something_incredible | (no subject)

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beverly

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From the time he'd made the decision about all this, Hopper has been working step by step to get his shit together enough that it just might work. He'd gotten a job, gone back to work for at least a month so there's evidence of a proper income going into his bank account, he'd cleaned up the apartment bit by bit, made it less like some shitty place where someone just crashed on the couch and more like a home. He'd bought one of those new Blu-ray players and a few movies, plus some books and board games to go with the turntable and records he already owns.

Even when Beverly had just been staying with him some of the time, Hopper had made sure to get her nice, fresh sheets and towels, things that could be just hers, and part of his plan is to get her other things to make her room feel more like a place where she can be happy. He'd picked up a small desk a week back, a chair to go with it, a lamp to put on top, then one of those laptop computers like he already has and almost never uses.

He's been planning all the steps toward getting Beverly living with him full time that he's sort of put off the one major step that's required before he gets into the legal stuff. Asking her.

It's probably dumb to be nervous, but he's nervous anyway. He texts her one Sunday, asking if she's staying the night, because she usually does on Sundays, they usually watch some stupid movie on TV, only this time he's got real movies they can choose from and he tells her so. Then he says he'll pick up fried chicken for dinner, because everyone likes fried chicken.

The rest of the day drags by. He feels like an idiot, but he just wants her to be somewhere she'll be safe and happy. Somewhere she can call a real home, even if it's only for a little while, before one or both of them disappear.

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They've fallen into something of a routine over the past few months, something that Beverly didn't know she wanted until it was already happening. It's been nice, though, having somewhere to go that isn't the Home, that actually feels like a home. She has privacy, and someone who actually gives a damn about her; with as many nights as she's spent here, Hopper has never once made her feel unsafe, and that goes a long way. So when he texts to ask if she's staying the night, it doesn't take her long to respond that she was planning to, because she was, the promise of a good selection of movies instead of whatever they can find on TV and fried chicken all the more appealing. She might not go to Hopper's specifically for the food, but she trusts it a hell of a lot more than she does what they serve at the Home.

It's afternoon when she makes her way over, letting herself in with the key he made for her a while back. That helps, she thinks. There's a part of her that still wants not to overstay her welcome, though that's seemed like increasingly less of a concern lately, but she's far more comfortable for not feeling so much like a guest. "Hey," she calls as she opens the door and closes it behind her. "It's me."

"Better you than that other kid who keeps showing up here," he jokes, as he comes into the main hall when he hears the door open and close. There's no other kid, Beverly knows that, and it's not like Hopper has the room anyway, not when Beverly's room is so clearly hers. Especially after this week when he's gotten her a few more personal touches.

Once she's actually living here, he'll let her decide if she wants to change the colour of the walls or the bedding or anything, really. In the cabin with Eleven he hadn't really had much of a chance to let her make it her own, but he can do that with Beverly.

"So it's up to you," he says. "We can have the chicken delivered or we can go pick it up and you can play with the siren." It's probably not the best way to tell her he's working again, but he grins.

"Wait, playing with the siren is an option?" Beverly asks after just a moment's pause, grinning as she speaks. It's easy enough to at least guess at what that might mean, and if she's right, that's an option that can't be passed up, tempting as delivery might be. It's early enough yet; they'll still have plenty of time to come back here and settle in and find something to watch, a routine she's come to look forward to. She never had that kind of normalcy back home, and she would never have wanted to do anything that would have kept her at home with her father, either. It's different being here, feeling safe, just having someone who gives a damn about her.

"I mean, I think I'd have to be crazy not to pick playing with the siren."

"Within reason," he says with a grin he tries to hide. "We can't go blaring it the whole way there, but maybe it'll get us through an intersection or two."

Now that they've given him a squad car, it's probably not the best idea to abuse it, but what the hell. It's not the end of the world if he uses it once or twice to make Beverly happy. A lot of other cops have used it for reasons a hell of a lot less honourable than that and Hopper knows he's not one of them.

"They gave me a car," he says. "When I started back up at work again. I guess my years of experience get me somethin'."

At least he's not walking a damn beat. It wouldn't have been the end of the world, but having the car is a big step up, and he hadn't really wanted to start at the bottom of the food chain all over again. He's done that once in New York and that was more than enough.

"Hey, I can make the most of an intersection or two," Beverly says, still smiling excitedly. It's a small, inconsequential thing, but that doesn't make the idea of it any less entertaining. Besides, the reasons for it seem like a good thing, too. She's not entirely sure what prompted him to go back to work and become a cop again, but if it took this long, then she doubts it's something he would have done lightly. Her being here now makes clear enough, or seems to, that it won't interfere with the pattern of sorts they've developed, either, so she sees no reason to be anything less than pleased.

Back home, she wouldn't have had any real reason to trust any cops when it isn't as if they ever accomplished very much, but Hopper is different. She's known that since the first day she met him.

"And that seems like a nice perk."

"Yeah, it's not bad," he agrees, then grabs his keys from the table. "C'mon, let's head out. I'm starving."

He'll wait until they're in the car to ask her officially. Or maybe he should show her the bedroom first. No, he'll leave that until after, so she can see he means it, that he's been planning for this and it's not some stupid spur of the moment bullshit he spits out just because they're there.

"My partner's pretty good, too," he tells Beverly as he locks the door and then heads for the elevator. "I thought I might get stuck with someone shitty. I haven't had a partner in a really long time." Since New York. Since before Sara died. When he'd come to Hawkins, they'd basically handed him the position of Chief and he'd taken it because it seemed like less work than actually having to answer calls.

"Well, that's good," Beverly says, grinning over at him. "That'd suck, to go back to work and then get stuck with someone terrible." That seems like it would be the case, anyway, especially in a job like his, especially since he seems to actually give a fuck about it. She's never been able to count on that to be the case before, not with the kind of thing that was happening before she got here and how quickly everyone, law enforcement included, seemed ready to move on from each disappearance, but she does now, with him. She trusts him more than she trusts most people, or is used to trusting anyone. She hadn't realized just how much she was lacking in that until she had it.

"So any cool police stories here yet? There's got to be something interesting or badass, right?"

"Being a cop is mostly about filling out paperwork," Hopper tells her with a grin in return. "So far I haven't done a whole hell of a lot, it's just been getting into my desk, getting the car, making sure I'm licensed to carry my sidearm."

Never mind that he'd come here with a rifle and a shotgun. Both had been empty and both are now locked up in a gun box in his closet, the key on the ring he carries with him at all times. He's never bothered buying more ammunition for them, although he thinks maybe he should. This place can be strange, after all, and he doesn't want to run the risk of anything happening to Beverly.

"I reunited someone with their dog yesterday," he says as he gets out his keys and unlocks the car door. "That's about as exciting as it's gotten so far."

"I mean, I think that's pretty neat," Beverly points out, leaning against the car as she waits for him to unlock it, then getting into the passenger seat. "Gotta be nice to do something that ends well, right?" At least it isn't something dangerous, nothing involving criminals or prompted by someone getting hurt. She knows full well that a job like his will probably at least sometimes involve such things, and she's alright with that, but that doesn't mean she can't enjoy when it doesn't. Besides, she likes a happy ending as much as anyone, and she's sure that whoever lost their dog must have been upset about it.

Glancing around, she lets her grin widen a little as she looks over at him again. "Alright, so how do I work the siren?"

"You see that button there?" Hopper asks, pointing to a little lever at the corner of the dash. "You just flip that. Easy."

It's a single word, just one little thing, not even the full expression -- easy peasy -- but it still makes him think of Bob. His stomach clenches uncomfortably, the guilt from that still riding around on his shoulders most days, but he shakes it off. Pushes it back. Now's not the time for it.

"But you wait until we're out driving," he adds as he starts the car, then pulls out of his spot. "I'll tell you when and we'll see if we can't blow through a red light or two."

"Got it," Beverly says, grinning at him as they pull out onto the street. Maybe it's a little thing to be so excited about, but she doesn't see any sense in pretending like she isn't excited about it. He must have suggested it right off the bat for a reason, anyway, and it isn't like she needs to go overboard with it. The very fact of getting to play with the siren at all is enough for her, maybe especially because they're doing something so inconsequential.

She still sometimes wonders if she's getting too comfortable here, but she can't really help it, either. She's never felt safe like this before, and she's had long enough now that she actually trusts it to last.

"Just tell me when."

Asking her to come stay with him for good while the siren is blaring probably isn't the best way to do it, so he keeps it to himself for now. There's time. Plenty of time. They've got the whole night ahead of them.

They come up on an intersection, one that isn't too busy, and the light's not red, but Hopper nods at Beverly anyway.

"Alright, kid, hit it," he says, pressing his foot down heavier on the accelerator. He's not about to drive dangerously with her in the car, but he can push it as little past the speed limit.

Even if it feels somewhat silly to be so delighted by something like this, Beverly doesn't bother trying to hide her grin as she flips the switch he's shown her, the siren starting as soon as she does. It's kind of ridiculously loud, but at least that's to be expected, and it doesn't override the thrill of it in any way. She doesn't have to feel bad at all, either, since it's not like they're keeping the siren on for the whole ride or interfering with traffic. It's just fun, in a harmlessly illicit sort of way.

"This is so cool," she says brightly, over the sound of the siren. "I feel so badass."

They zip through the intersection just as the light changes red and ahead of them, the cars on the street part, moving to either side to allow them through and Hopper thinks maybe he should feel a little guilty about that since there's no emergency, but he doesn't. He's giving Beverly a bit of fun. That's all he cares about right now.

"Alright, hit it again," he says, laughing. They're further away from the intersection now, far enough away that he doesn't think anyone will chase after them.

He slows down a little, then turns left, taking them toward the chicken restaurant.

"Fun, right?" he asks. He'd always found it kind of fun, even as an adult. Unless there's a real emergency and then he's usually too focused on that instead.

"So fun," Beverly says, grinning broadly. It's not the kind of thing they could do all the time, she's sure, or even very often, but that's all the more reason to savor the rush of it now. Taking advantage of it too much, she would probably start to feel kind of bad about it anyway. Right now, though, she can't pretend that it isn't cool as hell to watch cars move to the side so they can speed past and to run through a red light without having to worry about it. "I have definitely been missing out. This must be a pretty nice job perk, huh?"

It isn't a reason to go into a job like that, but she already knows that's not the case. He can take it seriously and still have some fun once in a while.

"Oh, yeah. Best part of it," he says with a laugh. "Running red lights."

It's a good job otherwise. Solid and dependable and it gives him a decent income. That's the important thing, especially right now, when he's trying to get things going so he can give Beverly a proper place to live.

"The money's nice, too," he says. This is a stupid way to ask, he's not doing this right. It's not as nice as he would have wanted it to be, but the words are already coming out of his mouth. "Because it turns out when you want to take a kid from the Home and give her a place to live permanently, they want to make sure you have enough money to feed her and clothe her and stuff like that."

"Wait, what?" Beverly asks, stunned enough to be momentarily convinced that she hasn't heard right, though there's something bright, almost hopeful in her eyes. If he's talking about someone else, she thinks, that would be a weird way to do it, and besides, she would know if he were that close to any of the other kids from the Home, given the time she spends both there and at his apartment. He must mean her, which means he must actually want that, for her to come and live with him for good, not keep shuttling back and forth between his place and the Home.

Though she wouldn't outright say so, she's tried to be careful not to overstay her welcome. It's one thing for him to let her stay with him sometimes, to give her a key so she can come and go as she pleases. It's another to have her live there, exactly for the reasons he's just mentioned, which is far more than she could have asked of anyone.

She can't pretend, though, that there aren't plenty of reasons why she's been increasingly spending more time at his apartment instead of at the Home. Mostly, she feels safe there, in a way she hasn't anywhere else. The staff at the Home might be nice, but they're paid to do a job, anyway, not to give a fuck about her. Hopper does. She's never questioned that.

"Are you serious?"

Hopper pulls into the restaurant's parking lot before he answers, settling them into a spot and putting the squad cat in park. Then he sits back in his seat and looks over at Beverly, giving her a small, crooked smile.

"Yeah, kid," he says. "Of course I'm serious."

It doesn't surprise him that she's not entirely sure what to make of what he's just said. It's not like he's the most eloquent man in the world and he hadn't presented the situation in the clearest way. But mostly he thinks it's that she's trying not to let herself get her hopes up and he gets that. Much as it makes his chest ache, he gets it. All over again, he can't help but think how much good she and Eleven could do for each other.

"If you want, I mean," he continues. "I went to the all the right people and got all the right papers and I fulfill all the right criteria. So... if you want."

He pauses, then adds, "I got you a desk."

It takes a surprising amount of effort not to let a hysterical laugh bubble out of her at that. If she wants, as if there's any chance she wouldn't take the opportunity to have an actual home and seize it with both hands, as if the idea of being safe somewhere isn't headily appealing. Just considering it is a little surreal, but it isn't as if she's started spending more nights than not at Hopper's for any sense of convenience. Even before she's found the words for it, Beverly knows what her answer is, what it has to be. She has friends at the Home, but no matter how much she loves Eddie or how guilty some part of her feels at the idea of leaving him, she doesn't want to spend four more years waiting to age out and move somewhere on her own. She'll still see him, and Eponine, and Cosette.

She'll just have somewhere that's her own, and the kind of person in her life that she never got to have back in Derry.

"Yeah," she says, nodding, her smile growing wider. "Yeah. I mean, yes, I want to. Definitely."

"Okay," Hopper says, then grins. "Okay. Great. We, uh... yeah, we can do that, then."

She's not a place holder, not a replacement, and he'd punch anyone who tried to suggest that. It just seems to happen that Hopper finds himself falling in with these girls who are all around the same age, around the age Sara would have been now, and he can't help but extend that part of himself. When Sara had died, he'd thought that part had died, too, but it had turned it to only be in hibernation.

It's not such a bad thing now. Having it wake up again.

"All we really have to do is sign the papers and file them with the city. There are social workers who take care of the rest," he says. "One will be assigned to us, I guess, we'll be one of their cases, and they'll come and check up on you every few months for a little while."

"That should be easy enough," Beverly says with a shrug, though she can't quite restrain her smile now. She can't see any reason to be bothered by the prospect of that, though. It's kind of nice, that they'd want to be thorough about such a thing, to make sure that she'd be doing alright, and she's spent enough time now with Hopper that she knows she wouldn't have anything less than good to tell them. She'd feel stupid saying so, probably, but staying with him is the happiest she can remember having been. Just about anything would have been better than home, and while the Children's Home isn't terrible, sharing a room with a handful of other girls still isn't ideal, however much she might like some of them.

Hell, she doubts that moving the rest of her things over will even take that long. She already keeps some clothes at Hopper's in case she ever forgets to bring some with her or runs out, and it isn't as if she's amassed a huge collection of things with such limited space. She's kind of glad. Though she's not in too much of a hurry, mostly because she knows she wants to talk to Eddie before she actually moves out of the Home, she also doesn't really want to wait now that this is decided. Still, she can always stay there as she's been doing, so it should work well enough for now.

"So you've really been planning this?"

"Yeah," he says as he turns off the car and then nods for her to get out with him. They'll go place their order, pick up their food, and have an otherwise completely normal night, which is the sort of thing Hopper feels neither of them have had enough of.

"I figured once you were already staying with me, it just made sense. I got you a desk and a lamp and uh, one of those laptops." He mostly ignores his, which he knows can't last forever, but she's a kid and she'll need it to do her homework and stuff like that. Hopper knows he might not be the perfect father by any means, but he's going to make sure she gets all her homework done and passes all her class. All the important stuff he knows he might not have done right himself.

"I like having you there," he says with a shrug. As if it's not a big deal at all.

"I mean, I'd kind of hope you do," Beverly says, likewise far more casual than the situation really is. "You know, since you're asking me to move in and all." Just the fact that he's been so willing to have her around so often, including giving her a key to come and go as she pleases, speaks to that. There's a big difference, though, between an occasional guest and this. He's not just helping her out or doing her a favor; it's more significant than that. It is, she lets herself think, however naïvely, probably the way things are supposed to be. He wants her around without any ulterior motive, he does things for her just because, he planned this without her having to bring it up first or offer any input.

It's a nice feeling, being wanted like that.

Following him out of the car, she shoots him a quick smile. "I kinda like being there, too."

"Yeah?" he asks, holding open the restaurant door. "Good. At least I got you having a good time before you move in officially and I change all the rules. You're gonna have a curfew and you'll have to do your homework before you can watch TV and if I find out you're sneaking out, you're gonna get grounded."

He's serious, at least to a certain extent, but he's smiling as he says it. This is the normal sort of shit he thinks they both need a little more of. Hopper feels the most like himself when he's being a parent, even if he's not all that great at it some of the time, even if he knows they're going to end up in more than one screaming match. That's just life.

All in, he's kind of looking forward to it. Even the rough parts.

"I think I can live with that," Beverly says, smiling too. Eventually, she's sure it will prove frustrating, but right now, it's hard to care. It's still better than the Home; she'll have less reason to sneak out than she had there, too. It's definitely better than what she left behind in Derry. Rules and a curfew and having to do her homework before she watches TV isn't bad at all, and the risk of getting grounded is nothing compared to what she's used to. It all seems kind of refreshingly normal in the same way that staying with Hopper has from the start. "None of that sounds too outlandish."

She's spent enough time with him to be pretty sure that it wouldn't be, anyway. It'll be different now that she's not just visiting, but even so, she's gotten a good idea of what it will be like to live with him.

"Order for Hopper," he says when the man behind the counter in the restaurant comes up to them. He nods, tells them it'll still be a few minutes, and Hopper moves to the side with Beverly.

"Just wait until I get the chores involved," he continues, trying to think up the most outlandish things he can. "All the toilets, those will be your responsibility." There's only one bathroom in the apartment, only one toilet, but even then he wouldn't make her clean it.

"Repainting all the cupboards," he says. "And laying down new flooring in the kitchen. Maybe new grout in the bathroom, we'll have to take a look at it once we're home." Home. That feels pretty damn good to say.

There's an odd sort of juxtaposition in the humor of what he's saying and the way it feels to hear him call his apartment home and know that it will be hers, too. She's spent plenty of time there over these past few months, become more comfortable than she's used to being just about anywhere, but she'd pretty much assumed upon arrival that she would be stuck at the Home until she aged out, a daunting prospect. This is better, something she's vaguely wanted for longer than she can remember but never actually thought she would have.

So she gives herself just a moment to take that in and savor it, and then she grins.

"Okay, but just so you know, that's gonna be a great way to ruin the kitchen floor," she says, only just barely managing not to laugh. "The grout might be doable, but no way I don't mess up tile."

"You're not a professional contractor?" Hopper asks as their food comes out and he takes out his wallet to pay. "Shit, kid, that was half the reason I thought to ask you to live with me in the first place."

The little smile he's wearing as he hands over his credit card says otherwise and he won't quite meet Beverly's gaze at first, doing his best to keep up the joke. Even if it were legitimately half the reason -- and it sure as hell isn't -- the other half is significant, too. He wants her to live with him because he thinks it's better there for her than the Home. And it's better for him, too. The two of them will just be better together, of that he's got no doubt, even if he's not always the best sort of father figure he'd like to be.

With the bag under his arm, he nods back toward the door and the car. "I guess we'll have to figure out some other kind of arrangement," he decides. "Like you go to school and do your homework. Shit like that."

"You drive a hard bargain," Beverly says, biting back a grin as she follows him out towards the car again. "But that, I think I can manage." School is easier than it was back in Derry, anyway, or at least it was last year. Starting high school might be more difficult. Even then, she has friends now, which she never did back home, and that's bound to help somewhat. Again, she thinks that she'll have to tell Eddie about this turn of events, but it doesn't have to happen tonight. She'll find some time tomorrow to sit down with him and let him know that she'll be moving out. Nothing will have to change too drastically. It's not like she spends a lot of her free time around the Home anyway.

"So, school and homework, no flooring. Got it."

"Sounds pretty good, huh?" he asks as he puts the food in the back seat, then opens the doors for them to get in again. Maybe it wasn't the best way to ask, maybe he's being a little stupid, telling her she'll be doing all the renovations on an apartment he doesn't have any intention of renovating, but when it comes to the big things, Hopper's always worked best trying to make things lighter than they really are.

At least this is a happy event. At least he's not downplaying some awful thing that's happened.

"You can check out the new stuff I got for your room when we get back," he says. "And if you don't like anything, we can exchange it or take it back."

"I'm sure it'll all be fine," Beverly says, ducking her head a little as she grins. Even just the fact that he thought to buy her stuff before asking her to move in seems weirdly thoughtful, the sort of thing she wouldn't have expected or asked for. She's gotten plenty comfortable at Hopper's place, but it still hasn't been hers, and the Home hasn't exactly offered a lot of privacy, meaning she hasn't accrued much in the way of belongings. Just clothes and essential school supplies, mostly, and a few other miscellaneous but not hugely important things.

"Plus it's not like I'm gonna get picky about a laptop. The ones they had at home were like four times the size of the ones they have here."

It's nice, he realizes, knowing Beverly is from approximately the same time he is, knowing she's about as well versed in computers as he was when he'd come to Darrow. It means he's only going to feel the regular amount of behind when she starts to talk about school and trends and all the other things he doesn't get because he's too old.

"Like I said, there's some paperwork, stuff I have to sign, but we can pick your stuff up from the Home whenever you want," he says. "I, uh, sorta figured you might wanna talk to Eddie first. Tell him about this before you just move out."

And he's okay with that. He can wait a little while longer. Eddie is important to Beverly and the kid seems like kind of a disaster, but Hopper likes him well enough.

"Yeah, I definitely want to do that," Beverly says, the smile she shoots him a little softer, appreciative. Eddie was already one of the best and only friends she had before this place, but he's become something more like family since then. It's not a matter of just moving away from a friend. She likes some of the other kids at the Home, but she wouldn't go out of her way to talk to them before leaving. With Eddie, though, she doesn't want him to feel like she's abandoning him, though she doubts he would.

It's not like it will take her long to move, anyway. Delaying it for a day or two won't make any real difference when it isn't going to be some huge undertaking to move her stuff over.

"But once I do that... There's nothing else I need to stick around for. And not a lot to move."

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