charlotte

your twin brother was staring at you in disbelieving disgust. jonathan would likely have been slightly amused at the expression on your face, if he wasn’t so enveloped by his own object of affection— nancy wheeler, sister to the boy you were currently ogling over your dinner.

mike was beside you, leaning away from you slightly as he cut holly’s steak for her. the gesture had been innocent— an older brother making sure his younger sister didn’t accidentally choke to death on her dinner. the gesture was second nature to mike; though to you, mike may as well have been standing unclothed with his messy morning curls. your heart pounded erratically in your chest and you reminded yourself to chew your food and close your mouth.

mike shifted again, glancing over to you innocently. his eyebrows lifted at your expression and you snapped your head back to your plate. will snorted across from you, shaking his head slightly as he returned to his potatoes. mike exchanged a glance between you and will, trying to clue himself in to what he had missed and why you were looking at him in the way that normally involved a lot less clothes and extremely less people.

“dinner was very good, mrs. wheeler,” you carried a stack of plates towards the kitchen sink and karen turned to face you fondly, “oh, thank you… you don’t have to do this—“

but doing the dishes distracted you from the suffocating, all consuming force that was your boyfriend and his second nature to cut his sister’s dinner for him. you were mildly convinced that had you not had a stack of plates that your hands would be shaking. will had constantly teased you that the way mike effected you so easily needed to be studied. dustin called you a head case and that you needed to be studied for entirely different reasons.

you did not argue with either of them; because mike wheeler had been the object of your affection and incessant flirting and stupid jokes for seventeen years now and likely for however many years you had left.

“hey, mom,” the knife you had been washing nearly sliced through your finger as you jumped and nearly tossed it into the air. mike raised his eyebrows and rushed forward to yank your hands away from the hazard that was yourself. karen looked between the two of you briefly panicked but relaxed as soon as mike pulled you away. you were a klutz on a good day— when mike was involved you were a hazard.

“dinner was really good tonight…”

“thank you, mike… do you mind helping put dishes away?”

you were likely to drop them if he kept standing there looking at you with his soft smirk, “sure mom, but i think holly is better equipped— she’s still reading…”

“at least she spends her free time reading.”

you bit back a smile, giving mike the faintest brush on his arm as you stepped past him. he glanced to you with a small frown, eyes slightly longing as he watched you go.

nancy was glancing over your shoulder as you skimmed through your chemistry homework and sighed.

“i was never a chemistry person,” you had always liked nancy, though now that you shared a room, you had gotten closer and she less exasperated with you.

“unless it comes to mike.” she raised her eyebrows with a playful smile.

“wouldn’t that be more anatomy?”

nancy snorted and wrinkled her nose up, “gross, that’s my brother.”

you raised your eyebrows and nodded towards her pointedly, “and that is my brother…” jonathan’s shirt hung on the back of the desk chair and nancy flushed. she snatched it away quickly and tossed it into her closet.

nancy smiled guiltily again before disappearing back down the stairs likely to find jonathan. not even five seconds after she disappeared, mike stepped through the threshold. he was smiling almost smugly, eyes sparkling mischievously. you glanced up from your homework and almost laughed, “your sister doesn’t like you in her room…”

“so? maybe my girlfriend should have come into my room, then.”

“i’m studying, michael…”

mike climbed onto your makeshift, inflatable bed and settled against you, “and i’m helping.” your eyes shifted from the page as you felt mike shifting again, draping his arm over you until his chest was against your back.

“mike…” your tone was warning but you knew you had never— and would never— fought him off or tried to stop him.

“still just helping…” his lips faintly brushed against your jaw and you were closing your book and turning to meet his lips.

mike smirked slightly against your lips, his hand coming up behind your ear to hold you against him, “i thought you were studying…” more kisses, interrupted, as you deepened the kisses and lowered your back onto the mattress, “really such a bad example…” mike mumbled against your lips and laughed slightly as you smacked him.

the door creaked and opened fully, unceremoniously. nancy froze in the doorway, eyes narrowed and no longer surprised, “your own room, mike!”

mike smirked innocently and shrugged. jonathan stood behind nancy, his hand in hers, looking quite eager to follow her. mike narrowed his eyes, looking between them. jonathan’s eager, stupid smile vanished the moment he laid eyes on mike and the way that he was over the top of you on the mattress.

“wheeler!”

mike jumped to his feet, smirking all the more now. “wheeler—“ jonathan stumbled past nancy, finger pointed and ready to give the daily speech.

“byers.” mike smirked again as you ducked under jonathan’s arm and shoved him backwards.

“wheeler, you— you—“

mike just raised his eyebrows and smirked again, nodding expectantly.

“and you—“ jonathan turned his glare to you and you crossed your arms with a sigh.

“you,” mike interrupted with a sigh, smacking jonathan’s arm away from his chest once again, “aren’t supposed to be in my sisters room…”

“i— we—“

nancy rolled her eyes, knowing mike wouldn’t actually say anything but liked to give jonathan shit until he dropped the older brother act.

“aha! thought so. now if you’ll excuse me, we were studying…” mike grabbed your hand and you held back a devious giggle.

“you cant just take her in your room, wheeler! rules are rules!” jonathan stammered and followed behind you, nearly making you snort at his pissed off, murderous expression.

“actually, i can go in his room. karen has no issue with girls going into the boy’s rooms because who would ever suspect me?” you smiled innocently as mike tucked you under his arm, pausing outside his bedroom door.

“that’s not fair! we have the basement and will! and it’s mrs. wheeler! not karen!”