mad about you - stranger things

𝟶𝟷𝟾

"What are you talking about?"

"Trick or treat," El responded slowly, seeing as her English still wasn't that good. Hopper had sat down in his chair before staring at the two of them. He let out a sigh while closing his eyes.

"You two want to go trick-or-treating?" The two girls nodded their heads at his question, but their hopes of going were soon crushed when he shook his head. April frowned underneath the sheet. "You two know the rules."

"Yes, but—"

"Yeah, so you know the answer," he cut Eleven off as he stood up and started to gently move them over towards their seats.

"No, but they won't see us," April protested as her and Eleven struggled to push back with physical strength.

"No. I don't care." He placed their hands down on their shoulders as he bent down to be eye-level with them. Eleven repeated what April had said, but Hopper just restated, "I don't care, all right? You two go out there, ghost or not, it's a risk. We don't take risks. All right? They're stupid, and..."

"We're not stupid," the girls finished for him, repeating one of the mantras that he had given them when they first started living in the cabin.

"Exactly. Now, you girls take those off, sit down and eat. Your food's getting cold." Hopper walked back over to his seat as the girls took their sheets off—April being less aggressive than El. The shorter brunette sat down in her chair and glared at Hopper. He ignored her gaze as he poured syrup on her French toast before he moved onto April's.

She was staring down at her plate with a sad look on her face, causing Hopper to feel sympathetic towards the two girls. He hated having to leave them in the cabin and away from their friends and the world, but he knew that it was dangerous for them to leave. He just wanted to protect them.

Neither of the girls reached for their plate and just stared absentmindedly at the table. Hopper let out a sigh at their sorrowful expressions.

"All right, look..." He leaned forward and rested his head against his hand. "How about I get off early tonight, and I buy us a bunch of candy, and we can just sit around and get fat, and we can watch a scary movie together? How's that for a compromise?"

"'Compromise'?" April repeated with furrowed eyebrows. He glanced between the two as he tried to figure out a way to explain it to them easily.

"C-O-M-promise. Compromise." Eleven rolled her eyes and looked away from him while April moved forward in her chair to learn more about the word. Hopper softly smiled at her eagerness to learn. "How about that's your word of the day? Yeah? It's something that's kinda in-between. It's like halfway happy."

"By five-one-five?" Eleven asked, using the way that Mike taught her how to read time even though Hopper had tried so many times to teach her how to properly tell time.

"5:15. Yeah, sure."

"Promise?" the girls asked in unison.

"Yes. I promise."

"Halfway happy," April stated with a slight nod of her head before grabbing her plate and taking a bite from her French toast. Eleven glanced over at her before following her lead. Hopper smiled down at the two before leaning over and ruffling their hair.

Eleven took the syrup bottle and started to pour more syrup on her breakfast as April tried to get her hair out of her face. Her hair was already super messy, and he just made it worse. She scrunched her nose playfully at him as he chuckled at her hair that stuck out all over the place.