Strange Love / Steve Harrington

Chapter 15: Kickass

"Eleven."

"Mike." Eleven gasped as Mike pulled her in for a hug.

"Is that..." Max didn't bother to finish the sentence. She knew it was the famous El she was told about.

"I never gave up on you." Mike stated as he pulled away. "I called you every night. Every night for-"

"353 days." Eleven finished. "I heard."

Mike seemed confused. "Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?"

"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper spoke up, causing all eyes to move to him.

"The hell is this?" Hopper questioned her gothic look as he walked towards her. "Where you been?"

"Where have you been?" She retorted. Hopper made her go quiet when he pulled her in for a loving hug.

"You've been hiding her." Mike looked at Hopper with anger flaring in his eyes. "You've been hiding her this whole time!"

Hopper turned when Mike shoved him a little. "Hey! Let's talk. Alone."

Hopper took Mike into Will's room to speak alone while the others were left in the living room. Clara smiled at the sight of Eleven and ran over to her with her arms open wide. She pulled the girl into her embrace as her eyes started to tear up. "I missed you, kiddo."

Eleven hugged back hesitantly. "I missed you too, Lara."

Clara pulled away from Eleven after a long period of time so she could greet the boys. Eleven, Dustin and Lucas gathered in a group hug that warmed Clara's heart. The smile on Clara's face made Steve smile the slightest.

"We missed you." Lucas spoke.

"I missed you, too." Eleven returned.

"We talked about you pretty much every day." Dustin admitted as him and Lucas pulled away from her.

Eleven looked at Dustin and noticed his toothy grin that he held. She put her thumb in his face, pointing to the set. "Teeth."

"What?"

"You have teeth." Eleven observed.

Lucas and Dustin smiled at each other, liking that she noticed. "Oh. You like these pearls?"

Dustin purred which made Eleven jump back a little.

"Eleven?" A voice joined them. They all looked to see Maxine approaching the girl with a friendly smile and her hand held out for a handshake. "Hey. Um, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you."

Eleven brushed past Max to get to Joyce, ignoring her friendly greeting. Clara walked over to Max and placed her hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Don't take it to heart. She's not good with... new people."

Max nodded, hiding her frown behind a forced smile.

...

The group stood, gathered around the kitchen table when Hopper sighed frustratedly. "It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs." Dustin clarified.

Hopper looked towards Dustin with a confused look on his face. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, uh, Demo-dogs." Dustin repeated for the chief. "Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass..."

"How is this important right now?"

"It's not. I'm sorry." Dustin apologized, embarrassed.

"I can do it." Eleven went back to the subject.