red || steve harrington

twenty

"are you ready, chief?" penny leans against hopper's desk. jim sighs out, still regretting giving the girl this job.

"penny, how many times do i have to tell you to stop leaning on my desk, stop drawing on yours and get to work?"

hopper offered the blonde a job as the assistant secretary at the police station. the job was pointless in everybody's eyes, but hopper didn't want to admit that he just liked having the girl around. she reminded him of home, of his late daughter who he missed so much.

and with the job, the two had gotten extremely close in the year that they knew each other. penny thought of him as the father she always wished she had and deserved.

"oh, come on, hopper. you promised you would pick up my friends at the airport."

jim leans back in his seat, scratching the back of his head. he scrunches his face, "did i, now?"

"you did." she confirms, nodding her head.

"if i remember correctly, i promised you i'd pick up your friends if you stopped doodling on your desk." hopper taps on the desk next to his that was littered with drawings. she would even bring in paints and brushes to make her desk look like a rainbow to top it all off.

"now, hopper." jim raises an eyebrow at her tone. "i drew a cute little picture of you, eleven and i, right on that desk. i think i deserve a little more credit for thinking about you."

"stop trying to guilt trip me."

she continues, "i mean, eleven still has this weird vendetta against me. don't you think i deserve a break?"

"she doesn't have a vendetta against you, penny."

"i feel like she does." hopper sighs, the two girls putting him through enough stress. he rubs his eyes, picks up his hat and stands to his full height.

"let's go." penny smiles, walking fast to keep up with the tall man's long strides. she waves bye at callahan and powell, who both smile back at her once they walk out their shared office.

penny takes the cigarette hopper was about to put in his mouth and throws it out. the man sighs, before getting in the car.

the whole car ride to the indiana airport consisted of hopper trying to turn down the radio as penny kept blasting rock music. to hopper, the girl was extremely annoying, but her personality was so endearing there was no way you could hate her.

at one point, he noticed a faint bruise on the side of penny's neck, that looked like she tried to cover with makeup. hopper took note of how often she'd come to work with bruises she either forgot to hide or couldn't hide well. he also took note of the times when even slight movements would cause her to wince as if she were recovering from an injury. all of these signs caused red flags to fly in his head.

hopper turns down the radio once again and before penny can protest, he speaks up, "what happened to your neck?"

penny's eyebrows furrow in confusion before she remembers the last encounter she had with her father. niel had caught her in the midst of sneaking out her window to visit steve.

that did not end well for her.

"oh, you know..." penny trails off trying to come up with a lie.

"well?" hopper urges, looking at her then back at the road.

"i mean, if you insist on knowing..." she smirks, an idea finally sparking, "steve did that."

"he did what!?" hopper was not thinking what penny was thinking.

"yup, left a big 'ole hickey right on my neck." hopper visibly sighs, thinking the teen was abusing his daughter. he remains quiet before realizing what she said.

"oh, not again!" penny cringes, thinking back to the time when he walked into their shared office and found steve and her kissing on her desk.

penny felt incredibly bad, but ultimately blamed it on steve for being so tempting. "i'm so sick and tired of you girls and your boyfriends. is there not anything else you can do!"

"in our defense, steve and i are practically adults. eleven and mike are not."

"do not even get me started. you're not an adult..." as hopper begins to scold her, penny turns up the radio.

she bobs her head to the radio, completely ignoring him, "sorry, dad! can't hear you over the music."

as she continues dancing along, hopper stops and smiles at the name. penny never realized what she called him.

-

hi! a suuuper short chapter. it was originally way longer but i decided to make it the portion with just penny n hopper interacting :)

also?? 11k reads? thank you so much, i truly appreciate it <3