random stranger things sh!t.

waffles with el and hopper + elmax

it was early morning and hopper was getting ready for his shift down at the police station, el was sat at the table near kitchen for her usual morning eggos, but today she had woken up early to suggest her breakfast be made in a slightly different way.

hopper walked into the kitchen in his usual chief uniform, arms stretched over his head as he stretched out his back while he walked.
"morning!" el chirps happily, her hands gripped onto the bottom of the chair as she excitedly bounces her legs up and down.
"yeah yeah, morning el. what's got you so excited this morning? perhaps a redheaded girl we all know?" hop raises an eyebrow, looking over at el with an all-knowing look on his face, but that look disappears when eleven shakes her head.
"hm.. is it because you want your morning eggos?" hopper suggests, smiling when the girl nods. "well.. yes. but i wanted to switch things up a bit this morning.. perhaps proper waffles? i checked we have all the ingredients in. and max is letting us borrow her waffle machine..which billy wasn't too happy about." she grins, pointing to the waffle machine plugged in on the counter as she did more of those excited leg kicks while she was gripping onto the bottom of her chair like her life depended on it with the other hand.

hopper groans but of course couldn't say no, despite the urge of wanting to pretend he was completely oblivious on how to make waffles there at the back of his mind.
"fine. but i better make it to work in time.. no funny business." jim sighs as he walks into the kitchen, being followed like a lost puppy by the brunette girl who practically threw herself off of the chair she was perched on.

both hopper and el found all of the ingredients and placed them on the counter, eleven laughing as she watched hopper do most of the hard work, knowing she could easily float the ingredients over. hopper wasn't impressed with that.

el opened a cupboard and took out a mixing bowl and a wisk, placing them down by the ingredients too. hopper found a pink apron hung up on a peg in the kitchen, coming to the conclusion that murray must have left it there when he came to cook some food for el when hopper was on a night shift and knew eleven would refuse to eat a microwave meal that had mushy and watery peas and carrots, he sighs and puts it on, getting el's help to tie it. hopper didn't like the color pink - especially wearing the color, but he thought it was better than getting flower or waffle batter down his chief uniform.
"you look wonderful!" el smiles, trying not to laugh, wishing somehow her eyes could take photos or wishing she had a polaroid closeby so she could capture this beautiful moment, but she didn't, what a bummer.

hopper poured the right amounts of each ingredients into the mixing bowl, not giving into el's pleads of 'i want to do it!' because he knew she'd make a mess, and that was not what he needed right before work, but he let her mix the ingredients, immediately regretting that decision.

her mixing started off gentle, her eyes looked fixated on the ingredients in the bowl, hopper stepped back to keep an eye on the girl, sighing as he got reminded of all of the times he had been assisted by his deceased daughter sara in making pancakes or waffles for breakfast, where the happy family which consisted of jim, sara and hoppers wife diane sat around the table, happily eating the breakfast they had prepared while talking about their plans for the day. it was a distant memory, but those small memories never failed to make hopper smile.

hop snapped was snapped out of his thoughts when els mixing got faster, stronger. it caused flour to spray all over the counter and all over her clothes.
"NO- oh god damn it!" hopper yells, slamming his hand on the table and groaning, staring at the brunette who had a innocent smile on her face, stopping all movement to help with cleaning up the mess she had made.

hopper then decided he'd finish the mixing, then began pouring the mixture into the waffle maker and then closed the lid. while the waffles were heating up, eleven and hopper tidied the counters up of the ingredients that were left over, putting him into their founded places.

a small light turned to green on the machine, signalling the waffles were done, an excited el rushes over to the counter the machine was on and hopper opened the lid, using a knife to move the now cooked waffles onto a plate without burning himself.

el smiles happily as she goes to retrieve the maple syrup from the counter, gratefully picking it up and walking back over to hopper who takes it from her - knowing that she'd put way too much on if he left her to do it herself.

hopper put the left over waffles into a container, el's eyes lighting up when she realises she can give some to max at school.
"eat up, kid. school starts soon." hopper ruffles elevens hair and takes the plate of waffles over to the table for eleven. "will do!" eleven smiles, happily walking her way over to the table, where she perches on the chair to eat her waffles, an over exaggerated 'mm' coming from the girl as she takes the first bite out of the waffle. hopper laughs and says his goodbyes after putting on his chief hat and leaving for his work shift, making sure eleven's spare keys to the cabin were on the table by the front door for when she left for school.

eleven was sat at the table, cheerfully eating her waffles, when she began to smell burning from the kitchen, she frowns and places down the cutlery on her plate, looking over into the kitchen at the waffle maker that had steam forming from it.  she only had one idea, she stares at the machine for a moment before jogging into hoppers bedroom to retrieve a portable fan. eleven then jogs back into the kitchen, places the fan by the waffle maker and turns it on, making sure the fan was facing the machine.

she opens the kitchen window and smiles happily at her artwork, taking the container of left over waffles and walking back over to her now semi-cold waffles and quickly devouring them as she multitasks to get her shoes on with her other hand. el then checks the watch hopper had brought her for her 13th birthday, looking to see that it was time for her to leave for school.

leaving her plate on the table, eleven throws her bag over her shoulder and walks out of the cabin door, grabbing her spare key on the way out and making sure to lock the door before she left.

the brunette took her usual trail through the woods as she walked to school, stepping over the tripwire hopper had made for 'safety'. though even her friends had great struggle even trying to find the cabin. it ended up with a pissed off steve, an injured dustin, a whining mike, a petrified lucas and max laughing at each and every one of lucas' screams at any noise in the woods, then of course there was will who put on a brave face, he was unfazed.

once eleven reached the school, she immediately recognised her redheaded 'friend' max mayfield, she grinned happily as she ran over to max, gripping the container of waffles under an arm as she did so.
"hey max!" eleven chirps cheerfully,
"hey el!" max responds, stepping off and picking up her skateboard to then face her brunette 'friend.'

"me and hopper made some waffles with your waffle maker this morning!" el looked as if she were about to jump up and down she was that excited, she then held out the plastic container to max who looked at the waffles with a smile.
"they look amazing, el!" max exclaims, trying to match el's excited tone.
"you can have some at recess if you'd like! or- or maybe even lunch? i'm sure billy forgot to give you lunch money.." el's tone of voice drops at the mention of max's shitty older step-brother. "sounds great! i'd love that." max says, with a small nod, ignoring the comment about billy entirely, maybe that was for the best anyway. max takes a step closer to eleven, making sure nobody was around, to the place a small kiss on the brunettes cheek as a thanks. eleven's cheeks light up with a small hint of red as the redhead does so, they both stared at each other for a moment longer before laughing and heading inside of the school building, hand in hand.

throughout their first few lessons, eleven and max sat either beside or at the back of each other. meaning eleven would sneak small bits of waffle to max when she saw max getting bored of the class.

at lunch, both girls enjoyed the waffles together, they sat beside each other on a table, hand on hand as they moved the container of waffles away from the boys who attempted to steal a piece.

(1574 words)