Two Young Hearts {Stranger Things||Mike Wheeler} [1]

{13} The Visit

***

Ten slowly blinked her eyes open. Her vision was a little blurry, but she could see El's bed empty across from her. Instead of getting up immediately, she laid in bed a bit longer to wake up completely. She tried to remember what happened the night before. After she had contacted Mike, she fell asleep after all the crying she did.

"Rise and shine," She heard a sudden voice say. She looked over her shoulder to see Hopper standing in her doorway. She turned her head away from him and kept her gaze on El's empty bed, "So that's it, huh? You're still not talking?" Ten doesn't answer his questions, "All right. I guess I'm just gonna have to, uh... Enjoy this triple-decker Eggo extravaganza with Kit Kats on my own," Ten's eyes widened at his words. She almost jumped up out of the bed right then, but she had to stay strong.

Hopper walked out of the room and after a minute she finally cracked. She walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Hopper and El were on either side of her. The three of them dug in, "Mmm. Mmm," Hopper exclaimed. Ten rolled her eyes at him. It was obvious that he was being overdramatic, "Good, right? Know the great thing about it? It's only eight thousand calories," El looked confused while Ten stared at him with a blank stare. Hopper noticed the cord going into the girls' room, "You visited him again last night?"

Ten kept her gaze on her food, "He said that he needed me."

"Want me to go check on him?" Ten glanced up at him through her eyelashes and shook her head, "I know that you miss him, all right? I know that you both miss all of them. But it's too dangerous. You're the last thing he and any of them need right now," El slowly nodded, she wasn't convinced the slightest bit. She just didn't want to fight about it. Ten didn't hold back her frustrated expression. Hopper noticed this, "You're gonna see him. Soon. And not just in that head of yours. You're gonna see him in real life. I feel like I'm making progress with these people."

Ten put down her fork and crossed her arms over her chest, "Friends don't lie."

"What?" Hopper asked.

"You say 'soon' on day twenty-one," Ten's voice was filled with anger that had been held back up until this point, "You say 'soon' on day two hundred and five. You now say 'soon' on day three hundred and twenty-six."

"What is this? You're counting the days now like you're some kind of prisoner?" Hopper questioned, fixing his jacket.

Ten leaned forward onto the table so that she was looking him in the eyes, closely, "When is 'soon'? I would like to know if 'soon' is ever going to come?"

"'Soon' is when..," He avoided her piercing stare, "It's not dangerous anymore."

"When?" El joined in.

Hopper shrugged, "I don't know."

"How about on day five hundred?" Ten shrugged, as well, but hers was more aggressive.

Hopper still didn't try to meet her eyes, "I don't know."

"On day six hundred?" El now asked him.

"I don't know." He replied again.

"Day seven hundred? On day eight hundred?" Ten's voice was slowly rising to a yell.

"No!" He shouted.

"I need to see him. Tell me! Tell me when!" Ten yelled at him.

"I said I-" Hopper cut himself off when Ten used her powers to make the Eggos go all over him. He stood up almost immediately and looked down at the mess, "Oh! Shit! Shit!"

Ten stood up so fast that her chair fell to the floor, "Friends don't lie!" Ten grabbed El's hand and ran to their room. El went inside first and once Ten was inside, she brought up her hand and swiped, making the door slam shut.

***

Ten was laying on her bed staring at the TV. El was helping herself to one of the books that they had on the bookshelf. Ten stood up and sat down in front of the TV. She put on the blindfold and tried to focus. She let out a frustrated sigh and took off the blindfold, roughly, a minute later. She couldn't focus with all the emotions swirling around inside of her.

After a shared look with El, they both went to get a jacket on and put on their shoes. They were going to see their friend whether Hopper liked it or not. Once they were ready, they slowly walked out of their room and looked around. Hopper must've gone to work already because no one else was inside the cabin but them.

They walked out of the house together. Ten looked down at the tripwire that stood in their way, "Not stupid." She looked over at El.

El nodded, "Not stupid."

On their way to their friends, they slowly figured out that they didn't remember the way to the school. They ended up running into a woman and her daughter who they got to tell them where it was. They had to distract them to get away, though. She just kept asking so many questions that they couldn't answer.

They followed the directions that the woman had given them and soon enough they were in front of the school. They walked up, but Ten stopped at the bike rack. She walked over to the very familiar bike that was sitting there. She touched the bike handle and smiled, it was Mike's bike.

She continued on her way with El behind her. They walked into the school and down a hallway with a sign saying, 'Key to success.' They walked down the right hallway after that and Ten could finally hear Mike's voice. "I don't see any tricks. You're just going around in circles," She heard him say. There was another voice, but she didn't bother to hear what they were saying. She rushed to the sound of the voice, El was trying to keep up. "Okay, you're making me dizzy," Ten finally stopped at the gym doors and looked through the windows of the door, "Please just stop."

She zoned out for a minute to just take in the sight in front of her. Her face broke out into a huge grin as she saw Mike standing there. She took in the scenery more clearly and saw that he was smiling at a girl with red hair. She was driving circles around him with a skateboard. Her smile fell and El stared at her friend with a sympathetic look. Ten's head twitched to one side and the girl went flying off of her board.

Mike ran over to the girl, "Jesus! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I think so." The girl responded.

Mike helped her up, "What happened?"

"I don't know," The girl replied. Ten's face was now full of sadness seeing the look that Mike was giving the girl. It was like he had completely forgotten that she had existed, "It was like a magnet or something pulling on my board. I know that sounds crazy."

Not wanting to be there anymore, Ten grabbed El's arm and she took off.