Archive of Our Own

When Max finally gets home that night, she doesn’t think about Billy.

In fact, since she knocked her stepbrother down, she’s only thought about him once. When they got back from the tunnels, and Billy was nowhere to be found. None of the guys showed any reaction to that, as though they’d all already forgotten what had happened, what she’d done, whose car they’d used to kidnap their babysitter with Max as the driver.

Max had figured Billy must’ve woken up, given up when he saw his car was gone, and walked home. But just in case he was still looking for her, they had left his car a little bit away from the Byers’ house for him to find.

Nancy drives her home.

“How are you feeling?” Nancy asks her, halfway to Cherry. She shoots her a glance, a little concerned.

Max shrugs. “Don’t know. Tired.”

Nancy breathes out a laugh. “That’s about right, isn’t it? Me too. And… Listen, I know you’re friends with the boys, but I know they can be a bit… dense. Mike can, especially. And Will’s been… Will’s been having a hard time, I mean, they - we - all have, really, and El just got back to them, and…” She sighs. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, that if you need someone - a girl - to talk to, then I’m here for you, okay?”

It’s awkward.

It’s… If Max is honest, her first impression of Nancy was a girl that is the complete opposite of what Max wants to be. Someone Neil, and even her mum, would prefer. But after tonight, after everything Max has learned, well, maybe Nancy isn’t so bad.

“Thanks,” Max says. She can feel Nancy’s eyes on her a moment longer, then she has to turn back to the deserted road they’re on, and neither one says anything else until Nancy pulls up outside Max’ house.

Max is honestly a little surprised when Nancy follows her out of the car and up the steps to the front door.

Max can’t say, however, that she is particularly surprised when the door is thrown open before Max has even had the time to realise she doesn’t have her keys on her.

“Mr. Mayfield-!” Nancy starts, smiling brightly.

“Hargrove,” Neil bites out, eyes zeroing in on Max for a second. Max’ mum took Neil’s name when they got married, but she knows that he’s always hated that they, too, don’t share a name. It goes against the perfect nuclear family he’s trying to create.

Still, Nancy’s smile doesn’t waver. Max feels a sense of admiration for her. “Ah, sorry, Mr. Hargrove. I wanted to apologise for bringing Max home so late. My brother, he’s friends with Will Byers, and I know you’re new in town but I’m sure you’ve heard what happened to Will last year?”

Neil frowns, like he can’t really figure out what the hell this has to do with Max. From inside the house, there’s the sound of a door opening and soft feet hurrying across the floor. “Neil? Is Maxine home?”

And Max’ mum appears, wearing a robe and slippers, looking like she just woke up.

“Max!” she exclaims, reaching out for her. Max lets herself be pulled into her mother’s embrace.

Neil barely looks at them, still staring at Nancy. “Kid went missing, they thought he was dead.”

“Oh, the poor Byers’ boy! And his poor mother!” Susan says, crouching down so she’s eye level with Max. She shakes her a little at the shoulders. “I never thought I’d experience something like that, but by God, Maxine, when we realised you weren’t home and had no idea where you’d taken off to-“

“My family is very close to the Byers’” Nancy says, and Max is getting a headache trying to follow along all these conversations. But she has to focus on Nancy, on whatever it is she’ll tell Neil. Max needs to be able to collaborate the excuse. “So my brother and his friends and I, we’ve been helping them out a lot, and with Max new in school they wanted to make sure she had some friends. So tonight they were playing DnD at the Byers’ and I was helping babysit-“

“‘DnD’?” Neil interrupts.

Nancy’s expression is so open that Max is sure they’d believe anything she’d ever tell them in that moment. She could say the sun was about to crash into the Earth and they’d buy it.

Max wishes she was this good at lying.

“It’s a board game,” Nancy explains. “We lost track of time, and some of the kids fell asleep, and I didn’t realise Max would need to be home taken before she caught a glance at the clock and told me.”

Neil looks skeptical. “You didn’t realise she’d need to be driven home?”

Nancy shakes her head. “No. I thought she was sleeping over like the others. That she’d have biked home if not. My brother and I have been biking to and from our friends places every day since we were ten, as late as midnight. Will getting lost in the foods last year was the most exciting thing to have ever happened in Hawkins. It’s very safe here.”

And isn’t that the biggest lie of all?

Then comes the final nail in the coffin. Nancy bites her lip, like she’s a little unsure about what she’s about to say, but then says, very gently, “It’s not California, Mr. Hargrove. We’re just small town people in a small town.”

Neil swallows it all. Hook, line and sinker.

After all, what Nancy just told him is the exact reason he wanted them to move to Hawkins. It’s not California. It’s just a small town, with small town people.

Neil nods. “Alright. But from now on, no sleepovers on school nights, and Max is to call or otherwise let us know where she is.” He looks over at her. “Do you understand, young lady?”

Max nods. She’s too tired to speak. Her mum pats her head and tightens her hold on her.

Neil purses his lips but turns back to Nancy. “Have a good night…?”

“Nancy. Nancy Wheeler.”

Neil nods, and closes the door in her face.

Max leans back against her mother. “Can I go to bed now, mum?”

“Of course. Of course, sweetheart, let’s get you to bed.”

—

Benny’s on his way to work when his headlights land on a pair of legs and he almost crashes his truck.

He presses down on the brakes, throwing the car dirt open and jumping out. The air’s got that fresh quality it always gets in early November mornings, crisp and earthy amid the trees of Hawkins forests.

He has to walk back a bit the way he came before his eyes land on those legs again, leading up to a body.

There’s a teenager, sprawled out on the side of the road, dressed in nothing but jeans and a button up.

If not for the lack of bloody puddles beneath him, Benny’d have thought he was dead. Hell, he could still be. Someone could’ve hit him with their car and then just left him there.

Quickly, he crouches down, reaching to feel the kid’s pulse. His skin is clammy, his heartbeat weirdly jittery. Benny’s no doctor.

He doesn’t know how long the kid’s been lying here. Doesn’t know what made him end up passed out on the side of the road.

He should call an ambulance. But there’s no pay phone out here and he doesn’t want to leave him. He should drive him to the hospital. But Benny’s diner is closer.

And Benny remembers last year. Hell, Benny’s certain he’s the only one who knows the Police Chief of Hawkins is hiding an escaped little girl from the people who experimented on her.

Benny goes back to his car, puts it in reverse and stops next to the teen. He gets out, opens the door to the passenger side, and scoops the kid up in his arms. The kid’s heavy, muscular, but Benny’s strong and tall.

As he lowers him down into the passenger seat, he notices that there’s a bit of blood on his face, a couple developing bruises. Benny fastens the seatbelt across his chest and his head lolls to the side.

He’s completely out of it.

Benny’s not stupid. He knows kids party, that they might fight and get hurt. He’d been a teenager once. But he also knows, that unless the norms have really changed that much since his time, they don’t really throw parties on Sundays before school.

So while the most likely explanation is that this kid went to a party, got drunk, ended up in a fight, left, and passed out, well. Benny’s got a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that isn’t what happened here.

He drives them to his diner. And he unlocks the doors, leaves them open and walks back out to the truck, lifting the kid back into his arms. He’s got an old beaten up couch in the back, and he lowers him down onto it.

Benny likes being early to work. He’s an early riser, and he’s got no kids, no (current) girlfriend to stay at home for, so he usually just drives to his diner as soon as he’s gotten ready in the mornings.

Which means that it’s an god awful early time to call Hopper if the man so happens to be off today, but Benny doesn’t have much choice in the matter.

He walks over to the phone and calls him. And waits. And waits. And waits.

And Jim doesn’t fucking answer.

Benny looks from the phone in his hand, to the window where the sun is just starting to rise, lightning up the sky, and through the gap in the doorway through which he can just see the past out teenager on his couch.

To hell with it.

He calls the other guys, the ones who were supposed to work today, and lets them know something came up and he’ll keep the diner closed for today. For good measure, he tries calling Jim again, but still no answer.

He figures if Jim’s not going to answer the phone right now, and Benny doesn’t dare drive the kid to the hospital before he’s talked to him, than the least he can do is make sure the boy is comfortable. See if he can get him to wake up. It’d scared him, a little, how he never woke up once during the trip here.

He gets out a clean kitchen towel from the load of laundry he did just before going home last night - ah, the benefits of having no family; Benny can close up by himself with the radio on without having to rush home, and let the other men, the ones with wives and children and girlfriends and elderly parents go home early - and fills a bowl with warm water.

The kid’s started shivering by the time Benny gets back.

He hopes that’s good. Hopes it means he’s starting to warm up.

There’s dirt and grass and blood all over the kid’s face and hands - his knuckles are split. So he did get into a fight? - but it all comes off as Benny gently wipes the skin. There’s bruises around his upper throat, at his jaw, like someone’s been choking him, or holding his head in place. There’s a pendant around his neck, some kind of Saint on it, and it’s got a tiny little speck of blood on it. Benny spends some time rubbing it off, trying to make the metal shine. There’s some twigs stuck in his curly mess of blonde hair. Benny picks them out.

For all intents and purposes, the teen stays dead to the world.

He reaches up and feels his forehead, and it’s warm, and his shirt is dirty, and Benny’s got clean work shirts lying around, and this reminds him too much of last year.

He can’t stop thinking about Jim’s girl as he purposely picks out one of the bigger sizes, that he knows is going to be too big even on this kid’s muscular frame.

He unbuttons the red shirt, pulls the sleeves off his arms. The shivers increase but he still doesn’t wake. There’s bruising on his back. Benny’s concern worsens.

He throws the old shirt in the wash, and comes back with his yellow t-shirt, putting it on the teen. A tall burger with a million ingredients. Benny’s Burgers. It falls down to the top of the kid’s thighs. Benny leaves the jeans on. He wouldn’t want to wake up on a stranger’s couch without pants.

He goes back to the kitchen with the bowl and refills it with clean, cool water, grabbing a fresh kitchen towel on his way back. He dips it in the water, wrings it out, and places it down on the kid’s forehead. Benny doesn’t think he’s imagining it when it feels like it’s gotten warmer. He wishes he had a thermometer here.

He wishes whatever happened to this kid hadn’t happened. He should’ve been at home, getting ready for school, not here on Benny’s ratty couch with Benny trying to play nursemaid. Although, if he is one of Hopper’s kids, then, well, maybe Benny’s is the best place for him right now.

He drags a hand across his face and falls down into a chair.

Benny’s not sure how long he spends like that. Just sitting there and staring at the teen on his couch, waiting for, hell, waiting for anything to change.

Eventually though, he does stand back up. He wets the towel again before putting it back, and goes over to the phone. He calls Jim’s place, again, and, again, he gets no answer.

Benny sighs, and dials the station.

Flo answers.

“Morning’,” Benny starts. “It’s Benny. Benny Hammond. I need to speak to the Chief.”

“Sorry, Benny,” Flo answers in that deadpan way of hers. “He’s not in yet.”

Benny does his best not to sigh out of frustration. “Can you tell me to call him when he does get in?”

“Will do. Take care, Benny.”

And that’s that, then. Benny puts on the radio, and goes to make himself a sandwich on burger bread.

He’s almost finished making it when the very loud, very sudden, change in breathing from the other room has him rushing back.

The kid’s sitting up. He’s pulled his knees up towards his chest, and he’s leaning forward, clutching at his head with fingers that look like they’re seconds from tearing his hair out.

“Max,” he gasps. “Max, Max, I-“ And then he looks up at Benny, and he’s squinting like something’s wrong with his vision, and Benny sees him swallow. “Dad?”

And shit. That freezes Benny to a stone cold stop in the doorway. A chill goes up his spine. Because there’s too much panic, too much… fear , in that one word.

Fuck the hospital, fuck Jim Hopper, Benny’s going to have to call CPS.

But, well. When Benny did that last year, he ended up being knocked out by a little girl with superpowers what he’s sure is seconds before he was going to get shot by that woman who definitely wasn’t CPS.

“Hey. Hey, no,” Benny says, holding his hands up and inching closer. “I’m not your dad. He’s not here. I’m Benny.”

The kid stares at him with big, blue eyes, and Benny’s positive he can see the screws turning inside his head. What eventually comes out of his mouth is a strangled,

“Where the fuck am I?” And then, almost immediately, his breathing speeds back up. “Max,” he says. “I have to find Max. I-I have to find… Neil’s going to… please, I- Sir-“

He clamps his mouth shut. Swallows quickly a couple times. His eyes go wide, and his throat convulses, and Benny dives for the rubbish bin in the corner.

The kid gags, his face white, and promptly vomits into the plastic bag. It smells horrid, but Benny still glances inside before tying the ends together, just to make sure there’s no blood there. There isn’t, so Benny takes the bag with him out to the trash and throws it away.

When he comes back inside, the kid’s curled up tightly, his face buried in his arms with his hands holding his head. He lets out a series of small whimpers, and Benny reaches out to rest his hand on his shoulder, hoping to bring some comfort.

The kid flinches, and Benny jumps back, internally cursing at himself. He backs away, holding his hands up in what he hopes looks disarming, even though the kid isn’t looking at him.

“Sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry, I’ll just sit back here, and-“

“Turn the lights off,” the kid groans. It sounds like he’s seconds away from sobbing. “Please. Please, please -“

“Okay,” Benny says, and moves to flick the light switch, plunging the room into darkness. The only light source comes from the doorway towards the kitchen, a stream of light along the wooden floor in front of the couch. Benny can’t really see the kid well, but he hears him turn around so he’s facing the backrest of the couch, muttering a string of slow curse words to himself.

Benny walks out of the room, back to the phone. Jim better answer this time, or Benny’s going to have to fucking carry this boy back out to his truck and drive them both to Jim’s cabin.

The phone rings, and rings, and rings, until finally , someone answers.

“Yes?” Jim Hopper says, sounding groggy, like he just woke up, and irritated, in that way that Jim Hopper always does. Benny’s going to kill him.

“I’ve called you, or the station, three times this morning. You need to start answering the fucking phone.”

“Benny?” Jim asks, sounding surprised. “It’s… barely 8 am.”

“I need your help, Jim. I can’t- I’ve been waiting for you to answer, because I don’t know what to do. I can’t do this on my own.”

“You’re a big guy, Ben.”

Benny chuckles without humour. “Not that big.”

Jim sighs. “Hey, Benny, we had a really… eventful night here, and I don’t know if I’ll go in for work today, so can’t you just talk to someone else at the station-?”

“I found a kid, a teenager, unconscious in the woods.”

Jim doesn’t say anything for a moment. Then, “What?”

“He was beat up, like he’d been in a fight, and he says he’s looking for some boy, but he seems really incoherent and I don’t know if that’s the fever from spending I don’t know how many hours outside without any warm clothes or if something else happened to him, but he seems scared and it sounds like his dad or whoever it is he lives with will hurt him, so-“

“Wait, wait, Benny, slow down, I need to-“

“Listen, Jim, I just want to know if he’s one of your weird kids, or if I can call CPS without fear for my life this time?”

On the other end, Jim sighs. “What did you say he looked like?”

“I didn’t,” Benny mutters. “Average height, I guess, I haven’t actually managed to get him standing upright on his own. Blonde, curly mullet. He’s beat up, bloody, red shirt and jeans. Athletic. Ring a bell?”

Jim silent for so long Benny’s worried he’s hanged up.

“Jim?”

“Do you recognise him? Do you… know his name, surname, his parents?”

“Jim, I have literally no idea about any of the teenagers in this town.”

“But you haven’t seen him around before?”

“No.”

“Fuck,” Jim breathes.

“What?” Benny asks, on edge now. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s gotta be Hargrove. They just moved here. Shit. I’ll… I’ll be there in a bit, Benny, don’t call anyone else.”

—

When Max wakes up a couple of hours later to the sound of her alarm, she does think about Billy. But only insofar as to get herself ready for him glaring at her during breakfast and starting to wonder what the car ride to school will be like, now that she has changed their dynamic forever.

Dread fills her as soon as she steps out of her room. There are raised voices coming from the kitchen. And while raised voices aren’t abnormal in her house, since Neil and Billy moved in with them, it’s usually been the two of them shouting at each other.

But not this time. This time, it’s her mum and Neil.

Max doesn’t immediately step into the kitchen, instead slowly stepping closer to hear better. She wants to know what this is about, before she walks in. Can’t enter a minefield unprepared.

“I know my son, Susan!” Neil says, and Max stops in her tracks, because she could almost swear there’s a hint of worry in his voice. “He knows better than to just drive to school without coming home.”

“Well I- I don’t know. He can’t still be looking for her, can he?”

“No,” Neil agrees, voice subdued. Then he seems to get new energy, because his voice gets louder, angrier. “I swear to God, if he just packed up and left for California, like his bitch of a mother-“

“His things are still in his room. Nothing’s been touched in there,” Susan interrupts.

There’s the sound of something whipping through the air and smacking into what sounds like the table. Susan yelps, and Max steps into the room.

Neil’s sitting down at the kitchen table, his head in his hands and a folded up newspaper in front of him. Max’ mum leans against the counter at the other end of the kitchen, her hands holding onto the edge behind her. Neil doesn’t look up when she steps inside, but her mum’s head turns to look at her.

“Have you seen Billy, sweetheart?”

“What?” Max asks. Her tongue feels thick in her mouth, like it’s stuck to the roof of her mouth with bubblegum, like she can’t breathe correctly, and her words come out mangled and weird.

Neil drags his face up from his hands and looks at her like he thinks she’s stupid, like he thinks she can’t understand basic English.

“Billy,” he says slowly. “Your brother. Did he come looking for you last night, or did he show up at home whilst we were sleeping?”

Max, feeling like a stone’s lodged itself in her throat, slowly shakes her head and says, “No.”

—

Max’ mum drives her to school.

The entire ride, Susan keeps nervously tapping at the wheel. Max notices her looking out at the sides of the road much more than normally, because Max is doing the exact same thing, trying to spot a blue Camaro or a blonde mullet.

She’s at school earlier than normal, because her mum needs to get to work on time, and work isn’t as close as the high school is to the middle school. At least that means that she can go wait by the bike stands for the boys.

From there, she can see the parking spot Billy’s occupied every day during this past week stand empty.

Billy’s gone.

They left him, passed out on the Byers floor, and then they took his car when there were monsters running around in the dark.

Max may not really like her stepbrother, but she doesn’t want him to die . Especially not like that.

Dustin gets there first, being dropped off by Steve, and Max considers rushing up to the older boy and asking him to keep an eye out for if Billy shows up at school, but then she catches sight of his face and sees him pull back onto the road after dropping Dustin off. He’s not going to school today. She guesses that’s understandable. If she could choose, Max would have stayed sleeping this morning.

Dustin runs up and hugs her. Max hugs him back, her throat tight. Then he steps back, and gives her a fist bump, and smiles, and for a moment, everything feels like it might be okay.

It would’ve been, if Billy had actually come back home last night.

Lucas and Mike show up together on their bikes, Mike immediately saying, “Will radioed in. His mum doesn’t want him going to school today.”

The blessings of having an understanding parent who knows about the Upside Down , Max thinks. Then, she feels a tiny spark of resentment that she doesn’t have a radio herself, that she’s not included in their secret meetings.

But she’s got more important things to do than care about that right now. Besides, they’ll have to include her after last night.

“I need your help with something,” she says, and she thinks they can hear it in her voice, because they step closer. “Billy didn’t come home last night.”

Dustin frowns. “So you need us to… help you set up a party?”

“What?! No!” She looks from each boy in turn, and none of them look like they understand her anger. “He’s missing. ”

“He probably just went and got drunk after we left him,” Lucas dismisses. He hits her shoulder and grins. “Mad Max scared him too much for him to stay.”

Neil’s words from this morning ring in Max’ ears. She doesn’t know how to explain to them that when Billy’s out doing something Neil asked him to, he always shows up back at home before going anywhere else.

“No, no, he wouldn’t-“

“Max,” Mike says. “Are you worried? ”

The others seem to have picked up on that as well. “I’m sure he’s fine,” Dustin tries.

Max really has to fight to keep from shouting. “ What if he got eaten? ”

The boys stare wide eyed at her.

“I-“

She levels on Mike first, then Lucas. “You two have siblings. And you know they’re annoying, and they make you mad and angry and sad, but you wouldn’t want them to die , would you?”

“Our sisters aren’t Billy Hargrove,” Mike deadpans, and Max is really going to hit one of them.

“If he’s dead,” she hisses. “Then that will be our fault, because we left him there without a way to defend himself. It will be my fault, because I injected him with that shit and-“

“No,” Lucas interjects. “It will be his own fault for showing up at Will’s house and pushing me against a wall and beating Steve bloody.”

“What do you even want us to do?” Dustin asks.

Max huffs and sets her shoulders. “I want us to go look for him.”

Mike shakes his head. “We can’t miss school. We can’t- We can’t act out of ten ordinary, not now, when no one else knows something’s happened. We can’t bring attention to us, and-“

Max isn’t listening. Down the hill, at ten high school parking lot, Jonathan Byers just showed up in his beat up car. Max is seconds from taking off running, when Nancy appears, throwing herself into his arms. A second later, the bell rings, and the boys drag her inside towards the school.

—

Max doesn’t speak to them from the start of their first lesson until the end of the last one before lunch. It helps that she doesn’t sit next to any of them, but even if she did, she wouldn’t have talked to them. The only reason she does say something is to tell them she’s going to the bathroom, and that they can go ahead to lunch without her, because she’s got ‘girl stuff’ so it might take her a while. That gets the expected vaguely disgusted grimaces and they all nod, leaving her to climb through the window in the empty girl bathroom and run to the high school.

Her plan is mostly just made up out of luck, especially this part.

But God, or the universe, or whatever, must have decided she deserves some smooth sailing, because Jonathan is sitting at the hood of his car.

He raises his eyebrows as he spots her running towards him. “Max?”

She comes to a stop by his car, and looks around them to make sure they’re alone. “Where’s Nancy?”

“She’s got class. We don’t have lunch together on Mondays,” he answers, frowning like he doesn’t quite get what she’s doing here. Why she’s talking to him, at all.

But the thing is, Max has compiled together the limited things she knows about Jonathan, and she figures he’s her best bet if she wants someone to help her, because:

A. From what she’s seen and heard of his mum, Susan isn’t too far off from being as anxious about her child as Joyce Byers is about hers. And if that’s true, then,

B. Jonathan has probably had to look after Will, having him as his responsibility the same way Billy has her as his. Thus,

C. When Will disappeared last year, Jonathan probably felt guilty. Like it was his fault. Which is exactly what Max is feeling like right now.

“I need your help,” Max says. “Can you open the car so we can talk inside before anyone sees me here?”

Jonathan looks at her for a moment, and Max is suddenly worried she’d miscalculated, but then he nods and moves to unlock the car doors. He climbs into the driver’s seat and Max takes the passenger’s.

“What did you need help with?”

Max breathes in deep. “When you left this morning, was Billy’s car still there?”

His eyebrows scrunch up, like he can’t really remember, like he didn’t look, like that wasn’t important to him, but then he slowly starts to nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Blue, right?”

Max nods rabidly. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t come home last night. And I… I’m scared something attacked him. That a…”

“You’re scared a demodog ate him,” Jonathan says. Max sees him swallow.

“Yes,” she whispers. “I injected him with one of Will’s sedatives from the lab, and he passed out, but he- I don’t- I don’t think he could’ve fought them off like that, so what if- If he’s dead, then that’s my-“

“Do you want us to go looking for him?”

Max looks hopefully up at him. “Would you?”

Jonathan turns to look out at the parked cars around them. “I didn’t really want to come into school today. My mum would’ve let me stay home. I only came to make sure Nancy was alright. And I get what you’re feeling. Your brother’s an ass, but so was Steve, and no one deserves to die like that.” He turns to face her. “You think you know where he might’ve gone, if not home, and without his car?”

Max shakes her head. “I thought we could start by his car and go from there. Check the roads around your place, and if not, then the woods surrounding it?”

Jonathan nods. “Alright,” he says. “Put on your seatbelt.”

—

Benny hasn’t left the kitchen since he called Jim.

He’s just been standing there, staring at the floor and wondering what his life has come to. Wondering what the hell Hawkins has come to.

Or if it’s always been weird, if Jim’s always been involved in crazy shit, and Benny, like most of the town, just had no idea.

The sudden sound of the door to the back room brings him out of his thoughts and Benny looks up to see the kid - Hargrove? - standing there, trembling, Benny’s shirt falling off one shoulder and exposing a collarbone.

“M-Max,” he says. His chest’s heaving, like he can’t really get enough air in. “I have to… I have to find Max, I-“

His legs go out from under him, and it’s only from years of developing quick reflexes in the kitchen that have Benny reaching him just in time to keep his head from knocking into the cold tiles. He pulls the kid close to his chest and gently lowers the both of them to the floor.

With horror, he realises the teenager in his arms has started sobbing, shuddering against Benny.

“Shh, shh,” he says, rubbing his arms. Benny’s sure he’s gotten warmer. His forehead feels like a furnace against Benny’s shirt clad chest. “Shh, you’re okay, it’s okay.”

“Everything hurts,” the kid sobs. “I have to- I have to find-“

“You don’t have to do anything,” Benny says, holding him a little tighter. This is the weirdest situation he’s ever been in, he’s sure of it. “You just have to rest. No one… No one’s going to hurt you.”

Benny feels him shake his head, and that must hurt, because it’s followed by a whine. “You don’t understand. I have to, or he’ll-“

He’s cut off by the sound of rapid knocking against the front door of the diner, and flinches, falling silent.

“Okay,” Benny says, and then reaches up to cover the kid’s one exposed ear with his hand, because it seems to be hurting and Benny’s about to yell. “If that’s you, Jim, then break a window! Jim! Break a-“

He doesn’t hear the sound of splintering glass, instead he hears the lock click open, and Benny has just enough time to wonder who the fuck this person is with a key to his diner before Jim Hopper steps inside.

“The hell?!” he exclaims. Benny imagines they must make quite a sight, sprawled out here on the kitchen floor. Jim spares a second for complete and utter bewilderment before he’s moving, crouching down at their side. “Come on, Hargrove, let’s get you up. Back to the…” he looks to Benny for help.

“Couch,” Benny supplies, and helps Jim bring the kid to standing. He lets himself be manhandled by the two of them, and Benny may not know what this kid is like normally but it still worries him.

“Gonna thro’up,” he mumbles as soon as he’s laying down, and Benny reaches for the bin just in time. While the kid retches, Benny turns to Jim.

“How the hell did you get inside? I’ve never given you a key.”

“I-“

“Benny.”

At the sound of a fourth voice, Benny turns to look over his shoulder.

And there she stands. She’s a little taller now, and she’s got hair, curly and brown.

“El,” Benny breathes.

She looks like she wants to hug him, but Benny sees her glance at the teen who’s got his head buried in the bin in Benny’s lap and must she think better of it.

“She insisted on coming with,” Jim says and shrugs.

“Right,” Benny says. The kid spits one last time and lies back down on the couch, breathing harshly.

“Benny, can we… talk, in the kitchen? El can keep an eye on him,” Jim says, nodding towards the couch.

Benny nods and stands up, following him out to the kitchen. He closes the door behind them.

“Tell me what happened,” Jim immediately says, crossing his arms and leaning back against one of the counters.

“I already told you.”

Jim waves a hand dismissively. “Tell me again.”

Benny sighs. “I was on my way to work, and my headlights caught his legs, so I stopped and got out. Kid was beat up and wouldn’t wake up, and I thought I’d bring him here before calling the hospital, and then I thought ‘Hey, what if this is another one of Jim’s kids’ and tried calling you. But you wouldn’t answer,” he bites out pointedly.

“Sorry about that. But you did good, calling me first. We had a long night and he,” Jim points at the closed door, “was involved.” He shakes his head. “I get the hospital, but why would you want to call CPS?”

Benny stares at him. “You saw him! He’s beat up, he’s clearly been in a fight, but more than that-“

“You’re right he’s been in a fight. And according to my kids, that one is a bully who attacked them, and I can’t have him running his mouth to hospital staff about last night.” Jim pushes away from the counter and goes marching towards the door.

“Jim, wait, you’re not hearing me-“

But it’s already too late. The door’s been thrown open and both kids on the other side jump. Jim comes to a stop in front of the teen, leaning down and pointing his finger in his face.

“Listen here, Hargrove, I don’t know what the fuck you thought you were doing last night, but you should be glad that Harrington isn’t pressing any assault charges-“

From what Benny’s seen of this kid so far, he’d have imagined him to flinch back, maybe close his eyes in fear.

But he doesn’t. He starts laughing. It sounds manic and strange and desperate.

“Chief,” he says, his head lolling to the side. “That you? How you know what Harrington and I were doing last night if he didn’t call you, huh?”

Jim steps back, paling. He looks like he’s said something he wasn’t supposed to. “Steve babysits for us,” he finally settles on.

The kid - Benny doesn’t know why, but he’s got something against calling him his last name. Somehow, it sounds odd next to the image he currently paints - scoffs another laugh. “Yeah? Then I’d like you to press charges against him for kidnapping. ‘Cause last night, my little sister disappeared, her window left open, and I was told to look for her. And you know what I find?”

He looks from each of them in turn. Jim’s looking at him with a look of distaste, El staring wide eyed, her gaze distant. Like she’s not really here at all.

“I find her, with a group of boys, in a house out in the fucking woods. And one of these boys… One of these boys is older than me, and he lies to me about her being there, and then I have to… Then I have to push one of those boys away from her, because my dad can’t find out she’s hanging out with him, I can’t let her, and then … Then I get fucking attacked by Harrington, and Max, that stupid little bitch , she pushes a syringe into my neck and a nailed fucking bat between my legs.” He grins at them, and there’s blood on his teeth. He chuckles, sounding breathless and incredulous and disbelieving. “Then I wake up,” he whispers. “I wake up, and my car is gone, and I don’t know what she injected me with but it must’ve been good, because there’s drawings all over the walls and floor like some nuthouse and I crashed into the fridge and- and a… a monster fell out, and I just, I just stuffed it back in, and I- I can still feel it, but it… It must’ve been the drugs, because Max can’t… she can’t have been involved in… in that, I-“ He looks up at them and his eyes are big and wet and shiny.

Benny decides then and there that he’s never, ever going to ask Jim Hopper what the fuck it is that goes on in Hawkins that Benny doesn’t know about.

The kid chuckles again, broken and wet. “I thought for sure I was going to die. And then I realised that Max wasn’t there, and my car was gone, and it didn’t matter anymore. Nothing fucking mattered. I couldn’t stay there, ‘cause there was a monster in the fridge, so I started walking. I didn’t care when I fell and couldn’t get back up. I didn’t matter. Because at least… At least dying out there wouldn’t hurt as bad as what I’d get if I came home without her.”

“Billy,” Jim says, and thank God, finally his voice is as soft as Benny’s felt this situation craved. Jim waits for the kid’s - Billy’s - eyes to land on him. “Steve won the fight last night. Barely, but he did. You passed out on the floor. The kid’s left to go get me, Steve had to borrow your car, that’s why it was gone when you woke up.” He smiles gently. “And you left, and passed out outside, and got sick from the cold. You’ve got a fever. There was no syringe, no bat or drawings or a monster in a fridge. You must’ve dreamt all that. It’s okay.”

Both Benny and El are staring at Jim when he finishes.

“Jim,” Benny says between clenched teeth. “A word.”

He walks out to the kitchen, fully expecting Jim to follow. And good for him, he does.

Benny rounds on him the second the door is closed.

“What the hell was that?!” He says, just barely keeping his voice low enough for the occupants of the room next door not to hear.

“What?” Jim says.

“ That . Listen, I don’t want to know what the hell happened last night, I’m happy not knowing, but he obviously saw something , and you just… You just lied to him.”

Jim sighs, like Benny is a particularly annoying person coming to report some petty crime and not one of Jim’s only friends.

“Bob Newby died last night, because he got involved in this. It’s safer for him if he doesn’t know. If he thinks he just hallucinated the whole thing. Then he won’t get dragged into it and I won’t have another kid to worry about and he won’t risk dying, you hear me?”

“I…” Benny’s left speechless. He’s had Bob and Joyce here, at the diner, for date nights, once or twice. “Did you catch that bit about his dad? About how he thought he’d die if he went home without his sister? Do you get why I wanted to call CPS now?”

“Yeah,” Jim nods. “Yeah, I did. I’ll-“

The door to the diner opens, the bell jingling.

“Hopper?” A teenage boy’s voice calls out. “You here?”

“What the hell?” Jim mutters, and then he’s off, walking out into the front room. “Jonathan?”

Benny follows him out to see Jonathan Byers - one of the only teenagers Benny knows the look off - halfway inside the door.

“Why aren’t you in school?” Jim asks, and then seems to think better of it, adding, “Or at home?”

A redhead appears behind Jonathan, pushing her way inside. “Have you seen Billy? He never came home last night and I-“

“‘Billy’? Is this Max?” Benny asks, and it seems like neither kid had noticed him until then. An odd experience for Benny, being 6’4 and all.

Her eyebrows scrunch up. “How do you…? Is he here? Billy!” She goes running past them before anyone can stop her. Past the tables and into the kitchen. Benny hears the door to the back room bang open before any of them react and take off after her.

When they get there, Max has thrown herself into Billy’s arms on the couch, holding tightly to him. Billy, on his part, isn’t holding her back, but isn’t pushing her away, either. Benny remembers what Billy had told them about last night and figures he’s never going to get sibling relationships.

“You asshole!” She shouts, still pressing her face to his chest, and hits his shoulder.

“Max,” Jim says. “I need to talk to you. Jonathan, too.”

She scrambles off of her brother, and Benny is left with Billy and El, the other three disappearing into the kitchen and closing the door behind them.

They sit in silence for a moment. Billy brings up his hand to massage the bridge of his nose.

“You’re hurting,” El says.

Billy chuckles humourlessly. “Yeah.”

El tilts her head. “You want to sleep again?”

Billy doesn’t answer her. He’s staring up at the ceiling, taking measured breaths and swallowing. Benny gets the feeling he’s still nauseous.

El pushes off the chair she’d been sat on and walks up to him. She reaches her hand out, but Billy moves away before it can land.

“Don’t fucking touch me.”

“Shh,” El says. “Close your eyes.”

Amazingly, Billy sighs and does as she says. El reaches out, towards his head. From his angle Benny can’t really see what she does, but less than a minute later she’s stepping back, turning to face him with a small smile. There’s a trail of blood leaking from her nostril, and she wipes it away, holding a finger to her lips like she’s asking him to keep a secret. Then she looks back at Billy, frowning a little.

“He’s warm,” she tells Benny, and goes back to her seat.

Benny steps forward, pressing the back of his palm against Billy’s forehead. She’s right. He has gotten warmer. It’s probably good he’s sleeping again. If he’d been conscious, Benny doubts he’d have let him get this close.

Benny gets the feeling Billy’s a bit like a stray dog. About to bite before he gets kicked.

He grabs the bowl and the towel from where it’s ended up on the floor, taking both of them into the employee bathroom to get fresh water. He gets back just as the door to the kitchen bursts open and Max comes rushing out, Jim and Jonathan behind.

“You-“ she starts, but comes to a stop in front of the couch when she realises Billy’s sleeping. She turns around to yell at Jim instead. “Why did you tell him that?! I-I stood up to him, the guys all-“

“Max,” Jim tries, holding both his hands up in a calming gesture. Benny sees him chance a glance at the couch and breathe a soft sigh of relief when he, too, notices that the occupant has passed back out. “I had to, okay? It… It was easier. He won’t ask as many questions now.”

She throws her hands up. “But-“

“Max,” Jim says, firm but gentle. “Sit down.”

She huffs a breath, but sits down on Benny’s coffee table.

Jim crouches down in front of her. “Good. Max. Has your stepfather ever done anything to hurt you?”

Benny sees Jonathan pale and shoot a glance towards Billy, shivering on the couch, and he’s suddenly reminded of Lonnie Byers. Benny himself is just left standing, holding his bowl and towel, like a spectator watching this all play out.

Max sighs. “He moved us all out here, so yeah, sure.”

“Has he ever hit you? Hit Billy?”

She’s got her back to Benny, so he can’t see the expression she makes, but he watches her go rigid.

“What?” she says. “Did… Did Billy tell you that? He- what?” She jumps back off the coffee table and reaches out, shaking Billy awake.

It takes him a while for recognition to filter back into his eyes, and he blinks lazily at them. “Max?” he mumbles softly. “What the…? We need- We have to go home.”

She hits his shoulder. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Benny can hear the hint of guilt in her voice.

“What?” Billy asks, scrunching his eyebrows together. It’s like he can’t really follow the conversation.

“Har- Billy,” Jim starts, moving so he’s closer to Billy and Max. “What did you mean when you said it would be better dying out there than coming home without Max?”

Before Billy gets the chance to answer, Max turns sharply to stare at Jim.

“He said what? ”

“Max-“

Billy starts laughing. That same manic laugh as before. “Are you… Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

Max turns back to look at him. “What?” she breathes. She sounds so confused Benny’s heart aches for her. For every damn person in this room.

It only makes Billy laugh harder. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know.”

“What? No, I, Billy-“ She turns to Jim, to Jonathan still stuck in the doorway. “I have no idea what he’s talking about.”

“Max,” Billy says, reaching a fumbling hand to tug at her wrist, making her face him. “Stop.” He sounds like he’s about to cry. “Stop, okay? Stop it. You hear me? Stop- Stop pretending like you don’t know!” He shakes her arm, like he thinks that will make her understand better.

Jim reaches out, uncurls Billy’s fingers from her wrist. “Billy,” he says, and there’s a finality to his tone. “What is it that you think Max won’t tell us?”

“My dad,” he says, and then looks like he ever regrets opening his mouth. If it wasn’t for whatever cocktail of drugs Max injected him with, combined with the fever leaving his brain scrambled, Benny doesn’t think he would’ve ever have told them as much as he has. Something shifts in Billy’s eyes and he props himself up on one arm. “She has to… Max hates me. She does, why else would she…? I’m an asshole, I know, but she… She won’t listen. She knows what happens to me when she doesn’t listen, when she makes us late home, she knows what he’ll do to me, and she- She fucking hates me, because she keeps doing it. He’ll hit me anyway, but she makes it worse, and she knows she does, because she hates me.” He’s breathing hard by the end, and Max is white as a sheet.

“What?” she says. “No-“

“His papa is a bad man.”

All eyes turn to El, staring intently at the pair of siblings from her place in the corner. She’s got more blood smudged under her nose.

“He hurt his mama. And then she left, and he never stopped hurting.”

Billy doesn’t seem to find it strange, doesn’t look like he’s about to question how she knows. Benny knows it’s horrible, but he feels a little grateful for the fever. Billy just collapses back on the couch, his arm too weak to hold him up anymore, and blinks at her. “You too, huh? What’d your old man do?”

“Bad things,” El says.

“Your jaw… neck…?” Max says, touching her own skin at the same place that Billy’s is marred by bruises. “Steve didn’t do that.”

Billy closes his eyes. “What did you think would happen when they came home last night and you weren’t there and I didn’t know where you’d gone?”

“I’m sorry,” Max says, and a lone tear trails down her cheek. “I didn’t know.”

Billy scoffs, not opening his eyes. Max’ shoulders shake.

Both El and Jonathan move then, El taking Max’ hand and stepping back with her so Jonathan can take Max’ place next to Jim.

“Billy,” Jonathan says. “Hey, man, look at me, come on. She didn’t know. She didn’t know, and you didn’t want her to know, right?”

Billy blinks his eyes open, and again, it takes them a second to find Jonathan. “The hell do you know?”

“You didn’t want her to know, because you didn’t want her to be as scared as you are, right? It… It was alright if she was scared of you, because you knew you wouldn’t ever hurt he like that, not like he does.”

“She never asked for her mum to marry him,” Billy whispers, his breath hitching as he chuckles. “But he was right about one thing. She’s my responsibility, she’s always been, ever since they met each other, because-“

“You’re older. You’re the older brother. Yeah,” Jonathan says, nodding. “I know. I would put music on so Will wouldn’t hear our parents fighting.”

“Susan takes Max out of the house when she knows he’s about to go off. She’s scared. We’re all so fucking scared.”

Jonathan nods minutely. “You won’t have to be scared anymore, Billy. None of you will. Hopper’s going to arrest your dad, and,” He chuckles darkly. “And it’ll be a shitty couple of weeks, or months, but it’ll be alright in the end. You’ll be alright. Okay?”

“Okay.”

—

Jim leaves to go arrest Neil Hargrove, muttering something about how he’s going to have to try to contact a Dr. Owens to figure out when to take Billy to the hospital. He tells them he’ll be gone awhile, that he needs to call CPS as well, and the schools, and talk to Susan Hargrove, and call Joyce Byers.

And Benny’s left on babysitting duty.

He takes one look at the four teenagers spread out in his back room with varying degrees of distress on their faces, and decides they must be hungry. El somehow gets Billy to fall back asleep and Benny then ropes the three of them into helping him. Together they make fries and burgers and sandwiches.

The diner doesn’t have much in terms of entertainment, but Benny manages to find a pack of playing cards.

It takes a couple of hours, but eventually, Benny can look at each of these kids in turn and see small smiles, hear soft bursts of laughter that sound happy instead of scared or desperate or humourless.