Work Text:
It had been nearly two years immersed in a society that treated her like a human being, rather than an experiment, and Eleven still struggled with her expanding vocabulary. She wasn’t illiterate of course, but living in a laboratory and then society required two different sets of language. Mike was typically the one teaching her new words, considering he was always the one bringing her around town. Hopper also did his fair share, adding flash cards to every piece of furniture in the house and making her his personal time-teller.
One night, when Will was biking Eleven home, he taught her a new word. He accidentally started rambling about Mike, his language getting more enamored as they got farther from the house. She rested her chin on Will’s shoulder and listened to him, nodding along. Her eyebrows were furrowed, but she seemed pleased by the conversation topic.
“Not brother.” She said eventually, hopping off the spokes of Will’s bike. “Snow Ball.”
“What?” Will asked, cocking his head. “Mike’s not my brother.” He hoped that wasn’t the assumption she had prior to the conversation; he’d have to backtrack and re-explain everything.
“No. You don’t go to Snow Ball with sisters. Or brothers.” She continued, tucking a strand behind her ear. “Mike said so.”
“Yeah… I think he means ‘like’.” Will said, laughing softly. “You go with someone you like.”
“Like.” Eleven repeated, mulling the word over.
“Yeah, it’s when you really want to be really good friends with someone. Hold their hands and stuff.”
“Lips?” She asked, reaching out and touching Will’s lips were her fingers. “Lips too?”
“Kissing?” Will laughed, pushing her hand away. “Yeah, sometimes kissing too. But they have to like you back to do that.”
“Like.” She repeated again. “You like Mike.”
“Yeah.” Will admitted, blushing. “I do.” He felt his face warming and turning red as Eleven grinned at him, knowing that the admission wasn’t just a vocabulary lesson. She touched his arm before saying good night and going inside.
Eleven was the first person Will ever told and it went far better than he ever expected; she didn’t question why it was a boy, just what his words meant. She accepted Will, letting him feel safe in their moment and his entire bike ride home.
One mistake Will made though, was omitting that when people like other people, it typically is something they hide. He wasn’t used to teaching her things and left a huge gap in her understanding. One that would catch up to Will the following week as the three of them were in Mike’s basement, waiting for Will’s mother to get them.
“You should have seen it El, oh my god.” Mike sighed, rolling his eyes. “The book report was ridiculous!”
“It was the second week of school.” Will added, shaking his head.
“Yeah! And when our teacher handed out the instructions, the stack was like, a full foot off the table.” Mike exclaimed. Eleven’s face furrowed, biting her lip as she concentrated. “Foot.” Mike said. “It’s a measurement. It’s like, this big.” He held his hands up for her, illustrating his point.
“Like.” She said, pointing at Mike as the word crossed his lips again. “Can’t like.”
“What do you mean?” Mike asked, putting his hands down on the table they were circled around. His elbow pressed against Will’s arm; he pretended not to notice. Eleven did.
“Like.” She pointed at the touch. Will began shaking his head as subtly as he could, trying to tell her to abandon the confusion.
“No, it’s for comparison. Two things are like each other.” Mike explained, looking at their shirts rather than the two arms touching.
“But, Will said like meant…” She pointed between the two of them, her fingers gesturing between their arms before reaching up and touching Mike’s lips faintly with a finger. “K–Kiss?” She looked at Will for approval and Mike turned as well. Will could feel his face burning up and his mind spinning as he prayed the floor would open up and the Upside Down to take him again.
“When did you explain this?” Mike laughed, looking at Will with an uncontrollable grin. “Does someone like, El?”
“No.” Eleven said shortly. She tapped her chest slowly. “Sister. Not Snow Ball.”
“Then who were you gossiping about?” Mike giggled, teasing Will and beginning to grab his arm and jostling him.
“Mike.” Eleven said, looking at Will, answering for him.
“What, El?” Mike answered.
“Mike.” She repeated. “Talking about Mike. You.”
“Me?” Mike echoed, his eyes narrowing as he looked between the two of them. “I don’t understand.” He thought it was a joke and honestly, Will was becoming a bigger one as the conversation drug on.
“Holding hands.” Eleven said, pointing at Mike’s grip on Will’s wrist and his other hand on Will’s shoulder. “Like Will.”
“Like Will in what way?” Mike asked. Will wasn’t sure if he was mortified or thankful for Mike’s thick-headedness. It was starting to get painful, and was starting to annoy Eleven– she was right, but they were talking about two different words.
“Good friends hold hands. Will told me.” Eleven reiterated. “Will likes Mike.”
“He what?” Mike asked, his grip on Will’s wrist going slack. He twisted towards Eleven and his hand slid forward and fell into Will’s hand. He had to pretend not to hold it. “El, repeat that.”
“Repeat?”
“Say that sentence again.” He said quickly, staring at her.
“She said that I like you.” Will muttered. “She’s telling the truth.” Mike whipped around to stare at Will, confusion and shock making his eyes unable to look anywhere but the space in front of Will’s face; he couldn’t make eye contact just yet.
“When did you tell her?” Mike asked, trying to get the easiest answer to every question swirling in his mind.
“Last week.” Will replied shyly. “When I biked her home.”
“He was talking a lot.” Eleven added, nodding her head. “He was very happy. He likes you.”
“I… I had no idea.” Mike sighed, finally looking at Will. “And here all this time I thought it was just me.”
“What?” Will breathed, trying not to let his heart do anything else except keep him fully conscious; it couldn’t get its hopes up or start to break. “Just y–you?”
“Yeah… I guess I have a crush too.” Mike said, trying to hide the grin attempting to give away his cool facade.
“Crush?” Eleven cut in, trying to see both of their faces even thought they had somehow inched closer over the past few minutes. “You want to hurt Will?”
“No… It’s when you really like someone. It’s when your heart does all these back flips and your stomach hurts and you do stupid stuff.” Mike said softly, still looking at Will.
“Stupid stuff?” She echoed.
“Yeah.” Mike nodded, squeezing Will’s hand and reaching for the other with his free hand. He leaned closer and Will felt frozen, trying to remember what he promised he’d do in the situation. He had mentally rehearsed being a whole lot cooler and coy, but instead he was nervously grinning and turning bright red. He tilted his chin up and tried to scoot closer to Mike in his chair.
“Really stupid.” Will whispered.
“Yeah, like kissing them in front of their sister.”