Hey everyone! I'm REALLY sorry for the long wait... the final month of the semester was awful. I had no time to do any writing at all, or any time to myself in general. I've been off for a few days, and I worked through this chapter in little bits in pieces since the last chapter, and finished it yesterday. I'm sorry if it seems kind of broken and un-flowy, but I really wanted to give you guys a new chapter. I hope it's not too bad :)

Luna0603: Thank you so much! I'm glad that you left those sad faces, haha. That was the reaction I was hoping for; I think that this move was really gut-wrenching for all the characters, especially Mike and El. One of my main goals in this fic was to portray it, because I don't think season 3 conveyed it really well. And good take on Joyce! That's the way I see it too; lots of mixed feelings with her character. Also, yes, it is time for Mike to put on the strong face. But maybe this chapter will be a little bit different... I hope you enjoy! I'm still adoring TTWAS! Guys, make sure to check Luna0603's Tied Together With A Smile, it is a great story!

Vader115: Sounds good. I'll call you HyperSushi from now on XD Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. I have more plans for El and Mike's development until the move, I hope you stick around to see it!

39CluesStrangerThings-Star: I believe the filming Stranger Things in the beginning of February, I am super excited too! And thank you so much 3 I'm glad that you enjoy my writing!

Mike groggily opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was that his left arm had fallen asleep. He blinked a couple of times and looked over and realized that El had fallen asleep on his arm. They were spooning, and he had been holding her from behind. He hadn't even realized that they had fallen asleep, but apparently, they must have. He was able to see her body rise and fall rhythmically. He ignored the pins and needles in his arm and pulled El closer to him and snaked one of his arms around her body to hug her closer by her stomach.

He buried his face into the crook of her neck and breathed quietly, inhaling her smell. For a brief moment, he felt calm. Like everything was going to be okay, and that nothing would ever come between them. She tended to have that kind of effect on him.

Unfortunately, he now knew that every single promising thought in his mind was, no matter how strong, pointless. He forced another lump in his throat back down, not wanting to start making a scene in front of El, who he was confident was upset enough, without him blubbering like a baby. He needed to be strong for her, like he always was.

However, he couldn't ignore the fact that his arm was completely numb, having fallen asleep with El's weight squishing his arm. He really wanted to get his arm free, so he gritted his teeth and slowly wriggled his arm out from under her body. When it was free, he let out a sigh and rolled over onto his back. His hands made their way into his hair and he started to rake through it, trying to curb his emotions.

How could this be happening? With the exception of the last few months (even the last month had been going well. It was really just July.), everything had been going great. Their relationship had progressed in several ways, and now that this argument had finally been resolved, their bond felt even stronger. But right after it gets solved, this bombshell gets dropped on them.

It was enough to make him cry. He felt like he was losing her again. Because he was, in a sense; where would she be going? Somewhere far. How often would he see her? Not often at all. What if they grew apart? What if she started liking someone else in her new town? What if he started liking someone else?

The questions were bombarding him non stop, and he could feel himself getting quickly overwhelmed. He got up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom of the abandoned cabin. He closed the door and locked it and stared into the cracked mirror, his own empty eyes gazing back at him. He gripped the sides of the sink so hard that his hands hurt, trying to curb his anger and frustration.

A knock at the door shattered his thoughts. He realized that there was moisture in his eyes, so he wiped it away quickly. "Mike? Are you in there?" a soft voice asked him.

"Yeah," he replied, trying to make his voice sound less shaky than it was. He didn't make any move to open the door.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

Mike sniffed. "I don't know," he replied honestly.

"Can I come in?" He couldn't see why not. He composed himself quickly and turned the doorknob to see El standing in front of the doorway, looking at him with concern. "Are you upset?"

Mike moved forward and wrapped his arms around El's petite frame, leaning down slightly so he could get them all the way around shoulders, pulling her close as possible to him. "I don't know what to think, El," he admitted. "Ever since I met you, all I ever wanted to do was be with you. That year you were gone was the worst year of my life. And now I feel like it's happening all over again."

He felt a tear slip down his cheek. "I don't want you to go again," he suddenly cried out, and his whole body started shaking. He was sobbing violently now, but he didn't move his face away from El's shoulder because he didn't want her to see him like this; he was embarrassed. He was supposed to be the shoulder to cry on for her, not the other way around. And yet, here he was, acting like a fool, with El being the one who was slowly rubbing his back and shushing him.

"El, I'm sorry," he apologized through his hiccups. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"It's okay, Mike," she whispered back. "I can't always be the one crying all the time."

Mike exhaled a breathy chuckle. "Still," he insisted. "You're the one moving away."

El remained quiet for a moment, thinking about what he said. "It doesn't matter which one of us moving. We're still going to be apart," she replied. "I'd be crying if you were moving away."

"I guess," Mike sniffed. He finally pulled away from the hug, looking into El's eyes. Was now a good time to tell her? Tell her the thing he had been struggling to tell her for the past half year?

I love you. Maybe it was time. He could just blurt it now. But how exactly would he say it? Would he give some context, at least? Would he just say it?

"Let's do something," El suggested. "To take our minds off it."

Fuck. Mike cursed himself for overthinking this again. Before he could continue kicking himself, he was being pulled to the couch in the living room. It was torn up in a lot of places, but it still looked comfy enough.

They flopped onto the cushions together, and El curled up her legs and leaned to the side against Mike, letting her right-hand rest on his stomach while the other wrapped around one of his hands. "I wonder if the TV works?" he wondered aloud.

"It doesn't," El replied. "I've tried turning it on before."

"Do you ever come here?" Mike asked.

"Sometimes. When I want to be alone."

"Don't you get any privacy with the Byers's? You have your own room, don't you?"

"Yes, but it's better here."

Mike looked around the cabin. It was very musty and dirty, having been left on its own for a while, but he'd be lying if it didn't have some sort of sense of comfort. It was small and cozy. "I can't disagree with that."

"Mm-hm," she agreed. "It used to be hard to come in here, because I would always think about Dad. But now, when I come here, it's like I feel… closer to him." Mike smiled to himself.

"We have to make sure to come here as much we can then. After you move."

"Yes," El agreed, nodding her head resolutely. Right after replying, she became acutely aware of how close her hand was to Mike's crotch. She bit her lip nervously. After finishing those magazines a few days ago, she had been really eager to progress things a little more in terms of their relationship. She had not seen Mike's penis yet- a part of her was actually very interested in it; she had read about the different things they could do together that wasn't actually sex. She still wanted to preserve her virginity for a while longer.

She turned her head up and released her hold on his hand to bring it up to the side of his face. Turning her head toward him, she pressed her lips against his firmly. Mike reciprocated instantly, without missing a beat. Their lips moved together, the feeling of the friction between them melting away all the problems that they had been facing the whole day. El turned her body ninety degrees toward him, shifting so that she was kneeling on the couch facing him. Mike did the same so that their chests were completely parallel to one another.

Mike was already at the far edge of the couch, so he wasn't able to lean back or anything, but it quickly became less of a concern to him as soon as El started pulling him down onto the couch with her, so that she was on her back and he was sprawled over her. Their kiss never lessened in intensity through the transition, but instead grew wilder and more urgent.

El quickly started to feel the familiar warmth travel down her body, a feeling she had grown used to in the last few months of experimentation with Mike. It spurred her on, and she pressed her tongue gingerly forward against Mike's lips, and he met hers with his own quickly. She was being crushed by his weight almost, but not so much as to cause her discomfort, but to feel warm and protected and safe. He had propped some of his weight onto his elbows that were positioned on either side of her torso, with his hands slowly grazing back and forth at the sides of her breasts through her bra. She was aware of this, and her breathing seemed to automatically grow more and more shallow and rapid with excitement.

One of his hands made its way to the hem of her shirt, and he started to tug it upward slowly and cautiously. Even though he had already seen her topless before, he still wanted to maintain a sense of humility and consideration; he never wanted to make El feel uncomfortable or pressured. That's why his heart almost turned to ice when she pulled away from the kiss.

"Mike," she said, her eyes staring right at him.

He swallowed. "Is everything okay?" he asked nervously, worried that he might have done something wrong.

"You can stop being so careful," she replied.

"What?"

She smiled back at him sweetly. "I know that you want to be careful with me, Mike, but…" she drew a circle with her finger on his chest. "But you don't have to be. I'll tell you if something is wrong, I promise."

"Oh...okay," he said, his nerves finally easing. At that, El reached down herself and pulled her shirt up, revealing her slender stomach. She shuffled it over her shoulders and it fell off of her body and landed on the dusty floorboards.

"You're shirt's gonna be dirty as hell, now," he said, smirking at her.

"Shh," she shushed him, and pulled him again, trying to re-establish the mood they had had a couple of moments ago. It wasn't hard, because soon they were going at it again, as if they had never stopped. Their bodies were pressed tightly together, and El felt like she was going to explode. She wanted more.

Desperately, she grabbed the bottom of Mike's shirt and yanked it up with little preamble. He helped her in pulling it over his head, and then leaned back down and pressed his mouth against her skin just above her collarbone. She gasped. "Mike, yes," she breathed quietly, barely loud enough for it to be heard. He traced a careful line with his mouth up to the side of her neck and started to nibble on the skin, punctuated with strokes of his tongue here and there. In response, she the fingers of one hand into his air and raked the other along his bare back, leaving red lines that were barely noticed.

Mike turned his attention to the other side of her neck, and El let out a soft moan. His dick was throbbing at the point; it was almost completely in line with her center. He knew that El had already confirmed with him that he didn't need to be so careful, but he was still hesitant to start with any dry-humping (that was always really enjoyable). He creased his brow and turned away from her neck and looked at her again.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice concerned.

"El," he began unsurely. "Are you sure that you're okay with me… not being so cautious?"

She looked at him with slight exasperation. "Mike, yes. I promise. Now stop talking." She went back in, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. She bucked her hips up to meet his body and a groan escaped both of their throats. El shifted lower down the bed, and wrapped her right leg around Mike's body and pulled him in even tighter, and she felt his dick spear into her. It felt euphoric, and it motivated her to snake her other leg around his bottom and pulled him into her again.

Mike finally took the hint and started to drive his hips rhythmically into her own, and she matched each of his movements with her own motions. Caught up in the moment and without a second thought, El reached down and brought her hand underneath his shorts and grasped his hard dick through his boxers. "Oh, fuck," he murmured, barely letting go of the kiss, practically speaking into her mouth

"Do you like that?" El asked. She tried to sound a little bit flirty, but it was also a genuine question. Mike wasn't the only one in the relationship who wanted to respect the other's boundaries.

"Yeah," he whispered. It felt like he was going to fucking explode. He had only had

dreams of this sort of thing before, things that he thought of only when he was jerking off in his bed at night, fantasizing about doing all sorts of things with El that he wouldn't dare say out loud (some of which he was even embarrassed to admit himself). Something in him awoke suddenly, like some sort of animal-like force flew through his body and took over his mind.

El wanted him to throw caution to the wind? Then that's what he would do.

His hand flew from its spot on her breast, where it had been idly lingering for a few minutes and let it cross her stomach and lower down. It dipped below the waist of her pants and found its mark on the fabric of her drenched panties, hot and wet. The feeling of her arousal on his fingers was almost enough to make him cum right there, but he held it down.

The feeling of someone else touching her there drove El crazy. She had only experimented with masturbation a couple of times before, and of course, it had felt good, but it wasn't even come close to being comparable to what she was feeling right now. "Oh, fuck, Mike! Mike, please…"

He grinned mischievously, glad that his boldness was paying off. He had never touched a girl's vagina before, but he had gathered some information from stupid middle school conversations and sneaky glances through Playboy magazines behind locked doors, so he thought he had some sort of decent idea about what to do. He pressed his fingers into her, and she gasped, drawing away from the kiss. Her breathing grew rapid.

With a nervous but oddly confident breath, he slid his fingers underneath her soaked panties and ran them through her slippery folds. They felt so heavenly, so warm and wet.

El's senses were overwhelmed; Mike had barely done anything but it felt like she was

going to burst from the overload of feeling. With her boyfriend running his fingers along her pussy and gently massaging her other breast with his hand, she was in paradise. But the anticipation was too great for her; she wanted to feel Mike's fingers inside her. "Mike," she whimpered. "Put your fingers in. Finger me," she begged. She remembered reading that term in one of the magazines. She wanted him to do it so bad to her.

Mike let out an involuntary groan. Her words were so hot; she was so sexy. He wasn't going to double-check if she was being serious; clearly she had given him permission, and she had told him explicitly to stop being so careful. And he didn't want to ruin the mood or something, so he did what she asked without any second thought.

He found what he was looking for, the dip between her legs that indicated exactly where her hole was; her walls were so drenched. Taking time to be extra careful, he added pressure with his single pointer finger excruciatingly slowly. She was tight; he didn't want to hurt her. He had no idea if she had ever experimented herself, but her fingers were a lot more slender then his were. Everything was so soft and warm; the thought of one day having actual sex with her crossed his mind in a flash, and his mind almost melted at that.

El was squeezing her eyes shut tightly; the feeling of Mike pleasuring like this was proving to be an experience that she would indulge in again. There was a lot of pressure, and it felt kind of painful but extremely pleasant at the same time. Whatever it was, she wanted it to continue. She let out another hum of ecstasy, and Mike took the hint and fully hilted his index finger into her.

It was met with a cry from El, but one filled with pleasure, not pain. He was able to differentiate between the two, he had heard a variety of both sides. "Mike it feels so good, so good," she mewled, clasping onto his wrist.

"Good," he said, and leaned down to kiss her lips. El kissed him back enthusiastically, nibbling his lower lips with her teeth before he pulled away and turned his attention to her neck. As he did so, he started to pump his finger in and out of her, and that combined with the sucking on her skin was too much for her to keep her composure, and she let out a loud keen that for sure would have alerted everyone in the house if they were at the Byers'.

"El?" Mike paused. "Are you okay?"

"Mike, don't stop!" she commanded, bucked her hips on his hand again. He didn't respond, he went back to what he was doing, sliding his finger in and out of her making around two cycles per second, which was a pace that was clearly good for both of them; his fingers weren't tired, and El's chest was still heaving up and down, letting out deep breaths.

She had gotten used to Mike's single finger. It felt good, still, but… she was ready to increase things now. "Mike," she whispered softly. "Put in more. More fingers. Please."

He spoke with his mouth mere centimeters from her neck, muffling his voice. "Are you su-"

"Mike, do it, please!" she urged desperately. He complied, and lined his middle finger up as well and started to slide it in along with his index at the same time. He could feel the tightness around his fingers increase as he increased the depth, and it was almost too tight for him to get it in.

"El, is this okay?" he asked, just to be sure.

"Yes, Mike, keeping going, please," she babbled, no longer in control of what she was saying. It felt so good. "Mike, go faster, please." He once again complied and moved in quicker.

"Oh, fuck," she murmured. The feeling of it was getting her close. She was approaching the edge, and it was building in her quickly.

Mike found that his fingers were getting tired, and he was intrigued about something that he recalled in prior conversations and readings; the clitoris. From what he had gathered, it was a really sensitive part that could cause a lot of stimulation. But he had also heard that it was supposedly really hard to find. He was determined to find it though; he wanted to make El orgasm so bad. So fucking bad.

El was leaned back, her spine curled so that the small of her back was raised above the couch. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was frozen with her lips slightly parted, breathing hard and labored. So he took the opportunity to lower his other hand down to her opening where he saw his fingers moving in and out of her. They were wrinkled as if he had been swimming in a pool, and they practically shining with the juice that was coating them.

He placed his other hand just above where she was thrusting into her and started to rub along her folds at the top of her pussy. "Fuck, Mike, keep doing that, please," she pleaded. He did, kept stroking her from the outside.

And then he found it. He knew.

It was like a soft little nub resting right above the opening, it felt swollen. He rubbed his finger along it and a loud moan erupted out of her mouth, and she reached up with one of her own hands and fisted her breast, squeezing it hard.

It felt like things had gone from zero to one hundred in half of a second. A ripple of feelings that felt like they were drug-induced exploded through her body like a firework. Like everything else had been, it seemed like it was one million times better than when she did them alone. With his two hands working her, one moving around and curling up against her inner walls and the other pressing and rubbing on her clit she let out a squeal and came undone, her orgasm shaking the entire room.

"Oh, Mike," she shouted, and yanked his face down to her own and kissed him messily, practically all tongue, a wordless thank you. Mike's fingers exited her and they lead back up to her breasts. He gave them a gentle squeeze as he kissed her back.

"Was that good?" he asked her, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. She reached down and tugged her pants back up (she was already fully clothed from the waist down because Mike had never actually taken off her underwear). A dreamy, entranced glaze was over her eyes and plastered across her face.

"It was…" she was lost for words. "Amazing. The best thing I have ever felt," she said dreamily, looking over at Mike through half-closed eyes. "Thank you."

Mike laughed. "You don't have to thank me, El," he replied, putting his shirt back on. "It's fine."

"Okay," El said, slipping her shirt back on, but then pausing. It occurred to her that Mike had just given her in her life, but she had not done anything to please him. "Mike, do you want me to-

"No, it's okay, El," he interrupted her. Don't get him wrong, Mike really did like the idea of continuing to fool around with El, but they had already been hanging out for a while, and he knew that he had family coming over later that he had to be around for; he was not anticipating for a such a huge chunk of his day to be taken up by this. "It's getting late. I have to get back to my house soon, and I have to walk."

El's face fell. "I don't want to go back to Joyce's house," she mumbled, lying back down on the couch and staring back at the wooden ceiling.

Mike frowned, realizing that there was a problem. "Is it because you're mad at her, or did you have a fight or something? What exactly what happened, El?"

She sat up and leaned her back against the couch, rubbing her eyes. "Just… everything. She asked me if I knew what moving was, and I said no. She explained it to me, and then told me that we were moving to a town really far away, and that we aren't going to ever move back here. I got mad, and ran out of the house."

Mike came to El's side and sat beside her on the couch and wrapped one of his arms tightly around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Are you mad at her still?" he asked.

"I don't know," she replied, her voice slightly shaky. "I feel… part of me is mad at myself. I don't think I was nice to her. But I'm mad too. Why is she making us move? It isn't fair, Mike," she vented, leaning her cheek on his shoulder. "Why would she want to seperate us?"

"Well, I'm sure there were other factors in her decision, El…"

"I know," she cut him off. "I'm just…" she trailed off. "Mike, I never know anything anymore." She looked at him with a pained look in her eyes. "Ever since… since Dad died, everything has just been changing too much. Everything is changing and I don't like it. I want to stay here with you. I want to go to school with you and be with the rest of our friends. I don't want to go somewhere else."

"I know, El. I want to stay with you too." El hugged him tightly, digging her fingers into his hair and rubbing his back, trying to keep her emotions in check. She loved him so much.

So fucking much.

"Mike?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you promise me something?"

Their eyes met. "What is it?"

El grabbed his hand softly in both of hers. She rubbed her thumb over it in adoration. "Promise me… if I do end up moving away, and we get separated… promise me that… that you'll still be my boyfriend."

He squeezed her hand back. "I promise, El," he replied. "I'll always be here for you, no matter what."

Alright guys, Chapter 27 is in the books... please leave a review, I'm not getting as many reviews as I used to lmao. I love reading them and replying to them, so please leave your thoughts! I'll see you guys in the next chapter. Take care :)