✨WHEN THE AU IS TOO GOOD TO BE AN AU OKAY IT GOT ME✨
Scoops Ahoy Madwheeler AU, where Max admits that sometimes maybe she thinks that she loves lucas. When he shows up at the arcade with his goofy smile and doesn't beat her at dig dug, but absolutely doesn't go easy on her at the games he's better at. When he makes like. The stupidest jokes that make her crack a grin despite herself. When she realises that when she's with him, with all of them, she doesn't have to be on edge.
When she realises she feels safer than she has in a long time.
-and she's scared to let herself love him. She's so bloody scared because she's not the kind of girl anybody in their right minds would be with. She's always scared she'll turn out like billy, no matter how hard she tries. She snaps at them all, sometimes, anger finding its way under her skin where the fear that billy would run over her friends never left.
...Scoops Ahoy AU where mike sits there listening to all of it, tears in the corner of his eyes as his hands curl into fists, the nails digging into his skin. Because he knows who he's thinking about isn't the right person. Because he shouldn't. He shouldn't love him. He can't-
Max is watching him, eyes glazed but shrewd. They're still a little watery and her lips are pursed. It's an odd moment, that one where they don't acknowledge out loud that max had seen the tiny little nod he couldn't stop himself from giving and mike pretends he can't see the tears she wiped away.
The bathroom is quiet. Their breathing is the only thing they can hear, the dripping of the faucet the only other sound to break the monotony.
"He won't leave if you snap at him. Lucas, I mean."
She starts. His voice is cracking and rough after the absolute shit they've had to go through but-
"I've done it before. I've said shit I never should've said out loud because I was angry and hurt and he was angry too."
She blinks. Over and over and over and then her voice catches on the sharp edge of a hard "-Don't-"
He'd throw that stubbornness right back at me. He doesn't do the whole give up and leave, Mayfield. He doesn't. I know him."
Neither of them are looking at the other anymore. "I'm not his best friend, mike, you can't speak for him like that- you can't just-!"
"If i-" and damn himself, because mike can never, never work any other way, really, who was he kidding- "If I- had someone, they'd- they'd be my best friend."
It's too close. It's too close to those things he knows he can't say.
"If I had someone and- and they snapped at me, or if we fought-"
There's another few seconds where mike can see max about to retort, but then something must've gotten through to her because all she does is stare at him.
He arrived here in the pouring rain. He can still feel it against his skin, but the sight of will's hurt hurts him worse than any of the bruises painting his skin.
"I'd hope that we could solve it together the way we always have." And it burns, burns, burns, because he's said too much but he can't lose the only reason he'd gotten through this at all "I'd apologise and I'd hope that- that-"
Too much. Too much, too much, too much, but mike was ready to die with max not an hour ago and this feels like the least of the absolute bullcrap they've been put through and she probably hates him now, but she always has-
The warmth of Max's leg against him jerks him out of the building panic.
"He wouldn't leave either, wheeler. He's been stuck with you for all his life."
She's serious. She knows. She doesn't hate him.
"Honestly we're probably driving them mad out there."
She bites off the sentence off with a choked laugh but mike can hear the edge of mania to it. He feels it too, this absurd bubbling hysteria.
"I can't believe we actually had fucking russians-"
"I can't believe we survived the fucking russians, hello-?"
"the ceiling isn't even spinning much anymore"
The laughter bubbles over with each addendum, and mike knows not all of it is anything to laugh at, but right now, this is good. They'll be alright.