A life less ordinary ||~~Elax/Elmax~~||

2 + 2 = seriously?

A short time later they heard Joyce's car pulling up out the front of the house, and then a loud, impatient knocking at the door. "Joyce, hi, you didn't have to..."

Joyce pushed past Karen, practically dragging Mike and Will in with her, "sorry Karen, but we have to talk...inside" she said, looking back out to the street as if people were listening in.

"Ok?" Karen replied, "go through to the kitchen I guess."

Joyce nodded to the kitchen, both boys following orders and traipsing through the house to the kitchen. As they reached it they saw Max and El sat quietly side-by-side, and Nancy at one end of the table. Clearly something was going on, Max had a steely look on her face and looked ready for a fight, whereas El looked extremely worried and slightly sick and was fiddling with her hands. Mike and Will sat opposite Max and El, and everyone watched as Joyce and Karen entered the room. Seeing the whisky bottle, Joyce grabbed two glasses, "may I?" she asked.

"I guess so?" replied Karen, not understanding what was going on. Her mind was still spinning from earlier events with Max and El.

Joyce necked her drink in one, "ok, Karen, you might want to sit down" she stated, pouring two more glasses, one for her, one for Karen.

Karen obliged, while Nancy watched and put two and two together and reached a shocking four, in more ways than one. She grabbed the whisky, poured herself a drink and started to drink.

Joyce took a deep breath, which the boys mirrored whilst glancing at each other, "I went to get Mike as you requested, I opened the door and interrupted these two...uhhh...they were, um, they were basically making out" she finished, her voice getting higher as she explained.

Despite her earlier assumption being correct, Nancy, mid-drink, couldn't help but choke and spray out what was in her mouth. Karen just grabbed her own drink and downed it in one with a shaky hand. Max and El locked eyes with Will and Mike, a few exchanged eyebrow raises and small gestures letting the boys know that they'd been caught doing pretty much the same thing. They all closed their eyes, contemplating the shit-storm that was about to go down. The silence was stifling until an unexpected noise broke it...it started as a nervous giggle, but then, as Nancy looked around the table, at the scene in front of her, the sheer seriousness of it all meant that she couldn't stop, she was soon laughing uncontrollably and almost fell off her chair.

Karen and Joyce looked at each other then back to Nancy, mouths open slightly at her reaction. Mike and Will had the same expressions, but El and Max had to stifle a laugh themselves, especially when they made the mistake of looking at each other.

Nancy managed to pull herself together enough to pour more drinks for herself, her mom, and Joyce. Still giggling slightly, she chugged hers back in one, watching as the other two followed suit. She repeated the action again, ensuring the drinks were larger this time. Karen and Joyce caught each other's eyes again, and started giggling. Karen pointed between Mike and Will, then Max and El, "these two...and these two..." they both burst out laughing.

"These two too?" Joyce questioned through the laughter, pointing at Max and El. This just spurred on more laughter as Karen nodded.

Nancy caught Max's eye and nodded for them to leave the room, giving Mike a wink on the way out as he looked over.

Between laughs, and ignoring the kids leaving, Karen managed to say, "I thought we'd be having a chat about El and Will..."

Joyce laughed louder, "but Will's always been..." she searched for the right words, and shrugged, "he's always been Will" she settled on, laughing more.

"And it doesn't bother you?" asked Karen, her laughs subsiding slightly, suddenly realizing that as of that evening she now had two children in same-sex relationships.

Joyce's laughter died down a bit too, "Karen, you've seen the shit we've been through, I don't give a fuck as long as my boys are happy" she stated, taking another swig from her drink.

"So why did you look so pissed?" Karen asked, pouring another and thinking about opening the gin.

"Honestly? ...I was just pissed he didn't tell me, I mean...are you really that surprised by Mike?" They looked at each other for a moment before cracking up, Karen putting her forehead on the table and banging it with her hand.

Nancy watched them in amusement, damn, they're gonna have hella hangovers tomorrow! she thought, cracking up herself.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

When El, Max, Mike, and Will left the kitchen, they stopped at the foot of the stairs, "so..." said Max, rocking on her feet, "you guys huh?"

"Errr, well, yeah" confirmed Mike awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Unlike Max, who'd managed to compose herself, El was still having trouble keeping a straight face, and when she looked from Max, to Mike, then to Will, she burst out laughing, with the others unable to resist doing the same.

Making their way upstairs, they paused, "are you staying Will?" asked Max.

"Yeah, I guess...well, I mean my mom drove us here, aaaand she sounds pretty drunk right now" he said, "you?"

"If El doesn't mind..." she said hopefully.

"Well, night then" said Mike, closing his door.

"Night" replied El distractedly, doing the same.

"You don't mind, do you?" asked Max, puzzled by El's demeanor.

"No" she answered with a smile.

"What do you think she'll say in the morning?" Max asked, curious to hear El's take on the situation.

El surprised her immensely when, with a look of serenity on her face, she said "I don't care...now she's found out, I know I don't care...I don't care what anyone says, all I want is you, and now I know...I know...that no-one will get in my way."

Max looked into her eyes and knew that she meant it, kissing her softly she then nervously whispered into her ear "do you want to pick up where we left off earlier?"

El backed up, confusing Max at first, especially when she grabbed her chair. All became clear when she wedged it under her door handle, "I'll be impressed if she can get through this 'lock'."

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

As dawn broke, Max was woken by an annoying shaft of light hitting her face. Groaning, she turned over to find herself facing a sleeping El, smiling and blushing slightly when she remembered the night before. Just as she was beginning to drift off to sleep again, she was disturbed by the tremors she felt, another earthquake. She sat up and looked at El, who still appeared to be sleeping peacefully. I don't get it, why isn't she having a nightm... As she was contemplating that question, she saw that El was starting to thrash about and grimace in her sleep, grabbing fistfuls of the bed cover, and she started saying things, mostly unintelligible, but Max did catch one thing she said, "...everyone in Hawkins..." and then she practically shouted "stop!" The tremors stopped immediately, and about 10 seconds later El woke with a start, sitting bolt upright and breathing hard.

"El...look at me, it's ok, you're ok" Max said, pulling her face around gently. She looked lost, like she was still elsewhere, "what did you see?"

El looked as if she was still in a daze, "...darkness..." was all she said before snapping out of it, and looking at Max, who looked back at her with a thoughtful expression.

Knock knock

"Are you guys ok?" they heard Nancy say.

"Yeah" Max replied, not breaking their gaze.

"Get dressed, the chief is downstairs."

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*