One and Only (Byler)

Jane's Brother

TW: Mentions of blood, Homophobic language used.

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Shortly after Mike left, Lucas and Max left to - hand in hand. Dustin scowled at their departing figures, shoving his hands inside his pockets. "Probably wandered off to suck face or something," he said bitterly, and Will blinked at him, a smirk creeping onto his face. "You sound jealous." Dustin gave a start, shaking his head, and sighing. "No, it's not that, it's just.." He paused, looking troubled. "Suzie and I haven't been doing that well."

Will frowned at Dustin, who moved to sit next to him. "Aren't you two, like, couple of the year? What happened?" Dustin looked down into his lap, closing his eyes for a moment. El had already left, so they were clear. "Well, the other day, I contacted her to ask if she would change my grades again, and she just kinda blanked on me. Left me hanging." He got to his feet, tugging at the table cloth. "I don't think we're completely over, but Suzie wants us to take a break."

Will nodded, not at all surprised. What did Dustin expect when he constantly asked his girlfriend change his grades? And Suzie was better than that, she needed a clear conscious. "To be fair, Dustin, you can't keep asking her for that. You know she doesn't like it." Dustin lowered his head for a moment, before nodding. "I know, I know. It's just, she's my girlfriend, and I thought I could ask. Suzie's great, I don't want to lose her."

After climbing up the stairs of Lucas's basement, and finding him and Max clearing up the living room, Will made for the door, before Max stopped him. "Don't you wanna see this supposed 'beast,' Will?" Will shook his head, standing back. "No, not really." Max gave a derisive snort, rolling up her sleeves. "Come on, it can't be that bad," she replied, and before she could anyone could stop her, she stuck her in between the bars of the cage, shaking it.

The creature snapped opened it's charred mouth, revealing a long row of sharp, gleaming teeth, before tearing into Max's arm, easily ripping her flesh. Max let out a scream, and Lucas rushed to her side, kicking down 'grey,' and pulling Max to the side. The blood spilling out of her arm soaked into Lucas's shirt and shorts, but he didn't seem to care. "Shit, Max, why the fuck did you do that? I warned you, we warned you-"

Max let out a strangled yell again, trembling uncontrollably, and Dustin hopped on his feet, running towards the kitchen. Will moved onto the table, not all that panicked. He could see what was about to go down ages before it actually happened. Dustin re-entered the room with bandages in his arms, dropping them onto the table, and biting his nails. Minutes after complete (faulted) disaster, Max collapsed onto the couch, breathing heavily.

"See? It wasn't even that bad."

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Despite their breakup, El and Mike still consistently hung out. Of course, this meant that everybody thought they were dating - or still dating - and whenever they would walk past crowds, or the cheer team, people would talk, whispering about Jane Hopper and Mike Wheeler, but they didn't really know any better. El wasn't the one he snuck out to see (alone) after school, or the one he found himself gazing at in lessons, because she's not really the reason Mike couldn't even think straight.

What a terrible scandal. Michael Wheeler was in love with Jane's brother.

As Mike walked to physics with Dustin, Lucas, and Will, he couldn't help but notice that it looked a lot like Max was flirting with the captain of the cheerleading team, Brittany Wilson. He glanced over to Lucas, but found that he was already in deep conversation with Will. Huh. Maybe he was just seeing things. The two were probably just talking. Sliding into his chair in the middle of the physics, Will allowed his mind to wonder to Mike.