/

Chapter Seven

Pretty In Pink

Three of the teen boys were sat at the dining table and were immaculately planning out how they would cope until they knew for sure that the Department Of Energy were off the trail for Eleven for good. Lucas, with his English notebook, was dictating and throwing in suggestions or possible obstacles where it was necessary to question plans while Dustin saw most of the priorities with Mike chiming in now and then. Will only had one thing to say on the matter.

"No adults. We can't trust them."

Will was essentially too busy helping Eleven in the bathroom while she showered and scrubbed away any last remnants of the Upside Down from her skin, Will handing her a rag that he didn't care about and would probably throw away afterwards. Will couldn't not notice Mike's forced features, but he was clearly unsure as to why he was specifically helping Eleven after Mike had been the primary person during her week in '83.

And Will wasn't entirely sure why he hadn't let Mike take the reins, but there was an odd connection still tied between him and Eleven, and she had reciprocated his help as though it made some sense to her as well. He knew it wasn't of a hormonal nature…Will had established that it was the opposite after years of denial. But they had something that felt too natural and comforting that the possibility of her being naked didn't freeze him up like it did Mike.

As the bathroom steamed up with warmth and Eleven drenched herself in hot water after years of cold or lukewarm water to wash with, clearly enjoying the experience more than Will had anticipated, he sat on the toilet with the lid down and started writing more immediate needs for Eleven in his journal. She needed some new items that weren't tainted by the Upside Down and so threw out (carefully asking her as she showered because he didn't want her to feel like a total child) her old toothbrush, her soap and her terrible comb and found a spare toothbrush that his mom bought in bulk on sale at work. There would be more to add to a growing bill of items but Will knew he had the funds for it.

Mike had readily taken Eleven on as a hidden basement tenant in the decision making since it was too risky to let her stay in the same house as Will's mom and with Hopper often coming inside and being of the suspicious nature would clue into Eleven's presence. Lucas had pointedly said of the arrangement, "That was too damn easy."

Mike's petulant blush remained and Eleven was just so pleased to be in Mike's house again, she hadn't noticed the teasing.

Eleven turned off the water and squeezed her hair of the density from the water still clinging within the strands. Will had a towel for her ready, holding it up and looking away entirely so as to give her some privacy. Something had told him that her lack thereof in the Lab and being the only human in the Upside Down made her entirely too comfortable with being naked as it wasn't drilled in from the beginning through social rules and the ensuing embarrassment many felt in her situation. But he wanted her to have it anyway, give her back some agency in the matter.

She knotted the towel by herself and Will hand dried some of her hair as she took a seat on the toilet. Will took his mother's hairbrush from the cabinet and carefully brushed through. Once he was finished with as much as he could get through without hurting her or breaking the brush, most of it looked silky but there were places he was sure she'd have to get it cut.

"You're going to need to get this cut, El."

Eleven grabbed her hair from his hands and vehemently shook her head, refusing the option. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no."

It was a pain in the ass to deal with but she had loved it.

"Eleven, you can't keep it like this."

"No, no, no, Will, I-I-"

A sharp knock at the door rang out and Will opened it carefully. Mike stood there, eager and had a small frown on his face.

"Everything okay in here?"

Will sighed and said, "She's got matted hair Mike. I suggested a cut. She's not happy."

Mike seemed to understand immediately. "Can you let me in?"

"As you wish," Will said, almost waiting to be amused.

"El I know-" But Mike stuttered and paused in his tracks.

Eleven had water droplets dotted on her skin still, skin with very little flesh but she wasn't to the bone which would have been a far more upsetting sight and her hair was slicked straight from the brushing. Everything suggested that she just looked like anybody else straight out of the shower, almost a drowned rat with aspects of fresh cleanliness to her, looking less green after all. But Mike felt himself go further into his mind at the very minuscule covering in comparison to once before.

Eleven looked relieved to see him come to her aid but was now also confused about his visage.

Will coughed, disrupting Mike's thoughts and said, "Mike, her hair is the issue…not the towel."

Mike turned to glare at Will, who was only biting his lip with a delicious amusement he never got to delve into. Mike sighed and rid himself of all the invasive uncontrollable thoughts his age had brought to him and looked at Eleven carefully.

Finally he was able to approach her without being a teenage mess.

"El…I know how much your hair means to you…and we're only going to cut so much of it off, so it can be healthy again and then we can…we can make it pretty, traditionally or conventionally. Either way you want it, it's still yours."

"Really, Mike…it'll be pretty?" Eleven asked quietly, with a warmth in her heart as she imagined it as such.

Mike blushed, as she directed her hopeful smile to his already sheepish face.

"Yes, really pretty."

Something told Will that Mike thought she was pretty panicking and near to tears straight out of the shower but he wasn't about to ruin this moment.

Will was busy repacking Eleven's stuff into her backpack in the living room while the guys continued to plan. Eleven, now dried off and dressed in whatever Will found that would fit from his mother's closet just listened carefully, wondering where she would be in the next 24 hours.

"I know we can't involve most of the adults in our vicinity…but surely there is someone we can trust with this?" Lucas asked the group.

Admittedly, they had struggled the last time in hiding Eleven for a week as kids. They had more hindsight now, but it would help to have at least one person who was technically an adult to make covering for them a more legitimate cause.

"Nancy," Mike said without any hesitation, "She would be in our corner."

Dustin shook his head adamantly. "The phone lines were tapped last time, remember? Unless you have some way of communicating Eleven's return without directly saying her name or describing who she is, that's too much of a risk."

Mike scowled as he thought about this. He was annoyed he hadn't considered creating some very obscure codeword for this exact situation, or for the one his sister had been anticipating if Eleven were to return and the problems that could come with it were then possible.

Will had been wise not to mention Eleven over the radio waves too, but they were going to have to be even more careful.

"We've decided you need a codename El, and would like you to at least be at the liberty to choose," Lucas said politely.

"Codename?"

"It's like a secret name – so only we know who we're talking about," Mike explained with a small smile, "You can choose whatever you want it to be."

"Oh…" El said brightly before frowning having come up blank, "I don't know."

"How about Yoda?" Dustin asked, "You've got the force after all."

"Which someone listening in will clue together," Will said without losing a beat from his spot, still packing.

"Weirdo?" Lucas supplied only to see Mike shoot him a dirty look.

"Ease up Wheeler. I say it with platonic affection this time."

Mike rolled his eyes at Lucas' thinly veiled teasing before finally Eleven spoke up with her own suggestion.

"Eggo."

"That probably fits…and no one else is going to catch on," Will backed up with a small smile, only for a frown to appear immediately, "except maybe Hopper."

"If we're using the Supercoms, Hopper won't have a way to communicate with us either way. Our number one concern is the Department of Energy people. They won't get the reference."

"Unless they do know it because of him," said Lucas warily.

"As much as I can trust Hopper as far as I can throw him," Mike spoke candidly, "he probably wouldn't go into much detail. It's like pulling fingernails to ask how his day was or if he thinks the weather is agreeable."

And Mike would know, his mother grumbled about it often.

"Have we come to a consensus?" Dustin asked and reluctantly Lucas went in on the affirmative.

"Eleven, we're strictly sticking to Eggo from now on in radio conversations," Dustin instructed with a light smile.

Will knew the house had been debugged several years ago and Hopper was vigilant in checking over the years but when it was brought up, Will was their guide in pointing out what they would look like if they found something odd in his home. His mother would ask him occasionally about a new thing in his room or in the bathroom to check if he had in fact bought said item due to this new anxiety-inducing aspect of their lives. Nothing had come of those incidences, but Will was glad that his mother was just as observant.

Joyce Byers had to be trustworthy…but there was the niggling doubt, eating away at his nerves when Will pictured his mom admitting to helping the Department of Energy, confronting the hardest betrayal of them all.

"It's as clean as it will be," Mike said honestly, both relieved and yet wary.

"Over the next few days, you have to keep checking," Dustin said seriously.

Will nodded tentatively.

Eleven was ready, her hair dry and put into a simple bun with Dustin's very slight ability with hair ties, scrunchies and their uses from a few gigs babysitting, and wearing Mike's jacket with some thin knitted fingerless gloves to keep her icy hands warm while still having some use in her hands.

Mike heaved a small cotton drawstring sack filled with Eleven's Upside Down clothes over his shoulder to be washed elsewhere. Mike and Will had spoken about everything they needed to do next, and while Mike would have rather burned everything that came with her from the Upside Down, knew it might hurt her feelings or give her the wrong impression at least. Will had put in some new books, which he had no more use for into Eleven's collection, which filled up most of her bag now with added bits and pieces. The mini dictionary they'd found had been the highlight of the whole collection, dog-eared pages for words she must have found difficult or finally understood a concept from their world before she left it.

Dustin took the backpack and the five left the house, desperate not to leave a trace of Eleven in their midst.

While Will locked up, Lucas' trunk now carried more than a spare tyre, jumper wires and a small toolkit, as Dustin and Mike dropped the heavy items inside.

"Hey wait a minute," Lucas said suspiciously, which put everybody on edge, "What about the gateway?"

All five, after a small pact during the planning process to never split up if they didn't have to, went to the place Eleven found herself in straight out of the Upside Down. Dustin shivered as the wind swept itself through the trees, causing the leaves to dance and the cold breeze to whistle slightly.

The same whistle couldn't be heard that day as it had for Eleven hours before. This wasn't harmonious, just eerie.

"Holy mother of God."

Dustin's words spoke volumes for the rest of the group.

Eleven had been frightened of the possibility of bringing something in with her from the Upside Down. She didn't realise that concern transferred through to her powers, making this gateway no longer a feasible option.

It was hanging by a stubborn thread from the root while it was split dreadfully down the middle. So fragile, that it swayed more dangerously in the wind. But the hole was still held together right down the root, being held by that thread over its girth. It was a feat of magnificence, however much it brought them to consider that there was still a way.

"We need to finish it off," Lucas firmly. "Cut it down…make sure that El's intention is absolute."

"And who would you suggest do that?" Will asked with a disbelieving snort.

"I don't know, but if we don't it could become a hazard."

"As much as that's true, there is no way either of us can chop the rest of this down without probably dislocating something," Dustin admitted.

"Maybe we could call in a professional?" Lucas suggested, growing frustration at the lack of

helpful ideas.

"Oh no, no, no," Mike threw himself into the conversation, completely objecting the idea, "You bring a logger here, they'll be asking questions as well as asking for money which we don't have a lot of between us. And this might not technically be on Byers land, so the government would be involved then."

"And they might just send Department of Energy under the guise of professional lumberjacks," Dustin heaped in.

The arguing continued on and all four seemed too enraptured in how to deal with this, they hadn't realised that the job was being taken care of.

Thwack!

A heavy cracking sound followed the small, but distinguishable noise as the guys stopped and turned to see that the hole had been ripped apart and straight down through to the root. The split wasn't clean, but it did the job as the large tree that was probably thousands of years in existence was defeated.

Once both sides started to fall over, Eleven was still standing relatively close. Too close.

"EL!"

Mike ran forward and grabbed her, pulling her away toward them, with a strength he didn't know he had.

Just as they reached the group, they felt the earth shattering momentum that was a heavy tree falling over in the woods. Dead Autumn leaves shook, splinters raised and there was a crooning of birds wings flapping manically, as well as many voicing their dislike of this disruption to their day.

Dustin's mouth dropped open as did Lucas'. Will was still quite shaken from being physically shaken by the ground and Mike seemed to only focus on Eleven. She had fallen against him and he was forced to hold up some of her weight, as she stood unsteady in her place. She was responding fine but she looked quite weak and gray again.

"I got rid of it."

There was no blood dripping from her nose, which concerned Mike, since it could have been an internal impact instead.

"Are you okay El?" Dustin finally asked through their shared shock.

Eleven nodded as she looked over them, their worry clear as she leaned heavily on Mike. "Hard…" she said honestly, though pointed to her chest as she clearly said, "Stronger now."

Lucas looked apprehensive however, uncertain that this was all it took to break a possible gateway. He nudged Dustin and said, "You got a compass on you?"

Dustin frowned and then started to look for his house keys within his pockets, where a mini compass was attached. "Always keep one handy - on the off chance a bulb flickers."

The group gathered around to see the result, to see if Eleven's gateway was gone for good. The little gadget took a moment to find its bearings, naturally putting the five on edge, Eleven watching the others to gage from their reactions how bad this could be.

Finally, it hits true north.

An unbelievable Mexican wave of relief flows through the four boys and Eleven sends them a small smile, hopeful once the last appreciative eye raise hits Will, the three boys opting to close their eyes gratefully, muttering their thanks to the unknown factors that left them in peace.

"Well, something actually went okay," said Dustin, an inflection to his upbeat tone.

Eleven almost fell after readjusting herself in Mike's embrace, post telekinetic display. Lucas grabbed her other side and put her free arm around his shoulder, hoisting her up properly onto her feet.

"We'll celebrate when we get El to safety," said Will, looking around himself and still paranoid that there was more than the monsters to be worried about.

"Good idea," Mike insisted.

Eleven sat comfortably in the middle of Dustin and Will in the sofa like back seat of a car that Lucas drives, while Mike is pushed into telling stories to pass the time heading back to his house by his friends. From his comfortable spot in the passenger seat, he delights her with the tales of Dustin snorting milkshake out through his nose while on his first and last date, and Lucas screwing up his knee playing badminton in Gym class two years before. He'd cursed so much from the pain that the teachers were in disbelief.

The only girl of the group had felt truly part of it once more as Mike would stop to occasionally explain something every now and then for her own clarity, and the others had their input to contribute as well. Eleven loved the way Mike told stories though, it was probably the most animated she'd seen him positively since she'd come home, as he was quite reserved otherwise.

His third little story comprised of Will being bombarded by an eager Jennifer Hayes at a party they went to in Freshman year (which meant the first year of high school as Mike had detailed quickly, which had been last year), and one of the only parties all the boys were invited to, in which she kissed him and he stood entirely frozen on the spot. She promptly ran away and Will's mouth fell open at the bizarreness as they all tried to register what happened. Naturally the boys had reasoned that she'd shocked him so much, that he couldn't properly respond to being kissed by one the "cutest" girls at Hawkins High.

Will was smiling in good humour, but heat had risen upon his cheeks.

Eleven should've been paying more attention, still stuck on the thought of the gloriously silly act that was kissing, and something that she understood by dictionary definition was exactly what Mike did to her at that table when trying to explain what she was to him in asking her to the Snow Ball.

Not quite a friend, more in fact, definitely not a sister…but something that involved that level of intimacy.

"El?"

"Hmm?" she was brought out of her reverie when Will lightly tapped her.

"We're here Eleven."

She looked up and realised that with the exception of Will, everyone else was out of the car.

"We have to be quick. We'll drop your stuff in the basement and get you out of my Mom's lame clothes," Will reiterated for her memory of the plan initiated before they left the Byers house.

"Right," Eleven croaked out uncertainly.

He helped her out of the back, and saw Mike waiting for the two of them. "Lucas just went off to his place to get his Supercom with Dustin," he explained carefully, watching as Will still held on to Eleven, who also hadn't noticed.

Eventually their hands dropped and Will went around to the trunk, which Lucas had already popped open for them before rushing off to his house.

"You sure your mom's not home?" Will asked absentmindedly, grabbing Eleven's stuff.

"Uh…yeah, she should be out since its Friday."

Mrs. Wheeler did participate in quite a lot in the small town of Hawkins since Holly had gone into proper schooling. It helped pass the time when she got bored which his father had shockingly advised her to do, and highly encouraged it too. Today she would be at the Hawkin's Mothers Book Club.

Eleven was blissfully taking in her surroundings, so familiar and the scent of vanilla was beginning to welcome her. She could just picture the touch of soft, cuddly vanilla scented washed sheets that she'd been wrapped in all those years ago.

When she looked up at the house her heart swelled. The Upside Down version had been a home away from home, or what Eleven had imagined it to be in the real world.

What she would do to live here forever.

"Should be, or will be?" Will asked carefully, bringing her back to the surface of the situation at hand.

Mike frowned and added for emphasis, "Will be. Why do you ask?"

Will had a little smirk on his face, due to his friend's slightly defensive demeanour. "We don't exactly want her finding you sneaking into the house with a girl, let alone Eleven, while she knows she's meant to be out."

Mike had caught on to what Will meant and his neck and cheeks flushed hot. "I'll just say she's my lab partner or something mundane." He stuttered this out and scratched the back of his head erratically.

The telltale signs had all been there, although Will could easily define this as first stage Mike who could still talk but was clearly flustered by the thoughts Will had put into his head.

"It's not like she's going to care…" Mike's sheepish muttering trailed off as Eleven stood right next to him and looked to him with worry.

"Will you be in trouble if I stay here?"

"No! No," Mike insisted eagerly to her suddenly wide eyes. "It'll be like last time, but with a lot more hiding. And even if my Mom knew, she wouldn't rat you out…she'd want to help you…"

"Mike," Will spoke uncharacteristically, his mere threat against the idea embedding itself stiffly in the atmosphere around them.

"Of course I wouldn't tell her," defended Mike hastily, taking Eleven's hand and pulling her calmly along as Will followed, a large smirk returning as he watched Mike slowly digest that he'd just taken Eleven's hand with so much confidence that he was now not sure how to remain so.

"Her car's not in the driveway…it could be in a garage..."

Mike ignored Will's observation as he unlocked the front door and walked straight in, Eleven still attached to his hand, though being careful to stand behind him. She wouldn't dare herself to come out from behind him, as he stood half a head taller than her and he called out.

"MOM?! MOM!...HOLLY?!"

"Now you're just being pedantic."

Mike glared in Will's direction as his shoulders hunched in defence.

"Your six year old sister hasn't been left alone a day in her life Mike," Will said honestly.

Mike's narrowed eyes caved in to the thought and nodded eventually in agreement. Eleven let a little snort out at the odd spectacle she was witness to, like something so casually funny in the dialogue of the books she read.

Mike's heart skipped a beat at the sound. He turned to look at her, almost pleased her presence was a constant now. Her smile grew sheepish.

She wondered what other things she'd learn from Mike that books maybe couldn't give her a full scope of.

Will's eyebrow rose at hearing Eleven sardonically laugh for the first time, but he had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at Mike's practical awe at the very instance she laughed without feeling any sort of disentanglement to another time in her life.

She hadn't been back 24 hours and it was clear he was falling for her all over again, although whether he'd be willing to see that early enough to act upon it was a problem for another day.

Will shook his head at the hilarious absurdity that such a stress inducing time could bring, and moved past the two.

"Mike will have a ton of new books for you to read, to learn more about the world and whatnot," Will spoke casually as they followed him to the basement door, "Educational stuff and fun stuff – maybe we can sneak some of the Nancy Drew books past your Mom, Mike?"

Eleven's eyes lit up and a new, more open smile broke out upon her lips, "Nancy Drew?"

"You've read Nancy Drew?" asked Mike, pleasantly surprised.

Eleven nodded vigorously, "The Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase. I didn't know there were others."

It was the most she'd spoken without any awkward or breathy pauses. Memorised and loved deep down that it fell from her tongue like a well oiled conveyor belt of pronounced sounds, finally tumbling with grace from her lips. It was getting easier for her, and they had begun to notice too.

Mike caught himself simply staring at her again, absorbing everything that he knew of the Eleven of his past and the Eleven he was learning more about in his present. He never responded and while Eleven understood why sometimes, she didn't right in that moment.

"There are El," Will decided to step in when the silence was growing too immense, even for his tolerance. "Tons of them. Mrs. Wheeler named Mike's older sister after the character, right Mike?"

Mike stuttered again for a moment before clearing his throat, almost making himself come off deeper in his voice the second go.

"Yeah…yeah, Mom loved the Nancy Drew books growing up and insisted Nancy be a Nancy…when she was born I mean…it's not like she came out the womb wearing a name tag and someone thought it was best to change it..."

Will closed his eyes as he realised Mike was losing his cool. Folding his lips inward to hide his very amused smile, El watched him carefully, as though Mike's explanation made total sense to everyone else and she just didn't necessarily understand it from her perspective. But he hadn't made the effort to explain it to her in the way he had when telling stories of his friends for her to fully comprehend. Eleven figured maybe it was because she was staring at him. And Will seemed to be struggling not to laugh at this rather dismal display of old friends catching up again.

"Okay…I'm going to drop this down in the basement – you two should head to Nancy's room," Will broke the silence, once again. He ushered Eleven toward the staircase. Once she took the first few stairs and turned the corner after the break, Will looked back at Mike, highly charmed.

"I have literally never given you a softer low ball through the entirety of our friendship Mike."

"Shut up Byers."

Mike followed Eleven as Will sent one last derisive smile before taking Eleven's stuff down to the basement.

Reluctantly, Mike took the stairs two at a time and eventually arrived at his sister's room, where Eleven stood in a similar awe as she had three years prior, but it was littered with a sense of happiness. All the pretty things she could be surrounded by again, all the feminine aspects of teenagers splayed out in lilac and pastel pink patterns on her quilt and old photographs, in teddy bears and that one poster of Tom Cruise she acquired in '84.

And then there was that bleak reminder in the shape of the strip from a photo booth, where Nancy and Barb had their small, content moment, before it all disappeared.

Mike figured that Nancy had to leave it there, that his sister might have other photos in her Columbia dorm, or that she didn't want any grieving thoughts attached to her time studying interstate. Whatever his sister's reasoning, he'd wished she thought to take this one telltale photo out.

Eleven's fingers carefully grazed the strip of black and white photos, an upheaval of a sigh slowly overcoming her shoulders like a wave of fresh guilt.

"Hey," Mike spoke quietly.

When she turned to him, her eyes looked heavy and weary. Even if Mike knew they would have to eventually speak about old grief, he knew they probably didn't have much time, nor was he sure he could back through that after earlier that day,

"We…um…we should try finding you some clothes."

Mike directed her to the closet, opening it and revealing the vast array that Nancy's last five years in fashion had to provide for someone of a completely different height and girth. They would have to make do, clearly, but Mike knew that it would only lift Eleven's spirits if they managed to pull something together that Molly Ringwald would envy. Or what teenage boys would perceive as such.

Mike looked how Eleven felt, overwhelmed and a little afraid, although both emotions had very different motives.

"Okay. We have to find something that will fit…"

He started to sort through the stuff on hangers and slid them across whenever his nose wrinkled with displeasure. His sister used to dress quite conservatively feminine considering her robust personality, but Mike supposed that was partly due to his mother's influence earlier on in her childhood.

Eventually Will made his way up and looked between a ruffled Mike, who was perplexed by his sister's wardrobe and Eleven, who was just so inexperienced that she didn't know how to help.

Sensing her insecurities, Will pulled her forward and sized her up.

"El's not going to fit in most of Nancy's clothes."

Mike turned back to look at him, a small glare deep on his brow. Will figured Mike had already discovered this.

"Unless she has any baggy pieces we can work with?" he attempted to assuage everyone's concerns.

Mike's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment, only for the phone to ring on Nancy's bedside table. The old pastel styled dial phone heightened everyone's anxieties once more, and carefully Mike scrambled to answer the phone without sounding quite so flustered.

"Hello?"

"Oh my God Mike, what's happening? Mom was freaking out after you left this morning! Is Will okay?"

"Nancy?" Mike said befuddled, uncertain as to how he could answer every single question at once.

"Who else? Is Will okay? Do I need to get Jonathan home?"

"Will's fine –"

"Don't tell her anything!" Will harshly whispered and gestured his head toward Eleven. Mike conceded and turned away to continue the phone conversation with his panicked sister.

"Look this isn't a great time Nance-"

"Isn't for me either, I'm running late to a class but I thought I would call just one last time before I left."

"Oh okay…well everything is fine."

"Promise?"

"Uh…well…there is one thing…"

"Mike!" Will shook his head vigorously.

Mike held up his hand carefully and said, "I have a bit of a…Weird Science thing happening here…I was wondering if you have any clothes that are too big for you lying around in your closet."

"Weird Science thing? Like a school project?"

"Yeah?" Mike spoke odd, which had Will slap a hand to his face. His friend could at times be the most unconvincing actor in the history of schoolboy liars, worse certainly than Will had proven to be under pressure.

Mike also should've known his sister wouldn't have seen such a geeky movie, even if Robert Downey Jr. was in it.

"Right…well Aunt Bridget sent those hand me down Levi's Cheryl grew out of and I'm sure there's a couple of oversized shirts if you look hard enough."

"Jeans or shorts?" Mike said hurriedly.

"Jeans…Mike what the hell are you doing for this project?"

"No time to explain – last minute thing."

"You never do this stuff last minute…are you sure you can't just tell me?"

"Certain Nance – it's going to be a surprise…a surprise grade," he quickly corrected when Will eagerly gestured about the room in the background. Eleven had moved closer to Mike during the conversation and sat on the bed listening carefully on the phone. She knew to be quiet. But it was nice to hear Nancy's voice again, even if it was through straining her hearing to focus on the call alone.

"Mike, is everything okay?"

Mike was about to answer his somewhat disturbed sister, when he realised Eleven was right beside him and he looked to her, her very presence again a testament to what the brilliant reinvigoration he'd needed for some time had felt within him.

"Yeah…everything's real swell Nance."

Eleven smiled at hearing this, even if she wasn't looking at him, still carefully directing her ears to the phone to listen in.

"Jesus Mike, something's definitely up. That loving sounding voice? Swell?"

Mike stopped himself from rolling his eyes and focused on the time. "Point is, you don't have to worry…I promise."

A deep sigh echoed across the phone line and eerily to both the listeners. "Okay. If it isn't, I'll find out."

"What will you do? Come home and interrogate me?"

He could practically hear her fears dissolve and her smirk return to her features, as she responded: "No, I'll just junk punch you instead."

Eleven's brow furrowed, clearly unaware of the term as Mike could practically feel the pain of the last time someone punched him that way going all the way up to his stomach…probably a couple of months ago from Troy. His sister had never done it, but she often threatened it as a means of getting her way.

But whatever was to come from Eleven's return, he didn't want to be on his sister's displeasure and how she would act upon it when she would too discover the truth if he had any say in the matter.

"I'll try and do things that don't worry you then," Mike said hurriedly.

Her small snort told him Nancy didn't trust his word.

"Maybe if you prove you're not as reckless as you have been the past 24 hours, I'll actually believe that."

She hung up soon after when it was clear that her being any later would have her locked out of a classroom for the one class she needed for that day.

Mike gave up on being polite about his sister's stuff when he realised they had little time, communicating what his sister offered as to appease to Will's very paranoid senses to hurry up this process.

Eleven sat awkwardly on the bed when Mike pulled out the old dark wash Levi's Nancy was referring to on the call and saw his cousin's initials stitched into the seam. They would just about fit and if they looked baggy, then that was probably the fashion anyway.

"We'll roll them up," Will insisted when he looked at the length, comparing them to Eleven's legs.

"If there are any belts around here that would be good for holding them up if they're a little too big in the waist."

Mike probably shouldn't have been so surprised at Will's intuitions when it came to girl's clothing, considering he grew up with just a mother and no father to restrict him from that ability and knowledge. But it occasionally had him question certain things he'd picked up over the last couple of years.

Then again, Will was artistic, and considerate. It was no doubt a better help to have him assisting Mike in this very small endeavour for Eleven and didn't necessarily define anything very particular about him, but it occasionally nagged in the back of his mind.

"My Mom might have something...and I think I found something along the lines of a shirt."

After laying the jeans down on the floor, he paired the red and white striped top above it and nodded. "It will do. Now let's just hope Eleven fits into it, even with adjustments."

"Um…is that all?" Eleven asked carefully.

Mike and Will both looked up, confused.

She didn't look remotely unappreciative, but rather unsure.

Eleven was holding her arms around her chest in a protective way, but also in a way to conceal them. Will seemed to catch on before Mike could even follow his train of thought.

"Mike," Will quickly turned to him, "maybe you should go and get a belt and I'll finish up here with El."

Mike frowned, still very out of the loop and a little peeved by that, but followed along at Will's insistent eyes and the ticking clock. He figured he could also grab the stash of allowance he'd saved up too in his room on his way back.

Once the door clicked behind him, without hesitation, Will pulled out the bedside drawer filled with Nancy's underwear. Eleven was set for underwear specifically but lacked in material upstairs. And where Nancy had little, Eleven had some more.

Will sighed and, looking mildly uncomfortable he asked, "When was the last time you wore a bra?"

"A long time ago…" Eleven said with uncertainty. Time was rather skewed in the Upside Down, but she'd outgrown the bra she wore that was also sent to her as it had become rather painfully small. It was easy just to avoid it in the Upside Down but for some strange reason, Eleven felt quite insecure about it now. It didn't help that Will was awkward too, but she knew it had something to do with how the boys originally reacted when she tried to change in front of them.

Will was dismal at the thought of Nancy's bras, going through them and finding out that none of the leftovers fit, nor would they likely fit. But with some light and striking pink poking through the pastels and whites of Nancy's bras, Will had some inkling that this bra was never worn.

He pulled it out and saw a cup larger than Nancy's natural breast brought back to memory. Will was also certain that it was just too big for Nancy's small figure in general. He couldn't figure out why Nancy would own something quite so racy, but also wondered if it was an option within their limited supplies.

Eleven had pulled on the jeans to see that they fit where it counted and would be secure with a belt and Will was grateful that she was thinking ahead for time's sake and managed to do so discreetly while he wasn't looking. There was a strange barrier of trust gained from their connection.

Taking the pink bra to Eleven and holding it up with some difficultly to her chest, he asked,

"Could you hold this up…against them, and see if it feels like it fits?"

Eleven lifted the sweatshirt she was currently wearing only somewhat and with the other hand, pushed the bra up and against her chest. She smiled somewhat, which had Will sighing gratefully.

"Alright, seems to be the best we have right now before we can get you some new clothes. Are you okay to put it on?"

She nodded eagerly and as she pulled off his mom's sweatshirt, Will carefully turned around and got the red and white striped t-shirt off the floor. When Eleven had the pink bra in place, arms through the straps and covered where it mattered, she grabbed the shirt from Will and shoved it over her head quickly.

Will had bent down to roll up the cuff of the jeans up and shortly after went to find a pair of shoes Nancy hopefully got in the "too big hand me down" selection from her cousin Cheryl. After picking apart pretty pairs of ballet shoes and the occasional boot in her shoe trunk, he found a pair of Chuck Taylor high tops in a dark, and yet well faded blue. They'd been used, but they were likely comfortable and wouldn't bring the wrong kind of attention to Eleven.

Brenner and his men would likely not be looking for some brunette teenager dressed like an actual teenager, but looking for the mess that she had originally come as from the Upside Down. From what he could see of her current ensemble, things were going to be just fine, as Mike had insisted.

Will instructed her sock covered feet into both and tied her laces firmly together. Overall, she could get away with it when her hair was fixed properly. He really needed to get some money for that.

He moved up to adjust her shirt so it fit her better when he realised that the bra was still loose on her and under the shirt.

"Is it not on properly?"

Eleven shrugged, looking sheepish as she said, "This isn't like the one I had back there…"

Will nodded thoroughly and gently turned her around as he lifted the back of her top up. Now he could see where she might have become confused. This contraption was not for convenience but mainly for appearance. Will was beginning to think that the people who designed these bras were sadistic.

"Okay, I think I've figured it out. Hold up shirt for me please?"

Eleven did as she was told and funnily didn't feel flustered with Will helping her with something she had perceived to be intimate whereas it felt quite so whenever Mike became flustered around her.

However neither had accounted for Mike's sudden return, with a belt in hand, some cash stashed into his pocket nor the Supercom held up in his hand with panic in his eyes.

"My mom's home! We'll need to go out the…"

That panic soon changed to something very different.

Will couldn't yet figure out Satan's idea for a bra clip and Mike still had a full show of (admittedly covered) breasts belonging to Eleven, who after having read enough could tell this was against the usual convention between girls and boys. It was confirmed when Mike slapped a hand to his eyes and his face turned as blush pink as the bra he could see Eleven wearing loosely around her chest. It was possibly a shade darker than that.

Will pulled the striped shirt down from Eleven's grasp and over her exposed area and knotted it tightly at the back to fit her form better and to keep the awkwardly loose bra in place. He moved to shut the door quickly when he shook the two out of their very uncomfortable space.

"What do we need to do before your mom can catch us Mike?" Will said with a frightening determination in his eyes.

Mike swallowed, eyes closed and Will couldn't tell if he was trying to erase this moment or savour what would be his very first time seeing a girl unrelated to him in a bra. Hoping it was the less perverse, he jolted Mike twice and reiterated their very pressing matter.

"Nancy's window," Mike stuttered.

"We go out the window?"

"Steve used to do it all the time…pretty sure Jonathan came through that way once or twice too."

Will stopped himself from rolling his eyes and tried to snap Mike out of his very solidly uncomfortable teenage habit of fighting between decency and having lurid thoughts about Eleven suddenly rush through his mind.

"We'll process this later. C'mon!"

Eleven pulled her jacket on and Mike picked up again on the urgency as Will pulled up the latch on the window and with some help from Mike, heaved it up to get through. Eleven wasn't one to be bashful or ask questions in a state of panic, so she didn't wait when ushered through the window and onto the roof of the garage.

"Hurry up! Over." Dustin's voice echoed from the Supercom from Mike's hand. He stuffed it into his jean pocket.

Mike moved to be in front of her once out the window and had momentarily forgotten what had just happened as he took her hand to keep her balanced on the slanted roof. "I'll help you down."

Being the tallest, he dropped onto power box below with ease and some well-timed precision. With some help from her powers she landed on the box with him softly. He had her in closer proximity now and was beginning to feel the heat from before rise up from within as she looked up, feeling quite beset by what had occurred. She was half a head shorter than him and he thought that was remarkably cute despite this very excruciating playback of her. Mike swallowed a very confronting lump in his throat. Why was he so uncontrollable and why hadn't he knocked?

Luckily Will was there to douse this set of symptoms with figurative cold water of worried words.

"Guys I need to get down!"

Mike leapt lightly from the box and to the concrete path next to it and helped Eleven down again, despite how little she needed anybody's help in such a scenario. As Will's feet made impact with the power box, their hands dropped away from each other.

They picked up speed when Lucas spoke through the Supercom: "I'm parked behind you on Kerley. Over."

Mike headed the small group on pounding feet and Will looked back to check on whether Karen Wheeler was more sceptical of her son's whereabouts and curious enough to check the loud sounds from the power box. She hadn't been fazed quite enough to discover them sprinting away from the house, which Will gave a sigh of relief to.

Once they reached the road again, the same road they used to run away from the Department of Energy all those years ago, Mike opened Lucas' door while the others piled into the back. Eleven ended up in the middle and they drove off with little warning from Lucas.

It seemed that the atmosphere grew tense when memory overtook their urgency, which was relaxing significantly, only to be left behind with the awkward image burned in their minds, but rather difficultly for Mike.

"What the hell took you guys so long?" asked Dustin incredulously.

"Yeah, we were out in under two minutes," Lucas persisted.

"How about we just not talk for the next five minutes?" Will spoke harshly for the three of them.

Dustin and Lucas both reacted very negatively to this, but when they saw Eleven squished in between the two guys in the back looking more uncomfortable and confused as their two friends, Lucas made a silent decision to not continue this and shook his head toward Dustin.

And so it remained quiet for a time and it was growing to be tangible soon enough.

Until Dustin noticed something out of place about Eleven's body in particular when eying the group in the back in the rear view mirror.

"What's going on with Eleven's shirt?"

Been a while, my bad. Very busy with life and all that, but I'm still hoping to have this done before the Season Two Premiere since it will have absolutely nothing to do with it in canon after Season One.

If there were any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, give me a heads up!

And enjoy x

Also, lol been trying to cap chapters at 5000 words and I still managed to top it off with an extra 2700 something words.