A/N: Hey reader I'm sorry for the author's note before you've even started but I wanted to point out that this part is mainly an intro and therefore the second part is much better. Please make sure you read the whole story before you judge it, even if it's a little slow at first. Thank you so much and enjoy!
_
A lot of time had passed since Eleven had returned from the upside down.
When Hopper had found her after almost a year of searching, collapsed on the ground in the woods with blood streaming from her nose, he felt he had no choice but to call Joyce. She had insisted on taking El under her wing, that she would protect her and try her best to give her the life she deserved. A life without abuse. A life with a Mother figure. A life with brothers to look up to. A life with an education. A life with friends.
And now here she was, in the front seat beside Jonathan in his car on their way to the Wheelers residence, with a strong sense of belonging.
She had come to think of Jonathan and Will as a brothers, just as Joyce had hoped. It made her feel warm inside to feel like she was part of a family. It had become a routine that Jonathan would often drop her and Will off to hang out with Mike and would then pick up Nancy at the same time to go on "a date", as Jonathan had explained to El a while back.
El was starting to learn a lot more about language thanks to Jonathan and Joyce's home-taught lessons and the many nights she would watch Mike and the boys play dungeons dragons. She also liked asking lots of questions. She still didn't talk enough to be considered a normal amount, but she was getting better.
"Almost there kiddo." Jonathan said as he turned to El with a smile on his face. Will wasn't with her today, otherwise she'd be in the back seat listening to him talk about arcade games, science, DD or the boys. She always quite enjoyed it but he, and the other boys for that matter, had a lot of homework to catch up on. She promised to tell him about their night when she returns home. She smiled in reply to Jonathan before turning towards the window and watched the sun begin to set over Hawkins. It was a beautiful sight, it made the sky turn into a blazing orange and all the trees in sight became silhouettes.
Silhouettes used to scare El. They had reminded her a lot of the shadows that used to haunt her before, but after spending plenty of summer nights on bike rides with Mike she had learnt to embrace the beauty of them. She felt peaceful.
Another 10 minutes had passed by and they had finally reached the house. The sun had almost completely set. It had begun getting darker earlier now that it was reaching November.
Jonathan pressed a button on the radio, turning off the David Bowie song that was playing in the background. El took this as her cue to exit the car. She took off her seatbelt, fiddled with the cute blue shirt Nancy had bought her and exited the car at the same time as Jonathan. She then fiddled with her pixie hair a little as she walked next to Jonathan towards the doorstep. He grinned as he noticed what El was doing, but she was oblivious. Too focused on how she looked. He had noticed it had become a habit of hers to groom herself every time she was about to see Mike.
"El?" He said once they reached the doorstep. He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked down at her. She stopped fiddling with her hair and her big brown eyes stared up at his own.
"Yes" she replied, a curious look taking over her features. She realised they still hadn't pressed the doorbell yet and furrowed her brows a little.
Jonathan felt his heart warm a little as he looked at the innocent look on his sister's face.
"You look great the way you are okay? And Mike..." he smiled again, his hand leaving her shoulder as his other rung the doorbell, "...well, Mike would think you looked pretty no matter what." He turned and faced the door waiting for it to be answered.
El understood what he'd said, and it made her heart flutter. Does Mike really think I'm pretty no matter what? She thought to herself. Jonathan caught her smiling down at the floor out the corner of his eye and he chuckled a little. Just then, the door opened and revealed Nancy.
El had always thought Nancy was the most pretty girl she'd ever seen, and seeing her now in a red jumper and a black and red polka-skirt only made her more sure of that. El turned to look at Jonathan who had an admiring smile on his face as he looked at Nancy. El could tell he thought she was pretty, because he looked at Nancy the way Mike looked at El.
Nancy bit her lip and blushed a little, noticing how Jonathan was staring at her. El was squealing on the inside for them. She thought they looked at each other the way Molly Ringwald and Michael Schoeffling looked at each other at the end of Sixteen Candles, that film Joyce loved so much. Nancy then turned her attention to El.
El smiled brightly as Nancy looked her up and down with a smile of her own.
"Wow missy, don't you look beautiful?" she giggled a little and gave El a playful wink.
"So do you". El replied, sending a small cute smile Nancy's way.
"Why thankyou, El." she laughed as she moved aside to let the two of them in, "I'll go fetch Mike from his room for you, I think he was finishing up some science homework. You know how into it he can get." she sniggered. El looked down at the floor with a smile curling the corners of her lips. She thought about how much she loved seeing the passion in Mike's eyes when he talked to her about science. It was the one topic El knew she could ask Mike about and he would be genuinely excited to explain every last detail. Just then a familiar voice and footfalls from the stairs interrupted her thoughts.
"I just finished my science work actually." All of them turned their attention to Mike, who was now walking towards them from the bottom of the stairs. His attention was fully on El. He had a sweet smile overtaking the features on his face and it made El's heart skip. "You look pretty. I mea...you...always look pretty." He blushed a little with an embarrassed smile on his face and scratched the back of his neck as he reached El's side. El thought of what Jonathan had said earlier, and what Mike had just said now and it made her blush too. She brushed her hand against his and Mike intertwined them. They both couldn't take their eyes off each other after that.
"Ahem!" Nancy remarked, a small smirk on her face. Jonathan chuckled as he stood beside her. El and Mike looked towards Nancy, but they didn't let go of each others hands. "You two lovebirds are on your own for a couple of hours until Dad gets back from picking up mum. There are some eggos ready made in the kitchen if you get hungry and there should be something good on TV if you get bored. If there's an emergency, get Will's attention over your Supercom and ask for Joyce. Got it?" She seemed in a rush to go somewhere.
"Wait, where are you two going that's so important you're leaving us here alone?" Mike questioned, raising an eyebrow at his sister. She looked towards Jonathan.
"Jonathan's taking me to the fair while it's in town." her face gleamed as her and Jonathan looked at one another. He reached for her hand and gripped onto it before looking back at Mike and El who were doing the same. El had a confused expression on her face though. She squeezed Mike's hand causing him to look at her.
"What is...the fair?" She asked Mike, her brows furrowed and her eyes searching his for an answer. Just as Mike was about to answer Nancy interjected.
"Woah, she's never been to the fair!?" she asked, a shocked tone and expression on her face until she remembered it was El she was talking about. Of course she's never been to the fair. A guilt feeling erupted throughout Nancy's chest. "Shit. I'm so sorry, that was insensitive of me." Mike was looking at Nancy with daggers and she chewed the inside of her cheek as the guilt grew. They both turned towards El and to their surprise she was completely unphased by it. She was just looking between the three of them awaiting an answer with a confused look on her face.
Mike smiled at her again and spoke up. "Basically it's this event that comes to Hawkins for 3 days twice a year. It's a place where you can eat lots of candy, donuts, hot dogs, candy floss..."
"Candy...floss?" El interrupted, an eyebrow raised at Mike in question. She wasn't too sure on the other foods either, but this sounded the most interesting.
"Oh, it's uh, it's like sugar that's whipped up really fast so it goes really fluffy...like a cloud. It melts in your mouth and tastes really sweet. It's nice." He nodded at El.
El's eyes lit up, she thought candy floss sounded great. She wished she could try it. Mike smiled wider at the cute look on her face before he continued explaining.
"...anyways, apart from the nice food there's also game stools set up where you can play lots of different things, like ring-toss and shoot-the-can. If you win you get a prize. It's usually a cuddly toy or something like that. And then the best bit about the fair is always the rides."
El was struggling to keep up, but from what she understood it sounded amazing. She wanted to ask Mike another question but she felt guilty nagging. She went for it anyway.
She squeezed Mikes hand once again. "Mike, what are the rid--"
"Look, perhaps it would be better if you two just tag along with us so El can see for herself?" Nancy interrupted. Jonathan turned to face her, he looked a little peeved.
"What?" He asked her, loosening his grip on her hand a little. She flashed him an apologetic look.
"Listen, I know this was meant to be a date but think about it. Could you really leave them here without feeling guilty that we let El miss out on the chance to experience the fair for the first time?"
"It'll be back next year Nancy, we've been planning this for ages." Jonathan tried his best to keep the anger out of his voice, he did feel bad leaving El and Mike alone. Especially knowing that El had never experienced the fair before. But this was supposed to be a date.
"First of all the next fair is ages away. Second of all, El and Mike are capable of looking after themselves now. Especially her. We don't have to spend every minute with them. We'll give them some spending money, go separate ways for a couple of hours then meet back at the car around 10pm. Then everyone's happy, right?" Nancy pleaded. Jonathan looked less peeved than before but he still looked uncertain. "Please Jonathan? I couldn't leave knowing we could have let El experience this."
El was biting her bottom lip as she watched the two of them debating. She didn't want to ruin their night, but from what Mike had described it sounded magical. She desperately wanted to see it. She turned to Mike. He was starting to look excited at the thought of going to the fair too. His eyes were going slightly wider and his brows raised awaiting the result of their conversation.
"Fine." They all heard Jonathan answer. El looked at Mike who was fist pumped the air with the hand El wasn't holding, causing her to giggle softly. Nancy sighed in relief and hugged Jonathan.
"Thank you." She said. He hugged her tightly back and eventually smiled before placing a delicate kiss on her forehead as they separated. Nancy wrote a note to explain what was happening for their Mum and Dad to see when they got back. Then she grabbed her Jacket, took Jonathan's hand once again and started to head towards the door. During that time Mike continued to explain the fair a bit more to El. Her eyes lit up more and more as he went on and a big smile brightened up her face, causing the dimples Mike loved so much to show up.
"Come on then you two!" Jonathan smiled over his shoulder as Nancy opened the door. Mike began walking towards it but El hesitated. He turned around to her feeling concerned.
"What's wrong?" He asked, taking a step backwards to be closer to her once again. El bit her lip and looked down at her feet.
"Can we...get the eggos first?" She asked with the most innocent look on her face. His heart started feeling fuzzy, a recurring sensation he had when he was around El. How is she so damn cute? He thought to himself. He sniggered a little and El looked back up, trying to hide a smile herself.
"Sure I'll grab them. Go wait in the car, I'll be right there."
He let go of her her hand and El nodded at him, the smile completely taking over her face now. She headed outside into the fresh air, the autumn chill was slightly kicking in and she kind of wished she had a coat. Once she got inside the car though, she had such a strong feeling of excitement that she completely forgot about the chill she was feeling.
She watched out the window and giggled a little as Mike ran towards the car, eggos in his hand and his dark brown curly hair bouncing up and down with every step. Nancy and Jonathan saw El in the rear view mirror and shared a knowing glance. They're adorable they both thought.
As Mike entered the car and took the seat next to El, Jonathan turned on the ignition and Nancy put in her Bruce Springsteen mixtape. They all set off to go to the fair and they were buzzing.
A/N: Sorry again for such a slow start. The second part is longer, MUCH cuter and just better overall. Anyway, I wanted to point out that I'm not American so I apologise if anything I write about isn't accurate in that sense (as ST is set in America). I'm just basing it off of funfairs in the UK and funfairs I've seen in American television and hopefully they're not too different.
Thankyou for reading and please don't forget to vote/comment.
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