I do not own Stranger Things or any of the characters.
Damage Control
"It's nine thirty two, where are you?" Eleven asked Mike over the phone, Thirteen shaking his head, glancing up at Hopper, who was avoiding his eye, knowing full well that Thirteen could easily explain what had actually happened to Eleven if he decided to. "But...Hop said your Nana was okay, that it was a false alarm." Eleven's face curled in confusion. "Oh." She paused as Mike spoke again.
"Mom, get off the phone!" Mike's voice shouted from the phone, Eleven flinching and holding the phone away from her ear. "How many times!?"
"Did Nana call!?" Mike's mother shouted.
"No, Mom!" Mike shouted. "Just get off the phone!"
Thirteen frowned, listening in to Eleven's thoughts for the unconscious replay of Mike's words.
"Sorry about that," Mike said, trying to act like it had been nothing.
"Was that your mom?" Eleven asked.
"Yeah," Mike said nervously. "She's so upset, she's making no sense. Because we have to go to the nursing home. To see Nana."
"You can come over after?" Eleven asked.
"No!" Mike almost yelped. "I mean uh...I just think...I need to be alone today. With my...feelings?"
"Do you lie?" Eleven asked.
"What!?" Mike scoffed, though his voice was an octave too high for a moment. "No! Friends don't lie! What Mom?" His rate of speech doubled. "My mom is calling me. Better go. Talk to you tomorrow! Miss you already. Bye!" Then, he hung up without giving Eleven a chance to speak.
Eleven hung up the phone, ignoring Hopper asking what was going on, then went into her room, slamming the door with her mind as she did. Thirteen sighed, shaking his head.
"I'll...smooth things over in a day or two," Hopper said.
"No," Thirteen said. "You've done more than enough already. I'm going to try and keep my sister's heart from being broken. You just stay out of it and try to learn to not be so controlling of a father."
Hopper's eyes widened as fury bloomed in them, but Thirteen's eyes narrowed in challenge.
"Do we need to bring up the house arrest incident?" Thirteen asked. "Or hiding the truth about Eleven's parents, both of our parents, from us?"
"I was doing that to protect you both!" Hopper snapped.
"Yes, you were," Thirteen nodded. "But you're not doing this to protect Eleven. If you were, you'd have given them ground rules like, oh, I don't know, weekends only. You know, the rule me and Max have?"
Hopper blinked twice before his mind began to reel for a valid argument.
"You're trying to hold onto her and keep her young Hopper, but you can't," Thirteen said. "You have to accept that Ellie isn't eleven anymore. She's growing up and you can't stop it. If you don't loosen your grip, you'll just suffocate her and drive her away."
Hopper's face fell, but Thirteen simply turned, walking out of the house and forming himself a barrier board to ride to Mike's house. Within seconds of getting to the basement, he stopped trying to restrain the smirk, handing a campaign he'd written for Will to be Game Master of to Will, who grinned almost instantly.
"She knows I'm lying!" Mike was saying as he paced back and forth. "She knows I'm lying!"
"I don't even understand, why lie?" Lucas asked.
"Hopper," Mike and Thirteen both answered.
"He threatened me!" Mike said.
"Did he say he'd kill you?" Lucas asked.
"What?" Mike asked. "No!"
"Then I don't see what the big deal is," Lucas said.
"The big deal, Lucas, is that if I don't do what he says, he'll stop me from seeing El!" Mike said. "Like, permanently! You don't understand, Lucas! He's crazy!"
"I'd watch my mouth when you talk about my father, if I were you," Thirteen warned.
"Sorry," Mike said. "But it's true."
"Sit down," Thirteen said, waving a hand and forcing Mike down onto his couch. "Let me tell you something. I tried to warn you that you needed to back off around Hopper, do you remember that conversation?"
"What?" Mike frowned. "No!"
"About two months ago," Thirteen reminded him. "I had just tried to tell you both that supper was ready, but you wouldn't even let Ellie free long enough to eat?"
"Doesn't ring a bell," Mike said.
"I didn't think so," Thirteen nodded. "That's because the only thing you pay attention to is yourself and what you want, Mike. I can't entirely blame you, since you're a child and this is your first girlfriend, but it's still your fault. As I tried to explain to you then, Hopper needs a break from constantly being around you and Ellie breaking his admittedly poor three-inch-rule. What he's trying to get is a break from it. What you lying to my sister is about to get him is freedom from it permanently, because Eleven is going to break up with you once she's sure you lied to her."
"So, what the hell should I do?" Mike asked.
"Simple," Thirteen said. "Tell her the truth. Or most of it at least."
"What do you mean?" Mike asked.
"Well, actually," Thirteen said, sensing Eleven's mind focus on them and reaching out to hers, signaling that he knew she was watching and to stay, "before anything else, you need to apologize."
"Apologize?" Mike scoffed. "For what? I didn't do anything wrong!"
"If that were true, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Thirteen said. "You lied to her, Mike. That's what you did wrong."
"I..." Mike trailed off, then sighed. "What should I say?"
"As I said," Thirteen said. "Tell her the truth. Tell her that Hopper asked you to give him a couple days off from you two being glued to each other's sides, and that you didn't want to tell her that because you didn't want to start a needless fight between her and Hopper, so instead, you made something up. Then, you apologize again, but in a slightly more special way, this time."
"Apologize again?" Mike asked. "Why should I? Why should I even listen to you!? You wouldn't understand! You and Max never fight!"
Thirteen snorted. "Oh yes we do. But unlike you, I know how to handle it."
"And how's that?" Mike asked.
"I simply understand that it's always my fault for being stupid or ridiculous," Thirteen said. "The last time we fought was over something so stupid I can't even remember what it was about. Something that never should have gotten to the point of a fight to begin with, but I was stupid and stubborn, so it did. I should have just let Max have her way from the beginning, because I'm lucky to be able to be with her at all. And swinging the subject back to you and Eleven, you're lucky to be with Eleven, and if I can manage to keep it that way after you lied to her, you'll be the luckiest man alive."
"Just listen to him, Mike," Lucas said. "What have you got to lose?"
Mike groaned. "Alright, so I apologize, explain, and apologize. Anything else?"
"Yes," Thirteen nodded. "As I said, the second apology is special. When you do it-" he paused as he forced Eleven's mind away from them, blocking her ability to spy on them, "you're going to also be giving her a gift. Something you're going to buy with whatever money you have saved up. It doesn't have to be expensive, but it has to be bought with money you spent, not money your mother or father gave you to buy it."
"What's the difference?" Mike asked.
"You wouldn't understand, yet," Thirteen said. "It'll mean more to both of you if it's money that you spent, not money you got exclusively for it."
Mike sighed, nodding. "Fine. Let's go to the mall, then."
Thirteen nodded and they stood, leaving the house together.
Eleven frowned, pulling off her blindfold.
"What happened?" Max asked.
"Thirteen blocked my power," Eleven said, wiping her nose. She quickly, and as accurately as she could manage, explained what she had heard. "Then he blocked my power before he finished."
Max smiled. "I think I know what he has in mind. Thirteen and I have gotten into a handful of fights before, but he's really sweet and thoughtful. If he's having Mike do for you what he always does when we fight, you'll like it."
Eleven frowned but nodded. "Now what?"
"Now, we go have fun while we wait," Max said. "Time for me to teach you that there's more to life than just stupid boys."
She grabbed Eleven's hand and all but dragged her out of the house.
Thirteen sighed as they walked from store to store. So far, they had found nothing that would suit for a proper apology except a three-hundred-dollar gold teddy bear at Zales. Finally, they doubled back to Zales and Thirteen pulled out a credit card.
"Don't get used to this," Thirteen said as he paid for the teddy bear. "There really is a reason it should be you paying, but for the crime of you lying to Eleven, you're going to need this thing." He passed it to Mike, who slipped it into his pocket. "But, I suppose it is about time I used this thing and made Owens start funding my freedom."
"You should totally buy a bunch of random stuff, since the card's in his name," Lucas said. "Like...lady products."
Thirteen laughed. "I've considered it, on some of my older days."
"Older days?" Mike asked.
"The days where his mental age is closer to an adult than his actual age, because of his telepathy," Will said.
"Oh, that," Mike said. "So, anyway, do you really think this will work?"
"Let me put it this way," Thirteen said as he set his hand on Mike's shoulder. "If you don't do it, you're going to get dumped."
"Great," Mike said sarcastically.
"Fancy meeting you all here," Max said just as she and Eleven stepped out in front of them all, Eleven staring at Mike angrily.
Eleven was wearing a new outfit a black top and shorts with many random shapes in many different colors scattered over it.
"El," Mike squeaked, then cleared his throat. "Uh...I know you're mad, and you should be, but...uh..."
"Just give him a chance to explain, first," Thirteen said.
Eleven glared at Mike for another minute before nodding once.
As everyone passed Eleven, Thirteen smirked at Max, who barely restrained her own. Eleven had already forgiven Mike, mostly, so as long as he didn't screw up his apology too bad, or say something to anger her again, he'd be fine.
"Go easy on him," Thirteen whispered to Eleven as he passed.
He slipped his hand into Max's as they walked a little ways away with the others and found a place to sit down.
"You think he can pull it off?" Max asked.
"It'll be close," Thirteen smirked.
They waited for about five minutes before Eleven hugged Mike and the two rejoined the others, holding each others' hands.
"Thank you," Eleven said to Thirteen.
Thirteen smiled, nodding. "So, I'm going to suggest a weekends only rule for you two, that way Hopper won't get mad again."
Both nodded, and they all headed into the mall to find something to do for a while before Max, Eleven, and Thirteen left.
"I thought you said no stupid boys," Eleven said to Max as they got on the bus.
"We're going to teach you how to spend time with your boyfriend without making it uncomfortable for others," Max said. "Don't worry. It'll still be fun."
Eleven nodded, and Thirteen sat quietly while Max and Eleven discussed their shopping trip and admired Eleven's new teddy bear.
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