin to a ghost than that of the person she was before the coma. But not to Lucas. To Lucas, she is beautiful and radiant, and there, and at the moment it feels as though that’s all he’s ever dreamed of. Max sees his sunken frame peering at her from the crack of the door, and all she can do in response is fall to her knees beside him.
You…
For an instant the world freezes. They sit side by side. After a long silence Max lets out a soft, choked but relieved sigh, and launches herself into him. This time is different. It doesn’t feel real, it is real. The world around them is gone and everything is reduced to two awkward social outcasts, sitting beside each other for the first time in a long time. They hold each other tight, crumpled into one homogenous being. As the world begins to fade into darkness around them, Kate Bush begins to play, and a montage of Lucas and Max by each other's side through everything, every awkward dance, every angry outburst, and every sleepless night.
