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Some people might say what Mike and Max were attempting to do was ‘ridiculous’ and ‘unreasonable’ and rather ‘immature’.
But those people are just being negative.
“This- is- so-“ Max panted as she fell through the window and into Mike’s bedroom on the second floor with a groan of pain. “Stupid.”
It was a bit past midnight, and much like she’d been doing for the past two weeks, Max had snuck over to Mike’s once her mom fell asleep.
Mike helped her up and hurried to his closet. “Well I got something to make it easier.” Max raised an eyebrow as she waited by the window.
Mike opened the closet, where a sleeping bag was laid out and there was a small lantern. He snatched something off the small shelf inside and tossed it over to Max.
When she looked at what it was, her eyes widened. It was a key to the house.
“Dude, how did you even-“ She sputtered.
Mike grinned. “Told them I lost mine on the way to school, got another copy. Just make sure to keep waiting till after midnight before you come over. Now I can get a full nights sleep.” He joked.
But his smile faded when he saw Max looked down.
“Um…not that I actually mind-“
“Mike, we can’t keep this up forever.” She told him softly. “I can’t just…live in your closet.”
Mike crossed his arms stubbornly. “El lived in my basement for a week, I’m pretty good at the whole hiding people thing.”
“That’s not concerning at all.” Max teased rather fondly.
Ever since Mike had caught her with injuries from her mother, he’d been having her come sleep over instead of staying there. Mostly so she’d have breaks, but also so somebody could care for her wounds.
Maybe it was silly. Maybe they should tell someone.
But…the idea of it all being out in the open was so overwhelming, and Max isn’t sure she wanted to take that step.
At the end of the day, she loved her mother. And her mother didn’t mean to do this to her.
Mike clapped his hands to snap them both out of the content silence. “Well, we should get to sleep. School and all that shit.”
Max nodded softly. “Yep. School and all that shit.”
She slipped into his closet and Mike collapsed on his bed, exhausted from waiting up from her.
“Night Max.”
“Night Mike.”
Steve knew he wasn’t exactly book smart, at least not like Nancy.
But something weird was going on, he was sure of it.
For starters, Mike had begun to eat a strangely large amount of food in the morning. He’d make himself a few Eggos and then before Steve could even blink they’d disappear, and then he’d make himself another plate of them.
It was a bit odd. Mike never ate that much, in fact over the years Steve honestly grew worried his weight wouldn’t keep up with his height.
And not to mention the water bottle obsession. He was constantly taking bottles of water up to his room, but Steve would literally see him get himself glasses of water throughout the day.
And then there was the key. Mike lost his key? Mike wasn’t clumsy like that, he didn’t just lose things and brush it off like it was nothing. And yeah, maybe if it was just that then Steve wouldn’t find it weird, after all people lose things all the time.
But it wasn’t just the key. It was his toothbrush, hairbrush, even his damn jacket!
When he brought it up to Robin and Nancy, they of course just brushed it off.
“Eh, he’s just being a boy.” They said.
“Maybe he’s stressed?” They said.
“I mean it’s just a hairbrush, I don’t think we need to hold an intervention, Steve.” They said.
Well dammit, fine, if they didn’t want to help, Steve would just figure this shit out himself.
And when he did, they would be sorry.
“Mike.” Max hissed frantically as she poked him. He was fast asleep, and rightly so as it was one in the morning.
Rolling her eyes, Max all but shoved him out of his own bed.
Mike fell with a thud before shooting up alarmed. “What the fu-“ He looked at Max in disbelief. “What the hell, Max!?”
“I…” Max gritted her teeth, hugging her stomach anxiously. She looked anywhere but at him. “We have a problem.” She whispered.
Mike’s eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
“I…I started, Mike.” She explained, mortified.
It took Mike probably way longer than it should’ve to get it, and his eyes widened in horror. “Oh shit.”
Max glared at him. “Gee, thanks.”
“Shit, sorry, um-“ Mike rubbed the back of his neck nervously, trying to figure out what to do. “Okay um…right, sister, I have a sister!” He beamed. “You can just ask for one tomorrow!”
Max looked at him like he was an idiot. “And what will I do tonight? Right now!? I-I can’t use toilet paper it’s too…” She cringed. “There’s too much blood.”
Mike had to hold back a gag. “Jesus, okay, um…wait here, I’ll…I’ll see if I can find her or Robin’s…stuff.” He bolted out of the bedroom.
Jesus Christ. When he insisted on Max staying with him whenever she could get away from her mom, this isn’t what he signed up for.
But here they were, and it was a little late to go back.
Mike tiptoed into the bathroom with a flashlight in hand, kneeling down to look in the cabinet. “Yes.” He muttered when he saw Robin and Nancy did in fact have some stuff.
But as Max stared at the packages, he began to sweat.
He…had no idea what Max actually needed.
Robin used pads…Nancy had tampons…was there a difference? What was better? Did Max have a preference?
Did it matter?
Shaking his head frantically, Mike just grabbed the tampons and stood up to leave, refusing to spend anymore time thinking about this particular issue.
But that’s when something jumped out in front of him. “AHA!”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Mike shrieked as he stumbled back, nearly falling over from alarm.
Frantically, Steve flicked the light on. “WAIT, IT’S JUST ME!” They both winced at the sudden light.
“STEVE!?” Mike hissed in disbelief, glaring at him. “What are you doing!?”
Steve pointed at him determinedly. “What are you doing, Wheeler? Some dark shit is going on and-“ He paused, looking at the box of tampons in Mike’s hands.
Both boys paused, unsure of how to proceed.
“…Mike, what the hell?”
Before Mike could even begin to think of an excuse, they heard new voices.
“What the hell is going on?” Nancy’s tired, irritable voice echoed down the hall.
She and Robin, both still half-asleep, came over in disbelief. “Steve? Mike?” Nancy muttered in confusion.
Then her eyes landed on the tampons and her eyes widened. “…Mike…why do you have my tampons?”
“I…” Mike’s mouth fell agape as the three guardians stared him down.
He…really didn’t know what to say.
“Jesus Christ.” Everyone jumped at the new voice as Max walked up to them in annoyance.
Steve did a double take. “What are you doing here!?”
“What is going on?” Nancy hissed.
“Uhhhh, I think I have an idea.” Robin told them awkwardly, gesturing to the tampons again.
Max flushed red as she snatched the box from Mike. “We will talk about this in a minute!” She shoved Mike out of the bathroom and slammed the door in their faces.
Mike awkwardly turned to the young adults. “…So funny story.” He started.
They were not amused.
Robin, Steve and Nancy sat on the couch, with Steve and Robin looking shocked and Nancy just looking exhausted.
Max and Mike anxiously stood in front of them, waiting for them to speak.
“So let me see if I have this right,” Nancy started calmly. “You’ve been living in Mike’s closet for two weeks. All of the shit we bought was actually going to you. Your mom is hurting you. And you guys thought you could just keep this a secret…forever?”
“Not forever, just…” Mike winced, shrugging. “Till we figured something else out.”
“Jesus Christ.” Steve ran a hand over his face.
Robin looked at Max worriedly. “Are you okay?”
Max groaned. “I am, really. It’s not…it’s not like with Mike, it’s not that severe.”
“Do the others know?” Nancy questioned.
Max and Mike fell silent.
“Guys…this isn’t…” Robin trailed off nervously. “I mean, you know we can’t-“
Max cut her off. “I know. I-I know this was only temporary. I’m…really sorry for the trouble. You uh, you can have your key back and-“
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, not where I was going with that.” Robin cut her off, smiling slightly. “I was going to say, we can’t let you go back there.”
Their eyes widened in disbelief.
Nancy and Steve did a double take.
“Hold on, are you saying-“ Steve started.
“Obviously we can’t adopt her, at least, not without shit getting messy, which I doubt you want,” Max nodded at that. “But…what if we just…let you stay for a while? While your mother gets back on her feet?”
Max looked at her with awe. “…Are you serious?”
Nancy sighed heavily with a small smile. “Well we’re sure as hell not sending you home, besides I doubt Mike would let you go at this point.” She joked.
But she wasn’t wrong. Whether she liked it or not, Mike considered Max a part of his family now.
And like hell if he wouldn’t do everything possible to protect his family.
“But you can’t live in his closet, that shit is weird.” Steve shook his head. “How about the attic?”
Max’s jaw dropped in utter disbelief. “I…I don’t know what to say…”
“Most people would start with thank you-“ Mike joked, earning an elbow to the gut.
But despite that, Max took his advice anyways.
“…Thank you. Thank you so much.”
If asked in the future, Max would always deny crying that day.
But if ever asked if things were better now that she lived with the Harrington-Wheeler-Buckley household? Hell. Yes.