Being Mike Wheeler’s twin was hard, he was more often seen than you. You thought it was nice though, not to be in the spotlight, not under so much pressure. Sitting on the sidelines you were able to appreciate the fluffy buzzing of bees in the flowers or the way dandelion seeds would blow smoothly in the wind when kicked. When a new family had arrived in Hawkins, Indiana you couldn’t help but pay more attention to the redhead girl that came along with

them.

Your brother didn’t take a liking to her at first, he refused her general presence when she was around. Lucas seemed overly fond of her, it was pretty quickly determined that he had developed a crush over the week she had resided in Hawkins.

You quite liked Max, she had a good head on her shoulders and she seemed to know what she wanted; at the moment that was being accepted into the friend group. Whenever you tried to ask Mike what he didn’t like about her he’d always get really angry and storm off, which wasn’t like him at all, but he had been acting weird since El left. Being the only girl of the group though you understood how Max had to have felt as you were occasionally left out of things due to

your gender.

A few weeks had passed, and things got weirder, not that they could really as the events from last year were strange. Dustin had found this ugly slimy lizard thing that grew three times the size of him and ate his cat, Will’s terror got worse as did his episodes, and on top of that Steve Harrington of all people started hanging around.

Tonight, had been a long one, Steve and Nancy were left to take care of the “kids” when Joyce and Jonathan were trying to smoke the mind flayer out of Will.

Steve was still unconscious from trying to fend Billy off, but Max swooped in with her heroics. She looked kinda scary as she screamed down at her brother if you were Billy in that position you probably would have shit yourself.

Billy’s Camaro swerved back and forth across the road as Max sat behind the wheel. You grinned watching Max try to find the pumpkin patch, you thought she had looked so badass standing up to Billy earlier that night. There’s no way you’d be able to threaten family like that, never the less your brother, given that Mike wasn’t an asshole that wouldn’t happen.

“Shh guys, he’s waking up!” Dustin yelled smacking your arm. Steve’s body was laid across the three of you in the back seat, for a small guy he was pretty heavy. You groaned when Steve sat up and ended up smacking his forehead against your nose.

“Sorry, y/n,” he mumbled placing a hand to his head. “Who’s driving?” Steve asked confused, turning to look at Dustin. Steve glanced at the front seat and just to their luck, Max glanced back at him at the same time. Steve started to scream, he started thrashing to get up from lying across your laps. You and Dustin started to scream back at Steve which only made it louder.

Mike started yelling at Max about where to turn which made the car swerve more and Steve kept yelling louder.

“Shut up, Steve!“ Lucas screamed smacking his legs. The car bumped against the sign that indicated you had arrived at the pumpkin patch. "Everybody out.”

You and Max stood next to each other putting your stuff on. “Good job standing up to your brother back there, I couldn’t imagine doing that,” you said to her quietly, so the others wouldn’t hear. Max shrugged in response but grinned looking at you. The other’s started down the pit but you stood still in fear.

“C'mon,” Max mumbled grabbing ahold of your hand and started down the hole, you being pulled by the hand you had no intention of letting go of. Taking small steps as to not trip over Max’s feet you guys followed Steve as he led you to the “heart” as the boys called it.

"This is it,” Mike confirmed with a nod. Your brother glanced toward you, he nodded lightly in confirmation that it would be okay. You let go of Max’s hand and pulled the can off your back to start pouring lighter fluid onto the vines and roots.

“Are we sure about this?“ you asked standing behind Steve.

“No,” Steve mumbled winding a hand around his back and pressing it against your shoulder in reassurance. Steve flicked his lighter open, the flame was small and didn’t provide much light, but fire was fire. Steve tossed the lighter to the ground, the area in front of you lit up in flames.

“Run!” Steve screamed taking off in the direction you came from.

You pushed your legs hard to try getting out as fast as possible, but for the quick second, you glanced up from your feet you ended up tripping on the ground. A vine wrapped itself around your ankle, starting to travel further up your leg. “Help! Guys! Help!“ you screamed thrashing your body and trying to scurry away from the vine.

Max acted quickly; pulling the switchblade from her pocket, which she had picked off of Billy before you all left the house, she ran over to you and started to slash at the vines. A hiss came from the surrounding area as the vine fell to the ground in pieces. Max grabbed your arms and pulled you up off the ground and dragged you behind her as the two of you followed the boys out.

Reaching the car Mike ripped you away from Max and pulled you into a hug. “I could have lost you,” he breathed squeezing you tighter.

“It’s okay, Max got me,” you reassured squeezing his shoulders in return. Releasing your brother, you turned back to Max and jumped on her, your arms wrapping around each other. “Thank you,” you mumbled into her neck quietly. She pulled away from the hug and grinned at you in response.

"Do you wanna go to the arcade with me sometime?” Max asked glancing down at her feet nervously. “Like just the two of us?”

“Like a date?“ you asked tilting your head at her. Max nodded shyly at you. You smiled widely at her in response and nodded your head wildly.

"If you make her cry, I’ll hurt you I don’t care that you’re a girl,” Mike threatened pointing a finger at her. Max nodded her head at him but turned back to look at you, the both of you smiling at each other.