Two weeks had passed and Five was preparing for his third date with El at the mall. He did tell El they could have gone anywhere with his powers, but El felt safe at the mall. Plus she didn't want to lie to her dad about where they would be and Five understood that. This should be just another date but Five couldn't shake that this perhaps wouldn't be like their last two dates. He opted for borrowing some of Johnathon's cologne and made sure his teeth were clean and his breath was minty fresh.

Steve had put in his head that this will probably be the date he and El kiss, which made him nervous to say the least. Five did feel a connection to El, not only because she had powers but because she was a sweet girl that reminded him so much of his sister Vanya in ways. But that being said, did he only like El as a friend or as a future girlfriend. He sighed since he was at a loss, truly he was. Another fucking way his father failed him since now we was worried about this possible next stage.

When Will entered the room, his nose picked up the cologne on Five and he quickly knew Five was heading out with El. Unlike with Mike, Will didn't have this hurt or bitter feeling in his heart. Five wasn't like Mike and Will was thankful for that fact, extremely thankful.

"You're heading out again with El?" Will questioned.

Five nodded and looked at Will with a soft, comforting look. He knew Will was worried about El and him becoming a couple, it was no secret to him. The fallout that happened when Mike and El broke up told him as such. He cracked a smile and nodded.

"Yeah but who knows, this could be my last date in reality with her Will. I'm just really struggling to feel what people are supposed to feel. Are these nerves just nerves about dating or are they because I like her. I really don't know, I like her but do I like her like her? It's silly of me to think about isn't it and very unlike me I know."

Will cracked a light smile since it was kind of nice seeing an unsure and not so cocky Five. He really was thinking about if he was in love with El so that he wouldn't string her along. His mind wasn't all about girls, something that vastly differed from Mike and to some extent Dustin and Lucas. Will knew something about him was different and it didn't bother him so much as it just bothered him when his friends hyper focused on girls. With Five, he didn't have those feelings and he kind of liked having someone who could be unsure.

"No it isn't like you, but that could be a good thing. Steve did kind of mention to you kissing her could kind of tell you if it's meant to be more right? If you kiss her and there's no strong feeling, that should be your answer right?"

Five nodded in agreement but also sighed. But then lies another problem, what if El thought the kiss was amazing and yet he felt nothing. El was a wonderful girl and he would hate to be the guy to break her heart. Mike kind of did but he didn't dump her or tell her they should remain friends. To think a month ago he wouldn't care about this shit and would be able to turn someone down easily. But it's different when you actually get to know people and make relations with them. Klaus for sure would tease him about that since Five was being so unlike himself.

"I would hate breaking her heart if she feels something. I mean she dumped Mike's ass so she didn't feel heartbreak in a way like breaking."

"Well you're not going to string her along, that wouldn't be fair to her or to you. I mean it's good to care about others, in your case it might be an improvement, but you also have to think if a relationship is what you want now. I mean you're only 13 and you're going to have other chances right?"

And there was good ole Will the Wise he thought with a smile. He truly was wise and he seemed to understand a lot about relationships despite never having one of his own. So intone with emotions, sensitive to others' thoughts, and really saw the bigger pictures. He went up close to Will and patted his shoulder in a comforting way.

"Thanks Will. You're right, about all this. I'm going to go out with El and see where our first kiss will take us. Life's too short and I will live in the moment to see what will work for me. We are going to head to the arcade later right?" he asked.

Will nodded and cracked a smile since Five always wanted to make sure he had time for him.

"Yeah we are. I hope you saved up quarters since I really want us to try and beat Max's record at Dig Dug. We were nearly there last time."

Five grinned.

"Yeah I know, if only Dustin didn't come up from behind and startle us. But yeah, we are going to crush her record. See you later?"

Will smiled and nodded as Five blipped out of the room to get El for their date. While Five was on his date, Will decided to sketch in his book. Five had recently told him about his old mission about fighting a sea monster and was inspired to draw something like that. A lot of Five's missions were creatively inspiring, both for drawings and for future D&D campaigns. Will had this spark in his life again and Five was a big reason for that. Thoughts did linger on when Five would eventually leave but Will pushed those thoughts away since losing a growing close friend was upsetting to him. His thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Will got up and answered the door. He was a bit shocked to see Mike at his door since he hadn't seen Mike in weeks. Perhaps Mike took his words to heart and listened. Lucas and Dustin were with him and Mike was awkward being here.

"Hey Will….um is it okay now that we can, you know, talk and hang out? I hated this silent and distant treatment." Mike asked.

Will looked to Lucas and he added,

"We miss hanging out, the four of us. I know Mike and I were being morons but…you can't forget the good times right? Summer's almost over and I feel we all hadn't hung out together in ages."

Will frowned slightly but added,

"Well you and Mike wanted to hang out with your girlfriends, Dustin was at camp, and I was spending time with a new friend Mike seems to hate and judge with a passion."

Mike sighed since that was all very true. He was the stupid one, not Will. He was awful and Will shouldn't have felt left out, especially after the horrors of the Upside nearly killing him twice.

"I know, I royally fucked up Will. Please let me make it up to you. Let's go hang out at the mall. We can catch a movie, any you want or do what you want okay. It sucks not hanging out with one of my best friends."

Will was a bit wary. Five was going to be at the mall with El on a date. Mike was still sore from the break up and who knows just how ugly things would get. Then again, Startcourt was pretty huge and maybe they wouldn't see him if they were lucky.

"Sure, we can all hang out."

They all rode their bikes to the mall and Mike wanted to cheer Will up at the arcade. He recalled his plans with Five later at the arcade and Will insisted,

"Um, maybe we could get a movie instead. I'm sure Steve will let us through Scoops Ahoy again so we can get a movie instead."

Mike looked at Will a bit oddly but he nodded in agreement. When they got to Scoops Ahoy, Robin noticed Will and smiled.

"You do know Aidan's off from work today, yes?" she told him.

"Yeah I know that but that's not why we're here." Will stated.

Robin nodded and called out to Steve,

"Hey dingus, you're children are here and yes they are for you and not Aidan."

Steve opened the window and he looked very annoyed at them. Then again, he couldn't help that he was their cool older friend that helped them to sneak into the movies. This is where his life was, he thought.

"Really, the hell guys? Couldn't you maybe do this sometime with Aidan. He is your friend too isn't he. Why is it always me?" Steve asked.

"Aidan's not my friend, he's Will's friend. I don't want to deal with that asshole if I can help that." Mike told him bitterly.

This confused Steve as he looked to Dustin and asked,

"Whoa okay, this doesn't have anything to do with Aidan dating El is it?"

Mike's eyes widened in shock and Will felt himself getting nervous since that was the last thing Mike needed to hear. It was bad enough Mike and Five disliked each other, but Mike was now going to see Five as the biggest asshole for going after his ex meanwhile it was El who asked him and not the other way around. He saw Mike's face turn red with anger and he almost demanded,

"How long has that been going on? Since when was Aidan dating my girlfriend!"

"Dude, she dumped your ass last month and El wanted to date him. El is a free woman and Aidan isn't so bad once you get to know him." Dustin defended.

Mike grew angrier since Dustin knew and of course Will had to fucking know, the asshole lives with him.

"Wait you knew she was dating Aidan. Did you Will? How could you keep this from me!?"

Will sighed and nodded. To be fair, they weren't talking so how could he have told Mike anything if he wanted space.

"I told you to give me some time so how could I tell you. Besides, I don't even think it's serious and he told me as such."

"Yet this is their second date?" Mike asked.

"Third actually, pretty big one too." Steve chimed in.

Robin rolled her eyes and shot back with,

"Not helping Dingus."

"Yeah thanks a lot Steve." Will said with a slight groan.

Steve realized his mistake, mouthed 'Sorry' to Will, before closing the window. Robin motioned the ice and asked,

"So are you going to buy some ice cream or not?"

Mike just stormed off in a huff and now this was going to be a day of chasing after him, Will thought. They went through all the stores, every floor, and they even went back to Scoops Ahoy to use the mall service tunnels to check the movie theater. Mike wondered if maybe they were in one of the theaters. He was going to storm into the Back to The Future showing, when Lucas and Will grabbed his arms.

"Dude come on, you wanted to spend the day with us and hang out. We did not sign up to hunt down Aidan and El." Lucas stressed.

Mike scoffed bitterly and looked at Will.

"Do you honestly support Aidan dating El? You hated it when I…"

Will crossed his arms defensively since he was not having this talk. Five was treating him so much better despite dating El and he liked Five so much for that.

"Come on Mike, stop. I wasn't against you dating El, it's just when you dated her she became your whole bloody world and took every chance to swap spit with her. Aidan's been on only two dates before this one and he's made an effort afterwards to hang out with me. How is it that a new friend I just met treats me better when they are dating someone while one of my closest friends can't maintain the healthiest of balances." Will defended in a loud tone.

Mike took a deep breath and glanced at Will. Did it hurt that Will kind of was starting to like Aidan more than him, yes. Was Will wrong in how he wasn't being a good friend, no not really.

"Okay yeah, I was being a lousy friend and maybe you're right. Maybe dating El did take me away from you and the others. I'm sorry. If El and I somehow get together again, I promise to not let it consume me as it did. But…you said Aidan might not be into her?" he asked hopefully.

Will bit his lip nervously.

"Well they hadn't kissed yet and he's unsure if he's feeling anything for her yet." he answered.

Mike nodded and he looked at his friends.

"Right so let's go catch a movie."

Five and El were in the food court grabbing a bite to eat before El needed to return home to Hopper. They grabbed burgers and fries from Burger King and bought a giant chocolate chip cookie from The Great Cookie to split. They went on about the zombie movie they had seen but Five was kind of distracted even while chatting with El. She noticed Five seemed to be nervous or at least wasn't completely there and she tapped on his wrist gently.

"Am I doing anything wrong?" she asked.

Five shook his head and cracked a faint smile.

"No El, you're not doing anything wrong. It's just…"

Five sighed and looked into El's soft chocolate brown eyes. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed deeply.

"Before I jumped through time, I never got to be around children or teens that weren't my siblings. You were the same but you met the others and got to know them. It's just…am I truly falling for you like a boy should with a girl or am I just…confused and don't know what I want."

He expected El to be upset, angry, perhaps even toss food at him or to dump her soda on him. Instead, El was calm and listened to him. El took Five's hand and while she liked holding it, it just felt different. It wasn't like holding on to Mike's and how there seemed to be a pleasant tingly warmth when she held onto Mike's hand. Five had nice hands, a warm smile, lovely eyes, and truly was a fun guy….but El was having trouble fully moving on from Mike.

"I-I'm kind of wondering if I miss Mike. You might not like him Five, but he was the first boy I dated. I wonder if I am moving too fast or if maybe you're right."

"You mean me wanting to experience what dating is like and maybe fall in love with the first one that I like a lot and you wanting to move on quickly from Mike?"

El nodded weakly but stared softly at his lips. Max told her that if she really likes him, she would know it when she kisses his lips. El always felt good kissing Mike and wondered if Five would give her those same feelings. If she felt the same or better, perhaps Five can be her new boyfriend, if not perhaps they were better off friends.

"Should we see if there are sparks?" El asked.

Five mused a bit at the question while he finished munching on his half of his chocolate chip cookie. El's lips did look very soft, shiny, and it did make him nervous. He felt tiny beads of sweat pooling on his neck and gulped at the thought about kissing a girl. The once smooth, confident kid that was able to spar and take down his siblings was a bit scared of kissing El.

"T-That's up to you. I don't want to force anything onto you. You're your own amazing person, not anyone's pet or subservient, but your own person. It's your choice. Do you want me to kiss you?" he questioned lightly.

El nodded and cupped Five's cheek with her hand, stroking it softly with her thumb.

"I would, do you want to kiss me and see what happens?"

Five nodded and leaned in to kiss her lips tenderly. It was a kiss alright he thought as he went through the motions of kissing El's lips. He closed his eyes to take in every motion and feeling the kiss was giving him. He heard from Steve that when you kiss someone there's this longing and you want to move your hands lower to feel more of the girl's body. While he gently stroked El's arm, he wondered if she felt the same way he was feeling. It was hard to explain but he wanted to make sure with El if they were on the same page with the kiss or if someone was going to be heart broken. Five just hoped it wouldn't end in heartbreak. The kiss was slowing and Five was about to pull away he heard an angry,

"Hey! That's my girlfriend! Get your lips off of her!"