Healing ||mileven||

You can run, but you don't need to hide

It was the day of the meet, and Mike, Dustin, and Lucas had biked over to the Byers' to meet up with El so they could all go together. Max was already there when they arrived.

"Hola, boys" said Max, smiling to see them.

"Hola, Max" said Dustin, winking. "Hey El, have you done much practice?" he asked.

"No" she answered.

"What?! Seriously?" said Lucas in surprise. "Isn't coach gonna be pissed?"

"No, I told him I wouldn't."

"What, and he was just 'ok' with that?" he asked, incredulously.

"I don't know...I walked off before he could answer" she said, honestly, shrugging her shoulders. The gang just looked at each other and laughed

"Aren't you worried then?" asked Will, suddenly worried himself about how she would react if she lost.

"No" she stated. Everyone else just looked at each other, thinking the same as Will.

"Right, come on everyone, we'd better get going" said Joyce, bustling into the room. "El, Will, Mike, you come with me, the rest of you go with Jonathan, ok?"

The ride there was simple enough as the meet was at their high school. Other schools from the neighbouring counties were competing, so there were a lot more people around. Mike looked over at El, sitting next to him in the back seat of Joyce's car, and saw her looking at the crowds apprehensively. He instinctively took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze to reassure her. "We're here" stated Joyce, parking up. "Let's find the others and get a good spot."

By the time they found the others, there weren't many good seats left, or so they thought. Joyce spied Hopper in the crowd and he waved them over, he'd gotten his deputies to sit in some of the best seats to hold them for El's family and friends. "Isn't that an abuse of your position?" Joyce whispered into his ear.

"Absolutely" he replied, chuckling. "But did you think I'd let you guys miss seeing this?"

"Thanks, Hop...I'm glad you're here too" she said, with a shy smile.

"You didn't think I'd miss this, did you?" he asked, returning the smile.

Mike pulled El to one side, away from everyone else. "Are you ok?" he asked her quietly, so that no one else could hear. She'd gone very quiet upon arriving, and was gripping his arm tightly. She met his gaze with an embarrassed look on her face. "El, talk to me, if you want to go home we can, no problem."

She shook her head and took a deep breath, "I'm very nervous, Mike...I've never seen so many people before."

He sighed, secretly glad that was the only thing wrong. "It's ok El, everyone gets nervous. All those other athletes will be nervous too, and remember how awesome you are at running!" She blushed and smiled at him. "I mean it, El, you'll do great. And no matter what happens I'm so, so proud of you right now."

"Thank you, Mike" she said. He gave her a questioning look. "Thank you for believing in me...you do too much for me, I don't deserve you" she said, gazing down at the ground.

He didn't like to see her like this, so gently lifted her chin so she was looking at him again. Their eyes met and all the background noise just faded away, till it was just El and Mike, gazing into each other's eyes. So slowly, seemingly not in control of their bodies, they started to get closer, closing their eyes, leaning their heads.

"Byers, there you are" boomed the coach. El and Mike jumped apart, both unsure at what had been interrupted. "Time to get ready, you can see your boyfriend after."