IV

The scene El saw at 7-Eleven took a moment to set in. Steve and Dustin, it appeared, were dead-set on trying every single flavor, all at once. Robin had coordinated various flavors to form a rainbow, which she had topped off with a bag of skittles. Mike, indecisive as ever, stood at the fountain sampling flavors before ultimately deciding settling on blue raspberry. 

Walking over to the fountain, El and Will both selected large cups before filling them with their desired flavors: strawberry Fanta for El and Mountain Dew/ piña colada mix for Will. They both capped their slushies and took sips.

"Tastes like cavities," Will commented.

"Yep," El agreed.

"Cheers." They both lifted their cups and tapped them together, then ambled over to witness Steve and Dustin's reaction to their Everything slushies.

"Okay. Three, two…" Steve and Dustin counted down. At "one" they both took long drags from their cups, which were a muddled brown/purple from the mixing of the colors. They both made faces, setting their cups aside. Robin laughed, quirking a brow.

"Not what you expected? Or is that actually the problem?" she held her own slushie- which was actually much more visually appealing- in one hand, the megaphone still occupying the other. Neither really responded, instead uncapping their slushies and dumping them out in the fountain tray before going off to refill them with singular flavors.

"Hey, El. Let's compare." Mike walked over to face El and Will, and he stood offering his cup to the former.

"Oh, um, sure," El said, caught slightly off-guard, as she'd been pre-occupied by watching Steve and Dustin walk away. The two exchanged drinks, then silently sampled the other's. Will looked at each of them, standing quietly.

"Hm," Mike said, smacking his lips together. "Interesting."

"What?" El asked, taking her cup back and returning Mike's. He only shook his head, smiling teasingly. 

"Still like mine better. Strawberry is just…" He shook his head again. El rolled her eyes, sticking her straw in her mouth before responding.

"Well, I do not need your approval of the flavor. For your information, I like strawberry better than blue raspberry, which does not even exist in nature as a fruit. Also, your tongue is purple now," she informed him. Mike laughed.

"Oh, really? Then so is yours, silly." He pulled her towards him, smiling down at her. "And that means we match." Will made a point to look away, which El noticed. She faced away from Mike, who had leaned down to give her a kiss and ended up skimming her ear. She then carefully extracted herself from his hold, instead gesturing to Will.

"Try Will's. He also has good taste," El insisted. Mike rose a brow.

"Oh, really? Well, I'll be the judge of that ." Mike and Will traded drinks. El watched Mike's face expectantly.

"Well?" she prompted. He just shrugged. 

"Eh. Could be better. Kinda underwhelming. Expected more." Mike handed it back to Will, who rolled his eyes.

"Uh huh. And yours tastes like straight-up corn syrup. No, thanks." He passed the blue raspberry back to Mike.

"Gays, gays," said Robin, walking over. "Each flavor has its own appeals, but it's when you add them together that you experience true bliss." She held out her slushie to Mike. "Observe."

"Um, didn't you mean to say 'guys'?" asked Will as Mike dubiously accepted the rainbow concoction. 

"Shh, Mike's tasting the rainbow," Robin hushed him.

"Right." Will suppressed an eyeroll and instead walked away, muttering something under his breath. Mike and Robin paid no attention as Mike Robin's slushie.

"That's.." Mike paused, frowning. "Actually pretty good. The skittles go surprisingly well with it."

"Yeah, I know," Robin said smugly. "It's my genius creation. Came up with it in eighth grade…" El tuned out, walking over to Dustin and Steve, who both had cherry slushies.

"...And she kept insisting that water is wet," Dustin was explaining to Steve. The older boy frowned.

"Isn't it, though?" he asked. Dustin sighed.

"No, it's not. Robin is just VERY STUBBORN," he said, loud enough to ensure she heard from where she was. Robin stuck her tongue out, which was a mixture of different colors.

"I think sometimes you just have to let Robin think what she wants to, even if she's objectively wrong. It'll save you from getting a headache, and from wasting time since she can be hard to persuade," Steve told Dustin. "Besides, her intuition is actually pretty accurate, if a little hard to understand at times," he shrugged. "But don't take her too personally right now. She's in a state of gay confusion." 

"Hey losers! Just remember that I cracked that stupid Russian code before you decide to write me off as a confused lesbian who shouldn't be taken seriously!" Robin called over to them, using the megaphone. 

"Yes, Robin, you're so amazing," Steve retorted sarcastically. "Not like it was a team effort, or anything."

"Don't make me come over there, Harrington."

"I won't," Steve turned to El. "Anyways, do you know if Nancy's single? Asking for a friend." Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Pretty sure her and Jonathan have been, like, couple of the year for a while, Steve."

"You'd be surprised, Dustin," Will said, now suddenly next to Steve, who jumped, then attempted to play it off. When met with questioning looks, he explained," They broke up a few days ago. That's why Jonathan basically avoided volunteering today, and probably why Nancy's a little extra overwhelmed lately."

"I kind of assumed that was because of the whole 'end-of-the-world thing we got going for us right now," Steve commented. "And the fact right now is that we are royally fucked." Everyone went quiet. "You know, because that's pretty overwhelming, too." Still, no response. "Okay, I'm going to go pay for our crap, because I guess someone has to, and that someone is usually me, anyways." He walked away.

"Well, this slushie has lost all of its appeal, since it appears we're 'royally fucked' anyways," Dustin said, tossing his slushie into the trash. El and Will nodded, following suit.

"He said it all like we forgot," Will said. "Like that would even be possible to do. Hawkins is literally cracked apart." 

"Also, Max is clearly still in the hospital, since she would be here if she wasn't," Dustin added. El's breathing hitched at the mention of Max and her condition, which she certainly never forgot about since she visited Max more than she visited Mike. Will placed a hand on her arm, always in tune to her emotions.

"Do you need to sit down?" he asked her, his older(ish) brother instincts kicking in. El opened her mouth to say 'no', but her throat closed up and she ended up nodding meekly. "okay , let's go sit outside for a bit," Will suggested, guiding El to the door. Mike looked over at them as they passed, his eyebrows immediately knitting with concern.

El avoided meeting his gaze.

Soon enough they were outside, and Will helped El sit down on a bench. 

"Focus on breathing," Will suggested, rubbing El's back. She nodded, taking a shaky breath, then exhaling. She repeated the process, and after a few moments Will let his hand drop. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. 

"Not really, but I know I should," El replied quietly, drawing her knees up to her chest. Will said nothing, giving her space to work out what to say. Some time passed, the two of them sitting there for a while.

"I just thought I knew how to miss her," El admitted finally. "Max, I mean. The whole time we were in Lenora, I missed Max. And of course I missed Dustin and Lucas, and Robin and Steve, but besides Mike she was the only one I was really close to, so I missed her more. And I got used to it, but now it's harder. I see her every day, but it still feels like we are two thousand miles apart and I, I just feel like-" she broke off, shaking her head and burying her face in her arms. Will gently grabbed El's wrist and pulled her arm away to see her face. She looked over at him, her face red and tear-streaked. 

"It's okay," Will told her softly.

"No, it's not. Nothing is okay. Didn't you hear Steve?"

"I did, but look." Will briefly pressed a hand over El's heart. "You're alive, I'm alive, hell, Max is alive. That's not nothing."

"Max is in a coma," El continued.

"Yes, but she's alive. If she was going to die, she probably would have done so back at Vecna's." He gave her a moment to process this before adding, "She's holding on. For some reason, Max has held on, and she's not going to stop. When- and I repeat when , not if - she wakes up, she might even tell us why, but until then all we can do is hope."

"Hope," El repeated. "You sound like Joyce." The 7-Eleven door opened, and Mike stepped out, walking over to sit by El. Will stood up, giving the two some space. El watched him go back inside before looking at Mike. She put her legs down, tugging on the sleeves of the checkered polo shirt she wore. It was one of many she'd taken from Will's wardrobe. "Hi," El said finally.

"Hi," Mike replied, shifting closer to her. He seemed hesitant around her lately. Their relationship had somewhat shifted, so every moment they spent alone together felt like an eternity, every word constantly hanging over their heads and silently taunting them. 

Mike and El had a lot they should say to each other, but the thought of even beginning to unpack everything was reason enough to continuously avoid it.

They had a lot going on, and not enough courage to acknowledge it. And they realized that, too.

It was slowly killing Mike, eating away at his self-confidence to think he was the reason things between them had started to decline. That El was slowly getting bored of him.

El didn't want to hurt Mike, but she didn't know how to call it quits on dating. Selfishly, she didn't want to be the one who did the breaking-up. So she endured the awkward eternity.

Sooner or later, though, something had to give, and it needed to be before one of their friends took notice and actually said something.

"Do-" Mike started, then hesitated. El looked at him patiently. "Do you want to get away from here?" he asked. El looked around, taking in the run-down buildings around them, their signs' lights flickering. Nearby, a raccoon dug through a dumpster. She did in fact, want to go away. Taking a deep breath, El nodded. 

"Yeah, why not? I could use a walk." They both got up, El going over to retrieve her bag, Mike informing the rest of the group they'd be walking over to Hopper's cabin. Minutes later, they were on their way, trailing down as dusk began to fall.

Will watched as they walked away, a yearning feeling blooming deep in the pit of his stomach, not for the first time. Mixed in was a twinge of jealousy, which was ridiculous but nonetheless, it gnawed at him. He saw them walk side by side, kicking aside fallen leaves and exchanging conversation. Just before they turned the corner, it looked like they joined hands.

Closing his eyes, Will turned away from the window. Upon opening them, they met Robin's from across the room. He couldn't stand the flash of concern and understanding that flickered behind her irises for a moment. How ironic, that they both harbored feelings for a Wheeler. Only Robin could actually discuss it. Will hadn't even come out, unless he counted Jonathan, and even then he never explicitly told him "I'm gay." 

Did it count as coming out if Will never actually said the words out loud?

Did Robin somehow intuitively know? Why did Will want her to?