Mike couldn't believe his eyes as he peeked around the corner to see the short, curly-haired girl. For once, the familiar trail of blood creeping out of her nose gave it away that this was no imagination.
El. El was actually standing right there in the hallway.
She was shivering. Mike took that as a hint to hurry over to her and wrap his arms around her in a tight embrace. His eyes threatened to water up as she wrapped her arms around him in response.
This was real, there was no doubt now. He can feel her.
He can also feel the was still shivering under his arms. He ran over the the front door, and closed it. Once again separating them and the cruel cold outside.
Returning to El, he took her by the hand and led her from the hallway down to the stairs. The rest of the boys were still surrounding the stairs.
Lucas, the closest, even holding a broom, threatening to strike whoever came down those stairs who wasn't Mike.
The sound of clacking made its way to the basement floor as Mike ascended down the staircase holding hands with a recognizing face.
Lucas had dropped the broom. Not only that, but his jaw dropped as well.
The other two were further back so they couldn't see what was causing Lucas to react like that. At least not for a few more seconds.
As El's face is now in view to all, after the long period of 407 days, everyone in the room was speechless.
Well, all except for Dustin.
"Holy shit! El!" he exclaimed.
El gave an awkward wave in response, but accepted every hug that was offered to her with a smile.
Mike didn't want her to just stand there, so he led her to the couch and offered her to sit. She smiled and took him up on that offer.
"Um... So.. Are you cold? Do you want a blanket? Hot chocolate? Anything..?" Mike asked her.
El furrowed her eyebrows a bit.
"Hot chocolate?" She asked.
Mike nodded.
"Yeah, its like... Its a drink. It's a hot drink, so it will help warm you up,"
He told her.
She nodded in understandment.
"Think of it like a warm welcome.. back." Mike smiled a bit.
El smiled back. "Warm welcome back." she repeated.
Clap.
"Well. Now that we have been reunited with our Mage, I have to ask. Are you here to stay? You're not going to like... disappear again, are you?"
Dustin wondered.
The corners of El's mouth curved into a smile. "No." She answered, shaking her head a little.
"Promise?" Mike asked, looking her dead in the eye.
El could sense by the twinkle of his eyes that her disappearing again would hurt him. She had no intention of leaving again. So she nodded, "Promise."
Mike smiled and there was an awkward silence filling the room that someone had to break. Of course, it had to be Dustin.
"We should play a game! Anyone up for Dungeons and Dragons?" He asked slyly with a wink and finger guns.
"We literally stayed up until 2 o'clock in the morning playing D&D, dude." Lucas said. "We should play something else. Something that El can play too instead of just being a lurker."
Will agreed with a nose of his head and turned to El.
"What do you say, El? Do you wanna play a game with us?"
El smiled again. "Yes."
"Fine," Dustin started "But what game are we going to play then?"
Everyone exchanged looks with everyone else.
"How about Truth or Dare?" Mike suggested.
The others faces lit up in excitement, Mike taking that as a yes. He turned to look at El.
"What do ya say, El. Want to play Truth or Dare?" He asks her.
El wasn't familiar with that game, yet she knows the meaning of the words 'truth' and 'dare'. How can that be a game? She just gave him a look of confusion; her lips slightly parted and her eyebrows furrowed in question.
Mike already knew that look all too well, seeing as he was practically her human dictionary when she was staying with him before she disappeared.
"Truth or Dare is a game where a group of people all sit in a circle and the players ask another 'truth or dare', and whichever they choose, you either have to ask them something secretive and they have to tell the truth, or you give them a dare and they have to do it." He explained to her.
She seemed to understand the rules.
"No matter how personal or embarrassing it is~" Dustin purred. Literally. Earning him an eye-roll from Lucas.
"Sound good?" Mike asked her, wanting confirmation after hearing the rules of the game.
El gave a nod, "Yeah. I want to play."
"Okay" Mike said, taking El's hand and leading her to a area in the basement big enough for them all to sit in a circle and not be cramped up against eachother.
Everyone sat in place forming a very sad excuse for a circle, but nobody really cared. It was winter break, not geometry class.
"So then," Will speaks up.
"Who wants to start?"
YOU ARE READING
Friends Don't Lie - {a Mike x Eleven fanfic}
Fanfiction{REQUESTS ARE WELCOMED!} School was canceled due to a severe snow storm, and Mike, Dustin, Will, Lucas, and even Eleven were snowed into being stuck at Mike's house until it was safe to go out again. Although it doesn't seem like a huge deal, they r...
