AN: Hi my dear readers!
I know it's been ages and when I said that this chapter might take a bit longer, I meant weeks and not months… But several things came in-between; first I struggled with this chapter a lot and rewrote it multiple times and secondly, I got pregnant, which absolutely turned my life upside down.

But finally, I managed to finish this chapter and I dearly hope you don't have to wait as long for the next update.

I hope you enjoy this chapter, though it might not go the way you expect it. Whatever you think of it, don't be mad at me… or Mike… we will get there eventually.

Chapter 8

20. October 1987

Nothing.

Absolutely, sorely, fucking nothing.

Nothing had changed. Everything remained painfully normal, as if the fateful night had never happened.

El couldn't fathom the situation she found herself in. It all had been so clear, and she had been so certain about what would follow the Homecoming dance. She had prepared herself for a few more days of waiting, to give Mike the necessary time to sort out his feelings and to come clean about it. But it had been ten days since the dance… Ten agonizingly long days!

What took him so long? What was he waiting for?
El knew he was even worse than herself when it came to overthinking and overanalysing a situation, but even he couldn't talk himself out of the facts that were out in the open for everyone to see, right?

They had spent a blissful night of longing glances, caring touches, mutual understanding, and him almost kissing her. Just the thought of the moment and his soft lips moving closer to hers, sent goosebumps all over El's body… And she thought about it constantly… Replaying the minutes, that had led up to it and the blurry seconds he had leant towards her, over and over in her head. It was as if she could still feel the ghost of his breath on her skin, the tickling tension caused by his approaching lips, and she often reached her fingers subconsciously up to her mouth in an attempt to capture the essence of him.

Apparently, this was just happening, as Max hissed next to her, "Stop it, you're doing it again!"

El snapped back to reality, which was the inside of the local coffee shop, where she sat at a round table crouched up next to Max. Her gaze fell on the red head, who studied her thoughtfully.

"I zoned out again, didn't I?", she asked sheepishly.

"Yep, you did.", Max replied dryly. "You two are so obvious, it's absolutely painful to watch.", she added, nodding towards the queue of people that stood in front of the counter, waiting for their turn to place their orders.

El returned her gaze towards the throng, she had just looked at before being approached by Max. She easily detected the four boys standing in a circle, while waiting to move forward. Lucas, Will and Dustin were engaged in some discussion, with Lucas shaking his head animatedly and Dustin waving his arm in the air widely. But Mike appeared to be completely impassive, not even trying to pretend to be listening to his friends' talk.
His eyes looked directly in her direction, causing him to turn his neck uncomfortably to be able to see the small table the two girls were seated at. El searched his face, trying to read his thoughts and as he sensed her eyes on him, he zoned in on her, locking his eyes with hers, holding the gaze for a few seconds, before quickly breaking it and staring ashamed on his shoes.

This happened constantly since the Homecoming dance; he starred at her when he thought she wasn't watching, and whenever she met his gaze, trying to signal him she was still there, waiting for him, encouraging him to close the remaining gap, he always looked away bashfully; and it was driving her progressively insane.

El sighed heavily, followed by a punch on the arm by her friend.
"Seriously El, stop it!", Max hissed annoyed. "I don't care if Wheeler is giving you the heart-eyes and daydreams about you constantly; this new quiet version of him is rather refreshing if you ask me… But I hate it when you turn into a brainless mush over him. I usually love talking to my best friend, but it is pointless, if you keep zoning out!"

Upon hearing Max's words, El covered her face with her hands embarrassedly. "Oh Max, I'm sorry!", she sighed heavily. "You're right, I'm a useless friend at the moment. I wish I could control it any better but being stuck in this limbo is driving me crazy."

"You know my offer still stands; I can always punch some sense into him. Just say the word and I will do it.", Max offered half-jokingly, half-determined to kick the boy in question.

"No, that's not necessary.", El quickly reassured her. "But thank you anyway. I know you would not hesitate to help me in any way if I asked you. You're an amazing friend and I try to be a better one for you as well again."

"It's okay. I know you can't help it and this situation would most likely drive me insane, too, if I would be in your position.", she answered in a softer tone. She paused shortly, before a mischievous grin spread over the red head's face and she added, "Then again, I would never be in your situation, as I would have snapped already a long time ago… Which brings us back to punching Wheeler. Seems to be like the only solution if you ask me."

El laughed at her friend's ramblings. No matter how confusing and frustrating her life was currently, she could always rely on the girl next to her, having her back and cheering her up.

"I just don't understand what he is waiting for.", El whined, coming back to the core of the problem at hand. "I was certain, he wanted the same as me and I openly showed my feelings towards him. It's all up to him now. I mean he is the one being committed to someone else. What am I supposed to do as long as he is still officially dating Trish?"

"To be honest, I don't have a good answer to that. I have no idea why he is dragging this out for so long, especially as he is looking at you so longingly, it is obvious he wants to be with you just as bad. Therefore, putting you both in pain is unnecessary and will surely kill me, if I must watch this tragedy any longer and if I am not being allowed to interfere."

"What are you not allowed to interfere with?", Dustin's voice interrupted the girls' talk. El's head snapped up, seeing her curly-haired friend walking towards them, a wide grin plastered on his face, balancing a pot of coffee and a piece of cake in his hands.

"Uhm, nothing.", she quickly replied before Max could say anything, and her gaze fell on the other boys following Dustin, each of them balancing multiple items in their hands. Last of them was Mike, clearly struggling with the two mugs he was carrying in combination with his clumsy self, but to El it was purely adorable how he focused on the two cups and bit his lower lip in concentration.
She stared at the flesh being claimed by his teeth and she was suddenly overwhelmed by the desire to replace them by her own, to nibble on his lips teasingly, while her hands would dive into his thick locks, getting lost in their softness, before she would erase the pain she caused by her teeth with soft kisses, that would soon start to travel along his chin, his neck, his chest, on an ever continuing journey downwards…

A sigh of relief pulled her out of the starting daydream, when Mike finally reached the small table without spilling anything, and placed the two drinks on the tabletop, pushing one of it gently towards El. "Here's your hot chocolate. I asked the waitress to put some extra marshmallows on top, as I know you love your chocolate with it.", he smiled nervously down at her, before hastily sitting down on the only remaining seat next to El.

She took in the hot drink before her, topped with whipped cream and a dozen tiny colourful marshmallows, and butterflies erupted in her stomach from the sweet gesture. "Thank you. Yes, I love it.", she whispered to him and was rewarded with a whole heartedly smile from him. Their eyes met and a sparkle glistened in his orbs, that caused her heart to skip a beat, and though it became a regular thing by now, she was still caught off guard every time it happened.
Trying to gain some control back, she snapped out of it, and busied herself with searching for her purse.

"What are you doing?", Mike called her attention back to him.

"I was looking for some money for my drink.", she nodded towards the hot chocolate.

"No, no.", he replied hastily. "This one is on me." And as if to prove his point he grabbed her right hand that was on top of her purse.

Any protest she had planned to come up with, died down on the tip of her tongue by his touch, as a lightning went through her whole body, starting from where he touched her, travelling up her arm and spreading out to each inch of herself, while her breath hitched in her throat.
She stared at their hands for some time, before lifting her gaze slowly to meet the well-known dark orbs, that already waited to lock with hers, and getting lost in the devotion reflecting in them. She hoped her eyes would thank him for his treat, as words failed her momentarily, but probably her face said more than this simple phrase, while she melted into his touch and stare.

An exaggerated clearing of a throat broke the spell and reminded her of their surrounding friends. She hastily withdrew her hand from Mike's tender touch and stored her purse away, breaking the eye contact with him.

Her heart was racing from the prior moment. What should she make of his behaviour?
He so obviously paid her more attention than ever and was extremely sweet to her. He had always been nothing but a gentleman towards her, but this exceeded his usual behaviour by far. And all his sweetness, made it impossible to be mad at him for keeping her in the dark, about if he would ever ditch his girlfriend to be with her.
However, it added more to her confusion, as it all didn't make any sense. How was it possible that a person could send you such mixed signals, especially a person she knew by heart and whom she usually could read blindly?!

"So, let's get down to business.", Max opened the talk, which was the reason for their Tuesday afternoon meeting at the café Roasty Bean, and drew El's attention back to reality. "The most important night of the year is approaching quickly, and we still have not made a final decision what we're going to do exactly."

"I'm voting for trick or treat.", Dustin immediately suggested.

"Oh please, we ruled that out already. It's something for babies.", Lucas whined.

"Bullshit! It's classic and never fails to be a lot of fun.", the curly-haired boy fought back.

"Actually, Mike and I had been thinking about a movie night and sleepover at Mike's place.", El cut in, before she suddenly realized that Mike had never confirmed if his mum had agreed to it. Last time she had checked on it, they had been in the gym at the Homecoming dance and Mike had not replied to her question back then. As the events of the night had unfolded, she obviously forgot to check on it again.

"I very much like that.", Max mischievously grinned, probably thinking about all the scary movies she could introduce to the party.

Ignoring Max's comment, El turned to the boy sitting closely to her right, with only a few centimetres between them, resulting from the limited space around the small table. "Mike, did you ask your mum about this?"

He turned his full body to her, causing his left leg to bump against her right, which was followed by a shiver running down El's spine, and she had to suppress the gasp, that formed in her throat, to escape her lips.

"Yeah, surprisingly, she had no objections to it. My parents will be gone for the weekend and Holly will stay at a friend's house. So, we have the place all to ourselves and mum only made me promise that we do not trash the house. Therefore, no parties or anything, but so long as it's just the six of us, she is fine with it."

"Awesome, man.", Lucas exclaimed and El beamed at Mike, who smiled broadly himself.

"So, are we voting for a bunch of scary movies and a sleepover at Wheeler's basement?", Max asked them all.

Lucas, Mike and El immediately gave their approval and afterwards also Will added, "I'm in as well."

Lastly, Dustin sighed, "Looks like I'm overruled. So, no trick or treating for me this year…"

"We could all bring some sweets each, so that we have a huge assortment of different types and flavours. By that it would be a bit like after a successful evening of trick or treating.", El offered excitedly.

"El, I like your way of thinking.", Dustin winked at her. "Add some pizza for dinner and you can count me in."

El laughed and nodded her approval. Meanwhile, Mike leaned in and added, "But you forgot the most important… Eggos for breakfast! I will make sure we have enough of those in the freezer.", and as he smiled so fondly at her, El knew that he was doing this mostly in her favour. The well-known warmth spread from her heart and was quickly engulfing her whole body.

"Ugh, all that sweetness…", Max cringed over-dramatically and El couldn't tell if she was referring to the Eggos covered in chocolate sauce or if it was directed at Mike and her.
Either way, El blushed by her friend's teasing, but Max didn't further comment on it and turned towards Dustin. "Speaking of that, how is it going with this girl of yours... What was her name again… you know, the one you danced with at Homecoming?"

"Becky. And yes, it's going well. I will be taking her out on Saturday.", he replied, which was immediately rewarded with a commotion from his friends, all commenting on it in approval.

El sighed happily upon receiving the news, even though it wasn't too much of a surprise. In the past days she had often seen the two walking together down the school halls and Dustin even spent Lunch time with her a couple of times throughout the past week.
Being the most observant among their group of friends, apart from Will maybe, she had easily caught upon the shy glances and hysteric giggles Becky were directing at Dustin. The girl was definitely into her dorky friend and El was shipping them already; she couldn't help herself; she was just a sucker for any kind of romance, which was probably caused by all the soap operas she had watched over the years.

"Yeah, I really like her. She is super cute and easy to talk to.", El heard Dustin saying, answering the question one of the others had thrown at him during their excited outburst.
Then his gaze, which had been alternating between them all, stopped on El's right, purely focusing on the boy next to her. "I'm really excited about our date on Saturday, and well, if all works out, she agrees to dating for real. I really hope she does...", Dustin said, stretching out each part, while staring at Mike intensely during his speech.

The later looked astonished by being approached, before his expression changed into an annoyed one that El knew was his way of saying, "Is he for real?!"

El found that exchange rather strange, and she looked confused from one boy to the other, but as the conversation at the table continued about Dustin's date, he stopped his silent conversation with Mike and looked back at the others, letting the moment pass without further explanation.

As they talked, El silently sipped on her hot chocolate listening to her friends. She loved it when they easily chatted, throwing in playful comments, or mocking each other. She stayed out of it mostly, feeling content with just being a silent bystander to her friend's banter.
It were times like these she treasured the most. Their group of six friends enjoying their time together, without any distractions, without any interruptions, without any stress, without any pressure, and without any insecurities. And no matter what was going on in their lives or whatever problems might exist among any two members of the party, they were always able to overcome it in favour of the group.
So, whatever caused the tension between Mike and Dustin, they decided to not cause a scene in front of their friends, and El was sure they would overcome their differences eventually. That is what they always did if any of them had an argument; they argued, in rare cases they also yelled at one another, followed by a short period of tension, and finally the two arguing party members made up, mostly accompanied by excessive apologies on both sides.
This was their unspoken rule among the six of them, ever since Mike and El had their big fallout in '84, where they had not spoken to each other for some time. It happened around the same time of year, it was also Halloween back then, but El was sure, that history wouldn't repeat itself this year, because even though Mike and Dustin obviously had some discrepancies with one another at the moment, they still talked to each other, both engaged in the group chat with Max and Lucas, while Will and El were satisfied with being the more silent ones at the table, only throwing in a comment here and there.

After over an hour and a second round of drinks, Mike leaned in to El and whispered, "Shall we head home? You know we still wanted to look at your Maths homework together."

El nodded hesitantly and bit her lip nervously. She didn't want that peaceful time with her friends to end and to spend the rest of the afternoon in Mike's basement, trying to work through some stupid Maths exercises; it just didn't sound appealing to her. Usually, she craved for as much alone time with Mike as possible, even if that was just him tutoring her, but now she dreaded those times, not knowing how to act around him. The air was constantly charged from suppressed emotions, unspoken words, and lingering questions.
But she knew she was lost without his help and that agonizing homework was due the next day, so therefore she had asked him after school if they could do it together later that day. And Mike being his considerate self, had obviously not forgotten about it, reminding her about the outstanding necessity, so there was no way in putting it off any longer.
Therefore, she grabbed her bag and got up; Mike followed her example.

"Sorry guys, we got to go.", El announced, resulting in a collective disapproval. To explain the situation she added, "I must finish Ms Clemens homework for tomorrow."

"And I'm helping El with it.", Mike added somewhat nervously, "You know, as her tutor..."

"Yeah, sure…", Max replied with a teasing tone in her voice and Dustin added with a shit eating grin on his lips, "I guess you don't mind assisting El with her curve sketching."
Their friends sniggered, while El turned a light shade of rose, but Mike skipped that stage and immediately turned beet red, in a mixture of embarrassment and suppressed anger, ultimately staring down at his feet.
El turned from him towards the table and threw an annoyed look at the others; the situation was maddening enough already, without their friend's teasing on top of it.
She grabbed Mike's arm and pulled him towards the exit, leaving the others behind, their laughter echoing through the small café.

"Don't pay them any attention.", she hushed angrily, but he still chose to stare at the floor in embarrassment.

So, they silently walked to their bikes and started off in the direction of their home.
Both were lost in their own thoughts, the eyes steadily fixed forward at the road ahead of them. El tried desperately to come up with something to say, something perfectly normal, nothing with any deeper meanings, but it was to no avail. Everything that came to mind was somehow related to their situation or could be interpreted as something else, maybe a wrong hint or misplaced flirting.
It was frustrating to no end that from one day to the other, she couldn't openly communicate with her best friend anymore. It felt like they were on a field covered in landmines and just a wrong word or false sentence would make them all blow up in their faces. And now with the teasing of their friends still fresh in the forefront of their minds, this feeling was more intensified than ever.

Therefore, El couldn't stop the sigh of relief that escaped her, when they turned another corner and entered their street with the well-known cul-de-sac at the end of it, that located their two houses, the white-brown two-storage building with its green shutters on the one side and the slightly smaller brick house with its red door on the opposite side. They passed El's house on the right without giving it a second look and immediately headed for the Wheeler's home.

They discarded their bikes on the lawn and Mike proceeded to open the front door. "Hi, mum, we're home!", he screamed upon entering the house. But they did not receive an answer and soon they found a notification on the kitchen counter telling them that Karen was gone to drop off Holly at the dance class and was planning on going grocery shopping afterwards.

"Okay, that means she will be gone for at least two hours.", Mike concluded. "She always meets someone at the dance school, or the grocery store and they talk endlessly." While speaking, he moved to the freezer and examined its storage, before he fetched out a yellow box that El just knew all too well. "Are you up for some Eggos before we start our work?", he asked, one eyebrow raised, challenging her.

"Do you really need to ask that?!", El replied grinning widely, not being able to hide her excitement, and going along with his playful demeanour, endlessly grateful for him to break the tensional silence between them. Those waffles were definitely her weak spot… well, and the boy that currently proceeded with the preparations at the toaster. With a well-established routine he worked in the kitchen, setting up the plates and pouring two glasses of Coke, while the Eggos were toasted.
El watched the domestic scene; it was something so normal, but it still enchanted her and let her heart swell in adoration.

When Mike picked up the waffles, El took a seat at the kitchen bar and he finished the dish with a wholesome amount of sirup, before serving it to her.
"Thank you!", she gratefully smiled up at him and then dig right into it. "Hmmmm, that's so good.", she added after a few bites.

Mike watched her in amusement. "My pleasure! It's just so easy to make you happy.", he replied, taking a few bites himself, though never taking his gaze from her.

"That might be true. At least with waffles the chances are quite high that they will make me happy."

"No, it's a one hundred percentage guarantee; they never fail me.", Mike grinned with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

El smiled at the remark. "I feel like I should be offended by that, but I don't care when it means, that I get to eat this amazing food." As to underline her words, she took another large bite and chewed on it happily, while her eyes closed from the pure bliss of it.

"And I get to witness you being happy.", she heard Mike saying, "So we all win."

She opened her eyes to face him mockingly, "You are such a sap."

Instead of the feisty remark, that she had expected, he held her gaze for a few seconds with something sparkling in his eyes… was it sadness, regret? But before El could fully decipher it, Mike spoke again, "Maybe…", he sighed and stood up, "So shell we get started on your Maths homework?"

22. October 1987

How one can adjust to a situation, is truly surprising sometimes; you don't have to like it, but you somehow learn to live with it. That was how El was slowly starting to feel. Was she confused by the situation, by Mike's behaviour, by this constant back and forth? Sure, she was.
In one moment they were childhood best friends, in the next they flirted with each other, and again in another one a longing and sadness surrounded them, that left El's heart yarning for the saving embrace of one Mike Wheeler.
But it seemed like he had decided that this was the way he wanted it to be now, not offering any explanations or doing anything to change the way it was. And El had silently agreed to it, adjusting to the situation that was presented to her.

It wasn't satisfying to say the least, but it wasn't too bad either.
The one thing she had always feared the most was that her feelings for Mike would ruin their friendship, when he would get to know how deep they went. But that wasn't the case; they could still talk and laugh for hours, and the confidence and trust they had built up over the years was unaffected by whatever changed between them otherwise.
New to their dynamic were definitely the shy glances, that no longer were just a thing happening on her part, but that both of them shared frequently. And she didn't even need Max or occasionally Will to point it out to her, because it became such an obvious thing, that she noticed it all by her own and it was neither something that her corrupt mind could talk down.

And finally, the flirtatious hints and teasing actions, that left her breathless and confused, though she excitedly awaited them at the same time. She was quickly growing addicted to it, like someone on drugs, that knows that this isn't healthy, but still cannot stop.

If El was honest with herself, she was again afraid to change the situation. Like before when she had feared to ruin their friendship, she now feared that Mike's feelings for her weren't enough, that if she openly addressed it to him, that if she cornered him on his relationship with Trish, that he would ultimately not choose El, that whatever transpired between them was just a small flame, that would go out the second the headwind would become too harsh.
So, she remained standstill in this limbo, and silently hoped day by day that he would be the one to do the next step.

But today hadn't been that day; it had been just another ordinary Thursday filled with boring school lessons and the ever-same faces, that were her classmates. Of course, she had spent the afternoon at Mike's place and these hours had easily been her highlight of the day – like on most days.
With a smile on her lips she thought back to the laughs they had shared, how the smile had spread over his face, enlightening his eyes and let them sparkle with a magical glint.
El closed her eyes, as she lay comfortably on her bed, and let the image of the black-haired boy come to the forefront of her mind. He smiled broadly at her, like he had done earlier this day, when he had grabbed her hand and had pulled her upstairs, eager to show her the X-Men comic that he had newly purchased. And though she didn't care that much about comic books herself, she had let him pull her along, relishing in the feeling of his hand being closed around her own, the warmth spreading from their intertwined fingers through her entire body, and how he hadn't let go of her, until the moment he had to do it to grab the comic, which had been the cause for their touching hands in the first place.
If she wasn't mistaken, he had even brushed with his thumb over the back of her hand, just seconds before he had dropped it, though she couldn't be sure if this was truly intentional or just an coincidental movement.
However, the thought of it now caused goosebumps to erupt all over her body and her heart hammered in excitement upon the bliss she had felt being touched by him and the way she had melted away by his tender smile, that was just directed at her.

The crackling of her Supercom pulled her out of her remembrance of the earlier experience and she heard Mike's mumbled voice through the device, "El, I know you are there."

She leaned over to her bedside table and grabbed the Supercom to answer him, "Well if that isn't a nice greeting, stalker."

A light laugh echoed from Mike. "You can't use that nickname on me. It's already reserved by Max and Lucas."

"I'm sure, they are willing to hand it over to you, if they knew, how you seem to track my movements."

"It's not like I'm lurking in the bushes to know what you are doing. If you remember, it takes me just one look outside my window to see if your bedroom lights are switched on."

El laughed upon his remark. "I try to imagine you hiding in some bushes. That would be so ridiculous."

"I'm happy that my hypothetical misery is serving for your amusement.", Mike replied, trying to sound offended. "If I would do that it would only be in the best intentions."

"And still, it would make you a stalker."

"I see, I'm stuck with that nickname now.", Mike sighed overdramatically.

"We can't choose our fate.", El stated in a mocking tone, "So, what made you call?"

"Nothing specifically. Maybe I just missed you…", Mike replied.

El's heart immediately skipped a beat, though she couldn't tell if he had been serious or if he meant it in a teasing way, not when she couldn't see his face while he said those words. After a few moments of silence, she decided to go with the safer option and continued in the mocking tone from earlier, "It's not like you haven't seen me just a few hours ago."

"That doesn't make it's any less true.", he almost whispered, and this time El was sure he was on the more serious side. "And yeah, well… maybe I did want to talk with you about something after all…", he added somewhat hesitantly.

"Sure, what is it?", El replied immediately, trying to encourage him to continue.

For a few moments there was just silence, as if Mike was contemplating his next words, and El waited patiently for him to tell her what was up, though nothing could have prepared her for what was coming next. "Are you happy?", he asked, blurting out the question in a rush.

"Am I… happy?", she asked confused, letting the words slowly roll of her tongue, hoping their meaning would become clear to her, when she just pronounced them in a more define way. As she still couldn't make any sense of them, she asked him further, "About what?"

Mike sighed upon being forced to explain his meaning in more detail; he had obviously hoped to get another reply. "I mean like in general. Are you happy, El?"

Still confused, she replied, "Sure, I am. Why shouldn't I be happy?"

"I just want to make sure; you know.", Mike stated in a still unusual quiet voice, as if he was half talking to her and half lost in his own thoughts. "Your happiness is like the most important thing to me."

El was staring at the electronic device in her hands, which filled the room with Mike's voice, and though she could hear the words that he was saying, it all remained unclear to her. She wholeheartedly wished she could see him in these minutes, read his expression while he was speaking and maybe all would fall into place; maybe then she could make sense of the riddles he were presenting to her.
"I don't understand.", she breathed out weakly, trying to make him see that she couldn't follow his train of thoughts.

Again, he didn't reply immediately, and they both stayed silent, each trying to make sense of the confusing thoughts in their heads. Then suddenly she heard Mike whisper, like if he was talking to himself, "You are so beautiful."

If El thought she had been confused before, it was nothing compared to the way she felt in that moment. The words seemed to come out of nowhere and they vanished any coherent thought from her mind. She couldn't even come up with a question or comment, as all words were erased from her vocabulary, and she was left with nothing, but the Supercom lying weakly in her hand, while she stared at it with a blank expression and a rapidly beating heart.

However, Mike didn't seem to expect any reply from her, because he suddenly continued to talk rapidly, as if wanted to get it all out in the open once and for all, "You are beautiful, El, in every possible way. You are the kindest, most caring, and most loving person, that I ever met and somehow, I didn't see that. I don't know, maybe because we know each other for so long, I took it all for granted, maybe I just thought that this is how it's supposed to be, that I am me and you are you, you know… Like this is El, who is this great girl that makes me laugh and be myself, and I accepted that easily."
He spoke that quickly now, that El had to try her hardest to catch everything that he was saying, and she tried to understand where he was going with this. "But I never stopped for a second and thought about the beauty that radiates from inside you. It never crossed my mind how rare it is to find someone who is that special in every way, and how it is even more rare to call such a person your best friend. You could be friends with anyone, and still for some miraculous reasons you choose me. I don't know what I did to deserve that, but being the selfish prick that I am I didn't realize that sooner, it didn't even cross my mind, what a lucky fool I am, and now that I finally do, I can offer nothing more in return, than to make sure that you are happy, El."

With the ending of his little talk, El was left speechless and she stared opened mouthed down at the Supercom. His words echoed in her head in an ever-repeating pattern: "You are beautiful… in every possible way… most loving person, that I ever met... makes me laugh and be myself… special in every way…"
She took a few deep breaths to still the rapid beating of her heart and to clear her mind. Finally, she felt able to speak the first sentence since minutes, "You are not a selfish prick, Mike.", she started to make that clear to him, before she continued with the main part of his speech, "And on everything else, I'm not sure what to say really, other than thank you… and I am happy." She stopped momentarily, contemplating her options and before she could talk herself out of it, she gathered her courage and hesitantly added, "You make me happy, Mike."

Surprisingly, he heavily sighed upon her last remark and groaned, "El, no you don't understand. I can't be the one that makes you happy!"

Getting slightly annoyed by his riddles, El snapped, "I don't understand any of what you are saying!"

He sighed again and explained, "What I'm trying to say is, that you just deserve the best. You are the most amazing person that I know and after I took you for granted for so long, I will make sure that this won't happen again. I want you to get back what you truly deserve and you deserve nothing but true happiness and someone by your side, who is having your back no matter what will happen and who wholeheartedly appreciates the beautiful person that you are… and I have proven that this can't be me, because I failed to see you for so long… and all that is left for me to do now, is to be your friend as long as you wish to have me and to ensure that you find the happiness, that you deserve."

El's head was spinning, it felt more like a dream, than something that was actually happening in this moment, something she was just living through. All that Mike said, all that he implied sounded like something she had silently waited for years to hear; him seeing her in a different light, him looking at her and seeing everything she was offering to him, him understanding the love she felt for no one the way she felt it for him and him reciprocating the same feelings to her.
She desired nothing more than to see him in this moment, to study his face and see the meaning of his words being reflected in his eyes.

But as the minutes dragged on, also other words, that had been pushed to the back of her head before, started to call her attention and tried to push their way to the front: "Someone by your side, who is having your back no matter what will happen and who wholeheartedly appreciates the beautiful person that you are… and I have proven that this can't be me… all that is left for me to do now, is to be your friend…"
She tried to make sense of all of that and the more she thought about everything, the more the meaning of his words became clear to her, and as she finally took it all in, a gasp left her lips.

"Mike!", she breathed out, her voice strangely strangled by the lack of air that reached her lungs, "You can't mean what you're saying."

The boy on the other end of the line had been silent for the past minutes, giving her the time to adjust to his speech, but now that she approached him, he spoke again, "El, I thought this through the past days and weeks and whatever I might want is not what you deserve.", he said, the pain audible in his every word, "You deserve to be happy, El!"

"But you make me happy!", she instantly replied, not caring about the pleading tone in her voice.

"Maybe for now, but there will be a time I let you down, and then what?! And we both know I will find a way to mess this up, I have proven that on multiple occasions in the past years of our friendship. I can't live with that fear and guilt."

"Mike, that's not true…", she winced, as tears started to build up in her eyes and her throat constricted from the pain that rose in her chest.

He sighed heavily, obviously struggling with his own share of pain that he was feeling. "I'm sorry, El… I wish I could… I wish I could be the one who makes you happy.", and as an afterthought he added, "I truly do…"

At this point El was no longer able to say a word, though everything within her screamed at her to decline his statement, but her mouth was no longer following her orders.
She needed to tell him, that he was wrong about everything, that she wasn't as flawless as he made her seem to be, that he did deserve her, that she wanted to be with him… and only him. She needed to make him see, that there would never be anyone else, who would be better for her, that there was no one who could make her as happy as he did, that he was the best she could ever get. She needed to reassure him, that she wanted all of him, not just his friendship, and that their friendship was the reason, why she knew that this would work, that this was it for her, that she was down to it for the long run, as she just knew, that they would make it till the end.
But no matter how hard she tried to voice any of that out, the words never came, and her vision clouded with the tears dwelling up in her eyes, upon the frustration she felt.

And with time passing, Mike decided all had been said on the matter, as he cleared his throat and mumbled, "I guess I see you in the morning, El."

El only replied with a choking sound, that left her lips, and Mike added in a whisper with regret heavy in his voice, "I'm sorry, El…", before the Supercom crackled once more and she knew he was gone.

And with it the tears started to fall.

Lyrics:
If you could see that I'm the one
Who understands you
Been here all along
So, why can't you see?
You belong with me