bitchin’

“El, are you alright? You seem a little-”

El cut off Mike’s ability to finish his sentence as she flung her arms around him, burying him into a hug. Mike was initially stunned by El’s sudden movement but relaxed into the hug after a few moments, stroking her back.

“I’m scared.” El’s words were muffled as her face pressed into Mike’s collarbone.

Mike pulled out of the hug ever so slightly to look at her, but kept his arms firmly wrapped around her back. “You’re scared? Of what?” He knew her nightmares and fears of the Bad Men were still an occurance, but the Mind Flayer was gone. What did she have left to be afraid of?

El swallowed. “Losing you again. Hopper being mad at me. Being alone again.”

Hearing her say her worst fears in that small, timid voice of hers made Mike want to wrap her up in a blanket and never let her go. Even after everything she’d been through, she was still terrified that everyone was going to turn against her.

“Come here.” Mike took her hand and pulled her down with him onto the bathroom tiles. They sat legs-crossed facing each other, their hands intertwined. Mike locked his eyes with hers to ensure that what he was about to say would definitely sink in.

“El, you’re not gonna lose me. The Bad Men are gone, the gate is closed, the Mind Flayer is gone. There’s nothing left to separate us.” He hesitated for a moment, not sure whether he should go on and say what he wanted to say. He didn’t want to upset her further. But, at the same time, she needed to know how he felt about her. He wanted her to know. 

“When you left, I didn’t know what to do with myself; I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t focus on anything. I was lost without you.” A small shiver went down Mike’s spine as his mind flashed back to those awful three-hundred-and-fifty-three days without her. “I need you in my life, El, so I’m not gonna let anything hurt you, or take you away ever again. You’re gonna get to stay here, with me. And Hopper, and Will, and Dustin, and Lucas, and Joyce, and everyone else who loves you.”

El’s cheeks blushed as she looked down at their joined hands. She wanted to reiterate the fact he had joined his name among the list of people that supposedly ‘love’ her, but she had something else to ask him first that was more important.

“Do you think Hopper still loves me after what I did?”

Mike’s brows furrowed. “What did you do?”

El took no hesitation in replying. “I ran away and found my sister.”

El’s sheer bluntness took Mike aback. His eyes widened in shock as her statement sunk in. “You... you have a sister?”

“Yes. Her name is Kali. Eight.” El lifted her hands away from Mike’s briefly to lift up her sleeve. She pointed to the “011″ tattoo on her left wrist. “Eight.”

Mike nodded his head slowly in understanding. Of course. She wasn’t the only experiment.

“Where did you find her?” Mike asked, reclaiming El’s hands in his own once more.

El’s face twisted into concentration as she sounded out the unfamiliar syllables. “Chi-ca-go?”

“You went to Chicago?” Mike said in wonderment, trying to keep his voice down under the circumstances. If Hopper found out they were in here alone, they would be screwed.

“Yes.” El was unsure as to whether she should elaborate any further.

As El’s revelations began to sink in, Mike suddenly had a thought. “Hang on... if this Kali is your ‘sister’ and if she has her own tattoo like yours, then that must mean... she has powers, too, doesn’t she?”

“Yes,” El nodded, her face completely serious. “But not the same as mine. She can make people see things.”

“See things?” Mike questioned.

“Yes,” El nodded. “She made me see a butterfly, even though there wasn’t really a butterfly there.”

Mike’s head nodded in understanding. “Okay, okay...” He couldn’t get over this. El went to Chicago. She had a sister. Probably not a biological one, but a sister all the same.

“There’s more.” El’s voice suddenly went quiet and timid again, which made Mike’s heart sink and made his mind go to a terrible place. 

“El, Kali didn’t... she didn’t hurt you, did she?” 

“No,” El said, “but I nearly hurt someone. Kali wanted me to kill a man who helped Papa, and I was going to, because Papa hurt my Mama, but then I saw that the man had children, and I couldn’t do it. Then I saw you in the Void. You were yelling and you were upset. I tried to reach you, but...” El’s throat began to close up as tears rolled down her cheeks. “You just disappeared. I needed to help you, so I came back. I came back home.”

They both sat in silence for a few moments as the severity of what El had just said washed over then. Mike’s brain was still whirling around in amazement when he eventually broke the silence.

“So... you’re worried about how Hopper is going to react to all of this?”

El nodded, tears still silently sliding down her face. “When we talked in the car on the way to the gate, he told me he wasn’t mad at me. But I‘m scared that when I tell him about my sister and the man, he will be mad again. I don’t want him to be mad, Mike.” El fully broke down then, and Mike instantly pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. He hated seeing her like this. 

They stayed like that for a few minutes, barely moving at all. El’s tears slid down onto Mike’s pyjamas as he cradled her with his chin on top of her head, wishing that he could somehow take all of this pain away from her.

Mike eventually broke the silence away from El’s sobs, but still kept her tightly in his arms. “Listen, El. I don’t think Hopper is going to be mad at you.”

“No?” El asked quietly, her voice muffled by Mike’s pyjama top.

“No,” Mike reassured, resting his cheek against the side of El’s head. “Hopper loves you too much to be mad at you. If he said that he’s not mad at you, then I believe him.”

“But what about the man?” El asked, fear in her voice. “He will be mad at me for that.”

“But he shouldn’t be,” Mike insisted, hugging her tighter. “You didn’t kill the man, El. You stopped yourself from killing him, and that’s a very, very good thing. Hopper can’t be mad at you for saving that man’s life.”

El nodded weakly, hoping beyond hope that Mike was right. “And Kali?”

“He won’t be mad about that, either,” Mike reassured her. “Knowing that you have a sister is good news, El, not bad.”

El nodded again. She lifted her head ever so slightly, just enough to be able to look at Mike. “Thank you,” she said with a weak smile.

“You have nothing to thank me for,” Mike insisted with a smile. El tucked her head back underneath Mike’s chin, wrapping her arms around his lower back. 

They stayed like that for a few moments more, both of them never wanting to leave each other’s sides. With her worries about Hopper beginning to dim, El’s mind returned to the second most pressing question that she wanted to ask Mike.

“Mike?” she said quietly, lifting her head once more to look at him.

“Yeah?” Mike replied, looking down at her.

El’s cheeks blushed lightly when she spoke. “You said you loved me before I told you about Hopper.”

If El’s cheeks were blushing a light pink, then Mike’s cheeks were now the shade of a fully-grown tomato. “Uhhh... I, um... I just.... Uhhh... You don’t have to...” Pull yourself together, Wheeler.

El resisted the urge to laugh at how adorable he was being. Instead, she just locked her big, brown eyes with his, and said sincerely, “I love you too, Mike.”

Those four words were the only thing that could’ve stopped Mike from word vomiting at that precise moment. “You... you do?” He hadn’t been aware that El actually understood the concept of love.

El smiled sweetly at him. “Yes.”

Mike was unsure as to whether he would faint, laugh, scream or sigh with relief. Oh my god. She actually said it back. Since when does she know about love? Did Nancy teach her about it? Or Hopper? No, it couldn’t have been him, it must’ve been Nancy. I should ask her later. Shit shit shit. Oh my god. She’s still looking at me. Should I say it back? But I said it earlier, so I don’t need to, right? Oh shit. She’s expecting me to say something. What do I-

But before Mike could finish that thought, he realised that El was slowly reaching her lips up towards his. As Mike moved his head down to meet hers, he tried to think of a single thing that was wrong with his life in that exact moment, but he came up empty. He’d imagined this moment for over a year, and now it was finally happening. His nose was just about to touch hers when-

“Mike, wake up, breakfast is ready!”

“El, honey, come and get breakfast!”

Mike sighed heavily and closed his eyes briefly in frustration, resisting the urge to curse loudly. When he opened his eyes again, El was still staring at him, her face also showing signs of disappointment. 

“Well, we should go then,” Mike sighed, slowly wiggling out of El’s grasp, even though he desperately didn’t want to. “We should go out separately too, so then they won’t think that we were together.”

El nodded in understanding as she moved off Mike’s lap and stood up, her head hanging limply. “When will we get to do that again?” she asked sadly, her eyes finding Mike’s.

Mike was unsure as to which thing she was referring to - their time alone together or their almost-kiss. Maybe both. “I don’t know, El,” he answered honestly. “But the important thing is that we will. I’m gonna visit the cabin as much as I can, okay? And we can still be together now for a few more days, until I’m back at school.”

“Promise?” El asked, a small smile on her lips.

“Promise,” Mike reassured, returning the smile. “Now c’mon, we should go. You go first.”

He took her hand once more and led her over to the door, not wanting to let go of her ever again. 

El opened the bathroom door manually this time, but hesitated for a moment. She turned around to face him again. Before Mike could even register what was happening, El leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips lightly against Mike’s cheek. Giving him a wider smile this time, she gently squeezed his hand before letting go of it and went out the bathroom door, not breaking eye contact with Mike until the gap in the door eventually closed and broke it for them.

Mike stood there in complete shock, his cheeks feeling like they were on absolute fire. He raised his hand up to the spot where her lips had met his cheek, and grinned like an idiot. A few moments later, he heard Joyce’s voice welcoming El and asking her if she had had a good sleep. Mike shook his head in disbelief, unable to comprehend how much happiness he was feeling at that moment.