Work Text:
Critical Hit
March 30th 1986.
Mike lay on the bed in his room. His parents were off at a town meeting to discuss the recent events. El closed the blinds and moved over to his bed, taking a seat on the edge. He reached over and rubbed her thigh “How are you doing? We haven’t had much private time lately to talk.” She turned and a tear rolled down her cheek, silently she climbed onto the bed and laid on top of Mike, wrapping her arms around him, she started sobbing. Weeks of emotion coming out in one giant wave. The bullying, the academic failure, lying to Mike, isolation, the events at Nina, Brenner’s death, her failure to save Max. She’d had emotional responses earlier, but always truncated by time pressures, or the circumstances she was in. Here, with Mike, she let out everything that she hadn’t been able to express before. Deep, body-wracking sobs as she clung tightly to him, burying her face in his shoulder.
Mike held her with one arm, stroking her back with the other. He sighed softly, clueless as to how best to comfort her, he just stuck with the basics, gentle touches, a series of small kisses to wherever he could reach, mostly her temple. Gradually the strength of her tears faded. She went from practically convulsing, to jerking, to barely twitching. After 15 minutes she finally relaxed and pushed herself up slightly, turning her head to face him, eyes red and moist still as she kissed him on the lips. “I’m...sorry.” she whispered, he smiled and rubbed her head playfully, replying “Nothing to be sorry for. That’s what being together means. I’m here for you when you need me.” she smiled and leaned in to kiss him, spending a few moments there, a rapid-fire barrage of little kisses as they held each other. After a bit the kissing slowed to a stop and El pushed herself up again, looking down into Mike’s eyes she opened her mouth to say something, then stopped and looked away. “What’s on your mind?” he asked. Looking back down at him she murmured “I want...more.” He raised an eyebrow “More...kissing?” She shook her head and her lip quivering slightly, replied “More...than kissing.”
It took a beat for Mike to understand, but then his eyes widened and his hands moved to her hips, gripping her. “O-oh.” he said, his mouth dry “Are you...sure that’s a good idea? I mean-” El cut him off and insistently whispered “I don’t CARE if it’s a good idea.” her hands moving to squeeze his shoulders “Please.” Mike swallowed and took a deep breath “I just...think it would be better if we waited. I love you but we’re...still pretty young.” El shook her head and moved a hand to take one of his from her hip “I don’t want to wait. Enough waiting already.” she interleaved her fingers with his and squeezed his hand “I want to be one with you.” Mike’s voice was a little unsteady as he returned the squeeze “Look, um, I can...I can get a condom tomorrow? Then we can-” El leaned in and kissed him on the lips, cutting him off, then murmured “What if there is no tomorrow?” Mike’s mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was about to say something, but El whispered, almost too quiet to hear “Please.” Mike’s shoulders slumped and he opened his eyes, looking into hers. After a few seconds he murmured “OK.”
Three weeks later
Joyce slid a stack of dishes over to El, who started to put them away. “So how were the waffles? the elder woman asked “It’s a new recipe I found last week.” El grinned “Almost as good as Eggos.” she chirped. Joyce rolled her eyes and scrubbed the waffle iron in the sink. After a beat the teen turned to Joyce and asked “Is it bad if your blood doesn’t come?” Joyce stopped and blinked, turning to El with a quizzical look on her face “What do you mean? Blood?” El gestured to her belly “My blood is overdue, it should have come a couple weeks ago.” she explained, taking the next stack of dishes and piling them up in the cupboard. Joyce’s eyes widened and her hands trembled as she put the waffle iron down in the sink. “El...have...have you and Mike been…” El turned to look at her, a blank expression betraying her lack of understanding, but seeing Joyce’s face made the gears in El’s head turn until a second later when they clicked into place. The girl’s eyes widened in a mirror of Joyce’s and a hand shot up to her mouth as she remembered the brief discussion she had gotten about what her period meant. Joyce’s voice quivered as she said “O-OK, um, we can...go the pharmacy and get a test. Yes there’s tests now. We, should be sure, i-i-i-it COULD be something else.” she nodded fervently “It could.” El nodded grimly in turn and said “Yes, yes. Test. We can do that now.” she was trembling slightly as the thoughts raced through her head. Joyce took El’s hand and held it tight “You...need to make a decision. Do you want...Mike...to know? We can do the test and then you can decide what to tell him later or...we can let him know now. It’s up to you.” El’s breath caught as she considered her options, but there was only one answer she could possibly give. “No lies, no secrets, I want him here.” she whispered. Joyce nodded and said “OK, go ahead and get in the car, I’ll call.” she took the phone and dialed the Wheeler’s number as El got her things, but she waited by the door instead of leaving, listening to the call. Karen picked up on the second ring “Hi Karen this is Joyce, is Mike there? No I don’t, if you could just tell him that Joyce and El are coming over to pick him up soon that would be great, thank you. Yes, thank you.” she hung up the phone and headed to the door with El, taking the teen’s hand and they headed to the car.
30 minutes later
Mike saw Joyce’s Pinto pull up and was down the stairs before they had even got out of the car. He was concerned, eyeing the pair like a hawk as he approached. It was unusual for them to call ahead to make sure he stayed put, El looked pale, and Joyce was a little more animated than usual. “What’s going on?” he called out as he walked out to the car. “Oh...nothing.” Joyce replied “We’ll talk in the car.” Karen opened the door to watch, being curious as well about what was happening. Once the trio was in the car she stepped back in and closed the door, her lips pursed. Something was up.
In the car Mike looked over at El, who was eyeing him silently “What’s going on?” he asked again. El held out her hand, showing him the pregnancy test. Mike stared for a moment, blinked and then rubbed his hand over his mouth “Oh...fuck.” he muttered, turning to look out the window for a second “Well, that’s.” he said before stopping and looking back to El, he reached over and took her hand, giving it a squeeze “I guess we’ll find out.” he said, a tear rolled down her cheek and she gave a weak smile and swallowed hard before murmuring “Yes.” The rest of the ride passed in near silence, but their hands never let go.
45 minutes later
Mike’s leg bounced rapidly as he rocked back and forth on the couch. “How...long does this take?” he asked Joyce. She shrugged “I don’t know, I haven’t had to use one. She may just be in there thinking though.” Mike nodded “Yeah that..makes sense.” Joyce paced a few more times in silence then sat down next to Mike “Did you, I don’t...mean to pry, I’m not your mother. Did you use protection?” she asked, his lips compressed to a thin line, answer enough in itself, but before he could speak the bathroom door opened and El stepped out, an inscrutable look on her face. Mike looked up to her “What’s it say?” he asked. She silently walked over, sat opposite to Joyce next to him, and handed the test to him. He looked at it, squinted, then asked “What does two lines mean?” El gave a soft huff and pointed to the legend under his thumb. He moved it and then took a deep, shuddering breath. “Oh. That’s. Oh boy.” he said, his head swimming. El slid an arm around him and pressed herself against his side, he mirrored the motion, the test slipping from his fingers in the process to clatter to the ground. They sat in silence for a moment and then Mike asked “Do you...want a baby?” El pursed her lips and then sighed, looking up at him she softly replied “I do now.” He looked down and smiled “Then I guess we’re having a baby.” Joyce put her hands to her mouth, a couple of tears leaking out of her eyes “Ooooooo, this is...I was hoping it wouldn’t be so soon, but I am, I am happy that you two are together for this, I think you’re a great couple.” Mike and El smiled and clasped hands, leaning against each other.
A few moments later El sat up straight and turned to the others “So. What happens now?” she asked. Mike heaved a sigh and sat upright “I think...we should tell everyone. They’re gonna find out sooner or later, and it’s Saturday morning, so most of them shouldn’t be doing anything. What do you think?” El nodded “Yes. We should.” Mike stood and went to the phone, dialing his home number he shook his head and murmured “What a day, and it’s barely noon.” The phone rang three times and his mom picked up. “Hey mom, I’m...uh...gonna have a bunch of people over for a little bit. It’s not like a party or anything I just need to talk to everyone. Gonna tell them to be in around 2. Don’t worry about like, food or anything. Just save a chair at the head of the table. No mom, it’s important. Please. Thank you. See you soon. Love you.” ending the call he immediately started dialing the next number. El stood and moved up behind him, wrapping her arms around him and holding him as he went through the list, calling up everyone he wanted to tell.
2:05PM
Joyce’s car rolled into the driveway in front of the Wheeler residence, there was a couple cars and a pile of bikes already. Mike could tell by the spread that almost everyone was already there. Hopper was rolling in just behind them as they got out of the car. El waved to him as they made their way inside, but they didn’t wait. When El and Mike appeared everyone was chatting already, he hadn’t told anyone that he was calling everyone else, so there was quite a bit of confusion going around. “In here everyone.” he said, gesturing to the dining room, Mike guided El to the seat at the head of the table, standing beside her as everyone filtered in, Karen and Ted taking up the spots right next to El on the left, everyone else arrayed around the table and against the walls. “What’s going on?” Lucas asked “Why’d you call everyone here? Have you heard something about Vecna?” Mike shook his head and looked at El “Uh, we probably should have decided who was going to say it before we got here…” Most of the adults immediately understood the implication, hands moved to mouths, or eyes. El smiled to Mike and said “I’ll say it.” then turned to the crowd and, in a slightly quavering voice stated “I’m pregnant.”
There was a beat of silence, then a collective intake of breath. Nancy started to say something but was interrupted as Hopper shot to his feet.
“ What did you-” he started, staring at Mike intensely.
El scowled and said “Hopper.” but he didn’t seem to notice.
Taking a step forward he pointed at Mike “Irresponsible little-”
El raised her voice “HOPPER.”
He was undeterred “I can’t believe you would-”
El screamed “HOPPER!”
He reached out to grab Mike’s shirt and half the room lurched and cried out in indignation, but their movements were halted when he suddenly shot a few inches in the air, causing his grab to miss Mike. He dangled for a second and the Wheeler parents stared. They had been told that El was special, but they hadn’t actually SEEN her in action yet. Hopper glowered as El moved her hand, moving him around the table the long way, facing the same direction, until he was next to her. She twisted her wrist to turn him to face her direction, then dropped her hand to make him thump onto his feet. She took a deep breath and wiped the blood from her nose “MY choice. Not his.” Hopper grumbled “Don’t you take the blame for-” but she cut him off “I asked, he said NO. He said later, I said now.” she frowned and sighed “He said...condom tomorrow. I said...may not have a tomorrow. My choice. Not. His.” Mike scowled at Hopper who returned the glare. Hopper grunted “Fine.” then pointed at Mike “We’ll talk about this later.” El cut in “No. You won’t. Discussion. Over.”
Silence fell over the room for a second, but only a second. Hopper spoke up again “It’s OK, we can fix this.” he said pacing a few steps back and forth. “Fix?” El asked, squinting in confusion. “We’ll...get you an abortion, it’s not a big deal, not expensive.” he continued. The teen tilted her head “What is...abortion?” Hopper threw his hands up in the air and turned on Mike again “You didn’t even give her her options?!” he barked. El repeated “What is, abortion?” Mike growled back “I asked her if she wanted a baby, she said ‘I do now.’ That discussion is over.” El slapped the table “What is abortion?” An uneasy silence fell again for a couple seconds before Joyce spoke up. “Um, a doctor, puts..uh something inside you and…” she raised her hand and twirled her wrist a little “Scrapes the baby out.” El stared for a second and then whispered “Kills?” Joyce nodded, El recoiled and shook her head “No. Nono. No. No abortion.” Mike gripped her shoulder and murmured “No abortion.” to her.
Hopper put his head in his hands “Goddamnit El think! Your life is already hard, this is gonna make it a lot harder.” El scowled and retorted “If life is harder, I will be harder.” another silence fell on the room, the people that were standing shuffled a little, this was clearly not going well. Karen straightened and turned to Hopper “Why does it have to be harder?” she asked. He replied “It’s a baby Karen. It’s going to require constant attention, she has school and...she’s El. I love her to death but a baby is hard enough for a NORMAL girl and..she’s not...normal.” Karen waved a hand and said “So the solution is obvious then. We make it easier.” Hopper frowned and furrowed his brow at her. Karen continued “El moves in with us, in Mike’s room. The whole point of keeping them separate is to PREVENT her from getting pregnant, but he can’t make her DOUBLE pregnant so whatever. He takes care of her while she’s pregnant, then when the baby is here, I’ll take care of it during the day. While I CERTAINLY wasn’t planning on raising kids in my” she paused and shook her head “Forties, I’ve been raising kids for almost 2 decades now and I already have Holly, one more isn’t going to kill me, especially since El will be taking over when she gets back from school. It’ll be like getting Holly a baby sister or brother.” Hopper sighed, but had apparently run out of complaints he was willing to voice. El looked at Karen, beaming “You will help?” she asked softly. Karen waved a hand dismissively “Of course I will honey. That’s my grandchild inside you. Do you think we’re going to toss Mike out on the street because he knocked you up or something? Hah! Besides, I’ll make sure you do most of the work, you’ll get to help ME with Holly when you’re around! I’ll get my labor back.” she winked to the girl and reached out to take El’s hand “Welcome to the Wheeler family. We’ll make it official as soon as it’s legal” she gave Mike a pointed look “but you’re one of us now.”
The mood in the room had shifted, now that Hopper had been spurned. Smiles and murmurs of congratulations were flowing. Ted raised his head, he had been silent so far, seemingly lost in thought, or maybe asleep. “So that’s the final decision then?” he asked, the mood froze, was Ted now going to make a scene? “I think so.” Karen replied. Ted pursed his lips and abruptly stood, making his way out of the room. Karen frowned and called “Ted!” From the kitchen came his reply “You remember that Christmas party for work 6 years ago?” she squinted “Not really, they all kind of blur together.” A moment later Ted appeared in the doorway, holding a bottle “The one where I won the raffle. $500 a bottle, you wanted to drink it that New Years, but I said no, we were gonna save it for a special occasion.” the tension in the room dissipated again. Ted continued “I was expecting it to be a wedding” he pointed the bottle at Nancy “But I suppose a first grandchild fits the bill too.” “I’ll get the glasses” Karen said, starting to stand, but Ted put a hand on her shoulder “Oh don’t worry about that, this doesn’t look like a fancy bunch.” he replied, starting to wiggle at the cork “You COULD argue that we should save it until the birth, but given everything that’s been going on I think that we should be doing good things now instead of hoping we can do them 9 months later.”
With a loud POP the cork shot off, and Ted raised the bottle “To El, Mike, and the newest Wheeler.” he said before taking a sip from the champagne. Turning to his left he held the bottle out to Dustin. The young man hesitated, then reached for it “Me?” he asked “You sure?” Ted shrugged “Apparently you’re old enough to be a dad, as far as I’m concerned that means you’re old enough to celebrate.” he said “I’m certainly not gonna tell anyone.” Dustin took a sip and handed it off to Lucas. As the bottle made it’s way around the room Karen leaned in a little towards Mike and El and asked “I...if you don’t want to answer I’ll understand it’s private and there’s a crowd but...have you two been...like...a lot?” Mike shook his head and El’s cheeks reddened a little “Just the once.” she replied.
Dustin laughed “You mean you got her pregnant on the first try?!” Lucas shook his head “You know what that means right?” Will smirked and nodded “Natural 20!” The boys busted out laughing, the older kids rolled their eyes, the adults exchanged puzzled looks.
El took Mike’s hand, tilted her head back and pulled him down for a kiss. Once it broke she smiled and murmured “Critical. Hit!” His cheeks burned red as he smiled back to her.