hello we out here with another chapter. posting early bc i felt like it. although i'm not sure if i'll be able to get the next chapter out on time because i'm busy next week. drop a review, if you want. that'd be cool
Words w/out AN: 4800+
Pairing(s): Mileven, Lumax
I own nothing.
the social system: chapter seven
Mike was early and anxious.
He was standing outside of El's house, just like they had agreed on earlier. Mike packed a few things into his bag and left his house, heading to El's.
On the way there, he thought about what had just happened.
A girl called him under her own freewill. That on its own was kind of crazy. And the fact that it was El had his head spinning.
Although, Mike figured they were friends. And friends called each other…
Mike just didn't think it would happen so soon. He had gotten her phone number (after gathering quite a bit of courage) just one day earlier. And she was already calling him asking for him to come over.
Although, technically, she had said it was to study.
Which is why Mike had packed his textbooks and stuff, but still. He was going to her house.
Mike saw this as a step in the right direction.
He stood outside her door, holding his hand up prepared to knock.
Mike slowly breathed in, psyching himself up. You can do this, he thought. You've knocked on doors before…
He smacked his knuckles against the door, quickly recoiling when his wrist erupted in streaks of pain.
"Ahh." He groaned, clutching his wrist. "What the hell."
The dark red bruise from his encounter with Troy was still clearly evident on his wrist.
"Idiot…" He muttered, trying to calm his breathing. How could he forget his wrist was injured still?
The door in front of him swung open. He must have been a weird sight to El.
He was hunched over his wrist, clutching it as the pain slowly faded.
El noticed his grimace and frowned. "Are you okay?"
"Peachy." He muttered embarrassed El was seeing him like this.
Mike watched her reach out and tenderly grab his hand. He felt his arm loosen up and he let El pull it closer to her. She inspected his wrist like a nurse.
"You're an idiot." She muttered leading him inside. "Did you knock on the door with your injured wrist?"
Mike hummed, not wanting to admit the answer out loud. He followed El into her house, closing the door behind him. He looked around at everything he could as El walked him to… somewhere.
"Where are we going?" Mike asked.
"To the kitchen." She replied, gesturing in front of her. "To get you some ice."
The hallway was wider than her front door, so Mike stepped forward, walking beside El.
El wasn't really leading him anywhere, now. Since, Mike could clearly see the kitchen in front of them, but that didn't stop El from still holding his hand. They continued forward, stopping in front of her fridge. She grabbed an ice tray from the freezer and set it on the counter.
Mike couldn't really find any words to say. So he just continued staring at her. He probably wouldn't get another opportunity to observe her without being labelled a creep.
She set his arm down on the counter beside the ice tray. He watched her turn around and effortlessly pluck a plastic bag from a package of them. She gracefully scooped up some ice, placing it in the bag and handing it to him.
Maybe he was a creep.
Because he just watched El simply grab a bag and put ice in it and words like effortlessly and gracefully was how he described it.
Mike shook his head, focusing on the relaxing chill of the bag of ice being pressed down onto his wrist. The cold seemed to be drowning out the initial pain and maybe that would help his thoughts to clear.
"I like your house." Mike said, since he still couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Thank you." El replied, eyeing his wrist. "How's your arm?"
Mike slowly rubbed his arm, taking the ice bag off. The ice cubes were already melting and the water had started to pool in a corner of the bag.
"I'm fine." Mike said, scratching the back of his neck with his good arm. "So…"
"So..?" El asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.
"Uh, what's up?" Mike cringed. Usually he was able to talk with El perfectly fine. He definitely blamed the fact that he was at her house, instead of the library, where he was used to.
"Eloquent." El smirked. She turned away from him to put the ice tray back into the freezer.
"Um… Tutoring!" Mike exclaimed, before realizing that nobody is ever that excited for tutoring. "Uh, where do you want to study?"
"My room?" El asked innocently, turning back to look at him.
Mike's jaw dropped.
"Or we could do it in the living room? If that makes you more comfortable."
He shook his head. "What? No. Uh, your room is fine. Yeah. It's good."
El smiled. He hated how she made him tongue-tied and then grinned about it. She would be the death of him.
"Here, I'll show you my room. You can set your bag down there."
Mike nodded, following her down the hallway again, but entering one of the closed doors.
El stepped to the side, letting Mike walk through behind her. He stopped at the doorway, just looking around her room. It was modestly sized and fairly neutral-coloured.
"You getting a nice look?" El smirked.
"Uh, sorry." Mike said. "It's nice. I like your room."
"Thank you." El replied curtly.
Mike set his bag down, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Do you want anything to eat?" El asked. "I haven't eaten yet, so I'm gonna make some Eggos, probably."
"Uh," Mike thought for a moment. He hadn't eaten either, having immediately left home when El called him. "I could eat, yeah."
"Cool." El said, slipping out the door and heading in the direction of the kitchen.
"Um…" Mike said, although he was the only one in the room now. Should he follow her?
Gosh, he needed to seriously stop being so awkward.
"Are you coming?" El called out to him from down the hall.
"Right! Right." Mike said, jumping up and jogging to the kitchen.
Mike entered the kitchen, moving to the side as El opened the freezer door. She bent down and retrieved a package of frozen waffles.
"Toasted or microwaved?" She asked, not looking at him and reaching for a plate on the top shelf.
Mike watched her squirm, reaching on her tippy-toes for the plate. He laughed, a bit confused. Why were the plates on the top shelf if she couldn't reach them?
"What's the point…" Mike started, stepping beside El and grabbing the plate for her. "Of having dishes on the top shelf, if you can't reach them?"
"Usually I use paper plates," El shrugged, pointing to a package of them sitting on the counter. "But for guests, we can use actual dishes."
"Yeah but that still doesn't answer the question." Mike pointed out. "Eventually, you'll need to use a dish and hopping on the countertop to get them doesn't seem like a good plan."
"I need two dishes actually." El noted, looking at him expectedly. "And usually Hop is the one who does all of the cooking. So he puts everything where he likes it."
"I feel like I'm being used for my height." Mike grumbled, easily reaching for another plate.
"Well, you don't expect me to hop on the countertop, do you?" El mocked.
"It would be fun to watch…"
El stuck her tongue out at him. Mike frowned. He was much more mature than that, choosing to stick his tongue out and make a fart noise, too.
"Ew," El shrieked. "You just spat on me!"
"Not my fault you were within spitting distance."
El held up a frozen waffle like she was prepared to smack him with it.
"Oh no!" Mike said, backing away and holding his hands up in surrender. "Not a waffle! The horror…"
Mike tried to back up some more, but the fridge was in his way. El took a few steps forward. Somehow she managed to look menacing while holding the waffle. How she kept a straight face, Mike will never know.
"Hey, listen now…" Mike said, becoming more and more afraid of the waffle in her hand. "No need to use weapons, now."
El evilly smirked. She walked up to Mike and fisted the front of his shirt, pulling him closer to her.
She never said anything, only staring into his eyes. Mike found himself leaning forward, closing the distance between them slightly.
He stared at El and watched as her eyes flickered down to his lips, before returning to stare back at him. Mike's face started to heat up at their closeness.
"El…" He whispered. Before anything else could happen, El quickly took the frozen waffle in her hand and shoved it down the front of his shirt.
"Ahh!" Mike said, squirming from the coldness. The waffle danced around in his shirt. His skin was sensitive to the extreme temperature change.
He flailed around the kitchen, jerking his body every time he felt the breakfast food touch him. Eventually, it fell out of the bottom of his shirt, splattering on the ground.
He breathed heavily, glaring at El, who was leaning against the counter, apparently dying from laughing.
"Not funny." He muttered, crossing his arms, partly to look intimidating and partly to warm his chest back up.
"I don't know…" El said in between wheezes. "It was pretty funny from where I was standing."
Mike eyed the half-frozen waffle on the ground. "How would you feel…"
He scooped it up, moving closer to her. "... If I did it to you?"
"Ah!" El shrieked, pushing Mike away. "Do not put that waffle anywhere close to me. I swear to God…"
Mike glared at her, holding the waffle as intimidatingly as he could, before tossing it on the counter.
"Fine." He said curtly, crossing his arms and turning away from El.
"Awe…" El cried. "Did I hurt your feelings?"
"No…" Mike said, pretending to be sad. "Well… It just wasn't a very fun prank. I could've gotten hurt. I don't really appreciate it…"
"Boo-hoo."
"I think the only way I could feel better…" Mike said, turning to look at El. "Is if you eat the waffle."
"What?" El exclaimed. "You want me to eat the floor waffle?"
"It's only fair," Mike said, innocently shrugging.
"Nope. Nope, nope nope." El said, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "You are a guest in my house and I will not be eating floor waffles."
"Fine." Mike said. "But when you come to my house, you are screwed."
"When I come to your house?" El asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Uh, Y'know… I-if you wanted to?" Mike stuttered.
"Relax!" El said, smacking his chest. She walked by him and picked up the floor waffle, disposing of it in the trash. "I'm sure it'd be great fun to go to your house. Play the dungeons game or whatever."
"Dungeons and Dragons." Mike corrected, wondering if she was being serious.
"Yes, Dungeons and Dragons." El said. "Hang out, watch movies. Like all your friends do."
She turned to him with a smile and something told Mike that yes, she was being serious. She seemed genuinely interested in playing his nerdy game with him.
"But I still need to know…" El said, grabbing a few more waffles from behind him.
Mike eyed them warily but was relieved as he watched them het set on a plate.
"Do you want your Eggos toasted or microwaved?"
"Toasted, obviously." Mike said, tilting his head. "What kind of monster microwaves them?"
"Hey!" El cried. "I'll have you know that microwaving them provides you with a completely different and exciting way of eating your waffles."
She put four waffles into the toaster. Then she placed the package of waffles back into the freezer.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know we had a waffle expert over here." Mike said, raising his hands up. "And I don't see you putting your waffles in the microwave."
El blushed, slyly smiling. "Well, I happen to prefer the toaster method. But the microwave isn't bad!"
"Maybe if you have a microwaved floor waffle, it'll taste better than the toasted ones." Mike suggested.
El raised an eyebrow, curving her lips. "Maybe it will. You should try it out for me."
"I'll eat it, if you eat it." Mike challenged. He didn't know where he was going with this but he'd do anything to see that smile on El's face.
"Really?" El said. She seemed to ponder over this for a moment. She stepped closer to Mike and tapped her finger on her chin. "Interesting…"
She was maybe a foot away from him, and Mike was leaning back against the counter top. If he leaned forward the distance in between them would close fairly fast.
"Well, if we were to do this… For science, of course." El said, seemingly leaning closer to him.
Mike didn't lean away, but he became hyper aware of all of his movements.
"We would need another floor waffle." El continued.
"And we'd also need to shove it down someone's shirt." Mike piped in. "And we're definitely not doing mine again."
"What, so you want me to sacrifice my comfort?" El asked, not sounding too against the idea. "If we did this, I'd need some way to warm up… After all, I wouldn't want a frozen waffle held up against my stomach, or something."
She eyed him and Mike silently gasped.
"Body heat could warm you up." Mike whispered.
"Yeah?" El asked, although it seemed like she had already thought of that. "So what, we could hug or something to warm me up?"
If Mike was thinking properly, he'd probably realize that no, two people don't need to hug if one of the people is cold. Realistically, the Eggo would thaw out from the person's body temperature before the person became too cold.
But the way that El suggested the idea, like it was some unthought of genius idea, that Mike found himself nodding along with her.
"Yeah, hugging could work." Mike nodded. "Maybe even-"
He was cut off by the ding of the toaster. The Eggos shot up, announcing that they were ready to be eaten.
"I guess we'll just have to put a hold on this conversation…" El smirked. She grabbed a container of maple syrup from one of the cabinets and Mike just blinked, silently wondering what just happened and what could've happened.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Mike walked into her room after finishing the Eggos. He turned around to face El, who was following him.
Mike was still flustered, because yes, he was pretty sure him and El were flirting in the kitchen. Mike wasn't the best at spotting signals, but there were at least a couple moments where she made his breath hitch and Mike found himself wanting to be closer to her.
They ate the Eggos in silence, carefully eyeing each other. Every time El looked at him, there was something in her eyes. An expression that seemed like hunger but made no sense since she was in the middle of eating.
Mike found himself eating faster, anyway.
But as Mike entered the room, he wasn't really paying attention and apparently neither was El, since a moment later, El toppled into him, sending them both crashing onto the bed.
Mike looked down to see El lying on top of him, his good hand holding her arm. Mike couldn't think to do anything next as he realized how close they were. They were both lying on her bed, El on top of Mike and it would be pretty scandalous if someone walked in on both of them.
Luckily they were alone.
He was staring at El's eyes as she hovered over him on her bed. Their faces were impossibly close and if their positions were reversed, Mike wasn't sure he would be able to hold himself up, since one of his arms was practically useless.
Something about being alone with El in her room, made Mike freeze.
Her hair sprawled around her face, some tips tickled the side of his face. Mike had half a mind to brush it behind her ear.
He wasn't sure if he could feel her heartbeat from how close they were or if his was just beating enough for the both of them. Mike's mind was all jittery. If he was being awkward before, it was nothing compared to now.
Mike couldn't physically move away either, since El's body was pinning him down, but it didn't seem like El was trying to go anywhere.
Her tongue quickly licked her lips and Mike found himself watching the movement, staring at her slightly parted lips. He tore his gaze away from her inviting lips, looking back into her eyes.
Mike wasn't an expert or anything, but he's pretty sure her eyes were dilated.
Mike brought his good arm up and lightly rested it on El's back, supporting her but not providing any resistance if she wanted to get up. He didn't know what he was doing, but it seemed right because the feeling of El's body pressed up against him made his heart beat even faster.
The way El was staring at him made Mike enamoured. Her undivided attention was solely on him. He wanted to close the gap between them. To let their lips press against each other.
Thankfully, El took the initiative. At some point, Mike's body had frozen in place and he wouldn't have been able to move it if he tried.
"Fuck it…" El muttered, her breath rolled over Mike's lips.
He watched as she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. Mike closed his eyes instinctively, noticing the sweet taste of maple syrup on her lips.
He decided to bring his hand up to her hair, feeling how soft it was and moving it out of the way from her face.
Her lips were soft and his heart was beating and there wasn't much he could focus on except El. He kissed her back, running his hand deeper through her hair.
She moved her arms around him, resting one just under his shirt. The skin on skin contact burned. He silently wondered where the ice pack was.
He worked his lips against hers to the point where he could feel them start to swell, only pulling back for air as his lungs started to burn.
Wow. Wow wow wow. Mike's mind was buzzing and all awkwardness he felt earlier was replaced with a feeling of happiness.
"Um…" Mike charmingly said. "That just happened."
El nodded, her face flushed with heat. Mike was sure he probably looked the same. "You're right. That did just happen."
"Can it happen again?" Mike asked, feeling tons more confident.
El smiled, leaning forward. She lightly touched her lips to his, mumbling, "Yeah… Maybe it could."
Mike craned his neck forward, so they were properly kissing.
This kiss was softer, and slower. More intimate, if anything.
Mike felt brave so he let his hand go lower, resting on the curve of her hip. El responded, sitting up so she was straddling him. Mike gasped.
She started giggling, breaking away from their kiss before leaning down to plant her lips on his cheek.
Mike smiled, his face mere centimetres away from El's. He clicked his tongue. "You know, I remember when we were first making plans to tutor you. I said something about how all of my friends usually come over to my house…"
"Mhmm?" El said. She was still smiling, staring into his eyes. It didn't seem to calm his beating heart.
"I accidentally made it seem like I was inviting you to my house." Mike continued on. "You said something like, for a tutoring session, we should stick to the library…"
"Did I say something like that?" El pondered, although Mike figured she already knew the answer to that question.
"You did." He confirmed anyway. "Yet, here we are… Studying in your room."
"Really? Did it seem like we were just studying?" El coyly asked. Mike knew she knew the answer to that question. "Does this seem like a tutoring session?"
"It's definitely some kind of session…" Mike said, leaning in as close as he possibly could, trying to tease her as his breath brushed over her lips. Even going as far as grazing a hand up her thigh.
Mike's adrenaline was at an all-time high, right now. He felt like he could do anything.
He felt El's chest exhale deeply. She laughed and the closeness of their bodies meant he could feel it as she shook. "In my defence, when I first called you to come over I was hoping studying wasn't the only thing we would do."
"So your plan was to invite me into your house under the guise of tutoring and then seduce me?"
"Well, maybe we could've gotten more actual studying done." El laughed. "Seriously though, I thought we were just gonna hang out, maybe watch a movie. I didn't think it would get so… Heated."
"Ah, that's great to know." Mike said. "I'm glad I'm not being used so you can get good grades. I was hoping you wouldn't ditch our friendship as soon as you started passing your classes again."
El rubbed her arm up his back. "I definitely would never do that."
Mike hummed. He slowly pressed his lips against El's. Which wasn't hard to do, considering they were still so close to each other.
El purred and Mike relished in how soft her lips were. El moved a hand up into his hair, combing through it.
He still couldn't believe this was happening. He still couldn't believe they were doing this.
El pulled away smiling. She moved her hand from his hair to his chest. "Well, I'm glad-"
Mike heard a car door slam outside and El's eyes went wide. Her hand that was slowly stroking his chest stopped.
"What time is it?" She asked, worried.
"Uh," Mike looked at the clock on her nightstand. "Four. Why?"
"My dad's home."
"Oh." Oh. Mike's eyebrows shot up. "Like your police officer father?"
"Yes." El smiled but she didn't seem happy. She jumped up off the bed.
"Um… Fix this." She gestured to the bed they were lying on.
"This?"
"The bed, the blankets, the books. If you could pretend you were reading the textbook, that'd be great." El said, quickly throwing her disheveled hair into a ponytail. "Also if you could make it seem like we weren't just making out, that'd be nice. Just like, stop blushing. Yeah, just make it so your face isn't red."
"Okay…" Mike nodded looking around him, grabbing the textbook and sitting cross-legged. He straightened a pillow or two and smoothed out the blanket. "Should I move to the living room?"
"No time." El said halfway out the bedroom door.
Mike heard the front door open.
"What are you going to do?" He asked her.
"I'm going to convince my dad that I don't even know what kissing is."
"Hello! How was work?" He heard El faintly say as she walked closer to presumably her father.
Mike ran a hand through his hair, hoping it was slightly tamed. Although's El's hands liked to explore and he figured she'd left his hair in less than pristine condition.
He sighed and glanced towards the window. Was it too late to escape? He knew they should've just studied in a library. No police chiefs to interrupt them.
Although if they went to a library they might've actually studied and that option was terrible compared to what they decided to do instead.
The door to El's room opened and he saw Chief Hopper poke his head in. Mike stood up, debating on whether he should kneel and beg for forgiveness or go for a handshake.
Hopper walked into the room and Mike saw El squeeze in behind him.
"Uh, hello, sir." Mike said, making sure his voice didn't crack. He held a hand out.
He watched anxiously as Hopper inspected the hand thrusted in front of him.
Hopper squinted at it. "Mike, right?"
"Yes." Mike said, nodding, still awkwardly holding his hand out. Should he just put it down?
Before he could decide what to do, another spike of plain flared up his arm as the chief shook his hand.
Mike winced, unsure if the shriek was only in his mind, or if he said it out loud, too. Idiot… He thought. Why did he keep using his injured arm to do stuff? He could barely bend his wrist, why would it be a good idea to shake someone's hand?
And it's not like the chief had the gentlest of handshakes. Hopper was in complete control of the handshake, shaking them up and down. Mike's hands were just along for the ride.
"And you were just studying?" Hopper said releasing Mike's hand and turning to look at El.
She nodded. "Yep. Of course."
Hopper looked back at Mike, glaring at him, inspecting him. "No you weren't."
"Uh…" El said.
"Don't be stupid, kid." Hop said, locking eyes with El. And instead of looking worried, like one might when they were just caught making out with some guy by their father, she just nodded resolutely.
Apparently, that phrase held a lot of weight in this household because Hopper just nodded back at her, like they had made a silent agreement. There wasn't any yelling or anything like that and the pain in Mike's wrist was temporarily forgotten.
"Nice meeting you Mike." Hop said, turning to leave. "I'm gonna get some food. You guys want anything?"
"We ate." El answered. Mike was still silent, trying to figure out what just happened.
"I'll be in the living room, then." He said. "Keep the door open a few inches."
Hopper looked at Mike, who just nodded, still confused. He walked out and Mike turned to El.
"Uh." Mike said. "What just happened?"
"You just met my dad." El answered.
"Does he know that we were just…?" Making out, he mouthed.
El nodded. "Yep. But he's also the best dad in the world, so it's okay."
"Uh…"
"Honestly, that went really good." El continued on. "He likes you, too."
"Great?" Mike said, the pain in his arm suddenly reintroducing itself.
He winced and stopped clenching it. "I really gotta stop using this arm to do stuff…"
El looked down at his injured arm, the bruise was as dark and red as it had been yesterday.
She shook her head, reaching to pick up his arm. She held it up to her face and gently kissed it, like she had yesterday. This time she lingered. Her lips held against his wrist as her eyes bored into his. It was much more intimate and Mike liked it better this way.
Mike shook his head, deciding to clear all thoughts of El's dad from his head. He found something much better to focus on.
He cleared his throat. "Y'know… My lips are bruised too, I think. They're just in so much pain… Do you think you could…?"
El shook her head, smiling. She quickly pressed her lips against his. It was chaste and Mike wanted something more. He pouted.
"Nuh-uh." El shook her head, grabbing a textbook and sitting on her bed. "You have that thing with your friends soon and we still have some studying to do. Also, my dad is right there."
Mike sighed. She was right. "Y'know, you could come with me to watch the campaign?"
El raised her eyebrows and Mike mentally cringed. Wow, that was nerdy. There wasn't really a cool way to invite a girl to a Dungeons and Dragons campaign…
"Like, you could bring Max and we could all hang out in my basement as we play. I don't have characters for you guys and I didn't write you into the campaign but you could still watch it."
"I think Max is free tonight…" El tilted her head, debating it. "And I wouldn't mind learning more about this game you like…"
Mike grinned, sitting beside her on the bed and picking up a textbook. "Yeah?"
El nodded, smiling. "Yeah."
hello here is another chapter. they kissed. they finally kissed and maybe it's been too long or maybe it hasn't been long enough but i feel like this scene, in general, came out pretty good and i'm proud of this chapter. although i didn't get as much progress done plot-wise as i wanted to, so this fic is probably gonna be around 12-13 chapters long now, lol. whoops.
tell me what you think in a review. we're maybe a bit more than half-way done the fic and this fic already has the most reviews out of any fic i've posted so i think that's super cool. it shows me that the people who read this really like it (or at least like it enough to comment, lol)
next chapter will be about everyone hanging out in mike's basement, in case you were wondering. Either way, I try fairly hard to edit this but as always, all mistakes are mine and I hope you all enjoyed!