I've recently started watching Stranger Things. Idk why I didn't do it before, but it's really good. I've decided to start this series of one-shots of El learning new words and stuff like that. Anyway, hopefully you enjoy! Also, btw, Mike calls Eleven beautiful in S02E09, at the Snowball. So let's say that this is set in between the closing of the gate and the Snowball.

Words w/out AN: 1016

Pairing(s): Mileven

I own nothing.

Beautiful and More

El got dropped off at Mike's place five minutes ago.

Hopper told her to behave and to not draw too much attention and all of the usual warnings he gives her whenever she goes out, but eventually he stopped and pulled her into a hug. He said goodbye and said he was going to pick her up later on, that night. She climbed his front steps and opened the door into Mike's house.

The house seemed empty at first, the kitchen, which Mrs. Wheeler was usually in was empty. El couldn't hear any signs of other people, but she knew someone had to be here since their cars were still outside. Even Mike's dad's La-Z-Boy was empty, and that surprised El, since Mr. Wheeler was almost always sitting on it, either doing work or taking a nap. El drew her eyes away from the empty recliner to a noise coming from the stairs. She stiffened her body, prepared to attack if it was someone bad. El glanced at Nancy's form, descending the stairs quickly. El instantly relaxed, since it was someone she knew.

Nancy was wearing a dress that her and El had picked out earlier that week. It was a light pink with a lot of ruffles down the sides. El liked the ruffles. Her hair was really fancy, too. Cascading down her back in light curls.

"Aww, El! You look so nice." She said. "Mike's just upstairs changing clothes. He'll be down eventually."

El nodded, she looked up at Nancy and sincerely smiled. "You look nice, too."

Nancy grinned at her and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you so much! It means a lot. I have to go right now though. Jonathan and I are hanging out before the dinner in a couple hours. I'll see you there?"

El nodded, and Nancy briskly walked out the front door, not before sending El a wave and a smile. El waited on the couch in their living room, but eventually got bored of waiting for Mike. She slowly crept up the stairs towards his room. Once she was outside of his door, she pushed it open without thought. In hindsight, she probably could've just opened the door on a naked Mike. It was too late now. The door crashed onto the wall and Mike whirled around in surprise. He was in the middle of tying his tie, not naked when his jaw dropped and he muttered a few words.

El heard the word and was confused. Mainly because she's never heard it before. It was a really long word, at least it seemed like it since there were a lot of noises you needed to make to say it. Bee-you-tea-full, is what it sounded like. Mike just called her that. He was staring at her, an awestruck look on his face. Usually he called her pretty, or cute. This new word felt like those, since Mike had the same, slightly embarrassed, expression on his face whenever he called her that. It still made her insides bounce around like pretty, or cute. So El figured it must be a compliment.

She tried to figure out what the word was on her own. She probably could've, but she liked to hear Mike speak to her. He was always patient and he never got mad at her. Plus she liked to hear his voice, but that was just a bonus. She tilted her head to the side and a confused expression filled her face. Mike saw her and instantly recognized it.

"Beautiful. It's a compliment." El smiled, since she figured that part out, all on her own. "It's like pretty, but more." Mike tried to explain, his hands gesturing in the air as he tried to elaborate further on how to describe it.

"Like pretty, but more?" El asked again, confusion filling her face again. "How can it be more?"

Mike thought for a moment, trying to convey how he felt about her using just words. "Well you know how you can like things?" El nodded, "And you can love things? Like, you like pancakes for breakfast, but you love Eggos even more. You still like both things, but love shows you like that thing extra. That's like beautiful. I still think you're pretty, but beautiful shows I think you look extra pretty."

El nodded, accepting Mike's explanation. She did love Eggos, so if Mike called her beautiful, he must think she's better than pretty. Her cheeks flushed at the thought. She looked down at what she was wearing, which must have caused Mike to call her beautiful. It was a dress she got from Nancy, when they went shopping together.

"Yeah, anyways, I really like that dress." Mike stuttered out, getting over his initial reaction of El in the dress.

She took a look at Mike's clothes. He was wearing a button-up, dress shirt. Mike and her were having a formal dinner with some of Mike's family members later on that night, so she wanted to look extra good for it. Mike's mom had forced him to dress up too, but she didn't force El. It was okay though, since El liked the dress she was wearing and she always liked spending time with Mike, even at a family dinner.

He had a pair of dark jeans to go with the dress shirt and that's when El realized something. Mike looked really good. Sure, she thought he always looked good, but today was something different. The words slipped out before she really thought about it. She must've been excited since she got to learn a new word today.

"Mike, you look beautiful, too."

Mike's cheeks immediately turned red. He seemed embarrassed and El wondered if she did anything wrong.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Uhh, yeah I'm fine. It's just you don't really call guys beautiful. You call them handsome. It means the same thing."

El nodded in understanding and corrected herself. "Ah, well you look very handsome."

Mike smiled at her and she smiled back, proud that she got to learn two new words that day.