Hello majestic readers of the internet!
Welcome to the first installment of my Stranger Things one-shot collection. Like it says in the summary, you send me prompts of one-shots you want to read, and I try to bring them to life. This first one was requested by a friend of mine IRL after I finally got her to watch the series.
Update: February 3- This is the second version of this prompt that I'm posting, due to similarity to another story. Again, a big apology to waterbaby134 for the whole problem. If you get the chance, definitely go read some of their stuff, they're an amazing author. I hope this takes a sufficiently different direction on the topic than the first version, I added a whole bunch more stuff(which is why it's over twice as long), and I decided to address a few things from the series that I felt deserved more attention.
Prompt: The boys set up a special Christmas surprise for El and Mike
With a groan, Dustin falls back onto the Byers' couch, dropping a notebook on the ground in surrender and hanging an arm over his face.
"Algebra sucks," He complains. "Why does Mr. Merkal have to give us another test the week before vacation?"
"At least you don't have to write an essay analyzing a 'classic Christmas story' in the same week," Lucas shoots back, glaring at the paper in front of him.
Max and Will share a glance with each other. Neither of them have the test or essay to worry about, though Max has a history quiz to study for, and Will needs to finish his piece for the Christmas Art Showcase by Wednesday.
"When's Mike supposed to get here again?" Dustin asks.
"According to Mike, an eternity, according to Nancy, around three," Will answers, getting a snort from Max. "Why, do you need help with something?"
"I need to ask him about the stupid polynomial factoring worksheet," Dustin groans. "I tried to take out the GCF and everything, but it's being stupid."
"I don't think it's being stupid," Max mutters, just loud enough for Will to hear. The boy suppresses a chuckle, though he doesn't fully succeed.
"How long could he possibly be Christmas shopping for?" Lucas wonders aloud.
"He's shopping with his mother, and Nancy, and Holly," Dustin informs him. "It'll be a miracle if they're done by Christmas."
"Then he's going to miss the one day El gets to visit," Lucas comments, not totally unsympathetic. Mike has been looking forward to this day more than any of them.
"I still want to know how El convinced Hopper," Will says, getting a few nods of agreement from his friends.
"Didn't Mike just start begging at the station every day?" Max asks.
"Well, yeah, but that was doomed from the start," Lucas answers. "A) Hopper is the most stubborn person on the planet, so begging does jack shit, and B) Hopper told him he wouldn't get to see El at all if he kept showing up."
"That's rough," She mutters. "But yeah, I guess I want to know now too."
"You know what I want to know?" Dustin inquires from the couch.
"How to do polynomial factoring?" Will hazards.
"No, well, yes, but not right now," Dustin responds. "What the hell should I get Mike for Christmas? He's literally got everything."
"Get him a portrait of Eleven for his closet shrine," Max tells him, getting a snigger out of Will and Lucas.
"I'm being serious, for once," Dustin retorts. "Christmas is, like, almost a week away and I've got jack shit to give him."
"I don't actually have anything for him either," Will admits guiltily.
"You couldn't find anything either?" Lucas asks, passively admitting to it too.
Max snorts, and then shrinks a little under the three sets of eyes that turn to her.
"Did you get him anything?" Dustin asks with a bit of attitude.
"No," Max answers plainly. "But he also doesn't like me, for whatever reason now. I have no plans to be the bigger person here."
"He's warming up to you," Lucas assures her, to which she scoffs.
"Yeah, he went from 'get out' to 'tolerating you', that's not saying much," Max retorts. "And I haven't even gotten to talk to Eleven yet."
"El will come around," Will says with a reassuring smile. "Once she realizes you and Lucas are a thing, she'll probably be fine."
"You think so?" Max asks skeptically.
Lucas silently thanks that it's hard to tell when he blushes, because Max hadn't denied that they're a thing, and puts his head back to his essay to hide it.
"I know so," Will responds. "Even if she doesn't really understand it, she's just jealous of you right now."
"Why the hell would she be jealous of me?" Max questions incredulously. "She's the one that can kill Demodogs and close portals with her mind, I'm just good at Dig Dug and skateboarding."
"And you also get to see Mike, and the rest of us, every day," Will points out. "She'd probably kill to do that, I mean, didn't you see the way they hugged? Having another girl in the group must be a little threatening, since you could steal Mike away from her, and she's not here to do anything about it."
"But he hates me too!" Max exclaims, throwing her hands in the air. "Can't they get that point across to each other?! I just want some friends!"
"Maybe you should try to talk to her when she gets here today," Lucas suggests. "We'll try to pry Mike away for a few minutes, and you tell that you're not trying to steal Mike from her."
"That's gonna be like trying to split an atom," Dustin complains. "The only way he's going to leave El alone is if she goes to the bathroom, and then he'll probably just wait outside the door like a lost puppy!"
"We'll figure something out," Will says with certainty.
"Speaking of figuring things out," Lucas interjects, hoping to change the subject. "What are we going to do about getting Mike a gift?"
"We could always pool in on something," Will suggests. "If it's all of us, we could probably get him something he doesn't already have."
"Why not just get him some comic books?" Max inquires, giving the three boys a questioning look. "Or some of that D&D stuff?"
"We got him comic books last year," Dustin answers with another groan. "And I know for a fact that he already has the newest issues, we were at the comic book store together."
"And he already has the latest D&D stuff," Will adds. "Since he's our DM, he's always the first to order all the new stuff."
"And we've tried video games in the past," Lucas says with a sigh. "Anything worth getting that he doesn't already have is way beyond our budget. His dad has some important cushy job, so they each get a huge allowance, and he gets it himself."
"You guys leave this till the last minute every year?" Max questions.
"Only because shopping for Mike is a fucking nightmare!" Dustin exclaims.
"Watch the language in there!" Mrs. Byers calls from another part of the house.
"Sorry mom!" Will shouts back, giving Dustin the stink eye.
"Why not just tie a ribbon to El and make her his gift?" Max suggests sarcastically, laughing a little at her own joke.
The boys, however, don't laugh. They all start to exchange looks, something Max immediately picks up on.
"You guys know I was joking, right?" She says, a little nervous. "You can't actually give a person as a gift."
"Yeah, we know that," Dustin retorts, just as sarcastically as she was before. "But if you guys are thinking what I'm thinking..."
"If we can get Hopper to let them spend some time together, alone..." Will continues, a big grin forming on his face.
"It would be the perfect gift, forever," Lucas finishes. "We'd never have to worry about how crappy our gifts are in the future, he'll never like them as much as this one! And he'd so owe us for this!"
"We could finally get him to share his new comic books," Will says, though secretly, Mike already lends them to him, but he won't tell the others that.
"And get him to pay for snacks every once in a while," Dustin adds, ever thinking with his stomach as well as his brain.
"Hey, um, guys?" Max interrupts, waving her hands. "Sorry to be the voice of reason here, but isn't Hopper like super overprotective? And you want to try to convince him to let Eleven be alone with Mike? With a boy?"
The grins on the boys faces fall when she points that out. It's all perfect in theory, but the insurmountable obstacle of Hopper shuts it all down. The room falls silent for a while, until Will finally finds his voice.
"I still think we should try," He says. "If it were one of us in this position, Mike would try to help us."
"Maybe if it were one of you," Max mutters, rolling her eyes.
"Max's problems getting people to like her aside," Dustin continues, getting a glare from the redhead, and from Lucas. "I agree. He jumped off a freaking cliff for me, I could stand to stick my neck out a little."
"Hold on a second here," Lucas says, voicing the group sentiment before Dustin can say anything else. "He jumped off a cliff for you? When was this?"
"Oh, right, you guys weren't there..." Dustin murmurs, feeling a little guilty, though if it's because he hadn't told them or because he's about to, he can't tell. "It was back during that first week, when El was living in Mike's basement. After you and Mike had your fight and were too stubborn to make up, El was still missing, so we went looking for her. We met Troy and James in the woods, and they chased us all the way to the quarry."
Dustin's normal excited storytelling voice is absent, trying to stick to the facts of what happened. It's still not something he likes to remember.
"They caught up to us, and then Troy got me and pulled a knife," The boy continues, to many concerned looks from his friends. "He threatened to cut my teeth out if Mike didn't jump, something about making him wet himself like El made Troy do at the assembly. I tried to tell him not to do it, but of course Mike actually did it, he jumped off the cliff, just for me."
"How the hell isn't he dead then?" Max interjects. "That fall's, like, two hundred feet! There's no way he'd survive that!"
"El saved him," Dustin tells them, and understanding spreads across their faces. "She caught him about a third of the way down, and then lifted him back up. And as if that wasn't enough, she broke Troy's arm with her mind and sent them running. We never really talked about it again, El coming back kind of took precedence, but still..."
"Then we're doing this," Max says with a note of finality.
"What happened to being the 'voice of reason' in this plan?" Lucas asks.
"He may not like me, yet, but if he's willing to kill himself for his friends, I'll cut him some slack," She answers, a little smirk playing across her lips. "Plus, this story gives me an idea for how we can convince Hopper."
As the redheaded mastermind explains her plan, the boys start to get their grins back. It's something they never would have thought of on their own, which means it's something Hopper would never expect from them.
XxX
By the time Mike shows up, their plan is well in hand, as is most of their homework. He's red and breathless from the bike ride over, but his relief at finally being there is more than evident to the rest of the party.
"How was shopping?" Dustin teases, getting a glare from his friend.
"It was awful," Mike answers. "My mom made us go to literally every store, and try on every piece of clothing there was. And then we didn't even buy half of it!"
"Did you get anything for El?" Will asks, hoping to improve Mike's mood.
"As a matter of fact, I did," Mike says, a smile forming on his face. "Since the Snowball is at the end of next week, I thought I should actually ask her to go. Nancy helped me pick something out, so in the end I got her this."
He pulls a little box out of his pocket, opening it to reveal a necklace. It doesn't seem particularly expensive, even on Mike's normal allowance he has limits, but it's in the shape of a snowflake.
"Seems a little cheesy to me," Max comments, trying to get a rise out of him.
Mike just blushes and puts the necklace away self consciously.
"She'll love it," Will assures him. "Just remember, you have to top it at Christmas."
"Oh, don't worry, that's covered already," Mike responds, another grin forming. "It completely cleaned me out, plus I had to borrow money from mom and Nancy, and I'll have to start shovelling driveways for the rest of the winter, but it'll be worth it. It's perfect."
Will raises an eyebrow, but Mike says no more.
"Hey, Mike," Dustin calls from the living room, picking up his notebook. "Did you finish the math homework yet?"
"Yeah, I did it while Nancy was trying on clothes, why?" Mike responds, finally remembering to hang up his coat.
"Did you FOIL them or something?" Dustin asks when Mike joins him. "I can't get them to work."
"You shouldn't have to FOIL anything for this worksheet," Mike answers as he sits down next to Dustin, moving some other papers out of the way. "We're just supposed to break it down into two binomials by grouping."
"What does that mean?" Dustin complains, and shows the paper to Mike. "I was falling asleep when Merkal explained this."
"Well, it's simple, FOIL turns two binomials into a trinomial, right?" Mike continues, getting a blank stare from Dustin. "And factoring it would bring you from a larger polynomial to two binomials?"
"I said I was falling asleep," Dustin tells him, which makes Mike roll his eyes.
"It's easy," He says. "You put the first two terms together and the last two terms together in parentheses. Each set has a common factor to take out, which should leave you with the same thing in both parentheses. Then the term in the parentheses becomes one of your binomials, and the two things you took out go together to make the second binomial."
He takes the pencil from Dustin, showing him the steps for the first problem, and Dustin follows along pretty well. In minutes, he's flying through the worksheet, and Mike checks a few of his problems.
Once Dustin's math is sorted out, and Dustin swears not to sleep in class anymore so Mike won't have to reteach him, Max actually asks him for help with the biology homework, which Will listens in on to check his own work. Lucas eyes them with some envy, still trying to finish his essay.
In tutor mode, Mike barely notices the time passing, until he hears the roar of Hopper's Blazer getting closer. Thankfully, they'd just gone over the last explanation Max needed, because he scrambles to his feet, completely disregarding anything else he'd been doing.
He swings his coat on as he runs outside, the door only swinging half closed behind him. His excitement is only matched by El's own, as she practically leaps out of the passenger door before the truck comes to a full stop.
They fly into each other's arms like there's a magnet between them. Anyone with working ears can hear their shouts of excitement, and anybody with working eyes can see how much they missed each other just by how they hug.
Hopper hears and sees both, though he doesn't seem particularly happy about it. He slams the car door shut, eyeing the oblivious pair with annoyance, particularly directing the gaze at Mike.
"Watch the hands, Wheeler," He warns, finally getting their attention. "You might lose them if you're not careful."
If it's possible for Mike to go pale and red at the same time, he does, reluctantly ending his hug with El. Despite that, their hands are still firmly locked together.
Hopper shakes his head and goes inside with a last warning look, meeting Joyce at the door. Mike and El follow more slowly, stealing glances at each other the whole time, and giggling when they catch each other looking.
El lets go of Mike's hand when they get inside, just long enough to take off their coats and give hugs to the other boys and Mrs. Byers. Max offers a handshake, just like their last meeting, but El just stares at it, her hand slipping back into Mike's.
Max hisses in frustration, not that Mike or El notice, and Will gives her his best reassuring look. She'll get her chance before everyone leaves.
The kids clear up their homework and set out some board games, El's eyes lighting up when scrabble comes out. Her year of studying the dictionary, and of words of the day, will finally come in handy.
Through all of it, Mike and El hold hands, despite how difficult it makes some games. Even when it's revealed that the murderer was Professor Plum in the dining room with the candlestick, their connection seems unbreakable.
Dustin's prediction comes true, both ways, when they have to use the bathroom. The other just patiently waits in the hall, sitting across from the door. It's just about the most private two moments they get the whole night, Hopper checking up every few minutes with a suspicious eye.
Mike takes the second opportunity, after the first one gave them a few moments alone, to give El his gift and actually ask her to the Snowball. While she loves the necklace, and insists on putting it on right away, she claims that going to the Snowball is up to Hopper, though she says she would absolutely love to go.
And that leads to the perfect opportunity for the boys to initiate their plan for Max and El. Mike takes a few minutes to go ask Hopper himself, already expecting the 'I'll consider it, but it's probably too dangerous' response.
"Hey, can you guys help me grab a few things from my room?" Will asks, looking at the other two boys as soon as Mike walks away and El rejoins them.
Luckily they pick up on the plan as well, and the three of them leave Max and El alone, giving Max encouraging grins on their way out. El puts her focus into examining the other Clue pieces, and Max takes a deep breath.
"Eleven," She says, and thankfully El looks up. "We haven't gotten off to the best start, and I think I know why."
El doesn't say anything, still levelling a cool gaze at the redhead.
"All I want is to be friends with you guys," She continues, hoping she uses the right words. "And you seem like a really cool person, so I really want to be friends with you too. Neither of us have many, or really any, girl friends, so we'd get that too."
She starts to stumble a little when El doesn't react at all, aside from setting down the candlestick piece she'd been holding.
"I think the biggest problem we have here is a misunderstanding," Max tells her as plainly as possible. "I want to clear the air for that. I do not now, nor have I ever, liked Mike the way you do. I'm not going to try to steal him from you, he's all yours, one hundred percent."
El's mouth turns down in a frown, and her eyebrows knit together a little bit.
"Seriously though, you have nothing to worry about," Max says, really hoping she doesn't get telekinetically thrown into another dimension. "Mike didn't even want me around in the first place, before you came back. He only barely tolerates having me around as it is, there's no way I could steal him from you if I tried."
El continues to frown, and Max starts to sweat a little.
"Not that I'd ever try, that is," Max clarifies, just in case. "I'm actually, kind of, with Lucas right now. I'm not sure if it really counts as dating, but you can be sure I'm not interested in Mike. So, can we please try to be friends? Please?"
With that Max shuts her mouth, absolutely certain that anything else she says will just make matters worse between them. She takes the chance to marvel at how long Mike is managing to stay away, El's hand must be getting cold by now.
"You... and Lucas?" El finally murmurs, dragging Max's attention back to reality. "Not you and Mike?"
"Not me and Mike," Max assures her. "You and Mike, me and Lucas."
El goes silent for another few seconds, the most stressful seconds of Max's life.
Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, considering what happened, but still.
"Friends," El says, giving Max a little smile.
Max does all but sigh in relief, visibly relaxing.
As if by some planetary alignment, Mike comes back right after that, as do the other boys, holding a couple new games.
"Max and I are friends now," El reports to Mike as they join hands again.
"Really?" He responds, more than a little perplexed.
"I won't steal your girlfriend, Wheeler, don't worry," Max teases. "But you could stand to be a little nicer to me now, you know how girls talk and all, I can get you in the doghouse one way or another."
She's already acting like they're best friends, but at this point she needs the confidence boost. It's never been this hard for her to make friends before.
Luckily Will draws attention back to the games before Mike can say anything else, though they do notice El asking him a hushed question. All Mike does is blush and mumble something back, to which she nods.
Even when dinner is called, and they're stuck under the hawk-like gaze of Hopper, Mike and El keep their hands bound together. Their chairs are as close together as they can get, and their legs almost brush against each other. The surly police chief makes another comment about Mike watching his hands, but Joyce gives him a look of her own to make him behave.
"I guess we can call this family dinner now," Joyce starts once everyone is in the dining room, and then gets a little startled when a flash goes off.
"Sorry mom, this was too good a shot to pass up," Jonathan apologizes, setting his camera down and taking his place next to his brother. Joyce shakes her head, but with a smile on her face.
"As I was saying, I think we can call this our new little family," Joyce says, picking up where she left off and raising her glass for a toast. "After everything that's happened, it's good that we're all here for each other."
Everyone raises their glasses as well, clinking them together. El doesn't seem to understand the part with the glasses, but when Mike gives her an encouraging smile she joins in as well, though she almost breaks her glass in enthusiasm.
It becomes immediately apparent that El has no idea what half the things on the table are, except for the bowl of peas, which she eyes with what is probably meant to be veiled disgust.
Joyce leans closer to Hopper to whisper.
"Have you fed her anything except for tv dinners and eggos?" She asks, irritation lacing her hushed tone.
"I get burgers sometimes, or a bucket of chicken and sides," Hopper says defensively, though he can feel that he'll regret it.
Joyce lightly hits him on the arm, her face just screaming disapproval even if she's keeping her words under control at the table.
"You and I are going to be having a talk about this after dinner," She tells him, her mom voice brooking no argument. "She needs a balanced diet, especially after what she's been through, not frozen dinners and fast food."
"Okay, okay," Hopper responds.
On the short list of things that still scare him, angry Joyce is very near the top.
While they have their whispered argument, Mike does his best to introduce El to the different dishes on the table. She picks out chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese, and a small spoonful of the runny mashed potatoes. He offers her samples off of his plate, all but feeding them to her.
In the end, she decides that she likes corn, slightly-burnt biscuits, and turkey with gravy, with a mixed reaction to asparagus and roasted potatoes. Whether it's because she doesn't like them, or the fact that Mrs. Byers isn't the greatest chef on the planet, remains uncertain. She practically drowns her chicken nuggets in barbecue sauce, shaking her head when Dustin offers her the ketchup instead.
By the end of the night, they're both on the couch, falling asleep leaning against each other, their heads nestled together. The other kids exchange grins, knowing for certain that if they can pull off the plan, it'll be the greatest gift either of the two could get.
After getting an earful from Joyce about expanding El's diet, Hopper just seems like he wants to leave and go to bed, growling a little when he sees Mike and El on the couch. Joyce lays a warning hand on his arm, to which he rolls his eyes.
She goes to wake them up so they can say their goodbyes, Hopper waiting impatiently by the door. He all but has an aneurysm when El snuggles closer to Mike, wrapping an arm around his torso like a pillow, murmuring for five more minutes of sleep. It doesn't help that Mike has an arm around her too.
Joyce gives him another warning look, and he goes back to grumbling under his breath. She tries again to shake them both awake, finally getting them to open their eyes. The first thing El does is look up at Mike and smile. The first thing Mike does is turn so red that he practically glows when he sees what position they're in.
"Time to say goodbye," Joyce tells them. El's smile turns to a pout.
To Mike's eternal relief, El gets up to give the others their hugs, bypassing Max's handshake offer altogether, much to the redhead's surprise. In the meantime Mike stands, adjusts his clothes, and tries to fight down his blush.
He and El hug twice more, once before they put their coats on, and again on the Byers' front porch while Hopper starts the car.
"I'll miss you," She whispers as they hold each other as tightly as they can.
"Not as much as I'll miss you," Mike tells her, which makes her giggle a little.
The Blazer roars to life, bathing them in the glare of the headlights. They hug for a little longer, until Hopper honks at them to hurry up. Mike lets go and starts to step back, but El doesn't, moving with him.
"I don't want to go," She murmurs with a sniffle. "Not again."
Mike's arms encircle her again, rubbing her back gently.
"It won't be for long this time," Mike assures her. "Hopper might change his mind about the Snowball, and we'd see each other next Friday. If not, then the Christmas party is next Sunday. We'll see each other soon."
"I don't like soon," El informs him with distaste.
Hopper honks again, louder than the last time.
"You should go," Mike tells her, even if he wishes otherwise. "If Hopper's mad he won't let us see each other. I'll still call you every night, I promise."
"Promise?" She asks, still not wanting to let go.
"I promise," He answers, letting go with one arm to hold out his pinky. Between them, if a promise is sacred, a pinky promise is so much more. "Seven-four-zero, every day, until we see each other again."
El reluctantly lets go, but wraps her pinky around his.
"Seven-four-zero," She murmurs.
When they let go, El starts to step toward the Blazer, but then seems to remember something. Mike opens his mouth to ask when she turns back around, but he never gets the chance to say anything.
El plants a light kiss on his cheek before scampering off to the Blazer, leaving Mike red as a tomato and effectively mute. All he can do is stand there, his mouth still hanging open, the feeling of her lips still on his cheek, as Hopper drives away.
"You're either going to catch flies or a cold, Mike," Mrs. Byers says, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Come back inside."
Mike is still speechless, his hand going to his cheek, but follows Mrs. Byers inside.
The other kids resist the urge to tease Mike for the time being, throwing matching grins at each other. The plan is perfect.
XxX
As it turns out, the plan is not as perfect as they thought.
In the following week they go to the station three days in a row after school. They only get to talk to Hopper on their third try, the man himself having been out on a call when they showed up the last two times. Who knew things ever actually happened in Hawkins that don't involve other dimensions?
"Here for Hopper again?" Florence asks when they walk in the door on Wednesday. She smiles at them when they nod, still trying to warm up. "You're in luck, it's been a slow day. He's in his office, just head through that door there, down the hall, second door on the right side. Knock before you go in."
If they're surprised or relieved at the news, the kids do their best to hide it. If anything, they all seem nervous as they walk toward the office. Even they can barely hear Will's first knock, which he has to repeat.
"Come in," Hopper calls, boredom lacing his tone.
If Hopper had been expecting anything, it's definitely not four kids shuffling into his office and closing the door behind them. There's a single chair in front of his desk, but none of them sit down.
Hopper groans internally, sighs externally, and grinds the butt of his last cigarette into the ashtray on his desk.
"This is the third time you've come down here this week," He says tersely, levelling an otherwise blank gaze at them. "This better be important."
The kids all look at each other to start talking, the one thing they'd never agreed on. Hopper may have saved their butts, some more than once, but he's still the Chief of Police, and he scares them.
"Come on, get on with it," Hopper tells them in annoyance. Doesn't he have enough to deal with without bands of kids bothering him at work?
"Well, um, we were thinking..." Max starts, and then looks to Lucas.
"Since it's just about Christmas time..." He continues, and then looks to Will.
"We were, um, trying to, uh, think of, um, presents..." The boy says, getting flustered under the Chief's gaze, and then trying to shrink into his coat.
"We want you to let Mike and El spend time alone together!" Dustin exclaims, cutting his friend off before he stutters himself to death. The other kids' eyes go wide, but Dustin doesn't stop there, his inner bard coming out. "All they want to do is see each other and spend time together, but they can't do that when everyone else is watching them. Just give them a few hours alone, the way it was when they first met."
When he stops for a breath, his sudden burst of confidence dies under Hopper's withering glare. There were probably better ways to ease into this request, but what's done is done.
"Did Wheeler put you up to this? Is that why he's not here right now?" Hopper demands, practically growling at them, making them shrink under his glare. "So he can get his grubby little hands all over Eleven?"
At first none of the kids say anything, until Dustin cracks. They all start to snigger, then chuckle, then they reach full blown laughing fits.
"Is this funny to you?!" Hopper demands, slamming his hands on his desk and standing up, though he's more than a bit confused by their laughter.
"Actually, yes, it's really funny," Dustin tells him, managing to control himself just long enough to speak.
"Care to share, then?" Hopper says, his voice dangerously close to an edge.
The kids fight their laughter down as quickly as they can, trying to get back on track with their ingenious plan.
"Sorry, it's just..." Will starts, his sides still shaking.
"Mike would never ask us for help with this," Lucas continues, biting his lip so he won't keep laughing. "He's too chicken."
"He's more scared of you than the four of us put together," Dustin finishes, which the Chief takes special note of for the future. "He'd probably kill us if he knew we were here right now."
"And as for try to get his 'grubby hands on Eleven'," Max adds with an enduring snigger. "Mike turns into a stuttering tomato if they hold hands, he couldn't speak for an hour last night after you left because El kissed him on the cheek, he'd probably explode into a million pieces just thinking of doing anything else."
Hopper can't seem to decide who he should be glaring at, each of the kids seems pretty annoying to him at the moment.
"Mike doesn't have a good history with girls, either," Will says, finding enough confidence to speak again. "El is basically the first girl to like him at all. Until she came along he could barely talk to girls that he wasn't related to."
Dustin and Lucas start to laugh again, drawing the Chief's gaze for an instant before it moves back to Will.
"There was this time in sixth grade," Will continues, with another little giggle. "One of the eighth grade girls told him she liked his shirt when we were at lunch. He forgot to swallow what he was drinking before he thanked her, and ran out of the cafeteria dripping chocolate milk."
"What about the time he got assigned Jennifer Hayes as a lab partner later that year," Lucas steps in. "All they were supposed to do was evaporate salt water, but he managed to set his sleeve on fire because he was too nervous. He had to be shirtless in front of the class for half an hour because he burned his shirt before his mom showed up with a change. And then she started babying him, and checking for burns, so Mike couldn't show his face for weeks."
"Okay, you can hold it right there," Hopper interjects, seeing through the plan. "You're trying to convince me that he won't do anything, but you can stop. I'm not letting Eleven be alone with a teenage boy with teenage hormones."
"Mike isn't all hormones, though," Lucas insists. "He's an amazing guy, he's just awkward as hell around girls. He'd never do anything to hurt her, or talk her into doing anything inappropriate."
Hopper opens his mouth again, but Dustin just starts talking, much more seriously than Hopper can ever remember him being, though that isn't saying much.
"Mike Wheeler is a lot of things, a giant nerd foremost among them, but that's besides the point here. He is, by far, above and beyond, the most loyal and protective person I've ever had the benefit of knowing," He starts, looking Hopper dead in the eye, and for once not shying away from the glare. "I get that you're scared of El getting into the dating world, but of all people she could possibly have chosen, Mike is the best. There's no way in hell that he's going to treat her as anything less than the most amazing, precious person on planet earth. Under normal circumstances, your concerns would be perfectly understandable, but Mike would jump off a cliff before he takes advantage of her."
"Alright, that's enough," Hopper interrupts. "Now you're just laying it on thick-"
"You think so?" Dustin retorts, cutting Hopper off right back with a glare of his own. "Because he already jumped off a cliff for me, and I'm pretty sure he likes El a lot more than me." For the first time, Hopper is rendered speechless, but Dustin doesn't stop. "He was willing to jump off a cliff that would mean certain death, whether he knew that at the time or not, just so I wouldn't get hurt. So excuse me if I start 'laying it on thick', because Mike deserves it."
The whole office is silent once he finishes, and Dustin resists the urge to wipe his eyes. His story had been a lot more emotional than he expected when he started. The one to break the silence, is Max.
"He cares about Eleven more than anyone in the world," She says, telling Hopper the facts instead of trying to convince him. "When we first met, he wanted nothing to do with me, and he was against letting me join the group. To him, there was only a spot for one girl, and it would always be Eleven, even after she was gone for a year."
Hopper listens quietly, his expression much more solemn.
"He still doesn't really like me, but we're making progress," Max continues, the corners of her mouth turning up when she almost laughs. "At first I thought it was because he had some kind of crush on El, before she left, but I was wrong. To him, she's irreplaceable, and he's willing to do anything that means she might be safer."
She pauses for a second, the memories of that night in November playing in her mind. One stands out above the others.
"It was all his idea to burn the hub in the tunnels," She explains. "He knew there might be Demodogs down there, but he also knew that there would be more at the lab. Lightning it on fire would draw the dogs away, toward us, but that didn't seem to matter to him, since it would mean they wouldn't be near El. We all went with him, but I'm pretty sure he would have gone on his own if we said no, even if it killed him."
She stops again when she feels something slide down her cheek. She hadn't even noticed the tears in her eyes, from the memories of that night.
"I think that's enough," Hopper says, a lot more gently than the last times. Lucas puts a hand on Max's shoulder.
The four kids look at Hopper with a mix of expressions, from anxiety to hope, and Hopper finally lets out a last big sigh.
"Fine, I'll let them spend the day together before the party," He relents, though it still doesn't fully sit right with him. "But if he move one toe out of line-"
"He won't," Dustin cuts in, getting an annoyed glare in response.
"And if any of you tell him about this, the deal's off," Hopper continues. "I don't need Wheeler thinking I like him."
"Just leave that to us," Will assures him.
"We have a plan," Max explains with a small smirk.
XxX
As it turns out, keeping the secret from Mike is much easier than they anticipated. Mike definitely has his suspicions through the rest of the week, but his attention is more on the chance that Hopper still just might let El go to the Snowball on Friday night. Even when Mike brings up the idea that they're up to something, they played it off as homework, even getting him to tutor again.
Mike doesn't even bat an eye when Will asks him to come over early on Sunday to help set up. The excuse of Jonathan needing to go to work early basically falls on deaf ears, Mike's focus elsewhere that Friday.
Imagine his surprise that night, after he'd given up hope but still shown up anyway, when El steps through the doors of the gymnasium, looking as breathtaking as he's seen her yet. As they dance the night away, even sharing their second real kiss, neither of them can imagine how their lives could be any better than that moment.
XxX
On the morning of the party, two days before Christmas, Mike sits groggily at the dining room table munching through a bowl of cereal. His mother is already busy with work, adjusting and resetting the decorations around the house a thousand and ten times. He almost falls asleep in his breakfast, not used to being up before nine on a Sunday, let alone waking up at six so Jonathan can pick him up at seven.
He barely registers the knock at the door, stumbling to put his bowl in the sink and run some water from the tap into it. His zombie walk continues toward the stairs so he can get grab his bags from his room.
It's when he hears the Chief's voice instead of Jonathan's that he wakes up all the way. He rushes to the door to see his mother letting the man inside, dressed to go to work, with a little snow on his hat.
"Mike," The Chief greets tersely.
"Is something wrong?" Mike asks immediately. "Did something happen to-"
"Everything is fine," Hopper says before the boy can get hysterical. "Jonathan got called in earlier than he was expecting, so Joyce asked me to come get you. I need to be at the station in an hour, so let's go."
Mike breathes a sigh of relief at the news, his heart having stopped for a few moments. After another few seconds he goes to grab his bags from upstairs, his backpack with clothes and a few other things, his sleepover bag with his sleeping bag and a pillow, and a small duffel bag that holds the gifts he'd gotten for everyone. He takes special care with the last one, El's gift double wrapped in an extra hoodie, but he can never be too careful.
If Hopper is questioning the number of bags Mike has, he doesn't show it.
"Be good, Mike," His mother calls as they walk out to Hopper's Blazer. "Let me know if you need anything, Hopper, anything at all."
"What's that about?" Mike questions when he hears the last statement.
"I told about how I adopted Eleven," Hopper answers, to Mike's surprise. "Don't give me that look, somebody told her about your dance on Friday, so I made up a story. Your mother was nice enough to offer some hand-me-downs, and motherly advice if El needs it."
Mike just nods, not willing to chance anything that could start an argument today. He puts his bags in the back and gets in the passenger seat, the Chief taking off with a roar of the engine, and Mike does his very best to seem like he isn't there at all, fully aware of how the Chief doesn't like him. Instead, he stares out the window, his thoughts turning to how he and El will be together at the party.
Little does he know...
"Where are we going?" He asks as they pass yet another street that could take them to the Byers' house. A pang of trepidation runs down his spine, did Hopper hear about how he and El had kissed? Is Hopper going to actually kill him?
"Merry Christmas, kid," Hopper tells him, enjoying the puzzled look Mike gets on his face. "Your friends were nice enough to plead your case for you, so I'm going to let you spend the day with El."
Mike's eyes go wide, and his jaw hangs open at the Chief's words, unable to formulate any kind of response. His mind, however, races at a mile a minute, trying to process everything he'd just been told.
It's not until Hopper parks on a dirt road, a small path off to the side, that either of them say anything. The Chief cuts the engine, and then fixes Mike with a look.
"Your friends also told me about your little stunts these last two years," He says, and Mike shrinks into the seat. "Jumping off a cliff? Putting yourself, and everyone else, at risk to set the tunnels on fire? How dumb can you really be?!"
Hopper's voice rises in anger as he speaks, and Mike looks like he might pee himself. Ironically, that was the catalyst of one of those two situations.
"But..." Hopper continues, his tone softening again. "It was also very brave of you. Your friends are lucky to have you." He pauses there for a moment, though he still has Mike's rapt attention. "El, is lucky to have you."
"D-does that mean...?" Mike manages to stutter out, to which Hopper rolls his eyes and sighs.
"Yes, you can start visiting her at the cabin," Hopper answers, keeping his gruff expression up as Mike's face lights up, though on the inside he gets a little warm and fuzzy. "We'll talk about that some other time, though. I think El might appreciate getting her part of this gift too."
"Yes, sir," Mike responds, quickly gathering his things and getting out. Hopper allows himself a small smile before getting out as well.
As they walk through the forest, a dusting of snow falling around them, Mike trying to memorize every detail of the path, Hopper can't help but notice the extra spring in the boy's step. How every time he tries to keep his expression under control, he breaks out in a grin. How Mike would have taken off running once the cabin comes into view, if Hopper hadn't put a hand on his shoulder so he doesn't hit the tripwire.
Hopper can't help himself from feeling a pang of jealousy, though. When he was younger, he was everything he's trying to keep away from El. He hooked up with lots of girls, some that he didn't even know the names of. He was ruled by his hormones and his place on the football team, but now he wishes that he'd had friends more like Mike. The ones that were never good with girls because they were too nervous, but that would have treated every girl like a princess.
"Now remember," Hopper says, stopping just past the tripwire, knowing he only has half of Mike's attention. "This is a privilege, not a right. If you mess around with it, I'll take it away. Understand?"
Mike just nods, eyes still glued to the cabin, finally within his reach.
"And just in case you forget, you need to swallow your food and drinks before speaking. That way you won't spill them on yourself," Hopper tells him, clapping him on the shoulder and finally getting Mike's horrified attention. He suppresses his urge to laugh as Mike's face turns from a grin to red and mortified. "And since you'll be here until I get out at six, that means you'll have to cook something for lunch. Try not to set yourself on fire with the stove just because there's a girl in the same room."
Each word turns Mike a darker shade of embarrassed red, and Hopper soaks up every incredible second of it. Maybe he can learn to be the accepting dad that cracks jokes about his daughter's boyfriend, instead of the dad with a gun that shoots first and asks questions never.
Leaving Mike to rethink all of his friendships at the bottom of the steps, Hopper goes to do the secret knock on the door. Mike hurries to catch up as the locks click open, his palms suddenly sweaty and a nervous knot in his stomach.
Hopper pushes the door open, holding it open for Mike to get his bags through, and then closing it behind them. Mike hesitantly sets his bags down by the door out of the way, his head on a swivel to find his reason for being there.
With a sleepy groan, El shuffles out of her room, her stuffed animal in one hand, the other rubbing the sleep out of her eye. Mike's breath catches at the sight of her, and how incredible she looks wearing oversized flannel pajama pants, a very well fitting tank-top, and a ridiculously oversized flannel shirt over the top that must have been Hopper's.
"You said six-zero-zero," She mumbles, swaying in place a little.
"Well, I guess we can come back later, if you really want," Hopper responds, seeing how Mike is speechless and using it, and El's sleepiness, to his advantage. "I just thought you might like an early Christmas gift."
That gets El to look up with bleary eyes, and then she freezes.
Then her eyes go wide.
Then she flies forward so quickly and so suddenly that she would have knocked Mike over with her hug if Hopper hadn't been standing behind them.
"Mike!" She screams in elation as she tackles him. Her arms wrap around him tightly, and she snuggles her head into the crook of his neck, which seems to be a perfect fit, at least to her. She holds him so close and so tight that it's a wonder his ribs don't crack from the pressure.
Mike doesn't mind at all, though, and once he gets his balance back he hugs her back just as fiercely. Tears of joy run down his face onto her flannel shirt. Even if it's only been two days since they saw each other at the Snowball, since they had what they thought was the most perfect night of their lives, this moment somehow shines over it.
Hopper waits patiently for them to finish, or at least he tries to. He still has his misgivings about leaving them alone, but it seems like Mike has earned, at the very least, the benefit of the doubt. However, once they reach the five minute mark of just standing there hugging, he clears his throat to remind them that he's still standing there.
The two reluctantly separate, but Hopper takes note that El practically glues herself to his side as they stand there, lacing their fingers together.
"Consider this an early gift to the both of you," He tells them, enjoying seeing them both look so happy. "I'm trusting that I can leave you two alone, though. That means you follow the rules, and no funny business."
El just nods, her attention obviously elsewhere.
"Yes, sir," Mike answers through the biggest grin of his life, though his eyes are locked to El's. Not even Hopper, try as he might, can ignore what he sees pass between them without a word.
Hopper can't resist a last dig at the boy though. If he's going to have to play the wisecracking dad instead of the threatening dad, he's damn well going to enjoy it.
"Keep it in your pants, Wheeler," He warns, glad he can still use the threatening glare. "I just got a daughter, I don't need grandkids anytime soon."
Hopper allows himself a triumphant laugh, on the inside, when Mike turns into that stuttering tomato Max had mentioned. It gets better when El gives the boy a curious look, one that he recognizes quite well.
"I'll let you explain that one, kid," He says, turning on his heel and going back out the door without another word. Hopper pauses though, just for a few seconds, to eavesdrop on what he knows is coming.
"What does 'keep it in your pants' mean?" El asks on the other side of the door, and Hopper can't help the low chuckle that comes out at the thought of how Mike must look right now. "What is it?"
When he hears Mike start stuttering he knows it's safe to leave. Hopper may have dug himself a hole for later, needing to explain the birds and the bees to El, or at least give her a better version than Wheeler, but for the time being, it's worth it.
"This could be fun," He murmurs to himself, none but the wind, trees, and snow around to hear him.
XxX
Mike and El spend the day exactly the way they've wanted to for so long. Together.
They sit on the couch, close enough that they might just fuse into one being, talking about everything and nothing while the tv plays El's soaps in the background. El shows him around her bedroom, Mike turning a shade of pink, one that El starts to like seeing on him, at the realization that he's in a girl's bedroom, and they're alone. Mike shows El how to fry an egg, much to her fascination that they can be something other than scrambled.
He cannot, however, claim that he doesn't almost set himself on fire, again. At first the stove refuses to light, though Mike can smell the gas coming out, there's just no spark to light it. Hopper keeps a spare lighter in the drawer, which El shows him when he asks her, so he tries to use that instead.
What he doesn't do, is remember to turn off the gas all the way while they get the lighter from the drawer. He only left it on low, so thankfully he doesn't blow up the cabin, but he scares the both of them when a cloud of fire appears above the stove for a few seconds. Mike crashes to the ground, his heart racing, and the sudden heat still tingling on his face. As it so happens, that's because a few strands of hair are smoldering on the ends, but El quickly pats them out before latching onto Mike again. They sit there for several minutes, until their pulses go back to normal.
"Let's not tell Hopper about this," Mike pleads. "Please."
"Okay," El murmurs.
Despite the less-than-great start, the eggs turn out pretty nice, and El gets to try her first simple fried egg sandwich.
The only moments when they aren't within inches of each other are when they go to the bathroom, or when El changes into her regular clothes. Mike exists in a near-constant state of turning red when El leaves the doors open, the concept of 'privacy' around each other evidently not fully struck home when they're alone.
Mike's tomato impression has a resurgence when he shows El the matching santa hats that he bought for them. El insists on putting it on his head for him, and that he put hers on for her, and then plants a kiss on his cheek.
They play board games on the dinner table, Mike reads some of her favorite stories to her, makes up a couple stories of his own, and El convinces him to watch parts of the soaps on tv with her.
By the time Hopper returns, they're snuggled together on the couch under a blanket, El excitedly explaining everything that had happened in one of the soaps up until the point they're watching. Mike feigns interest in the program, but barely even looks at the screen.
"I don't smell smoke," Hopper comments first thing when he walks through the door, turning Mike red again, and giving El a tiny smile that she tries to hide. The man walks over to the fridge, opens it, and shakes the milk carton. "And you avoided the milk, too. Wise choice."
"What does he mean?" El asks at a whisper.
"It's nothing," Mike mumbles in embarrassment. Hopper knowing about his monumental screwups with girls is bad enough, Mike doesn't need El thinking he's a total wasteoid too, especially after he almost made a repeat of setting himself on fire. "Don't worry about it."
El pouts at him, but drops the subject, electing to cuddle closer against his side.
"So, did you enjoy your day?" Hopper asks once Mike is sufficiently red.
"I loved it," El answers, squeezing Mike's arm and smiling at him. "We played games, and read books, and watched tv, and talked, and Mike cooked, and I got to show him my room, and Mike explained what 'keep it in your pants' means, and he kept it in his pants all day."
As if Mike weren't embarrassed enough, the end of El's rambling list turns him a shade of red he'd never reached before.
"Well, isn't that nice," Hopper responds, walking back over to the couch area so he can look at the two kids. "And what exactly did Mike explain to you?"
"He told me the difference between boy parts and girl parts," El reports, still holding onto Mike's arm. The boy himself looks like he wants to die, or vanish from the face of the earth. "And how when two people really like each other they have the sex, and sometimes they get babies, but he said we can't until we're older. I asked him how much older, but he said he doesn't know, and to ask someone else because talking about it makes him uncomfortable."
'Hopper's going to murder me. I knew it was a bad idea, but she kept asking, and now I'm dead. I didn't even get to finish puberty...'
Hopper just starts to laugh.
"Well, he got most of that right," The man says, looking down at his daughter's smiling face and Mike's practically glowing face. This whole 'nonviolent dad' thing is more fun than he thought it would be. "I think we'll let Joyce handle the rest though, there are some things that are different for girls. As knowledgeable as Mike may be on the topic, he's not quite as qualified to talk about the rest."
"Okay," El says, taking him at his word.
It's a wonder Mike hasn't passed out, or gotten a nose bleed, with all the blood in his face. This has to be the single most mortifying day of his life, even worse than the time his mother had started babying him in front of his class after he accidentally set his shirt on fire.
"Well, it's already six fifteen, we need to get going," Hopper announces after letting Mike stew for a little. "El, put on your nice clothes, and don't forget the presents you got for everyone."
El gives Mike another kiss on the cheek before getting up to go change again.
"Busy day?" Hopper questions once the door is mostly closed. Mike just puts his face in his hands so he doesn't have to look at anyone. "You've got more guts than I thought, explaining sex to El."
He keeps his tone level so Mike can't get a read on what he really thinks, but Mike automatically assumes the worst.
"Can you at least bury me somewhere nice?" Mike pleads through his hands.
Hopper can't stop himself from laughing at that one, which gets Mike to finally look up from his shame.
"I was giving you a compliment, for once," Hopper points out, which leaves Mike dumbfounded. "But in all seriousness, if you even dream of doing anything like that with El until you're adults, I will shoot you."
Threatening dad still has its perks.
Of course, Hopper isn't foolish enough to think that Mike would so much as try anything of that nature. He's more worried that El will get curious, and Mike won't know how to say no to her puppy dog eyes.
Mike's face turns pale at the threat, nodding vigorously so he won't get shot. Hopper smirks internally at his newfound success in parenting.
By the time El is ready to go, Mike has a relatively normal color in his face, no longer matching either portion of his santa hat. He does, however, turn a little pink when he sees El's outfit. Apparently her 'nice' clothes consist of a pair of jeans that had probably been Nancy's, and a Christmas sweater that Mike is pretty sure was made by their aunt Cathy a few years back.
In his eyes, though, she looks beautiful, like a Christmas angel. She has a very subtle amount of makeup on, in the only way she'd been taught to apply it, and Mike can't seem to decide which part of her he wants to be mesmerized by first.
"Come on, lover boy," Hopper says, clapping a heavy hand on his shoulder before putting his hat back on.
Mike hurries to hide his blush at being caught staring by meticulously putting on his coat. El puts on her coat beside him, and he finally notices the snowflake necklace around her neck. They smile at each other, gathering their bags of things, one of presents for El, and the other three for Mike.
Despite how loaded up he is, they still find a way to hold hands on the walk to the car, stepping carefully in the dark. Hopper doesn't stop them from climbing in the back seat together, though he does adjust his mirror to keep an eye on them.
XxX
Their friends, as well as Nancy and Steve, are already waiting for them when they get to the Byers', each of them grinning while Mike and El take off their coats.
"So...?" Will asks once they turn around again.
"So, what?" Mike questions, playing dumb.
"Did you like our present?" Dustin practically shouts.
The pair smiles again, their hands linking together almost unconsciously.
"It was...perfect," El answers, a matching blush appearing on their cheeks.
"You can thank Max, it was her idea," Lucas tells them.
"We were pretty heavily involved," Dustin interjects.
"Yeah, but the original idea was Max's," Lucas points out. "And it was her plan that got it all to work."
Lucas and Dustin descend into another of their famous arguments. El takes the initiative and gives Max a hug, murmuring her thank you. And as if that isn't enough for her, Mike extends a hand.
"Party rules, I drew first blood, a while ago," He says, a nervous half-grin on his face. To his ever-loving thanks, Max shakes. "And thanks, for everything."
"Don't you go getting mushy on me, Wheeler," Max responds with her normal sarcasm. "Save it for your girlfriend."
Mike turns a darker shade of pink, but nods, his hand dropping from Max's and finding El's. Max smiles, though, because she just got a pretty good present, too.
"Dinner, everyone!" Joyce announces from the kitchen, taking a chicken out of the oven. Considering the number of people they have, it's a ridiculously undersized bird, but as it turns out, Steve brought a family sized bucket of chicken with him as his dinner contribution.
As they dig in, everyone starts trying to complain the loudest about how their relatives are at Christmas time. Max's aunt Meredith who, along with all four of her kids, have a million and ten things they're allergic to and can't eat. Lucas' grandpa George who ends up with all the serving spoons because he forgets that he took them. Dustin's younger cousin Abigail who insists on playing the violin for them every year even though she sounds like a dying cat because she never practices. Will and Jonathan's uncle Patrick who thought they were both girls for years. Mike and Nancy's aunt Debra who insists on making the world's worst casserole every year. Even Hopper reminisces about how one of his uncles always brought a fully cooked turkey with him every year, only one year he switched out the inside with a balloon that exploded and launched confetti on everyone. To this day, he still can't figure out how his uncle did it so convincingly.
El sits there with a big smile on her face, more than happy to be around all the people she loves, but on the inside, she wishes she could have a story or two to share. Being raised in a lab doesn't exactly lend itself to heartwarming Christmas stories. Or any Christmas stories...
Or any heartwarming stories, for that matter...
"Are you okay?" Mike asks, as if he can read her mind, squeezing her hand. She looks over at him, their eyes meeting, and a strange feeling blooming in her chest.
Normally she would answer yes, whether she was really okay or not. She would keep the problems inside of her to herself, afraid that her new friends might think she's just a hassle. That's how it always worked in the lab; having problems meant having more tests, and having more tests meant more needles and bad men.
But now, after finally getting to spend her whole day with Mike, just the way she wanted, she feels different, at least toward him. Mike always understands, always makes sure she feels safe, and comfortable, and happy.
That she feels loved, like no other person could ever be.
She remembers one of their conversations from earlier in the day, one that had followed, or really been a part of, Mike's explanation of the sex. After he'd gotten all flustered, in the adorable way that she loves so much, and she'd asked when people normally have the sex, he'd started talking about the future.
The way he talked, explaining what dating is, how people become boyfriend and girlfriend, getting engaged, and later getting married. It all seemed like he wasn't just talking to her, he was talking about her, about them. While he hadn't said it outright, she could feel it, Mike wanted them to spend the rest of their lives together. To share every happy moment, help each other through the tough times, and experience every new and amazing thing that comes their way.
And she feels the same way.
So when he asks her that question, she knows she can't just say that she's okay, because that wouldn't be fair to Mike. It wouldn't be fair to the person who had, even if he hadn't said it out loud, told her that she's the most important, special, precious person in his life. She wants to give him back that same faith, that same understanding that he showers her with every second they're together.
"No," She tells him quietly, whispering just loud enough for him to hear when he leans in close, nearly swallowed by the din of their companions. "But I will be."
She squeezes his hand and smiles, the most open and sincere smile she can give him, and tries to tell him everything she'd just thought with her eyes. Mike smiles back at her, the message as clear to him as if she'd spelled it out.
They spend the whole night eating, bantering, and celebrating with their friends. Presents are special for El's first Christmas, even if she couldn't actually get her friends anything, she made each of them a special card with arts and crafts supplies Hopper had gotten for her.
She gets inundated with new and used clothes, books in various conditions, a variety of new arts and crafts supplies, music, and even her first true makeup kit. Her favorite, however, comes from Mike.
He gifts her a radio set, top of the line with two walkie talkies. The signal is strong enough to reach all the way across Hawkins, and maybe even further, far stronger than the supercoms the boys all have. No wonder it cost such a small fortune, which Lucas and Dustin comment on when they see it.
"Now we can talk," He says sheepishly after she unwraps it. "Anywhere, anytime, whenever you want to talk."
"I love it," She responds, almost flooring him with another hug, the little puff balls on their hats bouncing as they collide. "It's perfect."
Hopper watches with a bemused expression while Mike shows her how it works, their friends gathering around them to marvel at the piece of technology. Joyce nudges him from their spot on the couch.
"Turning over a new leaf?" She asks, noticing his expression.
"Trying a different approach," He tells her. "And it's working pretty well."
He puts an arm around her shoulders as they watch the kids, not quite in a romantic way, neither of them are ready for that yet, but something neither of them will say no to, something comfortable. Each of them has a smile as the kids start to laugh and have fun with their new gifts, glad they can still be normal kids after everything.
Most importantly, they're glad that their group is still together. Even through every trial and hardship that came their way, none of them backed away, or tried to push it all off on someone else. They may have lost some along the way, but those unfortunate few will live in their hearts forever. No gift, no matter how big, or shiny, or expensive, can ever compare.
They can all, finally, be happy... together.
I hope you all enjoyed it, thanks for reading!
If you have a prompt you want me to write, leave it in a review or send me a PM, I'm keeping a running list. I'll even take requests for connected one-shots, which one person has already sent me. The more the better, it keeps my creative juices flowing to have a bunch of projects going at once.
Until next time!