❥Adversity; Byler ❦

003

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 3
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𝕀𝕟 𝕒 𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕠𝕗 𝕒𝕟 𝕖𝕪𝕖, middle school ended and they were in highschool. Lucas and Layla were the couple of the school. Dustin finally asked out Suzie after taking Calculus math freshman year. Will and Max were pretty steady, though Mike rarely saw them together.

Mike and Eleven were a couple. The first few weeks were bliss for Mike. He woke up smiling. Went to bed smiling. He was even smiling in math class even though he hated that class. That was until he realized there relationship was different then others.

They hung out more but not as much as you would expect from a newly coupled up soulmate pair. They kissed maybe twice. They were supposed to have a sleepover once, but El had to cancel last minute.

"Mike?"

Mike broke himself out of his thoughts and focused on Lucas who had just called his name. The 'party' was at Lucas's house and they were planning on what they wanted to do for homecoming.

"Sorry", Mike said in response, "I was zoning out."

"We could tell", Lucas deadpanned. Dustin chuckled and Will looked at him with concern.

"Anyways", Lucas continued, "What do you guys want to do? I'm thinking we save up money to rent a car big enough to fit us and our dates. We should ask the girls if they wanna pitch in."

Homecoming was a big event for the now sophomores as this is the year they could finally participate. Lucas had done a grand gesture to ask out Layla during lunch. Dustin somehow asked out Suzie with a math equation? The party didn't question it. Will just told them Max was his date and he didn't give away any details.

Mike was well aware at this point that El was not as interested in him as he was interested in her. But he just had to wait, thats what he convinced himself.

Mike had gotten flowers, cards and candy in order to ask her to the dance. She had blushed and said yes. He was pretty happy as those were one of the rare moments she actually blushed towards Mike. Of course he let his hopes go up before things returned back to normal.

But Mike was beginning to get used to it. Getting excited over the small moments. Accepting the bare minimum.

"You guys can ask your dates to help pay", Mike spoke up, "but I'll pay El's share."

Maybe this act of him paying for her would get her to blush again and Mike would feel happy. He ignored how desperate he sounded.

"Are you sure?", Will asked with concern laced in his voice, "it will be expensive for you."

Mike hated the look of pity of Will's face. There was nothing to pity.

"Yeah I got it."

"What a man!", Dustin said with a clap to Mike's back, "I aspire to be like you one day."

Mike chuckled. At least someone understood. Mike pushed away the part of him that felt himself wilt at Will's disapproval.

"Anyways", Lucas said to gather everyone's attention, "We gotta plan who's house we're getting ready at."

~~~~~~~~~~~

The day of homecoming felt nerve wrecking. Mike took a deep breath as he looked at himself in the mirror. He looked pretty good.

"Relax, Mike."

Will walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You look good. If El doesn't swoon over you, she's crazy. In fact, anyone who doesn't swoon over you is crazy."

Mike smiled. "I guess you're crazy cause I don't see you swooning."

"Who said I'm not?", Will said with a wink. He then proceeded to dramatically fan his face. "Oh mike! Please dance with me!"

Mike laughed and felt all his nervousness fade away. He pushed Will away from him jokingly. "Don't faint before we even get the chance to leave!", Mike joked

Will played along.
"Trust me. That's gonna be very hard."

~~~~~~~~~

The ride to the dance was actually fun. El sat next to Mike and Max sat next to El. Will took his spot by Max's other side. The party spoke about random nothing and they bopped to the music playing.

Mike had a feeling he would actually have fun tonight.

Whether he was right would be up for debate

𝚃𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍....

A/N: This chapter was so supposed to be longer but I think this was a good stopping point 🤷‍♀️
I appreciate any votes, comments, or shares💖