Mileven Stories

Dedicated to my Dream (1991)

Someone reached out to me on tumblr and requested I write this cute little one-shot! ((Hopefully I didn't go too overboard with the fluffy goodness)). Anyways, enjoy!
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Recalling childhood fantasies is almost like an out of body experience. To remember what was once desperately dreamed of can nearly elicit a floating sensation because it's too hard to imagine such ambitious inventions being reality.

Mike Wheeler can retrace his memory far back enough to when he was a twelve year old boy that simply wanted to write adventurous Dungeons & Dragons quests for he and his fellow party members to embark on. Since then, not much has changed at all.

Present day, at the age of nineteen, Mike was just beginning to dive deeply into his second year of college. He had originally started out as an English major; but over the summer, with the assistance of his supportive girlfriend, he realized that the major he desired to be in most was the Creative Writing program.

His most recent project was titled, 'the what if game?'. Each student was given their own individual, 'what if', prompt and of course; Mike being the lucky person he was, received one that made his mind numb.

He spent hours staring at a blank sheet of paper that silently taunted him. The only words on the page spelled out the daunting question itself.

'What if your favorite thing in the world was no longer available?'

Somewhere deep in the writer's mind, he knew that this question wasn't intended to be taken so harshly. If anyone else would have been given this, they probably would have already written a gloriously heart wrenching piece about how gloomy their universe would be without chocolate. But Mike's mind seemingly could not shake the image of this life without his girl.

Instead of making up a response that lacked realness, he focused on channeling the darkness that contaminated his soul for three hundred and fifty three days of his life.

Just a mere hour had passed and suddenly the pages beneath his pen began bleeding out inked words. He felt satisfied with what he had brought to life, but was too drained from the onslaught of what life without Eleven would be like to make proper editing marks on whatever grammatical errors he may have made along the way. On the bright side, he knew a person that thoroughly enjoyed reading and critiquing his art prior to the final draft being submitted.

"How's the assignment coming along?" came the voice he had just been thinking of.

Mike turned around in his seat to reply and found himself nearly falling at the sight. His girlfriend; who looked gorgeous in anything, was sporting his Jurassic Park t-shirt, which apparently made a well suited dress for her short petite frame. And to top off the effortlessly captivating look, she had her ruthless curls scattered into a messy bun. God, the girl could have worn a trash bag and she still would have been the most attractive person he had ever seen.

"I think I finished it up," he declared before shyly asking, "would you mind proofreading it for me? I just really need to know if it's dumb or not. I think I sound dramatic, but the prompt was hard and I couldn't think of anything but you. Maybe it's too sappy. I should just restar—"

Mike's rambling was quickly defeated by the presence of El's lips. She pecked his moving mouth several times before dropping herself into his lap as she always did.

She leaned forward and kissed the tip of his nose, "everything you write is beautiful. Even Hopper says it is. The assignment you made last month is now framed on his dresser."

Mike smirked, "Hop only put that up because I wrote about the time he taught me to drive," he giggled at the memory then sighed, "this one wasn't so much based on a true story, but more of what could have happened, so I feel like it may not be that great."