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3 Steps Above Heaven

Summary:

"Ugly face." He whispers to her as the people dance around them.
"Mouth breather." She tells him while the neon lights highlight her face.
AU. Biker Mike Wheeler has a pained past, making him want to forget about his life and live in the now, but when he meets El, his whole world changes.

Notes:

I'm going to start by saying this: this is going to be extremely AU and the majority of the characters will be OOC. This is based on the books/movies '3 Steps Above Heaven', and every time I watched the movie, I always pictured my OTP lol. I always thought that the bad boy/ good girl thing was too cliche, but this story is pretty good, so I'll have to fall into the cliche cattegory. Btw, OH MY GOD, I thought it would be easy to 'write' a movie, because the actors already tell you what they're feeling with their faces and the visuals are more prominent to describe, but HOLY SHIT, they have so many emotions! And I need to write what they're thinking, which is a lot! So I hope you guys enjoy it!

Chapter 1: The ride

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

One day it happens.

You're standing somewhere and you realize you don't want to be any of those around you.

You don't want to be the dickhead you just beat up.

"Your Honor," a blond man stands in court, pointing to his face. "I've got 11 stitches in this one, and 7 here." His face is purpled in some places and the wounds he points at don't seem to belong on his handsome face.

Or your father, or your sister, or anyone in your fucking family.

"The accused will stand." The judge orders, and the boy stands, looking dead serious and barely controlled. His eyes are devoid of any emotion as he stands stiff, only listening to the judge's verdict.

"This court finds Michael Edward Wheeler guilty of assault," his lawyer breathes hard next to him.

Or the judge.

"And sentences him to 18 months in prison, commuted to a fine of 10,000 dollars as this is a first offense and no signs of previous criminal records are presented."

Or even yourself.

"Court is adjourned." The judge slams her gavel down and Mike jumps from his seat, walking quickly out of the room.

You just want to run away.

"You must be careful from now on," His lawyer tells him, walking quickly to keep up with his pace while he removes his formal blazer off and hands it to his sister, taking his leather jacket from Nancy. "There can be no more violent incidents. Another offense means you'll go to prison."

"Mike, are you listening?" Ted asks him in a frustrated huff, not happy with the situation and even more frustrated as his son seems to show no sign of regret or thankfulness for the paid fine which freed him from prison.

"Why didn't mom come?" Mike asks instead, ignoring both his father and lawyer.

"She's on a trip." Ted answers with a dismissive wave.

"And don't fucking call me Mike." He turns to look at him, pointing a dangerous finger and glaring. He leaves a shocked Ted, who stares at his back with a frown, as Nancy sighs with irritation behind him.

He runs down the steps, throwing the heavy front doors open and walking brusquely into the crisp morning air; he mounts his motorcycle and races out of the Courthouse into the busy streets.

Get the hell out of wherever you are.

Miles away, a girl finishes getting ready for school; she takes her bag and runs downstairs to meet her dad and sister, who motions impatiently at her from her place inside the car.

Mike drives fast, dodging cars and buses as the city starts waking up to another beautiful day. The cold air hits his face and it breathes life into his lungs, making him alert of his surroundings, and it helps to take his mind off of his predicament.

And suddenly it happens.

El smiles softly as Sara babbles in the front seat, pressing the button in the armrest to lower down the window as the last yawn of the morning leaves her rosy lips.

Something clicks.

Mike slows down as the traffic stops at a red light, easing between the rows of cars with his smaller bike, as the remains of his anger speed away.

And you know that things are going to change.

His curiosity spikes up as he spots a girl sticking her head out of the window a few cars away from him. He watches her sigh calmly as the sunlight highlights the golden tones in her hair.

They've changed already.

He whistles. "Hey, ugly face!" The sound sharp in the uncharacteristic quietness of the moment.

Her face turns towards him and she frowns in his direction.

"Yeah, you." He grins, overjoyed by her momentarily attention. He smirks at her, raising an eyebrow in an obvious leer as he studies her face for any signs of cuteness. The girl frowns deeper and puts her head inside the car again, weirded out by what just happened.

El grips the window with a hand, eying Hopper and Sara, who are still talking without even noticing her exchange with the stranger outside, and then nearly jumps out of her skin as a hand suddenly covers hers from outside.

Mike grins, lightly squeezing her hand. "Ugly face." El narrows her eyes at him confusedly as she snatches her hand away. "Hi." He laughs, trailing a little bit behind on his bike as the traffic starts moving, taking her away from his view.

He stays behind, contemplating the girl's shocked face, as the cars drive past him on the sides. His curiosity is spiked again as her face reappears, leaning out of the window to flip her middle finger at him with a glare.

His laughing face burns in El's brain as she settles back against the backrest of the seat, smiling quietly to herself in confused amusement.

He watches her car go, still laughing to himself as he starts speeding away. He was right: she was cute.

And they'll never be the same again.

"Bye, dad." El waves at her father as they arrive to school. Sara runs up the stairs as her friends wave at her, leaving a still amused El behind.

Never.

Miles away again, Mike contemplates the soft waves of the ocean as he rests his hands against the railing on the beach's border. His frown is back on his face and his run in with the cute girl drifts to the back of his mind as he ponders over the headache that is his life.

And when it happens, you know.

.

.

.

"Hey, El!" Max greets her best friend with an excited grin. "Pose, pose!" She clicks her camera away as the brunette indulgingly makes funny faces at her, much to the redhead's amusement.

"Good morning." Their teacher, Mr. Brenner, enters the classroom and every girl scrambles quickly to find their seats. "Silence." He orders over the scraping of chairs and chatter, while taking out his things on the table. "Silence!" He barks, quickly ceasing any noise in the room.

The door opens and the girls grimace simultaneously, pitying the poor girl who was dumb enough to arrive late to Brenner's class.

"May I?" Ashley Martin asks Brenner with a pleading gaze, looking like she ran a marathon. Max widens her eyes and looks expectantly at the teacher.

"Late." He jerks his head in dismissal and Ashley bites her lip in frustration as she closes the door. "Notebooks closed and on top of your tables, please." He instructs as Max hisses behind El.

"El! El!" Max calls her quietly. "He's going to pick me!"

"Rebecca Johnson." Mr. Brenner reads from his list, and a girl from the first row raises from her seat and walks to the front with a gulp.

"Carla Larson." A girl from the back walks to stand in front of the board, on the left side of Rebecca Johnson, biting her lip anxiously and clutching her notebook to her chest.

"Ashley Mar—Oh, no, that's the one outside," Mr. Brenner shakes his head in annoyance, while Max scrunches her face up in agony. "Absent." He marks his list. "So… Mayfield." He looks up and stares at Max expectantly. "Translation."

El gulps, thinking quickly as Brenner turns to the board to write something. "Take your phone!" She whispers hastily to Max, the redhead nodding and quickly snatching her notebook from the table to hide the cellphone she takes from her skirt's pocket.

"Domus… itinere… eunte," El quickly texts the translation to Max, hoping with all her might that she's right. She looks up at Max, the redhead nodding in understanding as she takes a peek at her phone cautiously. "Moltus… ambulantus," Brenner pauses almost invisibly, looking sideways for a mid-second, before finishing writing. "Fuit."

Brenner breathes and looks down at his nails for a second, before turning around and eyeing his students. "Mayfield." He motions with a hand.

Max makes a show of studying the Latin words on the board, and then starts hesitantly. "On the way home…he had to walk a lot." Max nods, as if sure of herself.

"A lot." Brenner repeats. Max nods with a smile, sighing as she takes her teacher's face as a positive response. "You'll have to study a lot to pass my class and get into college." Max's face falls.

"Phone." Brenner extends a hand to her expectantly. Max grimaces, throwing a quick look at her best friend as El's heart stops.

Brenner clicks away on the screen as soon as Max gives him the cellphone, and El meets the redhead's terrified eyes with the same fright in hers. He looks up when the beeping of a starting call fills the air, scanning the group of girls in front of him to find the messenger.

El's breathing puffs strongly out of her nostrils as her own cellphone starts ringing in her hands, her eyes unmoving from the table as the teacher walks into her row.

"Miss Hopper," He tells her as soon as he finds the ringing is coming from her. "Won't you answer my call?" He extends his other palm at her, and El places her cellphone on it wordlessly, as Max looks on the verge of a mental breakdown from her place still in the front. "Sit down." He orders the redhead with a jerk of his head as he walks back to the front.

"Let's continue," He says to the two remaining girls in front, as Max walks briskly to her seat behind El. "De strictus sensi cui super impia." He writes on the board.

"El," Max whispers as she takes her seat. "I'm sorry." She apologizes with a deep frown and a sorrowful tone.

"It's okay." El assures her, turning around a little and patting the redhead's hand, even though her face shows her tremor. Max leans down and presses a kiss to the back of the brunette's hand with a guilty face as Brenner barks "Silence!" at them.

Notes:

What did you guys think? Leave a comment! This will be updated mainly weekly, but because I'm still writing it and it IS a pretty long story, the updating schedule might change once in a while; specially because I will be going back to school in February, and Law school sucks ass, so I won't have that much time. Love you, mouth breathers!