you're my safe place ~ MILEVEN ONE SHOTS~

Hold Them Tight

(This is a badly thrown together one-shot, sorry that they have been awful lately but your girl has no inspiration at the moment! Please leave some requests, it doesn't matter if they link to season 3 or not! Love you all<3)

It was a feeling that came and went, a feeling that always circled back to the same pair of dark eyes. She felt it when she was introduced to the story of Romeo and Juliet in her first semester of high school, the first experience that she was given of a normal education. The way that the pair were drawn to each other from the very first moment that they met, eyes meeting from across the room - two souls becoming one. They called the pair star-crossed lovers, two people that were destined to meet, as if the hands of fate had simply controlled their paths like pieces on a chessboard. She felt it when Mike called her on the walkie the night before her first day, soothing her nerves and forcing her to copy his breathing when she got too panicked. His soft voice murmured all of the sweet words in the universe, assuring her that she would make many friends and learn everything that her mind could manage. His words caressed her heart sweetly, wrapping her up in a cloud of stardust that kept her floating high above the anxiety that she was once plagued with. It was a feeling that linked back to the lovers in her favorite play, the feeling that perhaps her and Mike were star-crossed lovers themselves. That perhaps they were each had one heart, two separate heartbeats that were designed to harmonize. 

It was something that took some time to realize, how Mike always put her feelings before his own. She had become so used to him checking in on her, mumbling soft words until she was no longer scared - that she had forgotten to appreciate all that he had given her. From the very moment that they met, eyes meeting in the rain covered woods like star-crossed lovers, he had been there to catch her when she fell. It was a feeling that she was never going to take for granted again, thinking back to each time that he had made her world brighter by simply being his caring self. 

"What happened to her?" he asked gently. 

El hiccuped gently, clutching his hand tighter and hoping that Hop could not hear their quiet whispers. She couldn't stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks, ever since her adoptive father had told her the news that Terry was getting sick. They said that she was strong, but that they were not sure if her body would be able to fight off the bacteria. 

"P-Papa" she whispered shakily, a tear dropping to the pillow. "They g-gave her weird drugs or something and they hurt her brain."

Mike's eyes widened, voice turning quieter. "She was experimented on...like you?"

A small nod confirmed his thoughts. 

"El, I'm so sorry" he shook his head, clenching his eyes shut at the thought of a baby being stolen away from its mother. He had known that something was wrong the moment that he asked El what she had been doing in the 353 days that they were apart, but he never imagined that it would be something so terrible. "B-But will she not get better?"

"They don't think so" she mumbled. 

She told him everything, about the blank-nothingness of the void where her mother faded away, about the files that Hopper had hidden underneath the floorboards. He held her hand through all of it, eyes widening at certain aspects of Kali's lifestyle and what El nearly did, a sigh of relief escaping his lips when he realized that she was back and safe after all that she had endured. Mike did not understand why the universe was so set on punishing the girl that he cared for, as if she didn't have a right to be happy like those around her. El had only came out of everything stronger, something that he could never understand because there were days where he wanted to crumble at the mere thought of something bad happening. Mike had never been the hero that he had wanted to be for her, but it took him a while to realize that perhaps that was okay - that maybe El was strong enough to slay the dragons all on her own.