you're my safe place ~ MILEVEN ONE SHOTS~

Trying Hard To Impress

(Thought I would treat you to a Mileven and Hopper parenting-centric part, trying to save my own soul if the final trailer does not come out today and my heart breaks! We can get through this together until it comes out<3)

Mike could remember studying Romeo and Juliet at school, and how he was never able to completely understand the story and why it was so important. He would roll his eyes with everyone else, staring out of the classroom window with boredom across his features, wishing that time would hurry up so that he could get to science class. There was always something that drew him to science, perhaps because it was filled with nothing but facts and evidence, something that made it easier to understand and less scary than something like a love story. As soon as he had met her, his perspective on everything had changed. Suddenly feelings flowed through his bones, feelings that he did not even think were possible to have for someone. He found himself listening more in class, understanding the tragedy of losing the person that you loved more than anything in the world, something that he knew all too well. Most of all, he could understand the crushing pain that came with being kept away from someone that made you happy, stupidly happy, the world could end but who cares happy. The story itself was filled with so many complications, the universe constantly trying to pull the pair apart as if they belonged to opposite sides of existence itself. Mike never realized why they fought so hard for what they had,  but ever since her, he could finally understand. 

The universe constantly tried to pull them apart too, but it was something that he had tried his best to ignore. But if they were star-crossed lovers like Romeo and Juliet, then they had their own family battles to face, one person always stepping in their way. The bearded man meant the world to El, but Mike couldn't ignore anger swelling in his gut whenever the man merely spared him a glance, as if he didn't even matter. Hopper would roll his eyes at their behavior, glaring at Mike as if he was just another teenager that could not be trusted. All Mike wanted to do was to prove that he was different, that he was so much more than that. 

"I mean, they are just kissing, right?" Joyce mumbled over the phone, a playful tone that he had almost missed hearing. 

He squeezed his eyes shut. "But it is constant! It is...constant!"

"They aren't little kids anymore, Hop" she reminded him gently. 

It never helped, no reminder of their age or reassurance that the brunette gave him eased the worries within his chest, the worry that she would be taken away from him. He could not stop the bubbling anger inside of him whenever they were together, even when just sitting on the bed in her room and discussing new words. 

"But what does that mean?"

He moved the dictionary closer to her, pointing. "Look here, it means-"

"Time to go, Wheeler."

The mood dropped, the smiles fading away within seconds as Mike heaved a heavy sigh. He picked up the dictionary and put it at the bottom of his backpack, trying desperately not to glare at the man who was watching them carefully. El sent her father a weird look, her eyebrows raising slightly but he simply shrugged back at her. Mike mumbled a goodbye to El who squeezed his hand before he left, trying to pull him back. 

"I don't want Mike to leave" she forced out, keeping her voice strong. 

Hopper's voice was gruff. "He has to go home sometime, kid. Stop being dramatic, you will see him tomorrow. But he has to go back to his own family."

Mike winced. "I-I would really like to stay, um- sir."

"You're going home and that's that" the man repeated, patting the wooden door in front of him quickly to hurry the teenager. "Come on, I'll drive you home."