PLAY THE PART | mileven

twenty two

tw: mentions of violence

**

even after the heated round of sex they had in their motel room, they still ended up deciding to join the rest of the group in the bar.

they laid on the bed together for some time, leaving caresses on each other as they tried to catch their breaths and calm the way their chests were rising and falling.

they took quick showers after that, ignored the splattered clothes on the ground and decided to wear fresh clothes that were packed in their bags.

when el tried to apply concealer on the purplish marks littered across her neck, mike snatched the tube out of her hand and reminded her of his words.

don't you fucking dare covering these up.

those weren't words that he said out in the heat of the moment, el didn't realize that until he cradled her jaw and found an untouched spot to brand himself on. he sucked the skin in, adding another hickey to decorate her neck.

she couldn't argue when he slipped her concealer to his back pocket and left the room smoothly. a long breath left her lips when she went out and walked with him to meet their friends.

her cheeks felt hotter than hell when they found their table and sat down. the hickeys on her neck were on display like dozens of paintings in the louvre, the other four didn't even try to hide the fact like they were gawking at those spots as if they were paintbrush traced colors on canvas.

like she wore invaluable drawings right on her neck.

those were invaluable for mike though. maybe the marks won't stick around in frames to show them off to everyone but that doesn't matter — in fact, it makes him more adamant on coloring her neck in the same shades over and over again.

her already flushed face turned a brighter shade of red when they started teasing them of having shameless sex and not even trying to hide it, she couldn't look will in the eyes for the whole time they sat there together.

mike's request in wanting to show the marks off had to end the next day when they took off to drive towards their destination.

she does not want to greet her parents with a bite-abused neck after months of not seeing them, neither does she want to introduce her new 'boyfriend' to them like that.

it would definitely not be the best first impression to give to her dad.

so, she graciously covered them and ended up sticking to wearing a turtleneck.. just in case.

on their ride to hawkins, it was mike this time who drove the car. el sat in the passengers seat, navigating him the road and leading him to her house. it almost felt domestic and natural by the way they interacted, her giving him stuff to eat and pointing at the road for him to follow.

it merely took a couple hours until they arrived in front of the hopper's and byers' residence, parking close to the house as they all got out of the car, stretching their limbs and grasping their bags to carry them inside.

el was standing in the front when she eagerly pressed down the door bell, excitement was consuming her as she couldn't wait to see her parents again. she didn't even realize how much she's missed them until now.

"sweetheart." joyce's face instantly lit up when she opened the door and saw el, her arms tightly wrapped around her in a motherly hug and she melted into it right away. "how i've missed you."

will shared a quick embrace with hopper before they pulled away from their parents and gestured for the others to walk in and follow them.

"i'm joyce." she turned to face the others while one of her arms was wrapped around will, "i'm so happy to have you all here, we didn't have a big christmas like this in years."