tangled (mileven au)

a true princess

El just stared wide eyed, certainly never having seen such a hairstyle. It only amused Mike even more. 

"El, you want to sit for awhile? I can get you some punch or some snacks?"

"I'm okay right now. We can go sit with your friends."

"Okay, sure. Let's go!"

The two made their way over to two of the empty chairs, where they dove off into chatting about whatever managed to come up. Dustin did most of the talking, while everyone else did most of the listening.

Mike was fully immersed in the conversation until some song he recognized by The Police came on, and suddenly El started tugging on his arm.

"Mike, can we dance?"

"Uh, I kinda really suck at dancing, El. Maybe Dustin could dance with you?"

"Oh, no that's okay. I just wanted to dance with you."

The disappointment that suddenly crossed her face crushed him. There was no way he'd be the reason she didn't have a smile on her face, no way. So if El wanted to go out there and dance, then they'd dance.

"What the hell, I'm up for making a fool of myself, let's do it!"

"Really?" She instantly perked up and he knew that any embarrassment he would endure out there would be worth it.

"Yes, just please don't hate me when I step on your toes."

"Oh, I could never hate you."

He shot her a look, highly doubtful of that. "Let's see if you feel that way after we dance."

Without another word, Mike took her hand in his and led her out onto the dance floor. He spun her around in a circle, before bringing her in close to him.

"You know, I bet all these other guys are jealous." Mike muttered in her ear as one of the songs came to an end. "Because my date's the most beautiful girl in the room."

El blushed. "I'm not."

"You are, El. You really are."

She didn't argue this time, only flashing that smile that he loves so much. Mike leaned his forehead against hers, unable to resist what little distance was between them.

The two couldn't contain their grins as they continued to dance, making it through song after song and they had yet to stop for a breather.

That is, until the next song began to play, specifically Dancing Queen. El pulled away from him in an instant and froze, causing Mike to do the same.

"El? You okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong! I just love this song!"

A smile spread across her face as she began to dance around and Mike felt the world somehow slow down. Watching her in that moment, being so genuinely happy, did crazy things to that heart of his.

It was safe to say, that if he wasn't already in love with this girl before, he certainly was now.

"Why aren't you dancing?" El asked, confusion all over her face, as he took her hands in his to halt her own dancing. "Mike, wh-"

Before she could get another word out, he tugged her closer and kissed her.

"I love you, El."

It felt so good for him to say those words.

Was it crazy to be feeling so strongly for her after such a short period of time? Sure, but that wasn't going to stop him from sharing those feelings. She wasn't just some girl like the ones he'd wasted his time on in the past, she was special and he wanted to be sure that she knew that.

"Oh wow..."

The look on her face was sort of dazed and he wasn't surprised by the reaction, knowing she probably needed time to feel that deeply for him or anyone for that matter.

"You don't have to say it back, obviously. I just needed to tell you. I wanted you to know."

"Okay... Mike, can I tell you something too?"

"You hate me now don't you? God, curse me and my bad dancing."

"No." She laughed softly, quickly shaking her head before going on. "I just wanted to tell you... you asked me that day what I would do since my dream had come true and I told you that I would find a new dream."

"Yeah, I remember."

"It was you, Mike. I wanted you." She said, smiling so wide he nearly lost his breath. "You were my new dream."

"Yeah?" He replied, the word coming out a bit hoarse. "You were mine too, El."

Mike took her face in his hands, cradling it ever so softly. Then he kissed her once more.

They continued dancing the night away and he couldn't help but think how there was no chance he would've ever come to this thing, not without her.

Really, he wouldn't have done a lot of things if he hadn't found her. He'd certainly never told any other girls that he loved them, yet here he was blurting it out like it was the easiest thing ever.

And with her, it was.

Despite the fact that these feelings were all so incredibly new to him, Mike knew that El was about to bring even more new feelings and experiences into his life and he was ready for all of it.

—
AN
uh hi, i know it's been forever... sorry ha. maybe the epilogue for this one will come soon or maybe it'll take another year? y'all might not even care about this story anymore but i always told myself i would finish it if i ever could soo anyways... thoughts on s4 since i've been nonexistent on here for so long? the mileven content was truly a gift from the st gods and i'm still not over it. also... s4 converted me to a max lover, so if you see any previous max hate from me... pretend it doesn't exist 😅