HOW TO STOP LIKING BOYS ━ Stranger Things ✓

TWENTY-ONE: IDEAS

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: IDEAS

"WHAT THE HELL?" Daniel muttered. Eleven was here and alive when she most definitely should not be. All of the boys watched her disintegrate with the Demogorgon a year ago, so how was she here?

Despite the emotional scene, Daniel's jealous side began to come out when he noticed the way Mike was looking at Eleven. He took a moment to breathe and remember that Mike had taken her apparent death the hardest. He really needed to chill out, he told himself that more often than he'd like to admit.

"Eleven," Mike mumbled.

She fell into the hug with him, muttering, "Mike."

"Is that...?" Max asked in a whisper, all of the boys nodding, answered the unfinished yet obvious question.

"I never gave up on you," Mike whispered as soon as he let go of Eleven, "I called you every night. Every night for—"

"353 days. I heard." Daniel had no idea about this. He knew Mike had been destroyed by the girl's death, but he had no clue he was calling her every night. He knew his boyfriend called her occasionally, sometimes he would be there leaning on his shoulder and playing with his anxious fingers while he did so. It gave him a heavy heart, knowing the boy missed her so much. That heaviness even managed to suppress the underlying jealousy. He never took himself to be the jealous type until he had someone to call his own. Whenever he complained about it, Heather would just tell him it was underlying insecurity from when he was still hopelessly crushing on the boy.

Latching onto Eleven's words, Mike asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay."

"Because I wouldn't let her," Hopper cut in.

"Oh, shit," Daniel mumbled, earning understanding nods from Lucas and Dustin.

Mike whipped around to face the man, but before he could say anything, Hopper spoke to Eleven, "The hell is this? where you been?"

"Where have you been?" Eleven shot back, which surprised Daniel, since the last time they spoke she knew a grand total of five words. Clearly, a year with Hopper had done her some good, if she had actually been living with him somewhere. The thought seemed so surreal, so unlikely. Hopper pulled Eleven into a warm, paternal hug, which surprised Daniel even more. He would never expect those two to bond, but Daniel remembered something about Hopper having a daughter who perished too young.

Mike seemed to make the connection after Daniel had. "You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her the whole time!"

He shoved Hopper, which Daniel could already see was a big mistake when the (much bigger) man turned around and shouted, "Hey!" He grabbed Mike by the caller and Daniel gasped, worried for his boyfriend even though he knew Hopper would never actually hurt him. Thankfully, all Hopper did was say, "Let's talk. Alone."