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As they looked over the mess that was Hawkins, Joyce had no idea what to do. There was no way they were going back to Lenora, not now anyway. It was safer over there, but she knew her kids would want to stay and help. Not my kids, our kids. She hoped.
No matter how much danger they were in right now, Joyce still felt a slight blush come to her cheeks as he held her hand. She was still struggling to believe that he was really alive, with her. Sure, they had kissed, twice in fact, but they hadn’t actually discussed where they stood with each other. Or what they were going to tell the kids.
Labels didn’t really matter to her right now, however. Joyce was just overjoyed that he was alive in the first place.
Right now, they had much bigger problems than whatever long-awaited romance Joyce and Hopper had going on. They needed a place to stay for the meantime, preferably somewhere that wasn’t too close to the gate.
“We have to find somewhere to crash, Joyce.” Hopper said, seemingly reading her mind. Her eyes pulled away from the wreck of a town that she had once called home, and met his. The look in his eyes made her feel safe, even with the chaos erupting in front of them. She simply nodded in response. She unlinked their hands, despite how much she wanted to hold his forever, and made her way to Mike, Will, Nancy and Jonathan, who had since moved to stand together in a group.
“We’re going to find an abandoned house to stay in for now. Mike, Nancy, if your parents plan on leaving but you want to stick around, you’re welcome to stay with us.” Joyce offered, knowing that Karen Wheeler might want to evacuate to keep Holly safe.
Nancy spoke up on behalf of her and her brother. “Thanks for the offer, Ms Byers, but I think our parents want to stay and help out at the school for a while.” It didn’t really surprise Joyce, Karen had always been a considerate person.
Joyce nodded understandingly. “Well, we better get going. Once we find a place we’ll call.” Joyce didn’t know how she should be acting; should she be happy, sad, scared or confused? She decided to just smile politely.
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After knocking and trying the handles of doors for about an hour, they managed to find a good one. It was a good enough size, with 3 bedrooms, and a basement with 2 old mattresses, they were pretty much set. There was plenty of food in the kitchen, all seemingly abandoned by the owners. There was a TV in the living room, and also one in the basement, not that it mattered that much. It’s not like they were going to sit around and watch TV all day. This place was just temporary, no matter how lovely it was. Even then, Joyce couldn’t help but wish they could live there forever.
Will and El set up camp in the basement, and Jonathan went to one of the rooms on the second floor. There may have been 2 rooms left, but there was an unspoken agreement between Hopper and Joyce that they would be sharing. No words were shared as they headed to the master bedroom on the first floor. It was a lovely room, with a queen-sized bed, an armchair in the corner, and flowery wallpaper on one wall. There was a door to an adjoining bathroom, which was surprisingly big.
Joyce sighed as she put her bag on the left side of the bed. “I’ll go get started on dinner.” She stated as she made her way toward the door.
“I’ll help you.” Hopper replied, getting up from the bed, where he had been sitting prior.
“No, it’s been a rough couple of days for you, and you should get some sleep on a comfortable mattress.” Joyce protested.
Hopper was quick to respond. “But it’s been a rough couple of days for you too, and I really don’t mind.”
“It’s been a rough couple of months for you, Jim. I’m perfectly capable of making dinner by myself. Get some sleep, and I’ll wake you up when dinner’s ready.” She finalised, walking out and closing the door behind her before he could say another word. He just sighed and rested on the extremely soft mattress. Jesus, how rich were these people? He thought to himself as he drifted off into a, for once, peaceful sleep.
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While Joyce cooked, her mind was flooded with all the thoughts that she had been trying her best to ignore.
She knew that she was in love with Hopper. After 8 months of thinking he was dead, she had come to terms with what she was feeling. When she had seen Hopper again, back in Russia, she knew that the love she felt for him was stronger than ever.
She was pretty certain that he loved her too. She obviously didn’t know for sure, but whenever she looked into his eyes, she always saw love, even if it was hidden among other emotions.
For some reason, though, they hadn’t told each other yet. With the possibility of the world ending, it seemed like a perfect time to, so why hadn’t they? It’s not like Joyce didn’t want to, she just didn’t know how or when to bring it up.
They obviously knew that things were different between them. Neither hid how they felt, they stood side by side as often as possible, hands and hearts intertwined. But for some reason, both were too fucking scared to admit the love they shared as if it would disappear the moment they said it out loud.
She knew that it had to happen eventually, it was mind-numbingly frustrating to not know where they stood. The tension between them was eased by their simple but sweet affection, but it was still there. And it was growing. Before long, it would snap.
Oh shit. And just like that, Joyce burnt the sauce. Great, now I have to fucking start again.
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Once dinner was ready, she let the kids know so that they could come and eat. When they were all settled at the table, she went to wake Hopper.
“Hop, wake up, dinner’s ready.” She said softly. He groaned at the interruption; he was enjoying resting on a mattress that wasn’t cheap. Motels really needed to sort that out. He opened his eyes to see her looking at him with a small smile. I’m the luckiest guy in the world for getting to see that smile. She was the most beautiful woman in the world, and she was right there next to him.
Dinner was filled with everyone talking over each other. It was a mix of Jonathan and Will catching them up on everything that happened with Vecna, and El talking to Hopper about everything he’d missed in the past 8 months.
He loved hearing her talk about it. He could tell that she was trying to leave out parts that would make him sad, but he was just happy to be able to finally talk to his daughter again after so long.
Joyce loved the sight of him talking to his daughter, or rather letting her ramble on while listening with a smile. She tried to pay attention to her sons because all the information was important, but she couldn’t help but look at him.
He met her eye, and she looked away quickly, a light blush spreading across her cheeks. Joyce turned her attention to her boys, trying to process all the things being thrown at her.
But if I only look back at him for a second, he won’t notice, right? She glanced over in his direction, only to find him looking at her. It was him that looked away first this time, and Joyce smiled before turning back to Will and Jonathan, ready to focus for real this time. Only, they weren’t speaking anymore.
They seemed to catch onto the fact that her mind was elsewhere. “We’ll go over the details tomorrow morning after breakfast.” Jonathan said to her, and she nodded.
“Sorry, my mind is just everywhere right now.” Joyce apologized, feeling bad for not listening.
Will laughed quietly. “I didn’t know the definition of ‘everywhere’ was Hopper.” He mumbled under his breath and Jonathan shoved him.
Joyce blushed furiously and was trying to stutter out a reply. “I- wha- I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said as she looked down at her plate, but when she received no reply, she looked up to see them both looking at her, silently staring.
“Sure, mom, you’d like to think that wouldn’t you.” Jonathan started. “We’re not stupid, you know. None of us cares if you guys are dating and, to be honest, I think it’s about damn time.”
Hopper and El had started listening in to their conversation, and when Hopper realised what it was about, he was rendered speechless. “We haven’t really... um, like, we didn’t... I-I don’t really know.” Hopper stuttered out.
“What he means to say is that we haven’t put any labels on anything yet,” Joyce said, doing her best to avoid eye contact with Hopper. This comment, however, seemed to shock nearly everyone in the room.
“You’re shitting me, right?” Will half yelled.
“Watch your language, Will. And no, I’m not ‘shitting you’.” Joyce responded. She risked looking up to Hopper and meeting his eyes. She tried to read the emotions behind them, but he did a damn good job at hiding how he felt.
“Well, I’ll be damned...” Jonathan uttered, mouth agape and eyes wide.
Dinner continued in near silence, an awkward one at that.
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Joyce and Hopper got ready for bed in silence, the tension growing thicker than ever. Occasional glances were shared from across the room, and they took turns showering.
After what seemed like an eternity, but couldn’t have been more than 40 minutes, they were laying down in bed, staring at the ceiling in total silence.
Neither knew what to say, and the silence was almost deafening.
The tension kept growing.
And growing.
And growing.
And growing,
Growing,
Growing,
Growing.
Until finally, Hopper spoke.
“What the hell are we doing, Joy?” Joyce let out a sigh of relief, and rolled over to face him.
“I have no fucking clue.” She looked him dead in the eye and the barricade that once stood there was gone. She saw all of the emotions that he was feeling, and it made her feel better because she was feeling every single one as well.
“What are we?” He never let himself be vulnerable, he couldn’t afford to, because people always took advantage of him when he did. But now, he was more vulnerable than he had ever been in his entire life. She made him feel safe, like it was ok to feel emotions. That it was ok to cry, and it was ok to be himself. For that reason, he loved her deeply; more than he loved himself. He just needed to tell her that.
“We’re whatever the hell you want us to be, Jim.” Pure endearment was shown in the look she gave him. The walls he had built around his heart melted every second he was with her, now more than ever.
“I want to be with you, Joyce. I fucking love you so much, and I have for years. I-I get it, you know, if you don’t feel the same, but I love you, and I can’t lose you. Not again, not like last time. You’re too fucking important to me, I just can’t-” She cut off his spiralling speech with a kiss that was so short, but held so much emotion.
She wiped the tears from his cheeks, that he didn’t even know had fallen. His face was mere inches away from hers. “I love you too, Jim. You don’t need to panic about losing me because you won’t. I don’t plan on going anywhere. We’re going to stay here, together, and fight whatever evil it takes so that we can be a happy, normal family. I just got you back, and I’m not letting you go again. Ever. Do you understand?”
He nodded softly. “So, together?” He mumbled so quietly that it was almost inaudible.
Joyce smiled that gorgeous smile that he loved to pieces. “Together.”
The world could possibly end in a matter of weeks, days, or even minutes. They could all die at any given time. But they prayed to whatever fucking god that might be out there, that they would be spared one night.
Tonight, we’ll have peace, and tomorrow, we’ll stop this son of a bitch.