Chapter Text
Late Winter 1986
Hopper and El drove along the winding path toward the Byers house, the boxes in the back of the car bouncing from the uneven road. Today was officially the day they’d be moving in with Joyce and the boys. The winter seemed like it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon, and as safe as the cabin was, it was no longer viable for them to stay there.
El buzzed with excitement. She sang along to Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted to Love’, occasionally sneaking teasing glances at Hopper. He rolled his eyes but turned it up with a grin. He wouldn’t admit it out loud but yeah, he was a little bit addicted to Joyce and their budding relationship.
As they pulled up alongside Joyce and Jonathan’s cars, the door to the house immediately flew open to reveal Joyce. Will barreled out from behind his mother, sprinting up to the car just as Hopper killed the engine. Clearly both kids were excited by the new arrangement, and he was grateful. He’d been worried that the boys would be annoyed by the intrusion, but as Will bounced from foot to foot next to his door, he felt relieved.
He shooed Will away so he could open the door, glancing back towards the house to spot Joyce and Jonathan coming down the steps.
“You excited then, buddy?” he teased, ruffling the boy’s hair.
Will nodded. “I couldn’t sleep! And we’ve been waiting for you for hours. Let’s do this!”
El rounded the car and the two kids hugged before chatting excitedly about the new arrangements.
“Mom says the bunk beds will be here Monday,” Will said, “and they come with a trundle! For when we have people for sleepovers.”
El’s face scrunched in confusion at the unknown word. “Trundle?”
“Yeah I’ll show you pictures in the catalog come on.” He grabbed her hand and made to head back to the house.
“Ah ah no,” Joyce said sternly, “no one goes back into that house empty handed. Grab a box come on.”
They turned, Will promising to show her pictures later, and headed to the trunk to grab a box each. Jonathan passed by to follow, smiling at Hopper as he went. Hopper clapped him appreciatively on the back. He understood this was a lot for Jonathan to undertake, even if he was leaving in a few months for college. But the kid seemed to be taking it in stride, and perhaps even he was a little excited about the situation.
He turned back to find Joyce had come to a stop in front of him. He slid a hand along her waist.
“Hello,” he murmured, bending down to kiss her.
“Hi, you ready?”
“Been ready,” he said with a grin.
“Well if that were true you would’ve moved last month when I first asked,” she said.
He shrugged but said nothing back. Since they had started seeing each other early last summer - or as the kids had called it, “gone official” - he’d been hesitant to rush things in their relationship. He wanted everything with her of course, and he knew she did too. But he didn’t want to move too quickly, he wanted them to take their time. Their relationship was good, but he had a constant sense of its fragility, worried that something could go wrong at any moment that would put it at risk. And he didn’t want to welcome that by adding any stress or expectations.
So when she’d asked him last month to move in, had cited the cabin’s faults as a motive, he’d politely told her ‘not just yet’. But when the generator had stopped working last week and the temperature had plummeted once again, he’d taken her up on it, had decided what better time than the present?
A box floated precariously past them, and he turned to glare at El by the back of the truck.
“Hey, what did we talk about?”
“It’s too heavy,” she argued.
“You need your physical strength just as much as mental,” he reminded her, as he so often did when he found her cheating with her powers.
He didn’t like the idea of her needing any kind of strength, but there was no denying the ever constant threat of the unknown around them. And he worried that if she was in a bad situation, she’d be at risk if she relied too heavily on her powers.
The box dropped out of the air, landing with a thud at his and Joyce’s feet.
“Hey that could’ve been fragile.”
El rolled her eyes and shot back, “We both know it’s not. Nothing we brought is.”
“What do you mean?” Joyce asked curiously from next to him.
“Oh you know,” he trailed off as she moved away from him and back toward the kids.
He winced, already preparing himself for her reaction and followed her. In the back sat four boxes, the fifth out on the ground where they stood.
“Hop, this seriously can’t be all of it,” she said, pushing at a box or two to try and gauge their weight.
“Joyce we don’t have much, just clothes really. Couple of books, few other personal things.”
“Pots? Pans?”
He shrugged. “Only got the one.”
“One pot and pan?”
“One pan.”
She rolled her eyes and huffed. He glanced sideways at the kids, unsure where this was about to go. Jonathan tried to hide a smile and grabbed for one of the boxes.
“Alright you two, let’s give the grown ups some space,” he instructed.
He led them into the house, stopping briefly to hand his box to El before picking up the discarded, heavier one. When they were back in the house, he turned to Joyce and shrugged.
“We don’t have much,” he said. “You don’t need or want any of that furniture, yours is all better. I just figured we’d leave everything there, use it as storage space.”
“I get that but Hop. If I’d know you were living so-“ she waved her hand around, searching for a word. “- I dunno, like that, I’d… Well I don’t know what I would’ve done but it’s just… it makes me kinda sad.”
He waved her off before reaching up to soothingly rub her shoulders. “It’s fine, it’s not sad, it just is what it is.”
“I know but Jane, she really doesn’t have anything? Toys or I dunno I guess she’s too old for that kind of stuff.”
“She’s got her bike,” he said, nodding toward where it sat in the back seat. “And her books. Kid doesn’t really want for much else.”
She sighed heavily, still not placated. He moved to wrap his arms around her, pulling her into him and placing a kiss to the top of her head.
“We’ll get her some stuff,” he said, “but really don’t worry, we’ve been fine.” He pulled away, grinning down at her. “But now we’ll be better.”
She smiled softly. “Yeah, we will.”
They pulled apart and both reached for the remaining two boxes.
“And besides, if there’s anything we forgot the cabin ain’t goin’ anywhere,” he threw over his shoulder.
The unpacking process was a bit chaotic, and he felt guilty about the fact that he hadn’t thought to organize things into separate boxes. Instead, he’d thrown things in haphazardly which meant they were all constantly running between Joyce’s - and now his, he thought with a grin - room and El and Will’s, swapping clothes to get them to their rightful spots.
At one point, Jonathan had brought a box through to them and unceremoniously dropped it in the doorway.
“Nope,” he’d said, his face contorted in disgust, before he’d disappeared back the hall.
Hopper lifted one of the flaps and winced when he found a pile of his underwear. Joyce looked over his shoulder and snorted.
“Good one,” she said.
“Could’ve been worse, I think my condoms are under ‘em.”
Jonathan immediately appeared again, face now a picture of contained anger.
“No,” he said, “they weren’t.” He flung the small box onto the floor as though they were hot to the touch, and then he quickly disappeared again.
Hopper’s eyes widened, mortified.
“Okay,” he said slowly, “maybe now’s a good time to move out?”
She blushed, grabbed the box and stuffed them into the open top drawer of her dresser. She shrugged, trying to play at nonchalance, but it was clear she was just as horrified as he was.
“James, he once caught you leaving my room half naked, I think he knew already.”
He smiled fondly at the use of his full name. Until recently, she hadn’t called him it since high school, since before everything with Lonnie had unfolded. And he had missed it. Now as their relationship progressed, it had been slipping out more and more.
“Well I guess if we ever move again you’ll have to oversee the packing.”
The rest of it thankfully passed with no more blunders. They still all maneuvered between the two rooms, and maybe Jonathan struggled to meet his eye, but it was soothing in its domesticity to the point where it was even fun. Jonathan had his music blaring, and though it wasn’t particularly Hopper’s taste, it was entertaining to see Will wander out of the room, playing air drums as he tossed Hopper one of his work uniforms. Hopper would toss one of El’s books back and Will would catch it before bringing it up to strum at it as though it were a guitar.
More than once he went into the kids’ room to find them all sitting around, clearly having abandoned the unpacking, as Jonathan explained a fact about one of the bands on the tape to El. And he found himself standing in the doorway watching as she listened intently, and he couldn’t bring himself to get them moving again.
He was sorting his shirts into the drawer Joyce had cleared for him when he heard the music from the other room lower.
“Hey,” Will hollered, “what’s this?”
Panicked that they’d found something else embarrassing, he and Joyce quickly stopped what they were doing and moved down the hall to the other room. Will sat on the bed, holding aloft a photograph as El and Jonathan inspected it over his shoulder. He turned it around to read the back, and he heard Joyce’s soft gasp as the photo was made visible to them.
“True love, established 1958,” Will read before looking up at them. “Mom is this you?”
Hopper felt an itch, a need to move forward and snatch the photograph away. He was embarrassed that they had found it, embarrassed that he’d even brought it in the first place. It was a photo of himself and Joyce, perched atop his dad’s Oldsmobile on his birthday, the day he’d been given the car. She sat between his legs on the hood of the car, his arms wrapped around her as he placed a kiss on her cheek. Her head was thrown back in laughter, and he can still remember her swatting at him teasingly just after the photo had been snapped; can still remember the citrusy smell of shampoo as his nose was nestled in her curls.
Joyce wrung her hands together nervously.
“Uh yeah baby,” she said hesitantly, “that’s me.”
“And you?” El asked, eyes locking with his. He nodded, short.
“So, ‘true love’, did you guys like go out?” Will asked, and for perhaps the first time, the kid’s curiosity annoyed him. He brushed it off and nodded again. “What happened?”
Hopper bristled and he just couldn’t help himself.
“Lonnie,” he sneered.
The room fell eerily silent as realization dawned on Jonathan and Will, both with matching disappointed looks at the mention of their father. El’s eyes widened, seeming to catch on to at least a bit of it. It was suddenly awkward, and he couldn’t bring himself to look back at Joyce.
He cleared his throat, stepping forward to gently take the photo from Will. The young boy looked up at him guiltily.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
Hopper instantly regretted his harsh reaction. It wasn’t the kids fault, and hell it was in the past now.
“It’s okay buddy,” he said softly, “we wouldn’t have you otherwise.” He rested his hand lovingly on top of Will’s head, and met Jonathan’s eye, hoping to convey the same sentiment applied to him. Jonathan smiled weakly back, clearly appreciative but still feeling awkward at the reveal.
Hopper cleared his throat again and tucked the photo into his back pocket.
“Hey what happened to the tunes? I was just getting ready to give my hips a shake.”
El immediately protested and the boys laughed and semblance seemed to be restored. As he turned to leave, Jonathan turned the stereo back up. Joyce had already left apparently, and he was quick to seek her out. He eventually found her stood out on the front porch, an unlit cigarette between her fingers.
“Hey now, you sneaking a smoke without me?”
She didn’t turn towards him, didn’t move to light the cigarette. He hesitantly moved around to face her. Her eyes were welled with unfallen tears, her lip trembled as she met his gaze.
“Hey, Joyce no don’t cry.” He moves to embrace her but she shuffled away.
“I don’t know how you could possibly forgive me for what I did,” she whispered, rubbing furiously at her eyes with her free hand.
He sighed heavily and moved forward again, this time not letting her escape. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and tucked her head beneath his chin, one hand sliding up to cup the back of her head.
“It took me a long time,” he said softly, “and sometimes I still get a bit angry thinkin’ bout it. But where would we be now, huh?” He pulled away to look down at her. “Maybe we’d be happy, maybe we’d‘ve been miserable, who knows? But I know you wouldn’t have your boys Joyce, and I wouldn’t have had Sara. And I don’t like the idea of any of that.” He wiped a stray tear from under her eye. “You hurt me Joyce, I’m not gonna lie to you. But it’s not worth getting upset over anymore.”
She sighed and dropped her head to rest against his chest.
“Hey today’s a happy day,” he said, nudging gently at her cheek. She lifted her head to look up at him. “No more crying, let’s have a smoke and we’ll get back to it, okay?”
She nodded, pulling away and lifting the cigarette up to her mouth. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head as she took her first drag.
He did still hurt to think about, the way she’d abandoned him all those years ago. He’d been a broken, shell of a man in the months, even years after. And when he’d returned to Hawkins, it had all resurfaced. But they’d found each other again, and he’d grown to love and care for her kids and though the pain of their teenage breakup hurt, though the loss of his daughter tore him apart, he wouldn’t change any of it.
The rest of the unpacking process didn’t take them too long in the end, but they still relented to the kids’ requests for pizza to celebrate. It seemed a fair reward, and even if it hadn’t taken long he could tell neither him or Joyce, or even Jonathan, wanted to cook.
They sat around the table and shared stories about the week past and about what was to come in the week ahead. Hopper regaled them with a story of catching a teenager spray painting in one of the alleyways off Main.
“I chased after him a couple blocks and caught him,” he said proudly.
“He tripped,” El added, tucking into another slice of pizza.
He leaned forward, a teasing glare on his face.
“Still chased him and caught him though,” he said, tapping the end of her nose.
When the pizza was done, they retreated to the living room and settled in to watch a film. It was all so normal, a standard evening for the group of them over the past year.
And perhaps that’s why it didn’t hit him until he was lying in bed a few hours later. When Joyce came through from finishing her nightly routine and moved to settle in bed next to him.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
“I live here now.”
She grinned, pulling back the covers and getting in beside him.
“You do,” she said, moving to lie on her side facing him.
He slid further down the bed to mirror her, shuffling over so he was so close he could rest his forehead against hers.
“S‘nice,” he murmured, smiling.
“Very nice,” she agreed.
“Could get used to it.”
“You better.”
He lifted his hand to lightly run his fingers along her bare arm. He watched the movement for a moment before meeting her eye again.
“I love you,” he said softly.
“I know.” He rolled his eyes and she giggled in response. “What? It’s sweet.” She closed the small gap between them and kissed him.
“I love you too,” she whispered when she pulled away.
He closed the gap again, capturing her lips with his. His hand moved from her arm up into her hair at the back of her head, and he nudged her gently until she was lying flat beneath him. His lips left her mouth and trailed down her chin to her neck, tongue lapping at her pulse point.
“Where’d you put the condoms again?” he mumbled against her skin.
She gave him a light shove and when he pulled away, he found her looking at him admonishingly.
“Just because we’re living together now doesn’t mean we need to have sex all the time.”
“I know,” he argued, only a little put out as he rolled off and back to his side but still near her. “Just thought it was a nice moment.”
She reached up and turned off the light on her bedside table. She reached for him and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him.
“Goodnight,” she said, pressing a kiss to his chest.
“Night.”
There was a moments silence. And then another. Before she huffed and moved out of his arms and the light was back on.
“In the top drawer,” she said with a coy smile. “But I’m not getting up.”
He over exaggerated as he threw back the covers and leapt from the bed, causing her to giggle. He grinned as he rounded the bed towards the dresser, delighted that he could entertain her and make her laugh. Yeah, he thought, he could get used to this.