That summer had definetely been one of the hottest ever, there in Hawkins.
It had come and passed in what it seemed like a minute and, now , the sweet September breeze was starting to make its first appereances, gently strocking the tree-lined avenues and the wood.
The last three months had been full of entertainment for The Party: from the mornings at the Arcade to the afternoons spent at the pool or wandering around the woods on their bikes, with the fresh air on their faces, they just had enjoyed each other company.
And of course, there's been El.
According to what Hopper had said right after The Snowball, she was supposed to stay hidden for about another year.
Those words had been a blow for the kids, especially for Mike, who had freaked out in front of everyone, starting to throw punches against the wall of the cabin, tears rolling down his cheeks, while El was trying to hold back his own urge to cry.
"YOU WON'T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME AGAIN. YOU CAN'T" he had yelled, out of sheer desperation.
They'd needed almost 40 minutes to calm him down, with The Chief kneeling down in front of him, just trying to explain why all of that was necessary.
"This doesn't mean that she would be isolated from the rest of the world again. That wouldn't be fair or even possible now that you all know about her. You just need to trust me and we will find our own arrangement." Then, he had looked down at all the kids in the room, focusing on both Mike and El that were now holding hands with their eyes full of tears and he added "I promise that, kid."
They smiled.
And Jim Hopper was a man of his word, they had to admit that in the end: the arrangements included weekly visits at the Cabin, on Saturdays, with some extras that were reserved to Mike.
"Don't make me regret this, Wheeler, you have to help her with her studies!"
So, both Winter and Spring had passed by and, that Summer, between one bike ride and the other, the boys and Max had continued to visit El at the Cabin.
They all had also managed to convince the Chief to let them come more often and, in the end, the man had gave up.
Most of the times, they were all there together, but Mike had kept having his "special bonus" of "stand-alone" visits.
And those were, of course, his favourite.

That particular day of September was one of those times.
Mike had run to the Cabin in the afternoon, after a morning spent mowing the lawn with his father.
After he'd arrived on the small porch and had done the secret knock, he'd been greeted by a radiant El, who was wearing a delicate blue summer dress that Joyce had given her as a gift for her birthday.
"Mike, you're here!" she said, wrapping her arms around his torso in a sweet hug. "I missed you."
"Missed you too, El, a lot."
"Come on, get in!"
They walked into the tiny living room, just to see Hopper standing on the sofa, reading the newspaper as usual.
"Hi kid, everything's okay?" he said when he saw Mike.
"Yes, sir, fine."
He got up from the couch, giving Mike a light pat on the shoulder.
Mike couldn't help but feeling intimidated by that big man, even if it had been no more than a few months before when he had started to punch him right in the stomach because of the anger and desperation.
But, after they had cleared the air, Mike had started to respect him deeply, feeling really small in front of him.
Not to mention all the "oh-my-God-he's-my-girlfriend's-father-I'm-sure-there's-a-part -of –him-who-would-really-love-to-kill-me" stuff.
"What did you bring her today, Wheeler?"
"Oh, they're some of my old school-books. I was thinking that maybe they would be useful. We can start with some Chemistry today. It's okay, El?"
She smiled at him and nodded.
He smiled in return, squeezing her hand.
They sat at the kitchen's table, with their knees touching underneat and spent the next two hours studying.
Mike loved being her tutor: he would show her what to do, explaining every concept calmly, and her would have looked at him, enchanted, all the time, eventually showing him her results and everything she had understand,
She was so smart, not that Mike had any doubts.
"Mmm, okay, so I guess … This is how this equation works."
"That's correct El, perfect!"
She chuckled, feeling proud of herself.
"I guess we're done for today!"
"Oh, I love the sound of this." El said, smiling and resting her head on Mike's shoulder, making him blush due to the Chief being just right in front of them.
And also … was it just him or was she saying that with some kind of a … flirting voice?
"We've got time, I'm not supposed to be home before 7.30."
El smiled again and Mike could feel his heart beginning to beat harder.
He moved a lock of hair behind her ear and was starting to say something else, when Hopper's voice awoke them both from their little moment.
"No problem kid, I can carry you home tonight. But we have a little problem right now."
Mike and El looked at each other, confusion spreading in their eyes.
"I need to go to the Police Station right now, they need me for some stuff that cannot wait.
This will take about an hour I think. Can I trust the two of you being here alone?"
Mike swallowed hard when he heard those words, excitement rising inside of hima t the thought of being with El, alone, for the first time since they'd reunited.
God that was both scary but so, so good.
"Kid?"
"Oh? Oh ehm.. sure Chief, absolutely."
"Mmm… Look, if everything's wrong, call me within a minute, okay? Be careful."
"It's okay dad, really. You don't have to worry that much."
The man smiled, giving his girl a hug before putting on his hat.
"No funny business, Michael. I mean that. Remember I am definetely a man with a gun."
"What do you mean?" El said, a questioning look on her face.
"Wheeler knows what I'm talkin' about. See you later, kids."
Meanwhile, Mike's only desire was to bury himself underground fot the embarassement.
Jim Hopper was definetely enjoying his role as a dad, no doubts about that.

Right after Hopper had closed the door behind him, Mike and El stared at each other for a moment, boh thrilled at the idea of finally being alone, just the two of them.
Then, Mike cleared his voice, getting up from his chair and said:
"Well, I .. I have some movies in my backpack. I've thought that maybe we could watch one, If… if you want of course. I have … let me see…"
He started to rummage in the backpack, with his cheeks on fire, trying to calm himself down.
Then, he felt a warm hand on his face, and stopped.
"Mike, is something wrong?"
Looking into her now concerned eyes, he felt his heart doing a flip.
She was so beautiful.
He caressed her arm, smiling.
"Everything's okay. More than okay. I promise."
She nodded and started to look into his backpack as well.
"Mmm…E.T? My favourite!"
"I knew that! I know you so well" he said, teasingly and she, in response, stuck her tongue out.
After ten minutes, they were on the couch and the movie's opening credits started to appear on the screen.
El had rested her head on Mike's shoulder, while he'd surrounded her shoulders with his left arm.
In that exact moment, they were home.
"Eliot is the cutest." She said.
"You say that every time! I'm starting to get jelous." Mike added, lightly tickling her wrist.
"You shouldn't."
"Oh, really?"
"No."she remained quiet for a moment, then said "I actually love him because he reminds me of you."
Mike turned his head to look at her, surprised and speechless.
It's not that she wasn't "sweet" with him. She was adorable and, like, she made him feel loved every second, but hearing those words left him stunned anyway.
"You …do you really mean that?"
"Of course I do."
Mike blushed, happiness rising into his chest.
He understood why she was saying that. He knew that she was referring to the first days they'd spent together and he felt honored, becuse, with those words, she had just implied that he'd maked her feel safe.
And that was really everything he wanted.
"Well… I would like to say that you are my E.T. as well as I'm your Eliot, but the problem with the two of you is that one is waaaay cuter."
"Oh, is it?"
"Yep. Take your pick!"
She burst into a loud laugh at that, something Mike had rarely heard from her, and he felt his heart getting light.
"What's so funny about that? I'm beyond serious?"
"You're taking a risk, Mike Wheeler."
"Am I?"
He started tickling her, to make the beautiful sound of her laughter last longer.
"No, god, no Mike, stop, stop."
"I won't, you know that."
"Pleeeease"
"Not happening."
Then, Mike felt his body freezing and suddendly he was unable to make any move.
"Oh, come on, it's not fair if you use your powers. That's cheeting."
"Don't you know that? All's fair in love and war."
Mike'd distinctly felt the butterflies rising in his stomach when he'd heard the word 'love'getting out of El's mouth and all he could do now was just staring at her, with his dark eyes.
Seeing him like this made El stop laughing, just to stare back at him.
Mike's gaze started to wander alla round her face, focusing on her little dimple and on the baby hair on her forehead.
-God, she is so beautiful.-
Then, finally, Mike landed his eyes on her lips.
Since El's "return", they had increased their physical contact a lot.
They always held hands, in every minute, and everytime they sat next to each other, El would rest her head on Mike's shoulder and he would eventually land a kiss on her hair.
Of course, there had been kissing too: they would kiss each other goodbye after every visit or stealing quick kisses in between movie scenes.
But, everytime they did that, there was always someone around them: from Hopper to the gang, they really
hadn't had the occasion to do more than that.
But now, it was different.
They were alone.
And they were definetely staring at each other's lips.
Mike made the first move, leaning in and slowly closing the gap between them.
At first, it was just a soft peck, as usual.
Her lips were warm under his own and just fitted perfectly.
They parted after a few moments, both of them keeping their eyes closed.
"Wow" Mike said with a chuckle.
El blushed, staring at her hands.
At that point, Mike took her chin between his fingers, to make her look at him.
He kissed her again, breathing in her scent, that was always of fresh mint and honey.
He felt El's hand going up his right arm and shoulder, to rest just on the side on his neck: that made him shiver.
After a while, Mike attempted to make another move, following his instinct: he started to part his lips, slowly, trying to guide her as well, but without pushing it in any way.
El's mouth copied what Mike was doing and what they felt in that moment was so new and intense that they had to part again just to handle with their feelings.
They were gasping, with foreheads touching, unable to move and to do really anything else.
Mike then held her hand, noticing that she was trembling.
Panic started to rise inside him at the mere thought that he could have probably crossed a line he wasn't supposed to.
He caressed her cheek, shaking.
"El … El … I didn't mean to …I hope i didn't scare you or something that was just .."
But, before he could have the opportunity to say more, she shut him up with another kiss.
Mike widened his eyes in surprise, just to kiss her back within a second, smiling on her lips.
They moved again,their lips now embracing each other's with more safeness.
Mike was sure that he'd never felt that much heat, never.
He put both his hands on El's cheeks, feeling that she was burning just like he was.
He couldn't get enough of her, he felt like he was getting drunk.
Suddendly, El put one of her leg upon Mike's knee, getting closer to him, as they kept kissing.
Mike moved away just a little.
"Gosh, El, I'm crazy about you, ya know that?"
He saw her grin and was on her lips again.
While kissing, he started to stroke her arm, wanted to feel her as close as he could.
It was so hot he was barely getting himself together.
Then, he decided to make another step forward.
He parted his lips a little bit more and lightly stuck his tongue out, gently caressing her lower lip, just for a second, wanting to stand back immediately to make sure she'd liked that.
But he didn't have the time for that, 'cause El catch him back, pushing on his neck.
So, Mike repeated that action, and El followed him.
They were feeling electric and dizzy and they just couldn't stop.
Mike depened the kiss even more, leaning on her and pushing her on the back of the couch.
That was definetly a whole new world of experience and they were exploring it, together, as always.
After some minutes, he was in need to catch his breath, but he didn't had the courage to part from her, so he just stayed with his lips close on her's, breathing in her scent.
In their own little moment, they started to cool down a bit, just enjoying their closeness without saying a word.
That silence was broken by Mike's soft voice, as he said.
"El ...El I …"
But he couldn't finish his sentence, because the sound of the secret knock on the door, followed by Hopper's deep voice, made them jump apart.
They immediately sat up straight again on the sofa, making some distance between them and pretend to act normally, then El unlocked the front door.
"Hey there kids! Is everything okay?"
"Yes dad, we're fine. We just finished homeworks."
"Oh I see that. E.T, mm?"
"Yep."
Mike was dark red because of what had happened just moments before and he was trying his best to calm down, but having the 6.2- Chief of Police-father of your girlfriend standing right beside him wasn't helping at all.
"What about you, Wheeler boy? You did take advantage of my absence, didn't you?"
He just wanted to hide himself underground in that moment, while El suffocated a giggle.
"N-no Sir"he said eventually.
The Chief just gave him a suspicious look, even if he was smiling.
"Mmmm…we'll see!"then, he went to the kitchen, starting to make dinner.
Taking advantage of that moment, El got closer to Mike and held his hand.
He took a look at their joined hands, as the movie kept going, and he felt light.
Just minutes before, he was about to say something to her, something that he knew he was feeling for a long time now. Something special.
Something that made his heart flip everytime he looked at her.
But, maybe, it just wasn't the right time and he didn't need to rush things.
There was time for that. There was time for them.
They had all the time in the world.
He squeezed her hand in response.
"I'll... be... right... here." E.T. voice said, in the background.
That sounded like the most beautiful of the promises.