our story 💫 (jopper fanfic) COMPLETED

we need to talk.

december 1985

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it's been 5 months since hopper died. and 2 months since the byers family and eleven moved to georgia.

everything still feels weird with him gone. nobody believes it still. even though it's been such a long time.

will and el started a new school in georgia of course. they had a couple of friends so far, not many. nobody really knew who they were. but they weren't known as the "weirdo girl" and "zombie boy" anymore. just as simply will and el. will and el.

jonathon got a scholarship to nyu in new york city, his dream school, which made everyone incredibly happy. he visited here and there, but his family still missed him a lot. him and nancy have been trying to work a long distance relationship for a couple of months now, and they are happily succeeding so far. it's hard, of course, but they seem to do it.

joyce got a new job working at a grocery store, trying to make ends meet with no longer 2, but 3 kids. she missed hopper a lot. more than a lot. but something felt weird about the whole situation. like, she couldn't explain it, she just had this weird feeling. almost as if hopper was alive or...something. it was probably just all in her head. she was probably hallucinating. she's been doing that a lot. like, she keeps seeing him...everywhere. it's been freaking joyce out a lot lately. when it first started, she just decided to ignore it. she thought that it was just a regular part of the grieving process. it happened a lot when bob died and during the whole thing with will. now after 5 months, she's not so sure what's real or not.

to be honest, she's barely holding on. she wouldn't let the kids know that of course.suddenly, she heard a knock at the door. "h-hey joyce." it was murray bauman. "oh my goodness, hi murray! how have things been going with you?" joyce asked, hugging him. "things are fine. how about you?" murray answered pushing away from her awkwardly. he seemed a little off. "w-well, you know, it's not easy but...i'm working through it." joyce muttered quietly. "please, sit down!" joyce continued. 

"can i get you anything to drink or something?" she asked. "no, i'm fine, thanks." murray replied sitting down. "are the kids good?" he asked. "yeah, sort of, i guess. i mean el is obviously hurting still, and they miss their old friends but...i think they're just trying to make me happy you know...they know how much i wanted to move out of hawkins and...it's just been really hard since hop-" joyce couldn't finish the rest of her sentence. "listen joyce, i uh- we need to talk...it's uh...something that's very important..." said murray softly. "what?" joyce asked. "there's a reason i didn't call you on the phone, you know just in case-" "w-what is it?" she asked nervously.

"well uh...it's about...hopper."

joyce felt her heart drop and her pulse race. "murray...what are you saying?"

"i think he might be alive."