70- DND aka Dumb or Not Dumb
Summary: After spring break, the boys convince El to join the Hellfire Club.
Requested: hopelessly_devoted_to_stranger_things
"Come on, El! Max is doing it!" Dustin begged as they walked down the path.
"No."
"Why?" Lucas asked. "You'll get more hangout time and the sessions are always fun."
Mike's hand found her hand as he said, "Eddie's making sure there's no triggers in it."
"That had to be hard for him." Dustin spoke and batted away a tree branch with a look of complete and utter offense.
"Well, he tried his best." Will responded. "And he told us if we feel uncomfortable with anything, we can skip it, remember?"
Lucas, Mike, and Dustin nodded.
El sighed.
The boys thought they swayed her.
"No."
Dustin literally stopped and threw his hat to the ground.
The five were walking through the woods on the path behind El's cabin, one of the only things they could do with El anymore.
One of those things could be DND.
But El was being stubborn.
"Again, why?" Lucas asked as he patted on Dustin's shoulder and continued walking.
El shrugged.
"El!" Dustin drawled out and raced to get in front of her. "We love you. I love you. But you are being so difficult right now. Why? It's a fun nerd game, a chance to hangout with us more, and something we can bond over."
El wiped some of Dustin's spit off her forehead.
"I just don't want to do it." El told them. "Steve isn't doing it right? I'll hang with him until Max and Robin quit."
"Hey! They won't quit." Lucas defended them.
"They want to play," El turned to Lucas. "But they want you guys to play to your full potential or something. So, after they feel like they learned enough, their going to quit."
"Well then, why can't you do that?" Mike asked.
"Because. I. Don't. Want. To."
And with that, El turned and resumed on the path.
The next time they brought the subject was just over a week later, when they were sprawled out around the Byers each doing their own thing.
Dustin was wiring a robot.
Will was sketching.
Lucas was spinning his basketball on his finger.
El was flipping through some Wonder Woman comics.
And Mike was looking over the plans for the next campaign.
Dustin peered over at Mike and remembered the conversation they had in the woods.
"Hey, El!" Dustin caught the attention of everyone in the room.
El placed the comic to the side and raised her eyebrows.
"Did you think over the idea of being in the campaign?" he asked hopefully.
El leaned her head back against the couch and sighed.
Well, at least you could admire his consistency.
To a certain point.
"I still don't want to do it, Dustin." El said, trying to stay calm.
"And we're fine with that." Lucas told her, trying to keep the peace. "But all we want to know is why?"
El looked past the boys outside the window.
"I don't want to feel dumb." she whispered.
The boys were confused by this statement. Except for Will, who was pretty sure he knew where this was going.
"Explain?" Mike asked.
"Whenever I'm getting taught something, people act like its stupid that I don't know what their talking about. Like I'm dumb." El told them.
It all dawned on them at once.
El had to relearn how to do everything. Basically she had to relearn how to live.
Which made her behind on some things.
El had been taught so much since she got out of the lab, but through that some of the explanations made her feel bad about herself.
"El, we don't think your dumb." Mike said.
"Yeah, everyone feels kind of stupid and dumb when they're first learning these type of things. Like Max and Robin kind of felt that way their first session." Dustin explained.
"Or me when I was learning how to skateboard or play basketball." Lucas suggested.
Will looked closely at his sister.
She seemed to be rethinking with everything the boys were telling her but she didn't seem fully convinced.
"Tell you what." he interrupted. "Before the campaign, we can get together and teach El a little bit of DND. Just us. Then you'll be prepared for the campaign. We won't make fun of you El, and we certainly won't think you're dumb."
All the boys nodded, liking the idea.
El thought for a moment then nodded. "Let's do it!"
All the boys got up and cheered, surrounding El in a group hug which caused her grin to widely stretch across her face.
El definitely didn't feel dumb right then.
AN: Hope you liked it, hopelessly_devoted_to_stranger_things! Requests are open everyone!