Work Text:
Following the events at Hawkins’ lab, El wasn’t allowed to join society for another year. That didn’t mean that Chief Jim Hopper was going to make her stay in solitary for another year solid. He decided to let the kids come to his cabin and see her every other month for one night. It was the best he could do besides allowing her to go to the Snowball dance. He could keep her safe here, and he damn sure knew those kids could keep a secret.
He looked over at his adopted daughter and couldn’t help the smile that bloomed across his face. She was arranging and rearranging the chairs around their little table trying to make it perfect for her friends. Surely she knew they could all sit in the dirt and they would just be happy to be around her. She caught his look and smiled back at him.
“Half way happy?” he asked her.
She grinned even wider, “All the way happy.”
Hopper chuckled and continued setting out the snacks he had picked up, full of love and lightness that that little girl had brought him.
00000
Steve pulled up outside of the Wheeler home and braced himself for the onslaught of teenage excitement. These kids lived for their night at Hopper’s anymore.
Steve honked and got out of the car, bracing his forearm on the top of the Beemer. He laughed as the door blasted open and three hyped up kids ran full tilt for his car. Dustin screamed, “Shotgun!” on his way and almost tripped over the bag he was carrying. Mike rocketed into the backseat and practically vibrated in anticipation.
Dustin similarly jumped into the passenger seat, but Lucas stopped before getting in. “We can’t leave yet.”
Steve frowned, “What do you mean? I’ve got you three shitheads ready to go, and Jonathan and Nancy are bringing Will later.”
Lucas rolled his eyes, “We have to wait for Max. She got permission to hang out tonight. Billy is bringing her.”
Steve grimaced. Not at the thought of Max, he really liked her and her no bullshit attitude. He just really didn’t want his night ruined by Hargrove. Steve pinched the bridge of his nose, “Do you really think he is going to let her get in a car with me and drive off?”
Lucas rolled his eyes again, “Duh. That’s why he told him we were all going to the movies.”
Steve wanted to thunk his head on his car. “Great. Can’t wait to find out what he does to me when he finds out we didn’t go.”
Lucas didn’t even bother responding, just jumped in the backseat with Mike and all three began yelling loudly about what games they would play tonight and what all they would do.
As Steve resigned himself to spending the whole trip with a group of kids hyped up to the level of 10, he heard that familiar engine. Steve got in and shut the door yelling at the shitheads to be quiet. He rolled his window down when Billy pulled up next to him, driver’s windows aligned.
Billy Hargrove pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and smirked, “Well, well. King Steve. What the hell is it about you and underage kids, Harrington? Hope you don’t think I’m letting my little sister get in a car with three nerds and a pretty boy like you.”
Steve coughed at the smoke floating his way, “Lay off it man. I’m taking the kids to the movies and then for ice cream. Get your filthy mind out of the gutter.”
Max jumped out of Billy’s car and made her way over to Steve’s. Billy shouted at her, “You better be where you say you will be! If I come to pick you up and you aren’t there- I don’t have to tell you what will happen.” Max didn’t even reply, just got in and slammed the door.
Steve watched Billy as what looked like rage float over his face and then Billy transformed again seeming to choke it down.
A Cheshire grin spread across Billy’s face and he leered at Steve, “See you later, princess.” Steve flushed at the nickname and before he could come up with a retort, Billy floored it and roared off into the night.
“Great comeback, Steve. Really put him in his place.” Dustin cackled. Steve knocked his hat off his head and grabbed him into a headlock. Dustin struggled to get away laughing as Steve gave him the noogie of all noogies on his head. The kids in the back amped up to 11 as they all yelled and jeered.
Steve released him and pushed him away starting the car. “Seatbelts, dipshits! How many times do I have to say it?!” With that, they were headed to Hopper’s.
00000
Hopper was beginning to regret having this gathering on a night that Joyce couldn’t come. He was stuck with six preteens and three teenagers. The noise level was through the roof. Jonathan was in charge of the record player and he and Steve kept arguing about his choices in music. Steve seem to favor the top 40 while Jonathan kept playing shit he brought with him and no one had ever heard before. Hopper wondered how they could even hear it over the shouting of the kids. Thank god he didn’t have neighbors.
Hopper watched as the kids tried to pull Steve into the game they were playing. Was it still Clue or had they moved on? Either way Steve was not having it, “I’m not falling for that shit again! Last time you all begged me to play it was just so you could beat me mercilessly and laugh about it!” All the kids burst out laughing.
El giggled and hid her face on Mike’s shoulder. Hopper tried to control the glare he could feel brewing on his face. The kids were 13 for Christ’s sake. They acted like they were married already.
Hopper continued to smoke his cigarette while keeping his eye on them. Jonathan and Nancy were sitting together by the record player and Steve gave them a wide berth as he came to sit with Hopper.
Hopper noticed the wistful look Steve gave the pair. Hopper shook his pack of smokes towards the kid. Steve shook his head and Hopper shrugged putting them back in his shirt pocket.
“A little awkward for ya?” Hopper said nodding towards Jonathan and Nancy.
Steve blew out a breath, “A little yeah. Kinda hard to be mad about it though when you see how right for each other they are.”
Hopper nodded sagely and smoked his cigarette quietly. His gaze found Mike and Eleven with their heads together again smiling softly at each other. “Christ.”
Steve smirked, “Not ready for that yet, huh?”
Hopper glared, “They’re 13. They have plenty of time for that shit later.”
Steve grinned but then became quiet again, “How must that feel though.”
Hopper squinted at him, “What?”
Steve sighed, “To find forever that young. Right off the bat.”
Hopper looked over at the kids again and noticed Mike looking at Eleven while she took her turn around the board. He looked at her like the sun rose and set in her eyes.
Hopper stubbed out his cigarette and rubbed his face, “I’m too old for this shit.”
Steve laughed companionably, “That’s what I say anytime those shitheads try to rope me into something. They lied to Hargrove tonight so that Max could come.” Steve grimaced, “Hope he’s not smart enough to figure out we didn’t go to the movies.”
Hopper reached for his beer and gave Steve a considering look, “That kid has a chip on his shoulder a mile wide. Spoke to him a little while back and told him to lay off you guys.”
Steve looked over at the Chief in surprise, “You did?”
Hopper nodded, “Yeah. Something about that kid though. Has this look to him. I’ve seen that look in someone before. Someone who has been through hard shit. They have a certain way about them. I saw shit I never thought someone could do to another person over in ‘Nam and it changes you. Touches you and can leave a stain if you let it. I was lucky enough to have a good woman and kid help erase that, but some aren’t so lucky. When those of us left came back, you could see that stain on them. Know that they were forever changed. Hargrove has that look. Now I’m not privy to what is going on in that house, but I’m damn sure it’s nothing good. I’ve talked to Max about it, she swears her old man has never laid a finger on her, but I’m not so sure that Hargrove has been that lucky. I’m not telling you this for you to have dirt over him. I’m telling you this because I think you can help.”
Steve scoffed, “Come on, Chief. How the hell am I supposed to help that douchebag? Are you forgetting how he mangled my face?”
Hopper shook his head, “I didn’t forget, but I’ve seen how you are with these kids. You have changed. You used to be some little dipshit that started cowardly shit and ran from the cops.”
Steve flushed at the memory of his old ways. But Hopper continued, “You grew up though. When shit hit the fan, you didn’t run. You fought and the second time it came around you protected those kids. Put yourself in danger first. Hell, I know grown men who wouldn’t do that.”
Steve was uncomfortable with the praise and felt shame when he remembered running from the Byers’ house. “I didn’t though. When everything was first going on I ran. Ran straight for my car.”
Hopper put his hand on Steve’s shoulder, “You came back. You came back and stepped up. If a prick like you used to be can change and do that, you might be able to help Hargrove too.”
Steve frowned, “I don’t get it though. If his father beats him, which is what you are making it sound like is happening, then why would he be the same way?”
Hopper popped the top on his second beer, “Say a kid grows up with a drunk as a father. They see what it does to the family and to them day in and day out. Always on edge, what’s he going to be like when he comes home? Happy and buzzed or drunk and mean? Is he going to wail on your mom or you or is he going to pass out in his arm chair? A kid sees that all through his life and most likely he is going to grow up in one of two ways. One, he will never even touch alcohol. Never even taste it for fear of turning into his old man.”
Hopper took out another smoke and lit it, “Two, the kid drinks to forget. Has this bravado of ‘I won’t be like him’ and pushes the limits of what he should. Has this rage he needs to bury in himself, tries to drink and drug it away and before you know it, he is his old man made over. Now that’s not what he wanted to be, but that’s how he ends up. He needs help to see what he has become and that there is a way out. A way to be better. I think you could help show him that Steve. You’re a good kid, and you’re going to be an even better man. Hargrove could use an influence like that.”
Steve thought about what the Chief had to say. On one hand he was very proud that the Chief thought so much of him, on the other hand dealing with Hargrove wasn’t something Steve was comfortable with. The guy made him feel twisted up, like a mockery of self-control. Steve couldn’t get a handle on what it was that made him so tense around the guy, but it was unsettling. Steve looked over at the Chief and the admiration in his eyes and knew he couldn’t say no.
Steve sighed, “I guess I could try.”