suzie doesn't copy

✧

"WILL, CAN YOU JUST pass the syrup?"

"Hold on,"

"Will!"

"Just — hold on!"

"It's been three minutes! Why does it take you so long to pour syrup on your pancakes?!"

"It's perfection!"

"That doesn't even — what?!" Rue exclaimed, running a hand through her hair. She was hungry, and she wanted to top off her buttery pancakes with the syrup before she dug in.

"Pancakes are perfection?" Eleven asked from beside her, also waiting for Will to finish with the syrup so she could pour it on her pancakes.

Hopper had stopped by to drop El of before he went to work. Joyce took her in with open arms, and it was easier, since the party was meeting up later for Dustin's welcome home celebration.

Rue shook her head, "No, it doesn't take perfection. Just pour the syrup and move on!" she glared at Will, who laughed at the way Rue got so angry when she wasn't fed.

However, Will's laughs got cut short when the syrup bottle flew out of his hands. He looked up to see El smiling innocently at him, pouring herself the sugary sweetness on her pancakes before passing it to Rue, who rose her eyebrows mockingly at her brother.

Jonathan suddenly burst out of his room, causing the three kids to look up from their breakfast to find him struggling to put on his shirt. He mumbled short "good morning's" at the trio, trying to walk towards the front door.

El and Rue spun around in their seats when they heard crashing coming from the backyard, and they spotted Nancy running around the house from the dining room window.

The two girls fell into a fit of giggles as they turned back to their breakfast.

Joyce ran out of the kitchen, running towards Jonathan before he left.

"Oh no, I'll eat at work," he rushed, thinking she was going to shove food in his mouth. "I'm late."

"No, I meant you cheek," she smiled, lifting her hand to wipe off lipstick from his face.

Will looked at Rue and El, mouthing, "They had sex, right?"

"Duh," Rue hummed. El furrowed her eyebrows in confusion while Will looked at his older brother in disgust.

"Ugh, gross," He said once Jonathan left, and Joyce walked back to the dining room.

Rue stabbed at her pancakes and sipped from her orange juice, while El no longer seemed to have an interest in her food.

"Well, I don't think you're gonna think it gross when you fall in love,"

Rue snorted, splashing her drink all over her front. She coughed, trying to find her breath to laugh as Will gagged and said, "I'm not gonna fall in love."

"Mhm," she hummed, wiping the juice from her shirt, "What's Alex gonna say when I tell him that?"

Will glared daggers at Rue, and if he had powers like her and El, she would very well be dead. However, Joyce was beaming at this, "Oh! Who's Alex? Why haven't I heard of them?"

"No one."

"A kid from school."

"What is sex?"

Silence filled the room, and the question about Alex was thrown out the window. El looked at them questioningly, waiting for an answer.

When she didn't get one, Eleven turned to Rue, who usually gave her answers. "Rue, what is sex?"

"Oh!" Rue's eyes went wide. She looked over at Will, who quickly looked down at his breakfast. "That's a great question! . . . I dunno," she mumbled, shrugging. "Ask Joyce," she finished, shoving the rest of the pancakes in her mouth to the point she couldn't speak.

Joyce forced a smile on her face as El turned to her, "Um," she spoke in a shaky voice, looking anywhere but Eleven. "Um, it's — it's — oh wow, what would Hop think of this —?" she muttered.

Rue's eyes widened, and she could only imagine Eleven going up to Hopper, asking him what Sex was. Worst of all, he'd assume Mike was planting these things in her head and then he'd finally have an excuse to kill the boy.

"Mom, look at the pictures on the fridge! They fell!" Will pointed, and it was true; Jonathan's photos and Will's draws were now on the floor with the magnets that held it up.

Joyce quickly got up, "Hey, what happened here?" she bent down to pick up one of Will's drawings, which happened to be the one of Bob in a superhero costume.

Rue quickly looked away, her fingers slowly moving up to play with the gold chain on her neck. She nibbled on her lip and turned to Eleven, "Sex is when two lovers — "

"No! Rue!"

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

"Alright, so . . . we have about an hour until we meet up with everyone — do you have everything?"

"Yes"

"Yeah, you?"

Will nodded, softly shaking the box in his hands. Dazzled by gold and green, their shoes crunched on twigs and leaves. El, Rue and Will walked through the woods behind the Byers house, boxes of recycling and papers at hand. Sunlight was streaming through a canopy of leaves in their respectful trees at them.

The three stopped in front of Castle Byers; a small huddle of logs built together to make a tiny room. They dropped to their knees and crawled inside.

Will had his expectation of the space in Castle Byers much too high. It was a tight squeeze for the three fourteen-year-old to fit inside, but they made it work. They were lucky they were small for their age.

El and Rue shuffled around for a bit, trying to get comfortable. They set the boxes down next to them. Rue sat on the sleeping bag and stared around the little hangout space, the sun sneaking in a few times from the gaps in the wood. The wood planks that worked as walls had a bunch of Will's drawings nailed to them. A small table by the corner that had his action figures, comic books, pictures of him and the party, him and Rue and his family, then a flashlight they used as a lamp when they were there at night. Then, some of Rue's old baseball items, sitting in another corner, with her wooden bat leaning on the wall.

"Look!" Will spoke up, grabbing Rue and El's attention. He held a bunch of papers he pulled out from the box in his hands. Rue tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and leaned closer, El doing the same.

Her green eyes glanced at the small picture of her mother when she was younger. It was held up with a paperclip, followed by the rest of the pages. It was the stack of papers Jonathan and Nancy gave her. "Here, it says Emilia had more than one ability."

"Is that possible?" Rue turned to El, who shrugged.

"I'm not sure,"

"Psychokinesis, the supposed ability to move objects by mental effort alone." Will read aloud.

Rue nodded, "Yeah, those are El's powers."

Eleven frowned, grabbing the paper from Will's hands and turning to face Rue. "No papers." she shook her head. "Just for fun. It is not an experiment. Rue is not an experiment."

"Of course not,"

"Good," she said firmly before turning to reach into one of the boxes and pulled out a red Coke can. El held it on the palm of her hand, putting it close to Rue's face, who had to cross her eyes to look at it.

Rue slowly moved El's hand away, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Crush it."

She gaped at her, "Crush it? I haven't crushed anything! Only fix it! I—"

"Crush it." El said again.

Rue sighed, "Okay," she looked at the red can, " . . . how?"

"You're telling me you can lift our whole room in your sleep, but you don't know how to crush a can?"

"Shut up, Will!"

"Just focus." Eleven told her, placing her hand on Rue's shoulder to calm her down.

Rue sighed, her green eyes landing on the can again. She stared at it, "Focusing . . ." Rue pictured the can crushing, but nothing happened. She huffed, getting more annoyed the longer it took.

"It's not working."

"Just focus."

"I am!"

And then, the Coke can crush itself, and El smiled brightly, dropping it in the box she pulled it out of, "See? Easy."

"Yeah, easy . . ."

With only a few minutes before having to leave for Dustin's house, Rue was slowly becoming a lot more confident with her abilities the longer El has taught her.

"Try . . . the wall. And focus."

Rue took a deep breath, and she closed her eyes. Silence filled Castle Byers. The only sounds were the twittering birds outside and the sound of leaves brushing with the wind.

Rue opened her eyes, staring at the wood. Her mind focused on that, and that only. Gold flashed in her green eyes for a moment, and she quieted her breathing as she raised a hand. Her fingertips brushed the wall, and a blue and gold hue of light slipped from her and sank into the wood, making it glow.

Rue pushed her hand into the wood, and Will gasped when it went through the wall. Eleven quickly shushed him.

An airy laugh escaped from Rue's lips when she felt the soft summer breeze on her hand. Half her arm was inside Castle Byers, and the rest was going through the wood planks.

She pulled her hand back inside and stared at the spot he stuck it through. It looked like it had small waves, like an ocean or a pool. It looked like a body of water.

"You just turned a solid into a liquid!" Will exclaimed, watching as it slowly turned back to normal, the waves disappearing and the wood planks going hard. "That's like—"

"Insane!" Rue beamed, blood slowly rolling out her nose. She looked at El, who was smiling just as brightly. The girl let out an excited squeak and wrapped her arms around Rue.

"Yay!"

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

Excitement crawled through Rue's skin as she pressed her back on the wall. She bit her lower lip, trying to calm herself down. Rue was on her tippy toes, trying her hardest to not be seen.

The whole party, but Dustin, hid in his house for a surprise welcome back party. The boy was finally back home from his science summer camp.

Rue stood between Max and Will, a smile clear on her freckled face as Max looked over at her with a bright grin.

Everyone watched as Dustin stepped to the living room, slowly trailing after his toys that moved on their own. He was gripping on a can of hairspray, mumbling things to himself. "This can't be happening, this is just a dream. . ."

Max grabbed Rue's hand, pulling her around the wall, everyone following the two girls. Their fingers interlocked as the party grouped up behind Dustin, who bent down to pick up one of his toys that had stopped moving, thanks to El.

Everyone watched as Max silently counted down, then they all blew on their noisemakers and screaming "Surprise!", although it didn't quite go as planned since Dustin screamed in pure horror spraying Lucas right in the eyes with the hair spray.

Rue gasped as Max pulled her away. Everyone two watched with wide eyes as Lucas also screamed, however, in pain. The two boys kept screaming until Lucas finally hit Dustin's hand down.

"Well . . . that didn't go as planned. . ."

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

Rue and Will stood next to each other, Mike and El next to them holding onto each other as if it was the end of the world.

She shifted in her spot, shuffling closer when Dustin turned around, "I call it: The Forever Clock," he said, showing them everything he's learnt and made in camp while Max helped Lucas with his eye situation.

Nevertheless, only Rue, Will and El seemed interested.

"Alright? Powered by wind, very useful in the apocalypse," Dustin explained, handing an item that looked like a windmill over Will. Rue and El leaned closer to him, the two looking at it from every angle. The Forever Clock was made with popsicle sticks, tape and glue. But as Will flicked at it, it began to spin, causing El to jump and Rue's eyes to widen in amazement.

"Then I give you. . . The Slammer," Dustin presenting, pulling out another invention of his from his bag. It looked like a hammer. (which explained the name) And it had tons of buttons. He pressed one of them, and it started to shake in his hands, then he pressed it again, making it stop. He grinned brightly, handing it to Rue, who took it gingerly, not wanting to break it.

As she smiled, he asked, "Pretty neat, huh?"

"It's really cool, Dustin! What camp did you say this was?"

"Camp Know Where," he wiggled his eyebrows, "get it? Because — "

"Yeah, we get it," Mike said, forcing a smile on his face as he nods.

Dustin grinned, shaking his head. "Okay, but this —," He grabbed his whole bag and put it down on the floor. "—This is my masterpiece." They all kneeled, watching him unzip it to reveal a bunch of poles and wires. "Meet Cerebro."

Rue put down The Slammer and looked at all the things in the bag, "This looks like something you get from Ikea."

Mike scrunched his nose, turning his head to look at her, "What?"

"Ikea!" she said again, "The new furnishing store? Joyce got my bed from there a few months ago. There are none in Hawkins — so it was a bit of a drive —"

"Okay — I get it." he shook his head, turning to back to Dustin. "What exactly are we looking at here?"

"An unassembled one-of-a-kind, battery-powered radio tower!"

"So, it's uh — ham radio?" Will asked.

Dustin shook his head, fixing the yellow and green hat on his head. "The Cadillac of ham radios. This baby carries a crystal clear connection over vast distances. I'm talking North Pole to South."

"Why would you need that?"

"So I can talk to my girlfriend whenever and wherever I choose."

At the end of his sentence, the four choked up, sharing shocked glances with each other. "Girlfriend?" They exclaimed, staring at him wide-eyed.

"Come on! Let's go build it so you can meet Suzie!"

They all hurried to grab the bag, only for Dustin to stop them and point to the other five bags that also carried pieces for Cerebro.

"Wait — so her name is Suzie?" Mike asked, still not grasping the fact that Dustin Henderson had a girlfriend.

Dustin hummed, nodding. "Suzie with a Z. She's from Utah."

"Girls go to science camp?"

Rue scoffed, "Dude," she hit his arms, only for him to laugh and say he was just joking.

"Suzie does," Dusting grinned, "she's a genius."

Rue smiled, admiring the way Dustin talked so sweetly of Suzie. He seemed to really like her just by the way he spoke so highly of the girl.

"Is she cute?" Mike asked, making Rue roll her eyes. Eleven looked at Rue, confused at her reaction, and Rue mumbled that she will explain it to her later.

"Think Phoebe Cates, only hotter," Dustin answered, and Rue felt like a hypocrite as she slowed down, thinking of the attractive actress in her head. She swallowed thickly, wondering just how Dustin's girlfriend might look if she really was hotter than Phoebe Cates.

"That's hot," The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them. Rue's cheeks grew red as she froze in her spot in the hallway as Mike and Dustin stared at her weirdly while Will rolled his eyes and smacked his hand to his forehead.

"I mean — I — she — " Rue started to stammer in embarrassment. "I meant that you shouldn't judge a girl by her looks," she said firmly, shaking her head and pushing past the two boys. "The question you should be asking is: is she nice or sweet. Not if she's cute."

"What is going on?" Max asked as she saw all of them start to walk out of the house with bags in their hands.

"We're going to talk to Dustin's girlfriend," Will told her.

"Girlfriend?"

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

As hours went by, Rue felt the sweat drip down her back, and her blue shirt started to become damp, which gave her an unpleasant feeling. Her shoulders ached as she fixed the straps from the bag for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

The party was climbing up and hill, with heavy bags, and what made it harder was the sun. All seven of them had sweat-drenched clothes and were craving for water.

"Aren't we high enough?" Lucas huffed out of breath.

"Cerebro works best at a hundred meters."

"Don't people in Utah have telephones?" Rue spoke up, shielding the sun with her right hand.

Dustin nodded, walking backwards. "Yeah, but Suzie's Mormon,"

"Oh shit," Lucas gasped, "She doesn't have electricity?"

"That's the Amish," Max corrected him.

"Then what are Mormons?"

"Super religious white people," Dustin answered, "They have electricity and cars and stuff but. . . since I'm not Mormon her parents would never approve," he explained to his friends. "It's all a bit, Shakespearean."

"Shakespearean?" Max asked.

Rue barely paid attention, trying to figure out a way to explain to El why what Mike said was offensive. She looked behind her, her mouth open to begin a sentence. She quickly shut it when she saw El wasn't behind her, but instead, many many feet away, laughing at something Mike whispered in her ear.

She scrunched her nose at the sight. Then her green eyes noticed that they weren't carrying any bags and were just climbing up, holding the hands of each other, which wasn't fair.

She poked her cheek with her tongue, tucking her hands in the pockets of her shorts. "Gross," she huffed, and maybe she did find Mike and El's relationship a little over PDA. And despite all the jokes she made to tease Mike, she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. Not at El or Mike, but their whole relationship, and them freely kissing and hugging and all that jazz.

She wanted that with a girl of her own, to hold her and whisper sweet nothing in her ear. She frowned, remembering she still had plenty of years to find someone for herself, but how would she find a girl who wants to do all of that with her.