𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝔂 *{𝓐 𝓙𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂}*

June

(Hopper's POV)

"NO! NO!" He, as he had been doing for a month straight, woke up screaming from another nightmare about Belle, sitting up in the bed and clutching the blanket close to his chest
"Hop, Hopper." Joyce pulled him back onto the mattress, holding his body in her arms, "It's okay, it was just a dream. You're safe."
"Joycie..." He sobbed into her chest, trying to recover from his dream. When he came back to some of his senses, he blushed at his outburst. He may be a softie, even more so since becoming a father, but he was embarrased that Joyce had to see him like that.
"I'm sorry about that." He said, adverting his eyes from Joyce's face and wiping up his tears
"Why are you apologizing, Hop?" Joyce ran her fingers through his hair, fluffing it up, "It's okay. You don't need to apologize."
"I'm sorry." Damn it.
Joyce laughed, "You and Will do the same thing. You say sorry while apologizing about saying sorry. It's cute."
He laughed, his tears turning to happy tears, "Speaking of Will, shouldn't we get the kids up? We have to be on the road by 10:00."
Their family, along with their kid's friends and Mike's parents, were spending the weekend at a cabin near Patoka Lake, and since the drive was about 3 hours, they had to start driving early.
"Yeah probably." Joyce agreed, and laid a kiss on his forehead, "If I get them up, can you make us breakfast?"
"Of course." He smiled, and got up off the bed, only realized a few seconds later that he had no idea where his shirt was, "Um, Joycie, honey, where's my shirt?"
"Oh-Right...here!" Joyce pulled his shirt, the one he had been wearing the night before when they'd gone to bed, up off the floor and tossed it to him
"Thanks." He shot her another smile and put the article of clothing back on, then, while Joyce went to the kids' rooms, he went down the stairs and into the kitchen, where, to ignore and forget the bad dreams he had woken up from only minutes ago, he threw himself into making breakfast, focusing as hard as someone could on Eggos and bacon.
When he was placing the plates of warm food on the table, he heard quick footsteps against the wood stairs and Will say, "Hey dad!"
"Morning guys!" He looked up and smiled at his kids, who were sitting down in their usual spots around the table, El already eating her Eggos
"Are you okay, Dad? Your eyes are red." Jonathan asked, pointing at his eyes, which were red from being rubbed and were probably still a little teary, despite his attempt to get rid of the tears
"Yeah, just...nightmares." He looked down at his lap, where his hands lied, fidgeting. No one in this house was a stranger to nightmares, especially after the last four years. It was rare for there to be a quiet night, or at least a morning where one of them didn't wake up crying or come downstairs with red, strained eyes.
"Aw, I'm sorry Dad." Jonathan smiled sympathetically before biting into his food. Joyce, who by this point, had taken her seat next to him, noticed him anxiously fidgeting with his fingers, and placed her hands on top of his. He didn't desurve her.
After breakfast, there was the fast, heart-racing panic that was last minute packing, it only getting worse when El couldn't find her bathing suit, so they had to look all over the house just to realize it was already in the suitcase.
"I'm sorry." El apologized for the fifth time
"It's okay, sweetie, really." Joyce assured her daughter, ruffling her hair
"Aw, you two." He pulls both of the girls into a big bear hug
"Dad...!" El tried to pull away, cringing at him
"Hop...!" Joyce did the same, "I can't breath."
"Oh fine." He let them go after they complained about how tight he was hugging, also when he remembered they were in the middle of the packing rush.
Once they actually got past the packing stress, it just led to a 3 hour drive, which wasn't exactly heaven for him, being stuck in a car with a bunch of teens, and while Joyce could ignore it and pass out, he had to drive, so no sleeping for him. At least Joyce was cute while she slept, so he could glance at her drooling on the dash board.
He hoped for this trip to help with his nightmares, to maybe help him ignore the guilt that, though he knew everything that had happened wasn't his fault, was there. Mrs. Wheeler had promised them that she would grab a tent for them, so that they could be alone without the kids around. While she probably expected them to use it for sex, he was just glad that if he had a nightmare, it wouldn't wake up the kids and their assortment of friends.

(Joyce's POV)

When she came back to her senses, the first thing to go through her head was Oh god, was I drooling? Did Hopper notice?
The last thought almost made her laugh. Despite the fact they'd been dating for months, she was still the same as she was when they first started dating, embarrased by stuff similar or the exact same stuff that she used to worry about in month 1, like drooling.
She shifted her gaze, and saw Hopper, looking in front of him, obviously busy with driving, so she thought she could slip back into sleep without him noticing her wake up
She wasn't quick enough, though, and he saw her staring at him. He gave her a gentle smile, and, not saying anything, not even anything snarky, pulled a tissue out of the small pouch in the cup holders between them, and wiped her mouth free of drool.
"Thank you." She muttered sleepily, still trying to wake up from her nap
"Of course." Hopper smiled at her, and asked, in the same quiet tone as her, as if someone was still asleep, "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah. Are the ki-"
"Jonathan's asleep, and Will and El are reading." Hopper's answer came out surprisingly quick, then, next, he smiled, and said, "Hey, would you look at that! You don't even need to finish your sentence for me to know what's going on."
"It's been that long, huh?" She went for his hand on the side, requesting her hand to be held with a touch of her fingers, and accepted, looking at the two interlocked hands before looking back up
"Ah, we're here!"
The view of the lake was, to put it simply, breathtaking. The midday almost summer sun was shining down on the lake, causing it to shimmer a perfect blue color. She found herself staring at her surroundings as they parked, her eyes forced away from it all when she heard someone yell, "Will! El!"
El and Will ran to join their friends, with Hop, Jonathan, and her slowly following behind, the three of them being stuck with the burden of carrying the luggage.
"Hey ya two lovebirds!" Was how Karen greeted them, "I got you guys that tent I promised so you two can fu-"
"Thank you very much Karen." She said to keep her from finishing that sentence, "And, in fact, we're gonna go there right now okay bye."
Leaving the kids with their bags, she grabbed Hopper by the hand and ran out of there, her face beet red. She found the small orange tent Karen was talking about right off the shore, and practically shoved the bags, Hopper, and herself in, before sipping it closed and sighing
"Jesus Christ." She let out
"That was...embarrassing, to say the least." Hopper said, then shuffled his body closer to hers, "At least we can finally be alone."
"Hop..." She giggled, and laid a kiss on his lips. He must've been hungry, because that small kiss was enough to light a flame inside Hop that caused her to end up on her back, his hands rubbing her sides up and down as he kissed her vigorously.
"Hop..."
"Shh." Hopper placed a finger over her lips, "Quiet, or they'll hear."
She nodded and forced down any sound that her body wanted to let out. Soon enough, just like at home, their privacy was soon invaded.
"Hey mom, da-uh..." Jonathan wasn't quite sure what to say when he zipped open the tent and found his parents making out in an...awkward position, to say the least.
"O-Oh! Jonathan!" She immediately pulled herself out from beneath Hopper and sat up, trying to push her hair out of her eyes, "What-What do you need?"
"I was just coming to say that we unpacked and made some lunch. Didn't know you two were....um...sorry about that."
"It's-It's fine." She said just as she found a hickey on her chest, and tried to, awkwardly and in the likely most obvious way, cover it up, "We're coming."
"Okay." Jonathan left with that, probably grateful to get out of there
Despite that being ridiculously awkward, she let out a dry laugh, "God..."
"We should probably go before someone else comes." Hopper said, trying to hide his embarrassment of being caught by looking anywhere but her
"Hey," She placed her hand on his shoulder, "don't be embarrassed. We've been caught in way more awkward situations. Remember that time we were making out, and right when Will opened the door, I took your shirt off?"
Hopper chuckled, "Yeah, now THAT was bad."
"Tell me about it. Now come on. If we don't go, they'll eat all the food."
"Good point, good point." Hopper nodded, as if she had just said something extremely intelligent, and took her hand, "Come on, then, let's go face the music."
She laughed, "Alright, alright, I'm coming, ya dork."
They walked, hand in hand, up to the cabins, one for the boys and one for the girls, where they found the others right in between the buildings, roasting hot dogs on a stick at the firepit
When she noticed the two of them, El waved and yelled, "Hey mom! Hey dad!"
She gave a small wave back, and, when they arrived at the firepit, took a seat next to El.
"Glad you two could join us." Jonathan said, obviously hinting at before
They both blushed, and got giggled at by the kids. She wasn't going down that easily, though.
"Well, by now, you should've learned to knock before opening the door." She shot back, despite still red
"Why were you guys even making out? We just got here!" Jonathan retorted
"I-Well-We-" She had no reply, so she turned to the kids, "Do you guys like the cabins?"
"Yeah! It's like my old home!" El said, in her usual El way. Man, even though she's been to hell and back, that kid always seemed happy.
She had, for a bit, completely forgotten that El and Hop had lived in a cabin for a year. More likely, she forgot that they had lived together without her, Will, and Jonathan. Life with her big, happy family, though it had its up and downs, had made her so happy, she'd forgotten what it was like before. She took that as a good thing; that she was forgetting everything with Lonnie and the last view years and living a better life, a life where her family and her were happy. And nothing, not monsters, not Belle, was going to get in their way.
"Joycie?" She must've bee staring off while she thought all of this, because Hopper was shaking her by her hand, seeming to be worried. "Are you there? Earth to Joyce?"
"Yeah, I'm here. Just thinking." She gave an assuring smile to her boyfriend
He smiled back, and handed her a stick with a hot dog on the end, "Good. Here, I was able to steal this from the kids."
"Thanks." She grinned, and giggled at the fact that the kids were guarding the food
"Gotta make sure we don't starve." He said as they both started roasting their food above the fire.
"Wait, how did they-?" Dustin started to ask about her and Hopper having food, but no one cared enough to stop them, so they were able to eat peacefully, though got teased never the less for every time they tried to hold hands. The kids kept going on with what they were doing, El talking with Mike, Jonathan with his arm around Nancy, Will secretly holding Connor's hand, and their friends talking among themselves
"Now," Jonathan said once everyone was done, including Karen and Ted, who, in an uncharacteristic move, didn't say anything all lunch. "if everyone's done, then let's hit the lake!"
"Yeah!" She smiled at this, both the kids' excitement and at Jonathan. He was always exceptionally good with kids, for reasons unknown, while she sort of felt like she was always stumbling for the right thing to say. If Hop and the kids didn't tell her she was a good mom, she'd have no idea if she was ruining their lives or not.
They all split up the group so that they could all go off to their separate cabins to change into their swim gear. Though, as she put on her swimsuit in the small tent, she could feel Hopper staring at her, despite his attempt to make it look like he wasn't.
"James Hopper, don't think I can't feel you staring." She sassed him, turning to Hopper and putting her hands on her hips. By now, she was wearing nothing but her black one piece.
"I-Well-Give me a break! You're hot, okay?!" Hopper defended himself, "And don't pretend you don't watch me change!"
She sighed, able to see when she was defeated. "Fine, fine."
He gave her an annoying, yet cute smirk at his win, and took her hand. "Come on, we don't want to make the kids wait."
She nodded, and walked, hand-in-hand with Hopper, to the lake, where the kids and Karen were standing right on the edge of the water.
"Hey!" She waved to them. "Where's Ted?"
"He-He wanted to stay at the cabin." Karen answered, looking down at the ground, and for a second, she felt that something was off, but then Karen went back to her normal, happy self, so she ignored her thoughts.
"Last one to get into the water's a rotten egg!" Dustin yelled, and started a rampage for the water. The adults laughed at the kids' shenanigans, and they proceeded to walk into the water.
"Hop, isn't this-" She turned to say something to Hopper, but noticed that he wasn't in the lake. Instead, he was still standing on the sand. She sloshed through the water so she could be right in front of him without getting out of the water. "Hop? Why aren't you getting in?"
"Well, I-It's really cold."
"You haven't even put a foot in." She said, thinking of what could be wrong before coming to a conclusion seconds later. "Are you...afraid of the water?"
"What, I'm...no!" Hopper said, his words obviously lies.
She knew he didn't like to admit it when he was scared, so she stepped onto the sand and took his hand, "Hey, it's okay. I'm here, there's nothing to be scared of. Just-here." She put one of her feet into the water, "Can you do that?"
"Yeah." He nodded, now filled with determination. He put one of his feet in, then the other
"See, nothing bad. You can do it." She said, and laid a kiss on his cheek. After that kiss, he seemed to be even more determined to get into the water with her, and stepped, with her at his side, further and further into the lake, until it was up to both of their chests.
"Hey...this is kinda nice!" Hopper smiled
"I never knew you had a fear of the ocean." She commented.
"Yeah, well, almost drowning as a kid can be kinda traumatizing. But I guess it's better when you're here. As most things are." She blushed at his last comment.
"I love you, you brave, hot man." She pulled Hopper down onto her level by his neck and laid a kiss on his lips, with so much force that she accidentally knocked the two of them into the water.
When they resurfaced, laughing, she heard one of the kids yell, "GET A ROOM YOU TWO!" which just made her laugh even more.
They watched the kids swim off before going deeper into the water. Hopper didn't seem so scared now, he even seemed to be enjoying himself.
"You enjoying yourself?" She asked him, the question obviously rhetorical since she was giggling at his huge grin
"Yeah! Come on!" Hopper grabbed her hand and started paddling deeper into the lake
"Woah!" She yelled when she got suddenly pulled forwards, but Hop seemed more focused on no longer fearing the water.
She swore, every second they were out there, it was like they were living in a rom-com. A really, really cheesy rom-com. They spent every moment together, swimming and laughing like Romeo and Juliet, except without the death (she never actually read the book, and if she did, she did not remember it)
When they weren't being, and I quote the kids, 'all lovey-dovey', they were with the others, getting into splash fights and enjoying the lake like people had normal, non-monster filled lives. She still found it not fair that Mike was constantly protected from waves by El, and though she had taken a few splashes for Hop, it still wasn't fair, cause she didn't have super powers!
And just to add to the rom-com-ness of the whole afternoon, when they finally decided to get out, Hopper, though dripping wet, went to get the towels, and made sure she was the first to get one.

(Hopper's POV)

"Here, Joycie." Once he had returned, he first made it his priority to make sure Joyce was warm by carefully draping the towel over her body, a towel similar to the one he had on
"Aw, thanks Hop." Joyce didn't try to hide her blushing at his action, since she was more worried about becoming dry
"Hey, this is cute an all, but we're kinda freezing over here." Will interrupted
"Relax, it's summer, you won't freeze." Despite that, he still gave everyone their towels
Finished with drying herself off, Mrs. Wheeler suggested, "How about we all go change into our clothes then meet up for dinner?"
He hadn't even noticed how late it was getting until he looked and spotting the sun setting.
They all agreed in unison, and went back to their cabins, and for him and Joyce, their tent.
"Do you want me to turn around or-" He started to ask once they were inside, but before he could finish, Joyce started taking off her swim suit.
"Holy..." He didn't even try to hold back a smirk. He couldn't help looking her beautiful body up and down.
"Hey." Joyce interrupted his staring with a finger snap. "Eyes up here, Jim."
"I-Y-Yes, ma'am." He nodded, sure that he would be dreaming of her tonight.
Joyce laughed. "I'm kidding, babe. I'd be a hypocrite if I pretended like I don't stare at you."
He continued to grin while changing back into his shorts and shirt, the water making every piece of clothing stick to his skin, for both him and Joyce. He knew she was staring, and, in fairness, he was most likely always staring at her.
"Ready to go for dinner?" Joyce asked, extending her hand to his
"Definatly. I'm starving." He chuckled at his own joke, and took her hand
"You're a dork." She dragged out the last word for emphasis, adding to the lovey-dovey eyes he was probably, most definatly, giving her.
When they had arrived at the same campfire they'd had lunch at, fire already blazing, the kids, along with Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were already eating, some even on their third serving.
"How did you guys eat so fast?" Joyce asked them all as the two of them took their seats, the only spots left, next to Mike and Connor. Despite it not being his main focus, sitting between his kids' boyfriends was awkward to say the least, even more so when they started flirting with their significant other.
"We didn't, we just didn't spend 20 hours flirting with our boyfriends." Mrs. Wheeler joked, which caused them both to blush then laugh awkwardly at the too-accurate tease.
Since the kids finished their food first and wanted to go back to the cabin to hang out, along with Mike's parents coming with them for supervision, he and Joyce ended up finishing their food in peaceful silence, Joyce's head on his shoulder.
"What do you wanna do?" He asked, idea already in mind. Since it was already dark and the stars were shining bright, he thought that they could lay on the beach and enjoy themselves.
"I dunno. You got any ideas?" She asked
"How about stargazing?" He suggested. He'd never been big on stars, but if it meant he could have a romantic moment with Joyce, he was all in.
"Sure, sounds fun!"
With that prompt, he went back to the tent and grabbed their pillows and a blanket that they had brought along. Thanks to the grass leading to the sand, they could lay there with no stressing. And when he stepped out, he saw that Joyce had thought the same thing, already standing on the damp grass that seemed to be wet from the lake
"Here." He spread the brown, Chewbacca-like blanket on the ground, and placed the two pillows at the top.
"Thanks." After a quick peck on the cheek, Joyce was the first to lay down, followed by himself. As he laid there next to Joyce, staring up at the night sky, it all seemed so...big. Every single star told a story, and here they were, probably insignificant when looked at by aliens or something like that stuff Murray was always going on about, but to him, they were the most beautiful, perfect girl in the world, and him. In the grand scheme of things, he was lucky. He was lucky to even be in the same world, same dimension as her, but even luckier that, for some reason, she chose him.
Everything surrounding Belle flashed back to him. She'd stayed by his side, even though others would probably find him guilty. He really couldn't imagine someone better.
His eyes started to tear up at all these thoughts, so, trying to hide it, he pulled her into a deep hug
"I'm so lucky to have you, Joycie. I love you so, so, much."
He knew she knew he was crying, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she held him as they stared up at the stars together, soon falling asleep there.

(Joyce's POV)

She woke up to the strange feeling of grass beneath her back, strange because she'd just woken up. Her first though was, had she gotten drunk last night? Was she high?
But, with her head in Hopper's chest and a blanket over them as reminders, last night came back to her. Oh, how she had loved last night's date. It felt like good times. She was worried about Hopper, though. He'd broken down into tears right before they'd fallen asleep. She had a sense it was about Belle, but didn't get a chance to actually say any words of reassurance. So, when she saw he was waking up too, she saw the perfect opportunity.
"Hey, did you sleep well?" She asked as soon as his eyes were open. As she did so, she reached under the covers and took his hand in hers. It was cold, most likely from laying on the grass all night, but she didn't mind.
"Yeah." He nodded, and squeezed her hand back. With a sheepish smile, he placed a morning kiss on her cheek. She noted to herself that his lips were way warmer than her hands, with that warmness spreading through her body.
"Are you okay? You were crying last night." She brought up the one thing he seemed to be avoiding.
"Yeah, just..." He trailed off, and looked down at the grass, picking and pulling one off the ground. She was worried he'd start crying again, but when he looked back up, he was smiling, no tears in his eyes. "I'm so lucky to have you, you know? I don't think I could've ever gotten through...everything...without you."
"Hop..." She felt her face flush up, not from the heat but from being flattered. One hand placed on his cheek, she rubbed his beard, getting his smile to expand.
"Hey lovebirds!" Just within her range of view, she could see Karen coming down to their little resting spot still in her pajamas.
When she was standing right above them, Karen asked, "Did you guys sleep out here?"
She looked at Hopper, and Hopper looked at her. Both didn't really know how to explain that they fell asleep while on a sort-of date, and neither of them seemed to want to come up with an explanation, so they both shrugged their shoulders. Karen wasn't an idiot when it came to love, so she was sure she had some idea of what happened.
She didn't press forwards though, instead just said, "Alright, well if you two want food, you'd better hurry. The kids are hoarding the food."
Karen left back up the hill after that, leaving it just the two of them on the grass. Though she could sense yesterday's clothes on her, they both still checked out of habit that they were wearing anything before getting up, blanket and pillows under Hopper's arm, and they made their way back up the hill, hand in hand.

A/N: Hey everyone reading this! So sorry for not updating in a while, school's been really busy. Hope you all have a happy holiday season!

-scoopstroop2020