SINISTER ~ STRANGER THINGS (2)

WELCOME BACK

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Eventually, the family arrives home, greeted by Gianna, who was just finishing dinner.

She still was in helicopter-mom mode ever since last year, since it appeared that her daughters were very good at disappearing with their friends and coming back either bruised or teary-eyed.

Knowing the girls hated when she pried into their personal lives, she settles for forcing them to have family dinners, no matter how much they beg to hang out with their buddies instead.

After eating, the girls quickly head to their rooms, starting to unpack their things.

As soon as Bianca puts her bags down and turns on the radio, Mike knocks on her window.

Running over to it with a smile, she lets him in, hugging him as soon as he finishes awkwardly climbing through.

"Steve makes that look a lot easier than it is," he dusts himself off, before quickly wrapping Bianca up in a hug.

"I missed you," he gives a toothy grin as they pull away, immediately kissing her.

"I-" he kisses her again.

"Missed-" she chuckles as he pulls her closer.

"You-" another kiss.

"Too," she finally finishes her sentence, unable to stop smiling at the boy in front of her.

His expression matches hers, before quickly gasping at her. "Wait. I didn't have to dodge metal. You got your braces off?"

"Okay, rude," her jaw drops at the subtle jab. "But yes, my braces are gone. Got 'em off the day I left. We like?"

Sam had warned her to stop smiling like a maniac over the past month, but sometimes she just couldn't help but show off her new smile. After all, it was a lot of work to get here.

"You've been hiding this for a month and a half?" he gasps, a hint of a smile on his face.

"Kind of? To be fair, I didn't think you'd care that much," she laughs. "But you know, I think kissing is a lot easier when you aren't worried about cutting your lip."

"Great hypothesis, I think we should test it, you know?" he shrugs, attempting to play it cool, and she just laughs, pulling him into another kiss.

Bianca didn't think it could get better than this. She never imagined herself to be the lovesick type, but you know what they say about lo- like. Very strong like.

Mike pulls away for a moment, just to look at her. He always thought she was beautiful, but he couldn't deny the past few months have done her well.

She'd started styling her hair in a way that really worked for her, her clothes started to fit better, and it seemed like she'd finally got to the part of adolescence where your facial features start to actually look like they were meant to be on your face.

That came with its own drawbacks, the main one being her newfound popularity among the much less nerdy population of Hawkins' school system.

"So how was camp?" he sits down next to her, hands grasping hers.

"It was fun. I got better at shooting, got in the lake, made some new friends. It was great. Oh, I have pictures!" she searches through her bookbag, holding out a few Polaroids.

He grins at the one of her and Sam at the archery station, holding up their bow and arrows. Flipping to the next, his smile drops as he examines it closer.

"Who's this guy?" he points to the brunette with his arm around her.

Truthfully, it wasn't anything but platonic on her end. She spent the entire summer talking about her boyfriend, so trust me, he got the hint.

"Oh, that's Tim. He just moved from Indianapolis. He was on my Capture The Flag team. He's great at that kind of thing. You'd probably like him."

"Oh, he's not just good, he's great. That's... great."

Mike, per usual, severely struggles to hide the discomfort on his face, making Bianca furrow her eyebrows as she hesitantly continues.

"Yeah... he's really sweet, I kinda feel bad that he's stuck in Hawkins."

"Does he play sports and stuff? Is he smart? Funny?"

"I don't know, Mike," she lets out an awkward chuckle. "Is everything okay?"

She touches his hand as she says that, silently reminding him that he could tell her anything that was on his mind. Realizing how ridiculous he was being when she so clearly had eyes for him only, he takes a breath, internalizing his jealousy.

"No, yeah, of course. Sorry, I'm just curious," he shakes his head. "Show me the rest."

She shows him the other pictures while telling some stories attached to them.

"This is Julie, she's the one who fell out of the canoe..."

"This is me and Sam arm wrestling. She's a lot stronger than she looks."

Once she's done, he grins, pulling her in for another kiss. Just as their lips meet, Sam opens the door, rolling her eyes.

"Lovebirds, let's go. You'll miss the opening credits," she taps her watch.

"We're coming!" Bianca sighs, running downstairs after her.

Mike climbs out of the window, slipping as he climbs down the trellis. Quickly recovering, he runs to his bike, riding alongside Bianca while Sam takes off on her board.

"That trellis is so freaking slippery. You should seriously get it checked out."

"No, I think you're just a klutz," she chuckles.

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Upon arriving at the mall, they are immediately swarmed by their friends. Sam was already inside, heading straight for Scoops.

She'd also enjoyed the break from Hawkins, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss Dawn and Steve.

There was a bit of uncertainty in the state of her and Steve's relationship, but then again, when isn't there? It just seemed like they were always inching this close to being more than friends before one of them snaps out of it, sending them right back where they started.

Spoiler alert: That someone was almost always Sam.

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a/n: i will never forget summer of 2019 omg