#good friend lucas sinclair

[nicxxx5]

will and el go to defeat vecna by themselves and mike waits for them to return:

it's only been a couple hours, but it felt like days to mike. he spent the first couple pacing back and forth until he got tired and decided to sit with his head in his hands, gripping at his hair threatening to pull strands out. he couldn't help it. he knew el and will logically were the only ones who could finally defeat vecna with their powers combined. that didn't mean he wasn't still stressed as fuck about something happening to them. after every thing they've been through, all the monsters they've face and all the people they've seen die, how could he not worry that the two people he cares about most more than anything walking straight into a life or death fight? still he sits and he waits.

lucas walks out from inside and joins him sitting on the porch of hopper's cabin. even though it was busted up from the fight with the mindflayer in 1985 it was still a common ground for all of them and a safe place after they fixed it up a little. mike turns his head a little to look at him but doesn't remove his head from his hands. lucas sighs and places a hand on mike's back in hopes of comfort.

"they're gonna be fine" lucas says to him. "they two of them are more than capable of taking that asshole down. you have to trust them"

"i do trust them" mike says without hesitation. "it's vecna i don't fucking trust. after everything they've been through with the upside down, all this fucking trauma, i just wish someone else could be the one to do it. i wish they weren't risking their lives for the rest of us" he gets more aggressive as he talks but by the time he's finished he sounds more distraught.

lucas sighs "i get it. trust me i do, and i don't want them to get hurt either. i don't want anyone else getting hurt because they risked their safety for the rest of us" he looks away from mike and stares ahead

mike makes a face as he remembers that another one of their party members is still technically in a coma from doing the same exact thing as will and el. he picks up his head and turns to look at one of his best friends "lucas-"

"it's okay mike" lucas looks at him and gives him a half-hearted smile. he turns and looks straight ahead again. "everything will hopefully go back to the way it was after that asshole's finally dead for good"

mike nods in agreement. he doesn't say anything else, mainly because he can't think of anything else to say and just let's his head hang.

they sit for maybe another 20 minutes before lucas places his hand on mike's shoulder suddenly as he scrambles to stand up, still staring straight ahead. "oh my god" he mumbles. mike looks at him confused and like he's insane before he looks straight ahead and scrambles to his feet himself. he gasps as he stares in front of them "holy shit"

up ahead two figures trudge toward them, silhouetted by the setting sun. exhausted, covered in dirt, blood and grime from the upside down, will and el smile at their friends as they stop about 30 feet from the cabin.

his heart's pounding as he stares straight ahead at the duo, because he's afraid if he looks away they'll disappear and he'll realize this was his mind playing tricks on him. but el continues to walk towards the cabin and now mike is sprinting at her. he envelopes her in a hug, pulling her tight to his chest as he feels that yes, she is real.

mike steps back from the hug and places his hands on her shoulders as he looks her up and down teary eyed, checking for injuries but also once again making sure that el really is standing right in front of him. he struggles to get the words out but eventually asks "you're okay?" el looks back at him with tears in her eyes as well but she's still smiling "i'm okay" she says. she takes a breath and still smiles as she says "and we did it. he's gone"

mike huffs out a breath of relief as she delivers that news to him. they did it. he smiles at her. they did it, vecna is dead and will and el-

mike snaps his head up to look past the girl in his arms to look at the boy who hasn't moved an inch since mike first noticed him when he was sitting back on the porch. his breath catches in his throat.

will is standing there. he's covered in dirt and upside down grime and there's a little bit of dried blood under his nose, but he's standing there and he's staring at mike.

mike drops his hands from el's shoulders as he shifts to the side to move around her. he stares at the boy in front of him for a moment before he walks over to him. he walks over quickly and determined as if he's going to disappear right in front of his eyes any second. he's about a foot away from him when he notices the glossy look in will's eyes as he gasps out "mike-". but mike doesn't let him finish. he doesn't say anything himself either as he grabs will and pulls him as close and as tight to him as he possibly can and buries his face in his neck and his shoulder.

he holds will as he takes a breath and smells the scent that has followed him since he was 5 years old. the smell of linen, pencil shavings, vanilla, home. from that breath, mike finally relaxes, and as he continues to hold on to will like he never plans on letting him go, and as he feels will's arms wrap around him as well and grip on to his shirt, he lets go and sobs.

he sobs in relief as the most important person in his life, the person who he knows like the back of his hand, better than himself, the person who has been by his side most of his entire life, the person who makes him feel wanted and needed, the person he cares about the most, the person he loves the most, is in his arms alive, breathing, and real. he feels neck get damp and will's body shake against his but honestly, he can't tell if that's the cause of his own sobs or will's. regardless he doesn't care because will is in his arms and he's okay, and he doesn't plan on letting go.

[upsidedog]

i was gonna do this meme with the original format then a much better came to mind

[missjashin]

Steve and Eddie having to drive the kids somewhere and since there’s nine of them in total, ten if Robin is tagging along, they have to take two cars so obviously the ones with actual licenses have to drive. And Eddie is immediately like ���I’ll take the boys, you can take the girls” but starts to doubt his decision right away because uhm why does Steve seem so happy about that?

Eddie really thinks it would be easier this way. I mean he knows most the boys little better and. They’re all guys? Nerdy guys too. He can handle them. Steve can try to deal with the girls. Like Robin is a force to be reckoned with and he has to have Max AND Erica in the car with him as well ? With the addition of a girl with actual super powers? Yeah sure Eddie is the one who’s gonna have it easy…

Or so he thinks. He just forgot to take into account the fact that the girls? They all get along just fine. Meanwhile the boys? Sure they are best friends but they can have a debate over EVERYTHING. And they will too.

This would be most hilarious comedy scene honestly. Showing Steve and the girls in the car. The music is nice and everything is calm and they’re all smiling and having fun. Switching to Eddie and the boys and it’s all heavy metal and screaming and rage and something might be on fire too- and cut back to Steve and girls and they’re just happily singing along their pop tunes.

Eddie is gonna need a vacation after this car trip.

[kennahjune]

Fuck the Trauma Bond

A Lucas and the Party version of this

…

Lucas was bouncing the ball on the pavement of the basketball court at the playground. It was surrounded by high chain-link fences and the hoops on either end were worn and rusted and the pavement itself was cracked worse than the Upside Down ground.

He had never looked happier.

Dustin and Will looked on from where they sat at the top of the slide on the playground. Lucas was tossing the ball around with a couple of other kids from school that neither of them knew.

But Lucas knew them, and that was all that mattered, apparently.

Max, El and Mike were a little farther back from Lucas, past the lame excuse of a basketball court and in the street, where Max was showing Mike how to skateboard while El loitered and watched.

It was absolutely sweltering. Ranging from 92 degrees to the Devils fucking asscrack, in Dustin totally correct opinion.

He was bored out of his mind but didn’t mind watching Lucas bounce the ball. He looked happier bouncing an orange sphere than he did playing DnD, which unsettled Dustin in a way that made him lightheaded.

“Hey, Will.”

Will hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t look up from his sketchpad.

“Does Lucas look happier?”

Will looked at Dustin with a raised eyebrow before focusing in on Lucas.

“Huh. I mean sure.” He shrugged. “But it’s cause it’s basketball. Lucas really likes basketball. And if he really likes it then why not be happy while doing it?”

Dustin flipped the thought a few times in his head.

It wasn’t that he was mad about Lucas playing basketball. He got over that a while ago after Lucas and Mike had a full-blown argument/mental breakdown that included Mike’s abandonment issues and Lucas’ FOMO (fear of missing out).

But Dustin also wasn’t outright vocally supportive. He didn’t go to the games, he didn’t hang around for Lucas’ practices. He would (probably), but even after Eddie’s name was cleared and he was painted a hero but the government goons, Mike and himself were still targeted heavily in school alongside the rest of Hellfire.

“I don’t really see the appeal, I guess.” He told Will, instead of voicing his inner thoughts.

Will shrugged. “You don’t have to. It’s Lucas’ interest. But simply showing you’re willing to listen to him about said interest can go a lot farther than you’d think.”

“Are you saying I don’t listen to him?”

“I’m saying you guys dismiss him.”

“Dismiss him?” Dustin watched Lucas more intently.

Will hummed. “Literally yesterday. He was talking about his encounter with Steve and how they’d made a really cool new play and you guys all so obviously tuned him out that when he stopped you guys just kept nodding because you hadn’t noticed.”

Huh.

That was really shitty.

“Did we really?”

“Yep.”

“Damn.”

“Damn indeed, Dusty-buns.”

Mike, Max and El joined them a couple minutes later.

“What’re you nerds talking about?” Max asked, sitting at the bottom of the slide with El while Mike climbed up to sit behind the boys and lean on Will’s back.

“How we’re apparently really shitty friends,” answered Dustin with his chin in his hand. He was still watching Lucas. One of the guys playing— a curly blond kid a head shorter than Lucas— pulled him into a weird hug thing where they slapped each other’s backs and immediately went back to playing.

“What?” asked Mike, muffled from where his head was shoved into Will’s shoulder.

“Lucas likes basketball.” Dustin confirmed.

Mike and Max looked at him.

“Yeah? We know that, Henderson.” Max snarked.

“And we know nothing about anything including him and basketball.”

They both seemed to pause.

“What do you mean?”

“Will says we’ve been dismissing him every time he brings it up.”

They both looked at Will, Mike peeling himself off of his back to do so.

Will shrugged and harshly erased something on his paper. “You do.”

“Which is why it’s stopping now.” Declared Dustin.

Mike blinked at him owlishly. “Um, dude? We can’t really go to him games or practices. You know we’ll both get mauled,” he muttered quietly.

The other three looked between Mike and Dustin.

“You’re both having problems still?” Will asked, looking stricken.

“I thought Jason dying would mean they’d fuck off.” Muttered Max.

Mike scoffed. “Just cause Carver’s dead doesn’t mean shit. They still think Eddie’s the Devil and that we’re his fucking worshipers or whatever. They chased me all the way to the back of the school on Wednesday.”

Will winced and Max glowered. Dustin felt the slide shake a little.

“El, relax. It’s not that bad.” Dustin watched El’s gaze soften slightly and the slide stopped rumbling. She looked at him sadly. They���d all heard about the bullying in Cali at some point. Dustin smiled back but it didn’t reach his eyes.

He turned back to address the whole group.

“Sure we can’t go to every game, but maybe we can get Steve to go with us to some. You guys know he wouldn’t let anything happen. And besides— Steve likes sports to.”

That struck a thought in his mind: how many times had he dismissed Steve?

He pushed it back for now.

“And even without going to games—“ he pressed on, “—we can still try and listen to him more.”

Mike and Max nodded slowly. Dustin takes it they hadn’t realized they hadn’t been listening before.

“And speaking of,” Will said, placing his sketch pad and pencils into his bag. “Here comes the man of the hour.”

Sure enough, Lucas was walking backward to them while waving to the guys who were leaving the park altogether. They were all waving back and laughing.

“Hey, guys!” Lucas jogged up to the slide.

“Hey, stalker,” Max greeted cheekily when Lucas bent to give her a kiss.

“Hi, Lucas!” El cheerily added. “Did you have fun?”

Lucas smiled. “Yeah! Daniel— the dude who was wearing the red hoodie like a damn maniac— was stupid fast and really cool! He showed me how he pushes off his feet for speed and when I—… never mind.” He tried for a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes.

Dustin frowned.

“Why’d you stop? Keep going, dimwit. When you what?” Mike prompted.

Dustin snickered when Will slapped his arm lightly.

Lucas looked stricken for a split second before his face broke out in a grin.

“Well—“

And the rest is history.

.

Bonus:

When the first game came up, only 3 months later, Steve took the whole Party— older teens included.

They took Eddie’s van, the kids piled in the back while the teens took the actual seats.

When they got to school it was hectic chaos of Steve taking a headcount and leading everyone in. They struggled to find seats where their whole group would fit and in the end they sat on the bottom line of the bleachers with half of the them on the floor.

It was actually fun, much to Dustin’s and Mike’s surprise. Even if the looks shot at them and Eddie from some of the players were downright hostile.

Steve went with them every time they got up to do anything. No one left without someone else there— so Mike wasn’t alone when Adrian Gonzales tried to corner him by the concessions. And Dustin wasn’t in as much trouble when Treyton Klink pulled him by the shirt into the bathrooms.

So yeah— it wasn’t the best. But that was ok, because the hug Lucas gave them afterwards was worth it. Dustin would go through hell (again) to get another hug like that.

Mike looked about ready to agree with the flush that now littered his face and shoulders.

Will laughed at him and poked fun at him about the blush the entire ride home. Max and Lucas himself eventually played in with it as well, only worsening the blush and making the teasing better.

Lucas was over the moon for the rest of the night.

They slept over at Casa Harrington (as the Party so lovingly called it), piling blankets and pillows and dragged mattresses and discarded cushions on the living room floor while Lucas went on and on and on with Steve for what felt like forever.

Dustin wouldn’t have it any other way.

Especially with the matching smiles on their faces.

Dustin’s never seen them so happy, and he caught Eddie staring at Steve the same way Max was staring at Lucas, so Dustin figured he agreed.

He’d endured literal hell for his friends; what’s so wrong about one interest?

Dustin’s dreams were filled with buzzers and cheering and scoreboards. But that was a problem to complain about tomorrow.

[who-is-chloe]

i'm thinking abt s3 rn and it's so funny to me how technically max did not dump lucas like she never said the words like el did it was just el dumping mike and her and max leaving together. but it's just like lucas and max understand each other so well lucas knew that it was an unspoken solidarity dump and he and max were now broken up like. they’re so real

[imthursdaysyme]

I feel like the kids in st would have simple small answers for “what do you want to do in the future” bc subconsciously or not they don’t think they’ll survive, I think Lucas would answer and say oh I want to be a camp counselor one summer and his dad is like….I meant a job son

[demobatman]

caleb 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

[pinkeoni]

If characters have had animosity toward each other in past seasons it means they need to become best friends in season 5. Mike and Max, Lucas and El, Steve and Jonathon, prepare to become besties

[literaryspinster]

I do believe that Black characters can be set up by the creative team to be disliked by the dominant audience, I’ve seen it, but if you’re applying that to every Black character with a complex personality then you’re skewing closer to respectability politics than thoughtful media criticism.

[elekinetic]

script number...6? 7? 8? i don't even know. enjoy <3

thank you to @strangeswift for letting me write her a very bad script, giving it a viking funeral, and then helping me reshape the ashes into this wonderful scene.

set somewhere mid-season.

let me know what you think!

[lionydoorin]

LITTLE MR LUKIE DOODLE FOR MY DEAR DEAR FRIEND @pimplepogue 's BIRTHDAY!!!! everyone say happy birthday noah 👈👈👈👈👈🕺🕺🕺✨✨💸✨💸✨✨

[hawkyon-days]

Okay, yeah, Eddie was an asshole about the whole thing with Lucas and the game, but at least he's only known lucas for like half a year, and he's known to hate the jocks anyway...

BUT Mike and Dustin, who have known Lucas for YEARS and are two of his BEST FRIENDS, just really didn't care about something that was really important to him.

I feel like there should've been a way bigger fallout about this, and in the end it was portrayed like lucas was in the wrong for hanging out with the basketball team:(

[sickbromeo]

you know i always kinda thought the duffers weren’t the best at writing character relationships like specially sibling relationships and friendships or just didn’t seem to care about them as much and i was 100% right in thinking that.

[http-byler]

Sitting here going “Lucas’ friendship with Dustin is something that can be so personal”

Sitting here going “Lucas’ friendship with Will is something that can be so personal”

Sitting here going “Lucas’ friendship with Mike is something that can be so personal”

Sitting here going “Lucas’ relationship with Max is something that can be so personal”

Sitting here goin-

[sofiiel]

When they all asked for no pickles.

(Steve's 'can you believe this?' face)

(Max is ready to fight - Lucas just hopes no one spits in the food after all the ranting)

(Max runs off to call Erica and the whole situation just gets that much worse)

[mike-haters-dni]

Not to be controversial but like 😔… I think Lucas should be able to play sports. Like it’s actually really fun when everyone in a group of characters has their own Thing and I think Lucas’ Thing should be being the jock friend: being athletic and playing sports and maybe even enjoying the occasional high school party. Being athletic in general would let him bring a lot to the table of the (presumably) apocalypse-hell fighting-in-the-trenches action-packed final season. I just really hope “normal is a raging psychopath” wasn’t an unironic condemnation of being anything other than a typical 80s nerd because uh that’s fucking cringe lmao.