Chapter Text
El had decided that today would be perfect. Shaking off all the negativity of yesterday, of the confusion that came from her and Will’s conversation, she simply focused on the imminent arrival of Mike.
It would be perfect, something right out of the movies. She had spent all of yesterday carefully planning out exactly what they would do, where she would take him, how she would talk and how she would present herself so that this cloud of uncertainty that loomed over her would finally dissipate.
She and Will sat at the airport gate, with Jonathan and his friend Argyle standing close by. They kept a close eye on the people leaving the plane. Will was equally excited and El felt a pang of resentment, he had people here, he had his family, he had his friends, why was he so excited for Mike. She had no one else, not really. This was her trip back to being normal, or at least what a normal girl would be like.
Suddenly, her eyes caught on a bright garish yellow and a tall lanky frame walking from the gate. Mike clumsily walked in the crowd of people, and El had to control her expression at what he was wearing. It was completely out of the norm, the Mike she knew was more of polos and sweaters. She didn’t know if this was a change that came with high school. Maybe everyone had huge changes to their personal style once they reached high school, after all Will too had ditched his casual shirts for a more plaid button down look.
She rushed up to him, trying to create that perfect scene. She rushed into his arms, and he wrapped his around her waist and they kissed. Something totally out of the movies.
“Hey you’re gonna squish your present,” Mike laughed, pushing her away a little. She finally noticed the bouquet of wildflowers in his hands, a mix of purple and yellow. Everything was perfect.
“I got yellow because they’re your favorite, but then I thought it was too much yellow so I got purple,” he rambled, and he looked adorable, all nervous and anxious trying to make her happy. She opened the note with the bouquet, and all it said was ‘From Mike’.
Who cares, not everyone expresses their love by saying love. Some do it by flying hours and bringing flowers. So what if he got her favorite color wrong, she knew from Max that boyfriends mess up all the time.
“It’s perfect,” she said, stopping his ramble and beaming up at him. Mike suddenly seemed a bit awkward, and he looked past her to Will.
Will was absolutely beaming at Mike. He had given them their time, and she was grateful for that, but thinking that they were done he moved closer to Mike, going in for a hug. He looked so joyful at the prospect of Mike being here, and El understood this, Mike had that effect.
But then Mike did something unusual. He moved out of Will’s direct path, and gave him an awkward, and self-conscious half pat half hug. El saw Will’s face fall, and a small part of her felt a stab of glee.
See, Will did not know everything. Mike was so excited to see her, more than he was to see his best friend.
Jonathan quickly stepped in seeing that the situation was getting a little uncomfortable for Will. He quickly distracted Mike, and Argyle took the cue cut next, and truth be told there were a few things that could steal someone’s attention when Argyle was talking to them.
El quickly interjected once Argyle was done, trying to get Mike’s attention back to her. She grabbed Mike’s arm, and she felt him drop a kiss on the crown of her head and she smiled, pleased with his attention.
“So first things first, breakfast, I want us to go to El Rodeo, you have to try their breakfast burrito,” she exclaimed, one of the few things she truly had enjoyed in California. Mike gave her a doubtful look, and she felt herself almost burst from trying to keep her laughter in. “Trust me!” She assured him. “I do trust you,” Mike said but she could still hear the doubt in his voice and that did it for her. She gave a short laugh at his face, and she felt him look at her. This was all turning out perfect.
“Are your friends going to meet us there?” Mike asked genuinely, but El felt panic build in her chest at that. She hadn’t expected Mike to bring up one of her lies so quickly, and that too with everyone present. She hoped Will didn’t hear anything–
“Friends? What fr–” Will started, but she quickly shut him up by shoving the flowers Mike got her in his chest.
“My friends, you know, Stacy and Angela,” she said glaring at him, hoping that he took the hint and backed her. That was sibling rules according to Jonathan. Siblings back each other up.
“Angela?” Will asked incredulously, knowing that the only friendly thing about Angela was the mask she wore.
El felt Mike’s arm tighten around her at Will’s words and for a second she feared that her lies would be exposed before her perfect day even began.
But Mike quickly cut the two off, “I’m starving, let’s go,” he said, pulling El along, not even paying attention to Will. El let out a sigh of relief, and clung a little stronger. “I want this day to be all about us,” she said, and Mike gave a smile that looked a bit wrong on the edges, but it was a smile. Will followed them quietly and somehow she didn’t really regret it all that much.
Jonathan’s car had broken down a couple of days ago, so they were taking the Surfer’s Boy van whenever they needed a ride. Argyle’s uncle was the owner of the franchise store that was open in Lenora, so Argyle got free reign on the van whenever he wanted. They drove mostly in silence, Argyle singing along to whatever songs he had playing on the radio, while WIll sat quietly ignoring both El and Mike.
Thankfully the breakfast place was close by. It was a local secret, from the outside it looked a little run down, and a little suspicious and if El’s first experience as a normal girl hadn’t been Benny’s Burger, she probably would’ve turned her nose at the place.
But thankfully she hadn’t. The place was popular amongst the people who knew it, and they were loud and made the place feel like it was full all the time. It was one of those places where you had to raise your voice a little to be heard.
El led them over to an empty booth. She felt oddly proud, as the entire group followed her. She was in charge and in control here.
When they got into the booth, Mike and El slid in on one side, and Jonathan, Argyle and Will squeezed themselves on the other side. The set up looked perfect, and El rested her head on Mike’s shoulder, feeling a sense of relief at how smoothly everything was going today. She had built up her expectations so much, and she was walking on eggshells a little scared that reality would burst in at any second.
A waitress came up to them, and greeted them with a smile. She looked around their age, with curly, long brown hair and blue eyes. She slid five menus, one to each of them. Mike looked over the menu in consideration, but his face retained that barely controlled disgusted look.
“You should get the one I mentioned in my letter,” El said as looked over the menu as well, “that way we know there is at least one that both of us like,” she finished with a satisfied grin. It didn’t last long, because when she looked over at Mike, his face held panic and a touch of guilt. El’s own grin faltered when she realized that Mike didn’t remember.
She shook it off after a second, after all she had only off-handedly mentioned it in one letter. Mike remembering it would’ve been great but it wasn’t expected. She smiled at him reassuringly, and pointed over to the Southwest burrito, “this one’s great. The sauce is just the right amount of spicy, and it also has avocados so you don’t have to pay extra,” she said with a wide grin she had seen girls throw at their boyfriends when they tried to get their way. Mike looked a little worried, and it looked like he was going to say something when Will looked like he was about to interrupt them. El shot him a look, and Will sat back quietly. She knew that Will knew Mike longer but she was his girlfriend, she was sure that she knew enough to suggest a breakfast item to him.
Mike hesitated a second longer, shooting a look at Will, and that seemed to erase any hesitation he had, and he immediately agreed with her. Will looked at the two of them with an irritated look in his eyes. He shared a look with Jonathan and the two of them seemed to have a conversation without words. That was what made her most isolated. For a while, she had thought that Jonathan and Will would be like siblings to her, but she always felt this disconnect. Every shared look of theirs just made her feel lonelier and more isolated.
The waitress came over, and El and Mike put in their shared orders. Jonathan and Argyle ordered their regular burritos. The waitress looked over at Will, and her smile widened, “And what about you?”.
“I’ll get the Egg Harvest please,” Will said looking over to her and passing back the menu. El hid her shock. Will usually didn’t order that, he was one of those people who had a regular and he hardly ever deviated from it.
“Good choice,” the waitress said complimenting him, and her eyes did something weird, but it flustered Will, and he quickly averted his gaze. Next to her, she felt Mike stiffen and immediately throw his arm around her. Clearly he was bothered by the waitress’ prolonged presence.
The atmosphere settled a bit after she left, Mike and El talking amongst themself, and Jonathan and Argyle amongst themselves. Jonathan tried every now and then to draw Will in, but all he got was exasperated sighs and barely concealed eye rolls.
One of the best aspects of the restaurant was that their service time was quick, so the group did not have to stay in that limbo for long before a server came with five plates balanced on a tray. He quickly slid the plates over to everyone, and left them.
El watched Mike in anticipation, hoping that he would love her choice as well. He clearly felt her hopeful gaze, so he went in with a big bite. He chewed it down, but his face held a barely concealed grimace. El felt her heart drop, but she pushed over the plate in front of her, urging Mike to try it hoping that this one would click, but she felt disheartened when it was the same reaction.
“It’s the flight, I’m probably just tired because of it,” Mike tried to placate her, but she knew he was lying, and by the dismayed look she shot him he probably figured out that she caught his lie as well. They sat there in silence for a while, Mike trying valiantly to appease her by taking bites of the burrito, but she didn’t know if it was the creaminess or the flavor that didn’t suit Mike and she didn’t want to guess again.
“I’m not really hungry,” Will said suddenly, pushing his plate of barely eaten food away, he paused and looked over at Mike, and pushed his plate towards him, “here do you want to try this?” he asked nonchalantly but El could see the concern hidden in his face.
Mike looked up at Will’s voice, startled, and he glanced between Will and his plate for a second, before slowly reaching out and pulling it towards him. El watched with sharp eyes and Mike cut a small piece of the burrito and tried it, his face immediately melting when he swallowed. After that it was like nothing could stop him, as he shovelled the entire thing in record time.
El just watched the consequences of her failure, and when she took a quick look at Will she noticed his soft smile, which was quickly hidden when he caught her looking at him.
It didn’t matter, she assured herself. This was one thing, and of course it made sense that Will knew more, after all he and Mike had been friends since they were kids. And anyway the movies weren’t a lot about knowing the other person, it was about being close with them, and she would get that at RInk-O-Mania. She had been there before and she watched wistfully as girlfriends held their boyfriends’ hands and skated together both laughing and enjoying each other’s presence.
Nothing could mess with that.
She rushed the others to finish their food, and once they were done they quickly loaded up in the van to go to the ice rink.
El didn’t give anyone much time to linger—not for conversation, not for second thoughts, not for anything that might let the morning settle into something she couldn’t control. She slid into her seat beside Mike, pulling him along with her, her fingers still loosely wrapped around his wrist as if letting go might somehow undo everything she had been trying to hold together.
Argyle started the engine with an easy hum, the radio crackling back to life as if nothing had happened. The breakfast was part of a perfect day that could be ignored.
The drive to Rink-O-Mania was uneventful, and El and Mike quickly got out of the van, both forgetting the mild disaster that was breakfast. They rushed inside, and Will followed them sullen, and in a mood that served to bring the entire atmosphere down.
“So you come here a lot?” Mike asked, looking around the place, after they checked out their skates.
“Yes–” “No–” El and Will both started at the same time. Will gave El a look of disbelief and El felt another curdle of irritation in the pit of her stomach. Why was Will doing this to her?
“Will does not.” El stated matter-of-fact, “but I do. It’s a huge party place,” she finished confidently, trying to sell Mike the lie she had been building for months now.
Mike looked at her in wonder, and El preened, happy that things were finally going alright.
They quickly made their way over to the benches. El quickly took off her shoes, and slipped her feet into the skates, tying them securely.
“Oh shoot!” Mike said looking down at his feet, "I don't have socks” he said dismayed.
El looked over in a rush. Surely there was some fallback? Mike couldn’t be the only person who forgot socks, after all.
“They sell some over there by the rentals,” Will said flatly, gesturing towards the counter with the rental skates and equipment.
Mike shot him a grin, and dashed over. Will clearly saw an opportunity to look her square in the eyes, “How did you forget about the socks? Since you come here all the time?” he asked her blatantly, calling her out on her lie.
“I forgot,” she tried, even though she knew there was no fooling Will.
“Why are you lying?” Will asked directly, with a bit of force behind his voice, that put her on the defensive.
“I’m not lying,” she tried in vain, since there was no arguing the fact.
“Really? What, you come to parties here?,” Will said sarcastically, his voice raising a little.
“I’ve come to a party,” she tried to deflect, hoping that he would give up, but instead he just shot her a pointed look. “El you’ve been here for one party and that was mom’s work party. Why are you lying to Mike?” Will asked harshly, throwing her lack of social life in her face.
She didn’t understand how he did not get it. El had to lie, did he not see it? El who had been captive as Eleven and El, and isolated and different as Jane. Mike was the one person with whom she could be normal, and she was trying. Why didn’t Will just let her try? She didn't know how to explain that now that Hopper was gone, Mike was the only one who could make her normal. If he looked at her and saw a girlfriend, a normal girlfriend, then that would mean that all her pain hadn’t been for nothing. It was all for attaining this life.
But Will would never understand that. Will, with Joyce and Jonathan who would never look at him as an object, as something just capable of violence.
Will who despite accidentally killing people was never viewed as a monster, while El tried to run away from that title with everything she had.
She didn’t say any of this. She just averted her eyes, and plastered on a huge smile when Mike arrived.
No use in trying to explain it, Will would never understand.
She quickly grabbed Mike’s hand and dragged him onto the ice as soon as his laces were tied.
“Whoa,” Mike exclaimed, as he lost his balance two seconds into getting on the ice, El laughed from right next to him, holding onto him trying to keep him steady, “I’m like Bambi on ice,” he said and she laughed, not really getting the reference but still endeared by him.
“No, no, you’re doing great,” she told him, and pulled him along, the two of them laughing. She wanted to bottle this moment and let it live in her, to reassure her every time her dark thoughts would bubble up.
It was fun for a while. Okay it was fun for like two minutes, before it suddenly got a little quiet between them. Mike and El held each other’s hands but it didn’t feel natural. It felt like a show. El watched the other couples skate by her, and they moved fluidly together, and not just fluidly on ice, but fluidly together. It was like they could intuit where their partner would stumble and immediately make up for it. Light giggles and talk exchanged only for the two of them.
El looked over at Mike, who looked steadily in front of him, and she wondered why they didn’t have that fluidity to them.
They circled the rink slowly, their pace uneven, stopping more than they moved. Every time they paused, it felt like they were supposed to say something, like there was a space waiting to be filled.
Neither of them filled it. For El, she didn’t know how.
“So,” Mike drawled, “ this is fun,” he said, trailing off making the statement sound more like a question.
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” El responded, not really knowing what else she could say in response.
The two of them fell into silence again.
“This place has great milkshakes as well!” El exclaimed suddenly, as her eyes caught the concession stand. Milkshakes were easy. Mike looked relieved as well, and he nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
They carefully made their way off the ice. El caught Mike looking around for a second, before he redirected his attention back to her.
They made their way over to an empty booth, and took their skates off, El internally sighing in relief now that she was back on solid ground. They dropped their stuff and made their way to the stand.
“Okay, any recommendations?" Mike asked, and El lit up a bit at the fact that Mike was still trying, despite the breakfast fiasco.
“Yeah they have this great chocolate and caramel mix milkshake. It’s the best!” She exclaimed, almost tugging him at the thought of cold goodness.
“Okay we can go 50-50. I’ll get something else, and then we can have both,” he proposed.
El couldn’t help but notice how their interaction had lightened up as soon as Will had disappeared. It shook her out of her daze, when all of a sudden she realized that Will was missing.
She didn’t want to bring it up. Will must’ve wandered off. He had a tendency to do that, she told herself. He also probably just didn’t want to be a third-wheel.
They stepped forward together, the line shortening, the space between them and the counter disappearing until suddenly they were there, and it was their turn, and there was no more time to prepare.
El ordered quickly, her voice steady in a way she was proud of, asking for the chocolate and caramel milkshake, and Mike followed her lead, ordering something else—vanilla and strawberry, something safe, something familiar. It made sense, she told herself. It made sense that he would choose something he already knew.
She was still reaching into her pocket, still fumbling slightly with the bills, when she felt it.
A shift.
It was subtle, but it was there, like the air had changed, like something had entered the space behind her and taken up too much room.
Before she could turn, before she could even fully process it, she heard Mike’s voice, sharper than it had been all day.
“Hey, where’d you go?”
El turned slightly at that, her eyes landing on Will, who had just stepped up beside them. He looked different than he had a few minutes ago, his shoulders a little more hunched, his expression closed off in a way that made something twist uncomfortably in her chest.
“I just went to check something out,” Will said, his voice flat, his eyes not quite meeting Mike’s.
“What?” Mike pressed, not letting it go, his brows pulling together slightly. “Where?”
It wasn’t accusatory, not outright, but there was something in the way he said it, something too pointed, too sharp for such a simple question.
Will shrugged, the movement small, almost dismissive. “Just… around,” he said, like the words didn’t matter, like the explanation didn’t either.
El watched the exchange carefully, her gaze flicking between the two of them, trying to understand the tension that had settled so suddenly between them. It felt like she was missing something again, like there was a conversation happening just beneath the surface that she couldn’t quite hear.
Mike held his gaze for a second longer, like he was trying to read something in Will’s face, before he finally let it go, nodding once, even though the tightness in his expression didn’t fully disappear.
“Okay,” he said, but it didn’t really sound okay.
Their order was called before anything else could be said, the sharp sound of their number cutting through the moment. El moved quickly, almost gratefully, stepping forward to grab the milkshakes, the cold of the cups seeping into her hands, grounding her in something real, something simple.
“Come on,” she said, forcing brightness back into her voice, turning back to Mike with a small smile that she hoped looked natural. “Let’s go sit.”
They made their way back to the booth, the path familiar now, the noise of the rink swelling around them again. El slid into her seat first, placing the milkshakes down carefully, watching as Will sat across from her and Mike next to her.
She engaged Mike in some talk, it was easy when there was something to talk around, and El really thought that although this day wasn’t the picture perfect movie day she had imagined, she could live with this. This was normal enough, when a voice called out to her and her entire body froze.
“Look what we have here,” a high-pitched voice called, all peppy and fake. Jane suddenly wished that she had powers back so she could cause a distraction and run out of there.
“Hi Angela,” Jane responded tightly, hoping that the other girl would leave her alone. That the fact that they weren’t at school would make her less incentivized to do whatever she was going to do. But Jane was not one of the lucky ones.
“Who is this handsome guy, and where have you kept him hidden?” Angela said, eyeing Mike and Jane felt a surge of anger rise in her. No, not Mike.
“This is Mike. My boyfriend,” she gritted through clenched jaw. Mike, hearing the name ‘Angela’, perked up.
“Oh hey! Angela, it's nice to meet El– I mean Jane’s friends,” he said politely, extending his hand for a handshake.
Angela gave Jane a victorious look, and Jane saw Will try to step in as much as he could, but the situation was already escalating.
And escalate it did.
She blanked out of the scene as soon as Angela grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the rink. It was like watching her body move while she stood outside, and she could do nothing as her carefully constructed life of lies slowly collapsed in front of Mike. She felt a bit of anger at the fact that he couldn’t understand her discomfort, that he didn’t see her and realized that something was wrong.
She stood in the center as everyone circled her, and the voices all started resonating together. She clamped her ears shut, hoping to block out all the noise, but never in her life had she felt so powerless and so helpless. She felt like a circus animal, an involuntary entertainment piece.
The whole thing ended with Angela skating towards her with her perfectly coiffed blonde hair, and her perfect outfit, and her confident grin. She said something, and threw the milkshake all over her carefully chosen dress. The milkshake that had given Jane hope that maybe this day was salvageable lay all over her dress.
She broke out of her stupor when she heard Mike yelling for her, and all she could do was run. She couldn’t face him now. Not when he knew she wasn’t normal. Not when he probably would leave her too.
She rushed into the abandoned supply closet she had seen on the way in. It was dark, dusty, and abandoned. Something she felt safe in for now. She crumpled to the floor and broke down in tears. All the anguish and pain from the past two days crashing down to the point where she could hardly breathe now.
She doesn’t know how long she stayed there. It was long enough for the milkshake to almost dry completely and leave her dress and skin sticky and tacky.
“Well I didn’t know she was lying to you,” Will’s defensive voice came softly through the closed doors.
El made her way to the window, and she saw the darkened figures of a frustrated Mike and Will, walking in the direction of the storage closet.
“So that’s why you decided to act like a douche all day?” Came Mike’s sharp retort, and El watched dissociated as Mike and WIll argued over Will’s attitude.
El didn’t know how she felt, but her mind made the observation that Mike had noticed Will not talking, and rolling his eyes and moping, but he hadn’t noticed the times Will had called her out on her lies. A detached part of her brain wandered over it for a second.
She ignored the boys’ self-absorbed argument, their words drifting across her head, as she goes back to her safe corner and curls up, hugging herself trying to bring some comfort.
She didn’t know how long had passed, before the soft noise of the busy ice rink was overpowered by a familiar high pitched voice.
“Oh my god you should’ve seen her face,” Angela laughed, and her devoted group of friends all laughed along with her.
The pain and humiliation all crashed into anger, and Jane made her way out. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she had to do something. She couldn’t be powerless, not again.
(Not again? A small voice in her head wondered)
“Angela,” she yelled, getting the attention of the girl and her group of friends, who all turned to her and giggled into their hands, as if her tearful face and milkshake stained dress was some sort of amusement.
“You ruined my day. I want you to apologize, and I want you to tell my boyfriend that this was all some misunderstanding,” she tried, trying to resolve the situation the easiest way she could think of.
Angela looked at her as if she had said the most ridiculous thing ever, and just scoffed.
“What are you gonna do about it?” she mocked, raising her hand and mimicking Jane’s attempts of using her powers from yesterday, “Are you gonna go cry to your dad? Oh wait you can’t, cause he’s dead,” she said with a faux innocent expression, and the rest of the group all gasped in shocked delight at the level Angela had hit at.
Jane felt a tidal crash in her mind, everything was wrong but manageable. She didn’t have her powers, she wasn’t normal, she had to lie to feel accepted by Mike, Will probably hated her, and if Will hated her it wouldn’t be long before Jonathan and Joyce slowly left her as well. All of these things were manageable though.
But Hopper was gone.
That was not manageable.
And Angela had made fun of him. Hopper hadn’t always been great, but he always tried to protect her. He found a girl lost in the woods, and took her in and loved and sheltered her.
And Angela thought it was a funny loss, she didn’t know the agony that coursed through her veins every time she heard someone complain about their dad. She didn’t know about the headache that would come as a consequence of crying into your pillow for hours. She didn’t know what it felt like to have normal ripped away from you just as suddenly as you had it.
But Eleven could make her realize it.
With anger coursing through her veins instead of blood, Eleven made her way towards the retreating back of Angela.
“Angela!” She called this time in anger, and without giving the other girl a second to realize what was happening she brought down the skate as forcefully as she could handle on her face.
How’s that for agony?
Eleven watched in satisfaction as the girl went down, wailing and yelling in pain, and Eleven just watched.
“El, holy shit! What did you do?” Mike’s panicked and scared voice came from behind her.
That is what pulls her back.
Not the words themselves, but the tone. The way his voice cracks around the edges, the way it rises not in concern, not in confusion, but in something closer to alarm.
And suddenly she is back in her body.
Fully.
The weight of everything crashes into her at once—the stickiness of the dried milkshake on her skin, the tightness in her chest, the ache behind her eyes, the way everyone is looking at her now, not laughing anymore, not amused, but staring.
She turns slowly, almost mechanically, her gaze finding Mike. He is looking at her like he does not recognize her. Not just startled, not just shocked—there is distance there, a visible step back, like something inside him has recoiled without his permission. And he doesn’t move toward her.
He doesn’t reach for her, doesn’t ask if she is okay, doesn’t try to understand. He just stands there, a few feet away, his body angled slightly back, like he is unsure if he should come closer at all.
And suddenly she remembers Will talking about how love was always seeing the best in someone even when they might be at their best. It had taken one outburst, fuelled by days of abuse, and multiple weak points being prodded, and Mike had backed away.
What did that say about him loving her?
The thought kept running in her head. It’s all she thought of as they waited for Jonathan and Argyle to come, it’s all she worked around as they drove back home, and it was what she made herself miserable with till dinner.
She pushed around her dinner aimlessly as Will, Jonathan, Argyle and Joyce tried to fill the silence, and she didn’t say anything when Joyce suddenly dumped an emergency Chicago trip for work on them. She barely processed a word that was said, until Mike finally spoke up again. And it was all to say “she didn’t look okay,” with a petulant look, and pursed lips. For a second El looked at him, and tried to remember the boy who held her and told her she wasn’t a monster.
Try as she did, she couldn’t see him. All she could see was the worst.
So what did that mean about her love for him?