Just as promised, Mike came over with Nancy on Wednesday to hang out with her after she had finished her tutoring. It meant that Nancy would have to stay a little bit later but she didn't mind; she could do her own homework anywhere, and it wasn't like she had much else better to do. Although she and Steve were still friendly they didn't hang out much anymore, and time with Jonathan was always a bit hard to come by. He was shy, and now that things were getting back to normal Nancy was still in the process of coaxing him out of his shell and making things official.
Hopper had reluctantly agreed to let Mike come over, but he knew that the boy would be a distraction for El while she was trying to do her work. El really needed to focus on her schoolwork, and it was difficult enough for her as it was. Nancy was endlessly patient, but El wasn't used to learning in a more academic format. She picked up things quickly and remembered every definition Nancy told her, but remembering the words wasn't always the same as understanding them and being able to apply them in different contexts. El had resisted the urge to fling the stupid textbooks across the room with her mind more than once, especially the math. She had never even learned basic mathematical functions before, and now she was supposed to know what to do with numbers and letters combined? It was impossible.
But for all her academic shortcomings, El was diligent. Hopper had been very clear that she would need to start school in the fall, and if she wasn't ready for high school then she might have to start at the middle school level. If she was starting in 7th grade while her friends moved to 8th that was one thing, but the thought of being at a completely different school than her friends horrified her. It ruined the entire point of going to school, really- at least, in El's opinion.
Today she had an extra motivation to work hard, because after she finished everything Nancy had for her she got to spend time with Mike. Time with Mike, Hopper was discovering, was an easy way to bribe El into doing almost anything.
Not that he bribed his teenage daughter very often.
Still, it was starting to get to the point where Hopper didn't think he could avoid the dad talk with Michael Wheeler for much longer. The kid was going to be fourteen years old in less than a month, and Jim remembered all too well what he was like at fourteen. Mike was a good kid, and if he was going to be the boy his daughter chose to date then quite honestly she could do worse, but he still needed to establish some ground rules. That was what fathers did, right? He'd never gotten this far with Sara, but the bottom line was that he wanted to protect El. Mike cared about her immensely, any idiot could see that, but that didn't mean he couldn't hurt her.
"It's three-forty-five," El complained, leaning in the doorway of her bedroom. After Nancy's relentless teaching, she was finally able to consistently tell time on both her digital watch from Mike and the wall clock. "Where are they?" Nancy was usually here by three thirty at the latest. Hopper chuckled and shook his head.
"I'm sure they're almost here. Be patient." El groaned, turning around and stomping back into her room. "Patient," she had learned, was basically just another word for "soon." They were…synonyms. Yes, that was what Nancy had called two words that meant the same thing.
Hopper chuckled again and poured himself a cup of coffee, picking up a novel and sitting on the couch. He had the day off, and since Mike was coming over with his sister today he thought he just might be able to use the opportunity to give the boy that talk. It had been long enough, and hopefully the Wheeler kid had forgiven him enough to listen and realize that anything he said was only out of care for El and her well-being. Then again, he was still a thirteen-year-old boy.
At exactly four o'clock, Nancy showed up at the door with Mike, who had his backpack and three movies tucked under his arm. After gaining entrance with the secret knock El ran to the door, throwing her arms around Mike. She was always so relieved to see him.
"Hey, El," Mike said warmly, hugging her back. "How are you?"
"Better," El replied, pulling back and smiling at him. Mike always made her day better. "How are you?"
"Good, school was really interesting today," Mike said. "I thought I'd do my homework while you work with Nancy, and then I picked out some movies we could watch after. Sound fun?" He held up the set of tapes and El nodded enthusiastically. She wasn't picky about movies; romances tended to be her favorite, but she'd yet to see a movie that hadn't amazed her.
"Sorry we're late," Nancy commented, dropping her bag on the little table in the kitchen. "Took him forever to pick those out."
"Did not!" Mike protested. El giggled a bit and shoved Mike playfully before reluctantly joining Nancy at the little table and sitting down to work. Mike made himself comfortable on the couch next to the police chief, casting him a somewhat nervous glance. Hopper hadn't said anything since the two Wheeler kids entered, but he did set down his book to look over at Mike. Hopper had a very well developed sensor for nervous energy, and Mike was radiating it. Maybe he should have given the kid a break, but, well…Hopper wasn't that kind of guy. He also liked scaring the kid, just a little bit. It was entertaining.
"So kid," he said, groaning slightly as he pulled himself to his feet, "I'm gonna bring in a little more firewood from the back. Why don't you give me a hand?"
"Wh-what?" Mike didn't really want to be alone with the chief. Not after he'd caught him kissing El outside the school the other night.
"It won't take long. Come help an old man out, yeah?" Hopper shrugged a jacket on over his flannel and gestured for Mike to follow. Reluctantly, the dark-haired teenager rose to his feet and followed him out, shoving his hands in his pockets as Hopper led him around to the back of the cabin.
"So is this the part where you ask me what my intentions are, or something?" Mike asked in annoyance. He was still understandably bitter with the cop for letting him think that Eleven was dead for an entire year, and he saw right through the little "firewood" charade. That didn't stop Hopper from taking several logs off the top of the stack and piling them in Mike's arms. The boy's arms dropped under the sudden weight and he grumbled, readjusting his grip.
"Nah, I know your intentions are good, kid," Hopper muttered. "I just want to talk to you about El."
"What about El?" Mike (wrongly) believed that he knew tons more about El than the police chief did, and this whole conversation seemed like an embarrassing waste of time. The older man sighed and rubbed his forehead. Maybe he should have planned out what he was going to say.
"I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into," he said finally. "She's crazy about you, you have no idea." That comment actually got a little smile of out Mike.
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. And you're really too young to be getting into all this…dating stuff, if you ask me, but God knows I can't stop it. So what you need to know is if she ever comes home crying, or…hell, kid. You hurt her, you answer to me. If she hasn't already killed you," he added wryly. The chief picked up his own armful of logs and began trudging back to the front door. "She's been through a lot as it is, we don't need to add boy drama to the list."
Mike pressed his lips into a thin line, clumsily following after him. "I'm not going to hurt her," she said hotly. "I won't, I promise." Mike didn't want to see El upset any more than Hopper did.
"Well then, I'd suggest you define this little relationship of yours," Hopper replied gruffly. He couldn't believe he was saying that, actually recommending that Mike make it official with El. But the fact of the matter was that El didn't know what was going on. Hopper knew from experience that a lack of clarity when it came to Eleven led to massive misunderstandings, which then led to her getting hurt and angry and blowing out all the windows. If they didn't figure out what was going on pretty soon, then El was going to get hurt. Mike may not think so, but Hopper knew just a little bit about his daughter and could anticipate how her mind worked. Not to mention the fact that her emotions seemed entirely unstable when it came to Mike.
Mike stopped in his tracks, dark eyes wide. "What?"
"If you want to be her boyfriend, cut the bullshit and be her damn boyfriend," Hopper rephrased, not stopping to look back at him. "And if you're not interested in that, I'd better not seen any more kissing. That's all." Flabbergasted, all Mike could do was stand and stare as the surly police chief went back inside. That wasn't fair! Yes, he wanted El to be his girlfriend, officially, but he didn't want to ask her today! He hadn't mentally prepared for this. And Nancy was here, he couldn't ask her in front of Nancy. Come to think of it, maybe Nancy could give him some advice on what to say...no, that was embarrassing. Did El even know what an official relationship was? What if she said no? This was something that Mike had wanted for a long time, but the thought of actually going through with it was terrifying.
A thousand thoughts swam through his head until he no longer knew what he thought. When he finally made it back inside his face was red from the cold- at least, that was what he told himself. He stomped the snow off of his boots and made his way over to the fireplace. El glanced up when he came back in, her lips turning up in a smile, but Mike was careful not to glance in her direction lest he give himself away.
Mike sulked on the couch and pulled out his homework, but he was unable to concentrate on it. Eleven, his girlfriend. The thought filled him with giddy excitement, but it also terrified him. What if El didn't want to be his girlfriend? Of course, his friends always acted like she already was, but that wasn't true. He had to ask her first, it had to be official. Mike knew that from listening to complaints from Nancy. But Mike didn't see anything wrong with just liking each other for a while…why did he have to take that extra step?
Then again, they had already liked each other for a while. Over a year, to be exact. And the fact that they hadn't seen each other for most of that year made it even more legitimate in Mike's head. If they liked each other that much- and Mike was convinced that he loved her- then what was the point in causing any confusion?
The teenager spent the next hour furiously scribbling his math homework, doing the problems without hardly thinking about them as he tried to talk himself out of what he was going to do. But all of his efforts were in vain; he wanted that kind of relationship with El, and there was no good reason for them not to pursue it. Was there? Mike couldn't find it if there was. And if he had any questions on how to be a good boyfriend then he could ask Nancy. Or Steve. Dustin acted like Steve had a lot of great advice on that kind of thing. Besides, he knew the basics: bring her roses on Valentine's Day, plan nice things to do together one on one, and…well, continue doing what they were already doing. All it was was giving a name to what they already had.
It was around six when Nancy and El finished up schoolwork for the day, and Hopper had just returned to the house with a pizza after realizing that he'd have to feed the Wheeler kids and didn't have enough food in the house. That was fine; everyone loved pizza, and they gathered in the living area and watched the evening news while they ate. Almost automatically, El sat down near to Mike and leaned against him while she nibbled at her pizza, watching the man on the screen tell them what the weather was going to be like tomorrow.
Cold. It was always cold. But Mike was warm. Smiling at that thought, El finished her pizza and put the plate on the coffee table. She scooted closer to Mike and leaned her head on his shoulder, amazed again at how real he was. She couldn't do this in the void.
The other three finished their dinner as well, after which Nancy returned to the kitchen to start on her own homework and Hopper went to his room to read a while longer. Mike presented his selection of movies to El, not as excited about them as he might have been because he was so nervous.
"This one," El declared, pointing to Ghostbusters. She knew that he loved it because that was his Halloween costume, and El liked most movies she saw so she didn't care all that much. Mike smiled at her choice and inserted the tape into the VCR before returning to the couch and sitting next to her. He sat several inches away, though, and a dissatisfied El scooted nearer.
To her dismay, Mike moved farther down the couch, his eyes glued to the TV. Eleven stubbornly moved closer again, and when Mike started to move to the end of the couch El reached out to grab his wrist. "Mike," she said softly, looking at him. He knew her well enough to know she was asking him what was wrong. She almost looked sad. Ah, goddamnit.
Mike retracted his hand and rubbed his palms on his jeans. His heart was racing, and he already felt flushed. El was silently taking note of all these things, but she said nothing as she waited for him to speak. The opening credits of the movie were rolling along with the iconic song, but neither one of the teenagers were paying attention.
After what felt like an eternity, Mike blurted it out. "Do you want to be boyfriend and girlfriend?" In the kitchen Nancy dropped her pencil on the floor, her head snapping up. Had she just heard that right?
El's reaction was harder to read. She tilted her head and crawled closer, gazing into his dark brown eyes. "Boyfriend and girlfriend?" she repeated, pronouncing the words carefully. "You are my friend and you are a boy, and I am your friend-"
"No, El," Mike said quickly, growing redder by the second. "That's not what I mean. Sometimes two words put together mean different things."
"Oh." El had learned about this concept from Nancy. "Compounds."
"Yes, exactly," Mike confirmed. "And boyfriend and girlfriend mean something different. We're already friends but it means we'd be…a different kind of friends. Like, a romantic friend. Just us. Do you…do you want that?" The word "romantic" made him flush even more, and Nancy was struggling to keep quiet behind them. Honestly, Mike had forgotten she was there.
Even though El had never heard the words boyfriend or girlfriend before, she knew what romance was. Romantic movies were her favorite, and her heart raced with excitement at the thought of having that kind of relationship with Mike. They kind of already did, but El hadn't dared to put the idea of romance and her relationship with Mike together just yet. She blinked, sitting up straighter and nodding as she tried to keep from smiling too big.
"Yes. I want that," she replied. Mike stuttered awkwardly, flooded with happiness and relief.
"Well…great," he said, smiling weakly. His entire body seemed to deflate as the tension disappeared. Suddenly he was exhausted; that had taken a lot of out of him. "Cool."
"Cool," El repeated. She was quiet for a minute before asking, "What do we do different?"
"Huh?"
"What do we do different, as boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"Oh, um…" Mike stammered. "Nothing, really. We don't do anything different, we just…get to keep doing what we have been doing. And you can call me boyfriend if you…if you want." The blush returned, and Mike cursed himself. Why did he have to be so damn awkward? Maybe he did need advice from Steve.
El never seemed to notice his awkwardness, though. She never laughed at him for it or made him feel bad, she just smiled that sweet little smile of hers.
"I like what we've been doing," she told him. El didn't want that to change. Relentless in her pursuit, she proceeded to adjust her position on the couch so that she was right next to him, leaning on his shoulder with her face turned towards the television. "Boyfriend."
"Yeah." Mike turned his eyes back to the TV, but his only thoughts were of the girl next to him. His girlfriend. And not a silly, superficial rite of passage girlfriend either. A real one, that he actually liked. Contented, Mike leaned his head against the top of hers, his cheek coming into contact with her soft curls. Neither of them were going to be able to focus on the movie.
In the kitchen, Nancy opened her mouth to say something before deciding against it and returning to her work, a tiny smile on her face. In the other room Hopper was sitting in his chair, staring at his book but doing more eavesdropping than reading. Well, that was that. His daughter had a boyfriend. And as hard as that was to accept, at least it was Mike Wheeler.
Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed it! The general consensus seems to be that skipping to high school is too big of a jump, so I'll plug in a few more chapters before we get there. Thanks to everyone who gave input/suggestions!
And as always, thanks for your continued support and encouragement! I'm heading into my exam season so it might be a bit before I can update, but I will as soon as I can. -Ava
