Okay so I'm a really big fan of the head cannon that El thinks Mike's freckles are stars bc is cute af.
El opened the window of her room to find Mike Wheeler smiling at her. "Mike." She said, making his smile grow wider.
"Hey El." He raised his hand and she helped him up. "Thanks." He said as he fixed his clothes.
El walked to her bed and sat down, opening her arms for him to go and cuddle. "Another nightmare?"
Every time one of them had a nightmare, they would sneak out to the other's house and cuddle. It was something they had been doing for the past three months since she had returned.
Mike shook his head. "Not this time beautiful." El frowned and tilted her head confused.
"Then what is it?"
"I wanted to show you something."
"Uuuu, show me!" She clapped her hands lightly, careful not to make Hopper wake up.
"I can't, you have to come with me."
"But Mike, I'm not allowed to go outside, even less when it's past midnight, and even less when Hopper doesn't know." Mike could tell she wanted to go, he could see it and hear it in her voice.
"It's safe as long as you're with me." He held his hand for her to take. She looked at his hand and then his face. "Do you trust me?"
"I trust you more than anyone else Mike." She smiled warmly and took his hand, him leading her and helping her out of the cabin.
"Put this on." Mike gave El his jacket and she did as told.
"Won't you be cold?"
"Nah, I'll be fine. But this way they won't see you." And he didn't want her to be cold, and she looked cute wearing his clothes, they were a little too big for her.
"What do you mean with 'they'?" El's face suddenly went pale and Mike cursed himself, with El you had to choose your words carefully.
"People on town, don't worry." He smiled and that was enough for El to feel better (and for the color of her face to return).
El looked at the bike lying on the grass and then she looked at Mike picking it up from the floor. "Hop on." He said as he sat down on his bike.
She walked to it slowly, as if she was careful not to step on a trap and let out a breath when she touched the backseat with her fingers.
She smiled and excitedly got into the bike. She realized there was a basket behind her but decided not to ask Mike. Maybe that was the surprise and she didn't want to make him feel like she wasn't impressed.
Mike could feel his heartbeat race when her hands wrapped around his waist and he could feel her resting her head on his back. A warm feeling spread across his body, and he was sure it was something only El could make him feel. He could get used to it, he liked it. "Mike."
He turned his face around, only able to see her left side. "Yeah?"
"What's wrong?"
He smiled and tried to move his face a little bit more to her. "Nothing, absolutely nothing." He smiled and returned his eyes to the front, speeding up.
Mike rode his bike around Hawkins, looking at his surroundings. "I had missed this." El's voice said, almost in a whisper.
"What?" He answered in the same tone.
"Us, riding together your bike." He could feel her smile on his back.
"Yeah, I had missed it too." He smiled too, even though he knew she couldn't see him. Truth is, he really had. He liked the feeling he got when they rode together- The wind hitting his face, with El wrapping him with her arms and her head resting on his back. Her vanilla and jasmine scent somehow got to his nose, filling the air he breathed.
"We're almost there." He could feel her nod her head and continued his way. "Close your eyes." El shut her eyes close and she did it so strong that it made her head hurt. "Just close them El, you don't have to squeeze them." He chuckled and her face went bright red as she stopped squeezing her eyes. How did he know?
She could feel the bike stop and Mike hopping off. "Wait here, and don't open your eyes." She nodded and heard his footsteps, signaling he was walking behind her. She noticed that he picked up the basket from the bike and walked away, leaving her behind.
After a couple of minutes, she could feel something warm touching her hand, making her flinch. "Don't worry, it's me." She calmed down once Mike said that, realizing it was his hand the one touching hers. "Okay, I need you to get off the bike and come with me." She nodded and with his help, got of the bike.
She tried to open her eyes, but soon was blinded by two hands over her eyes. "You can't see yet!" She giggled.
"Sorry." She giggled once more.
"Now come." She could sense that Mike was starting to walk and she did too.
"Careful with that... yes, great... don't worry... careful, yeah." El smiled at how caring he was with her, taking her of her not tripping. "Now wait right here, and don't open your eyes until I tell you too."
"Mhmm" Mike got his hands off her eyes and walked in front of her.
"Now."
El opened her eyes and gasped at the sight, taking both of her hands to her mouth.
They were at the quarry, te moon and stars reflecting on the water in such a fascinating way. There was a blanket spread across the ground and plates with Eggos on them. There was a candle there too, but it was useless as the wind didn't let the flame even exist. Mike was standing next to it, his hands on his back as he looked at her with a mix of nervousness and love.
"So, what do you think? Do you like it?" He walked up to her, but she kept on staring at what he had done.
"Like it? I love it, it's, it's perfect!" She threw herself to him to hug him, almost making him fall. He chuckled and returned the hug, buring his head in the crook of her neck as his face flushed.
"Come on." They held hands as they walked to the blanket. He helped her sit down and then proceded to sit down next to her.
"You brought Eggos!"
"Of course I did, I know you love them." She smiled and took an Eggo to her mouth. "By the way, how is Eggo doing?" (Eggo is the dog he gave her in a past one shot ;) )
"He's great! Last night I had it with me while dad and I were watching MTV and it fell asleep on my lap, it was so cute. I made dad take a picture of us, I can show it to you later." She smiled and took another bite of her Eggo. He smiled back as he put his head on his hand. His elbows were on his knees so that they wouldn't move as El's did. "Are you going to eat those?" El pointed at the waffles on Mike's plate.
"No, you can take them." She squealed as she pulled the plate to her. Truth is, he was starving, but if she wanted them then she would have them.
"Wait." She started to break the Eggos in halves and put one half in a plate and one in another. "There, those are for you." She smiled as she handed him the plate with 4 halves of Eggos on it.
"Thanks El, but wouldn't it have been easier if you took two Eggos and I took other two?"
"Oh." The smile on her face disappeared and her face turned red, making Mike laugh. "Don't laugh! I can still take your halves!" For some reason, that made Mike laugh harder.
El began laughing too, even though she didn't understand what was so funny, Mike's laughter was pretty contagious.
Once they calmed down they finished their Eggos and talked about what had happened the past days. How Max was teaching El how to play in the arcade, how she had kicked their friends asses playing D&D and how Mike was learning how to play the guitar.
"Oh my god."
"What?" Mike said, scared that something was wrong.
"I just realized I'm on my pajamas and my hair is a mess." Mike chuckled as she tried to cover his eyes. "Don't look at me!"
"El, you look beautiful." She stopped and looked at him in the eyes.
"Really?"
"Really."
"But I'm not wearing pretty clothes and my hair looks like a nest."
"You don't need pretty clothes to look beautiful. And your hair looks pretty too." He twirled one of her curls around his finger and smiled to himself when he noticed her blush.
"Mike?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you do all of this?"
"Oh, right." He cleared his throat as she moved closer to him, their shoulders touching. "I took you here so that we could stargaze."
"Stargaze?"
"Yep." He popped the 'p', making her giggle. "Stargaze. It means we're going to, well, look at the stars." He laid down, using a hand as a pillow under his head and taking his gaze to the sky.
"Okay, cool." She laid down next to her, resting her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his free arm around her, bringing her closer to him. She put her hands on his chest and smiled to herself when she noticed that his heart began bumping faster.
"Cool." He smiled, still looking at the sky.
They didn't need to talk to enjoy each other's company, the silence between each other was never awkward. After some time of just looking at the stars, El moved so that she was facing Mike with her whole body, putting both of her hands under her head, much to Mike's disagreement.
He looked at her, and felt his heart flutter when he saw her looking at him, a little smile curving on her face.
"You're not looking at the stars El." He moved so that his whole body was facing her too.
"I am." She whispered.
"No, you're not." He chuckled when she furrowed her eyebrows.
"Yes, I am. The stars in the sky are pretty, but the ones on your face are beautiful."
He could feel his whole face warm up, even his ears must be red. "I don't have stars on my face." He whispered.
"Then what are these?" She poked his cheekbone, where his freckles shined with the lights of the stars.
"Those are my freckles El, not stars." He chuckled, still red.
"Oh, sorry." Her face went red too, but not as much as Mike's.
"It's okay El."
"I still like them more." She whispered, and for his good luck she closed her eyes so she couldn't see him blush more.
Was it a good moment? He had been waiting for the perfect moment to ask her. Did she even know what it meant? Would she say yes? Would she spit at his face and then slap him?
Okay, maybe not that.
"Uh, El..."
"Yes?" She slowly opened her eyes, and good god, was it even possible to do simple things as that and still look so beautiful?
"I wanted, I wanted to ask you something." As much as he wanted to, he couldn't stop looking at her. The closeness between each other's faces didn't help at all, either.
"What is it?"
"Well, it's more like two things actually."
"Then ask me."
"Do you know... do you know what 'girlfriend' means? What it means to be in a relationship?"
"No, what does it mean?" She closed her eyes again, to Mike's relief.
"Remember when I told you about the Snow Ball?" She nodded. "And you remember what I said about going with someone you like?" She nodded again, and the corners of her mouth curved a little. You already asked more than two questions idiot.
He took a deep breath. "When there is someone you like, and if that person likes you back.-"
"As more than a friend?"
"Yeah, as more than a friend, well, the two persons can get in a relationship."
"And what is that?"
"When you're in a relationship with someone, you can hold hands, hug each other, go out on dates, kiss... Um, you care about them more than anyone else too." Why was this so difficult? "For example, if you were in a relationship with someone, you would be his girlfriend."
"So you would be my girlfriend too?"
"No, I would be the boyfriend." He smiled until he realized what he had just said, widening his eyes and his smile fading away. "WAIT WHAT?"
"Aren't we in a relationship?"
"Uhhh..." He was really struggling to take the words out of his mouth. "Why do you say that?"
"Because we hold hands, we hug each other almost all the time, I guess this is like a 'date', we've kissed, and I care about you more than I care about anyone else." Her smile grew with each word. "Don't you?"
"Of course I do!" He said, in a higher tone making her giggle. "I mean, yeah, I do."
"Then aren't we in a relationship?"
"One of the two persons has to ask before."
"How can I ask you then?" His face must be as red as a tomato. That was everything he needed to hear.
"El, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Yes." Her smile grew wider. "Will you be my boyfriend, Mike?"
"Yes." He smiled back as wide as she did.
As if it was a magnetic thing, both of them slowly closed the gap between them, joining their lips in a sweet kiss that sent shivers down their spine.
At this moment they knew they were complete now, and that what they needed to be complete was each other.
2356 words!
This was kinda rushed sorry.
I accept requests! I'm running out of ideas rn.