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An assortment of nail polishes lay on Jane's bedspread - blue, purple, black, green, yellow, red, even glittered ones.
"I got them from the mall!" Jane announced proudly, smiling wide, "Max and I went shopping."
Mike nodded, grinning. Nail polishes were El's new thing. A few months ago, it was black smokey eyeshadow and dark coloured glitter everywhere - not unlike her style she adopted from Kali a few years back. And then it was caps like the one Dustin wore, which Dustin was thrilled about. Now, it was nail polish.
El was slowly discovering things for herself.
Two years ago, they had a mad, evil Wizard hell bent on destroying the world and a few interdimensional monsters on their tail. El, especially, hadn't been able to catch a break, what with her telekinetic powers and connection to said dark wizard. But in the final battle, her powers had also died along with Vecna.
And maybe Mike didn’t realize at the time how difficult it must’ve been for El to find herself outside of being a superhuman weapon. But now, seeing the happiness and joy on her face at discovering the mundane things of life that she had never had the chance to experience, he realizes how lost El was, especially during that summer in Lenora.
And he did feel like shit for treating her like that, okay? But now, he made sure to let her know that he understood. It came easier now that they didn’t have to act like a couple.
“Which one do you want?” She asked eagerly, eyes wide like it always was, as if she couldn’t open it wide enough to see and absorb everything around her. She looked at Mike and then at the materials before them.
Mike took his time contemplating. He did wear nail polish before, once during the summer of ’87, and then had to go about his day hiding it from everyone. He liked the way his hands looked, but didn’t want to answer any annoying questions. So, he took it off the very next day.
But now, it didn’t matter. Mike felt more like himself, and he wasn’t afraid to show it. The world had ended and reformed, it didn’t matter if Mike Wheeler wore a little bit of colour on his nails. Besides, when El had offered (more like demanded, but in a nice way) to give him a makeover before prom, Mike wasn’t going to deny her that little joy.
“Blue? No, black”, he decided, finally.
Jane picked the black one excitedly, painting each one of Mike’s nails carefully.
“So…how’s life?”, she asked, eyes still focused on painting the nails. Mike chuckled, “What do you mean? You know how my life is.”
“That’s what they do when they paint nails at the meni-? mini-kyor?” Jane stumbled on the last word, a little confused on exactly how to pronounce it.
“Manicure”, Mike supplied.
“Yes. Manicure.” She repeated.
“Did you like getting a manicure?”, Mike asked. “Did you never get it done?” El asked him in return. Mike smiled “Boys don’t get manicures.”
El’s face dropped a little at that. “Why not?” she asked, confusedly.
“People are weird. They have these rules and stuff. Girls are supposed to do this; boys are supposed to do that. I’m sure you’ve picked up on that?”
El nodded, “Yeah, like how you can’t wear a dress but I can”
“I can wear a dress, but I shouldn’t. It’s all bullshit!” Mike said flailing his hands.
“Mike! Nails!” El chided.
“Oh, sorry”, Mike said, giving his hands back to El to paint. “You didn’t answer my question, though”
“The manicure? It was nice. But it takes so long. It’s like watching Will paint.” Jane said.
The mention of Will’s name made Mike’s stomach flip. El sensed it too, the awkward tension in the air. They fell into a silence for a very few seconds that felt like an eternity to Mike as he scrambled for something to say.
“I’m sorry, El” he said, finally. Ever since spring break in Lenora (or maybe long before that even, Mike didn’t remember exactly), the guilt wound in him had been bleeding and eating him up. He had used El as a shield against himself; too afraid to face the parts of him that felt like a mistake. To cover up his feelings for Will, he’d used El, and that was not fair to her at all. And maybe El knew, because when they broke up that winter, she wasn’t too surprised. In fact, she seemed relieved that they could stay friends. Mike didn’t think any number of apologies would make up for everything he put her through.
Now, El looked at him, a little sad, “You don’t have to say sorry, Mike. We’re okay”
“I know, but I’m still so sorry for lying to you. Friends don’t lie, and I did. I messed up bad.”
“Hey, I lied too. I’m sorry.” She said, “Also, you were my boyfriend then. It’s like Max said. Boyfriends lie. All the time.”
“ummm, I don’t think that’s completely true” Mike said, “you just had a shitty boyfriend”
They both giggled at that. “Yeah. A kind of shitty boyfriend” El repeated.
“I’m sorry” Mike said, again.
“Mike, if you say sorry one more time, I will pour glitter all over your hair.”
Mike raised his hands over his head, “okay okay, I’ll stop”
And they went right into a silence, El painting his nails once again. A while later Mike spoke again, because he was incapable of staying quiet, “I really am sorry, though. I hope you know that”, Mike said, softly, in a more serious tone.
“I know, Mike” El whispered. “It’s done!”, she said a little louder, putting down Mike’s hands. His nails were now black with glitter coating on top.
“It’s perfect! You’re really good at this” Mike said, examining his nails. It was perfectly painted inside the lines, a little glitter scattered on top, not too much, but not too little.
El beamed. “Will’s teaching me to paint too. He drew me the other day” she said, jumping up excitedly, hurrying to the drawer in her table beside her bed and pulling a paper with a pencil sketch of herself.
“His drawings are amazing”, Mike said, softly, awed.
“I asked him to paint all six of us, and he’s working on that right now” El announced. “We need to get pictures together at prom”
“Are you coming too?” Mike asked. El didn’t exactly go to school at Hawkins High. After the entire Lenora fiasco, El had decided that it was better that she was homeschooled. All of them eagerly offered to help her out too.
“Yeah” El said, cheeks going a little pink, suddenly a bit shy. “Dustin asked me to be his date”
Mike’s eyebrows shot up and disappeared in his hair, “Dustin?!”
“Yep” El nodded, popping the little ‘p’ at the end.
“Do you like him?” Mike asked.
“Of course I like him, Mike. I like all of you, you’re my friends.”
“No, I mean like like him?”
She went pink at that again, “I don’t know” she said.
“This is awesome!” Mike said grinning. “Dustin’s a great guy”
“I know that. It doesn’t mean anything, Mike. He asked me as a friend.”
“Sure, if you insist” Mike said. “I need to have a talk with him, though”
“No” El said, eyes wide in horror. “You will not say anything. Will tried to do the same thing, it was so awk-ward”, El stumbled on the last word a little.
“Okay fine. I’ll keep quiet but only if you help me figure out what Will’s wearing.”
“But he said his outfit was top secret”, El pouted.
“Exactly why you will help me sneak and find out.” Mike said, “I wanna have an idea so we can match.”
“Okay, I’ll help. But you will let me decide your outfit.”
“That’s not how this works. I do you a favour, you do me a favour. If you add another condition, I’m gonna have to set another one for you”
“But I’m doing you a favour. You’ll look bitchin’, I promise” El said.
She grabbed Mike’s hands not waiting for an answer and rushed out the door, screaming “I’ll be at Mike’s”, at no one in particular, and got on her bike. “You’ll look so bitchin’, Will’s going to faint when he sees you” El, declared before pedaling off.
Mike snorted, cycling away behind her, placing his hands carefully on the bike handles, careful not to smudge the drying polish.