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Lucas smiles against the setting sun, letting the cool autumn air hit his face. He rides lazily on his bike—an activity he’s done far too little in the past year—around the parking lot.
“Oh!”
Lucas turns his head, eyes finding Max. Her skateboard is at her feet, sheer determination in her eyes. Determination he’s seen every day for a year as she’s rehabbed her body. That determination has cleared every benchmark set by doctors and physical therapists well before their targeted date. Because Max would always set her goals earlier, faster, bigger. And she’d always meet them.
That’s not to say it was easy. It was anything but. He’d lost count of how many times Max had broken down in front of him, snapping at him for offering his endless optimism and support, only to apologize with more tears minutes later. Or when Lucas had broken down in front of her. He’d promised himself he’d never let her see the toll her coma and then recovery took on him. But it had all come spilling out one night after a fight with his parents.
Surprisingly, admitting his weaknesses and struggles did more to boost her than any of his pep talks had.
But through it all, Lucas never lost faith that she’d be here, staring down one last hurdle.
“Come on, Max,” he whispers to himself, pulling to a stop to watch her.
Skateboarding was the last goal she’d set. So over the last few weeks, she’d re-learned. Most muscle memory had been lost with her atrophied muscles. But not all. And slowly, she climbed this final mountain.
She steps back on her board, pushes ever so slightly, slides her feet, and…
“Yes!” she shouts the second she lands. A successful heel flip.
Lucas’ bike falls to the ground behind him as he dashes toward her, whooping. She’s grinning and laughing when he reaches and embraces her, swinging her around a few times before setting her on the ground.
“You did it!” he says. “You’re amazing!”
Her hands wind around his shoulders, and she presses her lips to his victoriously. This is the kind of celebration he can get behind. He pulls her tight against him and deepens the kiss.
It takes only a moment for Lucas to realize his idea of deepening the kiss pales in comparison to Max’s version. She consumes him, one hand clenching his shirt at his chest, the other behind his neck, keeping him close while she attacks his lips.
He has to take a small step back to balance himself as she presses herself harder, closer. His hand sneaks just under her sweater and shirt to feel the warm skin at the small of her back.
He moans as she finally leans back, her heavy breaths dancing on his lips. “Wow…”
“Lucas?” she says.
“Yeah?” His voice cracks. She smirks as he clears his throat and tries again. “Yeah, Max?”
“Take me home?”
“Home?” he repeats, because his brain is having trouble keeping up with anything right now, blood traveling elsewhere as it is. “Are you done for the day?”
She nods. “Done skating.”
She’s got a glint in her eye that he likes the look of. He’s familiar with that glint and the wonderful fifteen minutes that usually follows when he sees it.
And so, trying not to make too big a fool of himself as he fumbles over himself, he puts his bike on the car rack, opens the door for his girlfriend, and drives her home.
-0-0-0-
Max is still buzzing with triumph when Lucas turns off his car. She leans over the center console to kiss him again.
“Mmm,” he hums against her mouth. “I’m liking this side of you.”
“Then you’re going to love me once we get inside.”
He laughs, and reluctantly pulls back. “Well then, let’s go.”
They don’t get halfway from his car to her front door before she tugs his hand and attacks him again. She can’t help it. All the love and admiration of him is constantly swirling in her, but right now it’s just so damn amplified.
“Your mom’s not home, right?” he asks, backing towards the front door and hardly moving his lips from hers.
“Late shift,” she says, gripping his arm, almost stumbling on his feet.
They break to go up her steps, and Lucas crowds behind her, pushing her hair to the side and kissing at her neck, while she fumbles spectacularly with her keys to unlock the door.
After she gets the door open and they’re inside, Lucas spins her around and pushes her back against the door. He brackets his arms on either side of her. How is it that feeling trapped is one of her biggest fears, but if it’s Lucas, she welcomes it? Craves it.
Heat sweeps through her as he kisses her with as much desperation as she can remember. She’s obviously lit him with the same fire that’s in her. Her hand sneaks under his shirt and runs up his stomach.
It must be a little cold, because his stomach twitches and he backs up just a smidge.
“Max, where is this coming from,” he laughs. She bites his bottom lip lightly. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“I…” She leans back and cups his cheek. “I’m back.”
He shakes his head. “You’ve been back for a year.”
“I know. And I have. But it's complete, you know? This journey back. I feel like me again.”
He considers her for a moment, and rests his forehead against her. “I haven’t felt like anything was missing.”
Her heart thuds pleasantly in her chest. She’s warm despite the chilly air they just left outside. And while the fire in her hasn’t gone anywhere, her affection for Lucas somehow swells to match it. “And I love you for it. But this last goal, that stupid trick…I’m not on the path back anymore. I arrived. I’m fully me.”
His eyes are soft with understanding. And then he smirks, pressing his hips against hers and pinning her to the door again. “And ‘fully you’ wants my body.”
“Dork,” she laughs, swatting his chest. “But yes.”
“To your bed? Or couch?” he asks before kissing her. She knows what he’s asking. Are they going to make out for a little bit, or will this need a closed door, in case her mom comes home early?
“Bed,” she confirms.
He surprises her by scooping her up under her legs to carry her. “For old time’s sake,” he says with a wink.
“You know I’m fully capable of walking now, right?” she asks, but his strong arms under her only feed the flame dancing in her.
He kisses her in response and starts walking to her room. She wraps her arms around his neck to ease his burden a little.
He carries her through the door and kicks it closed behind him. He sets her down on her bed, where she can only stare up at him hungrily. She doesn’t even look at the whiteboard in her room, marked with her goals. She can worry about that later, when Lucas isn’t looking so tasty, leaning over her like this. “Max, baby, what do you want?”
Her answer is to grip his shirt, and pull him on top of her. He settles between her legs, and she feels his arousal. While that’s not completely new, grabbing him around his waist and pinning his hips to her is.
“I want…you.”
She can still see the question in his eyes. Their physicality has been ramping for the last few weeks, since she’s hit some of her final mobility and strength goals. He’s been so patient, but he has to know how insane he makes her, too. Right?
He dips his head to kiss her, and rubs gently against her while he does it. She gasps as pleasure pulses through her body.
He lifts his head, and the fire in his eyes is undeniable. “Are we…do you want…is this…”
It’s like he’s back at the Snowball dance and they’re 13 years old. Unable to ask the question. He’s become so confident with her, but she doesn’t blame him for not taking this step lightly.
“I want to sleep with you,” she says bluntly. He swallows, eyes darting between hers. “If you do.”
He smiles. “It’s hilarious that you think you have to ask.”
“Says the guy who hasn’t gotten my clothes off despite how obviously I want your hands on my skin.”
“Okay,” he deadpans. “You’re lucky I love your smart mouth so much.” He proves it with a quick kiss.
Before she can reply, he shifts them so she can sit up while he tugs at her shirt. Fleeting hands over clothes. Hands just under clothes. That’s all they’ve done. She’s wanted more. She knows he’s wanted more. But it’s been difficult to take the big steps when all of her recovery steps have been so incremental.
She raises her arms so he can pull her sweater and shirt off. His eyes soak her in as he drops her clothes to the side. “Max,” he whispers. The obvious desire in his eyes and in his voice sparks a need inside her. “You are so beautiful.”
He leans forward to press his lips to the underside of her jaw. He traces hot, wet kisses down the column of her neck, pausing briefly along her collarbone, before dipping lower to her chest. One hand at her waist, he drags the other slowly up, his thumb making her stomach flip as it skims across her skin. He covers her breast and squeezes her while his lips find the edge of her bra.
Her heavy breathing fills her room. “Lucas,” she gasps as he moves his hand over the fabric of her bra. At the sound, he lifts his mouth to kiss her again.
Good. His lips are familiar on hers. It grounds her. Makes her realize she needs his skin, too.
She lifts the hem of his shirt. He gets the idea and pulls it off. He’s fit. She’s known this; seen him without his shirt before. They’ve even gotten it off a couple times in this room. But that’s about as far as they’ve gone. She leans forward to kiss his chest, letting her hands roam along his side and back.
She presses gentle lips to the scar along his chest, where a demogorgon had gotten him the day before she woke up. She peers up at him to see him watching her, adoration in his gaze. She traces the scarred skin with its slightly rubbery texture.
“I like having a reminder,” she whispers.
“That I got handled by a demo?” he asks with a soft smile.
“That you stood between one and the kids,” she says.
Their lips crash together, falling back to the bed. He shifts to her side, propping himself up on his elbow. Without breaking his hungry kisses, he rests his hand lightly on her stomach.
“This okay?” he asks as his hand starts lowering.
She can only nod, heat swirling in her, desperate for his touch. His hand dips under her waistband, and she gasps against his lips when he touches her.
“Like…like this?” he asks.
She gives fast little nods of her head, because it’s all she can manage. He kisses her again. This time, even his familiar lips don’t ground her. His touch is too much, too good. He’s too good. Always giving. Always giving.
“Wait,” she breathes out.
His eyes widen and he freezes. “What? Did I do something wrong?”
She shakes her head. “No, no. You’re amazing. I just…” she reaches down and pulls his hand out to rest on her stomach again. “I’m back,” she says.
Confusion on his face. “What?”
She clears her throat, trying to get her words to match her feelings. “I’m me again,” she says. “And…and you’ve been taking care of me for so long…I don’t need that anymore.”
He frowns at her. “Max, I don’t know what you’re saying.”
She kisses him. He relaxes a little at the action. “You’ve been so good to me, Lucas. It’s been such a long road back here. Not just physically. But emotionally, and tutoring for all the classes I missed, and so much more. Being with me every single day. And that’s just since I woke up.”
“Is this because I carried you in here?” he asks, still confused. “Because I thought that was romantic. I wasn’t doing it because I thought you couldn’t!”
“That’s not it,” she smiles at him. “That was romantic, if a little dorky.”
He gives her his best glare before matching her smile. “So what are you saying?”
“I’m back now,” she repeats. “You don’t need to put me first anymore.”
He shakes his head. “I wanted to do all that,” he says. “I love you, Max. I still want to take care of you. It’s not like there’s some debt to pay here.”
She nods, feeling a sting in her eyes. “I know. And I still want you to take care of me. You’re the only person I want to take care of me. But for tonight, can we do this together? Don’t put me first?”
He studies her for a long time, and she watches him figure her out. She can see it in his eyes. “You’re back,” he says. “Our dynamic can shift now.”
“I want this to be a new step in our relationship, and I want to take that step—”
“Together,” he says with her.
She nods.
“Okay,” he says with a smile. “I can do that. Just…um…know that whenever I’ve thought about this, I was always counting on being able to take care of you first. Because I can’t guarantee it’ll happen in the, uh, time we’ll have together.”
He cringes as he talks around his worry of not lasting long. Max only laughs at him. “That doesn’t matter to me.”
“This time,” he grumbles good-naturedly. “Just know I’m going to take care of you in the future.”
She kisses him. “I never had a doubt.” She reaches behind her to undo the clasp of her bra. If their brief chat had done anything to lessen Lucas’ excitement, it returns in an instant as his eyes widen. He reaches up and helps remove the piece of clothing.
“I’m going to run out of ways to call you beautiful,” he says, eyes drinking her in. She fights the instinct to cover herself. She doesn’t want to hide anything from Lucas. Besides, the way he looks at her feels so damn good.
She works at his pants, the button a little tricky at this angle. He chuckles, and helps her out. She’s content to watch him as he pushes his pants down to his thighs, only to remember he needs to kick his shoes off. A wave of heat rushes through her as she sees the outline of his arousal in his underwear.
“You too,” Lucas says, shaking her out of her stare. He struggles for a minute with the button of her pants, too, but then just decides to tug them down without loosening them.
“Lucas!” she laughs.
“I’m impatient,” he grins at her, and works them over her hips and down her legs.
They’re not the most elegant or coordinated in their undressing, but they get the job done.
With just the last of their underwear still on, Max reaches for Lucas. His breathing stutters as she touches him lightly, experimentally. Her eyes lift to his face; he’s dazed like she’s never seen him. She bites her lip and reaches for his waistband. This time, he lets her undress him, lifting his hips and legs until she can toss his underwear onto their pile of clothes.
He’s bigger than she expected—not that she had much of an idea of what to expect. The occasional picture that she immediately looked away from, girl-talk in locker rooms, and Lucas’ arousal pressed against her through multiple layers of clothes wasn’t enough for her to have known what to really expect.
She reaches out to touch him again, and hesitates. She looks up, and Lucas shyly nods at her. She smiles, and wraps her hand around him. He moans with pleasure.
She moves her hand, and looks back up at Lucas for confirmation. “Okay?”
“Yeah,” he lets out a pleased laugh. She’s surprised how much his pleasure is turning her on. “Yeah, that’s good.” But then he grabs her hand and stills her. “But you said we do this together.”
“Right,” she says, and releases him.
“Can’t believe I just told you to stop doing that,” he chuckles, but she thinks he’s more than happy when he moves his hands to her hips and pushes down her underwear.
And then they’re completely bare. There have been countless times Max has felt more vulnerable with Lucas than this. Emotionally raw and at her lowest points: exposing the worst parts of herself to lure Vecna out, tearful breakdowns when rehab hit bumps in the road, all the shit that went down with her dad that Lucas had a front row seat to. Hell, she spent months barely being able to move, completely reliant on him to take care of her. Still, to have this kind of vulnerability completely by choice brings a new charge to them.
“I love you, Lucas,” she whispers while he takes her in, hand on her hip. He lifts his gaze to her eyes, and the heat there is replaced with something so soft and pure, she’s worried it might shatter if she stares too hard.
He leans forward and kisses her. His hand squeezes her backside while she rests hers on his strong chest. Then, slowly, without needing to speak or coordinate, they move their hands. Gentle, experimental, wonderful. She gasps as he finds all the ways to make her feel good. His breathing grows sharp against her lips while she strokes him.
“Max,” he whispers after long blissful moments. “I don’t have any condoms or anything.”
“You can pull out,” she tells him. She trusts him.
“Do you have, like, tissues or something? I don’t want to make a mess.” He cringes. “Not that I have any experience doing that or anything.”
She laughs, and he grins sheepishly at her. “Have I been leaving you a little frustrated recently or something?”
He laughs, but seems genuine in his response. “Honestly, not all that much. When you broke up with me a few years ago? That was probably the worst time. I was a real degenerate. But now…now I’ve just been looking forward to this with you, not trying to simulate it.”
She kisses him before pointing to her nightstand where a box of kleenex sits next to her vase of daisies, which Lucas always keeps filled for her.
“Okay,” he says. “Are you ready? Do you need anything first?”
She nods. He’d prepared her beautifully. “I’m ready.”
“Tell me if you need anything,” he says before rolling on top of her. He braces himself on either side, but she welcomes the weight of him he lets rest on her. Then he presses against her and eases inside.
She lets out a gasp. It’s not quite painful. The stretch of him is somehow uncomfortable and wonderful at the same time.
“Okay?” he asks.
She nods and tilts her head to kiss him. “Just go slow for a minute,” she whispers against his lips.
“Of course.”
“How are you?” she asks, shifting slightly as her body gets used to him.
He groans. “Much better if you didn’t move like that?”
She frowns. “Wait, am I hurting you?”
“God no,” he laughs. “I don’t think you realize how hard it is for me not to be moving right now. You are like…the best thing I’ve ever felt. By a million times.”
She joins in his laughter, flushed with excitement and love. She drags her fingertips over his back. “You can move a little,” she tells him.
So he eases deeper inside her. His gaze is attentive, watching her face for any reaction. He’ll find only love. Whatever discomfort there was before is fading fast, and instead her body urges her to shift again. To clench around him.
His moan is so satisfying. “Max, I swear if you do that again, I’m not responsible for—”
“Move,” she whispers, leaning up to his ear.
He doesn’t thrust harshly, but his movement does elicit another gasp from her. “Talk to me,” he says, voice strained as he stills himself again. He holds himself over her, eyes boring into hers.
“So good,” she says, and he relaxes under her fingertips.
“Oh good,” he says with another shallow thrust. “Cuz you are fucking incredible, and I don’t know how I would’ve stopped.”
She shivers at his words, and a sparkle appears in his eye when he sees their impact. He dips his head and nips at her earlobe. “If you knew the things I’ve dreamed of doing to you, Max.”
“God, Lucas,” she moans, shifting her hips in time with his movements. “You’re such a dork.”
She can feel his grin in his words. “And it’s working.”
She nods. “I hate that it’s working.”
Something about this sweetest guy in the world talking dirty does all the things to her. She lowers her hands to his backside to squeeze him and urge him faster. He obeys her direction, and they find a rhythm that has Max squirming.
She hadn’t known exactly what to expect during their first time. She knew she’d enjoy it because she’s with Lucas. Because she’s wanted to see and feel all of him for so long now. Because she loves him, and she looked forward to any new expression of that love. She’d also been worried. Insecure. Ignorant.
What she hadn’t expected is for it to feel so good. So after some time of reveling in the pleasure of it all, she’s surprised by her answer when Lucas slows and lifts himself slightly up and asks, “Any chance you’re close?”
It’s obvious he’s on the verge of losing it. His face is pure bliss. His eyes are blown and it looks like his slowed pace is taking a whole lot of willpower that he’s close to losing. The fact that he’s concerned about her pleasure in his current state is a testament to how giving he is.
“Yeah actually,” she breathes out. Just seeing him like this brings her closer to the edge. She moves her hand between them “If I can just…”
“Of course, yeah,” he says, shifting slightly to allow her fingers easier access.
It’s no surprise that Lucas doesn’t have some need to be solely responsible for getting her off. In the same way that he didn’t have a need to be the one taking care of her for the past year. He took care of her because he loved her, not because it made him feel a special way about himself.
She truly didn’t need further proof that they’d excel in this next phase of their relationship that she wanted for them. But this small evidence that they can do this together puts a distant fear to bed. There will be no wrestling for roles or control with Lucas. Only love, as they find themselves in their new world. Together.
She stares into his beautiful eyes and moans his name as she falls apart.
Moments later, as pleasure still cascades through her, Lucas pulls out of her and dives for her tissue box beside her bed. She watches, curious and turned on while he finishes. He wipes himself clean while their heavy breaths fill the room. After a few moments where they catch their breaths, he finds her gaze and grins so stupidly, she slaps his leg.
He tosses the tissue away—luckily making the shot from her bed, because she’s not sure she’d have let him out of this bed to clean it up—and then collapses on top of her again.
They kiss lazily between soft words. “That was incredible,” he says.
She scratches his back lightly, prompting a groan against her lips. “It was perfect,” she admits.
Her body is sated and tired and fulfilled. Based on just how heavy he lets himself be on top of her, Lucas feels the same way. “I love you,” he says with a long, slow kiss.
They shift a little, so she can cuddle into his side and throw an arm over his middle. Her bed is small, but it doesn’t matter when she wants no space between them.Their legs intertwine. Distantly, she knows they shouldn’t fall asleep here. But she’s too content to give those thoughts much weight. She kisses his shoulder and traces fingers over his chest.
“I love you, too.”
-0-0-0-
Lucas wakes to Max extricating herself from him. They’d become spectacularly tangled, so he doesn’t blame her for jostling him awake. It’s late in the night, not early the next morning, and he has to blink a few times to get the bleariness out of his eyes.
He’s content to just watch her, though, as she sits up in bed. Her creamy skin is so soft in the pale moonlight that breaks through Max’s window. He’s about to reach out to touch her when she stands. He props himself up on his elbow to get a better look at her.
He traces her perfect body, those curves and glowing skin. He’s still in awe that he’s finally allowed to see her like this. Her fiery hair falls over her shoulders and back. It’s curly, messy, and a little shorter than she used to wear it. He wants to run his hand through it now.
She stands in front of her whiteboard, just a couple steps from her bed, and picks up a marker. Lucas smiles as she pops the cap off of the marker.
He’d known these goals were important to her. Some were physical, with key benchmarks for her improvement. Like her first unaided step, walk a mile without help, do 10 sit-ups.
Others were related to school. Pass Junior-level math and english. Beat Lucas’ stupid flash cards. Become a Senior in time to graduate with the party.
Others, more emotion-focused. Graduate from counseling. Confront her dad for not coming to visit from California. Don’t snap at Lucas for ten days for being the best boyfriend ever.
On the bottom of the board: Do a heel flip. The final goal on the board. Lucas hadn’t realized how meaningful it was to her to finish this list of goals. It might have been a journey, where every step mattered. But this final goal wasn’t just a step. It was a door that she’d just walked through. And if tonight is any indication, Lucas is thrilled for what’s on the other side.
She takes her marker and draws a line through the final goal.
He gives her a moment to study the completed board. Her shoulders lift with a deep breath before she lets it out.
“I’m proud of you,” he says softly.
“Jesus!” she shouts while she spins around. “Lucas!”
He laughs at her startle. She tilts her body and covers herself poorly with her hands and arms.
Lucas shifts to the edge of the bed and sits up, pulling back the blankets. He reaches out and grabs her arm at her elbow. “Come here,” he says softly, and pulls her arms away from herself. “You do know you’re literally the last person on earth that should feel any kind of insecurity about your body, right?”
She swallows and lets him open her back up. “Not insecure. You just scared the shit out of me, Stalker.” She gives him that playful smirk of hers.
“Good,” Lucas hums, and lets his gaze drop from her beautiful face, inspecting her without any shame. She flushes, but doesn’t try to cover herself again. Her eyes show strength and confidence when he bites his lip and looks back up at her face. “Because you are one of one, Max Mayfield.”
She quirks an eyebrow and nods to his arousal. “Is this really all it takes? Looking at a naked girl?”
He snorts. “It’s my second time seeing the most beautiful girl alive naked. And at a couple nice new angles, I might add. I think my body is reacting perfectly appropriately.”
“You and I have different definitions of appropriate,” she laughs. But then she steps forward and straddles him.
His hands drop to her waist and he kisses her. “Seriously, Max. I’m so proud of you.”
Her smile is ethereal. He’ll live every day trying to make her smile like this. “Thanks, Lucas. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Sure you could have,” he says. “Except for the goals that specifically name me, I guess.”
She shakes her head. “No. No I don’t think I could have. I couldn’t have made it back from Vecna without you, and I couldn’t have made it here without you.”
He lifts his head to kiss her, pondering what’s going through her head. What he can tell her. “Everything from here on out isn’t about reclaiming what was taken,” he says, trying to voice what he understood today meant to her. “It’s about building something even better.”
Her eyes glisten, and she nods. “Yeah. Of course you get it.”
“That means,” he says, and flips them onto her bed again. Her hair fans out on the pillow beneath her. “I get to take care of you and you won’t stop me, right?”
She laughs as he kisses along her cheek to her ear. “I did promise to let you.” Her flingers dance along his neck. “You know my mom might be home, right?”
“If she is, she’s already seen my car,” Lucas says against her neck as he kisses downward. He can’t stop moving his hands all over her. There’s still so much new skin for him to explore. “You’re just gonna have to keep your moans in check, so she can be in denial about what we’re doing in here.”
Max scoffs, but it’s a little breathless with his ministrations. “You’re ridiculous. But yeah, you could do literally anything and my mom would still love you. Your parents on the other hand…”
He kisses over her breast, experimenting with his lips and tongue, watching her the best he can to understand what she likes. “My parents love you,” he says, and squeezes her hand for reassurance. “They might have thought I was a little delusional for thinking you’d wake up from the coma after all those months, but they supported me. And they know you, so they totally get it.”
She smiles, pleased. “That doesn’t mean they’d be fine if we were in your room right now instead of mine.”
He chuckles, and kisses lower over strong abs. She’s worked so hard to get here, and boy has it paid off. “Yeah, I’m definitely getting in trouble for how late I’ll be getting home.” He winks. “But this is more than worth it.”
She hasn’t understood where he’s been going this whole time until right at this moment. Her eyes widen and her breath hitches as he kisses lower still.
“I’m going to stop talking for a few minutes, okay?”
She can only nod. And together, tonight and forever, they build something new and beautiful.