It had been a prank - putting pink hair dye in Billy's shampoo.

He had been so annoying about Max' being late for the hundredth time the last weeks. She just wants to hang out with her friends. Why is he always there, knocking at the door, getting on her nerves about a stupid curfew that isn't even meant for him? Can't he be happy for her that she's making friends?

"Max!" Billy screams, barging into the living room where Max sits with Neil and her mother, watching a movie. "What did you do?"

For a second Max is really proud of herself. Billy's mullet is all pink, only the roots are still a bit blonde. It looks surprisingly pretty.

She can't hold back a smug grin. "What are you talking about?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Billy yells.

The smile drops from her lips when Neil turns to Billy.

"You need to cut it off."

Billy freezes. Max isn't sure he's breathing. "No."

"Billy, you can't be seen like this. We just moved here, we can't afford that kind of reputation." Neil gets up from the couch. "If you don't do it, I do it."

"No, dad. Sir." Billy's eyes get big and wide, reminding her of a deer caught in the spotlight of a car. She has never seen him like this. Even when Neil slaps him, he never looks scared. Now he does.

"It will be gone in a few days," Max says, feeling sick all of a sudden. She didn't want to get Billy in trouble with Neil. Neil's anger isn't good for anyone, especially Billy.

Neil walks over to Billy, looming over him. Billy's back hits the wall.

"Either you cut it off or I will."

A tear runs down Billy's cheek which he doesn't even seem to notice, because he's still staring at Neil.

"Please, dad."

"It's my fault," Max says. "Neil, I didn't-"

"It's okay, Maxine," Neil smiles at her. "His hair is too long anyway."

I also thought it would have been such a cool idea if Jonathan took Max's place and he's the one that stays in a coma for 2 years and Max wakes up and recovers in the meantime but we know he's gonna be in the show until the 4th episode at least so unless the time skip happens in the middle of the season I don't think it's gonna happen... Jonathan could have stayed in the coma, Will would be emotionally affected by that... but then when they kill Vecna Jonathan wakes up in the hospital and his mom and Will are there and Will made him a mixtape 🥹

No bc I see so many people (mostly on tiktok) saying they think Max will die in vol 2 but idk. I feel like they’ve teased her death way too much for it to actually happen (same with Steve) and that if they actually go through with it it’d be way to predictable to make a huge impact.

But also… have any of y’all seen Fear Street? In Fear Street 1978 (Directed by Leigh Janiak, Ross Duffer’s wife), Sadie Sink (who also plays Max) plays Ziggy Berman, a teenage girl stuck at a 70s summer camp with a murderer on the loose. At the end of the previous movie in the Fear Street trilogy (Fear Street 1994), you learn that at the summer camp massacre there was only one survivor, named C. Berman. Viewers spend the entirety of the second movie assuming that Ziggy dies, and the survivor is her older sister Cindy, based on the first initial of the survivors name. They spend the whole movie teasing Ziggy’s death. However, at the end it’s revealed that Cindy was not C. Berman- Ziggy was, as her real name was actually Christine, and Ziggy was just a nickname.

So what if the same/a similar thing is being done with Max this season? What if they’re putting so much focus on Max dying to trick us, and it’s actually someone completely different?

To really drive home the similarities, here’s a recount:

Ziggy Berman and Max Mayfield are played by the same actress, Sadie Sink

Fear Street 1978 spends most of the movie teasing Ziggy’s death. Stranger Things S4 spends most of Vol 1 teasing Max’s death.

Fear Street is directed by Leigh Janaik. Stranger things is directed by Ross Duffer. Leigh and Ross are married.

Idk if I’m just reading too much into it but I wanted to put it out there. Thoughts?

an assortment of dialogue prompts // accepting @shezoomer sent: ❛ i don’t think i’ve ever seen you smile. ❜ is max teasing leksa? yes, she is <3

lexa makes a face, complete with the eye roll, when she turns to face the redhead. " i smile all the time. why do you guys always think i'm so grumpy? " to be fair, she has a STOIC resting face. and sometimes her fuse is a little short. details. " you know where you could see me smile a lot? hellfire club. d&d is fun. " lexa goes through a whole plethora of emotions while playing dungeons and dragons, which is one of the reasons the game is so appealing to her. she also enjoys combat statistics, lore and some good ol fashioned improv. she's not truly trying to guilt max into joining the group, she just thinks she'd have fun if she gave tabletop a try.

smth smth this genre of sadie sink

Sometimes Billy wondered if his father hadn't left some part of himself behind, like a sickness left to fester in the untended darkness of Billy's mind. As if the blood and splitting cells underneath his skin weren't parting gift enough from the man who was father in little more than name. The last in a long line of men who hurt little boys that then grew up to hurt other little boys. A rusted, bleeding chainlink fence of hurt and turned blind eyes that Billy had torn apart with his own two hands to crawl through to the other side of paradise.

As if.

There was no paradise, only the promise of never again being beholden to the twisted metal growth that lay between him and the life he wanted for himself. He had screamed and cried at this fence many years before. But Max had taken the first swing at it.

There were bloodied nails and cracked chips of wood caught in the metal, a red dripping violence they'd passed down to her. Billy had merely dug his hands into the long nailed splintered bat soaked rage she'd left there and pulled. Pulled and held slippery metal spokes apart for them to both crawl under, to both leave behind with hands held tight. Maybe they'd find a place where they could tend their wounds together. Somewhere quiet and safe to wash the smell of iron off their hands.

(A sanctuary where Billy could burn the clinging grip of twisted rot his father had sowed in him down to ashes, and tear with freshly scrubbed hands what roots of it had dared try to settle in Max's heart.)

Happy Monday, y’all! Here is an update to Stranger Wars!

This chapter features the crew of the Falcon escaping the asteroid field and hiding from the Empire. Mike later decides to head to Bespin, where two friends of his reside and are the baron administrators. Meanwhile, El continues her Jedi training on Dagobah and experiences a vision of Mike and Will in danger.

This chapter also features the first appearance of Lucas and Max and they are much grayer than they are in the show. However, they have huge roles to play in the rest of the story.

Look for an update soon!

Tagging some friends: @poweredbycreativityandcake @willthecleric @general-kj @byliever @wylanvannecks @jesper-faheyss @dany-is-bored @estelinhabb @w1llb7ers

OPEN RP | Muse: Eddie Munson | Verse: Vampire AU

A jolt of terror struck him, startling him to sit upright, and the mixture of warm-freezing temperatures hit through his blood-soaked clothes. This was not right. He should not be here, or so he thought. Where had that void of darkness gone? That brief shred of comfort to ease the pain he had been in? Eddie was worried that perhaps he was sent, instead, straight to hell. It was fitting... It really was...

Until his gaze traveled, and he recognized the shapes of this world. Skies stained in crimson, or was it his vision? The Upside Down. He felt that same sort of pain in his body returning, all through him, and he was not sure if his mind was fine with it, or not.

Grimacing, he stood up fully, surprised that his legs even allowed it, and he turned slowly around to get a better view of where he was. He would ignore his own problems for the moment, as his thoughts went towards his friends. “Dustin...?” He called out, hoping to hear that voice, as it would bring him some sense of comfort. And still... This all did not feel real, like he was in a never-ending nightmare.

max and chrissy sitting in on a hellfire club session and both of them being extremely confused except chrissy is just “😃” the whole time and max is freely (but kinda nicely) scrutinizing the game

Max, who talked about running up to Billy to save him make the lyrics “And I’d get him to swap our places, be running up that hill (...) say only if I could” just hit different

@agentjadelance​ liked this for a starter from Eden, Max or Chrissy

“Usually people don’t show up here unless they are looking for something. So what are you looking for?” Max leaned against the door wiling to slam the door shut if she needed to.

@pctrkor​ || Billy & Max

For the months that followed after his alleged death, Billy wandered the Upside Down. Somehow he managed to heal from the stab wound in his chest. He’d miraculously avoided infection and sepsis. The wicked scar left on his skin and phantom pain were constant reminders of the trauma he’d suffered. There had been times when he’d barely survived the Lovecraftian horrors that existed in this hellscape, but he did. Clearly his will to survive was stronger than he’d realized. Billy didn’t know if there was a way to escape the Upside Down but he never stopped looking for one. And there was one thing that kept him going.

Max.

The loneliness in the Upside Down, and the fact he was still alive and breathing, put things into perspective. He had a lot of things to make up for when it came to his sister. Billy needed to apologize, needed to tell her that he loved her and he’d only wanted to protect her even if he’d never gone about it the right way. He knew people didn’t change over night, and there were things he was going to have to work on but he was willing to try. This time he would stand up to his father and not allow the man to abuse him anymore. He would be kinder to Max and his stepmother because he’d forced everyone else in his life away from him. 

Billy didn’t know how long he was in the Upside Down when opportunity finally knocked. It could have been months or years but the rip in the fabric between realms had been ripped open and Billy couldn’t miss his chance. So he crawled his way out of the Upside Down like the living dead and found himself in a small trailer he didn’t recognize. He didn’t stick around for any of those creatures to come after him and drag him back. Billy ran for home, only to find another family living in the house he’d lived with his father, stepmother, and Max. He had no idea where they’d gone, or if they were even still in Hawkins. So he went to the next place he could think of.

Steve Harrington was not his friend but when he showed up on the guy’s doorstep, looking frightful, he’d taken pity on Billy. He’d patched him up, let him shower and borrow clean clothes. The shock of him being alive eventually wore off and Steve told him that his father had left Hawkins, Max and her mother had moved into the trailer park he’d just come from but his sister was in the hospital, in a coma no less. Billy didn’t stick around long. He asked Steve to drop him off at the cemetery where his empty coffin had been buried. He told Steve he didn’t need to stick around.

The sight of his own grave was chilling. He spent a long time simply staring at his name engraved on the headstone before finally noticing the envelope with his name on it. He’d picked it up and opened it, his chest tightening as he read Max’s letter to him. Tears had stung the back of his eyes as he tucked it back into the envelope and into the pockets of his borrowed jeans. Then he made his way to the hospital.

It was lucky that Max’s mom wasn’t there when he showed up, and he slipped past the nurse’s station and into her room. It broke his heart to see his little sister so broken. Billy wasn’t sure if she would be able to hear him as he sat down in a chair next to the bed. He leaned on the edge and watched her face for several minutes. 

“Max,” he said softly. “Please wake up.”

"I'm a nice person but I'm about to start throwing rocks at people." ( Max and anyone )

“wouldn’t recommend it. people might start throwing rocks back.” ben replied dryly., a small grin forming at the corners of his mouth. it seemed like an amusing contradiction, a situation he found himself in many times before he had turned to the dark side. then he wasn’t nice, he just threw rocks. “what’s the matter?”

Maxine Mayfield; Muse Info

“Dear Billy, I don't know if you can even hear this. Ever since you've left, everything's been a total disaster. For a while we tried to be happy, normal. I know that's impossible.”

Full Name;  Maxine Mayfield Nickname;  MadMax, Zoomer, Red Face Claim;  Sadie Sink Gender; Female Pronouns; She/Her Marital Status; Single Sexuality; Bisexual Age; 18 Date Of Birth; 1971 Occupation; High School Student Residence; Hawkins Indiana Species;  Human Family; Sam Mayfield (father), Susan Hargrove (mother), Billy Hargrove (stepbrother) Verses; None Biography; Max was originally from California, and had a keen interest in skateboarding from a young age. Following her mother's divorce and remarriage to Neil Hargrove in 1984, Max and her erratic stepbrother Billy moved to Hawkins, Indiana. Max quickly gained a reputation at the Palace Arcade for topping the game leaderboards, her high scores submitted under the player name "MADMAX". Max's high scores captured the attention of arcade regulars Dustin, Lucas, Will and Mike, who mistakenly assumed her to be a boy. After Maxine joined the boys' class at Hawkins Middle School, they realized the new girl and the mysterious MADMAX were one and the same. On Halloween, Max crossed paths with the boys while trick-or-treating, and despite being weirded-out by their earlier behavior, had a change of heart, and sought to befriend them. Dustin and Lucas, each secretly pining for her affection, wanted to make Max an official member of "The Party", but Mike pushed back against the idea. When Will started experiencing strange 'episodes', Max took notice, and became even more curious after learning of Will's disappearance the previous year. Though her new friends were initially reluctant to explain what had happened to Will, Lucas eventually divulged the whole history of events involving Will, Eleven, the Demogorgon and the Upside Down. Though skeptical at first, Max's convictions would shift after encountering a pack of faceless humanoid predators alongside Lucas, Dustin and their friend Steve Harrington. Max and her friends soon realized Will was possessed by "The Mind Flayer", a malevolent entity serving as the mind and heart of the Upside Down, whose influence in Hawkins was expanding in the form of gigantic, vine-like tunnels burrowing deep beneath the city. Max grew romantically attached to Lucas, but had an awkward first meeting with Eleven upon her return to Hawkins. After standing up to an erratic and violent Billy after his assault on Steve at the Byers house, Max further proved her worth, stealing Billy's car and transporting the group to the underground tunnels. There, they assisted in the fight against the Mind Flayer by attacking the Upside Down's shared hive mind. After defeating the Mind Flayer, Max attended the Snow Ball with her new group of friends, and after sharing her first kiss with Lucas, would begin a relationship with him. By the summer of 1985, Max had befriended Eleven, while going through cycles of dating Lucas, breaking up with him and getting back together again. However, to Max's discomfort, the Party's attention shifted to Billy after he was noted to be acting unusually. The group would later discover that Billy had become possessed by the Mind Flayer, prompting the Party and their allies to band together to defeat them. While the group battled the Spider Monster with fireworks at Starcourt Mall, Eleven reminded Billy of his humanity; her words prompted Billy to sacrifice his life to save Eleven's, which horrified and traumatized Max. Despite her rocky relationship with Billy, Max was deeply affected by her stepbrother's loss and experienced a profound sense of grief, survivor's guilt, and depression. Three months later, Max, along with the rest of the Party, tearfully said goodbye to the Byers and Eleven, who had been relocated to California by Dr. Owens. Months later, Max still struggled with Billy's loss, suffering from frequent nightmares in which she would relive the moment of his death. She isolated herself from her friends, breaking up for good with Lucas. However, in March 1986, she decided to help her old friends investigate the murder of Chrissy Cunningham, who died across the street from her home. After learning that Chrissy, like her, had been seeing the school counselor, Max and her friends broke into the counselor's office to find clues relating to Chrissy's death. Max realized she was experiencing the same symptoms as Chrissy and began seeing disturbing hallucinations superimposed onto the world around her. Max and her friends came to the conclusion that she had been 'cursed' by a mysterious Upside Down entity dubbed "Vecna", and that she didn't have much time to live. However, Max was able to survive when her friends played her favorite song over her headphones, providing her with an anchor to reality, and giving her the strength to defy Vecna and return to reality. After discovering Vecna's true plan, the group came up with a plan of attack to defeat Vecna, in which Max would act as bait to distract him, while Nancy, Steve and Robin would attack his real body in the Upside Down. At the abandoned Creel House, Max made herself vulnerable to Vecna's influence, turning off her cassette player. She began hallucinating again, but to her surprise, Eleven appeared in her visions, via her power of psychic projection. However, Vecna overpowered Eleven, and began killing Max. Eleven found the strength to overcome Vecna's control, and at the same time, Nancy, Steve, and Robin set Vecna's physical form ablaze with Molotov cocktails. Though Max initially survived Vecna's second murder attempt, she was blinded and her limbs were broken; for a moment, her heart even stopped. Her death triggered the opening of the fourth and final curse gate, wreaking havoc across Hawkins. However, Eleven used her abilities to restart Max's heart. She was brought back to life, but remained comatose, teetering on the boundary between life and death.

@aigonakru​​     max gets some fall shenanigans  ( it’s what she deserves ! )

            lexa couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon. the air is cool, but the shining sun BALANCES out the temperature. the leaves are in various stages of color, completing the perfect autumn feel. around them, people are roaming the pumpkin patch, going on hay rides, and participating in other festivities on the farm. she glances at max beside her. “ so, the haunted maze doesn’t start until dusk, but we can hang out till then. and if you’re not up for that, it’s totally fine. ” the redhead usually enjoys all  things horror and spooky related. but...it’s been a ROUGH couple of months. witnessing your shitty step-brother die is not something one easily recovers from. even if the relationship was always less than stellar. “ want to get something to eat? ” the smell of roasted corn and apple cider is mouth-watering, and they haven’t had lunch yet. 

au where Steve is a famous Disney kid and Eddie is a teenaged singer-songwriter. They get pushed together at events because they're close in age, but they just quietly dislike each other.

Steve's got a new show starting, a spinoff of the one that made him a household name. They hire a newcomer, Robin Buckley, to play his best friend and the two quickly become BFF in real life.

The show runs for two seasons but when it comes time to renegotiate contracts, neither star is interested. They're older now, ready to live life on their terms and not the company's, or in Steve's case, his parents.

As soon as the finale airs, Robin and Steve celebrate by going to a gay club. A few weeks later, an interview is released where Steve comes out as bi and talks about how his parents mistreated him; how they worked with the network to pressure him to be a perfect "all-American" kid even off screen.

Meanwhile, Eddie's an impossible level of famous. He's had number-one hits, won a Grammy, headlined an arena tour, achieved every dream he had for himself as a kid growing up in a trailer park in Indiana. He's not shocked by the news that Steve is leaving Hollywood, but he's flabbergasted that the guy isn't straight. When Eddie reads the interview, he gets this weird pang in his chest, almost like regret. But he never even liked Steve.

Steve isn't in the news again and Eddie doesn't think of him for a long time.

Steve goes to college. He loves it. Not because he's great in his classes, or anything, but because he's free to be himself for the first time. He makes friends and goes to parties and relaxes. He and Robin share an apartment.

After a few semesters, Steve decides to take a couple of theater classes, and is quickly cast in campus productions. In the vague anonymity of college theater he rediscovers his love of acting. No one has expectations of him, no one forces him to perform. He graduates and slowly starts appearing in small roles in Indie films, gathering critical acclaim. He feels good. Happy. Hopeful.

Eddie is blissfully unaware of Steve's career resurgence, experiencing his own musical highpoints, until the day where he's scrolling Twitter, sees a Variety headline that's getting a bunch of attention, "Steve Harrington in talks to star in Max Mayfield's first film." Eddie's livid.

"Maxine, what the fuck?" He growls when she answers his call.

They grew up together in the same Indiana trailer park. When she moved to Hollywood to start a career as a screenwriter, Eddie was by her side. And when her first script wound up on the Black List, his involvement on the soundtrack and original songs sealed her production deal.

She gives a long suffering sigh. "Munson," she grumbles. "I know you have a weird history with this guy, but I swear he's the right choice."

"He's a stuck up rich boy who's never been in trouble in his life."

"He's changed."

"Doubtful," Eddie sneers.

"Look. I'll set-up a meeting. Come hang out and you'll see what I mean." Before she hangs up she adds, "Call me Maxine again and I'll end you."

They invite Harrington to Eddie's recording studio. His hopes are not high for this meeting, so he's already a little thrown when Steve Harrington walks in, all grown up. He's in a crimson sweater, tight jeans, hair grown long so that it flops around his face in tousled waves that actually look genuine, windswept and golden. Eddie's eyes instinctively trace the scatter of moles on Harrington's face and neck, a pang of something hitting deep in his gut. Fuck, this dude is beautiful.

"Harrington," he greets, sticks out his hand. Eddie barely hears the answering, "Munson," because instead of a handshake, Harrington pulls Eddie in for a hug. Muscles bunch under the sleeves of the sweater, against Eddie's chest, and he's assaulted by the scent of cedar and sunshine and Steve. Eddie's not prepared for any of this.

They make small talk, Harrington sharing about going to college, falling in love with theater, Robin Buckley who he calls his soulmate. Eddie's head rings with how wrong he was about this guy; the pretty kid he grew up alongside who seemed to have the world in his hands. Max was right, he's perfect. Except.

"Let's get down to it, Harrington," Eddie says. Can't bring himself to call him Steve yet, feels that will somehow change everything and he's not ready. "I'll admit that Mayfield had the right idea about you, but can you sing? Play guitar? You have to perform my music, dude. That's not a small ask."

Harrington smirks, asks for a guitar. He gets it settled across his lap before he speaks. "I started taking piano lessons when I was 4. Voice and guitar at 7."

Eddie belatedly recalls that Harrington's parents were the worst kind of stage-parents, pushing their cute kid to perform even as he sobbed about wanting to play soccer with his friends instead of going to auditions. He has a moment of shame that he forgets as the other man begins to play. It's one of Eddie's biggest hits, a ballad about a teenaged broken heart from a kid whose name he can't even remember.

Harrington's hair flops in a swoop over his forehead, his fingers move across the strings with ease, skill. His voice is a rasp, close mimic to Eddie's own, but not quite deep enough. Goosebumps spread across Eddie's arms, his neck, and warmth pools low in his gut.

Steve finishes the song, looks up, cheeks glowing pink, honey eyes bright. Eddie's fucking gone for this guy. He wants so badly he might choke on it.

"Good?" Steve asks.

Eddie's embarrassed suddenly. Unsure. He tugs at his hair. "Yeah," he laughs. "Good."

He reaches out to take the guitar, the one Steve's already handing to him, and their hands brush. Eddie flushes. Their eyes meet and Steve smiles. Eddie's thoughts are consumed with the desire to kiss his plush pink mouth.

"You wanna get dinner? Just you and me?" Steve asks.

"Yeah, Steve," he laughs. "I'd love to."

🎬🎸🎬🎸

Fifteen Months Later

"Former Teen Heartthrobs Make Love Connection?"

Fans of musician Eddie Munson and former child star, Steve Harrington, were in for the surprise of their lives last night as the men arrived together for the premier of Harrington's new movie, Small Town Sins, written by up-and-coming screenwriter Max Mayfield, featuring original music by Munson. While Harrington's performance and the movie itself are garnering quite a bit of positive buzz, it's being overshadowed by gossip about Harrington and Munson's budding romance. They walked the red carpet together, pausing for photos as a duo, holding hands and flirting. When asked for confirmation of their relationship, Munson answered, 'we're bros,' before winking and pulling Harrington close.

There's a TikTok video embedded below the article, showing the men being interviewed on the red carpet. Their arms are loosely around each others' waists, and when their eyes meet they catch and hang for a beat.

"So, longtime fans of both of yours are going feral online right now because of the rumors that you two used to hate each other. Is there any truth to that?" An off-camera voice asks.

The men laugh. "We've always been great friends," Eddie answers.

"Eddie thought I was stuck up," Steve giggles.

"I did not." Eddie slaps at Steve, who gives him an affectionate smile.

"Liar," Steve answers.

Eddie leans into the camera like he's telling a secret. "Harrington here was afraid of me."

"Fuck off, I was not." They wrestle around for a couple of seconds.

Steve shrugs Eddie off, straightening his suit jacket. "Okay, maybe I was a little intimidated back then, but then this morning you found a pretty rock and cried about it."

Eddie shrieks, swatting at Steve until someone in a black suit and name tag shoos them down the red carpet.

Eddie walks off first, so he misses Steve withdrawing a hand from his pocket and saying, "Still have the rock, though." He flashes the red, grey, blue striped stone at the camera.

His gaze drifts away, landing somewhere in the distance, hazel eyes soft and heart-wrenchingly fond.