something_incredible | (no subject)

Apparently in 2018, it's impossible to find anywhere that allows you to smoke inside. He could quit, like half the people he meets these days suggests he do, but Hopper doesn't really like the idea of giving up the one thing that's still familiar to him in this weird city.

He's not even a cop anymore. He could be. At least, he's pretty sure he could be, but this place seems to fall somewhere between New York and Hawkins when it comes to the level of crime he'd be facing and Hopper honestly isn't sure if he's ready to take a step back in New York's direction. Hawkins had been weird in recent years, yeah, but somehow facing down a bunch of monsters with heads full of teeth where their faces should be just doesn't seem as daunting as returning to cases of assault and murder and rape and abuse.

Shit like that's exhausting. New York had just about wrung every last little bit of good out of him and he can think of a lot better things to do with his time than going back to being a cop.

Like smoking. And drinking. And maybe taking a few pills to ease the pain. He hasn't, not yet, but he thinks about it every day. The only thing that keeps him from going back there right now is the thought that Eleven might show up here someday and he'd hate for her to see him like that, his eyes glazed over, just this side of high on whatever pain pills he was able to find. It had been fucked up before, but at least before there hadn't been a kid to worry about. The fact that there hadn't been was what took him to the pills in the first place, but now there is again. There's Eleven.

Maybe some other kids, too.

So right now he's huddled outside a bar, the collar of his Hawkins PD coat turned up against the cold wind, smoking the last cigarette in the pack he'd bought the day before. He's going through them too fast, but there's not much else here to distract him.

Another beer maybe. It's probably too early to get drunk, but just one more won't kill him. He takes one last drag from his cigarette before crushing it against the heel of his boot, then turns back toward the bar and nearly walks straight into someone.

"Shit, sorry," he says, lifting his hand to her shoulder to steady her.

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"I'd appreciate that. I've gotten better at the physical side of defending myself but there's a lot of people that are bigger than me and, well..."

He was a big man. Couple that with being a police officer and a soldier meant that he was probably trained much more thoroughly than her on the job training while traveling through time. She'd learned how to hide well, how to hold a gun and how to do some basic hand to hand combat (thanks, Wyatt) but nothing that would protect her all that long from someone who meant to hurt her.

"If someone should take affront to my definition, you'll be the first call I make while I try to convince the person to not take any action until you get there."

"Well, for that you'd have to have my phone number," Hopper says and he realizes it sounds like sort of a come on in the same moment he decides it is. Since moving back to Hawkins from New York, he's gone on a few dates, though most of them have ended up being nothing more than a single date, a single night spent together in some cases, and he knows that's partly due to the fact that he'd still been hung up on Diane.

Ever since Eleven barrelled into his life, he hadn't thought much about his ex-wife. She had moved on, remarried, had another child and for so long he had been so angry with her, resented that she was able to just forget Sara in a way he never could, but he's not angry anymore. He's not caught up in thinking about her anymore. And Lucy is pretty, she's smart, she understands what he's been through in a way few other people do. Maybe it's crazy, but he doesn't think so.

"Which I can give you," he adds a second later. "And you can use if maybe you think you'd like to have dinner with me sometime?"

It takes Lucy a second to realize what she's been asked, a testament to just how often she goes out on dates. The fiancee she apparently has back home doesn't count because she has no memory of him whatsoever. She can only hope they went on dates before they got engaged but again, there's nothing in her memories to say whether that's true or not.

"I -- yes, I'd be glad to," Lucy finally says when she finds her voice. There's a slight flush on her cheeks and she hides that by looking down and tucking her hair back behind her ears.

"Take your number and have dinner with you sometime," Lucy adds just in case it's not clear what she's agreeing to. "I'd be glad to do both of those."

It seems like a no brainer of an answer, really. He's handsome in a rough around the edges way and he's been kind, interesting and she's been able to talk to him about some rather dark things without it feeling weird or strained or too much.

Looking back at the moment, he's not sure if he expected Lucy to agree to dinner. They've just met, after all, and while that's never stopped Hopper, he knows not everyone thinks the same way that he does. What he thinks he has working for him is the fact that he's a dad -- somehow that makes him less intimidating -- and their similar situations with people they love. Besides Steve, who knows about Sara because everyone in Hawkins knew about Sara, Lucy is the only person in Darrow who even knows his daughter's name.

He's told a few people about Jane, but Sara is something else entirely. Something guarded close to his heart, a part of him that's never really visible beyond the blue braided hairband he still wears around his wrist.

"Okay," he says, then grins. "Great. Except... you'll probably have to add your number into my phone for me. I'm still figuring this thing out."

Lucy can't stop herself from laughing. Traveling through time has made her aware that the technology she's so used to should not be taken for granted. Anything from electricity to sewage to running water were things she's had to deal with. Lucy doesn't think herself a vain person but being in places where she can't shower or has to use the bathroom in the most natural of ways is hard.

So, while she laughs, it's not at him. It's at the way he's stated such a simple fact and that even though she's not traveling through time, different time periods seem to be traveling right at her.

"Happy to," Lucy says, nodding. "Don't worry too much about not understanding cell phones. I've had one for years and I still forget what all it can do. It takes some getting used to. But, it's handy to have."

People around here seem to protect their phones fiercely with passwords and fingerprints and a defensiveness he just doesn't understand, so he just slides his unlocked phone across the table to Lucy.

"I keep hearing about all the things they can do now. Games and photos and something called apps. Right now I'm mostly just impressed I'm not stuck to a cord in the wall when I need to call someone."

Not that he has many people to call. Back home there might have been one or two more, but mostly he'd only ever gotten in touch with people for work. And in Darrow there's really just Steve or Beverly.

"That's what I tend to use it for the most. Calling and text messaging," she says, eyes down on his phone. She navigates it easily, finding his contacts and putting her name and phone number in there under the letter P.

"And to keep track of my schedule," she adds once she hands it back to Hopper. "It's got a pretty loud alarm that wakes me up and makes sure I don't miss a class. You really don't want to hear the crap that you get if you're a teacher who oversleeps for one of her classes."

It didn't happen often but it had happened. And it had taken a few weeks to hear the end of it. She tucks her hands into her pockets and smiles as she jokes, "I will try not to oversleep for our dinner. But, if I do, use this phone. Wake me up."

That makes Hopper smile and for a second he's able to forget everything he's left behind. It won't last, in a few minutes he'll be back to missing Eleven, to wondering how she's doing, hoping she's taking care of herself and eating properly, not just waffles and candy. But for now, for just a second, it's okay that he's here.

He takes his phone when Lucy hands it back and tucks it into his pocket, reminding himself to look at it later and figure out how to actually use the thing so he gets to give her a call and arrange for this dinner. It would be too bad to miss out on the opportunity because he can't figure out the technology, but he has to think someone would be able to give him a hand. Maybe Lois, because Steve and Beverly have about as much experience with these phones as he does.

"I will," he promises, still smiling. "I'll, uh let you get back to your grading for now, but I'll call you soon."

"I'll look forward to it," Lucy tells him with a smile and a nod. She really doesn't know how they'd gone from him nearly running her over to deciding to make dinner plans but she likes it. She misses the Lifeboat team everyday but she has to admit that it's nice to just do normal things. It's nice to not be worrying for her life in the Alamo or trying to dodge the Reich in Germany.

It's nice to be a professor again. The only things that could make it better would be knowing Amy was out there. But, that thought makes her feel guilty because Amy being back would mean her mother's sick. It's a no win situation either way.

"Don't spend too much time in the bars," she tells him. "You're much more handsome in natural light."

Lucy has no idea where that bit of flattery comes from but it's out there and though her cheeks are red, she doesn't hurry to take it back. Instead, she smiles before making her way back to her apartment to continue grading.