Room with a View - [Jopper] ✓

Keep Faith

The first few weeks of Joyce being admitted into Hawkins Hospital had been quite a bit different than she expected. Of course, there were always hiccups, but several memories she would never forget started in just less than a month.

--

"Hopper!" Joyce shrieked as she walked into their shared room. Sitting on both of their beds were dozens of boxed pizzas.

"Why are there seventy pizzas in our room?" She asked with a flame in her eye.

Jim smiled with two sliced of pizza in his hand. "Ah, I was down in the lobby when the pizza guys came." Jim clearly had a mouth full of pizza. "I guess the kid's ward ordered a bunch for their Halloween party but I was like 'oh yeah, they're collecting them in room 240.' And I was hungry. In case you haven't noticed, hospital food tastes like monkey ass." He finished with a gulp.

Joyce didn't know whether to chastise him or fall to the ground with laughter. After deep consideration, she remembered Hop's number one rule.

With an amused laugh, she sat down on the bed next to him and dove into the first pizza box.

"Are we bad people for this?" Joyce asked with her mouth full of pizza.

Jim shrugged innocently. "Depends on how you define 'bad' because I think we're just hungry. Jenny will come and get the rest of the pizza before we can finish anyways."

"That's true. What's the harm?" Just as Joyce finished her sentence, her chest P.T. therapist, Claudia, walked in the door.

"Joyce, are you ready for... what is going on in here?" Claudia asked as she glared at the two.

Jim and Joyce exchanged nervous glances back and forth. Before the two could say anything, the therapist was clearly paging her co-workers to report the location of the stolen pizza.

As the P.T. therapist stepped out of the room, Jim and Joyce quietly started hiding boxes of pizza to keep. Several of the boxes were shoved under their beds and into their mini fridge to keep for themselves.

---

The two patients always found themselves in some kind of trouble together. Stealing pizza wasn't the first of it either. They both may have been 27 years old, but it didn't stop them from acting like teenagers.

Jenny swung open the door to room 240. She could tell by the smoke that was seeping out from under the door that the two of them were up to something.

The scent of medical marijuana was so pungent that it almost knocked her over.

"You have to be kidding me! Joyce, tell me you aren't smoking that!" Jenny cried. Hopper was reclined back in a chair with a joint pressed between his lips while Joyce laid in her bed.

"No, but..." Joyce suddenly burst out laughing. "Did you know that the pharm...pharmacicy has edibles for people like me? You know..." she started laughing and pointing to her nasal cannula. She had a bag of medicinal gummy bears that Hopper clearly gave her. Leftovers from his chemo days apparently.

"Don't tell Jenny though, she'll have my ass!" Joyce whispered with a laugh as she gently elbowed Jenny in the ribs.

"She talks a lot when she's high," Jim stated as he strummed his guitar. They were clearly two different types of high. Joyce was laughing and spacey while Jim was mellow but aware.

Jenny groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why would you even give her this stuff, Jim?" she asked with a glare.

"It wasn't like she was smoking it, Jennifer. Relax a little bit. Do you want some? I won it from Phil in a poker game." Hopper held the joint out as an offer to her.

"The audacity you two have it just mindblowing." Jenny scuffed angrily as she confiscated the rest of their stash.

"Buzzkill." Both Joyce and Jim murmured as Jenny shut their door. 

---

"Have you ever cut hair before?" Hopper asked as he walked in with an electric shaver. Of course, the smile on his face made it seem like a big joke.

"Excuse me?" Joyce laughed, setting her book down on her bedspread.

"I've got stubble growing back and I need it gone." Hopper rubbed his hand over the shadow of hair growing back. "Its a pain in the ass to shave it myself."

"Why aren't you let it grow back out?" Joyce asked with a concerned expression as she tiptoed off her bed. Despite the height difference, she was just able to run her hand over the growing stubble.

"A few weeks before you were admitted, Owens was talking with my team about doing another round of chemo as an attempt to slow the tumor. Since they don't know when the next heart is gonna trot in through their doors, they figured it's the best option. I think it's horse shit." he replied as he rolled his eyes. 

"Here, sit down first," Joyce said as she patted her hand on the bed. Sitting down next to her, he looked at her curiously. 

"Hop, why are you bald?" she asked simply.

"Because I have cancer. It's from the chemotherapy. Didn't we just go over this?" Jim asked with a confused laugh.

"That's not what I asked. Why are you bald?" she asked again. Her brows were raised as if he was supposed to understand what she was on to.

"Because I have canc-" he began before being interrupted again.

"No! Why are you bald?" Joyce asked a third time with a laugh.

"Fine. Because maybe- " 

Joyce shook her head. "Nope!" 

"Alright." Hop sighed. "Because I have faith this will work and help cure me." 

"Bingo!" Joyce smiled. "Because you had and will continue to have faith that this will help. I know it seems like bullshit but keeping faith is one of my rules. Yours is always laughing, mine is keeping faith. So, we're gonna keep faith that this will at least help." 

Hopper couldn't help but smile at her nauseating optimism. "Yeah, I guess I don't mind it bald either." he laughed as she ran her hand over his head again.

"It is kinda cute. Though I've never seen you with hair so I wouldn't know." Joyce chuckled, making Hopper smile even more. 

"So, are you down to shave it?" he asked with his eyes wide, holding up the clippers.

"Only if I can do some cool designs before it's completely gone." Oh yes, his hair would be full of stars and spell out 'Joyce Rox' before it was shaved. 

"Deal." Hopper agreed, high-fiving her before they ran off to the bathroom. 

--

The sound of the clippers buzzed over the music playing on Joyce's phone. Hopper wasn't the biggest fan of Radiohead but Joyce seemed to like it so he let it go. Hopper could feel the designs she was shaving on the back of his head. 

"Did you just write your name on my head?" Hopper asked as they both burst out laughing.

"Every artist watermarks their work. I have to take credit somehow." she chuckled as she continued.

"Yeah well this is killing my back, hurry up and finish the Monalisa, Dicaprio," Hopper replied as he looked at her in the mirror.

"It's Da Vinci, not DiCaprio!" Joyce laughed so hard she doubled over and began wheezing. 

"You okay?" Hop asked nervously as she gained her composure.

"Yeah, I'm good." she smiled as she made the first official strip with the buzzer.