Queer Means Strange and We Are Stranger Than All(Stranger Things Modern Au)

 Prologue: Pride

Eleven jolted awake at the sound of their alarm blasting Ex-Wives from Six The Musical. They never set alarms, but they really did have to be somewhere that morning. They sprung out of bed, turning the alarm off, and looking around for the bag they had packed for that specific day. A soft groan came from their bed. El giggled and spun on the balls of their feet. They padded closer to their bed and leaned down next to their "very much not a morning person" of a girlfriend.

"Hey, sweetie, wake up!" They whisper yelled. Max had stayed over the night before.

"El, please, babe, five more minutes," she murmured, lightly hitting her partner's arm. El looked over her in a bit of a pan panic. Max was sprawled on the bed, one arm stretched out where El had been only moments before, her crimson red hair spread all over El's black and pride colored splatter paint pillows, freckles sprinkling her face and her closed eyelids covering her gorgeous blue eyes.

Eleven couldn't help but kiss her on the lips quickly before saying, "wake up. You can sleep in the car." Max only responded with a groan and rolled away from them. Eleven thought for a moment before smirking and walking out of the room. They wandered past their father, grabbing an eggo waffle from the plate he had put on the table. Sara was sitting in a chair on a few books so she could reach the table, her hair only just slightly growing back, leaving her with what looked like a buzzcut. "Up and at 'em, kiddo," they said, stuffing the waffle in their mouth and picking their baby sister up.

Their dad looked at them weird as they walked back to their room. Sara was giggling. She always loved being picked up. Eleven pushed the door open with their shoulder and sauntered over to their sleeping girlfriend. "Last chance," they said, though Max probably didn't understand it due to the waffle in their mouth. Max only groaned again.

Eleven smirked as well as they could and plopped the six year old on top of Max. "Oof!" Max said, her eyelids flying back to reveal her ice blue eyes. Sara giggled and began attempting to tickle Max. Despite the tickling not working, Max was laughing anyways, causing El to burst out laughing.

★☆★

"Mike! We're gonna be late because of you!" Nancy yelled.

"Hey, they're picking us up, so, technically, I'm not late!" Mike screamed back, shoving his clothes in his bag, carefully covering the pride things with normal clothes, just in case someone unzipped it. He sat back to breath and was shot back to the day he and Nancy had tried to explain the trip without mentioning pride. It had not been easy, but it worked. Hopper had rented a party van to drive everyone to Chicago for a pride parade. They were staying in Chicago for a week.

Mike grabbed his bags and dragged them downstairs. "You could help, Nance," he spat at his sister.

She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, like you helped me?" Mike made a face at her and continued down the stairs.

"Okay, call me when you get there and call me at least once a day," their mom said. She continued on about rules they had to follow in Chicago. At some point, she got to, "and of course, who are you rooming with?"

She'd asked them this before. She'd asked them daily, actually. Mike sighed and said, "Will." This was a lie. He was rooming with El, since Will was his boyfriend.

Nancy nodded and said, "Julia." This wasn't a lie. Nancy was dating Steve and Jonathan, so she of course couldn't be trusted in the same room as them. Though, Julia is a lesbian so maybe that isn't a wonderful idea.

The full room arrangements were: Julia and Nancy, Mike and El, Steve and Robin, Jonathan and Will, Lucas, Max and Dustin and then of course the adults. Even though these arrangements existed, they would most likely be broken.