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I m a g i n e : You have been in love with Mike for a long time, but the problem is, is that he's dating El.
  Before the battle of starcourt, you feel the need to express your feelings to Mike, and he rejects you, but was that how he really felt ?

|—kinda angsty ;(—|

R e q u e s t e d B y : @ fabi_lovesbooks

Word Count : 2649

a/n : ‼️ seriously thinking about making this into a separate book.. let me know if you'd be interested in reading it.. ;)

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you and mike had always been best friends for as long as you could remember.

being jim hopper's daughter, you got out of the cabin a lot, always playing at the arcade while your dad worked and hanging out with will and mike since you were little kids.
you formed this huge crush on mike, always blushing at all his jokes he cracked or when he would give you a hug of congratulations if you won the campaign of dungeons and dragons.

over the years, as you all got older, the party got bigger, including mike, will, lucas, dustin, and you.
that was, until el and max came along.

when el came into the picture, hopper took her in as his own, and she became sort of like a sister to you, with all eyes and priorities set on her.
you were almost pushed to the side like a child when a parent brings a newborn baby home.

hopper would focus more of his attention on her, making sure she had the things she
needed—being a telepathic and all.

but you couldn't help but feel like your father was drifting from you, hardly finding the time to spend it with you anymore.

you weren't envious of el, no.
jealous? yes.
you were jealous that her boyfriend was mike.

this summer, instead of playing d&d like the you wanted like the old days, mike seemed
infatuated with el, his eyes always in the shapes of hearts when he saw her.
it hurt you to see your best friend and first love just completely drift away from you.

sure, you would all still go to the movies and hang out at the mall, but you couldn't ignore the sense of heartbreak that mike didn't love you the way you loved him.

this summer of love had changed everything.

"i know, right? why couldn't we have just played d&d ?"
will exclaimed, flailing his arms to emphasize his point.
you and will stood a few inches apart in the center of the ruined mall complex as you ranted to him since he was practically like your brother, and joyce was the only mother figure in your life.

you two were about to separate so you could help hopper, joyce, and murray with the portal, even though they really didn't want you to because they feared you might get hurt, but you could hold your own.
"hey. be careful down there, okay? don't be stupid."
will warned, holding your shoulder firmly as his eyes filled with worry for what felt like his little sister—even though you two are the same age.
"i will, don't worry about me. i'll be..okay."
you reassured, pulling him in for a hug before you two parted ways for the big battle.

you said goodbye to the rest of the party, before you came across mike—standing there as he supported el and her injured leg.

"hey, mike."
you called for him, making his head shoot back to see you, waving your hand to come talk to you.
he made sure el was stable before releasing her arm to walk back over to you, his gaze softening once he saw that you looked sorrowful.

"hey, n/n. i was just about to come wish you luck—.."
mike began, but stopped mid-sentence once he saw that your eyes were tearing up, not able to stare mike in the eye as you thought of your feelings for him.

"hey..what's wrong?"
mike asked softly, placing a hand on your shoulder in an attempt to comfort his best friend.

"i..i just..i can't hold these feelings in anymore. it hurts too much, i-i can't.."
you couldn't help but let your eyes water with bottled up emotions, your eyes clenching and struggling to keep your composure.

"w-what do you mean? what's wrong?"
mike's hand on your shoulder helped steadied your breathing, trying to sort through your feelings before you suddenly confessed them.

"mike, i like you. hell, i love you, and i have for such a long time. i know you're with el and everything, but i had to say something because it's like a constant pain and weight on my shoulders that i can't get rid of.."
your voice was shaky with overwhelming sorrow as you felt mike's hand slip from your shoulder slowly, leaving you to stabilize on your own.

you finally looked up into mike's eyes, seeing a mix of uncertainty and surprise, but you couldn't quite identify the third feeling you saw arise in his eyes.
the same eyes he had when he looked at el, but that quickly disappeared.

yet his young hormones and emotions were too complex for him to understand that he did in fact love you too—he just didn't realize it yet.

he didn't know exactly how much you meant to him, so his answer was :

"y/n, no. i-i don't like you that way. i love el, and i don't like you like i love her."
with those fatal words spit from mike's mouth, your heart instantly dropped a thousand leagues—you had hit the bottom your endless pit of hormonal despair.

it seemed almost heartless the way he shot your feelings down so quickly, but you understood.
he was still your best friend above all else, so you would have to force yourself understand.

"i know.."
you muttered, your eyes not able to face mike's.
you stared down at your dirtied shoes, before began to walk away from you—to sulk alone.

"just.. be careful down there, okay? i'm sure you'll be fine."
mike called out over his shoulder while he walked back to el, swinging her arm around his shoulder—walking away from you.

you couldn't help but feel embarrassed that you had admitted your feelings for him, yet the weight on your shoulders felt as if it lessened.

you watched as your father, hopper gave el a heart-to-heart speech as a quick last moment together before they parted ways, and you knew that since you would be with him down by the gate, that you didn't need a heart-to-heart, yet you wanted one.

you just wanted things to be the way they were before el showed up—how you and hopper would spend nights playing board games and eating junk food together as father and daughter.
you missed how you and hopper would just lay together and watch tv till midnight in which you would fall asleep lying against your dad's chest, where he would then carry you to your bed to tuck you in.

now, hopper still does those things, just not with you. he does them all with el, and if you were being honest, it broke your heart.

the blue bracelet that hopper gave you years before el arrived was identical to the one el wore, and yes, that made you jealous that the sacred thing that you shared with hopper was being shared with el now.

hopper finished talking with el, finishing with a hug and kiss before she limped away with mike and max.
hopper got up to walk beside you, joyce, and murray as you split all up with the rest of the teams.

your team name : eagle's nest'  made your ways down the hallways and ramps into the russian labs, disguising as military to blend in with the others.
while murray went into the underground ducts, you, hopper and joyce made your way to the safe where the keys laid locked inside.

"the goddamn code is wrong !"
hopper's frustrated voice boomed through the small chamber in which you and joyce waited for him to unlock it.
"planck's constant ? i think i know who can help—.."
dustin's voice surfaced through the static on the walkie talkie before you cut him off.

"screw that, i got this."
you interrupted with confidence, preventing dustin from finishing what he was going to say.

you brushed past hopper, placing your hands flat on the keys that were used to unlock the safe.
being the chief of police's daughter, you had a lot of time on your hands when he was at work, so occasionally, you would get in some trouble.

you learned how to pick locks and break safes, so this was the first time hopper was finding out about it.

you closed your eyes, feeling the bolts and locks inside the safe itself before you pressed the right keys, successfully opening the safe to reveal the case in which held the keys.

"boom."
you declared, taking out the case out before shutting the safe closed again.

with a surprised look frozen on their faces, you, joyce and hopper made their way to the gate's control room, hopper and joyce placing the keys in their slots.
but before they had the chance to turn it, you heard footsteps behind you, pushing you out of the way to attack hopper.

your face swarmed with worry for your dad, but he seemed to have the terminator-like guy under control.

"don't worry, kid ! just help joyce with the keys !"
hopper yelled as the russian guy took the fight outside of the control room.

the russian threw many punches, dazing hopper as they got closer to the turbine in which the laser was being shot from.

joyce helped you up to your feet to help her with the keys, and right before you two were about to turn it, you took a glance at your dad and saw him laying on the ground—his head was inches away from being sliced by the twirling turbines while the russian used his foot to hold him down.

"dad !"
you shouted, instinctively rushing out of the control room and down the ramp to help your dad, ignoring the warning yells from joyce to come back, but you couldn't just sit by and watch your father being beaten.

you ran at full force towards the russian, using your body's inertia to ram into his side, effectively knocking him off of your father and into the turbine—killing him.

you helped your father up to his feet, seeing his saddened bloodied lip and face stare down at you with glossy eyes.
"come on, dad we gotta get outta here, quick-.."
you began to say hurriedly, starting to walk back in the direction you came to get back to the control room, before your dad jerked you back.

"we're..stuck."
he murmured, his hands on your shoulders as he pointed at the electrified barrier that kept you from walking back down the ramp.

you stared in shock between the gate, and your only way back up to the control room which was blocked by the electricity.
you felt your eyes water, feeling like you failed your dad.

hopper saw you beginning to contort your face in a worried look, bending lower to meet your eyes.
when you felt your dad getting closer, you instinctively lurched to hug him tightly, feeling him wrap his broad arms around you.

you hugged him so desperately, like you weren't sure when the next time you would hug your dad was.

it was now that hopper realized just how much he'd pushed you to the side, and how the times had changed since el arrived.
he felt horribly—wanting nothing more than to make sure his daughter knew that she meant so much to him, but now, how was he supposed to do that when they're stuck in an electrified chamber?

"i'm so sorry, kid.."
hopper mumbled into shoulder, hoping his words held multiple meanings as to why he was sorry.
he was sorry for not being the father you needed.

your breath hitched at your dad's words as you shuttered your cries into your dad's shoulder. those words were hardly uttered to you, so when you finally did hear them, you could hear just how your dad meant them.

you knew what he was trying to say.

"i'm sorry too, dad.."
your cried halted as you pulled away from your dad's shoulder, feeling his calloused finger wipe away your tears from your
cheek—just like he used to do when you were a kid and you scraped your knee when you fell off your bike.

hopper smiled thinly at you, his bleeding lip was dried now as you smiled back at him.
"i love you a lot, you know that?"
he chuckled, his eyes squinted with a wide smile as he saw you chuckle too.

"yeah, i love you too.."
you said through a smile—you both knew that it was like you were in a soap opera with the dramatics.

you and hopper stood up to your feet, looking up at joyce in the control room behind the glass, seeing that she was struggling to twist both keys, but she was ready.

you and hopper gave her a meaningful look, signaling that it was okay for her to pull the keys and turn off the turbine.

hopper's hand reached to hold his daughter's, your hand clasping with his in an attempt to comfort each other.

joyce's eyes squinted with tears, seeing that she was about to lose two of the very important people in her life all at once, so she closed her eyes while she turned the keys.

[]

"mike, come in here for a second."
joyce called out from your room as she packed your old stuff into boxes, but she found a certain note that was addressed and ready to give to a special someone.

"yeah..?"
mike answered as he hesitantly walked in through  your doorframe to see joyce holding a piece of paper.

"here. i thought you might want to read this since y/n seemed to want you to."
joyce offered the note to mike with a shaky voice, knowing that it was a love note that you had written a while back when you didn't know how to handle your feelings for mike.

joyce got up and left the room to mike for privacy.
mike took the note, and unfolded it, his hands already jittery at the sight of your messy handwriting that was dotted with what looked like dried teardrops from when you wrote it.

" mike,

mike wheeler. my best friend—my first friend actually.
you may not understand this, but even though it has scared me to my core, i love you mike wheeler, and not in a friend kind of way.

but..you never saw me.

you only saw her—el.

but that's okay because i love you anyways.
i love you completely, and have ever since we were little kids.

mike, you're a great best friend, and to walk up to you while you were swinging with will on the swings as little kids—it was the best thing i ever did.

i hope that when i actually get the balls to give this letter to you, it won't bite me in the ass.

your best friend,
y/n. "

mike whipped away his tears with the heel of his palm, smiling at your sense of humor towards the end of the letter.

he realized that he had loved you for so long, he just didn't know how to process them.

he never saw you in the way you saw him, but now he did.

mike wheeler loved you too..only it was too late to tell you now, and he regretted that.

or was it too late..?

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a/n : okay, i kinda love this one.. ;(

sorry it was so long, lol..

would you want to see this as a book?
let me know !!

thanks for reading—more on the way..!

<3