Author's note: WOW, I did not expect this quick response, and such a warm one! Thank you, guys, so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter, and I hope the same happens right now. I already have this fic outlined for the first 5 months of the year, let's see what will come out.
Have a nice chapter, and I hope you leave your review at the end! Reviews are love.
February
She spent a ridiculous amount of time sitting in Hopper's living room making cards because, apparently, Valentine's Day is a big deal. It's a hell of a job, because crafts were never her thing. Hell, she'd barely had time to be just a kid growing up, so the overload of information she got about "social skills" and "mainstream knowledge" the past three weeks still make her a little dizzy (Sometimes it just felt like the others were messing with her, but they were her friends, right? And friends don't mess with each other).
By the end of the afternoon, there was a mess of colorful papers around the living room and a pile of poorly made cards for every person in Eleven's life who was important for her. Nancy used a lot of emphasis on saying that the whole point of Valentine's Day was to tell the people she liked how much they mattered for her, so El should at least try to make something nice.
"Wow, kid, how many people you know?" Asked Hopper when he got home. There might be a chance that the dog slept on top of some glitter and stickers, and she did not want to know how to remove everything from its fur. Jim sat on the couch by her side and picked one of the cards that still was unfinished. "Ha, I hated to make those when I was a kid," he said, and then looked at Eleven. "But I loved to receive cards, 'specially from the cute girls."
Eleven smiled. All she wanted, really, was for her friends to enjoy the cards she made for them, because it took a lot of time and effort to make them.
Jim reached for another card, the one on top of the pile of 'ready-for-tomorrow', but El put her hand on top of them. She suspected that he had seen his name on it, though.
"Tomorrow," she said as he raised his hands up, as if surrendering, and he nodded.
"Okay, fine," he replied, leaning back a little. "Gee, kid."
He looked down then and saw a lot of ripped paper by her side on the floor. He could make out some Ms and Ks, which made him look at the coffee table and the card Eleven was making now. It was a blue and purple heart-shaped card with one name written in capital letters – MIKE - and nothing else, a white crayon held tight in her right hand.
"You know, cards aren't the only thing you can give out on Valentine's Day," Hopper said, trying to distract El. She looked at him expectantly, probably waiting for him to give her a solution, and he sighed. "Chocolates are always nice."
"Nancy said that girls don't give chocolate, they just receive it," she said, and he smiled.
"Okay..." he thought for a second. "You can hang out, it's nice. Watch a movie. No, you need money for this, and you're all fourteen. Go to the park! Hmm ... I'm not very creative, actually. Stick to the cards."
Eleven sighed and looked down at her card.
"I don't know what to write," she admitted, and Hopper put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
"You will figure out," he assured, and she sighed. "Why don't you go do something else for a while and then come back to this?"
That was actually the best idea he gave to her, so El nodded and got up. She took her pile of cards and left it in her bedroom, and then she got a broom to clean the living room; she organized the things she was using for the cards on the coffee table, put on a jacket and then called the dog to stay with her outside so she could clean its fur.
She sat on the back porch with a hairbrush. The sun was almost gone by the time she started to have some progress removing all the stickers from the dog, and the lake looked so pretty from her angle. It hadn't frozen during the winter, and the water was calm and transparent. It was nice.
Suddenly, Eleven got up. She knew what to do. She dropped the brush and rushed inside the house again, the dog tagging along just behind her. Jim was on the same spot watching TV.
"Can we invite some people over tomorrow?" Asked El, and Hopper looked at her frowning.
"We'd have to clean the house," he answered, and she shrugged.
"If we clean the house...?" She poked and they exchanged a glance for a few seconds.
"...Then yes," Hopper said slowly, already sensing that he'd regret it.
El practically ran to the other room, got the broom again and dropped it by his feet, and then she got the phone.
"What are you doing?" He asked, looking from the broom to Eleven. She looked at him with those big brown eyes like the puppy that she was, that way he couldn't say no to.
"Get started," she told him. "I will make some calls."
He opened his mouth to protest, to say that they hadn't decided anything, but he gave up. El already had dialed the first number and, on the other side, someone already had picked up.
"Joyce? Oh, hi Nancy! Are you busy tomorrow?" Eleven said excitedly. There was no way in hell that he'd stop that.
Eleven made Jim rent a movie (Star Wars), had him dig out his old turntable from the basement because the Byers would bring some discs, and actually had him going to the kitchen to help her bake a red velvet cake and cookies. All of that on top of the cleaning of the previous night.
They had done so many things that Jim really thought that El wouldn't have the energy to host a bunch of people, but apparently he had forgotten how it is to be young, because after a shower the girl was a hundred percent ready.
Before the first guests arrived, Eleven approached him. She had put her hair in a ponytail and had chosen one of her most "average" outfits – jeans, boots, the Super Bowl tee that he had gotten her when they went to watch the game, and a jacket – which surprised him, considering how girls liked to look all fierce at Valentine's Day. Not Eleven's case, it seemed.
Hopper doubted that he'd ever get used to it.
"This is for you," El said, taking a yellow and pink card from her jacket, the one he had seen the previous day.
He took the card and right at that moment they heard the sound of a car parking, so Eleven ran to the front door and Jim used that moment to see what she had written.
The front of the card had a drawing that wasn't there before; it was him, her and the dog. Family, she wrote. He opened it. To Hopper, it read inside Thank you.
Hopper smiled and closed the card quickly. That little Eggos lover, she knew how to hit him right in the feelings.
Hopefully, the arrival of the Byers with Dustin was a good enough distraction for him not to get all teary-eyed in the middle of the kitchen. Besides the discs, Joyce also brought an casserole, which made Hopper frown.
"Don't worry," said Will. "Jonathan made it."
Well, that explained it.
Eleven gave them their cards and got a few cards herself. Jonathan went further and gave her his Ramones jacket (apparently, she was into punk, which Hopper wasn't a fan of and hoped would be just a phase), but Dustin and Will didn't have anything big for Eleven.
Lucas and Mike came with Nancy, who also had brought food and baby Holly. El gave them the remaining cards, leaving Mike the last one, and she didn't wait for him to read it like she had done with Joyce and Dustin. No, she went to the back door, to the back porch.
Mike opened his heart-shaped card. Follow me, it read, and he frowned as he looked up from it, looking for Eleven. He saw her standing at the back door, and when their eyes met, she smiled and stepped back, letting the door close in front of her. He smiled and followed her instructions.
Once he opened the door, it seemed like the world burst into movement: the sun was shining in shades of red, El was leaning against the fence facing him, and the lake… it was splashing and bursting like a water show. It was silent and precise, hypnotic even. Breathtaking. And she was making that happen with her mind and hands.
El smiled when she saw the look on Mike's face. She was getting stronger, and using her powers was getting easier too. Not very, but she was getting good at this. She turned around, fingers moving as if coordinating the water's movements, and wow, that looked awesome! It even made him smile.
"Amazing," Mike breathed, stepping closer. He stood by El's side, his arm touching hers even if there were so many layers between them.
He looked at her enchanted, but then he saw her nose bleeding, and Eleven lost her balance. Mike caught her easily as she collapsed on his chest, and the water of the lake came down with a splash. El held his arm; she was leaning heavy against his chest.
"Did you like it?" she asked looking up at him, her voice a little hoarse.
"Yeah, it's incredible," he said, his eyes still on the lake that started to calm down again. "Did you show them?"
She shook her head.
"It's my Valentine for you," she said, standing straighter. Mike's eyes widened.
"You did that for me?" he exclaimed, and she nodded. "Damn, I really need to step up my game, I only brought you chocolate."
El smiled.
"Chocolate is good," she assured. She was feeling better already, and she wiped the blood with the back of her hand. "I'm stronger now. I can do it again," she told him already turning to the lake, but Mike held her waist.
"No, it's okay," he said quickly. "I already have the memory, it's cool enough."
Eleven looked at him and smiled. She liked the way he thought, he took care of her even when he didn't need to. She was holding his jacket with both hands, and he still was holding her waist, his grip steady.
There was a bit of a fire in Mike's eyes that El recognized, one that said that he'd do it again, he'd kiss her, except that this time she'd be ready, and she'd be able to enjoy it.
She stepped closer, tilting her head, and he leaned in, his arm going around her waist, and their noses touched, and-
"El, come tell the people about how you decided to be a baker," Hopper interrupted, making the kids jump a foot high and at least three feet apart. He didn't even look bothered by their flushed cheeks and guilty expressions. "They are so impressed by your cookies, I can't wait for them to see the cake. Come on, you can't be outside, you gotta be a good host."
El looked at Mike, who just smiled sweetly, and then Holly came running to her brother's arms, so their opportunity really had passed, but they'd have time again, she was sure.
She followed Jim's lead and went back inside. It was her idea to call that many people, though she was hoping on Joyce being a good enough distraction for Hopper so she could stay with her friends more freely. Not today, it seemed. But it was okay. From across the room, she exchanged a look with Will, and he shrugged. They would find time to put their plan in action soon. Together.
