A/N: I've had quite a few requests recently to write more Mileven-centric chapters, so that's what I've done for this one, and the following chapter will also be heavily Mileven-based as well. This chapter is a lot longer than what I usually write, so enjoy - and as always, comments are appreciated!
Hopper awoke at 7:42am the next morning to the smell of bacon and eggs being cooked just a few feet away from him. He lifted his head slowly - his neck tense from his awkward sleeping position by the kitchen table - to see Joyce with her back to him, trying to toss three frying pans worth of food at once.
"Let me help," Hopper said, his voice a little croaky from the deep sleep he had been in. He carefully arose from his chair and made his way over to Joyce, hovering behind her shoulder.
Joyce looked behind her and rolled her eyes, but gratefully accepted the offer of help. She was used to only having to cook for herself, Jonathan and Will, so suddenly having to cook for herself, Hopper, three teenagers and six almost-teenagers was a bit daunting.
Hopper took the tongs from her hand and began to turn the bacon slices that Joyce had missed. "I can manage this, why don't you stick on some toast for everyone?" Hopper suggested.
"Alright," Joyce nodded, feeling grateful but also slightly deflated that she couldn't even manage to cook a simple amount of food for her guests by herself.
El awoke at seven-four-six to the smell of what Hopper described as 'normal food' (although she wasn't sure what kind of 'normal food' just yet) and to the sound of a quiet conversation in the kitchen, most likely between Hopper and Joyce.
She slowly lifted her head off the couch to take in her surroundings; Nancy and that girl Max were still asleep on the couches opposite her; Joyce was rushing around the kitchen table, putting knives and forks beside every seat; faint sunlight was beginning to break through the windows and bounce off the drawings that still remained on every surface of the house. El rubbed her eyes and sat up properly on the couch, pulling the blanket that had been draped over her close to her chest. She wondered if Mike was still asleep. She wondered if he had dreamt about her, like she had dreamt about him all night. She had replayed the memory of their reunited hug over and over again in her head. The word 'soon' had finally come to an end; she and Mike were together again, and nothing was ever going to separate them.
She wanted to see him right there and then. She had wanted to talk to him last night after she had had her bath, but Hopper ordered Nancy to put her straight to bed without a word to Mike. El wondered if this is what it was going to be like from now on - she knew that Hopper had meant his promise of visits from Mike to the cabin, but she also knew that Hopper would be watching their every move. It wouldn't be the same as when she had first met Mike, when she had spent a week in his basement and they had had endless amounts of privacy. That freedom was definitely gone now. All she wanted was a few undisturbed minutes with Mike, just like how it had been before they gotten separated.
She really wanted to see him. She wanted to see him now.
El slid forward to the other end of the couch and stretched over the side. She could see Hopper and Joyce, clearly busy making food for everyone. El guessed that she had at least ten minutes of freedom before they would call her and the others into the kitchen for breakfast. It wasn't a lot of time, but she would take it regardless.
El quietly got up off the couch and crept over to Nancy. The older girl was still fast asleep, but if El didn't wake her up, then her newly formed plan wasn't going to work.
El gently reached out to Nancy and shook her shoulder gently. "Nancy. Nancy," she whispered, "wake up!"
Nancy opened her eyes and screwed up her nose. "What is it, El?"
"I need you to help me," El whispered.
Nancy sat up properly then, both intrigued and a little alarmed. "Help you? With what?"
"I need to talk to Mike, but Hopper doesn't like me and Mike being alone. If he asks where I am, can you tell him…"
"That you're in the bathroom or something?" Nancy suggested.
"Yes. Bathroom. That will work," El smiled.
Nancy smiled in return, but narrowed her eyes slightly. "I thought you didn't like lies, El? Friends don't lie, remember?"
El's cheeks turned pink. "I know. But this is different," she insisted, pleading to Nancy with her huge brown eyes.
Nancy tutted with a smile. "It's alright, I'm only joking with you. I'll cover for you. Now, go and get Mike before Hopper sees you."
El grinned with relief. "Thank you, Nancy!"
Nancy then put a finger to her own lips and jerked her head in the direction of Will's bedroom.
El nodded in understanding. After peering into the kitchen to double-check that Hopper was still occupied with cooking, El tiptoed across the living room and slipped into the Byers' hallway. She had a brief moment of panic when she saw the four closed doors and realised that she didn't have a clue which one was Will's room. Luckily, the first door on her right was ajar, so she decided to take a chance. She peeked her head through the gap and breathed a sigh of relief. Her eyes met Will, fast asleep in his own bed, with Lucas and Dustin in sleeping bags on the floor beside the bed. And there, right in front of E'ls feet, was Mike. His hair was messy from turning in his sleeping bag, and his cheeks were rosy. El smiled at the sight of him as her heart grew five times bigger. He looked so peaceful that she almost didn't want to wake him up, but she also couldn't afford to waste precious time alone with him. She slipped through the gap in the door and went down on her knees beside Mike's head.
"Mike. Mike". She had to restrain herself from yelling at him.
Mike's eyes fluttered open and his lips instantly curved into a smile as soon as his eyes met hers. "El!" he exclaimed, struggling to contain his happiness of seeing her. He sat up immediately and hugged her. El buried her face in his neck, hiding her smile.
When they pulled apart a few moments later, El asked, "Do you want to go somewhere, just you and me?"
Mike could see the nervousness on El's face. "Does Hopper know about this?"
El shook her head, her eyes pleading with him to say yes, for him to feel the same need to be together that she felt. "Nancy said that she would… cover for me?" She said the phrase hesitantly, unsure of its actual meaning but confident enough that it meant that Nancy would help her out.
Mike's smile grew even bigger. He made a mental note to thank Nancy at the first chance he'd get. "Great! We'll go in a second," he promised. "I just need to tell Dustin first."
El looked at him confusingly. "Why? Are you bringing him too?" She loved Dustin, but she also didn't want him invading her private (and precious) time with Mike.
Mike covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing. "No no no! See, Nancy's covering for you, right? So I need Dustin to cover for me, just in case."
"Oh," El said, suddenly feeling stupid.
Mike sensed her frustration with herself and took her hand in his. "It's okay, El, I just need to tell Dustin, and then we'll be alone for a bit, alright?"
"Yes," she replied, her lips curving into a gentle smile.
Mike squeezed her hand and then slipped out of his sleeping bag as quietly as he could. He crept the few meters distance over to Dustin's sleeping bag, where he was snoring quietly on his side. Mike shook Dustin's shoulder harshly. "Dustin. Dustin, wake up."
Dustin gave a disapproving groan as he rolled over on his back to find Mike looking down at him. "Mike, c'mon. It's half nine. On a Saturday. Considering the shit that went down yesterday, I think I deserve at least a little bit of a lie in."
"You can go back to sleep in a second, I just need you to cover for me if anyone asks where I am. Especially Hopper."
"Why? What are you-?" Dustin began to ask. He then looked past Mike's head to find El standing beside Mike's sleeping bag, fiddling with the sleeve of Joyce's old sweatshirt that she was wearing. "Oh Christ," Dustin said, glaring back at Mike, "please tell me you're not running off together."
"What? No!" Mike exclaimed, secretly praying that El hadn't heard him and that she wouldn't ask him about what Dustin meant. "Of course not. We're just going to find a quiet place in the house so we can talk by ourselves."
"Talk and…?" Dustin quizzed, raising his eyebrows teasingly.
"We're just gonna talk," Mike said through gritted teeth, his cheeks slowly turning red. "Now, are you gonna cover for me or not?"
"Yes, yes, alright, I'll cover for you," Dustin sighed. "Just let me get back to sleep."
"Thank you," Mike sighed with relief before adding, "Night, night, Sleeping Beauty."
"Shut your face," Dustin retorted, his voice muffled by his pillow.
Mike resisted the urge to skip back to El with glee. It was half past nine in the morning, on a Saturday, and still Mike felt like the happiest person on the planet. The Mind Flayer was gone, El was back in his life, and he was about to have a few minutes alone with her. He didn't think life could get any better.
El greeted him once more with a grin. "Ready?" she asked, offering her hand for Mike to take, her big brown eyes melting his heart into a puddle.
"Ready," he replied with a smile, lacing his fingers with hers.
And with that, his life just got even better.
A/N: Okay, so I know I'm being incredibly mean by leaving it there and not including Mileven's conversation in this chapter as well, but I've been working on this chapter for over a week now so I really wanted to just get it uploaded for you guys, and I didn't want it to become too long either. So, I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait until the next chapter to hear what Mike and El have to say to each other. It's gonna be a good one though, I promise! Anyways, thank you so much for reading, and let me know what you think of this!