Mileven One-Shots

christmas don't be late

christmas: 1989
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at eighteen years old mike would have thought the craziest (best) thing he's ever done, was rescue a little girl with a shaved head from the rain. shit, they battled a mind flayer from another dimension for crying out loud but now, here he was.

sitting on the chiefs couch about to ask him something anyone would have thought was purely insane.

his hands shook anxiously, fingers tightening a bit.

god, he was mostly afraid the man would skin him alive.

hopper stares at the wheeler kids posture with a straight face. wondering just why the hell was he here without jane, and why was he looking like he was one second away from having a heart attack?

"um hop-sir i came to uh-"

the man's beer sizzles open with a snap, and mike thinks he's never looked more intimidating. he sputters, gosh, his words are just gone and everything he's planed to say blanks out. "i-i came to-you know-"

"spit it out kid," hopper says drinking from the cheap alcohol can. mike nods shaking a bit still, swallowing harshly at his own spit or lack of there of really.

"i need to ask you something." he finally blurts and it comes out as a rush of air.

his brow raises slightly putting the drink down, noticing the boys seriousness. "okay. what is it?"

jeez, where was he supposed to start. the box in his pocket felt like a brick now. he scoots a bit closer, and when the words finally leave his mouth he's sure hopper is about to shoot him.

"i want to marry el."

hoppers can falls to floor with a splash. "what are-what?" he's left him at a loss for words which is rare in any case and mike finds himself gripping the couch in order to stay.
"i said i-i want to marry eleven."

"so you came to ask for my blessing?" the man's managed to find his voice again.

mike nods.

hopper sighs, his hand gliding down his face in a tired manor. it was too early to be having this talk. way too damn early.

"kid...you guys young. she's barely eighteen and what you're about to be nineteen? can't you wait a couple years, till like at least after college?"

a pit falls to mike's stomach then, but he holds his ground. "no. i really can't sir."

hopper's brows scrunch, hunching over and sternly glaring slightly now. "why the damn hell not?"

the wheeler boy sighs looking away quietly. defeatedly. "i already lost her once. for a whole year. you know how i was..."

and he does. he still remembers the night she came waltzing back into his life looking like some mtv punk. he mostly remembers the yelling that ensued soon after at him and the small bruise he had gotten on a particularly hard punch from the kid.

"yeah..." he clears his throat from the memory. "i do."

mike nods softly. "we've battled so many things over the years... things that don't and have never made sense to me-" he smiles tearfully surprising the older man. "except for her." he says emotionally. "she's always made sense some how. e-even when i found her lost in the woods when we first met."