PLAY THE PART | mileven

zero dot five (0.5)

this chapter is taking place before the main timeline of the story.
mike and el are in high school,
senior year.

TW: mentions of abuse & gaslighting/love-bombing

another warning bc i'm sure u'll appreciate me warning u before u get to it: there's an on-page, albeit non-descriptive, sex scene between el and kai in this chap. i'm v sorry for the damage it'll cause 😟 however it has a purpose !!!!

**

"fuck you." mike muttered under his breath while leaving the house, absentmindedly wiping the blood from the freshly busted lip that his father just gifted him.

he's grown well at evading him, sneaking in and out of the house without him noticing but there's days where mike could turn himself invisible and his father would still find him to rage at him.

he was on his lucky day this time though; his father —sperm donor would be more fitting— didn't even get to use his belt before he shoved him aside and urged mike to "fuck off" because "looking at you makes me fucking sick."

at least that's something they have in common because looking at that pathetic man made him feel just equally as sick.

taking fast steps, mike left the house with absolutely no destination to go – he just needed the crisp october weather to clear his head.

he threw the hood of his hoodie over his head and kept his eyes strictly on the dimly lit pavement. he just wanted to disappear, to vanish into thin air and be utterly alone – but it was hard to do so when the streets were unusually crowded for a late night in hawkins.

his eyebrows creased, he raised his head and scanned his surroundings, noticing how people are running around in various different costumes.

"shit." he whispered once the realization dawned on him; it's halloween, the one day in the year where hawkins stays up all night.

he instantly lowered his head again and hoped no one saw him — he didn't want to see anyone from school, not now.

all he could do was to simply move faster to get unnoticed in the crowd: faster and faster until the voices of people talking started to become more distant – faster until he almost stumbled on someone.

literally.

because there was a girl sitting on the edge of the pavement, hugging her knees while her shoulders were shaking.

part of him wanted to just keep walking and pretend like he didn't see anything but he knew that he couldn't, not when he saw a girl crying and had to make sure that she wasn't injured or hurt.

"are you okay?" he asked, just slightly bending down without coming too close to her.

she nearly jumped, tilting her head in his direction and— fuck.

out of all girls in hawkins he could've stumbled on, of fucking course it had to be el hopper.

mascara ran down her eyes, leaving ink-like streaks on her cheeks. even with the shitty lightning of the streetlights, he could still make out the redness on the tip of her nose, like she'd been crying for a good while.

she looked vulnerable and delicate, as if the faintest wind would make her scatter like sandcorns in a desert.

"you." she said, that single word alone carrying so much venom that it made him stand up straight again.

she tried to get up but inevitably failed when her knees wobbled and threatened to knock her down her ass. his hands instinctively reached to steady her, holding on her arms to keep her up right.