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Max knew something was wrong when Eleven was still in bed at 11 A.M, on a fresh and warm Wednesday morning. She had biked all the way down to Hopper’s house, well- Hopper’s cabin, in hope to get Jane out and to go do the stupid things they did almost every day; go to the mall, teach El how to skate, go eat ice-creams, fries, tacos, or even go hang out at Lucas’ or Mike’s place.
But as soon as she entered the small wooden cabin that was Hopper’s and Jane’s home, she sensed something was wrong.
“El?”, she called in the empty room, eyeing the plate of Eggos and the glass of orange juice that were still full and left forgotten on the table- every day, Hopper would prepare breakfast for his daughter before leaving for work.
It was the first time Max was seeing it still full. Usually, the dishes would still be there, but dirty and left like that on the table; usually, she would force Eleven to wash them before going out, and the other girl would do it with a huff of annoyance.
She was a bit worried, so she hurried to the teenager’s room, entering without even knocking.
“Jane?”, she whispered as her eyes settled on the mass under the covers.
A grunt replied to her, and the mass moved slightly under the light blanket.
Now, Max was really worried.
“Are you okay?”
She dropped her backpack and skateboard on the ground and hurried towards the bed, quick to sit down on the edge of it and to pull on the sheet to uncover the girl’s face.
“Max,” Eleven whined as her face scrunched up in a cute grimace, nose wrinkled and cheeks puffy red.
It looked like she had been crying, the way her cheeks were swollen and her skin all red, but her eyes were dry, and she didn’t look sad. Not really. More like…worried.
“What’s wrong, El?”, Max’s tone was as soft as possible, her hand rubbing over where she assumed El’s shoulder was under the cover.
There was a second of silence, before Eleven’s eyes met Max’s, and she pouted immediately.
“I’m bleeding.”
“What?!”, Max blurted out.
In a swift movement, she got up and pulled on the covers to completely free Jane’s body, inspecting every pitch of skin available- there wasn’t much, considering the girl was dressed in a large sweatpants and a large sweater that Max suspected belonged to Hopper, so she could only see her feet and ankles, and her hands.
“Where? D- Did you hurt yourself? What did you do?”, she asked instead of doing what she wanted, which was to completely undress the other girl to inspect whatever wound she was talking about.
“I don’t know. It hurts so bad,” Jane whined again, curling up on herself. “Can we cuddle?”
“No- What hurts, El? I-...”
“My stomach. Hurts.”
Stomach. What in hell could have possibly happened for her to be bleeding from her stomach?
Shit. This was really bad- really fucking bad. Should Max call the boys? Should she call an ambulance, Hopper, Steve?
But before she could even start freaking out more than she already was, Eleven spoke again. “My…There,” she pointed below her stomach, in between her legs. “It’s bleeding, and my stomach is hurting, but I didn’t do anything! I just woke up like that.”
Oh.
Oh.
All of Max’s worry flew out the window in a second, and she exhaled loudly out of relief.
It made sense, that Eleven didn’t know- how could she? She never had a normal life, and now that she had, she lived with Hopper, a man that probably hadn’t even thought of the possibility of her daughter having her periods.
“Love,” Max called out gently. She had too much love for this girl.
She eyed the sheets behind Jane carefully, and there it was, a huge red spot, from where she had bled through her pants.
Jane looked at her with fear dripping down her eyes, and it made Max’s heart melt.
“Listen to me,” she said as she grabbed the other girl’s fingers softly between her own, her thumb rubbing against Jane’s knuckles. “It’s normal. You don’t have to worry. It’s a thing that happens when you’re a girl.”
“Why?”
Ah. Good question. Very fucking good question.
“Uh…I don’t know. Robin said it was because women can get babies, so we also get periods,” Max shrugged.
Robin was actually the one who teached her everything she knows about periods, but she doesn’t know much. Just that she bleeds, hurts, and craves greasy food like crazy for a bunch of days, and that pads are way too expensive and that she kinda hates boys for not getting periods.
“Periods?”, Jane repeated the word, tested how it sounded on her tongue.
“Yeah. You…Bleeding from your vagina,” the redhead pointed down Jane’s body. “Your vagina is what you have down there. There’s like…different parts. We can go to the library once you’re better, or we can ask Nancy and Robin, they probably know more than me.”
They were older. And probably had a lot of periods. And even had sex. So they obviously knew better than Max Mayfiled, who had her first period three months ago and freaked out as much as Eleven was right now.
“Is it Robin who explained it to you?”, she asked, still curled up on herself, still lying down in her own blood.
“Yeah. Uhm…Dustin was the one I told when it happened, and he freaked out and called Steve, and then both Steve and Robin came to my place.”
The memory was still a bit embarrassing; Steve standing awkwardly in Max’s bedroom while Robin was consoling a crying Mx who was sure she was dying on the toilet.
“But Steve is a boy.”
Max hummed. Yeah.
“Well, he was just there to drive Robin, and he gave me chocolate. It helped, somehow. Something to do with iron,” she shrugged again.
Steve had actually brought chocolate, chips, a milkshake and a lot of candies to her place, and he had made her soup and gave her a heating pad- it had helped a lot.
“Iron?”
“We’ll ask Robin and Nancy for details. Just, it’s normal. It’s a thing that happens every month, and-...”
“Every month ?”, Eleven screeched, her eyes going wide as she stared at Max.
“Apparently.”
“Until when?”
“Until you’re like 50.”
“Really? But…why?”
“It’s-...Robin said since it begins when our bodies are able to have babies. And when we don’t have a baby in us, our body lets us know with this,” she grimaced at the same time as Jane did.
It was fucked-up, truly. Max wasn’t very happy that her body had to let her know with this, instead of…a simple letter. Dear Max Mayfileld, I know that you didn’t even had sex yet and that you’re probably not even interested in boys, but just letting you know that you’re not pregnant! Till next month. Xx
Ah. Wouldn’t that be a dream?
“A baby…,” Eleven whispered slowly, taking in all the information. “You have this too, then?”
“Yeah.”
“Right now?”, she inspected Max’s face with big round eyes, brown curly hair falling slightly on her face.
She was so pretty, like this, and Max was dying to lie down on the bed with her, to cuddle her until she fell asleep again, to smother her with kisses, but Jane was still bleeding freely, and her sheets were dirty. She needed to shower, to eat and most importantly, to have something to put in her panties- pads, tampons, anything. Even just tissues for the mean times.
“No, not right now. I had mines a week ago.”
“They’re done, then? Until next month?”, she asked curiously.
“Yeah. Mine’s last about 5 days.”
“5 days…”
“But it changes from one person to another. Robin told me hers only last 2 days.”
Lucky her- Max was honestly so jealous. 2 days? It ended before it even began. What a dream.
“And mine?”, El pouted, her free hand rubbing on her stomach. Her second hand was still being held gently by the redhead, and their fingers were playing together, tangling and untangling every few seconds.
“I don’t know. You’ll see.”
Eleven nodded, slowly, clearly deep in thoughts judging by the frown between her eyebrows, and then she sighed profoundly. It made Max snicker.
She needed to help her. She couldn’t stay lying in those dirty sheets like that- she probably felt so wet in her underwear.
“C’mon,” Max let go of her hand a few seconds after. “Does Hopper have medicine, somewhere? For your tummy?”
Better start there if she hoped for Jane to get out of bed.
“Yes,” the brunette groaned as she picked up the sheet to bury herself under again. “Somewhere.”
Great. Very helpful.
“Okay,” Max nodded, and then leaned forward to press a small kiss against El’s forehead, the only thing other than her eyes peeking from under her blanket. “I’ll be right back.”
*+*+*
It was already 2 P.M. when Max got back from the supermarket. She was sweating too much, and her thighs were hurting from the too long road she needed to bike to get to the grocery store.
But still, she had tried to go as fast as possible.
After giving El some pills and water, she had urged her to go shower while she cooked some eggs and meat to go with her waffles, so she could have something in her stomach and maybe make it hurt less.
And now she was back.
“El?”, she called as she entered the room, the same way she did a few hours prior.
Only this time, the brunette was in the same room, sitting down at the kitchen table and slowly munching on a piece of waffle, her hair still wet and falling flatly on her shoulders.
“Hey,” Max smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Bad,” Jane deadpanned, but she couldn’t hide her small smile as she looked at Max, the light reflecting on her hair, the big smile on her lips- she always felt happy seeing Max.
And Max felt happy seeing her, especially seeing her better than before.
“Awh, love, I know,” she cooed. How cute was El when she was sick. “Here,” she waved the plastic bags in the air, before crossing the room in a few steps. “I got you pads, tampons, a heating bag and a lot of junk food.”
“A heating bag?”
“It’s magic. Steve got me one!”, she informed with excitement.
It was truly life changing. She couldn’t wait for Jane to test it.
“Steve?”, El said between a few sips of orange juice.
“He’s like my dad, you know this,” Max giggled. She felt euphoric ever since she understood that Jane wasn’t really hurt, that she wasn’t dying like she thought she was when she arrived.
She prepared everything in silence, explaining to Jane how to put on a pad and washing the dishes while the brunette went to change in the bathroom. She should probably cook her a real meal, with vegetables and healthy food for her stomach, but she knew El would probably reject it all and only go for what she was craving right now- almond chocolate (she had almost moaned when Max had showed her what she had bought at the grocery shop), and grape juice.
It was okay. Max could always stay tonight and help Hopper cook a real meal. And then watch dumb movies for the rest of the night.
Yeah.
“It feels weird,” a voice shook Max out of her thoughts, and she turned around to see Eleven coming back in the kitchen, her hand scraping at her panties over her sweatpants.
“You just have to get used to it,” Max approached her.
Slowly, Eleven leaned forwards, until they were sharing the same breath, until her forehead dropped down in Max’s neck, until her entire body was leaning against her. Max snaked her arms around the brunette immediately, bringing her closer to her chest and rubbing small circles on her waist. She smelled good, the same odor, always: pine tree, vanilla, bread. She always smelled so…Max wanted to eat her whole everytime.
“Thank you,” El whispered against her neck, making it tickle as her breath hit her skin.
The redhead didn’t even reply, just squeezed her tighter and pressed a flying kiss to her hair. They stayed there for a good minute, just breathing into each other and enjoying the comfort of their warmth, of the familiarity of their bodies, until-
Until Max’s eyes fell on Jane’s legs.
“Is it the same sweatpants as this morning?”, she asked.
“Yeah?”
“El…”
*+*+*
“Hot water, always,” Max said as she vigorously rubbed the sweatpants between her hands, watching the rosy water flow away.
Jane was sitting down on the bathroom counter next to her. She was observing in silence, but her cheeks were bright red- she felt embarrassed that Max was washing her own blood. She had insisted they washed the blood off together, and Eleven had said okay for the sheet and the sweatpants, but not for her underwear. Somehow, it felt…too awkward. Max didn’t want to force her, so she didn’t push it any further.
Still, watching Max clean up after her, remembering her red cheeks and sweaty neck as she came back from the grocery shop earlier, remembering her excited smile as she showed her every snack she had bought- it heaved onto El’s heart. She felt ready to explode, to fall into madness.
So instead, she spoke. “I like you a lot,” she said, Max’s fingers instantly stopping her movements.
The redhead slowly lifted her eyes towards her.
“Me too,” she whispered, only the heavy sound of the running water filling the silence. “I like you a lot, too.”
She knew. El knew. They had told themselves a long time ago. Long before any period, any red sheet, anything.
Her lips stretched into a big smile, and she bit it down shyly as Max glanced at it.
“You’re so cute,” the redhead blushed right after saying that, and Eleven did too, lowering her head so that her cheeks were hidden a bit.
They finished washing the dirty laundry, before putting it in the washing machine anyway, and Max softly grabbed El’s hand to lead her back to her bed. They put on new sheets right away, cursing under their breath as it was the first time Eleven had ever done this and she was really clumsy, but Max tried to contain her impatience and teach her softly.
As soon as they were done, though, Max fell into the bed with a large sigh.
“Guess we’ll go to the movies tomorrow,” she pondered. “Or maybe this week-end. With the boys?”
El was still toying over her -fresh- sweatpants, uncomfortable with the pads in her underwear, but she turned her head at Max’s words.
“I thought…,” she started, but her sentence died down between them.
The redhead turned her head towards her too, a curious glance in her eyes. "Tell me,” she encouraged.
Sometimes, Eleven wasn’t sure of what she could say or not, do or don’t.
She didn’t understand everything- she didn’t understand why she couldn’t hold Max’s hand in public, why she couldn’t say she was in love with her to everyone, why she could when she was with Mike but not now that she was with Max. She didn’t understand what Hopper was drinking every night, she didn’t understand airplanes, racism, cemetery, Burger King, she didn’t understand the humor in those shows Dustin watched.
She understood what she felt towards Max. She understood what she felt towards Hopper, towards Joyce, Nancy, Will. Lover, father, friend. So much love.
She didn’t understand periods and why women and men were different, but she was learning, and Max will ask Robin and Nancy to explain. So it was okay.
“I thought it was only us,” El blushed slightly. She felt embarrassed for saying this- for thinking it, maybe, too.
Aren’t lovers supposed to go on things alone? What was the word Steve used?
“I thought it was a dot.”
Max was still looking at her, but her eyebrows twitched, her lips pressed into a thin line, and Eleven instantly knew she hadn’t said the right thing.
“Don’t make f-...,” she started, whining already, but then it was too late.
Max erupted in laughter, giggling freely as she threw her legs in the air, and it wasn’t long before she wrapped her arms around Jane’s middle, bringing the brunette against her shaking body. Jane fought her own smile as best as she could, her lips puckering in a pout as she buried her head against Max’s collarbones.
“Did you mean date?”, the redhead asked teasingly, but Eleven just pouted and blushed harder. “Do you wanna go on a date with me, Jane Hopper?”
Ah. The sound of her name in her girlfriend’s mouth always made the brunette melt, for some reason. She was so weak.
“Who wouldn’t?”, she whispered against her skin, but then a hand was on her neck, lifting her chin gently so their eyes could meet.
Brown against blue.
Max chuckled again, and then pressed a single kiss on her lips, a peck that didn’t even last a second before she was retracting and slipping another kiss to her cheek, then her nose, forehead, temple.
“Let’s go on a date as soon as you feel better,” she said between kisses on her cheekbones, and El nodded, squirming to be even closer to her.
“Deal,” Eleven smiled.
“Deal,” Max smiled back.
*+*+*