Chapter Text
Rink-O-Mania is loud. Too loud. Mike has to strain his ears so he can hear El talk. More than that, he can't hear a word between Will and his 'school friend'. The two of them branch off a few feet from Mike and El, their heads ducked together so close their foreheads are practically touching. Neither of them bother to spare the others even a cursory glance. At one point Luna bursts out laughing at something Will says, and Mike's stomach spikes with irritation.
They find a place to put on their skates. Will and his friend sit side-by-side as they take off their shoes and start putting on their skates.
"Mierda," she spits out a word Mike recognizes as Spanish, though the actual translation is lost on him. She winces as she tries to shove her foot into one of her skates. "They gave me the wrong size. Hang on, I'll be right back." She honest-to-God flounces away, but not without shooting Will yet another smile.
Mike scoffs to himself. She's not even bothering to be subtle. And Will is eating it all up.
Will glances at Mike and frowns. "You okay?"
He rolls his eyes at that surface level of concern. "I'm fine." He starts to put on his skates when El puts a hand on his wrist.
"I forgot," she says apologetically. "You need socks."
He groans. "Shit. I don't—"
"They sell them at the counter," Will says. He gestures towards the building entrance.
Mike sighs. "Alright. Be back in a sec."
He makes his way to the counter. Pays for his socks. He's heading back to El and Will when he feels someone grab him by the shoulder.
Alarmed, he shrugs them off and turns around, only to come face-to-face with Will's friend.
She looks at him, bemused. "Chill out, man," she says. Her new skates are dangling from her hand. "Didn't mean to scare you."
Mike flushes. "Please," he scoffs in a bid to hide his embarrassment. "I've faced scarier things than you."
Luna tilts her head. "Huh. Not sure whether to be offended by that or not." A second passes before she shrugs. "I'll figure that out later, I guess. Come on, Will and Jane are waiting for us."
She moves as if to grab Mike's wrist. Without thinking, he steps back so that her fingers graze air instead of skin. “Let’s get going,” He says, heading back to the rink.
Luna trails after him with a laugh. "Sheesh, you'd think I had cooties or something," She says. "Look, Flip-Flops, you don't have to worry. I got all my shots."
Mike scowls. "I told you not to call me that."
"Yeah, I know, Flip-Flops," Luna says. Mike's scowl deepens. "It's just what I do. A quirk of mine, if you will. You want me to use your actual name, you'll need higher friendship points."
"Awesome. I'll get right on that," he says sarcastically.
Luna snickers and rushes forward to the front, turning around so that she's walking backward. "Looking forward to it," she says with a playful salute.
Jesus, this girl can't be for real.
Finally, they make it back to the others. Will and El already have their skates on and are in the middle of a conversation when Mike drops between them.
"They had vomit-colored socks, can you believe it?" He smiles at El as he slips said socks on, followed by his skates.
El smiles back. "Cool." She pecks him on the cheek.
Mike is about to return the favor when, out of the corner of his eye, he sees Luna pull Will up to his feet. "Easy there, Byers," she grins as she leads him towards the rink.
Mike watches, gaze fixed on their conjoined hands. "Quite a friend you got there," he says nonchalantly.
El frowns. "Luna is Will's friend, not mine. I have my own friends."
Mike raises an eyebrow as he follows El into the arena. “You guys don’t hang out together?”
El fidgets. She starts to wobble, and Mike is quick to grab her hand so as to help steady her. She smiles at him gratefully, and the two begin to skate together in tandem. “They have asked me to hang out,” she says. “But…I do not like to intrude.”
“Intrude on what?”
“On them,” El says. She looks up ahead, where Will and Luna are busy gliding around each other, off in their own little world. She tilts her head in apparent contemplation. “I think they are boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Mike stumbles, losing his grip on El's hand. He nearly faceplants to the ground. At the last minute he manages to regain his equilibrium, though it takes him a minute to get his legs to stop shaking so much.
El looks at him with alarmed concern. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m—I’m fine,” Mike says. “I just wasn’t expecting—are you sure?”
She frowns. “I think so. He gave her flowers once.”
Flowers. Mike’s mind flashes back to the makeshift bouquet he gave El earlier that morning. The the delight on her face. Then he thinks of Will doing the same thing with some—some girl, and his stomach curdles.
“Mike,” El says. “Are you sure you are okay?”
“I’m fine.” He doesn’t mean to snap. He doesn’t. But El’s face flashes with hurt all the same.
“I was only asking,” she mutters. “You are being weird.”
Guilt ripples through his chest and he reaches out to reclaim her hand in his. “Hey, no, El. I didn’t mean to…” He trails off in the face of her displeasure. Then clears his throat and tries again. “You just caught me off-guard. Will never mentioned a girlfriend.”
El’s anger slowly dissipates. It’s clear she’s thinking of her and Mike’s most sacred creed: Friends don’t lie. And Will, apparently, has been. “Maybe I am wrong,” she says gently. “And they are just friends.”
“Right. Maybe.” Mike’s jaw twitches. He shakes his head. “You know what, forget it. It’s none of my business.”
“Mike—”
“I’m good,” he says forcefully. He forces his annoyance down to the pit of his stomach and shoots El what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “Let’s just skate.” He squeezes her hand.
The corners of her lips perk up. “Alright.”
“Wheeler’s not the friendliest guy, is he.”
Luna’s tone is light. Nonjudgmental. But Will knows her well enough he can hear what she’s really saying. “Give him a break. It takes him a minute to get used to new people. It’s not like he knew you were going to show up.”
“He knew he was hanging out with you today, though. Didn’t he? Cause he’s sure not acting like it.”
Will grimaces. He’s so not in the mood to have this conversation. “Luna.”
“Alright, alright.” She holds her hands up in surrender. “Forgotten.”
He exhales. “Thank you.”
They skate together in silence. That’s one of the things Will likes best about Luna, if he’s being completely honest. Somehow, she always seems to know whenever he’s in the mood to talk or just hang out together in silence.
Which isn't to say she won’t take matters into her own hands. Case in point: She puts up with Will’s self-wallowing for a grand total of five minutes. Then she huffs and links their elbows together. He looks up, surprised.
“What are you—” She smirks. “No, Luna, don’t—”
“Spin attack!” She shouts and drags him into a spin that nearly sends them both sprawling to the ground.
“What the hell, Luna!” He can’t help but break out into laughter as they cling onto each other for dear life.
She giggles. "Oh, come on! You can't pull off a spin attack? I thought you were supposed to be a badass wizard."
"Cleric, I'm a cleric—"
"You talking DnD?"
Will's smile falters. Mike.
He's holding hands with El, their sides pressed against each other like the happy, perfect couple they are. Except, Mike doesn't look happy. His gaze flickers between Will and Luna, his lower lip jutted out in a pouty scowl.
Cute.
Will's face heats up. He fake-coughs into his arm, hoping to God he doesn't notice.
Luna, of course, does. And she wastes no time in deflecting, positioning herself between Will and Mike, almost like a barrier. "Will the Wise here keeps trying to get me to give the game a chance. But I dunno. Board games aren't really my thing."
Mike's eyes widen. "Dungeons and Dragons isn't some generic board game," he says, affronted.
Luna shrugs. "You use dice, that seems pretty 'board-gamey' to me."
"It's a d20, it's got twenty sides—"
"So a super die. Soo exciting."
Will frowns at the cheerful sarcasm in Luna's voice. She's never talked about DnD like that before. It's true she's never played the actual game. But she's always shown a certain level of interest in the worldbuilding and lore. Will's spent more than one lunch period regaling her with retellings of past campaigns. And he only offered to teach her how to play once, early on in their friendship. She said no, and he hasn't brought it up since.
It takes him a few seconds to realize she's messing with Mike.
He considers calling her out on it, but. Mike has pretty much been ignoring him the whole day. A part of Will wants him to suffer through one of Luna's mind games. And if she doesn't get it out of her system now, then who knows what she'll end up doing later. A Luna left to stew in anger and perceived injustice is not a Luna Will wants to deal with.
Mike sniffs. "I guess it takes a certain kind of person to appreciate the game's complexity," he says.
"Mike," Will says sharply. "Please don't make fun of my friend."
"I wasn't making fun, I was just saying—"
"I know what you were saying," Luna said smoothly. "And yeah. Certain people are incapable of complexity, aren't they."
"Luna," Will says as Mike's mouth opens in outrage. El watches the exchange with a mix of trepidation and unease. "That's enough."
She crosses her arms.
"Luna," he repeats.
A second passes and she sighs in defeat. "Okay, fine." She stretches her arms above her head and skates off. "Last one out of the rink pays for lunch!"
El laughs at her antics and makes to follow her. Mike does not, though his gaze does. The way he stares after Will's friend, like she's a piece of gum he's accidentally stepped on, leaves him feeling unsettled.
Then again: when was the last time Mike did or said anything that didn't unsettle Will in some shape or form?
"Come on," Will nudges Mike's shoulder with his own. "She's not kidding about loser paying for lunch."
(He's fairly certain she is, actually. But Mike doesn't need to know that.)
Mike shakes his head. "Whatever," he mutters. And he skates off—without Will.
Will blinks. What the hell is his problem?