WARNING: Boys, It's about periods. 

The Party were all seated around the table in Mike's basement doing homework on a Friday evening when an all too familiar pain decided to sneak up on a certain Mage.

El whimpers when the cramp hits her like a truck. Her hand instantly rests against her lower abdomen and she curls into Mike's side, who set down his physics notebook and his pencil to look down at El in worry. 

"El, what's wrong?" Mike asked, noticing the look of pain on his girlfriend's face. "What hurts?"

"My stomach." El said, her voice muffled by Mike's shoulder. 

Mike's eyebrows scrunched together- the way they do when he's concerned. He wrapped his arm around her small frame and said, "Do you feel sick?" He gently pushes her away from him and feels her forehead with the back of his hand. El shook her head and looked at him seriously. It suddenly dawned on him and he nodded slowly and his cheeks flushed. "Oh."

"Yeah." El nodded, then winced at a sudden cramp. "Is Nancy home?"

Mike nodded. "I think so, why?" El stood, her hand still against her stomach.

"I don't have anything." She told him quietly, so the rest of The Party wouldn't hear her. "I didn't think I'd get it today." 

"Oh, yeah." Mike rubbed the back of his neck. "Why don't you ask Max?" 

"She isn't on hers, Mike." El rolled her eyes. Mike narrowed his eyes at her.

"How do you know?" He gave Max a side glance before looking back at his girlfriend. 

El stood and looked down at him. "Is she grumpy?"

"She's always grumpy." Mike muttered with an eye roll. El slapped his shoulder lightly. "Sorry. Nancy's in her room." El nodded in thanks and ran up the stairs and to Nancy's room.

"Nancy?" El knocked.

"Come in, El." The older girl said and El rushed into the room. Nancy set down her book, noticing the younger girl's panicked face. "What's up?"

El fiddled with her fingers and her cheeks turned a rosy pink. "I-I need a pad. I'm sorry, I just didn't think I'd get it today. And I should have been more prepared and-"

"El." Nancy interrupted. "It's okay, I have pads." She walked over to her closet and opened the door.

"Okay." El said as Nancy pulled a pad out of one of the drawers of the dresser.

"Honestly, you hang out with Mike too much." Nancy handed her the pad. "He rambles a lot."

"Yeah." El laughed. "Thank you." She turned to leave when Nancy stopped her.

"El, do you need a pair of underwear? I have a pack I never opened." Nancy offered and El shyly nodded. Nancy grabbed the package the underwear was in and pulled a black pair out. 

"Thank you." El took the black pair of underwear out of Nancy's hands. El opened the door.

"And, El?" Nancy said. El turned around.

"Yeah?" El asked, looking at Nancy. 

"Don't be embarrassed. It's normal." Nancy smiled at El. "I'm here for you if you ever need a big sister to talk to." 

El teared up and said, "Okay and thanks again." Nancy nodded as El shut the door behind her.

El slowly opened Mike's door and opened his closet. She's wearing jeans and those aren't very comfortable with a pad on. El looked around and saw a familiar pair of grey sweatpants and a dark blue sweatshirt. She went on her tippy toes and reached up and grabbed the clothes. She shut Mike's door and stepped into the bathroom.

She took off her jeans and bloody underwear and replaced them with the new black pair Nancy gave her. She placed the pad inside and sighed in comfort. She pulled the grey pants up her legs and around her waist. The bottoms reached right above her ankles when they used to cover them. She hasn't grown much in the past three years. She took her shirt off and slipped the blue one on. She folded up her clothes and looked in the mirror. She looked much better.

With El's clothes tucked under her arm she exited the bathroom and made her way down to the kitchen where Mrs. Wheeler was preparing everyone dinner. 

"Mrs. Wheeler?" El said and the woman's head snapped to the girl standing in the doorway. 

Mrs. Wheeler smiled. "Hello, El. What do you need?" 

"Do you have any Ibu- Ibupr-" El struggled with the word and bit her lip as she looked up at her boyfriend's mom.

"Ibuprofen?" Mrs. Wheeler helped out her son's adorable girlfriend. El nodded. "What for?" Mrs. Wheeler filled up a glass of water and shook two pills of the bottle.

"Cramps." El sighed as another cramp exploded in her stomach. Mrs. Wheeler nodded and handed El the water and pills. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Sweetie." She told the young girl who was heading back to the basement. 

El stepped off the last stair and placed her clothes in her bag where her walkie was and went to sit beside Mike. He looked at her clothes and smiled.

"Nice outfit." He told her, tugging on one of the blue sleeves.

"I'm surprised it still fits." She laid her head down on his lap and closed her eyes to try and sleep off the pain.

Mike ran his fingers through her curly hair as she slept and he finished up his homework.

------

The next day, Mike woke up to the phone ringing downstairs. He sighed in relief as it stopped making the annoying noise- assuming his mom had answered it.  But the phone began to ring again. He groaned and threw his comforter aside.

Still in his sweatpants and Star Wars T-shirt on, he walked downstairs and answered the phone. "Hello?" He sleepily said into it.

"Kid." Mike's eyebrows shot up at the sound of his girlfriend's dad's voice. 

"Yes, sir?" Mike said back, confused to why Hopper was calling him at 8:30 in the morning.

Hopper sighed before he started to rant to a fifteen year old. "I don't know what's wrong with her! She won't tell me anything!"

Mike suppressed a smile. "Who? El?" 

He heard Hopper scoff. "No. The squirrel." He told Mike sarcastically. "Yes, El!" 

"Okay, okay! What's she doing?" Mike asked- already having a suspicion of what she was doing.

Hopper sighed. "She's had a scowl on her face since she woke up at 7:00. She's been snippy and she will whimper once in a while."

"Mhmm." Mike hummed- already knowing El was on her period but was enjoying Hopper's comical freak out.

"And, I asked her what was wrong but she ignored me and slammed her door after she brought the tv in her room." Hopper exclaimed and Mike had to fight the urge to laugh. "I just checked in on her and she's sleeping."

"And why are you telling me this?" Mike asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because, you might know what's wrong with her!" Hopper loudly snapped.

"She's sleeping. Be quiet." Mike protectively told the Chief. 

"Oh, right." Hopper sighed. "And can you explain to me why she's wearing your clothes?"

Mike smirked. "She's still wearing those?"

"Answer me, Kid!" 

"Okay! God." Mike muttered. "She's on her period, Hopper." The phone went silent.

"...Oh." Hopper said quietly. "And the clothes?"

"She wasn't comfortable in jeans so she changed into some of my old clothes." Mike informed him.

"C-can you come over? She's sleeping but when she wakes up, she won't talk to me. She kind of scares me when she's crabby. A crabby telekinetic teenage girl- yikes." Hopper said. "Just help her out today? Keep her company?"

Mike was shocked. "A-are you serious? Usually you tell me not to come over."

"Yeah, Wheeler, just come over before I change my mind." Then Hopper hung up. Mike placed the phone back on the wall and quickly scribbled down on a piece of paper that he'd be at El's all day and set it on the counter. 

Mike opened one of the cabinets in the kitchen and grabbed two untouched Hershey Bars. He put on his spring jacket, put the candy bars In the pocket, and started to bike to El's- in his pajamas.

------

Mike knocked the secret knock.

Knock. Knock.

Knock.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

He waited for someone to answer the door. The door opened, revealing Hopper. He let Mike in and told him to hang his jacket on one of the chairs before retreating to his room. 

Mike moved to the kitchen and popped three Eggos in the toaster. As he waited, he grabbed two plates and set the candy bars on them. Once the Eggos were done, he set two on one plate and one on the other. He filled up a glass of water and got two Ibuprofen pills in which he set them on the plate with the two Eggos. 

Then he went into the living room and grabbed El's pink heat pad that was laying on the couch. He put it in the microwave and set the timer for two minutes and thirty seconds. 

A second before the microwave beeped he opened it and put the heat pack on the back of his neck. He grabbed the two plates and cup and somehow managed to open El's door. He closed it quietly with his leg when he got inside. 

He set everything down on her dresser and turned to look at his sleeping girlfriend. She looked so peaceful. She laid on her side, facing him, with her blanket pulled up to his chin. Her hair was splayed across her pillow and her eyebrows were scrunched together. Okay, not one hundred percent peaceful. 

Mike took notice that it seemed that underneath the blanket, El was holding her stomach. Mike really didn't want to wake her up but he didn't want her to sleep in pain either. 

Mike knelt beside her bed and reached his left arm out to tangle his fingers in her hair. "El." Mike said quietly as he continued to run his fingers through her curls. "El." Nothing. He pressed his lips to the crease between her eyebrows. 

She mumbled in her sleep before slowly opening her eyes when Mike pulled away. "Mike?"

Mike smiled. "Hey, El."

El's face was scrunched in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Hopper told me to come over." El's eyebrows shot upwards. "I know. I was shocked too."

"Why'd he call?" El yawned and Mike found that really cute. He placed his hand on her cheek and caressed her cheekbone with his thumb. El saw the heat pack on her dresser and pointed at it. "Can you hand me that, please?"

"He didn't know what was wrong with you." Mike handed El the heat pack and she laughed while she set it against her stomach. "He started freaking out about how you were crabby this morning." He handed her the Ibuprofen and water.

"Thank you." She sat up and took the medicine. 

Mike pointed at the plates. "I made you some Eggos and brought chocolate." Mike told her and El's eyes lit up and a smile found it's way on to her face. She nodded and Mike went to go get them. She scooted over to the far side of the bed when he carried the plates over. Mike handed El her plate as he sat down on the other side of the bed. 

"What do you want to watch?" El asked her boyfriend, taking a bite of her waffle. 

Mike shrugged and said, "I'm here for you so you can pick." El smiled and got off the bed and out of the room to where the movies were. "El, you could have just told me and I would've got the movie and put it in."

El came back into her room, carrying four VHS tapes. "I'm not sick." She placed The Goonies tape in the player and pressed play. El got back onto the bed and finished her food. She set the plate on her nightstand and laid down. Mike laid down next to her and she pulled the blanket up to their waists.

El snuggled up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, laid her head on his chest, and intertwined their legs. She sighed when she was comfortable and her cramps subsided. "Thank you again, Mike."

Mike kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her. "Anything for you, El."

El smiled. She had the best boyfriend ever and she's never letting him go. Not again. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Mike smiled down at her.

The rest of the day, Mike took care of El. He rubbed her back when it started to hurt. He made her lunch when she got hungry. He put movies in when their last one ended. He got her more Ibuprofen when she was able to take more. He made sure she stayed hydrated- filling up her cup with water five times- and comfortable- getting extra blankets and pillows. He kissed her when he knew she needed or wanted one. He put up with her crabby attitude when it got later into the day and calmed her down with a hug or just sweet words.

He comforted her when she got emotional during a movie. He cuddled her as she took a much needed nap. He re-heated her heat pack whenever she asked with no hesitation. Heck, he even went to the store and bought her more chocolate. He took care of her.

And why wouldn't he? He loved her. 

The end.

Super fluffy and cute!