mike

i leave and decide to take a walk, to go and pick up some snacks from my house to take to will and el.

will keeps reassuring me that everything will be okay between me and el but i don't want it to be okay. she finally broke up with me and i'm happy about it, i love her but not in the way he thinks i do.

- thirty minutes earlier -

"hey, can we talk?" el asks me.

i nod and say "yeah, sure," she takes me into her room. we go in and she sits on her bed, i stay stood up in the middle of her room. i don't know what she wants but she seems annoyed.

"what do you want to talk about?" i break the silence, she looks up at me.

"we need to break up, mike." she says, no sympathy in her voice at all, she has a blank expression on her face.

"what? why?" i say, i'm not upset, i'm confused. why is she breaking up with me after i confessed my love for her? it was difficult for me to say to her and after all that, she ends things between us? does she not love me?

"because," she starts and i can see tears forming in her eyes, "you don't love me." the words hit me hard. of course i love her, i told her i did.

"what? w-who said that i didn't?" i say in defense, this is starting to sound familiar.

"say it." she says, staring blankly into my eyes.

"what?" i reply, still confused.

"tell me you love me." her teary eyes are gone, she isn't sad, she's angry, again.

"you know i do, why do i have to say it? come on el, this is stupid!" i slightly raise my voice, she looks taken aback by it.

"mike, say it."

"i- i..." i stop, why can't i say it? i've said it before, maybe it's because i'm saying it to her face, i've never actually said it to her while she was looking into my eyes before. "i can't." she looks down, still not looking sad. is she upset at all? "i'm sorry el." she looks back up, not meeting my eyes.

"it's okay mike." she doesn't sound sad either."i still love you, just... not how i thought i did." i furrow my eyebrows in confusion, "i love you, but i'm not in love with you." i think i understand what she's saying. "i care about you, mike, i always have but i care about you more like a brother, not a boyfriend."

"i-" i pause, i can say it, i know i can, "love you too, but not in the way i thought i did, i feel the same. you're more like a sister to me than a girlfriend and i guess i'm sorry" i apologise and she smiles.

"it's okay mike, i just feel like we were too young to know enough about ourselves to be in a relationship, i need to figure myself out before i can be with you, with anyone really."

"yeah, for sure, there's a lot i need to figure out too," i still feel guilty, "i better go help will and dustin and see how they're doing, i'll leave you alone now." i say and she gets up and hugs me.

i leave the room, closing the door behind me. when i look up at will, he has his back to me, he isn't moving, i hope he's okay. "will?" i say softly to make sure not to startle him. he finally turns around after a while and looks at me.

-now-

i arrive at my house and step inside, my mom, dad and holly are home. "mike? is that you?" i hear my mom say.

"yeah, it's me mom, i'm not staying for long, just going to pick up some food to take to will and el." i say, she nods and smiles and i go into the kitchen. i find some snacks and start packing them into my bag. i find reese's pieces in the back of the cupboard, i take them knowing it's will's favourite.

"i'll be back later, mom," i shout while leaving. i decide to ride my bike so i'll get there faster. i arrive at the cabin moments later.

"hey, back already?" will says as i open the door.

"yeah, i went for a walk and picked up some food, i thought you were probably be hungry because you've been working non stop," i start unpacking all the snacks, i see will's face light up as he see's the reese's pieces, i'm happy they're still his favourite after all this time because i love seeing him smile.

we sit and eat in silence for a while, "i've missed this."

"what do you mean?" will asks.

"us, i've missed us. it's nice with the others but it wasn't the same without you and i missed you, it's been hard without my best friend," i really have missed him, the first few months i didn't do anything except go to school, i didn't hang out with any of my friends, i was miserable. i think the others noticed after a while because they started making me go out with them but it just wasn't the same without will.

"i've missed us too, el's great, she's basically my sister now and it's nice having her here, but i didn't make any new friends in california, i just couldn't, none of them were like you," i put my hand on his shoulder, i want to hug him but i can't after whatever the fuck that was at the airport, why did i do that.

"well, after all this we should hang out again, play dnd or something, like we used to?" as i say this, his face lights up.

"yeah, sure! that would be nice," we smile at each other, i can feel my face starting to get hot and i look into his eyes.

"what are you two doing out here?" i hear el say, i turn around quickly.

"oh, we were just eating, i brought some food from my house, you can have some if you want!" i say and move slightly away from will.

"sure, thank you, mike." she sits down next to me and i see will's smile drop a little. it's like in california, when me and el were skating together and he was trying to look happy but i could tell he was upset about something. he's always been off with el and me.

"so, are you okay?" wills asks el, she looks at me with a 'you told him?' look, i look back at her with a 'i'm sorry' look.

"yes, i am okay, if you are talking about the break up, we are fine and still friends, don't worry!" 

"yeah, we're much better off as friends," el and i smile at each other. it's nice knowing we're friends and i don't have to keep lying to her.

"well, i'm going to go and start on hop's room so mom and hop can move in as soon as possible, you two stay in here and keep cleaning up," will suddenly says as he walks into hop's room with some cleaning supplies.

"oh okay, we'll be out here then," i reply as he shuts the door, fully. i don't know if somethings wrong, i would ask but i can tell he's getting tired of people, especially me, asking.

"do you think he is okay?" el says, looking at the shut door.

"yeah, i think he's fine, probably just wants hopper and mrs byers to be home as soon as possible so they don't have to keep staying at my house." i lie, i do think somethings wrong but i don't want to bother him.

"okay, let's clean up in here and then i'll finish off in my room, it's almost completely done, i'll be living here again soon!" el says excitedly. i can tell she can't wait to be living back in her house but with her whole family this time.

- twenty minutes later -

i'm still cleaning up, el went to see max and meet lucas at the hospital, she wants to sit by her side and make sure everything's okay.

i hear a loud noise and hoppers door slowly opens, i look up to see will, his eyes are open wide, he's shaking and his breath is quick. i can see sweat on his forehead, he's definitely not okay. i shouldn't have let him go into that room by himself, i should have followed him or something, why did i just leave him?

"will? what's wrong? ?" he doesn't reply, "will? will, please answer me, what's going on?" his eyes meet mine. he stares at me still staying silent. "will just say something before i call your mom or jonathan."

"i- i uh i'm fine, i just remembered i left something in your basement earlier, i uhm i'll be back later just stay here," he says and rushes outside.

"will? why are you going, what happened in there? are you okay?" i say while following him outside.

he stops a turns to face me, "i'm fine, mike. please, just stay here," he turns around and begins to run, in the opposite direction of my house. i feel like i should follow him but he's too fast, i let him go, still worrying deeply about him, what happened in hoppers room?

i go back inside and start looking around, i cant see anything that caused the noise, was will avoiding me? no, he probably forgot how to get to my house or something. i keep looking around when i see something, in the corner of the room. it's will's watch, it's the one that matches mine, we've had them since we were 8 and i gave it to will for his birthday. i doubt will still wears his, it could even still be here from last year.

i stand up and walk back into the living room, i have to find out what happened in here and where he is.

a/n: okay but mike and will canonically having matching watches is so cute