Chapter Text
The Byers had left a week ago, El going with them. Max was happy for them, or at least she tried to be. They were finally getting out of Hawkins. El could have a chance at a normal life. To instead be Jane. It would be a lie to say Max didn’t feel somewhat abandoned, which was entirely unfair, but at least she wasn’t the only one.
For some reason, Max had been drawn to the quarry that day, going for a walk in the late summer heat. Something to clear her head. She wasn’t sure what to think when she saw him there.
Mike’s back was to her, his legs dangling precariously over the rocky edge. A soft breeze rustled through the trees as she stopped in her tracks. A pit formed in her stomach, seeing him that close to the edge. She hated how her voice shook.
“Mike?” He looked up but not at her, his back straightening. She slowly walked up to him, sitting near the boy, but staying a good three feet from the ledge. She watched him while he looked at the horizon. They sat in a heavy silence.
“Mike,” Max tried again, “Why are you here?”
Mike closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose and letting it out through his mouth.
“I…” He started. She leaned forward, listening. “It’s just nice here. Quiet.” Mike chewed absent-mindedly on his lower lip. Max furrowed her eyebrows in concern. Quiet. Quiet could mean a lot of things. It’s all Mike has been lately, quiet. Not joining in on debates on movie night, not even giving his opinion on the movies chosen. Not talking about some weird DnD thing that Max didn’t understand. Only really speaking when spoken to. Quiet.
She also wanted quiet.
She was starting to worry that he wanted it in the same way.
Max did something she never thought she would do: she reached out and placed her hand on his.
“Mike?” He looked up at both the contact and her voice. She met his eyes with a shaky breath, “Please–please don’t–um–do anything?” He furrowed his eyebrows.
“Don’t do anything?”
“I just–I don’t like seeing you here. This close to the edge. Please–” She let out a choked sob that made his hand shoot out to cover hers which was still laid over his other hand. She finally manages to get it out, “Please don’t do this. Don’t go too far. Please. Don’t do anything.” A slow tear traveled down her cheek. He looked down at their hands then over at the horizon.
With a sigh he responded, “As long as you don’t either.” She raised her eyebrows in surprise. He scoffed a bit when he looked up at her expression.
“Me?” she started, “I’m f–”
“Fine?” Mike finished for her, “That’s why you broke up with Lucas? Why you don’t sit next to him at movie night anymore? Or tease Dustin and I? That's why there's always distance between you and the rest of us? Why your smiles and laughs are either forced or nonexistant?”
His tone wasn't harsh. In fact it was kinder than Max was used to hearing him towards anyone but Will, however she still flinched at the bluntness of his words. He was right. She was drawing away from the party. She sighed and looked over at the slowly setting sun.
She barely heard it over a gust of wind:
“I’m sorry.”
She laughed, quiet and perhaps a bit bitter, “Mike Wheeler? Sorry? Never thought I’d see the day.” He shot her a glare that made her laugh, more genuine this time.
His expression sobered. “I am, though, sorry I mean.” There was a moment of silence before he spoke again.
“It’s not your fault, you know.”
She looked down, "It's not yours either.”
He scoffed, “You don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“And you do?”
“Billy, Max.” She flinched at the name but Mike continued, “Billy is not your fault.”
Max swallowed as a tear ran down her cheek. She whispered, to him but mostly just to herself, “And Will isn’t yours. Neither is El.” She looked back at him, catching it as he blinked and a tear made its way down his face.
“Promise me, Mike, that you won’t do anything.”
“Only if you promise the same.” Max nodded at his request.
“A deal,” she started, “Neither of us can do anything as long as the other is alive.”
He held out his hand and she took it. “Deal,” they both said to each other as they shook, tears streaming down both of their faces.