Nancy poked her head out of her room. "Are you done now?" she asked. "That was way faster than I thought." She moved towards him and reached out to take the phone.

Mike held it just out of her reach. "No way," he said defensively. "I was just saying goodbye to Will. I still have to talk to El, so you can piss off."

Sticking up her middle finger, Nancy stormed back into her room.

A high, soft voice came through the phone. "What does 'piss off' mean?" El asked inquisitively.

Mike's heart skipped a beat. "El," he said excitedly. "It's so good to hear your voice."

"You too," she replied. There was a brief silence before she repeated, "What does 'piss off' mean?"

"Oh, that," Mike said. "Well, uh, it's a way of saying 'go away'. Nancy was trying to steal the phone from me so she could talk to Jonathan. But I got here first, fair and square. So I told her to go away."

"Ok," El replied hesitantly. "So if Joyce is talking on the phone and I want to talk to you, I tell her to piss off?"

Mike tried not to laugh. "No," he said, "definitely do not do that. 'Piss off' is kind of a rude thing to say to someone."

He listened to El comprehend that. "Like mouth breather," she said sagely.

Mike chuckled. "Yeah, like mouth breather." He glanced at the ceiling. "Have your powers started to come back at all?" he asked. He knew it was unlikely, but maybe leaving Hawkins had done something good for her.

She didn't answer. Taking this for a no, Mike lowered his head. "Don't worry," he said encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll get there soon. Until then, at least you have Will and Jonathan to get things from high places for you."

She giggled. "Yeah," she sighed.

"Are the Byers treating you well?" Mike asked. "Are you happy with them?"

"Yes," El replied firmly. "Joyce is nice. She lets me eat eggos for breakfast. Will and I are really good friends now. We go to school together."

"He told me," Mike agreed. "What about Jonathan?"

El hesitated. "Jonathan doesn't talk a lot. He stays in his room when he isn't at school. I think he's really sad. He misses Nancy."

Letting a hiss of air out his mouth, Mike shook his head. "I don't know what he sees in her," he said. "It's not like she's nice or funny or anything. She's like the worst sister ever."

"I can hear you," came Nancy's muffled voice, accompanied by several loud bangs on the wall. "You can stop bad mouthing me to my boyfriend's sister, now."

"Piss off," Mike replied loudly.

El snorted loudly on the other side of the phone. "Piss off," she murmured to herself as if it were the funniest joke she'd ever heard.

"So have you talked to Max at all since you got to Michigan?" Mike asked. "Is she still conspiring against me? I know she hangs out with us all the time, but I still think she has it out for me."

"Haven't talked to her," El replied. "Joyce called you first. I think tomorrow night we'll call Lucas and Max. Are they still boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"You only left a week ago, not that much has changed," Mike said with a rueful smile. "I mean, true, Max and Lucas don't have the best track record of staying together for longer than a few weeks. But I think they're in a good place now."

"She didn't dump his ass," El mused.

An idea popped into Mike's head. "Hey," he said slowly, "do you and Will have your walkie talkies with you still? Because if you do, we could maybe contact you whenever we wanted using Cerebro."

"We brought them," El assured, "but they're still in boxes. As soon as they're out, I'll tell you. We can talk on Cerebro. And sing together."

Mike laughed. "I don't know if we could ever be as good as Dusty-bun and Susie-poo."

"How is Dustin?" El asked.

"He's doing just fine," Mike answered. "He hangs out at the arcade a lot with Steve and Robin. They give him free tokens when Keith isn't looking. He and Max got into a big fight over who could get the higher score on Kong."

"Max won," El said, without a hint of doubt in her voice.

Mike nodded. "Yup," he affirmed. "She beat his ass."

They stood there silently for a moment, each simply taking in the other's presence. Mike grinned at the floor, imagining El's face as she gripped the phone. "Isn't it amazing that we can talk to each other so easily?" Mike said happily. "Imagine if we lived in the olden days. We'd have to write each other letters. That would take so long."

"Letters are good," El said. "We can keep parts of people with us. Even if they are gone."

"Do you want me to write you a letter?" Mike asked earnestly. "Because I will."

"A letter," El repeated. "Yes. So I can keep it in my pocket."

"If you wanted to," Mike said ambivalently. "Look, I'll write it now. Nancy really wants to talk to Jonathan, and I wish I could talk to you all night, but I can't. So I'll get you your letter."

"Ok," El said. "I love you."

Mike froze. He moved his lips, but no sound came out.

"Mike?"

He let out a deep breath. "I love you too, El,' he said finally. "And I miss you. And I want to talk to you soon. Ok?"

"Soon," El agreed.

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Yay, I love Mileven so much! I wouldn't say OTP, but they're still so adorable. I loved all their moments in season 3. Even the breakup! I felt like it gave them opportunity to grow as a couple. Next chapter is Jonathan and Nancy!