Work Text:
Ted sat at the dinner table, and for the first time in a long time, he wasn't in his own world. No, his attention was directed at the guest sitting at his dinner table.
This was the fourth (he thinks?) time that the Chief brought his adopted daughter to his house for dinner; the one who was so obviously infatuated with his son that even Ted could notice. At first he couldn't bring himself to care in the slightest, but the more El-Jane-Whatever her name was actually socialized, the more uncomfortable he became.
To say she was awkward would be an understatement. To Ted, she may as well be an alien; she barely understood most standard social cues, she froze like a deer in headlights whenever anyone outside of Mike, Nancy or Hopper so much as looked at her, and dressed unconventionally for a teenage girl. She was just....weird.
And the fact that a girl like that and his son were so painfully smitten with one another made Ted uncomfortable. Very, very uncomfortable.
So much so that, after dinner concluded and Mike was in the middle of his mandatory 5 minute goodbye hug with El, Ted asked his wife, "Karen, can we talk? Privately?" before turning toward the living room with Karen behind him confusedly. Talks were a foreign concept with Ted unless things were dire.
"What is it, Ted?" Karen asked.
"It's that girl, Karen." he muttered, mostly to himself.
"Who, Nancy? You do remember she's your daughter, right?" she replied, sarcasm oozing from her lips. Ted gave her a look of exasperation which very well may have been the most emotion he's ever conveyed by Karen's estimation.
"No, MIKE'S girl." he frustratingly replied, which only further confused Karen, "What about her?"
Ted sighed, "She's just....well, have you SEEN her?" he emphasized, motioning his head toward the girl whose head has been snug in his son's shoulder for the past three minutes, "She's bizarre! Do you really want our son hanging with a girl like....that? She could only push him further down the hole he's dug himself under in the past year."
Karen blinked at his surprisingly passionate rant, "Well actually, come to think of it; ever since she showed up it seems like the opposite's happened. His grades are back up, we haven't gotten any calls from the school, and he's been much happier lately-"
"It doesn't matter!" Ted almost shouted, "Could you imagine what people would say about our son messing around with such a freak? The town thinks he's enough of a freak already! Dating a girl who couldn't act with an ounce of normalcy if you paid her is just too far!"
Karen would have replied if not for the sniffle that took their attention away from on another; the conversation had spread to the other two very shocked occupants of the house. One was rage-filled and the other was tear-faced. Upon hearing Eleven's sniffle, Mike's eyes panic-kingly darted toward her head as she carefully let go of his embrace.
"El-!"
"I-" she looked down, doing everything she can to avoid eye contact, "-I-I'm sorry." she whimpered, before running out of the door toward the Chief's van. Mike took a second to give his dad the most hate-filled glare he could muster up before bolting out of the door after her.
The pair of adults stood in shocked silence for a very brief moment before Karen glared up at her husband, "Great, Ted! Just....fucking great! As always!" she said, before stomping upstairs.
Ted eyes darted around shamefully, "Oh, how was I supposed to know that she'd understand THAT?" he exasperatedly shouted up at his wife, before grumbling to himself and sitting down on his lay-z-boy.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A week had gone by since then, and Ted was like an outcast in his own home. Well, it's not like he ever WASN'T one, but the circumstances here were different.
Mike couldn't even stand to be in the same room as him. Karen and Nancy hadn't so much as talked or looked at him. Even Holly came up to him on Thursday to call him "bad." Nothing else, just "bad." Holly had grown particularly fond of Mike's girlfriend so it didn't take much for him to guess what she meant.
Usually, this wouldn't be an issue for Ted. If anything, having no family attention would be heaven. But this....didn't feel like it. At all. Not being talked to was fine if it was on his terms, not if everyone was mad at him!
On Tuesday the following week, Ted just couldn't take it anymore. While at the dinner table, Ted exasperatedly called out, "When are you all going to stop this nonsense?"
Mike's eyes took a break from glaring down at his plate (which is what he's been doing at dinner for the past week) to glare at his father "Are you saying that being mad at what you said to El is 'nonsense'?" he snarled, "That is bullshit!"
"Language!"
"No, dad! Don't 'language' me after what you did!" he yelled, so passionately that Nancy had to yank him back in his seat so that we wouldn't do anything drastic, "You really hurt her, and she has enough issues with how she feels about herself already!"
Ted's frown deepened as he maintained eye contact with his enraged son, before Karen placed her hand on his shoulder, "Ted, you judged this girl and your own son so harshly for their weirdness when you aren't exactly a beacon of normalcy yourself." she said, "You hardly interact with your own kids compared to how much you interact with that damned television and you don't hear me or any of them chewing you out over it! And believe me, you deserve plenty more flack than that girl did!"
"Oh, so all of a sudden this is MY fault?"
The other Wheelers groaned as they stood up and left the table, leaving Ted to chew on his pork-chop and to, in a truly rare sight, ponder over his actions.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was Wednesday, Eleven's first time back at the Wheeler house in almost a week. It had taken Hopper some convincing, who was furious once he'd heard what El told him. Mike had sprinted out of the house to apologize and comfort her, though she hadn't understood why. It's not like he said those things.
The past week had been hard, and that's mainly because she thought Mike's dad was right. She was a freak, and the only thing that she could do is make Mike worse; push him further down the....hole, or whatever Ted had said. She didn't really get what he'd meant by that, which made her feel even more insecure.
And that's why she refrained from seeing Mike for the past week, mostly confining herself to her room. Hopper, originally pleased with the Wheeler-less-ness of the cabin, had begun to notice Eleven's depressed demeanour. He tried to help, reassure her that Mike's dad was full of it, but it was no use.
Things only started to change when Mike, after calling a thousand times, decided to surprise her at the cabin. Hopper would usually be in another world of anger at the fact but he knew how much Eleven needed this. She tensed upon noticing Mike, so badly wanting to scoop him into her arms but knowing that she shouldn't. That she didn't deserve to.
So Mike did it for her, nuzzling his face into her shoulder. And that's all it took for the dam to collapse and for tears to flood her eyes, squeezing him back tightly.
Mike and El spent the rest of the day jabbering positivity at one another, each trying to make damn sure the other knew how special they were. By the time Mike left and Hopper returned from dropping him off, Eleven asked the Chief to go back to the Wheelers tomorrow.
And there she stood; at the entrance of the Wheeler residence, waiting for Mike to open the door after knocking.
Except, it wasn't Mike that answered. It was Ted.
She FROZE, feeling all of her insecurity crashing back into her as if her conversation with Mike yesterday hadn't happened at all. She kept trying to reinforce positive thoughts, but failed as Ted's eyes bored into her own. She felt herself begin to shake slightly.
Then, Ted did something almost unseen by his own family; he smiled, "Well hello there, Jane. Or, El. Or...." he got off track before blinking, "It's nice to see you. Great timing, actually, because there's an overdue chat between us. Come in."
She raised an eyebrow at his terminology before stepping inside. She could hear Mike from the basement and Nancy upstairs, but it's clear that Ted wanted to talk, so she followed him onto the living room couch. They sat awkwardly for about 30 seconds before Ted sighed, turning Eleven's attention to him.
"Listen," Ted started, before looking back down at the ground. He really wasn't good with these things, maybe Karen had a point. "What I said about you the other day was....not right. I shouldn't have held being different against you, when you've clearly been a good influence on my son. You're a....good kid."
Eleven smiled slightly, shyly ducking her head like when anyone else complimented her. It was still such a huge thing to adjust to, considering she didn't get many compliments at all in the lab. She raised an eyebrow as Ted moved to grab a wrapped box from next to the couch, before handing it to her, "Consider this as sorry, from me."
She looked at Ted curiously before ripping the wrapping paper of the present off, revealing a small jewelry music box that reminded her of what Nancy had in her room the previous year. She gasped excitedly, opening it up and closing her eyes, embracing the soft sound that came out of it. She sighed pleasantly.
"Now I hope you like it, because I have no clue what girls your age today really like. It was hard enough with Nancy but now you teenagers are just-"
Ted was looking away when he'd said that, and flinched in surprise when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist. He looked down at a smiling, relieved, slightly teary Eleven, "Thank you, Mr. Wheeler." she said sweetly, causing Ted to muster up his usual 'sorta-smile' before patting her on the head.
"Hey, El? Are you her-"
Now THIS was a sight that shocked Mike.
Eleven, hugging HIS dad, and his dad going as far as to give paternal affection back by patting her head?! What's next, will pigs come flying down too?!
At first, he was anxious to see the two together. But once he'd seen Eleven's relieved face, hugging his dad with a gift in her hand, he genuinely smiled. He can't remember the last time he was this proud of his father.
Eleven stood up, exchanging nods with Ted, and then flew down the stairs to the basement with Mike, with one hand around his and the other around Ted's gift.
Ted further felt himself relax on the couch, but he then caught the eye of his wife, who smiled softly at him. Maybe he wasn't a total lost cause after all.