Archive of Our Own ^beta

Her head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton. A migraine stirred in her skull, and slowly, noises trickled into her ears.

Max cracked her eyes open, flinching at the light. It felt like needles in her eyes but she groaned and pushed through. Sounds poured in like they were travelling through a filter, she shook her head and banged her fist against it as if she were trying to knock her head right until she could see clearly.

There were speckles of red on the floor where her nose had bled, her face throbbed where Billy had pushed her. On her knees, she brought her hand to her nose and winced. It hurt. It wasn’t broken, just bruised but the blood was still fresh. She hadn’t been out longer than a few minutes.

Max blinked up at the lights flickering on the ceiling. Her ears were ringing but her head was feeling clearer and clearer every second and she began to hear screeching and crackling. What happened came back to her, she remembered falling, and then hearing another bang right before everything went black.

Her head snapped in the direction of the elevator, “El-” The words died in her throat, crumbling to ash like a wilting flower, “Mike…” She whispered.

The boy lay motionless, limp on the floor like a ragdoll. His face was covered in blood that continued to pour from a small gash on his nose, covering his freckles and dripping down to his temple and below his head was a puddle of blood. His hair was soaked, retaining it like a sponge and making the black curls seem impossibly darker.

He was barely breathing.

“Mike!” Max wailed, crawling to him and grasping his shoulder, “Mike! Wake up! Wake up, Mike! Mike wake up!”

Tears rolled down her cheeks as he refused to stir, taking his pulse, she breathed a sigh of relief to find it there but he was running out of time. His life was dwindling like the last leaf on a branch or sand in an hourglass. She sobbed as she pulled his head onto her lap, putting her hand in the mass of hair dripping with red, against the crack in his skull, “Oh god.” She whispered, gagging at the blood pooling in her palm and spilling over her wrist.

“HELP!!” She screamed, her voice rattling and cracking in her throat. Nobody would hear her. Her voice was a whisper beneath the monster screeching and fireworks sparking, but she couldn’t sit here and let Mike die without trying, “SOMEONE HELP US PLEASE!!”

She turned back to Mike. He was lying sprawled across her lap and he looked… peaceful. It was a strange contrast to the crimson painting his face, she shook her head and sobbed, “Listen, you idiot.” She hissed, hugging him with her free arm, “If you die on me I will kill you! I really like these shorts! A-And I’ll throw in some more kills because you’ll hurt El and you’ll hurt Lucas and you’ll hurt me! ”

Mike was a moron, a stupid boy and a bit of an ass, but she loved him. It was a secret to their party, but Max spends a lot of time at Mike’s house because she knows he won't throw a ton of questions or coddling her way. They sit in silence and just live their lives around each other. He was one of her best friends, though she’d never admit it. 

Max cried, rocking back and forth, “HELP!!” She screamed. She contemplated putting Mike down and running to get help but what if he died when she left? What if he died alone?

She couldn’t bring herself to get go of him.

The noises began to quite quiet down. When a heavy thud shook the building, Max screamed again. She screamed for help, she screamed so loud her voice became hoarse.

“HELP! SOMEBODY, PLEASE HEAR ME!” 

Max cradled Mike’s head, her legs were covered in his blood. It stuck to her uncomfortably, sinking into her skin like glue, “I swear Mike,” She sobbed, wiping some of the red off his cheek, “If you don’t wake up… You’ll break our hearts, you hear me, you idiot?! You’ll break Lucas’ heart! You’ll break El’s heart and don’t get me started with Will!”

His breath seemed even slower while the tears on Max’s cheeks rained down. She shook her head as if in denial that this was real, “HELP!” She continued to scream, sobbing loudly until pairs of footsteps raced down the corridor toward her.

“Max!”

“Mike!”

Max cried in relief, recognising her boyfriend amongst the voices, “Help please!” She sobbed, she and Mike creating a horrifying, hopeless image as the group rounded the corner.

Lucas gaped, even when Dustin banged into him he didn’t seem shaken from his shock, “Mike…” He murmured, standing frozen until Max cried.

He fell to his knees, crawling to her and pulling her into his arms, putting his other hand on Mike’s face, taking in the blood there, “Is he…” He whispered but she shook her head.

“H-He’s dying.” She wept.

Dustin had erupted into tears, he took Mike’s hand and pleaded for him to wake up, while Steve ran off with Robin to get help and Nancy shrieked, scrambling to her brother and taking him.

Will stumbled to the floor, he and El holding each other. She was weak, but they shared a look of understanding and cried for the boy they love, “Mike!” Will sobbed.

Eleven crawled to him, her hands and knees quickly soaking in his blood, “Mike!” She whimpered, shaking his shoulder. She couldn’t lose him, whether her feelings for him were romantic or not, Mike had been the first person to show her kindness. The first person to love her, to believe in her, to look at her without fear.

She couldn’t lose that, “Mike!” She cried, shaking his shoulder, “Wake up please!”

The blood kept pouring, the puddle kept spreading. When Max woke up it was as big as a small plate, but now it had tripled in size, he had maybe minutes left, at best.

Nancy was hysterical, when Jonathan came running back in with his hoodie she bunched it up and pressed it to the split in Mike’s skull, resting his head on her shoulder and turning it to the side. She put gravity on their side and held her brother close, “You can’t leave me…” She whispered, “Y-You can’t just go a-and leave me here without you!”

Mike’s breath was weak in his chest, he could barely get air into his lungs but he was trying hard and Nancy sobbed, kissing his bloody forehead, “That's it,” She whimpered, “J-Just keep trying, okay?”

The group breathed a sigh of relief when paramedics rushed in with a stretcher. Nancy stood, lifting her brother’s light form in her arms and placing him down, she chased the medical workers out, following them in the ambulance.

“We’ll meet you there!” Jonathan squeezed her hand, “I don’t want to leave you but…” He turned back to Will who shook on his feet, incoherent. 

Nancy pulled him in for a kiss, “I understand,” She smiled, “Be with him.”

She held her little brother’s hand the entire ambulance ride, feeling his pulse weaken with every passing moment.

Please. She begged, hoping he’d hear it, hoping he’d feel her hand around his and Stay.

---

They were in the hospital waiting room for what felt like forever. Processing the death of her stepbrother, Max sat almost catatonic and coated in blood. She’d wiped most of it off when she arrived, they’d all received medical treatment and she’d been given a wet cloth but the staining remained. 

A clock ticked and doctors and nurses were paged, their pages beeping loudly. A nurse at the desk laughed on the phone and occasionally, doctors ran past them with panic on their faces for patients in trouble.

Karen had arrived a while ago, she held Holly in her arms while Ted napped in a chair beside her. She’d been told the same lie as everyone else, the mall burned down, and falling apart with worry, she bought it.

When the doctor finally came out, the group stood in unison. Lucas helped Max up, he’d wrapped her in his hoodie and now rubbed her arms, shaking her a little, “Max?” He whispered, getting her attention, she eagerly turned to the doctor.

“Michael Wheeler pulled through.” He smiled.

Karen’s knees almost buckled, Nancy turned and wept into Jonathan’s shoulder and the party embraced each other in celebration, “He’s okay…” Max whispered, “He’s okay.”

“He’ll be unconscious for a few days, he took a pretty hard hit to the head. We’ve stitched up his nose, and his head. Luckily, we could do so without shaving any of his hair, but we are worried about infection so we’d like to keep him for a week.”

Karen nodded, “That- that’s fine,” She smiled, relief leaving her lungs.

“Can we see him?” Max croaked, pulling the hoodie tighter around herself.

The doctor hesitated, eyes rolling over their big group, “We’ll allow family… friends will have to come back tomorrow. I do apologise, I know you must’ve been worried sick but he’s okay, he’s alive, I promise.”

Max stepped up to Nancy, “W-We’re his sisters.” She stated before she could think, pausing once she realised what she’d said, but stood her ground.

Nancy wrapped an arm around her, playing along ignoring the fact that they had different hair and eye colours. The doctor seemed to buy it though and so Karen, Ted, Holly, Nancy, and Max entered the hospital room.

Nancy sobbed, smiling as she collapsed in a chair beside the bed, taking one of Mike’s hands. He was pale, his freckles stood out like crumbs and he had a miniature bandaid on his nose, but he was breathing, he looked peaceful, not pained, and that was enough for Nancy.

Karen stood beside her, rubbing her back and stroking Mike’s hair. She leaned down, kissing his head while Ted sat away with an asleep Holly, and Max sat on the other side of the bed, “You idiot.” She smiled, taking his other hand, “Thank you for surviving… I won’t kill you now.”

Nancy snorted, shaking her head.

“You did ruin my shorts though… so… I’m gonna need another pair and now that the mall was des- burnt down that’s gonna be a bit of a challenge but you can do it.” She continued whispering, squeezing his hand, “Get better soon, Mike.”

His hand twitched in hers, she could swear his lips tugged up a little. Maybe he could hear her and he was laughing.

Max chuckled quietly, standing and squeezing his shoulder, “See you tomorrow, idiot.”