Chapter Text
It was a warm and sun filled day when it had happened. For weeks it had been happening, for months all of it seemed like they were on borrowed time. The days at the pool didn't end with loving kisses, the days under the sun were spent inches apart each day, and love was supposed to blossom in the summer, but it had deteriorated for Mike and El. Mike had felt it, He knew something was off, that something was wrong with them, and he wondered if El knew as well, and she did.
"Mike," she began one day, under the stars. It was a warm night, it was a night of silence between the couple. "Do you love me? Really love me?" El asked. Mike gave her question no thought, answering instantly.
"Of course I do." He answered. It was true, Mike did love El. She was the first girl he had ever loved, the whole point of dating her was because he loved her.
"Mike, do you love me romantically?" She asked. Mike paused for a second. Of course he did! He loved El, right?
"Well, I mean, how would you define that kind of love?"
El paused at his question, presumably to think up an answer, before she continued on. "Do you get butterflies every time you see me walk into a room? Can you see us having a future together? Do you still get that warm feeling when we kiss?" she asked.
Mike stayed silent, because his answer to all of those questions were so easy. No.
"Mike, I love you. I do, but I don't think in the way I did before." She said, "I think it's time we break up."
Mike shot up, now he sat on the grass rather than laying on it. "What? No! We can't- But I-" He stumbled over his words as El slowly sat up with him.
"You deserve to be with someone who loves you how I used to, who can love you how I can't. I want to be your friend still, no matter what. You'll always be my best friend." El smiled sadly as she spoke.
He didn't feel like he was losing anything, so he nodded in agreement. "You're my best friend too." The both of them stood up and hugged each other, and it was sweet. a kind hug, one that reassured Mike everything would be okay in the end.
"And Mike? I think you are in love with someone who isn't me. I think you just don't know it yet." El said softly.
A few years ago, El had been right. The two were broken up now, and good friends, thankfully. Mike had realized a few things that summer, things about himself, things he didn't know before. Firstly, Mike realized he looked at boys the same way he looked at girls, one of the biggest self realizations by far. Though, the most life changing one was to find himself noticing his feelings for one Will Byers
Will is a special kid, there was no doubt about it. When they were twelve years old, Will survived going to the Upside down for a week. When they were thirteen, he survived being possessed by the Mind Flayer. Will was unbelievably strong, and he was so caring and good, he was a better person than Mike could ever hope to become. Will was also incredibly talented, Mike has always known how good at art Will was. One of his favorite things to do with Will was to just to watch Will draw, he could watch him just create things for hours on end. He had many drawings Will had given to him, and he cherished each and every one of them. He also happened to keep every single feeling for the shorter boy hidden. High School was a whole other adventure for the two to stick together by, and it was almost over, they only had to finish their Junior year and their senior year before it was over.
Mike noticed a lot of things about Will, remembering things about his best friend were easy. Things like in Sophomore year right before they chose their classes again, how Will wished he had a friend in the new art class he was going to take. A class called Elements of Floral Art Design, and of course that day, when Mike signed up for his classes, he chose Floral Art design.And when they got their schedules and Mike had four classes with Will, including Floral Art, The two were happy over how the year would be awesome having both of them in there.
Of course, then Mike started failing the class.
It turns out, Flower Elements, or whatever the class was called, was not as much of a walk in the park as he thought it would be. Well, maybe not for him. While Mike had an F in the class, Will had an A+, because Will Byers is an absolute God who could do any art project given to him. It's something Mike has always appreciated about Will. Another thing that Mike appreciated was Will's ability to help people.
"Man, Nancy's gonna kill me." Mike deadpanned, completely serious. The statement had come out when he had gotten his quarterly report card. So Mike didn't always do the best in school, the only person who really ever pushed him was his sister Nancy, and she started being more hard on him when it came to his grades. He used to have D's and C's in most of his classes, but Nancy pushed him to turn D's into C's and C's into B's, she told him she wouldn't be surprised if he was getting all B's this year. Which she was right about for the most part, except for the giant F in Floral Art.
Will, who was peaking over his paper frowned. "I can tutor you, if you want."
Mike looked at Will, flushing pink. "You don't need to do that, I'm practically hopeless." He shrugged. Honestly, the whole reason why he was failing was because of one, he never paid attention to his flowers, he only looked at Will the whole class period. He also knew nothing about flowers, and barely could do his work because of it.
"You've been doing better in school!" Will protested. "Plus, I've got an A in that class, I can help you. It's the only class you're really doing bad in. Let me help you." he pleaded. Mike gave a small smile and shrugged.
"If you have too." He replied which made him seem very uninterested in the whole idea, when in reality, the very idea made Mike extremely happy. Of course, Mike wasn't about to start showing that to his best friend, what if he thought Mike was weird, and he didn't want to be his friend anymore? What if his feelings for Will were just born out of pure confusion,The thought always plagued him, that his feelings for Will weren't real. Mike wondered what he would do then, if what he felt was fake. Probably, he would move on with his life and everything would be normal, how they were supposed to be.
"Great! You can come home with me Monday after school." Will smiled. Mike couldn't help but smile back at the shorter boy.
"Yeah, Monday after school." He nodded.
Once Mike had got home, Nancy stood in front of the stairs expectantly. "Report card." She demanded, sticking her hand out. He sighed, holding it in his hands close to him.
"Don't get mad, I'm already planning on fixing it." Mike replied, begrudgingly giving the report card to his older sister. Nancy simply nodded, looking over the report card and frowning at one point.
She looked over to him, sighing. "Mike, your grades are good for the most part, but an F? You've never gotten an F. And this is an art class, about flowers." she pointed out.
"I know! But Will's going to help me, he has an A in the class." Mike retaliated.
A sudden smirk fell on Nancy's lips. "Oh, Will's going to tutor you?" she asked, smugness underlying her tone.
Mike stared at her for a second, blush slowly covering his cheeks. He scoffed a bit and looked away. "He has an A in the class and he offered, I promise I'll get that grade up. At least to a C." And with that, Mike went back up the stairs and went into his room, slamming the door behind him.