Disclaimer: I do now own Stranger Things. All rights reserved to the Duffer Brothers and Netflix.
El's legs had started to cramp up.
It happened the first time when they made their trip from Hawkins to San Diego, and she remembered how cranky she was because of it. Now, she didn't give a crap. She could endure the pain in order to get to her friends. And Mike.
They had left their now old home only a day and a half ago, and according to Joyce, they were almost there. She didn't ask how long Joyce had meant, and she didn't care. El would almost see them.
Throughout the drive, all three kids had been alternating between seats and stopping at many gas stations they could to stretch out their legs, and since there was nothing to do, they either talked or played Twenty Questions, ISpy, or Punch Buggy. It was a lot of fun, El had to admit, as she had no idea what those games were or how to play it.
They had stopped somewhere in Missouri, which is a state that El didn't know existed, and it was just meant to be an occasional stop, and when they arrived, all four of them got of the car to grab their drinks and snacks, but El notices something on the outside wall, standing on a pole, "Hey, guys… is that what I think it is?"
Joyce nods, "Yep, that's a payphone."
"Does anyone have coins?"
"I don't have anything," Will says, digging through his pockets.
"I've got one!" Jonathan exclaims, tossing it to El who catches it, "Go call your boy. We'll get your usual."
"I'll come with you," Will adds.
Both Joyce and Jonathan went into the gas station, as El put the quarter in, trying to remember the phone number. It starts to ring, and El looks at Will, who gives her a thumbs up, but the longer she waits, the more disappointed she gets. When El thinks that he won't pick up, the call is picked up, "Hello?"
"Hi Mike."
"El! It's good to hear your voice… have you left yet?"
El snickers, "Yet? We left like almost two days ago."
"Two days?" Mike exclaims, clear excitement in his voice.
"Yes silly, two days. We are somewhere called Missouri."
"Oh, Missouri is a state El. That means you are right next door."
"Joyce said we would be home shortly so that's probably what that means," she says, and remembers that Will is next to her, "hey, you want to talk to Will?"
"Of course."
El hands the phone to Will, letting them talk in peace, hearing "Hey buddy!" as she sees Joyce come out with Jonathan, carrying a bag of candy, "Here is your Reese's sweetheart."
"Thank you," she says, and sees Jonathan point at Will, "You should see the smile on that boy's face right now."
"Only a couple of more hours until that smile gets bigger," his mother adds.
Will puts the phone down and calls El over, where she takes it back, "So, all caught up?"
"Not even close," Mike jokes, "we will have to sit down and talk all night long. A lot has happened since you've last been here."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Good, trust me," he assures.
El smiles, "Ok, I trust you."
"I'll let you get back to your trip, so then we can finally see each other," Mike says erotically.
"And do what?" El purrs out.
"Slow down cowgirl, save that for when you get here."
El laughs, "Okay then. I love you."
"Love you too El. Be safe."
Once the call ended, El had the biggest Cheshire grin on her face, something that's always there from Mike.
"Explain how you kids got into here again?"
Mike grunts, "Mom, I told you, Max picked the lock…"
"Snitch!" He hears Max yell from the living room.
It had been way too long since Mike was in this house. Still, it was only a year, but as he took a look through the discarded house, he could imagine some of the furniture that stood there was really there. Somehow, Mike had managed to get his mom to join in on the fray this late into the night. Good thing it was a Friday and heading into the weekend, because there would be no way she'd be into this, even with the reunion coming. Both of them had brought the food over, while Max, Dustin and Lucas were prepping the decorations in the living room, and he saw Joshua scanning the hallways, trying to get rid of any spider webs with an old broom.
Mike was surprised that Joshua was able to be here, knowing how restrictive his limits were, compared to how much trouble El was in when he first found her alone on that rainy day. He was still reeling from the information that he had told them, and he was humbled that Joshua would confide that with him, that he trusted them that much. Mike could tell that Joshua was a good kid with a bad past, and just like with El, he promised himself that he'd keep him safe. Mike didn't want Joshua to go through what he went through again.
Joshua stops sweeping the ceiling, "I think all arachnids have been eradicated."
"Did you check the bedrooms too?" Mike's mom asks in her best motherly voice.
"Yes ma'am," Joshua drags out, pretending to be annoyed.
Mike sees his mom smile, and he knows that she likes him, "Thank you. Do you mind helping Michael with the food while I check on the kids?"
"Of course."
She leaves and Joshua looks at Mike, "I like your mom. She seems nice."
"She is," Mike admits, "my mom is the best mom I can ask for."
"Did she help you a lot when it came to Eleven?"
Mike shrugs, "She didn't really know until later, mostly because we were keeping her in my basement in secret. But once we told her, she was understanding but still concerned at the same time. Still is."
"What should I do about her anyway?" He asks Mike, panic now in his voice, "I mean, I don't want to ruin her return by surprising her with 'Hey, I'm Joshua… I'm just like you'!"
"Don't worry about that," Mike assures, "you won't have to tell her, I will. I want to take that pressure off of you."
"I appreciate that, but I don't want her to feel that I was scared to tell her."
"She won't. Trust me, El is more understanding than you think she is. She'll talk to you."
"Good," Joshua smiles, "I just don't want to make it awkward."
"Don't sweat it, it's okay to feel that way. I got your back."
He nods, "Thanks Mike."
"No problem… now, let's finish this party up, yeah?"
They spent another 30 minutes making sure everything was in its proper place, and when all was said and done, the house looked like a little kid threw up all over it. "Welcome home" was painted on the wall over a sheet of butcher paper to tribute Joyce's wall keyboard, and there were balloons covering every inch of the living room carpet, all thanks to Dustin's imagination. Max and Lucas came with the idea of putting Christmas lights up, just to get them back in the holiday spirit, and the kitchen counter was decked with cakes and a bowl of fruit punch. It looked like they would be staying up late into the night before all was said and done.
"I guess all we can do is wait," Dustin said, plopping on the ground, placing balloons on his lap.
"How long do you think it'll take Mrs. Wheeler?" Max asks.
"I don't know sweetheart," she says, "all I know is that they'll be here soon."
"We can just rest our eyes for a bit," Lucas suggests, "someone can take watch."
Just before anyone can say anything, a glare of lights breaks through the blinds, and everyone stands up in excitement.
Mike goes to peek, and he gasps, "Is that Mrs. Byers' car?"
Lucas and Dustin stand by next to him, and Dustin guffaws, "It is."
Mike looked at Joshua, who looked nervous as hell, then to Max, then to his friends, "It's showtime."
When El saw them come onto the road where it all began, she grew more excited and nervous.
The rocky road that leads up back to their home gave her the indication that it was almost time, and it wasn't until then she realized that it was really late. Which meant that she wasn't going to see Mike today. A sort of disappointment filled her chest, but as she saw the house come into view, there is a parked car in the driveway.
Jonathan looks at both El and Will in the backseat, "Does that look like a car you recognize?"
Will shakes his head, "I don't."
Jonathan then looks at Joyce, "Mom?"
She doesn't say anything, but when they park next to the unknown vehicle, she turns to the kids, "Just stay close to me, in case anything happens."
All of a sudden, this glorious ride back home has turned into a horror movie. El didn't like horror movies either- she would cover her eyes every time.
They all got out of the car, stepping into the familiar cool Hawkins air, and for some reason, El got a weird sense of calm as soon as they stepped onto the patio. She remembered like it was yesterday when she saw Mike for the first time in almost a year, coming back from seeing Kali and her misfits. Now, she's back again, and she couldn't wait to see him again tomorrow.
But now, they were dealing with what looked like a home invader. It was truly a great homecoming present.
Joyce knocked on the door, turning the knob slowly as the door cracked open, looking at her children, "Follow me."
As soon as the door opens, the lights come on.
"SURPRISE!"
El flinches, jumping back, heart beating fast, until she realizes who was in front of her.
"El!"
She sees a blur of Max wrapping her arms around her, swallowing her in a big hug, and she wraps her arms around, crying happy tears, "Oh my god Max…"
"Welcome home!" She hears the loud voice of Dustin, who joins in.
El wraps her arms around her friends, hearing a voice talking to Joyce and Jonathan.
She opens her eyes and sees an almost bald headed kid extending his hand and shaking their hands. El couldn't explain why, but there was something about him that made her want to question him.
But that thought was out of her mind for now as she heard, "Are you going to forget about me?"
The hug breaks up, and in front of her is Mike, arm wrapped around Will's neck, with the biggest smile on his face.
El looked over his appearance, and her mouth started to water. He was taller, his black mopey hair was a little longer, but his freckles were still framed around his nose, and she just wanted to kiss every single one of them. His pink lips stared back at her, and his lanky frame gained a little of muscle where it used to be bony. His dark hazel eyes met hers, and she got lost in them as he said smiling, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
El smiles back, "Mike," and she flies towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck, his arms sliding around her waist as she felt immediately at home.
"Hi El," he whispers in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.
He sounds even better in person.
She backs up to take another look at him, running a hand down his cheek, "Look at you… so handsome."
Mike grins, "Well, I can say you look beautiful."
He runs a finger across the frame of her glasses, "When did you get these?"
"A couple of months ago. Helps me concentrate more."
Mike leans in, "I like them. You look hotter."
El laughs, knowing her face is turning red, until Lucas punches her arm, "Where's my hug Hopper?"
She giggles, hugging Lucas, and seeing everyone hug the other, even Will and Dustin sharing a moment, it was amazing to see. Then, she remembered the other kid who she didn't know, and could see him awkwardly standing in the corner just watching, "Hi," she says gently, "who are you?"
His eyes lighten up, clearly excited to meet her, "I'm Joshua, or Josh for short…"
"We met Joshua only last week," Mike adds, coming from behind El and wrapping his arms around her, "he laid out Troy. Decked him square him on his ass."
"If he laid him out, then he's fine with me," Will says, extending a hand, "I'm Will. Nice to meet you Josh."
Joshua smiles, "Thanks Will. To be honest, I was kind of nervous meeting you guys."
"There's nothing to be nervous about sweetheart," Joyce says, coming in to hug him, and El could see him sink into it, like he wasn't used to the motherly attitude. She found that curious, but didn't ask about it when Jonathan says, "Um, I see cake in the kitchen. Can we start eating that please?"
Everyone laughs, but as El looks at Mike, a glare enters his eyes, and she knew he had other plans.
She is just as beautiful as when I last saw her.
That's all Mike could think about. When El walked through that door, it was like a glow illuminated off of her.
Her brown hair was as long as he'd ever seen it, gleaming against the living room light, her long legs shown off my her plaid poof skirt and long sleeved turtleneck, and Mike could feel his hormones hit the fucking roof. El was right there in front of him now, he couldn't take his eyes off of her.
Other than El, Mike could see Joshua was a little scared of what was going to happen. He stood by and sipped on some fruit punch, just listening and letting everyone tell their stories of what happened when everyone was split up. Mike guessed that Joseph didn't want to say too much, otherwise he'd scare them back to California. He had to do something about that soon.
The night raged on as everyone was laughing and generally having a good time, as all the food and drink were chowed down. It reminded Mike of when they were back in middle school when they weren't dealing with the Upside Down, Brenner or the demo-dogs. With how much fun it was to rekindle with Will and catch up with Jonathan, he still could not keep his hands off of El. It was the small things like holding her hand or holding her to his side and putting a chin on her head, just taking in her presence was too much for him.
He could see her looking at him from time to time, seeming to be distracted too. Both of them were hungry for each other, not the food, and they both knew it.
"You want to talk alone?" He had asked her.
El nodded, "Yeah, that'd be good."
Mike tapped his mom on the shoulder, "Can El and I talk in peace?"
"Of course Michael," she smiles, "I know you've got a lot of catching up to do."
He mutters a thanks and grabs El's hand, leading her into what was Will's bedroom, and closes the door.
"I wanted to say…"
Mike was going to tell her something, but she had him pushed against the wall, placing each hand on each side of his chest, standing on her tiptoes to look him in the eyes, "Mike, can I kiss you?"
Mike doesn't answer her, because he's been wanting to do this ever since she left. He grabs her glasses, putting them in his pocket and taking her cheeks with both hands, placing her lips on his.
Her lips felt as good as ever before, moving in melody with his, like they were two puzzle pieces looking for each other for the longest time. Mike pushes off of the wall, placing a hand on her hip and running a thumb along her waist. El had her arms around his neck now, her hands scratching the nape of his neck, making her groan into his mouth.
El breaks off, kissing the underside of his chin, "You are so hot…"
Mike was looking at the ceiling now, "You are too. Jesus.. how did you learn how to do this?"
"In my dreams. I dreamed about you a lot."
Mike puts his head back down and kisses her one more time, "As much as I'd like not to end this, I don't want our first time to be in Will's bedroom."
El finally looks at her surroundings, "Oh… I suppose not."
"Why do you sound so disappointed," he jokes, "we just had a great make out sesh."
"I know," she smiles out, "I just.. I've missed you. You and your pretty freckles."
"I've missed your eyes," he says, smiling. They just stare at each other for a few minutes, before Mike continues, "There's a reason I wanted to bring you in here and talk, and not out there."
"Okay," she says cautiously, backing away from him but still holding onto his hand, "what is so private that you need to tell me?"
Mike sighs, "I didn't want to tell you this on your night back, but I felt like if I held this from you then it would be a problem."
"What is it Mike?" El says, and Mike could hear her voice start to get shaky, as if she was expecting the worse, and he waved that thought off, "No El, it isn't like that. It's about.. Joshua."
He could see her shoulders sink in relief as she nods, "What's wrong with him?"
Mike wanted to ease her in before telling her, "I want to ask you a question first: did you notice anything about him?"
"The buzzed hair," she says immediately, "reminds me of…"
El stops in the middle of her sentence as she looks at Mike with an open mouth, "Oh."
Mike nods, "Yeah, now you get it."
"He's from a lab?" She asks incredulously.
"Yeah, he is. Mississippi, apparently."
El leans against the wall next to Mike, looking at her feet, "I thought the lab here was the only one."
"Come on El. You are Eleven and Kali is Eight, right? Where are the other numbers?"
"I don't know," she adds, "but I guess you are right. Have you talked to him about it?"
"Yeah, I have, but I suggest you talk to him. He's been really nervous on talking to you. I don't think he wants to put a damper on your life."
"I can, and I will, just not tonight. I just want to relax. Worry about the serious things later."
Mike slightly simpers, "Okay. That sounds good."
El smiles back, kissing Mike on the lips softly, "Thank you for telling me. Now, come on, let's get back to our friends."
They exit the room and rejoin the party, and Mike could see Will giving him a knowing smile, Lucas laughing, and Dustin moving his eyebrows, and he just rolls his eyes. Are they that freaking obvious? El breaks away from him, and he sees her walk up to Joshua, who was talking to Mrs. Byers, and they exchanged a few words. El said something, rubbing his shoulder, and Joshua looked like he was going to burst into tears, and then they hugged. Mike got a little teary eyed too as they embraced, and he saw Max walk up next to him, "What's up with them?"
Lucas and Dustin join in and Mike looks at all of them, "El knows. Seems to me that all is okay between them."
They separate, and Joshua says something back, and as El walks away from him and back towards Mike, Joshua looks at him and nods in gratitude.
El stood on the front patio, hands in her jacket pockets and her glasses on, taking in the cool winter breeze. She had slept late into the afternoon with how late everyone stayed up, and although she had begged Mike to stay the night, he said he had to go home so she could let her get accustomed back home. That's what El loved about Mike- always so selfless and caring of others.
Joyce had told her that she and Jonathan would unpack everything if she and Will went over to Mike's and rekindled a little bit. She felt bad for the both of them, but they insisted that they'd do so. There was no argument El could come up with, and besides, she really wanted to see Mike, who was the only person she thought about when she was trying to sleep last night.
Will was outside next to her, shaking in his boots, bouncing on his toes and adjusting his beanie, "I have not missed the weather, that's for sure."
"It's not even that cold out here," she says honestly.
"It's freezing El!"
"Fine, fine… I guess we did take California for granted with the weather, but it still isn't that cold."
Will shakes his head like she's crazy, and looks at his wristwatch, "You think Mike is still asleep?"
"Probably. We did have a long night…"
Will just looks at her, "You know, you and Mike really need to work on your poker faces."
"Poker faces?"
"Yeah, you know, hiding your feelings."
"What makes you say that?"
"You didn't notice that both you and Mike were red in the face after coming out of that bedroom last night?"
As if on cue, she could feel her face heat up in the Hawkins chill, "No, I didn't."
Will laughs, "El, it's fine. You haven't seen each other in a while, it's cute. I just don't want you sucking face in front of us…"
"Hey dorks!" El hears coming up the driveway, and it's Dustin and Mike on their bikes, decked out in winter wear to combat the cold. She snickered, seeing how funny it was that they all thought it was below temperature.
Mike stops his bike, standing it up, "Morning El."
"Morning," she says, smiling as they kiss, "you look like you got some rest."
"I didn't," he admits, "but I'm awake now."
El slaps his chest, "Stop being so cheesy."
"Babe, cheesy is my middle name."
"Hey," Dustin yells, and they turn to him, "are you two love birds going to get on the damn bike?"
El hears Mike snicker, "We're coming."
He grabs her hand as he helps her on and they start riding. It only takes a couple of minutes, but El enjoyed it, as she had her arms wrapped around Mike's stomach and breathing in his autumn smell he always seems to bring.
El felt right at home once they entered the basement, and saw the Party all sitting there, and once she saw them, she gasped, "Steve?"
Steve Harrington stood up, "Hey girl!"
He hugs her, and El looks up at him, "What are you doing here?"
Steve scoffs, "What, did you think I was going to miss your return?!"
"He closed down his ice cream truck just for you," Lucas points out.
"Ice cream truck? Wait…"
"Yep!" Steve says, "Scoops Ahoy is on the go now. Robin and I spent that well acquired high school money to buy it off of the owner. We are the most popular thing in town now."
"And it is bueno," Dustin says, coming down the stairs, "you should try it sometime."
El looks at Joshua, who was sitting next to Lucas and Max, and he waves at her shyly. She waves back, and looks to her left and sees the old tent still standing, "You kept this?'
"Of course," Mike states, "there was no way in hell that I'd take it down. It reminded me of you."
El couldn't believe that Mike was real, there was no way. He was too perfect.
The hours passed by, and it was the most fun El had probably in his entire life. Steve had found some board games, including a game called Twister, and the chaos that ensued was absolutely hilarious.
El was tired by the end of the day, as Steve left to get ready for the next day of work, patronizing the kids to come visit. Dustin and Lucas had to get home to do homework and Max had to check on her parents, which left Will, El, Joshua and Mike down in the basement, and El knew why Joshua stayed behind. They had talked about it last night, where he'd tell both her and Will about himself, and she admitted his bravery. El remembered how hard it was to trust the boys, but she knows now that it was the right decision.
He was messing with his hands a lot, crossing his fingers with the other and picking at his fingernails, and El noticed, touching his elbow, "Hey, are you okay?"
Joshua looks at her, "Yeah, I'm just nervous."
"You don't need to be," Will comes in, "El filled me in a little bit. You can tell me, and you can definitely tell El."
Joshua takes a breath, looking at Mike, who gives him a nod of confidence, and he slides up his wrist, showing off his number. El gently grabs it, running a thumb over the tattoo, "Five…"
She drops his wrist and sticks hers out, giving it to Joshua, who reads her "011", and he gives a shaky breath, "I was 12 when I got out…"
El feels Will sitting up at attention as Joshua drops her hand, "...he used to put me in experiments, sometimes they took all day. I hardly got any sleep and when I did, I would fall asleep during the tests because I was in so much pain and I needed it to go away. When I refused, I got yelled at and abused. It was a constant cycle for 7 years… I don't even remember how I got there in the first place. I didn't realize I was being used until right up to the point when I escaped."
"When I did realize it, it was kind of surreal because… I didn't think my life meant anything at that point, because I just felt so used. It was at the point where I wanted to end my life. But, Larry woke me up…"
"Larry is his guardian, like Hopper was for you," Mike adds.
El nods, trying to ignore the pain in her heart from hearing her late adoptive dad's name, and Joshua continues, "Yeah, and Larry used to help him, but he wanted to redeem himself. So, all I could hear were sirens in my ear, and it reminded me of when I would be in my experiments… but Larry told me we were escaping, and just when we did, they caught up to us…"
"Who?" El asks, rubbing his knee to calm him.
"The soldiers. They had Larry on the ground, and they were approaching, pointing their guns at me," Joshua stopped, silent tears running down his cheek, "and I couldn't help it, I had to protect him. I...killed them."
He puts his hands on his face, and Will gets up to sit next to him, rubbing his back, and El notices the gesture.
"You had to do what you had to do. It's okay," Will says, shushing him like a baby.
"I could've done something else though. I should've let them get me, that way I wouldn't have to do that."
"If you would've gotten captured, then you wouldn't be here," Mike says, "you wouldn't meet us."
Joshua sniffles, "I guess."
"Who performed the experiments on you?" El asks.
Joshua wipes his eyes one more time, "I called him Daddy… but his name is Brenner."
El's heart drops, and she looks over at both Will and Mike, and she could see that Mike didn't know about that, so she grabs his shoulder, "Josh.. did you say Brenner?"
He nods, "Yeah. Wait, why?"
"Because I called him Papa."
Joshua's eyes grew wide, "So, he groomed you too?"
"He did. He performed experiments on me."
"When?"
"About 3 years ago. I don't remember who was doing tests on me before that."
Joshua leans back on the couch, "Shit."
"Did you figure something out?" Will asks.
"Brenner left me when I told him that he did nothing for me, and he left me with Larry, and that was 4 years ago," Joshua looks at El, "what if he came over here after leaving me?"
"So, what you are saying is…"
"That son of a bitch was both our father," he finishes in anger, "and now that he's after me, he might be after you."
The original Party members look at each other, and Joshua notices their glares, "What?"
"Josh," Mike says, "Brenner is dead."
His face lost its color, "Dead? How?"
"The demogorgon got him."
Joshua scoffs, still reeling from that information, "So, we've been running from nothing?"
Will rubs his back again, and El smiles sadly, "Yeah, you have. But, that means you are safe now, and you can stay with us.. in Hawkins."
Joshua doesn't say anything, but eventually nods, "Yeah, I guess so. I'll need to tell Larry though. This is a lot to process."
"We know," Mike says, smiling, "but just know we've got your back."
"Thanks guys," he responds, smiling at Will and then El, "I really appreciate it. I just have a lot to think about, that's all."
"Take all the time you need," Will reassures.
El smiled at the love that Joshua was getting, but when she looked at Mike's face, she knew they still had a lot of work to do.
Looks like the pieces are finally being put together.