"It can't be good for her to be in there for this long," Mike says. He, Lucas, Will, and Max sit in Hopper's living room. Jonathan and Nancy stand behind the couch in the kitchen. The teens wait for El, who is in the void trying to find Billy, in her room. Max sits on the floor next to the couch, where a sleeping Annie lies. Mike's leg shakes as he sits in Hopper's recliner.
"Mike, you need to relax," Max says.
"What if she gets brain damage or something?" Mike exclaims, getting up from the recliner and pacing around the living room.
"Shhh, you're going to wake her," Max hushes him. She strokes Annie's arm, watching the girl sleep. After the Party fell asleep at Mike's after the hospital, Annie had a panic attack about the Mind Flayer. She woke up sweaty and crying, afraid that the Mind Flayer was going to take Jonathan. And Will, and Max, and everyone else. Max, of course, calmed her girlfriend, but the brunette barely slept. She finally fell asleep in the late morning as everyone else was getting ready to go to Hopper's.
"Oh shit. Is that, like, a real thing?" Lucas asks quietly. Max rolls her eyes at the boy.
"No, it's not. At least not for El," Max informs turning to her sleeping girlfriend, "Mike doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."
"Oh, and you do?" the Wheeler boy fires back.
"No, I..." Max starts.
"Max?" Annie mutters.
"Hey, hey, good morning," she says standing up. She sits on the arm of the couch, stroking the girl's forehead, "still tired?"
"I'll be okay. Where's El?"
"Looking for Billy, in her room," Max answers.
"I don't like this, maybe she should take a break," Mike suggests.
"Take a break? Mike, people are still being flayed, being hurt," the redhead exclaims. She sits down next to Annie who rests her head on the redhead's shoulder.
"Yeah, and you just want her to use up all her powers in there?" the boy shouts back.
"No, but she knows when she needs to stop," Max argues. She gets up from the couch and walks over to the kitchen. Annie frowns and stands up too.
"Okay, can you guys settle an argument for us?" Max asks Nancy and Jonathan, "who do you think should decide El's limits? Mike or Eleven?"
"The way that you frame that is such bullshit," Mike exclaims as Annie, Lucas, and Will join the four in the kitchen.
"It's not bullshit, Mike. This is your whole problem. And it's also precisely the reason why she dumped your ass," the redhead snaps.
"El dumped you?" Nancy asks shocked.
"Yeah, because she is conspiring against me!" Mike yells, pointing at the redhead, "she's corrupting her."
"No, enlightening her," the Mayfield girl answers with a smile. Annie leans against Max, who puts her arm around the brunette, "The fact is, she's not yours. She's her own person, fully capable of making her own decisions."
"She's risking her life for no reason!" Mike shouts.
"For no reason?" Nancy questions, "Mike, the flayed are out there doing god knows what."
"Killing, flaying..." Lucas says for example.
"Transforming into monsters," Will adds.
"And El's not stupid," Nancy says, "She knows her abilities better than any of us."
"Exactly, thank you," Max says, glaring at Mike.
"And she is her own person," the Wheeler girl adds.
"Exactly."
YOU ARE READING
for you, daisies
Fanfiction"It's okay. Technically, you saved me," she says nervously, "if I wouldn't have run into you they would've gotten me." "Well, you're welcome then," the redhead smiles. The girl puts her hands into her jacket pockets, feeling the flowers still in th...
