≫ stranger things oneshots

waiting ≫ jopper

waiting

(this takes place during the snow ball)

o o o

Jim Hopper was standing outside in the dark evening air, blowing out puffs of smoke while he waited for the Snow Ball to be over. He'd gone to Joyce Byers' house beforehand with Eleven to help her get all fancied up for the dance, and now he had nothing to do. He watched as a group of teenagers laughed at some stupid joke and passed around a flask, each person forced to drink from it. They were all under age, but he wasn't about to stop them. Let them learn their lesson the hard way.

"You look like you're having a blast," said a distant voice, making Hopper look up. He smiled. Joyce Byers had her hands in her pockets and was slowly walking towards him, a grin plastered onto her face.

"I wasn't really given a choice, was I?" he chuckled, lifting his cigarette to his mouth. He took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, the smoke spiraling around his face before disappearing into nothingness. He glanced at Joyce and held it out to her, which she took hungrily. He smirked to himself.

Joyce took a swig from his cigarette, but immediately started sputtering. Jim shook his head and laughed. She always did that. "How do I always forget about your death traps, Hop?" she cried, shoving the cigarette back into his hand and shaking her head. "Jesus..." she muttered.

"Hey, it's not my fault you're so gullible," he retorted, shrugging cockily. "Or that you can't hold your tar," he coughed.

"Excuse me, what?" Joyce laughed, placing her hand on her chest and raising her eyebrows in mock surprise.

"I didn't say anything. I have no idea what you're talking about," Hopper said innocently. Joyce rolled her eyes at his pathetic expression.

"You're such a bad liar," she accused, shaking her head. While Jim laughed quietly to himself, she repositioned herself. All the standing was getting uncomfortable. Her movement caught Hopper's eye right away, and he quickly started searching for a bench or fence post to rest on.

"Here, do you want to sit or something?" he offered, pointing towards an empty sidewalk curb. He reached for her arm and touched it lightly, ready to lead her over.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Joyce said. Her eyes flickered to Jim's hand, and it made her blush. Wait, why would that make her blush...? "So, um, how's Eleven doing?" she asked after sitting down. She suddenly felt very self conscious and flustered, and the closeness of him when he sat down, too, was not helping. "Are you, uh, giving her enough... human interaction?"

Jim noticed the weird change, but didn't say anything about it. If there was one thing he knew about Joyce, it was that she was unpredictable.

"I don't know what you mean. I'm her human interaction, remember?" he insisted, playing along with her comment. He squinted at the ground, trying to think of his daily routine with his adopted daughter. "Let's see, we eat Eggos for breakfast before I go to work. After that, she watches TV for the rest of the day, and then I come home and we eat dinner. So, uh, plenty of human interaction..." He glanced at Joyce and winced. She didn't look convinced.

"Well, all I'm saying is that she needs to be around other people..." she paused to see Jim's reaction. He was just staring back at her blankly. She blushed (again) and looked away nervously. "Other people her age."

Jim leaned back as if he'd been slapped in the face. "Woah woah woah, Byers," he laughed. "Are you trying to call me old?"

"No!" Joyce shook her head quickly. "Of course not."

"Oh really?" Jim scoffed. He took another swig from his cigarette. "Then what exactly are you trying to say?" He blew out the thick smoke before leaning closer to her.

"I was just trying to tell you that your daughter needs to be around her friends," Joyce said, trying not to break into a smile. She pressed her lips together tightly and met his teasing gaze.

Jim was about to throw out another comeback when his eyes met hers. They were twinkling beautifully, even in the darkness of the parking lot. His breath caught in his throat all of the sudden, making him cough. He turned away, coughing and sputtering into the cold air.

"Oh gosh, are you okay?" Joyce cried, leaning forward and patting the officer's back. He nodded and held up his hand, still coughing. She kept patting his back, worried that maybe he'd smoked one too many cigarettes that night.

When he finally recovered, Jim wiped his moist eyes with the back of his hand. "Sorry about that, Joyce," he mumbled. He looked up at her and chuckled. "I guess you just took my breath away."

Joyce laughed. "Real smooth, Hop," she said, rolling her eyes. "Like I haven't ever heard that one before."

Jim didn't say anything. He just smiled. Joyce narrowed her eyes at him curiously, still grinning. "What's that look for?" she asked. He simply shrugged, not looking away. His eyes had suddenly become deeper, like a secret wanted to burst out at any moment.

Joyce frowned. This was getting weird now. "Seriously, why are you looking at me like that?" she insisted, taking a small step back. It had just occurred to her how close they were, and how dark it was.

Hopper reached forward, his hand scooting it's way behind Joyce's neck gently. She opened her mouth to protest, but his expression silenced her.

"What happened to us, Byers?" he whispered, never breaking eye contact.

Joyce looked down at her feet and sighed. "I don't know, Jim," she admitted. "I don't know."

Hopper tilted her head back, forcing her to look at him again. She sucked in a nervous breath. Jim smiled sadly. "I loved you, you know," he whispered. Joyce felt her heart stop for minute.

"That was a long time ago, Hop," she said shakily. His closeness was intoxicating. She knew this was wrong, but obviously they had feelings for one another. "I'm still grieving, Jim," she gulped, trying hard to not let any tears form. She couldn't cry in front of him.

Suddenly, Jim let go of her and stood up. His eyes had a look of realization in them, like his actions had finally decided to connect to his brain, and now he regretted everything. "You're right," he sighed, turning to look at the school for a couple seconds. He looked back at Joyce and shrugged. "I should go check on El."

Joyce was trembling but she didn't think it was noticeable, thank goodness. "Yeah," she nodded. "Um, it was nice talking to you."

"Yeah," Jim smiled. "I'll see ya around, Byers." He started walking towards the double doors, turning once to wave. After that, he was gone.

a/n
this is honestly trash, i don't know why i'm posting it lol. but anyway, thank you all SO MUCH for reading and voting, i can't believe this has made it to over 8K READS! that's crazy!