The Overcomer, Stranger Things

Cute little detective

Gwen Byers woke up to the light of dawn seeping into her room. The blond rubbed her tired eyes and walked over to the window. There was a pearly glow in the sky giving her a new sense of rejuvenation. Gwen walked over to her closet, pulling off her pajamas and jumping into her swimsuit before throwing an oversized white shirt over it that fell down to her knees. The 9-year-old picked up her turquoise bucket hat, decorated with embroidered flowers along the belt, as she skipped out of her room.

Joyce Byers wasn't even surprised when her youngest came prancing through the hallway before the sun had risen. The adoring mother couldn't help but grin when she saw Gwen's cute little bucket hat on her head. "Awww," she cooed as she walked over to her daughter and pinched her cheeks, making the girl groan, "you look so adorable!"

"Mom," Gwen complained, eternally thankful that her brothers weren't up yet, as her mother continued to dote on her, pressing unnecessary kisses all over her little face, "don't you think this is a little superfluous?"

"I'm sorry," Joyce pulled back slightly, an amused expression on her face, "what did you just say?"

"I said," Gwen cleared her throat, looking up at her mother with a calculating expression, "don't you think your need to excessively baby me is a bit superfluous?"

"Super what?"

"Superfluous!" Gwen repeated. Seeing the blank expression on her mom's face she simply threw her hands up before going to the table. "Nevermind."

The two were brought out of their thoughts a bubbly El hopping into the chair next to Gwen, soon followed by a grumpy Will throwing himself into the chair on the other side of his sister. The girls burst into a fit of giggles when the Byers boy leaned his head back and started to snore, only for Joyce to smack him in the back of the head to wake him up. "No drooling at breakfast."

"Well, there's no chance of that if mom's cooking," Gwen mumbled under her breath, letting out a yelp when her mom whacked the back of her head in retaliation. The girl didn't get a chance to respond to the impetuous violence as Johnathan suddenly burst from his room. The three kids looked up to see him struggling to put on his shirt as he mumbled short "good mornings" to the trio and tried to get to the front door.

El and Gwen spun around in their seats when they heard a crash come from the backyard, the latter immediately jumping out of her chair when she saw who caused the noise. Gwen ran over to the kitchen door, throwing it open before calling out to the older girl who was running around the house like a maniac, "Have a good day at work, Nancy!"

"I'll see you tonight!" Nancy yelled back over her shoulder before disappearing around the corner. Gwen smirked when she turned around to see a red-faced Johnathan practically run away from his mother and out the front door.

"Ah," Gwen sighed as she sat next to Will and plucked the syrup from his hands to pour on her pancakes, "young love."

"Ugh, gross," Will gagged as his mother sat down at the table.

"Hey! That's no way to greet your mother--"

"I wasn't talking about you--!"

"What is love?"

Silence filled the room and the previous squabble between Joyce and Will was thrown out the window. El looked at them questioningly, waiting for an answer. When she didn't get one, Eleven turned to Gwen, who usually gave her answers. "Gwen, what is love?"

"Oh!" Gwen's eyes went wide. She glanced over at her brother for help, who quickly looked down at his breakfast, making the blond roll her eyes. Men are useless. "That's a very interesting question El," she continued before shoving the rest of her pancakes in her mouth so that El wouldn't know what she was saying. The supernatural teen furrowed her eyebrows as Gwen mumbled a bunch of gibberish, food coming out of the younger girl's mouth as she spoke. Gwen swallowed her food, wiping the syrup off her face with her sleeve before looking up at a bewildered El. "So do you understand now?"