hi! welcome to my new story! I'm still writing Behind the Mask but I'm super obsessed with this show so I hAve to do this haha. All my chapter names are going to be song titles and at the end if the chapter I'll put the artist so you can go listen to them! All the songs will ~somewhat~ relate to the chapter content (some more than others). The plot is going to be fluid and it's not just a bunch of oneshots so i hope you enjooooy (this story is going to be hella chill and nice so don't expect anything super depressing lol) (i also know that this is pretty cringy it's going to be better eventually)

chapter one

in the real early morning

october twentieth, 1984

She couldn't feel her feet. She hadn't felt them for a while actually. Shuffling through the snow, she pushed her shoulder length dirty hair behind her ears and rubbed her eyes, feeling sleep crawl upon her. She collapsed by a nearby tree, sighing heavily as she closed her eyes and leant her head against the cold bark. Hunger and fear rolled off her like water on a raincoat, and her eyes squeezed even tighter, trying to repress the memories pushing at her mind, trying to break her. It wasn't long before Eleven was unwillingly drawn back into the Upside Down. The memory was one of her least favorites from her short stay in the awful place. She had only just been taken there and she hit the wall, over and over, the names of the friends she had left being yelled into the inky darkness. She sank to the floor soon after, tears rolling down her face and hands balled up, so tight her nails made indents on her palms. she allowed herself these few minutes before standing up, forcefully brushing the tears from her eyes and soldiering on. It had been months since then, evident by her shoulder length curly hair. She still had nightmares. Every night, haunted by her past. Even now, as she sat safe in the snow, she kept her eyes firmly shut, hands unconsciously grasping at the snow on the ground, making her hands cold.

"You haven't finished it yet?" exclaimed Dustin, staring at Mike and watching as he wrung his hands guiltily.

"No! You know how much homework we got this week," he groaned, "Did you really think I'd have time to write a whole campaign?"

"Well, I got all my homework done early." he said.

"Good for you." grumbled Mike.

"Guys stop it." said Will, "We can do the campaign next weekend, we did get quite the homework load."

"Yeah, I've stayed up late every night, I've barely gotten any sleep." complained Lucas.

The four boys were on a walk through the woods behind Will's house. It was a Friday evening and they were all sleeping over. They didn't usually go on walks but the recent snowfall had excited them and well, who doesn't like to play in the snow.

El's head snapped up. She thought she had heard voices in the distance. As she listened, eyes still closed, the voices seemed to get louder, the conversation peppered with the occasional laugh. That's when she heard it. Mike's voice. She could recognize that voice from anywhere, having thought of it everyday for the past year. And to hear it now, in person, sent chills through her body. She immediately sprung up, forgetting her exhaustion and numbness, and began running towards the voices, her feet carrying her as fast as possible. Tears sprang into her eyes and a cramp formed at her side but she kept going, dodging trees until she ran right into a soft lump. she immediately bounced back and cleared the tears from her eyes. She looked down and was face to face with a small boy with brown hair looking thoroughly confused. Without even looking at the girl, his friends grabbed Will by the arms and pulled him to his feet.

"Guys," he said slowly, "I-I think that's El." Will had heard a lot about El in the year he'd been back. He'd heard every story and had taken part in every search for her. The boys had spent hours of their days just calling her name, walking through the woods. And this trip was another one of those times, even though they didn't say it.

Dustin, Mike, and Lucas looked up then, all in shock, they had nothing to say. Finally, Mike let out a breathy, "El!" And the four boys rushed to her, enveloping her in the biggest hug.

"I've missed you all. So much." whispered El quietly.

"We missed you too!" said Lucas.

"And you're just in time for Halloween!" exclaimed Dustin.

"Halloween?" asked El as the group hug broke apart.

"Yeah! It's where you dress up as something cool and go walk around the neighborhood to get candy!" explained Lucas as they started walking in the direction of Wills house.

"That was a shitty explanation." snorted Dustin.

"Well it's a bit hard to explain Halloween to someone with such a limited vocabulary." said Lucas, rolling his eyes.

"You'll love it." promised Dustin, ignoring Lucas' comment.

"Love?" whispered El, the word foreign on her tongue.

"Yeah, love is when you really really like someone or something." said Mike, a slight blush on his cheeks.

"More than friends?" whispered the girl again, her left hand brushing against the other boys right hand. His cheeks turned a dark pink then and all his friends turned to look at him with raised eyebrows and smirks playing across their faces.

"Uh, um, yes but uh it can also apply to um, other things too." he said, "like objects, or movies, or books, or anything really." he finished, the blush still evident and his fingers tingling where she touched them.

El nodded, satisfied with his answer. They walked in silence for a bit, everyone almost too giddy to speak. Eventually, Mike mustered up the courage to grab El's hand. And he did, causing her to look at him and blushes to appear on both of their faces.

"El, I'm going to take you back to my house. You remember my mom right?" asked Will, falling into step with her. Will had never formally met Eleven, only hearing stories from his friends and family. But, she had saved his life and he felt that made them friends, of some kind.

"Joyce." she said quietly. Will nodded.

"Thank you for saving me last year." he said, "I know we've never really met before but I hope we can be friends." El smiled weakly at him,

"Friends." she said. Will smiled back and they kept walking, the almost setting sun made the sky several shades of pink and orange, a stark contrast to the white trees and ground, littered with freshly fallen snow.

Joyce had gotten off work early, wanting to be at home for Will and his friends when they slept over. When she had arrived home, the boys weren't there and she only panicked briefly before finding a scribbled note on the counter saying, "we went for a walk." She had only been waiting for about ten minutes before the door creaked open and she heard the soft chatter of her son and his friends. She walked into the living room and was about to greet them before she noticed the girl standing behind Mike and Lucas, half her face peeking out from behind them.

"Is that-" she began. Will nodded,

"It's El." he said, gently pushing the girl out from her hiding spot. Joyce rushed forward and met the girl halfway, enveloping her in a big hug. El pressed her face into the older womans shoulder and felt tears brimming in her closed eyes.

"I missed you." said Joyce.

"I missed you too." sniffled El. Joyce pulled back from the hug and held the girl at arms length, taking in her skinny, almost skeletal frame, Nancy's old dress practically hanging off of her, and her matted, greasy hair.

"You need a shower." she declared.

"A… shower?" asked El. Joyce nodded,

"it's like a bath but the water comes shooting from a metal thing called a shower head."

"Shooting?" asked a concerned El.

"No, um, not shooting. Here, let me go show you." she gently placed her hand on El's back and led her down the hallway towards the bathroom. Once they disappeared behind the door, The four boys all looked at each other before breaking into elated grins.

In the bathroom, Joyce had pressed a fluffy towel into El's hands and was searching through Wills pajama drawer to find the softest and warmest pajamas he had. Once she had brought them into the bathroom, she pointed out the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash before teaching El how to make the water hotter or colder.

"There you go! I'll leave you now but I'll be just outside and by the time you come out dinner will be ready." said Joyce, smiling warmly as she left the room, slowly closing the door behind her. El turned to the mirror but quickly turned away as soon as she saw her appearance. All of Nancy's clothes were beyond help so they were thrown in the trash before she stepped into the shower to wash away a year's worth of grime.

"She likes Eggos." said Mike, after Joyce asked them all what El's dream meal would be.

"But," added Lucas, "I think she'd eat anything you put in front of her." Joyce nodded slowly and began walking towards the fridge, checking it's insides for Eggos and anything else that would make a better dinner food than frozen waffles.

"Do you think she'll start school?" Will asked his mom as she began work on a multi course meal.

"I'll have to talk with Hopper first. We'll have to settle adoption papers and see how much she actually knows." she responded.

"Adoption papers? Are we going to adopt her?" asked Will.

"If she has no objections." said Joyce.

"Oh, cool!" Responded Will enthusiastically. He couldn't help but notice how Mike's smile dropped a little, and he wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Mike, you weren't seriously thinking she'd move in with you?" said Dustin, rolling his eyes. Mile shrugged a little. "You like like her, don't deny it." he continued, "and you can't live with someone you like y'know? Besides, then your family would have to adopt her and then she'd be your sister and then-" Mike shut him up by putting his hand on the Dustins mouth, a blush slowly creeping up his cheeks.

"Please. Just shut up." said Mike, embarrassed. Joyce listened to their conversation quietly, smiling slightly.

"We can't get too ahead of ourselves, she did only just show up today." She reminded them.

El looked down at her feet and the water swirling around them. It was littered with dirt, dried blood, and shampoo bubbles. She looked up and caught her reflection in the mirror across the room. She squinted, she didn't look as bad as she did but she was much skinnier and the constant rumble in her stomach was a reminder of that. She ran her hands through her hair, smoothing it out and washing it thoroughly before gingerly stepping out of the shower and wrapping herself up in the fluffy towel laid out for her. El turned off the water and began drying off, sliding into Will's pyjamas and stepping out into the hallway, her feet making almost silent pitter, patter noises on the floors. When she entered the kitchen, everyone turned to look at her.

"El!" exclaimed Dustin, "it felt like you were gone for forever in there."

"Dustin's having some separation anxiety." joked Lucas.

"Shut up, I'm just glad she's finally back with us, home again." he said.

"Home." whispered El, walking over to the table and taking the only open seat, between Will and Mike.

"Okay, so I made quite the feast." said Joyce, gesturing to all the food she had prepared. "I've got Eggos, pancakes, bacon, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." El gazed at the food with her lips partly opened before a plate was placed in front of her with one of each item. She first went in for the eggos but did enjoy everything else as well. She had several servings before wandering over to the couch and curling up under a blanket, watching the boys play a game with eyes barely open.

"Oh!" exclaimed Will suddenly, "El hasn't met Daisy!"

"Daisy?" she asked quietly, propped her head on her hand with a confused look on her face. She searched her mind for what a daisy was before coming upon, "a flower?"

"My dog!" he said. He ran out of the room and came back with an animal El had never seen before. It's tail was wagging wildly but stopped when it made eye contact with the other wide-eyed girl. Daisy wiggled out of Wills grasp and padded over to El, touching her nose to El's before curling up on the ground in front of her and letting El run her hands through her fur.

"She likes me." whispered the girl. The boys grinned at each other before going back to their game. El let her eyes close and took in the sounds of her friends laughter and the soft dog under her hand. "Home." she whispered, almost inaudibly.

song: in the real early morning by Jacob Collier