until death do us part

✈︎

She was beautiful. Everything about her. Her golden curls framing the side of her face and small tendrils caressed the nape of her neck and the sides of her cheeks. Honey dew eyes stared back at her painting canvas, looking at the colors blended together with such concentration. Her eyes were squinted as she looked down at it, forming small wrinkles in between her eyebrows. Everything about El Hopper was simply perfect in Mike Wheeler's eyes.

Mike couldn't think of another time where El had looked so beautiful, the golden light cascading in the room in which they were situated in. El had to finish an art project for school and Mike agreed to stay with her after school to finish it. He would always do anything for her, even if it meant putting off most of his homework.

El was trying to create the piece of art that she would submit to Lorenzo de Medici, only one of the best art schools in Italy, to see if she could qualify as a student there. There mustn't be any mistakes within this piece, every precise movement of her hand and the paintbrush was crucial. Even one small microscopic dot could ruin her whole piece. That's why she needed Mike there, to help motivate her throughout the whole process.

They could be there for hours, but that didn't matter to Mike. This might as well be his excuse to stare at El without her even noticing. He definitely took advantage of that.

Her hand was loosely gripping the paint brush, he noticed that she never tensed her hand. If she did so, one swipe with the paintbrush could be too harsh and destroy her piece. She was biting on her bottom lip in full concentration, her small pearl white fang was peaking out of the side. Her posture was lightly slumped over, her back needing some sort of support after sitting on a stool for hours on end.

Mike thought maybe she should take a break, she'd been that way for at least 3 hours. "Don't you think you should take some sort of break, Picasso?" Mike asked, reluctantly reaching out to tap her arm before he retreated his hand quickly, not wanting to mess her up.

She mumbled something in response before grabbing a smaller and much thinner paint brush, dipping only the end in white paint before adding one dot to the canvas. She put the brush down carefully and looked at her canvas and then back at Mike.

"I'm almost done." She said with a smile. That smile got Mike every time, ever since 1st grade he's been completely in love with that smile. The smile where her small white fangs popped out of the side and how her top teeth slightly bit the bottom of her lip, her eyes squinting as she did so.

Mike glanced his dark eyes towards the canvas and back at his best friend. "It looks amazing." He said honestly, and it was. Mike never knew you could draw something so... realistic and so accurate just with a few paint brushes. Her task was to paint a scenery completely from her head with oil paint. El had always been artistically inclined but this was the toughest things she had to overcome. Nevertheless, it was incredible.

El sighed, "Thank you. Do you think it will get me in? I mean, at least for a summer program." She asked. There were a lot of talented people in the world, but to get into Lorenzo de Medici was only for the best.

"They would be completely insane to think that that's not good enough." Mike admitted, giving her a shy smile. "You're mini Picasso, how could they not want that?!" Mike teased. "Mike, wrong artist. Picasso was an abstract artist." El giggled. "Well I don't know any other artists and I'm not going to call you some random italian dude so, Picasso it is."

El laughed and Mike swore, every time she laughed his heart skipped a beat. "You're right," She glanced back at her canvas with a small turn of her head. "I'll let most of that dry and work on the rest of it tomorrow. Can we go home?" El asked as she walked over to the sink to wash her hands and arms.

"Sure."

They walked out of the schools art room side by side, every so often their hands brushing against each other in the slightest way. When they got to Mike's car El got in the passenger seat and Mike in the drivers, he started the car and pulled out of the school parking lot.

"When do you have to submit your painting?" Mike asked. "I've told you this a billion times!""I just want to make sure you don't miss the date!"

"As if I could forget." El sighed, "Am I to be mistaken or is artwork replacing me!?" Mike gasped, "Never, silly. You know that I love you more than artwork, forever and always." Though Mike knew the love she was talking about was simply platonic but the love he felt for her was way beyond that. It was just unexplainable, no words could describe it.

The rest of the car ride to El's house was mostly silent, a few comments every few seconds but the rest filled with the quiet melody of music weaving through the car speakers. When they did finally arrive to her house Mike parked his car in the driveway, there were no lights on in the house in front of them so Hopper must still be at work.

They unbuckled their seatbelts and got out of the car. El pulled her house keys out of her back pocket and went to unlock the oak door in front of her. Mike stood off to the side, his dark eyes never leaving her figure. It's been years and Mike still cannot get over how beautiful she is. El glanced over at him and smiled before opening the door, "What are you staring at, freakzoid?"

Mike flushed and shook his head, "Nothing. Just the big pimple on your forehead!" He teased before walking inside the house quickly. "wait what?! I've had one on my face the whole day and you didn't say anything?!" El scoffs as she quickly runs to the bathroom to see this pimple once and for all, but when she looks in the mirror there appears to be nothing on her face, just some smudged paint on her cheek.

El rolls her eyes and wipes the paint off before walking out to the living room to scold Mike. "Don't do that!" She saids loudly as she swats his head with her hand. "I didn't do anything! It must have gone away..." Mike admits quietly, followed by a mischievous smirk.

El pulls her middle finger up and flashs it at him before walking to the kitchen. She searched through her kitchen cabinets and groaned when she found nothing good to eat in them. "Why do we never have any damn food?" She mumbled. Then, Mike stood up and walked to the kitchen to inspect these "empty" cabinets, then he looked through the freezer and the fridge and pulled out a package of dinosaur chicken nuggets. He showed it to El, hiding behind it with a grin.

"Oh god, do you really want to eat those?" She laughed, Mike put the package down and shrugged. "Do we have any other options?"

She sighed, "No,"

"What do you have against them? They're delicious."

"That's what you say, you probably have to eat them every night with Holly." Mike rolls his eyes, "When am I ever at home?" He asks. "I guess you're right." Mike was almost never at his house, except for when he had to go home to sleep, but that rarely happened either. He practically lived at El's house. There was no particular reason, Mike never wanted to leave El's side and El never wanted to leave his.

"So, can we eat them?" Mike pleaded, "Fine you toddler. Why do you suddenly have an obsession with them?" MIke scoffed, "Mentioning them once does not lead me to have an obsession, Picasso."

Mike got a cookie sheet out and started placing the dinosaur shaped nuggets onto the pan and then he clicked a button on the oven to start preheating it. He walked over to the living room where El was sitting on the couch watching the TV and he sat down next to her.

"Sitting in that room and watching you paint is tiring." Mike says, making El turn and smile at him. "You didn't have to stay. Maybe visit your family?"

"As if. I'd never leave your side, my love." El rolled her eyes, "Quit it with the nicknames bud."

"But it's true! You are the only female interested in my life."

And I wouldn't have it any other way, he thought. El giggled, "How could you just guess that I am interested in your life? Because that's not true."

"Keep telling yourself that. Maybe one day you'll start believing it." El chuckled and kept her eyes on the screen in front of her. The only thing Mike watched was El Hopper, his head turned just enough to see her out of the corner of his eye, yet still being able to convince her that he was watching the same screen as her. The only story he would ever be interested in was the story of El Hopper, and he could tell the whole thing to you. He knew every single inch of her, by one single glance at her facial expression he could tell every single thought passing through her mind.

Mike yawned and placed his head on her shoulder, finding comfort in a simple touch. El smiled and put her head on top of his, making Mike's heart race ten times faster. This was not the first time they'd done that and yet every time they did it made Mike's heart hammer inside his chest. But nevertheless, he loved it, the smell of her coconut shampoo drifting in the air and the scent of her strawberry chapstick floating down to his nose was how he wanted to end every single day of his life.

Of course, all good, innocent moments have to come to an end. The oven beeped loudly meaning that it was ready for the long forgotten chicken nuggets. Mike sighed and got up to place them in the oven, clicking a few more buttons and then walking back to the couch. During the time that he had gotten up, El switched positions so her feet were propped up against the arm of the deep blue couch. Mike sat down next to her head and El moved her head so that it was resting on his leg.

She stared up at him with a foggy look in her eyes, those glorious honey eyes staring up at Mike, he could see her biting in the inside of her cheek. Mike knew that meant she was thinking, her eyes glazed over every inch of his face like this was the last time she'd ever see it. He looked down at her, her hazelnut colored hair spread around her face, small strands of it splayed across his legs. He offered a shy smile towards her and she returned it then turned her head to the TV while her hand made small shapes on the top of his kneecap.

"What were you thinking about?" Mike asked, El turned her head to look at him again. "Huh?"

"Just now, you were thinking. What about?"

El shook her head, that boy knew her better than anyone else in the universe. "Nothing, I was just looking at you. Are you the only one allowed to stare?" She asked. Mike's cheeks became rosey in embarrassment. "Thought I'd never notice? C'mon, I can feel you staring at me."

Mike chuckled, "Alright! You got me. I just don't want to miss anything." El didn't reply, not knowing what he meant. Inside his head he was telling the story of El, her story. The one where he could remember the little things from their lives, to bittersweet memories along with the joyful and thrilling memories. Whenever he wasn't with her, his mind would replay the story over and over from the time that they met until they last saw each other. He didn't want to miss a thing, the book inside his head contained everything he loved about her.

They stayed like that for a little while until El eventually dozen off. When the timer for the nuggets went off Mike slowly stood up and placed a pillow underneath her head before walking to the kitchen to take them out of the oven. He set them out onto the stove so that they could cool off and he went to the fridge to retrieve some condiments. He found their favorite, barbeque, neither of them would eat chicken nuggets with anything else. It just seemed wrong.

He set it on the table and then got some paper plates, glass dishes would mean having to wash them off and Mike just didn't want to deal with that. He set the paper plates on the marble counter next to the stove and got a spatula to take the nuggets off the cookie pan and onto the plates. He gave El more than him, for he wasn't too hungry but he knew El would be.

He then put the full plates on the table and walked back to the couch to wake El. He knelt down next to her face, she looked so peaceful it hurt him to have to wake her. He poked her cheek and when that didn't work he started poking the rest of her face while he said, "Get up,"

Eventually, she woke up and grumbled something before opening her eyes to look at who had woken her. When she saw Mike she sat up and rubbed her eyes, "What?" She mumbled, "Dinner, you can't go to sleep on an empty stomach. You are a growing girl! You need your nutrients!"

"Oh god, quit making fun of me for going through puberty late." Mike rolled his eyes, "Are you in fact not still growing?"

"I'm not answering that." She said before getting up off the couch and shuffling towards the table. "So is that a yes?" Mike teased from behind her. El glared at him as she sat down and picked up the barbeque and putting a small puddle of it on the corner of her plate. Mike sat down across from her, "These were finely crafted by yours truly, enjoy."

El giggled before taking a bite, chewing carefully as she inspected every bite. Once she swallowed she looked back at Mike. "I score your cooking skills, zero out of one hundred. But the dinosaur is very artistically accurate. The taste is good, but not as good as Mcdonalds."

Mike grinned before eating a nugget off of his plate. "See? They're not that bad." He says honestly. After all, it just tasted like some chicken nugget from the store. They ate with the sound of the TV playing some random movie behind them. Then, they heard the sound of the garage opening and closing soon after followed by someone walking into the door and taking their shoes off. Hopper walked into the kitchen and rolled his eyes when he saw his daughter and her best friend sitting in the kitchen.

"What are you eating?" He scoffs, "Dinosaur chicken nuggets." Mike says honestly, "When did I even buy those?" The teenage boy shrugged before taking a bite out of another one. "How was work, old man?" Mike asked. Hopper took off his hat and walked to the fridge to retrieve a well deserved beer, "Fine."

"Crack any mysteries?" Mike questioned, "Nope." The boy rolled his eyes, "Did anything interesting happen?" Hopper shook his head, "Nope." He replied once more. "Geez, you'd think being the Chief of Police would be a fun job. Guess it's just as boring as the man himself." Mike remarked smartly. "Watch it kid, I could cut your tongue out and get away with it."

Mike rolled his eyes, "You know you love me." Hopper chuckled, "As if. You only keep my daughter happy and if she's happy I'm happy. That's the only reason I let you stick around."

"Whatever, you can lie all you want but I will always know the truth." El giggled at this and kicked his leg under the table, "Cut it out," She whispers. Mike does as he is told, he eats the last nugget off of his plate and takes it over to the trash and throws it out. "I'm gonna head home." Mike says to El, who then pulls him into a separate hallway. "Can you stay?" She asks, as if Mike could ever say no to her. "Sure, unlock your window and I'll be back in a jiffy."

El smiles and stands on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck, Mike returns the favor and pulls her closer to him. "See you later, weirdo." She says as they walk towards the front door. "Goodbye, my love. Until death do us part." He says jokingly, he waves at her before walking out of the door, spinning his car keys around his finger.

Mike walks out to his car and starts it and pulls out of the driveway to head to his house, which is only a few houses down the street. When he arrives to his house he parks his car behind his mothers and walks into the house. His parents are in the living room watching TV so he runs up the stairs to his room to grab some clothes for the day to come. He puts them neatly in a bag and then goes back down the stairs and stops when he passes the living room.

"I'm sleeping at El's." He says nonchalantly, his parents know that Mike cannot be stopped when it involves El so they learned to just let him do whatever with her. "Okay, love you." His mother calls as he walks out of the door, grabbing a coat on his way.

Though summer vacation was coming soon, nights were still cool in Hawkins, even when the days were devastatingly hot. If Mike ever wants to sleep at El's, he has to walk there so that Hopper doesn't know he is there. Mike and Hopper's relationship is friendly but if Hopper knew he was staying in El's room almost every night, he would flip his shit.

Mike arrived at El's house and knew which room was hers, never would he forget. He saw the window was slightly ajar and he pushed it open, he stepped on a small wooden milk crate which they had placed there only years ago so Mike wouldn't fall. El was on her bed reading one of Mike's comics when she saw his arm come through the window.

She got up quickly to push the rest of the window up and help him through, he stumbled in as quietly as he could and then looked up at El. She had her short hair in a ponytail, which she almost never did but Mike always liked it when she did it like that. "I like your hair." He commented as he flicked the ponytail, El rolled her eyes and swatted his hand away.

Mike put his bag down and then walked to the bathroom to change into some more comfortable clothing. He brushed his teeth with his toothbrush and set it back into the cup next to El's, he then walked out and saw El once again reading his comic under the comforting covers of her bed.

When she saw him walk out of the bathroom she scooted over in her bed so he would have room next to her. Mike walked over to close the window and then walked to over to her bed where he got in next to her quietly.

"Which comic you readin'?" He whispers, El shows the paperback book to him which reads 'The Amazing Spiderman'. Mike nods, he read that one about 2 years ago but all of the comics he has already read he gives to El. "You like it?" He asked, El nods and closes the small book and sets it on her dresser and then turns the light off and lays back down.

They face each other, only inches apart but there is no tension. None at all. But still, the story in Mike's head is writing down every detail his eyes see. Her eyes are tired but refuse to sleep right now. He knows what she wants and doesn't hesitate to open his arms for her to mosey her way into. El smiled and scoots forward so that her face is pressed up against his chest. To El, Mike is her own personal heater. Mike wraps his arms around her back and pulls her in so that she can't slip away from his hold. His head rests on top of hers and he can finally fall asleep with the girl he loves more than the world itself.

Author's Note:

I'm so in love with this already. I got very into this chapter so that's why it's so long but hope you enjoyed! This is just a little taste of what is to come!