El is flitting around the cabin in a fit of nerves. At 4:30 Hopper will be back. With Mike. With Mike so Mike and El can have a sleepover. A just them sleepover. Of course, Hopper has already mandated that Mike will be on the couch and they'll have to be in bed by 10:00, but El doesn't care because Mike is coming. According to Hopper, he's coming to help her with schoolwork, but Will does that on the days she and Hopper spend at the Byer's, but Mike brings her assignments and work, and teaches her once a week, sometimes more. She doesn't tell Will, but she likes Mike teaching her better. Not that it's really a fair comparison. She likes most things about Mike better. Well, she likes all things about Mike better, if she's honest with herself.

Suddenly there's the tapping of the secret knock on the door. Lost in her musings, El hadn't realized the time. She flies to the door, opening it to reveal Hopper and Mike.

"Mike!"

She practically tackles him in a hug.

"Jesus. You saw each other like three days ago," Hopper grumbles.

Eleven gives him a look. He raises his hands in apparent defeat, stepping by them into the cabin. El takes Mike's hand, pulling him impatiently along. He laughs, and shrugs off his backpack, letting it fall to the ground with a decisive thump.

"Are you ready to get started?" he asks excitedly, "I brought a bunch of assignments and books!"

She nods, and he begins setting out the stuff.

It's about halfway through the science work that El first noticed it. Mike has yet to take off his sweater, even though the cabin is plenty warm. El and Hopper are both in long sleeve shirts with the sleeves rolled up. Neither of them like to be cold, so Hopper keeps the heat up. Therefore, Mike should have already taken off his jacket. She studies him more closely, he isn't visibly hot, but still. She drops the thought, as he begins his explanation.

"Get it?" He asks.

El has no idea what he had been saying, "yes."

He gives her a look.

"Okay. I don't know what you were saying," she relents.

He begins explaining again, nonplussed. That's the nice thing about Mike. He never gets frustrated with her.

"Mike?" She asks gently.

He looks up immediately, "Yeah, El?"

"Aren't you hot?"

He looks caught off guard, "no!" His voice is a bit too high.

El has learned that friends CAN lie, and she has the notion that Mike might be right now. She decides to test her theory.

She turns around, "Hopper?"

"Yes?" He responds from his place in front of the TV in the couch.

"Eggo break?"

"Not right now, kid."

She hadn't really expected a different answer, but the exchange had given her the opportunity to reach out with her mind to the thermostat, and manipulate it so the temperature was higher than it showed. She was only doing this because when Mike lied to her it was because he was embarrassed- she had just learned that word- to say anything. El figures he had simply forgotten to put on a shirt on under his sweater, and was too embarrassed to admit it.

After completing her task, she tuned back into what Mike was saying. After finishing up the science, they decided to break for dinner. Hopper heated up some TV dinners.

"How's the school going?" Hopper asked.

"We got all the way through science and math!" Mike said happily.

"Ah" Hopper said.

"We can probably tackle History and Reading tonight, and then do Writing in the morning," Mike informs him.

Hopper looks surprised, "you were planning on doing school all night?"

"I mean...isn't that why you let me come over?" Mike asked.

"Jesus, kid, have you only ever done school work every time you've been over?"

"Um, yeah?" Mike said, obviously unsure of what was happening.

Hopper starts all out laughing, "wow. I knew you and your friends were a pretty nerdy bunch, but I had no idea."

Mike gives him a quizzical look, "you've been here every time I've been here. What did you think we were doing?"

Hopper shrugged, "I figured you did some work and then played games."

Mike looked bewildered, "well you told me to come to teach El, so I did."

Hopper laughed, "How'd you like to come and teach El every other day?"

Mike sat up, "I'd love to!"

"Good," Hopper said.

"Yay!" Eleven said, speaking for the first time in a while.

Both Hopper and Mike looked over at her, as if they had forgotten she was there. She gave them both radiant smiles, and continued eating. There was a bit of silence as they all ate. Finally, Hopper broke it, "Isn't it really hot?"

El nodded, "really."

Hopper looked at Mike, and then said, a bit incredulously, "you have to be hot in that sweater."

Mike squirmed a bit in his chair, "a bit."

"You can take it off, " El said gently.

"I'm okay," Mike said, clearly uncomfortable.

"Mike?" El was genuinely worried now, "what's wrong?"

Mike looked mortified at the attention, but seemed to realize he wasn't going to get out of taking his sweater off. He sighed deeply before pulling off the sweater. For a millisecond, all El could do was admire his freshly tousled hair. Her attention was quickly drawn to the bright red bruises on his arms.

"Mike?!" She breathed with concern.

Hoppers gaze was concerned too, but also angry, "who did this to you?"

"My dad," he admitted, ashamed.

El gasped. She had thought that all parents were good people. Well, her papa wasn't, but she figured it was simply because she grew up in the lab. And even when they were rough with her, they never were harsh enough to leave marks. And anyways, she had always thought that Mike's parents were good people. How could they not be? Mike was so good, so kind, so understanding, and so was Nancy. She had naturally assumed, that therefore, their parents were too. Maybe she was just wrong, though, and all parents were like that. Hopper wasn't, but he was her adoptive dad. She was very happy with that. Hopper was much better than Papa. Maybe Mike could come and live with her and Hopper for a while. She now knew why he couldn't be her brother, but didn't see why they couldn't live together, after all, Nancy sometimes spent the night with Jonathan.

While El had been musing, Hopper had been gently examining Mike's arm. "These are recent kid," he took a deep breath, "how many times did he hit you?"

Mike turned away, "a few."

He picked up a fork, obviously trying to avoid the topic.

"Mike," El said gently, coming over and laying a hand on his arm.

She had no idea where she was going with this, all she knew was that Mike was hurting, and she HAD to stop it. If their positions were reversed, Mike would have already said exactly the right thing to make her feel better. She wasn't as good with words as him, so she simply just gave him a hug. Hopefully he could understand the sentiment behind it.

He hugged her back just as tightly. "Mike," she pushed him away gently, "you don't need to be embarrassed. Just because he hurt you doesn't mean it's your fault." That had been one of the first things Hopper had taught her. "He hurts because he is bad. Not because you are. You are Mike and you are my favorite. You are the best."

"El's right, kid. This is by no way your fault. No matter what he said to you to justify his actions, it is not your fault. What did bring this on, though? I'm the chief of police and I won't let this stand."

Mike wouldn't meet either of their eyes, "it doesn't matter."

"Mike," Hopper said.

Mike sighed, then almost unwillingly began to speak, "I was leaving the house. He asked me where I was going, so I told him I was going to Will's house. He got angry that I'm not at home as much anymore, and I said I would be back tomorrow. He said I needed to stay home, and I told him that I was going to go to Will's house, and that it would be rude to stand up Ms. Byers. He said I couldn't go, and that it didn't matter what Ms. Byers thought. So I asked him why he was so against it. Then," Mike's voice broke here, "then her called Will a fag," Mike then hurried to add, "amongst other choice insults."

There was some silence. Hopper looked angry. El had no idea what a fag was, but it obviously wasn't a good thing.

Mike rushed to continue on, "I yelled at him then. I wasn't just going to let him get away with it. Especially after all that's happened. I just couldn't. He started yelling too, and then before I knew it, he was on top of me, holding me down by my arms and punching me in the stomach. He'd never even think of hitting anywhere that would leave a mark that couldn't be covered," Mike sounded bitter, now.

"He's hit you before?" Hopper asked.

"Well, no, but I know him well enough to know that. He is my father, after all."

There is another moment of silence.

"Just, Hopper, don't say anything, okay?" Hopper looks ready to object, but Mike continues on, "he'd be so mad and it would probably be the last straw and my parents would get divorced, and I don't want Holly to have to grow up like that, her first memories being of separated parents. Anyways, it's probably just a one-off."

Hopper does not look too pleased, "if that's what you really want kid. Just so I'm sure we are clear, though, if I even get any whispers of something like this happening again, I'll be coming round. Understood?"

"Of course. I'd tell you myself. I really do believe it was just a one time thing. He had probably had some drinks."

"As an officer of the law, I should really be acting on this, but if you don't want me too, that is still your choice," Hopper tells him.

Mike nods emphatically, wincing a little as he does so. How had El not noticed that before? Had he been doing it the whole time? He had certainly been gesturing less in their lessons. When he had dumped his backpack on the ground, he had done so more gingerly, hadn't he? She probably shouldn't have hugged him! It had likely only made things worse. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed. Mike would have noticed if it were her. How was it that he was so observant, so attuned to her?

"Can we watch a movie?" El asks. When she's feeling bad, she loves to watch movies.

"Sure," Hopper says, "what movie?"

There is a bit of a debate over that. Hopper only has a few movies, one of which was star wars, because El had requested it after learning that was what Yoda was from. In that year without Mike she had done literally everything she could think of to remind herself of him. It had taken a tremendous effort, but eventually Hopper had promised to pick up a copy for her. The first time she had watched it, she had watched it alone. She had understood almost nothing. The second time, Hopper had reluctantly agreed to watch it with her, and even explained the most confusing parts. She had watched it several times since then, and she had a better understanding. She got why Mike liked it.

They rushed to finish up their dinner after that. Or, more accurately, El and Mike rushed to finish their dinner after that. Hopper was not as eager. That didn't really surprise anyone present. Mike was practically bouncing with excitement, and so was El. Mainly, she was just happy to not have to do any more schoolwork.

Dinner was FINALLY finished, and they all headed over to the couch. El sat in the middle, and was sharing a blanket with Mike. He had grabbed her hand under the blanket after only a minute's hesitation. El was already happy with this choice of activity. Hopper, meanwhile, sat back down and hit play. The movie started.

Mike and El spent most of the movie whispering quietly. El asked questions and Mike did his best to explain things in a way that would make sense to her. Neither let go of the other's hand.

At last, the credits began rolling, and they all sat there in a sort of stunned silence. Hopper said something about making some popcorn before watching the next one. Mike and El shared an excited look. El would have never guessed back when she was in the lab that her future would be holding hands with the world's sweetest boy while her adoptive dad made popcorn. She had so many people who cared about her now. It was unfathomable. She had friends in Lucas, Dustin, Will, even Max. Jonathan, Nancy, and sort of Steve were like older siblings. She had found her mama, and her Aunt Becky. She had a sister, even if she wasn't always the best. Joyce was like her second mama. And, of course, Mike and Hopper. They were on their own levels completely.

Hopper handed El a bowl of popcorn, effectively bring her out of her heartfelt musings. The beginning of the next movie began playing, and El snuggled up to Mike. Hopper eyes them amused, but said nothing. He was probably still feeling bad for Mike and decided to let it slip this time. Even though the circumstances were not ideal, El had decided to take advantage of it. Mike was a far better pillow than the side of the couch she usually laid her head on.

And in the morning, all of them awoke on the couch, still in the clothes they had been wearing the night before. They all had secret soft little smiles on their faces. Even Hopper.

A/N: Welcome to the official, actual, end of Confessions: Sleepover Style! Thanks for all of the kind reviews, follows and favorites. I see them all, and they all mean the world to me. This chapter took a bit of a different turn, and I'm sorry if the character's reactions were not necessarily accurate. I tried my best. Thanks for reading?

~Climbergirlio