#its like....

Mike makes a face and sticks his tongue out at El, who returns the gesture. They both giggle and Max once again feels so much relief that those two can still be friends despite the struggles they had with their final breakup. She remembers how much El sobbed in Max’s arms when she admitted that she didn’t love Mike like that anymore, how she felt like Mike didn’t love her anymore either. Max doesn’t hate Mike no matter how much of a dick he was to her when they met (and how much of an ass he still can be when he gets angry enough but she’s also a little rude in turn so it’s not purely Mike), but she was so angry at him for a while for breaking El’s heart. Turns out he was in a deep pit of self-hatred for falling out of love with El and into love with someone else. Unlike El though, his dumbass thought he didn’t have anyone to turn to and merely shut everyone out while trying to deal with his issues.

In a way, Max is also grateful for Will stepping up to the plate and helping Mike with whatever internal business was going on there. It was a bit of a scary time for the Party when Mike the chatterbox tuned out of life and stopped engaging (at least during summer ‘85 he was talking to people), and it incidentally made El feel worse about the whole situation even though she wasn’t at fault. But Max was there for El (even more once she broke things off with Lucas and he was really calm about that, what a kind soul) and Will was there for Mike. Max doesn’t know exactly what happened (she has her suspicions but it’s not really her business on Mike’s end of the breakup), but she found herself at the receiving end of a confession from El and well, here they are now four months later as girlfriends and Mike and El back to being friends.

Will places down his novel and leans back on his hands as he tilts his head up to the blue sky above. Max watches Mike, who was playing with the chip bag and now has his eyes cast on Will’s face. She watches his eyes carefully, how they soften and crinkle at the edges with a warmth she’d only seen directed at El before. She watches that warmth dissolve into something like fear. No, not quite fear. Anxiety, worry, disbelieve. Like he can’t quite believe not just what he’s seeing but what he’s feeling about what he sees. It’s gone in a flash and Mike rolls his eyes and turns back to the chip bag, though his mood already seems deflated as hell.

Will turns away from the sky with a low mumble that makes Mike chuckle and Max carefully watches Will too when the boy looks down. He takes his left hand back to Mike’s hair, but he’s so gentle about how his fingers tangle through those dark locks, how his lips pull into a frown filled with want and resignation. Max wonders if anyone else has noticed the way Mike and Will look at each other, or if she’s the only observant one in the group. Lucas and Dustin are typically often focused on other things when the Party is grouped together as a whole, but she’s sure Dustin of all people must have noticed by now.

She wonders if Mike and Will subconsciously notice the couple behavior they exhibit when they hang out with just Max and El like this.

When the sun starts to set, Mike and Will make their way back toward town. El wants to stay a little longer with Max, doesn’t want to go back to the Byers house where she’ll face her brothers and probably Mike if he didn’t go straight to the hotel room he’s sharing with Nancy while they visit.

“Do you notice it, too?” asks El in the silence of the incoming night.

Max shrugs and plays with her girlfriend’s fingers. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, babe.”

“Mike and Will.” she clarifies softly. “Why can’t they see they’re meant for each other?”

“You know how boys are. Oblivious and never wanting to see the truth.” El laughs and twines her fingers with Max’s own. “Sometimes I look at them and wonder if we were like that, too.”

El quickly shakes her head. “No. I was not confused about how I feel about you. Only sad I was hurting Mike.” She presses a kiss to Max’s hair and sighs. “I don’t like seeing him hurt. How can I make it stop?”

“You can’t.” Max returns a little more gruff than intended. “I mean, you can’t make yourself stop caring and you can’t make him stop hurting himself over this either. If he doesn’t want to do anything about his feelings, that’s on him.”

“I feel like I should do more. Is it bad that I am happy and he is not?”

“Oh, he’s happy,” Max closes her eyes and lets the breeze pass through her hair. “He can love Will without hurting you. He’s just not the happiest he could be.”

“Yes.” There’s silence for a moment before El stands up. “I want to talk to him tonight. He should tell Will like I told you.” She points to herself and then holds out a hand for Max. Max takes it and also takes the kiss El gives her. “Thank you.”

Max hums against El’s lips. “For what?”

“For liking me, too.”

“You’re far too cute for me not to like, El.” The brunette giggles and pulls Max into a hug before they make their way toward town, too. “What are you gonna say to Mike?”

“That he’s strong and brave and amazing,” she starts with a sparkle in her eyes. It used to make Max annoyed when El would talk about the boy so positively and happily, but Max quickly realized it was the same as when she would talk about Lucas. They both still cared about their exes as good friends and talking about the boys nicely did no one any harm. “He’s really great, Max, he only needs to see that himself. And have courage to tell Will. So I’ll give it to him! That will be my ‘do more’.”