mike and eleven sat on the porch of the byers resident, and the air was as cold as ice.
eleven was wiping her eye makeup off of her pale white face, and they hadn't spoken a word for the rest of the night, and el's head was resting on mike's shoulder, and mike's head was resting on el's head. "i missed you," mike said, gently, and eleven squeezed his hand, softly. "miss?" el asked, gently. she'd heard the word, but had never known what it meant before.
"um.. yeah, miss. when you want someone.. you know, when the leave, and you wish they were with you." mike said, softly. eleven smiled, running a hand through her slick back hair that had since started to curl back up again. "i missed you, mike," she said, as mike smiled at her, and they sat in silence for awhile until hopper came outside, poking his head through the door. "mike, eleven. we have a plan," he said, and vanished behind the door.
mike felt el's hand squeeze his own, and her breathing became heavy. after last time, she had a bad feeling about this. mike looked at eleven, his eyes softening. he hugged her, gently. "it'll be okay, el, promise," he said, and el nodded at him. they stood up, hand in hand, and walked inside the cold eerie building until they got to the living room. el gulped as she stepped into the room, hopper, joyce and the gang standing around a table.
"eleven," joyce said nervously. "if we take you back to the gate, you're sure you can close it?" she stepped towards eleven, and put her hands on her shoulders, as eleven nodded gently. "y- yes." she said, terrified. but she was stronger than this, so she stood up straight, "i'm sure," she said, loudly. joyce smiled and bit her lip, looking at hopper. "you'll take her?," she asked hopper, gently.
"yeah." hopper said, taking his hat off slowly and set it on the table, picking up a mug of luke warm coffee and took a small sip. "we'll leave in ten minutes. mike, dustin, will, lucas, max and steve will stay here incase anything happens here, and nancy and jonathan will come with me and el," he announced, and looked back up to the group around the table, who nodded in agreement, even though steve was gripping the table so hard his knuckles were white, and mike's face turned paler than ever.
"why can't i go?," they spoke up almost simultaneously, and looked at eachother. "i can be extra help," steve said, loudly, followed by mike. "and i can help with getting in there! i know that place now, you'll need the help, it's surrounded by demodogs!" he finished his sentence and looked at hopper with pleading eyes as hopper sighed loudly. "steve, the kids will need extra protection. mike," he trailed off and shook his head.
"you need to stay here with the others, kid. eleven and me will be fine." he said, coldly. mike opened his mouth to protest, but eleven grabbed his hand under the table, looking at him, and mike looked back. "fine. this is bullshit." he said, bitterly, but did a tiny half smile to the girl beside him, who returned it back, and they both looked back at the table in silence.
nancy looked at jonathan and steve, as she felt the tension build between the two. everyone was silent for a second, before dustin stood up straight. "we need to get weapons from around the room and prepare," he said, and steve nodded in agreement, soon followed by everyone in the room. everyone soon departed from the table, nancy and steve walking off together to find something in the shed, dustin walking into the kitchen, carrying a dead demegorgan, and joyce, jonathan and hopper into the living room most probably discussing about will.
that left mike and eleven, once again along together with their thoughts. they stood there, silent for awhile until el walked out to the porch, mike slowly following her as she left the room and sat on the porch together, holding hands softly, in the silence.
"el, are you gonna be okay?"
the softly spoken question came from mike, and he sat up straight, firmly. eleven looked up, staring at the sky and then back to the brown haired boy who stole her heart without her realising. she nodded, silently, as a way of saying yes.
mike still wasn't sure, but he nodded, because he didn't want to freak her out.
a few moments passed, and there was still silence from the pair, and they stared up at the sky, peacefully.
"i'm scared," el said, breaking the silence. mike looked at her, his eyes softening. i'm so scared, mike. what if it takes me?"
mike was stunned by her perfect sentence, and noticed a tear fall from her large brown eyes. "el," mike said, softly. he didn't want to say it was going to be okay, just incase it doesn't turn out okay, and one thing he couldn't do was lying to el. not now, not ever.
he looked at el, who's eyes were watering even more.
and he kissed her. and they just stayed like that for awhile, mike's lips pressed against el's, their hands intertwined, each had their eyes closed.
mike felt water roll down his own face, which were el's as they softly fell onto mike's cheeks. mike opened his eyes, pulling away, and pulled el closer, and they wrapped their arms around each other.
el sniffled, and mike kissed her forehead, and they stood up, waiting for something to happen. mike pulled away, and el put her hands on his shoulders, standing on her tippy toes, kissing him lightly and stood back down. "el." mike said, firmly. el looked up at mike, "yes?"
"just be careful, alright? i can't lose you again," he said, softly. he started tearing up, remembering the last time eleven defeated a monster, except last time he was there. now, he isn't.
"you won't lose me." el said, very gently, in a half assuring way.
"do you promise?" mike asked, taking a small step towards el, holding both of her hand.
el looked up, nodding. "promise," she said, firmly. she squeezed mike's hands, gently, and kinda smiled at the boy in front of her.
el leaned in, slowly, and just as they kissed,
"el, come on. let's go, it's time."
the strong voice came from hopper, as el turned around, squeezing her eyes shut, and turned back to mike, breathing heavily. mike nodded at her, gently letting go of her hands.
el slowly walked off the porch, smiling sadly and turned around, hopping into the police car, slamming the door as hopper threw a bottle of beer out of the rusty old car, sighing loudly.
as they drove away, el looked out the window, to mike, who was almost in tears, standing in front of steve and the other kids. she sighed and sat back in her seat, terrified.
"el." mike whispered, softly, so no one could hear. he walked back inside, stressed out of his mind.
"mike."
