CHAPTER TWELVE.
home.

wow, the last chapter. jeez.

now obviously i don't expect most of this chapter to be in the actual show if it was, but whatever

—

it was a ridiculously warm night for mid december.

the wind was harsh, though, biting at their cheeks and making their eyes water. eleven had fought hopper tooth and nail into not wearing a jacket while nineteen had stood by the door patiently, waiting for the two to be done.

in the end, eleven had grabbed the jacket angrily, and sat in the backseat, next to an equally bundled up nineteen. she didn't speak at all until they arrived to the school, at which she leaned forward, threw the jacket in the front seat, and hugged hopper from behind.

nineteen had placed hers down on top of eleven's and hesitated for a second, before wrapping her own bare arms around hopper's broad shoulders.

"thank you." she whispered, disappearing out of the car. this had happened 45 seconds ago.

eleven and nineteen were now walking in the actual dance, or the 'gym' as hopper had called it, side by side, and their eyes bounce everywhere. it's lively in the large room, multiple people spread throughout it. the long haired girl starts walking forwards, leaving eleven staring at the boy who had saved her one year ago.

nineteen is overwhelmed. the decorations are big, and music is faintly playing in the background. she bites her lip as she stares upwards at everything. the bright, yellow lights reflect in her baby blue eyes.

"uh.. hello?"

nineteen looks up. will byers is standing in front of her, wringing his hands. the two kids are about the same height, nineteen barely looking down at him. he's trying to smile, but he's extremely nervous.

"hello, will." she replies. he smiles easily. she looks back up, smiling at the decorations. he blows through his mouth in frustration and then glances around the room as the song playing starts to end.

"um, how are- uh -do you want to dance?" he blurts quickly, staring at her shoes instead of her face. she looks over at him and then she scans the crowd of kids.

"i've never dance before," she starts. will chuckles lightly at her incorrect grammar, but grabs her wrist gently. "i can help you. i honestly can't dance that well either."

he takes her hand and starts walking out to the middle of the dance floor. he gently places his hands on her waist. "and you put your hands on my shoulders." he says. she puts them there and rubs the cotton fabric beneath her fingertips. he smiles at her actions. "there you go." its silent as he starts swaying them back and forth.

"you look very nice, nineteen." he says. she smiles.

"thank you."

a pretty, slow song starts playing and she looks
down at their feet as they start stepping side to side. she counts to as high as she can go (all the way to 50) of how many times they step.

"um, i like your hair." will offers again. she smiles and ducks her head bashfully. it was pinned back in a half-up, half-down do. hopper had tried his best, even calling flo for help while she was at home. the song playing ends, and nineteen looks up as a brand new song starts playing. it's kinda slow, and kinda fast at the same time. they just listen in silence for several seconds.

she looks down at her dancing partner. "are you okay?" she asks. will sighs and nods his head. "i'm all right." he genuinely tells her.

"i still get shaken up a bit, you know, but i'm doing better." he says. she nods and smiles at him kindly.

"what about you? are you doing okay?" nineteen looks into his warm green eyes. "i am okay. i'm not in hawkins lab anymore." she states and shivers. will nods. "was it scary?" he hesitantly asks.

"yes." she shuffles her feet quickly and pulls away from their spot when a pair dancing almost bump into them.

"i-i was scared too. when the monster had me." he says. "but you said you got him. you promised."

nineteen smiles at him. "i promised." she repeats. they stare at each other for a minute, letting the song play.

even though nineteen know's will's thoughts, she doesn't know what they mean. they're going in and out, like usual when she's particularly nervous over something, and it can't help but seem like she knows will so well, she doesn't even have to read his mind. will looks away and over to the left of her head.

"so, you know you're.." will stops his new sentence, and their swaying. nineteen looks away from the ceiling lights to the boy in front of her. her eyebrows scrunch together like they do when she's confused. she looks behind herself, following his gaze.

his sight is on mike and eleven, who are swaying frontwards and backwards. eleven's cheeks are bright red, and mike is staring at her like she hung the moon. mary had used that phrase once.

she looks back at will. he's staring down at his own shoes now. she tilts her head down, trying to look up under the hair in his eyes.

"are you okay?" she asks. he looks back up, his ears red. he nods. "yeah, yeah, i'm fine."

she stands up straight, hearing his thoughts echo around mike. why mike? she doesn't seem to understand but will starts to sway her back and forth again. he doesn't say anything until the song is over and then another slow song starts. nineteen stares up at the lights the entire time, not realizing it's rude to not look at your dance partner.

blue?

she looks up, right at the boy, who's voice had echoed in her ears. he almost laughs.

"sorry. i just wanted to see if it worked. they said you had 'mind-reading' powers, but i wanted to know if they were just kidding." he tells her, slightly smiling. she just smiles at him, politely, and he turns them around, her facing the wall she had had her back to.

"what i was gonna say earlier is that.. you know you're our friend now, right? mike's, dustin's, lucas', and mine now, too?" he says. there's a strange sparkle in his eyes, one that nineteen is just now noticing. it makes him look like an inviting person, one that you could tell anything to. that and his delicate features that make him look so young. her eyebrows raise thoughtfully. she smiles at him, showing her tiny, white teeth.

"thank you." she whispers.

and mary always told her to say thank you when good things were given to her.

-

nineteen's eyes blearily blink open and she's met with darkness, except for the new radio clock beside the bed. she still can't read time or know what it means, but the big, bright red words say 3:02.

what had awoken her was right behind her, though. nineteen turns around in the bed to see eleven sniffling and letting out a few small cries. nineteen turns around fully and looks down at the frail girl, who's crying into her hands. nineteen watches her momentarily and then opens her mouth.

"hey."

eleven doesn't wait for another word before she launches herself at nineteen and wraps her arms around her tightly. nineteen catches her and rubs at her back as she sobs into nineteen's neck.

"why didn't you wake me up sooner?" she asks. eleven shakes her head, and continues crying. nineteen recognizes the words, 'papa' and 'us' between her sobs.

nineteen lets her cry, holding a hand on her back silently. they lay there for a few more minutes, and then eleven is out of tears. she pulls back, red, puffy eyes shining at her sister.

nineteen smiles weakly at eleven. "papa is gone," she tells her. "we're safe. i promise. we'll never go back there. hop won't let us." she says. eleven smiles slightly at the nickname for their new dad. she nods and then lays back down, softly rubbing her cheek against her pillow.

"i know." she replies timidly. she sniffs once again and sighs harshly, her breath still catching. nineteen looks down at the white sheets. she dreamt about the lab too, sometimes. but it was mostly of mary, and what happened to her. she relived that moment a lot.

her new life, however, was the actual frequent occupants of her mind at night. she dreamed about her new friends a lot, being normal with them, and doing stuff that makes them happy. her lip quirks up a little at the thought of what all dustin told her they do during the summer when it's not cold.

eleven shudders, suddenly, and nineteen glances up at her. her lips start to tremble as if she's gonna burst into tears, so nineteen grabs eleven's left hand in her own. eleven looks up at her and rubs away the few tears that escaped on the pillow. she sniffs, and shakes her head.

"he's gone." she whispers aloud, but it's like she's telling herself instead of nineteen. "hop won't let him get us." nineteen finishes.

"and he's not like papa." she continues. eleven's breath hitches in her throat, remembering what she had screamed at hopper in the cabin.

"not like him." she agrees.

"do you want to get eggos?" nineteen asks comfortingly. el thinks for a second and then shakes her head slowly. "sleep." she suggests instead. nineteen nods and tugs the blanket closer to her body. she closes her eyes and

"goodnight, eleven."

"goodnight, nineteen."

they turn over and face the same way, eleven looking at nineteen's back rising and falling gently.

"blue?" she asks softly. nineteen smiles lightly, hearing el say that for the first time.

"yes?"

"i love you." she admits. "and friends don't lie."

nineteen smiles and turns back around to face eleven. she smiles. "love you too." she says.

and then they go to sleep, hand in hand, heart in heart.

-

the next morning, hopper wakes the girls up with poptarts and eggos, their favorite snacks ever. he sets the two plates down at the small table in the cabin and folds his hands in front of him. in front of him sits eleven, in her usual place, and at the side of the table, opposite the wall, is nineteen.

"thank you." she tells him, breaking off a piece of the blueberry poptart.

"you're welcome." he says, looking over at eleven. eleven continues eating, ripping apart her second eggo as she stuffs the first one in her mouth. nineteen looks over, too.

hopper clears his throat and eleven stops, looking up in annoyance. she glances over at nineteen. nineteen gives her a pointed look.

just tell him thank you.

eleven sits back in her seat and lays down her eggo on her plate. she looks across the table. "thank you." she finally tells him. he bows his head as he leans back as well. "you are welcome."

nineteen continues eating, not noticing hopper glance at her a couple of times. he clears his throat again as he sits up straighter. he sniffs and then reaches into his pocket. nineteen takes a big bite off of her poptart as he pulls out something she can't see. she watches as he sighs shakily before turning to her.

"hey, kid, um.. so, technically, i'm your guardian, now, right?" he remarks. she tilts her head slightly, squinting her eyes. "guard-ee-ann?" she asks.

"uh, it's a person who watches over another person. its typically a parent watching over a kid." he explains, scratching the back of his head. nineteen nods. "like a mom or dad?" she questions. he nods. "yeah."

"and well, you're living with me now, so, i got owens to make a couple of birth certificates for you both." he says. she hears eleven quirk up.

"and, well, it's just basically official. you guys are okay, you're safe."

nineteen smiles at hopper, her eyes twinkling. normal! they could be normal!

"and, nineteen, i just.. i wanted you to have this. it was my girl's, sarah." he produces a small band, a blue one, and holds it out. "it was one of her little hair ties." he explains. nineteen grabs it with her pointer finger and thumb, holding it like it's glass.

she glances at eleven, who slightly pulls back her sleeve on her right arm. another hair tie is there, same color of blue. nineteen slowly puts it on the same wrist and smiles down at it.

"cute." she voices and hopper chuckles. he holds out his own wrist and pulls back his jacket sleeve. "yeah, we're triplets, now, huh?" he jokes.

he's wearing the exact same one, causing nineteen to smile slightly. "sarah loved the color blue. that's why she had so many." he murmurs, setting his chin in his hand.

eleven lays her wrist next to hopper's, and nineteen copies her so that all three hands are right next to each other.

nineteen smiles, and then moves her hand, so that it's laying on top of hopper's. eleven then sets her hand on top of nineteen's. they look up to hopper, who's smiling back at them.

"okay." he chuckles.

and they stay there, for hours or minutes, nineteen couldn't tell, because she's finally home.

—

FUCK