IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A HAPPY REUNION,but now she’s a bit sad. Mike means the world to her————it feels as though he always has. Her life started the moment she met humanity. From the diner to the woods, and the very second she met him. Everything before then, everything with the lab, with Papa, with the experiments and powers and being forced to live each day in fear seems like a bad, bad dream. She opened the gate, she caused so many problems, and it caused Mike and his friends and their families to suffer. She’s caused so much pain, and the guilt is overwhelming. But that’s all over now, and she’s here, with him. Holding his hands. Looking up into his sorrowful brown eyes and wishing she could light them up again. The way he looks at her is always so kind, so bright, so warm, and makes her feel as though there’s nothing more important in the universe. He means everything to her.
As his hand meets her face, she gently presses her cheek against his palm. So soft and gentle. El doesn’t much like being touched. Not too much for too long by anyone she doesn’t trust or care for. The only other person who’s ever cradled her face in their hands was Papa, and the gesture used to terrify her. This, however, is different. It’s making up for lost time, it’s making up for all the pain in the past. All the grief and strife that went into making the two of them meet, making them become. . . whatever it is they are. She lets out a slow sigh, repeating, “Not our fault.” Though she’s wary. Wary that it is her fault. For existing. It’s a doubt she shoves away, knowing that without everything she wouldn’t have this: she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to go to the Snowball with him, and to stand here in front of him, existing in their own infinitesimal space of solace.
“Mike,” El places her hand on top of his, “what do we do?” How do they truly make up for that lost time? Ideally she would get to see him every day from now on, for forever; however, she knows that’s unrealistic. He has school, he has family, he has friends. She can’t always be there taking up his time and attention, no matter how much she’d like that to be the case. Soft lips press together to form a thin line, her expression pained, eyes round. Her soul is so curious to learn more about his. To be with him, always.
“I didn’t like missing you.” An obvious admission. “It hurt. I don’t want to ever have to miss you again.”
HE’S BECOME SO HARD WITH HER ABSENCE. He’s closed himself off from his friends, from the world. He’s become content with apathy and with self-loathing, forgetting what it is about himself that drew El to him in the first place. He’s lost his kindness, and now he’s finding it again. He’s finding it in the brown of her eyes, in the way her hand sits on top of his, in the way they stand here and the rest of the world falls away. She’s not the lost, barefoot girl in the woods anymore, but she doesn’t need to be. She’s so much MORE and Mike’s just trying to keep up.
“You won’t have to,” he promises, words almost too quick, too desperate to assure her. Eyes are wide and sincere, sad but real smile tugging at his mouth now. “We... We try to move on.” Easier said than done, he knows; more easily achieved when you’re not running from demons that will never truly go away. It’s all still out there, somewhere; monsters and monstrous men alike, waiting to tear them apart again. But Mike knows that he’ll do anything to keep her safe, just like he always has, and she’ll do the same for him. It’s why they belong here, together; because they’ll do anything to STAY that way.
Mike looks at her for a long moment before shifting, arms moving so that he can pull her into a hug. He knows she doesn’t love being touched, but he thinks this moment might be an exception; the movement is gentle, light enough so that she can pull away if she wants to. “I’m not going anywhere, okay? I PROMISE.” He knows what he’s saying. “Things are gonna be different now.” Head rests on top of hers, just lightly, eyes staring off into the darkness as he imagines it. “You’re not a secret anymore. We can hang out and go the arcade and- and I can teach you D&D.” A simple, stupid thing, but it brings a grin to his face as he pulls back to look at her. “How does that sound?”
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