brutally soft | st agere one shots

. running for my life

cg!nancy
little!max
requested by: zoomerstrangerthings
TW: mentions of abuse/neglect, vague mentions of bruising, shouting, neil is an alcoholic. this one is just sad all around so maybe skip out if you're reading this regressed:p

max slammed the squeaky screen door shut, walking as fast as she could to her bedroom. she wanted to avoid neil at all costs, on the rare occasion he decided to actually stay at home.
her breath bitched at the sound of rustling in the kitchen, followed by the sound of loud and clumsy footsteps.
she ran to her bedroom, clumsily but quickly locking the door as the sound of angry shouting grew louder. the sound of how max would never be more than her father, how he's the best thing that happened to max and her mom.
how her and billy just aren't worth it. and in that moment, she decides to slide open the creaky window with a shaky sigh and climb out quietly.
she sniffles as the wind picks up, grabbing her skateboard and heading towards nancy's house as quickly as she could.
she whimpered, that familiar scary and fuzzy feeling clouding the edges of her mind. she knew she would regress soon, so she picked up the pace on her board and sighed in relief when nancy's house was in view.
she stumbled off her board, gasping with a sad sob as she frantically knocked on the door and rung the doorbell.
nancy was shocked to hear crying, knocking, and the repetitive ringing of the doorbell in the middle of the night. she walked down the stairs, barely cracking the door before swinging it open to reveal a sobbing max.
nancy gasped, quickly pulling max inside and into a hug simultaneously. "max, honey...what happened?" she cooed just above a whisper, leading max upstairs as she listened intently to what the regressed girl had to say.
"n-neil was there and he-" max cut herself off with a sob, clinging tighter to nancy as they entered her bedroom.
"shhh, it's okay. we can talk about it later, just let me take care of you for now." nancy assured, running a hand through max's hair as she led her to the bed and gestured for her to sit.
the sudden change in max's posture and the far away look in her eyes alerted nancy of the fact the girl may have regressed to a younger headspace than she usually did.
nancy felt a twinge of nervousness, leaning down to max's level and patting her knee gently.
"i bet you're hungry from all that skateboarding you done, hm?" nancy cooed, tickling max's tummy as she listened to the girl giggle and squirm on the bed.
she stared up at nancy, making grabby hands and bouncing softly. one hand was making its way to her mouth, gently chewing her fingers as she watched nancy with big eyes.
"ma!" max squealed, leaning forwards so nancy would pick her up.
nancy chuckled, scooping max up and peppering her face with kisses as she tickled the baby's stomach.
max giggled, kicking her feet as she clung to nancy and squirmed at the tickles.
"okay, how about some oatmeal and a nice bottle of milk, yeah?" nancy offered, walking down the stairs with max on her hip as she sat the girl down in the floor.
she disappeared for a moment, returning with all of max's favorite toys, some blankets, and her pacifier. she arranged the items around the living room floor neatly, patting the layer of blankets for max to come sit.
max gasped, crawling over to nancy's feet and eagerly grabbing for her pacifier. nancy obliged, clipping the item to max's shirt securely.
max gurgled in approval, crawling into the soft pile of blankets and flopping down with a giggle. she squealed, excitedly grabbing at the foam blocks and tiny plastic race cars placed in the middle of the pile.
she babbled to herself, the sound of the tv mixed with her angelic giggling filled nancy's quiet house, much to her surprise.
tonight was not what nancy had planned, but she loved her little girl more than anything and she'd always come first.

a/n
rlly cranking out those requests rn guys pls don't let them flop i stg