#I literally was just scrolling through Instagram and found it and I audibly said ‘wait whay? hell yeah good for you’

[simplysummers]

MING-NA WEN FINALLY GOT HER STAR ON THE WALK OF FAME AND NOBODY TOLD ME??

[ificanthaveu]

Hot Chocolate and Other Things That Taste Like Peppermint || Shawn Mendes

Description: It’s finals week, and you’re ready to head home for the holidays to see someone you haven’t seen in months. Shawn will do anything to not let that happen.

Description per my notes (aka a jumbled mess): it’s semester break and I have to tell u how I feel before you go back and see that high school friend you’ll inevitably hook up with

A/N: HAPPY DAY 1 OF FICMAS! I forgot it was day one and didn’t edit this pice until right before I posted it oops. But she cute and she here so ENJOY

Word Count: 3k

12 Days of Ficmas

The incessant pounding on your door made the bells hung on it jingle like crazy. You sighed and finished typing your paragraph. Whoever was there could wait. You took a sip of the peppermint hot chocolate you had treated yourself to and went to answer the door, mug still in hand, hair a mess, still in pajamas, with your glasses pushed down your nose. Happy finals week.

The knocking began again, and you swung the door open, making the bells slam against the wall.

“What?” You said with a little too much anger.

“Where is your Christmas spirit?” Shawn said as he gave you a look.

“It’s on hold until finals week is done, and I’m on my way home for a whole, beautiful, month,” you said, taking another sip and a deep breath. 

He glanced down at your mug and then back up to you.

“Peppermint?” He questioned.

You rolled your eyes and nodded your head, “I’m not a complete Scrooge.”

You left the door open and walked back into your room, sitting at your desk and setting the mug down. Shawn found his place on your futon next to you, playing with the lights dangling off your desk.

“What do you want?” You asked, giving him a look.

He stopped playing with the lights and looked back at you before saying, “I need you to proofread my Sociology paper.”

“No,” you said simply.

“Please, [Y/N], I will owe you for the rest of my life, but you know I get, like, a whole letter grade up when you proofread them. I can’t afford to get a bad grade on this,” he begged.

“Shawn, I have my own paper to finish, two in-class exams to study for and a presentation to prep for, which we both know never goes well,” you said as you pulled your feet up onto your chair. 

“I’ll help you with your presentation!” He said a little too loudly. “I’m great at public speaking, so you can practice on me, and I’ll give you advice.”

You stared at him as you thought this out. You really did need his help with this presentation. And it probably wouldn’t take any longer than a half-hour to proofread his paper.

“Fine,” you sighed. “I’ll proofread it tonight, but you can’t go doing something else while I’m doing it. You’re sitting with me, and we’re going through it together.”

“You’re literally a lifesaver. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he repeated. 

“Now, no offense, but I have to finish my own paper. So, get the fuck out,” you said as you turned back towards your computer.

You heard him sigh and stand up from his spot before patting you on the shoulder. 

“Does 7:00 work?” He asked while looking over your shoulder at what you were writing.

“Yep,” you said, unflinching. 

“Well, I guess I’ll just walk myself out,” he said dramatically. 

“It’s a dorm room. It’s ten feet,” you said. 

“Ouch,” was the last thing you heard before he shut the door behind him. 

You glanced at the clock and leaned back in your chair. It was 4:00, which meant you had three hours to finish the last few pages of your paper, proofread it, and eat dinner. Looked like you’d be ordering in. 

It was 6:55 when you were finishing up your last slice of pizza and proofreading the hard copy of your paper in front of you, marking things in red pen to fix on your laptop later. You made a few final corrections on the last page before reaching for your computer to fix the mistakes. A knock on your door interrupted you.

“It’s unlocked,” you yelled as you tried to correct your mistakes quickly.

Shawn came walking in with his backpack and sat down next to you on the futon, pulling his legs up into a pretzel and pulling out his laptop. 

“I just have a few more corrections, and then I’ll help you. You can have some pizza,” you said through a mouthful. 

Shawn shrugged and grabbed a slice, watching you as you did your corrections. You sighed as you corrected one final thing and submitted your paper. You slammed your laptop shut and set it next to you.

“I am one fourth done with finals week,” you said with a smile as Shawn handed you his laptop.

“Ok, cool, now read my paper,” he said, still eating the pizza. 

“You didn’t just print it out?” You asked as you glanced at him.

“Why would I do that?” He questioned.

“It’s easier to see mistakes on paper,” you said like he was just supposed to know that. 

“It’s a waste of paper,” he rebutted.

“Fine,” you gave in as you started to read his paper. “Shawn, I’m one sentence in, and it’s already a run-on.”

“No, it’s not. There’s a comma,” he said as he pointed at the spot you were talking about. 

“Semicolon or comma and a fanboy,” you reminded him.

“A what?” He asked.

“FANBOY - for, and, nor, but, or, yet,” he rattled off as you continued to skim through his first paragraph. 

“Huh,” he said as he took his laptop and replaced his comma with a semicolon. “This is why I need you,” he said as he gave you that smile that made your heart flutter. 

“Also, your thesis is weak as fuck,” you whispered.  

Shawn slammed his head back against your futon and closed his eyes. 

“My whole paper is based on that thesis,” he whispered, barely audible. “That’s the point of the thesis.”

“And that’s fine. You just need to tighten it up. It’s way too broad. Just pick specific points that you talk about in your paragraphs and replace the vagueness,” you lectured. 

“Alright,” he mumbled before working on fixing his thesis. You took this as your moment to check your phone for the first time in hours.

You had too many facebook notifications and a few snapchats along with a lot of emails. You kept scrolling until a text caught your eyes.

“Shut the fuck up,” he said under your breath as you opened it and stood up. 

“What’s up?” Shawn said while glancing up at you and then back down at his computer. 

“Hayden texted me,” you said as you gestured to your phone.

“And he is?” Shawn asked as he kept looking at his paper.

“We kind of had a thing in high school? I don’t know how to describe it, I guess. We just flirted a lot and made out every once in a while, but we haven’t talked in months,” you explained as you kept staring at his text.

“What’d he say?”

“When do you come home? I have to see you!” You read out loud.

“Is that his way of asking you on a date?” Shawn scoffed. By then, he had his laptop set to the side, fully invested in what was going on with you and this guy he’d never heard of. 

“Probably not…” you said quietly as you trailed off. “It’s just been a while. He wants to catch up.”

“Why now? Why not over Thanksgiving break?” Shawn pointed out. 

You shrugged your shoulders and sat back down. 

“I don’t know,” you mumbled. “I guess it’s a little weird.”

“I know why,” Shawn said confidently without elaborating.

“And?” 

“Well, first, who wouldn’t want to see you? But that’s not the point. Second, you posted that picture last week on Instagram. The one of you and me at my formal,” he explained.

“I forgot about that,” you mumbled, trying not to think too deep into the first part of his statement.

“And third, who doesn’t want a hometown friend to hook up with over Christmas break when your regular college hookups are back at their own homes?” Shawn said. 

“Well, you’ve got a point,” you said. 

“So are you going to?” Shawn asked hesitantly.

“See him or hook up with him?” You asked.

“Both.”

“I’m going to see him, and I guess I’ll see where things go,” you said with a glint of hope in your voice.

Shawn didn’t say anything, as he handed his laptop back to you.

“Is that better?” He asked.

You skimmed over his new thesis and nodded your head. “Perfect. Much better.”

Hayden was long forgotten as you dove back into Shawn’s paper.

Shawn didn’t forget. 

It’s all he thought about for the next week. He tried his hardest to focus on the finals he needed to study for, but he couldn’t go more than fifteen minutes before his mind wandered off to you and whoever Hayden was. 

His curiosity got the best of him, and he searched for his Instagram. It was exactly what he expected it to be. Typical frat boy, obnoxious, “I peaked in high school,” energy. He had no idea what you saw in him.

“Who’s that?” Brian said and Shawn nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me,” Shawn said as he locked his phone and tossed it aside.

“Who was it?” Brian repeated as he motioned to Shawn’s phone.

“No one,” Shawn said quietly. 

“Bull shit.”

“Alright, it’s [Y/N]’s hometown friend who wants to ‘see her’ over break,” he explained, putting up quotes. 

“What’s the problem with that?” Brian said as he sat down and gave Shawn the look he was dreading.

“He’s disgusting. That’s the problem. [Y/N] deserves better,” he said sternly.

“Why don’t you just tell her?” Brian asked.

“Tell her what?” Shawn replied, playing clueless. 

“That you’ve been in love with her since the moment you met her,” Brian stated.

Shawn sighed and rested his head in his hands. 

“I was hoping that would just come out naturally, or she’d figure it out on her own. I can’t just walk up to her and go, ‘hey, it’d be cool if you loved me like I love you,’ but it doesn’t happen that way,” Shawn rambled.

“You either tell her and it goes well, you don’t tell her and she hooks up with that dick or you tell her, and it doesn’t go well and she hooks up with him,” Brian said with a shrug.

“That last option is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard,” Shawn said slowly.

“But it’s highly unlikely. I’ve seen you two together. You took her to formal. You almost kissed her at formal, but that’s a whole other thing,” Brian said and gave him a look.

“I’m meeting her in her room tonight to help her with her presentation,” Shawn said as he glanced at the clock and stood up. “Actually, I have to get going.”

“Is this the last time you’re seeing her before you go home?” Brian asked as Shawn shoved his things in his backpack. 

“Yeah, it is,” he paused. “She has her presentation first thing in the morning, and she leaves right after it. I’m still in my final when she leaves.”

“Then you better make your decision quickly,” Brian asked as he pulled out his laptop to study for his upcoming exam.

“Thanks for the advice,” Shawn mumbled.

“Anytime.”

Shawn stopped at the cafe on the way to your dorm building, grabbing you a peppermint hot chocolate and himself a coffee. He attempted to pull his hat down onto his ears to protect them from the wind, but it was no use. 

He kicked your door with his foot a few times since his hands were full. You swung the door open, and he handed you your drink without saying a word.

“Peppermint hot chocolate?” You asked, taking a sip of it.

“Of course,” he said with a smile. “I would’ve gotten you the peppermint mocha, but if you have caffeine now, there’s no way you’ll sleep for your presentation.”

“I’m already not going to sleep, so what’s the point?” you said as you plopped down on your futon, setting the cup on your desk next to you. Shawn sat down next to you, admiring the way the multicolor Christmas lights lit up your face, even if you were frowning.

“You know you’re going to do great. You’ve just gotta practice with me a little bit, and then you’ll be fine,” he said as you faced him. 

“Let’s get this done with,” you mumbled as you stood up and grabbed your tablet. You pulled your presentation up on your TV and took a deep breath before starting, trying not to look down at your notes too often.

Shawn barely even looked at your presentation, mostly watching how you talked about it. Since it was a public speaking class, you got to choose whatever topic you wanted. You chose to talk about the service work you had done with disabled kids that past summer. 

You finished the presentation and waited for Shawn to say something. He finally snapped out of his daze and clapped his hands a few times.

“That was actually really good,” he said with surprise in his voice.

“Why do you sound so shocked?” You said, slightly offended.

“Well, you stress out for these things, when you actually know what you’re talking about. It’s obvious you’re really passionate about it, and you only glanced down at your notes a few times to say the statistics, which is good. My only note is to slow down. You’re talking a little too fast,” Shawn explained.

“I talk fast when I get nervous,” you reminded him.

“Well then fix it,” he replied.

“It’s not that easy,” you complained.

“Just talk as slow as you possibly think you can. It’ll end up being a normal speed because of how nervous you are,” he said. 

You nodded your head and scrolled to the top of your notes and started the presentation over. You started speaking again, first talking about the first time you met with the kids. You couldn’t help but notice how Shawn looked at you. 

You finished it once again, and Shawn nodded his head.

“Perfect. Looks like an A+ to me,” he said with a shrug.

You breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Ok, let me do this one slide again.”

You went back to the one you messed up on as your phone vibrated. You had left it on the table, so Shawn glanced down at it. His heart dropped.

“Hayden texted you,” he mumbled, interrupting you halfway through your presentation. 

You gave him a look before finishing off the slide. 

“You could’ve just waited until I was done,” you said, giving him the same look again.

“Well, I know how you feel about him. Just thought you wanted to know,” he said with no emotion in his voice. 

You grabbed your phone off the table and put it in your pocket without looking at the message. 

“You’re not going to look at it?” Shawn asked, confusion in his voice.

“Not important right now. Now actually listen to this slide,” you said before starting over. 

Shawn crossed his arms over his chest, his loving expression from just minutes ago was replaced by the one you didn’t see very often.

“Ok, what the fuck is your problem?” You asked after you finished your presentation. 

“Nothing.”

“Shawn, seriously,” you said as you crossed your arms and looked at him, waiting for him to say something.

“I think Hayden seems like a dick,” he finally said.

“You’ve never met him.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

You ran your hands down your face and rubbed your eyes a few times. 

“I don’t think you should see him over break,” Shawn said slowly and quietly. 

You walked over to Shawn and sat on the coffee table across from him, your knees hitting his. 

“Why?” You asked.

He didn’t look at you, just stared down at his hands. 

“Shawn,” you said quietly. “Why don’t you want me to go on this date with Hayden?”

He finally looked up at you, noting the change in your voice, the irritation being replaced with that soft sound of your voice that he always craved.

“You know the answer, don’t you?” He said quietly. 

You nodded your head in response, “Yeah, I think I do.”

He didn’t say anything, just leaned back and rested his arms over his face. 

“But I need you to say it out loud,” you said, leaning your elbows on your knees. 

“What are you going to say back?” He whispered. 

“Guess you’ll find out.”

Shawn took a deep breath before saying, “I think I’m falling in love with you, and the thought of you hooking up with some guy that isn’t me over Christmas break, where I don’t get to see you for a month, makes me sick.”

“I’m not seeing him,” you responded a little too quickly.

He looked up at you with a confused look.

“I told him that it probably wasn’t a good idea,” you paused. “Because I didn’t want to ruin what I think could happen with someone here.”

Shawn didn’t try to hide the smile on his face as he said, “Who’s the someone?”

You rested your head in your hand and mumbled, “Do I have to say it?”

“You made me say it, now you have to,” you heard his voice from just inches away from you. 

You looked up, his nose almost hitting yours. 

“It’s you,” you paused. “I didn’t want to ruin what I thought could maybe happen with you.”

Shawn cupped your cheek in his hand, and you leaned into his touch. You both leaned in as he kissed you, holding your face in both his hands as you rested yours on his knees. He pulled away after a moment, looking at you with that look before pressing a kiss to your forehead. 

“You taste like peppermint,” he mumbled against your forehead. You couldn’t help the laugh that came out as you pushed him back against the futon and straddled his lap. 

“Want to taste it again?” You said before leaning in again, your presentation long forgotten, as you let your Christmas spirit hold break a little earlier than planned. 

P.S. I wanted to name this “Peppermint Kisses,” but that clearly gave the ending away. 

REBLOG, SEND ME MESSAGES, ASKS, REPLYS ANNNYYTTHHIIINNGGG

taglist (message/send me an ask/reply to be added for ficmas!!) 

@fallinallincurls​ @shawnblrficawards​

[mendes8123-blog]

Are You High?

A/N: @shes-soparticular​ requested number 95, 111, 113, 124 off the prompt list so here it is babe hope you like it! Also this is my first time posting any of my writing here and I hope to start posting my hoard of writing soon :)

95: I never liked it I lied

111: Delete it. now.

113: Are you high

124: Never give him stuff like that

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings: Marijuana use

Shawn’s apartment was quiet given that there were five people in it, all of them men and all of them high. Very high. Brian had acquired some very expensive weed for his birthday from Shawn and in Brian’s eyes there was no better way to use it than with his best friends on a Thursday night. They had stocked up on chips and soda for this, Shawn even ordering a couple pizza’s beforehand.

The five men were laying around the apartment- literally. Brian was laying on his back on the black leather couch while Shawn took occupancy on the love seat beside it, his legs hanging off the arm as his hand reached into the bag of Doritos on his stomach carelessly, clumsily bringing the chip to his mouth. Ian was spread on the floor below Brian and at his feet was Jon’s head. Geoff had retired to the guest room, his snores audible from the hallway.

“I miss Y/N.” Shawn sighed, his mouth full. “She’s so cute you guys.”

Brian groaned. “Bro, if you miss her so much just call her over.”

“It’s a guys night.” Ian whined. “No girls allowed.”

Jon scoffed. “Guys night my ass. You haven’t shut up about her all night.”

“I want pizza.” Ian hummed, pulling himself up off the floor with more effort than was necessary nearly falling onto Ian in the process which made him laugh boisterously, hands falling onto his chest.

“How far away do you think the ceiling is?” Brian mumbled, hand reaching up as if to touch the ceiling.

“As far away as Y/N is.”

Everyone groaned at the same time.

“Guys! I got it! Let's watch Wayne’s World!” Ian gasped, sitting up, eyes comically wide, accompanying the slight red tinge to the whites.

“Y/N loves that movie.” Shawn yearned, reaching for another Dorito and bringing it to his mouth. “Or is it Dumb and Dumber she loves?”

“Bro.” Brian huffed, tossing a pillow at Shawn who let out an “oof” when it hit him square in the face, knocking his bag of chips off his torso and onto the floor.

Jon came back with two pieces of pizza stacked on top of each other, half eaten already. He went right to the TV that had a paused screen of their game of Mario Kart, changing it and making the other three erupt into protests. They honestly sounded like a group of eight year old’s that had been told they weren’t allowed to go see the new R rated movie that Megan Fox took her shirt off in.

“My score!” Ian boomed. “My high score, man!”

“I don’t give a fuck about your score. I wanna watch Wayne’s World.” Jon brushed off, shoving his pizza into his mouth to hold as his hands worked the game controller to search through Shawn’s vast selection of movies.

Meanwhile Shawn searched the couch for his phone before finding it and going right to Y/N’s text message thread, asking her to come over. He stared at the screen waiting for her response. He was high and all he wanted right now was his girl to replace the bag of chips that had once been on his chest. He was feeling very cuddly and Brian just wasn’t as soft as Y/N.

His attention was taken away by Jon’s cheer when he found the film.

“Wayne’s World!” Shawn cried, pointing at the screen. “You found it dude!”

“Fuck yeah I did.”

Shawn’s forgot all about the fact that he was waiting for a reply from Y/N and his entire focus went to the movie that he considered in that moment to be one of the best movies ever.

The four men whooped and shouted as the movie started, all huddling together much like they did when they were in middle school.

The knock on the door twenty minutes later broke them from their avid concentration. Shawn crawled up from his new place on the floor, using the coffee table as support. He eagerly went to the door, hoping it was more pizza, despite not having called to order more. Jon had eaten the last of it and Shawn was still salty.

With floppy brown curls and pink tinged cheeks, Shawn opened the door only for his eyes to sparkle and damn near turn into hearts when he saw Y/N standing there, wearing one of his hoodies that was way too big on her and a pair of grey sleep shorts that were barely visible due to the length of the pink hoodie, hair up in a neat bun.

“Baby!” Shawn pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her after closing the door behind her. “What are you doing here?!”

“You texted me you dork.” She laughed against his chest, immediately smelling the weed on him and understanding exactly his text when he’d previously told her he was having a guys night.

“Oh. I forgot.” He all but giggled, kissing the top of her head. “Missed you, though.”

“Are you high?”

“Maybeeee.” Shawn drew out with a grin, pulling away and kissing her cheek.

“Is that a girl?!” Brian called from the living room. “No girls allowed!”

Y/N laughed as her eyes went past Shawn to see three men all looking at them from behind the couch, the couch starting at the bridge of their noses. They were hiding from her while spying at the same time.

“Hi, guys.”

“Go away!” Ian called.

Shawn’s jaw dropped, eyes holding a fire of irritation “Hey, don’t talk to my girl like that dickwad.” He then turned back to Y/N, taking her hands in his as his eyes went soft again. “Do you want some pizza?”

“I’m okay thank you, baby.” She chuckled, doing her chest not to smile too hard at him. He was just so cute right now with those flushed cheeks and soft curls that were extra fluffy tonight. He even had a little bit of orange dust on the corner of his mouth from what she assumed were either Cheetos or Doritos. “How about I come back in the morning?”

“Nope.” Shawn shook his head, pulling her into his arms and leading her to the living room. “My house. She gets to stay.”

All three of the men groaned, sulking into the couch as Shawn pulled Y/N onto his lap, her legs hanging off his lap as she rested her head on his chest, Shawn all but cradling her like an infant. She was just way too cute not to have right there by his heart.

The movie got everyone's attention again and Y/N rolled her eyes upon seeing it was Wayne’s World, Shawn’s go to when he was high. If it had been Dumb and Dumber she would have watched. She pulled out her phone instead and started scrolling through Instagram, taking comfort in her boyfriend’s warm body.

“What are you doing?” Shawn whined when he saw Y/N’s attention was on her phone instead of the movie or him.

“Looking at old pictures of us on Insta. Look how cute we were here in New York.” She grinned, showing him the picture on her phone.

Shawn’s nose scrunched up. “Delete it. Now.”

“What? Why? You said you liked this picture.”

“I never liked it, I lied.”

“But Shaaaaaawn. It’s so cute. Your hair is all floppy and you’re wearing that nice jacket that’s basically made of boyfriend material.”

She pouted for extra measure and Shawn huffed, narrowing his eyes into slits. “Fine. But the next time I don’t like a pic I’m not lying.”

“Okay, Shawny. You’re such a baby.” She giggled, kissing the edge of his jaw and making him all but melt into goo under her kiss.

“Brian.” She said after a moment of silence.

“What?” He didn’t even look away from the screen.

“Never give him stuff like that.” She commanded, pointing to the empty bag of weed that was still on the coffee table.

[clary-jace]

double tapping (and other double endendres)

summary: mike has done plenty of embarrassing things in his lifetime, but he's pretty sure accidentally liking a ninety six week old instagram picture posted by his best friend's future step sister takes the cake. instagram au.  pairing: mike wheeler x eleven  word count: 8,848 notes: ok so i wrote and posted this yesterday and i was really proud of it, like i love it. it’s just a little fun au that’s silly and fluffy. the formatting got fucked up on tumblr tho so i apologize for that, hopefully you’ll still get the idea. 

(read on ao3) 

There are a lot of things that Mike Wheeler has done in his life that he wishes he could go back and erase. Sure, everyone has these moments, but Mike is pretty sure he takes the cake for the sheer amount of embarrassing things that he still lays awake at night thinking about.

Like when he called his teacher ‘mom’ in fifth grade, which is about four years after it stops being even a little bit acceptable to accidentally call your teacher anything besides their name. Or when he finally managed to buck up the courage to ask Sarah Peterson, his chemistry lab partner, to prom, only to slam her finger in the car door when they arrived at the dance, leaving her to never speak to him again. And then of course, there was the time during senior year of high school when he had alcohol for the first time and ended up vomiting all over Jennifer Hayes’ parent’s new rug, which not only got him and all of his friends kicked out of her party but also gave him a not so great reputation for the rest of high school.

So yeah, Mike’s had his fair share of embarrassing, soul sucking moments before.

But he’s pretty sure accidentally liking a ninety six week old post on his best friend’s future step sister instagram profile takes the top stop of things that make him wish he had never been born to begin with.

The whole thing is Will’s fault honestly. If Will had just filled him in on the fact that his mother was getting married and he was gaining a step sister, Mike might not have been so shocked when her face popped up on his Instagram feed.

He wasn’t that much of a social media user, he really only started using it when him and his friends all moved off to different corners of the country, him in Boston, Will in Chicago, Lucas in Los Angeles and Dustin in Atlanta, and he supposed it was kind of fun to stalk his sister too, considering she never told him anything that was going on her life. But typically he stuck with being a scroller, his account was pretty bare, just a couple old pics with his friends, a family picture from Christmas, nothing oh too special.

Will, and subsequently all his other friends too, were much more active posters. They posted new pictures every other day it seemed, so he often found himself scrolling through his timeline, liking most of their pictures, happy to see that they were all living seemingly exciting lives.

On that day in particular, he was just finishing digesting the interesting picture of his sister sandwiched between two guys who he thought were her ex boyfriends when the picture that started this whole mess appeared. A picture that, at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, would change the course of Mike Wheeler’s life forever.

The picture itself wasn’t anything particularly special or scandalous. It was Will sitting side by side to a girl who looked to be about the same age as them, popsicles in their hands as they stuck their tongues out at the camera through their teeth, both of them with their eyes squinted and laughter present in the creases of their faces. Mike’s own face crinkled in confusion as he tried to figure out who the girl in the picture was. He had certainly never seen her before (he would definitely remember a smile that wide and bright, that’s for sure) and he couldn’t remember Will mentioning anything about a girl in his life.

He knew for a fact it wasn’t a girlfriend, Mike had been the first member of the party that Will had come out to back in tenth grade, so that definitely wasn’t it. Maybe she was a new friend that Will had met in Chicago? Will had flourished after high school when it came to making friends so much so that if Mike had to bet money on it, he would say that Will probably had the widest social circle of all of them, so that was a definite possibility.

The caption of the picture really didn’t clear anything up.

“byerswill: popsicles in january probably weren’t the best choice.” It reads, with a picture credit to his brother, Jonathan, following. If anything, the caption just makes him even more confused. He knew, thanks to his light stalking of his sister, that Jonathan had just gone home for a couple days, so maybe this was a girl who had just moved to Hawkins? But how would her and Will already be such good friends? And why hadn’t Will said anything to him about her?

Before Mike can ponder the picture any further, there’s a knock on his door and his attention shifts and the picture is forgotten.

At least for now.

While it’s the first picture that sparks the initial confusion, and immediate interest if he’s being completely honest, it’s the picture that he sees a couple days ago that really starts this whole thing off.

(Of course, years down the line Mike would tell people that he knew as soon as he first saw her picture. She’d slap his arm and call him a liar, those same lines of laughter present in her cheeks and Mike would fall all the more in love with her.)

He’s laying in bed, absentmindedly scrolling through his feed, liking the occasional picture and commenting a witty “better hope you roll a thirteen” on a post of Dustin’s, when he sees her face again.

It’s another post of Will’s, unsurprisingly, this the girl is sitting on the couch in the Byers’ living room, squeezed between Will, who’s grinning widely at the camera, and Jonathan, who’s looking at his brother, a grin on his face. The girl is mid laughter, her head thrown back ever so slightly, her hand hooked around Jonathan’s shoulder.

Unlike before, where Mike was content in just letting the moment on confusion pass, this time he needs to figure out who this girl is. Mostly because he can’t believe Will would have this new girl in his life and just not tell any of them, because yeah sure they’re all living in different cities but they’re still friends and Mike thought if there was someone in Will’s life that he clearly cared about, that he would share it with them.

However he’s not going to lie and say that part of the reason he wants to find out who this girl is so badly is because isn’t because he thinks she’s incredibly pretty. It’s not like he’s going to try and “slide into her dms” (whatever the hell that meant, Dustin) or whatever, he just wants to know more about her.

So, he does what any normal person would do. He clicks on her tag and starts scrolling through her profile.

She doesn’t have many pictures, especially not of her face. Her profile picture is her in front a window, her face obscured by sunglasses. According to her profile her name is El, and she likes the color pink and food that tastes sweet.

He can’t help but smile at that, testing the way that her name sounds on his lips. “El.” he whispers to himself, the name rolling across his tongue with such ease that it feels like he’s been saying her name for years.

His question of how she and Will know each other, aka the entire reason he clicked on her profile to begin with (ok not the entire reason, but it was a major contributing factor), however, was answered by her most recent post.

It was a picture of Will’s mom with her arms around a man that Mike had never seen before, who was wearing a police chief’s uniform. They were smiling at each other and when Mike looked more closely, he could see a small diamond ring on Mrs. Byers’ finger.

After uncovering that piece of information, it didn’t take too long for Mike to piece all the pieces together. He assumed that El (god, he didn’t know someone’s name could sound so pretty) was the daughter of the man with Will’s mom, which would explain why she was spending time with Jonathan and Will. She was going to be their sister.

He had a crush on his best friend’s future step sister.

Wait what?! No, he didn’t have a crush. He didn’t even know this girl, he had just learned her name. Just because he thought she was pretty and wanted to scroll through all her pictures so he could learn more about her did not mean that he had a crush on her. Right?

Pushing away that thought, because no he did not a crush, he could think a girl was cute without having a crush on her, he shook his head and continued scrolling though her account. Because crush or no crush, she was still going to be Will’s sister and he wanted to learn more about her.

On par with his initial observation, she didn’t have many pictures of her face, at least not many of just her face. There were a couple pictures of her and Will, quite a few with her and the man he assumed with her father, and more pictures of waffles then Mike had ever thought he would see in one place.

After a couple minutes of scrolling he stumbled across what looked to be a selfie. Clicking on it, he felt the air rush out of his lungs. All the previous pictures he had seen of her had been at weird angles, or when her face was scrunched up or covered by something, so seeing it up close literally took his breath away.

El was sitting next to a window, sun streaming in and accenting the side of her face. She was looking at the camera, a small smile on her face and Mike felt his own lips curl into a smile as he looked at her. He found that the longer he looked at the picture, the wider the smile on his face grew.

“elhopper: will only move away from sunlight for waffles” The caption reads and Mike audibly laughs. He’s still chuckling lightly as he clicks back to her profile and continues to scroll. She doesn’t post that often, she’s more frequent then he is, but less frequent than the rest of friends, so it doesn’t take long for him to get to the bottom of her page.

The first picture ever posted on her profile is another selfie, and argues with himself about whether he should look at it. It looks quite a bit older than her more recent pictures, her hair (which had been past her shoulders in the first picture he had seen) was quite a bit shorter, not that he was paying any attention or anything.

Ultimately, his intrigue and curiosity wins over his basic common sense and he clicks on the picture. According to the timestamp, the picture is almost two years old, which surprises him. She looks so much younger in this picture. Her hair was just past her ears and the confident smile on her face was replaced with a more nervous grin, like she didn’t quite know how to hold her face in a picture.

Mike still thought she looked pretty. Not that he would ever admit that.

He notices that the picture only has a couple of likes and that there’s no caption which only makes him smile. His early experiences with Instagram had been pretty much the same, no captions, a couple pity likes from the guys, he knew how it was.

It’s only when he goes to click out of her picture, pleased with what he had discovered while perusing her profile when the gene that seemed to be ingrained in him determined to embarrass him and ruin his life decides to come into play. He’s moving to hit the little arrow in the corner when his phone slips from his hand and he tries to catch it with his fingers. Double tapping El’s picture in the process.

It takes Mike about three minutes to start to panic.

He stares at his phone dumbly for about a minute and a half, not sure exactly how to process what just happened. The little, now red, heart staring up at him, almost mockingly. The next minute and a half is spent clicking out of the app and holding his head in his hands before the panic settles in and he begins to freak out.

He knew how weird and creepy it was to like old pictures. Nancy had told him more than once that one of the creepiest things a guy could do is go back and like all her old pictures after they’d just met, and he hadn’t even met this girl. God, she probably thought he was such a creep, she probably clicked on his profile, figured out he was friends with Will and was on the phone with Will right now to tell him how much a creep his best friend was.

He could kiss his potential invite to Will’s mom’s wedding goodbye.

After approximately five minutes of adequate freaking out and spiraling on Mike’s end, he decides that he needs help. He knows by turning to his friends, he runs the risk of being made fun of for the rest of eternity, but hell, his friends would find something else to make fun of him for. He needed this girl to know that he definitely wasn’t a creep.  

Picking his phone up from it’s place on his bed, he opened the groupchat him and friends shared and types out his question.

the party

mike have any of you guys accidentally liked a picture posted by someone you don’t follow?

It takes about two minutes, the longest goddamn two minutes of his entire life for someone to get back to him and Mike swears he’s never been more excited to see Dustin’s name lighting up his phone screen.

dustin trust me dude, i think we’ve all been there. why do you ask michael? accidentally like a girl’s pic when you were stalking her? ;)

Mike immediately retracts his previous statement, fuck Dustin.

Luckily, Lucas’ name pops up only a moment later. Mike has always trusted Lucas’ advice, especially when it came to girls. Lucas was the only one of them that had had a steady girlfriend throughout high school, hell he was still the only one with a girlfriend, or anyone actually.

lucas jeez mike, your fingers slip or something how old was the pic???

Actually, you know what, fuck Lucas too.

mike i hate both of you

He ponders leaving it just at that, dropping the conversation and figuring this out on his own. But then he realizes that he already figured out that he doesn’t have a fucking clue what to do and despite his friends laughing at him, they might actually have some real advice. He’s not going to put money on it, but they’ve surprised him before.

mike and uhh….no comment

lucas that old huh? whew that’s rough man

dustin unlike. unlike that picture right now mike. UNLIKE IT!

Mike groans at Dustin’s dramatics, rolling his eyes.

mike how would unliking it help? they’re still gonna get the notification

dustin just trust me.

lucas actually at this point you should just follow her

mike really?

dustin lucas that is probably the dumbest thing you have ever said and you’ve said some pretty dumb things over the years

lucas oh bite me, henderson

mike guys for the love of god please shut up

Mike isn’t really sure what he’s expecting from either of them as a reply, but it certainly isn’t what actually happens. No, what actually happens sends Mike nearly falling off of his bed, which sure, isn’t exactly a rare occurrence but is still pretty noteworthy.

will actually lucas is right, el said she was gonna follow you anyway so you might as well follow her back.

And sure enough, as soon as Mike finishes reading Will’s message, his heart slamming against his ribcage, he gets a notification from instagram across the top of his phone.

elhopper has started following you!

Mike really shouldn’t be surprised when his phone rings the next day with Will on the other end. He is a little surprised that the call took this long to come, he had spent most of the night before anticipating Will’s inquires about what the hell he was doing with his life. Not that Mike really had any an answer, he was just as confused about the turn his life had taken in the last twenty four hours as anyone else would be.

He’s the middle of eating when his phone buzzes next to him and he almost chokes on his food in a desperate attempt to swallow quickly so he can answer.

“Hello?” He wheezes out when he hits answer, his throat burning. He can hear Will chuckling on the other end and the sound is like honey to his ears, considering he was half expecting Will to immediately start yelling at him for being such a creep to his future sister. Mike had never heard Will yell before, but there was a first time for anything.

“Everything alright over there?” Will asks after a moment, amusement clear in his tone.

“Ha. Ha.” Mike deadpans, running his hand over his face before pushing his plate away from him. He knows what this phone call is going to be about, but he decides to ask anyway. “What’s up, Will?”

The next words out of Will’s mouth cause Mike to almost drop his phone.

“I’m calling to say sorry, I bet you want some kind of explanation.” Definitely not what Mike was expecting, that’s for sure.

“I mean, an explanation would be nice, but I kinda feel like I need to apologize. I pulled a total creep move and probably freaked her out.” Mike doesn’t feel comfortable calling by her name just yet, even though he totally knows it and it’s been running on a loop in his head for twelve hours straight, considering he still doesn’t technically know her.

Will laughs again, “She’s not freaked out, I promise. She was a little confused sure, but once I told her who you were it was fine.” Mike breathes out a huge bubble of air that he didn’t even realize had been lodged in his chest. “She even said that she thought you were cute.”

If Mike had been drinking water he would have spit it out. Or choked and probably died.

He doesn’t even have time to process what Will has just said before he starts talking again.

“I suppose I should explain why I hadn’t told you, or any of the other guys, about her.”

“I mean, yeah, only if you want to. I’m sure you have your reasons.” Mike says even though he wants to scream ‘YES’ because there’s a very good chance that he could have avoided all of this awkwardness and embarrassment if he had known who she was. Of course, he probably would have still embarrassed himself eventually, but a little warning might have been nice.

Will takes a deep breath before speaking, “When my mom and Jim started dating, she didn’t want anyone to know in case it all fell apart or went south, so I kept her secret. He lives a couple towns over from Hawkins, and so does El, so she wasn’t around when you guys all came home for Christmas. When Jim proposed to my mom, it just slipped my mind to tell you guys because I was so excited for her, besides it just happened like two weeks ago.”

Mike nods as Will reaches a break in his story. He knows Will can’t see him, but Will has a weird sixth sense and probably can feel Mike’s reaction through the phone even if he doesn’t say anything.

“Also, when I mentioned you guys to El, she got a little freaked out, she was homeschooled and takes online classes, so I think the idea of meeting three strange guys didn’t appeal to her that much. I promise I wasn’t trying to like keep her a secret or anything.”

“Oh.” Mike says simply, absorbing this new information. That would explain why Will and her dad were really the only people that Mike saw on El’s profile the night before. It hadn’t really stuck out to him before, that she didn’t have any pictures with any friends or anything, but now it all made sense. “I get it Will, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Mike.” Will says softly, and Mike smiles.

There’s a few of beat of silence between them, Mike still thinking about everything Will just told him, and Will’s breathing steady and calm on the other end. Mike’s about to ask a question (as casually as one person who definitely has a crush on the other person’s step sister to be) about El, but Will’s voice breaks the silence first.

“So, you think El’s cute?”

Oh dear god how Mike wants to die. He wants the floor of his apartment to open up and swallow him and then spit his bones back out so his mom has something to remember him by. He has to resist the urge to slam his head on the table, instead settling to just let out a strangled “ugh” as he throws his head in his free hand.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He finally manages to get out.

“There’s no shame in it Mike, I know you do and it’s not like the feeling isn’t mutual.” This time Mike does drop his head down to the table, letting out a muffled groan, which only causes Will to chuckle.

“So, she really doesn’t think I’m a creep?” He says after a couple seconds of silence. The question is kind of pathetic, and Will is going to see right through him but he’s more concerned with what El thinks of him then Will knowing about his stupid crush.

“I promise you, she doesn’t think you’re a creep. This conversation would have gone very differently if she thought you were a creep trust me.” Will says with a laugh and Mike’s stomach churns. He’s definitely glad that the conversation went the way it did.

“Cool, cool, cool, cool.” Mike rambles.

He hears Will talking to someone on the other hand, his voice muffled. The other voice is a female voice that definitely isn’t his mom, and Mike’s mouth goes dry. That has to be El, there’s no one else it could be, which causes his heart to flutter.

God he needs to get himself together.

“I gotta go Mike, family bonding and all that but I’ll talk to you later.” Will says, his voice snapping Mike from his weird haze after hearing El’s voice. Will doesn’t let Mike respond before he speaks again. “And hey, Mike?”

“Yeah?”

“Stop being weird and just follow El back already, she thinks you hate her.”

Will hangs up before Mike can say another word.

About ten minutes later Mike hits the follow button on El’s account, his hands shaking, but a satisfied smile crossing his face all the same.

The next couple weeks are uneventful when it comes to his interactions with El on instagram.

She posts a couple of things, and Mike likes some of them. A picture of her with Will’s dog, her and Will’s mom on the porch, wide smiles, holding glasses of iced tea and wearing matching pink sunglasses. He doesn’t like some of her pictures, her and her dad in his police cruiser, a couple food pictures, but his heart still flutters when her name flashes across his feed, or he sees her wide smile and bright brown eyes.

It’s wildly pathetic how excited he gets, honestly.

However, his pathetic excitement, complete with wide grinning, blushing cheeks and a fluttering stomach, when he sees her on his feed is absolutely nothing compared to the absolute palm sweating, heart pounding elation he feels when her username appears in his notifications.

See, it all starts when Mike posts a picture of himself.

That in itself is already pretty rare, he has maybe three pictures total on his entire account that are just him (mainly because he hates every single picture of himself ever taken), but he had gotten his picture taken with Stephen fucking King, aka his favorite author of all time, so there was no way he wasn’t going to post it on Instagram. Dustin was going to be so jealous.

So, that’s what he does.

“wheelermike: the king of horror himself, luckily there were no red balloons in sight ” Sure the caption is dumb, but it gets his point across, while also being slightly clever and throwing in a good reference for safe keeping.

As expected, Dustin responds with jealousy and Will just comments with a million exclamation points, which both make him laugh. But what he doesn’t expect is for El to like it, about two hours after he’s posted it.

By the time he gets the notification, he had almost completely forgotten about the post. He had set his phone done to try and get some homework done, so when he picks it up to give himself a little break, his heart soars in his chest when he sees her username. Sure, it’s just a like, but it’s still the most interaction he’s had from her end since she followed him, so that alone sends his entire body into overdrive.

He’s able to ignore it for the time being and go back to his homework, even though his eyes keep shifting over at his phone and his skin is buzzing with anticipation. Turns out, his anticipation was for good reason because about ten minutes later his phone is lighting up again and the notification takes the wind right out of him.

el hopper has sent you a message!

It’s not the first time that Mike has ever gotten an instagram direct message before, Dustin seems to use the feature strictly to send Mike DnD memes, but it’s the first time he’s gotten one from someone he’s never talked to before.

(Which seems kind of crazy to him, that technically speaking him and El haven’t actually talked before, even though he feels like he knows her and god he wants to actually know her so badly, but he has no idea how to start that process.)

About five minutes passes, five minutes full of pacing and a large amount of perspiration gathering in the nape of his neck under his curls, before he finally works up the courage to open the message. He’s afraid at first, about what the message could say, fearing that it might be, that she might be telling him that now that she’s seen a real picture of his face, she retracts her earlier statement of him being cute. A statement which still boggles Mike’s mind, but he’s not going to complain about it.

(Of course he doesn’t actually think that El would say something like that to him, but years of being called “frogface”, never having anyone express any romantic interest in him and general middle child anxiety about being a failure bring those kinds of fears on, even if he knows they aren’t true.)

However, the message is none of the things his anxiety ridden mind has made him believe and in fact, is pretty tame all things considered. He feels like a fucking idiot.

elhopper: i can’t believe you met stephen king! he’s my favorite author, i’m officially jealous.

The message brings a smile to his face, and not just because it’s not an insult, but rather it’s a new thing that he’s learned about her. Something that he didn’t even have to scroll through her account to try and find, or something he learned from Will. It’s something she decided to share with him. Not to mention, it’s something they have in common.

wheelermike: he’s your favorite author too??

The conversation continues from there, and before Mike knows it, him and El have been talking for almost three hours. His homework has been completely abandoned, his textbook having slid from the couch and falling to the floor with a resounding and finite thud. He hardly even cares.

Because it turns out, El is like the easiest person in the entire world to talk to. At first he was afraid it would be weird, but it’s not. It’s as easy as breathing, him and El converse like they’ve known each other for years, not literal minutes. They start with talking about Stephen King, an easy topic considering it’s why she messaged him in the first place and it’s something they have in common, before shifting to other books and movies they enjoy.

( wheelermike: you’ve never seen star wars?!?

elhopper: i know, i know, will already gave me the lecture about it, i’m sorry!

wheelermike: wow. i’m truly shocked. i don’t even think i can continue having this conversation. )

He finds out that Carrie is her favorite Stephen King novel because she likes that it teaches people to be kind, because you never know what someone might be going through. He also learns that waffles are her favorite food in the world, something he could have guessed but he still smiles when she tells him, and that she’s been learning about photography and music, two topics she didn’t have any knowledge in before meeting Jonathan.

He drinks in any knowledge he can about her, filing it away in his brain, desperate to learn more, as much as he can actually, and even more desperate to fast forward in time to when all this knowledge about her will be useful.

In return, he tells her about how even though Stephen King is his favorite author, Lord of the Rings is actually his favorite book and what jump started his lifelong love of fantasy novels. He also rambles off little details about him, like how he eats his eggs with syrup, a fact in which is met with skepticism, a little bit disgust but also curiosity paired with the words ‘hm, i’ll have to try that sometime’ or how he lucked out on getting an apartment in a busy city without any kind of roommate because he moved into an apartment that used to have rats so no one wanted to live there.

Their conversation doesn’t reveal any earth shattering information, but it’s easily one of the best conversations that Mike has ever had, a fact in which he doesn’t take lightly.

So when he’s crawling into bed two hours after reading El’s departing message of ‘goodbye, mike’ there’s a wide smile on his fact that he doesn’t see going away anytime soon.

From there, it doesn’t take long for El to become one of his closest friends.

Sure, they still haven’t talked outside of instagram, he doesn’t even have her phone number, but their direct message conversations become more frequent, with them exchanging at least a couple words with each other every other day or so.

( elhopper: will tried to explain dungeons and dragons to me today and i was very confused, how do you remember all those rules??

wheelermike: lots and lots of years of not having anything else to do on friday nights

…

wheelermike: just had the best waffles in the entire world on a scale of 1-10 how jealous are you right now

elhopper: eleven. )

El also likes almost all of his posts, and he does the same for her. Even if it’s something he doesn’t understand, it always makes him smile, which definitely counts for something, if not everything. Occasionally she’ll also comment, usually just something simple like ‘haha’ on a picture of his mismatched socks, or ‘yum!’ when he documents his first successful attempt at making something edible all on his own.

It never fails to make his heart flutter when it happens.

Having El has a friend is nice. He’s never really been friends with girls before, mainly because girls found his repulsive in high school and he’s had trouble socializing with just about everyone in college, so it’s different, but it’s nice. Of course there’s also the fact that he’s pretty sure he’s falling for her more and more every day, but he’s able to ignore that most of the time.

(Okay that’s a lie, he sucks at ignoring it, but he does his best to not make it too obvious that he’s hiding back a girlish squeal of excitement whenever she messages him, even if he’s pretty sure he fails every single time. El’s either too nice to say anything or she genuinely doesn't notice. He hopes it’s the latter.)

So yeah, he loves being friends with El.

He also thinks he might actually be in love with her but that’s neither here nor there.

His invitation for Mrs. Byers’ wedding arrives on a Saturday in the middle of February.

The date is listed for a weekend in late May, a couple weeks after the party will all be graduated and done with college. Mike smiles, genuinely happy for Will’s mom, who had dedicated the last twenty something years of her life on her kids and deserved to have someone in her life who loved her.

Mike’s just finished hanging the invitation on his fridge next to his take out menus when he notices another piece of paper sticking out from the envelope. Pulling it out with knitted eyebrows, his lips morph into a smile when he pulls the folded lined paper out and reads the words written on it.

can’t wait to meet you! - el

He doesn’t think he’s ever been so excited to go back to Hawkins.

The next couple months go by in the blink of an eye but also seem to drag on and feel like years.

Him and El still message a lot, now almost every single day. He still hasn’t gotten her phone number, but he doesn’t mind. As their friendship progressed, he started to learn more about her, things that she told him that only Will knew about her.

There had been one particularly intense night in the middle of March when she had opened up about her dad was actually her adoptive dad and she had been in and out of foster care her entire childhood before Jim (or Hop as El sometimes called him in her messages), found her on the side of the road after she had escaped from her current foster home. Not for the first time Mike wished that he could be there with her in person as she told him that.

And in turn, Mike shares things with her. Like about how he was afraid of failing his parents, and about how his dad had never once said anything about being proud of him. Mike hadn’t even realized how much he was spilling into his messages until he was wiping tears from his eyes after they fell onto his phone screen. The words that El shares with him after that particular experience is the moment that Mike realizes that he loves this girl.

elhopper: i know i’m not your dad but i’m proud of you, mike. i’ll tell you every day if you want me to.

He almost cries. Scratch that, he does cry. Granted he was already crying, but his eyes go blurry when he reads her message, a sob choking out from his throat and he bites down on his lip, hard, when a smile breaks out across his lips.

May can’t come faster, when he can finally look her in the eyes, eyes that he’s memorized by looking at her pictures, with their light brown hue and golden specks, and tell her how much her words mean to him.

wheelermike: you’re something else, el hopper, you know that?

elhopper: haha, yeah, i know. but thank you.

Mike doesn’t tell Will, Dustin or Lucas, but he’s pretty sure that El is his best friend. It feels, strange, to consider someone he’s never actually even met before to be his best friend over the three friends who have been there for him since childhood. In fact, the word best friend doesn’t even feel big enough to describe what El has come to mean to him in the last couple months.

And to think, it all happened because he accidentally liked one of her pictures.

Luckily, she never brings that particular memory up, instead she tells him how much she loves talking to him and how comfortable she feels sharing things with him, and the feeling is mutual. Talking to El, and sharing intimate details of his life with her, are as easy as breathing, at this point it feels as second nature as his heart beating.

He’s pretty sure the word he might be looking for to describe her is soulmate but he would never tell her that. So, for now he settles on best friend, and that’ll have to be enough.

The weekend of Byers and Hopper (Joyce and Jim, that is) comes before Mike knows it.

He flies home a couple days before Saturday, but he spends those days mainly with his mom, who keeps hugging him out of the blue and telling him how much she missed him, and his younger sister, Holly, who complains endlessly about how little freedom she has now that Mom doesn’t have any other kids to focus on. It make Mike happy, being around his family (sans his dad, who mysteriously is going to be away pretty much the entire time Mike is home), but the whole time, his body is buzzing with anticipation about meeting El, and his mind is always wandering to what she might be doing and if she’s just as nervous about meeting him as he is her.

(The note she wrote him, and sent with his invitation, sits in the front pocket of his backpack and he reads it every night before he goes to bed, a grin on his face and a warm pool of adoration in his heart.)

Will had texted all the party members as soon as they had descended on Hawkins to tell them that last minute wedding planning was all he could focus on, so he wouldn’t be able to see any of them until the wedding itself. Mike took the hint that that also meant that El would be busy until the wedding too, delaying their meeting. While Mike one hundred percent understood, he was nervous and anxious and as every day dragged on and Saturday became closer and closer, he only went further and further into full on freak out mood.

The day of the wedding finally arrives and Mike thought he was going to vomit.

He suddenly understood why he had never thought about trying online dating. The idea of meeting someone who you had such a strong connection to, even if you had never seen them in person before, was absolutely terrifying and as he stood in his bathroom mirror, fixing his hair and fiddling with his collared shirt, he starts panicking. What if El is disappointed by him? What if she takes one look at him and realizes that she spent all this time sharing her secrets and getting to know someone who was actually the biggest loser on the face of the planet.

No, that’s not going to happen. He reminds himself, shaking his head. She already knows you’re a weird loser and she still talks to you.

It’s almost as if she can read his mind because not three seconds later, his phone lights up from it’s position on the side of the sink, the all familiar elhopper has sent you a message! notification bright across the screen. He almost drops it into the sink with excitement.

elhopper: i’m so excited for today! see you soon!

She always knows exactly what to say is his last thought as he exits his bathroom, grabbing his wallet and keys before rushing out the door, his heart hammering faster and faster with every step that he takes.

It takes a couple hours after arriving at the Byers house before he actually gets to see El, and even longer after that before they actually get to meet.

Mike gets roped into helping Steve Harrington set up the reminder of the folding chairs (perks of being the first party member to arrive, he supposes), while Will and El help his mom get ready and Jonathan and Jim make sure everything is running smoothly. It’s kind of awkward, setting up chairs with his sister’s ex, but they get the job done and before long Dustin and Lucas show up and the three of them stand awkwardly near back row of chairs, waiting for the all clear to take their seats.

The wedding is small and Mike knows pretty much everyone there, excluding a couple officers that work with El’s dad, but despite how many times he scans everyone, he fails to spot El’s brown head of curls. He knew from what she had told him that she was Joyce’s maid of honor, so that meant he probably wouldn’t actually get to see her until she walked down the aisle, a thought that both excited him and terrified him at the same time.

“Who are you looking for?” Dustin finally asked after Mike had made his fourth scan in the last ten minutes, more out of habit and nerves then anything else at this point.

“What? Nothing.”

“Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?” Lucas adds, scrunching his eyebrows together. “You look like you’re about to vomit.”

“I’m fine.” He definitely feels like he’s going to vomit, but the last thing he wants to do is tell Dustin and Lucas about how he’s pretty much in love with Will’s about to be step sister even though she’s never actually met her person.

Luckily he’s saved from any questions by Jonathan appearing at the front of the aisle, nodding at them. They take their seats and Mike takes a deep breath. This is it. The music starts and El’s dad takes his spot next to Jonathan and before Mike has a chance to form any kind of coherent thought he sees her.

God, her pictures did not do her justice.

El, who he immediately recognizes by the way her eyes are lit up and her smile is wide and bright, practically glides down the aisle. She’s wearing a purple dress which brushes up against her knees and her curly brown hair is sitting in a simple updo on the top of her head and Mike swears he’s never seen anyone more beautiful in his entire life.

He almost misses Joyce walking down the aisle because he’s too busy staring at El, who he’s almost convinced is an angel, because there’s no way anyone could actually be that pretty. Sure, she looks pretty in every picture he’s ever seen of her, but seeing her in person is something else entirely.

If Dustin and Lucas didn’t know he was in love with her before, they definitely did now.

He watches her throughout the entire ceremony. He doesn’t stare, because while she didn’t think he was a creep when he accidentally like a two year old picture of her, she might if she catches his eyes boring into her and never wavering. But, his eyes keep finding her again, too drawn to her beauty and light to focus on anything else for too long.

She’s too busy smiling at her dad and Joyce to notice him, though, and with good reason. The wedding is beautiful and him and the guys all elbow each other when they see Will crying, even though they’re all discreetly wiping their eyes when the union is finally made official.

When the wedding party files out, Mike ignores the stares from Dustin and Lucas and follows the rest of the guests inside, the anticipation growing with every minute that passes.

His hands are shaking and there’s sweat gathering in the small of his back, under the fabric of his button down, but his heart is bursting with adoration for this girl and he wants to do something about it.

He has to wait hours for his moment to come. But it finally does.

Toasts are made, El’s dad gets the crowd laughing and Will makes them all cry, and dancing is had and Mike never gets a moment alone with El. She stays attached to Will’s side, who subsequently stays attached to Jonathan’s side, which leaves Mike with Dustin and Lucas, not that he minds.

It’s after the party has started to wind down and everyone who’s either not related or not a party member has gone home. Mike is standing on the back porch, a glass a warm champagne in his hand when he feels a presence beside him.

“You’re much prettier in person. I didn’t know you had so many freckles.” The voice says, and Mike feels himself involuntarily blush and he turns to look at her.

El has changed out of her bridesmaid dress and is now wearing a simple t shirt and jean shorts, some kind of shawl wrapped around her shoulders, and if possible she looks even prettier than she had before. He can’t keep the smile off his face.

“I don’t think anyone has ever called me pretty before.” He manages to say.

“I know that handsome is typically the word applied to men who are good looking, but I feel like pretty suits you much better.” Mike isn’t really sure if he should be insulted that she basically said he wasn’t handsome, but she’s not done. “I like pretty.”

Oh yeah, he’s definitely in love with this girl. This girl and her beautiful smile and her warm eyes who is probably the best person he’s ever met. It doesn’t even feel like he’s meeting her for the first time, it feels like he’s coming home after a really long time of being away, twenty two years to be exact.

He grins sheepishly. “I like pretty too.” He says, before realizing he’s missing a couple words to properly return the compliment. “Which you definitely are.”

She grins, a light blush on her cheeks. “It’s weird.” Her gaze drifts to the yard in front of him. “How I feel like I’ve known you for my entire life, even though this is literally the first time I’ve ever seen you in person.” He’s so glad he’s not the alone in that feeling.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” They stand in silence for a couple moments, Mike inching closer to her, her energy intoxicating and warm and infectious. “Who would have known that accidentally liking someone’s instagram post would make something like this happen.”

She laughs and Mike’s heart soars. “So it was an accident, here I was thinking that you were trying to get my attention.” Her tone is teasing and affectionate and Mike can’t help but laugh right alone with her.

“I hate to break it to you but it definitely was an accident, I wish I could say that I was naturally bold enough to do that but truth be told it was the scariest moment of my life. I thought you were going to think I was some kind of creep.” Mike admits, which makes El smile.

“I would never think you’re a creep. Even when all you were was the guy who liked a ninety six week old instagram picture of mine, I knew you weren’t a creep.” Mike can tell that her words are genuine and the ever growing pool of affection he feels for her expands, so much so that he thinks he might explode.

He smiles. “Well, I appreciate that. But no, it was an accident, you can thank my clumsy hands for that one.” He brings the glass in his hand up to his lips, taking a small sip, cringing as the bitter taste hits his tongue, which causes El to smile.

“In that case,” she adjusts herself, matching his stance so they’re looking at each other. Head bending down, she moves her mouth to his hands and before Mike even has time to be confused she whispers, “thank you” and it’s just about the cutest thing Mike has ever seen.

It also is hilarious though, because he towers over her (something he didn’t realize until they were side by side, but something he kind of loves) so she barely has to bend in order to be eye level to his hands. So he lets out a deep laugh, and she does too.

Mike could stand there forever, just listening to her laugh. But the laughter eventually dies and they’ve both moved their bodies, Mike crouched over, hand on the railing and El leaning next to him and their lips are only inches away. He wonders if what he thinks it about to happen is actually going to happen, he wants it to, oh does he want it to, but he doesn’t know if she does.

She answers his unasked questions though, and closes the distance between them, pressing her lips to his and everything falls into place.

His body explodes with electricity, his hand dropping the glass, barely registering when it shatters next to him on the ground. El’s arms wrap around his neck and his fall to her waist and his lips move against hers like it’s what they were always made to do. And maybe they were.

He’s not sure exactly how long they stand there, but he’s out of breath when they finally pull apart. El’s complexation is flushed and her lips are swollen, so he can only imagine he looks the same.

She lets out a breathy smile and Mike resists the urge to laugh. He had antagonized over this moment, thought about for hours on end, and he really had absolutely nothing to worry about.

“I would double tap this moment.” He whispers after a couple seconds of blissful silence, El’s eyes never leaving his. The comment is meant to be a joke about how they first came into each other’s lives, but as El’s face twists into confusion and probably a little bit of disbelief, Mike realizes the double meaning of his words. “Oh my god.” He groans, throwing his head back. “That is so not what I meant.”

Luckily El only laughs, shaking her head and pulling his face back towards hers. “No, I know what you meant, I never realized how dirty it sounded until someone said it out loud.”

“Yeah me neither.” He frowns. “I am never saying that phrase out loud ever again.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I would double tap this moment too.” She grins and relief spreads through his entire body, so much so that he leans forward to kiss her again. It’s short and sweet, but it means more, he thinks. Because El smiles against his kiss and he knows that every single thing he’s felt towards her in the last five months is reciprocated and that’s all he could have ever asked for.

When he pulls away he leans his forehead against hers and decides that if he had to pick a moment to live in forever, it would be this one.

Two weeks later El comes to Boston to visit him.

He doesn’t know if they’re dating (their post wedding kiss conversations hadn’t really gotten to that stage) but they talk every day and it feels like they are. Either way, Mike feels like the words boyfriend and girlfriend are too small for them anyway. What he feels for El is indescribable and he doesn’t think they’ll ever be a word big enough for it.

They spend the weekend doing all the tourist stuff that Mike’s never done by himself and Mike kisses her more times then he can count. Each time she smiles and laughs, nuzzling her forehead against him. And sometimes she kisses him first.

It’s the best weekend of his entire life and twenty minutes after he’s hugged her goodbye at airport security when she tags him in a photo on instagram, he grins.

It’s the two of them in front of Faneuil Hall, El smiling widely at the camera and Mike smiling at El, and Mike’s heart warms at the sight. She had been so excited and Mike had been unable to keep his eyes off her. His eyes then drift to the caption and he doesn’t think he��s ever double tapped something faster in his entire life.

“elhopper: best weekend of my life with the best person i’ve ever met.”

Okay, so maybe he lied earlier.

Accidentally liking El Hopper’s, his best friend’s step sister and the love of his life, photo was the best thing he’d ever done in his entire life.