𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙊𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨

Right (Elmax)

this was a request from @NghtFury95 , I'll tag them in the comments :) sorry it took a bit to write, I have a lot going on irl

It was easy with Max. It wasn't like being with Mike, like she was constantly waking on a tightrope and if she made one wrong move she'd fall to her doom. 'Doom', in this case, was being alone again. El hated being alone. That's why she liked Max. She never made her feel alone. She wasn't a superhero with Max, or a lab rat. Just a girl. A girl who was maybe sort of kind of in love with her.

It was impossible not to love Max. She was so carefree, and passionate, and funny. Her fiery red hair and blue eyes were enticing, they lured her in like the smell of maple syrup.

El certainly didn't think there was anything wrong with it. She just had a crush, so what?

But she'd never seen two girls together, or two boys. It confused her. Were girls not supposed to like each other? No, that couldn't be right, because she liked Max. Were those feelings wrong, even when they felt so right?

El was pulled from her thoughts by Max handing her an ice cream cone.

"Thanks, Farrah Fawcett." Max smirked, handing some money to Steve and walked off.

El observed Steve for a few moments. He was pretty. Max was pretty. She thought maybe Max was prettier than he was. And she definitely didn't feel the same things for Steve that she did for Max. He was, like, a million years old.

"El!" Max called, and El tore her gaze away from Steve and ran up to her.

"What, ogling the sailor boy?" Max teased, poking her sides.

El smiled. "Max, I have a question."

"Yeah? Tell me."

"Can girls like-like other girls?"

Max choked around a bite of ice cream.

"Oh! Uh, yes. Why do you ask?" She said, somewhat nervous-sounding.

"Well, I only ever see boys and girls together. Like, dating. I never see girls kissing or dating or anything. It made me think that maybe that was wrong." El frowned.

"No, it's just... less common, I guess." Max said carefully.

"Have you ever like-liked a girl?" El asked.

Max blushed. "Yes."

"Oh."

El thought for a moment.

"Have you ever kissed a girl?"

Max blinked at her. "No. I haven't. Have you?"

El shook her head.

"Well," El considered, "would you kiss me?"

Max choked again, then tossed her ice cream in a nearby trash can. "Um." She stammered. "Yes."

El smiled. She really wanted to kiss Max. Now that she knew it wasn't wrong, and they Max wanted to kiss her back, nothing was stopping her.

El started to lean in, but Max got a panicked look on her face and stopped her.

El blinked. "I thought you said you would kiss me."

Max looked around frantically. "Yes, but not here," she hissed.

"Why not?"

"Some people... don't like it when two girls like each other. Or two boys, or whatever. But those people are wrong, okay? We're right." Max smiled.

El smiled, too. "We're right."

"So, yes, I'll kiss you. But somewhere different." She took El by the hand and started leading her away.

El blushed and followed her. She knew that when people did this in movies, Hopper made her close her eyes. But she and Max were just going to kiss- what was bad about that?

Max led her outside the mall, and behind it, in the parking lot. El usually saw Billy or the other scary teenagers smoking and saying bad words here. It intimidated her a little bit, but she wasn't going to let anything ruin kissing Max.

"Okay." Max craned her neck to see if anyone was around, finding no one. "Ready?"

El nodded. She'd never been more ready for anything in her life.

Max looked around one last time, then leaned in. El's breath caught in her throat as Max's lips pressed against hers, still sweet and cool from the ice cream. It wasn't anything like kissing Mike, quick and emotionless. It was so much better.

Max was the first to pull away, smiling and pink-faced.

"So," she said, a bit breathless, "how was that?"

"That was good. Very good. Better than Mike." El said decidedly.

Max grinned and gave her another quick peck.

"Good."