Chapter Text
“Will!” Dustin whined, “Your sister’s being crazy again!”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“For fuck’s sake, you two are worse than Dustin and Lucas.”
“Hey!” the two boys protested simultaneously.
Max and El were bent over one of Max’s school projects, nearest to Dustin, while the boys planned out their spring break. Dustin kept critiquing their work, spouting off little known history facts, even though they weren’t wanted . El finally threatened to sabotage his bike if he didn’t leave them alone, which had him complaining to Will. Yes, El and Mike were glued at the hip and El would do anything Mike asked. But! Mike was a pushover when it came to El getting her way, so he was no good to any of them against her. Will, however, seemed to manage her in a way that the others couldn’t. They had their “creepy” bond, as Lucas called it. For the first few months after her return, Mike had been wildly jealous of how close they were. But it was very obvious to everyone else that El was stupidly in love with the nerdy Wheeler kid.
“El, be nice.”
“I am being nice,” El argued back reasonably. But then she turned to whisper to Max, “I told him before I messed up his bike…”
“ Will! Seriously!”
“El?” he prompted without looking up at her.
With a sigh and a scowl, she repeated one of the few rules the party had for her, “I will not perform devious acts of vengeance on the personal property of any given party member without the party’s consent.”
“Please and thank you,” Will said dismissively, continuing his sketching.
“I wish my sister was that reasonable,” Mike grumbled as he flipped through the D&D handbook. El used her mind to nudge at his foot, meeting his gaze when he scowled at her. It wasn’t a real scowl though because it evaporated into the fond smile she liked so much.
El wasn’t technically Will’s sister. It was wishful thinking on the party’s part, and the boys had quickly decided to always refer to her that way. Hopper and Mrs. Byers weren’t together. Will and El knew for certain that they slept in the same bed every Wednesday, and that Hopper looked at Mrs. Byers like Jonathan looked at Nancy. Like Mike looked at El. Only sadder. Because Nancy kissed Jonathan and El kissed Mike, and Mrs. Byers never kissed Hopper. For El, it was that simple. Will wasn’t El’s brother until Mrs. Byers kissed Hopper, but she could accept that she was Will’s sister. It was a strange balance, but it fit them well. Once Mike went back to his campaign planning, El caught Will’s gaze.
He looked as sad as El felt. They were both stuck watching their respective parent be miserable without the other. Watching them pine was almost worse than how El felt during her year in hiding. Almost worse than Will felt when he got lost in the Upside Down and couldn’t talk to anyone. There were only so many people who could talk about what happened back in November, who could talk about what really happened to Bob and Will. Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan had each other. The party had every party member. Hopper and Mrs. Byers only had each other, and they wouldn’t do anything about it. They just...slept in the same bed one night a week and went about their lives like nothing had ever happened. Will knew that nothing ever “happened” between them because Jonathan said so, and Will trusted his brother on that.
El knew because Hopper was always sadder on Thursday nights. He got grumpy and moody and didn’t feel like talking. He didn’t drink anymore because El had asked him to stop. He was cutting back on smoking too, but he did all of his smoking on Thursday nights. He would sit out on the porch, no matter how cold it was and chain smoke until El threatened to drag him in with her powers. She’d done it once too, when the snow was falling fast and thick, and he’d been stubborn about it.
El knew because Hopper always got really happy on Wednesday mornings. Not even pranks with garden gnomes or bashed in mailboxes or rowdy drunkards could dim his mood. El had learned to ask for things on Wednesday mornings; books, clothes, a movie night with the party two towns over. Hopper was always in such a good mood that he would say yes. Usually it was with stipulations like chores, but she could handle that. But it was a pattern, and El noticed patterns.
Will knew because his mother didn’t wake up screaming or crying on Wednesday nights. Because she always seemed a little brighter on Thursday mornings. She would wake up earlier than usual, put on music in the kitchen as she cooked up pancakes for everyone. Jonathan got an extra hour of sleep on Thursday mornings, but Will and El would wake up and huddle next to each other, listening to their respective parents sing (very badly) some of their favorite songs from their formative years. They would lay there until Mrs. Byers called for them to get up. Will had school and Hopper had to get El back to the cabin before work. El was the first one to voice the question.
“Do you think they’ll ever tell each other?” she’d whispered as the sun came up. Will had only shaken his head and shrugged. Will didn’t like to talk on those mornings. He later told El it was because he was so used to hearing his mom yell and fight with his father. It was nice to hear his mom laugh and sing. El thought it was pretty nice too, so she didn’t try to talk either.
But that had been months ago. It was almost April now. A few days to break. And El was sick of waiting. It didn’t help that she was constantly running out of books and movies and TV was boring now that she had schoolwork from Nancy. But even the schoolwork was running dry because Nancy was busy and El was getting close to being caught up with everyone else. So there really wasn’t much to do but sit around and read and think. All the books she read had families in them. Some were happy, some were broken, some never got fixed, but at least they had a family. El would have been more than content with Hopper and her party and the Byers and Wheelers if her father wasn’t so obviously miserable over Mrs. Byers.
So she’d confided in Will and Will confided in Jonathan. El wanted to know what they thought about it, and then she was going to ask her father. She was going to ask him why he was unhappy and what he planned to do about it. But not unless Will said it was okay. Because Will was her friend and you didn’t keep secrets or lie to your friends.
El wanted to be Will’s sister for real.
El was only allowed over to the Wheeler’s house every once in awhile. Otherwise, Max and the boys had to go to her in the cabin. It wasn’t “technically” safe, but Hopper had quickly realized that if she wasn’t allowed to see her friends, she’d go out on her own. At least this way he knew where she was, and had some control over the situation. El didn’t care either way as long as she got to see her friends.
There was a specific protocol for leaving the Wheeler’s house, which involved Steve Harrington picking up El, Will, and Dustin. He wasn’t quite on the radar as the Byers were, and since he was as much a part of El’s life as the others were, it was a natural solution. Besides, Steve and Dustin had gotten pretty close, and Mrs. Henderson was always looking for extra help keeping track of him. So Steve would go into the Wheeler’s house on the pretense of seeing Nancy and picking up Dustin while Will and El snuck out to the car. Steve would emerge from the front of the house with Dustin, making a show of it, and drive Dustin home. Jonathan would pick up Will and El behind Dustin’s house, and drop El off at the cabin before going home. It was a convoluted plan, for sure, but it made Hopper feel better.
So El and Will were waiting in the car when Will gave her the okay.
“You should talk to him. The chief, I mean,” he said slowly. “I don’t think I can deal with Mom this summer if…” El nodded eagerly. She was more than ready to have it out with her adoptive father. Chomping at the bit, as Max liked to say. El was getting sick of Hopper’s moodiness and the way he got sad all the time when he thought she wasn’t looking. It was stupid. And Hopper had promised her that he wouldn’t be stupid anymore.
They didn’t have much of a chance to keep talking about it because Steve and Dustin got into the car, bickering as usual.
“...what is there to not understand? It is basic biology!” Dustin insisted.
“Dust...jesus fucking christ...you cannot, I repeat, cannot , walk around saying shit like that to girls! Have I taught you nothing?”
“It is a relevant fact , Harrington!”
“Relevant to people who die alone, yes!”
They went on like this for some time. Will and El exchanged an exasperated look before trying to get them to change the subject. It took some doing. Dustin did like to rant. At one point, Steve threatened to kick him out of the car and make him walk home. Dusting snottily reminded him that Jonathan had kicked his ass once and could kick it again. Which led to more bickering and complaining.
“How do I always end up with you dipshits? I mean seriously, I would like an answer. How come Jonathan and Nancy are laughing it up at some stupid movie and I’m driving a bunch of assholes around because you ,” he pointed an accusatory finger at the rear view mirror, meaning El, “can’t stay away from your boyfriend for more than a few days at a time? Huh? Tell me that!” El spat her tongue out at him, making Will and Dustin laugh.
“It’s cause--” Dustin snorted, “You’re such a good babysitter.”
“Yeah Steve,” Will kicked the back of his seat, “It’s all those paternal instincts.”
“Shut up, dillweed!” He shoved a hand out at Dustin’s face, knocking him back a little, “And you be quiet or I’ll tell your mother about that project out in the cellar.”
“You son of a bitch, you wouldn’t fucking dare!”
“Watch your mouth and yes I would!” He shoved playfully at Dustin again, “And I need you on Saturday afternoon. You’re coming with me on my date with Cindy to play with her little sister.”
“Cindy’s sister is like...8?” Dustin shrieked incredulously. “What am I supposed to do with an 8 year old?”
“How the fuck should I know? Cindy thinks it’s cute that I treat you like a little brother, so you’re gonna start earning your keep and acting like one.” By this point, El and Will were collapsed in giggles, thinking about Dustin trying to keep an eight year old entertained while Steve made out with her sister.
“You are shitting me!”
“I am not fucking shitting you and watch your fucking mouth! El is too fucking impressionable!”
“Fuck you!”
“And you!” he twisted the mirror to glare at Will. “Have you been sleeping?”
“Yes.”
“El?”
“Sometimes.”
“Hey!”
“Sometimes you make sounds when you sleep. Like...like a hurt dog.”
“Byers?”
“Nightmares,” he groused. “ Dreams, Steve. I’m not seeing stuff.”
“Good. So where are we on Operation Parent Trap?”
The three of them told Steve Harrington everything . Well, Dustin had talked them into doing it. Sometimes his advice was helpful, sometimes it was just stupid. But El liked him, liked how he treated Dustin like a little brother, liked that he was protective of Will even though he wasn’t dating Nancy anymore. So they’d talked about their parents and how annoying they were being.
“I’m going to talk to him tonight.”
“Think it’ll work?”
“No,” she grumbled, folding her arms. Hopper was too stubborn. He wasn’t going to admit or say or do anything to upset the calm status quo they had going right now. El understood that sentiment all too well. And if she’d let that fear rule her, she never would have gotten away from Papa or found Mike or found the party or Kali or a family. She would have been a monster hooked up to machines for the rest of her life.
“Buck up kid, that punk look doesn’t suit you.”
“That jacket was badass though,” Dustin mumbled quietly, mostly to himself.
“Kid?” Steve tried again.
El shrugged, “We’ll fight. I yell. He yells. I break things. He yells more. TV gone. Eggos gone.”
“Are you really still eating that shit?” El rolled her eyes. “Hey! What did I just say about being a punk?”
“It doesn’t suit me?”
“Damn right it doesn’t. Look, Chief Hop’s a good dude, right? Just be direct with him. Tell him what you’re thinking.”
“What if he doesn’t like it?”
Dustin turned around in his seat. “It’s about planting the seed. Kind of like mold. Doesn’t matter what the conditions are, once the spores set in, they spread and grow, right?” El nodded. “Right. So all you gotta do is toss that spore in his direction. Then it’s stuck.”
“He might be right,” Will chimed in quietly, “Maybe they just don’t realize…”
El arched a prim eyebrow at that, not at all convinced. If they didn’t know how they felt about each other, then they were mouth breathers. Absolutely dummies. And Hopper had promised to stop being stupid.
“What does Jonathan say?”
Will snorted, “What he always says--”
“ Mind your own business ,” the three kids intoned mockingly, making Steve laugh outright.
“Sounds like Byers. Well maybe he’s right too. Never can tell what old people are thinking.”
“ Oh my god !” Dustin groaned, “Are you shitting me? Those two stare at each other more than Mike and El! They’re like obsessed with each other! What are you even saying? Are you blind? Have your Cindy-obsessed eyes fallen out of your skull? Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
“Jesus christ! Okay! I get it, damn!” Steve slapped out at him again. “Dude, yes, obviously they want to bone each other. But I wasn’t gonna say that in front of her kid . Damn Henderson.”
“Bone?” El asked, scrunching up her nose. Will shrugged just as Steve threw the car into park and dropped his head to the steering wheel.
“Chief Hop is gonna kill me. I’m gonna die. I’ll never get to graduation.”
“You are so damn dramatic,” Dustin scowled. He turned in his seat again. “It means they want to have sex with each other.” He flapped his hands together in an odd wave-like pattern that made no sense. El understood anyway.
“Oh. Yes. They want to bone,” she agreed.
Steve sat up and shrugged in defeat, “What’s one more tally on the death count in this town, right?”
“Dude. Take a pill,” Dustin snapped, shoving at Steve’s shoulder. “See you tomorrow Will. El.” They bumped fists and Dustin left. Steve pulled the car around back where Jonathan was waiting for them. Steve passed the kids off eagerly and rolled down his window to talk to Jonathan.
“If I’m not at school tomorrow, it was Hopper.”
“What?”
“Trust me.”
Jonathan twisted in his seat, curious, but the two kids only shrugged, feigning confusion. On the way to the cabin, Jonathan interrogated them both about their day. He still hovered over Will a bit. El knew Will didn’t mind it so much, but everyone else did. And it’s not like he was the only one doing it either. Steve and Nancy were just as bad. Mrs. Byers and Hopper were worse. El was used to people watching her all of the time, but the boys weren’t. Dustin claimed it was “cramping his style.” And Mike just wanted everyone to stop telling his parents what he was up to.
Jonathan dropped her at the front of the path back to the cabin. There wasn’t really much that could get to El, anyway. She trudged back through the muddy woods, using her powers to deflect the rain away. Hopper didn’t like it when she did that, claimed that it wasted too much of her energy. El thought he was ridiculous.
She maneuvered the trip wire and went inside without knocking. Which also annoyed Hopper. He groused at her from the kitchen as she went back to her bedroom, seemingly ignoring him. She was ignoring him, but she wanted it to look like she was ignoring him too. Sometimes people couldn’t tell. She tossed her backpack and her jacket into a corner and sat huffily down on her bed. She crossed her arms and stared at the door opening. Waiting.
This was how they fought. El would stomp off to her room and sit and stare at the door until she was calm and ready to talk. Then she would open the door and wait until Hopper was calm and ready to talk. They would talk through the door. It was really the only way to keep El from blowing out the windows every time Hopper got upset. They were getting pretty good at it.
Hopper stared across the kitchen at that open door for a long moment. Usually, she slammed it pretty hard before she opened it again. So...not having a hissy fit. That was good. But this whole leaving the door open thing was new. Maybe...she just wanted to talk? But she really didn’t have a problem coming to him when she needed questions answered or to work up a good cry. He tapped his thigh rapidly, hesitating even though this was an obvious invitation.
“El?” he called out tentatively, not really sure what was going on. Radio silence. He dropped his head in defeat. Once more unto the breach, then. He went to stand in the doorway, using his hands to brace himself on either side. It took him a long moment to lift his head to look at her.
“All right, kid, let’s hear it.”
“You love me.”
Hopper shook his head in surprise, trying to break through the strangeness, “Yes.”
“I love you.” He nodded slowly, wanting to follow her logic here. “And I love Mike.” His eyebrows shot straight up at that. “Same or different?”
“Different,” he affirmed quickly, not really willing to bicker over the whole preteens in love nonsense. That was a long held dispute with no goddamn resolution in sight.
“You love me,” she repeated gravely, “And you love Joyce.” Even he could feel himself rear back at that accusation. He felt his gut clench because he knew what the next words out of her mouth would be. He brought a hand over his mouth, dragged it through his beard, not responding immediately when she asked the same question. She slapped the bed.
“Same or different?” she snapped again. Hopper scowled and jabbed a finger at her.
“It’s not that simple!” he shot back. “Yes, I care about Joyce and the boys, but it’s not as simple as you and Mike.” Her nostrils flared in her annoyance, only making him more irritated.
“Yes it is!”
“No. El. It is not ! You and Mike are dumb kids. You’re not grown ups with responsibilities and...history...and--.”
“History?”
“What?” he snapped irritably. He winced when she flinched. He forgot sometimes that the black hole in him tended to lash out. El was still just a little girl and fragile, and he forgot that sometimes. He didn’t forget it now. Fuck it, he grumbled to himself. Then he went in and sat down on the bed beside her, destroying their usual protocol. This wasn’t their usual protocol anyway.
“Look…” he held out his hands in front of him, trying to explain, “Before Joyce married Will and Jon’s dad...when we were in high school we…”
“Loved each other,” El filled in. He held up a finger.
“No,” he argued, “No I didn’t say that. Don’t go putting words in my mouth, kid, you know I don’t like it.”
“Sorry.”
“Right. Anyway. We...dated. Sort of...like...Like Wheeler’s sister and Steve, right? Just for a little while...and then she decided she liked Lonnie instead.”
“Lonnie?”
“Byers. Will and Jonathan’s dad.”
“Oh.”
He scowled at the pity in her voice, “Don’t go gettin’ ideas, kid, okay? It wasn’t that big of a deal. Just like it isn’t now.”
El sniffed, looking up at him with those big brown eyes of hers, “Friends don’t lie.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Uh huh,” she argued, nodding her head vigorously. “Your eyes are lying. Because I see how you look at her.”
“Uh hmm, and how is that?” he asked with thinly veiled sarcasm. Not that El understood most of his sarcasm.
“Like she’s home at the end of a dark road.”
“Kid…” He felt his chest cave in a little at her soft words. How in the hell..? Part of him knew exactly what she was talking about because she was right. Joyce had always been this bright spot in his life, this stalwart pillar of happier times. Times before. But now there were times after . After Sarah. After Lonnie. After the Upside Down. After the...Mind Flayer or whatever the kids called it. Their history was becoming more present than past. And now they were...Well fuck, he slept in her bed every Wednesday night and every Thursday morning it got harder and harder to leave. He was finding it harder and harder to make up excuses to stay away. It was like...what the fuck did that Henderson kid call it? Entro--Entorop? Entropy. No matter how carefully he behaved, no matter how hard he tried, things returned to chaos. Jim Hopper returned to Joyce Byers. Like those fucking magnets the Sinclair kid was obsessed with. Moth to a goddamn flame.
“No more lying.”
“I’m not lying, El,” he told her seriously. “There’s a lot more to it than just...how I feel. Okay? Do you get that? Do you understand what I’m telling you? Joyce loved Bob. He died. She needs to grieve. And I…”
“ Don’t lie !” she snapped angrily.
“I’m not!” he bellowed back at her, getting to his feet. “We’ve talked about this.”
The little girl’s face darkened, and despite himself, he felt the fear shoot down his spine.
“Jim Hopper is not a black hole,” she growled out dangerously. The lamp behind her flickered, the threat implied.
“Give it a rest, El.”
“No! Say it!”
“El, I’m serious--!”
“So am I!” she bandied back. They glared at each other. A real Mexican standoff except that Hopper had nothing, no weapon, no defense. This kid had him by the balls. Or the heart. Or whatever you wanted to call it. Hopper had nothing on this kid, nothing to hold her back with. Not anymore, anyway. She crossed her arms, putting on that really cute pout he was starting to hate a lot .
“I want a mama.”
“You got one. Not a whole one, but there you go.”
“I want Joyce to be my mama!”
“That is ridiculous, okay? Out of the question.”
“But you love her!”
Hopper lost it, “So what ?!” he raged at her, arms in the air. All he got from her was a small smirk, making him let out a long list of expletives she probably already got from Henderson. Needed to have a talk with that kid about his goddamn mouth. He dragged a hand through his hair and down his neck, letting the anger boil over and evaporate. Sometimes she made him so mad he couldn’t fucking see straight. He barrelled through.
“So what if I do?” he kept asking. “It doesn’t matter because that woman deserves a break. Someone to take good care of her and those boys--”
“You do that!”
“It’s not just about me, kid, okay? That’s not how it works.”
El went completely blank. Which he absolutely hated. Usually, what she felt was right on the surface. If he knew what she felt, he knew what she was thinking. This blank stare thing was some teenage bullshit she was picking up from those pain in the ass kids, he just fucking knew it . He waited. Because waiting out El was probably the only way to resolve any issue.
“So...you are saying that if Joyce says she loves you too, then you’ll stop being stupid and marry her?”
“What?” he followed up, flabbergasted. How had this gotten so out of control? No. Whatever. No. This was not happening. “Fine, fine, whatever. Yes okay? If Joyce Byers shouted from the damn rooftops that she was in love with me, then yes, I would drag her ass to the courthouse and marry her, all right?” Because the chances of that happening were nil at best.
“Fine,” El said, uncrossing her arms and smiling. Hopper reared back, the whole gambit of angry and confused feelings passing over him.
“Fine?” he sneered, disbelieving. “Okay. Fine. Whatever. Are you hungry?” he asked whirling around to exit her room. “Cause I’m hungry. And tired , El. I am so goddamn tired…”
El was compliant for the rest of the night. Did whatever Hopper asked, responded quickly and pleasantly. Didn’t cause any fuss. He watched her suspiciously, but she didn’t really care. It wasn’t until she heard him snoring the next room over that she snuck out to the radio to send the message.
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Op PT is go.
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Bitchin’