#catalystofhighhopes

[hannahberrie]

Everybody Talks | Chapter 9: The Losers’ Club

Fandom: Stranger Things Pairings: Mileven, Lumax Rating: K WC: 9323 Summary: Mike and El are thrilled to see that their friends are finally starting to get along. 

[AO3] Chapter Selection: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]-9-[10][11][12][13][14][15][Epilogue] 

It’s Thursday evening, they’re at the arcade, and it’s all Max’s fault, really. Not that El’s complaining, or anything, but it’s definitely all thanks to her best friend that she’s currently snuggled up next to Mike.

When El had tearfully phoned her Tuesday night, recounting how horribly her library trip with Mike had gone, it was Max who’d not only comforted her, but given her sound advice as well.

“You can’t keep acting like a total spaz whenever he brings up the party,” Max explained, “Then he’s going to keep getting suspicious.”

“Then what should I do?” El asked worriedly, “He’s getting closer to finding out!”  

“Just act normal!”

“I’m not normal.”

“You know what I mean,” Max huffed, “Just…bat your eyes at him, or something. That’ll distract him.”

“Max!”

“What?! It’s true!”

Despite Max’s advice, El, in fact, did not spend Wednesday batting her eyes at Mike. Quite the opposite, actually. There were several moments during Biology when she knew he was totally looking right at her, but she kept her gaze adamantly fixated on her notebook. After their small argument (if that’s what it even was), she just didn’t know how to initiate another conversation with him. It kept freaking her out because she wanted to talk to him, but she feared that things would always just be awkward between them now.

Thankfully, Max had helped distract her from her worries with skateboard lessons.

“You can’t keep having your Dad drive you around everywhere,” Max explained after school.

“Why?” El frowned, puzzled.

“It’s weird.”

“Oh.”

“Plus, we’ll be able to go where we want, whenever we want,” Max continued excitedly, “It’ll be totally awesome.”

And so, they spent the rest of the evening practicing ollies in Max’s driveway, which consequently led to El falling flat on her face and scraping her chin. It was so worth it though. She got fairly good at it, and for a few hours, El didn’t have to worry about Mike.

Until they arrived at Benny’s.

They were walking towards the front door when El saw the bikes. Mike’s bike.

She felt her heartbeat stop as she stopped dead in her tracks.

No, no, no, not here…

“You okay, El?” Max asked, turning to look back at her.

“That’s Mike’s bike,” El explained nervously, pointing towards it. “I think he’s here.”

“What?” Max frowned, glancing around the parking lot. A second later, her gaze landed on the window and she gave El a sharp nudge. “Found him.”

Sure enough, El looked up to see Mike and his friends staring at them through the front window. When they saw that Max and El had spotted them, they quickly ducked down out of eyeshot.

“Oh my god,” Max snorted, “They’re totally stalking us.”

El looked down at her feet, downcast. “Or hiding from us.”

“Why would they hide from us?”

“Because Mike and I argued,” El reminded her somberly.

“Don’t be so dramatic, El,” Max scoffed, “I’m pretty sure you could punch Mike in the face and he’d still drool over you like a total dweeb.”

El flushed pink. “I would never punch him in the face.”

“I know you wouldn’t, because you love him.”

El flushed pinker. “I don’t love him,” she half-heartedly insisted.

“You totally do, which is why we’re going to go in there and sit with them.”

“What?!”

“C’mon!” Max said, already walking towards the restaurant. She stopped to set her board beside the boys’ bikes and motioned for El to do the same.

“What if he doesn’t want to talk to me?” El asked worriedly, setting down the board she’d borrowed from Max.

“He will.”

“What should I say?”

Max pitched her voice higher and gave El a starry-eyed look. “What was that?” Max said breathily, twirling a strand of hair around her finger, “Oh yes, Mike, I will marry you! I love you AND your sweet comic books so, so much!”

El gave her a flat stare, unimpressed.

Max only laughed, utterly amused with herself.

Then they’d entered Benny’s, joined the guys in their booth, started talking, and just like that, made plans to hang out at the arcade the next day.

If it hadn’t been for Max convincing El to go in, El probably wouldn’t be where she currently is — seated beside Mike inside the Palace Arcade.

Her brow is furrowed in concentration as her hands work quickly. Mike is glancing back and forth between her and his watch, keeping track of the seconds.

“233, 234, 235,” he counts breathlessly, shaking from excitement, “236, 237!”

At 240 seconds, El successfully solves the Rubik’s cube and holds it out to him, beaming triumphantly. “Finished!” She announces.

Max and Lucas are still in the midst of their Dig-Dug tournament, cheered on by Will and Dustin. They’ve been going back and forth for hours, each refusing to let the other win. Every time Max got the top score, Lucas was ready to strike back with another quarter, and vice-versa.

It was seemingly never going to end. After cheering them on for an hour, El and Mike, needing a break, had retreated to the concessions area to get some snacks. Mike chivalrously purchased some popcorn for the pair of them to share, they found a bench to sit on, and then they started chatting about their favorite games.

“I don’t have a favorite game,” El admitted.

“How?!”

El shrugged.

Mike thought for a moment. “Well, you were good at the Rubik’s cube,” he offered, “That’s kind of like a game.”

“I wasn’t that good,” El said humbly.

To her surprise, Mike responded by slipping off his backpack, digging inside it, and pulling out his still-completed Rubik’s cube. “You did this, in like, 30 minutes,” He reminded her. “I’ve still never been able to solve it at all!”

El felt her heart warm. He’d kept it just the way she left it. He’d held onto it, and thought of her, and was impressed by her, and it suddenly took everything within El to not tackle him to the ground and hug his adorably, stupidly, thoughtful self.

“I bet I could do it faster,” El suddenly speaks up, eyes shining.

Mike had been so excited by the idea, El actually heard him gasp under his breath. “Could you?”

She could.

The first time, it took her 21 minutes. The second time: 15 minutes. Then 7. Then 5. And finally—

“4 minutes!?” Mike now exclaims, gawking at his watch. He looks up at her, eyes shining, obviously impressed. “Holy shit! You’re amazing!”

“Thank you,” El smiles modestly.

“I’ve never seen anyone solve one that fast!” Mike continues, smiling reverently. “How do you do it?”

El shrugs, already starting to scramble the cube again. “It’s hard to explain,” she says.

“Can you teach me?” Mike asks hopefully.

“Okay,” El smiles shyly. She motions for him to come closer, and he eagerly complies. “First, you make a white cross,” she explains, moving the cube accordingly as she talks, “But you have to make sure that the sides still match.”

Mike keeps his gaze locked on her hands as she speaks, hanging onto her every word. “Okay!”

El continues walking him through each step until the cube is solved. By the way Mike is gazing at her, one would have thought that she had just revealed the greatest secrets of the universe to him.

“Do you wanna try?” El asks.

Mike nods eagerly.

El reshuffles the cube and hands it to him when they’re suddenly interrupted.

“Mike!” Lucas pants, running over to them, “I need money!”

“You’re out!?” Mike exclaims in disbelief, “How!? You had like, 30 quarters!”

“I used them all!” Lucas whines. “Max is killing me!”

Mike hands the Rubik’s cube to El and checks his pockets. “I’m all out!” He says, giving Lucas a shrug.

“Wait!” El pipes up. She passes the cube back to Mike and unzips the pocket of her leather jacket. Inside, a couple sticks of gum, a tube of chapstick, and…

“Here!” She says, passing two quarters to Lucas.

“Thanks!” Lucas beams, accepting the quarters gratefully. He dashes back over to the game console, looking both determined and excited.

“That was nice of you,” Mike smiles, looking back at El.

El shrugs.

Mike hesitates before looking her over and speaking again. “Hey, El?”

El eyes him. “Yeah?”

“I just wanted to say sorry,” Mike says fervently, “For bringing up the party and bringing you to the library. I…I was just being an idiot, and I should have been more sensitive. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

El softens. “Mike, it’s okay,” she assures him.

“I’m just going to forget about the whole thing,” Mike continues, “With the lamp and stuff. I mean, it’s in the past, right?”

“Right,” El echoes, frowning slightly. She feels a sharp jab of conflict resonate within her; she’s not quite sure how to feel. On the one hand, she’s happy that Mike has decided to drop it. On the other, she feels like she’s still lying to him. It’s just more half-truths and secrets and she’s so sick of it.

She wants to tell him, but she knows she can’t. It’s too risky, too dangerous. Even though the laboratory shut down 5 years ago, there’s no telling what would happen if the world found out that a telekinetic was roaming about freely.

“Alright, I’m going to try and solve this,” Mike says, interrupting her thoughts.

El’s face pales. “What?”

“The Rubik’s cube?” Mike replies, raising an eyebrow as he holds the cube up.

“Oh! Right,” El blushes.

“Can you time me?”

“Sure.”

Mike slips off his watch and carefully gives it to her. Their fingers brush as he places it in her hands and El unexpectedly flashes back to their frog dissection lab, when Mike had passed her a pair of safety goggles. Their fingers had brushed just as they had now, El had blushed just as she was now, and, as Mike’s brow furrows and he determinedly begins working the cube, El can’t help but notice that he still looks just as cute, cute, cute, cute.

Their friendship grows rapidly, yet organically, and Mike is loving every minute of it.

During Friday’s lunch, when Mike and the guys are seated at their usual cafeteria table, El and Max pull up two chairs and join them just as easily as they had at Benny’s. They sit in the same order that they did at the diner — Max, Lucas, and Dustin on one side, El, Mike, and Will on the other.

“I hate the spaghetti here,” Max says, crinkling up her nose at her lunch tray, “It tastes like brains.”

The boys are taken aback for a moment, but then Will points out that the oddly pink spaghetti sauce makes it even look like brains, Dustin questions why either of them has had any experience eating brains, and that leads into a heated theoretical discussion on how they would individually survive a night of the living dead.

“Find a place to hide,” Will states.

“Fireball them!” Dustin eagerly asserts.

“Yeah!” Lucas nods, agreeing with Dustin.

“A knife,” El winces, “Like in Halloween.”

“I’d find a way to sneak to safety,” Mike offers.

Max is unimpressed. “Have any of you geeks actually seen Night of the Living Dead?” She scoffs, “You’d all die! Everyone knows that the only way to survive is a gunshot to the head!”

“Disgusting,” El frowns, scrunching up her nose.

“Awesome,” Lucas gushes.

It’s weird to be hanging out in public like this. El and Max, with their dark eyeshadow and leather jackets, contrast so strongly with the boys’ collared shirts and sunny demeanors. They can feel the judgmental eyes of some of the other kids on them, particularly from Troy and his friends, but in the moment, it doesn’t matter — they’re having fun.

After lunch, they walk to their lockers together, then to their classes too. Max and Lucas break out into another debate over who’s the real Dig-Dug champion (even though Max had totally annihilated him the night before).

“We should go back again,” Lucas says as the group moves through the hallways together, “Like, this weekend.”

“Can’t,” Max replies, shaking her head, “There’s this new band I wanna listen to, Love and Rockets, and their album comes out today. El and I are going to the record store this weekend.”

“To just listen to one album?” Dustin frowns, confused. “All weekend?”

“Not all weekend,” Max eyes him, “And not one album. We listen to other stuff too.”

“Like what?” Mike asks, glancing at both girls.

“The Ramones,” Max lists off, “Sex Pistols, The Runaways…”

“The Clash!” El eagerly adds.

“You like The Clash?!” Will exclaims excitedly, turning to look up at El.

“Yes!” El gasps, turning to look back at him. “Do you?”

“Yes!”

“They’re my favorite!”

“Mine too!” Will enthuses, “Did you know that they’re releasing a new album—“

“—November 4?” El finishes.

Will and El both beam at each other, absolutely ecstatic. If it was anyone other than Will, Mike might have been a little jealous, but instead, he’s thrilled to see two of his closest friends getting along so well.

“We should go to the record store,” Mike suggests, glancing at everyone else, “Together.”

“Can we?” El and Will ask happily.

Max eyes them. “I guess,” she gives in, “Only because you dweebs need to hear what real music is.”

“We listen to music!” Dustin insists.

“If it’s from a movie, it doesn’t count,” Max dismisses.

Mike eyes her. “I don’t think that’s true.”

El meets his eye. “It’s not.”

The two exchange brief, knowing smiles, just as they had at Benny’s, and Mike feels his heart beat a little faster.

“It’s true,” Max insists. “And I’ll prove it to you. Saturday morning, records shop, you nerds better show up.”

“We will!” Lucas nods.

And they do.

Mike accidentally wakes up later than he was supposed to Saturday morning. He gets ready in a hurried frenzy, more than alarming his mother, who’s cooking breakfast in the kitchen.

“Michael?” She frowns, eyeing him as he flings open the door to the coat closet. “What’s going on?”

“I got plans!” Mike explains, quickly throwing on his coat.

“With who?”

“My friends!”

“This early? You haven’t even had breakfast!”

Mike hurries into the kitchen, opens the pantry cupboard, and retrieves a strawberry Pop-Tart.

“There!” He says, taking a bite as he hurries back out the door. “Breakfast!”

Mrs. Wheeler gives him an exasperated look but lets him go. “Goodbye!” She calls out as he hurries out the front door.

“‘Bye!” Mike calls back, mouth full of toaster pastry.

As he heads out into the chilly fall morning, he faithfully mutters song lyrics under his breath, brow furrowed determinedly.

After school let out on Friday, Will had loaned Mike a mixtape of The Clash’s most popular songs. “Jonathan gave it to me,” Will explained, pulling it out of his locker, “You should listen to it.”

“Why?” Mike asked.

“To impress El!”

“W-what?” Mike stammered, cheeks flushing red. “I don’t want to impress her!”

Will gave him a disbelieving look. “Really?”

Mike hesitated. “Okay, so, maybe I want to, like, a little.”

“A little?”

Mike smiled sheepishly. “A lot?”

“So, listen to it!” Will smiled back, “Then when we go to the records store tomorrow, you can talk about it with her.”

It was an ingenious plan, one that Mike would forever be grateful for. He spent all of Friday night listening to the tape, trying his best to memorize as many of the songs as he could.

The results of this endeavor are mixed.

“If I say that it’s the end of time,” Mike recites, mounting his bike, “I’ll be here ’til you’re mine.”

He pauses, frowning. That doesn’t sound right.

The whole thing is just so annoyingly frustrating. Mike can easily memorize the entire anatomy of a frog for Biology class, but when it comes to memorizing a couple songs for his crush, his mind feels like a huge, empty void.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t have time to go back inside and listen to the mixtape again, not unless he wants to be even more late.

He takes a deep breath and does his best to ignore his nerves as he begins biking towards downtown Hawkins.

When Mike arrives at the records shop, it’s 10:15 and everybody else is already there. There’s a pile of bikes leaning up against the side of the brick shop, along with one skateboard. A second skateboard is currently in use by Dustin, who is cautiously standing atop it.

“I think I got it!” Dustin says triumphantly, gaze locked on his feet. He’s on the sidewalk in front of the store, looked upon by Lucas, Dustin, Will, Max, and El.

“Great, now do something!” Lucas says wryly, looking unimpressed.

El spots Mike approaching first. “Mike!” She calls out, and holy shit his name really does sound infinitely cooler when she says it.

El’s sudden exclamation causes Dustin to glance up in surprise. Unfortunately, the swift jerk of his head throws off his balance, causing his feet to slide out in front of him while the skateboard moves in the opposite direction. He slips and falls off the board, landing back-first onto the sidewalk.

There’s a collective gasp and wince from everyone witnessing this.

“Shit!” Dustin hisses as he scrambles to his feet, “Son of a bitch, Michael!”

“What did I do?” Mike asks indignantly, parking his bike alongside the others.

“You ruined my concentration!”

“Concentration?” Max snorts, “You weren’t even moving!”

“I was going to!”

“Like, next year!”

“No!”

As Mike walks closer to his friends, he can’t help but glance at El. She’s smiling at him, looking happy that he’s finally arrived. Mike does his best to smile back, but he just feels so nervous about impressing her that he’s pretty sure that his smile comes off as more of an awkward grimace.

Yikes.

“Let’s go inside, already,” Max instructs, opening the door to the shop, “Wheeler took like, 5 billion years to get here.”

“Sorry,” Mike blushes, following everyone else inside.

The records shop is small but packed to the brim with all kinds of music. Winding, haphazard aisles are formed out of long tables covered in records and cassette tapes. In the corner, there’s a records player on display in case anyone wants to listen to one of the discs. In the opposite corner, a bored-looking teenager, a senior kid from their school, is sitting behind the cash register and listening to their Walkman.

Mike’s only been here a couple times with Will, but only recently. In the past, Will always did music stuff with Jonathan, but now that his brother is away at NYU, Will’s been asking Mike to accompany him more often.

Lucas and Dustin, on the other hand, have never been here, and consequently look pretty excited.

“There’s so many records!” Lucas beams, looking at Max in surprise.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s called a records shop, nerd,” Max smirks, punching Lucas’ arm.

“Where are we supposed to even start?” Dustin questions.

“With the good stuff,” Max says with an eye roll. She motions for both guys to follow her, grabs Lucas by the arm, and leads them both off to the punk-rock section of the shop.

Mike, Will, and El start looking around together too. They wander the aisles and idly look at any records that seem interesting.

As El starts digging through some old records for The Beatles, Will quietly pulls Mike aside.

“Mike!” Will whispers, “Did you listen to the tape? The one with The Clash?”

“Yeah!” Mike nods, whispering back, “But I’m starting to forget some of their songs!”

“Which songs?”

Mike hesitates. “…Most of them.”

Will’s eyes widen. “How!?”

“I’m nervous!” Mike admits. “I don’t wanna look like an idiot!”

“You won’t, I’ll help you,” Will assures him, “I mean, I’ll try.”

The two exchange a nod before rejoining El’s side.

El looks up as they come closer and smiles at Will. “I can’t believe you like The Clash,” she says admiringly.

“They’re the best,” Will nods, “I’ve been listening to them since my brother introduced me.”

“My Dad introduced me,” El replies, “When I was little.”

“Yeah, The Clash is pretty great,” Mike cuts in, “I love them, they’re like, my favorite.”

Will casually works his way past them, pretending to be interested in the stack of records behind El.

El looks over at Mike, slightly puzzled. “You like them too?”

“Uh, yeah!” Mike nods.

“Why didn’t you say so yesterday?”

“Oh. I, uh...forgot.”

“Oh. What’s your favorite album?” El asks.

“Uhh, Mike hesitates. “I dunno, they’re all really good.”

El eyes him suspiciously. “You don’t have a favorite?”

“No, no, I do!” Mike quickly amends. His gaze flits to Will, who’s still standing behind El. “My favorite is...”

Come back, rot, Will helpfully mouths.

“Come back, rot,” Mike says breezily.

El frowns, nonplussed. “What?!”

No! Will mouths, Come Bat Rah!

“I meant, uh, Come Bat Rah,” Mike quickly amends.

“Do you mean Combat Rock?” El offers, looking a little confused.

Will nods, looking exasperated.

“Yeah!” Mike nods, hoping he doesn’t look as embarrassed as he feels. He probably does. “I was just, uh, kidding around.”

“Oh,” El smiles, still looking a little puzzled.

“Yeah,” Mike replies lamely.

“Combat Rock is good,” El continues, “But their first album is better.”

“What?!” Will suddenly snaps.

El, alarmed, turns back to glance at him.

“Combat Rock is so much better!” Will explains, “‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ ‘Rock the Casbah’?”

“Those are good, but ‘Police and Thieves’ is my favorite,” El contends.

“Why?”

El shrugs. She turns to glance back at Mike, looking at him expectantly. “What do you think?”

Mike starts to sweat a little nervously. “Um,” he stammers, looking off to the side, “I…uh…”

As El continues to eye him, Mike starts to realize that he’s kinda acting like a huge liar here. He obviously knows nothing about punk rock music, and acting like he does is only embarrassing him. Plus, he definitely doesn’t want El to think that he’s a liar.

The whole thing is a disaster.

“Okay, so,” he confesses, “I…uh…I lied.”

El frowns. “What?”

“I don’t know anything about The Clash,” Mike says quickly. Maybe if he speaks faster, she won’t hear as much, and not be as mad. “Will loaned me a tape yesterday so I could listen to them and talk about them with you, but then I forgot everything like an idiot and I’m really, really sorry.”

El blinks at him for a moment, trying to take it all in.

Will is looking back and forth between them anxiously. “I’m sorry,” he says to El, “It was my idea to give him the tape.”

“Mike,” El says slowly, and Mike winces, waiting for the inevitable ‘wow-I-can’t-believe-how-much-of-a-loser-you-are.’

Thankfully, it doesn’t come.

“You don’t have to pretend to like The Clash for me,” El instead smiles, looking bemused.

“But I wanna like the stuff that you like,” Mike explains, “Like, I just want us to be friends, and friends share interests.”

“Then you could have just asked me,” El points out.

Will and Mike exchange embarrassed smiles.

“Good point,” Will mumbles.

“And besides,” El continues, looking at both of them, “We are friends. All of us.”

Mike smiles hopefully. “Really?”

Before El can reply, she’s cut off by the sound of running footsteps. The three look up to see Max, Dustin, and Lucas running up to them, laughing giddily amongst themselves.

“Hey, guys!” Dustin says, coming to a stop, “Look what we found!”

“We’re looking for the funniest album covers!” Max adds, “Like, the lamest ones.”

“Which one do you think is worse?” Lucas adds, holding up two records. On the album in his left hand, a nearly naked man with guitars for arms is screaming at the viewer. On the album in his right hand, a man stands with his butt to the camera, onlooked by a dog and woman kneeling before him.

“Oh, god,” Will winces, “Guitar-hands, for sure.”

“Told you!” Max laughs, punching Dustin in the arm.

“No way!” Dustin gripes, scowling at Max, “Mine is so much dumber!”

“They’re both pretty dumb,” Mike snorts, unable to stop himself from laughing.

“Mine is dumber!” Dustin insists.

“You’re dumber!” Max taunts.

Dustin flips her off, so Max responds by grabbing his hat and chucking it across the store.

“What the hell?!” Dustin yelps.

“You guys are crazy!” Lucas laments.

“First one to get it gets to keep it!” Max announces, rushing after it.

“NO!” Dustin snaps, chasing after her.

“I’m getting it just so you two will shut up!” Lucas exclaims, shoving past them.

As Max, Lucas, and Dustin begin chasing each other through the shop, El turns to give Mike and Will a coy smile.

“Yeah, we’re definitely friends.”

El and Max hardly ever bicker. Ever since they became friends in the 6th grade, the only fights they’ve ever gotten in is what movie to watch or which member of AC/DC is the best.

Ever since Dustin and Max became friends less than a week ago, the only fights they’ve gotten in is all of them.

They’re eating lunch on Tuesday when Dustin and Max break out into yet another argument.

“How have you never seen Star Wars!?” Dustin exclaims.

“Because I watch good movies!” Max snaps.

“Take that back!”

“No!”

“How do you know it’s not good if you haven’t seen it?” Will points out, eyeing Max.

“Because!” Max replies unhelpfully.

“That’s not an answer,” El states. She’s seated beside Mike, as usual, and consequently catches the grateful smile he gives her.

“You should really give it a try,” Mike says, turning back to Max, “You might like it. It’s really good.”

Max makes a face. “But it’s just so…geeky.”

“So is playing arcade games!” Lucas points out, “And you like that!”

“Because you get to blow stuff up,” Max shrugs.

“Stuff blows up in Star Wars,” Dustin defends.

“Yeah, my brain, from boredom.”

El knows that Max isn’t really against the idea of watching Star Wars. Max is the kind of person who often expresses how much she likes something by acting like she doesn’t like it, like when she gripes about listening to Cyndi Lauper or complains to El about how “lame” Lucas looks in his striped sweaters.

Regardless, the guys don’t know Max as well as El does, so they naturally think that she’s being serious.

El glances over to see Mike frowning. His gaze drops to his lunch tray as he starts pushing around his lunch — a serving of ‘mystery meatloaf’ — with his fork.

He’s obviously feeling upset, which El refuses to let happen. Plus, thinking back to her conversation with Mike at the record store, friends are supposed to share interests, and if there’s one thing that the boys are interested in, it’s definitely Star Wars.

“Let’s watch it,” El declares, “Together.”

“What?” Max snaps.

“Really?” Mike asks.

“Yes,” El nods. “Tonight!”

“Why tonight?” Lucas asks.

“Because Max and Dustin won’t stop arguing otherwise,” Will answers point-blank.

“We could watch it at my house!” Mike offers, perking up, “After A.V. club, obviously.”

El feels her cheeks flush pink. At Mike’s house? SHE would be going to MIKE’S house. MIKE’S. As she processes this, she feels like her brain and heart are exploding at the same time.

Thankfully, she manages to keep a calm exterior.

“Yes,” she says simply, cutting into her own mystery meatloaf, “That sounds good.”

“Then let’s do it!” Lucas asks, before hesitantly glancing at Max, “I mean, if we all want to.”

Max sighs and rolls her eyes up to the ceiling. “Fine. Whatever. I just hope your dweebness isn’t contagious, Wheeler.”

“Har, har,” Mike replies dryly.

When lunch ends, they all make plans to meet at Mike’s house at 5:30 that night. While the boys head off to A.V. Club, El and Max decide to head back to El’s house to wait.

When they arrive, Hopper is seated at the kitchen table, surrounded by manilla folders. El can smell his cigarettes as soon as she and Max enter the foyer, and even though the smell always makes her crinkle her nose, it’s oddly comforting at the same time.

“Hey, kid,” Hopper calls out as El closes the front door, “Is that you?”

“Yeah,” El replies, leading Max into the kitchen. “What are you doing home?”

“Slow day at work,” Hopper replies, keeping a cigarette balanced between his lips as he talks, not taking his eyes off the folder he’s currently looking at, “I’m just trying to re-work some old case files.”

“Sweet,” Max smiles, leaning against the doorframe. “Any murders?”

“Nope.”

“Boring.”

Hopper eyes her with a wry smile before turning to El. “So, what are you girls up to tonight?”

El blushes. “We…uh…we’re going out. Later.”

“Really?” Hopper asks, “Where?”

El hesitates. “To…um….”

“We’re going to Mike’s house!” Max interrupts, examining her nails. “To watch Star Wars.”

“MAX!” El yelps.

“Cops!” Max replies, pointing to Hopper, “They always find out everything!”

“Because you’re telling them!”

“Mike?” Hopper smiles, raising an eyebrow, “That punk you like?”

“He’s not a punk!” El insists, flushing red.

“He’s inviting us over to watch Star Wars,” Max adds, “Star Wars. That’s like, the exact opposite of a punk.”

“Humph,” Hopper snorts. He turns his attention back to his case files, and for a moment, El thinks he’s actually going to drop the subject.

He doesn’t.

“So, when am I going to meet this ‘Mike’?” Hopper asks conversationally.

“Never!” El retorts, only half-joking.

“And why not?”

“You’ll scare him.”

“I’m not that scary,” Hopper objects. He turns to look up at Max and gives her a questioning look. “Am I?”

“You’re pretty scary,” Max shrugs, “You’ve got a literal gun.”

“It’s not like I’d have to use it on him,” Hopper points out, “Unless he deserves it.”

“DAD!” El exclaims, “This is why you won’t meet him!”

“I will,” Hopper assures her, giving her a knowing smile. He takes the cigarette out of his mouth and uses it to motion towards Max, “I’m a cop.”  

Max snorts and giggles.

El gives them both flat stares.

“You love us,” Max insists, grinning at El.

El raises an eyebrow.

“You do,” Max shrugs, grabbing El’s hand, “Now, let’s go watch, like MTV or something, I wanna see what new albums are coming out next.”

The girls head into the living room and proceed to do so until 5 o’clock. The entire time they’re watching TV, El can hardly focus. She’s just so excited and nervous at the idea of actually getting to go to Mike’s house, she can’t think straight.

The whole skateboard ride to the Wheeler’s goes by in a blur. Thankfully, Max leads the way, expertly navigating them to the address Mike had hastily written on a sheet of notebook paper for them.

When they pull up to the Wheeler’s driveway, El feels like she’s going to faint. Her brain starts going all haywire, falling apart into nothing more than Mike, Mike, Mike! Mike’s house! A house! HIS house! MIKE!

“Let’s do this,” Max says confidently, hopping off her board and striding up to the front stoop.

El takes a shaky breath and nods, following Max’s lead.

The girls carefully set their boards on the front lawn and climb the front steps. They stop in front of the door, illuminated by the porch light.

“Well, knock,” Max says, turning to El.

“I don’t want to!” El says anxiously.

“Why not?”

El just looks at her helplessly, her nervousness etched all over her face.

Max rolls her eyes. “I don’t know why you’re still, like, scared of him. You know he’s crazy about you, right?”

El blushes. “Really?”

“Oh my god,” Max says flatly. “Yes. It’s so obvious.”

El smiles at this, while Max, seemingly impatient, steps forward to knock on the front door.

El feels her heart skip a beat as they wait.

All right, it’s time. This is really happening.

A moment later, the front door opens and a woman, presumably Mike’s mother, peeks out. When she sees that it’s two girls, both wearing grungy t-shirts, washed-out jeans, and leather jackets, she looks confused, to say the least.

“Can I help you?” Mrs. Wheeler asks, looking puzzled.

Max nudges El, so El takes the lead by speaking up hesitantly. “Hi,” She says, smiling shyly. “I’m, uh, El, and this is Max. We’re here to see Mike?”

Mrs. Wheeler pauses. “To see him?”

“He invited us over,” Max explains, raising an eyebrow. “He didn’t tell you?”

For a moment, El worries that they’re going to get in trouble. She knows that Hopper would definitely be upset if she invited two strangers over without asking. Mrs. Wheeler, on the other hand, looks ecstatic. “You’re here to see Mike?” She asks, beaming, “I didn’t know he had any friends that were…”

“Girls?” Max says dryly.

Mrs. Wheeler nods, looking absolutely beside herself with happiness. But before she can say anything more, there’s suddenly the sound of rushing feet, and then Mike appears at his mother’s side.

“Mom!” Mike whines, looking embarrassed, “Why didn’t you tell me they were here?!”

“Michael!” His mother says excitedly, turning to smile at him, “Why didn’t you tell me that you were inviting girls over?”

“Because!” Mike blushes, avoiding eye contact with El and Max.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Mrs. Wheeler whispers, though her voice is still clearly audible.

“MOM!” Mike hisses. “No! We’re just friends! We’re just gonna watch a movie downstairs, okay?”

“Alright, alright!” Mrs. Wheeler relents, turning back to smile at the girls. “Well, come on in! Is there anything I can get you?”

“They’re fine!” Mike insists, cheeks still bright red. He turns to Max and El, giving them both an earnest look. “C’mon, the guys and I already have everything set up downstairs.”

“Lead the way,” Max shrugs.

“Make sure to keep the noise down,” Mrs. Wheeler gently reminds them as they start to walk off, “Holly is going to start getting ready for bed soon!”

“We will!” Mike calls back.

“Who’s Holly?” El asks as Mike continues to lead her and Max down the hallway.

“Holly’s my little sister,” Mike explains, “She’s six. I have another sister, Nancy, but she’s in college now. They’re both pretty cool, I guess.” He turns to look at El curiously. “Do you have any siblings?”

El exchanges a quick, nervous glance with Max. She barely had parents.

“No, just me,” she answers briskly, not looking directly at Mike.

“Be grateful,” Max pipes up, taking the focus off of El, “I’m still trying to figure out how to ship Billy off somewhere.”

“Is Billy your brother?” Mike asks.

“Step-brother,” Max corrects with an eye roll.

“Oh,” Mike frowns, “That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

Mike leads them to the basement door and opens it. As they begin to descend the stairs, El can already hear the rest of the guys joking around excitedly.

Mike’s basement is cozy, despite how cluttered it is. There seems to be an object stuffed into every square inch of space — boxes, trunks, posters, books, furniture, lamps, rugs. The wood paneling on the walls makes the environment seem both warmer and safer somehow. When they finally reach the bottom of the stairs, El can feel her feet sink into the plush carpeting, and it’s heavenly.

The boys have cleared a space in the center of the basement. They have a small TV set up, a couch, and two recliners. Will and Dustin have claimed the recliners, while Lucas is seated on the floor in front of the TV, munching away on a bowl of popcorn. When he sees that Max and El have arrived, he looks up eagerly.

“Hi, Max!” He smiles, beaming up at her.

Mike gives him an affronted look and motions to El.

“And El!” Lucas adds quickly, blushing red.

El and Mike exchange wry smiles. “Hi,” she replies, giving everyone a smile.

“Alright,” Max sighs. She walks forward and sits on the floor beside Lucas, stealing some of his popcorn, “Let’s get this geek-fest over with.”

Mike turns to smile nervously at El. “We can sit on the couch, if you want?” Even though the sentence is technically a statement, the way his voice rises at the end makes it sound more like a question.

El feels that same brain/heart-explosion feeling again, but she only nods and follows Mike to the couch.

As Mike and El get settled, Dustin gets out of his recliner, a Star Wars VHS in his hand. He moves to stand in front of the TV, locking gazes with Max and El. “Alright,” He says dramatically, waving his hands as he speaks, “Prepare to experience the most life-changing 2 hours and 5 minutes of your life!”

“Wow,” Max says dryly, “And just when I thought you guys couldn’t get any nerdier.”

Dustin makes a face at her before turning to insert the VHS tape into the player.

Mike turns to smile at El nervously. “Are you excited?”

“Yes,” El nods, smiling back.

“Because, it’s okay if you’re not,” Mike continues, “I mean, you don’t have to pretend to like it, if you don’t. I’ll understand. Kind of. I mean, you won’t hurt my feelings or anything like that.”

“Mike,” El cuts him off and looks him directly in the eye. When their gazes meet and Mike gives her a soft, hopeful look, it takes everything within El to not melt on the spot.

“Relax,” she instructs him. Just as she had in the library, she then reaches out and gently places her hand over his.

“Sorry,” Mike mumbles, looking flustered. “I know I talk too much sometimes.”

It’s cute, El muses, but when Mike’s eyes suddenly widen and his cheeks start to flare red, she realizes that she accidentally voiced her sentiments aloud.

Shit.

Thankfully, the conversation is quickly cut off by the loud blare of brass instruments. Their attention is quickly jolted towards the TV screen, where the opening crawl for Star Wars is beginning to play.

El moves her hand away from Mike’s and focuses on watching the movie.

It’s a little confusing at first, with all the technical sci-fi stuff, but Mike is right there to whisper in her ear and explain what’s going on during the more confusing parts.

Lucas spends most of the movie glancing at Max, checking to see how she’s reacting.

Usually, that reaction is a snarky comment. As the movie begins, Max takes it upon herself to point out everything from how annoying C3-PO is to how weird everyone’s clothes are.

Dustin is evidently trying to not lose his mind. “He’s supposed to be annoying!” He snaps, “And they’re in outer space, why would they dress how we do on Earth?!”

“Whatever. This is so dumb,” Max says, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

“It’s not dumb!” Dustin insists. “What’s dumb about an epic space opera that uses science-fiction allegories to tell a story of human suffering and loss, complex family dynamics, and personal strength?”

Max blinks at him. “Literally everything.”

They’re at the part in which Luke is practicing the force by deflecting laser beams with a helmet over his head. As Luke expertly maneuvers his lightsaber to deflect each attack, Mike sighs wistfully.

“What?” El whispers.

“It would just be so cool to have the Force,” Mike whispers back, turning to look at her. “Like, can you imagine being able to like, move and see things with your mind and control stuff? It’d be the best superpower ever!”

El hesitates. The prickly feeling of nervousness makes her skin feel hot and her mouth dry. “That would be cool,” she says simply.

“Just imagine all the stuff you’d be able to do!” Mike continues, “Like—“

“Shut up, Wheeler!” Max snaps suddenly, “I can’t hear what anyone’s saying!”

“I thought you said it was dumb!” Lucas points out.

“It is,” Max insists, unable to take her eyes away from the screen.

Mike stops talking, and the rest of the movie goes by more smoothly. As the story reaches its climax, Max stops with her snarky comments, and El finds that she’s able to understand everything that’s going on without Mike’s help.

When the movie ends, Max looks around at the other guys anxiously. “That’s it?!” She snaps bitterly.

Lucas eyes her hesitantly. “What do you mean ‘that’s it’?”

“Darth Vader is still out there!” Max explains, sounding distressed, “And that other old dude just dropped dead! Then the movie just ends!”

“There’s still two more movies,” Dustin says dryly, “But I guess since you thought the movie was so dumb, we don’t have to watch them.”

Max pauses, mouth snapping shut. “Fine. Whatever,” she shrugs, folding her arms, “I don’t want to watch them anyway.”

“She does,” El pipes up from the couch, “Believe me.”

Max turns to give El a dirty look, but El only beans back, elated to have turned the tables on her friend for once.

“It’s only 8:00,” Will says, checking his watch, “I think we should have enough time to watch the first sequel, at least.”

“That’s the best one,” Mike nods eagerly.

“Do you want to, Max?” Lucas asks carefully.

Max rolls her eyes. “I guess.”

And so they do.

El finds that she doesn’t need Mike to explain things to her this time around, but as the movie goes on, she finds herself casually sliding closer to him anyway. They’re not quite cuddling, or anything, but their shoulders, sides, and legs are touching, which is something.

Mike casually lies out his hand between them, and, heart racing in her chest, El places her hand next to his. They’re not holding hands, more like, brushing fingertips, but neither pulls away for the rest of the movie, even during Han and Leia’s steamy romantic scenes that leave both Mike and El blushing furiously.

As the movie continues, Max doesn’t make any sarcastic remarks. Instead, she’s completely captivated by the action, drama, and suspense. When Darth Vader reveals himself to be Luke’s father in the climax, both she and El completely lose it.

“Holy shit!” Max exclaims excitedly, tugging on Lucas’ arm.

El turns to look up at Mike, eyes wide with shock.

“I know!” Mike grins, “It’s like, the biggest reveal in all of cinematic history.”

Max is still shaking Lucas, so he pulls his arm away to grasp both of her hands. “Calm down!” Lucas instructs, blushing.

“Sorry,” Max replies, breathless.

El hears someone clear their throat ever-so-subtly, and she looks over to see Will locking eyes with her.

Their hands, he mouths, rolling his eyes towards Lucas and Max.

El frowns in confusion, but sure enough, when she glances back at the pair, she can see that their hands are still tightly grasped together as they continue watching the movie.

El holds back a gasp as she looks at Will excitedly, both exchanging conspiratorial grins.

“Is everything ok?” Mike whispers, leaning closer to El.

El looks around the comfy basement, at Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Will, and then back up at Mike.

“Yes,” she replies truthfully, “Everything is perfect.”

The only sport more asinine to Mike than football would have to be dodgeball. Then again, is dodgeball even a sport?

Mike doesn’t honestly know, nor does he care. All he knows is that it sucks. His Gym teacher makes them play it at least once a week, because it’s “good cardio.” In Mike’s not-so-humble opinion, the only thing it’s good for is getting his ass kicked by Troy.

None of Mike’s friends are in the class with him, which means he’s completely vulnerable. There’s no one to make sure that Mike isn’t always picked last for teams, no one for him to slack off with, and most importantly, no one to stop Troy and his friends from constantly pummeling dodgeballs at him.

Thankfully, Mike manages to catch a break during Wednesday’s gym class. Their teacher decides to pick the teams for once, which means that not only is Mike not picked last, but he’s also placed on the same team as Troy.

As much as Troy hates Mike, Mike knows that Troy loves winning things even more. So, there was like, no way that he’d come after his own team member, right?

Wrong.

Mike doesn’t care to put any effort into dodgeball. He instead prefers to keep one dodgeball on him at all times, hang back on the sidelines, and use the dodgeball as a shield to deflect any incoming attacks.

As Mike continues to do this during today’s game, he realizes that it may be the reason he’s always picked last.

As he contemplates this, he noticing that Troy is running over to him, flanked by two of his cronies.

Mike bites down on his lower lip and readies himself. This can’t be good.

“Hey, Frogface,” Troy smirks, sidling up to Mike.

Mike eyes him. “What do you want?”

“Just to talk,” Troy says innocently, though the jaded edge of his voice suggests the exact opposite.

“Then talk,” Mike replies flatly.

“Is it true you’re hanging around with El Hopper?” Troy asks.

Mike tenses. “Yeah, why?”

Troy and his friends turn to look at each other and snicker. “Well, we just wanted to congratulate you, buddy,” Troy continues, turning back to Mike.

Mike’s brow furrows. “Congratulate me? For what?”

“For finally getting some action,” Troy simpers, “We didn’t think that you had it in you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Mike asks indignantly, though deep down he’s pretty sure that he already knows. He can feel a sick, twisted feeling start to churn in his gut, a feeling that only grows worse when Troy starts smirking again.

“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Troy says, earning another round of sniggers from his friends.

“I don’t,” Mike insists, scowling at them.

“Wasn’t she homeschooled until she was like, 11 or something? Her dad’s the Chief of Police and all he does is keep her locked up half the time.”

“So?!”

“So, she’s desperate and lonely enough to let you do whatever you want to her,” Troy explains, a wicked glint in his eye, “Freaky chicks like that always are.”

Mike feels a sudden and sharp surge of anger burst within him. His grip on the dodgeball he’s holding tightens. “Don’t talk about her like that!”

“Why? Everyone knows it’s true! No sense being a prude about it, Wheeler. Why else would she be hanging around with a guy like you?”

“Shut up!” Mike snaps.

“I bet she’s into some really weird shit, ain’t she?” Troy croons, “Jesus, Wheeler, I’m almost jealous of ya’. Maybe after she gets bored with you, I’ll see how far I can get with her, if you know what I mean.”

“I said shut up!” Mike says roughly.

“I heard she was all over Greg McCorkle at Jennifer’s party,” Troy continues, speaking to his friends now, “So it wouldn’t even be that hard, ya’ know? I mean, if Wheeler can get her horizontal, I’m pretty sure anyone can.”

Troy’s friends are absolutely beside themselves with laughter. Troy turns away from Mike to smirk back at them and exchange a couple high-fives.

Consequently, they don’t notice how much Mike is shaking. How narrowed his eyes are. How fast his heart is pounding, filling his nerves with enraged adrenaline.

Most importantly, they don’t notice when Mike swings his arm back and uses every ounce of strength within him to pummel his dodgeball directly at Troy’s face.

The dodgeball hits him with a satisfying smack that causes Troy to slip and fall right on his ass.

“Holy shit!” His friends gasp.

There’s an audible gasp to be heard from the rest of the students who saw the whole encounter happen. For the people who didn’t see, including their Gym teacher, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what occurred.

Mike is still standing over Troy, eyes narrowed, while Troy gives off an angry shout of pain.

“My nose!” Troy wails, clutching at his face, “He got my fucking nose!”

The next thing Mike knows, the gym teacher is storming over to them and grabbing Mike by the arm. “Detention, Wheeler!” He barks, starting to drag Mike out of the gym.

“He started it!” Mike insists, but it falls on deaf ears.

Troy rises to his feet, shaking. His nose is bright red and swollen, and sporting a fresh nosebleed. “You’re dead,” he seethes, locking eyes with Mike, “You are so dead.”

He lunges forward, fists swinging, but his friends jump in to hold him back. “Not now!” One of them snaps, motioning to the gym teacher.

The gym teacher orders Troy to control himself while he ‘hauls Wheeler’s ass to the principal’s office.’ Mike, still quietly fuming, doesn’t try to escape.

As the gym doors swing open, he can still hear Troy furiously calling out to him.

“You’re dead meat, Wheeler!” Troy snaps, writhing in his friends’ grasp, “You hear me?! This isn’t over!”

In response, Mike manages to flip him off before the gym doors shut behind him.

In short, it was a much more climatic way to get detention than selling test answers. Sadly, how he winds up in detention has no effect on how boring detention itself is.

After school, he’s back in the same dingy classroom and seated in the same rickety desk, only this time, he’s alone.

Mr. Mortensen is supervising again, looking just as thrilled to be here as he was last time. He keeps himself busy with another crossword puzzle from the Hawkins Post, choosing to ignore Mike for the most part. The only time they speak is when Mr. Mortensen looks up and asks Mike what a four-letter word for ‘blank Skywalker’ is.

“Luke,” Mike replies tiredly, “Luke Skywalker.”

“Oh,” Mortensen says indifferently, turning back to his crossword.

It feels like a million years later, but the clock finally strikes 4:30 and he’s then free to leave.

Mike darts out of the rickety desk, offering a hasty, obligatory goodbye to Mr. Mortensen.

Much to his surprise, upon exiting the classroom, Mike sees El waiting for him in the hallway.

She’s up against some lockers, but upon seeing Mike she rises to her feet to greet him. “Mike!”

“El?!” Mike exclaims, shocked, “What are you doing here?”

“I heard that you got detention,” El explains.

Mike feels his face grow hot. “Oh, uh, yeah, I did.”

El eyes him. “Why?”

“I...I kinda....”

“What?”

Mike sighs. “I threw a dodgeball at Troy’s face and made his nose bleed. On purpose. I mean, the bleeding part wasn’t on purpose, just the throwing part. But yeah.”

El’s eyes widen. A small, disbelieving smile tugs at her the corners of her lips. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Mike hesitates. There’s no way that he’s gonna repeat what Troy said. It was too crude and too terrible and El didn’t deserve to hear any of it. At the same time, what other explanation was there?

Even though Mike knows that he’s not directly responsible for what happened to El at the party, he can’t help but put some of the blame on his own shoulders. If he had arrived sooner, maybe she wouldn’t have taken that drink. If he’d told everyone to leave earlier, they wouldn’t have witnessed the fight and El wouldn’t have fainted from fear.

He knows that he could’ve done something that night to keep El safer, but he didn’t. Instead, he wasn’t thinking ahead and she got hurt.

He’s never going to let that happen again, and he needs her to know this.

“Troy was just...,” Mike begins carefully, “Being an asshole. He started saying all these things about you that weren’t true.”

“What things?” El asks, frowning.

“You know, just stupid shit,” Mike says, waving it aside, “Stuff that wasn’t right or appropriate or whatever.”

“Oh,” El mumbles. He’s pretty sure that she understands what he’s getting at. She thinks on this for a moment before glancing up at him. “Is that why you hit him?”

Mike nods. “I wasn’t just going to sit there and let him talk about you like that. It’s not right. It’s not right and it’s sick and awful and...and I just don’t want you to get hurt again, or feel bad about anything, ever!”

“Mike,” El softens, looking up at him adoringly.

“It’s true!” Mike continues, “You’re one of my best friends, and best friends always have to have each other’s backs. I’m not going to let anyone like Greg or Troy ever hurt you.”

El smiles, steps closer, and for a hopeful moment, Mike wonders if she’s going to kiss him.

She doesn’t.

Instead, she wraps her arms around his torso in a gentle hug, tucking her head under his chin and burying her face into his chest.

Mike is slightly taken aback, but he returns the hug gratefully.

“We’re friends,” El says simply, speaking into his chest.

“Yeah,” Mike replies. He rests his chin on the top of her head, closing in his eyes in contentment.

“Best friends.”

“Best friends.”

It’s a surprisingly happy ending to an otherwise shitty day. In this private moment between the two of them, just hugging in a quiet, secluded hallway in Hawkins High, he feels safe. Like there’s nothing that Troy could possibly do to him, not when Mike has El.

Tomorrow, he’ll find out just how wrong he is.

[hannahberrie]

Everybody Talks | Chapter 8: Study Buddies

Fandom: Stranger Things Pairings: Mileven, Lumax  Rating: K WC: 8557 Summary: Mike enlists El’s help to try and figure out what happened at Jennifer Hayes’ party. 

[AO3] Chapter Selection: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]-8-[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][Epilogue] 

Monday morning at Hawkins High, Jennifer Hayes’ party is still the only thing that everyone’s talking about. Everyone’s whispering about how crazy the whole thing was. How you just had to be there. How, after the fight died down, the cops were called and all hell had broken loose again.

The cops hadn’t been able to tell what caused the power outage, but they were able to arrest the underaged drunk kids that were stupid enough to stick around.

Evidently, they were also able to contact Mr. and Mrs. Hayes.

According to the rumors, Jennifer Hayes is now officially grounded until, like, college (news to which Will replies, voice completely flat, “Oh, no —  no more parties”).

Despite all that, the drama doesn’t stop there.

Monday afternoon, word gets around that Greg McCorkle basically had a mental breakdown in the school parking lot. Apparently, someone, at some point during the day, spray-painted some pretty colorful language onto the side of his car — no pun intended.

During lunch, most students rush outside to see it for themselves. The chaos of the all the clamor makes it nearly impossible for Mr. Coleman, the principal, to even tell what’s going on, let alone to start apprehending suspects — though, according to what he shouts as he tries to break up the crowded parking lot, he has ‘a pretty good idea’ who did it, he just has ‘to prove it.’

“Do you think he really knows?” Will asks as the guys shuffle back inside. “Who did it, I mean.”

“Nah, he’s full of shit,” Lucas scoffs.

“Almost as much shit as the ones written all over Greg McCorkle’s car,” Dustin quips, earning a gleeful round of snickers from his friends.

Later Monday afternoon, when school lets out, Mike still doesn’t know who painted Greg’s car.

At least, he doesn’t until he starts to bike home.

Mike takes a shortcut around the back of the school, as it avoids the chaos of trying to bike through a crowded parking lot filled with asshole seniors and their dangerously fast cars.

As Mike comes around the back, he hears a noise: the sound of small objects knocking into metal, their rattle echoing.

He looks over and spots someone in a gray hoodie tossing a couple cans of spray paint into the giant dumpster behind the school. They’re a little shorter than the dumpster, so they have to hop in place a little in order to successfully chuck the empty cans inside.

Mike frowns, bringing his bike to a skidding halt. He’s seen that hoodie before.

The figure turns around at the screech of his bike tires, and even though she’s standing several feet away, Mike recognizes Max at once.

Their eyes meet.

Mike’s jaw drops.

Max freezes, one last empty spray-paint can still in hand.

Mike glances at her, the dumpster, the can of spray paint, and back at her again.

Well...it’s not like it doesn’t make perfect sense.

He keeps staring, unsure of what to do.

Max looks startled, scared even, and she throws him a pleading look.

Please don’t tell.

Mike’s mouth snaps shut and he quickly gives her a reassuring smile.

Never.

Max softens, smirks, and turns to toss the last can into the dumpster.

She turns back to look at him, they exchange a single, mutual nod, Mike bikes off, and neither speaks of the incident from that day forward.

Monday night at the Wheeler’s, Mike still can’t fall asleep. Then again, he hasn’t really been able to since Saturday. Every time he closes his eyes, he’s right back in Jennifer’s suffocating, stiflingly hot living room. The fight breaks out, the lamp is thrown, and then it all comes to a screeching halt.

Over and over and over again.

Mike’s eyes open. It’s pitch black in his room, and, according to his digital alarm clock, well after midnight.

He tosses onto his side, trying to force himself to fall asleep, but it doesn’t work. His mind just keeps going back to that lamp. He can’t get the image of it — floating, defying everything that he knew about physics — out of his head.

The whole thing is just so weird and doesn’t make any sense.

Mike tosses and turns for a few more moments before giving up. He crawls down from the top of his bunk bed and starts pacing around his room, trying to get his mind working.

There had to be some kind of explanation, right? Some rational, scientific reasoning?

But—

Why did it just HOVER before falling? Why were all the lights flashing? And what was that sound?

Mike drags a hand through his hair, frowning in frustration. It doesn’t make sense. Nothing makes sense.

His gaze darts about his bedroom as he paces, as if he’ll find the answers to his questions hidden somewhere amongst old comic books and science fair trophies.

In a way, he does.

His eyes land on one of his most prized possessions, a framed commemorative poster for The Empire Strikes Back. His dad gave it to him for his 10th birthday, and even though Mike is sure that his mother played a big role in choosing the gift, it’s reassuring to know that there was at least one point in time in which his father acknowledged his interests.

But when Mike looks at the poster now, he’s not thinking about his dad.

The Force.

Okay, so, of course, Mike knows that the Force technically isn’t real. But what if what had happened at the party was supernatural in some other way? What if it was beyond scientific understanding?

Mike’s eyes widen as he considers this further. His pacing stops as he freezes in place, mind officially blown.

Holy shit.

He has to investigate this. He has to. But how? He needs help.

His gaze moves to his nightstand. The completed Rubik’s cube is still resting there, just as he’d left it weeks ago.

He knows exactly who’ll understand.

“Sorry guys, but I’m going to have to call off A.V. for today,” Mike tells the guys over lunch.

“But we always have A.V. Club on Tuesdays,” Will frowns, looking concerned, “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, everything’s ok!” Mike insists, “I just…uh…”

“You just what?” Lucas asks.

“Uh…”

“Give him a minute,” Dustin smirks, “He’s gotta think of an excuse first.”

“I’m not making excuses!” Mike insists. He hesitates as he contemplates what to say, but then, remembering his cardinal rule, decides that he shouldn’t lie to his friends. “I have to go to the library after school.”

“Why?!” Lucas exclaims, brow furrowed in confusion.

Mike shrugs. “To study.”

“Study what?”

As much as Mike values honesty, he’s not opposed to sometimes, when necessary, leaving out small details. Details that, if shared, would make his friends tease him for the rest of the day. Rest of the year, actually.  

Said details included that he was going to the library to study supernatural activity with El Hopper (who he may or may not have a crush on).

“Stuff for science,” Mike explains, which isn’t a lie, not really.

“Like what?” Dustin asks.

“Physics.”

“You’re in Biology,” Will points out.

“Well, I want to study physics!”

“Why?” Dustin counters.

“For fun!”

“Whatever, man,” Lucas says, shaking his head. “But we need to stop slacking off. We still have to finish our Homecoming project, remember?”

At the beginning of the year, before Mr. Coleman busted them for selling test answers, he approached the A.V. Club with a request. He wanted them to make a promotional video for the homecoming football game that featured highlights from past seasons.

“If it’s good enough, we might even submit it to the local news!” He gushed excitedly.

The boys eagerly accepted the project. Considering that they had to fight to be featured in the yearbook last year, they were desperate for recognition. Plus, as Lucas had eagerly pointed out, Troy would totally lose his shit if something they made was featured on the news.

Now, it’s over a month later and, after long hours of sorting through endless film reels of nothing but football, the boys’ passion for the project is pretty much shot. The homecoming football game is only two weeks away, and yet they still haven’t even come close to finishing.

“I know,” Mike frowns, “We’ll finish it, I promise!”

“The news, Mike,” Dustin says, slapping a hand down on the lunch table for emphasis, “The. News. We’re going to be famous!”

“We’re not even going to be in it,” Will reminds him.

“Still! Everyone will see it, and then we can tell them that we made it, and then we’ll be famous.”

“Not if we don’t finish it,” Lucas reiterates.

“We will!” Mike repeats, “How about we meet tomorrow instead? Does that work?”

The other three all glance at each other before nodding approvingly.

“As long as we get it done,” Will shrugs.

“Alright, tomorrow then,” Mike says definitively. In retrospect, he could have easily kept the A.V. Club meeting and gone to the library tomorrow…

…but that would just mean another sleepless night spent tossing and turning over answers he didn’t quite have. He needs to figure things out now, before he completely loses his mind.

The conversation concludes with the ring of the school bell. As lunch ends, the cafeteria becomes a flurry of activity. The guys pack up their lunches and go their separate ways, each headed off to their 6th-period classes.

Even though Mike knows that he’s going to see El in Biology, he wants to ask her before class starts — mainly because he’s scared he’ll lose his nerve otherwise.

Even though the school hallways are as crowded as usual, Mike is still able to spot El. He recognizes her hair, slicked back as always, curling at the ends. She’s wearing the same flannel shirt that she wore when they first met in detention, though she has a different band tee paired with it.

He hasn’t talked to her since their phone conversation on Sunday, a conversation that he’s admittedly played back in his head several times. It hadn’t lasted long — after El promised him that everything was okay, the conversation ended with a few offhand questions about their upcoming Biology assignments.

But still. They’d had time to talk, just the two of them, without his friends attempting to embarrass him in the background. And now, hopefully, they’ll get a second chance.

He sees her walk to her locker and start turning the padlock.

He takes a deep breath, readying himself.

Paladin, he reminds himself, trying to bolster his own confidence. He’s a leader. El believes in him.

With that in mind, Mike walks over to her, trying to look as casually suave as he can. El doesn’t see him approaching and even when he comes to a stop beside her locker, she’s still distracted with getting out her books.

Mike clears his throat. “Uh, hey!”

El glances up before jumping back slightly, looking startled. “Mike!”

“I’m sorry!” Mike apologizes hastily, taking a step back. “I didn’t mean to scare you!”

“You didn’t scare me,” El blushes, not looking directly at him.

“Well, that’s good!” Mike replies, his own cheeks starting to turn pink. “I just…uh…”

“What?” El asks, gaze meeting his. Her eyes look so much larger when they’re surrounded by the black eyeshadow she always wears. It makes her stare a little intimidating.

“I wanted to ask you something?” Mike asks, hating how pitchy his voice gets towards the end of the sentence. He can’t help it. He’s nervous. It doesn’t help that he can’t quite read her facial expression, either. He can’t tell if she’s nervous, suspicious, angry, or curious.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” Mike echoes, taking another steadying breath.

He hesitantly steps closer to her. El’s eyes widen slightly, but she doesn’t step back. Instead, she follows his lead and leans in, cheeks bright pink.

“So, do you remember how we were talking about what happened at Jennifer’s house?” Mike asks, voice low, “With the lamp?”

“Yes?” El whispers back.

“Well, I was thinking about it over the past couple days, and the whole thing just doesn’t add up, right?”

“Right,” El echoes nervously.

“Well, I was thinking that maybe, it was like, something...something...”

El eyes him. “Something...?”

“Supernatural,” Mike finishes hastily.

“Supernatural?”

“Yeah, you know, like paranormal,” Mike explains. “It means that it goes against the laws of nature, or normality.”

“I know what it means,” El defends, “I just...why are you telling me?”

“Because you’re the only one that believes me!” Mike reminds her, “All my other friends think that I was just seeing things.”

“But you...weren’t,” El says carefully.

“Exactly! But I need to prove it! I wanna do some research and see if I can dig up any more information about stuff like this. You know, like weird stuff.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah! So, I was hoping, that maybe, if you’re free, we could go to the library after school today?” Mike asks, voice getting a little pitchy again. It’s starting to get embarrassing how nervous he sounds. “I mean, only if you want to, that is. I just thought it’d be nice to have someone else there to help and talk things through with.”

El hesitates. “I’m not sure,” she says, looking away.

“Please?” Mike pouts, giving her what was hopefully his best puppy-dog eyes.

El blushes. “I guess so,” she relents shyly.

“Awesome!” Mike grins. “Why don’t you meet me at the bike rack after school gets out?”

“Okay,” El nods, cheeks still pink.

The warning bell rings and Mike realizes he doesn’t have any supplies for Biology yet.

“Aw, shit,” he groans, “I gotta run to my locker, but I’ll see you in class, okay?”

“Okay!” El repeats, and once again, he can’t quite read whether or not she’s excited or anxious. Maybe it’s a combination of both.

Either way, she agreed to spend time with him, and that alone has Mike beaming with excitement.

She said yes. She said yes and she believed him and she’s like, the coolest girl ever. He can barely believe it.

The last two classes of the day pass by in a blur. Mike spends most of them watching the clock, counting down the seconds until school lets out. When it finally does, he hurriedly packs up his things and races outside to the bike rack, not wanting to accidentally miss El.

His friends stop by to pick up their own bikes, Will to recommend some good physics books he’s heard of, and Dustin and Lucas to warn him to not get too invested in any “weird shit.”

A few minutes after they leave, El exits the school and approaches Mike.

At this point, it’s not surprising in the slightest that Mike’s heart starts doing cartwheels. He realizes that it’s a feeling he’s just going to have to get used to.

“Hey, El!” Mike says excitedly as she approaches him.

“Hi, Mike,” El murmurs, giving him a small smile.

“So, are you ready to go?”

“Go?”

“To the library?”

“Isn’t that right here? At school?”

“I was thinking,” Mike replies, flustered, “That we could go to the public library. I don’t think our school has enough books on supernatural stuff.”

“How are we going to get there?” El asks, confused.

Mike starts to blush. “I was...uh...thinking that I could bike us there?”

El blinks at him.

Oh, god. She probably thinks he’s a total wasteoid. What kind of dweeb still rode a bike around, anyway? He can’t even drive and now El probably thinks he’s completely lame for it. Why was this a good idea again?

“Or not,” Mike mutters, looking down at his feet, “I dunno, I’m sorry. I was just being weird.”

“No!” El pipes up quickly.

Mike looks back up in surprise. “No?”

“You’re not weird,” El explains, “I just didn’t know.” She moves closer to him, stopping only when she’s standing right before him.

If Mike had thought that Jennifer Hayes had this otherworldly aura, it’s nothing compared to how El makes him feel. It’s ridiculous, really, considering that she was hanging onto him for most of Saturday night, but nevertheless, when she comes to stand in front of him and cocks her head up to meet his eye, he’s completely awestruck.

“Let’s go,” El says.

“Um,” Mike replies stupidly.

El gives him a confused look, which is enough to make Mike snap out of it.

“Yes!” He bursts, blushing bright pink. “I mean, yeah, let’s get going.”

He turns and mounts his bike, then pats the back of the seat, inviting El to get behind him.

She does. It’s a tight fit, especially since they’re both wearing backpacks and Mike’s bike is already on the smaller side, but they manage to make it work. As she situates herself on the seat behind him, her torso presses into him, her arms wrap around his sides, and her fingers curl into the sleeves of his navy windbreaker. Being that he’s a few inches taller than her, their size difference is noticeable even when sitting. Her head comes to a stop around his neck area, so when she speaks, her voice sounds slightly muffled.

“Ready!” She announces.

Mike nods, pretty much unable to speak at the moment. He takes off biking, making sure to keep a good balance.

The bike ride is mostly quiet, but it’s not an uncomfortable silence. Quite the opposite, actually. Having El snuggled up beside him is definitely the most comfortable feeling in the world. Did thinking that make him a weirdo? Probably.

The ride doesn’t take long, and within 15 minutes they come to a stop in front of the Hawkins public library.

“Sorry we had to bike,” Mike apologizes as he dismounts the bike, “Next summer, I’m gonna get my license and save up for a car.”

El gets off the bike too, tucking a strand of wind-swept hair behind her ear. “I liked the bike,” she mumbles shyly.

“Really?” Mike gapes.

El shrugs.

“Oh,” Mike blushes, “Well, that’s good, I guess.”

El smiles at him, which only causes him to blush even more. When he manages to speak again, his voice sounds embarrassingly hoarse.

“Well, let’s go inside,” He instructs.

“Right,” El replies, face falling slightly.

Mike leaves his bike tucked between some bushes before leading the way up the front steps of the library. He makes sure to dash ahead and grab the door first, holding it open for El.

“Thank you,” El replies, though she only seems partly aware of what’s going on. She’s completely captivated by the impressive architecture of the library. Her gaze keeps darting about sporadically, taking it all in.

“You’re welcome,” Mike modestly replies anyway.

When they enter the library, they’re met with the distinguished smell of old wood and books that’s somehow both comforting and unpleasantly musty at the same time. Their sneakers squeak against the checkered tiled floor. This causes the librarian, seated front and center at the main desk, to look up at them, perturbed. When she recognizes Mike, however, she softens.

“Michael!” She smiles, voice hushed. “How good to see you!”

“Hey, Marissa,” Mike smiles back.

“I see you brought a friend with you,” Marissa remarks, looking over to El.

“Oh, yeah,” Mike replies, turning to El, “This is El Hopper, she’s my...uh...my—“

Somehow, ‘crush’ doesn’t seem to be the appropriate response here. Thankfully, El steps in for him.

“Friend,” She finishes, and Mike nearly dies of happiness right then and there.

Friend. They’re friends. She said it and they’re friends.

“Yeah!” Mike replies eagerly, “We’re friends!”

“Aren’t you the Chief’s daughter?” Marissa asks, looking El over.

“Yes,” El nods.

“Huh,” Marissa replies simply. She keeps giving El the look-over, and Mike can’t tell if it’s a good or bad thing. Either way, he and El have business to attend to.

“Do you guys have any historical texts on any paranormal or supernaturally significant phenomena?” Mike says, trying to sound as professional as possible. In reality, he’s just throwing in as many buzzwords from Ghostbusters as possible.

Marissa eyes him. “Check the records,” she offers, motioning to the long row of filing cabinets to her left. “Maybe we’ll have something.”

“Thanks!” Mike grins.

Marissa nods and brings a finger to her lips, reminding him to stay quiet.

Mike and El walk over to the filing cabinet. It’s quite massive in scale — at least 9 compartments tall by 12 wide. Each drawer is filled with filing notes on old newspapers articles, sorted by topic and publication.

As Mike begins to scan the label of each compartment, El leans in close to him.

“How do you know her?” She whispers, glancing back at the librarian.

“Marissa?” Mike asks, to which El nods. “I’ve known her forever. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. The guys and I like to do research for our Dungeons and Dragons campaigns here. We like to make sure they’re like, super historically accurate.”

“What’s Dungeons and Dragons?”

“It’s a tabletop RPG,” Mike explains.

El’s brow furrows in confusion.

“Like, a board game,” Mike explains patiently, “Where you play as a character and get to make your own stories and stuff.”

“Oh,” El smiles understandingly, “That sounds fun.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Mike brags, “I’m the Dungeon Master, so I plan a lot of campaigns. My best one took over 10 hours to finish, it was so sweet! It took forever to plan though. I had to spend a lot of time here, to make sure all my historical weaponry was accurate and everything. Sometimes the guys come here with me and we just spend the whole day reading about random stuff.”

“I’ve never been here before,” El admits, glancing around.

“You’ve never been to the library before!?” Mike exclaims in astonishment.

El shrugs.

“How is that even possible!?”

Marissa looks up from her desk to give Mike a warning shush.

Mike and El give her apologetic smiles before turning back to each other.

“Seriously, how have you never been here?” Mike whispers.

“My Dad gets me all my books,” El whispers back, “And I don’t read a lot.”

“What do you do for fun, then?” Mike asks curiously.

El thinks for a moment. “Max and I listen to music. We go to the records store a lot. Sometimes we watch movies and TV.”

“What kinds of movies?”

El hesitates. “Halloween.”

“Isn’t that movie really scary?”

El nods. She glances around the library nervously before leaning in closer to Mike. “I hate it,” she whispers, “But don’t tell Max.”

The whole thing reminds Mike of El’s previous Star Wars confession, and he can’t help but smile.

“Okay, so, what kinds of movies do you like, then?” He asks teasingly, raising an eyebrow.

El bites down her on lower lip and glances up at him shyly. “Don’t laugh,” she warns him.

“I won’t!” Mike assures her.

“I like….” El replies, voice mumbled, “Sixteen Candles.”

“Sixteen Candles?!”

“…And the Breakfast Club.”  

“The Breakfast Club!?”

Marissa shushes them again, so Mike and El lower their voices.

“What?” El asks, looking worriedly at him.

“It’s nothing!” Mike insists, “I just…I didn’t know you liked that kind of stuff. Like, romance stuff.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” El inquires curiously.

“Because,” Mike hesitates, “I mean, like, just based on what most people think of you.”

“What they think of me?”

“Like, how you fit into the high school hierarchy,” Mike explains, though as soon as Dustin’s coined phrase leaves his mouth, Mike realizes how stupid he’s starting to sound.

“The hierarchy?” El echoes, brow furrowed.

Yeah, this was turning into a disaster. Mike decides to salvage the situation as best as he can by changing the subject.

“You know what, never mind, actually,” Mike quickly amends, “I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

El gives him a small, albeit slightly confused, smile. “Okay.”

“Let’s just start looking for information,” Mike instructs, turning his attention back to the filing cabinet. “Why don’t you start looking through the Chicago Tribune, and I’ll take the New York Times?”

“Okay,” El mumbles, looking a little uncomfortable.

They sort through the files together. Mike pulls out anything that could even be loosely related to paranormal activity, no matter how insignificant or mundane it seems. El pulls out a few things here and there, but not many.

“Did you find anything good, yet?” Mike whispers to her as he moves onto the New York Post.

“No,” El replies quickly, shutting the compartment for the Tribune. “Just boring stuff.”

Mike eyes her. He can’t help but feel like she’s acting a little weird. Jumpy, even. But a moment later, she’s giving him a reassuring smile, coming over to help him sort through the Post, and any uneasy feeling of his is forgotten.

They pull as many files as they can. Because Marissa knows Mike so well, she knows that he’s a ‘responsible young man with a good head on his shoulders.’ Consequently, she allows the two to use the microfilm readers to examine the articles.

The readers are located in a quiet corner in the back of the library, secluded from the other patrons. Mike and El push two chairs together and get situated in front of one reader. One by one, they start going over all of the newspaper articles they picked out, eyes straining to read the inverted text.

Mike is desperate for answers, but the newspaper articles come up blank every time. It’s mostly a lot of tall tales and exaggerated ‘eye-witness’ accounts that add up to nothing more than flashy headlines.

El stays silent for most of the time, slumped back in her seat. She’s wearing her blue braided bracelet again, and as Mike quietly reads off articles to her, she absentmindedly turns it in circles around her wrist.

“I can’t find anything,” Mike scoffs after a long period of time. “It’s all nonsense.”

“Maybe we should stop,” El offers.

“No! We can’t stop!” Mike insists, turning to look at her.

“Why not?”

“Because! I need answers. We need answers. There was something strange that happened at that party, I just know it. The cops couldn’t figure out what caused the power outage — don’t you think that’s weird?”

“I don’t know,” El mumbles.

“It is!” Mike continues, “People blow fuses all the time, that shouldn’t be hard to figure out, and yet they couldn’t! They don’t know! They don’t know because it’s something they’ve never seen before, something that no one has!”

“Like what?” El asks, starting to sound agitated. Her brow is furrowed as she gives him a serious glare. “What, Mike?”

“I don’t know!” Mike exclaims, “Something beyond scientific explanation! Something paranormal, or supernatural, or telekinetic, or—“

“Stop.”

Mike looks at her indignantly. “Stop? Why?”

“Just stop!” El repeats. She takes a hesitant breath, suddenly sounding more frightened than angry.

Mike pauses, giving her a worried look. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” El insists.

“Then why do you look upset?”

El shakes her head. “I’m not.”

“Okay, well, you obviously are.”

“I just—“ El stops herself and pauses for a moment, “I don’t think it’s worth it.”

“What isn’t worth it?”

El motions to the microfilm reader. “All this research for something you might not have really seen.”

“Might not have really seen?” Mike repeats, heart sinking. “I thought you said that you believed me!”

“I do!” El insists.

“It doesn’t sound like it!”

“I’m sorry!”

“So, which is it then? Do you believe me or not?”

El takes a sharp breath. Her eyes close, and for a moment Mike wonders if something is seriously wrong, but then she releases her breath and turns to look at him.

“I...I believe you, Mike,” she says slowly.

“Really?” Mike asks suspiciously.

El nods. She carefully reaches out to place her hand over his, and he’s pretty sure that his brain short circuits for a moment. With a gentle push, she moves his hand away from the microfilm reader. “It’s just...the party was bad, Mike. Really bad. I...I don’t want to remember it. Do we have to talk about it all the time?”

Mike instantly feels like an idiot.

El had just lived through what was probably the worst night of her life, and all that Mike had done for the past three days is constantly remind her of it. No wonder that she’s looked so uncomfortable this whole time!

“Oh my god,” Mike groans, moving away from her touch. He slumps back in his chair, desperately wishing he could just disappear. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” El replies quietly.

“No, it isn’t!” Mike laments, “It isn’t! That party must have been terrible for you, and I just keep talking about it, and making you think about it, and just being a total moron about it!”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Still!”

Before El can respond, she’s cut off by the sound of clinking heels against the tiled floor. The two glance up to see Marissa storming over to them, looking absolutely livid.

“You two!” She snaps, hissing furiously, “What is it with all the noise?!”

Mike shrinks back in his seat. “I’m sorry!” He apologizes earnestly. “We got carried away!”

“I’m very disappointed in you, Michael,” Marissa scolds, “You know better than to make a commotion in here, and yet, I could hear you two going back and forth all the way from the front desk!”

“I’m sorry!” Mike says again. He’s not sure what else he can say.

Marissa lets out an angry huff of air before taking a deep breath. She straightens up, composes herself, and gives them both warning glares. “Keep it down,” she says gravely.

“We will!” Mike nods, “We promise!”

Marissa only gives him another serious look before turning on her heel and marching back to the front desk.

Mike waits for her to leave before turning back to El.

“That was terrifying,” he jokes, keeping his voice low.

“I should go,” El murmurs in response, not looking at him, “It’s getting late.”

Oh.

Mike’s shoulders slump as he feels an overwhelming sense of defeat. He glances out the window and is surprised to see that it is pretty late — the blue sky is fading into a deep purple hue as the streetlights flicker on. They’ve been here longer than he thought.

“Okay,” Mike mumbles. He turns to glances over at El anxiously. “Do you want me to bike you home?”

“It’s okay,” El deflects. She stands up from their table and slips her backpack over her shoulder. “My house isn’t far.”

“Are you sure? It’s kinda dark.”

She nods. “I’m fine.”

Mike frowns worriedly. “Alright, then.”

El gives him a somber, half-hearted smile. “Bye, Mike.”

Mike just nods.

She leaves then, sneakers still squeaking against the floor until she exits the building.

He’s left alone, surrounded by microfilm files, face illuminated by the glow of the reader’s screen.

Though he’s not sure what, he knows that he’s definitely screwed something up.

On Wednesday, the guys host a make-up A.V. Club meeting. As always, they meet in what has to be the smallest room at Hawkins High. The space just barely fits their film equipment, repair tools, projectors, TV, landline phone, and four desks that they’d “borrowed” from other classrooms. It’s so cramped that the room often feels like a glorified closet than anything else, but regardless, it’s theirs.

Today, the desks are situated around the TV. A recording of the Hawkins High homecoming game of ’81 is playing on the screen. It has to be the millionth VHS tape of football footage that the guys have watched — consequently, they’re all slumped back in their seats disinterestedly.

Mike is trying to remain focused, but it’s all so boring. It also doesn’t help that he can’t stop worrying about El. She hadn’t looked his way once during Biology today, and after class had ended, she’d taken off in a hurry.

Mike had considered asking Max if everything was okay, but that seemed a little too forward. Plus, despite the moment they’d shared Monday, he was 99% certain that if he whined to Max about whether or not El was mad at him, Max would laugh right in his face.

The whole thing is so complicated and confusing. Mike’s not sure what he should do about the whole situation, so he instead focuses his attention on something he does understand — A.V.

“Maybe we can use this clip,” Mike says tiredly. He leans forward, reaches out across his desk, and presses pause on the TV. “I think that might have been a good play.”

“Everyone started cheering,” Will remarks, idly drawing in his sketchbook. “So, that means it has to be good, right?”

“Who cares?” Lucas sighs, “Let’s just use it! I just want this project to be over already.”

“Why do we have to put in so many highlights?” Dustin gripes. He removes his hat with one hand and uses the other to drag his fingers through his hair. “It’s all the same. One guy passes the ball to the other, the other guy runs with it, they score a point. It’s all the same and it just doesn’t make any goddamn sense.”

“Well, we’re almost done,” Will reminds them, “We only need three more minutes of footage.”

“Did you guys know that with all the time we’ve spent watching these football tapes over the past month, we could have watched the entire Star Wars trilogy over three times?” Dustin points out, “Three times.”

“That can’t be right,” Lucas frowns, shaking his head.

“7 homecoming games, all over 3 hours each, versus 3 movies, all around 2 hours each. Do the math, I’m right.”

“You do the math!” Lucas grumbles crossly.

“I just did!”

“We should take a break,” Will suggests, turning to Mike hopefully.

“Agreed,” Mike nods, rubbing his forehead, “I think we’re all pretty tired.”

“And hungry,” Dustin adds, “I’m super hungry.”

“Then go home and eat!” Lucas mutters bitterly.

“No!” Dustin frowns, scrunching up his nose, “Do you wanna know what my mom’s making for dinner tonight? Tuna casserole. Tuna casserole, Lucas. No one likes that, it’s disgusting.”

“Some people do.”

“Who?! Name one person.”

Lucas opens his mouth to reply, only to close it a second later.

“Exactly,” Dustin says triumphantly.

“Then why don’t you go out and eat,” Lucas retorts.

“Because! No one goes out to eat alone, that’s weird.”

“It really isn’t!”

“It really is!”

“Then we’ll just go with you!” Will cuts in, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Really?” Dustin asks, looking excited.

“Really?” Lucas echoes, looking tired.

“It could be fun,” Will nods, “Right, Mike?”

Mike glances between the guys. Even though he’s still feeling a little down, a night out with his friends does seem like the perfect way to get his mind off of El.

“Why not?” He shrugs, turning off the TV. “We still have two weeks to finish this video, and it’s getting pretty late. We can go to Benny’s.”

“Mike, Will — you’re amazing, incredible,” Dustin beams, already rising out of his seat. “I owe you guys! You’ve saved me, like, seriously!”  

“That’s what friends do!” Will replies before turning to give Lucas a pointed look.

Lucas eyes Will and Dustin before allowing his shoulders to slump and his demeanor to soften. “Yeah,” he relents, offering Dustin an apologetic smile.

Mike smiles at his friends, already feeling happier. “Alright, guys, let’s get going before it gets dark out,” he instructs, getting out of his desk.

The guys nod and follow his lead. After they hastily pack up their equipment and phone their parents, they race each other outside to the bike rack. It’s around 6:00 when they finally head out. Dusk is upon them — the blue sky is slowly ebbing away into a faint orange, their breath appears as faint clouds in front of their faces.

Benny’s Burgers, located near the outskirts of town, is small and a little drab, but the boys wouldn’t trade it for the world. They’ve been coming to the diner ever since they were young. The food is not only cheap, but amazing, and the owner, Benny, is always really nice to them. It’s also nice that it’s not too far away. Tonight, the boys manage to bike there in under 25 minutes.

25 more minutes later, they’re seated inside their favorite booth, happily enjoying their bounty of burgers, curly fries, and milkshakes. They sit in their usual positions — Dustin and Lucas on one side, Mike and Will on the other. Dustin and Will are seated closest to the windows; Dustin because he enjoys people-watching, and Will because he enjoys sketching the scenery when he gets bored.

There are only a few other patrons in the restaurant, but they’re more preoccupied with chatting up the owner, Benny, as he works behind the grill. The diner is filled with the sounds of frying food, soft chatter, clattering dishes, and whatever song is playing on the radio (currently: a single from the new A-ha album).

Just like the A.V. Club room, Benny’s is a place that means something to Mike and his friends. It’s safe, it’s comfortable, it’s filled with memories, and it’s always the same.

It’s the perfect way for Mike to get his mind off of El.

At least, it is until she shows up.

“Holy shit!” Dustin suddenly cries out, peering out the window, “Is that El and Max?”

Mike nearly chokes on his curly fries. “W-what?!”

“I’m serious! I’m like, a hundred percent sure that that’s them,” Dustin continues, squinting.

“I wanna see!” Lucas says eagerly, pushing past Dustin.

The boys all cram together to look out the window, faces pressed up against the glass.

Sure enough, Mike spots El and Max in the parking lot. They’re approaching the diner at an easy pace, skateboards tucked under their arms.

“They skateboard?” Dustin exclaims, shocked.

“They’re so cool!” Lucas gushes, before quickly adding, “I mean, sort of.”

Had it been any other day, Mike probably would have been absurdly excited to see that they were here. But today, still unsure of how El feels towards him, all he feels is anxiety. For all he knows, El is never going to speak to him again, all because he wouldn’t shut up about a stupid lamp. It sucks.

“I can’t believe your girlfriend is here, Mike,” Dustin snickers giddily, “Try not to cream your pants.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Mike mutters, pouting slightly. The A-ha song that’s playing on the radio is a somber love ballad, which really isn’t helping Mike’s mood.

El is chatting with Max when she suddenly stops. Max looks back at her with confusion, but then El says something and points to a spot in the front of the diner.

The exact same spot where the boy’s bikes are parked.

Max frowns and glances around the parking lot. Then her eyes flit towards the window, she nudges El, and the next thing Mike knows, both girls are staring directly at them.

Shit, shit, shit.

“Oh my god, get down!” Dustin exclaims, eyes wide.

The boys jump back from the window and duck their heads down, each a little breathless and flustered.

“Shit, do you think they saw us!?” Lucas hisses, not daring to look back out the window.

“They looked right at us!” Dustin hisses back, “I’m pretty sure they did!”

“So? Aren’t we friends with them?” Will asks, glancing at everyone. “We all hung out at the party!”

“That was only because everyone else was drunk!” Lucas reminds him, “And Max specifically said that we weren’t friends!”  

“I don’t think she really meant that.”

“It doesn’t matter, we can’t get caught looking like creeps!” Mike insists, quickly straightening up, “Just act normal! Maybe they didn’t recognize us!”

The boys nod and follow his lead, resuming their normal seating positions.

As they all return to eating, Mike can feel his heart pounding in his chest. The drumming of his heartbeat is so loud, he’s surprised that all his friends can’t hear it. Wait. Maybe they can. Maybe they’re just not mentioning it. Oh god, what if it’s like, really loud, and then El walks in and she totally hears it and she knows how much he’s freaking out and—

His thoughts are abruptly cut off by the soft chime of the bell that hangs above the entryway door. He can hear two sets of footsteps enter, and then come closer, and then he can see Lucas’ eyes widening, and Mike’s palms are starting to sweat, and shit, this is really happening.

He glances up nervously to see Max and El walking up to the table. Max’s head is held high with confidence, while El’s is ducked down shyly.

“‘Sup, nerds,” Max says casually, coming to a stop in front of the table. Without hesitation, she slides right into Lucas and Dustin’s side of the booth and gives Lucas a punch to the arm. “Hope you don’t mind that we left our boards by your bikes.”

Lucas tries to laugh, but it comes out as nothing more than a nervous voice-crack.

Mike and El’s gazes meet.

She looks nervous, but then again, Mike knows that he does too. He’s more than nervous, actually, he’s terrified.

But then El gives him a small, soft smile, and Mike feels his heart melt because she’s so pretty and she’s smiling at him, which means that she probably doesn’t hate him for acting like a total wasteoid, right? Se forgives him.

Mike doesn’t realize that he’s been stupidly, wordlessly gazing at her this entire time until Will intervenes.

“Let her sit down,” he whispers, giving Mike a small nudge.

Oh. Right.

“D-Do you want to?” Mike hesitantly asks El.

El blushes. “I-“

“She does,” Max answers, “Believe me.”

El throws Max a dirty look before turning back to Mike and nodding appreciatively. “Yes.”

Will and Mike slide over in the booth, allowing El to squeeze in next to Mike. It’s a close fit and Mike can’t help but blush when her leg presses up against his.

“Thanks,” El murmurs to Mike.

“You’re welcome!” Mike mumbles back.

“So, um,” Dustin says, slightly squished up against the window, “Like, no offense, but why are you guys here?”

“Like, no offense,” Max replies, mimicking him, “But why were you stalking us?”

“We weren’t stalking you!” Lucas insists.

“Then why were you all looking out the window at us?”

The guys glance at each other anxiously.

“There was…” Will begins slowly.

“A…” Lucas adds.

“A really big…” Mike continues.

“Lizard,” Dustin finishes.

“A lizard?!” Everyone else echoes.

“Yeah!” Dustin continues quickly, throwing the guys a scowl. “A really big, killer lizard. Like, bigger than my head! It was running through the grass, and I spotted it, and I just thought I that I should point it out to the guys, because it looked really cool. We totally didn’t know that you girls were even there.”

It takes everything within Mike to not slap himself on the forehead.

Shockingly, the girls don’t buy it.

“Remind me to never commit a crime with you guys,” Max remarks. She reaches a hand across the table, steals a curly fry from Lucas’ basket, and starts munching away happily. “You guys are the worst liars ever.”

“Whatever,” Lucas blushes, sliding the basket of fries closer to her.

“So, uh, you guys never said why you were here?” Mike says conversationally.

“Max is teaching me to skateboard,” El explains. She tilts her neck back and points to a small, but rough-looking scrape along the underside of her chin.

“Sweet!” Dustin says, impressed.

“Are you ok?” Mike asks worriedly.

El nods modestly. “It didn’t hurt.”

“Anyway,” Max chimes in, still working on Lucas’ fries, “We got hungry, so we skated here.”

“You guys like it here too?” Will asks.

“It’s alright,” Max shrugs. She reaches into Lucas’ basket for another curly fry, only to discover that she’s eaten them all. “Shit,” she mutters, frowning at the empty basket.

“Maybe,” Dustin says, “You should order your own food.”  

Max flips him off. Dustin returns the motion. At first, Mike worries that an argument is going to break out between them, but to his surprise, their angered looks break into mutual snickering, and both look away with a smirk.

Alright, then.

“I’m hungry,” El admits. Her leg is still pressed against Mike’s, and as she talks, he can feel that she’s drumming her foot on the floor.

“You should order some food,” Mike insists to both girls, though his gaze remains mostly fixated on El.

“Fine,” Max sighs. She reaches across the table and grabs the menu that’s tucked behind a bottle of ketchup and the salt and pepper shakers. “What should I get?” She asks, giving Lucas a pointed look.

“What do you like?” Lucas asks, still blushing furiously.

“You,” El mumbles, so low that only Mike is able to hear it.

Mike lets out a bark of laughter, earning himself a series of questioning looks from everyone but El, who meets his gaze and gives him a knowing smirk.

“I think I’m just going to get a burger,” Max shrugs, passing the menu to El. “And more fries. What’d about you, El?”

“Waffles,” El says simply, not bothering to look at the menu.

“Waffles?! For dinner?” Dustin exclaims.

El gives him a stern look. “Yes.”

“Waffles sound great!” Mike pipes up eagerly. “I think I’ll get some too.”

“You already ordered a burger, though,” Will reminds him, pointing to Mike’s half-finished food.

“I’m not really in the mood for that, anymore,” Mike hastily explains.

“So, you’re just going to throw away a perfectly good burger?!” Dustin exclaims, horrified.

“That’s kind of a waste of money,” Lucas nods.

“Plus, you’re gonna get fat,” Max adds.

Mike scowls at all of them. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting waffles, I have money, and I’m not fat!”

“Mike,” El says, locking eyes with him, “It’s ok. You can have some of my waffles.”

Mike instantly feels his cheeks flush red. “Okay,” he mumbles, simmering down.

“Wow. You guys are adorable,” Max says dryly, “You know, Wheeler, El like, never shares her waffles with anyone, so this is a pretty big deal.”

“That’s not true!” El gasps, cheeks now as red as Mike’s.

Max only shrugs and smiles mischievously. “If you say so,” she says in a sing-songy voice that only makes El blush harder.

Benny approaches their table to take the girls’ orders and 15 minutes later, Max is giving some of her fries to Lucas, and El is carefully cutting her waffles into halves.

“Can I have a fry?” Dustin asks hopefully.

“Maybe you should order your own food,” Max mimics, but nevertheless, she tosses a couple fries to both him and Will.

“Here,” El says shyly, placing her waffle halves onto Mike’s plate.

“I don’t need all of this,” Mike says reluctantly.

El shrugs and gets to work on the waffles she has left, seemingly indifferent to his protests.

As they both start to eat their waffles, their elbows brush, their legs are still close together, he can smell her lavender shampoo, and it finally feels like things are okay between them again. More than okay, actually.

“So, uh, Max,” Lucas says, taking a deep breath, “Guess what?”

“What?” Max asks, eyeing him.

Lucas smiles shyly, “I beat your high score in Dig-Dug. I got 752,001.”

“Are you shitting me?” Max exclaims, jaw dropping.

“It’s true!” Mike adds, “I was there.”

“When!?”

“The same day we saw you playing at the arcade,” Mike explains, “After you left.”

“You play at the arcade?” El asks, eyes wide.

“She plays at the arcade?!” Dustin and Will echo together.

Max freezes, face growing pale. Mike can tell she’s trying to think of an excuse, and for a moment he feels bad for outing her, but at the same time, it was technically Lucas’ fault, and it was probably going to come out eventually.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” El asks concernedly.

Max hesitates. “Because…,” she finally mutters, “It’s lame.”

“It’s not lame!” El insists.

“Video games are awesome,” Dustin gushes.

“And you shouldn’t be ashamed of liking different things,” Will adds.

Max slumps back in her seat, cheeks crimson. “Whatever,” she mutters, looking slightly shy. She gives Lucas a nudge to his arm before adding, “You know this means that we’ll have to go back to the arcade so I can kick your ass, right?”

“I know,” Lucas smiles, absolutely thrilled.

“We should all go together,” Will smiles, “It’d be fun.”

“Yeah, I gotta see this for myself,” Dustin nods.

Mike glances at El just as she’s glancing back at him. “Yeah,” he says casually, “That could be fun.”

“Really fun,” El nods, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Tomorrow, then,” Max says definitively. “You’re going down, Sinclair.”

To quote Max, it’s not like this means they’re like, friends or anything. The rest of the night is spent placing bets on whether or not Max or Lucas will win the Dig-Dug tournament, breaking up arguments between Dustin and Max, and making jokes about how totally screwed over Jennifer Hayes is.

They’re definitely not friends, but —

They’re getting there.