Chapter Text
Jim unloaded the last box from his truck, putting it on the doorstep as he watched Sara and Jane play in the yard, chasing each other as they screamed.
Hawkins Indiana seemed to be a good place to raise his daughters.
After taking the position of Cheif of Police for the sleepy little town he figured it would be good to get the girls plugged into a neighborhood that had other young kids, hopefully, they’d make some friends out here,
Across the street from him was another young family from the looks of it they had three kids. Two girls and a boy, the older teen was chasing the tween boy, yelling at him for doing something to her car as the boy ran shouting how it was for science, and the little girl was sitting in the yard, playing with the pile of leaves that they’d raked up. He could see a mother in the garden but there was no sight of a father, so he wasn’t sure if they were more like him or not.
“Daddy! Can we go say hi?”
Sara asked, tugging on his pants. The four-year-old was extremely hyper today and his eleven-year-old other daughter wasn’t helping with how she kept spinning her little sister up.
It looked like the boy was about Jane’s age too, he hoped nothing came of that later…
“Sure sweetheart, let me just put these in the house,”
Sara nodded in agreement as she ran back to Jane to tell her they could go say hi.
Jane took her hand and went across the street to the little family.
The lady looked up from what she was doing to wave at his girls, a bright smile on her face as she introduced her daughter to them before the boy and other girl ran up to say hi.
Jim huffed a small laugh before taking the box of their valuables inside, placing it on the countertop before turning back to go outside, calmly walking over to the neighbor's house to say hi himself.
He hated social interactions, but he may as well get to know the people he’d be living across the street from.
Sara was standing around a foot away from the little girl as she talked, excitement clear in her eyes,
“Can I pet him?!?!”
The little girl giggled as she looked into the pile of leaves,
“Can my new friend pet you?”
The girl asked in a tiny excited voice. Just as Jim got up to the yard the leaves shifted and a huge black dog shook off its fur and-
JESUS H-
Jim snatched Sara fast as lightning at the sight of the huge growling creature, holding her close to his chest.
It was at least six feet and completely unnatural looking, with almost glowing yellow eyes, and a huge scar running down its face on the left side. Its hackles were raised slightly and it was staring directly at him almost daring him to take a step closer as it bared its teeth.
Jim wished he remembered his shotgun before leaving the house now.
The little girl wasn’t even phased by the huge beast behind her, instead, she waved at Jim with a bright smile,
“Hi, Sara’s dad! He said Sara can pet him if she wants to,”
Oh hell no-
“ Yeah no that’s not happening kid,”
“Daddy, I want to pet him! He looks nice,”
“Sara, honey it looks like it has rabies-”
“THEODORE! Stop scaring the neighbors!”
The beast huffed, the little girl’s blond pigtails blowing at the force of it as she giggled before the beast stepped around her to get to the woman in the garden, grumbling in its throat,
Jim was terrified for the tiny blonde-haired lady but she seemed completely unphased as she rolled her eyes before holding a bag out to the creature, which it took carefully before stalking over to the house, still glaring at Jim as it went in through the garage,
“I am so sorry about that, he’s a little protective, but he doesn’t like- bite or anything, he’s all bark and no bite I promise,”
Yeah, he didn’t believe that one bit but he wasn’t going to say it.
The lady stuck her hand out, a bright smile on her face,
“I’m Karen Wheeler, I think we may be new neighbors. I’ve met your daughters and let me tell you, they are the sweetest girls I’ve ever met.”
Jim was still on edge about the giant wolf dog rabid creature that just sulked into her house but he shook her hand anyway, still holding Sara with the other hand,
“Jim. Jim Hopper. Nice to meet you, and your kids are?”
“Oh of course! One moment- MICHAEL! NANCY! COME INTRODUCE YOURSELVES- they’ll be over in a minute in the meantime this is my youngest Holly, she’s already met your daughters,”
Karen introduced as she hoisted Holly up on her hip, the little blond waving excitedly as Jim resisted the urge to jump at the sudden change in her pitch. the kids came over, the boy rapidly talking to Jane, as the older girl stuck her hand out,
“Hi, I’m Nancy and this is my brother Mike- Mike can you shut it for one second and introduce yourself!?”
“How can I introduce myself if I shut it, Nance?”
He quipped back before waving to Jim,
“Hi I guess, any way you’ll really like my friends they’re amazing and we all live in the same neighborhood so you can get to know them tonight-”
Mike continued to ramble on as Jane nodded along excitedly while Jim shook Nancy’s hand,
“Nice meeting you all, I hope the girls didn’t interrupt anything important-”
“Oh not at all, we were just having family time outdoors because if I catch Mike on that game one more time I’m going to lose it.”
Ah, so there wasn’t a father in the picture.
He could relate to single parenting,
“Oh, that’s nice… well I’ll take them back home, we’ve got a little more unpacking to do before we call it a day.”
“Oh, I hope we didn’t take up too much of your time. Are you in need of helping unload?”
“No no we’re good, I got most of it shipped here before we moved up, but thanks. Nice meeting you all,”
“Don’t be a stranger Jim! We’ll have you guys over for dinner sometime once you’re moved in!”
Jim nodded as he walked away, taking Jane’s hand as they left, his nerves still slightly on edge as they left.
He had no clue why on earth that bubbly woman had a creature of that size in her house, but he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to be in the same space as it ever again.
If he ever saw it again, it would be too soon.
Jim was watering his lawn watching the neighbor's house, trying to get a good glimpse at the interior to see if he could catch sight of the bigass dog creature thing again.
No such luck so far.
Jane was at school, apparently, she’d met up with Mike on the bus and he’d introduced her to his friends, so now it was just him and Sara, he’d have to get her into a preschool before he started his new job, but for now he was content to just enjoy the time he had with her,
He almost didn’t have it, and he’d never be complacent with the time he was given with either of his kids ever again.
There was part of him that felt like a stalker, standing there watering the same patch of dying grass just to get a good look at the Wheeler’s unassuming home but he couldn’t help it.
There weren’t any cars in the driveway, with the kids at school and Karen more or less working no one was home so he didn’t worry about being caught red-handed-
“Uh, sir? Are you ok?”
Jim whipped around and almost wet the tiny lady, both of them yelping in surprise as he turned off his hose,
“I’m so sorry I- did I get you wet?”
She laughed, shaking her head, her cheeks bright pink,
“I’m sorry for scaring you. You were lost in thought I think and you’ve got a lovely mud puddle there. It’s early October, why on earth are you watering the dirt?”
She was the tiniest woman Jim’d ever met, her cheeks were a soft pink and she had long brown hair tied back in a messy bun, her bang hanging right over her beautiful sparkling hazel eyes.
Oh no….
“I was uh- well it’s just- uh, do you know them?”
He stumbled on, jutting a thumb in the direction of the Wheeler’s home,
The little lady turned around to look at the house, before looking at him again with a playful grin.
“I should hope I do, Karen’s my best friend.”
Oh thank god, maybe she knew then,
“They’ve got a bigass looking dog rapid something and I was trying to see if I could- not that I’m stalking or anything but- well shit that does sound like I’m stalking doesn’t it,”
The little lady laughed, shaking with the force of it as she bent over to hold her knees,
“Oh my god, I can’t believe he did that. That was cruel. Yeah, that’s just Teddy, he doesn't bite-”
“Yeah, Karen said that…. I don’t know that I believe her-”
“You should! He’s harmless honestly, he likes to scare the shit out of new people though, he’s got no control sometimes.”
Why the hell was this tiny lady talking so fondly of that big terrifying creature!?!?
“I guess you must be Hopper then, Karen told me about you yesterday on the phone. I’m Joyce, Joyce Byers”
She stuck her hand out to him and he took it to shake her hand.
It felt like his whole body was shocked to life at her simple touch.
Oh, this was not good…. Not at all….
“Jim Hopper, nice to meet you, Joyce,”
She beamed at him with a nod as they broke off hands,
“Well I’ve got to get going, I’ve got a later shift at the hospital today and I’m switching Karen out so I got to go. But it was nice talking! You should stop by at some point so my boys can meet your girls. My Will is friends with Mike so there’s a chance he’s already me your girl.”
She broke away to walk down her street again before turning around with another playful smile,
“And you don’t have to worry about Teddy, he’s got a heart of gold even though he likes to pretend he’s dangerous. He would never hurt your kids, so stop trying to make him think that you big menace!”
She called the last part across the street, and Jim nearly fell on his ass when he saw the big black creature in the bay window watching them, his tail wagging slightly at Joyce’s comment to him.
Joyce laughed at Jim’s reaction, before shaking her head,
“Oh, I can see now, why he gets a high off of scaring you.”
She chuckled darkly and Jim felt his face heat up in embarrassment,
“I live two houses down from them, so if you ever want to get together just knock, one of us will be there.”
And with that she crossed the street and went into her house, the big black dog watching her the entire way in before snapping his head back to Jim, narrowing his yellow eyes, and then getting down and disappearing into the house.
Jim’s pretty sure he just lost fifteen years of his life from the whole interaction, but all he can think of now is the sound of Joyce’s light laughter.
He never wants to forget that sound.
The next time he saw Karen in her yard she’d waved him over to ask him to come over for dinner on Sunday, and with both Sara and Jane hearing the request, both girls lighting up at the idea of spending the day with their new friends, who was he to say no?
It didn’t ease his nerves as they stood on the front porch, Sara on his hip and Jane at his side, Jane ringing the doorbell as she bounded on the balls of her feet.
Mike threw the door open with a raised eyebrow until he saw Jane and then his whole mood switched, a goofy smile spreading on his face,
“Oh, you’re here! Great, one sec- MOM! DAD! THE HOPPERS ARE HERE- come on, I got to show you my room,”
He snatched Jane’s hand and tore off with her, leaving Sara and Jim on the doorstep.
Jim was more confused than he was on their first meeting but too scared to cross the foyer, unsure where the dog was and did Mike say Dad?
Karen came around the corner talking rapidly to someone as she opened the door fully,
“I’m so sorry about that, He’s been talking nonstop about Jane coming, come in all the way! I’m so glad you made it, Ted this is Jim and his daughter Sara, and Jane’s upstairs with Mike,”
Ted, who he assumed was “Dad” was about as tall as he was, with black hair and a huge scar running down his face almost identical to the creature he’d seen on their first day. He gave Jim a neutral look as he nodded at him in a greeting gesture, as Holly nearly catapulted out of his arms at the sight of Sara, effectively scaring the shit out of both fathers at how she almost hit the ground trying to meet her friend, Sara wiggling out of his hands to get down to hug her before Holly pulled her further into the living room both babbling excitedly.
“Well, that’s a first,”
He mumbled, raising an eyebrow as Karen giggled, hugging her husband at the waist,
“You’ve been replaced Hon, how are you feeling about it?”
Ted huffed a laugh, adjusting his glasses as a small smile peaked out on the side of his mouth,
“I’ve been expecting it to happen, not surprised.”
Karen snorted, shaking her head as she looked back at Jim,
“I have coffee in the kitchen if you’re interested and dinner will be ready in an hour or so, speaking of dinner, Ted dear, can you go check on that?”
Her husband hummed in response as he pressed a kiss to her temple before walking out to the kitchen, and Jim was left even more confused,
“He’s a bit of an introvert but I promise he’ll warm up eventually,”
She waved him into the entrance as she shut the door before they made their way into the living room, he was totally fine with her husband not being a talker, it actually made him feel a little better about being clammy himself.
The name, however, was curious,
“Isn’t your “dog” named Theodore or Teddy or something like that?”
Karen stopped in her tracks before snorting a laugh as she nodded,
“Yeah they have the same name, so sorry about that again, he’s uh- he’s put away for the night so you don’t have to worry about him.”
That was a relief.
Not that he was afraid or anything.
He was hardly afraid
Just concerned that’s all.
“Honeybee? I think this is uh- I have no idea if this is done or not.”
Karen giggled again, rolling her eyes,
“Only Ted wouldn’t know if meat was cooked- coming, Babe! You make yourself at home I’ll be back in a minute,”
She went into the kitchen teasing her husband about something in a different language as he responded with something low so Jim only heard a mumble but he did hear Karen’s laugh at whatever he’d said.
It was nice, to see a marriage like theirs,
His had gone up in flames when Sarah got sick so he doesn’t think he remembers these kinds of easy evenings.
Besides, that’s why they moved. To get away from the memories. So why was he thinking about it now?
He shrugged off the thoughts as he looked at the family pictures to pass time trying to avoid being nosey and be nosey all in the same time only to hear something behind him that scared the shit out of him, whipping around to find Ted behind him with a cup of coffee that he almost spilled on himself in an effort to steer clear of Jim swiping him,
“Sorry, didn’t mean to spook you, I have coffee,”
He had no idea why this felt like a peace offering and an olive branch all at the same time but he accepted it and the cup with a nod,
“No it’s fine, I uh, spook easily I guess.”
He was trying to ignore the scar on the other man’s face and now that he was a little closer it looked like that eye may be blind as well,
“A dog fight. Uh… wrong place at the wrong time kind of thing,”
He said out of nowhere, Jim painfully aware that he wasn’t as subtle as he hoped,
“Shit I uh- sorry,”
Ted snorted a laugh as he waved him off,
“Don’t be, it happened almost twenty years ago anyway, it’s just ugly… and I can’t see out of that eye but potato tomato.”
Jim huffed a laugh at the nonchalantness of the guy finding him to be Karen’s polar opposite,
It was hilarious how different the two were and he’s only known them both for a collective twenty minutes.
“Right, uh, I’m horrible at this whole, talking thing so I’m gonna leave it to Kay and go find Nancy. She’s supposed to help me with dinner tonight so, uh… nice talking I guess,”
He waved awkwardly before spinning on his heel and leaving to find his oldest and Jim couldn’t help the small chuckle that threatened to spill out of him.
He was painfully introverted, that was for sure.
But as Karen talked to him and they enjoyed the night, he found that it was endearing in a way.
Maybe getting to know the neighbors wasn’t all that bad after all.