Chapter Fifteen: Never Tear Us Apart.
"I… I was standing
You were there
Two worlds collided
And they could never tear us apart"
Date: Thursday, October 31st, 1985
Although Eleven had been pretty miserable for the past couple weeks, she was beyond excited for Halloween. She was actually able to go trick-or-treating this year and she simply couldn't wait. The idea of going up to a stranger's house and asking for candy was still bizarre to her, but who in their right mind would turn down free candy?
On the weekends, the telekinetic would stay locked up in her room to help her maintain her focus. She found herself getting distracted easily more recently; which was insanely frustrating. When her powers still worked she had enough trouble concentrating! She can't focus on the task at hand to save her life and it's driving her insane.
All five party members were worried about their sixth member's absences every time they would hangout. However, they didn't annoy her about it, they didn't want to get on her bad side by pestering her. Whenever it was brought up she simply shrugged in response to their questions.
They all assumed her hiding away had something to do with her late transitioning from a tween to teen. Being brought up in a lab surely had to have caused some kind of stunt in her physical maturing, as it obviously had effects on her mental development.
Eleven decided it was best to take small steps in order to find her father. So, instead of jumping in headfirst and trying to track him down him right away, she attempted to find Mike. She searched for him for hours on end but, of course, to no avail. If she couldn't find her own damn boyfriend, who was in the real world, there's definitely no way she could find Hopper if he really was in the Upside Down like she speculated.
The short girl was constantly exhausted from her lack of sleep and forcing her body to do more work than it was capable of. Blood poured from both of her nostrils and ears constantly like a waterfall. Purple and bluish-green veins showed clear as day through her semi-transparent skin. Dark circles became a prominent feature under her bloodshot and somewhat expressionless eyes. If anyone saw how lifeless she appeared they did a good job of ignoring it or pretending not to notice.
"El! Trick-or-treat starts in a little over two hours, just so you know," Will updated as he knocked on her door frame. All three of the Byers siblings had gotten home from school an hour and a half ago. And the second Eleven stepped in her room she started to get ready for the evening.
"Okay, thanks Will," she replied with a small smile. Eleven decided that her costume would be the outfit that Kali had given her while she was in Chicago, mostly because she didn't have any other ideas of what to wear that was simple yet able to slightly disguise her features. Money was tight because of Joyce's purchase of their new home and Eleven didn't want to waste any of it on clothing she would probably never wear again.
When El told Mike about her costume plans, Mike immediately rummaged through his clothes to find something that would go with her outfit, eventually finding a pair of black jeans, a dark gray long-sleeved t-shirt, and a black leather jacket.
El loved the idea of having corresponding costumes with Mike — she thought it was adorable. Mike used to find couples' costumes absolutely ludicrous, but the boy surprised himself when he actually enjoyed the idea of him and his beautiful girlfriend making their way down the streets of Hawkins dressed in a similar way.
In fact, Mike was turning out to be a 'huge sap' according to Dustin, Lucas and Max. Always comforting her or whispering sweet nothings in her ear started to become more frequent gestures, as well as way too many hugs for their liking. Will found it sweet while the other three were extremely disgusted.
The lanky boy was running his fingers through his gelled hair, trying to
style his bangs so they barely fell over his right eye. He groaned in frustration when he took his hands away and saw how ridiculous he looked. How people make their hair cooperate so easily, he will never understand.
"Naaaaancyyyyy!"
"What, Mike?" She shouted back from her bedroom as she adjusted her sweater.
"Can you help me, please?" He begged as he approached her open door. Nancy turned around to see her only brother with way too much gel in his hair.
"Jesus, Mike, did you use the whole damn bottle?" She snorted, her hands reached up to see how much of a mess he got himself into and immediately regretted doing so, "Ew, it's so crunchy!"
"Can you please just fix this mess? We are both gonna be late if you keep making fun of me; and I know how much you hate being late to parties."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up and sit on the chair at my makeup desk," she instructed, grabbing her hairbrush from her dresser. "What even are you supposed to be?"
"Well, El said she was just—OW! NANCY, DO YOU MIND?" He winced when his sister attempted to neaten his mess of hair.
"Get over it you big baby," she rolled her eyes and flicked the back of his head. The eldest Wheeler sibling continued to force the brush through the dried substance, "As you were saying?"
"Yeah, uh, well she said she was just gonna wear the clothes she was wearing when she finally came back last year," Mike explained the dumbed down version; unsure of if El was okay with him telling Nancy about her running off to Chicago. Or Kali.
So, he just cut that portion out and hoped his sister wouldn't question why she was dressed like that in the first place. Thankfully, she didn't ask and merely nodded and hummed in response.
Once Nancy smoothed Mike's hair almost back to normal, she grabbed her flat iron and ran it through his hair.
"Um... why are you doing that?"
"So that your hair can lay the way you were trying to make it, duh."
Mike squinted his eyes, glaring at his sister in the mirror, still skeptical of her choices.
"Now, turn around so that you can't see yourself, I need to do the front," she ordered. Mike obeyed and sighed in frustration, ' what the hell did I just get myself into?'
Fifteen minutes later, Nancy was adding the finishing touches to his hair, making sure everything was laying similarly to the way he had.
"Aaaaaannnnddd," she drew out the word, "you're done!" Mike eagerly turned himself so he could examine what his sister did to his hair, his face falling as soon as he saw his reflection.
"Nancy!" He gasped in horror, "What have you done? I look even more ridiculous now!"
"Oh my God, Mike. Grow up. It looks fine. Now, go away," Nancy was sick and tired of her brother's constant whining. She showed him out of her room but instead of shutting the door immediately she added, "You owe me sometime."
Seconds before the door slammed in his face he flipped her off. Mike stormed back to his own room, now in a sour mood. He can't believe how ridiculous he looked with straight hair. He really wished he never found out. God, how he wished he could be with El already. She always knew how to calm him down when he got all hot-headed.
With his beautiful girlfriend on his mind, he glanced over at the clock and saw that it read 5:30. Mike immediately forced his feet into his two sizes too small combat boots. Grabbing his pillowcase, he ran out of the house and got onto his bike.
"Everything alright in here?" The youngest Byers' child questioned, entering the living room.
"Will, how's this look?" El asked eagerly. She was about to open her eyes but was stopped before she could do so.
"El, honey, don't open yet," Joyce warned with a slight wince. She didn't want to accidentally stab her adopted daughter with the eyeliner brush.
"Oh, sorry," Eleven whispered, keeping her eyes glued shut so her mother could continue her makeup.
"Your hair looks great!" Will beamed at her, even though she couldn't see his reaction. Joyce had crimped Eleven's hair and teased it quite a bit to give it more volume. She parted it to the right instead of the middle like usual; the style adding more body to the one section of hair. It certainly was jaw-dropping.
"Holy shit, is that Eleven?" Jonathan was shocked at how different his sister looked at the moment.
"Yep," Joyce replied as she applied black liner and shadow to the brunette's eyelids. After gliding a deep red shade onto her lips, Mrs. Byers announced, "And you're done, sweetie."
El jumped up out of the chair and ran to take in her appearance in the bathroom mirror. She gasped at her reflection staring back at her; the girl in the mirror was unrecognizable. Her slightly wavy hair was now 10 times more voluminous than normal and quite curly. Black eyeliner was painted heavily onto her upper and lower waterline, along with a smudging of black shadow. With lips the color of blood, she would undoubtedly able to draw anyone's attention, though she would rather go unnoticed. But she was mesmerized by the way the shade looked on her, it gave her a huge confidence boost.
"Bitchin'," she muttered, still gawking over how different she looked. El eventually exited the restroom, trying to ignore the random sharp pain in her lower abdomen. However, the sudden knife-like sensation was unbearable; she stumbled a bit as one of her hands clutched her middle, the other lunged for the wall for stability.
"Eleven, are you okay?" Will rushed towards her, worried that she was going to pass out or collapse… or something.
"Yeah," she gasped, squeezing her eyes shut and pinching her eyebrows inwards, attempting to fight off the discomfort. A few deep breaths later, she stood up straight again and her face returned to its normal expression, though a bit flushed.
Will sighed in relief, "What's wrong?"
Eleven tilted her chin up slightly to look at him and saw the concern evident in his eyes. It amazed her that even though the two didn't know much about each other until later on, he cared so deeply for her. That boy was constantly helping people, comforting them, or putting their needs before his own no matter how much pain he was enduring. William Byers truly deserved the world.
"Just a really weird pain," she saw his eyes flicker down for a split second to where her hand was still resting. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, as if he was trying to come up with a diagnosis.
"Does," Will began, but cut himself off. He pursed his lips and locked his eyes with hers once again. "Does it still hurt now? And, did it hurt at all before the really strong pang?"
"Yes, but not nearly as much and no," Eleven was racking her brain for some sort of explanation. She never felt a pain that severe so suddenly. It also wasn't at all like any pain she'd experienced prior.
"Hmmm..." the younger boy continued to contemplate. ' What on earth would cause random sharp pains in the lower abdomen? Sharp pains, lower abdomen. Sharp pains. Lower abdomen... Wait a minute.'
His eyebrows shot up in realization. No. It couldn't be that. Could it? Eleven's fifteen, surely she's had it for a while... right?
"Have you ever felt that pain before?"
When El shook her head no, Will's eyes widened to the point so that he looked like a cartoon character. ' Maybe that's not what's wrong, don't go assuming everything…'
"Oh," the boy dumbly spoke, not knowing how to reply. He loved Eleven, really, he did, but he was not sure if he could handle telling her his speculations because of how awkward he was. He also didn't want to worry the poor girl anymore than she probably already was.
"Well, uh if it gets bad again we can get you some meds, okay?" He stumbled over his words a bit. Thankfully, El didn't think anything of his faltering and pulled the boy in for a hug,
"Okay. Thank you, Will."
"Anytime, El."
"So, we just stand here and smile?" Eleven asked, still puzzled by the concept of having her photo taken for 'sentimental reasons,' whatever that meant.
"Well, yes, but usually you don't just stand, you pose, I guess… Kinda like you did with Max at the mall over the summer! Here, like this," Will explained, before ushering her to stand next to Jonathan. Will stood a few feet away and raised his right arm out in front of him. He glared at the camera, trying his best not to break character. El tilted her head in confusion as she watched her older brother take a photo or two of the younger one. After a few shots had been snapped, the younger boy turned to El, "Get it?"
"Yeah..." El understood what to do now but she was confused as to why Will was death-staring Jonathan. "Why'd you put your arm out and look at Jonathan like that, though?"
The two brothers looked at each other and tried not to chuckle at her obliviousness, "I was imitating you whenever you used your powers."
El mentally face palmed herself for being so stupid, "Oh, cool."
After Jonathan took a few photos of El and Will together as well as a few shots of El by herself, he handed the camera off to his mom so she could take a few of her three children.
"Wait, Will why won't you show me your costume yet?" Eleven asked out of the blue.
"Becaaaause it's a surprise!" Will smirked mischievously.
"Whatever..." El trailed off when the same strong pain from earlier jabbed at her insides. Though she tripped over her words a bit, she told her family that she'd be back momentarily before trudging back into the house. They all nodded, ignoring the weird way she stumbled over her words and seemed breathless.
Then, Will noticed a familiar figure approaching in his peripherals. He waved both of his arms around frantically, jumping around and shouting at the top of his lungs, "Mike! Hi!"
"Hey, Will," Mike chuckled at his best friend's actions and skidded to a stop at the foot of the driveway. "Where's El?" He paused and looked at Will's outfit, which was his normal attire, "and your costume?"
"Damn, you two are nosy, no wonder you get along so well," Will muttered under his breath as Mike dismounted his bike, clearly not hearing what the shorter boy said to himself. The cleric waited till Mike was looking at him expectantly, "It's called a surprise, Michael."
The freckled boy rolled his eyes and pulled his friend in for a side-hug, "Well, everyone else should be here in a few minutes, so why don't you get ready now?"
Will groaned at his suggestion but agreed with the paladin nonetheless, "Alright, I'll go do that. Oh, and I'll let Eleven know you're here. I have no idea where she went off to..."
"Sounds good," the two started towards the house. "She probably went to make sure she had everything ready to go."
"El, Mike's here!" Will shouted up the stairs, "Do you want me to send him up?"
El cleared her throat, hoping to mask the fact that she was crying because of the intense pain she was enduring, "Yes, please. Thank you."
She rushed to her mirror to try to fix her makeup that had gotten a bit smudged by her tears, not even noticing Mike opening the door without knocking. For some reason, Mike thought it was a bad decision to have barged into her room without warning. He winced, quite obviously, as he hoped he hadn't startled Eleven. Shutting the door behind him as quietly as possible and then turning back to face her, his jaw dropped.
"Damn," El turned around at the sound of his voice, having not heard him come in.
"Hi," she murmured, in awe of how amazing he looked. With Mike dressed the way he was, Eleven wasn't sure how she was supposed to control herself. Mike dressed in grays and blacks ignited that spark within her; she didn't really understand why but that's not important. The pain she was experiencing melted away and was replaced by burning desire as soon as she laid eyes on him.
"You look..." the boy failed to find words, 'beautiful' and 'gorgeous' simply not enough to describe her. El smiled at him, finding how flustered he got when his jaw hinged, his pupils expanded in awe, and a light blush swept across his defined cheekbones, adorable.
"I look?"
Mike blinked rapidly, regaining his focus on his girl, "Incredible."
"So do you," something in the room shifted, tension rapidly enveloping the couple like a thick fog. El slowly crossed over to Mike, never breaking eye contact and the smirk she wore never falling. Standing right in front of him with her body incredibly close to his, she rose slightly onto her toes. Grasping his shoulders for balance, she leaned up to his ear and whispered, "You're really hot, you know."
Mike swears his heart stopped beating right there and then. El had never said he was 'hot' before, and he found it... well… hot, "You're hotter, though."
"I doubt that highly," her voice low and soft as ever.
"You shouldn't doubt the facts, El," he chided playfully. She leaned closer into his neck, kissing right below his ear, making him shudder. Smirking to herself, she placed her lips on the spot again, letting her mouth linger for a moment before repeating the action.
Mike's eyes fluttered shut and he bit back a gasp at the sensation, it felt so right, but now was not the time. Just as she began to suck on the region of burning skin, Mike pushed her back gently by her shoulders. Eleven jumped back, scared she had done something wrong.
Mike read her like an open book and told her gently, "El, you didn't do anything wrong. Don't worry," and she sighed in relief. As she opened her mouth to ask why he halted her affectionate actions, he continued to explain, as if he knew it was coming, "If I hadn't stopped you then, I wouldn't have been able to in a matter of minutes. I mean, El, you look amazing and I have no idea how I'm even saying to pause this, because I really wanna kiss you right now. Like, so bad—"
"Mike," El giggled at his confession and put her index finger to his mouth, "focus."
His face filled with blood, embarrassed by his rambling, "A-And we've been here for a few minutes and Will will probably get suspicious if we stay any longer. Plus, everyone else is probably here by now or close to it."
She whined in protest, how was she supposed to act normal around him dressed like that? Screw trick-or-treat! Making out with Mike or just staring at him dressed in that outfit was ten times better than free candy.
Eleven wasn't quite sure why she was thinking this way all of a sudden; she really wanted to trick-or-treat, she'd been waiting for a year to. But, now, her hormones seem to have taken over and there's only one way she's aware of to get them to calm down a smidge. And that technique was kissing Mike.
Sure, it always ended with her wanting more, but at least she got some love and affection in the first place.
"But Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike, you know you want to stay up here with me, tooooooo."
'God, this girl is going to be the death of me,' Mike thought. He really did want to have more alone time with Eleven. With her being so closed off recently, he barely saw her and it broke his heart. All Mike wanted was a reason behind why she was ignoring him and the rest of the party, but he would never force her to tell him anything. No matter how badly he wanted to know.
Mike was so close to giving in to the tempting offer, his body and heart begging him to stay while his brain shouted at him to go.
Just like before she went to go take pictures with her family and when she ran off upstairs after taking said pictures, El was stabbed with another pang in her stomach. It was far worse than the previous times it had happened. It was like her blood stopped flowing, her arms and legs aching and barely able to keep her standing. Black specs began to appear in her eyes and before she knew it she couldn't see anything. But it wasn't like that place in her mind, though it was similar as she still had a sense of where she really was.
Another whine escaped El's throat, startling Mike out of his contemplative reverie. Only this time, it wasn't a playful whine. No. This time, it was her crying out in pain. Mike released his grip on her shoulders, thinking he maybe was holding her too tightly without even realizing it.
Panic flooded Mike's veins when Eleven slowly sunk to the floor, her arms wrapped around her stomach, curling up in excruciating pain. Falling onto his knees beside the sobbing girl, he comforted her as best he could, while also trying to get an answer as to what in the fuck was wrong. She was seriously starting to scare him.
"El, hey, it's gonna be okay, I promise. Just tell me what's wrong, please. I wanna help you... here, one sec... hold on," he suddenly got an idea, shifting his legs so they went on either side of her and reaching to pull her form into his arms.
She lay in his embrace, wishing that it would have eased the pain even just a little. Eleven let her head fall against his chest, her breath finally evening out.
Unbeknownst to one another, both Mike and Eleven couldn't help but recall the horrific Fourth of July at Starcourt when El was trying to get the small portion of mind flayer out of her bite wound. They were lying in the exact same position as that night; El in pain both times but for completely unrelated reasons.
"My stomach hurts, but it's li... it's like, lower," El panted, her arms still wrapped around her torso with Mike resting his hands over hers. "I—I've never felt it, ever. But—but it's not...but it's not just that. My whole body feels... achy...? I really don't know how to des—describe it and everything went black and fuzzy and then I was on the floor."
Michael Wheeler had never been more confused in his whole life. And that's saying a lot, based on what he has gone through in the past, almost exactly, two years. He thought and thought, until something clicked and he was ashamed that he hadn't pieced things together sooner.
In health class, Mike remembers his teacher talking about how girls with any form of anemia can have slightly more intense period symptoms, varying from things like extreme fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, and the most obvious of them all, a heavy flow for more days than dubbed normal.
Now, Mike wasn't sure if El was anemic or anything like that, but he speculated she might be because of how drained she would get when using her powers. Could the fatigue and paleness be a side effect of using her powers, just another thing adding onto the whole nose bleed phenomena? Absolutely. But, it would all make sense, especially because Eleven told him about how Kali never seemed as drained as she was after using her powers, though it could have been that Kali was older and had more tolerance.
Mike might be completely wrong in his assumptions, but it's worth a shot, right?
Hoping not to sound too awkward, Mike tried to relay his speculations of what he thinks could be wrong to her, "Do you think it's your... um... your..."
Eleven turned her head to look at him, begging him to just spit it out already, "Mike." He inhaled deeply before hastily blurting out,
"Do you think you got your period?"
Her eyes grew wide at the harshness in his voice, but stayed on that for only a moment before taking in his words. That hadn't even crossed her mind as to what the issue could have been.
As she lay in her boyfriend's comforting embrace, mulling over his words, she became aware of an odd and subtle dripping sensation between her legs. It wasn't the kind of slight trickle she felt whenever things got a bit heated with Mike, though. And that horrified her.
"Maybe? I think so? Ugh, I don't know! I don't know what it's supposed to be like..." she whispered, squeezing her eyes closed to ignore the uncomfortable feeling growing stronger by the second. "Can you get Max? Please? I'm sure she's here by now."
"Are you sure you don't want me to help?" He offered, his mouth moving faster than his brain. 'You dumb fuck, you have no idea what to do, either! How would you, of all people, be able to help her?'
El shot him a crazed look and bursted out laughing, even though it really didn't help her current situation, "Mike, I doubt you would wanna help with this. I don't think anyone wants to."
Mike chuckled a bit at the face she made and slowly started to stand, helping El up as he spoke, "Well, honestly, I would rather not. But, I'd do anything to help you, El. Plus, it's really not fair that you literally have to bleed for like, a week, just so you can be able to have babies. It's even more absurd if, like, the person doesn't even want kids? How the hell is that fair?"
Eleven smiled at his rambling as he helped her sit on the edge of her bed. Just as Mike was about to turn around to head downstairs to see if Max had arrived, she, accompanied by Lucas and Dustin, bursted through the bedroom door.
"Okay, enough face-sucking you horny freaks, we have five minutes until we can get candy!" Dustin criticized, grabbing Mike's arm to drag him away.
"Woah, woah, woah. Hold on!" Lucas slapped Dustin's somewhat muscular arm off of Mike's much skinnier one upon noticing the miserable expression Eleven was wearing, "El, you good?"
"Actually," Mike answered, "I was just getting ready to go see if you, Max, were here yet. El, uh, she, um... y'know... "
"Uh, no, Mike, we don't know," Lucas said sarcastically, earning a snicker from Max and Dustin.
"Oh great and brave Paladin, tell us what's wrong with our beloved mage, will you?" Max taunted.
"I think I got my period," El beat Mike to explaining the embarrassing reason regarding why they weren't downstairs when they were supposed to be.
"You think you what now?" Will's voice came out of nowhere, causing the five other teen's heads to jerk towards the door, where Will was surely enough standing, only this time, in his costume.
"What in the fuck are you wearing?" Max laughed so hard it sounded almost like a scream. Mike and Dustin were cackling, too, while Lucas and Eleven just stared with their jaws dropped. Slowly, the latter two met each other's gaze, their mouths quirking up into smiles as they began to laugh with the other two.
"I'm Eleven, duh," Will rolled his eyes, pointing to the glob of fake blood under his nose as he tossed the hair of the blonde wig over his shoulder with his other hand.
"How did you—where did you—?" Eleven asked, out of breath.
"Betcha forgot that mom's a great seamstress, huh?" He teased before sitting on El's left side, sandwiching her between himself and Mike.
"Right," her voice soft and gentle as ever, breathing still erratic.
"So," Max grabbed El's attention, "what did you need me for?"
"I, I um... I don't really have any... " Max stared blankly at Eleven, thoroughly lost, "... y'knows."
Mike tapped Max's shoulder, attempting to be nonchalant, and mouthed 'period products' to her and gestured down at El's lap a bit so she'd get what he was saying. When Max tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows whilst frustratedly mouthing 'what?' Mike did the same actions again, exaggerating them a bit more, only furthering Max's confusion.
"Will one of you just spit it out?! Trick-or-treat is gonna be over by the time we get it out of you!" Dustin interjected, flailing his arms about over his head. Just for good measure, he added, "3 musketeers will be the only candy left for you overly-picky little bitches! And I can only eat so many!"
"I don't have any pads, okay? Happy now?" El burst. She wasn't blind to Mike's, totally and not-at-all-obvious, indicating in her direction and obnoxious way of mouthing 'period products.' She had no idea why it pissed her off, but it did.
"O-Oh," Lucas broke the awkward silence that fell upon them. He had no idea what to say, but the soundlessness made him uneasy, "Sorry?"
"Well, El, you're lucky I always carry some in my bag," Max smiled and extended her hand for El to take so she could give her the products and any further instruction if need be.
Once the bathroom door shut, the boys merely sat in silence, staring at the closed door, not knowing how to react to the situation.
"Do you think that's why she's been so distant lately?" Dustin suggested gently, feeling bad for his outburst over some stupid candy. Of course he was excited for trick-or-treat, but he wouldn't hesitate to miss it if El wasn't well; he'd feel guilty if he went off without her.
"I don't know, she's been awfully quiet the past few weeks. If it was that, she probably would have gone to Max sooner because they only last about a week normally... " Will voiced.
"She's always quiet," Lucas mumbled, not trying to be rude, simply stating a fact.
"She seemed like she was in a lot of pain," Mike put in. He's not really sure why, but he felt like he had to say something, given Eleven was his girlfriend.
"Worse than how Max said it was?" Lucas questioned, growing even more uneasy. Whenever it was Max's time of the month, the boys didn't dare to tease her or anything of the sort. She would complain, to Lucas mostly, about the awful cramps and how it 'felt like your insides were being ripped apart.'
"Unless Max said she feels achy all over, dizzy and nearly faints—"
"Dude, I don't think that's normal," Dustin interjected, his own worry seeping through his voice.
"How do you even know if it WAS her period?" Will was mostly talking to himself, but accepted Mike's answer of,
"Well, I asked if she thought it was a possibility and she was quiet for a moment as if she were trying to understand something new…? I don't really know, but then she got all scared and was begging for me to get Max and now here we are."
"Hmm..." Lucas was about to continue his thought when the bathroom door abruptly swung open, revealing a smirking Max and a very timid El. Though she knew it was nothing to be embarrassed about, El couldn't help but feel that way. She really didn't want the other guys to find out the way they had.
"We'll go get you a water bottle, some Midol, and tell mom what happened, right guys?" Will hinted as he headed towards the door. Thankfully, Lucas and Dustin got the hint and agreed to go, leaving Max and Mike behind with El.
"Now they'll do whatever you want because they'll be scared that you'll attack them if they don't," Max joked once the trio was out of earshot.
"They already do what I ask because they think I'll snap their neck if not," El chuckled.
"True, true," Max smirked. "I'll go fill your mom in. We both know that not one of them will be able to say the word 'period' to her."
"Thanks for all your help, Max," the shorter of the two smiled. The redhead told her she would always be there if she needed anything and made her way to the first floor.
An awkward silence filled the room. El had no idea what to say; she knew that 'girl stuff' made the boys uncomfortable so she didn't want to bring that up. The fact that Mike actually brought it up surprised Eleven quite a bit.
"Are you feeling any better?" He tentatively asked, hoping he wasn't pushing any boundaries. Honestly, as awkward as Mike seemed to be whenever talking about this general topic, it really didn't bother him as much as it appeared to. It's just what happens in life, it doesn't need to be weird. Some guys make such a big deal about it, making it out like it's so repulsive and abnormal when it really isn't. Okay, maybe it is kind of off-putting, but every human being, both female and male, to walk the face of the earth thought so. That didn't make it right to make a woman feel gross, though. The best thing to do for her was to be patient and caring.
Stepping closer to him, she intertwined her fingers with his, "Not really, but you being here makes it somewhat tolerable."
Mike smiled down at her, still in shock of how he was so lucky to get such an amazing girlfriend. After placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, he held her hand in his as the entire party regrouped in the front yard, took a few pictures, and finally set out for candy.
"This is an outrage!" Dustin proclaimed. Throwing his empty pillowcase beside where he sat on the floor of El's room, he continued to sift through his candy to make sure he hadn't missed the silver wrapper that held his favorite treat.
"Aww, did poor Dusty-Baby not get any Three Musketeers?" Max teased in a baby voice, pronouncing the r's as w's.
"No, he did not!" The curly-haired boy retorted, not even bothering to tell her off for using yet another dumb nickname she decided to use.
"You can have mine, Dustin," Eleven offered, pushing the collection of candies towards him.
"I love you, Eleven," Dustin smiled so wide it hurt. He tackled the girl into a bone-crushing hug, completely forgetting that she was presumably in pain since the medicine she took prior to trick-or-treat was wearing off.
"Ow, Dustin," El gasped, "Not. Helping. The. Cramps."
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I totally forgot. Oh my God, oh my God..."
"Nice job, dumbass," Lucas swatted Dustin on the back of his head. While the pair continued to hit one another, playfully, of course, Mike turned to his girlfriend,
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good," she replied, catching her breath.
"Hate to interrupt you," Joyce leaned against the door frame, startling the teens with her presence.
"Jeez, when did you get there?" Lucas held his hand over his heart, not prepared in the slightest for Mrs. Byers to be standing there.
"Just now," she chuckled, "Anyways, hate to say it but it's almost 8:30 and it's a school night, so you three," she pointed at Max, Dustin, and Lucas, "Better be headed out in a few minutes. You know I don't like it when you're out past 9:00."
"Aw, okaaaayyy," Dustin whined, begrudgingly gathering his candy. The group bid their goodnights, said their thank you's and biked, in Max's case, skateboarded, to their homes.
"Nancy is dropping Jonathan off around 10:00, right?" Mike clarified with Mrs. Byers. She nodded in reply, so Mike went back up to El's room. On the way, Will told him that he was going to bed and that he'd see Mike at school the next day. Will departed back into his room, leaving Mike by himself before the lanky boy rushed up the second flight of stairs.
"Yay, you're back!" Eleven lunged at the boy, her arms clutching the back of his neck while her legs wrapped around his torso. Mike stumbled a bit, not expecting the sudden weight in his arms, but didn't dare drop her.
"Of course I'm back, I would never leave without telling you," he assured gently, his face buried into the crook of her neck.
Delighted by the way his mouth felt on her skin, even though he wasn't kissing it, El sighed, her eyes fluttering shut, "I know."
Wiggling out of his arms so he would put her down, she requested, "Can you check my math homework? Pretty please?"
"Yeah, of course," he kissed her forehead and proceeded to drag her back into his embrace.
"Thanks," she giggled into his chest, draping her arms around him as well. "Do you mind if I, uh, take a shower while you do that?"
Mike's eyebrows shot up underneath his bangs, 'did she really just ask that?'
He was thoroughly shocked by the question. All he could think about was how there would be less than fifteen feet between him and El where she would have nothing on under a stream of boiling water.
Mentally cursing himself for thinking such things, Mike finally consented, "Yeah, that's fine."
Mike got to work on checking El's math problems that were on her desk but he couldn't think straight. Against his will, his imagination ran wild with not so innocent thoughts.
His heart rate increased rapidly at the image of what she looked like beneath the many layers of clothes she always bundled up in. His face grew hot when he pictured them together under the steady stream of water flowing from the showerhead, exchanging kisses and tracing his fingers along the delicate curves of her body. His blood flow diverted down to his lap as the concept of doing more than just kissing her crawled into his mind.
"Dammit," he muttered upon realizing his dilemma. He continued to check over the algebraic equations, begging for his problem to go away when he jumped at the sound of El calling to him a few minutes later. "Yeah, El?"
"So, I don't have a towel…"
Mike's eyes went as wide as physically possible. All he could think of in that moment was that El was just standing there, dripping wet with no way to dry off and asking for him to grab a towel.
"Oh, I'll be right on that," was all he managed to get out. He shuffled out of the room, hoping the slight pressure built up in the lower half of his body would decrease. Attempting to be stealthy so the Byers' wouldn't grow skeptical of why he was getting a towel from their linen closet while Eleven was showering, because that's not suspicious at all, Mike crept to the small closet and yanked out the first towel he saw. Hastily shutting the door, he spun on his heel, made sure no one had caught him, then bolted back up to the third floor.
Gently knocking on her bathroom door he informed her that he got the towel for her. She thanked him and hesitantly asked for him to come in and bring it to her, which made Mike lose his balance a bit, not prepared for that request. When he didn't say anything for at least another 30 seconds she assured him in a teasing tone that the curtain was closed and that she would just put her hand through the small gap between the wall and the waterproof fabric.
Eleven sounded confident when saying all of these things to him but she was actually freaking out. During her shower, she kept daydreaming about all the things she and Mike could do together, either in the shower or on her bed, in only a few years time. And the fact that Mike would be right next to her, separated solely by a thin protective cloth, made her head spin. He would be so, so close, but unable to see any of her. Which was probably a good thing, whether they liked it or not.
"Okay," Mike breathed out, "I'm comin' in." The raven haired boy stepped across the room to the shower, his blood pounding in his ears. He held the towel out in front of the small gap.
Eleven peeked from the other side of the barrier, smiling at her sweet boyfriend. She could have stared at him all day, but she knew she had to get dried off quickly so she wouldn't have any mess to clean up, "Thanks, Mikey."
"Anytime, beautiful," his eyes gleaming with love and desire, only for her. She took the towel and pulled the curtain closed.
Mike began retreating to the bedroom but paused when she ordered him to stop. She could sense his confusion, so she elaborated, "Max recommended that I don't step out until I have my underwear on 'cause y'know… blood is… messy."
"So you need me to…?" He was extremely confused as to why she still needed him. It's not that he didn't want to help her, but it was very difficult when he knew El was still naked behind the curtain.
Huffing in frustration at her boyfriend's obliviousness, she snarkily replied, "I need you to get me the underwear and pad off the counter, dumbass."
"Oh."
' Calm down, ya perv, it's just fabric!' The modest side of his brain scolded.
'Yeah, fabric that touched her—' The immoral half started to pester, but was cut off.
'SHUT UP!'
Shaking the thoughts away, he glanced over to the counter and saw the small wrapped package that he assumed was the pad placed on top of one of his old t-shirts that he had gifted her over the summer, but there was no underwear.
"Uh, El? There's no underwear…"
"Are you sure? I swear I grabbed a pair," she peeked from behind the curtain again and examined the countertop where, contrary to her belief, no undergarments were present. "What the… I swear I—ughhh."
"I can just go get you some?" Mike nervously offered.
"Yeah, sure, thank you. They would be in the top right drawer."
Mike nodded and went to retrieve the item for her. Opening the specified drawer she instructed him to, his jaw dropped and his breathing hitched. 'Holy fuck!' was all his not-so-innocent-anymore half of his mind could think.
Never did he ever imagine that his sweet, pure El would have the lacy undergarments he just discovered in the drawer. Well, he figured she would have some in the future, obviously, but not when she was only fifteen! It wasn't some extravagant and sexy lingerie type thing, just simple lace that wasn't entirely see through. But it still made the poor boy insane, he was sure that the pressure down there wouldn't be gone until he got home and took matters into his own hands.
Opting for the black garment instead of the pink or red, he also grabbed a plain blue cotton pair, unsure of which she would prefer. He figured she'd choose the latter, but he would rather give her a choice.
"So, I wasn't sure what kind you wanted so I grabbed these two," he explained as he extended his hand towards the edge of the curtain where he handed her the towel a few minutes ago.
"Mike!" She gasped at the sight of the lace pinched in his long fingers. She totally forgot about the pairs Max suggested, well, forced, her to purchase at Starcourt the day the redhead had also encouraged her to dump Mike; she said it would come in handy in the future. El wasn't sure what that had meant at the time, but after understanding what 'happy screams' were and the information from issues of Cosmo magazines that Max lent her, she put all the pieces together.
"Uh, thanks," she giggled at the way he was holding the fabric out to her, as if it was some kind of dead creature or something. Taking them from his hold she sighed, "You weren't supposed to know about those lace ones…"
"Yet," she added under her breath.
"Sorry," he really didn't know how to respond, "Why's that?"
El groaned in frustration as she got everything situated. Once she had the blue material securely on, she wrapped the towel around her upper body tightly and stepped out from behind the curtain onto the cold tile. Locking her eyes with his she explained meekly, "'cause I wanted to surprise you sometime…"
A deep blush painted Mike's face as he gazed into her honey irises that feigned innocence. Tearing his eyes from hers, his attention fell upon her sharp collarbones and then down to where she had placed her towel. She raised her eyebrows at him, silently telling him to turn around. But being the oblivious teen he was at points, Mike didn't notice.
"Uh, Mike? Turn around," she commanded with faux annoyance. He blinked a few times before his brain processed what she had said.
"Oh! Sorry," he nervously chuckled before doing as told. 'Smooth move, dumbfuck,' he inwardly cringed. In his peripherals, he saw El snag the shirt off the counter as he waited for her to give him permission to face her again. Hands grabbed his shoulders from behind him, making him jump a bit. El turned his body to face her and connected her lips to his without hesitation.
Although he wasn't expecting the kiss whatsoever, Mike reciprocated the action, his head tilting a bit to capture her top lip between his.
Being out and about for a few hours with their friends forced them to do nothing more than hold hands; they weren't big fans of PDA. Okay, the Snowball doesn't count because that was the first time they had seen each other since she closed the gate, and he had only seen her for a couple hours that day.
El sucked on his bottom lip, barely pulling away before fully attaching their mouths again. Mike swears he was on cloud 9, the euphoric sensation unable to be matched by anything else he had experienced before. Tangling one hand through the strands of her wet hair, Mike pulled her body completely against his. His left hand curved around her back, his fingers digging into her hip.
With the pressure Mike's body was forcing onto hers, El leaned backward, arching her back. He curved over her, holding her as if she would dissipate into nothingness if he let go. The way Mike's hips were pushed against hers drove Eleven crazy. She'd never felt anything so amazing in her life.
A loud 'smack!' resonated through the confined room when El pulled away to catch her breath, allowing Mike's forehead to lean against hers. Shockwaves of pleasure coursed through her entire body, a blazing fire beginning to burn in her core. Overwhelmed by the blissful sensation of Mike's kisses and touch mixed with the small amount of pain lingering from the dreadful cramps, El could barely breathe.
"Woah," Mike gasped, "That was fucking incredible."
"Mhmm," El panted, "It was."
Slowly returning to standing upright, Mike loosened his intense hold on El's petite frame. As he stepped back a bit to completely let her out of his grasp, she stopped him.
"No," Mike obeyed and kept his hands on her hips but looked confused as ever, "I feel a little dizzy, can you carry me to my bed? Please?"
Mike's puzzled expression softened into one of concern, "Yeah, of course. Here, hold onto the counter for a sec." She did as he told her as he bent down gently and put one arm on the underside of her knees and the other on her back. "Okay, now, put your arms around my neck and jump."
Once her hands were situated, she jumped up and was caught by Mike. Making sure she was secure in his hold, he carried her to her bed, slowly laying her down. Seconds after he pulled his arms out from beneath her weight, she pulled him down next to her.
Mike chuckled into the pillow that he fell onto. Lifting his head up to see how El was holding up, he smiled when he saw her already looking at him, her eyes glittering with adoration. She snuggled into his side, sighing in contentment.
"Thank you, Mikey," she mumbled into his neck.
"'Thank you?' What're you thanking me for?" He adjusted himself so he could see El. She took the hint and pulled her head away slightly, the rest of her body still tangled with his.
Shakily sighing, letting the tears of happiness spill, she whispered,
"Everything."