(Tw for this chapter a little bit)

Max walked in to find the house oddly empty and quiet which was unusual and in some cases, something to be worried about. She wandered through the house until she came across Neil's room to find him passed out on the bed from having drinking too much the night prior. She was thankful he had gotten drunk last night because that meant there was less of a chance of him having realized she never came home. Less chance of her getting beaten.

As she was about to head into her room her mom came rushing out from the bathroom and brought her into a hug. "Max, where were you last night?! I was worried sick!" "I spent the night at a friends house," she said back, it wasn't really a lie. "Why didn't you let me know first?" She then fussed as she pulled away and placed her hands on Max's shoulders, looking at her face as if scanning for any injures. "I don't know, I guess I just forgot. I'm sorry mom, honestly," she said back.

She wasn't sorry, she was glad to have been away from home. Even if she did love her mom she couldn't stand to stay at home most of the time because there were more negatives than positives about it.

Susan nodded as she sighed, "okay. I'm just glad you're home and safe now." Max nodded back and pulled away and headed into her room.

"Max... just a fair warning, I would stay away from Neil tonight sweetheart," her mother then warned, which was rare for her to do since she normally didn't even seem to care whenever Neil was drunk or angry.

But Max was thankful for the warning nonetheless. She nodded as she shut her door and set Mike's hoodie down on her bed.

She was a bit surprised her mother hadn't noticed she was holding a hoodie but she reminded herself that her mom didn't notice a lot of things. She then collapsed onto her bed, falling into a light sleep.

***

Once Mike got back home and came through the front door his mother asked, "how was the arcade?" "Wh-it was fine," he said, having partially forgotten he had lied to his mother saying he had gone to the arcade when he really had dropped Max off at her home, even though he was at the arcade for a few minutes.

His mother nodded and Mike then started heading towards the stairs when she stopped him, "wait.""What?" He asked as he gave her a curious and slightly annoyed look.

"While you were out Eleven called and you should call her back because she said she had something important to tell you," his mother informed him. He nodded slowly as he muttered, "Oh okay."

He had been so distracted by Max the last day he had forgot about El and was feeling guilty for that again. He was happy she called though and wondered what important thing she had to tell him.

He rushed downstairs to the basement to use that phone so his mother couldn't see or hear him talk to her. He dialed the Byers number and waited for someone to pick up.

Once they did he knew immediately that it was El when she asked excitedly, "Mike?!" "Hey El!" He said back, trying to match her enthusiasm which was honestly quite hard since she was someone who is very easily excited and pleased.

"So what do you have to tell me? My mom said you called while I was out," He then asked, wanting to get straight to the point since he was so curious. "Hopper is alive! He came back because Joyce and Jonathan rescued him and we're going back to Hawkins to live in the cabin!" She exclaimed so loudly that he had to pull the phone away from his ear a little.

He took a moment before bringing the phone back up to his ear and asking in reply, "Oh really? That's great! Is Will too?" "No, Joyce is staying put," El said back, sounding a little sad.

Mike couldn't blame Joyce, of course she didn't want to stick in or return to the town where so many traumatizing things had happened to her and her family. He was disappointed though nevertheless since he wished Will could come back also, he missed him just as much as he missed El.

"Oh okay," he said back, not really sure of how else to respond. He and El then caught up with each other and El explained how her and Hopper will be back in a little more than about a week.

Once he hung up he sat down on the basement couch and took everything in. He would get to see El again and hang out with her. He was excited to see her again, his girlfriend, the love of his life. But a part of him felt like it would fuck everything up too.

He wasn't sure why he thought that but he felt like her return would ruin his chance at a friendship with Max. He and Max were finally starting to get along and he couldn't help but feel that El being back would mess that up. He definitely wouldn't get to spend much time with Max since El would probably always want to hang out with him and he wasn't sure if El would support their growing friendship or be jealous, he hoped it wouldn't be the latter. As he thought about it all he let his mind wander back to Max and wondered if she was okay.

***

The next morning Neil left to go somewhere. Where? Max had no idea but she was glad he was leaving, even if it was only for a little bit. She went out to the arcade and played games for a majority of the day. She had hoped see Mike there but there was no sign of him at all. Once she got home she noticed her step dad still wasn't back. She figured he probably went on another one of his dumb random trips where he did god knows what.

Mike did go to the arcade that day since he had nothing better to do but once he got there and spotted Max he changed his mind. He wanted to let her know that El was coming back but he also didn't. He had wanted to go up to her and talk to her so badly but something else inside him told him not to. Once he had returned home he scolded himself for having been so stupid. It wouldn't have killed him to just check up on her or let her know of the news but he had chickened out and he didn't even know why. He got back on his bike before he even made it to the driveway of his home as he rode off. He wasn't going to go anywhere in particular, just ride around and think. He needed some time to think about everything and how things will likely change once El returns. He wouldn't go to the arcade at all for the whole week.

***

Neil hadn't come back and it had been a week. It had been peaceful in her home, just her and her mom. They didn't talk a lot as Max mostly kept in her room while her mom would sit in the living room and watch tv and knit. But the silence was definitely preferred to having Neil home yelling and throwing stuff. A part of Max hoped that maybe he had left forever but she doubted that was true and knew it was just wishful thinking.

She finally decided to ask her mom. She walked into the living room and cleared her throat to get her mother's attention. Susan looked over at her daughter as she stopped knitting, "yes Max?" "When is Neil gonna come home?" She asked, she always referred to him as Neil since he didn't deserve the title dad. "He said he would be gone for about a week so he'll probably be home today or tomorrow," She said back softly as she gave her daughter a gentle look. Max nodded and headed back into her room.

What her mom said was proven to be right when Neil showed up that evening, terribly drunk. Max knew that wasn't a good sign and that she was in trouble as soon as she heard Neil yelling and stumbling around.

After a few moments the door of her room burst open and he looked down at Max on her bed reading a comic. "Maxine," he growled. She closed her comic book and looked up at him, sitting up. She was scared, he reminded her so much of Billy and she hated it.

"Didn't cause any trouble while I was gone, did ya?" He asked as he glanced around her room a bit. Max shook her head, it was the truth. She hadn't done anything she shouldn't and she didn't have any reason to since she had felt safe at home for once. The only questionable thing she did was spend a night at a "friends" house without asking first. She hoped her mother hadn't told him about that.

"Your mother said you spent the night at a friends house last Friday. Which friend?" He then brought up, narrowing his eyes at her.

Well shit.

"Alice, you don't know her," She quickly lied. She knew that he knew she didn't have hardly any friends but maybe she could make up one and get him to believe it. She knew he would kill her if he found out she had spent the night at a boys house.

"Alice huh? Tell me about this Alice," he said in a threatening tone. "Well she's really nice, she's in my math class and she helps me out with my work. She asked me to have a sleep over and I said yes and just forget to tell mom," She quickly made up.

She herself thought she was a pretty good liar but she knew at this point Neil had gotten good at telling when she lying and when she wasn't. "You're lying," he hissed as he walked into her room and came over to her bed where she was. She was screwed. She shut her eyes and awaited the beating she surely would get.

***

Once it was over Neil left her crying in her room, slamming the door after he exited. She was sore and hurt all over. She cursed to herself as she slowly made her way to her window and opened it quietly. Once she climbed out she shut it and made her way to Mike's house.

She knew it wasn't a good idea to just go to his house without asking or even letting him know first but she needed to leave her home. She wanted her refuge, she wanted to feel safe as she slept tonight.

Once she got to his house she decided she would go up to his window since knocking on the door was way too risky. With a bit of difficulty she made it up on the roof and over to his window. She tapped on the glass, hoping he actually was in his room rather than the basement or elsewhere.

Mike noticed some odd tapping on his window and pulled his blinds up to spot Max outside his window. He couldn't quite believe what he saw and was worried about her falling so he quickly opened the window and helped her in.

"Max what the hell?" He asked her, his way of asking for an explanation of what she was doing there. Max shut his window before turning to face him as she sighed.

"I couldn't stay at home tonight. Neil came back and-" she started but couldn't finish.

Mike put the pieces together for himself and nodded, knowing what had happened. She studied him for a moment, realizing that she had actually missed him since they hadn't seen each other for a week. She was curious as to why but wouldn't ask, she assumed that maybe he had just been busy.

Mike looked at her too for a moment and felt guilt swallowing him up once more, worse than last time she had been in his house, in his room.

She pulled her eyes away from him as she then climbed into his bed, assuming it would be okay since he had let her sleep with him last time.

He climbed in as well after turning his light off and pulled the covers up over them. He didn't face her though and they laid there with their backs against each others. She didn't understand why this time he wasn't holding her or even facing her. She felt he was mad at her or something for having shown up without warning.

"Are you mad at me?" She spoke up. "No," he said back simply. "Then what's up? Why are you acting off?" She then questioned, genuinely wanting to know. Mostly just because she wanted comfort from him and wanted to know what was going on that wasn't allowing her to get that.

It was probably a bit selfish of her but she had came to feel safe and get comfort, like she had gotten the first time. Not to be ignored and treated like she did something wrong, she got that enough as it was.

"It's nothing, just go to sleep Max," he said back in an annoyed tone. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about whatever it was. Max let out a sigh as she slowly let herself fall asleep.

Truth was he felt really really guilty with having her there and hadn't even wanted her to come. He hadn't talked to her or seen her all week and he had been wanting to keep it that way. He didn't know why El returning affected him this way but it did. Just the idea of El being back was enough to make him feel guilty by hanging out with any girl and especially letting one sleep with him in his bed. It felt so wrong even though he knew it was platonic and she had only came because she wanted some comfort.

He fell asleep too after a while, his thoughts still going crazy and causing him to have weird dreams.

***

Here's chapter four! This chapter sucks I know and I'm sorry for all the time skips and changes of point of view but I felt like they were needed. I just needed to publish something because it's been a while since I updated this and I really don't want this book to turn into one that doesn't get finished lmao.