Chapter Text
Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, and Dustin Henderson were all standing together at a medium sized circle table with a light blue table cloth in the Hawkins Middle School Gym. Lucas Sinclair and Max Mayfield had been standing at the table too when Dustin had shown up, but had parted from the group when a love song came on, and had joined the crowd of boys and girls dancing together. While the three boys were standing there—with Dustin completely unfocused on the other two boys—a pretty girl with long brown hair walked up to them, looked at Will and asked a question that neither him or Mike had expected.
"Hey, Zombie Boy? ..You wanna dance?" She asked.
Will tensed up and stumbled over his words, unsure what to say, glancing between Mike and the girl. If he was being honest, he didn't want to dance with her, he just wanted to sit with Mike until Eleven showed up—if she was even going to—but he also didn't want to be rude, or hurt her feelings.
Mike nudged him a little, urging him to say something—anything—and so Will reluctantly looked away from Mike and back at the girl, swallowed nervously, and finally answered.
"Uh, y-yeah. Yeah, sure." Will nervously sputtered out to the girl, giving one last glance to Mike before the girl grabbed his hand and gently pulled him with her to the dance floor. When they got there, he tentatively put his hands on her waist, unsure how to do this. Yes, his mother had shown him how to dance before he left, but she was leading, not him, so he was having to try and remember how she did it.
Meanwhile, Dustin walked away—leaving Mike alone—to go find a girl to dance with, having more confidence in himself than ever now that he knows the secret to Steve Harrington's whole brand: his hair. Unfortunately though, every girl turns him down. To Dustin's surprise, the hair does nothing to help, because every girl he asks still sees him as the nerd he is. His confidence crumbles, and his heart breaks, then he sits on the bleachers alone, quietly crying.
During the time that Dustin tried to find a girl to dance with, Mike sat alone at the table a little longer, watching Will dance from afar, completely forgetting he'd invited El. Once he remembers he invited El, he gets nervous about her coming and leaves the table, running to the bathroom, where he splashes some water on his face, and hides out for a few minutes.
While Mike is in the bathroom, Jane shows up, she looks around a bit, and can't find Mike, but she does find Dustin, crying on the bleachers, she goes over to him and sits down next to him, then he quickly wipes his tears, not wanting to be seen crying.
"Why are you sad?" El says, slightly monotone, still not very good at speaking.
"What? Why would I- I'm not sad, El." Dustin says back, clearing his throat to try and hide the scratch in his voice from crying.
"Why do you lie?" She responds back.
"What?" Dustin turns his head to face her finally.
She points at his red eyes. "Tears. Why are you sad?" She then lowers her hand to rest back on the bleachers next to her leg.
Dustin sighs "It's not a big deal, just... Nobody wants to dance with me is all."
"Oh.." El says quietly.
"But, it's nothing you have to worry about. You should just go dance with Mike, that is why you're here." Dustin looks away and sniffles, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.
Jane looks forward, at the crowd of kids dancing with each other. "I do not know where he is at."
Dustin looks back at her, confused. "What? Why don't you kno-" Jane cuts him off.
"When I got here, I did not see him anywhere, and I still do not see him. Are you sure he came?" She turns her head back to Dustin.
"Yeah, when I showed up he was at that table over there with Will, Lucas, and Max." He points to the table they were at and Jane looks to where he's pointing at "Are you sure you don't see him?" Dustin looks over the crowd, trying to see if he can find Mike, to which he can't, and shrugs "Maybe he went to the bathroom?"
"Maybe." Jane turns her head back to Dustin "Dance?"
"What?" Dustin looks at her, his eyebrows raised a little.
"You said nobody wanted to dance with you. I will dance with you?" She puts her hand out, palm facing up, offering it for him to grab.
He looks down at her hand "But you're here with Mike. Er- Well, you would be, if you knew where he was." Dustin says, looking back at her face.
Jane shrugs "Friends." She says, meaning platonically they can dance, but, she doesn't know the word, as she's still learning how to speak properly.
Dustin considers, then smiles, taking her hand "Friends."
So they stand up and join the crowd of kids; he puts her hands on his shoulders and moves his hands to her waist.
"You look pretty, by the way." Dustin says.
Jane gives her usual awkward, but sincere smile that doesn't fully meet her eyes.
When Mike comes out of the bathroom, he sees Dustin and El dancing, but oddly, instead of feeling jealous, he feels relieved, and he smiles at them dancing, but then the realization sets in that he's now got nobody to be with, so he sits on the bleachers closest to him, which happen to be closer to the bathroom rather than not.
Will sees Mike sitting alone and keeps glancing in his direction, worried about him and wondering why he isn't with El. The girl he's dancing with notices, and looks in Mike's direction to see what Will keeps looking at, then she realizes.
"You can go sit with him if you want. I don't mind." She says, looking back at Will.
"What?" Will says pulling his gaze away from Mike.
"You keep looking at him, and he's sitting alone, so I assume that means you're worried about him." She responds casually, as if Will being worried about Mike isn't a big deal. Which, in retrospect, it isn't, but it can seem weird to a lot of people, considering the... insults that get thrown around about Will by bullies.
"Oh, uh, no, I don't have to- I'm sure he's f-fine." Will says, nervously.
"It's okay, really. Go be with him. He is your best friend, isn't he?" She tilts her head a little bit.
Will swallows and glances back at Mike, considering it.
"Go. It's okay." She urges.
Will looks back at her and then breaks away from the dancing position, as they stop dancing, and he goes over to sit with Mike. After Will sits down, she looks over at the first girl that Dustin had asked to dance with him, and she sighs, staring at her, before going over to be with the group she's standing with.
Will comes over and sits next to Mike.
"Where's El? Did she not show up?" Will says once he sits down.
Mike points at El and Dustin dancing without even looking away from them to look at Will.
Will looks up at them, finally noticing that they're dancing "Oh- Mike I'm sor-" Mike cuts him off.
"Don't be. It's okay. I didn't want to dance anyway, I got nervous and ran to the bathroom, then when I got back they were dancing. Dustin seems happy though, so I don't mind." Mike finally looks at Will, who's still staring at the crowd.
"So what happened to the girl you were dancing with?" Mike asks him, making Will finally look at him.
"Oh, uh-" Will tries to find an excuse "I was really bad at dancing, so she went back to her friends. My legs were tired anyway, it doesn't matter."
"Oh. So that's why you're over here with me?" Mike says.
"Yeah. Is that okay?" Will raises his eyebrows.
"Yeah! Yeah, that's okay." Mike smiles at him a little.
Will gives a small smile back.
Lucas and Max have been dancing, having kissed not so long ago, shortly after Dustin and El started dancing.
"Did you just kiss me, Stalker?" Max says, with a grin, pulling away from said kiss.
"Yeah, was it okay?" Lucas says nervously, relaxing when he sees her grin.
Max seems to consider her answer for a second before responding. "I don't know, I think I need another one." She grins even wider when Lucas smiles.
So they share another short kiss.
"Yeah, it's okay." Max says inches away from his lips after they pull away from the second kiss.
The night goes on, Lucas and Max dance, Dustin and Jane dance, and Will sits with Mike on the bleachers. They all have a good night, and get home safely afterwards.
But something is still off... Something is still lurking in the dark. A shadow.. The MindFlayer.
End of season 2