#{ lol here you go! <3 i tried ok?? i triedddd. }

[loyaltyburdened]

five times kissed

send me five times kissed for a drabble about five times our muses kissed // @shcdidgood

          ok so this is p long obv, so i’m putting it under a cut!

I. ‘I LOVE YOU’.

          the words hit him so hard that it knocks the breath out of him. one second passes, then another, and another, and another… he’s breathless, speechless, and slowly trying to wrap his head around the three words that just left her mouth. he blinks repetitively off at nothing in particular, can hardly feel her eyes on him, slowly letting the GRAVITY of those words process. his heart hammers, his stomach flips, skin grows clammy and tingly with goosebumps, and the hair on the back of his neck stands on end.

          he can feel the heat spreading like a wildfire over his body, reaching every nook and cranny. flames lick at his skin, all the way from his collarbone to the tips of his ears. in any and all scenarios he’d EVER gone over in his head, HE was the first one to admit it. this had thrown him through a loop– he hadn’t been expecting it. then again, he also hadn’t been expecting the talk about benny either… el was just FULL of surprises tonight it seemed…

          just like the feeling of her pulling away from him. that was enough to pull mike out of his thoughts, to allow his voice to finally return to him, and for him to quickly leap into action.

         what was SUPPOSED to be a harmless night of mindless stargazing had turned into one deep, personal conversation after another, and now here they were...

          “ i– ” he stuttered out, feeling the next words tumbling out of his mouth so quickly that they might as well had been falling over each other, OVERLAPPING, “ no, el– wait, i– ” he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. he didn’t want her to think that he was rejecting her! so what did mike wheeler do?

          he reached for her, pulled her towards him, and kissed her. a big, deep, breathtaking smooch. he pulled back just enough to still be able to feel her breath on his face, to stare into her eyes, and try to regulate his own breathing as he gathered his thoughts. finally, he leaned back in to press his forehead to hers, eyes fluttering shut and finally responding, “ i love you too… ”

          then a giggle escaped him, then another, and the next thing mike knew, he was in a fit of them. laughing at himself for being so dumb, laughing because of the relief that fell over him, or the immense JOY he felt upon hearing those eight letters and finally managing to say them back.

          either way, mike continue to laugh then leaned in to kiss her again.

II. SOAP OPERAS

          it wasn’t exactly mike’s idea of entertainment, but he endured them because EL liked them, so here mike was, sitting on the couch in hopper’s cabin, watching them with her. he was only watching with mild interest, though he’d mostly been glancing over at el out of the corner of his eye. every once in a while he’d hear her quietly repeat the actors’ lines under her breath and he’d feel the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. she was too cute. even if he wasn’t really a fan of these things, it was worth it to watch them with el because of the amusement of her love for them. her being happy was enough to make mike agree to just about anything.

          el ended up repeating a particularly CHEESY line from the female lead, and mike couldn’t help himself. he turned his attention to her, reached out to tuck a stray curl behind her ear, and smiled when he’d gained her attention. the male lead said his line next, and mike followed suit, repeating the words to her, just above a whisper.

          “ you drive me crazy... ” definitely not far from the truth. el made mike experience things that he never had before. she made every nerve ending in his body go haywire, and she was always on his mind. she made him crazy. crazy for her. 

          after the successful line delivery, mike leaned forward, capturing her lips in his. he only pulled away from her ( or more like JERKED away ) when he could hear hopper’s boot-clad feet marching up the steps of the porch.

III. THE PATH TO SUCCESS

          it had been about a week since mike found out that he’d actually be able to go to NYU to pursue his dreams. mike had always been fascinated by science, and he wanted to get as far away from hawkins as humanly possible, so applying to a school in new york ( or, MULTIPLE ONES, really ) was a no brainer. mike had his heart set on NYU, but tried not to get his hopes up. really, any of them would be fine, but NYU was one of the BIGGEST, one of the BEST, so how could he not pine after that one?

          when the letter had first arrived, he had to have holly open it for him. his nerves had been too out of wack to even attempt it. but he knew, as soon as he saw that LOOK on her face that he had gotten in. when karen found out, she’d hugged him so tightly that it was a miracle that he could actually still BREATHE afterwards, but she made him is favorite dinner and even got the ingredients to make homemade ice cream. mike hadn’t remembered her doing THAT since he was really little. it was still nice though, and he appreciated it all the same.

          once he’d gotten free of his mother’s grasp, before dinner was ready, he’d called el. she’d been the first person he’d actually wanted to tell. thankfully, she answered on the third ring. before she could even get her greeting out, mike started talking. he couldn’t help it. the words, “ I GOT IN!!! ” spewed out of his mouth before he could stop himself in a mixture of excitement and still disbelief. he happily chattered on about that until karen had to practically PRY him off the phone. he promised to call her back after dinner and reluctantly hung up.

          true to his word, mike had, and continued to do so until the both of them had to finally call it a night. if el had felt anything other than pride for him, he hadn’t picked up on it.

          a few weeks later, around that same time, mike had already been asleep. he’d turned in early that night, practically COLLAPSING onto the bed after his closing shift at blockbuster. he had to’ve only been actually asleep for maybe an hour, hour and a half, before he was stirred awake. he could register the voice, but couldn’t place it. it sounded too warbled in his foggy mind and it was too dark to make out much of anything.

          then, the lamp on his side table was clicked on and he was temporarily blinded, then JUMPED when he saw el. when he actually realized that it was el standing there and not some creep there to rob him, he visibly relaxed, though his heart still hammered in his chest.

          “ you scared the SHIT outta me! ” he yelled in a hushed tone, though there was no malice behind his words.

          “ i got in, ” was the only response he was greeted with, accompanied by a letter being shoved into his face.

          after taking a second to collect himself, mike reached forward and took the paper from her, looking it over and reading the same response he’d gotten a few weeks prior. el had gotten into NYU, too. immediately, mike’s face lit up, smile stretching from ear to ear.

          “ el, oh my god, that’s-- that’s AMAZING! ” he had to fight to contain his excitement, or, at the very least, keep his voice down so that no one would hear them. it hadn’t been the first time they’d had to be quiet from sneaking into each others’ rooms in the middle of the night, and he doubted it would be the last. “ you didn’t tell me that you were trying to get into NYU, too! ”

          “ i wanted it to be a surprise, ” she replied with a light smile of her own.

          and it certainly was. a HUGE surprise! not that mike didn’t think she could do it, because he thought that el could do anything she set her mind to. she was one of the smartest people he knew. he was just surprised because he hadn’t seen it coming. he hadn’t expected to see that he and el would be going to the same college TOGETHER! but he wasn’t complaining. oh definitely not! in fact, he couldn’t have been happier!

          wordlessly, he set the acceptance letter onto his bedside table and reached for her. once he had her in his grasp, he tugged her down onto the bed with him and held her close, snuggling against her.

          “ this is so awesome, ” he murmured into her hair, “ i’m so proud of you, el. ” he squeezed her for emphasis and pressed a sweet, lingering kiss to her forehead.

IV. TALK SHIT, GET HIT

          a busted lip, sore ribs, bruised knuckles, and various other small cuts that littered mike’s body was none other than the result of what happens if someone EVER disrespects eleven. mike could usually give a stern warning and threat if they were to call her a freak, a shove against the lockers and a DEMAND for them to take back what they said if cruel words such as ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’ was spat out, but one thing that mike wouldn’t tolerate and would NEVER tolerate was someone EVER accusing el of being promiscuous or otherwise. even if they so much as HINTED at it, mike wouldn’t hesitate to lay them flat. ... which is exactly what happened.

          mike just remembered jumping on them and then having to be pulled off, followed by a grueling trip to the nurses office, then the principal's office. it went without saying that he was most definitely SUSPENDED. he’d gotten suspended for a week and had to wait in the principal’s office for karen to come pick him up. he knew, before she ever even showed up that he was screwed.

          sure enough, the entire car ride home consisted of her scolding and lecturing him. he tried to explain to her that he’d only done what he had because he was sticking up for el, but karen had told him, as admirable as it was that he’d stood up for his girlfriend, that was no reason to be fighting... and then she told him that she was at least glad that he won and that she was proud of him for defending his girlfriend, buuuuuut that still wasn’t enough to warrant NOT being grounded when he got home.

          thankfully, he’d managed to get a relatively SHORT sentence-- well, shorter than what it might’ve been otherwise... a week. he would be grounded for a week, and when he got to go back to school, he could have all of his privileges back. mike didn’t even try to fight her on it. yeah, he wasn’t HAPPY about it, but the fear of running his mouth and being grounded for even LONGER was probably the least appealing thing to him at that moment. so, he kept his mouth shut, went up to his room, and quietly skulked.

          a part of him contemplated sneaking downstairs to watch tv while his mother was out -- something about ted’s tire getting a flat and she was going to have to go pick him up from work while he was getting it fixed -- but before he could bring himself to heave up off of his bed, his thoughts were interrupted by a light tapping on his window. glancing over, he saw that it was el.

          after carefully easing himself up off of his bed -- those damn sore ribs -- mike moved over to the window to let her in. he barely managed to say anything at all before she was checking him over.

          “ el-- el, i’m alright, ” he tried to reassure her, pulling away from her grasp and moving back over to sit down on his bed. she joined him and listened as he went on to explain what had happened. it pretty much lined up exactly with what she’d heard-- not that she had any reason NOT to believe what mike said, anyway. but it also didn’t make her feel any better about the situation either-- well, sort of. 

          she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t like the fact that he’d beaten someone up to defend her honor. she liked that a lot, actually.

          at least he didn’t look as bad as she’d feared. the old mike probably would’ve come out of something like that a lot worse. the new mike-- the mike from the ninth grade and onward didn’t take anyone’s shit. he might not have ALWAYS won the fights that he got into, but he was one hell of a scrapper.

          mike could feel her eyes on him still and he turned to look at her. he opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off before he could. the sudden pressure against his lips made him wince and pull back.

          “ ah-- hhh----- ” he quietly hissed, gingerly running his tongue over the busted part of his lip before looking at her apologetically. “ i’m sorry, el, just-- it’s sore, and-- ” the words died on his lips slowly as he felt her hands caressing either side of his face, carefully pulling him back in. he let her.

          she was more gentle this time, and though mike could still feel the slight sting, it was nowhere near as bad as before. and, just like his fight earlier, everything became a blur in his mind. he would only be able to recall everything clearly later on when his brain wasn’t confused over whether or not it should be registering pleasure or pain.

V. STUDY SESH

          to mike’s credit, he TRIED to help el with her studying. he tried to help her prepare for a big exam or help her with a part of her homework that she couldn’t quite get, but it never really worked out the way he’d planned. it was honestly a miracle whenever eleven managed to retain something. and it wasn’t because mike thought she was dumb, or that she couldn’t comprehend it. no, it was because nine times out of ten, she was too damn distracted to actually get what he was trying to explain to her. it would be damn near exhausting and frustrating if not for the fact that she was cute as all hell and that he loved her. she was lucky.

          “ el, are you even listening? ” mike couldn’t suppress a sigh. he did his best to give her his most UNAMUSED look.

          “ no, ” she answered simply, giving him, what mike liked to call, one of her shit-eating grins. she knew very well that she hadn’t been paying him a lick of attention and she felt no remorse for it either.

          “ c’mon, el-- ” mike pursed his lips, index finger tapping at something on one of the pages of the textbook he currently had laid open. “ how’re you supposed to pass if you don’t pay attention to what i’m telling you? ”

          el responded with a shrug, making mike hitch up his shoulders and puff out his cheeks in mock annoyance. he couldn’t ever really bring himself to get too upset with her.

          el giggled at his silly expression and responded again, but this time, wordlessly with a peck to his cheek, quickly deflating mike and causing color to spread to every inch of his body.