Find your heart again

by SweeetStories

Teenage parenthood isn t the scariest thing in the world when they realize that maybe, just maybe, the bad men aren t entirely gone. Mileven fluff and angst. mentions of depression, consequences of depression, anxiety, nightmares and so on. Ages: 16 and 15

23. Chapter 23

EPILOGUE - FYHA

EPILOGUE TIME YALL! This is super long thats why i took aaages! I'm sorry! Hope you like this! It's mostly all fluff but it does have a bit of angst and a LOT of bits from the past! :) tell me hwo you like it in the comments! I now can focus on continuing 'tough love tough life' ilysm'

2.5 years later

Fuck alarm clocks, was the first Mike Wheeler thought when the unholy thing on his bedside table started going crazy.

6;30am.

He drew in a deep breath and blindly made grabby hands at around the place where El's chest would usually be.

Nothing.

Hmmm.

Oh. Right. It was Thursday.

El had the night shift and she wasn't back yet.

-'Jesus fuck' he sighed sleepily and let his upper limbs dramatically shoot out into stretching.

-'Deezus foh!' He heard a tiny voice exclaiming from the threshold of the door.

Mike groaned loudly,

-'Nooo Levi, you know you can't repeat the bad words I say, what have we talked about?'

He tried to sound authoritative but it instead came out as a whine, since he was still too asleep to activate dad mode right now.

-'Sowwy, da-ddy'

-'That's better' a yawn escaped his mouth, and he made his way into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Ever since Levi mastered the art of walking, he had followed Mike everywhere he allowed him to.

Like right now.

Toothpaste foam hung from his mouth as he felt a pair of sneaky hands clinging around his leg. He was so used to it, it stopped startling him about a year ago.

-'Hey' he mumbled, looking down at his son's bright green eyes,

-'Aaaaah' the child responded before pouting and darting his tiny arms up.

Mike chuckled and lifted him up on the bathroom counter.

He bit on the toothbrush so it wouldn't fall off his mouth while he gave his son his own.

-'Dn' ead dee doodpazte' he said, between brushes.

Levi copied his dad as best as he could, then rinsing his mouth.

Mike inspected the little being before him and wiped off his small face. He smiled charmingly,

-'You almost got it, my boy!'

Seeing a tiny being that resembled his twenty year old self was surreal. Still to this day.

Sometimes, in mornings like these, when El was still catching up on some well deserved sleep, he would look into his son's face and try to count the freckles, try to count every eyelash, every stroke of hazel in the irises of his huge eyes.

Mike washed his own face afterwards and made sure no stubborn baby hairs had decided to sprout on his chin this time. They hadn't.

He held Levi up and made him to into his own reflection,

-'Alright kiddo! A handsome morning it is! Let's get cleaned up, big day today!'

Big day indeed.

After being rejected by a few schools in Chicago due to his numerous health necessities, Levi and his parents had managed to get an interview in a midrange school 20 minutes outside of the main city, where they lived in a tiny two bedroom flat along with two Guinea Pigs.

At first El took the rejections as personal offenses, going off on the principals saying they were discriminating and "I will fucking sue", luckily Mike was always there to ground her, "Let's not", he would whisper.

Even after El said she could get out of her shifts at the hospital for an hour to give him oxygen therapy, the schools refused, saying it was too much of a bother.

On top of it all, they had to deal with the judgmental glare of the school boards.

Not like they were not used to them.

Chicago was a tricky thing. A place of black and white. Never grey.

They could go to take a walk as a family one day and get dirty looks darting from the eyes of judgemental old people because GOD FORBID, a young woman wears a crop top (proudly sporting a scar across her stomach) and short jeans while taking her son out to feed the pigeons on a plaza; as well as they could watch Levi play with other children in the park behind their apartment buildings.

People like Mrs. Nora and Mr. Claude, who would call El a "slut" whenever they thought she was out of earshot. And people like Tanya, who let Levi and El marvel at her long braids of thick black hair with a welcoming smile on her face.

Chicago had a lot of things. Not all of them good, not all of them bad.

El noticed though, all the looks and whispers, if there ever were any, were directed at her. Never at Mike.

Was it because Mike dressed differently? Was it because he presented himself older than he was? More presentable? If anything, Mike was as quirky as El.

Both of them spent endless hours on the weekends just having movie marathons, both of them accompanied their homemade burgers with some beer once in a while, both of them dressed Levi in Star Wars merch shirts, both of them were total dorks. So why did El get all the hate?

Right. Because a father dressed in a polo shirt and jeans looked better than a mother wearing a crop top and thigh-lenght denims while taking the child out to play.

El was a "slut", a "shame", a "dumbass", a "burden for the country", a "bad mom".

Mike was not.

Mike himself had always wanted to fight anyone and everyone who looked at her wrong.

He remembers the first time he got detention in school.

It was El's second day in high school.

-'History sucks a little bit, but I'll be okay' the fourteen year old girl chuckled, holding Mike's hand tighter, they were on their way to the cafeteria to meet their group of friends.

El was enjoying being around other kids. A few girls have been nice to her in math class and she thought it meant she was up for a good start.

Mike helped El open the tupperware thingy his mom packed for them both.

-'It's meatballs and sauce. You like that, remember? My mom told me to share some with you' he smiled wide and she nodded, dipping a piece of white bread toast into the red sauce.

Lucas teased her with an EWWW sound, to which she glared at him but couldn't help a chuckle as soon as he made a funny face at her.

El then started on the meatballs. Table manners werent her forte, so she just held one of the pieces of food between her fingers instead of using the plastic fork Mike was offering her.

A bit too focused on her food, El (or anyone else really) caught the two juniors walking by. They grimaced in disgust (Their expressions were so exaggerated El might as well could be eating horse shit, really! She had just forgotten to use a damn fork), and chuckled before slapping the back of her head and muttering "retarded animal" loud enough so the whole table could hear.

El hadn't even registered the blow when Mike had already stood up.

He knew talking to the guys who just called his girlfriend a retarded animal would be in vain, so he went right for the face.

His boney knuckles hit the side of the blonde one.

—

The child looked around, seeming lost or disrupted

-'Where's mamma?' He asked, green eyes searching for El.

Mike let the kid walk around, -'Mamma's working, we'll see her soon though!'

-'An-an den you wohk too?'

-'Yup! That's how it works, little man...but first we have school, right? Remember we talked about that last night?'

The kid nodded excitedly,

-'So we need a good breakfast so you can be your smartest self! Come on!'.

After thirty minutes of struggling through breakfast, showering and getting the kiddo into the back of his 1980 BMW (Mike acquired a taste for moderately nice cars), they hit the road, knowing it was gonna be a mildly long car ride.

Ten minutes in, and he sighed deeply, -'I can't remember if I changed the fucking rats' water...shit'.

After another minute on the road, and being stuck in a jam, Levi started asking questions. He fucking loved that. It reminded Mike of El, when she was like thirteen and fourteen. Always asking, always curious and he was more than happy to oblige.

-'Da-ddy why is dee sky bdue'

-'Because the sun reflects more blue light into the earth, and it bounces off as blue, or soft blue sometimes'

-'Oh...'

Mike chuckled and looked back at the kiddo in the child's seat,

-'Any more questions?'

-'Nuh uh, jusd dat...denkiu'

-'You're welcome'.

Two minutes later and Levi was dead asleep. It was amazing how fast he could fall asleep.

Mike looked back at his son and sighed,

-'You know I hate waking you up, why do you do this' he whispered before getting out of the car to collect the kid from the other side.

While he was fumbling his spidery fingers ("Biomedical Engineer hands, El. Not spider fingers!") with the safety belt around his son's belly, a huge navy blue Chevrolet truck parked beside his silver sedan.

Ever since Hopper had gotten a new truck and given El his old one, she had turned into such a show off.

-'We know you can park inside the yellow lines, El' he chuckled while still struggling with the thingy,

-'Listen Michael, I'm 5ft tall so the fact that I can do that in this big ass truck IS an accomplishment', she pulled the stick into P and turned off the engine.

Mike turned around and wrapped his arms around her waist, -'Good morning, babe'

-'Good morning, handsome' she stood on her tip toes and kissed him deeply, -'How did you two sleep?'

-'Good, he slept all through, no issues'

El smiled and pinched his freckled cheek,

-'When I woke up I literally extended my arm and tried to grab your boob but you weren't there' he pouted and El smacked him hard,

-'You're a dummy' she gasped, and looked behind him at her sleeping baby,

-'Awwww...I don't wanna wake him up' she sighed deeply in dismay,

-'Let's not then! We are half an hour early either way'

The 19-year-old girl nodded, -'You're right' she was nervous they would get rejected once again.

Mike tried to distract her from the subject.

-'Nice scrubs. You look very sexy'

El looked down at her sea green outfit and rolled her eyes, unable to hide the faint blush on her cheeks

-'It was such a fucking hard shift, I SWEAR. Night time is even WORSE'

Mike held her hands,

-'Tell me all about it honey, you know I love hearing what you did'

El shot him a crooked grin and stole the little carton of juice her son was grasping in his sleep,

Sipping from it and letting Mike lift her up under her armpits and on top of the hood of her truck.

Mike stood between her knees and caressed her bracelet-adorned wrists and hands, paying special attention to the silver wedding band on one of her fingers,

-'Soooo a fucking kid bit me' she started, showing her husband a slightly purple bite mark on the inside of her forearm,

-'What theFUCK?! Why?!' He asked, alarmed,

-'I had to draw blood from him! And the little shit just bit me! I took the sample anyway, I didn't care' she rolled her eyes and passed a hand through her short curls,

-'THEN. At around three, shit was going slow, I even had time to eat the mac you made. It was good' she blushed, -'BUT! Of course calm only lasts so long'

Mike was ready for her to say "Someone came in with a gunshot wound and they had me help the doctors" or "someone had to have their arm taken off" or some shit,

-'This woman came in, in full blown labor and her water broke on me...ON ME. Mike! I was-I was SOOOOO done'

Mike couldn't help but double over in laughter, -'ON YOU?! HOWWW'

-'Shut up! I was trying to get her on the bed and BOOM. My fucking teacher was laughing at me' she rolled her eyes and sighed, -'I told her I wanted a raise after this, and even the damn woman laughed at that—I just think my teacher THINKS that because I have a kid and I obviously have given actual birth, that I know EVERYTHING and can handle kids biting me and women just shooting their body fluids at me'

Mike caught his breath, -'I'd honestly think you'd be more than fit for the job, kiddo',

El sighed deeply -'Listen, after my dad made me stay with Joyce while she gave birth to Henry two years ago, I'm hardly impressed by anything anymore but THIS! Was like something from a movie, I swear'

El pouted her lips at him and hugged him tight, -'I guess just need some sleep and ugh...needed a hug from you'

-'Me? My bony, sexy physique? My varsity track-running nerd dad bod?'

-'Dad bod? That's Hopper' she mumbled into his neck, -'You smell good...you been using my soap?'

-'Shhhit El, can't a working class good man smell like coconut and caramel?'

-'Absolutely. It's good' she smiled and took a wild curl off his forehead,

-'Now! Let's get this child up and in action!'

-'Hi I'm Jane Wheeler nice to meet you'

El extended a small hand to the intimidating-looking teacher,

-'Jane...you're Levi's sister? I made it clear that it was imperative that the parents came'

Mike frowned and sighed, fuck.

-'I'm his mom...'

The woman just looked at her up and down.

A dainty, 5ft tall, 95 lbs girl, dressed in aqua green scrubs, a thick woolen purple jacket on top, an ID card hung from the hem of her shirt. Chicago, Illinois General Hospital — Jane Eloise Wheeler (a dull masking tape was used to cover the "Hopper" after she married and changed her name to Wheeler) — Nursing Assistant—Intern unruly short curly hair (a few dark purple strikes dyed on it) sat at the top of her head, a little button nose, one too many ear piercings and—was that a tattoo on her wrist?!

-'And I'm his dad'

Okay, so now a tall (6ft4 maybe) thin, lean guy with a mess of midnight black curls in stark contrast of his pale as snow skin, cheeks and nose blanketed with freckles.

His eyes were a deep brown, big and kind, like they wanted to teach you the wonders of the world. He was wearing a striped button-up (weird choice?) and an ID card hanging from a lanyard adorned his neck. Chicago Institute of Technology Hospital — Michael T. Wheeler — Biomedical Engineer assistant.

Shit. Were these really kids?

Mike leaned against Ms Robinson's desk and subconsciously pulled up his sleeves.

Ms Robinson tried to suppress a gasp when she saw Mike's forearms.

Those days of cutting himself after El disappeared all those years ago had left thin white marks across his already pale (almost transparent) freckled arms.

Mike noticed the woman flinching a little but decided not to pull down the sleeves. He had learned how to embrace them one night when they had just moved to Chicago, with El on top of him, kissing every line and scar tissue along his wrists, her soft naked breasts brushing against his peach-fuzz arm hair, her legs tightening their hold on his waist.

Ms Robinson diverted her glare to the black haired, green eyed child.

He was just precious.

-'Okay...and this is Levi I suppose?' She kneeled to meet the little boy's eyes.

He was biting abstently at the straw that stuck out of a carton of soy milk,

-'Good mohnin' he whispered and waved shyly,

-'well what an educated little man are you?'

El smiled gently, -'Say thank you baby'

-'Denkiu, miss'.

—

-'Okay so tell me, why have they rejected him in other schools'

The teacher had the parents seat in the preeschool classroom their son would be in if he got in. Mike took one glance at the small chair, knowing his extra long legs would suffer if he sat on that, and opted to seat on the floor and caress El's ankles instead.

-'Well' the young mom started, -'He-He has some health issues, you see...and he often needs oxygen therapy for his lungs...he was born with it, it's kinda like asthma but worse'

The teacher nodded, -'And they didn't wanna take charge'

-'No! Even when I told them I could get an hour off work to help him...they just rejected him' her eyes were watering, Mike moved his hand to her thigh,

-'Baby it's okay...come on'

The teacher watched attentively. Not judgmental anymore but rather curious about this peculiar family.

-'for how long have you two been married?'

6 months back

FB

-'Can't believe dad is staying for a whole week' El smiled as she walked hand in hand with Mike theough the busy Chicago streets,

-'Yeah, I appreciate his help with the kiddo and stuff...it gets exhausting sometimes'

-'Happens when I work all night and you work all day'

-'And then take care of the baby...I adore him but it's still hard' Mike admitted.

And hard it was.

El would work as an assistant nurse in a busy hospital, side by side with one of her nursing school teachers after she hired her when she saw how El applied her knowledge into her sickly son.

Mike got a paid internship job with a biomedical engineer at a smaller, quieter hospital.

Both jobs were enough to make ends meet for them and their kid so they were willing to sacrifice and go for it.

-'where are we going by the way?' El asked curiously

-'The shore! I got a bonfire for us. I know how much you like Eggo smores'

El gasped and gripped his arm right, -'Baby! You didn't!'

Mike chuckled and kissed her head, -'Of course I did! You're my girl, right?'

The young woman blushed and buried her face into his coat, -'I love you' she said, words coming out muffled.

-'I love you more'

-'Not possible'.

Mike's lips were sticky with gooey marshmallow when he spoke,

-'So how do you like Chicago?'

El took a sip of her water because "These smores are sweet as hell, I'm thirsty"

-'I kinda love it to be honest...except the bone crushing cold, I don't really like it'

Mike chuckled and shook his head,

-'I like it too. We have good jobs and I think Levi is happy...much more places to go and see than Hawkins...'

-'Yeah, I agree, babe'

Mike sighed heavily and his lip quivered nervously,

-'So you wanna stay here forever?' He asked, hoping that his voice didnt came out broken.

El looked up at the star blanketed sky. The stark contrast of deep blue and silver specks was amusing to her even after all this time

-'I sure do' she whispered, directing her glance at the city lights.

Mike nodded and held her hand, -'I have something for you, El' his hands were shaking, and not from the cold.

She looked at him and admired his delicate face.

He opened a small box, a shiny charm in the shape of a moon twinkled back at her,

-'Open the bottom of the box' he whispered. Shit. His voice was failing already.

A silver bracelet was revealed and her eyes watered,

-'What's this? Why?' She asked, she just couldnt believe someone would take the time to go, and buy her something so pretty.

But then again, Mike had given her the greatest gift ever. Being able to love and raise their son together.

She was so glad he didn't come to Chicago alone ("I'll send you guys money"). No. She wanted her little family to be together.

-'Why?' Mike chuckled, his grin widening even more, -'Well...for being my only love. For finding each other back in '83. For saving my life so many times. For not letting your dad hang me when we told him you were pregnant', El blushed and covered her face, -'For being amazingly smart, warm and kind. For caring after Levi since he was in your belly. For being a teacher to our little bugger...for following me into Chicago...I would've gone crazy without you here' he took the bracelet and tied it around her wrist, -'...You're the love of my life, El. The first amazing thing that happened in my life—God, I'm so inlove with you, every time I look at you after a long day I remind myself of why I sacrifice and work so hard...I just want you and the baby to have the fucking world, because it's the least you deserve', El was trying to hold back the tears but it was giving her a headache,

-'Mike' she whispered weakly,

-'You're my moon, my sun, my stars and my galaxy, El...and I wanna be with you forever, is that okay?'

The girl wiped away the damn tears and nodded silently, she wished she could answer back but the knot on her throat would not let her.

She could see sincerity in Mike's eyes. Those deep browns she adored.

Mike took a deep breath and kneeled in front of her,

-'Jane, would you marry me and be my universe forever?'

A drowned and small, but firm yes escape her mouth and she tackled him into the sand, attacking him with kisses.

—-

Their wedding picture consisted of El (dressed in a knee-length pastel pink dress, her short curls kind of straightened and swept to the right side, the fringe held by a cute hair pin) and Mike (wearing a white shirt with a navy blue suit jacket and pale pink bow, his hair was a controlled chaos) laughing under an arch of sunflowers, daisies and baby rose blooms. Jonathan tried to take a cute, traditional picture but instead, El pinched Mike's behind at that second, and well...it stuck.

Karen had adorned the Wheeler's lavish backyard with shiny christmas lights and numerous flowers everywhere.

In the center of the improvised venue was a double portrait.

One of El and Mike in the 1984 Snowball, Mike enveloping her twelve year old shoulders with a warm yet slightly awkward hug and one of the same couple with under the Chicago city lights in Christmas.

Their smiles were so wide, like nothing could've broken their bliss.

Hanging all around the trees were polaroids of Mike and El and the party and of course, their Levi.

Polaroids of incredibly precious moments.

Levi's first Halloween when he got dressed as an ewok.

Levi's first time meeting his father (Mike hated showing that picture because, in his pale face, it was super obvious he had cried like a wussy).

Levi's first birthday, with Max and Lucas smudging his little face with cake icing playfully.

Levi and Dustin when the teenager got him to try nougat (Needless to say, the child had hated it and Steve had managed to snap a mid-spit candid).

Levi watching Will draw, while trying to eat a crayon (Two hands intervening in his actions. Probably Joyce trying to lift him up and take the crayon off his hands).

And the most precious one, of Levi and his parents in the middle of moving to their tiny Chicago apartment. Their first real home.

He was only wearing some kind of underwear/diaper mesh, Mike was trying to assemble a coffee table (the only actual table they had for the longest time, until Ted got fed up and gifted them one of those long, plastic outdoors tables) and El was snuggling the small child in her arms.

END OF FB

-'Like four and a half months' El said, trying to think exactly of the date,

Mike nodded in agreement. The teacher winced,

-'We've been together for—since we were thirteen, and well, I was twelve though' El remarked, seeing that the woman thought they weren't a stable household,

-'Yeah, I'm a year older ' Mike clarified.

Mrs. Robinson continued with the interview, although El felt like it was more an interrogatory.

-'So where do you guys live?'

-'Above the pizzeria on 25th and the park behind the projects' El said bluntly.

It wasn't the nicest place in the Windy City but fuck, how much space and luxury could a young couple, a baby and two guinea pigs need?

Answer was: Not a lot.

Levi's room was large enough to fit his tiny bed, a wardrobe, a night table and a box of toys.

El and Mike's could hold a double bed ("King size mattresses are fucking expensive, El, so you gotta stop sprawling like a starfish"), two little nightstands, a vanity, a drawer and a little closet. It all fit a bit crammed, but they made it cozy.

The living room wasn't much either, a long plastic picnic table with a tablecloth and a vase of flowers, four wooden chairs, a decent couch, a Home Depot coffee table and scattered ornaments and family pictures, but they had a nice big window which gave them a good view of the main road, carpeted floor (which sometimes it would smell of pee because of The "DAMN RATS" as Mike called their pets).

-'So yeah, I work and I study—we both do, actually' Mike said, fiddling with El's hands, -'It's hard but we truly are trying to do our best for our child and we wanna make a name for ourselves'

The teacher nodded. They looked genuine.

-'So Jane, this schedule thing with his therapies...you're gonna take the day shift?'

El nodded, -'I already talked to my supervisor, he's okay with it...Mike's gonna take the night shift then-'

-'How do you even have time for each other?' Mrs Robinson asked, baffled.

FB

Mike threw his portfolio on the coffee table by the kitchen counter and sighed deeply.

-'11pm, in-fucking-credible', he poured himself some water and walked into the bedroom where El was watching TV, a small bundle of blankets scooted against her side. She looked up and guessed his mood by the look on his face.

-'Bad day?' She asked, trying to sound sweet.

-'I got a B, in that project I worked so hard on...'

el pouted and shot her arms out to hug her husband tight.

-'I'm fucking exhausted' he snuggled into her chest and felt like crying. But nope.

-'Come on, watch The Terminator with us'

Mike frowned, -'You had Levi watching that thing?'

El chuckled, -'Absolutely, now come'.

He laid next to her and their kid, she lifted his ringed finger to her lips, then joining his with hers.

-'I love you. You're smart. You're in honors class for a reason, okay? I know it's hard and you're tired. Hell I'm tired too...but we'll figure it out and make it work ' she grinned, holding his face and falling in love all over again.

Mike nodded and laid his head on her warm chest. She caressed his hair and started humming so the vibrations coming from her ribcage could soothe him, maybe.

-'You take your meds today?' She asked quietly. She knew how Mike hated taking anti depressants but it was necessary.

The boy nodded and looked up.

He leaned in and kissed her deeply, -'I love you' he whispered, caressing her bare stomach and teasing the little piercing hanging from her belly button, -'This thing' he muttered like a grumpy old man,

-'Looks cool, stop being like this!'

-'Like what?' He moaned, still playing with the thing,

-'...So cute'. The TV's blue light was the only thing bouncing against El's face and Mike knew she was blushing.

Her tiny hands started unbuttoning his shirt. He always managed to fucking stain them with grease from the machines he helped fix, or sauce from El's chicken raviolis, or maybe just juice his son found funny to spray in him right before he left to work. This time was some colored thingy. Coolant liquid.

Mike never recovered fully from the twenty pound weight loss two years back. He lost a lot of muscle mass, and with that, his collarbones poked back full force. So now when El would slide her cold hand against his skin, she could still feel a lot of his bones.

-'Am I?' He teased, poking her side playfully, then slithering his hand up under her shirt, to rest comfortably against the soft cup of her bra.

El chuckled, careful not to wake up her sleeping son and dragged Mike's face up.

-'I love you...look at you, you're so perfect...I can't believe I married you, you know that. Every day, I get to sleep right by your side, and Jesus, Mike...that's the best feeling in the world'

Mike wiped away some tears and hovered over her, he grabbed her face with one hand and kissed her furiously.

She returned the kiss just as eagerly, feeling his hand tighten his grip where he had it. She had to pull away for the sake of decency. Dammit, their kid was sleeping right there!

-'You really don't care the kid's sleeping inches away from us, don't cha?'

-'Not when you look this hot in a muscle tee and tiny shorts, no'

El blushed and rolled her eyes, he had the absolute power to make her melt, turn into silly putty, fall backwards completely in love.

Mike giggled and kissed her cheek,

-'You're perfect'

-'We are' she responded, pointing at the little bundle beside her;

-'And for you guys I'll do anything'

The girl chuckled and stared at her husband getting emotional.

-'I'll be a licensed nurse soon, and-and you'll be a full blown engineer and most likely a college teacher, and our little sweet pea will go to kindergarten and we'll get a bigger place...'

-'That's the plan, Ellie. I wanna do all that, with you. All of it'.

She smiled. She trusted him so much. See, he could've turned his back on her when they learned they were to become teenage parents (Not because he was afraid of Hopper. Mike really has never been scared of him).

She trusted him the moment he said 'let's do this' at the tender age of 15 and 16.

What El also remembered so vividly is that moving to Chicago brought them the only real fight they've ever had.

El was supposed to be at the pharmacy / grocery store with Levi buying food for the week and his medicines, since pay day had just passed. El had filled up the truck's tank, saved away money for their savings account (as per usual) and then the rest of it was going to other necessities.

Mike didn't expect El to come home crying, shaking and holding their son so tight his skin swelled with red fingerprints.

He jumped up from the small couch and went to her,

-'El? El what the hell happened? Why are you crying?!'

El gasped for air and swatted his hands away,

-'I wanna move'

Mike frowned. They literally have been in this part of Chicago (not the nicest one) since they moved six months ago.

-'Move? Why-what happened?' He observed the kid in her arms bury his face against the crook of her neck,

-'I-I was just coming out of the fuc-fucking groceries witj EVERYTHING, all t-the food and his medicines and-and SHIT, why did I let it happen?! I could've snapped their necks with the flick of my pinky, w-why-'

-'...Someone robbed you?' He held her shoulder and caressed her face gently.

El let herself fall on the couch,

-'They pointed at us with a gun...I begged them to at least let me keep the medicines, they'd be no use to them! Right?!'

Mike sat on the couch beside her and buried his face in his hands,

-'B-But they said I had to give them everything...and-and I...GOD, I let them point at MY kid with a fucking g-gun—so they took everything Mike, all the food, his meds, my remaining money, all of it...'

mike closed his eyes and tried not to lose it.

It's been a long ass day and this was the cherry on the pie.

-'Baby, we can't move right now'

El stopped ranting and just stared at her boyfriend (at the time)

-'...What the fuck does that mean?!' She yelled, quite shaken still.

-'Means we don't have money to move right now, it's just logic—plus remember we are saving up to get Levi to school soon-'

-'Mike...I was pointed at, with a gun. My child was pointed at with a gun. Do you NOT care about it?! REALLY?!'

Now she was yelling.

Mike's jaw dropped.

-'...Has anything I've ever done implied I don't care?' He sighed in defeat. Wow he really was never good enough. Hi, depression.

-'Mike—'

-'i put myself in the line of fire for you when I was twelve. I called you for a whole year without even knowing you were alive or not, because I love you. I—I took care of you before AND after Levi came. I fucking worked my ass off so we could be good...I saved up money to come move HERE—and I don't care?'

El wanted to scream. She went to put the baby on his cot before coming back into the dimly lit living room.

-'Always logic with you, huh? Always numbers and possibilities and maybes...THINK about your FAMILY, Mike, GOD you're so fucking selfish sometimes, I wanna lea—don't CRY!'

She could hear him sniffling and sobbing like he had just been stabbed.

Sometimes El could get very angry and stressed. Being the pillar of a whole household at eighteen put an immense amount of pressure on her, especially because she had a lot to learn about the real world still.

-'Don't cry Mike! Jesus, this is what you always do, I'm over it, you always try to turn this around on me!'

But that wasn't the case. Mike wished he could hold his ground like he did a few years ago. When he was not prone to depressive episodes. When he wouldn't cry when someone raised their voice at him. Whn his brain wouldn't tell him he was a shit father and even shittier boyfriend for letting this happen and not being able to fix it.

El had called her dad that night.

-'Daddy, I need money' Mike heard her sob into the phone.

-'I-I got robbed and—-they stole all our food and Levi's medicines and—yeah. No, no, we're both okay, they just-they just took our things...yes, the baby's fine, I'm fine, I promise—mhhm...direct deposit?' She sighed deeply in relief, -'Okay, thanks daddy and I'm sorry—yes, you can come this weekend if you want. Ok, I love you too dad'.

END OF FB

-'We manage...there's always a way we spend time together...' Mike explained, a tint of exhaustion suddenly showing through his voice.

Mrs Robinson nodded understandingly,

-'Okay so, now we're gonna go to questions about Levi, right?'

El nodded and squeezed Mike's hand,

-'I wonder how he's doing in the aptitudes test' she voiced out loud,

-'I'm sure he's being wonderful' the teacher replied in a warm tone,

-'So, what can you tell me about your son, guys?'

El blushed and couldn't suppress a joyous chuckle,

-'Well, he's almost four! And he's very very smart and curious, and super kind and loving...we technically—like...My life was kinda hard for the first what, twelve years of my life before I went to live with my dad back in Hawkins, and I never knew what it was like being treated with such love before then' she looked down at Mike who was playing with the green shoelaces on her sneakers, -'So we — Mike and I— promised each other Levi would grow to be loving and every thing good in this world'

Mike nodded and smiled to himself,

-'He's curious about everything, I think he's gonna like science too—'

Mrs Robinson nodded and wrote on a note pad,

-'So how is he with other kids?'

The couple started thinking long and hard,

-'Well, sometimes when he's not bothered with allergies we get him to play with the kids from the 5th floor and, I mean, he looks like he has a good time...he's a little shy—(Has had PTSD since the age of two after being kidnapped for two weeks and put under inmense stress, therefore creating a sort of clingy nature on him) —but he gets along fine enough for a kid his age, I believe...when we go back to Hawkins he always plays with my little brother, and with Mike's sister who is like, nine'

The older woman nodded,

-'And have you thought about maybe—giving him a little sibling at some point?'

Mike buried his face in his hands with a dramatic sigh/laugh, El rolled her eyes at him, and turned to the teacher,

-'Even if we wanted, I can't—I had to have a hysterectomy after he was born so...he's really our one and only'

-'Oh-Oh...I'm sorry for asking-'

El found amusing still how people got flustered so easily, apologising for stupid reasons, -'It's fine'

-'So' the woman continued, -'You guys live here alone?'

-'In Chicago, yes. Our families are in Hawkins, which is really just like a three hour drive or something?',

Mike nodded lightly and let El explain further,

-'I lived with my dad in Hawkins, and then he got married again, so when I had Levi ee had all moved in together...like, it was my dad, two brothers and my dad's wife, who is like—a fucking ray of sunshine from above', El chuckled at the memory of Joyce, -'Then Mike moved in, and holy hell the house was crammed as hell' she giggled, -'And THEN when two years' ago my stepmom got pregnant'

Mike chuckled -'Oh Lord what a shit show'

El agreed silently, -'So then I had to move to Mike's with Levi before the baby was born-'

Ms Robinson smiled, -'Oh joy! Weren't you happy to have a sibling?'

El smiled -'Of course! And you know, as I helped my stepmom go along pregnancy and stuff, I felt like I was learning more on...maybe how to deal with Levi, like I was practicing, sort of?'

Ms Robinson grinned and nodded her head solemnly,

-'I know the feeling'

-'So then little Henry was born and booooyyyy' El rolled her eyes playfully, -'Mom went back to work like two weeks after he was born and I had to babysit, it was hard as hell'

Mike nodded and held her hand, -'And now every time he visits, him and Levi are like...a duo Of hyperactivity and none of us can catch up'

Two Years Ago

FB

El was laying back on the living room couch while reading a book and enjoying the sweet spring breeze seeping through the windows.

Mike was back at his house busy tutoring some freshmen (making money), Joyce and Hop were working and Will was on a date ("You little shit, I want my freedom too")

So now she was at the Byers'-Hoppers' with Levi and also watching her little brother, one month old Henry.

She popped a Cheez-It into her mouth and basked in the peace, knowing her two-year-old was sprawled out like a starfish on a mat in Henry's room, and her baby brother had just fallen asleep after Joyce breastfed him before leaving for work again.

After having read two chapters of the damn biology and anatomy book in her hands, she decided to check on the children.

Levi was indeed laying messily on top of a soft floor mat, his growing black hair in contrast with the baby blue fabric. His bushy eyelashes brushed against the numerous freckles across her face, and El felt her heart make flips. He was so perfect.

She kneeled beside the kid and buried her nose against his hair, -'My sweet sleepy bug'

After the gentle greeting, she saw him stir, so she offered the child his paci, which he accepted without much fuss, and El stayed to watch him close his eyes again.

-'Time for some more bio then'.

After about half an hour, the Supercomm beside her came to life.

-'El?' It was Mike

-'Hi baby, what's up. You done?'

Mike nodded but remembered El couldn't see him.

-'Yeah, I'll be there to pick you up at like, 5pm, is that okay? I just have to put all the books and paper away, these kids always leave a god damn mess'

El chuckled,

-'You sound like you're 80 instead of 18, honey'

Mike hummed, displeased,

-'How's the little buggers behaving?'

-'Oh perfect, theyre both sleeping right now, although spending time with Henry makes me feel a bit glad that I'm not able to have any more kids'

Mike snorted and rolled his eyes,

-'He IS a handful—'

His words were interrupted with the very familiar sound of a small baby screaming (bless those first nights with Levi),

-'Shit' El mumbled, -'I'll call you later, gotta see what's up'

-'Ok, cool'

El closed the antenna and almost fucking tripped trying to reach Henry's room

To see what the hell was going on.

Levi was poking his tiny arm across the bars of the crib, the newborn screaming because his sleep was disturbed . El sighed deeply and grabbed her brother in her arms,

-'Shhhh—Baby, it's okay...just go back to sleep, how about that?'

Gosh this kid looked so much like her dad. All blonde hair, and even blonde eyelashes and bright blue eyes.

-'Mamma' the toddler held her leg, showing a bit of jealousy,

El frowned, -'No, you were so bad! Why did you woke him up?'

-'Boooop' he poked her knee and pouted,

-'Nuh uh, no booping, you were bad, Levi-' the squirming child yelled in her arms and scooted himself toward her chest,

-'No no no, hold on there young man, I'm not your mamma—are you really hungry again?' She rolled her eyes and turned on the supercom with a flick of her pinky.

Mike heard the mayhem going on the other side and chuckled.

-'Here, here, here take this while I tend for Henry, come on' she put a baby bottle between Levi's hands in hopes that he would stop wimpering after his mother had reprimanded him. It worked. For a bit, at least.

-'What even is going on' Mike asked,

El held her temples, -'Henry's crying, your son woke him up so I scolded him and now Levi's crying too'

A loud 'MAMMA' was heard through the supercom and Mike's ears rang.

-'Hey, don't yell at me young man, you did wrong! Now sit down and finish your milky' El carried Levi all the way to a chair and settled him in while she went to the kitchen with Henry screaming bloody murder right into her face.

-'You're awfully loud, Henry' she scrunched up her nose, chuckling a second later because that phrase was the first thing she ever said to her little brother. As soon as he was delivered, the kid had made it his mission to drill into everyone's ears, and maybe even through the walls of the delivery room. While Joyce and the nurses had been unimpressed, El wasn't used to such intense crying so early on, especially because her own son hadn't been able to cry for the first month of his life . And now was no different. Four weeks later and Henry James Hopper was still loud as ever.

END OF FB

So we get visited pretty often anyways...especially by Lucas and Max' he looked up at El and chuckled at her eye roll,

-'Lucas and-'

-'My best friend and his girlfriend, who is also our friend. If that makes sense' Mike says quickly, -'Lucas and I been neighbors since we were babies so...we are like blood, but they take really good care of Levi, most of the time'

Mrs Robinson raised an eyebrow,

-'Oh so...you leave them in charge sometimes?'

El dhrugged, -'Two months ago I think, Mike had to have his appendix taken out so, imagine the drama—'

FB

-'El, Ellie I'm fine, please I don't have to go to the hospital, come on baby-'

-'Mike I swear if you keep crying at me like that I'm gonna let that appendix burst and kill you! I'm trying to call Lucas to come and take care of—'

-'HE'S THREE HOURS AWAY'

-'Everyone we know is three hours away!'

El waited while the phone rang. Her pulse was all the way up and adrenaline was rushing through every bone in her body. Sure, as a nurse assistance in a busy ER she had seen a lot of weird and dangerous shit, but this was her husband being sick now...this was her husband sweating through his hoodie, begging in delirium to not alarm anybody...dhe felt two arms wrap around her leg. The little boy was all dressed for sleepy time. It was supposed to be a normal evening/night, until Mike stumbled into the small apartment soaked in a debilitating fever and "some kind of pain somewhere under his stomach". Of course Levi just wanted to sleep and showed it by getting clingy and whiny.

El sighed deeply and lifted him into her arms, urging him to curls his arms around her neck for support, -'I know you're sleepy, thing- LUCAS?! LUCAS IT'S ME'; the yelling into the phone put the baby into more stress and made him start to cry.

Lucas showed up at the hospital five hours later, dragging a sleepy, grumpy Max behind him,

-'Come ON, Maxine! Jesus-'

-'I just woke up, okay? And I'm hungry' the redhead protested with a pout.

El got up immediately but carefully, trying not to wake the baby that slept in her embrace. She looked done as fuck.

-'What the hell happened?' Lucas asked quietly,

El sighed, -'He came home with a fever and pain...he didn't wanted to come...I told him it was appendicitis—you know how stubborn he is...then I drove here and he was passed out already, and now he's in surgery'

Lucas rolled his eyes,

-'When he wakes up I'm gonna kick his skinny, pasty white ass'

Max chuckled like she was drunk and leaned over his shoulder, -'Do not fear m'lady, we will take care of your small spawn'.

Michael Wheeler was probably the funniest person ever under the effects of anesthesia and Max and El felt blessed to have such comedic misery in front of them.

A day after his surgery and Lucas had taken Levi for some breakfast downstairs and Max and El had stayed with the nurse trying to make Mike take a shower.

He was deadass crying and slurring things about "please don't see me naked".

Max was crying with laughter and El was breathless before she decided to step it.

"I'll-I'll take care of him, thank you Mary"

The woman rolled her eyes "he's difficult as hell!"

-'Tell me about it' El chuckled and went into the bathroom.

He recognized her immediately.

-'El! El please don't see me naked, I can do this on my own!'

El surpressed the need to laugh,

-'Mike, do you know who I am?'

Max yelled from the other side of the room "I don't think he does!"

El shook her head, and saw Mike looking confused as hell,

-'El...you're El'

The young girl let out a laugh,

-'I'm your WIFE, Mike! We literally have a kid together, I've seen you naked before'

He started pouting and his eyes watering, -'B-but I'm so skinny...and...and pale and pasty and there's-there's FRECKLES. ALL over the fucking place! I-I-'

El rolled her eyes and held his bony shoulders still,

-'You're perfect. I love every freckle you got, and every bone I can feel when I cuddle you, ok? Now let me wash you, you stink'.

END OF EB

-'So yeah, they take care of him from time to time'

The teacher nodded, -'Tell me more about his health condition, I'm a tad bit curious'

El nodded, -'well...he was born like eight weeks early because the doctors thought I was at risk of dying if we waited any longer and due to that, he has weak lungs and he needs oxygen ever day. It's called bronchi pulmonar dysplasia and it really takes a toll...on him, and us' she looked down at where Mike was sitting, he was nodding,

-'Because well—We worry a lot...He's the reason I went through with being a nurse ya know? When I got pregnant at fifteen I thought it was gonna be too hard but...I never gave up, and I think it paid off'

-'Fifteen. Jesus Christ'

Mike rolled his eyes. He's heard that one too many times.

El lowered her gaze and Mike noticed.

-'Chin up' he whispered. A thing he told her way too many times four years ago.

FB

'People stared at me today' she sighed while setting down groceries with Hop.

Mike looked up from his videogame match with Will, which allowed the latter to kill him in the game.

-'Who?'

-'I don't know, some old people' she shrugged and made sure Hop didn't accidentally bumped her 18 weeks pregnant belly with some bags,

-'Dad almost punched them' she chuckled sadly, to which Mike jumped on his feet and walked to her.

-'People look at me too. I know they whisper things about me...but hey, El. Chin up' he held her face and made her look at him.

-'They're nobodies. Nothing but idiots who only know how to judge other people. So chin up, always, okay?'.

El took a deep breath and nodded, -'Chin up'.

END OF FB

—

Hawkins was unforgiving of young parents.

El started loving Chicago the day she, Mike and Levi attended the Mother's Day parade; a celebration involving hundreds of thousands of roses and mothers of all ages, sizes and races.

FB

It had been a warm day in May, and El enjoyed how her mustard yellow sundress played between her knees, how her salmon jacket shielded her from the sun and the gentle cold breeze. Levi had his legs wrapped around Mike's torso while he waved at every stranger he could.

Mike smiled and held El's hand tight.

-'It's your day!' He said, -'We're getting an Eggo Ice Cream Monster after this'

El smiled up at him and kissed him gently,

-'Thanks baby'.

Some street performers and volunteers went around giving roses to each mother.

For the two years el had been purposely ignored during Hawkins' mother's day celebrations. This year was an exception. A new city. A new mentality.

A friendly-looking mime with a bunch of yellow roses in his arms spotted her.

He approached the small family with a smile and silently bowed dramatically in front of El before handing her a rose. Levi giggled in delight and El took the flower gently,

-'Thank you!' She waved goodbye at the man and her eyes instantly watered.

Mike got concerned,

-'El, what-'

El shook her head and smiled,

-'I'm happy, I'm-it's the first time someone gifts me something like this in Mother's day. I'm so used to people in Hawkins ignoring me because I'm-I'm too young, I-this means a lot to me' she whispered, pointing at the rose in her hand.

Mike hugged her tight and kissed the top of her head,

-'You're the best mom ever, El...you should be celebrated every day, okay?'

END OF FB

El felt tears prickling around the corners of her eye but rubbed them away furiously.

-'Being fifteen back then didn't take away the wave of love, devotion and adoration I felt when they put Levi in my arms so...I think I'm as good a mom as any thirty year old'

She was a bit angry and tired of people still judging them.

—-

Back in Hawkins, people would still stare and whisper when they saw all three walking by on Sundays outings; the little gremlin usually up on his dad's shoulders while his mother answered his every question, making mike chuckle proudly.

They would stare when they would enter a coffee shop for a snack, they would stare when Mike and El would take the baby to small, tame outdoors garage band festivals.

-'As well as being sixteen didn't stopped Mike from sleeping for weeks at my house, taking care of me and a baby AND doing chores while I recovered from childbirth...didn't stopped him feeling the same adoration I still feel...WE still feel' she held her husband's hand tight and shrugged her small shoulders,

-'I just want—' she stopped to think, -'I just want our son to have an education. A good one. He's smart, it's just...a part of him gets in the way of most people...teachers don't want more responsibilities or a burden in the classroom and I get it, but we are ready to make even more sacrifices so he can grow as a fairly normal kid. That's all we want' she looked down at Mike who was fiddling with a leather bound bracelet with their names on it.

—

Suddenly, the tiny classroom's door opened and a smiley woman entered it, Levi trailing behind her while holding two lollies.

Mike smiled wide and opened his arms to get a cuddle out of his son.

-'Awww, big guy! How was it? Did you have fun?'

Levi nodded and buried his face into his chest,

-'Oooh are those lollies? Does that mean you were good?' El tickled his belly and the little boy beamed uo at his mother,

-'Sure was!' He answered, sounding like a little old man.

The woman gave the teacher a report of the tests Levi had done. Her smile said everything.

-'Okie!' She clapped her hands to get the attention of the little family in front of her,

-'Everything is looking good, but now I would like to talk to Levi! How's that sound'

The boy nodded eagerly while opening the lolly clumsily.

El made sure the kid wouldn't stab himself with the damn stick first before paying attention to Mrs. Robinson.

-'Baby, you have to pay attention now' Mike put him on his lap and tried to

Make him focus, -'This nice lady will ask you some questions okay? Easy ones'

The kid thought for a second, -'Easy? Pwomise?'

-'Yup, I promise!'.

-'Me has two guiiiineeee pigs' he held up two little fingers while El took the lollipop out of his mouth so he could speak better,

-'Levi, we talked about this. It's "I have"' Mike held his tiny hands and the kid nodded,

-'I have two guinneeeee pigs...I-I wanted a doggy but daddy said NO because-because he doesn't wanna clean pooooopies'

Mrs Robinson chuckled and looked at the couple quite amused, -'Is that for real?'

FB

-'A dog, El? Really?'

-'Yeah! He could use a pet'

Mike rolled his eyes, -'I'm not getting our son a dog, I'm not cleaning anyone's shit, and Levi's already potty-trained!'

El rolled her eyes, -'Okay, how about...a bird'

Mike shook his head, -'I don't wanna clean a big ass cage, no is no'.

The next weekend, the small family was walking around the mall just looking for things to do before grabbing a bite.

Levi was stumbling cutely trying to catch up with his mother's pace, who on her part was trying to not get left behind by Mike's long strides.

The little boy glanced into a glass window where a bunch of hamsters ran around.

-'Mmm' he stopped in his tracks and tried to talk over his paci.

El stopped in her tracks and pulled Mike's hand, -'Oooh' she cooed at the small rodents on the other side of the window.

Levi pointed up at the hamster cage and looked back at his dad with a pleading gaze.

-'D'you like those, baby?' El smiled as Mike held Levi up so he could see the hamsters better.

Levi nodded and smiled, -'Mhhm'

Mike frowned and took out his paci,

-'You wanna go inside and see them?' He asked reluctancly.

-'Baaaaby, look at the Guinea pigs' El pouted while pointing at a cage with four fuzzy rodents roaming inside of it.

-'Rats' Mike spat back, half amused to see his wife deflate at his remark.

-'Noo, too cute to be rats' she remarked, while also keeping an eye on their kid who was checking out the fish,

-'What if we get fish, babe? He seems to like them'

Mike chuckled -'I am not cleaning a tank. Also? Tanks are expensive...no fish'

-'You are sooo cheap, ain't cha?' El smiled up at him and hugged him by his waist,

-'You bet...'

levi approached the cages with the Guinea pigs and smiled as well. It didn't helped Mike's case that his son's smile resembled his mother's.

-'What' he asked dryly.

His son's big green eyes looked up at him,

-'I like deese'

-'Good for you, kid' he sighed, sounding a whoooole fucking lot like his father-in-law.

El frowned, -'Don't be mean, he's a baby' she rolled her eyes and smacked him,

-'I'm not being mean, it's just—rats, El?'

The young girl shrugged and ran a hand through her son's dark hair while he looked further into the cages, his eyes going even bigger when one rodent approached him thinking he had food in his tiny fingers. The little boy let out a long squeal of joy and surprise when the animal pressed its whiskers against his index finger,

-'Daddy wook what he's doin'! He likes me'

Oh dear Jesus. Mike couldn't resist. He just took the sight of the happy child in. Dressed in a shirt a tad bit too large on him, some soft fabric short pants, some blue sandals, his untamable mane of black hair waving around El's fingers, and his sun kissed cheeks and nose...holy shit. Levi really had Mike's heart wrapped around his tiny pinky finger.

Mike sighed dramatically and ran a hand through his own midnight black hair.

"Fuck" he whispered,

-'Okay, so he likes you huh?'

El shot him a smug grin. One that said "I knew you'd fall".

-'Yeaaa! Look how he's tickling my finguhs'

El chuckled and went to get someone that could show then the Guinea pigs up close.

The pet store assistant put a black and white Guinea Pig on El's arms.

Levi laughed and pointed, -'Mamma's new baby', he said with a huge smile on his face. El knew exactly what he meant with that ("Mommy's gonna take care of the pets while I just cuddle with them sometimes").

-'No no, I only have one baby and that's you!' she pressed her index finger to his freckled nose, -'If you want a pet, you have to take care of it, okay? Are we clear?...Daddy says he's gonna get us the piggies if you're good and promise to care for them'

Mike was shaking his head behind El when the assistant put a tan guinea pig in his palms.

-'Daddy, your new baby!', his son called.

—

The rest of the afternoon had to be spent at home, among boxes of cheap Chinese food and with the sound of Mike assembling the cages.

El and Levi were wiping down the rodents clean because Mike had grumped "Damn them if they make Levi's allergies flare up, Jane".

Hours after his father had put together the cages and the hay and feeding devices inside of them, Levi asked El to use the phone.

-'Mamma, I call Papap and talk about Cow and Dog'.

Yes, their kid had named his animals after other animals.

El had chuckled but gleefully dialed the Hopper house phone.

Needless to say, Hopper responded with a grunt mirroring Mike's indignation about the furry new pets.

END OF FB

-'But he wanted two—so that's how we got two Guinea pigs in one day'

Mike commented, while Levi chuckled mischievously,

-'My papap says they're just wats-rwats-RATS' he sighed after finally pulled the word out of his lips,

-'Your papap seems like a grumpy person'

ms Robinson said, both playfully and curiously,

-'Oh nooo he's so sweet, like a beyuh'

El let out a laugh, -'He means a bear. Dad's 6ft4 and probably 200 pounds so we call him bear'.

El remembered the day Levi was born.

Hopper had tried not to cry but it was fucking useless. Seeing this tiny tiny ball of pink chub sleeping peacefully in a cot made his knees weak. It had been hilarious back then.

She also remembered when she came home one night, and a three-month-old Levi was wearing the way-too-big knitted hat Flo had made him while he peacefully slept against Hop's arm; some violent gangster movie playing on the TV before them. Absolutely adorable.

It wasn't a secret that James Hopper was a huge, dumb softy when it came to his grandson.

FB

-'Why do I have to babysit again?' Hopper sighed as he looked at Levi, who was taking out some dinosaur toys out of his tiny backpack,

-'Because-' Mike started explaining as he ran around the tiny apartment looking for a god damn TIE, -'El and I have a conference we gotta attend for professionals in the field of medicine and health and-'

Hopper frowned -'Y'all haven't graduated yet!'

El shrugged and sprayed some hairspray into her short brown curls,

-'The hospitals invited us so—we're going! Plus I get to wear this cute dress'

The buzzer rang and Joyce's voice filled the small living room, -'Let me in guys, I'm loaded'

Mike went to press the button and let Joyce into the building.

A minute later and Joyce stumbled into the apartment with a one-year-old blonde child in one arm and three plastic bags in the other,

-'Gee, don't help me please I'm doing just fine!' She said sarcastically.

Hopper got up from the couch and grabbed the bags from his wife, gently caressing the light blonde hair on his son's nape.

-'What'd you brought baby?' He asked from the kitchen,

-'Chicken and some garlic bread and a salad I think—'

El came out of her and Mike's room and took the child from Joyce's arms,

-'Hello little thingy! How've you been?' She kissed her brother's rosey cheeks and let him play with the collar of her pale blue dress, -'Look Levi, Henry's here!'

Levi looked up from his dinosaur collection and squealed in delight,

-'AAAAAAHHHHH' he let out a high pitch scream and ran to his mamma trying to reach the baby in her grasp, El grinned and leaned down,

-'Be careful, remember he's just a baby' she reminded her son.

Mike came out of him and El's tiny bedroom with his button up shirt on and his pants almost falling off his hips.

-'I still find it hilarious that this one year old kid is Levi's uncle-like ACTUAL uncle'

Joyce let out a giggle while she took out the paper plates from under the sink,

El turned around from her squatting position on the floor and frowned, -'Nice purple undies baby, go get your belt'

-'Yeah Mike, listen to your wife, I used to pull down nerd pants in the hallways back in the day'

Joyce slapped Hopper in the shoulder,

-'You were such a damn bully, I really don't know how we were friends'

Mike rolled his eyes and went to put on a belt,

-'Joyce you weren't very nice to begin with—'

-'Still!'

-'You still agreed to marry me, and you let me make love to you and you let me get you pregnant, and then you gave birth to my son, so who won?' He said with a smug grin on his face,

Joyce rolled her eyes and squeezed his hand lovingly before starting to cut some chicken for the babies.

El was too busy kissing Henry's ruddy cheeks when a surge of jealousy took over Levi and he started making a scene.

He held onto his mom's dress and pulled at the hem of it, making her almost lose her balance.

El frowned and tried not to yell, -'Levi, stop it! You're being mean' she grabbed his chubby arm and led him to the couch, -'I'm spending time with Henry, will you behave?! Jesus-'

Hopper sighed and approached the scene,

-'What's going on-'

-'He's being a brat, that's what's going on!' El said, half screaming,

-'Takes after his mom, I guess'

He grabbed the crying toddler into his arms and cuddled him,

-'Mommy's being mean, I know, she can be a handful sometimes'

El opened her eyes even wider in surprise, -'I really can't believe you two'

Hopper glared back at her,

-'Come on, L, let's go see what Mamam is making for you, and dry those tears' he passed a gentle hand across the boy's freckled cheeks, who leaned into the soft caress.

Mike was observing from the threshold of the bedroom door with raised eyebrows, and then walked towards El while securing a navy blue tie around his neck,

-'Your father is gonna spoil our son up'.

-'Tell me about it'.

END OF FB

Mrs. Robinson shuffled around some papers with a slight smile on her face, apparently pleased with what she saw and heard.

-'So, I think you' she pointed at Levi's button nose, -'Are very smart, and so so creative...wanna show mommy and daddy the drawing you made?' She asked coyly.

Levi nodded enthusiastically and went to take the piece of paper with his grabby hand.

He waved the paper around, and El couldn't help but let out a chuckle of endearment. He was so fucking cute.

-'Let me see, baby' she cooed, trying to reach for the famous drawing.

Mike scooted closer to inspect the thing.

-'This is mamma' the child pointed at a stick figure with quite detailed outfits and hair nonetheless. On top of stick-figure-El sat a mop of brown curls, and he had also added some strikes of purple to match her newly acquired style. The stick figure was wearing sea green scrubs and was seemingly smiling.

El's eyes watered, emotion overcoming her like a wave. She was so proud of this tiny being she had grown inside her belly, and now was making pictures of her so neatly.

El's eyes scooted over to stick-figure-Mike and she couldn't help but cackle.

Her laugh was contagious and soon enough, Levi and Mike were chuckling loudly as well.

Stick-figure-Mike was like 9 feet tall, and was wearing a striped button up with a red tie and holding some kind of tool in his hand.

The funniest part was that the hair was just a black messy scribble. Wasn't far from reality.

Mike grabbed the paper from her and inspected the drawing, -'Look, he even added the freckles' he pointed a the circles in the stick figure's cheeks.

El tried to surpress a sob to no avail.

She grabbed her son tight and attacked his spotted face with kisses,

-'My talented little man, I love you so much, thank you for your drawing!' She said enthusiastically.

Really. Thank you.

Most parents would find the drawing unimportant or childish and useless.

To El, everything her son did was a miracle.

It was a miracle he was even alive.

-'Hit me' Mike lifted a fist and Levi responded with a baby knock.

Mike's smile was so wide it make his eyes crinkle and freckles pull UP.

-'Good job, baby, I love how you drew me like a giant'.

—

El tapped her lip with the pen, thinking about all the medicines Levi was on.

-'...Inhalation therapy...portable inhalators, what else—'

Mike thought for a second, letting the child fiddle with his car keys,

-'The vitamins, and the thing for the allergies...the syrup'

El nodded and poked the air with the pen, remembering everything, then filling the form.

She continued writing on the thing.

Lactose intolerant. Pollen allergies. Dust allergies. Seafood allergies.

She moved the clipboard so Mike could spell-check what she wrote. He nodded in approval and grabbed the pen from her to sign the bottom of the form in the space the signatures were meant to be.

Ms. Robinson grabbed the filled form from the young parents and told both to go to the secretary's office to make the first payment for Levi's inscription and to retrieve the school plan.

As they walked through the halls of the fairly small school, Mike let out a sigh. A pride sigh.

He looked down...DOWN at the little boy holding his hand tight, looking around the unknown structure and fiddling with a baby toy.

-'Can you believe this bug is going to school' he asked El quietly.

She looked up at him and chuckled,

-'No, but not because I think he's not smart enough. But because he's growing so fast I just- where were we 3 and a half years ago?'

Mike raised his eyebrows and thought for a second,

-'I was probably crying my eyes off when I held him for the first time—while you were rude enough to keep sleeping' he chuckled and she smiled back.

-'Listen, anesthesia had me knocked out okay?' She giggled and sighed just like her husband had done seconds ago.

-'He's actually going to school. Wait til our parents find out-'

A lightbulb went off in Mike's brain.

-'Let's go to Hawkins after we're done. Your dad is on vacation, right?'

El nodded, -'I agree...they love when we visit. I haven't seen them in two weeks'

-'We've just been busy, it's okay'.

After paying a rather hefty price for the inclusion of their son in the school plan ("Let's go half and half" El had smartly suggested) and getting a date for the start of the pre-kindergarten school year ("October first", the secretary had said), Mike and El decided to start getting their child excited for this new stage of his life.

El lifted him up as they walked towards the cars,

-'My sweet sweet baby! You're so smart, you're going to school!' She tackled him with loving kisses, pulling giggles out of her precious son.

Mike lifted Levi's sweatshirt and started tickling him, making the baby squirm in El's grasp.

The family laughed blissfully, knowing damn well nothing could ruin this moment.

El handed the kid to his father who smothered him in cuddles before cuddling him like an actual toddler,

-'I'm so proud of you, you're so smart' he smiled, -'I love you son' Mike kissed his son's cheek and put him down,

-'Ah we gonna visit mamam and papap?' levi asked, breathless from laughing and returning kisses,

-'Yeah! And Nana and Teddy as well' Mike explained.

Ted never had a problem with not being called the traditional grandpa names every kid said.

Levi associated his name with his own teddy bears so...Teddy it is.

Teddy, who rocked him in his lazy boy and told him stories of past presidents while Levi payed close attention to the pictures in these books.

Teddy who prepared him boxed mac n cheese in the shape of cartoons when Nana wasn't home.

Teddy who took him by the hand to the supermarket and let him get glazed cookies.

Teddy who let the child climb on him when he accidentally fell asleep in his chair.

El looked into the parking lot at both cars.

-'Are we using the BMW for Hawkins?' She asked, taking a pair of sunglasses from her shirt pockets.

The 10am sun was raging now.

Mike sighed and thought for a sec.

No.

The first and last time they tried to go to Hawkins in the sedan, Mike's legs cramped so bad El had to drive for the last half of the way while he sobbed in the backseat.

-'You know my legs can't be in such a small space for so much time' the young man sighed.

El nodded, -'Daddy's truck then—should I drive?'

Mike thought for a second and shrugged,

-'Fine. Im gonna take the car home, pick me up there—buy us some take-out for the road first ok?' He instructed, while getting into the sedan;

Levi waved sadly from between his mother's arms while pouting, -'Daddy don't gooooooo'

El chuckled and shook her head,

-'We'll get some food and then go get daddy back, okay? It'll only take a few minutes. Come on, in you go' she put him in the baby seat, ignoring the fucking stubborn pain her back was putting her through. Ah, the perks of being a damn nurse assistant.

El was really outstanding at what she did. She helped with everything and anything.

From soothing scared mothers and fathers, to delivering babies, to curing open wounds. She could do it all in one shift. And it was certainly hard.

She sat on the driver's seat and let out a long, deep sigh. She rubbed her face, smudging a bit of the make up on her eyes around. She had started her shift at midnight, and ended it at 8am. Then gone straight to the school and now had to drive to Hawkins. Why had she offered in the first place?

-'What did you get?' Mike asked, while flinging a small bag (with "just in case" things in it) to his back and approaching the truck.

El held up three bags of fried chicken goodness and Mike smiled,

-'Sounds good to me! You still wanna drive?' He leaned against the co-pilots window.

El shook her head in sincerity, -'Not anymore, I'm tired, I wanna sleep'

-'Alrighty miss. Come on, move'.

After being settled in the car, and Mike grabbing a piece of chicken for himself, El occurred to ask about work,

-'Did you call in sick or something?' She questioned lazily, while snaking a hand towards his thigh; Mike shrugged and finished swallowing before responding,

-'I mean I told Marcia I had to go to Hawkins for like a sudden, important thing...she said she called Richard and he told her it was okay for me to skip, but I gotta work the whole Saturday' he pointed at his wife lazily with a chicken drumstick and nodded to himself, -'So we're in the clear',

El curled up into her seat and covered herself with Mike's hoodie,

-'...Do you wanna talk to your dad or my dad for the money situation?'

Mike frowned, -'What- El I know we're tight, I mean-shit...we knew Levi going to school was gonna be a thing, plus we have our savings, I think we'll be good'

-'I don't know, maybe they could help out on something or whatever' she looked back at her son who was already asleep, clutching a small stuffed animal and his sippy cup.

-'As you wish, m'lady. But YOU talk to them'.

—

Levi tried to open his latch of the baby car seat, already getting a bit flustered from the long ride.

-'Mamma' he whined, with crocodile tears down his face.

El turned around and chuckled, -'Baby, we're like five minutes away from Nana's house, I swear! Do you wanna go potty?'

He shook his head and shot his arms out at her,

-'Nuh uh, just wait like five more minutes, we'll be there!'.

—

-'SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR MISS KAREN WHEELER' Mike called from the outside of the house. He had a key but this was all for dramatic effect.

He heard Karen giggling inside while going to open the door, obviously recognizing her son's voice.

-'OOOOOH what a nice surprise!' She squealed happily, taking Mike's face between her hands and peppering it with kisses before greeting El with a warm smile and lastly, scooping Levi into her arms for a snuggle attack.

-'Hewwoo Nana' he mumbled against her neck, making grabby hands at her pastel pink tweed vest, she pouted and almost cried at the cuteness,

-'Awww, ny favorite little bug, how are you? You been good?'

-'Where's dad and Holly?' Mike asked, while sitting down on the living room couch,

-'Dad's working, Holly is at school. It's Thursday, Michael'

El giggled at her husband's forgetfulness,

-'Shouldn't you be at work?' Karen asked, a bit flustered, worried for hers son's job stability

-'I called off. We have some news, mother!' He announced happily.

Levi turned to look at his grandma with a proud smile on his face. It's like his parent's pride was contagious.

-'We enroled Levi into school' El smiled, holding her son's tiny hand.

Karen put a hand to her face and gasped back some tears.

-'Are you for real?!' She sighed out, a proud sob escaping her mouth. She waved a hand to Mike, motioning him to come hug her.

The young man stood up (all 6ft4 of him) and engulfed his mother and baby in a bone crushing hug.

-'Yeah—finally. He's being accepted, mom...it was great' he was crying too now.

Karen had known of all the struggles the young parents had experienced trying to get their child into school. She had gotten all the calls of Mike's disappointed voice and El's sad cries in the background. Had known how being rejected actually impacted Levi's demeanor, made him quieter and shy...because he was afraid of failure.

El had always heard and read about "Don't protect your kids from failure, it's a part of life" but the thing was—Levi hadn't failed.

He always nailed all the psychological tests, the basic academics, everything was perfect but his poor health made teachers say "We won't care for him, so he can't be here".

She had had to scoop her child up into his arms. His freckled cheeks reddening and growing wetter every second he kept crying, snot and everything.

The baby couldn't say much, but Mike and El could tell he was crying because he thought there was something wrong with him. Never would the teachers change their mind, or give the parents a second chance when they saw the heartbreaking scene in front of them.

When they saw Levi nestled against El's neck, smudging the collar of her sea green scrubs with all kinds of fluids while Mike nervously stroked his back, unconsciously fiddling with the pale blue inhalator in his hand. In case it was needed.

All this time, everyone had made Levi think he was dumb.

-'I'm smaht, Nana' he pointed at his own little head with a smile,

-'Of course you are, my sweet angel. Of course you are'.

—-

El was upstairs in Mike's bedroom (She had moved in with him after he came back from Chicago two and a half years ago), getting some fresh clothes she always kept in there and making Levi drink his milk in peace.

-'You guys gonna have lunch here?' Karen asked, while checking on some pot in the stove. Mike shook his head,

-'I think El's gonna take a shower and change, we're gonna go to Hopper's-'

Karen laughed out loud,

-'Jesus Christ, you know he's on vacation, right?' The woman shook her head mockingly, -'He calls me like at least twice a day, asking me what to do with Henry'

Mike let out a chuckle and rolled his eyes, -'I figured...'

-'He's lost some weight too, says the kid doesn't let him eat in peace'

Mike pouted jokingly -'Poor 200 pounds Hopper, what will he EVER do without steak?!'.

—

Mike heard some muffled voices coming from the other side of the bedroom door.

He opened it and saw El, still wrapped in a towel, her short hair dripping a bit into the carpet, and reading Levi a book about dinosaurs.

Mike shook his head and laid a hand on her bony shoulder,

-'Baby, go get some clothes on, I'll take care of him'

El looked up gratefully, -'Thank you' she mumbled before pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

Mike laid beside the small boy and supported the sippy cup to his lips with one hand, and grabbed the dinosaur book with the other.

Levi had a grasp to his father's thick black curls, slowly and self-soothingly caressing the strands while he focused on Mike's voice.

-'And then this one here is the brontosaurus, with the long neck, you see?'

Levi nodded in response and let the sippy cup go for a sec, -'Really long neck, like a buildiiing' he pointed his little finger at the picture before returning to suckle on the cup.

Mike chuckled, -'Maybe not as long as a building, but definitely very long-'

His train of thought was thrown off when El strolled in her underwear. Fuck.

Did I, Michael Dweeb Wheeler really married this goddess from the high heavens? Did I?

Yes.

-'Are you teasing me' he asked innocently so Levi couldn't catch on the flirty tone of the question.

El turned around to face them. All small breasts cupped by a pastel pink bra, all hipbones and bellybutton piercings, the faint shadow of ribs peeking every time she drew a breath.

All dainty, femenine and perfect.

El chuckled and blushed, -'Maybe...later, okay?' She winked and threw on a long sleeved light shirt and some soft sleeping shorts,

-'I'm tired' she cuffed her arms around his neck and Levi spat out the sippy cup and whined in protest, -'Mamma noooo, geddoff' he mumbled, pushing El off his dad with a tiny arm, El tumbled off Mike's body and into the bed with a pout,

-'What, I can't steal daddy off you for a second? We have to share, you know?'

Mike chuckled in endearment and kissed her head gently, -'I'll send him downstairs in a bit so we can sleep' he whispered, and El nodded with half her face plastered on the pillow.

Ten minutes passed and Mike really wanted to just spend some time with El,

-'Okay kiddo, mommy and daddy are tired...we're gonna take a little nap, why don't you go downstairs and see if Nana wants to give you some of the brownies she's baking before lunch?'

Levi pouted and bit the plastic mouth of the sippy cup,

-'Noo, I stay too'

El sighed deeply and thought of something,

-'Go on baby, maybe Nana will take you to collect Holly at school!' The child's eyes widened. He really liked playing with Holly. She allowed him to play with his dinosaurs along with her Barbies and they had a good time despite the 5 year age difference.

-'Okay' he tumbled off the bed carefully and grabbed his tiny backpack containing some of his favorite toys, El opened the door for him discreetly from between Mike's arms and closed it behind the boy. The couple unfroze when they heard Karen coo his name gently downstairs.

El turned to her side and grabbed Mike's face gently, examining his delicate features and planting a kiss on his lips.

He reciprocated, and engulfed her in his warm embrace. She whined silently in protest, -'You really haven't taken your work shirt off? How come I'm the only one half naked here?' She pouted cutely, swirling a finger around one of his black curls,

-'El...baby, my wife, light of my life, angel, my sun and my moon, my morning and my sunset, my beautiful, gorgeous, hot girl...I adore you, with every fibre of my being, but we aren't gonna fuck in my bed when my mom is downstairs with our kid, who has the habit of bursting in exactly when my tent is going full force'

El's eyebrows where way up her forehead, impressed by her husband's discourse,

-'You talk too much sometimes' she said , trying to suppress a chuckle, Mike snorted and leaned back on the headboard, lazily unbuttoning his shirt,

-'I think I can agree with that—fine, shirt is off, behold my way-too-pale freckled upper body, princess' he leaned his head against hers and her curls tickled his nose,

-'You're perfect to me...you know that, right' she muttered lowly, staring directly into his eyes.

He nodded gently and kissed her sweetly.

She leaned up to kiss him harder, and he bit her lower lip softly, tugging at it playfully.

-'Hmmm' she mumbled, coyly, -'I thought no fucking'

-'How is this the same, Jane' Mike laughed. He grabbed her face and planted a skimo kiss on her nose,

-'Let's take a nap, I'm so tired' his eyes suddenly droopy, El nodded and hugged his waist,

-'You're warm'

-'Always...come on, nap time' Mike put the duvet over their bodies.

El instinctively curled up against him, hugging his arm tight, and kissing his collarbone gently,

'i love you, have sweet dreams'

-'Love you too, Ellie. Let's enjoy this and see how long it takes my mom to burst in and wake us up'

El chuckled and placed a smooch to his jawline,

-'Dweeb'.

—

Like clockwork, only ten minutes later, two tiny fists slammed against Mike's bedroom door.

El drew a deep breath, even though she had only napped for ten minutes, she had been in a deep sleep.

-'Fuck' she whispered, rubbing her eyes to see where the noise was coming from,

-'Just ignore him and he'll leave' Mike mumbled from his place against her chest.

But the tiny fists persisted. Now they sounded like four instead of two. El frowned,

-'When did we have another kid' she mumbled, hazy vision making it hard to look around the room,

-'I don't know, maybe you had twins but never reali-'

A huge voice thundered from the other side of the door, -'Alright Wheeler, get your hands off my daughter'.

Now Mike was awake.

El's head popped up, her lips forming a bright smile, dimples showing, -'Dad?'

-'Yeah yeah kid, open up. These monkeys are restless out here'

El giggled and flicked her pinky, making the door unlock and swing open.

Before her, Hopper wearing a greyish blue shirt and jeans, a blonde blue-eyed two year old Henry hanging off his arms as an accessory, Levi peeking his head from behind his Papap's leg.

Mike got up from the bed and stretched his muscles, -'I'll have you know-' yawn, -'She's my wife now', Hopper frowned at Mike's bullshit logic, -'So that makes her less of my daughter?'

Mike chuckled and patted his shoulder, -'How've you been?'

-'Good, clearly struggling without Joyce' he pointed at the kid hanging from his forearm, El chuckled mockingly and grabbed Henry gently,

-'Well hello, mister man-'

-'El put some damn clothes on, I'll be downstairs, Karen is almost done with the food'

His daughter pouted and ruffled Henry's hair,

-'Mamma, kissies' Levi puckered up and giggled when he received a smooch and a cuddle from his mother.

—

-'How's Joyce doing Hop? Haven't seen her since last week' Karen asked kindly, as she put some brownies to bake and settled everything for lunch,

-'She's good, bringing in extra hours ya know' he responded, while watching his son and grandson playing a few feet away from him,

-'I'm going crazy...like I fucking adore Henry but god knows I'm not 25 anymore, I don't have the energy'

Karen turned and rolled her eyes, -'You're 43, Hop...'

-'Yeah, what's your point? I have grey hairs, Karen. GREY!'

The woman chuckled and shook her head,

-'I think all those popped up when El got pregnant, and that was a while ago! Don't blame it on this little blonde thing right here!'

Hop looked again at the two toddlers. Levi was laughing at Henry, he had shared some of the contents of his sippy cup with the younger child, and Hopper could see the milky white contents of it dripping down his chin,

-'Making messes is what makes them happy...they're gonna ruining your rug-'

Hop went to stand up and stop the children when Karen chuckled and held his forearm,

-'Hop, there's no need for that, they're just playing!'

-'Aren't they about to ruin your one thousand dollar persian rug?'

Karen let out a cackle and got up to get the food on the table,

-'It's not persian and it's not one thousand dollars, relax...can you call Mike and El please?'

—-

Mike was held El's hips gently, his hands barely grazing against her portruding bones there. He felt like he was drowning, or maybe breathing wasted air but in the best way possible because it was El taking his breath away with mind-numbing kisses.

Her hands roamed around his torso greedily, she sank her weight fully on top of Mike's hips making him groan in response, almost accidentally biting her lips.

She pulled away and gasped for air, giggled with spice and laid her cold, small hands on his chest. His heartbeat was fast and his breathing was deep, equally strained.

-'Don't have a heart attack on me, handsome' she raised an eyebrow and brushed her tiny nose against his. He scrunched up his nose and stole a peck off her strawberry lips. She gasped playfully and held his face with one hand,

-'My cute! Adorable! Schmoopy! Sweet! Little! Muffin of sunshine!'

-'El! Quit with the embarrassing pet names!' He pleaded with a grin,

-'No! My lovely beautiful piece of cupcake! The absolute cutest-'

Mike decided he was over this and decided to tickle away.

El exploded in cackles and tried to writhe away from Mike's sneaky hands.

-'STOP! MIKE!'

Just as she was about to punch him playfully, Hopper opened the door and sighed.

-'Come on, you weirdos, lunch is ready—El didn't I tell you to put clothes on?'

El regained her breath and climbed off her husband,

-'Okay daddy, we'll be right down!'

Hopper grunted before closing the door again.

Mike grabbed El's behind as she got off the bed,

-'You're amazing' he smiled, before she raised an eyebrow, all flirty, and blew him a kiss.

—-

The doorbell rang while the two families were in the middle of savoring some excellent canelones.

Mike's eyebrow furrowed.

For some reason, people ringing their doorbell at odd times like this, and unannounced made him uneasy. Like he was ready to flee.

Hopper taught him once, three years ago, that he should always be ready to escape.

FB

It was a nice, crisp end-of-September morning. Fall was fast approaching so the sun felt nice with the cold air.

It was 6:00am though and Hop was gonna start his shift early today.

He grabbed his thick jacket from the hanger and quickly made his way out-until he saw someone on the corner of his eye, sitting on the swinging bench on the front porch.

Sigh of relief, when he saw it was just Mike.

He turned to look at the scene.

-'I didn't want him to wake El up' the teenager explained.

The baby in his arms had been a little sneezy for a few days, thus waking himself up, thus crying and interrupting his parents' sleep.

Hop saw a stain of snot, probably, on Mike's shirt,

-'You should—' Hop sighed, a bit irritated and disgusted, -'Don't hold his head on your shoulder Michael, he's making a mess on you'

-'O-Oh, I-I'm sorry, i just don't-'

Hop rolled his eyes. What a dweeb.

-'I'll let you figure it out...' he was ready to leave Mike and Levi alone when he remembered something and turned around again,

-'Michael?'

-'Yes, Hop?'

The older man sat on one of the odd wooden chairs outside in front of his son-in-law,

-'Been wanting to talk about this for a while but somehow never found the time' he started, Mike's huge eyes fixed on him,

-'I know you wanna protect your new family...hell of it was for me El and the baby would never leave this house, but I know that's not good for them—and I know you two have been talking about what to do in the next few years-' the kid sneezed against Mike's shoulder, but the teenager didn't even register such action,

-'El has told me...conversed with me, about some things. About moving and stuff. And I agree, you want to have your own life and I will not stop you. But Mike—You're the head of the family—now I know your lanky ass doesn't believe that, but it's your duty to protect them...especially because you know damn well your circumstances-'

-'Sir, I-'

-'Just let me finish. I know you sometimes think how can you protect them. YOU, when El is...well...herself. But trust me Mike—and do this for me, please take care of them. With your life'

Mike swallowed and rubbed his cheek against his son's cotton-y black hair,

-'Sir...I put myself between your daughter and ten army men with guns, convinced that if I died they would leave her alone. And that was when I was twelve and she was eleven. And now—I know that day wasn't that long ago, but now I seriously won't hesitate if I have to kill or get killed to protect my family'. Shit. The kid had it in him.

-'And that's why-' Hopper started again, -'When I get back this afternoon, we're gonna start shooting together. You're gonna learn the basics of some guns and weapons, and just...do what we have to do, okay?'

Mike nodded, quite enthusiastically,

-'We're also gonna learn about evacuation plans. When to leave, when to fight...it's time you guys learn all this'.

END OF FB

Karen opened the front door and Lucas, Max and Dustin all came in, completely uninvited as always.

El squealed in delight and bolted to her feet to tackle Max, who held her up like she was nothing,

-'Light as a feather, El!' She mocked, twirling her best friend around before eventually setting her down.

Mike also got up and hugged Lucas and Dustin tight, -'I missed you guys so much'

-'We missed you too man; how's Chicago?'

-'So cold I think my dick shrunk'

Mike heard Hopper cackle loudly at his comment his son in law rolled his eyes.

Lucas punched him playfully, -'Indiana is beating my ass man, college is hard'

Mike nodded in agreement. College was kicking his ass too. Long tests, huge books, a lot of practical homework. At least being in a job directly related to what he was studying absolutely was of help.

-'Biology is easy for me' Dustin added, -'I think it's because I'm so interested in it' he shrugged, anf snooped around the table, -'Ah, Mrs. Wheeler, what have you delighted us with here in this fine afternoon?' He asked, Karen chuckled-'Serve yourself Henderson'.

The party (Minus Will because he was in art class in Indianapolis), all started eating loudly (as normal twenty-year-old friends would).

El and Mike slipped out of the chummy group,

-'The oxygen tank is in the back right?' She asked, while holding his hand gently, Mike nodded -'Will you grab my stethoscope? To do a quick exam? It's in my bag'

-'Mhhm, be right back. Make sure he's seated, and calm, ok?'.

Daily one-hour sessions of oxygen therapy were like a nightmare for Levi. It forced him to stay still and he was pretty active back at Home, and ESPECIALLY now and here with Henry to make him company, so his parents always had to make sure they had a nice TV show on for him, or gave him a puzzle for him to (try to do) while he received this necessary treatment.

Hop grabbed Henry when he saw El coming into the house again with a small pale blue oxygen tank and tubes inside a carrying case with "Jane E. Hopper Wheeler" scribbled on with a marker.

'Here' El handed Mike his stethoscope.

Biomedical engineering came with perks. One of them is that Mike was learning a lot from the doctors around him, and even had classes with other med students even if his future job was to assemble and fix machines to help patients, it was all interconnected.

The party continued bickering as if nothing was going on while Mike and El focused on their tasks.

-'Hey kiddo, look! Your dinosaur book! Take it, we have to give you your medicine now okay?' El talked gently but firmly at the same time.

Levi pouted and wanted to cry but held back,

-'Okay mamma' he mumbled, silent tears falling against his ruddy freckled cheeks,

-'I know you hate this, little guy but we have to, okay?' Mike took the kid's shirt off and felt for any signs of fever, rash or anything out of the ordinary. All good.

-'You check his mouth and nose this time, see if everything's clear, and I'll check his lungs' Mike instructed, to which El agreed.

El flashed the light further in, -'Mouth looks good, throat isn't especially swollen but then again, we had some coughing a few days ago, remember?'

-'yeah...I'm hearing a little wheezing but I think that's normal, it's nothing we haven't checked before with the pediatrician...how's the nose?'

El sighed, a bit annoyed -'I mean, one nostril is completely clogged but what's new...we'll have to give him saline when we get home tonight...that's it'

-'Okay great...let's plug this in then'.

—

Mike sat on the back porch of his childhood home, overlooking a line of pine trees that made the air cooler and fresher.

He heard the back door open but paid no mind as to who it had been.

-'You smoke now?' Hop asked.

Mike pushed back his mane of unruly hair and sighed out smoke,

-'Sometimes. Occasionally...El doesn't want me doing it in the house, much less with the baby around...which is—understandably logical'

Hop walked towards Mike and leaned against a chair,

-'Why?'

Mike looked up. What does he mean why?.

-'makes me not hungry sometimes, when I don't have time to eat between class and work...calms my nerves more than pills'

-',..Still on those?'

Mike snorted and rolled his eyes.

-'Jesus Hop, I'd be on the brink of a nervous breakdown if I leave them...I think'

-'Now what has you so nervous? Seems like you're settled back in Chicago'

Mike leaned back and hugged around himself. It was getting too cold.

-'Money I guess. Time...Levi's sickness. It's all like, crushing me'

-'Money now? That's so...banal. Common. Fixable'

-'I don't want your allowance' he replied stubbornly,

-'El does. And I'll be happy to help with his school fees...'

-'Still'.

Hopper knew better. He felt the same anxiety towards El. Mike feared the pst. Before he could speak again, Mike went ahead,

-'I sleep with a gun in my bedside table drawer every night...or day, depending on what shift I managed to get'

Hop sighed deeply and ran a hand through his face indignantly,

-'I know, I gifted you the—'

-'You don't know...when I have to get up at 6am, and El just got home, and I get ready for work and I come into the bedroom and she's already asleep...I never wanna leave them. I never wanna leave their side, but I have to...do you understand?' Mike turned to look at his father-in-law dead in the eye.

-'Every morning. When I gotta go to work, and Joyce too...and I leave my own son with the babysitter...and I think about El and Levi...and you. All when I wake up. I don't wanna leave either Mike but you have to get it together. They need you, okay? You have to be there for them'

Mike slumped down on the chair and held his face in his hands, he was feeling overwhelmed and anxious and like he always wanted to cry and leave whatever he was doing at work, whatever machine he was fixing, whatever course he was attending and just go home to his wife and kid because who better to take care of them? Than himself?

-'He's just a baby and he still has nightmares Hop, and god knows I have them too...'

-'Oh not this Mike, we've been through this...hey he held the younger man's bony shoulders, -'It's all gone. You're better. You've been eating, right?' Although by the poking feel of the shoulder blades and prominent bones, Hopper could've guessed Mike was starving himself again,

-'Yes, sir' he swatted Hop's hand away, -'And I've been taking the meds too. Everything is in order, it's just-'

-'You're caving into yourself. Drowning in a droplet of water. Why don't you rejoice for what you have today?'.

What Mike had?

A job that paid enough for rent, hot water, the light bill, a basic plan of cable and some spare for gas.

A beautiful wife who complimented him in every single way.

A son who greeted him gleefully whenever he stepped into their home.

A home. A two bedroom shoebox with odd ornaments, picture frames, a TV and two fucking Guinea pigs.

His life was pretty set. Mostly because he had worked his ass from that late summer day he found out he was gonna be a teenage parent; tutoring, fixing cars, fixing Tvs, fucking anything so that his son could be safe and have a future. Now at twenty, he had a good GPA in college, a decent job and a happy family. Why was he worrying for again?

-'One day at a time, Michael. I'll always be there for you guys' Hop squeezed his shoulder and went inside.

—

Inside the house, the party was bring loud over snacks as always.

-'Sshhh, you fucking animals can't you see El and the baby are asleep?!' Lucas whispered furiously, trying not to wake up his friend and godson, who were peacefully napping on the couch.

El had fallen asleep while helping the kid solve a little puzzle, after making sure the oxygen therapy was going well.

-'So I'm a fucking animal then too?' Max wanted to start bickering out of spite,

-'Sure are' Dustin said, teasingly. He received a reprimanding swat to his cap, courtesy of Hop who was passing by with a golden haired toddler hanging from his back,

-'Be quiet or move somewhere else, Jesus'.

Mike entered th living room, the scene before him making his heart melt. Wow. His family.

His wife.

His son.

His.

He kneeled before El and stroked a few strands of curly hair out of her forehead,

-'Hey' he whispered gently, booping her tiny nose with a feather touch,

El scrunched up her face and pouted, -'I'm-is somrthing wrong?' She asked with a whiny sleepy voice, Mike chuckled at the cuteness,

-'No, you just fell asleep in a weird position...you wanna go upstairs and get some good sleep or—'

El shook her head gently,

-'I'm gonna go-' yawn -'talk to my dad...bring the baby up, make sure the oxygen's turned off'.

—

-'So how's it been? Two weeks without seeing your pop, huh?' Hop ran a hand through El's hair, making her giggle,

-'I missed you dad...everyone . I miss you every day' her throat knotted a bit, -'But I like my life in Chicago. It's hard...every day, is just very hard...the other week Mike and I had shifts at the same time, you know? Morning and morning...we had to leave Levi with Ms. Maud, the lady-'

-'From the fifth floor? And how did that go?'

El shrugged, -'It was hard to...allow that. But Mike had 8 to 5 at the hospital, and I had a 6 to 6 shift as well...it had to be done' she shrugged lazily and scooted closer to her father,

-'Being alone is a lot harder than you explained, dad' she admitted with a deep sigh,

-'...I've lived alone. I just...wasn't a teenage parent, I was selfish then, yea?'

El nodded , -'I understand. It's just hard. Not because of the money, like Mike would tell you...sometimes I don't have the energy for anyone else you know?'

Oh. Believe me. Hopper knew.

FB

-'Come on, Ellie, you wanted to visit your mamma and your aunt for mother's day? You're coming!'

Hop called from the living room loudly.

El was in her room, wincing every time she moved her arms to throw on some summer dress she had chosen to go visit her mamma. This vertical scar on her stomach had been tormenting her for the last two weeks. It made it feel like everything was ten times heavier.

She hated using her powers around her newborn baby but she had to, because even Levi's four pounds frame felt like a ton when she held him without any help.

The one hour ride to her mamma's went smoothly, Levi slept all the way through it, even over the sound of Hop's deep voice talking to el.

Becky glared at her with judgemental eyes as soon as she came in the house.

-'You look tired, Jane' she pointed out.

El let out an involuntary but all too familiar whimper; sitting down was such a fucking task,

-'Ya think?' She shot back sarcastically,

Becky squinted and raised an eyebrow,

-'I'd think you'd be smarter you know? You're fiftee-'

-'Fifteen, I know and you're fucking infuriating right now, I didn't come to see you, I wanted to se my mamma'

Becky bit her lip, Hopper containing himself from intervening,

-'Well, your mamma is still catatonic, I doubt she can register her daughter rolled around with some kid and had a baby at fifteen-'

El pushed the coffee table she was sitting in front of, spilling some of the tea she had been served and looked up at Hopper,

-'I'm tired of this...I come see my mother and all I get is more fucking judgement dad!'

He laid a hand on her shoulder and pleaded silently,

-'Not in front of the baby, please' he pointed at the little bundle squirming weakly around some blankets. El sighed deeply and closed her eyes for a second,

-'I need to get my shit together-'

-'You sure do, you're acting like a brat'

El shot a glare at her aunt and proceeded to grab her son gently, using her powers to make him at least a pound lighter.

Owens' nurses weren't kidding when they said recovery would be extremely painful.

El sat beside her mamma while rocking the baby gently in her arms. She liked to talk to her, maybe she was listening.

-'I'm tired. But happy if that makes sense' she started, running a hand through Levi's tuft of soft, lint-like hair,

-'It's been hard, ya know? It's only gonna get harder but...oddly enough, I don't regret anything. I wish you were...okay, to help me...I need you right now' she didn't realized the tears falling down her pink cheeks.

END OF FB

-'I don't know if Mike asked you already' she said, shyly, -'But...we kinda need some mo-'

-'I offered to pay for his school fees, El. You won't have to worry about Levi's education on top of everything else'

A sigh of relief escaped her mouth unconsciously.

It wasn't that El wasn't willing to pay for her own son's school, it's just that they were so tight already it seemed pretty impossible. But dad always had her back, no matter what.

-'Thanks daddy, i- you know I wouldn't ask if I didn't need the help'

Hop looked down (way down) at his small daughter and swept her off her feet, holding her like he used to when she was just thirteen,

-'Dad! You scared me' she pouted,

-'You're not too old for me to hold you like a toddler, Ellie'

The girl chuckled and nestled her head against the crook of her father's neck. She's always been a daddy's girl, an unashamed one for sure. And even with two step-sons and a blood-son, The apple of Hopper's eye was El. His only girl (not counting Sara). His pride and joy.

-'Betcha Henry sees us and he'll toddle out and yell' Hop smiled to himself,

-'I don't doubt it, that little thing knows too much'

-'He's a handful, I was gonna ask you guys to adopt him'

El gasped and smacked her dad's cheek playfully, -You don't mean that, he keeps you in shape!'.

—

-'Let's go to town' Max suggested, with her mouth full of chocolate cake. Mike did a face at the sight, -'You're disgusting' he said, receiving a flick of icing in response,

Lucas chuckled and nodded -'I agree. Maybe down to the quarry too?'

Mike stood up, -'Let me get my kid up, I want him to see some people'

Dustin, oddly, stood up as well,

-'Ah yes, let me get my kid too' and proceeded to lift Max as if she was a feather.

—-

-'We should totally walk...this fresh air is great' Lucas said, watching as El and Mike convinced Levi to leave Nana, Papap and Henry behind in exchange for a walk with his parents.

Henry protested. Audibly so. And by protested, I mean he yelled until Hopper let him go with Mike, El and Levi for a damn walk in town.

"Take care of this monkey, Ellie!"

"will do! I'll call you when we come back!"

El zipped up the boy's navy blue windbreaker to his chin, making him look like a toddler-sized marshmallow, Mike couldn't help but grin at the adorable sight of his son protesting a little due to his limited mobility and his wife (wow. WIFE.) slipping on a light sweater over her crop top ('Michael, I will wear crop tops for as long as I can').

Henry pulled at Mike's jeans and shot out his arms when the man looked down.

-'Oh jesus Henry, come on! This is called "a walk" for a reason!'

Nevertheless, Henry got his ride in the arms of Mike Wheeler.

—-

It took them fifteen minutes on foot to reach the main strip, and at this point Max had already yelled at El to "put a fucking pacifier in your brother's mouth and make him stop babbling, I'm done". El didn't argue.

Across the main street, a group of posh girls they used to know from high school glared at the group. Maybe jealous of their friendship.

El knew better though...one of those girls had tried to flirt with Mike in senior year. Tried very very hard. Followed him to track practice, complimented him a lot even in front of Eleven, and even tried to kiss him once to which he filed a complaint for harassment.

El let Levi walk alongside Lucas and hold his hand, while hers slipped in the back pocket of Mike's jeans.

He's still mine. Back off.

She heard him let out a tiny gasp.

She looked up at him and chuckled, -'You're blushing'

Mike cleared his throat, -'Lost something? Wanna grab my wallet or-'

-'No, it's just...Olivia West and her pack of man-stealing bitches are right down the street'

Max looked over at the same time as Mike did.

-'I hated that pack so much, one of them tried to spy on Lucas while he was changing after football!'. The girls kept sharing their memories of that particular group for a while longer, the sound of Levi Dustin and Lucas chattering in the background.

-'Hey' Mike called, putting Henry down, ignoring the protests coming muffled from the child's mouth, -'Look at me, Jane' he stopped in his tracks and held the hand that was not in his pocket.

El looked up at her husband, -'What'

He smiled and touched her cheek, -'You're the love of my life, you know that? My moon and my stars...you've always been—and I've always been in love with you'

It was El's turn to blush this time,

-'Aww. Shit. You're so cute. Lean down, I have to kiss you'.

—-

A shy, tall-for-his-age African American boy scrambled to the front door of Melvald's ready to take over the incoming clients.

A weird sight.

Three young men (one of them holding the hand of a black haired child) and two equally youthful women (one of them carrying a golden-haired baby) entered the store like they were strolling into their living room.

The dainty, short woman approached him, putting a pacifier into the baby's mouth to shut him up,

-'Hi, is Joyce here?'

-'Uhhh...Ms. Joyce?! Somebody wants to see you'

The group continued talking to one another while taking all kinds of candy from everywhere and anywhere.

Joyce walked out the back with a pen acting as a pin for her dark auburn hair. Her smile was so big it could've brightened the whole planet.

-'KIDS!' She squealed, the boy behind her raising his eyebrows in surprise. She knew these people?

Joyce kissed everyone on the cheek and grabbed the blonde baby from El's arms,

-'Mamma' Henry muttered, trying to talk through his paci,

-'Hi, I missed you! Have you been good?'

-'No' Max and Dustin responded immediately. Joyce chuckled and kissed Henry's ruddy cheeks,

-'Andre, this is my son Henry, my daughter Jane, Max, Dustin, Lucas and Mike and-'

-'Mamam I'm heeere' Levi popped up from behind some merchandise stands and hugged her leg, -'My grandson; Levi'

Andre waved shyly at the group of people, not at all fazed by the fact that Joyce had a GRANDSON.

Mike glanced at what his son was holding in his hands,

-'Oh my god, every single time he comes here he grabs the same damn thing'

The young man opened Levi's little hand and took out a packet of Hershey's Kisses,

-'Son, do you wanna spend the weekend sick? Just because you wanted to eat some chocolate?'

Dustin shook his head and laughed, -'You guys remember when I tried to feed him nougat?'

-'I'd rather forget' Max answered sharply.

—COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER —

-'EL! Open the fucking door, I have to pee!'

No response.

-'What are you doing in there?! What's taking so long'

-'I'm exfoliating' a calm voice responded from the other side of the door.

Mike looked scandalized,

-'EXFOLIATING?! It's our son's first day of school, and we need the bathroom and you wanna exfoliate?!'

-'Listen, I deserve this'

-'Eleven, don't make me grab my tools and take down this door. I swear I'll pee in your coffee if you don't open this damn-' *click*

-'Come in. Don't threaten my coffee ever again'

Mike kicked the door open and started reprimanding his wife while also relieving himself,

-'You do know we only have one bathroom right' he sighed, -'We gotta share!'

El chuckled giddily, -'I just wanted to get you riled up. You're so cute when you're mad'

Mike blushed while washing his hands, it was the power El had over him.

Now, celebrating their seventh month wedding anniversary, and also seventh year together, Mike still felt like he fell inlove with El every day all over again.

-'I'd join you if there wasn't a child eating grilled ham sandwich right outside this door' he teased,

-'You already showered'

-'Doesn't matter'

El poked her head out of the shower to see her husband wink at her.

Jesus. It's too early for this.

—

El grabbed an orange and an apple and stuffed it inside the already overflowing lunchbox while Mike stared in amusement,

-'You really think the kid's gonna eat all that?' He chuckled, to which El rolled her eyes,

-'I mean, who knows? He has to eat some of it!'

Mike peeked in,

-'Ham sandwich, crackers, water AND juice, an orange and an apple-'

-'And some peanuts-'

-'...And peanuts. Okay. Not even *I* eat all that when I'm at work'

El sighed deeply and lowered her head,

-'Mike...it's my first time doing all this, I don't know what He's gonna need so he better be ready for everything!'

Mike chuckled and hugged her gently,

-'You're doing great, I'm just messing with you' he kissed her head as she cuddled closer, -'Also, you look super hot in those scrubs because-'

El pinched his ribs and made him jump back, -'OUCH! What did I say! You look hot because they're pink this time instead of-'

-'You're such a dweeb, Mike' she laughed and kissed him deeply.

—

El squealed when she saw her son fully dressed for his first day of school ever.

-'LOOK AT HIS LITTLE NAVY BLUE POLO HE LOOKS SO CUTE' she said in a teary, high-pitched voice, she couldn't help but to collapse on the floor while outstretching her arms so that Levi could hug her.

-'Mamma don't cwyy' he mumbled, -'Ah you sad?'

El breathed in deeply and shook her head,

-'I'm happy baby, these are happy tears. I'm so proud of you'

Mike chuckled from behind the lense of the camera,

-'Hopper is gonna laugh at you crying like this'

El waved a hand at him and made a hand towel fly to the camera,

-'What! This is great blackmailing material, look at my wife crying abo-'

-'You're a dick, Mike, get in the hug!'.

—

-'I want someone to take our picture' El looked around for anyone who could help (and operate a camera properly); Mike agreed silently and scanned the open place around.

-'Hi, excuse me miss, would it be a bother if I asked you to take our picture? It's our son's first day and-'

-'Oh don't worry darling, sure!'

The jolly, fat woman grabbed the camera and settled the family in front of the entrance of the school.

-'Lean a little, dear, I'm cutting half your head' she motioned at Mike, the comment made El laugh and mumble "seaweed" at her husband.

-'Smile Levi!' El said to her son, who put on an even wider smile and wrapped his mother and father in a headlock.

—-

-'Ooooh this is going on the wall' El squealed, looking at all the pictures they made the poor woman take, Levi grabbed one of them, -'Wook at daddy, wooks like a nooooooduhl'

Mike glared at his son, -'A noddle huh? Am I a noddle now?' He scooped him up effortlessly and flipped him upside down by this little ankle,

-'Daddy let me down!'

Mike tickled the kid with his other hand and ultimately quit torturing him so he could run into his first day of pre-K.

—

-'So this is the list of allergies and everything else you need to know about him, our numbers of contact and such...and our signature' El explained to the already perplexed teacher.

-'Okay...Jane and Mitchell, right?'

-'Michael' Mike reminded her, -'And little Levi'

-'Right...I'll keep this in mind of course' Ms. Turner waved the paper around, -'It's just a pre-K class, really, nothing so complicated'

-'No, we know. It's just...precaution' El shrugged and watched as her son was already sharing a drawing book with two boys and a girl, which made her grin,

-'Mike's gonna pick him up at 3pm today, so...look for him'

Ms Turner glared at the young man beside El, -'He'd be hard to miss' she remarked, referring about his unusually tall stature.

—-

El crouched in front of Levi, while gently holding his chubby little hands,

-'It's your first day of school. Are you excited?' She asked the child with a small voice,

Levi nodded and smiled weakly, -'Miss you' he booped her nose and pouted,

-'I'll miss you too, but you'll have fun here for a little while, and make friends'

-'Fwiends?'

Mike nodded and sat in front of Levi, -'Friends, like Lucas, Dustin, Max, Will and your mamma and I. We are all friends...you can have friends of your own too-'

-'Fwiends ah fun?'

-'Very fun' El assured him, while looking into his sea-green eyes, -'But you will also learn things here...and we'll be right here in your little classroom by three to come take you home!'

-'Thwee? Pwomise?'

El was too choked up in tears to answer so Mike swooped in,

-'Okay look...' he lifted Levi's tiny sleeve, revealing a camo-printed digital watch -'When it says three zero zero here...you see?' He tapped at the screen, to which Levi nodded, -'I'll be here to pick you up today'

-'Thwee zeewo zeewo?'

-'Yes...you'll be fine because you're smart, and you're valuable and you're important and we love you'

Levi's freckles contorted when he smiled and his cheeks blew up,

-'I wuv you too'

El kissed his head and Mike high-fived him, -'Go learn things and make friends, baby. Look, your teacher's calling for you!'

Levi turned to the small classroom and back at his parents,

-'Okay mamma and daddy! Bye! I make fwiends and leahn today!'

-'You sure will! We love you!'.

—-

El knew she was probably being glared at by more experienced mothers.

She'd been sobbing into Mike's chest for five minutes straight mumbling shit about missing Levi and not wanting to leave.

"Do you think he's ready enough? Healthy enough? Extroverted enough?"

Mike could only chuckle at every question she made.

-'Yes he is. He's super ready for this El. It was gonna happen either way' he grabbed some tissues from his pocket and wiped her tears gently,

-'Look at me Ellie...he's gonna do good. This is the first day of another phase, and we'll figure it out as we always do'

El pouted and nodded softly, -'I just-worry'

-'I know, and I worry too. But he's a tough cookie and he'll be okay, we have to let him go'

The young woman looked up at him and drew a deep breath,

-'I love you, thank you for being so good'

Mike chuckled and grabbed her even tighter,

-'I love you too Ellie. I think we did good with this one' he nodded towards Levi's classroom, unaware that his wife was about to steal a kiss off him.