Mike had been trying to tell El that he loved her so much, but every time he was about to, he would chicken out and embarrass himself. (Once El and him were eating ice cream and when he was about to tell her he sneezed and his face got completely covered in ice cream)
But today was the day.
Everyone was going on a trip together to the woods that were out of Hawkins. Even Steve was coming, as Dustin had invited him.
The Byers and Hopper had agreed to take care of all of them as long as they would try to not get into any trouble, so they went from house to house picking everyone up. They divided themselves into three cars, Steve driving one with Dustin, Max and Lucas, Joyce with Nancy and Jonathan and Hopper with Will, Mike and El.
During most of the journey El and Will would sing to every song the radio play, and almost by the end of it El had fallen asleep in Mike's shoulder. He blushed but suddenly his face became even more pale when he noticed that Hopper was staring at him. If stares could kill, Mike would be dead already. Will just laughed at his friend and began making kissing noises and he also drew little hearts that said 'M + E' in the fogged window next to him.
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"El? We are here, wake up."
El opened her eyes to find Mike close to her. She blushed when she realized that she had slept in his shoulder.
The group found a nice place to set the tents and began with their labor. Soon they had finished and the kids ran to the lake.
Max and El went to get changed leaving the four boys to do the same.
The boys were done and were already going to the lake when they heard Max's voice.
"Hey guys! Hold up!"
Max was wearing a one piece swimsuit that was color green, and el was wearing a one piece swimsuit too, just that hers was a blue one.
Mike had his mouth and eyes wide open as he saw El coming down to meet them.
"Y- you loo- look a- a- amaz- ing, El."
El blushed and looked down, smiling.
"You look great too, Mike."
They hugged and heard the boys and Max behind them going "aw", so they turned around to see them looking at them with teasing faces. (😏).
They both blushed and looked away as they kept making kissing noises. Mike turned to El and whispered in her ear.
"El, can you do something so that they can stop teasing us, please?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
El looked at them as Lucas and Dustin were acting like if Lucas was Mike and Dustin was El and like they were about to kiss, so El just did what she thought was the best she could do.
She made them actually kiss.
Both of them pushed the other back and Mike and El burst out laughing, clapping their hands in a hand-five. Their laughter made everyone begin to laugh too, and they stopped until tears were streaming down their faces and their stomach hurt. They decided to swim a little bit until they decide to race with each other. Surprisingly, El won every single race. None of them knew that Hopper had been taking her to the lake to teach her how to swim. And she was really good.
They then decided to play Marco Polo. Mike began to count until five down the water and everyone began to swim away from him.
"Marco!"
"Polo!" They all answered from different directions, but he only focused on El's soft voice.
"Marco!" He repeated, following the direction from where he had heard her voice.
"Polo!" El was waiting for Mike to get a little closer so that she could swim away. Mike went down into the water and el began to look everywhere to look after him.
"Mike?" She asked, a little worried that he hadn't come out yet. Suddenly two arms wrapped around her torso and flipped her, spinning her around in the air.
El began laughing like crazy when she realized it was Mike.
"Got you!" Mike kissed her nose and then began swimming away, so that they could continue playing, feeling his friends stares on his back.
They continued playing and swimming until it got pretty late, and headed back to their tents.
They all sat down around the campfire Nancy and Jonathan had made and began eating marshmallows. Mike decided to sit down with El and share his blanket with her as he noticed her shiver. They smiled at each other before returning to their marshmallows.
They all went to bed and slept happily, thinking that today was one of the best days ever.
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"El? El, wake up!"
Mike was shaking El to wake her up. He had set his alarm to wake up that exact hour, so he just went to get Eleven.
"What? Who- Oh, hey Mike!" El have him a sleepy smile.
"Now, we have to go fast. Get changed, we are going to the lake."
"Now? To swim?"
"Not to swim. We are just going to go there, so wear some warm clothes. I will see you outside, don't be late, Max will be back any time by now, su hurry." He kissed her forehead and left El's tent. He grabbed his notebook and a pen and began writing a note for Max for when she came back from the restrooms that were near the campsite.
Max,
I went to sleep with Hopper as I was having a nightmare, so don't worry. Just don't go to look after me in there, he can get grumpy sometimes.
Love,
El.
He grabbed the note just on time, as El was just leaving her tent. Mike went inside and put the note on El's side, before he went to his tent to check that his note was still there next to Lucas.
"Ready?" El nodded. "Then let's go, princess." Mike handed his hand to El, and she accepted it happily, the action making both of them blush.
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They got to the lake, were a blanket that was on the floor and a basket of food (mostly Eggos) were waiting for them.
El gasped, and then turned around to face Mike, who had a satisfaction smile on his face.
"Did you do all of this? For me?"
"Well, yeah, maybe I did."
El planted a kiss on his cheek and hugged him.
Mike now was able to put his chin on top of her head, and he heard her saying.
"Thank you, you are the best." She looked at him one last time and smiled, and then went on to grab his hand and pull him to the blanket.
They both sat there, talking about everything, never being bored about anything.
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"Lucas! Lucas! Lucas! Don't make me throw an squirrel at your face, asshole. Wake up!"
"Max? What are you doing here?"
"Wait, are you seriously going to tell me that you didn't even notice that Mike left the tent?" Max smirked, trying to content her laughter.
"Well, maybe... but again, what are you doing here?"
"Well, El left the tent too, and she also left a letter, but that is TOTALLY Mike's handwriting."
Lucas looked at her with his eyes widened.
"Let's wake up the others."
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Hopper and Joyce were the only ones that stayed behind, so all of the kids left to find their friends and use whatever they were doing to tease them for the eternity.
Finally, they walked near the lake when they heard Mike and El's laughter. They moved to that direction and saw them sitting on a blanket and laughing at something. The decided to hide behind them and watch the whole thing.
"Wait, wait, so are you seriously telling me that before you knew what freckles were, you thought that I had stars over my face? Really?"
El just began laughing louder, making Mike laugh too. They finally calmed down, and looked at how the sun was finally rising.
"Wow" El looked at the sunset, amazed by the view. "It is beautiful!"
"Yeah. Gorgeous."
Only then El realized that Mike wasn't looking at the sunset, but he was looking at her.
She blushed, and he could notice.
"El?"
"Yes Mike?" El was looking at the sunset again. She really liked it.
"I love you."
El turned around. She could feel her heart skipping a beat when she heard those words coming from his mouth. She looked at him with her ayes widely opened and her heart just started to beat faster when she looked at his eyes.
"God Eleven, I love you so much. I really can't live without you. I love everything about you. I love your curly hair and how it falls naturally, and the way I could spend all day passing my fingers through it. I love your little nose and the way it wrinkles whenever you don't like or understand something. I love your little hands, and the way they fit perfectly with mine. I love your beautiful, soft lips that I have been dreading to kiss again. I love your big, beautiful eyes, full of kindness and innocence, and I love staring at them and loose myself in them. I love how I can put my chin on top of you head when we hug, and the way you hold on tight to me like you never want to let go, making me feel that I can protect you from anything. I love the way you blush and smile looking down to you feet when I say something nice about you, but most importantly I love the way you make me feel. You make me feel like I am unstoppable, you make me feel safe and understood. You make me feel like a better person, and that you will always be there for me no matter what. You are the nicest, kindest, smartest and most beautiful girl ever, and I am so lucky to have you next to me, cause when I see us together, I know that there is nothing that can break us apart, and I know that those 353 days of complete utter pain were worth it, because you are worth the wait. You are worth everything. And I know we are still kids and that maybe we don't really know much about this, but I know that I love, and there is not a thing in the world that I feel I know for sure the most. I love so much, El. So much. You saved me in so many ways. Now that I am with you I realize that I am only happy when I am with you."
Eleven was already teary-eyed, she never thought Mike thought of her like that.
"Mike."
"Yes?"
"I love you too. I love everything about you. I love your hair, and the way it tickles me when we hug and you put you head on my neck. I love your hands, that whenever they touch me make me shiver and feel things that I never thought I would ever feel. I love your little stars, that I can keep on looking at them all day long, counting each of them without being tired of it. I love your smile, and the ways it makes me smile too. I love your laughter, it is my favorite sound, because when you laugh you are happy, and all I ever want you to be is happy. I love how safe and protected I feel when you hug me. And I do hug you tight cause I don't want to let go. I love how I shiver when you look at my eyes, and how I feel like you care about me just by looking at your eyes. But most of us, I love your beautiful, kind heart. The way you took care of me without knowing me when you saw me alone that night, the way you protected me and introduced me to all my family and friends, cause if it wasn't for you, none of this would have ever happened to me. I love the way you managed to love me even with my shaved head and without me knowing half the same as you did. God, Mike, if I had to go through all of this again just so that I could be with you, I would do it, because you are worth everything. I love you so much."
By now, both of them were almost crying. They leaned in, and kissed again. This time, both of them knowing that they were nothing without the other. They needed each other, and would do anything for the other. They pulled apart, and got into a hug. They hugged for a while, both of them whispering "I love you" into each other's ears. They were finally together. Nothing, nothing could tear them apart. Not now.
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All of them were shocked by what they saw.
Nancy was crying, like, actually crying.
"Nancy, are you ok? What is wrong?" Jonathan looked at her with a concerned look.
"Nothing. Is just... my brother is finally happy. And he is in love too."
The kids were looking at their friends as they were still hugging each other, not wanting to let go.
They couldn't believe they had found love and home between each other.
None of them could be any happier now.
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2346 words!
I had been waiting so much to write this, I hope you love it as much as I do.
I apologize for any word misspelled, I wrote this so fast I didn't have time to check it.