something_incredible | (no subject)

These aren't decisions Hopper has come to lightly, they're the sorts of things that have kept him up at all hours for weeks now, but in the end, he thinks he's doing the right thing sort of all across the board. It's a weird feeling, given how often he's been prone to doing the wrong thing in the past, but he's trying to be better. He's been trying since Will went missing and he realized just how messed up Hawkins really was.

But the right decisions or not, he still wants to talk to Lucy about them. He's not looking for approval, but she's easily the smartest person in Darrow he knows. Maybe she'll be biased one way or the other, knowing both him and Beverly, but he's still pretty sure he can count on her for an honest reaction, which is something he desperately needs. It used to be that Diane was his sounding board and in the years after their divorce, he'd floundered. Lost his way. He's a man who does better when he's able to talk something out.

So he'd called Lucy up, asked her to come over for dinner.

Then he'd realized he'd have to make dinner and after trying to work out what the hell he was capable of cooking besides spaghetti, which had a tendency to be messy and might not be the best thing to eat with the woman he's still trying to impress, he'd called out for Thai food. He hasn't had Thai food since he'd lived in New York and even the very idea of it brings back good memories. Hawkins had been a shit town with almost nothing to offer and the longer he spends in Darrow, the more he realizes he'd missed being in a bigger city.

He'd still rather be there, be with Eleven, but as far as places go, this one's turning out not to be so bad.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You say that now, but just wait until Beverly's asking about periods and boys and birth control and I'm sending her to you," he answers with a grin over his plate. It's partly deflection, he doesn't have to agree he's doing the best he can, but he thinks it's kind of funny, too. He'll do his best, just like she's said, but there are just some things he's just not sure he's the best option for.

"Especially boys," he says. "I think I can handle the rest."

He'd prepared for some of it at least, he had read books and tried to figure out the best things to say, but if anyone ever breaks her heart, he won't know what to do.

"You send her to me and I'm going to send her to the library," Lucy jokes, shaking her head, "because that's the place she's going to learn the most biologically correct information."

The questions on boys, Jim could handle those. She had a crush on Lincoln, you didn't want her talking about boys or giving advice.

"The library or the hospital because there's a lot of good brochures there," she adds.

"What about boys?" he asks with a grin. "She's not going to find much in the library when it comes to that."

Maybe she won't need their help, though. Hopper has never actually asked Beverly about anything like that, has never really felt like it was his place, but if he's going to ask her to live with him, maybe it is his place now. Or it will be.

"I'm probably not the best one for advice there," he says. "I wasn't exactly a gentleman as a teenager. I wasn't the worst kid, but there were rules in the late fifties and early sixties. Bet I pissed off a lot of parents at some point."

"Oh no, I'm not giving advice on boys. That's your job, not mine," Lucy tells him, shaking her head and laughing. "I'll be no good on that either. I dated but not that much and I wouldn't know how dates go these days. I'm barely doing okay on my own."

She smirks at him and then shakes her head again. "I'm sure she'll learn plenty from her friends and I doubt, seriously doubt, that she'd come to you about that anyway. Most girls I know would go to their mother and in the absence of that, an older female friend. I think you're safe until she brings someone home."

"I don't know, I think you're doing pretty okay," Hopper answers, looking at Lucy from across the table. That's not to say he's some great catch, he knows there are problems with who he is and how he can be sometimes, but she's definitely a catch. And she's definitely done more than just impress him.

"I think most of her friends are boys," he continues thoughtfully. He hasn't met Eddie, but Beverly talks about him often enough. Not in a way that makes Hopper think she's got a crush on him, though. "Maybe they'd be better for advice than either of us. They know what kids're up to these days."

Because he sure as hell doesn't.

"She's probably going to go there anyway," Lucy says, nodding. "I don't know a lot about teenagers but they seem pretty protective of their secrets. If she needs to tell someone, she will. Until then..."

Lucy trails off and shrugs. "She seems like she has a good head on her shoulders. I don't think she's going to do something unnecessary or risky. She'd be the one to stop that."

Hopper nods, thinking of that gym teacher and how she had skipped class in order to avoid him. Ever since he'd gone into the school to have a talk with the man, he hasn't heard any complaints, but what he's really hoping for is that the man outright disappears from Darrow. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened.

Still, Beverly had told him about it. And that had been before they really knew each other all that well.

"She's a smart kid," he agrees. "And it's nice, she knows she can talk to me when she needs to."

"Just trust her," Lucy says, nodding. "My childhood was a little different than most but I can tell you that we want to be trusted when it comes to our parents. Be a parent, even if you're not her blood, but trust her."

She reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder and squeezes. "And threaten anyone that wants to do her wrong."

Hopper's mouth almost twitches into a smile, because Lucy can't possibly know how close to his own line of thinking she'd just come.

"I prefer to go the more subtle route," he says, knowing Lucy will hear the joking tone in his voice as soon as he starts to speak. "You know, for example, if there's a gym teacher who stands a little too close to some of the girls, I just go in and have a casual chat with him. Let him know I'm around."

Which is exactly what he'd done. But there had been a threat in his words. Just like Lucy has said.

"Elegant," Lucy says with a nod. "Very elegant. And probably less likely to get you in trouble so I approve."

Of course she does. "Hopefully it's not an issue here but if it is, I know you'll handle it with grace and suaveness and a quiet threat of pain."

"Once I'm back working as a cop, I'm even less likely to get in trouble," he says, almost with a wince. It's a shitty truth, but it's still the truth. Cops look out for each other and sometimes that works, but there are definitely instances in which they shouldn't be doing it.

And yet they always seem to.

"I don't think there'll be a problem anymore," he says. "I think I got my point across with my first visit."

"Just be careful here," Lucy says, frowning momentarily. "I have no doubt that you can take care of yourself but there's a lot of powerful people here. Be sure you know who you're about to say something to before you say it. I don't want someone calling me to tell me you're encased in ice or something and I need to come thaw you out."

"Are you sure you don't wanna come thaw me out?" he asks with a grin at her over the food, but he knows what she's saying. And he appreciates the concern. It's been awhile since anyone has really worried about him besides Joyce and he thinks that sort of thing might just be in her DNA.

"I'll be careful," he promises, his smile fading a little. And he will be. Most of the time. He's just not about to let anyone screw around with Beverly or Lucy for that matter. "You don't need to worry about me."