Running up that hill - a mileven texting au

all that you are

mike sat alone in his driveway, with his headphones in his ears and his knees pulled to his chest, gazing up at the stars.

footsteps shuffled from behind him as nancy appeared in her pajamas.

"what're you doing out here so late?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

with the music still blaring in his ears mike was still able to comprehend what she was saying. he removed one earbud before speaking.

"i like to stargaze every now and then. who knows? i might get lucky and see a shooting star." he said as he rubbed his knees.

nancy nodded in understanding. ever since they were kids, she and mike would stargaze with their mom every night before going to bed. it had become a tradition for the three of them, that they did it for a number of years up until their mother's life was taken away from them.

"whatcha listenin' to?" she asked.

"stolen. by dashboard confessional." he answered.

she held her palm out, mike got the message and placed an airpod into the palm of her hand.

she placed the airpod in her ear as she began to hear the familiar vocals of her and mikes favorite artist.

"remember when we saw them live in concert?" she asked.

"yeah. hands down that was the best day i could remember." mike said while smirking.

nancy caught onto his reference as she playfully punched his shoulder. she too couldn't surpass the grin that spawned on her lips.

"why are you really out here mike?" nancy asked.

"i told you. i like stargazing." he replied.

nancy wasn't buying that at all. she could sniff bullshit from a mile away. nancy works at the hawkins police department as a police detective in training. she was being trained by none other than the chief of police jim hopper. jim taught her how to be keen and be able to detect bullshit from perpetrators and little siblings.

"mike you haven't been out stargazing ever since mom died. now tell me what's going on?" she said.

mike clenched his jaw. he never liked yelling or getting aggravated with his sister, he hated it. but being a hormonal teenager, sometimes your anger gets the best of you. mike dug his fingers into the roots of his hair pulling on it.

he exhaled as he looked up at nancy. "i am fine nancy, i just wanted to stargaze, you're more than welcome to stay and join me watch the stars. but if you're gonna stay here and try and do some detective work and try to dig something out of me, you're barking up the wrong tree." he said a little frustrated.

"mike." nancy said sternly. "you know you can talk to me. so stop being broody and talk to me." she said.

mike sighed in defeat. she was right, even if he didn't like the idea of agreeing with her, at some point he was going to have to grow up and abandon this broody phase he was going through.

"promise you won't be mad?" he asked.

"unless you skipped school, graffitied the bathroom stalls or plagiarized and essay or you're hiding a girl in the basement, i think you'll be okay. i promise." she responded.

"so a few weeks ago, i got this random message from this girl. im guessing she texted the wrong number, thinking i was her dad? i don't know. anyway, i wanted no part of whatever conversation she was hoping to strike after I told her she had the wrong number. of course she couldn't take a hint and she didn't stop messaging me, i could've just ignored her messages, blocked her or just flat out muted our conversation. but i didn't. it's crazy, she just...i don't know." he said.