Chapter Text
For everyone but the soon-to-be-graduates, the school year had ended. Though they were looking at a much shorter summer break than usual, it was a nice change of pace to sleep in and stay outside all day rather than sitting in overheating classrooms and brooding over math problems.
Despite the thin population of Hawkins, the public pool was still well visited and far more pleasant to be at than anywhere else in the whole town.
The group had secured a nice spot right by the water. The boys were spreading out their towels on the pool chairs while Robin covered herself in sunscreen from head to toe. El and Max had found a spot in the shade to protect El’s still healing tattoo from the sun.
“You look so weird without your cap,” Steve noted to Dustin. “Your hair is way curlier than I thought.”
“Don’t say anything about my hair and I won’t say anything about your love bite,” Dustin replied sarcastically and pointed at Steve’s neck, who instinctively covered the crook of his shoulder with one hand.
“I don’t have a hickey.”
“Yes, you do, right there.” Dustin forcibly pulled Steve’s hand away from his neck. “That’s a hickey.”
“How do you even know what a hickey looks like?” Steve scoffed and ducked away from Dustin’s grip.
“Umm, maybe because I’m not twelve anymore. I know what a hickey looks like, and that, Steve, is a hickey. Who’d you make out with?”
“Steve made out with someone?” Lucas remarked from a few feet away. “Looks like your dry spell is over.”
“I did not make out with anyone, drop it.” Steve grabbed the sunscreen from Robin and began applying it to his arms, attempting to get out of the boys’ way, but they didn’t let off.
“Are you embarrassed? Was it someone super embarrassing?” Dustin teased. “Oh God, was it Nancy?”
“Hey!” Nancy shouted over to them. “I am not embarrassing to make out with, and no, it wasn’t me.”
“They think it’d be embarrassing ‘cause you’re my ex,” Steve said and tossed the sunscreen back to Robin when he was done with it. “I did not make out with anyone. Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Not anymore,” Lucas said with a big grin. “It was probably a One Night Stand, that’s why he doesn’t want to tell us.”
“I hear there’s a rumor Steve made out with someone,” Eddie’s voice suddenly appeared next to them. “People are gossiping, Steve, they’re saying it was someone super embarrassing.” He gave a wide, teasing grin. “Was it someone super embarrassing, Steve?”
“Shut it, Munson,” Steve said. “All of you, shut it.”
His arm was grabbed by Robin, pulling him aside and out of earshot from the others. “Did you sleep with Eddie?” she whispered. “You know that’s a bad idea.”
“I did not sleep with Eddie, I didn’t sleep with anyone.” He ripped his arm out of her grip. “Okay, yes, I have a hickey. Yes, I went out last night on a whim and I made out with someone on a whim. It wasn’t planned, and it doesn’t matter, so, just leave it be, okay?”
“Okay, okay.” Robin raised her hands apologetically. “What has gotten under your skin? Normally you’re not that secretive, and you don’t just leave the apartment in the middle of the night. Not even a note!”
Steve sighed, glanced around and gently held onto Robin’s arms. “I’m sorry I left without telling you,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t planned.”
“Nancy came over to help me through a panic attack because you weren’t there.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I’ll leave a note next time.”
“Next time?” Robin crossed her arms. “You’re telling me it wasn’t Eddie, and yet I keep having the feeling that it was Eddie and you’re doing something incredibly stupid that will end up with both of you hurt. And you’re saying you’ll do it again.”
“It doesn’t matter who it was. All I meant is that maybe I will not be home some other time in the future, it’s possible. I can’t always be there, you know that.”
Robin’s head sunk. “I know. I can’t expect you to. I was just worried.”
“I love you, Birdie, and you are still my number one priority, and I’d never do anything to make you worry about me. I’ll leave a note if it ever happens again, alright?”
“Okay,” Robin mumbled. “Let's get back to the others, and next time use some concealer to hide your mistakes.”
Mike sat down on the pool chair next to Max and El and leaned back with a groan. “I hate summer,” he complained. “I hate pools and swimming and sunburn.”
“Why are you here, then?” Max asked.
“Because everyone else is here, obviously. Why are you wearing sunglasses? You’re blind.”
“Thank you for that helpful observation, Michael,” she replied in an unnaturally friendly voice. “I hadn’t noticed my blindness before. Now, thanks to you, my life is changed.”
“I’m just asking,” he huffed and crossed his arms.
“Most blind people can still see a little bit,” El said helpfully. “Light, or shapes, or just obstructed vision.”
“I can’t, though,” Max threw in. “Vecna went all chop chop with my eyes.” She made a cutting motion with her hands.
“But sunlight is still damaging to her eyes,” El continued as if reciting a scientific article. “Protection for her eyes is still important. I read about it a few days ago.”
“So, even though I can’t see the light –”
“– she's still vulnerable to it.”
“And thus concludes your lesson for the day,” Max finished. “This will be on the test.”
“You’ve gotten funnier since you died,” Mike remarked dryly.
“I’m smarter than you now too.”
“That doesn’t seem possible.”
“I am. I’m basically learning a whole new language. Can you read with your hands? Didn’t think so,” she said without waiting for his response. “And I bet you couldn’t even navigate around your bedroom with a blindfold on.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re smarter than me.”
“She is,” El agreed. “She’s ten times smarter than you.” She chuckled.
“Whatever.”
Max ignored him and propped herself up on her elbows. She turned to the direction Steve was standing and whistled sharply on two fingers. “Oi! Steve! Help me get to the water!”
Steve came over to them. “You wanna swim?”
“I wanna try to.” Max slung her arm around Steve’s shoulders as he picked her up. “I can swim, I just need to do it without my legs. My arm muscles are growing, you know.”
“I bet they are.” Steve carefully sat her down on the edge of the pool. “You sure you got this?”
“No.” She shrugged. “You can swim, I’ve seen you. You can just stay nearby.”
“And do what?”
“Rescue me if I drown.” She pushed herself into the water, sinking like a rock for a moment before bringing herself back up to the surface. “Look at me,” she said, “swimming like a seal. Aren’t I absolutely amazing?”
“Just astonishing,” Steve agreed. “I’ll be sitting right here in case you need me.”
“I’m doing great,” Max said and dipped her head under the water. When she resurfaced, she tried a few backstrokes, successfully making it through the water. “Blind girl coming through!” she yelled. “Make way or I’ll hit you!”
Mike watched her from the chairs, glancing over at El who was following her best friend’s every move with her eyes. “I’m glad we’re okay,” he said. “That we can joke around.”
El turned her head toward him. “Yeah. Me too.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick.”
“You weren’t.” El smiled feebly. “You didn’t really do anything wrong. We were just… incompatible.”
“I’m on an apology trip lately,” Mike said. “It’s this new thing I’m trying.” He grinned and El laughed.
“It’s a cool thing,” she said with a subtle smile.
Their glances were interrupted by a sudden shout and a loud splash. By the time Mike had located the source of the noise, he saw Steve hurriedly swimming toward Max, her head being pushed underwater and an all too familiar face.
Fucking Troy Walsh.
Before he could react to the sudden adrenaline coursing through his body, Steve was already there, pulling Troy off Max and dunking him underwater as she struggled to reach the surface. El seemed frozen next to him, and Mike reacted to his first impulse.
He was with Max quickly, pulling her up to the surface and holding her up as she coughed and found her balance.
“You son a bitch!” she screamed the second air filled her lungs again, her arms thrashing around the water. “I will end you! You fucking twat!”
Mike wasn’t so sure that Troy could hear her with his head repeatedly pushed under the water by Steve.
“Let go off me,” Max hissed. “I need to end that bastard!”
“You need to get out of the water,” Mike argued. “Steve’s handling it.”
Max pushed her hair out of her face. “I hate chlorine,” she cursed. “Fucking chlorine.”
By the time Mike got Max to the edge of the pool, Steve had let go of Troy, pushing him away and yelling something at him. Troy shouted something back about cripples and babysitting. The frantic whistling of the lifeguard had gone completely ignored in the turmoil.
El hurried to help Mike get Max onto the ground. She was still coughing and screaming curses at Troy, but the second El touched her, her cursing died down. “I can swim,” she spat between gritted teeth, “I can swim, I don’t need my legs for shit except for kicking this jackass between his legs, but I will use my fists if I have to!” She struggled against El’s grip on her arms. “Let me go and I will end him right now.”
“He’s out of the water,” Mike said. “Getting yelled at by the lifeguard. He’s yelling at Steve, too.”
“I can hear that,” Max replied angrily. “I am not incapable! Stop thinking that I am! He thinks that I am, that’s why he dunked me!” She pointed in the direction of the shouting.
“It’s okay,” El said. “Mike doesn’t mean it like that, we know you’re stronger than Troy.” She stroked over Max’s back. “Troy is just a bully.”
“Fuck them,” Max said. “I’m getting back to my chair. And don’t you dare help me.” She felt the stares on her as she pulled herself over the wet tiles toward her chair. They made her blood boil, but she forced herself to mutter the curses under her breath rather than shouting them out.
It was bad enough to be seen as the blind disabled girl, she didn’t need to be a shouting maniac too. As she pulled herself onto her chair and put on her sunglasses like nothing had happened, she crossed her arms and listened to the hushed voices whispering about her.
She heard El and Mike sit down next to her. El didn’t speak, but Max knew that Mike was trying to say something.
“Spit it out,” she said without turning to him.
“I’m sorry,” Mike said finally. “I’m getting better at apologizing now, and I’m sorry that I can’t wrap my head around your disability. It shouldn’t be hard for me, you’re the only one it’s affecting.”
“I didn’t need your help,” Max uttered. “I was just confused. I could’ve swum up on my own.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I just followed an instinct. I would’ve done the same for everyone here.”
“Yeah,” Max said. “Right.”
“I’m your friend, Max. I worry and I do what I need to do to help you. And you’re gonna have to deal with that. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.”
Max didn’t respond. When El slowly took her hand, she didn’t react to it.
The anger of having been unable to fend for herself still bubbled loudly in her heart.