Chapter Text
Eleven and Mike have been friends since they met each other in the woods. During Will’s disappearance, they were with each other. Mike kissed El and El kissed back. That started their relationship with each other.
During the summer of ‘85 Mike and El realized something. They don’t like each other romantically but they’re scared of who they really are. Mike realized he had feelings for Will and El had feelings for Max. They couldn’t risk screwing up their friendships so they kept dating. Knowing that they’re scared to let everyone who know they really are.
High school is starting and El is nervous. She never experienced school before and didn’t have much time to study for school due to the Mind Flayer and the Russians. She had two months to prepare for her first ever year of school. Luckily she had Mike to help her. Mike has always been smart academically and El was a fast learner so both of them combined, El was able to be caught up quickly. She passed each test for each grade and one she got to the 8th grade section. She of courses aced it.
Due to that, Hopper allowed her to start school the coming fall. Nervous but also excited because that meant she could spend time with her friends! One friend in particular though, Max.
Mike and El are still dating despite their crushes on their best friends. They don’t know what to do about it. El is scared to let everyone else know she’s attracted to girls. It’s something that’s not common in Indiana, let alone Hawkins. Everyone here bullied Will by calling him a fag. She knows what that word means and hates it. She’s been called cruel words all her life and she doesn’t need another word added onto her list.
“Mike, do you think we’ll survive this?” She asked with a frown. “We survived monsters from another dimension. We can do this okay, we just have to play it cool.” He said trying to cheer her up, but he’s also doubtful.
His dad is homophobic. He hates gay people so much that, that’s the only thing he could ever bring up at the dinner table. Nancy storms off every time he tries to mention anything like that. She hates her dad for being against people loving who they love. Mike is scared to tell Nancy he’s gay despite knowing that she wouldn’t have a problem with it. He saw the way Will got bullied and he doesn’t want him or El to go through that.
“I’m scared Mike, I haven’t told anyone other than you and what if someone finds out? I’m the new girl who already has a ‘boyfriend’ someone is going to suspect something.” El started biting her nails. It’s a habit she got from living with the Byers. Hopper was never a nail biter but ever since living with the Byers, El and Hopper started getting the habit of doing so.
“Don’t worry, we’ll go through this together. No one is going to find out. I hope, I can’t promise it but we just have to have hope for ourselves and not make it obvious.” Mike said. He is scared too but not as scared as El. He knows this is going to be hard for her but doesn’t want to bring it up. He’s letting her rant to him.
They continued chatting about school. Well, it was just El letting out all her emotions about it. It was until now they reached the topic of Will and Max.
“Mike, we have to do something about them! It’s been months since we’ve been crushing on them and never made a move. What if they start pulling away?” El said.
“El, you worry too much. You worry more than me! Think about it though. Will and Max will find out soon. We’re going to have to make a move someday but not now. You’re going to start school and it’s all of ours first year of high school. That alone is already scary. I am scared about Will though. It’s been obvious that he doesn’t like girls or shown interest but I’m scared still to make a move. Max is still dating Lucas too. We don’t know what will happen.” Mike said frowning at the mention of Max.
El has been crushing on Max since Mike and El first broke up. She never thought about kissing a girl until Max asked “Is Mike a good kisser?” Ever since that day she’s been wondering how it would feel to kiss Max on the lips, and maybe everywhere else. She loves Max, that’s her best friend but the thought of getting between her and Lucas is hard. Lucas is made for Max, caring, thoughtful, respectful, and overall a good person.
He’s everything El is not.
“Will totally is into you! Have you not seen the way he looks at you? I swear he does want you Mike!” El said with a grin. She always suspected her brother likes Mike and ever since knowing Mike likes Will, it’s meant to be. She isn’t sure though if Will is gay or not. He always cringed at the word but never said anything about gay people.
“El he doesn’t! He never shown interest in me at ALL! He doesn’t talk about liking anybody and if he has, he would’ve told me.” Mike said throwing his hands up in the air. He knows Will does NOT like him back. Or well, he believes that.
Max and Will have been hanging out, their best friends are dating each other which meant they’re barely ever with them. It sucks to know that you can be left before so quickly for a man, for Mike Wheeler.
Max and Will sort of became best friends while El and Mike have been dating. After El got back with Mike, she spent all her time with him and Mike spent all his time with El instead of spending time with Will to play DnD. Max is glad she has a friend like Will, someone who could relate to her. One day while talking to Will, they got into a deep conversation about sexuality. That’s when they learned they both have a crush on their best friends.
“Max this is insane! You have a crush on my sister who is dating my best friend who I have a crush on! Do you know how bad this is for the Party? Oh my gosh Dustin is going to kill us! And oh my GOSH you’re still dating Lucas! What are we going to do? Mike is going to hate me for being gay. I don’t even know if El knows what being gay ever is! Ugh Max what are We going to do?” Will exclaimed, he was biting his nails after that long rant.
“Oh my gosh shut up Will, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m still dating Lucas and I don’t know if he is supportive or not. I know he’s the most caring person ever but the most caring people could be homophobic,” Max frowned. She can’t think about if her boyfriend would be against who she is. She still is attracted to boys yes, but she still is very much attracted to girls too. California could change someone so much. Max and Will both have a fear, being outed by everyone. That is something every gay person in the world is afraid of. Knowing that if people knew who you love, that can affected the way people see you from now on. That hurts someone so deeply that they're scared to let other people know about it. It's just something you don't tell other people. "I know that he would probably be supportive of both of us, but he's going to be hurt. I know he'll think I've been leading him on since we were in 8th grade but still, we don't have to tell anyone else yet. We'll just keep it between us." Max said trying to console the panicking boy next to her. Will is an exact replica of his mom. They're both worriers and that is definitely going to rub off on El.
"Okay, let's pretend that we're normal okay. Nothing going on between any of us. Our crushes are something no one should know about or even think about." Will said only reassuring himself. Max knows he has a habit of talking to himself to make sure he isn't going insane. It's the little things she noticed about him that Mike hasn't. If Mike wasn't spending all his time swapping spit with El, maybe he would noticed how big of a crush Will has for him. A crush that has been there since they've been kids, before El was in the picture, before Max moved to Hawkins, before everything happened. It always been Mike and nobody else. there were some guys he's noticed like Chance but Chance was someone who made it to the football team and became an ass. Its always been Mike for Will and Will for mike. That's all he thinks about.
"Tomorrow we're going to school okay, first day for everyone. We're going to get through this. No one will find out about who we are." Max said. She believes everything is going to be okay.
Who knows though.