#yaay

genre/warnings: aged up to seniors in hs, cheerleader!harrington!reader, hurt/comfort, no smut, established secret relationship

desc: After hurting his secret girlfriends feelings, Mike wheeler has to do something grand to win her back

w/c: 2.9k

a/n: hi guysss lowkey this is so short and kinda crappy im soz i just wanted to get something short n sweet out there bcuz i have a really long fic idea that might drain me a bit umm she isn’t proof read honestly writing this felt so cliche but in a good way idk lmk if u like it pls dont lmk if you hate it

Mike Wheeler hated basketball games. He hated all the noise, the jocks, the way that everyone fantasized over all the cheerleaders. It was high school conformity at its peak. 

There was one thing he did like, though. 

Mike had been dating the cheer captain, Y/n Harrington, since the summer before the end of their senior year. Now, it was April, at the rally right before the big playoff game. Mike didn’t understand all the hype, but Lucas had spent the past week training 25/7 for this game. 

Y/n had always been popular, a people's princess just like her older brother. The party, if they were being totally honest, were always too scared to try and talk to her; and Steve had always made it very clear that they were not to fuck with her. Mike had always thought she was pretty, he would blush when he saw her in the hallways. But she was way out of his league; Mike couldn’t stand a chance. Despite always going to the same school, they first met during the summer on a day where he went to Steve’s house with Dustin to drop off something. 

Face to face, she was so much prettier than Mike remembered from afar. She had the sweetest smile Mike had ever seen. “Mike! Dustin!” she said when she opened the door “how can I help you guys?” 

Mike’s jaw practically dropped at her knowing his name. Dustin, sure–that was Steve’s best friend–but Mike? The prettiest girl he had ever seen, Hawkins star cheerleader, Y/n Harrington knew his name. 

Dustin had to do all the talking, explaining to Y/n that they were just returning a can of hairspray that Dustin had borrowed from Steve for a date. They stayed at her door for a while, having small talk about their summer plans and whatnot. Y/n asked them about Hellfire, which Mike had to embarrassingly confess he was the dungeon master of. 

“yeah-I mean, it’s like-it’s totally not a big deal” he stumbled “total nerd crap, y’know? We just sit around and roleplay..really lame” 

Y/n shook her head “I actually think it’s pretty cool. Looks really confusing but I’ve always wanted to play” 

“We can teach you” Mike offered “I can teach you, if you’d like” 

Y/n started showing up a lot more after that. Mike swore it was a coincidence, like he didn’t get information on where she would be from eavesdropping on Nancy’s calls with Steve. They ran into her and her friends at the arcade a couple times, they had bumped into her at the pool; Mike eventually worked up the courage to invite her to go swimming with them at Lover’s Lake. She quickly assimilated into their friend group. Mike was kind of surprised by it–little miss popular fitting in with all the freaks and outcasts. 

Her and Mike would hang out alone, too. He taught her all about Dungeons and Dragons, showed her all of the last campaigns. They would sit alone in his basement for hours, just talking back and forth. 

Y/n was the one who made the first move. Mike had taken her home on his bike after a movie night with everyone in his basement. Right outside her front door, Y/n grabbed Mike’s face and kissed him. It was a small peck, she pulled away and looked at him nervously. 

“Sorry” she whispered “I shouldn’t have-” 

Mike shook his head and pulled her in for another kiss, a longer one this time. 

They made things official about two weeks after their first kiss. Mike knew it had to be a secret, no one could know about them. He thought of Steve, who would beat him up–but he also thought of all the popular kids in school, the ones that loved Y/n and hated Mike. They would never let her live it down if they knew about them, she would lose her status, her friends, maybe even her position as cheer captain. 

They kept it a secret for months. They acted normal around friends, around family, they treated each other as friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Mike liked sneaking around, if he were being honest. It was sort of thrilling; all the kissing in the backs of movie theaters, the secret picnics and late night walks. He liked sneaking around in school even more. They would make out in janitor's closets, right before games or DnD campaigns, in the woods during lunch. 

Everything was a perfect, secret bliss. 

That was until a week ago, when Mike was forced to tell his best friends about her. Mike still swears the fight wasn’t his fault. 

They were sitting alone in Mike’s basement, cuddled together on the couch watching a movie. Y/n had her head resting on his chest, her arms wrapped around his torso. One of Mike’s hands was playing with her hair, the other resting on her legs that laid on his lap. 

“Mikey?” she whispered. It was late, both of them half asleep and barely paying attention to the movie. 

“Yeah, Y/n?” 

“I think,I think I wanna tell everyone…about us, I mean” 

Mike’s body froze. “What?” 

She lifted her head to look at Mike’s face, a nervous smile on her lips “I mean, we’ve been together for like, eight months already” 

Seven months and 23 days–not that he was counting. 

“Don’t you think people should know already?” 

Mike didn’t know what to say. She was too sweet for her own good, too sweet to realize that publicly dating Mike would be her downfall. “I dunno, Y/n” 

Y/n swallowed. He could see the disappointment and fear pooling in her eyes. “Why not?” she asked “I mean, doesn’t have to be everyone. We could just tell the party?”

Mike shook his head “If we tell them then Dustin will tell Steve, Will will tell Jonathan, Lucas will tell Erica. The whole town would know within a week.”

“Is that really so bad, though?”

Mike held his breath. He couldn’t say yes, that would be rude. He couldn’t say no, that would be a lie. 

“I know we don’t-we don't say it” Y/n continued “but, but I love you, Mike. I wanna love you outside of the confines of this basement. I wanna love you in front of our friends and at school” 

She was staring up at him with wide eyes. Mike’s hard was racing, his mind lost. That was the first time she had ever told him she loved him; and Mike wanted to say it back with all his heart. It danced on the tip of his tongue, the words I love you, Y/n begging to escape. But he couldn’t, he never could. Mike didn’t know why, he knew that he loved her. He knew that she loved him. He knew, logically, nothing bad could happen from saying it to her. He just couldn’t. 

“We can’t” was all he could say as a response. 

Y/n’s eyes flooded with tears so fast. She pulled herself away from Mike. “Wow,” she muttered “real sweet, Mike” 

Mike sighed “I didn’t mean-” 

She stood up off the couch “No, no I get it…I tell you I love you and you just tell me we can’t? Really? Do you…do you not love me” Her voice cracked at the end of her sentence, tears threatening to spill out. 

Why did she have to ask that? Was it not obvious in the way he kissed her, the way he held her? “People can’t know, Y/n” He knew it wasn’t the right thing to say, but he couldn’t get any other words out. 

“I should go,” Y/n muttered “I don’t-I dunno, Mike. Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this, not if you don't, you don’t-” 

Mike stood up to follow her as she walked to his door. “C’mon, Y/n, don’t say that. You know that’s not true” 

“So then say it. If it’s not true then say it, tell me you love me”

There was a pause, a quiet moment that went on for way too long. Mike could only stare at her in silence. 

Y/n scoffed and shook her head, muttering “I can’t do this,” before rushing out the door. 

That was the last time Mike talked to her. She had ignored him for the entire week. Everyone had started getting suspicious when she walked into first period all teary eyed. And when she stopped sitting with them during lunch and went back to join the cheerleaders, they all definitely knew something was up. 

Mike didn’t know what to do. By Wednesday his body was filled with dread and guilt. He wanted to make things better, he needed to. That was why he told all his friends. 

He sat Lucas, Will, Dustin, Max, and El down–told them the entire story all the way from the beginning, starting at that day he and Dustin first met her. He told them about their fight, about how Y/n wanted to go public, about how she loved him and he couldn’t bring himself to say it back. 

At the end of his story, Lucas was smirking. Dustin and Will let out a groan and reached into their pockets to grab their wallets. They both pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to Lucas. 

“Knew it!” Lucas said in a sing-song voice. “I told you guys, I called this months ago”

Mike's eyes were wide “What? How the hell did you know?” 

Lucas shrugged “Dave from basketball asked her out. Y'know, that hot guy that any girl at Hawkins would die to go out with? Yeah, he told me she rejected him because she was busy studying with you, Wheeler”

Mike groaned, hiding his face in his hands. “Does everyone know?”

“Only us,” Dustin said “we were just betting on it” 

Will nodded “Yeah, me and Dustin thought she was too cool for you”

Mike shook his head back and forth aggressively. He looked up at his friends, face full of despair “What do I do? I’ve totally gone and fucked everything up! She’ll never forgive me” 

“You need something big,” Max told him, “a big grand gesture to win her back, to prove to her that you love her.”

El nodded “Yes! Something grand to make up for your stupidity” The girls laughed to themselves. 

Mike groaned. His hands grabbed his hair and tugged at it, as if the pain would bring him new ideas. “I can’t think of anything” he muttered 

Dustin clicked his tongue with disappointment “C’mon, man. I think the solutions pretty obvious” 

Lucas was smirking “How do you feel about pompoms?” 

That was how Mike got where he was now, standing on the sidelines of this week's pep rally. Nerves soared through his entire body, sweat coating the microphone he held in his hand. He looked at the bleachers, watching all the students listen to the principal's speech about dominating the court and whatnot. The cheerleaders had just finished their set. Y/n did great, as always; when was she anything other than perfect? She was sitting on the bleachers with the rest of the cheerleaders drinking water and laughing. He watched as she looked behind her to scan the bleachers. Her smile faltered when she skimmed past Hellfire's usual spot and saw none of them there. 

Mike took a deep breath. He looked across the gym to Dustin, who was giving the DJ ten bucks to leave his stand and let Dustin take over. Over the loud speakers, cutting off Principal Higgin’s speech, was Dustin’s voice. 

“Thank you, Higgins, for the lovely and redundant speech” There was a scattered laughter at Dustin's comment “We’d like to introduce a special friend to the stage…everyone please clap it up for Mike Wheeler!” 

Dustin played a blowhorn sound and some victory music as Mike walked to the center of the gym. There were a few people who clapped along, but most people just stared with confusion. He locked eyes with Y/n, who was staring with furrowed eyebrows. Mike planted his feet and cleared his throat into Mike. 

“Hey guys,” he said. His voice was shaky and his breath was weak. “Well-um, the reason I’m here is…theres this special someone, someone who deserves the world. And-and I’ve been too stupid–or too scared, really–to give it to her. She’s so perfect; and you guys would agree that she deserves this and probably more. She’s funny, sweet, smart as hell…she’s everything I could ever dream of.” Behind him, Will, Lucas, Max, El, Dustin, Erica, and two other members of Hellfire  were standing facing the crowd with small posters. 

Mike stared at the crowd, an awkward silence briefly coming to the crowd. He coughed and nodded to himself, “right, yeah…” he set the mic down onto the floor next to his feet. Feedback screeched across the gym, causing everyone to cringe and cover their ears. Mike put his arms straight against his side, trying to mimic the posture he had seen Y/n practice so many times. 

“Give me an I!” He lifted his arms above his head to look like an I. Some of the crowd followed along, a tiny recall of an “I” returning his chant from the crowd. Will lifted his poster, revealing a letter I painted on it.

He moved his right hand to stick out horizontally on his side “Give me an L!” More of the crowd started to follow. His eyes fell on Y/n. Her expression was unreadable. Lucas raised his poster as the crowd screamed back “L”, revealing another painted letter. 

Mike continued on with his chant, calling out every letter without taking his eyes off Y/n. I-L-O-V-E, by then, realization dawned on her face. She bit her lip, a small smile spreading across her face. Mike was grinning like an idiot by the end of it. Y-O-U. By then, everyone was participating. Mike put his hands back to his sides “What does that spell?” 

A unanimous “I love you!” spread across the gym. Dustin ran back to the DJ booth to play some cheers, fireworks, and any other stupid preloaded sounds he could find. Mike waited for the noise to die down. There was a low muttering around the gym, whispers spreading wondering who this was for. Mike took a deep breath.

“I love you, Y/n” he said as confidently and as proudly as he could, “and I hope this shows you how sorry I am for not saying it sooner” 

Y/n had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. There were sporadic claps and cheers from the crowd. She stood up, tripping over her and the team's water bottles and gym bags. She ran to Mike, putting her arms around his neck and jumping to wrap her legs around his waist. Mike's hands moved to wrap around her back, holding her up as they kissed. This was definitely not school appropriate, and they would both be getting into crazy trouble for this–but Mike didn’t care. All he could think about was Y/n in his arms, the feeling of her smile against his lips. 

A rough hand on his shoulder is what pulled Mike away from the kiss. He hadn’t realized all the commotion they caused. Some people were clapping, some people were yelling–some people had started to make out on their own. Principal Higgins was staring at Mike and Y/n with the angriest expression they both had ever seen. 

“Detention. Both of you. Tonight.” 

Y/n nodded, ever proper “yes sir, sorry sir”

“And you!” Higgins turned to point at Dustin, who was still playing with the controls on the DJ booth “You are on thin ice, Henderson! Do you hear me?” He walked up to Dustin, who tried to run and hide behind the bleachers. 

Mike turned his attention back to Y/n. He grabbed her hands and interlocked her fingers with his. “So, do you forgive me?” 

Y/n tilted her head to one side as if she had to think about it “I dunno, your Y was pretty sloppy” 

Mike scoffed “I had a horrible teacher! Seriously, Erica doesn’t know anything and I had to give her $50 bucks just to join us-”

Y/n cut him off with a quick kiss. “You’re an idiot” 

Mike hummed, pulling her in as he kissed her back. “I love you,” he said against her lips 

“I love you too, Wheeler” Y/n said almost immediately. 

Mike's hands wrapped around Y/n’s body, pulling her as close as he could. He thought of all the consequences to come. He could imagine Steve twisting a bat in his hands, getting ready to swing it at Mike's face once he found out. He thought of the endless teasing he would get from his friends, the insane debt he owed to Erica for her help. One thing he didn’t mind, though, was detention. Sure, usually it’s boring; you just sit around and stare at the ceiling or clean chalkboards. But something told Mike–maybe it was the way Y/n was kissing him–that tonight's detention wouldn’t be half bad.