╰☆☆☆☆╮
'𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝, 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔'
THE SWEET SMELL OF FRENCH toast wafted throughout the cabin as Hopper stood in front of the stove, making breakfast for the three of them. In the girls' room, Eleven and April had started preparing for Halloween .
After taking the sheets off of their beds, they had cut small holes in the sheets to make eye holes for their ghost costumes. The two put the sheets on, adjusted the sheets in order to see, and then giggled at the sight of each other.
The two silently crept into the kitchen and snuck up behind Hopper. They didn't make a sound as they stared at his large figure. He turned around slightly and jumped at the sight of the two of them.
"Oh, Jesus!" he shouted before he realized it was the girls. He let out a sigh and turned back to the French toast.
"Ghost," El stated as she stared at their guardian. He glanced between the two with a deadpan expression.
"Yeah, I see that." He took the pan off of the stove and walked over towards the counter where he put their breakfast on their plates.
"It's Halloween," April added in her higher-pitched voice. Hopper didn't even glance over at them as he answered.
"Sure is. But right now, it's breakfast, okay?" he asked as he put the empty pan back on the stove and grabbed his cup of coffee. "Come on, let's eat."
"They wouldn't see us," said April with a frown on her face, even though Hopper couldn't see it.
"Who wouldn't see you?" he asked, taking the plates in his hands and setting them on the table. El grew annoyed at Hopper and glared at him underneath her sheet.
"The bad men," she explained softly. She knew that the smallest of things could anger Hopper, and she hated seeing him in a bad mood. It scared her a lot. Which is why she tended to talk to him in a quieter tone than El did.
"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.
╰☆☆☆☆╮
CHRIS STOOD ON THE STEPS as his mother took various pictures of him in his costume. Him and the others had decided to go as the Ghostbusters. Chris decided that instead of going as one of the Ghostbusters, seeing as there were only four and Mike only wanted four so it could be like the movie, he decided to go as the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
He had dressed in his old boy scouts uniform, complete with a white button up, white slacks, and black shoes. Janis had taken the time to sew together the blue neck piece, the red tie, and his hat. He thought it was quite funny to be dressed as a ferocious, giant marshmallow even though he was quite small—not as small as Will, however.
Once his mother was done taking her pictures, the boy grabbed his backpack and rode off to school with a smile spread across his lips. He had met the others, besides Will who was getting a ride from his mother, and rode to school together.
When they reached the schoolyard, they started singing the Ghostbusters theme song. As they parked their bikes, Will appeared from behind them in his costume with a large grin on his face.
"Who you gonna call?" they sang together.
"Ghostbusters!" Will finished. The boys turned around and let out exclamations at the sight of their smallest friend. They hopped off their bikes and ran over towards him with giddy expressions on their faces as they geeked out over each other's costumes.
"Woah! Woah!" shouted Mike after catching a glimpse of Lucas' patch on his suit. "Why are you Venkman?"
"Because I'm Venkman," Lucas answered. Chris and Will shared a looked before turning back to the other two. They knew that their argument wasn't going to go well.
"No, I'm Venkman," he fumed.
"Why can't there be two Venkmans?" Will asked, trying to solve the fight between the two boys. Him and Chris were often the mediators of the group, or rather Lucas and Mike seeing as the two argued constantly.
"Because there's only one Venkman in real life," retorted Mike as he turned back to Lucas with an angry expression on his face. "We planned this months ago. I'm Venkman, Dustin's Stanz, Will's Egon, Chris is the Marshmallow Man, and you're Winston!"
"I specifically didn't agree to be Winston," Lucas argued back.
"I don't think he did," added Chris, earning a nod from Will.
"No one wants to be Winston, man," said Lucas. Mike looked over at Dustin who shook his head.
"What's wrong with Winston?"
"'What's wrong with Winston?'" Lucas repeated in disbelief. "He joined the team super late, he's not funny, and he's not even a scientist!"
"Yeah, but he's still cool," Mike argued back.
"If he's cool, then you be Winston."
"I can't!"
"Why not?"
"Be-because," Mike stuttered out as he tried to come up with a reason that wouldn't offend Lucas. Unfortunately for him, his stutter was enough to make Lucas more angry.
"'Be-be-because' you're not black?" shot Lucas after mocking Mike's stutter. Chris let out a sigh as he grew uncomfortable with his friends' argument. He looked over at Will who also looked uneasy.
"I didn't say that!" shouted Mike before Lucas retorted, "You thought it." As the two continued to argue back and forth, Dustin looked around at the other students in the school. His stomach dropped at the sight of the kids walking off the bus without any Halloween costumes on.
"Guys... guys! Guys!" Mike and Lucas stopped their argument, and the four turned to look over at Dustin. They had the same reaction as the curly-haired boy as they watched kids walk into the school with normal clothes on. "Why is no one else wearing costumes?"
As the five of them walked through the hallway, the students turned their heads. There were many whispers and laughter that was heard as they passed the other middle schoolers.
"When do people make these decisions?" Dustin asked as they tried to ignore the stares and giggles elicited from the other students.
"Everyone dressed up last year," commented Will, glancing around the hallway.
"It's a conspiracy, I'm telling you."
"Just... be cool," Mike told the others, to which Chris rolled his eyes at. They were never cool, and they definitely weren't going to be anytime soon with their Ghostbusters costumes on.
"Who you gonna call? The nerds!" a random boy shouted, causing blushes to spreads across the cheeks of the party members.
As the school day progressed, Chris was thankful that he didn't have a costume like the other boys. He took his hat, neck tie, and scarf off and hid them in his locker. He walked around for the rest of the day in his plain white outfit, but he decided that it was better than wearing the costume pieces.
Once school was over and the party said goodbye to Will, the four started on their path to their houses. They were still conversing how embarrassed they were to have worn their costumes to school and wondered why no one else had worn a costume like the previous year.
There was a loud sound of a roaring car engine behind them, and Chris gripped tight onto his handlebars when he saw the sleek, black car speeding down the thirty-five mile per hour road. Dustin quickly caught the attention of the other boys before they started pedaling faster.
Once there was clearing to their right instead of trees, Chris was the first to pull over into the dirt. Dustin's bike had slipped from underneath him as he tried to stop and ended up crashing into Mike.
"Was that..." Dustin trailed off as he pointed at the vehicle. Chris helped Mike off of the leaf-covered ground and made sure that he wasn't too injured.
"Mad Max."
╰☆☆☆☆╮
don't be a silent reader! :)
vote, comment, share