*
it had been a month since mike last saw his girlfriend.
one long excruciating month since thanksgiving.
but it was december now and the byers we're headed back to hawkins for christmas. el could barely hold her excitement to see mike. oh how one month could make her miss him so much. they called everyday still, but it just wasn't enough. she needed to see his face and hear his voice clearly. the static of the radio made his voice fade out sometimes which made him have to repeat a lot of stuff, the radio was annoying.
the drive from maine to hawkins was long. el couldn't sleep because she was too excited to see mike, she couldn't read anything because she was bored with the book, so she really couldn't do anything but sit still and look out of the window. el would occasionally look over at will to see what he was doing, but he would always be huddled up in the corner of his seat reading a comic. el was too shy to ask him if she could read one of his spare comics, but knowing will he would gladly give one to her. but she kept to herself and continued to stare out of the window.
el's thoughts drifted over to mike. she remembered everything about him from the last time she saw him. his mop of raven hair was slightly curled on the back of his neck and around his ears, el would always love to play with his hair. one time when mike fell asleep she and holly had took some of her glittery hair clips and put them all in his hair. he got mad but when he saw el and holly trying to hold in their laughter he immediately broke into a fit of laughter.
she smiled at the memory.
the last time she saw him he was wearing a sweater. it was a different sweater, she'd never seen it before. it was a deep blue with little knit white stripes. it was dorky but el loved it, she always loved his sweaters.
and the last thing they had said to each other was 'i love you'.
-
joyce's small car sputtered down mike's street, el was now sitting up straight looking at mike's house that was just down the road. she could see the front porch light was on, it was almost midnight when the family had arrived at the wheelers. despite the time, mike was still awake and he waited in the living room. when he saw car headlights he jumped up off the couch and raced to the front door.
when mike threw open the door he saw el getting out of the backseat and stretching her arms. mike ran out of the door and straight over to el. he ran up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. she squealed from the sudden contact but quickly turned around to place a kiss on his lips.
"ew gross guys, it's like 12." will mumbled behind them, "will just leave them alone," joyce said in a hushed voice as she ushered her son inside.
"i missed you." el said when she pulled away from him, "missed you too. do you want to go in? it's freezing out here." el nodded and went to grab her bags from the trunk.
when she pulled them out mike took it from her, "i can carry it my-"
"nope." he interrupted and taking the last bag from her hands. he walked inside el trailing behind him, he put her bags neatly on the floor and turned back to her. "you tired?"
el nodded, "im just going to change and then go to bed."
"so... where are you sleeping?" mike asked, el rolled her eyes, "downstairs. i don't want your mom to have a heart attack if she sees me in your bed."
"fine.." though mike knew he was definitely sneaking her out of the basement.
el got dressed in the bathroom and did everything she needed to do before going to the basement. she brushed through her short hair and turn the light off in the bathroom. el turned the knob to the door and quietly walked out, before she could reach the basement she felt someone grab her hand and pull her back the other way.
"mike!" she whisper shouted, "what?" he asked innocently, "no."
"please? i haven't seen you in.." he counted his fingers, "like one month, three days and seven hours! can't you just stay with me tonight?"
el smiled at his dorky ways, "no." she repeated, "fine. guess i'll just have to bring you up there myself," he shrugged, "wh-"
before she could speak mike lifted her off the ground and carried her up to his room. he closed the door with his foot and put her down on his bed. "wow look at you, finally able to pick me up?" she teased, "be quiet. i've been preparing for such a situation." he huffed, el lifted her eyebrows, "oh have you?"
mike mumbled a yes before placing his lips on hers once again. el played along for a few seconds before pushing at his shoulder. "can we go to sleep? we can kiss later."
"yes yes, sorry. just missed you." el laughed, "me too." she scooted over on his bed and waited for him to lay next to her. when he did el cuddled close to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "night el."
"night mike.." she mumbled, her eyes fluttering shut and she fell asleep quickly.
*
though it was christmas time, mike still wanted his alone time with el. even if the holiday was meant to be spent with your family but mike couldn't care less. the next day he planned to take el out and go ice skating. he knew neither of them knew how to do it but it would be fun to try it out.
he already told his mom beforehand so he had the go ahead. the couple spent most of the day with will and the rest of their friends but the time finally came when mike was planning to take el out. they both sat in mike's room when he suddenly got up and pulled el with him. "where are we going?" el asked as he pulled her down the stairs. "we're going on a date." he shrugged like it was obvious. "at 7 at night?"
"yes now grab your hat and coat." he instructed. el did what she was told and followed him out to the garage when she was done. mike turned the heat on in the car and pulled out of the driveway.
"can you tell me where we're going?" el pleaded, "nope. it's a surprise."
about a half an hour passed when they finally arrived to the ice skating rink. "what is it?" el asked as she got out of the car to look at it. "it's an ice skating rink."
"a what?"
"you'll see." mike laced their fingers together and they walked towards the ice. there was a little station where you could rent ice skates, the two found their shoe size and put the boots on. el started laughing when mike tried to stand up but miserably failed. el tied the shoe laces and then tried to stand up, turns out trying to balance yourself on two skinny blades wasn't the easiest thing.
but the two finally got the hang of it, and by hanging on to each other they made it to the small ice rink. their warm breaths puffed out in front of them in small white clouds which fascinated el. "you know," el started, "coming here is probably going to embarrass the hell out of us."
"i don't care, as long as i get some selfish alone time with you." mike winked, el giggled, "your so stupid."
"oh well, looks like you have to stick with me for a little longer." el looked at mike, "so what do we do exactly?" she asked looking at all of the other people gliding on the ice easily. mike shrugged, "i'll try first and then help you get on," he said, mike grabbed onto the railing and stepped out onto the ice. he almost fell over but he grabbed onto the wall before any damage could be done.
el was in a fit of laughter watching her boyfriend struggle on the ice. "you try! it's not easy!" mike pouted as he tried to walk around, "i'd rather watch you," she giggled, mike ignored her comment and tried to walk around the perimeter of the ring.
after a few minutes he succeeded in not falling over, "okay come on, it's no fun with you watching." mike said when he got back over to el, "okay fine," el grabbed onto mike's arm and stepped out onto the ice, it was a lot more slippery then she imagined. her grip was tight on his arm, she was practically pulling him down. "el your going to fall over if you keep pulling on me," mike chuckled, el reached over and grabbed the wall for support. el tried walking like she would normally but she suddenly slipped causing her to fall on her butt, because she was holding onto mike so tightly he came down right next to her.
mike started laughing which caused her to start laughing too. "s-stop laughing that hurt," she giggled, mike tried standing up but slipped again and fell right back down.
that caused el to laugh even harder, people around them shared annoyed glances with everyone else as they avoided the clearly struggling couple. "come on, let's actually try to skate."
when the two finally got up they held on to each other for dear life, ice skating was a lot harder than it looked. "how are people just gliding along like that?" el questioned, "i have no idea," mike then realized that you weren't really supposed to be 'stepping' on the ice, rather mostly sliding your feet against it. with that in mind mike tried it and surprisingly didn't fail. he started skating a little faster, "how are you doing that?" el asked, "watch," mike tried showing her how easily he gliding along the surface of the ice.
el tried but then ended up falling forward and landing on her face. "oh my god el, are you okay?!" mike asked, panic lacing his tone. he quickly kneeled down to her level, "yeah, i'm fine." she mumbled, "i should have known this was a bad idea, i feel awful. this is all my fault. what if you loose so much blood and you pass out? or what if it gets infected before we can clean it up? joyce is going to kill-"
"mike, it's okay. it's only a little cut," she said with a small smile, "yeah a little cut can cause some big problems," mike said rubbing his fingers through his hair, "i promise i'll be okay, can we just ignore it for now, and deal with it later? i don't want to waste the time we have together worrying about a stupid cut."
"y-yeah, yeah sure. your right." they spent the rest of the night trying to skate around without failing, which was somewhat successful. they played around on the ice until the place was about to close. when the two reached mike's car he quickly turned on the heat, "how's your chin?" he asked, "it's fine," el answered shortly, "it doesn't hurt?"
"nope."
mike still didn't believe her so he drove back to his house as quickly as possible. "come with me," mike said when they entered the house, el followed him and he lead her into the bathroom.
el furrowed her eyebrows, "what are we doing in here?"
mike didn't answer instead he opened the medicine cabinet and took the first aid kit out and set it on the counter. "mike come on- it's not that bad."
"i just want to be able to sleep tonight." he mumbled as he fumbled through the first aid kit. he pulled out some rubbing alcohol and gently put some on a cotton ball. el was about to protest but it really was no use, "it might sting," he said quietly as he brought the cotton ball up to her chin, she slightly winced when it made contact with her face but ignored it soon. el watched as mike gently cleaned the wound, when the small cut was all cleaned off mike pulled out a small bandaid. "mike-"
he gave her a stern look which made her sigh in defeat, he placed the band aid over her chin. "even though it was unnecessary, thank you." el smiled, "anything for you," he winked, "you have to work on that." el giggled, mike shrugged and leaned in to place a soft kiss on her lips.
almost as if it was planned there was a knock at the door. "yes?" mike replied, annoyed. "can you two stop sucking face for one second and come downstairs?" an all to familiar voice, coming from dustin, said through the door. "yeah we'll be down in a second." mike said, "we can't ever catch a break huh?"
"i guess not"
authors note:
lol excuse this super long fluffy yet really random oneshot
didn't really edit the end so sorry if there a mistakes.