Work Text:
It was stupid really. After all they’d been through a bit of silly fun had to be the thing that had to lead to such an injury.
They’d gone out for ice cream. A first date of sorts even though El had argued that their first date technically already happened when they went to the mall together.
Still Max had felt like properly asking out El, just because they never had the time for a fun date since the whole battle situation that happened, right after they, shyly and tentatively through things like cheek kisses and holding hands, started their relationship.
The sun in their face, pinkies linked tightly they walked away from the ice cream shop afterwards.
Max felt her hair blow in the light breeze and still tasted her chocolate, and El’s strawberry ice cream in her mouth. She looked beside her, taking in El’s bright clothes, her hair that was getting longer every month, her bright smile and Max’s favourite scrunchy on her wrist.
In that moment, Max felt like she couldn’t be any happier if she tried.
El must’ve felt her stare because she crinkled her nose and turned her head.
“What?” she asked, laughter already in her voice.
“Nothing”, Max said, unable to dim her smile.
“What?!” El was giggling now.
“Nothing!” Max said in a sing- song voice, turning her face away with a blush.
When she went to look back at her girlfriend she was met with an index finger, meant to poke her in the cheek but now landing directly between her mouth and her nose.
Still giggling they collapsed on the side of the road, Max immediately sprawling out and letting the skateboard tumble away, which made El laugh even more.
After a moment of comfortable silence El leaned over and picked up the board. Max squinted up at her with a questioning expression.
“Can I try?”
Max let out a huff and sat up again.
“Of course!”
She took the hand El offered her to stand and lead her girlfriend onto the road. After placing the board on the ground and gripping tightly to Max’ arms, El hesitantly made her first attempts at balancing and rolling side to side.
It took awhile and a few laughing fits while leaning into each other but El was a quick learner and started to get steadier.
After some time, Max sat back down again, half dozing, half watching El messing around with the board.
Mostly she was just rolling a bit and hopping off immediately, but it seemed like she was having fun and Max was contend with just looking at her girlfriend smiling against the lowering sun.
Later on, Max cursed herself for not paying more attention but in the moment, her skin felt warm, her heart light and the air sweet.
It took just a second for all that to be over though when El stumbled with the skateboard over a rock, tried to catch herself but instead went down with her hand stretched out in front of her, her ankle making a sound that would probably haunt both of them for a while.
Max was up on her feet in a blink and ran over to her girlfriend.
“El! Are you okay?”
El seemed a bit dazed, sitting on the ground and staring grumpily at her open hands.
“I forget it doesn’t work anymore” she murmured
“Hey”, Max placed a hand on her shoulder. “Everything alright?”
“Hurts”, El said.
“What hurts”
El blinked up at Max now. “My foot”
Max winced, crouching down to inspect the damage. El’s hands had scraped open, everything else looked fine, but she didn’t want to think about that ankle.
Ankle injuries were complicated, she knew that and now she felt tears prickling in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, El. I should’ve stayed with you”
“No, no, no, it’s okay”, El smiled, even though her lips were shaking. “I wasn’t even doing anything crazy. You couldn’t know that I would fall”
Max shook her head and busied herself with cleaning up her girlfriend’s hands as much as she could.
“Let’s get you to Joyce so we can get help with that foot”
In the end, El ended up on Max’s back, clinging to her girlfriend and holding the board while she was carried back to the Byers house.
Hours later, after Joyce had fussed over El and then driven them all to a hospital, Max watched El come back out into the waiting room on crutches and with a brand new cast.
The pit of guilt in her stomach was only barely soothed by El’s smile that was still as bright as ever. Joyce had convinced her to not beat herself up to much but still, Max felt somewhat responsible.
El apparently picked up on that because she spent the whole drive back cracking jokes and assuring both of them that she was fine.
However her mood dropped fast over the next few days when she realized what being in a cast entailed, and how it constricted her.
Max tried her best to cheer her up.
More often than not she gave El piggyback rides or letting her sit on the board and (carefully) pushing her around.
She signed the cast and drew a little heart on it. Of course all the boys did too, as well as Jonathan, Nancy, Steve and Robin, who Max all terrorized into visiting El with sweets and gifts while she couldn’t move as much as she wanted to.
She spent the evenings reading to El and held her when she got overwhelmed with panic because she felt too vulnerable with a handicap and her mind had her convinced that she still needed to be ready to run at all times.
They went outside a lot, just to enjoy the sunshine and the fresh air, sitting around with their friends, listening to their nerdy ramblings.
They also stayed inside a lot where they could hold hands and kiss and cuddle without being scared.
In public, Max used the excuse of El’s ankle way too often to get close to her in ways that people normally would frown at.
They hung out with Will and Jon at home, watching TV or telling stories and laughing till their bellies hurt.
And when El’s cast came off they celebrated, by going for ice cream again – this time without any stupid accidents ruining it.