JANUARY 15 1985

El thought she could make Hopper see some sense about the arcade tournament. Well, tomorrow was gonna be the day that Mike would compete and Hopper hasn't changed his mind. El thought about her options; she thought about how easy it would be to disobey him and threaten him with her powers. But Hopper taught her better than that. She's too respectful, too innocent to do that.

El walked outside the cabin with a tennis ball that Hopper had bought after she heard Mike talk about throwing one against the cabin and catching it when it comes back to them. She was alone though because it was morning and Mike was still at school.

She walked to one of the side corners of the cabin and started throwing the ball against the wood wall. She failed to catch it the first time, barely caught it the second time, failed to catch a third time, and failed to catch it a fourth time. El grunted with anger built up and threw the ball against the wall as hard as she could.

"What's the point of this?!" El said, having a negative outlook without Mike along her side to help her.

Hopper was at the station so she didn't have to act respectfully right now. El walked back inside the cabin and ate some eggos. Then she spent the next two hours watching her morning soap operas. Watching her SOAPS have been the only consistent thing about her life.

Then she looked at her math books, her English books sitting on a table and sighed, not wanting to learn anything today. But regardless, she got up and started learning more about the English language for thirty minutes. Then she tried to understand the math for thirty minutes but was still struggling.

"El?" Mike said through the walkie that was in her room.

She ran to her room and slammed the door shut with her powers, then grabbed the walkie with excitement on her face.

"Mike!"

"El!" Mike tried to sound as excited as she did.

"I tried the tennis ball thing…"

"Yeah. And how was it?"

"Hard and boring. I don't see how that is fun."

Mike let out a chuckle.

"There are things that aren't for everyone. What else have you been doing?" Mike asked.

"Learning… eating… watching…… the usual," El said in a tired tone.

"El….. Um….. You know Valentine's Day is less than a month away?" Mike asked, feeling nervous about bringing up such a thing to a clueless El.

"Valentine's Day? What is that?" El asked.

"It's on February 14th each year. It's like…… It's like… uh… a special day where people who… like, like each other go on dates or get each other presents and cards."

"Date?"

"Like… when two people who like each other go somewhere to spend time together… I guess," Mike let out an awkward cough.

"Oh…… I like you, Mike. Should we date?" El innocently asked.

That one question sent chills down Mike's spine.

"I… I don't know…. I-I-I mean…. If you'd want to, I-Uh, that would be cool.. But like… no pressure," Mike forcefully laughed, almost sweating through his clothes.

"Yes. We go date," El said.

"Right… I mean, where would we go though?"

"Anywhere away from here," El replied, being completely serious.

5 hours later

It started raining as Mike came inside the cabin, having his clothes a little wet along with his hair. El licked her lips at the sight. He sat down on her bed and tried to fix his hair; El sat down beside him and intentionally messed it up again just to see the look on his face.

Mike's hair was covering his eyes now as he turned to El and smiled. El laughed out loud and kissed him while pushing his hair back up so she could see his eyes.

El caressed both of his cheeks and bit her lip.

"Your eyes. Pretty," El said in a soft tone before kissing him again.

"I missed you this entire week, El," Mike said as he broke off the kiss and held onto her hands.

"I did too, Mike."

Mike stood up and grabbed the tennis ball off the floor. He held up for El to see while grinning.

"Let's play catch with it outside. You know, just keep on throwing it back and forth to each other," Mike suggested.

El looked up at him, unsure whether he was being serious or not.

"It's raining," El replied.

Mike shrugged his shoulders and pulled El up to her feet.

"And?"

"We'll get wet," El simply said.

"Are you telling me the great Eleven is afraid of getting a little wet?" Mike teased.

"Um. No?" El said, entirely confused.

"Then let's go. Come on."

Mike grabbed her hand and started to lead her outside.

Hopper saw them going out the door and stopped them with his voice?

"Where are you two going?" Hopper asked, making them turn around to face him.

"Just outside to throw the tennis ball," Mike said.

"It's raining…"

"So?" El replied, picking up the careless attitude from Mike.

Hopper nodded his head.

"OK. shoot yourself," Hopper said.

Mike and El looked at each other, then ran out of the cabin into the pouring rain. They were already soaked. The rain had really picked up when Mike entered the cabin earlier.

Mike ordered El to stay where she was as he ran back a good distance. He threw the tennis ball at her and she dropped it.

"Come on, butter fingers, catch it!" Mike had to yell through the sound of heavy rain.

"I'M TRYING!" El said, irritated with not being able to catch a stupid tennis ball.

El threw the ball to Mike but it didn't quite reach him as it rolled to his feet.

Mike threw the ball to her again. El dropped it again. Mike sighed.

El picked it up and threw it to Mike. Mike was able to catch it, although he had to run forward to get to it.

"Alright, let's raise the stakes!" Mike said.

"What?"

They were both completely soaked. El found his wet hair to be so enthralling. He looked so different, yet so hot.

"If you don't catch this, you have to let me kiss you. If you do catch it, I'll get undressed and only wear my underwear. Deal?" Mike asked.

El licked her lips and smirked at him. She couldn't refuse a deal like that.

"Deal!"

Mike threw the ball and it was about to hit El's hands. But then the ball froze mid air right before it made contact with her. She simply reached her hand out and grabbed it, then wiped the blood from her nose. Mike understandably was mad.

"That's cheating!" Mike said.

"You never said I couldn't use my powers," El replied, finding the loophole.

Mike looked down at the ground in shame. He didn't think he'd lose the bet based off El's catching skills. He decided to own up to it though; he looked up at El and nodded.

He took off his shirt, then his shoes, then his pants. Now all he was wearing were underwear and socks.

El couldn't stop herself from giggling at how ridiculous and cute Mike looked.

"You happy?!" Mike said.

El nodded her head yes. She was laughing at first, until she realized how wet his body was. She could see his chest, his stomach, his legs. She could even see an outline of a particular body part through his underwear.

She stopped looking at the area, knowing it was bad news based on Mike's talks with her.

His whole body was shivering in the cold rain, but he didn't care. He walked over to a fully clothed Eleven who had heart eyes at the moment and grabbed her hand, softly kissing it.

"Since you cheated, maybe you can give me a little something," Mike said while smirking and tilting his head in a flirtatious way.

El eyed up his entire body before putting a hand on his chest.

"Hmmm. You have been good. Maybe you do deserve… kiss," El said.

She leaned in and smooched him. Mike started kissing back as it became a battle of supremacy. He was trying his best to avoid touching her body with his crotch area.

"WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU TWO DOING?!" Hopper yelled, standing on the porch of the cabin.

El's eyes widened out of fear as she looked at Hopper, however Mike was just awkwardly smiling.

"EL, GET IN HERE AND GET DRIED OFF NOW!" Hopper ordered, making El immediately run into the cabin.

"AND MIKE….. PUT YOUR DAMN CLOTHES ON AND GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! JESUS, WHAT AM I GONNA DO WITH YOU TWO?!" Hopper shouted one last time before slamming the door shut on Mike.

Mike felt amazing. He truly was invincible when it came to Hopper. Because Mike knows that Hopper knows how important Mike is to El. He wouldn't do anything to harm Mike, so why wouldn't Mike take exciting risks for El?

Mike got dressed up in his soaked clothes and peddled back to his house, thinking about the big tournament tomorrow.