"El, it's fine, I promise." Mike said, holding onto his girlfriend tightly, although it felt different. He couldn't explain why, but it just did.
"Mike, what do you think happened," she asked, looking up at him with sadness in her eyes. Before he could answer, she said something that kind of shocked him. "I feel normal. Well, as normal as you can be, I guess. I don't know if I've lost my powers, but I feel better. I've never felt...uhm..." She trailed off, not quite sure how to say what she wanted to say.
"Whole? It means, like, complete," he said, looking at her for confirmation. She nodded, smiling softly.
"I never felt like they were mine, I never felt like I was supposed to have them in the first place. I know that sounds weird." She said, laughing it off.
"No! No, it doesn't," Mike said, kissing her forehead and smiling down at her.
Mike didn't know why, but for the past month, he hasn't felt the same amount of affection for Eleven that he used to. Now, he just sees her as a really close friend, which is so weird considering their history together. He just didn't feel that same connection with her, it was weird. It wasn't something that faded over time, it just happened with the blink of an eye. As quick as Eleven lost her powers.
"Oh, you think you're so funny," El laughed, turning away from Mike and walking into her room. The boy chuckled and walked towards the door, causing El to lift her hand and move her arm, trying to shut the door. It didn't shut. Eleven's face changed to one of confusion, and Mike looked almost concerned. She tried closing it again, but it didn't work.
"What happened?" Mike asked, but Eleven didn't answer him. She walked over to her dresser, sitting on her bed and grabbing a brush. She placed it atop the dresser and stared at it, trying to get it to move, but it wouldn't. She frowned, feeling the bed dip behind her when Mike sat down. She looked at him sadly, reaching her hand forward and intertwining their fingers.
That was this morning, and they had tried all day to get her powers working, but each time, nothing happened. They even told Hopper and tried to ask what they could do to fix it. Hopper just said that maybe she should give it a rest for a while and they would come up again, but El knew that that wasn't true. Her powers were gone, she could feel it when they left. Although, to her, they weren't hers in the first place, they were someone else's.
Mike wasn't sure how to bring up how he felt to Eleven, but he sure as hell wasn't going to do it right now. He listened to her talk about how she felt different, better, without her powers. He listened and listened and listened, feeling horrible that he couldn't pay attention. He swore that he loved Eleven, up until a month ago that is. He didn't know what happened. He came to visit her at Hopper's cabin like any other day, but when she opened the door, he didn't feel the usual leap in his stomach. Whenever he saw her, he would feel his heart warm and his stomach flutter with butterflies, just like their first kiss. When she opened the door, he just didn't feel it. He started to see her as just a friend, and he didn't know why. He always thought that Eleven was the person that he was meant to be with, he really thought so. It just seemed like destiny from the moment he first looked into her eyes in the pouring rain. He thought it was fate. Apparently it wasn't.
"Mike?" Eleven said, looking at Mike with a confused expression. He looked at her, responding with a small hum. She sighed, placing her hand in his cheek. Usually, he would close his eyes and lean into the touch subconsciously. Today, he didn't. He just didn't. He grabbed her wrist, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. She smiled softly, leaning forward and pecking his lips.
Mike lay down on the bed, placing his head on the pillow and making space for Eleven. She copied his movements, snuggling into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, even if it didn't feel as soothing as it used to.
Mike used to want nothing more than to make El happy, and he still does, but he just doesn't want to do it with her. When he looks at her, he doesn't feel his whole body warming and his mind going fuzzy. When he looks at her, he feels the same way he feels when he looks at Max, nothing. Not nothing, but not something. When he looks at Max, he sees a friend that he cares deeply about, platonically. He doesn't see somebody that he could spend the rest of his life with, he used to see that when he looked at El. He used to see his future wife and mother to his children, but all he can see now is a best friend. He wanted to take more time to think about it, maybe he did love Eleven, maybe he was just being weird and overthinking. He tended to overthink a lot.
When he looked at Eleven, he saw that she was asleep, and he smiled softly. He didn't feel the urge to kiss her head like he used to, and he didn't feel the soft tug at his heart when she took a big breath of air. He tried to forget about it, closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep, but he just couldn't. He couldn't stop thinking about how his feelings changed about the girl he loved so much overnight. He just didn't understand it. He wanted to understand, he always wanted- no, needed to understand that. That's the thing about Mike, he always wants to understand what's going on so he can take control of it and fix it. It's because he's the leading type.
When he finally closed his eyes and started drifting off into sleep, he didn't remember his dream. He woke up in a great mood and smiling like an idiot, and lied to El saying that he had been thinking about her. The truth is, he didn't know why he was so happy, but he was happy enough to look at Eleven with heart eyes.
He was happy enough to cover up his true feelings.
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Yup, I did that.
Sorry that the chapter is so short, I tried to make it as long as I could, I just couldn't think of anything else to put down.
:(((
