Author's note: So, I initially planned on writing a long ass oneshot, but then I realized that it would be a really long oneshot, so I'm chapterizing the thing. Every chapter will be short and quick, snippets of conversations between Nancy and Mike. They will go from 1983 to 1986, so there will be some scenes from my fic "1985" in here, sort of. You'll see what I mean.
I hope you all enjoy it! ^^
The Stranger Things characters are not mine.
Beta'd by Jenna (littlecajunlady88).
we tell each other everything
Thanksgiving, 1983
"I lied," Mike confessed in one go, just like that.
It was Thanksgiving, and for some reason he thought that it'd be a good date to put El's bed – fort – back together. He'd been postponing it for weeks now, and the Snow Ball was right around the corner. She might want to come back.
Nancy caught him in there. In fact, she came looking for him, because their mom was calling, and the basement was the first place she looked. Lucky.
Just like him, she also had been waking up in the middle of the night terrified from the nightmares. Her five minutes in the Upside-down were enough to have a taste of what Barbara went through, and the more she tried not to think about it, the more it haunted her.
So instead of mocking her little brother as the memo said, Nancy decided to help him. She didn't even say anything, just grabbed some pillows and tried to mimic what she remembered the fort looked like. They were almost finished when Mike said that, fingers fumbling with the channels of the walk talkie.
"I like Eleven. A lot," Mike continued, avoiding eye contact. Nancy nodded.
"Noticed."
He looked at her then. There was always a little warmth in his eyes when he talked about El.
"I kissed her. In the cafeteria, before the bad men showed up."
Nancy couldn't help but smile. Her little brother, acting all grown with his first crush. It was kind of cute.
"How was it?" she asked. From the look on his face, this was not at all what he expected from her.
"Nice, I guess," he answered. "I think she'd go to the dance with me if…" he stopped short. Everyone sort of agreed that there was more to the vanishing of Eleven. There had to be. "Maybe she'll come back."
Nancy got up, giving space for Mike to put the supercom wherever he wanted. He put it in the corner, next to Benny's shirt El was wearing when she arrived. It was a good thing the police gave back all the things the bad people had taken from their house.
"NANCY! MICHAEL!" they heard their mother call from upstairs. Maybe they really should go help.
The two siblings stood next to each other, and Nancy smiled sympathetically at Mike.
"I'm sure she will, Mike," she assured. Because he needed someone who believed in him. And because she believed too.
Together, they went up the stairs.
