hello ! you all rock:)
Words w/out AN: 4500+
Pairing(s): Mileven, Lumax
I own nothing.
the social system: chapter six
El arrived at school a bit later than she would've liked.
She glanced at a nearby clock and they were already halfway through first period. In her defence, she needed to get gas and buy some breakfast.
Also, she slept in (blame the alarm clock, not her.)
El considered walking into her first-period class late. Maybe she'd see Max sitting at her desk, bored out of her mind as usual. But she'd probably more than likely get detention.
The idea of skipping all together seemed like a much more suitable idea.
So instead of heading to her first-period class when she walked through the doors of the school, she decided to check on Mike and see how he was doing during his spare.
El headed for the library for the third time in the past few days, already becoming more familiar with the large room.
She noticed Mike sitting in the same spot he sat in on Wednesday. He didn't notice her.
She had off-handedly mentioned maybe showing up every now and then. She figured he wouldn't expect to see her here so soon.
El pulled out the chair beside him, kicking his leg when she sat down because apparently, they do that now. Which El found interesting. It had happened during English class earlier. El had kicked his leg, he reciprocated and suddenly during the rest of their English class, it had evolved into some different form of footsies.
El wasn't complaining about it or anything.
He automatically kicked her back, before even looking up to her.
"Don't you have class?" He asked, carefully resting his pencil on the piece of paper in front of him.
"I do." She nodded, not saying anything more.
"Well? What are you doing here then?"
"I was late for class, so I'm just not gonna show up. Why? Do you not want to see me?" El teased.
Mike stuck his tongue out at her. "Obviously, that's not what I meant."
"Just making sure."
"You shouldn't be skipping class for me, though." Mike said, clicking his tongue, looking back down to his homework or whatever he was working on.
"Wow, you've got a big head." El said sarcastically. "Who said I'm skipping for you?"
"You mean you're not skipping for me?" Mike snorted. "Did you suddenly start coming to the library for fun?"
"Don't you go to the library for fun?" El retorted.
"I'll have you know…"
El raised her eyebrows.
"There's ample desk room?" Mike shrugged, becoming more serious. "It's calm here. I like it."
El nodded. "I like it too."
She snatched the textbook from in front of him, lifting the cover and taking a peek.
El gagged. She let the book fall out of her hands. "Ugh. Calculus."
"I'm going over some of the stuff from this week. We gotta spend more time together working on this."
Mike reached to grab the book and winced.
El frowned, squinting at his wrist. "Are you okay?"
Mike looked up at her, like a deer caught in headlights.
"What? Yes. I'm fine. Nothing happened." He quickly said.
"I never said anything happened…" El slowly said, confused.
Mike seemed nervous. He was scratching the back of his neck, El noticed, like he always did when he was anxious.
"Gimme your hand." El demanded.
"What? N-no."
Mike pulled his arm back, but El leaned forward, grabbing his elbow. She inspected his wrist, pulling up his sleeve.
"Quit struggling." El chastised, looking his wrist over.
It was a sickly shade of red and tender to the touch. "What happened?"
Mike wouldn't look her in the eyes.
"It's nothing." He half-heartedly said.
El glared, flicking his wrist. She felt slightly guilty doing it when she noticed him physically recoil. She didn't want to hurt him badly, or anything.
Mike tried tugging his arm back, but El locked it in place, tucking her hand into his and locking their fingers together. When she was satisfied that he couldn't pull his arm away, El brought it closer to her, looking the red mark up and down.
She ignored the burning feeling she had because wow, she was practically holding hands with Mike, instead choosing to focus on the mark on Mike's skin.
El didn't repeat her question but she gave him a pointed look.
"It was Troy." Mike admitted, slightly blushing. "He was saying some, uh, some bad things about my friends and shoved me against a locker when I got close to him."
"Troy is such a dick. I can't believe he would do this to you." El huffed. "Were you hiding this from me?"
"I don't know… Not really. It's just, kinda embarrassing. Y'know?"
El nodded. She lightly ran her fingers over the deep red mark. It turned white if she put enough pressure on it. Although, it probably hurt Mike more than he was letting on for her to keep pressing on the bruise.
She kept their fingers locked. "Is this hurting you?"
He shook his head. "It stings, but I, uh, I don't mind."
"When did this happen?" El asked.
"After English? I was heading to AV Club with Will."
El stroked his wrist, frowning. She didn't say anything but on the inside, she was seething. Mike looked so dejected admitting what happened between him and Troy.
After a moment she asked. "Has this kinda stuff been happening with Troy before?"
"No. Usually, it's just name-calling and stuff. This is the first time he's gotten physical…"
El pressed her foot against Mike's leg. "Are you alright?"
Mike rolled his eyes, smiling. "Yes. I'm fine."
He lightly kicked her in return, silently telling her that yes, he was fine.
El couldn't explain it, although if she tried she could probably think of a reason or two, but she felt slightly possessive. Mike was hurt, and there wasn't much she could do but watch.
She looked him in the eye, feeling slightly nervous but brave at the same time. She maintained eye contact, slowly lifting his hand closer to her face.
She softly pressed her lips to his wrist, watching as his eyes went wide, glancing between his wrist and El.
"There." El said. Her heart beat in her chest like crazy. "To heal your boo-boo."
Mike nodded. "W-what are you, my mom?" He croaked. His face turned as red as his wrist as he looked down to his textbook, smiling.
El smiled, allowing herself to blush when Mike wasn't looking.
aaaaAAAAhhhhhh. Was all her mind could think about or process. Did she really just do that?
El was still holding his hand and Mike's foot was still pressed against her leg and the whole thing felt domestic.
El liked domestic.
Now would probably be a good time to ask him out, El reckoned.
Although she had just admitted to herself that she even had a crush on him just yesterday, or maybe it was two days ago. El couldn't keep count. The days seemed to be blurring together or her mind was slowly becoming mush. One of the two.
But either way, it seemed like she could've been rushing into things. It's only been a week, after all. And the close-quarters contact with Mike wasn't helping her think.
But the way Mike was smiling to himself swept away the little doubts in her head. El decided to just enjoy the moment.
The two were quiet until Mike spoke up. "I think my friends are gonna do something stupid."
That caught El's attention. "To Troy? For like, revenge?"
"No. Although they did mention egging his house…" Mike rambled. "I think more to do with you."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. I don't know… We were talking about you during AV Club and Dustin had this look on his face. Like he was up to something. I just have a weird feeling about it."
El's eyebrows shot up. She didn't care at all about what Dustin was doing. "You guys were talking about me during AV Club?"
Mike blanched, whipping his head to look at her and El smirked. He furiously shook his head. "No. Well, uh, yes. But like, in a totally not weird way or anything."
"Well, in what way then?" El questioned, inwardly laughing at all of his squirming. They were talking about her.
"Well, it was barely even about you... Barely." Mike repeated.
"Well go on." El gestured.
"Uh…" Mike cringed. "We were talking about… if Max was single?"
"You want to know… if Max is single?" El glared at him, briefly looking to their interconnected hands. She pulled her hand away and crossed her arms. She could already feel the warmth leaving.
"But it was for Lucas." Mike quickly said, waving his good arm. "Lucas totally has a crush on her and he wanted to know if she was single. At least, I think he has a crush on her."
"Obviously he does." El said, shaking her head, smiling that this was for Lucas, and no one else. "They aren't being very subtle around each other."
"Yeah." Mike laughed. "It's super noticeable. They should just date already."
El agreed. "Instead of nervously skitting around each other, they should just ask each other out."
Mike laughed, knocking her feet under the table, making El blush once more. His smile was illuminating. "Maybe we'll set them up, who knows?"
El nodded, barely paying attention to the words coming from his pink lips. She watched them with increasing interest.
El felt like there was some sort of irony there, about friends who liked each other. But right now, she was too distracted.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
El walked to Calculus with Mike, just like she had on Wednesday. Side by side, they talked. Occasionally their arms brushed against each other and El wasn't even sure how she was supposed to react anymore.
Usually, if their arms brushed against each other while walking, El would turn a deep shade of crimson while Mike became a blubbering mess.
Now, El's blush would be much more manageable, (although still very prominent) and Mike only stumbled over a couple words before recomposing himself.
Sometimes El bumped his arms on purpose. She liked to watch him squirm, it was cute.
They both stopped outside of their math class. Mike stepped to the side, allowing her to go through before him.
"Jeez, what a gentleman." El joked.
Mike bowed. "M'lady."
They walked to their desks and Max gagged at her. "Gosh, you guys are even more disgusting today."
"What?" El whispered, looking back to make sure Mike couldn't hear them. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Dude. I watched you guys outside of the door." Max said.
"We were just joking around." El defended.
"Still!"
"Whatever." El said. "I have some news for you, though."
Max raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
El leaned in. "Lucas asked if you had a boyfriend."
Max raised her eyebrows in surprise. "He asked you that?"
"No. He asked Mike, but Mike told me about it."
Max slowly nodded. "Interesting…"
"I feel like I probably shouldn't have told you that." Mike said, behind them. He had scooted his chair closer to El's desk.
El and Max turned their heads towards him. She instinctively kicked the back of his chair.
"Should I have not said anything?" El asked frowning. She didn't want to break his trust or anything.
Mike waved her off. "I don't care. I'm pretty sure Max knew about his painfully obvious crush on her."
"Wait." Max said. "Are you kidding me right now?"
"No, I'm pretty sure he has a massive crush on you." Mike replied.
"No, I meant about painfully obvious crushes." Max said, not so subtly looking between Mike and El.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." El crossed her arms. "Oh look, class is starting. We should all turn around and stop speaking."
Max glared at her and El easily returned one of her own.
"Okay then…?" Mike said, confused, before turning to face the front of the class.
When Mike turned around, El took it as an opportunity to smack Max.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
So it turned out, the something stupid that Mike's friends were going to do was sit with her at lunch.
Which on its own, seemed pretty innocent and not at all like a stupid idea, so El had no idea what Mike was on about.
They just showed up as she and Max were eating. Max had looked up, her eyes wide and El followed her gaze. She saw Dustin confidently leading Mike and his friends over to her table.
Mike shrugged at her as they walked closer, while she noticed Will and Lucas cautiously look around the cafeteria. None of them seemed to be as confident as Dustin, though. Who effortlessly strolled through the cafeteria, head held high.
Although, if anything, what levels of confidence were you supposed to have when walking through a cafeteria?
Mike had said this kind of thing was a big deal, though. He had told her that they've never eaten in the cafeteria since ninth grade, but apparently, today they decided to break their traditions.
Their entrance had caused a few heads to turn, as it had a couple days ago, which El frowned at. It's not like they were zoo animals or anything.
"You nerds decide to try the cafeteria food?" Max said, when they got close enough.
El smacked her arm.
"Chill dude, I'm joking."
"I'll have you know." Lucas said. "That we have tried the cafeteria food."
"It was terrible." Will piped in.
El looked at Mike, who just shrugged again.
"I thought it was okay…" He pouted, crossing his arms.
"Well, you're wrong." Dustin said, stepping forward and taking a seat at their table.
Will hesitated for a moment. "Are these seats taken?"
"Yes." Dustin said. "By us."
"No, they're free." El gestured.
"Thank you." Will nodded.
He took a seat beside Dustin.
Mike was awkwardly standing to the side, his hands in his pockets. El gestured for Mike to sit in the open seat beside her and he seemed to relax a bit.
El looked at Lucas, who had quickly snagged the open seat beside Max.
Max didn't seem to have any objections, muttering a quick nerd and punching him lightly on the shoulder.
"So what brings you folks to this table in the cafeteria on this beautiful autumn day?" El asked the four new faces sitting at the table.
"We're having lunch." Mike deadpanned, slightly smiling.
El kicked his leg underneath the table. "Any real answers?"
"Should we need a reason to hang out with our friends?" Dustin said, as if he was some sort of philosopher.
"Wise words." Lucas nodded.
"From a wise man." Dustin finished.
"I wouldn't say that wise…" Max chirped, causing Lucas to laugh.
Dustin said something in response, probably a complaint, but El didn't really pay him any attention.
She leaned closer to Mike and whispered. "So what are you guys actually doing here?"
El was curious. She didn't mind having Mike and his friends here to have lunch. If anything, she wanted them to eat lunch with her and Max. It could help Lucas and Max get together… But it also gave El a chance to get to know Mike's friends better.
"Do you not want us here?" Mike mocked, referencing when she had said the same thing to him during his spare earlier on.
She elbowed his side. "What do you think?"
"I think you're secretly thrilled to see us." Mike said, his voice low. He rolled his eyes and El's stomach did a flip.
"Something like that." El blushed. "Seriously, though."
"It's all a part of that feeling I had earlier." Mike said. "It turns out Dustin's scheme was to have lunch with you guys."
"Why?"
"I don't know, so he can be more popular? It's stupid."
"I think it's cute." El genuinely said.
Mike's eyes widened. "In that case, can we hang out more? I would love to be popular."
"Wow, funny." El deadpanned.
Mike laughed. "Well, I try."
"Yeah, I think I've told you this before but he seems to think that if he hangs out with popular kids, then he'll be more popular." Mike said. "If anything it'll probably make you guys less popular."
"Well, it's a good thing I don't care about how popular I am." El said.
"Right, because we're just so hipster."
El laughed. "Being different is cool."
"Tell Dustin that."
"What?" Dustin said from across the table. "Did you guys say my name?"
El looked up at Dustin in shock. Mike's mouth was gaping.
"Uh… No?" El said, looking at Mike.
"No." He confirmed, nodding his head. "We did not say your name."
"Right…" Dustin said. He seemed to glare at Mike, but looked away, back to the conversation he was having with Will.
Mike slowly turned back to look at El, whose eyes were wide.
They were silent for a moment before a small giggle escaped from El's lips. Soon Mike was laughing too, hard.
El had started fully laughing. She could barely catch her breath and Mike was pretty much the same.
It wasn't even that funny, but that didn't stop El from laughing. She was leaning against Mike, using his body as support as her body was racked with laughter.
Their friends around the table were probably staring at them. The whole cafeteria was probably staring at them, but El couldn't care less.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
El showed up to English and Mike was sitting in their spot. He was talking with their teacher, Mr. Jacobs.
El walked over and took her seat.
"Ah, great. You're here." Mr. Jacobs said. "I have your books."
He brandished two sets of King Lear from the desk behind him.
"I was just explaining to Mike, here, that you need to take care of these copies of the books. It'd be a shame if the newest copies here get ruined. Okay?"
El nodded, looking at Mike. "Not a problem."
"Great. Thanks." Mr. Jacobs said. He handed them each their copy of King Lear before walking away.
El flipped her book over, inspecting it. Mike did the same. The cover was shiny. The pages weren't ripped and it smelled new. Overall, it was probably a much better version of King Lear than the one that they shared.
But El couldn't help but think that the old one was still better.
"These are…" Mike started, not finishing his sentence.
"New." El finished. "They are very new."
Mike shook his head in agreement. "So… Are we supposed to start reading, now?"
"I think so."
"Cool." Mike nodded his head. "Cool, cool, cool. I'm just gonna…"
He held the new book in his hand and waved it in the direction of his bag. Mike unzipped his backpack and shoved the book in.
El just shook her head and laughed. "That was maybe the most awkward event that I've ever witnessed."
"What was I supposed to do?" Mike exclaimed. "You're just staring at me, making me feel all pressured and stuff. And I don't know how to say I genuinely like reading with you without making it get all weird."
"Aw," El's eyes softened. She nudged him under the table with her leg. "I like reading with you, too. And not just because you could seriously injure your back if your backpack gets too heavy."
Mike's face was tinged red, but a small smile appeared. "Yes, of course. Serious injury could happen."
El opened up their copy of King Lear, the original one, rips and all, and moved it so Mike could get a better view. She pressed her arm against his, although she figured he could probably see the words without her doing that.
When their arms touched, Mike jerked his arm away, like he was shocked.
El looked at him, trying not to let her frown show.
He meekly ducked his head and leaned in to read the book, slowly moving his arm back to where it was.
El didn't bother hiding her grin.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
At the end of the day, El met up with Max.
El was giving her a ride to her house so they could hang out like they always do.
She saw the familiar head of red hair bounding down the empty hallway.
"Hey loser." Max called out.
"Talking to yourself is weird." El retorted.
Max stuck her tongue out, making El laugh.
"You ready?" El asked.
"Of course I'm ready. Let's go."
El led them to her car in the parking lot, fishing her keys out to unlock the doors.
"So, what are we gonna do this weekend?" Max asked.
"I don't know. The usual?" El suggested. "Watch a movie, eat food, stuff like that."
"Sounds good. I like the usual. Maybe we could talk about your massive crush on Mike." Max innocently said. "And don't even try to deny it."
El started the car, pulling out of her parking spot.
"Max?" El said, her voice as thick and dramatic as she could make it. "There's something I need to admit to you."
"What could it possibly be?"
"I have a crush on Mike Wheeler." El said, gasping. She couldn't maintain her composure and started laughing.
Max joined in. "The horror."
"Well, we can talk about my crush as long as we talk about yours." El proposed.
Max huffed. "Sounds like a deal, then."
Max bent forward to turn on the radio, tuning it to whatever pop station was playing whatever popular song.
They spent the rest of the car ride ridiculously singing along to whatever song played.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"Hello, Maxine." Hop said as he entered the front door.
El and Max were sitting in the living room, watching a movie. It was mainly just background noise as they talked about whatever was on their minds.
Max turned her head to the new noise. "Hey, Hop. What's up?"
"Not much, long day at work."
"Excuse me." El interrupted. "You aren't even going to say hi to your own child first? What kind of betrayal is this?"
"Hello, dear daughter of mine. How are you?"
"I'm good." El said, turning back to the tv now that she had gotten what she wanted. "We ran out of Eggos."
"Well, you're lucky I noticed and brought some home." Hopper held up a grocery bag from beside him. El could see the familiar yellow box poking out from the top.
El rushed up and took the bag from his hand, giving him a quick side hug. "You truly are the best dad."
Hop smiled to himself, moving into the kitchen with El. Max jumped up from the couch, following the two of them.
"I, for one, am delighted that you decided to bring home food for us." Max said. She took the box of pizza in Hopper's other hand and set it on the kitchen countertop.
"Sometimes I think you're only here to steal our food." Hopper said.
"And sometimes you're right." She agreed, waving to him with a piece of pizza in her hand.
"So, any big plans for the weekend?" Hop asked them.
El looked at Max. "Not really. Might need to meet up with Mike so he can continue tutoring me in Calculus."
Max took a bite of the pizza. "Ha! Tutoring won't be the only thing you two are doing."
El's jaw dropped. She whipped her head in Max's direction and tried to give her a seething glare.
"Mike, huh?" Her father said. "Is that the name of the guy who gave you his shirt?"
"You still have it?" Max said, astounded.
El blushed. "I haven't had a chance to give it back to him."
"She wears it to bed." Hopper piped in, laughing.
El's blush deepened and Max cackled like a maniac. "This is amazing."
"It was only a couple times…" El tried to defend.
"More than once? This is too good." Max had finished her first piece of pizza and was moving on to number two.
"Shut up." El said, crossing her arms.
"Does this Mike guy, and I need to have a little chat?" Hopper said, putting on his police voice.
"Oh, god no." El uttered.
Hopper looked at Max, raising his eyebrows in question.
"Nah, you're fine." Max said. "He tutors her in Calculus. He's a nerd. He couldn't hurt her if he tried."
"Still…" Hopper said.
"I can introduce you." El said, regretting it immediately. She did not want her father in the same room as Mike. He'd probably get so nervous standing face to face with the chief of police.
"And we aren't even dating." El said.
"Sure thing." Max said, disbelievingly.
"That's it. I'm going to my room." El said, grabbing the pizza box. "And I'm taking this."
"Where the pizza goes, I follow." Max said automatically following El.
"Save me a couple pieces!" Hopper called out to them.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"Is that Mike's shirt neatly folded on the corner of your bed?" Max asked, pointing to the shirt.
"No?"
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Max had left earlier that morning, so El was left alone on Saturday, as her dad was out at work.
She sat crossed-legged on her bed, staring at her phone, debating whether or not she should text Mike. She had his number, after all.
Maybe she could phone him? El always prefered to call people, instead of texting, because she liked to hear people's voices. Although, she wasn't against texting. She texted Max all the time. And when Hopper didn't have enough time to call, he would always send her a quick text.
She picked up her phone, typing Mike's number in. She hovered over the call button. Maybe Mike was a texting kind of guy?
El sighed.
Maybe she was overthinking this? She was definitely overthinking this.
She pressed the call button and set it to the loudspeaker.
El anxiously waited as she heard the dial tone. Would he even pick up?
"Hello?" She heard from her phone.
"Hey." El replied. "It's El."
"I know it's you." Mike deadpanned. "I have your number saved."
"Oh, right."
"So, what's up?" He asked.
"Uh, I'm free right now- like, I'm not doing anything. So, I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house, or something."
"Uh…"
"For tutoring!" El amended. "For tutoring. Y'know… If you're free."
"Yeah! I'm free." Mike said. "Uh, I'm hanging with my friends later tonight. I have a surprise campaign for them that we're gonna do in Dungeons and Dragons. But I can hang out for a bit now."
"Cool." El smiled, hearing him talk about the stuff he liked made her smile, for some reason. "Very cool."
"So, what else is up?" Mike asked.
"Not much. Just… chilling." El mentally cringed. That was so interesting and cool.
"You know kids our age usually text, right?"
"Oh. Sorry. I didn't realize you didn't like calling. I can text next time…"
"No, it's fine. I actually prefer calling people." Mike said. "Uh, I'll get ready to leave in a bit. Can you text me the address?"
"Yeah, sure." El nodded. "No problem. I'll see you here."
"Yeah. I'll see you there." El could hear the smile in his voice.
They hung up and El tossed her phone somewhere on her bed.
She sat back against her pillows, smiling. So, Mike liked calling people, too?
El couldn't help but wonder if it was for the same reason she liked calling people.
hello, here is another update. i wrote like 2.5k words tonight because i was running late with this chapter so, hopefully it is quality content, lol. not much to say because i am super tired, nut if you wanna leave a review, that'd be cool. maybe even drop a favourite? that'd be super cool. or if you really want to, check out my other fics? i would really appreciate that. anyway, i try my hardest to edit these as best I can at four o clock in the morning, but all mistakes are mine and I hope you all enjoyed.
also i made a story outline and originally said it was only gonna be around 10 chapters, but it might be a bit longer. some of the scenes that i wanted to write for this chapter are too long, so i'll need to add it to the next chapter. which means i'll need to add next chapter's scenes to the one after that. and so on and so on. so if these scenes end up taking so long, then there is definitely going to be a couple extra chapters.
also also, this fic has now hit 100 pages long in the google doc. that is crazy to me.