Chapter Text
He’s been called a lot of things before. Jim, to most people—often those who he’s only met briefly at meetings or in passing. Hopper is pretty common, too. Chief is usually what his co-officer's call him, and what just about what everybody else calls him when he’s on duty, patrolling in the blazer around town.
El has slipped up and called him dad a couple times; the first time it happened was when he’d just finished reading a chapter of Anne of Green Gables to her. Her eyes were becoming heavy and so were his, the sun far below the horizon.
“Next chapter’s not that long,” he said, flipping through the pages. "Wanna power through it?"
El reached up to scrub her hand over her tired face. “Maybe tomorrow?” she suggested, mid-yawn.
Hopper nodded. “We’ll find out if Marilla and Matthew end up keeping Anne later.” He dogeared the page before setting it down on the nightstand, flicking the lamp off. “Night, Kid,” he said, standing from the chair.
It was faint, but as he turned to leave her room, she voiced something. “Night, Dad.”
When he looked over his shoulder, her eyes were shut, breathing even and covers pulled over her body.
He felt like melting right then and there.
He feels like melting at other things, too.
He’s only called Hop by a few different people; Flo, once in a while, almost in a motherly way. Hop is what El only calls him, and he wonders if she's even realized his legal name is James. And Hop is something that Joyce is beginning to call him the more they’re around each other.
Joyce calls him a lot of things. Hopper, most commonly. Jim, when he’s getting on her nerves. James, when she’s pissed. When she calls him Hop, it feels so natural. It’s usually accompanied with her warm smile or the gentle shove of his chest when he’s saying something stupid.
It warms his heart an absurd amount. He’s never liked the sound of his own name so much.
It’s an early spring day when Hopper parks the blazer in front of Melvald’s, stomach nearly churning as the bell rings overhead when he walks in. He’s glad to find that Joyce seems to be the only one in the shop. It isn’t uncommon for him to pay a visit to the store during his lunch breaks. He doesn’t know when this became a routine, but it’s become one of his favorite parts of the day. He’s off duty today, but he needed to take a trip down to the general store regardless. He just wishes it were under different circumstances.
Hopper tries for a tight smile in an attempt to cover up how uncomfortable he feels.
Joyce isn’t buying it. Her forehead wrinkles, looking up at him warily from behind the counter. “You okay?” she asks. “You look like you’re gonna be sick.”
He sure feels like he is. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he says weakly, averting her gaze as he moves over to the counter. “I’m fine. Fine.”
Her brow cocks. “...Okay?”
Hopper blows out a breath, hand planted on the counter, fingers tapping absentmindedly. “El, uh…” His voice is lowered and Joyce leans closer to hear him.
“El? What about her?”
“She uh…y’know.” He gestures vaguely with his hand before reaching up to scrub over his face. He’s never had to deal with something like this. He knows it’s one of the things that comes along with raising a thirteen-year-old daughter, but he hadn’t even begun to think about it until it happened. El hadn’t been prepared and neither had he. “Y’know.”
Joyce’s mouth opens then closes. “No, I really don’t…” she tells him, expression wavering from worry to confusion. “Is she okay?”
To be completely honest, with the way he left her at the cabin, he has no idea. “I hope,” he murmurs.
“Jim, you're scaring me! Just spit it out!”
Oh, so he's Jim today. He clears his throat vaguely. “She’s having... lady problems.” He wishes he could reverse time and change his wording. The phrasing ‘lady problems’ makes his throat feel like it’s closing up and his head nearly pound.
Joyce leans back slightly, shoulders sagging and more relaxed, now that she’s learned there’s nothing dire about the situation. “Lady problems?” she repeats, lips pursed, arms crossed. She sounds amused. She tilts her head. “What are…lady problems?”
He pinkens. “Jesus Christ, Joyce, I don’t–”
His words are cut off when she laughs, moving out from behind the counter and breezing past him. “Hop, I’m teasing,” she chuckles, moving into the health aisle.
He's back to Hop, at least.
He can’t help but notice how nice her laugh is. Hopper likes the sound of her laugh; even if it is at his own expense.
He breathes out a sigh, shaking his head as he follows behind her. “I don’t know what to do,” he admits, pinching his brow. “Neither does El. She was screaming. Shook the goddamn cabin.”
“Poor thing,” Joyce says sympathetically, searching around for products on the shelves. A beat goes by before she looks up at him, frowning. “Not you."
“I know.”
“You really need to talk to her about this stuff, Hopper,” she chides, picking out a few different packages of feminine products. “She’s almost fourteen, for crying out loud.”
“I know,” he repeats, scrubbing a hand over his face. He does know he should talk to El. She needs to know about things like this, but God, everytime it crosses his mind, it makes him nearly squirm. “How…how do I even go about all that?” he asks weakly.
She shrugs. “Just sit her down sometime. Tell her about things on a surface level, and if she has questions, answer them.”
“I have a feeling that’s a lot easier said than done.”
With an armful of sanitary products, she pats his bicep with feigning sympathy. “You’re fine."
“I will be.”
Joyce snorts, moving back over to the register. Hopper can practically hear her eyes roll.
He meets her back over at the counter and she rounds up his total.
As he reaches for his wallet, he notices something. “What the hell is this?” he asks, brow knitting together and squinting as he picks up a small box with…a cup in it?
She sighs lightly, taking the box from him. “This is a menstrual cup,” she says, lips curved into an amused smile as he blanches. “Just so she has options.”
He wishes he never asked in the first place.
A few beats go by as he pulls a few bills from his wallet and she bags his items.
“I can already tell this talk isn’t going to go well,” she muses, handing him the bag.
His brow raises, nodding in agreement as he blows out a breath. He hands her the payment. “Prob’ly not,” he agrees quietly.
“What if… I stopped by later tonight?” She plants her hands on the counter, looking up at him with mildly understanding eyes. He knows she’s probably unhappy with him for not trying to teach his daughter about… things, but he can pick out the genuineness of her offer. “Woman to woman, y’know?”
Hopper is already nodding. Joyce Byers – an angel, sent down from heaven. “ Yes , please,” he says quickly, a refreshing wave of relief flooding over his body. “Woman to woman, yeah. Yes. I don’t know if I could stomach teaching her about something like this.”
“Well, you’re going to have to stomach the birds and the bees, because I’m not doing that,” she says lightly, grinning up at him.
“I know, I know.” He nods, grinning. “Jesus. Thank you.”
She waves him off vaguely. “‘Course, Hop,” she says kindly, “I love El, and as amusing as it would be to see you try and figure it out, I think it would be more helpful if I took the reins.” Joyce reaches to place her hand atop his.
He looks down at their hands before meeting her soft gaze. “Yeah. El really likes you too.”
Joyce’s smile widens, reaching her eyes, crow’s feet crinkling and nose scrunching slightly. The way she smiles alone could light up a dim room.
It lights up his heart.
He's about to say something when the door opens, bell chiming overhead.The two of them look over to find a customer walking through the door.
“I get off soon. I’ll come over after my shift,” she tells him quietly, retracting her hand. “Go take care of your daughter till then.”
“Yeah. Yes. See you then.”
“Bye, Hop.”
In the middle of his ever present panic, Hopper can't help but think about Joyce throughout the car ride home. When he arrives back at the cabin, El is curled into the couch watching TV, at least a little less traumatized than when he left her. Her face lights up when he tells her that Joyce is going to stop by later.
El liked Joyce from the very start. As basically the only present, adult woman in her life, Hopper wonders if El sees her as something close to a mother. Regardless, he's loved watching their relationship build over time.
The way Joyce has so willingly taken El under her wing makes him melt.