In the morning Mike woke up and still felt one of his arms wrapped around the broken red headed girl. He looked at her and noticed what a pretty sleeper she was when she was at peace. Her face seemed to be free of all pain and coldness and she looked, dare he think it, beautiful. The way her hair glistened in the sunlight that sprayed through the blinds added a magical aspect to her aura. He found himself smiling at the girl and he lifted up his arm that was around her waist up and brushed some of her hair back, tucking it behind her ear.

At this gesture she stirred a little and her eyes fluttered open to meet his. He was expecting her to be confused but instead she just smiled. "Good morning my savior," she said tiredly. Mike wasn't sure if she had purposely and consciously called him that name or not but he smiled anyways at it.

He then replied softly, "Good morning." He had been so tempted in that moment to call her princess or angel or something of the sort but refrained from doing so. He regretted it but didn't really know why.

They stayed there for a little bit, just looking into each other's eyes and feeling vulnerable without saying a word.

But the peace was broken when Mike's mother called, "Mike! Time for breakfast!" Mike groaned then said to Max, "if she knew you were here she would freak out. I'll have to make sure you get out without her noticing."

Max nodded as she sat up and rubbed her eyes, her colorful hair falling forward and into her face. "Stay here," he said as he got up and went to leave his room. Max nodded as he smiled at her before shutting the door and heading downstairs for breakfast.

Once he sat down at the dining table his mother said, "you must of gone to sleep early yesterday since I didn't see you when I got home." "Well you get home pretty late anyways," he mumbled back under his breath. He knew most of the time his mother was actually out drinking in the evenings and Holly was with a babysitter.

Karen sighed then asked him, "was the last day of school exhausting?" "Yeah," he said just to go with it so she wouldn't further question why he had gone to sleep earlier than usual.

Nancy wasn't home as she had left a few months prior to go and live with the Byers, had been having trouble living without Jonathan.

In that moment Mike realized how he missed El and felt bad and guilty that he had forgotten about her last night. Max had taken up all his thoughts last night but quite frankly, he wasn't mad about it.

He ate breakfast quietly as he watched his parents converse with each other and Holly pick at her food. Several times as he ate he snuck some food into his pockets so he could take it up to Max.

Once he finished breakfast he quickly washed his dish and silverware before rushing upstairs. He knew his mom would find his behaviour odd but he knew she probably wouldn't question it.

Once he got back in his room he noticed Max was asleep again, obviously had gotten bored while waiting for him to return. He shook her awake and she blinked a few times before looking at him and sitting up. He pulled a rolled up pancake from out of his pocket and offered it to her.

She gave him a disgusted look as she said, "You're crazy if you think I'll eat that." Mike sighed and said, "it's either this or nothing." "I'll just get something from the vending machime at the arcade on the way home," she said back simply as she shrugged. He nodded then said, "I was just trying to be nice." "I know. And I thank you for your generosity but I'm declining it," she said back as she gave him a bored look. Mike rolled his eyes a little as he sighed again, about to throw the pancake in his trash.

But before he could Max quickly grabbed the pancake from his hand and shoved it into his face as she exclaimed, "you eat it, Wheeler!" He was taken back by her sudden movement and spat out the pancake that had ended up making it's way into his mouth.

Max jumped back in order to avoid his pancake spit as she cracked up, clutching her stomach because she was laughing too hard. "Wow real mature of you Mayfield," he said back as he gave her an annoyed but amused look. Max shrugged as she said back, "I'm just acting like the way you used to around the boys."

Mike scoffed but didn't reply at her response. How he used to act with them. It reminded him of how much of an asshole he had turned into and how his friendships with both the boys wasn't the best anymore.

After a moment he stood back up and made his way to his door, motioning her to follow. She did and once he got there he scanned the hallway before heading to the top of the stairs. They stealthily snuck their way to the backdoor where Mike let her out at and told her to meet him in front of the house.

Mike then made his way to the front door nonchalantly as his mother asked from the living room, "Michael, what are you doing?" "Is it okay if I spend some time at the arcade?" He asked her, trying his best to seem like he wasn't up to anything or hiding anything. She nodded slowly and let him, not thinking too much of it since he often did go to the arcade.

He thanked her before shutting the front door behind him and dragging his bike out, heading towards the end of the driveway, the cars blocking his mother's view of him. Max quickly got on his bike and wrapped her arms around him as he rode off to the arcade.

Once they got there Mike slowed to a stop and let her get off before getting off also and dragging his bike to a bike rack and leaving it there. He followed Max inside the arcade and to the vending machine, eyeing all the arcade games as they passed them. He really wanted to play a game but decided he would do that on his own time, right now his focus was getting Max something to eat.

He didn't know how much she got to eat at home but he was worried it probably wasn't a lot or she refused to eat in order to avoid Neil. Mike started searching his pockets for spare change when she had already pulled some out of her own.

"Oh. I didn't know you had some," he said honestly. Max shrugged, "I always do in case I ever decide I want to run away." Mike frowned at her words and nodded as she got something from the machine and proceeded to eat it. "What?" She asked him upon seeing his frown.

"You've thought about running away before?" He asked, unable to help the concern laced in his voice. "Correction. I have tried to run away before," she said back with a serious expression before taking another bite of her snack. "Oh wow," he said, at a loss for words.

Of course it was expected since her home life seemed so shitty but it was still hard to believe that she had actually tried to run away before. It only made him feel even worse for her.

She took the last bite of her snack as she patted him on the shoulder and said after swallowing, "I haven't tried to in a while though so no need to worry." "Well I'm going to because you live with a shitty step dad. You're gonna want to again sooner or later," he said back matter of factly with a frown.

She again didn't understand why he was worrying so much about her all of sudden. She of course didn't mind that someone was actually willing to make an effort to take care of her and make sure she was okay but she found it hard to take in that it was Mike of all people. And it still felt very wrong to her because she knew she wasn't worth worrying about anyways.

She shrugged then smiled before she said, "Well maybe next time I can take you with me." If he was so fucking worried about her now she knew he wouldn't decline such an offer.

Mike beamed, "yeah! And maybe we could go to the Byers to see Will and El again!" Max laughed at his enthusiasm, finding it funny as she said, "maybe so."

They then headed back out and once they got outside they got on his bike again as he took her back to her home.

Once they arrived he gave her a wary look as she started heading up the path to the front door. She looked back at him and said, "don't worry Mike. I'll be okay, I'm tough."

She really didn't want him to worry about her so much, she found it quite ridiculous. How could he worry about her so much after one day and after having hating her for so long? It felt surreal and she figured it wouldn't last long anyways and he would probably go back to hating her in a week from now. She really hoped that wouldn't be the case but she couldn't stop thinking of how that would most likely happen.

"No you aren't Max. I got to see the weak, broken side of you, remember?" He mumbled back sadly, afraid to say it too loudly as if she would get mad at him for exposing her. Like anyone was around to even hear their conversation, not.

Max looked him in the eyes as she frowned, she knew he was right. She hated hearing someone say it because to her it made it feel so much more real and it felt like she had just gotten stabbed in the heart. She suddenly started regretting even taking up his offer to spend the night. She hadn't wanted him to know about her home life or anything of the sort, she wanted to keep that information and pain to herself. She hated herself for being so stupid and actually letting him, Michael asshole Wheeler comfort her.

She let out a heavy sigh and walked back over to him as she hugged him, she didn't know how else to make him feel better about it. She was just a burden to him now and he was worrying himself way more than he needed to about her. He hugged her back gratefully as he rested his chin on her shoulder, he still found it odd how he felt comfort from their hug.

"I'll be okay. I promise," she whispered to him quietly. "Okay," he muttered back, not sure whether or not to believe her.

After a moment she pulled away and smiled at him before heading up to the porch. She opened the door and was about to head inside but before she could disappear from his view Mike exclaimed, "wait! Hold on!"

Max stopped and looked back at him with furrowed eyebrows to see that he was taking off his hoodie. She gave him a confused look as she walked back to him. Was he planning to give her his hoodie? Seriously? She thought that was so dumb and it made her feel like he was her boyfriend or something because only girlfriends ever had a boys hoodie. She really didn't want him to give it to her but she knew he would argue with her if she didn't take it.

"Take this. So it can be like a reminder that I'm here for you," he said to her, obviously struggling with having a legit reason to give it to her. To spare him embarrassment she took his hoodie and gave him a small fake smile. "Thank you Mike," she said to him as she nodded a little then headed back to the door and disappeared inside the house before he could say anything else or delay her further.

He waited for a few minutes to see if he would hear any chaos but he didn't so he left and headed back to his house.

Max hoped her spending the night at his house would become a weekly thing, as much as she hated it at the same time. She hoped she would be able to go to his house for refuge whenever she didn't feel safe in her own because she did need that, whether she would admit it or not.

***

Okay so I'm not very proud of this chapter at all and feel like it's kind of repetitive but oh well at least I got something out.