sorry for the wait, still got terrible writer's block smh
So this chapter was the hardest one I've had to write. All of Jim's dialogue is centered around Joyce so I have to rework it. Hopefully, it makes sense and still sounds like him.
Enjoy and not edited
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Natalie walked back over to Alexei her mood severely damped and she clenched her teeth, trying to not get too upset. It was a stupid thing to get upset at, she knew that Jim really didn't mean what he said.
But it still hurt like a bitch.
She looked at Joyce briefly who raised her eyebrows in mild concern before stomping over to Jim, her hands curled into fists. Natalie looked behind her to see Jim watching Joyce stomp towards him with an alarmed face.
Natalie stopped by Alexei again, who smiled at her and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. She returned the smile and leaned against the tree.
"Joyce, Joyce, calm down, just go start the car," Jim shouted, put his hands above his head in frustration.
Jim looked towards Natalie, "are you going to help? We haven't made any progress."
"Progress? The only progress Joyce and I have made is finding out that Alexei works for Starcourt mall and he's Russian. You haven't made any progress on the car."
"Oh you're really wanting to go there?" he snapped, slapping a mosquito that landed on his neck.
"Maybe I do? I honestly thought you were going to apologize to me from earlier but you keep spewing bullshit about this damn car and how Joyce and I aren't doing enough. Dude, calm down."
"Did you just call me dude?" Jim asked his voice sour.
"I'm starting the damn car," Joyce shouted from inside the cruiser.
Jim rolled his eyes at Natalie and bent back over the front of the car, "turn it on again, nothing is happening."
"I am!" Joyce shouted.
"Try it again!" Jim replied he kicked the car out of frustration.
Joyce turned the car on again, the engine was now groaning. Alexei looked at Natalie in alarm. She raised her eyebrow at him.
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking up at him.
Alexei shook his head and pointed at the car, "stop!" he began to shout.
Jim swung his head around, "Shut up, Smirnoff! Aw, come on! D'you hear me? I said shut your damn-"
Alexei cut him off shouting rapidly in Russian, one of his hands desperately trying to point to the truck. Then the engine sparked and started to smoke. Joyce quickly leaped from the driver's seat and scrambled away, closely followed by Jim.
Shit! Oh, Jesus," Jim shouted as his car engine exploded in a fiery ball.
"Stop," Alexei muttered and shrugged when Jim shot him a nasty glare.
Natalie sighed folding her arms over her chest, "wonderful."
Jim sighed, watching as she started to walk away from the car, Joyce on her heels. He fished for his cuff keys in his back pocket and unlocked Alexei from the tree, "c' mon Smirnoff."
Natalie pushed a branch out of her way and smiled softly at Joyce who rushed by next to her. Joyce sighed and pushed her hair back from her face, glancing back at Jim who was stomping behind them.
"He's lost it," she said to Natalie.
"Oh yeah, for sure," Natalie agreed, nodding. She looked back at Jim who looked up at her, she noticed him pull Alexei closer to him with a growl. So, he was still mad.
"Are you two gossiping about me?" Jim shouted from behind them.
"No of course not! We would never dare say anything bad about Chief Hopper," Natalie retorted, stifling a laugh when Joyce snickered next to her.
Jim quickly walked up next to them, tugging Alexei behind him as he pulled him through the brush of the forest. Once he was next to Joyce and Natalie he let out a long dramatic sigh. "Look, I know I've been an ass."
"Really?" Joyce asked raising an eyebrow, "we didn't notice."
"Can you shut up, I'm trying to apologize," Jim said running his hand over his face.
"Off to a poor start, my friend," Natalie added, rolling her eyes.
Jim sharply inhaled and briefly shut his eyes. He would not blow up at her again, but he loathed her dry sarcasm at times. "Natalie," he said through gritted teeth.
"Let's just drop it, for now, okay?" Joyce said, noticing the tension rising between them again, "so how far away is this friend of yours, Hop?"
"He lives in Illinois," Jim replied.
"So we're walking to Illinois?" Joyce asked, huffing in annoyance.
Jim laughed bitterly, "Yeah, yeah, we're gonna walk to Illinois. You know, I figure we'll get there by, like, Friday evening. I hope that works for your schedule. Jesus Christ, Joyce. We're not walking to Illinois, okay?"
Joyce shrugged, clearly offended, "Then what are we doing?"
"I don't know! I'll figure it out!"
"Isn't there someone in Indiana that speaks Russian?" Natalie added, "I mean there has to be one person."
Jim groaned, visibly frustrated, "you know what? If you two have a plan, I'm all ear! All ears!"
Natalie ran a hand through her hair, "Jim, please just calm the hell down!"
"Fine," Jim scoffed and continued to walk forward.
They traveled in silence for a while, the only noise being Jim slapping away mosquitos and cussing them out. Natalie was walking in between Joyce and Jim. She swallowed, her mouth was so dry. They had been walking in one hundred degrees heat for hours it seemed like. She was so hungry too, just the thought of any food made her stomach grumble.
Jim's elbow bumped into her and she wrinkled her nose, "can you not walk so close to me?"
"What?" Jim asked, looking down at her.
"You stink," she told him with a sarcastic smile.
Jim rolled his eyes and took a couple of steps away from her and then stopped, "okay, I'm done."
Natalie and Joyce stopped walking too, looking at Jim with raised eyebrows.
"What do you mean 'you're done'?" Natalie asked her hands on her hips.
"I'm done with you two giving me shit about everything. I am literally just trying to get us to a safe place!" he shouted. "Also, why are you so interested in Smirnoff, Nat? He is literally evil, look at him!"
Natalie looked at Alexei who smiled at her and she laughed, "Jim, seriously. We know you are trying to get us to a safe place, it just how you keep yelling at us for no apparent reason."
"Plus, you need to cut Natalie some slack, Hop. You were awful hard on her," Joyce added.
Jim let go of Alexei and advanced towards them, his hand clenched by his sides, "okay, fine. I've been a little mean, but both of you have too, like c' mon," he snarled.
Natalie shook her head, they were obviously not going to get him to calm down until they reached whoever they were going to see. She shrugged and then her eyes met Alexei's who was inching away from Jim, preparing to run.
"Jim," she began.
Jim held up his hand, "before you start sassing let me speak a damn word."
Natalie rolled her eyes, seeing Alexei take off running, "okay fine. Guess you don't care that Alexei is running away, huh?"
Jim swiftly turned on his heel, watching Alexei sprint for a second before taking off after him, "Smirnoff you son of a bitch, c' mere!"
YOU ARE READING
Smoke -- Jim Hopper
Fanfiction"Jim," Natalie whispered as she clung to his jacket. Specks of who knows what floated around them as they walked deeper into the upside down. She tugged again on his jacket, "Jim." Jim Hopper wrapped a heavy arm around Natalie and pulled her close...
