#I didn’t need Joyce to go to Russia to find hopper I’m being so serious I didn’t need elven going to the lab with brenner I actually didn’t

[breezy-pup]

I can tell you right now that st could have been 4 seasons long if the duffers didn’t drag it out with pointless plot lines

[cherrybracelets]

i need my girl [j. hopper x reader]

song inspo | hopper playlist 

word count: 4k / warnings: swearing, age gap, alcohol mention, smoking mention

an: this takes place about a year after the events of s3, but this version hop came home safe and sound!!!! this was hella emo and i sobbed a lot. anyways, please leave feedback, feel free to send me a kind message or two. whatever. and as always, listen to the song inspo and check out my hopper playlist i worked very hard on 

When you thought about what your life was like a few years ago, before you accidentally saw too much while taking the trash out one night and got sucked in to an entire government conspiracy, it was honestly quite boring. You didn't remember what you did with your days when you weren't hunting shadow monsters and protecting a kid with supernatural abilities. You also don't remember what life was like before you met Jim Hopper. Although, you knew things were definitely much easier.

You had spent most of the last year at his side, you two always being in the right place at the right time to save each other, always reaching for the other first in times of danger. At first you chalked it up to coincidence, sure that you were both just fighting the same battles (literally). But, after a few months of constantly finding yourself in his presence, you realized you couldn't quite live your life without him (again, literally).

Even when you weren't saving the world together, you loved to be by his side. You loved how much he made you laugh, and no matter how many times he heard a song, he still couldn't get the lyrics right. You were starting to have serious feelings for him, and before you knew it you were head over heels crushing. And he felt the same way. He hadn't felt romantic feelings towards someone in a long time, especially someone who was significantly younger than him, and it scared the shit out of him.

He tried for a long time to ignore it, push it deep down inside, but before he left for Russia, he left you a detailed letter explaining how he felt. It broke your heart, especially because you didn't know if you'd ever see him again. But he came home, and as soon as you saw him, he asked you if you had read his letter, and for some reason you said no. You had convinced yourself that things would never work with you two , and you were terrified to hurt him. He had gone through so much, he didn't deserve to be with someone with just as much trauma. With everything you'd been through together, it seemed impossible to have a healthy, light-hearted relationship, and that's what he deserved. He never asked again about the letter, and you just figured he came to the same conclusion when he was away.

But despite it all, he was still your best friend, and that's why almost every day around lunch time, you found yourself waiting outside his office to bring him his lunch. He wouldn't eat healthy unless you literally sat and watched him eat every bite of his salad. He was a dad now, he had to take care of himself for her. That's what you always said to him, but also, you wanted him to be around as long as possible, because you couldn't imagine a world without him.

You sat eagerly on a shitty chair, looking around the station for the millionth time, staring at the same posters and flyers. You held his salad, and your own, in a small paper bag on your lap. The scent of grilled chicken filling your nostrils and making your stomach rumble. You threw your head back in frustration, hoping whatever was keeping Hop from letting you in his office was worth it. Whenever he was late to anything, though, you got a twinge of fear deep inside of you, that somehow he had gotten hurt- or worse, killed. You shook the thought out of your head, knowing he was probably just stuck on the phone listening to Dan complain about the neighborhood kids cutting his flowers again.

Hoppers office door swung open, and he greeted you with a large smile. "Hey, sorry I'm late- some crazy lady called about 'evil' birds at the park," he said, chuckling slightly. He motioned for you to come in, to which you quickly hopped up and walked over. He closed the door behind you, taking his hat off and letting out a large sigh.

"Listen, I'm not saying I would rather be fighting Russians, but God this job can be boring sometimes," he groaned, grabbing his salad from the bag and opening the container grumpily.

"Don't say that, you'll jinx yourself. How much you wanna bet a huge emergency is gonna come in soon?" You responded, laughing to yourself.

"I highly doubt that." Hopper poured a cup of dressing onto his salad and mixed it around a bit, playing with the lettuce. "What are you up to tonight?" He asked, taking a bite of chicken.

"Oh, I didn't tell you? Joyce set me up on some blind date with the pharmacist at her job," you answered in between large bites. You were too hungry to wait and make small talk with Hop today.

"A date?" He asked, shocked. His eyes were wide, eyebrows raised, an overall look of surprise covering his face.

"Yeah, according to her he's a great guy. We'll see, though, she set me up with some loser last month." You were staring at your food intensely, but looked up quickly to catch a look of disgust in Hoppers face.

"I didn't realize you were dating," he said in a hushed tone. He had put his fork down and crossed his hands on his desk.

"Sorry, it didn't seem like the type of thing I needed to run by you," you responded, sarcastically. You rolled your eyes at him, and continued eating. He just shook his head silently, picking up his fork and playing with his food again.

"I just figured it would be something you would've talked to me about, considering..." he trailed off.

"Considering what, Jim?" You looked up at him, his eyes locked on yours. You knew what he was thinking, what he so desperately wanted to say, to yell to you. Because you two loved each other. Although, it would never be said. It would never be said, because it couldn't happen. It wasn't supposed to happen.

"Nothing, never mind. Sorry." He stammered a bit over his words, and took a large bite of food to shut himself up. You two ate in silence for a few seconds, a thick fog of tension and awkwardness hanging between you. "Where are you guys going?" He asked.

"Enzo's. Six-thirty."

"Sounds good. Sounds really great..." He took another large bite and sighed. The two of you finished eating, only making light conversation through the rest of the lunch. You could tell he was upset, he wasn't doing a good job at hiding it. A part of you wished you'd never told him, but you knew he would have to know some day. You left pretty quickly after you finished eating, telling Hop you had to get back to work. But in all honesty, you just wanted to get out of there.

You walked back to work slowly, suddenly feeling very overwhelmed with life. You were getting that feeling in your chest and gut again, the same feeling you had when you read Hoppers leader for the first time. This feeling of intense love, not caring about anything else in the world except seeing him and holding him, protecting him from everything this world could throw at you. You wanted to run back into his office, wrap your hands around his face and kiss him, not let a single thing come between you.

But you shook it away, burned it out of your brain. You tried to think about what you were going to wear tonight, and how you were going to do you hair. Hopper really liked this blue dress you had, you wore it to El's birthday party this year. But it didn't matter what Hop liked, because this wasn't a date with him. So fuck the blue dress, you'll wear something else, something for you.

You continued walking quickly, back to your office, your mind sweeping your closet to find an outfit for tonight. For the first time since making the plans, you were actually kind of exciting. It would be nice to have a normal conversation with someone, for once. You had almost forgotten what it was like to talk about the weather, gossip about the locals, just be a normal adult. It kind of sounded boring, but safety was boring, you'd learnt that very well over the past year. There was suddenly a cold breeze of autumn air that rushed past you, raising goosebumps across your body. You felt yourself shiver as it passed you, a familiar dark feeling crawling over you. You shook it off, knowing you were perfectly safe in Hawkins, now. At least, that's what you had hoped.

You walked into your office building and took the elevator to your floor, trying to figure out what you could talk about tonight. You finished up your work for the day fairly quickly, it was slow at the office this time of year, and you were exceptionally bored today. When five o clock rolled around, and it was time to go home for the weekend, you happily walked out to your car and took in the fresh air. You didn't get much of it, closed away in your cubicle.

You drove home, enjoying singing along to the radio, windows rolled down and the crisp smell of pumpkins and changing leaves filling the space of your car. Fall was your absolute favorite time of year, there was something about the way nature felt so welcoming, so forgiving, during fall. The warm colors of the leaves felt like you were being wrapped up in blankets and a warm fire crackled away in front of you. The smell of crisp apples and the excitement of kids picking out their Halloween costumes. Your mind suddenly fell to El, remembering a few weeks ago when you promised you'd help her pick out a costume this year.

You loved El, and you loved whenever you got to make dinner for her and Hopper, renting girly rom coms and forcing him to watch while he just sat silently, rolling his eyes and grunting at every cheesy line. And after El would go to bed, you and Hop would sit on his deck, smoking and sharing a six pack of beer, watching the stars travel above you. There was one night, back in July, Max had invited El over for a sleepover, and it was just the two of you that night.

Hopper was off his ass drunk, trying to tell you about the stars, despite knowing absolutely nothing. He was pointing them out, giving them all names of people he knew, dying laughing as he mocked Steve and Mike.

"Do you see that one, up to your right?" He pointed to a large, glowing star, cigarette butt hanging in his fingers.

"Of course." You watched the way the moonlight brightened up his eyes, and you could see deep inside his soul. Perhaps you had had a bit too much to drink, as well. But to this day, you swear he had completely opened himself up that night. You had seen all of him, no rough shell protecting him, no grumpy exterior. Just... Hopper.

"That star is you."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it's the most beautiful one. The biggest, brightest. No matter what, I can't look away from it. Despite the thousands- no, millions of other stars up there, that's the one I will look at for the rest of my life." Hopper stared wide-eyed at the star, a smile growing on his face. You watched him, not sure what to say, wanting to know so badly how his lips would feel pressed against yours. What it would be like to love him.

"I gotta pee," he said, loudly, giggling as he stood up and walked inside. You sat on the porch, taking another sip of beer and a long drag of a cigarette. You stared at the star, burning in into your memory.

You were brought back from your thoughts when a car horn broke through your memory. You were sitting at a light that had turned green, and the people behind you were getting pissed. You waved your hand to apologize and began to drive, pulling onto your street. You finally got into your driveway and parked your car, taking a moment of silence before getting out and going inside. You were greeted by your dog, who was happily barking at the window as he saw you pull in.

You headed to your bedroom and began scouring through your closet, determined to find something incredible for tonight. Luckily for you, buried deep in the back was a forgotten dress from your sisters wedding. You pulled it out, smiling at the find. It was a deep plum that looked beautiful with your skin and hair color, and perfectly accented your curves in all the right ways. You couldn't believe you forgot about this! It was perfect!

You quickly curled your hair and freshened your makeup, doing your best to make yourself look somewhat together. You slipped into your purple dress and put on a pair of cute black heels. You did a double check in the mirror, flattening out the sides of your dress and flipping your hair a few different ways before settling on a style. You took a deep breath, feeling a rush of different emotions as you walked out your door and to your car. You drove slowly to the restaurant, keeping the windows rolled up to avoid the wind messing up your hair.

When you pulled up to Enzos, you handed your keys to the valet, and walked shyly inside. You stood at the podium, waiting for the hostess to come back from seating another couple.

"Hello, welcome to Enzos, how can I help you?" She smiled kindly at you, turning her head slightly while waiting for your response.

"Hi, I'm meeting someone here on a date. We had reservations, should be under Matt..." you trailed off, peaking down at her list.

"Oh, yes, those reservations were cancelled earlier today." She frowned at you, and double checked her list a few times.

"Uh, I'm sorry, that can't be right. Matt Palmer?" You shook your head in confusion, crossing your arms and letting out an annoyed sigh.

"Yes, miss, I'm sorry... He called around three to cancel. I spoke with him directly."

"Well, that's just great. I'm glad he called to let you know," you responded, angrily. You rolled your eyes in frustration. "Do you guys have a phone I can borrow?"

The girl looked slightly annoyed, but smiled through it and handed you their landline. You started dialing Matt's number, ready to scream at him for standing you up. Who cancels at the restaurant, but doesn't even have the decency to call his date himself?

Matt picked up, and cheerily said, "Hello, Matt speaking."

"Matt, hey, good to hear from you. It's (Y/N)... what the hell, dude? Did you seriously cancel our date and not tell me?" You were talking quite loudly, and were getting obvious stares from the elderly couple waiting to be seated. The hostess was staring at you, and awkwardly smiled when you made eye contact.

"Woah, (Y/N), I didn't want to cancel. I just talked to Joyce today, and she told me you didn't want to go anymore?" Matt sounded genuinely confused, his voice in full defense mode.

"What?" You whispered, shocked. "I haven't even talked to Joyce today... why the hell..." you trailed off, racking your brain as to why she would say that.

"Listen, I can meet you there in thirty minutes if you still want to go? I'm sorry for all the confusion, honest... I was excited for tonight! I bought new cologne!"

"Matt... I'll call you soon, okay, we can reschedule. I'm pretty sure I know exactly who pulled this shit." You angrily hung up the phone, stomping over to the hostess and handing her the phone.

"So, should I not put your name on the waiting list?"

"I think you know the answer to that," you responded, rolling your eyes and walking quickly out of the restaurant. You waited on the sidewalk for the valets to bring your car back around, fuming with anger. When your car got there, you hopped in quickly and sped off towards Hoppers house. You drove in silence, pushing your car way over the speed limit, fingers digging into the fabric of the steering wheel. When you pulled into his driveway, you got out of your car without even taking the keys out of the ignition, running to his front door and slamming on it, loudly.

"Hopper!!" You yelled. The door swung open, and a confused and sleepy looking Hopper answered, a cigarette hanging between his lips. "What the fuck, Jim? I know you told Joyce to cancel my date."

"What? Why would you think that?" He took the cigarette out and threw it in the ash tray next to him.

"Because, I know you were pissed about me going in the first place. I'm not stupid." You crossed your arms and raised your eyebrows at him, ready to hear his next excuse.

"Fuck, okay, I know. I'm sorry... I just... couldn't have you dating him." Hopper put his hand over his eyes and rubbed them, a frustrated groan escaping his lips.

"Why would you do that?" You watched him, watching his body slightly tense up, his hands balled into fists.

"Because, oh for fucks sake... I wrote it in that damn letter that you never got... I just..."

"I got the letter!" You yelled, interrupting his thoughts.

"You... what? Are you kidding me? God, that's fucking great, (Y/N), if you didn't feel the same way, you could've just told me instead of lying to my face about it for a year!" Hoppers lips were pursed, and he was screaming only inches from your face. You could feel the warmth of anger radiating from his body, and the slight smell of his tobacco and vanilla cologne.

"But I do feel the same way, Jim. I fucking do! But I can't... we can't... you deserve something normal, and someone normal... something without baggage, and trauma. Not me... you are a thousand times too good for me, Jim. I need to get out of here..." you mumbled, fumbling back to your car as tears started to rush down your face.

"Wait, don't go!" Hop yelled, slamming his front door behind him and crawling in his truck, turning it on to follow you. You began speeding away, Hopper not far behind you. He turned the lights and sires on in his truck, speeding up to get right on your tail. You shook your head angrily and pressed down on the gas pedal. He did the same, staying close to you.

"Pull over, (Y/N), please!" You heard through his megaphone. "It's illegal to run away from a police officer, ya know, I could have you thrown in jail for this!" He yelled again, laying on his horn a few times. Although you knew he would never actually put you in jail, a wave of nervousness flooded through you, and you pulled your car over into the shoulder of the road. Hopper pulled up behind you, stopping his car and turning off the sirens. Silence flooded around you for a moment, only able to hear the sound of your tears and heavy breathing.

Hopper walked up to your window, tapping on the glass with the butt end of his flashlight. You rolled your window down, and wiped the tears off your cheeks with the back of your hand.

"Do you know why I pulled you over today, miss?" He asked, crouching to meet you face to face. You let out a small laugh, although you tried not too.

"Hopper..." you muttered between breaths.

"(Y/N)... can you step out of the vehicle?" He motioned for you to come outside.

"Are you serious?"

"Are you ignoring a direct order from the chief of police?" He asked. You rolled your eyes, opening your door and standing outside, arms crossed and avoiding his eyes.

"There hasn't been a moment of my life in the past four years that has been normal. Not a single god damn thing, (Y/N). And I love it... the chaos, the adventure... I've saved people. I've saved you... El... I don't want a white-picket fence, golden retriever, apple pie life. I want you... I've wanted you since the first time you jumped in front of a Russian spy to save me... you are the most bad ass, beautiful, intelligent... amazing person I have ever met. You are my star, you are all I see." He pointed behind you, and you turned around to see the same bright, shining star that he compared you too only months ago.

You turned back to him, standing on your toes and cupping his face in your hands. "Hopper... I would spend the rest of my life protecting you if I could... when I read that letter, the first time, I didn't know if I would ever see you again. Every time I'm not with you I feel this large, emptiness sitting inside of me. And a fear... I am so scared without you. You make me feel safe... and loved."

"That's because I am so unbelievably in love with you. I don't want you on any fucking dates with any dumb ass pharmacists," he laughed, wrapping his arms around your waist. "I don't think I would be half the person I am today if you weren't by my side through all of this... you, El... you are my girls. In all honesty, a few years ago, I never thought I would be capable of loving anyone again. In a father way, or a romantic way... and then I met El... and I knew I had to protect her, be the dad I couldn't be with Sara. And then... you... I felt love again for the first time with you."

A single tear had fallen from Hoppers eye, and you wiped it away with your thumb. You pressed your face to his, and kissed him slowly. The first time you had ever kissed him, and it was just how you imagined it. Although his lips were just on yours, you felt it through your whole body, felt his love coursing through your veins. Being held by him was the most amazing feeling you had ever felt. His lips moved with yours, pouring out months of locked-up love, finally being himself, flooding all of his feelings into you.

You broke the kiss and pulled your face away, wanting to see him. Wanting to look at the man in front of you, opening himself up on the side of the highway. His eyes were shining brightly in the moonlight again, open portals to his soul, you seeing deep into him. And you felt yourself opening up, too. Everything you had felt, everything you had wanted to say, was finally all out in the open, hanging around the two of you, completely barricading you from the rest of the world. All you had was love, all you had was each other in that moment.

"Will you come home with me, please?" He whispered to you, holding your body close to his.

"That's all I want, Hop. I'll go anywhere you go." He kissed you on the forehead and pulled you even tighter, the coldness of the night finally settling on the two of you. Your star hanging in the distance above you, illuminating the darkness surrounding you. Now that you had each other, there was no longer any darkness. Your love would always illuminate the world around you, always keep you protected.

[1980s-robin]

love and ferris wheels

pairing: alexei x fem!reader

fandom: stranger things 

requested: yes 

summary: reader saved alexei at the fun fair and takes it upon herself to teach alexei about american culture. alexei seems entranced by the idea of an amuesment park and y/n decides to take him to one.

a/n: this was requested as alexei fluff and i had a cute idea, also i made the reader female because i wanted her to explain sexism and have a cute scene about that and feminsm with her and alexei. another thing, i don’t know russian. also i combined two requests, one of them was where reader knew how to speak russian. hope that’s okay. when they’re speaking russian it will be in italics. 

warnings: none, minor season 3 spoilers, fluff, mentions of sexism 

word count: 2.1k words

When you agreed to help Hopper and Joyce translate Russian for them you had no idea what was going to happen. While you did help them, they still needed to contact Murray for a second opinion. Which led to the Fun Fair. Ever since you caught that the Russian guy Hopper had described seemed to be making his way through the crowd, you quickly moved Alexei out of the way and over to where Murray was standing before everyone was able to leave the fair safely. 

After that night, you took it upon yourself to take care of Alexei until he’s able to get on his feet in America and find a place to live. Truthfully, you have no idea how long that could take. America and Russia are at each other’s throats, you don’t feel particularly safe sending Alexei out on his own because you just don’t know if he would be able to make it alone. 

You’ve been letting Alexei stay in your house for about a week at this point, and you were finally able to teach him about America’s culture. “Good morning, Alexei.” you greeted, a small smile on your face as you glanced at your new friend. “Good morning” he replied. He was still getting used to living in a domestic environment and rather than being mistreated in a lab, that was another thing. You knew the other Russians were bad to him, but they really hurt the poor boy, he was overjoyed by the smallest things.

As you sat down on the couch he seemed to follow, for the most part, he had tried to copy a lot of the things that you were doing because he wanted to fit into American life as best as he could. “I was reading a book yesterday that was written in Russian about America,” Alexei started, you turned to face him with your eyebrows raised “I gave you that book,” you said teasingly and he laughed a little bit but then he continued. “It mentioned something about sexism and… social issues. What does that mean?” 

“It… means a lot of things,” you said, but you really didn’t know where you were supposed to start. “Sexism is basically when someone dislikes someone or treats someone differently for their gender like when people say women shouldn’t be working that’s sexism,” you explained, in the best possible way that you could. “So, it’s like how they only hire men to be guards?” He asked and you tilted your head. “Kind of, if they’re turning down women who are trained to fight just because they’re women.”

“So, do people dislike you?” Alexei questioned and you couldn’t help but snort. “I’m sure there’s some people who dislike me.” You remarked. The day sort of remained like that until a commercial for a new amusement park came on screen. They’d been promoting it like crazy on local stations because it was about twenty minutes away from your home. You didn’t think much, but you soon felt someone poking your side, and then you caught the enthusiastic grin on Alexei’s face. “You want to go there, don’t you?” You asked him, to which he nodded. You let out a laugh and checked the time, it was only eleven and it wouldn’t take long to get there, so there wouldn’t be anything wrong with the two of you getting ready to go to the park.

“Fine, fine we can go.” You said, trying to fight a smile from coming onto your face but you couldn’t help it. Alexei as an incredibly happy and enthusiastic person, being around him could put a smile on anyone's face even if they have no idea what he was saying. You understood him because your parents had these Russian friends that you around from a young age. The adults spoke English but the girl, their daughter who was your age, was homeschooled and only spoke Russian. Most of your time spent with the girl wasn’t talking, but sometimes she taught up Russian words for things, like when you called something a doll and she would tell you what she called it. From then on, she started learning more English as she was integrated into American culture, and you learned more of her language. You weren’t perfect with the language, but you also read quite a few books on the language, which is why Hopper and Joyce called you, but of course they still needed Murray because he was more fluent than you were. At least on things referring to the supernatural, you never thought you would need any of it so you didn’t learn it.

The two of you got into more casual clothing and you got in the driver’s seat of the car, setting down a bag you had decided to bring with some water in it, in the back seat. You could see out of the corner of your eye that Alexei was giddy to go to someplace that he had never been to before. You thought it was nice to see him being so excited about something, as people got older they tended to lose that joy. But you also found it sad, you knew he was so happy and excited about this new culture because of how horrible life was for him in Russia and how horrible it was for him in the lab.

As the two of you arrived at the park, and you paid for parking before parking in the lot, you had taken notice of the fact that Alexei had already picked up the box that the bottles of water were in. You glanced over at him and a smile couldn’t help but spread across your face when he saw his excited expression. “It looks like… it looks amazing.” he said and you couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, just wait until you’re on one of the rides.” You said with a grin before you got out of the car, Alexei following quickly behind you as you approached the ticket booth. As you got to the front of the line you pulled your wallet out. “That’ll be twenty dollars for two adults.” Said the woman at the booth, she looked rather tired most likely from the amount of people that had been coming to the new park since it opened. You handed her a twenty, a smile covering your face. “Please place your right wrist in the booth.” She said and you stuck your right wrist in. She looked to Alexei expectantly. “Sorry, he doesn’t speak English.” You said before you turned to him. “Alexei, put your right wrist in the booth.” You told him and he nodded before putting his wrist in for her to put on the band. You didn’t miss her expression when she heard you speak Russian, but you ignored it. 

As soon as you walked in Alexei started dragging you to all different kinds of rides, but you did insist that you saved the roller coaster and ferris wheel for later. By five pm, you two had ridden just about every ride in the park. And you finally led you to a roller coaster, the only one, and the biggest ride in the park. “Can we ride this one now?” He asked and you nodded, rather eagerly. Being with someone as energetic as Alexei encouraged you to let loose and not pretend to be completely serious, you allowed yourself to really enjoy the park. 

As you got to the front of the line, you began to feel just a tiny bit of nervousness. You knew that nothing horrible was going to come of this, it was just a ride that was created for family fun and enjoyment. But you still got scared on them, out of fear that the horror stories you had heard about them on the news could come true to you. Finally, you reached the front of the line and sat down, Alexei coming in next to you. “What makes this one different from the others?” He questioned. “I don’t really know, parks promote roller coasters more than the other rides. I think it’s because they’re the biggest.” You answered. He seemed to understand, and very soon the ride started to move, and the cart started slowly moving up the track.

At first, Alexei seemed excited, but as it started getting higher he started getting nervous. “Are you okay?” you asked him, and he looked over at you and nodded. A few second later, you reached the top and the cart started to drop. Just about everyone was screaming, one or two people were laughing. In the heat of the moment Alexei reached over and grabbed your hand out of fear, you didn’t really notice that much as you subconsciously reciprocated. 

Once the ride stopped, everyone’s hair was a mess as they all seemed overwhelmed. You then noticed your hand situation. You let go of his hand, opting to ignore it before heading to the exit with Alexei in tow. “Do you want to get dinner?” You asked him, looking back as you walked out of the exit and back onto the main street of the park. “I- Yes.” Alexei said and you led him to the on sight restaurant. Of course, he ordered a cherry slurpee with his meal. As you sat and ate, you both seemed to have an awkward air about you. You didn’t think that he wanted anything more from you than friendship, until he was able to get himself on his feet in America. You honestly didn’t think he understood what holding hands meant, and you didn’t want to be the person to explain it to him. “Do you still want to ride the Ferris Wheel?” He asked you and you tilted your head, of course he had decided to ask you this while you still had a mouth full of food. You quickly finished chewing and swallowed your food, before answering him. “Yes, of course I do.” You said and he smiled brightly before finishing his food. You finished as well and took the tray of food to the garbage before you began walking towards the Ferris Wheel. 

He followed after you, before you finally made it to the line. It was rather long. “The line’s not going to go very fast, it’s a long ride and it’s really popular.” You told him, and he nodded in understanding. It was about an hour before you both made it to the front of the time and by the time that you did it was beginning to get dark out, so most of the rides were lit up. As they scanned your wrist bands and sent you on the ride, you both slipped in, you on one side and Alexei on the other. He must of seen how other people were sitting. While you wouldn’t have been opposed to sitting next to him, you knew the cart might have been a little shaky with two adults on one side, and on one on the other side.

About halfway up the ride, Alexei turned from looking at the park in amazement to looking at you, there was something in his eyes that you couldn’t quite place. Perhaps it was doubt. “What is it, Alexei?” You asked him and he seemed to scoot forward in his seat a bit, you doing the same since you expected him to be telling you some sort of secret. However you were mistaken. Alexei’s hand moved up to cup your cheek, something that you easily leaned in to before he leaned in to press his lips against yours. Your eyes widened but you quickly kissed him back. Once you pulled apart, the ride was stopped, and you were somewhere near the top. You could feel someone getting on the ride, so you knew it meant you would be off of it within ten minutes.

“What was that?” you asked him and his cheeks tinted red but he took the book you had given him about American culture from the bag, he must have put it in there. “Chapter five was about romance, I’ve been wanting to do that since we met.” He responded and a grin covered your face. “Do you wanna do it again?” You asked him and he nodded, causing you to move in, this time you both met in the middle. “So you feel the same way?” He asked when you both pulled back again and you snorted at his unneeded question. “Who wouldn’t?” You asked him before you both enjoyed the rest of the ride and went home.

[talesfromthesnogbox]

Open and Honest

I’m a sucker for Mike/Hopper heart to hearts so here we are. Spoiler warning for Season 3 of Stranger Things! Anyways, I just wanted to write something! (ps what the fuck happened to that line thingy I used to use literally all the time)

Summary: It's been two years, but Hopper suddenly feels that he should continue his talk about boundaries... but this time, he wants to get it right.

Rating: General Audiences

aO3

~~~

Three hundred and seventy two days. It had been just over a full year that Hopper was detained in that hellhole in Russia, but now, he was home.

Well, not home per se. He was only a little bit surprised to hear that Joyce had gone through with her plans of moving to Maine, but it warmed his heart to know that she’d taken El with her.

It took months for Hopper to get back on his feet. Severely malnourished and exhausted beyond belief was the state that he was brought home in, and Joyce had done everything in her power to make it better. He wanted to be strong, he wanted to get better quickly, but it was a hard journey. Eventually, he did; as the months passed, the Hopper-Byers household witnessed him transform back into the reliable, loving, although sometimes misguided, man he’d been before he left.

He’d finally gotten that date with Joyce (although, not at Enzo’s), and though it had been a long time coming, the two made it official over Christmas. Not long after that (with some hesitation from Joyce), the family had agreed on moving back to Hawkins.

Nearly two years had passed since the initial move, and everyone was excited to have the party back together again, especially El. All she’d talked about the whole time they packed was how Lucas was going to teach her his favourite arcade games, Max was going to take her shopping, Dustin was going to take her to some movie called Spaceballs, but Mike… Mike was always the main topic of conversation.

Hopper wasn’t surprised to hear that his daughter was still with the scrawny kid who’d found her in the woods all those years ago. She’d always been entranced with him, so he thought it was puppy love, but now, they’d just turned sixteen, and despite his best efforts, he couldn’t help but think that maybe it had turned into something more serious.

El had practically begged Hopper to let him come stay for the night last month for her sixteenth birthday. He didn’t want to give in to her, but he did, and boy had that boy ever changed.

Mike was tall. Like, really tall. Hopper hadn’t expected to almost be eye-level with the kid. He was still awkward and lanky as ever, but he’d grown into his features, and still looked at El like she’d hung the moon. The two were not kids anymore, but that didn’t mean that Hop had to like it.

“Remember the three inch rule!” He’d yelled as El dragged Mike up to her bedroom and rolled her eyes.

“Jim, lay off them a bit, it’s her birthday, she’s sixteen now.” Joyce spoke softly, dragging him away from the stairs.

“I will not lay off them, I remember exactly what my girlfriend and I were doing on my sixteenth birthday, and I do not wish to know my daughter and her boyfriend are following in my footsteps.”

“They’re good kids, Jim, and they’re not like that. El talks to me about this kind of stuff; her and Mike… they aren’t there yet.”

Hopper sighs, collapsing on the couch. Realization washes over him as he replays Joyce’s words in his head. She was right, they’re both good kids, a little mouthy, but he knew Mike respected him, and El. They’d been apart for so many months, maybe a few hours together alone wasn’t the worst.

“Fuck, I’m such an asshole.” He whispered, feeling ashamed with himself for being so hard on them.

“You’re a dad, you don’t want to see your little girl get hurt.” Joyce sat beside him and rubbed his arm lightly. “Sure, you can kinda be an asshole when it comes to Mike, but… we were friends in high school, I can see why you’re so protective of her around him.”

He frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well… you had quite the reputation of a heartbreaker.��

Hop had no rebuttal; he knew Joyce was right. Mike wasn’t him, and he would never intentionally hurt El.

He started to get up, but Joyce stopped him. “Where are you going?”

“I did a bad thing, I scared the shit outta him, and it made them break up after that little boundaries talk. I need to go talk to him about it, tell the kid I don’t hate him.”

“Wait, right now? Hop, that was two years ago. If you go up there, they’re gonna think you’re trying to stop them from whatever’s going on.”

He stopped in his tracks. “Why, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, that’s my point. Give them their space, Hop. This is their time together.”

He reluctantly sat back down beside her, but he knew this conversation had to happen.

~~~

The move back to Hawkins went as smooth as a move possibly could have gone. Within a few weeks, the patchwork family was in their new home, and it only took a few days of being back for all the kids to settle back into their old routines.

It was the summer of 1987, and much like two years prior, Mike Wheeler made a daily appearance at the Hopper household.

“Come on Hop, what happened to the big apology speech you were going to give them a few months ago?” Joyce teased.

“That was before I had to see his smug little face every day, knowing he’s up there defiling my daughter.”

Joyce smacked him across the arm. “He’s not defiling her Jim, what they’re doing is perfectly innocent. And what exactly were you were doing in high school?”

“I wasn’t! I was… I was… oh shut up.”

“That’s what I thought. This is important, Jim, it’s only going to get worse from here if he thinks you don’t like him. Don’t give them a reason to have to sneak around behind your back, just be open and honest with them.”

“Open and honest, got it.”

The two teens in question chose that exact moment to come bolting down the stairs.

“I’m just walking Mike out, I’ll be right back!” El shouted from the front door.

Hop looked towards Joyce, her eyebrows rising, and he knew now was a better time than ever. He sighed, and followed the two teens to the front porch.

Of course they were kissing when he opened the door. “Oh god, um El, can—can you give us a few minutes?”

El looked at him questioningly, but it was Mike that spoke. “S-sure, I was just leaving. I’ll call you when I get home El, okay?”

The girl nodded and kissed her boyfriend chastely once more before disappearing inside.

“Wh—is something the matter Chief?”

“It’s… it’s um…” He tried to remember any bit of the speech he and Joyce had written, but that was a whole two years ago, he would have to go off books for this. “Have a seat kid.”

“Mike sat beside him on the small porch. “Am I in some kind of trouble?”

“No, no you’re not in any trouble Mike. It’s just… um… I want to apologize.”

He frowned. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I follow.” Mike replied after a moment.

“I… I know it was like two years ago at this point, and I don’t even know if you remember, but you were right, I was a lying piece of shit.”

Mike paled, remembering the conversation well. “Oh… well I was being a complete asshole to you too, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Hopper chuckled and put his hand on Mike’s shoulder. “Yeah kid, you kind of were. But that’s beside the point; I’m sorry, I was uncomfortable with how close you and El had gotten, I felt you were too young to be together like that all the time, and I was being a little too protective of El. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that on you, and I shouldn’t have made you feel like you had to lie to El because of it.” That wasn’t so hard, was it.

“Th-thanks Chief, but why are you saying all this now?”

“Because I don’t want you to think I’m crazy, and I don’t want you or El to feel like you have to sneak around behind my back; that’s the last thing I want, trust me, I used to do a lot of sneaking around at your age.” He sighed and wiped his face. “Look Mike, you’re a good kid, and I know you and El love each other. I don’t want you to hate me, and I don’t want to hate you. In fact… I actually kinda like you; you’ve been real good for her. I—I was locked up for a little over a year, and I had a whole lot of time to think about whether or not my daughter hated me for splitting you two up. You two are going to be a permanent fixture around here by the looks of things, so I want you to feel comfortable coming into my home.”

Mike smiled. “Thanks Chief.”

“But that being said, there does need to be some boundaries. I don’t know if you’ve got a curfew, but she does. Eleven thirty on the dot, you’re outta here, and don’t even think about sneaking in through her window. Tried that once when I was your age, her parents didn’t appreciate having to bring me to the ER for a broken ankle at two in the morning.”

Mike spit out a laugh, but swallowed it as soon as Hopper hit him with a glare.

“Three inch rule still applies until further notice. I know you guys think you’re all old and mature now that you’re sixteen, but you’re still kids, and still under my roof, and still following my rules. And I swear to god Wheeler, if I find out you’ve pressured her, or forced her into doing something she’s not comfortable with—”

“Wow, wow, hold on,” Mike interjected, “I love her and I would never… I always make sure we’re on the same page whenever—”

“Whenever what?”

Mike flushed. “It’s—it’s not like that yet. We’re not like that. But, when the time comes in… in a couple of years, I promise you I’ll ask her if it’s okay.”

“Good answer.”

He nodded, and the two fell into a comfortable silence. “Thank you Hopper, you’re a good dad, and we’re all happy you’re home.”

Jim knew how strained a relationship Mike and Ted had, so it meant a lot for him to say that. “Welcome, kid. I’m glad I’m back too. Missed you guys, all of you.” He bumped Mike with his shoulder, shooting him a friendly smile. “Alright, I better get in there before my daughter thinks I’m burying your body.”

Mike smiled and walked towards his bike. “See you tomorrow, Hop.”

“Yep, I sure will.” And for once, just once, he really didn’t mind it.

[seawolvesanddragons]

Stranger Things Season Three Thoughts (SPOILERS)

I watched the first four episodes of ST3 with my cousin over a period of two nights, then binge-watched the final four today. Some assembled thoughts:

-sadly, I knew from spoilers from news articles on my phone (which I literally couldn’t avoid because I can’t take them off my screen, which pissed me off, so thanks Buzzfeed and other online magazines) that someone was going to die and found out in between the first four and the last four that Robin was gay. I’m thrilled Robin is lesbian, but irritated that those scenes got ruined for me because magazines can’t keep spoilers out of their freaking article headlines.

-on a whole, season three was...pretty good. I’ll stand by that. However, I think I liked season 1 and 2 better. This season was clearly more about character development then action, which can be really great, but then when the side-plots and action scenes they used to fill the episodes between character development just felt really, really slow.

-they spent a lot of time on side characters (Ms Wheeler and all that lifeguard nonsense, the Mayor, random scenes of the carnival) that took time away from main characters story time, which I didn’t like

-literally every time I see Ms Wheeler and Billy interact I feel physically ill

-El and Max friendship is wonderful

-The kids are some of my favorite characters in this series, and I was sad that we really didn’t get to see them interact a lot as a group. Even when they were all in the same room, it was only when there was a lot of action. We saw the boys interact. We saw eleven and Max be friends. We saw the couples interact. But I would love more scenes like when they welcomed Dustin home, or odd pairings: Lucas and El doing target practice together, Will and Max kicking ass at video games, Dustin, Max and Will going to see a movie together via Steve. Just...we had to just kind of assume these kids are all friends instead of them really SHOWING it

-Then we had the Big Fight between Will, Lucas and Mike (with Dustin thrown in there at times) because...all they care about is their girlfriends now, which sucks and really isn’t healthy, and the whole episode showed that Will was still feeling out of place, like something more than the Mind Flayer changed. And then, for the rest of the season they just...forgot about Will? He suddenly barely had any lines, hardly interacted with anyone - and I don’t get why. It’s like they don’t know what to do with him when he isn’t possessed. The others have clear roles - Lucas the Prepared Ranger, Mike the Leading Paladin, Eleven the Mage, Max the Healer/Cleric, Dustin the Rogue/Bard, Nancy and Johnathan the Detectives, but with Will, they just...left him there. Which was very frustrating

-I loved The Scoops team (though Erica got on my nerves a little at times) but I wish Dustin had been able to interact more with the other kids. I get they were fighting, but some occasional radio contact would have been nice. The duo of him and Steve is great, no argument, but not at the total expense of him with his buddies.

-I’ve known Billy was doomed since I heard his name (people with “B” don’t last long in this show) and honestly? I really don’t care that he’s dead. I feel bad for Max, who had to witness it. I understand that Billy was abused by his father, and had hard prepubescent and teenage years. But Billy also abused and terrorized people, and Season 3 did not show that he had changed. It was not his sole fault he became an abuser and a bully, but he is not absolved of his actions. Also, it would have been bullshit if Billy survived when every other person the mind flayer got was killed off.

--Hawkins as a town has GOT to be suspicious of what is going on

--Robin a wonderful and I love her

--Erica as a math genius!

--The latter half of this season had some steller Nancy-Mike interactions, which I had missed in season two and the first part of season 3. I’m glad the Duffers finally remembered they’re related

--Hopper had some serious temper problems this season that had me very wary of him as a character

-I know a lot of people are angry because of Erica’s capitalism (which...she’s ten. It’s the 80′s. She’s repeating what she has heard her father and the news say.) and the whole coke thing and the evil Russians but I really am just too tired of fans to care about it. The first two seasons had evil Americans. Hell so did this season. Russia and America were locked in an arms race. I never cared about Coke to begin with. Let me just enjoy the show.

-I liked that they had to take lengths to split the groups up in this season. Scoop Troop was out of range underground. Hopper and Joyce were on the run. Nancy and Johnathan did manage to get a hold of the kids. My thoughts when Will realized the Mind Flayer was back while Joyce was learning magnets don’t work and Nancy discover rats were rabid was “now, given all the crazy shit that happened the last two years, why wouldn’t they immediately get the whole gang together to solve this more quickly. They know how this works by now.” And there was a reason that they, for the most part, couldn’t do that.

-I understand this is the 80s and summertime, and it’s explained the Wheelers just...don’t keep up with their kids (again, your kids were both caught up in some sort of government stuff less then two years ago. WHY aren’t you keeping up with them?) but Erica says that her mom would be keeping tabs on her (at least, if not her and Lucas) and Dustin JUST got home, surely his mom is trying to spend time with him? They were 100 percent gone for over 24 hours from their homes, every one of them. Why were the Hendersons and Sinclairs not looking?

-Hopper ain’t dead. No body, the American at the end, and also I just don’t buy it. He’s coming back.

-Why the FUCK would Joyce move her kids away at this point? I get she doesn’t want anything else bad to happen but...her kids were traumatized and also they developed a support system out of the friends that shared that trauma, or at least witnessed it. There is NOWHERE that she can move to where El and Will could find the support that their friends would give them.

-That being said, I hope this means we get awesome siblings El and Will next season, when the Byers move back to Hawkins. Because that is happening damn it.

-Stop killing off Joyce’s love interests. Let her be happy

-Joyce’s house survived the season (probably to let her sell it) and while I kind of wish it was destroyed so she couldn’t move - which is what I thought would happen - I’m kind of glad for the house.

-I kind of wanted to see the kids in high school - like, taking down bullies by using language and techniques both from their dnd games and their upside down adventures. Nancy and Johnathan setting straight any kid that dared mess with their little siblings. Steve giving advice to all of his children, but especially Dustin. Max joining the Basketball team.

-JUST LET THEM PLAY DND

-I know most people probably loved the inclusion of the Paranoid guy who could speak Russian being back, but honestly I found most of his scenes unnecessary. I kind of liked him in Season 2, with Johnathan and Nancy, but he just irritated me this season.

-Lucas and Will’s little smirks when Mike said he loved El were adorable

-Actually, there were a lot of good little Will and Lucas friendship moments this season

-I felt there was a lot of focus on Hopper and Joyce’s storyline, at the expense of the other two/three or “kids storylines” and I wish they hadn’t. For one, their storyline was very straightforward - it wasn’t so much a “mystery to solve” as it was a “outrun the enemy” storyline, and it took away from time they could have given to showing the kids interacting and developing.

-the COLORS this season I really did love all the cinematography

-is there any explanation for the green acidic goo?

-Detective Byers. I love it. Make it happen.

-how did the mindflayer get in El’s leg? Is it after her because she...opened it? Because it want’s her powers? Is it going to go after Will at all?

-no one found how quickly this Mall went up to be suspicious at all? It’s been like...8 months since the scientists got booted out.

-Can Steve, Nancy and Johnathan PLEASE interact?

-Nancy and Robin for the next female bffs please

-I love how Robin tried to be all “Nancy Wheeler is a Priss” and Steve Harrington, who has seen Nancy Wheeler, certifiable badass, fight monsters and take down governments, is like “no, no she really is NOT.”

--Not only did Stranger Things kill a LOT of people this season, they had their characters kill as well. While none of the kids did (thank god) both Nancy and Johnathan killed in self defence at the hospital. Hopper killed (though that isn’t super unusual) and Joyce was 100 percent prepared to kill. Steve (after finally winning a fight) was tortured. That’s a great deal of trauma for the older set to go through, on top of everything else, and I wish they would acknowledge it.

-look I just need all the fanfics now of all the kids/older teens interacting and being friends in middle and high school.