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After everything that had happened to the Hopper-Byers household, it hadn’t even been a discussion whether or not they would stay together. They had decided to stay in Hawkins and move back into the old Byers house until they found out what was going on. With all the people fleeing from Hawkins it wasn’t a big deal to get their house back. It hasn’t been easy for any of them to adapt to the things happening around them, but they supported each other as well as possible. They all had different things to deal with: El felt like she failed, Hopper felt like he didn’t deserve all this ‘luxury’ and had issues with eating enough and surely, they all delt with nightmares. It wasn’t a big shock for the children, when their parents stated they would be sharing a bedroom one night. Even though they tried to hide the changes in their relationship, the kids noticed very soon. Joyce and Hopper had started touching each other casually even more, they glanced at each whenever they could, and both seemed to smile more often. They have always had a calming effect on each other, but now it was more than that. The boys had come to terms with Hopper being with her mom and especially Will had had him as a father figure since long before that. They were a happy family, as happy as possible under the circumstances.
Hopper was just changing into something more comfortable – like every evening, when he came home from helping out – when he heard Will calling from the kitchen, that dinner was ready. He couldn’t help but smile at the thought that he kind of had unintentionally slipped into this beautiful family and he loved every second of it. “Coming!” he answered and hurried down the hallway. “Hello beautiful.” He said and hugged his girlfriend from behind and kissed her on the cheek. Joyce chuckled, turned around and kissed him on the lips. “Eww!”, Will and Eleven exclaimed behind them laughing. They had gotten quite used to the open displays of affection of their parents. Hopper shook his head: He really had gotten lucky with his family. “Can help you with something, Joy?” “Nope. It’s all finished.” With that being said, Hopper grabbed the plates Jonathan had already put on the table and distributed them. Joyce put the quiche on the table, and they all started eating. Jonathan told his family what was going on at school, where he and his friends helped out, Will and Eleven went on with describing their new school and how it was there, and Joyce and Hopper made plans to make their new old home a little more comfortable. They were laughing a lot. While doing the dishes, Hopper exclaimed how different it was working as chief of police now. He was thankfully taken back since his replacement has been quite overwhelmed.
After dinner Jonathan took his siblings to record store to choose a movie and picked Nancy up on the way home. It had been a little bit difficult between them, but they loved each other, so they somehow made it work. Since the Byers-Hopper household had been back in Hawkins, Nancy and Jonathan were basically inseparable. So, this evening she was joining them for family movie night. Mike would have come as well, but his mother needed him at home for some reason. The movie was great and afterwards Joyce sent the younger ones to bed since they had school the next day. Nancy decided to sleep over and briefly informed her mom. Then the two of them disappeared into Jonathan’s room.
Joyce glanced at her boyfriend, who she caught staring at him. “See something you like?”, she teased. “Oh. You have no idea.” Joyce bit her lip and slowly walked towards him. He looked into her eyes lovingly “You know I love you so much, Joy. Right?” “Yes, yes, I do. And I love you too. So much.” They shared a passionate kiss, before Joyce put her forehead on Hopper’s chest. Jim simply caressed her back and planted a kiss on her hair. “You alright?” Joyce looked up with a pouty mouth and answered: “I don’t want to move.” He couldn’t help but laugh at her cute face and proceeded to pick her up. Joyce was unprepared, so she let out a surprised scream. “You are crazy, Jim Hopper.” “And you love it.” “And I love it.” When they arrived at their bedroom, Hopper slowly put Joyce down on their bed. He got on his knees, to be at her height and looked her deeply in the eyes. She had a happy glow on her face. She was smiling. But it wasn’t just her lips, that were curled upward, but it was her eyes that could light up this whole town. Whenever he looked at her, he fell in love with her all over again. “What is it, Jim?”, Joyce asked concerned when he just looked at her without saying anything. “Oh. It’s nothing. Well, not nothing.” She chuckled and slightly cocked her head. “It’s just…All the lights could never shine as bright as your eyes.” Joyce moved her hand to his neck und slowly pulled him closer until their lips met. Hopper smiled against her lips and softly pulled back. “Let’s sleep my love. We have to get up early tomorrow.” Joyce agreed and the two of them got ready for bed. The shared a good night kiss, before turning off the lights.
Around two, Joyce was woken by Jim tossing and turning. It was clear he was having a nightmare, so Joyce softly caressed his arm, while carefully cuddling up to him. She placed her head on his chest and immediately he stilled and moved his hand to her waist. Unconsciously, he grabbed her hand, while resting his head on hers. She smiled. She really did love him. It was those little things they did for each other. The things only they could do for each other. It felt magical and Joyce knew she was never going to let him go again.