"Can I?," Mike knocked on the door to Eleven's bedroom, which wasn't closed all the way but, as usual, left a three-inch gap between the door and the frame.

"Come in," Eleven said.

The door opened and Mike saw the girl sitting on the bed. She hadn't gotten up to open the door but that didn't bother Mike. There was a very serious expression on her face.

"Can I?," Mike pointed to a chair.

Eleven, for answer, moved the chair with her powers to where Mike was. Mike sat down face to face with her.

"Eleven, can we talk?"

"Talk about what?"

Mike felt his heart sink as he saw on the face of the girl he loved the very same expresión she had the day after the incident at Rink'O'Mania. But this time, he was determined not to screw up again.

"Well, I don't know... about all this that's going on," he said, trying not to insist too much or pressure her.

It happened that that day in California, Mike had gotten Eleven to open up simply by giving her space, the problem then was that her answers ("you don't love me anymore", "I'm a monster") had not been even remotely what he expected, and he had reacted very, very badly, with reproaches and defensiveness. But this time, he was determined not to make the same mistake. No defensiveness, that had been his mistake then, just as Joyce had explained when he had told her about it. Although the idea terrified him, this time he was clear about what he should do if things went wrong: undress emotionally, just as he had done days ago in the pizzeria.

"And what do you want to say? That the Upside Down is invading Hawkins? That people are leaving? That Henry isn't dead and is just waiting for a better opportunity to launch his attack again?, " answered Eleven very seriously, without looking him in the face. "You already know all that. What do you want to talk about, then?"

"There's one thing I don't know. How do you feel?"

Eleven was speechless, her face expressionless. Mike waited a long time, and since the girl didn't speak, he decided to keep talking himself.

"Eleven, please, talk to me. I can't stand seeing you like this. Yell at me, get angry, insult me, throw things at me, blow me up with your powers if you want, but please, PLEASE, answer me," Mike felt his heart break.

Eleven's face twitched for a moment and Mike saw that she was trying not to cry. He leaned down a little and took her hands in his. Relieved, he saw she didn't swat him away.

"Mike, what you told me in the pizzeria, while I was fighting Henry…, " that questioning look that Mike had learned to consider inseparable from his girlfriend appeared on her face, "…was it true?"

"Of course it was!," Mike snapped, then remembered his goal of not being defensive and tried to calm down. "Eleven, do you need me to repeat all that to your face, looking into your eyes, so that I can see your reaction? I will repeat it to you as many times as necessary until you believe it too!"

Eleven nodded weakly. Mike took a deep breath, stared into Eleven's piercing mahogany eyes, mentally reviewed what he had said then (which he remembered word for word) and began,

"El? I don't know if you can hear this, but... but if you can, I want you to know I'm here, okay? I'm right here. And... I love you," he tried to say this as slowly and clearly as he could. A sobbing expression appeared on the girl's face. Mike took another breath and continued. "El, do you hear me? I love you. I'm sorry I don't say it more. I... It's not because I'm scared of you. I'm not. I've never felt that way. Never. But I am scared that one day you'll realize you don't need me anymore. And I thought if I said how I felt, it would somehow make that day hurt more. But the truth is, El, I don't know how to live without you. " Mike felt something warm and wet slide down his cheeks, and saw the same thing happening to Eleven. He was tempted to hug her, but stopped himself. He had to end. "I feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods," how corny that sounded, but how true! His entire former life without El seemed dull and faded compared to his later life with her. "You were wearing that yellow Benny's Burgers T-shirt. And it was so big, it almost swallowed you whole." Eleven laughed weakly, clearly remembering. "And I knew right then and there, in that moment, that I loved you. And I've loved you every day since," without realizing it, he brought his face closer to the girl's. "I love you on your good days. I love you on your bad days. I love you with your powers, I love you without your powers, " Eleven was sobbing, but she didn't take her eyes off Mike's face, and she didn't care that the tears ran down her cheeks liberally across her face, "I love you for exactly who you are. You're my superhero. And... I can't lose you. Okay? Do you hear me? I can't lose you. You can do anything. You can fly. You can move mountains. I believe that. I really do. But right now, you just have to fight. Okay? El. Do you hear me? You need to fight! You have to fight. Fight! FIGHT!"

Eleven nodded vigorously. She was smiling and at the same time she was sobbing. Mike then realized that he had more to say. Because he had understood why the girl was reluctant to tell him much about how she felt.

"And maybe you're afraid that if you tell me how you feel, I'll decide I don't want you anymore as my girlfriend," the expression on Eleven's face, half terror, half surprise, told Mike that he had been right. "Well, I don't want you to think that, never! If you feel bad, I want to feel bad with you. If you feel distressed, I want to feel distressed with you. I want to be worried with you, I want to be sad with you, I want to be happy with you, I want to cry with you," he dried her tears with his handkerchief. "I want your burdens to be my burdens, I want your problems to be my problems, I want your worries to be my worries..."

Eleven looked at him speechlessly. Mike began to think that maybe he had gone too far, hadn't he? Because he really felt that! Yes, that last one sounded like a phrase taken from a romantic novel of those that his mother read (he read them secretly, but not so much for the romantic moments as for the hottest moments, I hope the readers and above all FEMALE readers don't be too harsh on Mike for that, don't forget he was a 15-year-old with raging hormones), but it was expressing what he felt.

"Mike," Eleven said, looking at him with that look so hers, that seemed to read to the bottom of his soul. "Shut up!"

"What?," Mike looked at her, terrified. Had he screwed up?

"You already had me with that things that your life began when you found me in the woods!," Eleven made a strange sound, a mixture of laughter and sobbing. "Because my life also began that day!"

Mike smiled. That certainly made a lot of sense.

"But you're right," she looked down. "I don't want to burden you with my worries because I'm afraid that if I do, you'll want to find yourself another girlfriend who will make you happier. And I can't stand the thought of losing you, neither do I. I can't lose you either!," she squeezed Mike's hands a little, which had never let go of hers.

"Is that why you didn't tell me what was really going on in California?," Mike said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

Eleven nodded weakly.

"Are...are you mad at me?, " an anxious expression appeared on the girl's face.

"NO!," Mike yelled too sharply, which he instantly regretted when he saw the shock on Eleven's face. "El...I'm...not...angry, okay?," he brought his face close to Eleven's and squeezed a little her hands with his hands, which (I insist on it) during this entire conversation had been holding the girl's. "Do you understand? I'm not angry."

Eleven smiled weakly. The two young teens stood like that for a while, sitting face to face, holding hands, staring at each other, and suddenly Eleven let go of his hands and laughed. Mike felt a tingling in his stomach. How much he loved to see her laugh!

"What's so funny to you?," Mike asked.

"I have no idea!," the girl replied, laughing even harder.

And somehow, Mike suddenly found himself laughing out loud until tears came to his eyes. Finally, they both had to stop to catch their breath and wipe their cheeks.

"What a couple we are, aren't we?," Mike said, half amused, half embarrassed.

Eleven nodded vigorously.

"You're the best boyfriend in the world, you know that?"

"Really...really?"

"Promise," Eleven said, wrapping her hands around his neck and bringing her face closer to his.

"And you are the best girlfriend in the world. Not because of the things you can do, that's just a bonus," Mike answered, gently taking her cheeks.

"Mike."

"Yes?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

Needless to say, Mike complied. And it wasn't a tender kiss, no. It was an intense, prolonged, passionate kiss. Eleven, for her part, responded enthusiastically, and soon the two youngsters indulged in an intense making out session.

Hello! I hope you liked this mini fic.

Some personal thoughts on Mike. For all those who are lamenting like "The Mike from the first season was much better, they have messed it up" and things like that, I ask you: what are you talking about? The Mike of the first season, before he met Eleven, calls his sister an "asshole" and when she, at breakfast, tells him that putting chocolate syrup in scrambled eggs is disgusting (it is, of course ), he replies...pouring chocolate syrup into HER scrambled eggs and LAUGHING. Not only that, but later he says in front of his parents that Steve is Nancy's new boyfriend and when she defends herself by saying that they were just studying, Mike tells her this: "Of course, for a human anatomy exam". And when Troy and James pick on them, he reacts passively, letting them hurl racist slurs at Lucas and make fun of Dustin's illness (which we know is also Gaten Matarazzo's). On the other hand, this supposedly exemplary Season One Mike is not only unable to express his feelings for Eleven (although that too) but also repeatedly DENIES that he likes her. More: This Mike fights with Lucas and despite the fact that Dustin insists with very good reasons he must to do so, he repeatedly refuses to apologize, blaming Lucas for everything. Also, when they discover Will's fake corpse and his friends ask him on the verge of tears to stay with them, he doesn't but runs away (and then yells and scolds Eleven without letting her explain herself). No. This Mike is far from being that paragon of virtues that some paint. He is nothing more than an insecure and very lacking in love twelve-year-old boy, but when he meets Eleven and falls in love at first sight, he transforms into someone more heroic and selfless, who is able to jump off a cliff to help a friend in danger. It's Eleven that makes him evolve for the better (and her disappearance transforms him into the moody, depressed preteen he is for most of season two).

For those who criticize Mike for how he treats Will, my reply is that Will is not behaving in an exemplary manner, either. Why doesn't Will tell Mike about how bad Eleven is? If Will is upset that Mike doesn't call him (which is normal), why doesn't he call him himself? When Eleven is ridiculed and bullied at school, what does Will do to help her except stand and watch sadly? Or the fit of jealousy he has when they're at the skating rink, when Will reproaches Mike for not paying attention to him (the same attitude that, in the previous season, he referred to Eleven as a "stupid girl" to "swap spits" with)? Will doesn't want to understand that Mike is no longer the same he was before, he has grown up, his interests and priorities have changed, and above all, now he is in love, even very much in love. Compare their attitude with the one Mike and Dustin have with Lucas. They don't share his newfound interest in basketball, but they respect it, and vice versa, Lucas wants to take advantage of the popularity basketball gives him to help his friends not to be bullied anymore. It is true that he fails miserably, but what counts is his intention. This is a friendship that evolves, that matures as they grow. Which Will hasn't done. For him, Mike is still the twelve-year-old boy who led the Dungeons and Dragons campaigns that we see in the first chapter of Stranger Things, and the painting is a convincing proof of this. It's that twelve-year-old he's in love with, not the real Mike.