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Hungry Eyes

Mavis had woken up early, six o'clock. She pulled on a simple bright pink skirt along with a white tank and a denim jacket. Her converse matched the tank but her socks were two different colors, not like she cared. She spends the whole night mapping out all of Hawkins to search for El. She wrote down every place she could possibly be and where she could have wandered off to in such a short time, at night.

"Where the hell are you going?" a scratchy voice said from the couch as Mavis gasped and look over, the early sunrise hitting her Mom's face just right to show the horrible bloodshot eyes.

"Mother... I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you" Mavis said as she swallows hard as a bright pink diary was suddenly throw in front of her. oh shit.

"Another crush huh? Another god damn girl crush huh?" Sarah shouted as she stood up and stormed toward her daughter, who trembled.

"No, no the boys wrote that about a girl at sc-" Mavis began in a panic but was cut off by a large slap across the face, making the small girl fall to the ground with a thump. Her face stung, she could nearly feel the bruising start to form. Not the mention the ones from her fall just now as well.

"Get up" her strung-out mother demanded as Mavis rose to her feet, a brave face showed through her gloss eyes. She let out a shriek when Sarah shoved her against the wall and grabbed her face, thumbs pushing into the sides of her mouth.

"What did I tell you, huh? What did I say!" the woman called into the short girl's face, trying to get her to recite what she'd told her.

"I don't rem-" Mavis began, her voice shaky before the familiar stink hit her face again.

"Yes you do, tell me Mavis!" she yelled at her while pushed her body more against the wall, Mavis gripped the walkman in her hand tighter.

"It's wrong, disgusting, and I'm gonna rot in hell" Mavis breathed out as her Mom finally let her body go and moved to the table not even a few feet away.

"You disgust me, get out of my sign," the woman said calmly before she chucked the small glass, that was previously filled with scotch, right next to Mavis's head. She could feel the small shards cut her skin but she didn't pay it any mind, just hurried out the door and down the street. When she reached the stop sign, she leaned onto it and cried, she cried so hard. She rarely liked to show her emotions, she was afraid it would ruin her tough girl reputation.

Mavis got herself to calm down by taking deep breaths and counting backward, something Will taught her the first time she showed up at Castle Byers in bruises and tears. Mavis wipes her eyes at the thought, she knew he wouldn't want her to be sad. So she got herself together, for him. She set the walkman on the waistband of her skirt, letting the tune of some song play through the small wires that connected to her ears as she set off to find Eleven.

Mavis hid her face behind her curly hair as she walked through Hawkins, avoiding any sort of questioning or looks from the middle-aged Moms, that were loading groceries into their minivans. She realized the glass from the windows was shattered completely, as if something had broken it all at once.

"Yeah, it was like... it was like she did it with her mind! Like magic" she overheard the owner of the store say, he was talking on the phone to someone. Mavis' eyes widened in realization as she took off into the nearby woods, looking all over for some sign of the girl. She heard a loud yell and water splashing, making Mavis quickly turn toward the sound and run that way. It worried her, what if El fell into the water. She could barely speak, non the less swim.

And then she saw her, leaning over a small pond and yanking the wig off her head. She seemed angry, maybe even stressed out with boxes of egos next to her.

"You don't need it anyway" Mavis spoke up, making El turn around quickly. Her eyes and body softened slightly.

"Mav," she said, her voice was soft as Mav nodded and walked toward her. El shot up quickly and ran into her arms in a tight hug.

"Are you okay? Didn't anything happen to you?" Mavis asked her as she attempted to pull away but Eleven kept a grip on her.

"Nothing... happened," El said as she held onto her more for a few more minutes.

As the two walked oddly close through the woods, Mavis offered El the other was bud. The bald girl gave it a weird look before Mavis laughed and put it in her ear for her. El's eyes widened at the music.

hungry eyes

"This is my absolute favorite song," Mavis said to her as they continued to walk.

"Hungry eyes?" El asked confused, never hearing the saying before.

"It means if you see something you really want. Food, clothes, books, shoes-" Mavis began to list on before she was cut off.

"People?" El questioned as she kept a firm stare on the side of Mavis's face, watching as her cheeks flushed.

"S-sure" Mavis shuddered as she looked to her feet for a few more seconds.

"Maybe it can be like... our song" Mavis shrugged her shoulders, looking in the corner of her eye to see El's confused face.

"Song?" she questioned her with frowned eyebrows.

"Yeah, the music" the shorter girl nodded her head as El pointed to the walkman, while Mav nodded.

"Ours?" she asked again.

"Where no matter what we'll never be able to listen to this song without thinking of each other" Mavis said, swallowing hard when the bald girl didn't say anything.

"Ours," she said back with a grin.

A loud yell broke through the air, causing Mavis to jump. She knew that yell, she'd heard it multiple times.

"Dustin," she said while grabbing El's hand and taking off in the direction. Her lungs burned but she didn't stop, she knew he had to be in trouble.

When they came up to the cliff, Mavis caught slightly of Troy and James holding Dustin down. Mike suddenly jumped off the cliff, making his friends' eyes go wide, "Mike!"

The small boy didn't even make it halfway down until he was floating in mid-air. Mavis watched in shock until she turned to El and saw her using her powers to set him back on the cliff. Mavis took off in his direction while El tilted her head to the side and broke Troy's arm.

"Mike! Mike! Are you okay, look at me" Mavis began to panic as she held his face in her hands. He wrapped his arms around her quickly and breathed heavily while the two bullies quickly ran.

"Yeah, that's right! You better run! She's our friend and she's crazy! You come back here and she'll kill you! Do you hear me? She'll kill you sons of bitches! She'll kill you!" Dustin was shouting toward them while Mavis and Mike watched him do so. Mav heard a small fall as she looked over and noticed El feel to the gravel.

"Could everyone I care about stop getting hurt?" Mavis spoke out loud as she kneeled next to the girl, the boys not too far behind her.

"I'm sorry" El cried as she looked at Mike and held Mavis's hand.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" Mike asked her with a head shake.

"The gate. I opened it, I'm the monster" El sobbed as Mavis looked at her with sad eyes.

"No you're not, you're one of us. Through all of this, understand? You aren't the monster" Mavis shook her head while helping El sit up some so she could hold her head into the crock of her neck.

"You saved me, you saved me. Not a monster" Mike shook his head as he wrapped his arms around the two girls, holding them close to him. Dustin joined in quickly after.

Together.

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ugh soft, also roll credits.