Chamber of Reflection (Mileven one-shots)

A Soft Darkness

Based after season 2

At Hopper's cabin (he's late coming home) Mike comes over to hang out with Eleven.

Mike's P.O.V

"What do you normally put on your Eggos?" I ask El softly as we pull our waffles out of the toaster. She leads me to the fridge and pulls out the whipped cream and chocolate syrup. 

I nod, "oh."

"It's good." she says softly with a small giggle. I watch as she puts a six inch high stack of whipped cream, topping it off with a swirl of chocolate syrup.

"So, do you like living with Hopper?" I ask as I start pouring maple syrup on my waffles.

She shrugs. "It's okay. He didn't let me see you."

"Yeah, I know." I say softly, cutting my first bite of waffle.

As I eat, El watches me, not even taking a bite of her own. I smile softly at her, so she smiles back.

"Your face," she starts, "there's syrup on it." she laughs.

"Oh," I say, feeling slightly embarrassed. I wipe below my mouth then look at her for assurance that I fixed it. She shakes her head, then licks her thumb and wipes gently on my bottom lip. 

"It's sticky." She lets me know.

"Yeah, I always get syrup all over myself." 

She laughs, getting ready to wipe more off. She licks her thumb again, but this time she goes along my upper lip. 

"Better." She mutters.

I smile, "thanks." 

She starts eating her whipped cream tower without a care in the world. 

"Does Hopper let you eat all the Eggos you want?" I ask curiously. 

Very slowly, she shakes her head. 

"El, now you have stuff on your face." I laugh. 

She leans towards me, so I can fix it. I carefully wipe the cream off of her chin and around her mouth with my thumb. She smiles so happily. 

"There." I finish. She stands up, grabbing my wrist to take me into the living room where she goes to turn the TV on, but it doesn't work. 

"It's broken." She mutters tiredly. 

"It's okay. We don't have to watch a movie We could do something else." I suggest. 

"Like what?" 

"I don't know. Whatever is fine with me." I say awkwardly. 

We sit on the couch and stare blankly at the wall. In an instant, she wraps both of her arms around my waist and lays her head on my thigh.

"You tired?" I ask.

She nods, moving closer to me.

I set my arm on her waist, so she takes my hand, locking our fingers together.

3 hours later

Hopper's P.O.V

I open the front door expecting to see Eleven but instead I find two messy plates sitting at the table.

Right as in about to call out her name, I see her on the couch.

I approach, and find that she and Mike are all over each other. He lays there, dead asleep, and she has her head on his stomach, also asleep.

Normally this would make me very angry, but I'll let it go since I didn't let them see each other.

Nah nevermind.

"Mike." I call out softly.

He stays silent so I ruffle his hair.

"Kiddo. Come on." I say, trying to get him up so he can go to sleep in the other room away from Eleven.

He wakes up, and looks at me tiredly.

"Come on. You can sleep in her bed." I say soft enough so I don't wake Eleven up.

"Why can't she? It'll be more comfortable." He mumbles.

"Trust me, I'd do that, but I'm not waking her up. Let's go."

I lead Mike into her room, and pull the covers out for him.

"Thanks." He says softly, climbing into bed.

"Of course. Now get some sleep."

He smiles, I turn off the light, and head to bed.

Mike's P.O.V

About ten minutes later, El comes into the room.

She lays beside me, running her hands up my chest to find my face.

"Are you awake?" She whispers.

"Yeah."

She climbs on top of me, wrapping her arms tight around my waist again.

Something about how comfortable this is, makes me feel so at home.