Time After Time (a Stranger Things fanfiction)

Coward of the County

"Coward of the County"

Now it won't mean you're weak if you turn the other cheek

I hope you're old enough to understand

Son, you don't have to fight to be a man

- Kenny Rogers

The music from El's room was blaring again. She was in there, with Mike, doing God-knew-what— maybe doing things Hopper could remember only too well from his own teenage years and which she had better not be doing, not his little girl—and Hopper needed to go in there and have a heart-to-heart. Have a conversation in which he established trust and respect.

And the prospect, frankly, terrified him. He would far rather face the horrors of the Upside Down again than have to walk into his girl's room and try to be ... open. Retreating to his own bedroom, he clutched his pillow and practiced his speech and wished desperately for Joyce to show up like magic and do this for him.

It had all sounded so good when he wrote it down. He'd felt ready to share these things with El ... but he wasn't ready to share them with Mike. And now, having had time to think about it, he wasn't sure he could go through with it. He went over the words in his head, finding it harder and harder to remember them.

"Shit," he whispered, glancing at the paper, already wrinkled from many foldings and unfoldings. "To share our feelings."

This was impossible. Absolutely impossible. But so was not doing anything.

With a final grimace at the absent Joyce, he pushed himself off the bed and left the room, knocking on the frame of El's door. "Hey."

After a moment, her voice came through the three-inch opening, softly. "Yes?"

"Can I talk to you guys a minute?"

The door swung open all the way and he stepped through it, warily, as though he expected a grizzly bear on the other side. Actually, he would have preferred the bear.

The kids were sitting on opposite ends of El's bed, looking up at him. Hopper stared back at them. "Hi."

They echoed "Hi" back to him, questioningly, like they were holding their breath waiting to be yelled at.

He grabbed a chair and placed it in front of the bed, sitting down in front of them. Both kids shifted so they were facing him. At least they looked attentive. That might make this easier.

But it didn't. He didn't know how to start. Everything he thought about saying, everything he had planned to say, sounded stupid in the actual presence of these two kids. The music was distracting him, that must be the issue. So he turned it off and tried again to get started, but he was utterly unable to get any words out.

"Um," he managed, and then got stuck. This was utterly ridiculous. How had he gotten himself in this mess?

El ducked her head in a "well, what is it?" gesture, which didn't help.

"What I, uh ... needed to say to you ... What I want to say to you ... is that, um—"

Mike glanced at El. "Uh-oh." She grinned, and he added, "I think we're in trouble." Both of them giggled.

Hopper stared at them open-mouthed, annoyed. Smart-ass kid, couldn't give him half a minute to get his thoughts in order. "No. No, nobody's in trouble, okay? I just, um ..."

As he paused, Mike leaned over and whispered something in El's ear. She laughed.

Moving past annoyed and into irritated, Hopper tried hard to hold on to his temper. And, inevitably, he lost. He never had been able to handle being laughed at. He looked at Mike challengingly. The kid wanted to undermine him? Well, he'd learn. "You know what? Your mom called."

Smarty-pants hadn't expected that. "What?"

Hopper raised his eyebrows. "Yeah," he said, his voice soft and dramatic. "She needs you home right away."

"Everything okay?" Mike asked, his tone indicating that he wasn't sold. Which was fair, since Hopper was lying to him, but who was he to disbelieve his elders?

"I don't think so. It's your grandma." A little voice inside Hopper's head said What the hell are you thinking?, but he ignored it. He was going to wipe the smug smile off this little jerk's face, and he wasn't above playing the grandma card to do it.

El glanced at Mike, alarmed, and Mike finally straightened up and took things seriously. "What about my grandma?"

"Get your stuff. I'm going to take you home."

"Okay." It was gratifying how quickly Mike moved now. Or it would have been gratifying if a small part of Hopper hadn't felt like a total heel for letting himself be brought down to this level by a couple of giggles.

He marched out to the car with Mike hurrying after him, peppering him with questions. "Is she dead?"

"No."

"Did she fall again?"

"No."

"Does she have cancer?"

"No," Hopper snapped.

"Then I don't understand. What's wrong with Nana?"

They both got in the truck, and Hopper completely lost his cool. "Nothing!" he shouted. "There's nothing wrong with Nana!"

Mike stared at him. "What?!"

"But," Hopper said, deciding just to put his real feelings out there, "there's something very wrong with this thing between you and El."

He leaned back against the seat while the truth of the whole situation hit Mike fully. "You lying piece of shit!"

The kid wasn't wrong. Still ... as he turned to try to get out of the truck, Hopper hit the door locks to keep him in. And every time Mike unlocked the door, Hopper locked it again. It felt good. And he was a jackass because it felt good.

Mike whirled on him. "You're crazy!"

"Crazy," Hopper echoed. "You want to see real crazy? You disrespect me again." Jesus, said the little voice in his head, could you sound any more like your old man right now? He ignored it, staring at Mike, who sensibly kept his mouth shut. Hopper lifted a finger. "Okay," he whispered, "here's what's going to happen. I'm going to drive you home. And I'm going to speak, and you're going to listen. And then, maybe—maybe by the end of it, maybe if you're lucky, maybe ... I will continue to allow you to date my daughter." Yep, he sounded exactly like his old man. If his old man had had a daughter. That really should have been a warning sign ... but he ignored it, looking at Mike, who continued to remain silent. "Nod if you understand!"

Hastily, Mike nodded. Hopper put the truck into gear and sped down the road.

On the way, he spelled out exactly his expectations for Mike and Eleven's future togetherness, and he glared at the kid, and he in every way did what he had promised Joyce not to do, and when he let Mike off at his house he felt damned good ... for about ten minutes. After which, he wanted nothing more than to hang his head in shame. What was wrong with him that instead of having a conversation with these two kids, kids who were basically good, and smart, he had to scare the boy instead? It was exactly the way his own father had been, and Hopper had always prided himself on being better than his father.

And now what the hell was he going to tell Joyce?