Stranger Things belongs to The Duffer Brothers and Netflix. I own nothing.
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Ch. IV
xx
May 13th, 1989.
Mike was glued to his window looking at the front yard, his father's car was parked while Ted placed a few suitcases on the truck and Holly kept dancing by the radio music, like she always does.
"Come on, come on." whispered Mike. He was soon going to be late and his parents were taking too long because in about fifteen minutes (tops) he should pick up Will and Eleven at his friend's house but first, he wanted – needed – to see his parents leaving, he wanted to make sure they got inside the freaking car.
Just a few seconds later, Karen closed the front door and looked above searching for Mike until she saw him. She made a gesture, indicating her son to open the window.
"Close everything before leaving, Mike and behave!" she said and waved, she knew the party would be crashing after prom.
Mike nodded, waving back.
"Bye, drive safe!" he said to his mother, smiling. Karen got into the car and the boy closed the window and leaned into it, sighing.
Thank God!
His mother was gone and he could finally go to a school dance without her insane need to take pictures of him like he was a celebrity or something. Mike hated pictures but not the photo itself, he hated his mother acting like a crazy paparazzi because if there was something more embarrassing than Karen screaming – and crying – while holding a camera, that was all those things she said while she took those pictures. Things like 'Oh, you look so handsome!', or 'Oh my God Ted look how cute he looks!', or 'You should thank me because I made you this pretty.' And the worst one 'Oh sweetie, you look so good I could put whipped cream on you and eat you!'
Yeah, it definitely wasn't the picture what pissed Mike the most but her mother's insane and cannibalistic ways to express her love. She seemed to enjoy the fact that he was growing up and also to suffer because of it, since she cried her eyes out every time she put those pictures on the family album and begun comparing his pictures with the ones when he was a baby.
Mike couldn't even imagine how intense she would have get if she stayed to see him leaving for his own senior prom.
He sighed; there were more important things to do right now.
Mike turned to the mirror once more and put his white blazer on, making sure he looked good enough. He thought about putting some gel on his hair and slick it back but given that El loves to play with his curls, he wouldn't do anything she didn't want him to. She wants curls? He'll give her curls.
He smiled to his own reflection more pleased than he thought at first with the final result. Even if he never believed himself being particularly handsome or at least not the type of guys most girls wanted to be with, – he doesn't have a great tan, he is far from being a jog –, but at least he knows that, for one girl, he is the best looking boy; one girl, the only one for him and that was everything that mattered because he knows how blessed he is. Because even when he is Michael Wheeler, president of geeks around the world, the one and only girl he loves, loves him too exactly how he is even when the rest of the world think he is a dork. So what? He is her dork.
"Right, now my keys are downstairs. Here Eleven's corsage, wallet…" said Mike to himself, pacing around the room, gathering everything he needs like his girlfriend's corsage with the red roses and his wallet in which he put two condoms (in case one rips off). Actually he spent the whole day thinking if he should take a condom or not but in the end if they didn't make love that night he wouldn't have to explain anything and, if they do then he would simply explain having the condom already saying that he loves her and wants to protect her too. In the end that's all true.
"Shit, I almost forgot!" he exclaimed, taking the bag with El's corsage and took the boutonniere he was supposed to wear and struggled with the pin, hurting his finger but managing to put it on his blazer. The red flower looking quite nicely against the white and black from his tuxedo. "Okay, Mike, relax because if you get this nervous now, then how are you going to survive when you ask El to marry you?" he told himself on the mirror. "Now go, pick up your girlfriend and enjoy your prom night the way you all deserve."
He went downstairs singing out loud with the freedom being alone in his house allowed and went to the kitchen to have some juice and then to the living room to get his keys when…
10 minutes later.
"Okay, one more, one more!" asked Karen kneeling on the floor, getting the perfect angle to take another picture of his seventeenth year old son.
Mike was dying from embarrassment, both his and his mother's.
"Mom, stop it, you already took like… I don't know how many!" the boy complained as another flash hit him and he knew his mother had caused him brain damage by now.
"Mommy, can you take me a picture with Mike?" asked Holly, hugging (climbing) her brother while chewing gum.
Mike put Holly down, afraid she might get him dirty with but she kept holding him, forgetting the fact that she wasn't three years old anymore, but nine. He checked his watch.
"Shit!" he yelled and another flash made him blink. "Jeez mom! I'm getting late!"
Karen shot again.
"You tried to escape from me, Michael. This is your punishment. Did you really think I would leave before I could see you go to your own prom? How little you know your mother."
"Yeah, who's smart now, Mickey-mouse?" mocked Holly, looking up at his brother and Mike frowned.
"I'm not a mouse."
But they were right, regardless if he likes to admit it or not.
He couldn't believe how he actually thought his mother, the memory-psycho, would leave for the weekend before having the chance to torture her son with a million pictures for the last school dance.
He really bought it. Karen had played her cards wonderfully, getting into he car after Mike closed his window then coming back and hiding until Mike went to the front door all dressed up and ready to go. She acted like a ninja, like a lion on the prowl and Mike will never forget the look his mother gave to him when she shot the first picture on him, grinning proudly.
"Give Holly a hug, son." asked Karen and Mike rolled his eyes.
"Mom, stop!"
"But you look so good!" she squealed, taking another picture.
"She's right, Mickey. Jane is going to faint when she sees you!" she said, looking at him with sparkly eyes.
Mike smiled at that. "Thanks, Holly-wood."
Damn child, she could be as chaotic as an earthquake but as sweet as honey itself.
"Oh my God, yes! What a beautiful picture!" Karen yelled, taking another one to her children smiling at each other. "One more but now with me!" she asked and went with her kids trying to take another that, when its printed, it would be blurry with half of Holly's head and half of Mike's closing his eyes and his mouth open.
"Mom!"
"Mike…"
xx
"Ugh! Why out of all nights, tonight's weather is this wet?!" complained Eleven.
She had been quite relax the entire day after talking with Will about her plans for the night and what she was expecting to do with her boyfriend but, after lunch, everything that wasn't prom-related went completely unseen for both El and Joyce. They spent the rest of the day working on her looks, her make-up, her hair, her dress and trying to get her to look just perfect. After El took a shower, both she and Joyce paid full attention on the girl and Joyce, even when she loves being a mother of two wonderful boys, finally had the chance to experience what it felt to have a daughter too. Still, Eleven's hair didn't cooperate with them, it looked too puffy and they couldn't figure out if it was because of her nerves, her powers or the hairdryer so they chose to follow one of the looks from El's magazines, combing her hair to one side so her curls would fall next to her right cheek, making her look sexy and fresh, like Cindy Crawford on the cover of the magazine.
Maybe it was a little too much but Eleven didn't have any hair until she was thirteen so, now that she has hair she better show it, right?
The woman smiled, shaking a can of hairspray. "Honey, don't worry, I'll put some more of this and you'll be fine."
"But mom, I don't want it to be too stiff. Mike likes to play with it and run his fingers beneath my hair."
The girl had been so worry about her hair that she didn't noticed how she called her or the fact that Joyce stopped combing her hair to look at both of them on the mirror next to the bed.
She obviously said that in the heat of the moment, she wasn't even looking at her, still very busy hiding the hickey on her neck with make up but, to Joyce, it felt just as right as if she would have said it any other time. El probably didn't know how much it meant to her to be called 'mom' especially after that afternoon when she told her about her plans for the night like she did with Will, asking for a woman's point of view and a condom, in case Mike doesn't have one. Joyce looked at her reflection on the mirror and her hair in her hands, reminiscing about that night in 1983 when that girl she didn't knew risked everything to save her son, no questions ask. A girl, whose life had been denied but now after all that drama, was finally living a normal life filled with friends, with a growing family, a caring boyfriend and preparing to go to her senior prom, like every girl of her age.
"You'll remember this evening for the rest of your life, honey." whispered Joyce, causing the girl to look up and meet her eyes through the mirror smiling at her, running her fingers on her hair like she wanted Mike to do if he wanted to.
"It's looks great, thank you." El smiled and, for a moment, they stood there smiling and looking at each other in silence… until they heard the door bell.
"Fuck, that's Mike and I'm not ready yet!" said Eleven, jumping from the bed.
Joyce finished her hair with a beautiful pin on a side and then she put her shoes on while Eleven finished her make up, putting her red lipstick on. She never wore dark colours before, just gloss or nude/soft pink shades but one of the magazines said that one can never be wrong with a red lipstick so, why not?
"Hey El, Mike is her…"
"GET OUT!" both women yelled at Will who, so innocently, tried to open the bedroom door.
Hopper went to the entrance to greet Mike when they noticed Will coming from the hallway in shock. They heard their yelling too.
"You okay, Will?" asked Hopper, smiling a bit.
He nodded. "Yeah, I'm just really happy I'm not a girl."
All three of them laughed at his joke and Mike said hi to his friend, giving Will a brief hug while Hopper got back to the couch.
"You look great, dude!"
The boy smiled, he was wearing a purple tux, white shirt, purple tie too. "Thanks, you too. I love the white and black style. I think El is going to pee as soon as she sees you."
Both teenagers laughed and joked around but, even when that was meant to be just an innocent joke, Hopper cleared his throat and they both knew it had nothing to do with his beer or the possibility that he had a cold.
"Better sit down, kids. I don't how much longer it's gonna take for El to get out but I'm guessing it won't be soon." said the Chief, making room in the couch for both of them.
They nodded and Will asked Mike to let him see the corsage while he talked to Hopper.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Chief. My mom got me busy with a thousand pictures." he explained and Hopper waved his hand as it didn't matter.
"Nah, don't worry kid, just listen to them. I actually think you came earlier." he said and Mike looked back at Will who nodded as well. They both looked like if they've been dealing with a very anxious, over-excited teen girl all day. They did. "Look Mike, if I had to put up with my daughter for weeks talking non-stop about dresses, make up, shoes, hair and why her hips looked 'like that', whatever that means…" he said, pointing at Mike with a can of beer and a huge smile. "Then kid, cheers on you because when you guys get marry and have a girl, it'll be your turn to put up with teenage crap too."
Okay, it was a joke and they all laughed but there was something behind Hopper's little prank, something Mike liked. It wasn't just the idea that he will marry Eleven one day, (well, that too); but whether if that was a joke or not, Mike couldn't help to feel like if Hopper was actually giving him green light for whenever he wants to marry his daughter.
Over the years, even is they had a good relationship, there was always this thing between them, like a mist, but what Hopper had just said was as good as getting his blessing. It made Mike feel like he was a part of the family already.
A couple of minutes later while Will and the Chief talked and Mike tried to stop thinking about what might happen later that night, ignoring the little voice inside his brain that kept reminding him he had two condoms on his wallet and trying not to start sweating too much; Joyce finally joined them looking all excited and immediately squealing when she saw the boys all dressed up. She took a picture of them, not even giving them the chance to smile or anything.
Mike would always wonder what kind of weird pact mothers around the world and the Kodak company have.
"Here she comes!" she sang all excited and ready to take a million pictures.
Hopper and the boys turned to the hallway but only Mike stood up, taking the box with the corsage from the bag, waiting for her like a groom would wait for his bride. While he waited for El to come out, he wondered about what she would wear given that, a few weeks ago, she complained about Hopper setting some ground rules about her dress saying she wasn't allowed to wear something short or something with cleavage on her chest, – basically he wanted his daughter covered up from neck to toes –; but when El told Mike she found a perfect dress for that night, he noticed something in her eyes. Like if she, somehow, could bend rules a little bit.
When the door finally opened and Eleven walked towards him, Mike saw that she in fact, followed every rule Hopper had given her. She was literally covered from neck to toes. It was really long, only showing her feet while she walked to him and it was tight to her body but not that much and it had no cleavage whatsoever. Her chest was completely covered up to her neck and yet her shoulders and her arms were completely bare. Still Mike thought she looked so beautiful he couldn't even take his eyes off of her. She looked so beautiful with that black dress that he thought she looked just like a movie star or a supermodel; her hair all big and gorgeous and – holly shit – those smoking hot red lips that erased every single thought in his brain.
Mike felt a little too aware of where he was and he did his best to stop drooling in front of Hopper.
Eleven stopped only at a couple of steps from him and she fixed her eyes on Mike's chocolate ones, not even caring the people around them she smiled and winked at her boyfriend, while he kept looking at her like if she was the most precious thing on earth; Eleven gave him that wicked smile he knew so well by now and, slowly, turned around to reveal the mystery of her dress she had been hiding from everyone else.
Yeah, she kept Hopper's rules but she also find a blind spot she could use and, when she showed Mike the back of her dress he became aware of two things; one, his heart stopped beating and yet he remained very much alive, and two, the back of her dress did not exist.
Eleven turned around and just when he thought she had never looked so hot, she showed her boyfriend that not only were her arms and her shoulders bare but also her entire back all the way down until the beginning of her butt. She was half naked from her backside and Mike had to gather all of his strength not to pin her against the wall and start kissing, biting and licking the skin she so willingly showed to him.
When Mike forced himself to stop looking at her bump and he met her eyes earning a smile, a wink and a flying kiss, he couldn't take it anymore and covered his mouth with one hand to stop himself from gasping because she looked sexy as hell. Her mystery dress was deep-black like the night sky but also sparkly, probably decorated with a thousand crystals shining on the slightest moves, like her breathing and Eleven was breathing heavily hoping he would like it and don't think it's too much.
Ironically, Mike was barely breathing at all. She just looked so beautiful, so magical. To him she wasn't just wearing the sexiest dress ever made but also the night sky and its million stars, all at once.
"Do I look… pretty?" El softly asked.
None of them seemed to notice at that moment that there were three more people in the room. Joyce, who kept shooting pictures at them like a sweet little nutcase; Hopper, whose jaw had dropped to the floor when he saw his daughter almost naked in front of them and noticing that, again, he should've explained himself better and Will, looking at the Chief and covering his mouth with both hands and completely red, trying to stop himself from laughing at him.
Mike kept looking at Eleven, wandering his eyes on her again when she finally turned around facing him. That dress made justice to every curve in her body he loves so much, tightening in the right places and then falling loose from the hips down and, of course, the image of her open back and the curve at the end of it right before her butt, all branded in his brain.
He nodded frantically and remembered he was supposed to have air in his lungs if he wanted to live and, maybe, make love with her. Mike moved put his hand down and took a deep breath, looking at her in the eye.
He had to clear his throat before speaking, the desire was consuming him.
"You look beyond pretty, baby." he whispered and closed the space between them cupping her cheek and running his thumb on one of her dimples. He wanted to take her there and then but he couldn't, he just lowered his voice and smiled. "You look so beautiful, El. So breathtaking, sinfully beautiful it almost kills me."
Eleven gave him a wide smile and sighed in relief. Even if she felt good with her body and quite confidence about her looks, especially because Mike spent all those years telling her how beautiful she is; this time she felt particularly nervous. Maybe because they were about to go to their senior prom, maybe because of what she wanted to do later that night, maybe because her dress was a little too sexy but in the end, when she noticed the look in Mike's eyes – the same look he gave her when she was rubbing against his crotch and moaning with his fingers drawing miracles on her insides –; Eleven knew that she hit a million nerves. The desire Mike was holding back was bigger than anything she had seen before and that only made her want him even more. She wants to do it so bad; she just loves him so much.
Mike gave her a big smile as well and showed Eleven the corsage he bought, both trying to force their way through their growing fire because they had people around them.
"I didn't know what you would wear so I bought red." he said, putting it on her wrist.
El smiled back too and touched the corner of her mouth, looking at him with such adoration he felt his legs giving up. "It matches my lipstick."
It was such an innocent comment but El saw Mike's eyes turning dark and deep, trying his best not to eat her right there. Everything was going according to her plans.
"I love it. I love you, El." Mike whispered and put his hand on her waist, shivering when he felt her naked skin and with the other hand he caressed her neckline, from side to side. He laughed a bit. "I guess you listened to Hopper."
Eleven laughed too, both hands touching his white blazer with a black lapel and the flower attached onto it, moving up to his white shirt, his black bow-tie and finally closing behind his neck. Mike looked so unbelievable handsome, his natural charm mixed with such an elegant tuxedo, so fresh and so formal at the same time giving him this 60's look, like a movie star.
"Well, my dad told me I wasn't allowed to buy something too short, nor anything that shows my chest. He never mentioned anything about the rest." whispered Eleven. She may as well change he name into 'Mischief' since it suits better than 'Jane'.
Mike leaned but didn't kiss her; he just spoke barely an inch from her lips. His sweet minty breath crawling its way through her brain.
"You look amazing, baby."
"You look amazing too, Mike." she spoke so softly, hugging him by the neck with ease. He is a lot taller than her but she was wearing high heels. "Tuxedos definitely agree with you. You look just like James Bond."
He snickered. "Really?"
"Yup, just like James Bond but better, because I love you and also because you are mine." she answered, nodding with confidence and finally gave in and kissed him.
Both of them forgot about Hopper, Will and Joyce or they just didn't care they were looking at them and that little game of seduction and romance; they didn't care they watched while they snuggled a little, after all, Will was more than used to to see his friends making out everywhere. Hopper, on the other hand, opened his mouth to ask them to keep it down but Joyce hit his head playfully and told him to let them be. He mumbled something in reply but she didn't hear.
Kissing Eleven like that on those velvet soft lips while holding her and looking so freaking sexy, made both aware of the game they were playing and Mike felt like he was giving her another first kiss.
He of course didn't want to be too hopeful nor crown his victory already, he never wanted to pressure her or get dizzy under his own hormones, but Eleven's lips felt different too. Even if they were kissing quite innocently, just something a bit deeper than some pecks – because some part of them remained conscious they weren't alone in the room –, he felt her kisses different in the best way. Mike knows her so well, better than anyone in fact, better than she knows herself. It wasn't just the dress or that spark of fire in her eyes when she turned around showing him her open back, he simply knew in those sweet kisses that she wanted to play with the fire inside of them. She was teasing him and he was very happy with it.
Her lips, her cherry perfume, her soft skin against the tip of his fingers and the sound they made with their lips were just a small fraction of their game and the love they share. Mike looked into her eyes and Eleven got lost inside those dark, chocolate pools; she went trapped in the smile he gave her and his gorgeous jaw line. She knew for sure Mike was going to be hers that night and she was going to be his too. Their first and only ones.
"All yours, my dear." Mike whispered with a fake and poorly performed British accent.
She laughed, after all they needed a bit of humour if they wanted to leave the passion on hold for a couple of hours and continue with their night. They could get back to their fire later.
xx
'A Night To Remember' that was the theme for their senior prom and it definitely suits the situation.
Mike would never forget Hopper's face when he and Eleven stopped with the kissing and let Joyce take a couple of pictures. El chose to go first, going next to her father and letting Joyce take a bunch of cute pictures with him, who apparently wasn't able to say anything because his daughter was (nakednakednaked) dressed like a woman instead of the baby she still is. After a classic photo shoot, featuring Will and Mike, Will and El, Mike and El, Joyce with boys and so on, they decided to move along.
While all three teenagers walked to Mike's car, the Chief found his voice again and held Mike by the shoulder, stopping both him and Eleven on the way, causing them to turn around and look at him, waiting for him to say something. Hopper stare at them, both so in love, so elegant, so… grown up. He sighed and let whatever he wanted to say die in his throat and chose to pat Mike on the back and let them lead the way and go to their prom without another word.
Mike didn't know how but he thought Hopper looked at him in a different way, like if he wanted to say something important, like if he wanted to ask something important. Like if he knew something.
A part of Mike believed that, when the Chief held him he noticed the hickey on Eleven's neck and for that, he was gonna kick the shit out of him but that didn't happened, thank God.
While Hopper was setting up the camera for a family photograph, Mike remembered he had given Eleven a huge-ass hickey when they got passionate on the alley behind the movie theatre the night before inside his car. It had been impossible for him not to do that, Eleven had been moving and rubbing against him so desperately that he had to bite her because it was the only way he could stop himself from adding his moaning to hers. He loves to eat her neck, her shoulders and every piece of her skin like he did when they dry-humped in his car or, well, anywhere. It's the only way he has to control his hormones when she's moving like that but lately it had been taking a lot of self control from his part and he clearly remembered he used his teeth the night before. Nevertheless, when the Chief was setting up the camera and trying to find the way they could all be in the same picture, Mike leaned to Eleven looking for the hickey her dressed was unable to cover and yet, he didn't find any. El knew what her boyfriend was looking for so she mouthed him 'make up' and that was all he knew she had find the way to hide it from the world.
Ten points for his girlfriend.
When they arrived to the prom, the decoration enchanted them like clichés do with teenage movies. They all knew how it would look, they knew what decorations the prom committee had planned, still the beauty of the glitter around them, the combination of the whites, purples and silvers, the stars hanging from the ceiling and attached to the walls next to the curtains and under the lights shining upon them on the school gym and the big disco ball in the middle; made Will, Mike and Eleven feel like they entered the most beautiful dream.
A perfect night from its beginning, it had it all: friendship, elegance, beauty and love. A night itself filled with magic like a senior prom should be.
They run into Mr. Clarke who spent at least ten minutes with them telling his students how great they all looked and sharing a few jokes and memories with them. He also couldn't help but seeing, especially on Mike and Will, those smart and happy kids that won every science fair in elementary and middle school along with Lucas and Dustin, who still hadn't shown. He didn't say it then, but a few days later when he sees them at graduation, he would get really sentimental and tell those kids how proud he felt and how much he loves all of them but, for now, he let them be and enjoy their dance. They earned it.
A couple of minutes later, two of their friends stole some gasps and surprise their classmates like El herself did when everyone saw her looking sexy as hell. This time, she, Will and Mike saw Lucas arriving looking really good on a classic black tuxedo, wearing a pink boutonniere and a huge smile caused, no doubt, by the girl holding his arm.
"Max, is that you!?" asked Will to the red-haired girl, she couldn't be the same girl they never saw wearing a skirt.
But she was; her eye-rolling gave her out.
"Yeah, it's me dressed like Olivia Newton-John." she said letting Lucas's arm go since Will took her hand and gave her a twirl. All of them were shocked at how girly she looked.
"You look so pretty!" El said and Mike agreed too. Max look at her and how hot she looked too.
"Hey, that's not fair! You are the sweet one from both of us but you came tonight looking smoking hot and I'm stuck with my mother's fantasy of making me look like the doll you put on top of a cake." Max complained.
She hated shopping, that's no secret but her mother had insisted she should wear a dress for her own prom because there was no way she would let he go wearing jeans again, but since Max hated shopping she let her mother decide for her, believing she would choose something according to her personality, but no. What did she buy? A soft pink satin dress with a heart cleavage and low shoulders with a long puffy skirt with pink and yellow tutu. Her hair was up and curly with braids and she was wearing make up. She wanted to die.
Lucas almost died himself when he saw her.
"Babe, you look amazing." he said, smiling so wide like when he picked her up. He was right, she actually looked beautiful only really, really uncomfortable.
"Damn, stalker, I warned you this is…" she said pointing at her outfit. "This shit isn't me so please stop saying crap like that!"
All four of them rolled their eyes and laughed at the same time Dustin joined them, yelling in surprise when he saw Max looking like that.
"Shit, Max is that you!?" he said showing from behind her. His tux was black pants, a light-blue shirt with ruffles, a slightest darker shade of light-blue blazer and a pink bow tie. He looked out of the ordinary but he definitely looked like himself wearing a tux that was different and fresh. "You look great, Max!"
Eleven went to hug Dustin. "See? We all agree you look amazing!"
"Hey El, where's…?" he said looking at El's back since he touched her skin and not the dress. His mouth fell open. "Dude, where's the rest of you dress?"
"I'd say in Hopper's worst dreams." joked El and looked back at her boyfriend over her shoulder. "And Mike's fantasies."
They all laughed at that.
oOoOoOoOoOo
Hi everyone!
First of all, I want to apologize for this delay. You all know I injured my arm and it's been very difficult to write with one hand – remember I write it twice because there's the spanish version too – and because this chapter ended up being so long I had to split it in two. Next part is coming tomorrow night. So as you can see it took me longer than the others but at least you'll get two chapters in one weekend. Still, I'm very very sorry, it's not easy using one hand and hurting because I can't take painkillers because of the baby.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please, please leave a comment because I need to know what you thought about Eleven's dress and Mike's reaction to it.
Until… tomorrow!
