El opened her mouth to speak, however opted to remain quiet. She simply stared at Mike, who, with his back turned, looked rather odd. His head was slightly tilted down, his foot tapping continuously against the floor.

There is no way she understands the weight of what she said. Does she?

He thought back a few days, prior to the gang going over to the cabin.

"Ooooh, El, I looove you! Kiss me!"

"Shut up, Lucas."

"Marry me El, please, I love you!"

"Seriously?"

"El, let's have se-"

Lucas' next insult was cut off rather abruptly, unsurprisingly. Mike found that rather often, a swift Bruce Lee-esque punch to the arm or the face was (usually) enough to shut someone up. Not that he'd ever try and do any real damage, that is. Just enough to give himself and the others peace for a few seconds before the insults inevitably restarted.

It got under his skin, he wasn't going to lie to himself. All the insults, as childish as they were, had some merit. The amount of times he was 'permitted' to see El between her arrival back and the Snow Ball were less than stellar, to say the least. He would always accidentally let slip his excitement for the next time he'd see her, and Lucas, as usual, would always poke fun.

He didn't really understand why the insults worked, though. It's not like he wasn't confident in regards to he and El's relationship. They had, quite probably, the strongest relationship in Hawkins. Well, that's what anyone who isn't Mike Wheeler would tell you. He was just confused as to how he managed to 'score' - as juvenile of a word as it was - someone like her.

Mike flew back to the present tense, having heard a quiet shuffling of feet behind him, not to mention the muffled giggling which El found so apt to do constantly. He wasn't complaining - it was adorable.

Aren't I confident? Why would I be not-confident? Is that even a real phrase?

As usual, Mike's inner thoughts trailed off, taking most of his insecurities with them.

He spun around, staring at El, noticing her new lack of outdoor clothing. Once again, he couldn't complain. She stared up at him, doe-eyed. She seemed a bit 'out of it', snapping back into reality in the few seconds following Mike's soft-spoken;

"El."

She jumped, her neutral expression adjusting quickly into a smile.

"You okay? What were you doing?"

"Fine. Watching you."

Mike squinted, a look of confusion washing over his face.

"Watching me? What for? Did I do something?"

El pointed at the spot he was standing in, shrugging.

"You were, um, uh.."

She mumbled for a few seconds before her eyes lit up. He could have sworn he saw the lightbulb above her head flicker. With a perhaps slightly overly-giddy smile, she proclaimed;

"Lost in thought!"

Huh. That's new.

He smiled warmly, chuckling.

"Yeah. I was, kinda. Look, El, I - lemme sit on the couch."

Here we go again. At least try to make it seem like you aren't fucking retarded this time.

He walked over to the couch placed in the middle of the room, facing the television set. He plonked himself down, leaning back slightly, preparing himself internally for the speech that was about to ever-so-swiftly glide out of his lips. Or, so he hoped, anyway. He patted the cushion to his right, smiling softly again as El wandered over before also plonking herself down. She placed both of her hands in her lap, looking over in his direction as she shimmied over slightly, their legs brushing against one another gently.

"Well, uh.."

He paused, thinking for a moment.

"Look, El, I'm just gonna -"

He huffed, taking a few seconds.

She cocked her head. It was one of those conversations. One of those conversations in which he just sort of.. mumbled nervously. He was always so hesitant when it came to talking about their relationship. She didn't mind, though, not at all. She'd always listen carefully, nodding along in agreement. Besides, sometimes - even she could admit to herself - she'd need certain concepts explained to an extent further than had been previously provided. Mike was great at that. Despite this, it became glaringly obvious to her that the idea of having lunch had been and gone as quickly as Mike's use of it as an excuse originally.

"Telling someone you love them is a big deal, right?"

He looked at El expectantly, raising his eyebrows. Without hesitation, she nodded quickly.

"Mike. I understand."

Huh.

She continued quietly.

"You make me warm and fuzzy."

El paused, taking a moment to consider her thoughts. Mike could always tell when she was thinking. She had a look, a certain glint in her eyes, a certain panache about her when she was lost in the depths of her mind, however brief the pause. She was better than Mike at speaking, easily, regardless of the fact that her vocabulary was far less expansive than his. She always considered her sentences with a great deal more caution, whereas Mike, on the other hand, tended to throw out anything and everything that came into his mind as he spoke.

She pointed at him with her index, speaking up once again.

"Pretty."

She paused, giving Mike's self confidence a few seconds to tick over into the positive.

"I'm safe around you."

She looked at Mike a final time, nodding with a smile, clearly satisfied with her brief yet all-bases-covered explanation. She then shifted, staring into her lap, fidgeting with her hands. Despite some of her shortcomings, she knew exactly what awkwardness felt like.

Mike remained silent, unsure of exactly what to do. He was happy - of course - over the moon, but he didn't really know what to say. Usually, as aforementioned, he found it easy to spew out a random jumble of words, but this time, no, no. It had to wait. All he could do was anxiously rub his knees, pretending to act like what she had just said wasn't as earth-shatteringly large of a big deal as it actually was.

"Um, cool."

Are you fucking serious? Did you - did you really just say that? We're doomed. Jump ship, Wheeler. Honestly, you could give a fucking chimp the same job and get better results.

He stuttered quickly, following the horrific comment prior.

"B-because I feel the same around you, El. You're puh-"

Don't be a pussy.

He cleared his throat indiscreetly.

"Pretty. And you make me feel safe too, um, obviously."

Bet a chimp couldn't carry that train-wreck to victory.

El looked up at Mike, a smile still donned over her face. She continued rubbing her hands together in her lap, remaining silent. They both stared at one another, waiting for someone to do something.

She slowly leaned her top half over, haphazardly gazing into his eyes, pushing her face towards his as their foreheads softly booped into each other. Mike found it fit to remain silent as she lifted her arms from her lap, wrapping them slowly around his waist.

Just as swiftly, Mike lifted his own up, tucking a loose curl of her hair behind one of her ears casually before opting to rest them around the back of her neck.

'Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit', 'She's never done that before' and 'Don't be a pussy!' immediately sprung to mind.

He leaned into the exchange as gracefully as a giraffe wearing stilts walks.

Great.

El, on the other hand, seemed to have things ever so slightly under control. She pushed her head up, gently pressing her lips to his, the giddy smile on her face not daring to fade. She noticed fairly quickly, however, that this kiss was different. Very, very different. They had never kissed for longer than three seconds before, yet - hang on - what is that?

This is right, right? You're totally supposed to use your tongue.

'What is he doing?' Her body jolted slightly at the new sensation, partially because she enjoyed it and partially because she had no idea what he was doing.

Following the rather alarming jolt, Mike pulled away, staring at her, his hands having now shifted to her shoulders, hers still firmly affixed around his waist. He bit his bottom lip, a look of confusion followed by a comical smile washing over his face.

"That was.." he paused, giving El space to speak. He hoped - no, he prayed that she wouldn't be freaked out.

This is it, she's gonna freak and I'm gonna have to turn gay, or something. I don't even like dudes, but shit, I've probably got better chances with them than her-

"New."

She paused again, her smile widening. He had hope.

"Fun, too. Fuzzy."