**DISCLAIMER: i wrote this in like middle school before season two came out & it's pretty cringy but i'm leaving it published bc it has 20k reads😏
❝ This is not yours to fix alone. You act like you're all alone out there in the world, but you're no...
^creds for the idea of this scene to kidovna on tumblr and then I made this:
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***
Mike straightened his bow tie nervously and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up. He was waiting for El downstairs while she got ready. Nancy was helping her, and they had been taking forever.
"Honey, it's fine," Karen reassured her anxious son. "It's just a school dance." He raised an eyebrow at her and looked away, shaking his head.
The doorbell rang, and Mike barreled in front of Karen to answer it. It was Dustin and Will. Dustin was wearing a black tux, and Will wore the same with a red bow tie. "Hey," he said to them, breathless from running.
Dustin seemed nervous. "Hey," Will said, smirking at Dustin before walking inside. "Where's El?"
"Coming," Mike answered. "Where's Lucas and Max?"
"I think Lucas is on his way," Dustin said distractedly, "and, uh, we're meeting Max there."
A minute later, the doorbell rang again, and everyone ran to the door to answer. There was Lucas in a creamy white tux, the gel in his hair obvious. "Hey," he said to them, walking in without an invitation.
"Didn't ask anyone?" Will asked him.
"Nah," Lucas replied, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. "I still don't get the hype around girls."
"I heard Mike almost threw up when he had to re-ask El to the Snow Ball," Dustin said with a mischievous grin.
"Did not!" Mike yelled, flushing red.
"Guys..." Will said, looking behind them.
Lucas followed his gaze to the stairs. "Oh, hey El, hey Nancy," Lucas said casually.
"Oooh, Wheeler, look, it's your date!" Dustin teased, chuckling.
"Hi, Mike," Mike heard behind him. He looked back to see a beaming Nancy leading El downstairs. And El...
Mike could barely breathe. El was practically glowing, a small smile on her face. She was wearing a pink dress - her favorite color - and a glittery headband held her hair back. It seemed like the whole world had stopped as they stood there, gazing at each other. To say she's beautiful, Mike thought, would be the understatement of the century.
But the world continued around them. "Look at him!" Dustin laughed to the other two. "He's bloody smitten!"
El came down the stairs and took Mike's hand. Mike was still in awe. "Thank you, Nancy," El said to the girl watching from the stairs.
"No problem," Nancy replied, smirking at her dumbstruck brother, then leaving.
"Okay, everyone," Karen said, walking in the room, "time to go!"
***
The gym was pleasantly dark, cast in a bluish light, and many-colored balloons crowded around the ceiling. It was pretty crowded, but not so much that you couldn't walk. Some people were in the bleachers, talking. There was a table on the side with food and drinks, which is where where they met Max.
Max had her hair up with a short dark blue dress that made her eyes pop. It was the first time Mike had ever seen her with her hair up. Dustin seemed to like it, and he immediately asked her if she wanted to dance. "Sure," she giggled. Actually giggled.
Mike and El hung back for a few songs to keep the other two boys company. "You guys, go dance," Will told them, smiling knowingly.
"Yeah, we can dance with ourselves," Lucas added. "Fun."
El looked at Mike and seemed to think of something. "'Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here, we should dance,'" she said. "Anonymous."
"Where did you hear that?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Just come on!"
So Mike allowed El to excitedly pull him to the middle of the gym. The song was Beat It by Michael Jackson. And the two started to dance, lost in the crowd. The music pounded up through their feet, and El felt her heart become caught in the rhythm. She had never felt this way before, and she loved it.
Mike was breathing hard, but he looked at El and knew his quick heartbeat wasn't only from dancing. He loved the way she looked, completely ecstatic and spinning around to the beat. During that song he felt the thrill of being alive, gazing at the girl he lived for.
Eventually, the song - and moment - had to end, so the two made their way back to the side to catch their breath. Dustin and Max appeared beside them, and they went to the perimeter of the room, where Lucas and Will stood waiting, and leaned against the wall.
One might look at them and see six young people at a school dance. One who knows them might only see their faults: one a former experiment, one too deeply in love to see past the girl, one trying to hide her troubled past, one seen as only a comic relief, one considered different for the color of his skin, and one formerly plagued by a real-life nightmare. But they are also something else.
Friends.
And if you have friends, then you can never truly be alone.
