#seriously why is mileven so adorable?

[chirpsythismorning]

The way fans on the st sub are almost all in agreement Nancy ending up with neither Jon nor Steve wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, and how they can even come up with a sleuth of reasons as to why, honestly pretty valid and fair reasons, but then are absolutely gobsmacked when fans merely speculate something along those lines for El is, quite something.

[justablogger234]

something my friends and I were talking about.

so the other day my close friends that I have on discord which mostly consists of @mike-haters-dni (who is definitely my discord best friend and or mileven sister 🤣) @chaotic-theatrical-weaver (my sweet little kiddo friend who is just adorable and too smart for someone younger than me) and my mileven sister @purpleangelsele. The discussion we were having was about how some people mostly b$lers, heck I'd even include some mike haters who believe that as well, they were saying that mike and elevens relationship kinda reminds them of the born se** yesterday trope (forgive me but I don't like saying that word at all even in text so I took out the letters).

And at first I didn't know what that was, i thought it was a song or even a movie cause I'd never heard of that term before and then I watched the very helpful video on this trope and let me tell you that I was shocked. Like very shocked that people would go as far to say that mike is one of those guys. How dare you morons say that mike and els relationship is based on or even reminds you of this trope. Guys. Mike was just a kid when he found el. They are both quite literally KIDS. They were both 12 years old when they found each other. It is very much implied that mike never had much or any luck with girls, I doubt he even cared about girls cause he had the boys and deep down he falsely thought that no know girl would ever like him.

Then he meets el and all changes. It's not like he was telling her that kissing is really good and healthy or that she should listen to everything he says. No, he gave her a name, a home, food and clothing. Now that I think about it, a detail I never took into consideration, I will discuss that in an immediate follow up post. Mike gave her everything she needed. But most of all, he gave her options, he gave her a choice. He never forced anything on her.

He never forced her to find will, he always asked her what she wanted or needed. Bottom line is, if you really think that mike is someone that would take advantage of El like that then you need to rewire your brain.

Because first off, you're implying that mike is some sort of disgusting pervert who would take advantage of a young mute special girl. Second, you're also implying that El would be a willing victim. We all know that we is sooo much smarter than everyone else thinks, I think deep down she'd know that this boy is trying to take advantage of her like that, she's very intuitive.

So if mike is such a weird pervert who took advantage of El or keeps on using her. Why would you want him with will? You see? That's quite a convenient argument. But seriously, the mike hate and misinterpretation needs to stop.

The mileven hate and misinterpretation also needs to stop. You guys need to stop twisting a young and special relationship just to fit your narrative. Leave these kids alone and stop making them something that they're not. If you use this argument just to support your pathetic byler arguments then you definitely need to rethink yourself.

Even will would be disgusted with you fools for thinking of pathetic arguments like this to discourage mike away from el just to get with him.

[agentbloodlust]

literally so happy that noah felt comfortable enough with his identity to come out. AND YET am i like the only person who DOESNT ship byler??? like i have too many gay ships to count but i just dont get byler. im literally bi but i seriously dont get why everyone hates on mileven. its so adorable and clearly endgame 🤷

[kl125]

hey!! you commented on my post ab mileven and byler and I looooved it. your explanation is genuinely the best one I’ve seen and from that point of view I can totally understand how mileven could work out.

I’m curious to know what you think about a few other things if you’re willing to answer!

1. I agree that if mileven is endgame the use of a lighthearted and funny breakup was a bad choice. but I’m wondering what you think of the fact that mike and will’s conversations in that season are very serious and obviously a lot of care was put into those scenes.

2. also, I reblogged a post a few days ago where the creator edited mikes monologue to be a bit more romantic and I’m wondering why they didn’t do a more isolated montage if it’s meant to be romantic. I’ve been racking my brain to come up with an explanation for this bc I like to try to find counterpoints to byler theories just to see if there are any you know. but I rlly cant understand why they didn’t make it more intimate and leave will out of the frame/show more memories.

if you have any thoughts pls let me know bc I adored the way you explained your pov!!

Hello again, friend! Glad to see you enjoyed the analysis! I’d be more than happy to expand on these points, along with the other asks you sent.

1. I think the writer’s must have weighed which storylines could best fit a more lighthearted tone, and which really needed some seriousness. However, one of Season Three’s biggest weaknesses was its jarring tonal shifts. I don’t think Mike and El’s breakup should have been played for laughs, but I see why they picked that one over others for the lighthearted tone. However, just because something is played for laughs doesn’t mean it’s not important to the story, or that the writers didn’t care about it.

For Will’s storyline, it needed the weight of a serious tone. Playing it for laughs would have completely undermined Will’s trauma and the “coming-of-age” aspect. He’s screaming for help and attention, so playing that one for laughs would have seemed cheap and unimportant.

2. I think they were trying to focus on the big picture. Mike’s monologue wasn’t solely about their relationship. It was about El and how she views her place in the world. It was about reminding her that she can do anything she sets her mind to. Maybe they could have made it more pointed, but I guarantee if they had done that, there would be people asking why they didn’t do the opposite. In truth, it’s all about balance, and in that moment, El needed encouragement from someone she loves. She’s not basing her self-worth entirely on what he says, but there’s something to be said for hearing someone you love say that you’re capable and strong. El has always drawn strength from people she loves. Her mom, Hopper, Mike, etc. It’s not that the writers didn’t care, it’s that they were trying to encompass a lot of one storyline into a small amount of time.

Blame me entirely for waiting so long. Life got in the way, and then I took a social media break. Hopefully, I’ll get the other asks you sent answered soon.

[schreibfeather]

Ah!!! I caught the Stranger Things Fever!!!!! I don’t even know why I enjoy it so much.

*cough* Mileven *cough* Dustin *cough* Papa bear Hopper

[thefabulousfab-3]

🔥 + hopper and also stranger things in general? Lol. But also I would kind of love to hear your take on all the ships?🤷🏻‍♀️ but I know that's a lot so if you want to pick then that's cool haha

Okay, first of all it’s never to much because I absolutely adore talking about stranger things.

DISCLAIMER: I am not trying to attack anyone or make anyone feel bad these are just my opinions. I will tag this accordingly.

Hopper- DILF, the end.

Okay, but in all seriousness I absolutely love Hopper. I love his development and his desire to protect the people he loves. I don’t care what anyone says, Hopper is a great dad. He isn’t perfect (no one is) but he always did his best to protect El. Once she came into his world, she become his world. One of my favorite moments with them was in season three when they were at the mall and he told El that she, “didn’t have to do this” (I’m paraphrasing) meaning fight the monster thing the mind flayer made. He always let her know there was an option not to use her powers, which was something that she had never had before. Also another one of my favorite hopper moments was when he basically threatened Mike. I don’t care what anyone says that was hilarious.

Stranger things as a whole:

Is it perfect? No, but no media is. It is extremely enjoyable and I love it. It’s extremely endearing and I love how all the scary monster stuff is contrasted with the kids being goofy and being friends. This has quickly become one of my favorite shows and I forgot how much I loved it until I watched season 4 and went back and watched seasons 1-3.

Ships:

I have many many thoughts on this. I’m just going to do the mainish ones so if I leave any out I’m sorry.

Jopper: Absolutely perfect

Stancy: I am going to make some people mad but I feel like a large majority of Stancy shippers view Nancy as some sort of consolation prize for Steve. I can see why people ship them but I think it does a disservice to their character development to have them get back together. In the wise words of Winston Schmidt, “don’t be a backslider”

Jancy:(is that the ship name idk)

He took pictures of Nancy when she was naked without her knowledge or consent. “Oh but that was a long time ago so much happened since then” I literally don’t care. He barely apologized and they just never talked about it again. It’s super weird. I love Jonathan and I don’t think he is a bad person. I just think being in a relationship with someone who did that to you is super weird. This is more on the writers for how they handled it tbh.

Lumax: Absolutely perfect. I adore them with my whole heart.

Ronance: I absolutely love this. It’s very wonderful.

Vicky x Robin: They are super cute!!! They have really good potential and I am curious to see where they go with that. Also having similar quirks does not mean they are carbon copies of each other. Calm down people.

Steddie: Amazing. 10/10. My wonderful beautiful friend @tyrannusbasiltons writes fic for them and it’s amazing.

However, a lot of the shippers need the calm the fuck down and stop harassing that poor actress that plays Chrissy.

Eddie x Chrissy: SUPER CUTE!!! I love the idea of it and it’s very sweet. Also they have very cute fanart.

Mileven: They are very cute!! I do enjoy them, not as much as I used to though. They have a very sweet pure teenage love.

Byler: This is a very cute ship. I support Will Byers in all his romantic efforts even if I believe he could do better. One of my favorite pastimes is watching Byler edits to Taylor swift songs. My personal opinion is that Mike is Bi. I think there is real validity to this ship. It would be cool if they could make it cannon but in all honesty I just want Will to end season 5 happy with a boyfriend. Doesn’t have to be Mike.

Also this is conflicting cause I absolutely adore El and want her to have the whole entire world. I do think it would be good for both El and Mike to date other people though.

Elmax: Absolutely perfect. 100/10. I think this ship is super adorable.

[increasinglygeeky]

Uhhh. Stranger Things Season 4 VOL 1. thoughts

I'm conflicted about the whole Mileven/Byler dilemma b/c I've been a Mileven girl since the beginning but hey, whatever happens in Vol 2., happens.

Mileven deserves rights just b/c El has been through so much she needs to be happy no matter what when it's all over.

RONANCE BROMANCE HELLS YEAH!!!

why the fuck weren't Dustin and Steve being my fave funky duo of this show???...DUFFERS EXPAIN

LUMAX LIVES BITCHES!!!!

Eddie being my new fave skrunkly scrimblo

Why the f is no one talking about Fred?? (His name is deadass Fred Benson hehehe) What did he kill a bunch of people????

Also did they seriously force Nancy to go through the loss of TWO close friends in the span of 3 years???

Also Chrissy deserved better she was so cute

EDDIE AND HER COULDVE BEEN BFFS MAYBE EVEN MORE B/C I DOUBT THAT PRICK JASON ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT HER TO NOT EVEN SUSPECT ABUSE!!!

Robin is....diff in this season but I'll let that slide b/c she was adorable

I feel so bad for Lucas. Baby sacrificing all his healths to just help out his friends.

Still Anti-Billy. Just beacuse of his dad gave him NO right to treat Max the way he did.

Although the letter scene did hurt especially when you think about how much Max probably wanted a normal, big, family no matter what....

I also feel so bad for Jonathan he's probably going through so much internally if he's giving himself over to weed.

EL DESERVED TO BEAT ANGELAS FACE IN I SCREAMED YOU GO MY FUNKY LITTLE GIRLBOSS!!

ERICA MY OTHER FUNKY LITTLE GIRLBOSS NOW APART OF THE PARTY HELL YEAH WHAT A QUEEN SHE WAS THIS VOLUME.!

Love the look of how you communicate from the Upside Down its probably the only comforting thing there

Honestly I'm Argyle in THAT situation

Why did we stop the California plot line midway???

Suzie is so goddamn funny

Her family helping her out was the best ever

I feel like this season/volume dials up the comedy and it actually works

I nearly had a stroke when the boys were asking about the Internet.

You could've gave Will some friends of his own or something Duffers, gotdamn.

Why did they fuck up his role so bad??

At least he actually gives a damn about El.

Im so glad will and Jonathan do refer to themsleves as El's brothers its what she deseves.

El and Will being in sibling sync had me hollering.

Seriously Mike, wtf were you thinking with those letters???

Loving the Nightmare on Elm Street shoutouts and parallels it's my fave horror series.

THEY DEADASS GOT ROBERT ENGLUND HELL YEAH!!!

NO NO STEVE/NANCY ENDGAME ARE YOU KIDDING ME NO!!! HE LITERALLY WENT THROUGH HALF OF THE SERIES GETTING OVER HER FUCK OFF.

At least their interactions reminded of how much Natalia and Joe would be so good as Nancy Thompson and Glen Lantz in a proper Elm Street remake/reboot I'm frothing at the mouth thinking about it.

STEVE HARRINGTON STOP BEING SO HOT WHEN YOU'RE BEATING THE SHIT OUT HELL BATS HAIRY TIDDIES OUT AND SPITTING UP BLOOD!!

I am in desperate need of a reader fic where we react to Steve in that scene.

Max is strong...stronger than all of us.

Wait was it Vecna who killed Barb and not the Mind Flayer??

I felt SO BAD for El when they buzzed off her hair especially when you remember her commenting that Argyle's is longer than hers she probably wanted to grow it out for as long as she can.

The rope going through the Upside Down was chefs kiss.

At least we get a proper reason to why they call it the Upside Down.

When Hopper found the church and peanut butter I almost cried b/c that's obviously the most peace hes gotten in like a year.

JOPPER JOPPER JOPPER JOPPER JOPPPER REUNION WAS BETTER THAT MY EXPECTATIONS IM SO HAPPY MY PARENTS!!!!

DID VECNA TAKE WILL THIS WHOLE TIME!?!?

[fatechica]

Mileven’s S3 Journey

Can I just say how much I love Mike and El after season 3? Like, the amount of growth they experienced is just amazing and I don’t think I will ever be over it.

Under a cut because this is going to be LONG

Let’s start with Mike. Mike starts out the beginning of the season, let’s just admit it, as a cocky little shithead. Like, I love the boy so much and think he’s an amazing person, but, like, dude, just because you have a pretty girlfriend who you get to make out with on the reg does not make you invincible and all knowing. But this felt so very “teenage boy” to me. Like, he’s 14; of course he’s going to think he’s the shit because he gets to make out with a pretty girl who has super powers and wants to be with him as much as he wants to be with her.

But then he does a stupid (but understandable) thing when he lies to El and then has to face the repercussions of it when she breaks up with him (I’m a little iffy on this, but considering how they grew through it, I’m learning to live with it). Obviously when the shit starts hitting the fan, there’s really no time to talk about it, but regardless, Mike doesn’t leave El’s side. He’s there for her the entire time - helping her, saving her from Billy, comforting her when she needs it.

And when they do get a moment to talk? HE APOLOGIZES. Like, swallows his pride and outright apologizes for not being the sharpest tool in the shed, for being jealous and angry, for being stupid and lying to her. And he very nearly gets to say to her that he loves her after tripping over his own tongue for, like, 30 seconds (thanks Dustin for interrupting that, by the way *eyeroll*).

And, finally, at the end, when they’re packing up the Byers’ house, and Mike and El have a moment alone, it’s clear he’s been trying to give El the space she needs to grieve while still being there to help her if she needs it. Like he’s learned that he doesn’t have to be with her at every moment of every day for her to know he cares about her. 

Also, bless this boy for that awkward moment when El brought up that he said he loved her at the cabin when she was in the other room. It was obvious he knew what she was referring to from how nervous he got and he was fishing for information (”What did I say again?”) like a total doofus so he could know what he had to walk it back or explain. Because there probably hasn’t been a good moment to talk about it and Mike’s not sure exactly what El feels (though it’s pretty obvious they’re back together given how he promises he’s going to call her all the time and come out and visit her and all that).

(And, omg, boy was seriously SHOOK when she said she loves him too and then walks away. Like, he just froze and it was so adorable.)

But, as clearly devastated as he is over El moving with the Byers (as evidenced by the way they hug outside), it’s obvious he’s putting on a brave face for her and that he’s hopeful for the future (making plans to visit, calling her, etc). He’s learning that he doesn’t need to hold on so tight, he’s learning to give El the space she needs to be her own person, he’s learning that he can still be with someone without always have to be with someone.

And El’s journey? AMAZING. Obviously, her storyline paralleled Mike’s in so many ways, mostly in learning how to grow and be her own person. I have issues with some of what Max said to her and how Max pushed her in certain directions, but I really loved that Max at least gave her the space to start figuring out how to be her own person. 

Let’s face it, El, for the previous two seasons, has been heavily if not primarily defined by Mike and what he thinks about her. And that’s cute and all, but it’s not healthy in the long run. El needed to have an opportunity to be, relationship-wise, on her own for a while. Do I wish the show had done this part differently? Yes. But, in the end, it was good for her. She got to develop her own style, have her own opinions, and figure out what she really wants.

And that’s to be with Mike. It feels pretty obvious that, by the scene in the hospital, she’s ready to forgive him (even though it takes him another day to actually apologize). And when Mike compliments her new outfit (which was very, very adorable of him to do), the way El just melts is so cute and it means so much. Because she made her own choices and here’s Mike, totally supporting them. She’s not following his lead anymore which is so good for her. El needs to be able to make her own decisions and come to her own conclusions and I’m so glad she learned how to do that.

And it’s not like she still didn’t want him in her life after she broke up with him. She still reaches for him when she needs him and lets him support her. But then she’s able to go and take care of herself after and stand on her own two feet.

This all leads very nicely into where El ends up: even though she’s grieving the loss of Hopper and having to move, she approaches Mike and brings up what he said to everyone at the cabin about him being in love with her. She clearly feels comfortable and confident enough to finally bring it up (I can imagine that it’s been on her mind during the entire 3 months) and I’m so glad she had the space to do it only when she was ready.

Really, I just love where these two ended up: Mike having learned not to hold on so tight and El having learned who she is as a person and stand on her own two feet. And, yes, they’re obviously going to miss each other every day while living in separate towns, but it’s also very clear that they are not about to let each other go. There will be regular visits and daily calls and letters (if you don’t think Mike isn’t going to write her ridiculously long love letters, then, well, you have another thing coming). Mike will to go El when Nancy goes to visit Jonathan and Jonathan will bring El when he goes to visit Nancy. They will still spend holidays together and buy each other gifts for their birthdays and the whole bit.

Mike and El are still going to be together and not even living in different cities is going to break them apart.

And the best part of this is that the physical distance will do two things: it will give them each the room to grow independently, help them learn how to be their own people before they become adults (and most likely move in together because you know that’s going to happen); and it will make them have to work for their relationship, make them keep in mind exactly why they’re so important to each other.

Because, at the end of the day, Mike and El love each other and they both know it and they’re stubborn enough to not let go when it really counts.

[clericbyers]

I never really liked Mileven per se. Like, for me, it was Just kinda there for the ppl who liked it, but I was never into it. When Mike kissed El? Already saw it coming when he gave her that glance when she lost her wig. I found myself really enjoying jancy instead, not that much fan of Jopper for a couple reasons, but anyway, after ST2, I found myself really enjoying byler, and that continued to this present day. S2 was such a byler-centric season and I really like that! I can't say (1/2)

(2/2) I can’t say I never was deceived by Mileven, although not really enjoying it, but some times, People became so oblivious regarding this shipp it almost makes me puke. They sexualize them AND the actors, make every single scene a “relationship goal” and “look how strongly they’re in loveee”. And I didn’t even mention how oblivious these people are not only about the anti-mileven tips, but how the HOLE show Works. Seriously, Mileven fandom is just…. urgh. 

I don’t particularly feel comfortable in the Mike/El shipper fandom which is probably why even though I’m fine with the pairing (to a degree, I’ve voiced my issues with the pairing multiple times and professed that I’d want to see changes if the duo continues romantically in the show but I definitely don’t hate it) I didn’t gravitate toward that part of the fandom when I decided to make this blog and fully commit to the ST fandom. Part of the reason why I didn’t bother being this involved with the fandom until now is because it’s a show about a bunch of kids and myself being older than the main kid cast (and 6 years older than the characters) can make things uncomfortable to a degree when working in a fandom with children and seeing so many people my age or older (especially older god) sexualizing the kids (and their characters, I mean the Party was 12/13 years old at the time after all!!) and just…losing their minds over a damn ship like?? uh, yeah no, I don’t wanna be associated with that. Also like, I understand how some kids don’t like it when adults are part of the fandom (until this summer really, I usually kept my fandom focus to Twitter where the “18+ ppl should get off stan twitter!!” debate happens every three months lmao) and such so I just didn’t. want to bother. Even though the characters are now entering high school, what brought me to make this blog wasn’t even their ages, it was my dissatisfaction with ST3 lmao I honestly probably wouldn’t have bothered to enter the fandom if ST3 hadn’t rubbed off on me as poorly as it did. (So, thanks ST3?? lmao but also Marvel fandom went batshit crazy after Endgame so like…)

Anyway, even now I really only stan the characters not so much the actors. Not that I don’t care about the actors because I do!! I absolutely adore and respect the hell out of these kids from a, “I support your artistic endeavors because you’re amazingly talented and hard working” point of view, and I for sure support all of their other non-ST endeavors but it’s not to the degree of dedication I had with, like, my fave kpop artists for example. That might be an age thing too because I’m not 14-17 like the ST kids but I know many fans are and when I was ~15, I was (still am) deep into Marvel (and Supernatural, which was my first introduction to Wolfhard anyway from that one episode lmfaoooo), which featured men twice my age so I didn’t have the chance really to follow and enjoy a group of teen actors my age the way you do in a fandom like there is now with ST and IT even (and Disney didn’t really count). And with kpop, there was a better chance of liking artists my age which is always very appealing!! Point is, the boundary between character and actor is sadly often lost (even with Marvel, RDJ/Tony Stark is a lost boundary) and not to say there aren’t bad apples here in this subsection of the fandom, I’m sure there are because there always are, but . that lack of boundary is just . very prevalent in the Mike/El shipper side of things that I’ve seen.

[bonesgadh]

Some opinions on the characters this season:

Eleven: she is still my precious baby and I knew she would loose her powers at some point. My guess is the excruciating pain she experienced kind of blocked them but I’m with Mike, they’ll come back eventually. My Mileven heart wasn’t on board with her leaving with the Byers but she needs a fresh start and to live a life as normal as possible. Also she’s gonna visit the party from time to time so I’m cool with her S3 ending.

Mike: my emo son was a teenage mess and I loved every minute of it. Sometimes it felt as if the party were relying on El way too much and the way her cared about her well-being was super cute. He is a sweetheart and I love him.

Will: thank god they didn’t mess up with him this season after what he went through in the previous ones. I just want to hug him and tell him a bedtime story.

Dustin: I think he was a bit underused this season. I adored his relationship with Steve and Robin but I would’ve liked to see him with the party a bit more.

Lucas: keep spillin’ the tea my boy, you’ve got this. Also I’m very happy his slingshot worked for once and his relationship with Max is so cool.

Max: she’s so amazing and I love her more than I did in S2. She’s a great addition to the party and she and El are friendship goals.

Hopper: what happened to him sucks but I firmly believe he’s not dead so I don’t actually feel sad??? I wanted more bonding moments with El but the letter montage was very cute.

Joyce: she’s such a badass and I love how fierce she is. I wish they gave us more Jopper but they spent almost all season together so that’s good.

Nancy: stand up to misogynists girl! Seriously I like her so much because she’s a badass as well. Also her hair was on point this season.

Jonathan: he was fine I guess??? I’m not her biggest fan but boy also delivered this season. I stan a supportive brother.

Steve: I absolutely adored his relationship with Robin, they are my new brotp. Also the “Steve gets beaten up near the end of the season” gag will never stop being funny.

Robin: such a great addition to the cast! She’s funny and savage and smart and I think I have a crush on her.

Erica: I didn’t quite understand why people loved her so much in S2 but I warmed up to her this time around. She is the sarcasm queen.

Billy: I almost felt bad for him but then I remembered he was a racist prick and a little shit so good riddance.

Anyway I loved this season and I have no idea where they’ll take the show from here but it was worth every second of the past year and nine months.

[thatoneloserwithapen]

Season 3 Thoughts

!!Spoilers!!

Things I liked about Season 3

- I liked how they actually didn’t chicken out of El dumping Mike, seems like they actually listened to our complaints about their relationship.

- The comedy was absolutely hilarious this season, I found myself giggling and snorting uncontrollably A LOT.

- El and Max’s friendship was absolutely beautiful and exactly what I wanted. Not forced or in a way toxic. Thank you Duffers!

- Robin being the 80’s lesbian queen we deserved.

- Robin and Steve slowly becoming best friends. And not becoming a couple like the show tricked us into thinking so.

- Karen Wheeler actually being a mom to Nancy. Seriously why does no one talk about that scene more? She’s not the best mom but at least she’s a better parent then tED (Or Lonnie if you can call him a parent.)

- The emotional scenes were just as amazing as ever, the raw emotion on each characters face gave me chills and had me sobbing like a baby.

-Erica, I loved her, absolutely loved her. Everything she said was golden.

-Dustin and Suzie’s duet. iT WAS ADORABLE FIGHT ME.

- Hopper and Joyce acting like a married couple.

- Alexei. Just him in general.

- Every time we saw the Flayed or the Mind Flayer in fleshy form. It just gave me absolute goosebumps every time. And honestly the fact that the Mind Flayer is made out of human flesh and when you think one of those people could’ve been Will? yIKES.

- HOPPERS NOTE REALLY GOT ME MAN.

Things I didn’t like about Season 3

- Whyyyyyyy on eARTH. Did they have to start with Mileven making out? Watching it alone was super uncomfortable. Like Come on.

- There was no sibling bonding! I was really hoping for some big sister Nancy moments with Mike. There wasn’t even a Byers brothers scene!

- We still didn’t get a lot of interaction between Will and El. I was really hoping for them to be friends too ;-;.

- Mileven was handled so poorly in this season, like honestly Mike was an idiot, did he even properly apologize to El about lying.

- They did Will dirty. I mean they made him suffer for TWO SEASONS, only to have him look scared for the remainder of the season, and occasionally touch his neck and say “he’s here.” Or something. There was no conclusion to his emotional breakdown! Nada! They did my boy dirty!

- Nancy and Jonathan’s story arc felt really forced to me.

- Joyce Standing up Hopper.

- Lumax didn’t really feel.... real. I mean don’t get me wrong I loved their interactions but most of them were more humor, I don’t think we even got a kiss from them did we?

-What the hell is Nancys hair?

- Mike barely acknowledging Will or Dustin. Even Lucas was concerned about them. With Will I can slide because In the end he did try to apologize. But Dustin? He barely cared! They kept trying to call him which didn’t work, they could’ve at least biked to his house quickly to confirm that they weren’t there.

- Like What Murray said; the bickering between Hopper and Joyce got old. Real fast.

- To me at least, it felt Like Lucas slowly turned into the comic relief. Which completely goes against his character. Like cmon was that Cola scene really necessary?

- Why the hell did no one do anything whenever El was being attacked? Literally when she was being choked by Billy everyone just kinda stood there terrified. Nancy and Mike seemed to be the only ones who helped her until the final battle.

- I was really hoping for Kali to come back, or at least get a tease that we’ll see her again or at least a mention of her name. But nope. There was nothing. Like COME ON! You can’t introduce a character like that and not bring her back, especially when you made her seem more important!

- They did Joyce Dirty, in fact they have done her dirty for they entire show. LET HER FIND LOVE DAMN IT.

- I already expressed in another post how I didn’t like Mike this season, but still I really did not like Mike in this season.

- Why did they treat the Mileven break up as a joke? In fact why did they treat Mileven like a joke in general?

- When El said “I love you too” in the last episode, I didn’t feel anything. Straight up blank face.

- Did Dustin’s mom notice her son was even missing? Did she even try to call the police? What about Steve, Robin or Erica’s families? Were they not concerned at all that their children were missing? Jeez are Joyce and Hopper the only good parents in town?

- I felt like Murray was a tad unnecessary.

- is it weird that I didn’t find the Russians even a little intimidating?

Conclusion: I liked Season Two better.

[girls-are-weird]

vaguetweeting stranger things 4 ep 8: "papa"

(originally at my twitter @girls_are_weird)

"this! is! music!" lololololol

"i left you alive so you could tell the hero how evil i am" might be the oldest trope in the book

THEY HAD A FUNERAL NOOOOOOOOOO 😭😭😭

i mean, it has humanoid arms and legs, why are you surprised?

i just had to go to wikipedia and check when dolly the sheep was first cloned, just to make sure

air ducts! the actual MVPs of stranger things!

this can't be good for her heart, right? like, medically speaking. SHE'S FIFTEEN.

MIKE, BABY, LET ME GIVE YOU A HUG 😭❤️️ YOU'RE MORE THAN ENOUGH, SWEETHEART #Mileven

OH MY GOD, WILL, SWEETIE 😭❤️️ THIS SCENE IS TOO MUCH

YES, JONATHAN, IT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE THINKING

"not ominous at all!" oh owens, providing that genre-savvy i love so much 😂

see, this is a pet peeve of mine. "they're all coming into hawkins" sweetheart, unless you live in the world of "under the dome," i think you mean THE WORLD.

omg YAY she's listening in on them again!! i didn't expect this to hit me this hard but omg it totally does

IF HE TOUCHES A SINGLE HAIR ON MAX'S HAIR, I SWEAR TO JESUS--

oh hey, i know "durak"! 😂 (thank you, captain planet fandom).

omg the michael myers mask 😂

wait, so what was the mask for? 😅

oh robin, how i adore you. 😂

punch him, owens. go ahead. you have my permission.

okay, owens, i may respect you again.

i love enzo. he better live through this.

the fact that they can just... walk in and buy weapons of war. when they're basically all minors. too soon, man.

i just muttered "oh, this bitch" at my tv.

"YOU are the monster" YES, BABY, TELL HIM

LOVING THIS SINCLAIR SIBLINGS SCENE ❤️️❤️️❤️️

LOL pushing the foreshadowing hard on this one. (not max. or dustin. or robin. everyone else, i can live with.)

i love this overhead shot.

please let him be dead now. for real.

seriously? YOU'RE A TERRIBLE SHOT WTF.

the cavalry. in a pizza delivery van. 🤣

HOLY SHIT, THIS ENTIRE SEQUENCE

okay the hug with mike was adorable but THE HUG WITH WILL IS GIVING ME ALL THE FEELS MY HEART 😭❤️️

"i'm proud of you" BITCH, FUCK OFF 🖕

i'm glad she didn't say it. perfect. chef's kiss. now let him die for good.

are they just leaving owens, though? 🤨

journey, though. *chef's kiss*

[appleofmyowneyes]

Hi, am not new here (incase you think) but have been rolling around this tag since long ago without being noticed.

It was by the end of 2019 my yt thought to surprise me with a recommended video of how mileven isn’t a compatible couple- but was shocked by the mike and will ship video like how they are real. At first i was like pfft - really? Aren’t they like bro bra besties but damn that video was the end of me.

Before i used to ship mil*even and was pretty obsessed with their sweetness (even after s3) however, that damn video completely changed my perspective and i was like WHAT THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE byler makes so much sense. Then my journey started as a pro hardcore delusional byler (I didn’t mind being or being called delusional for my byler heart).

I adore them so much i even started reading fanfics. Never in my life i read fanfics before especially about two teen boys - i mean who wanted to invest their time on reading about two fictional characters who aren’t even canon, right? Well i did.

I have no counts how many fics i read and felt giddy at the thought of them being together for real in the series with different made up scenarios in my head.

There was a time I didn’t even care about myself or my life coz it already sucks - only byler made my heart glow and the rest annoyed me as hell like i never thought i would care about two fictional characters more than myself, my health or my friends and family.

There’s was also a time when I stopped lurking in the tag and started joining different fandoms - byler was obviously the portal that opened a new way for my journey as a shipper (can also call me a fujoshi). No matter what book i read or see a movie I would always imagine them in any character and think “what if byler were in the similar situation” gosh the makers seemed to make them look head over heels for some reason - only to end it in despair and disruption.

Perhaps the writing and the direction or the actions of the characters plus the acting by the actors didn’t go hand in hand. But u know what i am still not losing my hope on byler. Would still loved to being a delusional dork for shipping the most amazing duo in my life. I mean look at their faces . I never saw that sincerity in Mike’s face for El, I don’t know why. For some reasons mil*even doesn’t seem to fit the bill for a couple - yeah i know they tried to portray that every couple have got struggles and no one is perfect. But damn when u compare mil*even with byler than of course i feel more connected to byler (btw am a heterosexual woman). They make me fall in love with love. That pure and soft gaze, clarified conversations without embellishing any words, sickening chemistry - i mean i might be wrong but mil*even for some reasons feels off. Maybe the actors- Finn seems to be less involved in the scenes but mbb putting all her efforts and that could be seen in her acting and of course i am not saying Finn is a bad actor but he’s kinda doomed with the ship.

Anyways, sorry for my little rant - but i really for some reasons not losing my hopes on byler, not until the end of s5. Call me delusional but heck yeah i still ship the sweetest, amazing fanon couple.

Why? It’s simple i love them too much to give up on them too soon. I know we all are disappointed by the outcome of v2. Ngl i pretty much expected that coz it was obvious - they were dragging mil*even towards the whole ily fiasco which was pretty obvious. But but u can think you’re in deep deep love with someone without it being romantic. I know they were cute and all and in love - but do u actually think at the mere age of 14 or 15 we completely realise that what the heck love actually is. Of course might be but not ready to go all the way. It was more like a heat of the moment like i never express my love towards my sister or my parents but once when my sister was seriously ill i bursted into tears and said all those sappy things like, I don’t want to lose or i ll die if u die (later sure regretted). My point is they are in love but not in the right love they both might subconsciously needed. Mike needs someone who understands him, tells him the truth, fix him, bear him, who’s into the same stuffs he likes (not necessarily but who knows him more than will) and tells him how great he’s. I bet Mike just took will’s advice a little too far and applied it with his own logic and the scenario. Of course he was scared to lose her and i admit his life literally started the moment he met El (i mean the whole series literally started with that) - she’s like a saviour for him - a superhero- a beautiful human whom he taught about life.

Whereas El needs herself and a family- she needs to control her anger and espouse a normal teenage life. Mike idolised El more than love and he thinks that’s love - it is love, but a different kind of love and bond which is beautiful.

In conclusion i still have faith in byler. I believe the leap in the series will help both El and Mike to figure themselves out and for Will he needs to open up more. I know it’s scary to open up in the 80s but he can with his family and friends - pent up emotions can be detrimental even if i am talking about a fictional character but he means alot to me.

Ps: please excuse my grammar and typos. I love u all and sorry for my unnecessary not needed rant.

[hannahberrie]

Everybody Talks | Chapter 16: Epilogue

Fandom: Stranger Things Pairings: Mileven, Lumax Rating: K WC: 7,870 Summary: You can hear it in the silence. You can feel it on the way home. You can see it with the lights out. You are in love.

[AO3] Chapter Selection: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]-Epilogue-

It’s the 14th of December. Mike and El are seated on her bed, legs crossed as they face each other. Fat, flaky snowflakes fall against her bedroom window, dissolving into water droplets that trail down the glass. Though it’s only 4:30, the world outside is already fading into a charcoal-grey, and El has to keep her beside lamp on in order for them to see each other properly.

El fidgets with the index card she’s holding in her hand. As she talks, she flutters it back and forth, willing herself not to look at it.

“Genes are...” She begins slowly, mind working frantically. She pauses as she tries to remember the definition she’d copied onto the notecard. Their Biology oral presentation is only a few days away, and she has to have this memorized by then.

Mike smiles at her as he gives her an encouraging nod. “You got this!” He assures her.

El throws him a grateful look before continuing. “They’re…segments, segments of…” She shuts her eyes. Maybe she can see the word if she tries hard enough.

“Deo—?“ Mike offers.

“Deoxyribonucleic acid!” El exclaims, “DNA!”

“There you go!” Mike beams proudly. As El smiles proudly, he adds a hesitant offer, “Are you sure you don’t want me to start our speech? I don’t want you to feel so much pressure to say all these hard words.”

“No,” El refutes with a small shake of her head, “I want to do it. I want to get it right.”

Mike gives a nod of assent. “Okay.”

“Besides,” El adds casually, “Pressure isn’t always bad.” Her voice is light, nonchalant, unrevealing. Nevertheless, Mike seems to pick up on the coy connotations she’s purposely giving.

She really shouldn’t do this to him, but she can’t help herself. He just always gets so flustered looking and it’s completely adorable.

“Uh, yeah,” he admits, voice a little higher, “I guess pressure isn’t always so bad.”

El gives him a knowing look before continuing with her speech. “DNA synthesizes the proteins in our bodies,” she states, “Each molecule is a…a double helix shape. The helix is made of two strands, one of sugar, or…deo…deo…”

Her voice trails off as she tries to think of the proper name. Why did every word have to start with deo? After a few silent moments pass, she gives up and takes one glance at her notecard. “Deoxyribose! One strand is sugar, or deoxyribose, and the other is phosphate molecules.”

Mike is still looking pretty riled up. His cheeks are still pink and he keeps staring at her all wide-eyed. He’s so distracted by something that he doesn’t even congratulate her on her successful pronunciation.

At least, not in the way that she expects.

When he only blinks at her, El pouts a little. “I know I had to glance at the notecard,” She confesses, “But I can keep trying. I don’t want Mrs. Hawthorne to take off presentation points for reading off my notes.”

“No!” Mike finally exclaims, “You…you sounded great!”

El gives him a skeptical look. “Then why do you look so…weird?”

“I do?”

“Yes,” El smirks, raising her finger to bop his nose lightly. She turns her attention back to the index card in her hand. Maybe if she keeps looking at it, she’ll be able to memorize all the big words easier.

“I’m sorry,” Mike sighs, “It’s just…you sounded really good.”

“You said that already.”

“No, I mean like…really good.”

El frowns — not only because the words she’s reading are making her head hurt, but also because there’s no way her boyfriend is actually getting worked up over her reading off scientific terminology.

She glances up at him, just to make sure she’s not making assumptions, but nope — he’s giving her that look. The look that’s a hopelessly smitten mix of flushed cheeks, dark eyes, and a hopeful smile.

He’s seriously the biggest nerd ever.

“Thank you,” El replies dryly, forcing herself not to smile as she looks down again.

There’s a moment of silence and El can practically feel the tension brewing between them. Maybe tension isn’t the right word though. It sounds so negative, and this feeling is anything but. It’s like growing embers — warm and comforting with the potential for more.

After a minute or so of El looking over her notes, Mike interrupts the quiet. “Your dad’s not home, is he?” He asks, glancing at the doorway.

“No,” El replies, not looking up from her index card, “He has work, and then he’s going to help Will’s mom go get a Christmas tree. He said that we’ll go to Will’s house tomorrow to help decorate it.” El pauses as she processes this before adding, “You know, I think Max is right. I think he might like Joyce. He’s been acting so weird around her lately. I guess I’ll see tomorrow.”

She realizes that she’s been rambling (a trait she’s starting to pick up from hanging around Mike all the time), and probably taken the longest way possible to answer Mike’s simple question. “Anyway,” she concludes, glancing up at Mike, “He’s not home. Why?”

“Because,” Mike smiles shyly, “If he was, I’d kinda be too scared to do this.”

“To do what?” El frowns, but then without warning, Mike cups her face in his hands and pulls her in for an affectionate kiss.

Oh.

Oh.

El smiles against his lips as she uses her index card to playfully swat his shoulder. She wants to tease him for being such a big dork, or maybe say ‘deoxyribose,’ again, just to mess with him, but as their kiss increases in intensity, she starts to lose all coherent thought.

Mike is still the smartest person El knows. Not only that, but he’s also the fastest learner she knows. He’s a sponge for information. He can finish a book in a matter of hours or watch a documentary once and he’ll remember practically everything he learned.

This apt for quick learning naturally extended to everything, including kissing. The kisses they’d shared during the first couple weeks of their relationship had been soft and reserved. Neither really had any clue what they were doing, but that’s kind of what made it so fun — they got to figure it out together.

Mike was a very dedicated learner. He paid attention to every hitch of her breath, every contented sigh, every moan she blushingly tried to hide. Needless to say, his dedication paid off.

Like right now, for example. He pulls back just enough to capture her lower lip in an impassioned kiss. He uses his teeth to ever-so-gently tug and bite, and that’s when El just melts like the snowflakes against the windowsill.

Or, at least she would melt if she could get comfortable enough. Because as wonderful as Mike’s kisses are, they’re both still sitting with their legs crossed, which means they have to strain their necks to reach other, and it’s starting to get a little uncomfortable. Plus, they’re surrounded by their Biology textbooks, notes, and binders, so it’s a little crowded too.

She needs to fix this.

With a flick of her hand, El uses her powers to push all their schoolwork off her bed. It falls to the floor in a flurry of thudding books, fluttering notebook paper, and clattering pencils, but El could care less. She can always pick it up later, but she needs more of Mike now.

When their school things hit the floor, Mike pulls away in startled confusion. “What just happened?” He asks, looking at the mess.

El only grins as she uncrosses her legs and slides closer to him. “We need more room,” she says simply, obviously.

“Oh,” Mike grins back, looking unfairly adorable.

El leans in to pepper him with kisses because she really can’t get enough of him, she never will, and she doesn’t quite know what else to do with the warm, bubbly feeling growing near her gut. Her heart rate spikes as she continues to shower Mike with kisses. He’s all squirms and laughs and bashful exclamations of her name and El just wants more.

She pulls back and, with a playful smile, pushes Mike back onto the pillows. Mike falls backward, looking breathlessly excited—

—And winds up gasping in pain.

“Shit!” Mike groans, rubbing the back of his head.

“Mike?” El pales, looking alarmed. She hadn’t pushed him that hard, had she? He’d just landed on her pillow—

Shit.

“I hit my head on something,” Mike frowns, turning to look under the pillow. He retrieves the Hawkins High 1984 yearbook with a puzzled look on his face. “What the—?”

Shit, shit, shit, shit. WHY hadn’t she gotten rid of that yet!?

“Give me that!” El pleads.

She throws herself at him, but Mike shifts to the side and she falls face-first on the pillows instead.

“Jesus, El!” Mike exclaims, sounding torn between laughter and alarm, “What’s wrong?”

“You can’t look in it!” El snaps, squirming towards him.

“Why not!?” Mike asks, moving out of the way again. He looks at the yearbook more closely and spots the yellow Post-It notes. “Why do you have pages marked?”

El uses her powers to pull the yearbook out of Mike’s hands and into her own. The impact causes her to fall back against the pillows, but she doesn’t let go of the yearbook. She already had to go through this with Max, there’s no way she’s going to do it again.

However, just like Max, Mike is incredibly persistent.

“I wanna see!” He pleads, moving to hover over her.

“No!” El insists, holding the yearbook close to her heart as she looks up at him.

“Please?” Mike begs, giving her his signature puppy dog pout.

“No!” El repeats. She has to shut her eyes to avoid his pout. It’s too adorable, too powerful, and she knows she won’t be able to maintain her resolve if she keeps looking at him.

Of course, shutting her eyes turns out to be a fatal mistake, as that’s when Mike strikes. Without warning, he leans forward and attacks her sides, tickling her relentlessly.

“Mike!” El squeals, trying to squirm away. “S-stop!”

Mike only grins as he continues to wriggle his fingers over her stomach, sides, and hips. He knows how ticklish she is, because he’s done this before, and El both loves it and hates it.

As she writhes from his tickles, she raises her arms to defend herself. This causes the yearbook to fall from her grasp, and that’s all Mike needs. He catches it as it falls, straightens up, and sits on top of El’s legs so that she can’t get up to grab the book from him.

“Does this hurt?” Mike asks, looking down at her.

“No!” El huffs, trying to squirm away.

“Good — just checking,” Mike nods, turning his attention back to the yearbook.

She could use her powers to take the book back, but at this point, it seems pretty futile. Now that Mike knows about the yearbook, El can’t really think of anything she could do to deter his curiosity. So, she instead settles for crossing her arms and glaring up at him as he begins to flip through the pages.

“Alright,” Mike says, turning to the first sticky-noted page, “What do we got here?”

El remains silent as Mike looks over the page. When his gaze lands on the picture, his picture, the picture that she’d decorated with heart stickers after Homecoming night, his jaw drops.

“You were looking at my picture?” Mike gasps, glancing down at her.

El quirks an eyebrow at him. “Maybe.”

Mike’s eyes light up as his mouth curves into a smile. “Like…since when?”

Here we go.

“….Last year,” El admits.

Mike keeps smiling as he turns to the second marked page, the one with his AV Club photo. “You were looking at this one too?!” He exclaims in shock.

“Yes,” El sighs.

“Why!?”

El eyes him. Wasn’t it obvious? “I liked you.”

“You had a crush on me!?” Mike gawks.

El, still eying him warily, nods.

“Since last year?!”

Another nod.

At this admission, Mike bursts into laughter. It’s not a deriding or mocking laugh though, but rather one that radiates with happiness, like he’s stupidly, giddily excited about something.

“What’s so funny?” El asks defensively.

“I can’t believe you had a crush on me!” Mike replies gleefully, “That’s like, so embarrassing.”

“How?! We’re dating!” El exclaims, hitting his thighs (the only part of him she can currently reach with him sitting on her legs and everything).

“I know!” Mike continues to laugh, “But still!”

“I hate you,” El grumbles, poking his thighs a couple more times.

“Really?” Mike asks, turning to grin at her.

“Yes,” El insists, hating how her gaze lands on his smile or, to be more concise, his lips. She knows she supposed to be (pretending to be) mad at him, but it’s so hard when Mike sets the yearbook down, places his hands on either side of her, and hovers over her again.

El’s style is still evolving. Instead of strictly sticking to slick-backed hair and leather jackets, she sometimes opts for freed curls and soft sweaters. Other times, it’s a unique combination of both. She’s also decided to let her hair grow out — in the past, she had to trim it regularly so that it wouldn’t look too weird when it was slicked back. Now, she’s allowing herself to just leave it be and see what happens.

Consequently, her hair is a little longer, a little curlier. When Mike lowers his face so that it’s inches from hers, their curls brush in a way that almost makes El giggle, because they kind of match.

Mike has that look in his eyes as he scans her over. Still supporting himself with one hand, he carefully runs his opposite hand through her hair, over her shoulder, and down her arm. Despite the chill that seeps into her room from the outside, his touch leaves trails of embers down her skin.

She loves when he’s forward like this, when he’s not afraid to get closer. It’s admittedly rare, but lately he’s been getting better, bolder.

Except for when he’s not.

He’s leaning in to kiss her when he suddenly pulls away, leaving her high and dry.

“Mike,” El whines. She curls her fingers in the front of his shirt and tugs him back to her, “Come back.”

Mike, for once, doesn’t give into her pleads for kisses. Instead, he looks down at her torso skeptically, as if something has just dawned on him.

“What?” El asks nervously. Is something wrong?

“Isn’t this my sweater?” Mike questions, tugging on the hem of the sweater she’s wearing.

“Um,” El hesitates, looking down at the article in question.

Was it his sweater? Her favorite sweater of his? The one he’d worn when he was fixing the projector, or during their first Biology lab? The sweater she’d found crumpled up on the floor of his bedroom when she hung out at his house last weekend? The sweater that she’d hastily stuffed into her backpack, just because she really wanted it? The sweater that was impossibly soft, and smelt like his soap, his laundry detergent, and the musk that was unmistakably him?

Obviously not.

“No!” El answers innocently.

“I’m pretty sure it is,” Mike smirks, “So, like, first you’re staring at pictures of me, and now you’re stealing my clothes?”  

El feels her cheeks flush red with embarrassment. “You left me 20 voicemails!” She reminds him.

“You snuck into my house,” Mike counters.

“You got into a fight for me!”

“You got in one for me!”

“You bought me every kind of Eggos!”

“You’re still obsessed with me.”

And you’re still in love me, El wants to say, but the words die in her throat. She doesn’t know if she dares to say something so…so resonant. She knows that she’s in love with Mike, but she’s never told him. He’s certainly never told her that he’s in love with her. Even though ‘in’ is such a tiny word, to be in love with someone somehow seems so much more weighted than to just love someone.

“You’re still dumb,” she mumbles instead, averting her gaze.

“And you’re still wearing my sweater,” Mike mutters back, idly running a hand over her sleeve.

This time, the words El wants to say come out before she can stop them. “Then come take it back,” she offers, and this time, her connotations aren’t coyly masked, but flirtatiously candid.

Mike’s eyes widen in surprise, because she’s never said anything like that, they’ve never done anything like that, but when El only smiles invitingly up at him, she’s pretty sure she can pinpoint the exact moment his heart explodes.

“Okay,” he mumbles back thickly, and then his lips are back on hers, and El is pulling at the back of his hoodie, dragging him closer to her.

She can feel her heart racing faster in her chest, filling her veins with adrenaline. She’s not sure that she’s ready to go super far, but she’s definitely willing to test the waters a little…maybe a lot…

Mike lowers the arms he’s been using to support himself. He instead allows himself to lie on top of her, all the while being careful not to move too quickly or crush her under his weight. El doesn’t mind the feeling of him pressed against her though. The pressure is quite nice, actually, but it’s still not enough.

More, her thoughts plead, more, more, more.

She tentatively spreads her lips and Mike eagerly accepts the invitation. It’s admittedly a little awkwardly clumsy at first — he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he hasn’t learned, not yet — but then his tongue brushes against hers in just the right way, and El’s pretty sure that she sees stars. The adrenaline pumping through her pulsates with an electric charge, like she’s been struck by lightning or gotten her finger too close to an electrical socket.

As they continue to kiss openly, it idly occurs to El that neither of those are great analogies, as both would most likely get her killed. Then again, in that sense, maybe those are the perfect analogies, since Mike’s kisses are certainly going to be the death of her.

His fingers are just brushing underneath the hem of her sweater when the doorbell rings.

El and Mike don’t part at the sound, not at first. Instead, Mike keeps kissing her with an increased sense of urgency.

She doesn’t want to stop, but then the doorbell rings a second time, and El can’t bring herself to ignore it, especially since she knows who it is.

“Mike,” El says as she grudgingly pulls away, “We have to go.”

Mike doesn’t seem to care. He stays connected to her like static cling, moving his lips to her neck the moment she breaks their kiss. He nibbles and sucks on her skin fervently, seemingly determined to convince her to stay through his kisses.

“Mike,” El repeats. She tries to make her voice sound firm and reprimanding, but it’s so, so hard when his mouth is doing that.

“Five more minutes,” Mike pleads, breath hot against her skin.

“Our friends are here,” El reminds him.

“They can wait,” Mike shrugs, not moving away.

“It’s snowing. They can’t wait in the cold.”

“Says who?”

“Says...nice people.”

“I’m a nice man,” Mike quotes.

“No you’re not,” El quotes back, “You’re a scoundrel.”

Mike replies by smiling into the crook of her neck. He continues to kiss and bite her there with a renewed fervor, much to El’s reluctant enjoyment (also: why did he always have to get so worked up over Star Wars? He’s responding way too eagerly to her quoting it to him).

“Mike,” she pleads.

“El,” Mike whines back.

El jokingly muses to herself that her true powers aren’t telekinesis, but rather the strength it takes to pull away from Mike. She forces herself to squirm out from under him and get off the bed, making sure to step over the mess of their school things on the floor.

Mike makes a disappointed whining sort of sound, like a kid who’d just gotten a time-out. He rolls onto his back and stays on top of her bed, pouting at her.

“I have to get the door,” El says as the doorbell rings for the third time.

“Why don’t you get the door, bring them to the living room, then come back up here?” Mike suggests.

When El was in middle school, Hopper had given her The Talk. It was horribly uncomfortable for both of them, but Hopper pointed out that it was necessary because she was getting older and needed to be careful, since boys only ever had ‘One Thing On Their Minds.’

This much is evident in Mike’s case. Whenever they get intimate like this, it’s obvious that he has One Thing On His Mind: not pressuring her or going all the way, but anxiously waiting until they can kiss again and planning exactly how he can make that happen. El only knows this because she often feels the same way.

Except for right now, when all of their friends are downstairs.

“I’m not doing that,” El snorts.

“Please?” Mike pleads, “I miss you.”

“I’m right here!”

“But you’re not over here.”

“Correct!” El teases.

Mike groans dejectedly and slumps back on the pillows.

“Maybe we can continue later,” El offers.

“Really?” Mike asks, perking up excitedly.

“Maybe,” El reiterates.

“When’s later?”

“I’ll tell you.”

“Fine,” Mike sighs, rising from the bed. He moves to stand in front of her, leans in, and presses one final kiss to the tender sore spot on her neck.

—Wait a minute.

El gasps in alarm as she runs to her dresser and grabs the handheld mirror lying atop it. When she looks at her reflection, her worries are confirmed: Mike’s left a huge, mauve-colored mark on her neck, right above her collarbone.

If their friends see it, they’ll never let it go. It’d be the next Fruit Loops debacle.

“I can’t believe you!” El huffs. She turns around to glare at Mike, but he only replies with a smirk. It’s the same kind of smirk he’d given her when he’d said ‘bullshit’ just to get detention with her: accomplished, self-satisfied, and irritatingly endearing.

“Sorry,” Mike says, not sounding apologetic in the slightest.

El turns back to the mirror with another huff. She plays with the collar of her (Mike’s) sweater, trying to get it to lay over the hickey, but it doesn’t work. The sweater just slumps back down every time, leaving her neck exposed.

Damn it.

“Here,” Mike offers, walking over to her side. He peels off his navy hoodie and hands it to her, leaving him in a collared shirt. “This should help.”

El turns to accept the hoodie and slips it on. Thankfully, the hoodie is bulky enough to cover her collarbone.

It also smells like him. So, that’s like, an additional bonus.

“Thank you,” El softens, already secretly plotting how she can keep this hoodie.

“You’re welcome,” Mike smiles back, leaning down to give her lips a small peck.

El beams up at him. It takes everything within her to not lean back in for another kiss, but she knows that if she does, she won’t be able to stop.

Plus, then the doorbell rings for the fourth time, and then the fifth, and sixth, and she realizes that their friends are probably getting impatient.

“Let’s go,” El instructs, grasping Mike’s hand and leading them out of her room.

Mike follows her dutifully, interlacing their fingers as they head to the stairs. “Why do our friends have the worst timing ever?”

“They’re here at the time we told them to be,” El reminds him.

“I know,” Mike whines, “But still.”

“I still don’t see why we would couldn’t do this at your house,” El replies as she and Mike, still hand-in-hand, descend the stairs together.

“Because, Nancy just came home for Christmas break!” Mike explains, “And the last time you guys hung out together at Thanksgiving, you went through my baby pictures with my mom and it was totally embarrassing!”

“Exactly,” El replies, giggling at the memory.

“‘Exactly’ is right,” Mike huffs.

“Well, your mom invited me over for Christmas Eve,” El reminds him, “So, I’ll see her then.”

“Fine with me — that gives me plenty of time to hide every photo album we own.”

El throws him a light-hearted eye roll before she stops in front of the entryway door and opens it.

They’re greeted by the sight of all four of their friends bundled in puffy coats, long scarves, and knit hats. Their noses and cheeks are a frosted pink, and as the door swings open, a rush of icy December wind rushes into the foyer.

“Finally!” Max exclaims.

“We were freezing our asses off out here!” Dustin adds, teeth chattering.

“Thanks for inviting us over!” Will pipes up.

“Now let us in!” Lucas begs.

El and Mike move out of the way and allow their friends to hurry inside.

“I’m sorry you had to wait,” El apologizes as they stomp the snow off their boots. She releases Mike’s hand and moves forward to close the front door, shutting out the bitter chill.

“We were studying for Bio upstairs,” Mike adds, hands in his pockets.

“I’m sure you were,” Dustin smirks.

“You guys are gonna ace the human anatomy section,” Max adds wryly.

El and Mike’s cheeks flush even redder than their friends’, which is really saying something, since their friends still look like they’re freezing.

“We’re studying genetics!” El defends hotly, “Not...not that.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Lucas sighs, taking off his jacket and boots, “Let’s just get started.”

“Okay,” El nods. After her friends remove their winter attire, she leads the way into the living room. There’s a hearty fire flickering in the fireplace and a modest sized Christmas tree in the corner. The couches that normally rest in the center of the living room have been pushed to the sides of the room to make space for the folding table and chairs she and Mike set up earlier in the day. On top of the table rests the Dungeons and Dragons game board, along with all the pieces they’ll need to play.

“You have a nice house,” Will smiles, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

“Thank you!” El beams back. She motions to the coffee table off to the side, “I have some snacks if you guys get hungry. There’s pretzels and cookies and candy canes and—“

“Oh my god,” Dustin exclaims, already rushing to grab some of everything, “Your girlfriend is amazing, Mike.”

Mike turns to throw El a small smile. “She is,” he mumbles, so low that only El can hear it.

El almost starts to consider Mike’s proposition to leave their friends in here while they return to her room. Almost. But she knows that wouldn’t be very polite, and besides, she did say that she and Mike could continue things later. ‘Later’ would only come after they finished this game, so she had to get a move on.

El goes to take her seat at the table, followed by Mike and Lucas. Max and Dustin join them a few moments later, both carrying several snacks.

“So,” Mike begins, retrieving a binder from where he’d left it under the table, “Did you guys finish creating your characters?”

El nods proudly. She’d spent more time than she probably should have designing her Mage, but whatever — it was fun. Mike had helped her create a backstory for her character and everything. He also assured her that yes, her Mage could secretly be dating his Paladin, if that’s what she really wanted (it was).

“Yeah, me too,” Max concurs, “I had time to work on designing my character after I finished studying for my English final.” As the words leave her mouth, She pauses and grimaces. “Oh my god, I think that’s like, the geekiest thing I’ve ever said.”

“One of us, one of us!” Dustin chants teasingly, pounding his fists on the table.

Max flicks a pretzel at him, the first of what will probably be many.

“What character class did you decide on?” Will asks Max.

“Zoomer,” she answers confidently.

Though Mike’s face is partially obscured by the DM’s screen he’s sitting behind, El’s still able to catch the bewildered frown he makes. “A what?”

“A Zoomer,” Max repeats.

The boys exchange hesitant glances. They all look like they’re deciding whether or not to tell her something.

“That’s not a real character class!” Dustin finally blurts out.

“So?” Max shrugs, “You said I could create my own.”

“Your own character,” Mike clarifies, “Not your own classes.”

“Is there a difference?” Max asks flippantly.

“Kind of,” Lucas admits.

“It’s okay,” Will assures Max, “I think it’s cool that you created a new class.” He turns to give the other boys warning looks, to which they reluctantly relent.

“Yeah,” Mike sighs, “I guess it’s cool.”

“Super cool!” Lucas adds, sounding far more believable than Mike.

Dustin manages to not say any further challenging comments, but that doesn’t stop him from shaking his head forlornly. “Anyway,” he says, turning to Mike, “What’s the name of this campaign?”

Mike clears his throat and replies in a dramatic, theatrical sort of voice. “Expedition to the Castle of the Forgotten King!”

“That’s the title?” Max questions, raising an eyebrow.

“I didn’t have a lot of time to come up with a better one, okay?!” Mike justifies, “I’ve been busy!”

“With El?”

“With studying for exams!”

“I think the title is great!” El cuts in, throwing Mike a reassuring look.

“Can we just start already?” Lucas pleads eagerly, “We haven’t had a campaign in forever.”

Mike clears his throat again before he proceeds to read the introduction to the campaign. He gets so dramatic about the entire thing, it’s actually like, the cutest thing El’s ever seen. He keeps reading in that theatrical voice, pauses to create tension, and uses his own sound effects to make it all feel so much more real.

El turns to glance at her friends excitedly, because this is already the best thing ever, but the rest of them are watching Mike seriously, listening closely, taking it all in. Even Max seems determinedly focused, so El decides that she better pay attention too.

As this is her and Max’s first campaign, it takes a bit for them to fully get into it. The boys have to walk them through all the gameplay, like how to take actions, how to make die rolls, and how to gain experience points. It’s all pretty complicated and confusing to El at first, but the boys are chivalrously patient with both her and Max.

As their adventure continues, the stakes grow higher. The action increases in tenfold, and soon they’re all on the edges of their seats, hanging onto every last word of Mike’s direction.

In the final moments of the campaign, through their collective skills and abilities, their party successfully slays the dragon that dwells in the dungeon beneath the castle. They then stumble across a trove of treasure, which Mike describes in vivid detail.

“You’ve found it!” Mike reads quickly, excitedly, “The lost treasure of the Forgotten King! While the dragon’s lair was dank and decrepit, this room glows with the shine of thousands of jewels. Their light reflects off the towering abundance of golden coins, goblets, and crowns. Through your face is speckled with the blood of the slain dragon and the dirt of a journey long traveled, when you slip the crown onto your head, you feel the power of success flow through your veins. Your valiant efforts have paid off. You’ve won.”

El and the rest of her friends burst into cheers. They exchange fist-bumps, high-fives, and sighs of relief.

“Holy shit! We’re freaking loaded!” Dustin exclaims, “We’re gonna have enough gold to do whatever we want!”

“What happens next?” El asks Mike enthusiastically.

“That’s it,” Mike shrugs, shutting his Dungeon Master’s manual.

There’s a beat of silence as everyone realizes that the story has come to an end.

“Wait, that’s it?” Max frowns, “That’s the ending?”

“Uh, yeah?” Mike replies, as if this was obvious.

“But we just got started!” Dustin whines.

“We’ve been playing for five hours!” Mike points out, holding up his watch. Sure enough, it’s now well past 10 PM. The once-gray sky has now darkened into an inky black, leaving the fireplace as the main source of light in the room. The reflection of the flames dances off their faces, making everyone’s faces glow with a warm amber light.

“It felt shorter,” Lucas laments, “I think it should have been longer.”

“Forget longer!” Max huffs, “It should have been better written!”

“What do you mean?” Mike asks indignantly.

“There’s so many things that you either didn’t finish, left out, or glossed over!” Max critiques.

“Like what?!”

“Like the prince!” Lucas offers, “You just left him stuck in the tower!”

“He’ll get out!” Mike frowns.

“But what about the princess and her two knights?” Dustin adds, “You mentioned them like, once, and we never even got to meet them.”

“Or the Captain of the Guard and the Halfling storekeeper?” Max says, “You kind of made it seem like they had some kind of relationship going on, and then it just went nowhere.”

“None of those things mattered to the campaign!” Mike snaps, “All of those characters were NPC’s! Why do you even care?”

“We were invested!” Dustin exclaims.

“Fine!” Mike huffs, “I’m sorry, I guess. But just because this adventure is over doesn’t mean that the story of the campaign is over!”

“Are you going to continue it?” Will asks hopefully.

“Maybe!” Mike shrugs, “I dunno!”

“Well, if you do, it better be good,” Lucas replies, “Like, better than this one.”

“That won’t be hard,” Max snorts.

“Even if it wasn’t perfect, it was good,” El says definitively, “We had fun.”

None of their friends can disagree with that.

“Yeah, I guess it was pretty fun,” Max admits. Her eyes widen as she glances at everyone anxiously, “That doesn’t leave this room.”

“Too late,” Dustin grins, “Your secret is out Max! You’re a nerd!”

“I’m not!” Max insists.

“You like arcade games, Star Wars, and Dungeons and Dragons,” El points out, counting off the items on her fingers.

“And Lucas,” Mike teases.

Lucas and Max both try to look offended, but both of them know that everything El and Mike just said is completely true.

“We’re all kind of nerds,” Will summarizes, turning to give everyone a smile, “But that’s good.”

“Only because being normal is overrated,” Max sighs, slumping back in her chair.

“It totally is,” Mike nods.

The conversation concludes when one of their parents rings the doorbell. Every member of their party jolts at the sound. It feels as if some sort of spell has broken. Their adventure really is over, and it’s time for them to return home.

Mr. Sinclair has arrived and offered to give Max a ride home, so the party gathers in the foyer to wish Lucas and Max goodbye.  

“I’ll see you Monday,” Max murmurs to El as she hugs her goodbye.

“See you Monday,” El mumbles back, hugging her friend tightly.

“And,” Max adds, voice a dry whisper, “Next time you and President Nerd decide to get busy, you might wanna bring a scarf.”

El frowns in confusion, but then she glances down and realizes that her hoodie has slipped lower, revealing that damned hickey.

El makes an embarrassed squeak as she quickly readjusts the hoodie, but Max only smiles, pulls away, and heads out the door hand-in-hand with Lucas.

Though the snowfall has stopped, the night is still bitingly cold. The streetlamp near El’s house illuminates her front lawn, causing the untouched snow to shimmer. As Max and Lucas follow Mr. Sinclair to the car parked in the driveway, their steps leave wandering trails of footprints in their wake. El, Mike, Dustin, and Will watch them from the front doorway as they leave, waving goodbye forlornly.

“See ya’ later dweebs!” Max calls out as Lucas boards his dad’s car.

“Later, MadMax!” Dustin calls back.

For once, Max doesn’t flip him off for the nickname. Instead, she only throws Dustin an exasperated smile before following Lucas into the car. Mr. Sinclair’s car backs out of the driveway, and much too soon, Mrs. Henderson’s car has taken its place.

Since Hopper and Joyce were going to get the Christmas tree today, Dustin’s mom is going to drive him home.

“We’re still gonna compare our To Kill a Mockingbird notes before our exam on Monday, right?” Dustin asks as he hugs El goodbye.

“Of course!” El nods.

“Awesome!” Dustin replies gratefully. He moves to wish Mike goodbye and Will steps up to hug El like Dustin had.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Will,” El murmurs as she gives Will a comforting hug goodbye.

“I can’t wait!” Will replies excitedly, “I made a new mixtape for you, this one has Bowie on it!”

The mixtape exchange is a thing the two of them started recently — Will makes one for her with some of his favorite songs, and El does the same in return. Thanks to each other, El’s grown an even bigger soft spot for pop, and Will has developed an appreciation for music that he likes to call ‘loud, but good.’

“Mine has Metallica!” El smiles, “I think you’ll like it. I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good!” Will nods.

More goodbye hugs and lighthearted banter are exchanged before Dustin and Will leave through the front door. The house is noticeably quiet once their friends are gone, and even though El knows she’s going to see them within the next couple days, she already misses having them here.

Mike returns to the living room and proceeds to pack up his Dungeons and Dragons supplies. El watches as he carefully sorts the pieces into bags and little boxes before placing everything into the messenger bag he likes to keep it all in. Once he finishes, he sets the bag on top of the table and goes to lie on top of the couch. As he lowers himself onto it, he lets off a heavy, tired sigh.

El knows that he puts so much effort into his campaigns and that he must be pretty exhausted, but she doesn’t want him to get too sleepy, not yet.

She carefully tiptoes over to him, trying to stay as stealthy as possible. Mike doesn’t hear or see her coming, and when he closes his eyes to sigh again, that’s when she makes her move.

“Surprise!” El squeals, throwing herself on top of him.

Mike yelps in startled surprise as El lands on him. “El!” He exclaims as she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling herself up so that they’re face-to-face.

“Mike!” El giggles, rubbing their noses together.

Any indignation Mike may have harbored over her surprise attack quickly melts away. His face softens as he looks up at her. Their chests are pressed together and El can feel that her heart is still racing from leaping on top him, and from just being near him.

She hopes that he feels it too.

“What time is your Mom coming to get you?” El asks after a moment, running her fingers through the back of his hair.

“11:00,” Mike replies, lips curving into a gentle smile, “So, we still have like, plenty of time.”

“Good,” El smiles back.

Despite the fact that they’re alone, blissfully alone, neither moves in to kiss the other. Instead, they take time to study each other’s faces. Their features are still shadowed in the amber light of the fireplace, but now that they’re on the couch, closer to the tree, their faces are also dotted with the colorful reflection of Christmas lights. Mike, with his warm shadows and vibrant highlights and cheekbones and effortlessly wavy hair, looks like a mosaic, like a work of art.

With the way Mike’s looking at her, she gets the feeling that he’s thinking something similar. He raises his thumb to brush against her lips, and El gives it a gentle, chaste kiss as it passes by.

The clock that’s mounted on the wall ticks as the seconds pass. It’s the only sound to be heard in this secluded living room, alongside Mike and El’s steady, even breathing.

And then it happens.

“I think I’m in love with you,” Mike whispers.

It’s simple, down-to-earth, and not incredibly romantic. Well, at least not by the standards of the soap operas and romance movies she watches. On TV, the dashing love interests always proclaim their feelings with chauvinistic grandeur. There’s sweeping music, profound and poetic declarations of love, and sometimes even a ring, depending on the situation.

All of the romance movies she watches are kind of boring like that, El suddenly realizes. The movies don’t even begin to capture what love really feels like. It’s not always dramatic proclamations of adoration from a hunky, dreamboat actor. Sometimes love was a scrawny kid covered in heart-adorned band-aids showing up at her door with an armful of Eggos. Sometimes love was that scrawny kid comparing her to a star system. It didn’t have to be poetic; sometimes it was only seven-words — tentatively whispered, yet resoundingly true.

The more El thinks about this, the more she realizes how silly she was for ever doubting that Mike loved her. That he was in love with her. The signs were right in front of her all along, she just wasn’t daring enough to admit that they were true.

And so, when Mike tells her that he’s in love with her, what else is there really to say?

“I know,” El whispers back.

Mike’s eyes widen. “Did you just—?”

—Quote Star Wars in response to his declaration of love?

Obviously.

El bites down on her lip as she tries not to giggle. “Yes.”

There’s no way to properly describe how Mike looks at her then. The only way El can really process it is in relation to other things.

He breathes out, like the way one might as a rollercoaster finally comes to an end. Like his nerves are still jumbled, his heart is still racing, but he can finally breathe again.

His body relaxes with contentment, like the way one’s might after returning from a long trip away.

He reaches out to touch her cheek and his eyes are full with reverent wonder, like the way he looks at the photographs of galaxies in his science textbooks.

He looks at her like she’s his sense of repose, his home, his world.

El knows that they’re still young, probably too young to be feeling this strongly about each other, but as El into his eyes, her mind flutters with perennial, fragmented words like binary stars, the one, and forever.

She can’t even think in complete sentences, that’s what he’s done to her.

Mike leans in so that their lips are only inches apart. His voice soft, loving — he whispers, “Hey, El?”

“Yes, Mike?”

“Is it later yet?”

In 15 minutes, Hopper will return from The Byers. Mike and El with jolt up from the couch with a start, blushing furiously and hoping that Hopper won’t notice (he will).

Tomorrow, El will spend the day at the Byers, and as she helps Will decorate his Christmas tree, she’ll notice the strange look her Dad gets on his face when he looks at Joyce, like he’s found something.

In 11 days, it’ll be Christmas morning. Mike will come over sometime during the afternoon to give her the necklace he’d gotten for her — a simple, silver chain adorned with two tiny stars. Hopper will give Mike his present — a new bike, and El won’t be able to stop herself from taking a picture of the stupidly surprised look Mike gets on his face. Mike will get all huffy, because he hates pictures, but then when El gives him her present, a limited edition Star Wars comic book, all will quickly be forgiven.

In one year, one of El’s best friends (and future step-brother), will finally confess the feelings he’s been trying to sequester. El will assure Will that he’s not a freak, that there’s nothing wrong with him, just like he’d done to her.

In less than two years, during the summer between their Junior and Senior year, El will finally grow tired of wanting more of Mike, instead needing all of him. It’ll be another learning curve peppered with ‘are you sure?’ and ‘is this okay?’ (she’ll be completely sure; it’ll totally be more than ok), but as always, they’ll figure it out together.

As time goes on, there’ll only be more things to figure out about love. Mike and El’s future, while currently unknown to the both of them, is still unfurling and expanding with every moment they spend together. There’ll be time to discover what’s in store, all the time in the world, actually, but right now—

“Yes,” El murmurs, brushing her lips against his cheek, then his jaw, “It’s later.”

Tag List: @pixie813, @lovecolesprouse, @miss-sad-marshmallow, @wrongirish, @lonewolfhard, @bbc-radio-phan, @ontariokid, @catalystofhighhopes, @iliketheinternet, @e1vn , @the-proud-princess, @bugheadqueen , @mother-harrington , @finnywolfyy, @ethoctransierit, @elevenhawkins, @kathpride18, @sherlock-salvadale, @creepyfangirlwhosucksatedits, @barbara----holland, @puzzlingsnark, @milevenbeauty , @gemel-dreamer, @itssciencefitz, @michitesoro, @jenn0bi, @miss-elhopper, @bitchin-promises, @bestmomsteve, @mileven-353, @irisskk, @lostinhawkinss, @didi-stranger-things 

[akaiaowl-tales]

Cloudy with a chance of silver lining (Modern Mileven College AU)

Cloudy with a chance of silver lining

Rating: T

Summary:  Only stupid people fall in love and if there’s something Jane ‘Eleven’ Brenner knows for sure is that she’s not stupid.

I.                    SANTA ANA

Thinking ‘bout the perfect sound.

Lately I’ve been taking my time just feeling the breeze of the sunny weather.

And it’s crazy.

 Her shoes barely scraped against the gravel as she walked fast through the street, taking her time to look around at the residential buildings on both of her sides and the nicely-kept gardens that decorated their entrance.

It was strangely quiet today, probably a symptom of the beginning of school season.

She was supposed to be jogging, after all, that’s what she’d told Max she would be doing.

Truth was, however, that she was half-heartedly attempting to power walk near Santa Ana beach, just listening to music and taking her time.

Lately, her roommate and best friend, Max Mayfield, had been pestering her nonstop because, apparently, she was a victim of what the redhead young woman called an “unhealthy sedentary routine”. Which, as it turns out, was something that could actually kill her early someday – Max, who was taking it seriously enough for the two of them, had even showed her a few statistics and a documentary about it.

Faced with such a dramatic situation and taking into account that her friend wasn’t taking it nearly seriously enough, Max had taken it upon herself to pester her daily into having what she called a “better and healthier lifestyle”. Which was something that, despite all her sarcastic jokes and grumpiness and annoyance, she actually appreciated. She’d never really had anyone caring about her eating or exercise habits and it was kind of nice to feel someone giving a shit about stuff like that, giving a shit about her.

However, Max – and her hyperactive demeanor – could be overwhelming at times, especially to someone as lazy and careless as her.

It wasn’t really that she hated exercising. No, it was more that she saw no real, practical reason to do it. Plus, she hated sweating.

She figured that exercise would finally come in useful if like, for some remote reason, there was a zombie apocalypse… or the Pacific Ocean suddenly overflowed. But since none of those scenarios seemed plausible enough, she’d long ago decided that dedicating time to stuff like that was pointless and therefore settled into her “sedentary” routine.

All of those years of barely any activity, nonetheless, did seem to have taken a toll on her. She remembered that she was a decent – not good but not humiliatingly bad either – runner back in high school. Right now, however, her calves were starting to ache, despite her walk only having lasted about an hour.

This sucks so much, she thought in annoyance as she turned up the volume of the random song she was currently listening to in an attempt to take her mind of the discomfort in her unused muscles.

She walked for a few more minutes before finally stopping.

As she slowly breathed in and out, she admired the pink and orange hues mingling together in the sky. It was a peaceful sight, a pretty one. Something breathtaking in comparison to the sunsets back at home. She’d never considered herself a cheesy person but, right now, all she wanted to do was sit for a minute and listen to her (awesome) playlist and stare out into the ocean.

She had to admit that this was definitely better than staying locked away at home, which she probably would be right now if it weren’t for Max’s stubbornness.

Reassured by the emptiness of the streets and the overall quietness, she climbed over the ludicrous brick fence that divided the sidewalk from the cliff. She was very well aware that, despite the fact that the “fence” was mostly there for decoration – seeing as it was barely as high as her waist (and she was rather on the smaller side) – what she was doing was most likely forbidden.

It had been quite a long time since she’d given in to her reckless impulses like that. It’d been years even.

The beach was a few good meters down and she smiled as she sat on the soft grass, at the least steep part of the slope. To her left, she could see a few people paragliding. The way the wind swayed their bodies like boneless rag dolls seemed so surreal from where she sat at the moment. She couldn’t help but get lost in thought.

“Is everything alright over there?” a faint voice asked.

It was way too easy to ignore it.

They are probably not even talking to me.

“Are you ok?” the stranger’s voice sounded a lot closer now, there was no way they weren’t talking to her.

She turned around, with every intention to tell whoever it was to mind their own business and leave her alone.

Concerned dark brown eyes were the first feature she focused on the second she turned around with an annoyed stance. Dark, observant eyes that somehow seemed to perfectly match the pale face of the worried boy who was currently staring at her from the other side of the rope fence.

She could actually feel all the anger and annoyance in her demeanor immediately dissolve, the bitchy remark dying on her lips.

“I’m just… I’m fine,” she answered with a weak smile, looking down and trying not to stare at his face like a creep.

But he was cute.

Cute in a nerdy way, but cute nevertheless.

He seemed the weird kind of familiar. The kind of familiar one would feel about an old preschool classmate, or about someone that once stood out to you as you walked down the street. She blinked a little in confusion. She was trying to figure out why his face ringed a bell while, at the same time, trying not to appear like a complete moron to him.

He climbed off his bike and hesitantly got closer to the fence – which looked even shorter and useless next to his ridiculously tall frame.

“Is it too nosy of me to ask why you are over there?” he wondered, looking warily at the beach and the cliff she was currently sitting by.

“Yeah, it is sort of nosy,” she blurted out without really intending to.

He’s going to think I’m such a bitch, she thought with concern.

She scoffed at her uncharacteristic thought shortly after, Why do I care? Let him think I’m a rue bitch.

However, Bicycle Guy blushed.

Cute, the uncalled for thought just popped into her head, catching her off guard and leaving her speechless for a moment.

“I was just taking a break from walking,” she finally offered with a hesitant smile.

Of course he wouldn’t want to know that the beauty of the sky drew me in during my fake jogging session, she thought darkly.

“So you sit in the verge of a precipice every time you take a break?” he joked.

She glanced at him and couldn’t stop the grin that tugged at her lips.

Why am I acting so fucking weird?

She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d felt this insecure –not even right before the interview before getting admitted to college, she recalled.

“It’s far enough from the edge, actually,” she said rather dryly, glancing at the beach bellow.

A few moments passed in silence.

There also was this weird sinking, tickling feeling in her stomach. It was unsettling.

Then she heard a clank metallic noise, as of something had dropped on the ground.

“It unnerves me to see you over there,” he confessed as he took a hesitant step in her general direction.

She was still looking at the beach ahead.

“How do you think those people feel?” she asked randomly, gesturing towards the people swaying several feet above the ground, the very people she’d been observing.

“Huh?”

“I always sort of wondered what it felt like to fly, isn’t that close enough?” she whispered, as she turned to glance at the rapidly darkening sky once more.

“Probably but, uh, I heard that wing suit flying is the closest,” Bicycle Guy said, scratching his jaw thoughtfully.

“If I had to choose a superpower, it’d be flying,” she casually said.

“Really? That brings up so many things!” he blurted out excitedly.

“For instance, do you mean flying because you’d grow wings like Archangel, The Wasp, or Pixie? Or flying because you could somehow manipulate gravity like Graviton? Or maybe by wind control like Stor-”

However, as he glanced at her and registered the look of utter confusion on her face, he abruptly stopped and cast his eyes downwards.

“I’m such a nerd,” he said apologetically, his pale freckled cheeks reddening by the second.

“Oh, it’s alright,” she answered with a smile, for the record, she had actually thought it was pretty damn adorable, “really.”

Bicycle Guy, however, did not seem to think the same. He was still blushing as he bent down to pick up his bike, which had lain forgotten down on the pavement.

Her heartbeat sped up in sudden incomprehensible panic.

What the actual fuck?

She didn’t want him to leave.

I don’t even know the guy!

Oh but maybe she did? What was that weird feeling she had when she first saw him? It was like she recognized him somehow… her gut kept telling her that she did, and if she trusted something it was her instincts (they were never wrong).

Say something, anything.

“I’d never actually thought about the mechanics of the whole flying thing,” she commented, “which one of those you mentioned is the best?”

At that, he stopped fidgeting with his bicycle and propped it carefully against the concrete fence as he pondered about all the choices. After what seemed an eternity, his excited dark eyes once again settled on hers.

“Well, flying through wind control like Storm sounds awesome, especially since she can control the weather,” he answered offering her a small smile.

She smiled back at him, finding his boyish excitement amusing.

For a while, he continued to ramble on about all the different powers that could allow people to fly. Surprisingly, and despite never having been a big fan of superhero movies or comics, she found herself hanging on to his every word.

She wished she could feel such passion for something.

“–but… I definitely think I’d like flying like Justice,” he continued, grinning at the very idea, “he’s a telekinetic and he can use his power on himself to fly really fast and even carry people and heavy stuff… it’s awesome.”

They went on to talk about what it would be like to have secret powers and, before long, the sky went dark and the lights of the street became the main sources of light. Absentmindedly, she glanced at the time on her phone and realized it was already late. Really, really late. Later than she’d planned on returning. Max would probably be worried if she didn’t make it in ten more minutes.

She hated the fact that she’d have to cut her conversation with Bicycle Guy short – it was the longest she’d had with anyone in a while –, but she figured it was best to walk home now rather than later.

“Do you have to go?” he asked, almost immediately perceiving it from her fidgety behavior.

“Actually, I do,” she answered getting up from her place on the grassy area.

All that time, he’d been casually leaning against the brick fence that divided the sidewalk and the broad edge of the cliff. He readily offered her his hand to help her jump down from over the rustic fence she had managed to get perched over. She took it without hesitation, despite not really needing the extra help (the fence was not even that high).

“I had a good time,” she smiled, still not letting go of his hand, “we should do this again.”

He blushed a deep red and just blinked at her stupidly, his brain trying and failing to come up with something to say.

Without waiting for him to answer, she turned around and jogged away.

--…--…--…--

She’s not easy to find and if I see her again

We should get together.

 His mind was working overdrive as he pedaled home.

What does it mean? Does she want to see me again? I didn’t even ask for her name, he thought thinking back to his conversation with the girl that had (in the span of a couple of hours) pretty much become the girl of his dreams.

Not only was she beautiful – probably the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen –, but she was really nice and overall his dream girl. For hell’s sake, she had even seemed interested in his nerdy chatter! And that was really saying something, since most girls he’d tried talking to about comic books and superheroes vanished faster than he could say “Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters”.

…Well, thinking back on that one, he reckoned that maybe he and his overall weirdness (and not comic books and superheroes) were the actual reasons the girls vanished. His friends would probably agree on that, too.

He just wasn’t good at small talk and he was really, really awkward around girls… especially around the ones he considered pretty.

And man, had that girl at the beach been pretty. How could he even begin to explain it? She was pretty in a simple, unassuming way. Pretty in the way all of her features – despite their individual imperfections – fit together in the most breathtaking, perfect way.

In a daze, he remembered her soft, brown hair barely falling past her shoulders and those two cute dimples that appeared on the corners of her lips and mouth when she smiled. And the way she’d actually been enraptured throughout his superhero ramble, which was probably due to his amazing story-telling skills – something he’d never been prouder about.  

Plus, she was smart and funny too, he could tell from her witty remarks and sarcastic answers. And her lively almond eyes had lit up captivatingly when she talked about flying and when he explained why he’d choose his superpower to be telekinesis (he had ultimately managed to convince her that it was the best thing ever).

And she’d said she’d like to see him again.

But left without introducing herself, or giving him the chance to ask for her name.

What does it mean?

There was definitely a connection, he thought dreamily before mentally slapping himself for having such stupid and cheesy thoughts.

When he finally got to his building, the climb up the flight of stairs carrying his bike didn’t seem as tiring, long and tedious as it always did. He was dying to discuss this recent turn of events with his three best friends (who also happened to be his roommates); he was pretty sure they’d probably have a better idea of what the heck had actually happened and what he was supposed to do.

However, when he entered the narrow door of his shared apartment, the only one on the living room was Dustin. His curly-haired friend was currently playing a videogame and screaming at the screen in frustration.

“Mike you’re making me lose!” he said as a way of greeting.

“What?!” Mike exclaimed in fake indignation, throwing his hands in the air dramatically, “I barely even walked in.”

“Well you’ve jinxed me somehow!”

Mike smiled at his frustrated friend, as he made his way to his room.

“Son of a bitch!” he heard Dustin screaming at the TV before he closed his bedroom door and plopped down on his partially made bed.

It seemed that his talk would have to wait for the time being.

--…--…--…--

Baby we could stay in the sun, maybe if you want we could go downtown.

Baby I’ve been dreaming ‘bout you and I’m feeling naïve of the sunny weather.

 The first thing she did as soon as she got home was drink a lot of water. It was incredible just how dehydrated she’d become after the jog home.

Max watched her best friend from the living room couch she was currently lounging in.

“Was the workout that intense?” she asked, lifting a red eyebrow in amusement.

As an answer, she gave her friend a dirty look.

“Anyhow, I’m proud of you, El,” Max said honestly, “I knew you had it in you.”

“I won’t get used to this,” she replied miserably as she joined her redhead friend on the living room.

“You will, and you’ll feel better because of it,” the redhead said condescendingly.

El threw one of the nearby pillows at her.

The redhead easily dodged it.

“Stop treating me like a baby,” El complained loudly.

Max stuck her tongue out at her.

“I had been willing to forget that today is your turn to cook us dinner but since you don’t want to be treated like a baby…”

“Oh fine, but I’m going to take a shower first,” she said, getting up from the couch and rolling her eyes. Everyone knew how much she hated cooking.

As El stood under the hot spray of the shower, lathering her wavy hair, her mind couldn’t help but obsessively replay the moment Bicycle Guy and she had briefly held hands. She’d gotten weird tingles on her palm. It was uncomfortable. Now that there was no other distraction, the tingling seemed to only get stronger somehow. With a huff, she tried scratching her hand.

Weird.

[hepaidattention]

I just gotta say...

Can I be in the 'i don't ship Millie Bobby Brown with anyone because she's 13 (almost 14) and that's extremely young to be realistically dating someone and actually have a future with them' category??

I mean, I ship Mileven, but they're fictional characters and I think they're adorable. But I honestly ship them in more of a futuristic scenario. And again, they're fictional. In reality? Relationships that start as young as 13? They don't have the maturity or emotional stability to keep that going.

Do some people meet in 6th grade and marry them in their 20's (or younger/older)? Yes. But rarely. (I like to think Mileven is that rarity.)

But in reality, Millie dating right now isn't to be taken seriously, because she's so young. If anything, I'm worried for her. Dating this young and possibly getting serious with him can lead to heart break and things she doesn't need or deserve to delve into at such a young age. I love Millie, and boys at 13/14 are the definition of stupidity. (Again why Mileven is different because Mike and El are fictional, so Mike would never in a million years do something stupid to hurt her.)

If you ship Millie with Finn (which is your opinion, I'm not going to judge you or bash you or praise you over it. You have your own opinions and no one can tell you other wise.) then you should be happy they're not together right now. Because the likeliness of Finn and Millie dating right now and having a chance is slim to none. Right now they're best friends who constantly feel pressured into something else, so they constantly put a wall between their relationship. Let the kids figure out who they are and who they like. You have to realize that Millie, Finn, Noah, Sadie, Caleb and Gaten, all of these kids are at a stage in their lives where they are figuring out WHO they are. They don't know right now, and it's a really hard place to be, especially under public light.

The best time to be in a relationship is once you figure out who you are, and you know who the person you're dating is, and they know who they are. So I'm going to stand back and watch, give Millie time, and hope and pray for her as she leaps into a relationship at just shy of 14. I expect their relationship to end just as quickly as it began. Is that harsh? Yes, but I have never in my life met a 14 year old in a relationship that lasted more than a few months. They're flaky and indecisive at that age, both girls and guys. (Now if they do last longer and even marry in the future, that's amazing. Go Millie. But I doubt it.)

So, I'm on the 'she's 13...' ⛵. Thank you, and goodnight (or morning...).