𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝔂 *{𝓐 𝓙𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂}*

February

(Joyce)

As she woke up on a very special day, the first thing she picked up was the smell of fluffy pancakes and eggs, of which were actually not burned, and for once not made by her. Ah, Valentine's day. She hadn't had a reason to celebrate Valentine's day for years, but this year, she had Hopper, which was a reason to celebrate any day.
She grabbed her sleep shirt off of the floor, where it had been tossed last night when she and Hop had made out before bed again, pulled it on, and made her way down the stairs and to the kitchen, where she found Hopper with a full prepared breakfast for her and the kids, of which consisted of no burnt food, and flowers, chocolate, and a card all addressed to her
"Happy Valentine's day." Hopper smiled
"Oh Hop..." She smiled back, trying not to tear up from the romantic gesture
"Come here." Hopper pulled the chair up for her, "I'll get the kids up. Just don't open the card yet, I wanna see your reaction!"
She felt her face flush as Hop went to the kids bedrooms. No one had done such a thing for her in ages, maybe ever, but it felt so good to be loved, especially to this extent.
"Hey mom!" Will came down the stairs, along with El and Hopper
"Morning." She smiled, then looked to Hopper, "Now can I open the card?"
"Yes." He answered, sitting down next to her as she grabbed the card covered in hearts and opened it

I'm not that good at these sort of things, but thank you, for giving me a reason to celebrate Valentine's Day this year. You, no doubt, are the most amazing woman in the world

Love, your awsome boyfriend,
Hop

She let a single tear run down her cheek as she smiled, set the card down slowly, and hugged Hopper
"Thank you. I love you so much." She kissed the side of his head, "I have one for you."
"Really?" He asked, pulling away and looking her in the eyes
"Yeah." She grinned and pulled out a card for him
She watched him read the card, look back up at her, smile lovingly, and said, "I'll always be your little dork."
"Thanks." She kissed him
"Can we eat now?" Will interrupted, "This is cute and all, but I'm starving."
She laughed and pulled away from Hop, "Sure, we can eat."
As they started to eat, she felt Hopper's eyes on her, and sure enough, she caught him once again staring and smiling at her. He quickly turned red when he noticed she had caught him, but all she did was smile and squeeze his hand
"Morning everyone." Jonathan came down from his room, and as he was sitting down next to him, he asked Will, "What happened?"
"Hop made us a nice breakfast." She answered proudly
"Oh, thanks dad!" Jonathan smiled and dug into his food
Smiling at the fact Jonathan had again called him dad, Hopper asked the kids, "Do you guys have any plans for today?"
"I'm taking Nancy out for a nice picnic."
"Aw, that sweet. What about you guys?" Hop asked Will and El
"Me and Mike might do something, I don't know, but we're gonna hang out."
"Yeah, Connor and I might just hang out." Will added
"How is Connor?" She asked Will
"Eh, he hasn't gotten into any real big fights with his parents, but they still sometimes say mean things, the poor guy." Will said, "I wish I could get them to stop."
"Me too, but you can only control what you do, not what others do." Hopper told Will wistfully, so she was sure he hadn't just come up with it on the spot
"Where'd you hear that one?" She asked with a smirk
"I think it was on a poster." He said with a smirk back
"Oh! Dad, do you still need me to make dinner?" Jonathan strangely asked Hop as he stabbed an egg
"Yep." Hopper confirmed
"Wait-Why?" She turned to him and asked
"You'll see."
She didn't get an answer of what was going on until they had dropped off the kids, and she noticed that Hop wasn't driving to work
"Hey-where are we going?" She asked him. Was this a kidnapping?
"It's a surprise." Hopper chuckled, and, as if he'd read her mind, said, "Don't worry, I'm not kidnapping you. Just a date."
"You told my boss, right?" She checked
"Yes, I told your boss, and made sure the kids were okay with it, since we're gonna home a little late. Don't worry, I got everything under control."
"Thanks Hop." She grinned
The next few hours were long, that's all she had to say. Though she enjoyed it being just her and Hop, the ride was so long she ended up getting a bit nauseous, but she didn't want to stress Hop out when he'd been so sweet and planned all of this, so she pushed it down, trying to stare out the window at the sky to calm her stomach.
When they arrived at their destination, it was a huge forest just a few miles outside of Hawkins with the most beautiful Eastern red cedar trees she'd ever seen.
"Hop....wow." She smiled as they got out of the car, staring at their surroundings, "This is amazing. You planned all of this...for me?"
"Of course." Hopper took her hand, "You're one of the most important things in the world to me."
"One of?" She jokingly asked. She knew he was talking about the kids, but she wanted to mess with him, just a bit
"Wha-No! I-I meant the kids, not-you know, no one-I wouldn't-"
To calm the nerves she probably messed with too much, she gave him a kiss, and assured him, "I know, I just wanted to mess with you."
"Jesus, you need to stop messing with me, you keep giving me heart attacks."
"Well, I can't promise that I WON'T mess with you."
Hop chuckled with a sigh, "I love you. Now come, I wanna show you the trail."
She let him pull her gently by the hand down hat seemed to be a never-ending dirt path, naturally winding between tall, evergreen trees, the pines having grown back enough from their falling in the winter so she could call it green.
"Wow." She released a breath of air she didn't realize was there in awe at everything
"You like it?" Hop asked, smiling at everything, but mostly her
"Of course." She turned her gaze back to him, and smiled, "This place is just...so amazing."
"This isn't all I have planned, but you'll see that later." Hopper added, wrapping one of his arms around her
"You tease me." She turned so she could see his cheek, and planted a kiss on it, "Now come on. Let's keep going."
You could've told her that this forest was a magical fantasy world, and she would've believed you. Everything was so different than Hawkins, if felt like another world, where it was just her and Hop. As the branches moved with the wind and birds flew around them with a chirp, she felt in complete and utter peace, and she felt all her stress melt away, something that hasn't happened before Jonathan was born. She kind of felt that way with Hop. He made her feel so good; so special, something she'd never really felt with a man. Bob had been nice and sweet, but the just weren't meant to be; and Lonnie...well, everyone knew how that turned out, but both Hopper and this forest made her feel like everything was okay, like life was finally perfect.
"You good?" Hopper asked her, bringing her out of her fantasy
"Yeah." She grinned

(Hopper's POV)

They continued with the trail till he heard a strange noise. At first, he thought it was a bird or something, but then he realized nope, it was just Joyce's stomach
He chuckled when he found this out, and jokingly asked Joyce, "You hungry?"
"Yeah, a bit." Joyce laughed
"Come on, we're almost to a good sandwich shop." He smiled as he took her hand in his, and continued to walk
Okay, so he might've been underselling it. To sum up how good the sandwiches were, Joyce ate hers in 5 seconds flat. That's all you need to know.
"Well, since we're here..." He started when they were done with their lunch, then nodded to the nearby roller skating rink, with the classic bright lights and loud teens, "Care to dance?"
"Why, but of course." Joyce replied in the same fancy manner, doing a fake curtsy just for an added bonus
They went inside the rink, where he rented the skates for the two of them while Joyce looked around
"Here." He handed Joyce skates he prayed were the right size, "Just try not to damage them too much."
"Hey, I'm not that bad of a skater." Joyce teased. All he did for a response was stick his tongue out at her, making Joyce crack up
"Come on, you dork."
He stumbled in his skates, trying to stand up, and that made him remember, crap, he hadn't skated since the 70s
"Here." Joyce lifted him back up off the floor, holding him by the arms, "You're okay."
"Thanks." He blushed, "I-Haven't done this in a while."
"I can tell." Joyce smirked, then softened, "Come on."
Did he care that he was making a fool of himself, with Joyce having to pick him up off the ground every other second? Hell no! He was having the time of his life, acting like idiot teenagers with Joyce. Joyce looked beautiful, with her hair flowing as they skated, the lights bringing out a shimmer in her eyes. It felt like it was just the two of them, completely happy and worry-free, which was unusual for Joyce. She was so stressed all the time, it was so rare for her to look un-stressed, and he was glad it was because of him she felt that way. At least even though he was a bit of a pain, Joyce was enjoying being with him, and that's all that mattered. Of course, she was a complete gem; there was no way he wasn't in love with her.
It must've been the millionth time Joyce picked him up off the ground when she asked, "Hey, you wanna bounce and go grab some dinner?"
He had been having so much fun with Joyce, he hadn't even noticed the last five hours fly by
"Sure! I know this really good drive in movie theater, we could eat there."
"Ooh, sounds great!"
They returned their skates, then walked all the way back through the entire trail, which took so long, when they got to the car, the sun had begun to set, but that was actually perfect for where they were going.
They arrived at the drive in movie theater 20 minutes, and found a nice spot so they could see the screen, where The Shining played.
"I'll grab some food." He told Joyce with a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks." She smiled warmly
He returned a few minutes later with some burgers, fries, and a milkshake, all from the truck parked.
"Aw, thanks." Joyce smiled again as he handed her the food
"Of course, Joycie." He kissed her again, then smirked cunningly, like he used to always do to pick up a girl, and asked, "You wanna-Oh, I don't know, maybe share the milkshake?"
Joyce gave a belly laugh, "Sure, you dork."
"Hey, I'm not a dork. I'm a bad boy." He insisted
"Yeah, right." Joyce rolled her eyes, and claimed one of the straws
"I am." He said again, and took the other one
They ate dinner slowly, since they kept getting distracted by the movie, or taking a break to laugh at some stupid joke one of them made, and the worst distraction for him was Joyce's cute giggles every time their hands touched or straws collided while drinking
"Oh god, what have you turned me into? You got me giggling like a schoolgirl." Joyce managed out between one of her giggle fits, making him laugh a little
"You're so cute." He smiled heartily
They finished dinner, and then decided to stay for a few hours before going home, so they made themselves comfortable, which meant Joyce snuggling onto his chest and against his body.
"I love you." Joyce whispered
"I love you too." He ruffled her hair