keeptheselights | (no subject)

It takes her so long to get ready that she might as well be a teenager again. She dresses carefully, layering the lingerie that she'd cricled back to buy with a black velvet dress that's fitted across her chest and flared slightly around her thighs. She puts on heels and agonises, for a long moment, about which lipstick to choose before she goes for red.

She wants to be as far away from how worn down she's felt for a long time as she can. She wants to feel like she did when she was young, and full of promise.

Hopper wanted to pick her up but, because Will hasn't headed out yet, she'd said she'd meet him at the restaurant. She arrives early, standing outside with her arms folded against the cold, a cigarette between two fingers.

She's so nervous she actually laughs at herself.
Jesus.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

something_incredible

Hopper doesn't know quite what he expected. He'd built it up for so long back in Hawkins, this date, and now that it's here, he's tried to do away with all the expectations. He's just happy to be here.

And if this is how they mean to go on, he's happy with that, too.

The dinner is delicious and he enjoys it, but more than that, he enjoys the conversation and he likes how easily it comes even without drinking. Once they're done, once he's paid, Hopper grins at Joyce across the table.

"And now what?" he asks.

From:

keeptheselights

"And now," says Joyce, getting up from the table and starting to put her coat back on. "I was thinking that you could walk me home, and I could make you a coffee?" she says, one eyebrow raised. "Will's staying over with El, after all, so we've got the place to ourselves."

From:

something_incredible

"I'll probably drive you home instead of walking," Hopper says, rising to help her with her coat. "But otherwise, yeah, I like the sound of that plan."

Chances are high he's getting lucky tonight. He's pretty sure they've both waited long enough, they both want it, but even if it didn't happen right now, he'd be happy with having finally had their date.

From:

keeptheselights

"Semantics," she says, with a fond smile, fastening her coat and then slipping her hand into his. "Don't really care how you get me there, though. Just as long as you come in."

From:

something_incredible

"As long as I'm invited, you won't get rid of me," Hopper promises as he leads Joyce out of the restaurant and down the block to where he had parked earlier. The truck isn't anything special, but it gets him where he needs to go, and it feels better than the unmarked department car he drives when he's on duty.

He hopes the passenger side door for Joyce before going around and getting in his side, then pulling out from the spot.

"It's gonna be sort of weird, going back to one of the apartments," he admits.

From:

keeptheselights

"I'll get you a key cut," says Joyce, and she's only half joking. She settles into the truck, her head turned so that she can watch him as he drives. "I guess you were in one when you first got here?" she asks. "Will and I got lucky. It's two bedrooms, and we've got it feeling like home already. I guess I'd already left Hawkins, so...it doesn't feel too different to moving to California, honestly."

It feels odd, making small talk like this when she's so aware of him close.

From:

something_incredible

That makes Hopper's chest warm and tight, good feelings honestly, and he grins as he drives, mostly to himself.

"Yeah, I was in a two bedroom on my own for awhile," he says. "Didn't really know what to do with the extra space, but I guess this place had plans for me. It worked out pretty well once Bev started needing a place to stay."

They'd lived there for years. Made it into a proper home. But once Eleven arrived, too, they'd had to move into a bigger space.

From:

keeptheselights

"She seems so nice," says Joyce, and means it, utterly. She hasn't had much time to spend with Beverly just yet, but she likes her already, can tell she'll love her, given the chance. "You're a good dad, Jim. It's a very attractive quality."

From:

something_incredible

"She's a good kid," he answers. "It's easy."

Hopper loves being a dad. At the time Diane had gotten pregnant, he hadn't been sure, nervous and constantly worried he was going to mess everything up, but when Sara was born, it was like everything had just sort of settled. Apparently he's always been meant to be a dad.

"Attractive, huh?" he asks, glancing over at Joyce with a grin as he turns down her street.

From:

keeptheselights

"Oh, stop fishing for compliments," says Joyce, rolling her eyes fondly. "You're driving me home, you're coming in for coffee, and I am wearing really uncomfortable underwear solely for your benefit. And anyway, I've found you attractive since we were sixteen, and you know it."

From:

something_incredible

"Hey, I didn't," Hopper protests as he drives. They're close now and he's just thinking about the really uncomfortable underwear Joyce is wearing solely for his benefit. He's also hoping she knows he would find her gorgeous in anything at all.

"Not when I was sixteen anyway. Or seventeen," he continues. "Probably not until all those memories crashed into me not too long before you got here."

From:

keeptheselights

"Well, I was trying to let you know," says Joyce, and she reaches across, her hand coming to rest on his thigh and squeezing gently. "We were both dumb kids. I'm not sorry we didn't get together then - Lonnie's an asshole, but I love my boys more than anything - but I'm glad we've figured it out now." She smiles. "Yeah. I'm glad you remember that, too. Even if we did, you know. Get interrupted."

From:

something_incredible

Hopper isn't surprised to hear any of that and he would say the same. No matter how much it had hurt to lose her, he wouldn't trade his years with Sara for anything in the world. Not even this.

He knows Joyce would understand.

The hand on his thigh feels nice, too, and he smiles as he pulls into a parking space on the street, then kills the truck's engine.

"Ready to head in?" he asks, laying his hand on top of hers.

From:

keeptheselights

"I am," says Joyce, threading her fingers with his, squeezing firm muscle under her palm. "Is it bad that I kind of want to kiss you here, though? We could make out like teenagers for a minute." She hasn't kissed him since Russia. It's been...a challenge.

From:

something_incredible

"We'll get cold," he warns, but he's already leaning across the console between them, his free hand coming up to touch his fingers against her cheek.

The memory of kissing her is somehow so fresh and so distant. He remembers, but the real experiences of being anywhere near Joyce are five years in his past. This is what matters, this moment right here.

He lips brush hers and he exhales slowly, then deepens the kiss.

From:

keeptheselights

Right then, Joyce has never cared less about anything; after Russia, it feels like it would take a lot to make her really feel the cold. He nudges the kiss deeper, and Joyce makes a soft sound against his lips. It's slightly awkward, the console between them but, right then, his mouth of hers, it feels just about perfect.

From:

something_incredible

This feels right.

It feels like it's been a long time coming, even though Hopper has been here without Joyce for so long. He's been waiting for her, though, even if he hadn't realized it. While he hasn't exactly been celibate, his heart has always been for her.

With a smile, Hopper nudges his nose against Joyce's and then he kisses her again, his palm against her cheek.

From:

keeptheselights

She leans into the touch, lets him kiss her exactly as long and as deeply as he likes for a moment before she pulls away, her cheeks touched with colour. They might both be in their forties but kissing him like that? Really does make her feel seventeen again.

"I think we ought to go upstairs," she says. "Don't you?"

From:

something_incredible

Hopper's smile is slow, spreading across his features like he isn't used to it, and in a lot of ways he isn't. He smiles more now than he had back in Hawkins, he has Beverly and El, but this is different. It's a different kind of smile.

"Yeah," he agrees as he releases Joyce with another slow kiss. "I think you're probably right."

From:

keeptheselights

Joyce presses one more kiss to his mouth before she pulls away, tugging her coat around her as she turns to open the door of the truck and slips out onto the street. When Hopper joins her, she slips her hand into his, finding her keys with the other and leading the way to the apartment. When she closes the door behind them, she raises both eyebrows.

"Do you really want a coffee?"

From:

something_incredible

"No." He laughs and finds Joyce's cheek with his free hand, then ducks to kiss her again. Their intentions in heading here, where they're free of their kids, it's all been pretty clear and Hopper feels like he's been waiting his whole life for her.

For the press of her lips, the touch of her hand, the way her hair smells and the way her skin feels. He's not much of a romantic, but he knows he's been in love with this woman for a long damn time.

From:

keeptheselights

"Good. Neither do I."

He cradles her cheek with his hand, kisses her deeply and Joyce just...she just wants. She's been in love with men before, sure, but with Hopper, it just feels like she's spent such a long time waiting and now? Now she doesn't have to wait anymore. Now, they're here.

"Jim?" she says, when the kiss breaks, when her head's tipped back so that she can look up at him, warm colour burning in her cheeks. "Can you take me to bed, please? I wasn't kidding when I said this underwear was uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable."

From:

something_incredible

"Can't wait to see it," he answers with a grin, then takes Joyce's hand with purpose and heads for the hall. The apartments are all more or less the same layout and he knows where he's going, taking care to open her door, not Will's, and he turns her before closing the door behind them.

"Is there..." He moves toward the dresser, feeling for a lamp, something for some soft lighting instead of the overhead light. Hopper's lost some weight since he quit drinking, but he's still not always happy about how things look.

From:

keeptheselights

"I've got it," says Joyce, leaning past him to turn on a bedside lamp, then walking around to do the same on the other side, casting the room in warm, golden light. She understands the impulse; it had taken her a long time to work up to being naked in front of Bob and, even though she knows Hopper as well as she knows herself, there's still a butterfly flutter in the pit of her stomach.

She steps in to kiss him again, one hand smoothing against the strong line of his jaw.

"Relax, Jim. It's okay. It's just me." She turns around. "Unzip me?"

From:

something_incredible

Just me, she says, as if she hasn’t been the woman of his dreams for most of his life. Maybe for a big part of that he had been somewhere else, but even in Vietnam, he’d thought about Joyce more than anyone else.

Even when he was married to Diane, who he loved entirely, he had thought about Joyce probably more than he should have.

When she turns, Hopper ducks his head to press a kiss to the curve of her throat as his fingers find the zipper. Slowly, as requested, he tugs it down her back.