Max Mayfield
I knock on Lucas' door and wait for a moment before he opens it, leading me inside.
"Look before you get mad- we're missing two cookies because Erica keeps eating them."
"I'm just making sure you didn't burn them. I mean- unless you want cancer? Don't worry, I don't mind." Erica rolls her eyes, chewing what I assume is the snickerdoodle.
"Psycho." He mumbles, bringing a small, yet ingenuine smile to my face.
I still can't believe I broke up with El. I mean- after all this time, I thought things would go well between us.
They might, though. El just has to break up with Mike and then you can give her another chance.
But who said she plans on dumping him?
"Max, you seem off. What's wrong?"
"Huh?" I look up at Lucas, quickly shaking my head in denial. I approach Erica and lean against the counter, shifting my gaze between her and the plate of cookies.
"So, you think we'll get cancer if we eat these or... is it fine?"
"It's fine." She assures me, lightly slapping the crumbs off her finger tips. "I'm kinda surprised Lucas didn't burn the whole house down."
He walks in with his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.
"Okay say one more thing about my cooking skills, and you don't get any more snickerdoodles tomorrow!"
"Baking. And nuh uh. You're letting me have as many as I want. Unless... you want Max to know what I found under your bed?"
My eyes widen and my attention snaps towards her.
"Erica- I swear, don't."
"What did she find under your bed?" I ask Lucas in a whispery manner.
"Nothing!" He defends.
"Is it gross?" I ask his sister, she nods matter-of-factly.
"Scale of 1-10."
"A hundred." Erica says, causing me to grimace in disgust.
"Eugh... I don't even wanna know."
"Ha! Now you can't tell Max!" Lucas yells in victory, his face quickly falling when Erica opens her mouth to continue.
"I can tell mom. Dad. Tina. Literally anyone." She threatens, and silence fills the air for a few seconds.
"Okay, okay." He surrenders finally, raising his hands.
"Fine. You can have some more cookies tomorrow as long as there's still enough for the party!"
"Yeah, yeah. Fine." She sighs.
. . .
Wed. 25th December 1985 | 12:46pm
Max Mayfield
I sit on the sofa as loud chatter and a cozy light illuminates Mike's basement. A pile of presents is laying on the floor near the stairs, ready to be opened. Mike and El are beside me on the couch whilst Dustin, Lucas and Will are all sat crosslegged on the floor.
"Okay guys, shut up!" Dustin yells out after a while and everyone goes silent. "When are we gonna open the gifts we all got each other?"
"I'm in the middle of a conversation-" Mike interrupts, rolling his eyes.
Lucas shifts his gaze between El and Mike, arching his brows. "Let me guess, you're planning for later?" He blows a kiss, causing a smirk to crack on my lips. Mike turns to me and gives me a disapproving look of annoyance.
"What are you laughing at??" He asks and I snort, despite trying my best to keep a straight face.
"Nothing! Is he wrong, though?"
"Yes! Very wrong!" He turns to El for defence, who just raises her hands in surrender.
I continue to giggle as Mike sighs and turns back to me.
"Oh my god, you're being so immature." He remarks as I purse my lips in disagreement.
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am n- stop!" I swat his arm.
"Hey!" He hits me back.
"Um- guys, stop!" Dustin stands up and approaches us, me and Mike grant him with frustrated scowls.
"She drew first blood-" He quickly says, causing me to scoff.
"You son of a-"
"Max, shake his hand." Dustin instructs with a tired sigh.
I groan in irritation before turning to Mike, both of us have ironic smiles playing on our lips. I take his hand, squeeze it in a suffocatingly tight manner and shake it aggressively, making sure to keep it low-key so that Dustin doesn't scold me.
"Ow- oh my god, let go."
"What? I'm just shaking your hand. I drew first blood, remember?" I shrug, breaking the eye contact that me and Mike had just now. I turn to Will, who's obviously trying his hardest not to burst into laughter.
"See, someone finds me funny."
"What? Nobody is laughing." Mike looks around the room, noticeably staring at Will for longer than everyone else.
Maybe it's because he caught him laughing.
But it could be something else.
Nah, I'm thinking ahead.
It's still suspicious, though.
"Okay this is weird, why did the room suddenly go silent-" Lucas meddles in, causing Mike to fall out of his trance.
"Nothing, I'm just kind of offended that nobody is taking me seriously." Mike pouts jokingly, slouching against the sofa. El giggles and kisses his cheek, opening her mouth as if to say something. "I take you seriously all the time."
I meet El's eyes for a moment as she says that, quickly looking away when realising that there are other people in this room.
God, what is wrong with me...
"Okay well let's open the presents now!" Will interferes in attempt to lighten the mood, getting up and approaching the heap of gift boxes. Everyone including myself agrees and follows him, sitting in a circle.
"Okay, who goes first?" Dustin asks.
"Me- because it's my house." Mike raises his hand to volunteer and I side eye him.
Okay...
Will Byers
My heart starts beating out of my chest as Mike crawls to his side of the pile, searching through the presents in search for some labelled with his name on it.
He picks one and rubs his hands in anticipation before ripping the paper off. An ear to ear grin plasters across his freckled face as he analyses the item. It's a large silver boom box with blue and yellow squiggles seemingly painted on the upper corners. I watch as he briefly trails his fingers over the yellow lines before bringing his attention back to the group.
"Thanks! Who is it from?" He asks, and Lucas raises his hand.
"Me. I mean- your other boom box doesn't work anymore so I just wanted to get you another one. I made you a mixtape too- by the way."
"Thanks, man." Mike rewards him with a hug before sitting back in his spot, picking another gift. My heart rate starts to increase again.
A small movement comes from the box, causing everyone to flinch. El jumps back and clutches onto my arm, but nobody breaks contact from the gift.
Holy cow.
When it moves again, more to Mikes direction, he slides backwards on the floor with a fearful expression on his face.
"Dustin, swear to god if you put a fucking rat in there or something I will literally not hesitate to kill you!"
"What- it's not from me!" He spits back, also looking quite scared.
The movements finally stop.
Mike hesitantly makes his way back to the gift, making sure to give it and his body a safe distance, and traces his hand over the lid of the box before slowly pulling it off. Everyone's eyebrows arch as they look into the box, scattered "aw's" filling the room after a moment of quiet.
A black, green eyed Persian kitten is sat in the box, staring innocently at Mike as he stares back. A small smile forms on my lips as Mike picks it up and holds it in the air, beaming.
"Who is this from?" He finally asks, everyone exchanges glances before fixing their gaze on me. I look down at my lap in defeat for a few seconds before building up enough courage to look back at Mike.
"I'm sorry- is it too much?"
"Too much?! Will- I love," he pauses for a moment and briefly checks the gender, "him! How did you know I like cats?"
A goofy smile takes over my face entirely and I have no idea what to say.
Oh my god I can't believe he likes it-
"I- I don't know! I guess I just always considered you a cat person."
"No- you're- you're right! I-" He scoffs, "thank you, Will. Seriously." I hold my breath as Mike stands up and approaches me, pulling me into his arms with his new cat still between us.
My cheeks heat up as he releases the hug, staring into my eyes and rewarding me with the most beautiful smile ever.
"I'm not opening more until later. Max, why don't you open your presents?" Mike suggests, I finally exhale when he breaks our burning eye contact.
"Guys erm... I think I wanna go home now. I'm not feeling well." El intervenes before getting up and leaving the room before anyone can argue. I notice Mike's face falling the most as she hurries herself up the steps.
That was weird. Did someone do something? I swear she was fine this whole day.
I'll just talk to her later.
"Guys um..." I start, grabbing everyone's attention. "Before we continue, I have something that I kinda made for... everyone?" I nervously say, bringing out a bit of rolled up a3 paper. I unroll it, earning surprised gasps from everyone. I kinda just place it down on the table for everyone to look at, gulping apprehensively for their reactions.
Mike is positioned on the left side of a page, his black waves unruly and kind of just everywhere. He is wearing a silver armour set with a red heart on either sides of his pauldron. He is holding a long sword which has been stabbed into the ground for security, and a large shield which also has a heart on it.
The paladin. <3
El is on Mike's right side, holding his arm, with her brown locks tied into cornrows, but only halfway down her head - the rest is disheveled and free to flow in the wind. She is in a long, white dress and a jade green cape that flows over her forearms, a hood hanging over her hair slightly. In contrast to Mike, she is holding a lengthy, thin staff with an emerald-looking enchanted jewel on the brink of the item.
The mage. <3
I am on Mike's left side, my scalp partially covered by a purple, star-patterned hat atop my head. I am wearing a matching silk cape, blowing in sync with the bleak, windy day. I also have a staff, except this one is crooked and made of a strong, spruce wood material.
The cleric. <3
Lucas' buzzed down coils are mostly covered by a light green hooded cape. The general theme of his outfit is nature, shown by the leafy cuffs on each of his wrists and sage linen clothing, layered for protection. A dagger is visible in his pocket, as well as his arrow-filled quiver hanging off his back.
The ranger. <3
Max is positioned around half a meter away from Lucas, on the right side of the page, sitting on the grassy field that the party are in. Two strands of her hair on either side of her temple are tied into braids, being held together by a silver magical hair clip at the back of her head, shaped as a lightning bolt. She is wearing a blue-red patterned bodysuit and has a skateboard on her lap, one that can shoot out bolts of electricity when gliding at a very high speed.
The zoomer. <3
Dustin's curly locks go down to his shoulder at the longest, the upper part of his hair tied into a short, springy ponytail. I decided to paint him more in the center since despite Mike being the dungeon master, Dustin tends to take control a lot during our gameplays. He is wearing a faded red cape and has a guitar hung up against his back, which has a shiny golden lining that trails over the edges of the instrument.
The bard. <3
"So..." I finally speak, since the group have been analysing my painting for what seems like a minute now.
"Wow." Mike says in awe (at least I hope), placing down his new kitten.
"Will- this is amazing!" Max finishes for Mike, turning to me with an excited smile.
"Yeah! It's really really good, dude." Lucas places his hand on my shoulder comfortingly.
"Gosh, I love the detail you put into it." Dustin is still inspecting my painting, concentration practically visible in his pupils.
"T-thanks guys." I stutter, looking down at my lap shyly.
I'm so glad they like it. Ever since I completed it the other day, I have been nothing but worried of what they would think about it.
To Be Continued...
a.n.
I was gonna squeeze the whole xmas day in this chapter but I'm now realising that would probably take too long. Anygays hope you enjoyed it <33