It had been many months since the town of Hawkins had finally returned to normal, and Eleven was nothing short of a superstar now. But she never liked the spotlight, and neither did her friends, so they did their very best to continue living average lives. Instead of making famous friends or sucking up to the media, Eleven had taken to sleeping over in a very familiar place: her fort in Mike's basement, where it all began. Sure, Hopper's legally her dad now, but he'd given her all the freedom in the world now that she'd literally saved it. Oh, and there's also that little thing... Young love, between her and Mike. Not that they'd ever admit it, of course.

But over time, Mike had noticed something interesting happening to Eleven. She had always been thin as a rail. But ever since things had calmed down in Hawkins and she'd practically moved in with Mike, and had people fulfilling her every wish left and right, she'd finally been able to relax and get treated like a queen. And it was starting to show... in her waistline.

Sitting next to each other at the D&D table, with Eleven's attention absorbed in the stack of Eggo waffles in front of her, Mike awkwardly snuck a glance up and down her body. Her face looked the same as ever, but... there was no ignoring that stomach. It was unusual to see a girl their age with a body like that—the result of growing up skinny, and then suddenly getting all the food she ever wanted—and Mike was morbidly fascinated. Granted, she was still adorable as ever, and still perfectly healthy, but there was a very noticeable bulge in her dress that he'd noticed growing larger week by week. Standing up straight, her little gut was beginning to stick out noticeably, especially given her lack of any breasts to balance it out. Sitting down, it squished into a distinctly unladylike bulge that was especially noticeable when she slouched, which she very often did. Mike was fascinated by this girl who had somehow saved the world, yet also grown up without the social norms that would have put a stop to this new overindulgence.

Suddenly his eyes met hers, and he realized how long he'd been stupidly staring at her. Crap! Had she noticed? She didn't seem to. He looked away rapidly, and blurted out the first thing on his mind:

"Want some more Eggos?"

He immediately winced and kicked himself, hearing the words leave his mouth. She'd been stuffing her face with syrup-soaked waffles literally all weekend, and as much as he secretly adored her growing belly, he also felt the pressure to watch over her health. She clearly wasn't doing a very good job of that.

"Yes please," sang Eleven, and let out a little burp. Mike gulped.

"Are—are you sure? You've been wolfing those down nonstop, how do you have room for any more?" sputtered Mike, battling between responsible caretaker and fascinated onlooker.

"I'm sure," stated Eleven confidently. "I like Eggos."

Mike was just about to head to the cupboard to grab some more from her enormous stockpile of Eggos, when he heard Eleven's all-too-familiar cry of "MIKE?"

"Yes?" asked Mike, turning to look at the stuffed girl at the table.

"Can you bring the whipped cream and candy back out? I want an extra special Eggo sundae," she pleaded, cracking that adorable, semi-alien smile and gazing at Mike. Well, he thought... in for a dime, in for a dollar.

He came back and unloaded his arms onto the table—waffles, candy and all. Eleven's eyes lit up, and she sprang into action spraying whipped cream and dotting her dish with all kinds of candy. No sooner had she finished than she dove in face first, gobbling down the sugary platter as if she hadn't eaten in days. Mike couldn't take his eyes away.

After a minute, she noticed his eyes and began to slow, then stopped her eating. "Hey Mike?" she asked meekly.

"Yeah El?"

"Is all this food making me... well..." To Mike's shock, she gingerly pulled up the seem of her dress, revealing not only her underwear, but also a chubby little belly pooched between her training bra and her legs, spilling over slightly in every direction.

Mike was transfixed—he was right. It was definitely different from the body he'd briefly gotten to hold at the Snow Ball. Her protruding paunch looked very out of place on her otherwise thin frame, and he knew it was at least partially his fault. But then again, she totally deserved to eat whatever she wants. She friggin saved the world, right?

"Mike?" she repeated shyly, prodding her soft belly. "Is this okay?"

"Of—of course it is!" exclaimed Mike. "It just means... It just means that you're eating well!"

Eleven smiled brightly. "Good. I like eating well." El looked back down at her belly and that back to Mike. Their eyes met yet again.

"Can you... rub it?" she asked innocently.

"Umm," answered Mike, his heart racing "Yeah, sure yeah". He pulled his chair closer making a scraping sound on the wooden floor, and placed his hand on her stomach. It was so wonderful, warm, soft and fatty—she clearly hadn't gotten any exercise during her months of sleepovers and candy coated waffles. But Mike loved it all the more, and rubbed it gently. This is how it should be, he thought. Eleven rewarded handsomely for her service, with all the waffles she could ever want.

Mike felt Elevens little belly peek between his fingers as he rubbed it gently back and fourth. Watching wide-eyed as her small flabby gut shifted up and down in rhythm with his hands. He'd never seen El be this forward before, but she also might not really understand that what she was doing was unusual, it was so hard to tell with her. Either way Mike was getting more and more into playing with El's little belly.

"Um…I…" Mike made an indiscernible noise, looking quickly back up and down El's body. Still with her dress lifted to her chest, exposing her belly, legs, and underwear.

Nervously, Mike put his other hand on the other side of El and began to squeeze her belly together with both of his hands. He was aware of how much he was enjoying this but still didn't want to do anything to embarrass himself or El. He chancing a look up at her face, only to see El staring back at him with that intense curiosity she often showed when presented with new things. Their eyes met for a minute, neither breaking from the other. Mike hesitated, El had seemed so upbeat before, this sudden shift was unusual, even for El and Mike didn't want to do anything to upset her.

"Should I stop?" he asked.

Timidly El lifted her hands holding the dress up to her mouth, covering her nose from Mike so that only her eyes and head were visible. Staring at him with her large brown eyes, El shook her head from side to side.

Mike, more nervous then ever, continued to massage El's pudgy belly, kneading his fingers up and down with increasing enthusiasm. Still staring at El's new chub, Mike started to cup his hand underneath her small muffin top. Flicking upwards and letting it bounce back into place. Again and again he would do this, until his hand accidentally brushed up against El's underwear.

"Oh," El made an involuntary noise.

Mike quickly looked up. El's face was still covered by her dress filled hands, but was now clearly bright red with blush. Mike noticed how her eyes had seemed to grow wider and wider as he massaged her, and were now so pulled open you could see the whites of her eyes clearly around the iris, with a small crease between her eyebrows.

Mike took a closer look at El. She was sweating. Mike knew he had to have been just as red as she was, but what had happened just there? That sound she just made, what was that? It sounded like a moan or a groan, had she just moaned? What does that mean? Why'd she do that?

He thought back, thinking to what he might have done to change everything, when it was all going so well.

I bumped her underwear. He thought.

Wait, did I? Did I touch her…her?

A whole new wave of heat rushed through his body at that thought, as Mike changed three more shades of red.

He looked up to see El still staring at him with those wide, focused eyes. A few moments passed in awkward silence. El slowly lowered her top, and sat facing Mike who looked down at his feet, still burning with embarrassment.

Footsteps on the stairs. Mike scooted back a bit to the other end of the table just as Nancy, Mike's sister, came walking down the staircase to the basement.

"Mom says to start getting ready for bead." called Nancy, addressing Mike.

"Kay, yeah." answered Mike quickly. El didn't say anything. Nancy looked at her brother suspiciously, she could remember the last time he rolled over so readily like that, especially while in the middle of a dungeons and dragons game.

"What of you been doing?" she asked, her eyes slanted down at Mike's red face and ears.

"Oh, um…a… nothing much." Said Mike "Just teaching…um… El to play Dungeons and Dragons, so she can play with all of us when the other guys come over." Mike had become a sizably better liar during his time hiding El from his family.

"Hmm," said Nancy content, "that's nice, but really though, it's a school night, you're not going to be able to get up in the morning if you stay up much later."

"Alright I'm going." Mike called in his usual tone, as his sister disappeared back up the staircase. The normality of talking with Nancy had calmed Mike down significantly.

"C'mon El" he said, not daring to meet her eye "I'll set up your bed, you go brush your teeth."

"Ok, one sec" El said, as she turned around and wolfed down the last of her waffles, and whipped cream. As she stuffed the Eggos down her throat, she kept her eyes fixed upward at a wide eyed Mike.