Hello guys, welcome back! Sorry for the wait on this chapter, I've been busy with a lot of other stuff. I don't really have much to say other than thank you for last chapter's reviews, I'm glad to see you guys are feeling the way that I want you guys to feel reading these chapters. I hope you all enjoy this one!

39CluesStrangerThings-Star: Haha, I'll take that as a good thing! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I appreciate all of your reviews!

Vader115: Yeahhh, we are gonna be dealing with a lost of angst in the next couple chapters. Hopefully this chapter fixes some of it though :)

Luna0603: Yeah, I'm doing my best to balance how everyone is feeling. This story is Mike-and-El centered, but there are other characters that I like to think about too. The good news is, the mending process sort of begins with this chapter, so let's see how that goes! Also you're welcome, I'm looking forward to the next chapter of TTWAS.

El woke up to the smell of pancake batter and bacon. Despite herself, she smiled at the aroma. Either Joyce knew that something was wrong, or she was just lucky. Drawn by the scent, she crawled out of her bed and slowly went toward the kitchen. She still felt half asleep. On her way she passed Will's bedroom and saw that he was still out cold. She assumed that he had not had too much sleep. She quietly closed his door and continued toward the source of the mouth-water smell.

When Joyce saw her turn the corner she gave her a warm smile. El smiled back and nodded shyly. "Hey, sweetie," she greeted. "You got home early last night?"

El was confused for a brief moment. Oh. She had gotten home at nearly three o'clock last night, but Joyce thought she had just walked home really early. Should she tell her the truth about really happened? No, not yet.

"Yes," she lied smoothly. "We woke up kind of early."

"Why's that?" Joyce asked with a raised eyebrow, wondering why a bunch of teens would

choose to wake up early when they could have slept in.

El had to think fast. "We ended up going to bed early, I guess. We were tired from swimming in his pool." She was surprised even at herself with how clean her fib was. Joyce didn't even blink.

"Ah," she replied. "Yeah, swimming definitely drains you, doesn't it?" El nodded. "Well, I made some blueberry pancakes. I hope they're good, I've never really made them before," she admitted with a chuckle.

"Thank you," El replied politely, and sat down in one of the chairs at the table and grabbed the cutlery from either side of her plate.

"Did you and Will walk home together?" Joyce asked.

Shit. "Yes, we did," El replied after a moment's hesitation. She would have to inform Will of the so they could keep consistent. "I guess he was more tired than me," she added with a shrug. Joyce silently nodded and sat down beside her, tucking into her own pancakes.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "You seem… off."

"'Off?'" El repeated quizzically. She was not quite sure what she meant by that.

"Not right," Joyce clarified. "Is anything bothering you?"

El paused. Was she being that obvious? Or was Joyce just really good with this sort of thing? It might have been a combination of both. Either way, she still wasn't ready to disclose what had happened at Steve's. "Is everything okay with Mike?"

That snapped her out of her trance. "Yes," she replied automatically, almost too much so.

"Are you sure? El, you can talk to-"

"I said it's fine," El snapped harshly, flicking her head to meet Joyce's concerned gaze. El cleared her throat, kicking herself for being so defensive. "Sorry," she mumbled, not meeting her eyes. She felt awkward. "I guess I'm just… tired or something."

Joyce pursed her lips and nodded, taking the hint that El didn't want to talk, and that something was clearly on her mind.

And she was willing to bet anything that it had something to do with Mike.

Joyce watched El shovel the last bits of pancakes into her mouth before disappearing into her room. She called out thanks on her way down the hall, to which Joyce replied with "you're welcome." Once she had disappeared out of earshot, Joyce sighed and placed her head in her hands. Great. The last thing she needed was drama between El and Mike right around the time she was planning to tell her about the move. She had found a house in a suburb in Chicago for a good price. It had 3 bedrooms, meaning Jonathan and Will would have to share and her and El could have seperate rooms. But Jonathan was going to leave for school soon, so Will would probably have his own room most of the time.

Two bathrooms, a decent enough yard, good neighbourhood, it was all perfect. But she knew that breaking the news to El would be difficult, to say the least. She had to wait for the perfect time to tell her, preferably a time where she didn't seem upset about something already.

Oh, well. The supposed the time would come sooner or later. Until then, she would just have to be ready until it did.

Dustin paced frantically around the Harrington living room, clawing his fingers through his wild morning hair. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck…" he kept repeating under his breath.

"Saying one word over and over again isn't gonna solve your problem, man," Steve pointed out as he put another spoonful of Cheerios into his mouth.

"Thank you, Steve," Dustin mocked sarcastically. "I'm just thinking," he muttered defensively.

"With your mouth or your brain?" he asked.

"Shut up," Dustin shot back, and then muttered another slew of cuss words under his breath after that Steve couldn't quite catch.

"What's the plan, Einstein?" Steve questioned.

"You know, I'd really appreciate some ideas here, you fuckin' moron," Dustin snapped.

"Nah, I'd rather just eat breakfast and watch you make a fool of yourself," Steve laughed.

"Fuck you too," Dustin gave him the finger. "What if I just go talk to Mike? How bad could that go?"

"Have you seen yourself? The reason why you have a bruise on your face is because he socked you in the head! Do you really wanna risk going to his house?"

"If Lucas is with me, then maybe," Dustin reasoned.

"Would Lucas go with you?"

"I'd have to ask him."

"How are you gonna do that?"

"I'll go to his house."

"Now?"

"No, tomorrow."

"What?"

"I was being sarcastic, fucknut!" Dustin exploded. "Yes, today! I have to handle this as soon as I can!"

"Okay, okay, Jesus," Steve tutted, rolling his eyes. "You wanna ride there?"

"Yes."

As Dustin and Steve neared the Sinclair household, Dustin found himself getting increasingly nervous. What if Lucas was as mad at him as much as Mike certainly was? "Yo, Steve," Dustin said. "Do you know of Lucas is also pissed off at me?"

"I have no idea," Steve replied honestly, keeping his eyes trained on the road. "For your sake, I hope so."

Dustin sighed and rested his head on his hand, and propped his elbow on the window sill of the passenger side. He had been beating himself up all morning about what he had did. Sure, he didn't initially agree with Mike's decision to keep the information away from El, but there were two things wrong with that. One, Mike knew her better than anyone. And two, even if he hadn't agreed, he had promised to keep it a secret.

And just because of some stupid alcohol, he had jeopardized everything. He made a mental note to remember to keep things in check the next time he drank, if he ever did. This hangover was making him rethink that.

"How's the hangover?" Steve asked.

"Killer," Dustin deadpanned, closing his eyes and breathing out of his nose slowly. He was in the process of mentally psyching himself up when he felt the car lurch to a stop.

"Alright, brother," Steve announced. "We're here." Dustin opened the car door reluctantly and eyed Steve.

"Thanks for the ride, man," he said and stuck his hand out. Steve grabbed it as if they were linking heads to do an arm wrestle, and gave it a shake.

"Take care," he nodded. Dustin swung the door closed and jogged up the walk to Lucas's front door. He jammed his hands in his pockets nervously before knocking lightly on the wood, part of him hoping that no one would come to answer it. Unfortunately, his small hope was not to be realized when he heard some fumbling through an open upstairs window. Hushed whispers and a lot of cursing could be heard, and he recognized the other voice in the house to be Max. He rolled his eyes. He had been hoping to catch Luas by himself. He didn't know what kind of drama Max had with him.

The house nearly seemed to shake as he heard Lucas bound down the stairs, and he was about to call out to him that it was him, not his Mom, but then the door swung open and he was standing face to face with a disheveled looking Dustin. They met eyes for half a second and Lucas sighed loudly. "God, dammit, Dustin," he muttered and turned around it. "Max, it's Dustin! Not my Mom!"

"Fuck!"

Dustin wrinkled his nose. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked sarcastically.

"Shut up," Lucas replied, rubbing his eyes with exasperation. He looked straight at his friend. "What's up?"

Dustin analyzed his face momentarily. He wasn't getting any negative vibes from him, so that gave him hope. Maybe Lucas would be willing to help with the problem. "Are you mad at me?"

Lucas hesitated. "Do you know what happened last night?" he questioned him.

"Yeah," Dustin responded, wincing at even the thought that everything Steve told was true. "Steve told me. Was it that bad?"

"Yeah," Lucas said with a deep exhale, cracking his knuckles one at a time. It was something he did when he was uneasy.

"So, uh," Dustin stuttered. "Are you mad at me? 'Cause I might need some help making things up with Mike," he admitted.

"Yeah, no, of course," Lucas said immediately, placing a hand on Dustin's shoulder. "You just made a mistake. Don't worry, the Party always shakes."

"Do you remember what happened between you and Mike two years ago?" Dustin asked incredulously. "Are you really sure that's gonna happen?"

"Okay, but that was when we were both mad at each other. This is one sided. I'm sure it will be fine."

Dustin clicked his tongue and rubbed his hands together. "Can I come in for a bit, I haven't eaten breakfast?"

"Yeah, sure." Lucas agreed, and stepped backward to let Dustin through. He nodded at him and kicked off his shoes on the mat at the door and stepped in. The house was nice and cool in contrast to outside, and he felt like the sweat on his body was almost disappearing. "Fuck, that's nice," he sighed.

Max's voice came from down the hall, and Dustin could hear her footsteps drawing closer. "Lucas, did you tell Dustin to lea-" She rounded the corner and came face to face with the two of them wearing nothing but sweat pants and a bra. "Oh, Jesus Christ!" she yelled and turned on a dime and made an angry beeline back to Lucas's room. "God damn it," she called from down the hall. "Thanks Dustin!" she yelled sarcastically.

Dustin furrowed his brow. "Are you sure that I'm not interrupting anything?" he joked.

Lucas shrugged. "Meh," he said. "This is more important. I, um… might have been going down on her before you came."

Dustin coughed loudly. "Ah," he replied, not knowing what else to respond with. "Interesting."

"Hey, just 'cause you're dating someone who lives across the country and can't do anything with her doesn't mean it's weird for me to do stuff with mine, who lives within walking distance!" he laughed.

"Yeah, no, I'm not making fun or anything," Dustin backpedalled. He was relieved that Lucas was joking with him, it proved that he wasn't lying when he said that he wasn't mad at him.

"You want cereal?"

"Sure."

Dustin watched him pour the two of them bowls of some sort of raisin bran cereal. He wasn't a huge fan of raisins, but he needed something hardy to get him through the day. He poured some milk in once Lucas had brought the two bowls to the table, and took his spoon and crammed in as much food as he could in one bite.

"Hungry?" Lucas asked.

Dustin chewed and swallowed the food, and tapped his spoon on the side of the bowl in thought. "It's weird," he began. "I'm hungover and I feel like shit, and part of me wants to throw up at the thought of food. But the other part is hungry as fuck. And right now that side is winning," he said as he put another spoonful back into his mouth.

"Fascinating," Lucas deadpanned. "I can't believe you had that much to drink," he murmured.

"Don't remind me," Dustin replied. "How's Mike doing?"

Lucas licked his lips. "If he's anything like he was last night? Not good."

"Fuck." He shoveled another bite into his mouth and chewed quickly. "I hope he's doing better then."

Mike woke up on the couch in his basement to nothing in particular. It might have been a dream, but he didn't know. For a moment, he couldn't even remember what had happened last night. He had no idea why he was sleeping the basement, or why he was still fully clothed, or anything.

But then it all came to him at once. The fight, the argument with El, punching Dustin, walking home semi-drunk. He groaned loudly and rolled over on his other side so that his head was buried into the backrest of the sofa. After squeezing his eyes painfully tight for a few moments, he rolled back over to gaze at the digital clock on the side table a few feet away from him. It read twelve-thirty-eight.

As if on queue, his stomach growled loudly. He realized that he hadn't eaten anything in over twelve hours, and figured it was high time that he got himself something to eat.

And that's how he found himself up in the kitchen feeling groggy and depressed popping in waffles in the toaster. Fuck, he couldn't even get breakfast without being reminded of El. It had to be Eggos. Damn it. There was nothing else in the house to have for breakfast at that moment anyway; his Mom was grocery shopping now, according to the note that had been stuck on the fridge.

He sat at the table and mulled over things in his head. He had no idea what to do, truly; he had never gotten in such a huge fight with one of the guys; but he knew that it wouldn't last before. Dustin was part of the Party. He was friends with all of his friends. And he knew that no matter what, no matter what kind of argument or fight they could ever have, nothing could deny the bond between the group of boys. He imagined that Dustin felt the same way too. They would shake, and then the four of them could focus on the real problem: El.

Sure, El was part of the Party too. So in theory, she would be the same case as Dustin.

They would both realize that there existed an irrefutable bond between them, and that would lead them to shake under the presumption that no matter what kind of shit happened, they would always have each other's back, no matter what.

But of course, El was a girl.

And girl's operated on feelings, not logic.

So then there was a problem. Obviously, El did not believe Mike's lie was justified. She

thought he was an idiot and a horrible person in nearly every way, unless the previous night had just been a show. Which it might have been, but it felt too real. Whatever it was, he had to figure it out soon to plan his next course of action. Which would have been a lot easier to do with the help of his friends. The guys could probably offer some more insight, some more ideas, or literally anything to help him.

This was the exact reason why it felt like a godsend when he looked up and saw Dustin and Lucas walking up his driveway. He let out a deep breath of relief and got up from his seat at the dining table quickly, leaving the semi-eaten waffles in their place. The door was being opened before Dustin and Lucas had even gotten there. Mike could have sworn that he saw a look of panic flash across Dustin's face for a moment, but then it was back to being neutral. He waited for them to get a little closer before he spoke.

"What's up guys?" he greeted casually. Lucas waved in return but didn't say anything, but instead turned toward Dustin expectantly, who scratched the back of his awkwardly. He fiddled with the brim of his baseball cap.

"Uh, you got a minute to talk, Mike?" he asked. Mike furrowed his brow and analyzed Dustin's face. He seemed very upset and stressed out, and he could see the marks that he had left on his face. And based on the look of Dustin's face, he guessed he had seen the same on his. It was making for a very awkward situation.

"Yeah, sure. Come in guys," he invited them, stepping to the side and holding the door open. Both boys nodded and kicked their footwear off on the welcome mat. They then congregated on the living room, where they all sat down. Lucas again looked at Dustin.

"Look, Mike…" Dustin began. "I'm, uh… I'm really sorry about last night. I shouldn't have done anything I that I did. I got really drunk and it wasn't a good idea."

"You're right, but I-"

"Hold on, I'm not done yet," Dusin cut him off and held his hand up. "I was stupid and made the wrong decision. And I also said some things that I shouldn't have, about Hopper to El. Even after I promised you that I wouldn't. And then when you got mad at me, wich your reasonably did, and hit me, I just started punching you back." Mike stared blankly at Dustin, shocked by how apologetic he was being.

"I'm sorry, Mike," he said sincerely, looking him in the eye as he did so. "I'm sorry that I fucked up so bad. But I'll tell you right now, I'll do everything I can to fix up whatever problems you're having with El. I promise."

Mike took a second to process everything that Dustin had said before answering. The fact that Dustin had been so one sided and nice about this made him feel incredibly grateful. If he was honest, he was expecting at least a little bit of disagreement, maybe some argument about something. It wasn't like Dustin to be willing to accept all the blame for something.

"Thanks, Dustin, but it's not all your fault. I did some dumb stuff to that night. I should have never hit you. I overreacted. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I deserved it."

"No, you didn't." Dustin opened his mouth to protest, but Mike stuck his hand out across the seating area. "Rule of law. I drew first blood." Dustin blew air out of his nose in amusement. "Shake?"

"Shake."

Alright, so that's chapter 23 done! I'll try to get chapter 24 out as soon as I can, but I cannot make any promises. As always, please a review! I love to read them and hear your thoughts on this story. Also motivates me to work more, haha. One more thing, I have a YouTube channel where I have made some Stranger Things Edits (two, to be exact.) I'd love it if you guys could check it out! Here's the link: channel/UCWZA3z8f9GSfHJYr1SSNV1Q