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Despite their complicated relationship, when Max knocked on the Wheeler’s maindoor two months after the Byers’ move, Mike didn’t hesitate before leading her to the basement, a place where she knew she could be safe. Her mother’s husband, or more accurately Billy’s father, had moved out of their house a few weeks prior, leaving them stranded in a house they couldn’t afford. Her whole world was falling apart in front of her eyes and Mike held her all the way through it.
He didn’t ask any questions, seeming to understand the struggles of a strained family life, only sat quietly next to her as she allowed herself to finally let a few tears slip, in the comfort of the soft basement glow, surrounded by hung drawings, abandoned D&D figures and discarded letters on the floor.
They stayed there silently for hours until Mike sat up and quietly asked “Do you want to take the couch tonight?” Max nodded and it was settled.
The next day, Max had an idea. She knew Steve and her co-worker from the mall last summer worked at a video store on Main Street so she decided to pop in after school to find something that could make it up to Mike. Surprising right ? Max couldn’t have imagined doing this for Mike Wheeler out of all people on one of the few free afternoons the high school schedule allowed her. However, she would never have imagined that Mike now felt like the only person she could exist next to without the weight of imaginary expectations and unasked questions dooming over her either. That, she didn’t admit it to herself until later in their friendship.
Right now, she felt as though the prospect of owing something to Mike could make her crawl out of her skin. She picked Ghostbusters, even though it felt weird and cheesy it was one of the memories they shared and she honestly had no clue what Mike Wheeler’s movie taste could be like. Max knew he would be annoying about it though. Probably one of those snob movie nerds ugh. She felt like she was going for the safest option there.
“Hi, I’d like to rent this one please.”
“Of course! Aren’t you one of Henderson’s little friends he’s always going on and on about ?” someone responded.
Max shrugged, glancing at the girl with the shaggy haircut in front of her and: “Yeah I guess… I’m Max but, she sighed, I don’t really hang out with Dustin anymore.”
The girl laughed, bright and carefree : “That’s fair! I wouldn’t stay friends with the dingus long if I had to put up with him on a daily basis too !”
Max smiled awkwardly, suddenly feeling too exposed : “How much is it ?”
The girl’s eyes went comically big as she realised she had hit a sour spot: “Sorry I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. Steve always tells me I should shut up more. My name’s Robin by the way, nice to meet you!... Oh yeah, sorry it’ll be $65!”
Max paid and muttered a quick “Thank you.” as she stormed out of the store.
Not only did Mike like the movie but he slipped her a note this time, as she was about to go home to the house in the trailer park her mom had rented with the small amount of money her step-father had left them. It read: “Tomorrow 9PM”. An invitation as well as a peace offering.
From then on, she came back every day. Some days they watched a movie, others they just sat in silence, existing together and understanding each other’s troubled minds a little too well for their own good.
It had been a long day. Lucas had begged Max for the thousandth time to just talk to him and that “whatever was going on with her he could help her if she would only talk to him”. She ended up in the bathroom stall, heavy breaths making their way through her mouth as she tried and failed to keep her emotions contained. She whipped around as the door opened. Mike had followed her :
“ What the fuck are you doing here Wheeler ?” she exclaimed, accusatory.
“You just stormed out of the dining hall Max ! Lucas has been a total wreck since you broke up with him and I can’t deal with this bullshit anymore !” argued Mike.
“ You don’t know shit about our relationship ! Why are you even telling to go talk to him ? Like you have talked to Will since he moved!” she called out.
Max knew she had gone too far but couldn’t bring herself to take it back. The Byers were a forbidden topic with Mike for some stupid reason she didn’t care to examine. He should just quit being an idiot for once in his miserable life and leave her alone. She’d talk to Lucas, or anyone for the record, if she felt like it. They could all kiss her ass.
She watched as Mike’s face fell in front of her eyes. She almost felt bad for him. Almost. Those were his problems he brought upon himself by being a careless idiot. She would not get herself in the mess that was Mike Wheeler, her life was already complicated enough.
Max thought he had left until a careful voice raised again:
“You know, you could talk to me if you felt like it. It could be easier than with Lucas,... or Dustin or whoever because, you know, we’re not friends or anything.”
Max was caught off guard. She did know,... kinda. They had never opened up to each other, just existed in silence before one of them decided they had had enough of the other’s company or one of them just put a tape in the video player. Their conversations were limited to casual politeness and quiet bickering over what film to pick.
“...”
Max heard a quiet thump as Mike sat down next to her. The floor was disgusting, they were in bathroom after all but neither of them batted an eye.
“I could start if you wanted… I’m just… I’m not good at this.”
“What, talking about your feelings ? Yeah I know Wheeler I thought this was like, common knowledge?” she uttered sarcastically.
“Shut up! I’m trying okay… So you know…” he started
He was interrupted as a group of giggling girls entered the bathroom. He scrambled to his feet so fast it would have been funny, if only the girls didn’t start screaming, seemingly offended by the sight of Mike Wheeler in their bathroom. Max thought this was understandable, even though she felt like Mike could almost pass as a girl with his shoulders-length hair and bangs… Fuck, she realized suddenly, what was he about to say ? It felt like it was important, based off the way his eyes had started to skim over Max’s face as though he was scared of the way she might react. She had to find out.
That’s how she ended up in front of the Wheeler house, for what felt like the thousandth time since the first back in October.
This time however, Mike wasn't the one to open the door. In front of her stood Nancy Wheeler. She had always been admiring of the young woman, of the way she managed to jungle between her family life, her relationship, her studies, still holding on to her aspirations and beliefs like they were worth believing in. Max wished she had that kind of strength.
“Hi Max! Do you need anything ?” asked Nancy, seemingly surprised of her presence here.
“Hey Nancy. I wanted to see Mike, I mean if he’s there.” said Max.
“Oh! Sure, wait a second I’ll be right back.”
A few minutes later, Nancy opened the door again, her expression unreadable:
“Mike said you could come down to the basement and he’d be there soon.”
This had never happened before: Mike never let Max stay in the basement alone, probably for whatever embarrassing stuff he kept there. Probably letters from El or something. God she missed her. Anyway, point is, he never let her in his basement without him being here. Why was it different now?
She sat down on the beat-up couch and let her eyes wander around. Obviously, she had been there a thousand times but never really cared to fully take in the numerous drawings hung up on the walls. She guesses they were all from Will, based on the signatures proudly adorning almost every one of them. Some of them were of the party, others were of D&D characters and settings but most only showed two boys, always close to each other, the shorter one wearing a bowl cut, probably Will, always looking up to the taller one with an awe-struck look painted on his face. She thought to herself that it was quite funny as she felt like it was the contrary, with Mike staring at Will all the time and treating him differently from the other party members, even El surprisingly.
Her thinking was cut off by Mike coming down the stairs, carefully like a cat. This also felt weirdly unusual: Mike always stomped his feet like an elephant, making the most noise possible every time. Yeah something was definitely up with him.
Max patted the spot on the couch next to her as a way to tell Mike he could sit down. Her best friend had always had trouble figuring out other people’s intentions.
This was something she had learnt during their first weeks interacting as normal people when Mike suddenly recoiled after a particularly sarcastic quip Max had sent his way. She also had to explicitly tell him they were friends even though they had been hanging out one-to-one for months now. It would probably come off as weird or even rude to some but she knew better than to ask questions and now always made sure he always knew where a conversation was going. The opposite situation usually ended pretty badly on both sides, Max having the traitorous tendencies to pull away from the people she cared about the most when she was hurt and Mike not knowing how to process his emotions and hurting everybody by words he didn’t mean.
“Did you want to…”
“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have…”
“Sorry you go.” Max said, feeling awkward.
“Okay… I’m sorry for making this about myself I should wait for you to open up instead of forcing you with some kind of weird fucked-up exchanging trauma kind of shit I should have just asked or waited like a normal person and…”
“Mike it’s okay I promise. Stop it you’re rambling, she interrupted, we could just watch a movie… or something, or…you could tell me what you had in mind earlier it felt like it was important”
“Okay. So, you know, when you told me I couldn’t call you out on not talking to Lucas because I haven’t been writing to Will?” he hinted, playing nervously with the hem of his shirt, some merch from the Hellfire Club she knew the boys were all in.
“Yeah… Well it’s true isn’t it,... you have not been talking to him.”
“No… I mean yes. Well… Whatever that’s not what… When you said that, I was about to argue that, you know, it’s different because well, you and Lucas were like…” he tried again.
“A couple ?” humoured Max.
“Yeah exactly! Like in a romantic relationship and stuff… But Will and I, we’re friends. We’re friends.” stuttered Mike.
He seemed to struggle to get the words out. Max knew Mike and Will were friends; she didn’t need to get a full speech about it. Mike didn’t seem convinced by the fact though.
Oh.
She had connected the dots. Everything made sense now: from the way Mike acted towards Will during the time the Mindflayer was possessing him, or his longing looks back at the Snowball, even the way he acted after his and El’s break-up…
“But… the thing is, I don’t really… think of him that way anymore?”
Seeing the confused look on Max’s face he continued:
“I mean not like… not like that. Obviously I still like him but…”
“Mike I need you to breathe” she interrupted, as Mike started hyperventilating.
“It’s just… I’m gay, Max. And, I think I’m in love with Will.”
“Of course you are... Sorry I didn’t mean it like that obviously, it’s just I kind of expected it?”.
She quickly noticed the way Mike had let his head fall onto his lap and how he couldn’t bring himself to meet her eye. Oh my god she was such a moron. This is definitely not the way one should react to someone coming out to them. She was fine with it obviously! She came from California for Christ’s sake. Who did he think she was ?
“Mike it’s okay I promise. You’re going to be fine, she reassured as Mike finally looked at her, Please stop being an idiot !”
“Okay…Yeah I’m sorry. It's just...”
“Hey. Hey it’s okay. I know how hard it must have been for you. You know what ? I already hated you so it’s not like it’s changed anything. But really I promise it’s okay.”
“Thanks Max.” Mike laughed wetly.
And as they held onto each other, Max couldn’t help but think that maybe being friends with Mike Wheeler wasn’t so bad after all. And maybe she could trust him with her own secrets, the way he had done with her.
Sure Max and Mike had hung out before this whole thing happened but it was always filled with endless bickering and mutual annoyance due to both their undeniable similarities (and probably the need they felt to protect the people closest to them). It was only after her brother’s death, during the time she started pulling away from everyone, that they started to really talk. At first it had been… tense. They were both holding out too much resentment, blaming each other for stuff they had no control over.
How could Max have known her arrival would cause so much emotional turmoil to a boy she hadn’t even known for two weeks? 12-year-old Max thought it was absolutely ridiculous and didn’t hesitate one second before telling Mike off for his unwelcoming and straight up asshole behaviour, which.. let’s say he didn’t really appreciate as it took them two more years to actually hit it off as acquaintances-who-don’t-jump-at-each-other’s-throat-every-time-one-of-them-speaks. Or whatever Mike had said then.
Meanwhile, how could Mike have known she didn’t want to replace El, or as she later understood, Will, but only find a few friends after moving away from the place she had known her entire life ? He was going through a hard time on his own, dealing with the grief of El’s disappearance and the heartbreak of having to watch his best friend becoming shallower every day. She understood now. They were both still children and even though not a lot has changed, they’re in this together now.