#maybe her speech tone changes in wrath mode

[somestorythoughts]

I’m still deciding if the ease at which Persephone defeats Kronos is very badass or very anti-climatic.

[planetsam]

pretty please with a cherry on top: a mileven fic (maybe aged up a little but) where some boy hits on el and mike goes into jealous but also protective boyfriend mode pls

“What was that?!”

Mike turns as El stares him down, air rushing through him at the furious look on her face. She’s mad at him and he feels like he’s waking up from a dream. He’s not afraid of her abilities, hasn’t been for a long long time but he’s afraid of the look on her face. He opens his mouth to explain but El jumps on it before he can.

“I said I was handling!”

Mike winces, not because of the tone but because of the missing word. Great bouts of emotion reduce her speech, this is no exception. But the emotion isn’t from the Neanderthal off a jock who touched uhh her knee during class, no, it’s from him cornering the guy and telling him to keep his hands off his girlfriend. If things were bad before, they’re worse now. He hates upsetting her.

“I know,” he says, looking down only to have her turn their height difference on him as she stares up at him.

“No, you forget, I said I was handling it. You’ll get hurt!”

“Hey!” He objects. He might not be telekinetic but he’s not useless, “that’s not fair.”

“You always fighting for me isn’t fair,” she objects, fixing him with a glare, “you never let me talk to the bullies.”

“Your talking isn’t the problem,” leaves his lips.

He’s fucked up.

Bad.

She reels back with a gasp and when Mike opens his mouth to explain or just apologize, he finds himself quite stuck where he is. It’s not painful, but it’s like the universe has collapsed upon him and is strongly suggesting he reconsider moving. It’s not a negotiation. She’s furious and upset, he feels like complete crap even though the current situation is more or less proving his point. He won’t risk her using her powers on anyone who doesn’t have her best interest at heart—unless it’s a permanent thing. He might have fantasies about killing anyone whose ever hurt him, but they aren’t things he’d act upon. There’s been enough suffering and death in his lifetime already.

El grips her schoolbag and bounces on the balls of her feet, torn between huffing off and not leaving him alone. She doesn’t exactly want to let him go though. Like they’ve practiced a million times she closes her eyes and takes three measured deep breaths, but unlike those practices the vice around him doesn’t let up. Doesn’t change at all, actually, and a part of him wants to congratulate her the separation from her emotions.

“I’ll let you go when I am at the station,” she informs him, “I will talk to you Monday,” she continues , “Monday,” she repeats, “you think about being my boyfriend and figure out how to handle it.”

Then, just because the universe is especially cruel today, she kisses the corner of his mouth and runs off. Twenty minutes later her power releases him and he barely catches himself from dropping to the ground. He doesn’t catch himself from swearing loud enough that the vice principal gives him three days of detention. It rains on the way home, just because. Even though it’s only four, Mike drops face first onto the bed and decides not to chance it.

He has the same nightmare.

They’re younger again and instead of hiding for good reasons she’s hiding because she doesn’t want to see him again. He’s weak, he didn’t protect her. He wasn’t strong enough. Her head’s shaved always, but sometimes she’s also hurt. Sometimes she isn’t, but there’s a hollow look to her that he feels sick at. Her voice echos back to him, colder than he ever remembers.

‘Goodbye. Mike.’

He bolts up in bed, sheets tangled and shirt wet with sweat. He gasps unsteadily in the darkness, stupidly looking for El even though she swore they weren’t going to speak until Monday and she is good at keeping her promises. That doesn’t mean he’s alone though. Holly’s sitting at his desk, what he assumes is his dinner near her elbow. She isn’t watching him, she’s reading. He isn’t stupid enough to think she’s not aware of him though.

“Thanks,” he mumbles as he changes his shirt.

“You look terrible,” she says, “not just nightmare terrible. Did El dump you?”

“No!” He says, “we had a fight.”

“Oh,” she says, “what did you do?”

“I yelled at someone who touched her.”

Holly nods and flips the text book page.

“She’s probably just worried like you are,” She says cutting through to the core of it, “Jonathan and Nancy used to fight about that too.”

Mike looks surprised on purpose but Holly rolls her eyes. She talks anyway though.

“Nancy said he was a Neanderthal and he said he wanted her to be safe. She told him to shove it and kicked him out.”

“Yeah, but—“

“Well then he came back and said that they should work together because they would both be safe then. That’s why she agreed to marry him.”

Mike looks over at the card he’s got pinned up, reminding them that the wedding is taking place in a few months. They’re both in the respective wedding parties. El’s going to be his date and Will’s told him that there’s an early draft of Jonathan’s vows that involve the words ‘bear trap’. His sister doesn’t have super powers, but she definitely is the type to not stand for the kind of shit he pulled.

“I’d be honest,” Holly advises.

“Thank you for that,” Mike says sarcastically, “would you wait for Monday too?”

“Only if I didn’t want to be single,” she says and flips the page.

He drive to El’s cabin early Monday morning. He isn’t surprised to find Jim Hopper out there, a pack of cigarettes in a tiny ball in his hand. He looks up at Mike who prepares himself for whatever comes next. Hopper just shakes his head and tosses the ball away, managing to swear only once when it smacks him in the back of the head.

“I live in a convent,” he complains, “no smoking, no littering,” he raises his voice, “am I allowed inside, Mother Superior?”

“No!” Comes the reply, “Mike first!”

“You have fifteen minutes before I bring down the wrath of God,” he says and the door swings open. Mike goes inside. The cabin is much cozier and seems to get more so every time he visits. He knows which seat is his and takes it. El appears with waffles and sets them down before sitting across from him. She’s dressed nicely and Mike is torn between appreciating the view and bracing himself for the hurricane that might follow. Too many soap operas have made her firmly hold to fights happening when she’s dressed up, but there aren’t any sparkles so he thinks he might have a shot.

“I want to keep you safe,” she says in a measured tone.

“I want to keep you safe,” he says emphasizing it, “El you’ve got powers but that doesn’t mean—“

“Not powers,” she cuts in, “I want to keep you safe here too,” she says pointing at her chest, “dating me is hard.”

“El—“

“Let me finish,” she says and he presses his lips together, “dating me is hard, it will get harder. You have to give up things. More than most,” she looks at him, “I love you, but if you need to go you can.”

He waits for her to continue but she looks down, signaling him that she’s finished. He’s immediately up and coming around the table, kneeling near her so that she doesn’t get up. She looks at him, struggling to close off her emotions. Struggling to look strong. She is strong in so many ways, she might be strongest in ways like this.

“I would give up everything to be with you,” he says firmly, “Hey—hey you know that,” he reminds her, “it hasn’t changed. I don’t just want to keep you safe, I want you to be happy. I thought I could take on just this one thing,” his heart aches as a tear trickles down her cheek, “don’t cry,” he pleads, “El I was being dumb. I will let you handle it next time. El—“

“I put gum in Cindy’s hair!” She confesses, “she said you were dreamy and I—I put gum in her hair. You were right!”

He sighs her name and pulls her into his arms right before the guilty tears come out. She clings to him tightly as he whispers nonsense and kisses the top of her curls. The hard thing, they’ve learned, isn’t just that he sacrifices. It’s that sometimes she feels like the monster and doesn’t understand how he can be okay with it. She doesn’t understand how he stays past her mistakes and shortcomings, doesn’t understand that he has them too. That her humanity is what he fell in love with. She’s half in his lap and he stays on the floor until the torrent of emotion ebbs.

“You know I don’t care about Cindy,” he says and she nods.

“You know I didn’t care about Matt,” she says and he frowns, “the boy in the lab, his name was Matt,” she elaborates.

“Oh,” he says, he didn’t know that and didn’t care. El rolls her eyes at him, “Okay we both have to work on this,” he realizes aloud. El looks up at him hopefully, “we’ll do better ok? We’ll try.”

“Promise?” She says. He nods.

“Promise.”

She helps him up as she wipes her cheeks and opens the door for Hopper. He appraises her outfit and sighs that there’s no glitter.

“I put gum in Cindy’s hair,” she says and he nods.

“Yeah, but I already talked to your principal about it,” he says. She looks surprised, “I caught Cindy smoking behind the school. She dropped it.”

Mike grins before Hopper glares at him and he goes back to his waffles. Under the tiny table, he feels one of El’s feet hook around his ankle. He softens at the weight of it.

“You’re still grounded though,” Hopper adds.

“Fine,” El huffs, knowing she got off easy all things considered.