Work Text:
"So, this is it," Hopper said, his arms spread wide in the middle of the room, giving Joyce the grand tour.
He'd done his best to give it a quick tidy before she came over since it was her first time seeing it since he came clean about harboring the living breathing experiment and fugitive from HNL in his grandfather's old hunting cabin. His best wasn't exactly up to Joyce's "neatnik" standards though, and his version of a tidy was more or less just shoving things in various hiding places, wherever there was space to fit more clutter. As Joyce moved further into the cabin, Hopper suddenly remembered a half dozen other things he forgot to do (like sweep and dust) and he just hoped that she didn't notice.
Joyce took it all in, one eyebrow raised, not entirely sure what to make of the shabby chic bachelor decor. The look on her face indicated that she still couldn't believe that he'd been living there with El this whole time. She stood there for a long moment without saying a word and it almost looked like she didn't know what to say, but she had to say something.
"It's, um …cozy?" she offered, looking for the right word for the tiny space.
Hopper nodded as she continued her inspection. He could see the gears spinning as she moved around the living room. Her hands skipped over his Granny's quilt on the back of the chair and the old Hopper family radio that she probably recognized from another life; old, forgotten memories that came flooding back. She checked out the bathroom and its accordion privacy door before making her way to the bedrooms, taking a peek behind the curtain into his room and then poking her head into El's. Joyce blinked a few times and her lips pressed together in thought. He could practically feel the unsolicited interior decorating advice incoming.
"And you two have been living here? For a year? Like this?" she asked, still in complete disbelief.
He nodded again, moving ahead of her in the kitchen, grabbing a small stack of dirty dishes he had missed on the first pass. He slyly ditched them in the sink.
"Well, I think it's really sweet," she said, finally, much to his relief. He had passed the inspection and could relax.
"Wait, what's this?"
Hopper heard Joyce give a little gasp behind him. Uh oh, what ungodly mess did she find now? He spun around to see her facing him with a shocked look on her face like she couldn't believe what she had found.
"You have a picture of me? On your fridge?" Joyce squeaked out, snatching the image from out under the Schlitz magnet to stare at it closer. He forgot it was even there -- a vivid color photo of her, circa 1964.
Hopper always loved how she looked like a model in it, dark hair teased into a bouffant, wearing that bright blue dress. Looking beyond the camera with the most beautiful far-away expression. He still remembered the day he took it with his new Kodachrome; the camera she surprised him with the Christmas before he shipped off. The same one he used to send snapshots back to her when he was so far away. Before everything had fallen apart.
She was staring at him now, cheeks flushed, waiting for his response.
"The kid found it in a box," Hopper said. "She said you looked pretty and put it up there, I swear. I had nothing to do with it!" His hands went up, conveying his innocence, though his smile betrayed him.
"Uh-huh," Joyce nodded, smiling too. Knowing it was a fib but going along with it anyway. "You had nothing to do with it."