Searching For Your Heart, The Resolution. PG-13, romance/fluff/friendship, no-powers AU, Mike/Eleven.
One of the world's biggest action movie superstars is coming to town, and every kid in Hawkins High is determined to win MTV's back-to-school scavenger hunt and get a face-to-face meeting with their idol. Mike and his friends are sure they've got this in the bag— until the contest throws a wrench in their plans and their only shot at winning is partnering up with Mike's longtime crush, El Hopper.

Note: This is a high-school AU where Eleven doesn't have her powers, but it still takes place in the 80s because the internet would make it way too easy, lol. xD

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It's not that Mike had expected the announcement that he had a girlfriend to be some huge deal or anything, but he'd at least expected it to make a little bit more of a splash than this.

The most immediate reaction to his unexpected declaration at the dinner table on Thursday night was Holly's, which consisted of blinking at him repeatedly and then exclaiming a visceral "Yuck!" as if the mere thought of anyone choosing to date him was unthinkable. He glared at her, but tried not to take it personally— she was just in the "the opposite sex has cooties" stage and anyone having a girlfriend or boyfriend was yucky to her.

It took his father a few more seconds to process the revelation, only looking up from his meatloaf when he felt his wife's pointed look on him. "Did you just say you have a girlfriend? A real one?" Mike tried really hard not to roll his eyes. "Well," was the extent of Ted's reaction when Mike confirmed that, yes, his girlfriend was not imaginary. "Good on you, son," he then added in a monotone before returning to his dinner like nothing had happened.

His mother, bless her heart, at least tried to be supportive. "That's great, sweetie!" Karen said once she stopped glaring at Ted, turning to her middle child with a warm smile. "Is it that El girl you've been hanging out with lately?" she inquired, launching into a quick few questions as Mike did his best to describe El to her, and making sure to extend a dinner invitation for this girl who has suddenly become so important in her son's life. Of course, that took all of five minutes and then they all went back to being silent or listening to Holly complain about her friends from school.

He found himself almost missing Nancy— if she had been home for this, she would've teased him, for sure, but at least she would've shown a little bit more interest in El and how their relationship came to be. Maybe he ought to call his sister; that was something he hadn't done in quite a while. She'd probably like that.

After dinner he went up to his room, officially to work on school work but mostly just to sulk about the fact that his family simply couldn't seem to care about anything that was important to him. Maybe he could take a page out of Max's book and just spend more time at El's on the regular. Even though his girlfriend's father, the chief of police, was intimidating as all get out, he at least tried to get to know him somewhat. At least after the initial awkwardness of them coming in and revealing the new nature of their relationship, that is.

("Oh no. Are you kids doing that contest thing here again? Are the other four coming over, too? Kiddo, you gotta let me know this stuff ahead of time so that I can be mentally prepared to have my house invaded by a bunch of teenagers..."

"Nope. The others aren't coming today. Just the one boyfriend."

"...Huh.")

And sure, all through dinner he was subjected to the 1980s version of the Spanish Inquisition and it was quite possibly the scariest experience of his life, but considering El insisted the chief liked him and he'd made it through the evening without the older man expressly forbidding him from dating his only daughter, he figured he'd done okay.

He laid down on his bed looking up at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers on his ceiling while musing to himself about how much easier El would have it, meeting his family. Sure, his father would probably be disinterested at best or unwittingly put his foot in his mouth at worst, but his mother was going to love El; she was so perfectly polite and open and sociable, it was hard to imagine that she wouldn't win Karen over within seconds of arriving at their home. Even Holly, despite her current reticence about boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, was sure to like El solely on the basis that she was pretty and sweet, and decidedly cooler than Mike could ever be. They'd probably bond over their mutual love of New Kids on the Block or something.

He was still thinking about this when the phone rang. Stretching his hand to grab the device on his side table (he'd pulled Nancy's line into his room after his sister left for college— not like she was going to use it, right?) and picked up the call before anyone else at home could get to it. "Hello?"

"Hey there, stranger," El's voice came through the line and just like that he felt the corners of his mouth start quirking up, all his previous moodiness lifted in a second. "Whatcha doing?"

He chuckled. "It's like I called you with my mind," he said, still smiling to himself. One of the best parts of their relationship being official was that they could now talk to each other on the phone whenever they wanted without it being pointed out as odd by other people, and without it getting awkward because of hidden feelings they were both afraid to reveal. Sure, they'd seen each other just a few hours ago while at school, but it already felt like it had been too long since he'd heard her voice, and he was glad she had thought to call him.

"Aww," he heard her coo on the other side of the call. "You were thinking about me?"

He couldn't help but snort. "Well, I usually am," he admitted, glad that she wasn't there to see him blush, "but today more than ever because over dinner I told my family about you, so I kinda had that in mind when I came back up to my room."

"Oh," El exclaimed, sounding surprised. "You should've told me you were going to do that. Did you want me to be there when you told them? I wouldn't have minded since you were here when I told my dad and all..."

"Nah, don't worry about it," he waved off her concern quickly. In fact, he rather preferred that she wasn't there, precisely because he didn't want her to witness firsthand his family's reaction— or rather, the lack thereof. "They're used to Nancy having boyfriends and such, so my having a girlfriend is not much of a novelty for them." That wasn't quite the reason for his family's disinterest, certainly, but he didn't want to bum El out from the get-go. "But, hey, my mom did ask me to extend a dinner invitation for you sometime soon," he added, knowing that at least put a better spin on things.

"That sounds nice," she replied in an upbeat tone of voice, sounding like she was truly looking forward to it. "I'd love to have dinner with your family. Maybe after we're done with the scavenger hunt?" she suggested. "It might be a little weird if we both end up doing the meet-the-parents routine before we've even gone on our first official date."

"Only because you don't want to count the minigolf course as an actual date," Mike retorted with a laugh as he brought an arm up to rest between his pillow and the back of his head. "You've got a point, though: We definitely want to be done with this whole Brock Sorenson frenzy before we even have to think about dealing with my family."

"Do you think they'll like me?" she asked in a small voice. She sounded nervous about it, which he thought was unnecessary but also adorable either way.

"Are you kidding? They're going to love you more than they love me," he said, remembering what he'd been thinking just before she called. "Besides, my mom's easy; all you have to do is compliment her cooking and you'll have her in the palm of your hand. Just ask Steve, he's been there already." Mike couldn't hold back an eye roll as he recalled the first time Steve had been over to his house for dinner back when he was dating Nancy. He'd laid it on so thick, he thought his mother was going to see right through it— but nope, she ate it all up gleefully.

"In all seriousness, though," he added, wanting her to know that she really had nothing to be nervous about, "you don't have to worry. If they think you're even a fraction of how wonderful I know you are, they'll definitely love you."

There was silence on the other end of the line, and for a moment Mike worried he'd said too much, too soon. She hadn't taken his words to mean that he loved her, had she? Not that he wouldn't, of course, or that he couldn't— it would be easy, so easy, to fall head over heels for her, he could feel the pull there every time he thought about her, every time she was near him— but they'd only been officially dating for like three days and he didn't want to freak her out by moving too fast. Their story was just getting started.

Just as he was going to anxiously inquire whether she was still there, she spoke up again. "I'm—" she started, sounding a bit breathless. "Sorry, you're just— you're really sweet," she said, with a little bit of a giggle at the end of the sentence. "That's like the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me."

"That can't be true," Mike couldn't stop himself from scoffing. It seemed impossible to him that a girl as incredible as El didn't get compliments thrown her way every day. If she truly didn't, then he was going to make damn sure he reminded her of how amazing she was every chance he got.

"No, I'm— I'm not just saying that," El insisted, and Mike imagined she was shaking her head as she spoke. She laughed a little again, a soft little sound that Mike adored. "Who would've thought that you'd turn out to be such a romantic, Mike Wheeler?"

"Well, I'm just stating the truth," Mike said with a sigh as he held the phone between the side of his face and his shoulder so he could lift his other arm under his head as well. Smiling to himself, he closed his eyes, chuffed that he'd managed to make her feel flattered, even without really meaning to. Maybe he wasn't as hopeless at this as he thought he was.

She giggled again. "You are—" She cut herself off abruptly as if she needed the silence in order to hear something, and after a heartbeat of being quiet, she let out a groan. "Sorry. My dad fell asleep on the couch and if I don't wake him up soon, he's going to choke on his own snores. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, of course," Mike responded right away. "You sure you don't want me to pick you up?" He'd offered earlier in the week, too, to go pick her up in the morning every day just so they could get a little more time on their own, but she insisted that their school was on the way to the police station so her dad didn't mind dropping her off in the morning, and she didn't want Mike to have to go out of his way when it wasn't really necessary. He did, however, drive her back home most days that week, except on Wednesday when she had an extracurricular after school and therefore had to catch a ride back with Max.

"No, I'm good," she let him know once again. Mike didn't mind; as he understood it, she rather enjoyed the ride to school with her dad, so he wasn't about to get in the way of that. "If you'd like to wait for me at the entrance, though, I would love to greet my boyfriend with a kiss," she added in a suggestive tone and that Mike could definitely do.

He grinned. "Promise?"

"Promise," she confirmed, and he swore he could hear her smile through the line. He wished she could be here by his side instead and he could kiss her without having to wait until morning. "See you then," she whispered as a goodbye.

"Sleep tight," he wished her in kind and waited for a moment until he heard the click of the line closing on the other side before pushing himself up to a sitting position and stretching his arm so he could put the phone back in its base.

As he did so, he took a moment to stare at the device for a minute— almost like it was a visible connection, a tangible representation of this girl that he had such deep feelings for— and smiled, feeling much lighter than he had directly after dinner.

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This was definitely the most fun El had had at a Homecoming dance in all her years of high school so far.

Sure, it probably didn't look that way from the outside, given that she was just sitting at a table with her chin on Mike's shoulder, watching as he and Will played cards. But even this was fun. She'd already danced more than her feet could handle— not just with Mike, though she certainly danced more than two (slow) dances with him, but with Will, Dustin, and Lucas, too, and even Max for a few rounds when the call of Cyndi Lauper was impossible to resist.

She'd laughed more than she ever had at a school function, and even just sitting there with her two favorite boys as the other three disappeared off somewhere on the dance floor (Lucas was trying to teach Max and Dustin to do the moonwalk— keyword being trying) was heaps better than waiting in a corner for someone to ask her to dance, or worse, having to dance with some entitled jerk because she wasn't assertive enough to refuse.

So when Lucas, Max, and Dustin went off on their own and Mike pulled out a deck of cards and Will's eyes brightened noticeably, El was all up for it. She pulled her chair close behind Mike's, wrapped her arms around his waist and proceeded to eagerly watch the match over his shoulder. Yes, it was the dorkiest thing ever, but it only endeared them even more to her, especially given how competitive they got over the simplest card game.

"You're cheating," Mike muttered under his breath, a little frustrated that he was running out of cards, and quick.

Will laughed. "How am I cheating?" He shook his head. "You can't cheat at War. All the cards are right there in front of you to see!" He laughed even harder when a joker of his beat Mike's five and allowed Will to steal a jack— one of Mike's only high cards.

Mike groaned, and he sounded so put out that even El had to laugh. "I'm coming for those jokers of yours, you'll see," he insisted as he put down an eight that got beat by Will's queen of hearts. Will had the two jokers, and with them he had systematically decimated Mike's pile of cards.

"What, with all your threes and fours?" Will retorted with a snort, and El shook her head at her boyfriend's pout.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a couple of people looking their way and pointing. They seemed interested rather than amused, so she figured it was more about the effortless intimacy of her current position with Mike than about the card game itself. If anyone at school didn't know before that night that she and Mike were dating, they certainly did now, given all the close dancing they did that night, not to mention sneaking kisses here and there whenever the chaperones weren't paying attention. Being in his arms like that was the best part of the night by far.

El didn't care who knew. She was ecstatic to be able to be with Mike, no matter what anyone had to say about it. Thankfully, the most likely people to want to butt in and make nasty comments about her relationship were Troy and Stacey, and they were currently too busy basking in their joint Homecoming King and Queen win— it had been a few years since both winners had been non-seniors, so they had a lot of bragging to do and that didn't leave much time for them to get up to their usual bullying tactics.

That was a relief not just for her and Mike, but also for the others. Sure, none of them had been particularly enthused by the fact that Troy and Stacey had won yet another popularity contest, but at least it kept them away from them for the night. And El was glad for that. She was really glad this Brock Sorenson scavenger hunt had brought them all together. They'd only been hanging out for a few weeks, but by now El couldn't imagine not hanging out with them anymore.

Other than with Max, she'd never felt any particular affinity with other kids her age, choosing instead to flit between groups and cliques with superficial ease but never really finding a personal connection with any one of them. The four boys— the "party"— had wormed their way into her heart very quickly and now she couldn't go back to the way things were before the contest. They felt like a team, like a unit, and she wanted to be a part of that for as long as she could. She wanted to sit with them at lunch every day, spend time with them outside of school and during weekends, and just bask in their special brand of camaraderie that she'd never really experienced before. She hoped they felt the same way. It seemed to her like they did.

Mike was down to three measly cards (a two, a four, and a ten that so far had been his only saving grace) when the Guidance Counselor's voice interrupted the music over the loudspeakers. "Hello, yes, can we please turn the music down a little bit? Thank you," Ms. Tanaka added as the DJ did as she requested. "All right, everyone! It's that time everyone's been waiting for: We're going to announce the winners of MTV's Back-to-school scavenger hunt!"

They quickly put away the cards and started making their way toward the stage at the back of the gym as Ms. Tanaka presented the representatives from MTV's public relations office and the Hawkins school board, who were there to ensure fairness. El was barely paying attention; she was looking around for the rest of her friends and was relieved to find Lucas waving at the three of them from somewhere near the stage. They quickly wove their way through the crowd to get to their friends, where Max excitedly linked her arm with El's as they waited on bated breath for Ms. Tanaka to reveal the winner.

For one breathless moment El tunnel-visioned— or more accurately she got tunnel hearing, as she sort of tuned out every sound around her except for the echo of Ms. Tanaka's voice coming from the speakers, and the reverberation of Dustin reflexively repeating "Dustin Henderson Dustin Henderson Dustin Henderson Dustin Henderson" under his breath directly behind her. El could only see the back of the head of the kid standing in front of her, could only feel the tight grip of Max's arm on hers, and it was a bit like what she imagined having an out-of-body experience would feel like. Her heart was beating so fast.

Had they really done it? Had they won? Had all their hard work, their hours and hours of research and effort and frustration, really paid off? Could it be?

Then Ms. Tanaka said, "The team that got all five scavenger-hunt clues correct in the least amount of time, who will get to meet Brock Sorenson in person in a face-to-face meeting tomorrow night, are... the team led by Dustin Henderson!" and it was like the world around her erupted into cheers.

Max screamed and grabbed both of El's arms, jumping up and down and forcing her to do the same. Dustin got so excited that he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her so high that she almost kicked the poor boy in front of her while her legs hung two feet in the air, and then as soon as they hit solid ground again she found herself in Mike's arms, and he was leaning in to kiss her intensely before she could even take a breath. Yep, if anyone in school hadn't known about their relationship up until that point, they sure did now.

They got pushed apart by Lucas exclaiming "Let's go, let's go!" and pushing them all to move toward the stairs on the side of the stage, which they climbed up so that their fellow students could give them a round of applause. Once that was over with, they were spirited away to the nearest faculty office, which turned out to be Mr. Carr's (of course), where the representative from MTV would give them all the details they'd need to know for their meeting with Brock Sorenson.

Except, as soon as the group poured into the tiny office off the side of the gym building, the MTV PR guy blinked and arched his eyebrows high on his forehead. "Whoa, there's so many of you," he commented sounding surprised. He was a youngish-looking guy, probably in his early 30s, and dressed more stylishly than most people in Hawkins ever bothered with, which definitely made him stand out as a city person. "Why are there so many of you?"

"What do you mean?" Ms. Tanaka asked as she ushered them into the room, sharing the same confused expression all six of them were now directing at the man. "These are the winners of the contest! They got all the clues right before any other teams did."

The PR dude rested his hands on his waist as if that answer was unsatisfactory. "Yeah, but there's only supposed to be two of them," he declared in a tone like he was explaining algebra to a five-year-old. "That's the rules. I can only allow two of them to meet with Mr. Sorenson."

"What?!" Mike exclaimed.

"Are you serious?!" Max scoffed.

"The rules didn't say anything about that!" Dustin joined the chorus, and El figured he would know since he was the one who had read through the rules of the competition before the boys even teamed up with her and Max to begin with.

"I don't remember your people ever telling me anything about restricting the teams to two members each," Ms. Tanaka argued back in a slightly more composed tone, as expected from an adult who, when you thought about it, had no bone to pick in this fight. She still seemed to want to help them, though. "If you had mentioned that, we would've made sure the teams were within that limit. As it stands, nearly all of the teams that participated consisted of three or more students."

"Well, you're going to have to choose one of the teams that consisted of less than three," the PR man insisted, shaking his head. "It's either that or you six figure out amongst yourselves who gets to meet Mr. Sorenson. Those are your options because I only have two VIP passes to give you," he added, pulling out of his pocket two passes similar to the ones VIP guests and staff got at concerts, complete with brightly-colored lanyards so they could hang them from their necks.

"Can't you just make more of these?" Will asked, hesitantly stretching out a hand so the man could give over one of the passes. "This is literally just a laminated piece of paper," he added as he examined the trinket. "You could just go to Kinko's or something and get it done."

The man shook his head again. "Sorry, but it's not up to me. It was Mr. Sorenson's people that instituted that rule. He doesn't have the time nor the patience to entertain a whole horde of kids." He sounded like he was genuinely sorry about it, but the words still rankled. El couldn't believe that Brock would be so callous as to put a limit on how many "kids" he would have to "entertain." It almost made it sound like Brock didn't want to do this at all, like he was being forced into it or doing it solely for PR reasons. Surely it couldn't be like that, could it?

"This is bull," Mike threw out, a minute pause before the last word indicating that he was barely restraining himself from swearing in front of their Guidance Counselor.

"Yeah, who says 'team' when they mean 'pair'?!" Lucas asked, crossing his arms with an annoyed huff.

"Well, look at it on the bright side: at least two of you get to meet Brock Sorenson," the man retorted, making it clear that any complaining was futile. "You just need to draw straws or something." He grabbed the second pass off of Will's hand and signaled to them to figure it out amongst themselves as soon as possible.

With no other choice but to comply or lose their prize altogether, Mike pulled out his deck of cards with a sigh. They'd each pick a card, and the highest two would get the VIP pass. It was a method based on pure luck, so no one was allowed to complain. Will picked a three, Lucas a seven. Max picked a king. Dustin picked a seven, too, and El picked a five. Mike, the last one to choose a card, picked a jack.

"Oh my God," Max breathed as she looked down at the card in her hand, her mind clearly blown by the fact that she was going to meet Brock Sorenson. She stared slackjawed at the drawing of the king for a few more seconds before lifting her head to meet El's gaze. Her expression dropped. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, moving forward to wrap her arms around her best friend. "I wanted you to be there with me," she added in El's ear.

"It's okay," El assured her, returning the hug. Sure, she was disappointed she wouldn't get to meet one of her favorite celebrities the one time she thought she had the chance, and she was upset that MTV had changed the rules on them at the last minute, but she wasn't about to begrudge Max this opportunity. It wasn't her fault. "Take lots of pictures and maybe get me an autograph. That'll more than make up for me missing it."

The two of them separated and El was quick to give the sad-looking redhead the most supportive smile she could muster. "You'll have a great time," she insisted, turning to nod in her boyfriend's direction, too. "And then you'll come back and tell us all about it so we can all be super jealous," she added with a chuckle.

Mike, who had remained quiet and still for the most part, showing no discernible reaction one way or the other to having won— certainly not as visibly as Max had— looked at El with an expression that seemed troubled. She was about to tell him not to worry about it when his gaze ducked down to the jack in his hand, and before El could open her mouth, he pursed his lips and abruptly extended his hand out to her. "Here," he said, meeting her gaze again as he handed her the card. "You take it."

"Whoa, Mike," Lucas exclaimed.

"For real?" Max asked with a gasp.

"What?" El's eyes widened. "No, Mike, come on." She shook her head. "You won fair and square. I can't take your spot."

"I want you to," he insisted, waving the card in his hand at her as if that would make it more likely for her to take it. "I mean, sure, I like Brock's movies and I think he's really cool, but I don't love him as much as you guys do. You two know everything about him. We never would've gotten this far without your help." He shrugged. "I'm okay with missing this if it means you girls get one of your dreams come true."

The silence was deafening as everyone processed what was happening, and El felt herself start to get choked up. No one had ever done anything this nice for her— well, her dad when he took her in, but no one other than the person who raised her had sacrificed something this significant just to make her happy. Because Mike knew how important this was to her and Max. Because he cared for her that much. Because he was that good of a person.

She felt tears prickle at the corners of her eyes and before they could spill, she threw her arms around him tightly and basked in the feeling of him returning the embrace for a moment, before pulling her head back and kissing him with as much emotion and gratitude as she could.

She was so preoccupied with expressing her appreciation for this wonderful, beautiful boy that she wasn't paying attention to anything else around them save for the feeling of her lips pressing against his, but she could still hear the reactions of the people around them. There were scattered "awws" around the room, and an "Is this really necessary?" from the MTV guy that only made her push herself closer to her boyfriend and extend the kiss for as long as her lungs would allow.

"Man, I wish someone loved me that much," Dustin commented from behind her, and the quip was followed by several whack-like sounds and an "oww!" like one or more of the others had slapped him into keeping quiet.

They did eventually have to part for air and were not surprised to find everyone grinning at them when they did. Even Ms. Tanaka seemed mostly amused (El had totally forgotten she was around and couldn't help but blush when she realized she had basically jumped her boyfriend in front of a member of the school staff), but no one really got a chance to comment before the MTV PR guy pulled out the two VIP passes again and drawled, "So, it's gonna be the two girls, then?"

They had to stay in Mr. Carr's office for a little while longer so MTV dude could give El and Max all the details they would need to know for the meet-and-greet the next day, but the guys weren't about to go back to the gym on their own, so they hung around, and the girls wouldn't have it any other way.

By the time they finally went back to the Homecoming dance, the event only had about half an hour to go, but they didn't mind. Dustin, Lucas, and Will spent most of that time making a list of things they wanted Max and El to ask Brock Sorenson, which Max goodnaturedly humored. El, for her part, remained permanently attached to Mike in any way she could: Holding his hand, wrapping her arms around his waist, cozying up to his side the entire rest of the night, unwilling to part from this incredible young man that made her feel so many things in the best way possible.

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"El! You ready yet? You're gonna be late!"

El rolled her eyes; what her dad meant was that he was going to be late. Since El was going to be out of the house that night and he didn't have to "watch over" (and he used the term very, very loosely) a bunch of rowdy teenagers, her father had decided once again to take the opportunity to have dinner with Joyce. Only this time it really was a date, with the actual word spoken out loud and everything, and her poor father had been stressing out all afternoon.

Not that she had any room to complain, mind you. She had a pretty big afternoon coming up herself, and it showed in her room, which currently looked like the site of a nuclear showdown. The entire contents of her closet were strewn all over her bed, all her makeup containers were similarly in disarray on top of her dresser, and at least half a dozen pairs of shoes were spread out on the floor, to the point that she'd almost tripped on some of them at least twice while getting ready.

She normally wasn't this concerned about her looks, but today was important and she wanted everything to be perfect, so she'd decided to take her time. She'd spent the last couple of hours trying on outfit after outfit, hoping that being able to see all the options would allow her to choose one look and stick to it. Eventually she'd settled on a simple outfit— dark-wash jeans with a white blouse and denim jacket, and her trusty chucks— which made her feel a little bit more dressed-up than usual, but still comfortable and cute. Then she moved onto her makeup, which she kept fairly simple in pastel colors. She was pulling her hair up into a ponytail when her dad called out to her.

"I'm almost done," she responded, figuring there was no point in making her dad more nervous than he already was. Seriously, for someone who'd had his fair share of one-night stands (she heard things in town, okay? And she was pretty sure there were reasons why the librarian was so strict with them other than just Dustin being annoying), he sure was jumpy about going on one date. Then again... this was Joyce. Joyce was special.

Smiling to herself as she thought of how sweet that was, she turned slightly, so she could see herself from different angles on her full-length mirror. She took a second to fix up a curl on the side of her head that had fallen loose from the scrunchy, but once that was done, she decided she looked good.

As she gave herself one last once-over, she caught sight of a pile of teen magazines on top of her dresser. She had dumped them there on Monday night after they found the answer to the last location clue, and completely forgot about them until now, but she couldn't help but look at them. The one at the top, a months-old issue of Tiger Beat, featured Brock Sorenson on the cover, in a picture from a professional photo shoot that had him from the chest up, wearing a tight white T-shirt that perfectly delineated his shoulder muscles, while he smirked at the camera with smoldering eyes.

It was Max's favorite picture of him, and one that was also used in the covers of several other issues on El's pile, if she remembered correctly. And El usually loved it, too, swooned over it often alongside her best friend, but now, when she picked up the magazine, all she could think of were the words He doesn't have the time nor the patience to entertain a whole horde of kids bouncing around in her recent memory.

She put the magazine down at the top of the pile and lifted her gaze, her eyes immediately finding the corkboard she had put up on the wall above the dresser and all the photos and mementos pinned on it. The most recent additions were the copies of the Polaroid photos they'd taken for the scavenger hunt, all pinned together, slightly overlapping, in a corner of the corkboard.

No matter which one she looked at, all she could see was the bright smile on her face, and on the faces of each of her friends. It was almost weird; she wouldn't have imagined that she could grow so attached to someone, let alone four boys, in such a short amount of time. But every time her gaze fell on their smiling faces, she felt a warmth inside her chest, like she couldn't imagine not having such joy in her life. Sure, each photo captured one happy moment in time— the elation of achieving something amazing— but for El, it was less about the scavenger hunt itself, and more about what came of it. Yes, they'd won the contest, but in reality she'd gained so much more than just a meet-and-greet with a celebrity; she'd gained four friendships that she hoped would last forever.

She stretched out a hand to touch her favorite out of all the pictures— the one they took at Melvald's with Joyce for their third clue— unpinning it carefully and bringing it closer to her face. Softly, she lifted a finger to trace the area close to the left edge of the picture, where she and Mike stood close together, hands firmly intertwined, her head on his shoulder, his face turned away from the camera so he could look at her with a smile.

The corners of her mouth curled up almost by their own volition. Just looking at Mike's profile in a photo made her heart start beating faster, and she was overcome with a yearning to be near him, to be able to hold his hand, run a hand through his hair, feel the press of his lips against hers. He always made her feel like she was precious, like she made him happy just being near him, and it was the single greatest thing she'd gained from participating in this contest. She wanted that. She just wanted to be with him.

Her dad knocked on the doorframe, poking his head into the room. "Ready to go?" he asked as he rolled up the sleeves of the striped shirt he was wearing. "You look nice."

"Yeah, all done," she said, leaning forward to pin the photo back on the corkboard before turning back to her father with a smile. "Thanks. Wait... no tie?" she asked with a curious expression, signaling to her dad with her index finger.

Hopper's eyes widened in alarm at the suggestion, one hand moving up to his buttoned-up collar. "You think I need one? 'Cause I could—"

El chuckled, amused. "Naw, I'm just teasing you. You're fine." She moved forward to unbutton the topmost two buttons of her dad's shirt so that it looked less like he was choking himself for the sake of fashion. "You and Joyce have known each other since you were kids. I think casual's good in this case." She finished her ministrations by brushing away imaginary dust bunnies from her father's shoulders. "You don't have to be nervous, Dad."

Hopper let his breath out with a puff. "Easier said than done," he muttered under his breath, but then shook his head, chuckling as if amused with himself. "Come on. We gotta go," he added, nudging her on her arm with his elbow before turning on his heel and walking toward the front door.

"Can we stop somewhere on the way, though?" El asked hopefully as she turned off the lights and closed her bedroom door behind her, following her father out of the house. "There's something I have to do first."

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One good thing about the scavenger hunt being over is that Mike could now reclaim his free time. He'd spent his early Sunday afternoon working on his schoolwork for the week, and once he was done with that he'd migrated down to the basement to work on a campaign. They hadn't played D&D in months and Mike hadn't even thought about it since the contest started, so now he was itching to play again.

He'd been at it for a couple hours already, his family recognizing the routine and leaving the basement alone for the most part, save for a couple of times his mother had to come down to put in or take out a load of laundry. Even then he mostly tuned her out, focused as he was on getting a good part of the campaign written down so he could give his friends little teases of it through the week. He'd even written in templates for El and Max, in case they wanted to join in.

He was so focused on it that he started when someone knocked on the door. He frowned at it for a couple of seconds— most guests came in through the front door rather than through the basement, unless it was one of the guys, but any of them would've radioed him to let him know they were coming. So who could it possibly be?

He stood up from the table and took a second to stretch his legs, stimulating circulation as they'd started fallen asleep from sitting in the same position for so long. Once the pins and needles dissipated, he made his way to the basement door and peeked through the blinds. He was surprised to find his girlfriend there, wearing jeans, chucks, a soft-looking fitted white blouse, and her favorite jean jacket. Her curly hair was pulled up in a high ponytail that swung from side to side as she moved her head, a familiar sight to him as he'd spent many an hour of class staring at the back of her head and daydreaming rather than paying attention to his lectures.

He opened the door straight away. "Hey," he said, surprised that she was here, but not surprised enough for his throat not to dry up by how beautiful she looked. After staring for a second too long, he looked down at his wristwatch for a moment before looking at her again. "Aren't you supposed to be on your way to the meet-and-greet right about now?"

She gave him a brilliant smile. "I gave my pass to Dustin," she admitted with an unconcerned shrug, like passing up on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet one of her idols was not a big freaking deal. "Can I come in?"

Mike stepped to the side to let her pass, but it was almost an automatic movement because his brain hadn't quite caught up to what she'd just told him. "You gave Dustin your pass?" he asked dumbly, like the words just couldn't compute in his mind. So much for his heroic sacrifice, huh? He'd given her his pass because he thought that would make her happy, and she'd turned right around and given it to Dustin. Was she... what did that mean?

She didn't seem to notice his confusion as she chuckled and made her way to the couch. "He promised to name his firstborn after me."

Mike stared at her in stunned silence for a heartbeat, almost hypnotized by the swing of her ponytail as she sat down, turning her honeyed gaze on him with a beatific smile. "You don't mind that I came over unannounced, do you? I just..." Her cheeks flushed adorably. "I just really wanted to see you."

It was that blush, more than anything, that made Mike realize he was being dumb. She hadn't given up her VIP pass because she thought his gesture insignificant; she'd given it up to come here, to his house. "You can come by whenever you want," he said, trying to ignore the sound of his heart beating in his ears at the realization. He shook his head and then spoke again. "So, would Dustin be naming the kid after Jane or after El?"

Her brows drew together adorably, like that particular conundrum hadn't even occurred to her. "I'm... not sure, actually," she admitted carefully, crossing her arms as if to punctuate her bewilderment. Her ponytail swung to the side as she cocked her head lightly. "I guess you'd have to ask him."

Mike laughed. Whatever her reasons for turning down the opportunity he'd earlier ceded to her, he was glad he got to see her today. "You're going to end up with a godson named Elvis. You know that, right?" he postulated between chuckles.

She thought about it for a couple of seconds before breaking out into a groan. "I am, aren't I?" she concluded, but by the end of the sentence she was shaking her head in obvious amusement. "That poor hypothetical child," she quipped, leaning back against the backrest of the couch.

Mike closed the door, which he'd only just realized he was still holding open, and moved into the room so he could sit down beside her on the couch. "So what brings you here?" he asked, wondering if her dad had dropped her off and why, then, he hadn't heard the chief's Blazer park outside his house.

"Well, since my plans for the evening fell through," she started in a bubbly tone, "I was thinking I could come hang out with you, instead. It could be our first official date. Maybe we could go watch a movie?" she suggested, resting her head against her hand as she propped it against the back of the couch.

That sounded good to him. They weren't going to be able to hold their campaign until the next weekend, anyway, so he had all week to get it ready. He was surprised that movies were her first suggestion for entertainment, though. "Really? After you've been so particular about what constitutes or doesn't constitute our first date, now you're going to go with a movie?" he had to ask, unable to resist teasing her a little.

She pouted at him, but her eyes reflected amusement, so he knew she wasn't really upset. "The movies are a perfectly good place to have a first date," she declared, mock offended. "At least at the movie theater we're mostly alone."

"We were mostly alone at the minigolf course, too," he reminded her smartly and chuckled when he saw her roll her eyes.

"All right, fine," she conceded with a huff. "If the movie ends up sucking, we can take it back and say that the minigolf course was our first date. There. Satisfied?"

"Well, really, I'm good with either," he said, raising his arms at his sides for a moment as if declaring his innocence. "Max will be thrilled, though," he pointed out, and was rewarded with her shaking her head at him. "But yeah, I'm up for a movie. Always happy to be your backup choice whenever, just let me put all of this away—"

He moved to get off the couch so he could grab his D&D binder, but before he could do so, he felt her pull him back down to a sitting position. "Hey," she said softly as he turned to look at her. "You're not my backup choice, okay? There's nowhere I'd rather be today than here with you."

She tugged him closer by the hand and he went willingly, twining his fingers with hers as he lost himself in her beautiful honey-brown eyes. He didn't know what made her give up the chance of a lifetime to meet one of her idols, but he believed her when she said she would much rather spend time with him. He believed her because he felt the same way. And knowing she shared those feelings made him feel... like he'd won the lottery. Like he was invincible. Like anything life threw at him meant nothing so long as he could keep holding her hand.

It was... impossible to describe, really, how light and how warm and how brilliant she made him feel when she looked up at him between her lashes like she was doing then. And since he couldn't put the feeling into words, the best way to let her know how much her words meant to him was to lean forward and capture her lips with his, pouring every single emotion within him into the gesture.

When their lips met, she let out a little gasp, as if the mere touch of his lips against hers sent a tingle of electricity through her, and he took the chance to deepen the kiss, pulling her closer by her waist. She melted into him with a sigh, her hand letting go of his to glide up his chest, tips of her fingers ever-so-slightly ghosting over the fabric of his polo until it reached the sensitive skin of his collarbone, which in turn made him shiver. Her other arm wrapped around his shoulder and her hand got lost in his messy hair, and the angle was a little awkward because they were sitting sideways on the couch but still he did his best to pull her closer as they got lost in the moment.

They pulled back after a small eternity, and Mike would be lying if he said it didn't leave him feeling dizzy— in the best way possible— for a few breathless seconds afterward. "Okay," he said, once his heart finally came down from the high, "we'll go to the movies. Just let me tell Mom I'm going out, okay?" She nodded and he leaned in to peck her lips once more, just because he could.

Somewhat reluctantly he pulled out of her embrace and stood up, taking a second to close his binder and put it to the side before sprinting up the stairs to peek past the basement door and yell to his mother that he was going to the movies with El. She yelled back her agreement and Mike turned to make his way down the stairs in what felt like two leaps. El was already on her feet and waiting for him by the time he made it back to the couch. "All right, we're good to go," he said, throwing an arm around her shoulders so he could lead her toward the door. "You got any idea what you want to watch?"

"Anything as long as it's not a Brock Sorenson movie," she replied with a snort as she wrapped an arm around his waist and snuggled close to his side.

Mike laughed. "Too soon?" he asked, mirth coloring his words, as they crossed the threshold. He had to momentarily let go of her to close the door behind them, but his arm returned to its previous position straight away as they started walking toward his station wagon. "I think Young Guns is still playing at The Hawk," he remembered. "We might need to bribe the dude at the ticket counter to let us into the movie, but it can't be that hard; Dustin manages it all the time."

"That sounds like a plan, though I hope I'm not the one who has to do the convincing." She smiled mischievously at him as he opened the passenger-side door for her. "Thank you, sir," she nodded magnanimously as she got into the car.

He had to go around the front of the car to get in the driver's seat, but once he was seated comfortably, with his seatbelt buckled and the gear shift set in reverse, he turned to his girlfriend with an excited grin. "All good?"

She returned the smile, excited, and reached out to grab hold of his hand over the gear selector. "Never better," she replied, and as they pulled out of the garage and down Maple Street, he couldn't help but sneak glances at her as she sang along with the radio. Sure, the fact that they put in all that effort only to lose the chance to meet Brock Sorenson at the very end was a bit of a bummer, but as far as Mike was concerned, he'd won the grand prize as it was.

He'd never imagined, back when he and the boys first decided to participate in the scavenger hunt, that he'd end up finding something so much more special than just a one-off meeting with a celebrity. He'd never imagined that it would somehow lead to a relationship with the most amazing girl in the world, like instead of searching for clues, their hearts had been searching for each other all along.

Sometimes things just worked out for the better that way.

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Notes: I was originally going to actually include a glimpse of the infamous Brock Sorenson in this, but about halfway through the story I decided that I really... just don't like Brock Sorenson, lol. xD I hope no one's too disappointed.

New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) were a late-1980s boy band that were basically the precursors of 90s staples like the Backtreet Boys and 'NSync. They disbanded in 1994 but came back for a reunion in 2007, which is still technically in effect. Fun fact: Mark Wahlberg was actually part of NKOTB for a couple of years (his older brother Donnie is still part of the band). Cyndi Lauper is an iconic pop artist who rose to fame in the 80s, most notably for her songs "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "Time After Time." The moonwalk is a dance move in which the dancer moves backwards while seemingly walking forwards, made famous by Michael Jackson during a performance of his hit "Billie Jean."

Kinko's (or more recently known as FedEx Kinko's) is a US retail chain that provides an outlet for FedEx shipping, as well as printing, copying, and binding services. It's been around since 1970. Young Guns is a US western film starring Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips and Charlie Sheen. It opened in August 1988 and was in its last or so theatrical-release weekend around the time this chapter takes place. It was rated R.

And so we've come to the end of Searching for Your Heart! I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I should let you know, though, that barring something big happening, you probably won't see much of me around here for... well, for a couple of months at least. I'm about to start a PhD program next month, and to do that I have to move literally to the other side of the world, so I won't have much time to write much of anything, or probably even read much fanfic at all. So don't worry if I suddenly disappear from these here lands, but please do tell me what you thought of this one. Hearing your thoughts always sparks new ideas, and I'll be making note of every idea I get for when I come back to writing. Here's hoping we'll have a season three trailer by then! Happy holidays, everyone! :)