Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
summary: after max hears some worrying noises, she finds herself resting in a hospital bed, unable to understand the world around her.
word count: 1k+!
gender-neutral reader, maybe a few hints of a female reader but mainly gender-neutral
ships included: lumax (lucas + max), max and reader relationship is platonic.
warnings: mentions of murder/death, pain, near death, if thereβs any missing please let me know <3
ANGST.
SPOILERS FOR VOLUME 2!
edited wattpad piece of mine. (-milevenx on wattpad!!)
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maxine mayfield, or also known as max, moved to hawkins, indiana in 1984 and began school the same year. she was quickly seen as the rude , βbitchyβ new girl, and you were seen as the complete opposite. kind, caring, well-known around school for good reasons.
despite the huge contrasts in your personalities, you and max surprisingly got along well - which immediately shocked your friend group.
βy/n, how did you manage to become friends with the new girl?β dustin, one of your other friends, questioned, shock evident in his words.
βi donβt know, dustin, maybe iβm just better than you.β you teased, grabbing the hat off his head and placing it on yours, βcome on, we need to go to the arcade.β
a few days after max joined your school, you were paired with her for a biology project. she realised just how kind you were and how you managed to smoothly throw in a few smart jokes here and there and decided to try and be your friend (which she succeeded at).
being maxineβs first friend at her new school, you hung out a lot. everyday after school, most weekends, school holidays, all the time. though, becoming friends with you meant she was friends with the boys, bringing a lot more trauma to you all.
youβd already experienced it and were a lot more educated, so when max was then told about it by lucas sinclair, you felt awful for her. nobody deserved to go through that, especially not a girl who just moved into town.
βhey, y/n, about everything that lucas just told me about, what do you usually do? fight? hide? run?β
βmax, weβll be okay. weβve fought a monster before, this one shouldnβt be too different.β you reassured the worried ginger girl infront of you. βdonβt worry, mayfield, weβll figure it out.β
worrying shouldβve been the top of your list. will began to have more visions, and was always getting rushed to the hospital. it never used to get as bad as it was getting. you worried for your best friend, heβd almost died once and it was likely to almost happen again.
you should've fought more and more, lives were sacrificed and lost to save will, this brought a large pile of guilt onto will and he felt awful.
not long afterwards was the snowball, and everyone had recovered enough to go.
lucas and max ended up getting together and going to the snow ball together, and you sat on the sidelines, silently hyping max up. you noticed dustin was also alone, so you asked to dance with him. the dance concluded rather quickly after that and you continued your life with all of your best friends.
then it got intense. a year went by, and something awful happened. the monster that had been in will's visions - the mindflayer - was back, and was possessing and murdering innocent people. it possessed max's brother, billy, eventually killing him.
a month after this, max cut you off. she began to stay in her house a lot more, and reduce herself to only listening to music as a way to pass the time. she changed a lot. she started taking pills and going to grief counselling in your new highschool.
even though her and billy never got along, she missed him dearly and his death took a toll on everyone. maxβs parents broke up and her step-father left, not being able to stand being around the family that billy was once in, and her mother started being more distant towards her.
she soon turned to you for help when she began to hear something that creeped her out.
"hey, y/n. i need your help."
"finally talking to me again, huh?"
"please, y/n."
"okay. hit me."
"i keep hearing a clock chiming. i ask everyone around me if they hear it and they don't. i keep seeing grandfather clocks around the school when i'm alone and i don't have a good feeling about it."
"i'm sorry, what?"
max explained once more and in more detail and you were left with hundreds of thoughts roaming through your head. then you got one that reminded you of things that you wish you could forget.
"could it be the-"
"i think so."
"shit. we should tell me others." max nodded in agreement.
you stood in the doorway of max's hospital room, your eyes switching from the state she was in to erica sitting in a chair in the corner of the room and lucas sitting in a chair next to her hospital bed.
he was reading her a book and stopped when he heard you walk in. tears began to fill your eyes, along with his. erica stood up to leave but not before saying goodbye to you and giving you a small reassuring smile.
you sat down opposite lucas on the other side of max's bed and took her hand in yours, squeezing it mostly for your own reassurance before turning your focus to lucas.
you'd been there when max had been attacked by vecna, and when she got rushed to hospital, and you'd visited every day for the past month, but that didn't stop the large fall of tears that occurred every time you came to see her.
you saw lucas there everytime you came to visit and you expected nothing less. even though they broke up over a year ago, you knew lucas still loved her and max had small feelings that had never left.
"she's not getting any better, is she?" you asked hesitantly. lucas shook his head sadly before opening his mouth to speak and closing it again. silence filled the hospital room for a few minutes as you and lucas sat there, admiring who had once been your very healthy, passionate skater friend.
"she loved you a lot, you know." lucas finally said, now taking one of your hands in his and replacing max's. it was now your turn to reply sadly, deciding on a small smile.
"yeah, i know," you hesitated, wondering if you should tell him or not, "she loved you too. no, not loved. loves."
lucas' head shot up almost immediately. "really?"
"yeah. before she cut me off, she never stopped talking about you; even after your break up. she still loves you, lucas. she would go on and on and on about you, it got quite annoying after a while but she's my best friend, so i just got on with it."
silence filled the air once more, the only sounds were monitors beeping and your's and lucas' deep breaths. these noises were soon replaced by small, stifled sobs coming from lucas. you immediately took your hands away from max's and engulfed him in a hug that he quickly readjusted and returned.
"max was lucky to have you as a best friend, y/n. even if she cut you off for a year." lucas said into your shoulder as you hugged.
"and i was lucky to have max." you said in between sobs.
β’Β°. *ΰΏΛ ΰΌβ‘ βο½‘Λ β
555, iβm here for you.
555 | transition and welcoming change. It is a friendly reminder and warning from your angels and guides that it is safe to make the change that is on your mind.