Jopper Oneshots (by Nikol Mistr)

Fire

(Hopper)

It was already time for bed and El was still up, watching her favourite show. Hopper sighed and took the remote, turning off the Tv. El whined and her eyes quickly shot him like a sparrow.

''Why?!'', she started, but after thinking how to protest, she silently gave up and sighed. As she walked to bathroom, however, she murmured word '¨Bitchy''.

''Hey young lady! We don't talk with this language here.'', he said, but he eventually leave her alone. Something felt different, he would swear he had a warning feeling. He sat there in silence, completely aware of every sounds around him.

''Good night dad!'', El just shouted and walked inside her bedroom, gently closing doors. Hopper just chuckled to himself and walked for a beer. 

As he sat in the kitchen, looking out, he kept wondering why he feels so weird. Then, he heard fire truck siren. He blinked few times and sprinted to his bedroom, picking his working radio. turning it on.

''RED CODE RED CODE RED CODE RED CODE'', Powell was shouting inside it.

''What'S goin on, Calvin?'', Hopper asked carefuly, suddenly very afraid to find out.

''JIM- oh my god! Byers house are on fire!'', he shouted, ''You should go look at it, it's horrible!'', he added after that.

Hoppers eyes opened in shock, not able to consume what he heard. The idea of him loosing Joyce and her two boys was, well, awful. He quickly put on his jacket and ran out of the cabin, forgeting to tell anything to El or locking her inside. He jumped inside his car and with speed of light he drove to the street where Joyce lived.

There, he could see bright white house on fire, surrounded with fire trucks, two police cars and ambulance. In the car he could see sitting Will and Jonathan, hugging each others with blanket. He ran to them, half expecting and hoping to see Joyce with them. But she wasn't there.

''Where's Joyce?!'', he said in hurry, looking at both Jonathan and Will. When Will heard him, he burst into few new tears and hugged his brother tieghtly.

''S-she's inside'', Jonathan murmured, his eyes shoting Hopper with pleased but scared look.

''W-What?!''

''We didn't saw her since we went sleep, actually'', Will said, his eyes closed and his arms were still wrapped around his older brother.

Hopper looked around at police officers and firemen, and then he decided. He walked quickly to the fireman who was close to the damaged front doors of the house, and spoke.

''Let me go in.'', he said in determination. The fireman turned to look at him quite confused, hoping that it was joke.

''Uhm- Mr. Hopper it's dangerous and also not quite your work to go insi-''

''I don't fucking care about my work. Just shut up and give me that mask'', Hopper said, impatient, his eyes shooting the fireman. The man gulped nervously and put his mask down, handing it to Hopper. He grabbed it quickly and in second he put it on himself, running inside. He heard the man shouting something on him, then on others, but after a while the only thing he heard was fire crackle and hum.

(Joyce)

Before all of this, she was sitting on her couch, falling asleep. She didn't remember much already, but she knew how this fire started. She remembered hearing him knocking on her doors, coming inside and trying to punch her. She started the fire, but it was just an accident, right?

She coughed and looked around, and tried to push herself free, but she was already too weak. She knew she was gonna die here, and all of that was possibly her fault. SHe wanted to cry, but all of her tears were drained by the impossible heat in the room. So the only thing she did was closing her eyes, trying to die calm.

As she laid there, she suddenly heard footsteps. For a second she thought it was Lonnie, but Lonnie was already dead. Then she wondered if it were her boys, but then she also releazed that her boys were already saved, yet no one found her. She sniffled again and listened to the sound.

''Joyce?! JOOOYCE!'', familiar voice shouted, leaving Joyces heart skip a beat.

''H-Hop'', she whined, but she couldn't move, and suddenly she started coughing a lot. She was loosing oxygen pretty quickly. 

''Joyyce!'', he heard her coughing and he followed it, finding her under the couch. He whispered something to himself but she didn't heard it, she just coughed.

Hopper helped her to get off the couch, and then he slammed the mask on herself. For a few seconds, her vision was blurry, and her eyes were wattering. She could hear fire crackling and humming, and then propably beam falling down.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in the abmulance with a doctor next to her. She panicked a bit, but then she heard Hopper hissing. She looked over her shoulder and found her savior with burnt hand next to her.

''You were lucky, Mrs. Byers. You were propably laying on a very good spot, since you don't seem to have any big injuries'', The doctor said, ''You are also fine just thanks to Chief Hopper, who, sadly, was injured'', he sighed and got up.

Joyce looked at Hop, releazing that his hand was more than burnt. She looked away and sighed, her body trembling horribly. Not only she killed a person, but she hurted her best friend. Tears started falling down as she thought of it, and they didn't stop even when Hopper pulled her closer with his healthy hand.

''Joyce...it'll be alrig-''

''N-NO HOP! JUST- just stop t-talking...'', she whispered, resting her head on his chest. Hopper listened, and for nearly 5 minutes they sat in silence.

''What happend?'', he finally asked, desperate to know the truth. Joyce shivered when he asked the question, and let out a small cry.

''Joyce...'', he sighed, rubbing her back with his good hand. She just pulled away from him, covering her mouth with her hands, crying more.

''I- I k-killed him'', she sobbed hardly. She was aware of this fact, and she knew she wasn't going to live a happy life after this. Hoppers eyes opened wildly in confusion.

''Killed who-?''

''LONNIE! H-he came to my h-house and threaned to h-hurt him and I- I...'', she was sobbing moer, scared. Her body was shaking horribly.

''And..?'', Hopper whispered, but little he knew what happend already.

''I set him on fire'', she whispered, looking down. Hopper was silent for a while, not sure how to respond to that. 

''Please I d-don't wanna go to j-jail'', she said, crying more.

''Joyce...'', he sighed, pulling her back to him, his head resting on her forehead, ''I won't let anyone to arrest you, okay? Just- Never talk about this, with..ANYONE. Okay?''

She just nodded, her body stopped trembling. 

''The whole....setting him on..fire. Will become our little secret, after all he deserved it, kinda'', Hopper muttered to her ear. She nodded once again, aware of how dark their secret was.