Chapter Text
“I dump your ass.” The words slipped out before she could stop them. Mike’s jaw dropped, only for Lucas and Will to do the same. Max gasped a little but El could already see her lips twisting into a smile. The silence between them lingered, the only sound being the chatter of those around them. Then she heard the sound of the bus beginning to rumble.
El took Max’s hand, rushing off to the bus with her. Her mind was whirling as she sat down, she hadn’t really processed yet and she wasn’t sure how to feel. Good? She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up through her chest. She looked over at Max to see her giggling too. She just dumped Mike. Mike Wheeler.
She always assumed breakups were sad, or miserable but right now all she felt was.. Free. She felt liberated, like a weight had been lifted off her chest. With her new friend by her side, she knew things would be okay. She lets herself laugh freely, giggling with Max as they continue to eat their ice creams.
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Dustin, it seems, had missed a lot. He spent most of the day with Steve and Robin in Scoops Ahoy, trying to decode that Russian signal. They hadn’t gotten any closer to finding out what it meant but he at least had fun with them both.
That evening when he went to Mike’s place for their D&D session that he knew Will had meticulously planned, he instead found a whining Mike and Lucas comforting him. He entered the basement cautiously, feeling like he had to walk on eggshells. “What..happened?” Setting his bag down, he stayed standing by the stairs, watching Mike sprawled out across the couch.
“El dumped me!” Mike continued to munch away at his crisps, talking with the food still in his mouth. “I just don’t understand what I did to deserve this!”
“Nothing. That’s the whole point. You’re the victim here.” Lucas reassured the boy, stopping his pacing right in front of the couch. Dustin personally would’ve argued that but he wasn’t here to start a fight. He was, apparently, now here to comfort his friend though.
“It’s just, why is she treating me this way?” Mike continued to rant, eating his way through his crisps the entire time. Maybe because you were a terrible boyfriend is the first thought that pops into Dustin’s mind. Of course, he doesn’t say that since it wasn’t particularly nice.
It’s true though. His mind silently comments. He hated to admit it, but yeah, it was true. Lately Mike and El had been attached at the hip, as if they couldn’t bear to be away from each other. Apart from the fact that it was gross, it was becoming too much. El never had a boyfriend before. Hell, she never had friends before they all met her. A part of him always wondered whether El and Mike were together because they liked each other or because they felt they had to.
Even now, with Mike and Hopper, she didn’t have her own style, she was still innocently unaware of most things and she always seemed to follow Mike around. She was still learning how the world worked, how people worked.
As he focused into what the party was actually saying, he found himself shocked. “Because women act on emotion and not logic.” Mike declared, fully believing his own words.
“Precisely. It’s a totally different species.” Lucas paced back and forth again. Will just watched from the side, his D&D game forgotten about.
“What? Guys, I understand you both got dumped but you don’t need to be mean about it.” Dustin snapped almost on instinct. What they were saying was stupid. After spending a whole summer at his science camp, he could proudly say that girls didn’t just act on ‘emotion’.
“What? It’s true! Why are you even defending her? I’m the victim here.” Mike whined out, glaring at Dustin as if he had done something wrong.
“And I feel bad for you, I’m just saying, you’re being stupid. Stop saying stuff like that.” He sighed in frustration.
“Can we get back to the D&D game?” Will finally chimed in after what felt like hours of him just watching the whole fight.
“I agree!” Dustin didn’t want to talk about this anymore. Not without starting a fight, which wasn’t what he wanted at all. Mike didn’t outwardly agree but he sat up with a sulk, finally taking a seat at the table. It was the best they would get right now.
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That night two people did a lot of thinking as they lay in their beds. Dustin, who considered Mike’s reaction to the breakup and El, who was trying to formulate how she felt about it.
Dustin was mostly worried about what the breakup would mean for his friendship with El and Max. He liked both girls a lot, and considered them good friends. He had liked El ever since they found her in the forest almost two years ago. She was a bit creepy and definitely very odd, but Dustin couldn’t help but find her endearing. Ever since, she had saved his life more times than he could count, and she had impressed him a lot. The point was, he didn’t want to lose El as a friend. Sure, Mike and El had broken up but they had all been friends long before the two ever got together.
He just hoped the breakup wouldn’t ruin the dynamic of the party. They were all his friends and he wasn’t prepared to lose any of them.
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El on the other hand, couldn’t have felt more free. She was far too lost in thought. Mike was her boyfriend, yes. But also her friend. She didn’t want to drop him completely. She just needed space. Max was right. Mike treated her like garbage, like she was his pet and she had gotten sick of it. Now that everything is normal, now that she’s not saving the world or fighting monsters, El needs to be alone. To figure out who she is outside of all the action.
So she needed the space to find that. Find herself. She still had her friends and for now, that was enough.