✓ cold blooded, mike wheeler ¹

vii. THE SOURCE

Max walked in a few seconds later, and Mike pulled his hand off of Ben's ankle fast in hopes that Max didn't see. Max just quirked an eyebrow at him before looking at Ben, "How are you feeling?"

"Still in a lot of pain, but better, I guess," was Ben's answer. He was still staring at Mike, who wasn't looking at him. Max nodded, looking in-between the two, "Okay. El's still trying to find them, if you guys wanna come out here." Ben nodded and finally looked over to her, giving her a small smile. "We'll be right there."

Max returned the smile before leaving the room. Ben stood up carefully from the bed, hissing when he put too much pressure on his ankle. Mike was up and by his side in an instant, "Here, let me help you." He mumbled as he wrapped Ben's arm around his shoulders and put his own arm around Ben's waist. Ben didn't put up a fight.

The two entered the living room, Max was sitting on the chair and Lucas was on the couch next to her holding the box of Honey Smacks. Will, Jonathan, and Nancy were in the kitchen. Mike helped Ben sit on the couch next to Lucas, then started pacing the living room, glancing at Eleven's bedroom door every five seconds. "It can't be good for her to be in there for this long."

"Mike, you need to relax." Max sighed. Mike looked at Max incredulously, "What if she gets brain damage, or something?"

"Oh, shit. Is that, like, a real thing?" Lucas asked with wide eyes. Max shook her head with an eye-roll, "No, it's not. He made it up. Mike doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."

"Oh, and you do?" Mike glared.

"No, I–"

"Yes, from The Hawkins Post," Nancy said loudly from the kitchen, Ben tilted his head back to see her on the phone. "I– I called a couple days ago about the– Yes, yes, um... I was just... following up to see if anything else had gone missing, or if– Okay. Um, sorry to bother–" By the look of Nancy's face, Ben could tell they had hung up. Ben sighed and closed his eyes, trying to tune out Mike and Max's argument.

Suddenly Mike and Max barged into the kitchen, stopping Nancy and Jonathan's conversation, "Okay, can you guys settle an argument for us? Who do you think should decide El's limits? Mike, or Eleven?" Lucas stood from the couch to go to the kitchen, but helped Ben up first and brought him over with him. Ben sighed, not really wanting to listen to their arguing anymore.

"The way that you frame that is such bullshit!" Mike countered.

"It's not bullshit, Mike! This is your whole problem. And it's also precisely the reason why she dumped your ass!" Max yelled, growing even more frustrated.

Nancy's eyes grew wide, "El dumped you?"

"Yeah because she," Mike gestured to Max, "is conspiring against me. She's corrupting her." Ben rolled his eyes.

"No, enlightening her." Max argued. "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!"

"I could help her," Ben said before he could even think. Everyone whipped their heads over to him, and he flinched under their gazes. He continued, "When the Mind Flayer got me, He did some shit to me. I'm not even really sure what He did, but I know I can use it against Him. Davey was telling me I hurt Him."