Sunflower || Steve Harrington

Snapdragon

SNAPDRAGON:
Graciousness, Strength, Deception

Being in love wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and Bowie was only beginning to see that. His parents, his biological parents, loved him, but it wasn't enough to keep him. He loved Steve, but he couldn't tell the world. But when it was at its purist, everything else faded away.

Despite only knowing Mike Wheeler for all of four hours, Bowie could tell that he was in love with this girl. Whoever she was, however old they were, they were in love. Everyone around them knew, and maybe it would work out for them.

     However, when he said her name and embraced her like they had been separated for years, Bowie's head began to ache. His stomach dropped. It was familiar, but not from the stories that Steve told from the end of last year. It was familiar because they'd met before, only... he couldn't remember where.

     "Eleven." He whispered.

  In the same tone, she replied. "Mike."

  It was cute to say the least, but not everyone was focused on that. Max sighed in disbelief. "Is that..."

  "I never gave up on you." Tears ran down Mike's face, but he didn't stop. "I called you every night. Every night for-"

  "353 days." She said through her matching sobs. "I heard."

  "Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?"

  "Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper grumbled, stepping towards Eleven and hugging her gently. "The hell is this? Where you been?"

  She responded spitefully. "Where have you been?"

  Mike hit his back with balled up fists because of his anger. It was white hot. "You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her this whole time!"

  "Hey!" The Police Chief grunted, taking a hold of his collar. "Let's talk. Alone."

     Despite being dragged into Will's bedroom, which was far enough away for them to have privacy, Bowie could hear Mike screaming. It was a sort of pain that couldn't be matched. His heart was aching for all sorts of reasons and he didn't know how to stop it. He was too young to cope. It wasn't fair on him.

     However, it didn't matter that there was so much noise, because Dustin and Lucas were finally reunited with their friend too. According to Steve, they'd had a lot of differences at first. It was nice to see that some people could overcome their friendship troubles.

     "We missed you." Lucas smiled.

  "I missed you too." Eleven agreed, taking a deep breath.

  Dustin grinned. "We talked about you pretty much every day."

  However, when they pulled away, Eleven put her hands at the edges of his mouth and pulled his lips upwards. "Teeth."

  He pulled back, disgusted. "What?"

  She grinned, widely. "You have teeth." There was something stunted about the way she spoke, like she'd never been taught properly.

  It boosted Dustin's confidence greatly as he did his growling noise. "Oh. You like these pearls?"

  "I told you not to do that." Bowie grimaced slightly, and Steve nudged him. "It's creepy."