He should never of agreed to it.

El had asked him if he would dress up with her for Halloween. He was about to refuse, to tell her that he, Dustin, Lucas, and Will were going as their Dungeons and Dragons characters, but there was a certain look in her eyes that made him say yes to going with her.

"Mike! The stuff for your costume came in!" Karen yelled down to the basement where Mike and Eleven were talking. Mike had bought her a fairy tale book a few months prior to help her learn to read, and she was absolutely in love with the princess stories. Her favorite, by far, was Beauty and the Beast.

"What's Hollow Een?" El curiously asked in her soft voice, her wide brown eyes staring at him.

"Halloween. It's this really cool holiday where kids dress up and go around neighborhoods asking for candy." Mike smiled, recalling past memories of him and his friends.

"Do you think we could go? Together?" El hopefully asked. He was gonna say no, but one look into her eyes, and he was a goner.

"Y-Yeah. I guess. What are we going to go as?" Mike asked.

"Can we go as Belle and the Beast? Please?" El asked.

He nodded and ran upstairs to tell his parents, and he pretended to not notice their knowing looks, or Nancy's smirk. For he knew what they were thinking; that he was definitely crushing, if not in love with her.

Nancy had wanted to do El's hair and makeup for Halloween. Joyce and Karen bought El a long curly brown wig and an elegant yellow ballgown. As Nancy was doing El's makeup, El began to look around Nancy's room, slightly smiling as she saw all the photos of Nancy and Jonathan. There was even one of the two kissing.

"What's that?" El asked, remembering the night with Mike in the cafeteria. Despite not knowing what had happened, it gave her a...really nice feeling, and she wanted to find out what it was.

"What, kissing?" Nancy said, causing El to slightly tilt her head.

"It's, um, placing your lips onto someone else's. Only someone you have romantic feelings for them though." And before El could ask, Nancy went on to explaining what romantic feelings were.

"Romantic feelings are a lot stronger than the feelings you have for friends. You get nervous when the person you like is around, and you feel all warm and fuzzy, and you smile just thinking about them." As Nancy went on to explain, El got happier and happier.

She finally had a word to describe how she felt towards Mike, and she couldn't wait to tell him.

Mike huffed as he looked at himself in the mirror. He was wearing a blue waist length coat with yellow trimming, a white dress shirt, and black pants with yellow stripes going down the side.

"You look great." Dustin sarcastically said as he saw Mike.

"Shut up. I'm only doing this for El." He mumbled, throwing on his dress shoes.

"Because you love her, right?" Dustin asked, and when Mike shot him a dirty look, he shot him a grin.

"I don't...love her." Mike shook his head, though he couldn't really decipher his feelings anymore. He knew that he liked her, though his feelings ran a lot deeper than just like.

But he was only fourteen. And he didn't want to admit that yes, he was in love, because everyone would just dismiss it as 'puppy love' or say that he was 'too young' to understand it.

Sighing, Mike stood up and walked up to the living room, playfully rolling his eyes as his mom gushed over him.

"Okay, Nancy and Jonathan are taking you guys trick or treating. Will and Lucas should be here soon with Jonathan." Karen explained, balancing Holly on her hip.

Mike nodded and sat down on the sofa, waiting for Eleven, whom Nancy announced was coming down.

It was a good thing he took a seat; his knees went weak as soon as he saw her.

El had on a brunette wig that was up in a neat bun atop her head with strands framing her face. She had on makeup; not too much, but just enough to make her noticeable. The yellow gown hugged her figure perfectly, and she looked like an actual princess.

"Pretty?" El asked as soon as she got to him. Mike was only vaguely aware of his family and Dustin watching him as he responded.

"No." He shook his head, watching as El's face fell. "Beautiful."

The two stared at each other, only looking away when a knock came at the door.

Startled, Mike blushed, and he held out his hand for El to take.

"Come on."

Needless to say, the kids had a lot of fun that night. And, not for the first time, El felt a sense of...gratitude towards her new friends. They were all cracking jokes with her, and they really made her feel happy.

And as much as she liked them, she really wanted to talk to Mike alone, to tell him what she figured out.

Finally, her chance came when they got back.

Dustin, Lucas, and Will all excused themselves to go upstairs, and it was only Mike and El.

"Thank you." El said, so softly that it took a moment for Mike to realize that she spoke.

"O-Oh. You're welcome. I had a lot of fun!" Mike beamed, looking down at his outfit. "I'll admit, I didn't really want to go as the Beast at first, but it was surprisingly okay." He leaned back against the wall, watching her.

"I have to tell you something." El took a deep breath. Her stomach was all fluttery, and she couldn't figure out why. It was just Mike; but somewhere during the night of pretending and holding hands, her feelings had taken a plunge into the deep end.

"Okay, what is it?" He asked, biting his lip.

"Nancy and I were talking while she was getting me ready, and she explained to me what romance was. Mike...I have...I have romantic feelings for you." She breathed out the last part, her nerves going haywire. El was well aware of the way that he was looking at her; as if she were his whole universe.

A slow smile spread across his lips, and before either of them could react, he leaned forward and softly pecked her lips.

"I have romantic feelings for you too, El."

Both were blissfully unaware of their friends, plus Jonathan and Nancy lurking on the staircase.

That is, until Dustin decided to break the silence.

"ABOUT DAMN TIME!"

A/N: I just got into the show yesterday, and I stayed up until 2 AM watching it bc my priorities are obviously straight (unlike me oops)

I own nothing because if I did own Stranger Things, eLEVEN WOULD STILL FUCKING BE WITH MIKE

Anyway, don't forget to leave a review telling me what you thought!