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Chapter Eight

Here Comes Your Man

The car was pulled over on the side of the road where it was most discreet in the woodland area and Eleven and Will had disappeared behind one of the many trees shortly after they had stopped. Once Dustin pointed out the weird bunching underneath Eleven's shirt, they knew they would have to deal with her bra sooner rather than later.

Mike was still silent on the matter and while uncomfortable with the thought of Will helping Eleven, also knew he was in no place to be so close to her that way again. It wasn't like he reacted that way whenever he had to help Holly get dressed, nor was he flustered whenever his sister walked by him half dressed in the bathroom back in the day. But there was something mightily difficult with being near Eleven half dressed. And Will just had a no nonsense approach when the time came to come to Eleven's aid in vulnerable situations.

It was very different when they were twelve. And now while Mike was at an age to better appreciate these rare connections with the opposite sex, specifically Eleven, he was a complete fucking mess.

Dustin and Lucas didn't fail to notice this either. Dustin was grinning wickedly and Lucas tried to hide his smile but couldn't seem to stop dreaming up what happened. It was only until Dustin burst that they got an answer. Once he got to the part where he burst in after Lucas' call, Dustin could already see what he was going to say with a little glee on his face.

"I saw her with what I think is Nancy's bra on her body."

"And Will was in there with her?" Lucas asked dubiously after listening properly.

"He was helping her…like he's doing now," Mike said with his head in his hands.

"Weird…I thought you would," Dustin spoke honestly.

Lucas whacked Dustin in the side and Dustin exclaimed loudly, "I'm not trying to be an ass. I seriously thought this was Mike's area."

When Mike looked up to frown at this suggestion, Dustin went on to explain what he meant.

"We freaked out the minute she did anything remotely odd, like when she almost took her top off in front of us? And Mike would correct her whenever we essentially overreacted. That was how things usually played out."

Lucas couldn't help but agree with this from memory of that week with her. Mike always dealt with teaching Eleven how to be normal, what to do, and not to do, while also desperately looking for Will, while Dustin seemed only so helpful toward Eleven and Lucas speculated while being very paranoid about her existence. It threw the original dynamic a bit, even if they were never giving Will up again.

"Now Will's helping her, not only in the bathroom but while she's changing, which probably has something to do with their connection…it's just different," Dustin finished in deeper thought than usual.

"Connection?"

Lucas and Dustin looked to each other very carefully and turned back to Mike who never actually got the explanation from Will while he was unconscious.

Dustin swallowed down the dryness that collected when it dawned on him that maybe this should have been revealed to Mike at a better time.

Lucas sighed, "You were knocked out by your own shock when Will told us how he got Eleven back. After that, you were so emotional and then enamoured by her being back…we kind of just thought we'd leave it until later, since our priorities switched really quickly when Will told us about the jacket."

Mike's frown deepened and neither Lucas nor Dustin felt alleviated by that sign.

Mike said sharply, "Explain."

Will had just clipped Eleven into place with her bra, and was working on the belt Mike had taken from his mother's room. Once he looped her through and tightened it to the very first hole, she was finally properly set.

Eleven didn't prevent herself from testing the undergarment as she bounced up and down. Will chuckled at the sight as she seemed pleased with this new adjustment in her clothes.

"Better?" asked Will with a small smile.

She nodded with a grin. "Much better."

"When everyone knows the truth, Nancy and my mom…well, maybe Mrs. Wheeler can teach you how to deal with them properly. I've only ever dealt with helping mom with her bras when she's really tired…but there is this neat trick she can do where she can take it off from under her clothes and slip it out."

Eleven chuckled at the incredible image considering she'd never attempted such a feat even with her sports bra like undergarment that she had to leave in the Upside Down. She didn't think it was possible with her very detailed one currently.

On the same spot she did a little twirl and attempted to look at her whole outfit now that she had felt better fit into the whole ensemble.

"You look like a real teenage girl El," Will reassured politely.

"Good," Eleven said with finality, her arms swaying slowly back into position. They came to a stop just as her face began to fall by her sides.

"Mike's acting different around me."

Will sighed after a short while and he gestured with his head back to the road. When she fell into step with him, he tried to best explain some of what he thought was why his friend was reacting that way.

"Do you ever think of Mike as something more than…more than what you think of Lucas or Dustin or me?"

"Yes…he's a friend…or more of a friend but not a brother…" she tried to word it from recollection.

"Sounds like you have the gist of why he might be acting different. Mike sees you the same way…even if it's too early for him to say so," Will said, making sure to cover all his bases.

"He's not…upset?"

Will looked puzzled by that. "I don't imagine he'd have any reason to be upset. I think he's just embarrassed because he saw you undressed, albeit very slightly."

"But you weren't. Are you more than a brother to me?"

Will shook his head adamantly and almost laughed at the irony. "No, definitely not in the same category as Mike…I'm just not uncomfortable when it comes to that stuff."

She nodded, although he had a feeling that Eleven wasn't totally satisfied with that response.

"You know what…because we have this weird…connection, you can think of me as like a – a kindred spirit."

"Kindred spirit?" frowned Eleven.

"Yeah, it's like a really good friend who's almost like a brother who doesn't see you the way Mike does."

"Oh," Eleven said, a new perk in her system from hearing such a description. She repeated the phrase to get used to it. "Kindred Spirit."

Truthfully Will felt quite warm from the whole conversation and knew he was right to trust Eleven, knew there was definitely something ethereal about their connection – knew they could empathise from their experiences. He was glad to have that with her.

As they re-approached the car, the expressions on his friends' faces told him that he shouldn't be too happy go lucky at present.

Eleven too, looked apprehensive as she came up behind Will and watched them carefully.

"Oh El. How do you feel?" Lucas asked breathily.

She glanced between the three and could sense the tension, particularly from Mike. Eleven knew she hadn't done anything intentionally to hurt him, and so simply answered, "Good."

Shortly after she got back in the car, which threw Dustin and Lucas but Mike was still distracted.

"So – Will you need to get money out next, right?"

Dustin seemed very keen on keeping the conversation away from whatever clearly had Mike's attention, who also looked quite pissed.

"Yeah," Will said uncertainly as his eyes glazed over the three quickly, "Let's get into the town."

Will didn't think this was the ideal atmosphere to surround a group of friends under dire circumstances, and with a girl who had telekinetic powers too, but didn't think tipping them all over the edge was the best way to handle this right now.

Mike was still quiet on the way into town and Dustin was in charge in keeping Eleven distracted from his sudden mood change in his new seat in the back with her and Will. Truthfully, Mike had absolutely no qualms with her, and he wasn't sure if he'd ever be upset with her for anything she could possibly do to hurt him since it seemed his body reacted any way it wanted without his conscious consideration these days.

But he certainly was pissed. Mike couldn't quite figure out why, but he'd very literally never been the one to be left out on information, never the one to be tiptoed around, until it came to Eleven.

The fact that one person he knew for a whole week when he was twelve could leave such an impression on him all these years later was a thought for another day, since Mike hadn't been able to figure out his fixation for the last couple of years when a couple of girls had desired to be in his sights, (very rare, but it happened). With Will it was a whole other bottle of emotions. He was one of his best friends, always would be, but he could feel him hiding something. More than just Eleven's return.

Mike could sense that Eleven was part of it, but not the entirety of it. Some of what Lucas and Dustin told him explained it, but they never got the full picture either, and it was clear in their faces whenever they too questioned something odd in the story.

The car came to a stop on the outskirts of the town square and Mike was jolted from his thoughts when Will nudged him. There was a displeasure in his eyes when he suggested, "Come with me to the bank."

When Mike didn't immediately respond, Will sighed and got out the back and said, "If you don't want to get whatever's off your chest in private, I wouldn't be ashamed to in front of El."

With that Dustin and Eleven looked to the conversation, being pulled out of their own, Dustin's finger still pointing at something within the town mid air and her having just slowly explained its position being skewed in the Upside Down. Lucas scowled between the two guys and ushered the other two out of the car quickly.

"I'm taking El to the Hobby shop," Dustin said meekly.

"Is that safe?" asked Mike very suddenly getting out of the car.

"Safer than her being around to watch whatever this is," Lucas insisted as he locked the car. "Old man Robinson won't question her existence, let alone gossip about it to the townspeople."

"Regardless, someone else could see her," Mike suggested tensely.

Lucas shook his head and nodded toward Dustin, "She'll be fine, go on ahead."

Eleven didn't seem to have any say in the matter. She would've liked to be present during an argument that was potentially about her but Dustin felt that he would rather be a thousand miles away from it.

"C'mon, I'll show you the kite he's been repairing for Lucas," Dustin said lightly with his big smile.

She looked back once to see that Mike was looking uncertain and Will equally concerned, but for different reasons. Lucas stepped up shortly after she disappeared around the main street corner and into the Hobby Shop with Dustin.

"Now, I'm going with them. You better have sorted your shit out before you get back to the Hobby Shop."

Mike's shoulders slumped as Lucas turned on his heel and headed in the same direction. He turned toward Will who was pulling out a chequebook from his pocket and a one of the fancier pens he swiped from the Nurses office months before for situations such as these.

Will used the hood of Lucas' car as a surface as he expertly wrote in a style of writing familiar to Joyce Byers and signed the cheque. He wrote in the figure soon after that had Mike's eyes bugging out.

"You can't afford that!" Mike spluttered.

"He speaks," Will said sarcastically.

Mike's mouth shut stubbornly and his frown returned.

"As a matter of fact, I can afford it…the hush money is in an easy to access account. I just need Mom's signature and presto, cash."

Mike struggled to not say anything out of curiosity and out of principle of being annoyed with Will's secrecy. Will however, didn't seem so impressed with him either.

"We don't have a ton of time and we'll need to go to the Mall soon if we want to get

Eleven some of her own clothes and supplies – so why don't you tell me on the way to the bank why the hell you're so cheesed off."

Mike's face scrunched up with further dissonance and Will threw his hands up, gesturing he'd given up on giving Mike any more chances to explain it civilly.

Said teenage boy groaned in annoyance and spat, "Why didn't you tell me about Eleven on Wednesday, you know, when it first happened?"

Will's brow rose in disbelief. "That's what this is about? But I told you… you were unconscious." His face crashed in realisation that he was going to have to explain this properly, to Mike of all the people.

Will leaned against the car and said, "I can give you the short version here and now or the long version on the way."

"You're treating this very casually," Mike spoke, fairly offended.

"If I don't, I will probably lose my goddamn mind Mike," Will said honestly as he got up from the car and started walking in the direction of the bank. Mike sagged a little at hearing this and jogged lightly to catch up with him after damning himself for giving in.

When he finally fell into step with Will, the runt of the group decided to explain himself for a second time that day.

Admittedly he was a little more honest with Mike, because he felt like out of all of his friends he wouldn't judge him too harshly for his actions, until he did.

As they turned the corner, Will was speaking more assertively of what occurred, and why he'd been feeling so out of place those last couple of days. "I was so preoccupied with proving she was real in my head and in physical existence. All I wanted to do was help her…but I wouldn't know my connection was real until I got her back."

"You didn't want to tell us…me…because you were afraid you were imagining her?" asked Mike, almost rhetorically.

"Precisely. I've been going back for as long as I could remember. I figured it was just a brain thing…but it's just – I don't know, it's stupid."

"No, go on," Mike said wholeheartedly.

Will pushed a hand through his hair and fidgeted with his jacket before finally being brave enough to reply. "I think its part of me now…the Upside Down. And I think Eleven is tied into it too."

Mike's whole demeanour changed within a matter of minutes of getting the full explanation, his face darkening with concern. "What do you mean its part of you?"

Swallowing uncomfortably as they stopped outside the bank, Will jumped on his feet slightly. "I mean it literally. I'm pretty sure it's not just my trauma playing games. It's always been literally."

Will attempted to turn away toward the bank door before Mike stopped him with his hand. "You've been going back for years, haven't you?"

Will nodded before reassuring him, "I only saw El on that night. I'd never seen her before then."

"I believe you Will," Mike said with a pained smile. "Besides, you're the reason she's here."

"Yeah but I used you as a way of convincing her to come home. She was scared she'd bring something through, carried some guilt of what happened three years ago."

"But she was just a kid," Mike defended automatically.

Will grinned knowingly and responded, "I told her that too. Either way, I convinced her to come back, and it didn't hurt my efforts talking about how much you missed her."

Mike felt his heart drop deep down into his stomach as his cheeks heated up again.

"You're just saying that," adamantly Mike burrowed away from that possibility again.

"Oh but I'm not. It got her attention, and it broke her resolve. I don't understand how you can't see that she clearly feels strongly about you too."

"Well there's a chance she could feel that way about you now, after all you've done to help her," Mike said sheepishly.

After a beat, Will burst out laughing. Mike looked rather humiliated by the whole scene and so Will forced it down as soon as was decent to his poor friend.

"Fucking hell Mike, you need some self confidence. You can't seriously believe that?"

"You caught on to when she needed help before it even came to my mind, help that I usually was capable of doing."

"Yeah and you weren't so hot when you saw a glimpse of her skin."

"I used to be!"

Will tried to stop smiling so much at the irony at it all and decided to try one last time in reassuring his lanky friend. "Point is Mike, my thing with Eleven is starkly different. I don't see her in any way shape or form that you do. I don't get the same desire to go unconscious when I'm around Eleven and I'm sure she sees it that way with me too."

Mike threw his hands up in the air and said incredulously, "I'm never going to live that down am I?" "

Don't count on it. I'll be telling this to your kids one day."

The small glare Mike displayed was in good humour and Will decided to stop teasing him so they could act as mature as they needed to when getting a whole lot of money out to help their possibly wanted experiment become the normal teenage girl she dreamed of being.

Mike wasn't used to the tables being turned on him. He was used to counselling Will, and over the last few days, he was noticing that Will didn't need him as much anymore. While he should've felt like that was a cutting notion, in reality he was glad to see a side of Will that finally came to terms to what he'd experienced and who he was now.

Mike supposed this might never have occurred in Will if it weren't for Eleven coming back. Of all the scenarios he could have lived through and he got one of the better ones.

Eleven's fingers were tracing the shelves, occasionally picking up dust along the way. Lucas snorted at the action and took her hand carefully and used the cuff of her sleeve to bat it off her lightly. She frowned in response.

"You don't want to be breathing any of that in. Chances are there is asbestos in it and these walls and it'll make you sick if you're not careful."

"If this place is covered in asbestos then we're already screwed," Dustin counter whispered.

Lucas rolled his eyes but decided to inform Eleven. "You grew up in a place that was probably scary spotless so you don't know what harm dust can do."

Dustin had picked up an old Airfix model kit and had been inspecting it when Lucas had said this, scoffing in amusement.

"She also lived in the Upside Down for three years. I think whatever the normal world has to throw at her is nothing in comparison."

Eleven shrugged in concurrence with Dustin's assumption. Lucas rolled his eyes again and having been fed up of looking around the store decided to finally ring the bell on the front counter.

The man that Dustin and Lucas named "Old Mr. Robinson" was indeed old and had a limp in his left leg. Much later on she'd discover that this was from an old war wound he'd dealt from fighting in World War II.

He also had a very good-natured smile and didn't look too confused by Eleven's presence, so Dustin and Lucas were rather relaxed around him.

"Just checking in to see how the kite repair is going Mr. Robinson sir."

He blanked for a moment before putting his finger up and remembering. "I did finish it. I told my assistant to put it somewhere safe so hopefully this time he wasn't too much of a dunderhead about it. Last time he left out an antique Swiss Army Knife dating back to the first war that I'd been working on for a month, right out on the counter where another dumbass kid could get it."

"Is that it up there?" asked Dustin absentmindedly, as he looked up all the way to the top shelf. The store itself had a high ceiling to allow more space for products and repair items, but clearly created an obstacle for an old man who would have to retrieve it.

"I'm afraid so," spoke the old Hobby Shop owner with some contempt for an assistant that wasn't currently present. "Youthful asshole went on a break too."

Before anyone could offer to get it down for him, the door clicked open, evident by the sound of the doorbell at the top alerting the old man of more customers.

"Uncle Ted?"

The voice sounded familiar to both Dustin and Lucas but they couldn't quite pinpoint whom it belonged to until they came face to face with a girl with long silky black hair and librarian glasses with a darker ensemble than the day previous when Mike had knocked out Troy Donovan into the cafeteria linoleum.

While Dustin shrunk at the sight of her, Lucas was just plain shocked she was calling Mr. Robinson "Uncle Ted".

Eleven's eyes widened at the sight of this girl as she pulled out her bun and put the scrunchies around her wrist, to let her hair flow out mesmerizingly. It was everything she'd wanted her hair to be.

"Pretty," she said without holding back. Cassidy Fox finally saw the group in full and recognised the two boys specifically, but paid particular attention to the unabashed girl she'd never seen in Hawkins before.

"Cass dear, you don't mind giving me a hand and getting Mr. Sinclair's kite from the top of the shelve."

She was pulled away from the distracting thoughts that kept her curiosity on Eleven and why she was friends with these two boys when she'd never seen them together before.

"Duck sure has creative ways of keeping things safe," she glanced at her Uncle amused.

"Yes that little asshole will hear about it soon enough."

Cassidy kissed the old shop owner on the cheek when she hopped over the little gate separating the customers from the workers and placed the mail down on the counter. "I got rid of all the unsolicited letters except for this one. Looks important."

"I won't consider it important until I know it's not some scheme to get more money out of me."

Cassidy went to get the ladder when Mr. Robinson turned back to the group before him.

"You go to school with my great niece Cassidy, don't you?"

Dustin croaked out an awkward yes and Lucas responded normally. "Yes, she's in Dustin's homeroom and my Social Studies class. Truthfully we didn't know you two were related."

"Well not many pick it with mixed race kids and old white folks like me. She's got a good nut on her, better than I ever did back in school," he decided to compliment her.

As she came back she leaned the ladder in the right place and climbed up with ease, despite how much it shook unsteadily to Dustin's great worry.

"The white and blue one?"

"There's more up there?" Mr. Robinson said disbelievingly. "Just bring them all down.

I can't keep calling on you to fetch things."

She handed him a few only to find a newly repaired green kite with hardly any dust gathered on top of it.

"Is it the green one?"

"That's it," Lucas responded comfortably.

As she came down she jumped off the last three steps and landed evenly before handing it over to Lucas who in turn handed it to Dustin to get his wallet out: "$7.50?"

"Yep, but it will be more if it goes head first into another one of Margaret's rose bushes again. She wouldn't stop chewing me out for it, and I'm just her neighbour."

"Well she shouldn't live so close to the park," Dustin countered testily.

"Why do I have a feeling Henderson is partly responsible for the damage?" Cassidy presumed with mild amusement to her tone and a small smile.

Dustin froze up when he remembered she was there, and then became sweaty when he realised she knew who he was.

"He was, but he also wasn't the one in control of the kite at the time," Lucas admitted, "Just the guy who caused the distraction before Mike could regain the wind."

He put the correct amount on the counter with some stray coins. "Thanks for the repair sir."

"No problem Mr. Sinclair."

Lucas and Dustin were heading out, until the noticed something was missing. Or more, someone was missing.

"And was there something you needed Miss?" Mr. Robinson could still be heard.

"Um…how do you get it to look like that?"

When Dustin and Lucas turned around they could see Eleven talking to Cassidy. Dustin couldn't have panicked more but Lucas seemed to understand the possible implications of this.

"Sorry?" asked Cassidy, rather perplexed by Eleven.

"Your hair?"

"Oh." Cassidy, shocked to be asked about anything dealing with her appearance, took a moment to consider it all. Not many saw much to be envied in it as it didn't replicate any trends or current hairstyles, which usually involved a lot of teasing and a heavy amount of suffocation from hairspray. Cassidy just couldn't find herself to go to the effort, which was ironic considering her mother's profession. Regardless she figured she could at least respond truthfully to the odd girl before her.

"Well a lot of it is my genes…but my mom's a hairdresser."

Her great uncle had gone to sort out shelves for a moment to give this odd little meet-cute some privacy. He had been just as keen for her to make some actual friends as her parents had been.

Lucas and Dustin arrived again by the girl's side and it was as though they were constipated with anxiety, which plagued her further with mystery.

Cassidy tried not to pay them too much mind, having to recollect that there were enough rumours to speak to their awkwardness too. Instead she concentrated on the teenage girl in front of her. She was dressed relatively similar to some girls she'd seen in Indianapolis, but there was a striking difference. She looked as though she had no idea what she was doing in this setting – but also gave off the intense intuition that she would be the first person you'd want with you in a fight. Her hair spoke volumes to this notion, lanky and matted in a couple of places. Now she knew why she was so fascinated by Cassidy's features, but was yet to figure out why the two teen boys with her looked like they might start to visibly sweat beads.

"Are you new in town? I've never seen you before."

"She is," Lucas said immediately.

"Oh cool," Cassidy replied with ease, a little concerned as to why she wasn't speaking for herself, "where are you from?"

"Bad place."

"ICELAND!"

Everyone looked to Dustin rather suddenly as he violently covered up Eleven's mistake of answering honestly.

"Yes," Lucas glared daggers at Dustin for not being able to keep his cool. "Iceland can be very, very cold and the nights are long. El prefers it here."

"El, that's nice. Is it short for Elizabeth or Eliza?" Cassidy asked. She normally wouldn't care but she was intrigued to the boys' rather stunted way of going about this conversation. For this question, the girl was still unable to answer for herself.

"Nope, just plain old El," Dustin reassured croakily.

Cassidy scrutinised the three of them and considered the genuine strangeness that was occurring in this moment. Contemplating whether it was a hazard or not, she eventually went with the latter for the sake of this weird girl surrounded by a couple of geeks who were clearly uncomfortable with this who interaction. She'd make it her mission to find out why.

"My name's Cassidy…if you're not too busy I could take you to my mom's salon to get your hair done?"

"Like yours?" she blurted out before the boys could interrupt.

Cassidy beamed and nodded at her. "Yeah, just like mine, or close to it anyway."

Eleven turned to Lucas and Dustin and looked pleading. Lucas was adamantly against the idea but Dustin was keeling over very quickly to let her do as she wished. Lucas was unbelievably annoyed with him for this betrayal.

"We were planning on walking into a salon today anyway!"

"Maybe we should wait for Mike and Will," Lucas conceded.

"I can tell you what they'll say already," Dustin said with a knowing grin. He put on a puppy-dog face and said, "Anything for El."

"Was that Mike or Will?" asked Lucas confused.

"Mike obviously."

A cough interrupted their discussion as Cassidy watched them unimpressed. "I think she can go without your permission – or are all four of you her dads?"

"No, but we're taking care of her still," Lucas countered easily.

"I can get you a discount," said Cassidy bluntly.

"Sold," Dustin said eagerly.

"Do you think it's stupid that I'm like this?"

"What? No, why would it be stupid?"

Mike and Will had just left the bank after a stupendously easy transaction between a fraudulent cheque to the hefty amount of twenties stuffed in Will's wallet. From what Mike could understand, it wasn't an obvious taking so wouldn't be too suspicious when looking over the accounts in future.

But as Mike had begun to sink into the thoughts of feeling anything spectacularly for Eleven, he knew that it was also very soon.

"I knew her for a week and I know there's something about this that makes everything the way it is, the way I screw up and fumble around her, but that can't be it."

"Mike," Will said exasperated, "These things happen. It's not always a slow journey in, sometimes it just hits you and you fall all at once."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

"God no, I just watch awful romance movies with Mom when she feels like laughing at a couple of idiots."

"So you're basing your knowledge off of lies and the habits of idiots?" asked Mike dubiously.

"Partly," Will acknowledged, "only because some of them have a grain of truth to them. Just don't try to control things, don't try to be something you're not, let whatever happens, happen and actually communicate with Eleven honestly. That's what they never do in these dumb movies."

Mike nodded, considering his advice before squinting his eyes in recollection.

"Wait a second, is that why your mom was laughing and yelling like a maniac at the television a few weekends ago?"

"Yeah, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble was on TV. It's weirdly cathartic for her."

They had reached the Hobby Shop when they saw a small group gathered out the front. There was one more person than either Will or Mike could remember originally.

"So how do you guys know each other?" asked Cassidy conversationally. Dustin was lost for an explanation and thought the best remedy was to just talk nonsense.

"Uh…well El is – El is…"

"Will's third cousin," Lucas blurted out confidently.

Between clenched teeth, Dustin directed his disbelief at Lucas harshly, "Will's third cousin?"

"You guys don't really share much of a family resemblance – except maybe in your style," Cassidy glanced at the outfit curiously, having not noticed Dustin and Lucas for this moment in time.

Eleven looked mightily blank at this suggestion before Lucas supplied, "Your outfit, El."

Eleven still looked confused as to how Cassidy might perceive her to be Will's third cousin through her clothing choices, although they were admittedly his last word, with his readjustments on top of it.

"I guess?" Eleven responded uncertainly, knowing that her lack of speech was beginning to put strangers on edge.

Cassidy chuckled at hearing this and shook her head with slight mirth; "There's definitely some Byers in you." There was a slight before she continued, "To be fair, I didn't think his family was Icelandic in origin."

"They're not," Dustin covered immediately, "El's family moved there when she was little. Her English isn't so good now because of it."

"Well I hope she gets to go to some other places in the country before she goes home," Cassidy spoke candidly. "Hawkins must be pretty boring for an overseas traveller."

"No," Eleven smiled, to correct her without making her feel bad about her assumption. She could see Mike in the distance with Will. His spirits had evidently lifted since he'd momentarily left the group with Will and he was nervously smiling in her view. "I like it here."

Cassidy followed her eye line and noticed the boys up ahead as they walked toward the group. "Finally," they heard Lucas say in the background gratefully as keys jangled from his pocket and he got ready to unlock his car.

"Cassidy?" Will asked pleasantly surprised, glancing over the rest of the group to feel out the situation as best as he could until he could distinctly feel Eleven be jittery with a good energy. She clearly liked Cassidy's presence.

"Hey Will, Wheeler. Just met your Icelandic, third cousin El," she said, announcing it awkwardly in realisation it was quite a mouthful.

Mike and Will quickly looked to their two guy friends, of which Dustin took his chance to blame Lucas for all of this overly complicated explanation by pointing sharply at him specifically with his mouth closed stubbornly.

"Oh yeah? Cool," Will said, attempting some confidence. While Cassidy could've taken note of this very odd reaction, she was more enrapt by the attention Eleven was paying Mike and a small smirk played out across her lips.

"Yeah she just told me she really likes Hawkins," Cassidy eyes swept between Mike and Will as Eleven beamed in her subtle way.

"Well it's been…it's been a while since she was last here. I think she missed it," Will said, trying to garner what the guys had made up about El to Cassidy without making things worse.

"Cassidy is coming with us," Lucas announced before any one could evidently screw up.

"Really?" Mike asked high-pitched and moved closer to El. "How'd that happen?"

It was almost accusatory, but he was being very particular with his tone, in hopes Cassidy didn't pick it up as his friends should.

"Her Mom has a salon," Dustin answered.

"A small one, it's in the garage of our house. She mostly does people for big dates and proms, but I'm sure she'd be glad of the project," Cassidy said honestly with a small gesture towards Eleven's hair.

"She's going to make it pretty," Eleven insisted beside Mike, "Just like Cassidy's."

Mike was an oily puddle of hormones and so wasn't going to go against Eleven's wishes despite how much his mind protested how dangerous any one new possibly finding out was for them. As soon as she put her hand on his arm, he knew he was gone.

"Cool," Mike croaked, instantly going red when he heard it himself.

"Alright, so where are we headed Cassidy?" asked Will, hoping to distract everyone from Mike's slip up, pulling Cassidy along carefully and to Dustin's inner jealousy.

"My house is at the end of Kiney Avenue," Cassidy replied easily as they headed toward the car, with Mike and Eleven taking the rear.

Eleven had dropped her hand from his arm as they made their way to the car, when they finally jumped in to the Cimarron, Eleven squished in with Will, Cassidy and Mike in the back.

Will, Lucas and Cassidy kept up the conversation during the short drive. Dustin was rather overwhelmed by both needing to be secretive and also being in proximity to his crush that he thought it best just to listen, which was very strange because they usually depended on him to stop the silence from settling in with his own inability to shut up. Eleven figured listening to conversations was better first to familiarise herself with the conventions of her friends better and Mike seemed to be so focused on Eleven being nearly on his lap in the back seat that he thought it best not to speak as to reveal himself to be trying to calm his heart rate.

They pulled up to a bungalow style house that Cassidy declared hers at the end of Kiney Avenue after driving six minutes away from the town (the one set of lights in their way took up the majority of the duration). Mike and Dustin felt immense relief when the ride was over.

Cassidy pulled Eleven out from her side and started walking toward the house.

"Why is El my cousin now?" Will asked the two in front.

"I had to think of something on the spot," Lucas admitted but then turned to the lot when they looked at him incredulously, "It's not that easy and he wouldn't say anything."

"Hey, if it was anybody else I would've been the master liar."

"Well you can't freeze up anymore. She's going to notice!" Lucas countered.

"Guys, best not to bring attention to ourselves," said Will quietly.

"Right sorry. Looks like Fox will be sticking around if she's so interested in El," Lucas said with some annoyance. "This could blow our whole thing wide open if she finds out what's really going on."

"I don't know, El could probably use a girl for a friend. Teach her the things we can't," Mike said with a blush burning on his cheeks.

"Oh I'm sure you would've been just fine teaching her the things Mike," said Dustin slyly.

He received a surprisingly hard punch in the shoulder, despite Mike's build and ability, although he retracted quickly forgetting his bruised and battered knuckles.

"Ow, God Mike it was a joke!"

"You joked about El to the guy who literally beat Donovan to a pulp yesterday," Will scoffed, disbelieving his friend to be so casual. "Maybe Lucas was right to make her my cousin this time round."

"Yeah, if Mike and El make eyes at each other, which you both will, at least Fox won't think you're kissing cousins," Lucas added with a small smirk at Mike.

"Please, please God stop," Mike curled inwardly at the teasing.

A sharp knock rocked at the window and Cassidy was standing there with El, looking fairly confused.

"You coming in? Or are you hanging in the car like creeps for the next hour?"

"Coming!" Will spoke for the group, and quickly got out of the Cimarron, urging his friends with fierce eyes. Lucas, Mike and Dustin all looked reluctant as they got out of the car and stepped onto Cassidy's driveway, for very different reasons.

I realise Pixies 'Here Comes Your Man' was released in 1989 but for the sake of the chapter headline, we'll pretend that no one else cares.

Madonna's up next.

Also another character is re-introduced next chapter. Look out for that one.