𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 ➵ stranger things

xviii

➵

WHEN CLAUDIA WAS FINISHED CRYING her heart out, she slowly pulled away from the comforting boy that was hugging her. Hopper had left a couple of minutes, letting the teenagers have some time alone. The brunette looked down at the broken girl, his eyes glistening when he saw how different she looked, it was a side that Mike never wanted to see. He had seen this part of Claudia every time him and Savanna hung out, he knew it was hurting her but he didn't understand why, he was too young to understand anything. But now he understood her frustration and sadness and he didn't ever want to see her like this.

Because if she was broken.

Then he was as well.

Claudia was watching Mike the whole time, they were so close to each other that she could see every single feature on his adoring face. The small freckles that was scattered everywhere, mostly his cheeks. She loved it when he was concentrated because he made this face when he would knit his eyebrows together, and his lips would be slightly parted. It was what he was doing right now, and her eyes would never once leave his figure. She felt that nervous butterfly feeling in her stomach but it was different, it wasn't scary; it was more like the butterflies were sparkling and brightening rather than crying as they pleaded to escape her stomach.

It was a feeling that Claudia knew would always be there when she thought of him.

It was a feeling that Claudia knew had to stop.

He doesn't even realise what he's doing to her.

"Mike," Claudia began when she felt Mike's thumbs wipe the tears off her cheeks and she flinched away from him. This caught his attention and he placed his hands away from her, his eyes looking right at her, "you don't have to do this, I know you're being a good friend and all but shouldn't you be comforting Eleven? I mean, you and Eleven like each other and-"

But Mike cut her off and he shook his head frantically, "-No Claudia, don't say that," He replied which made Claudia cock her head to the side with a frown growing on her face when he said that. "I care about Eleven a lot and the same goes with you. But I don't like her that way, she's like my sister."

Claudia's cleared her throat awkwardly as she glanced down at her hand that Mike was holding softly, and she looked back up at Mike, "Then...Then what am I to you?" She stuttered, watching Mike take a deep breath as he continued to stare at their intertwined hands. The tension became thick and heated the longer that the teenagers were in the spare room.

Mike's brown eyes made their way up to look into Claudia's hazel ones as Claudia waited for him to answer.

"The reason."

"For what?"

"The reason you made me lovesick."

"...Does that mean-"

"Yes, Claudia. It means that I've fallen in love with you."

And the world seemed to stop spinning once again, like all that was there was the two lovers. Claudia always waited for this moment, that moment where he would confess his undying feelings towards her. Claudia finally felt a lot more better than she was before, knowing that the person she had fallen for caught her in his arms. The girl always thought that feelings would never change, that he would never like her the way she liked him, it was the reason why she ran away, because of a broken heart. Every second was passed looking at each other the way that the two deserved to be looked at, and by staring lovingly at each other, they were always inching closer and closer.

But Claudia and Mike quickly pulled away, whipping their heads to the door when they saw Eleven standing there, a nervous yet confident expression on her face when she looked down at the two teenagers. But she wasted no time to begin talking.

"Claudia, we have to go."

"Where are we going?"

"To the lab. To close the gate."

/////

AWWWWWW DAMMIT

THEY WERE CLOSE

RIP

FBWHJFBEWHUFBWEHFBHEWFBE

BUT THEY CONFESSED THEIR FEELINGS AND IM FREAKING OUT SO SO SO MUCH.

BYEEEEEEEEE

-Indiana