STRANGER THINGS 4

Episode 2| Scene 4

Hopper awoke in pain. His was lying on his back which he immediately realized was killing him. His skin hurt most of all. He sat up and stared at his hands which were an angry red. He didn't know if it was from the blast of energy or being exposed to the upside down. 'The upside down.' He looked around having ignored the environment until then. He had known he was in the upside down when he woke but it didn't register until now. He was in the Russian room where the gate had been. He found this odd. If he had run through the gate wouldn't he be on the outside of the room? He thought he remembered hitting his head as he dove through the gate but his head felt fine. He didn't imagine did he? Was he even alive? Hopper looked down at his body, pinching himself but nothing happened. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. He wasn't alone.

____________________________

"Wait really Steve, why are you here?"
Everyone looked at Steve for an answer
"Well I uh..." Steve stuttered. "Just here for the show!" Everyone rolled the eyes and Steve mumbled to himself, "nope, already tried that one you idiot." He took a deep breath and said, "look the real reason I'm here, as Joyce knows, is to..."

"Spit it out Steve!" Dustin said

"I bought the house!" Steve yelled. "Okay I bought the house and I'm moving in. Hence the moving van." He said pointing out the windows. "My dad wanted me out of his house and I wanted a place for myself and my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?!" Dustin yelled.

"Yes now can you all calm now and explain why you're here?"

"No way buddy. Not until you tell us about this girlfriend" Dustin said.

"How can you even afford this place?" Will asked

"Will!" Joyce said, hitting his arm. "That's not polite."

"No it's fine. I uh... had a little help from my Dad. He was pretty sick of me living in the house. Plus I made a lot a dough scooping cream." He said grinning. No one bought that for a second. "Alright come on fill me in what's happening."

Since Joyce was the only one not in shock from Steve's sudden appearance, she told him everything that had happened over the last few days. Eleven's sudden disappearance, Kali's weird episode and disappearance, and everything Eleven experienced in the void. She also introduced him to Funshine and Mick.

When Joyce was done explaining everything she and Steve turned back to the group.

"So what now?" Will asked

"We go find him." Mike said. Looking at El for approval. "We go find Brenner."

"Nice Brenner!" Dustin said, correcting him.

"It doesn't matter!" Lucas yelled back.

They continued arguing while Joyce, the only real adult, organized how get to Nice Brenner's house all the way in North Eastern Maine. It was obvious that he had settled his family as far from Hawkins and his evil brother. Despite this, Joyce and the others were still skeptical if he really was good.

Joyce decided only adults and Eleven should go as not to put the kids in danger in case Nice Brenner turned out to be... not so nice.

Naturally there was immediately protest (mostly from Mike) but a few hours later, Joyce, Funshine, Mick, Eleven and Jonathan were on the road headed to Maine. Steve stayed behind of course to babysit. Steve insisted everyone should use the word supervise but that only confirmed his position as "babysitter".

Then came the goodbyes. Everyone was obviously emotional. They were outside in the driveway, the same place just a few days before, but this time it was different. No one knew if the departing group would return.

Eleven gave everyone who was staying a hug including Steve who she had oddly gotten to know over the years. When she got to Mike, he was already crying. She immediately got déjà vu from the year before when she and Hopper were leaving to try and close the gate. It seemed like such a long time ago but even then, Eleven now realized, she had already loved Mike.

Eleven came back to reality and looked up into Mike's eyes. She grabbed his hands and this time, she leaned in all the way, kissing him deeply on the lips. Mike melted into the kiss, pulling El closer. After a few seconds he pulled away.

"I can't lose you again."

"You won't lose me." El answered. Smiling at the memory.

Mike watched silently, tears rolling down his face as Eleven climbed into Joyce's car. A few seconds later she was gone.

______________________________

This seemed like such a sweet Mileven moment but it only happened because Hopper wasn't there to stop them... :(

Authors note:
So their are a lot of people reading this book but I rarely hear from you. If you have any advice or anything you wanna see in future chapters please leave a comment! I don't bite.