In a “fuck it, El lives, loses her powers and stays with the Byers and Hopper in Hawkins” AU, I headcanon that she tries a bunch of different things out before finding a hobby she likes.
Skateboarding with Max is a failure because El has issues balancing on her board. She ends up roller skating with Max once she’s physically recovered from being in bed for 18 months.
Basketball with Lucas is frustrating since she can’t use her powers to shoot the ball. She instead cheers Lucas on in any pick up games he plays with Steve.
She doesn’t mind painting with Will but struggles with being as imaginative as he is. Whenever Will wants company when he’s pairing at his easel, she ends up painting miniature figures that he uses in D & D.
El likes writing with Mike but finds that she’s not as good at writing fiction as he is. She starts keeping a journal where she documents her emotions and observations of the people and things around her. She occasionally shares what’s she’s written to others.
Engineering with Dustin ends up with her setting part of his bedroom carpet on fire. She ends up reading one of his many library books next to him whenever she visits and he’s building the next Cerebro.
It sort of just happens one night when El asks Joyce a bunch of questions about her production of “Oklahoma” in high school. Joyce encourages El to try out for the Hawkins High drama club. She auditions along with Dustin and gets a small role in their musical production of Bye Bye Birdie and ends up falling in love with being on stage. The costumes, the music, the dialogue and the sets are all fascinating to her. Dustin’s also excited that El likes acting as much as he does. Steve, Erica, Mrs. Henderson, the rest of the Party, Joyce and Hopper are all in the front row opening night. Hopper and Joyce give El yellow flowers after the show’s over.
She ends up becoming a theater kid and wants to study it in college. The Byers/Hopper household ends up having a filmmaker, an artist and an actress in the family.
