Time After Time (a Stranger Things fanfiction)

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

"You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)"

You spin me right round, baby,

Right 'round like a record, baby,

Right 'round, 'round, 'round

I, I got to be your friend now, baby

And I-I would like to move

In just a little bit closer

- Dead or Alive

The carnival was in full swing as Hopper pulled the convertible into an empty space in the grass parking lot. Joyce watched the lights, listening to the sounds of the music and the scream of kids on the rides, and wondered if her boy would ever be able to have this again, this normal stuff, just hanging out with his friends at the carnival without having to worry about dark, evil things from a horror movie looming over his head. Not that he ever really had the chance to be normal like this—they'd never had the kind of money his friends did, to buy the tickets and ride all the rides and play the games and eat the food. But he had never complained, not seriously. She suddenly, fiercely, wanted him in her arms, to know he was safe, to tell him how much she loved him, to apologize to him for everything.

She had the door open before Hopper had a chance to put the car in park, on her feet looking toward the crowd, watching for anyone she might know, who might know where Will was. Behind her, Murray started to get out of the car, but Hopper grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the seat. "No! Stay here, go over plans with Smirnoff."

"I can help look!" Murray protested.

"You'd probably scare the children," Hopper growled at him as he slammed the car door.

"Jim, if this is about earlier then—"

"Stay put, Freud! You hear me? Stay put!" He caught up with Joyce, the two of them hurrying toward the crowd, anxiously scanning the faces.

As they marched along the midway, Hopper shook his head. "Say what you will about Kline, he certainly knows how to throw a party. I'm sorry about him, by the way."

"Larry?" Why was Hopper sorry about Larry? The guy probably deserved to be beaten up.

"No, Murray. He's a sick individual, likes to get under people's skins. So let's not let him, you know, get under ... our skin."

"I'm not! I haven't." It wasn't really a lie. She was more worried about Will than about the situation with Hopper ... but that didn't mean Murray's hasty and off-base analysis of the situation hadn't bothered her a little.

"It's just that you seem a little more quiet than usual."

"I just, I just want to find the kids."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he agreed. He didn't sound like he believed her, entirely, but he stopped talking about it, which was just as good.

There was no sign of the kids. The carnival was big, and it was busy—but it wasn't so big, or so busy, that they could have missed six kids. Will was still small for his age, they could have missed him, but Lucas and Mike were so tall now, and Max's red hair was so unusual, that Joyce was sure she could catch a glimpse of them even in a crowd. But she hadn't, and she was just starting to get worried when she spied Karen Wheeler, just climbing on to the spinny ride. Not the kids, but the next best thing.

Grabbing Hopper by the arm, Joyce pulled him after her as she hurried through the crowd toward the ride. She climbed inside and called Karen's name, startled by the bright smile that immediately appeared on Karen's face. "Joyce! Oh, my God! How funny to see you here!"

Joyce hadn't been aware they were such good friends as to be that excited to see one another, and she felt a pang of guilt that seeing her out and about at a town event was so unexpected to her son's best friend's mother. Had she really been such a recluse all this time? Well, that was going to change, from now on, she promised herself. As soon as she found Will.

"Where are the kids?"

Karen frowned, surprised by the question. "I ... I haven't seen them. I don't think they're here yet."

The ride operator looked over at them. "You three, up against the wall!"

Joyce frowned at her, waving a hand to wait, while Hopper leaned over her shoulder toward Karen. "Where are they?"

"Oh, my gosh, I can hardly keep track these days." Something about Karen felt off—she seemed years younger than the last time Joyce had seen her. "Uh ... they were at, uh, Dustin's, then Lucas's, and Max's? You know how it is: summer!" She threw up her hands to indicate how hard it was to know what they got up to.

Joyce remembered what it was like to not have to know, to let Will, and Jonathan before him, roam the woods and fields of Hawkins for most of the day without hearing from them. She envied Karen her easy acceptance of that life, even as she was frustrated with her for not being more aware of the things that had been happening to her son the past two years.

Ted Wheeler, whom Joyce hadn't even noticed, remarked from his spot along the wall, "Probably gettin' into some kind of trouble."

While Hopper fake-laughed at Ted's comment, behind Joyce, the ride door closed with a whir and a crash. "Last warning, you two. Up against the WALL!" the ride operator shouted.

"Hold the ride!" Hopper demanded.

"Not on your life, Magnum." And she reached forward and pulled a lever and the room started to spin.

Hastily Joyce and Hopper took the last two open spaces against the wall, feeling the spinning force press them back.

This was exactly what the last two years had felt like—being shoved against a wall and spun around dizzily until nothing looked or felt right anymore. And Joyce did the only thing that she knew could keep her grounded in what was real: She reached for Hopper's hand, feeling it close around hers, warm and strong and sure.