something_incredible | (no subject)

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Count this as one more thing he hasn't done in a long damn time.

The last time Hopper bought a Christmas tree, it had barely fit up the stairs of their apartment building in New York and now there are so many damn options he's not actually sure where he and Beverly are going to start. They've got a vague plan. Get a Christmas tree. Get decorations. Set up the Christmas tree.

But that doesn't even scratch the surface. In a place like this, the options are nearly endless. They can go down to the end of the block where a guy is selling nice looking real trees out of a small lot, which is what Hopper is used to, but then those die and shed needles everywhere and he's going to be shit about remembering to put water in the little reservoir at the bottom. So he's thinking about a fake tree, just going to the mall with Beverly and getting one that comes in a box, the lights already attached and ready to go. But that doesn't smell real, no matter what kind of scents they might offer in a spray bottle he can buy for just an extra ten bucks.

"Hey, kid," he calls, tapping a pen against one of the fliers he got in their mailbox for the store at the mall selling fake trees. "Fake or real?"

The rest they can decide when they're actually face to face with the decorations, but that's a question they need to answer up front.

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The subject of whether to get a fake tree or a real one isn't actually something Beverly has considered before now. In what she would consider her defense, her Christmases haven't typically been big celebratory affairs. She thought through it about as far as the basic plan of getting a tree and decorating a tree, but having the question posed to her now, she has to give it a moment's consideration. Halfway sprawled out on the couch, one leg bent up with her foot resting on the cushion, the other dangling off the side and swinging back and forth, she finally shrugs.

"I've never had a real tree," she says, which she's at least pretty sure is true. If she has, it was longer ago than she can remember, so it doesn't really count. "It might be fun."

Maybe he doesn't say it, but that makes the decision for him. If she's never had a real tree before, they're going to get a real tree, if only so she can experience it at least once. It might end up a mess and he'll probably forget to water it half the time, but if he asks Beverly to make sure they don't accidentally kill the damn thing before Christmas morning, he thinks she'll make it happen.

"Real it is," he says. "C'mon, we'll go to the store and load up on some lights and decorations first, then go pick one out from that lot just down the street."

The lights and decorations aren't what he remembers and they probably won't be what Beverly is used to either, but he figures between the two of them, they can work out what they need without looking too much like assholes to any of the attendants in the store.

"Okay," Beverly agrees easily, grinning as she swings herself up to sitting, then pulls herself to her feet. A fake tree is nothing she would have objected to, but she can't pretend she isn't pleased by the idea of a real one, even if it will wind up being a mess. Even just to be getting into the spirit of things is nice, though, instead of a Christmas with no decorations that's barely noteworthy at all. Not that she ever felt like she had much to celebrate before, anyway. Being here, it all feels revitalized in a way it didn't even last year, when she was newly arrived and barely settling into the Home.

"Oh, and a stand, we need a tree stand."

"You're gonna have to make sure I don't kill the damn thing," he says as he grabs his keys, then her coat so he can hand it to her. "Make me a schedule so I remember to water it."

Because he's shit at stuff like that. Half the time he thinks he's shit at being the sort of father figure anyone would want, but he seems to be doing okay by Beverly's standards. Of course, given what he knows about her dad, just not being a complete creep is a big step up, but he wants to do better than that for her.

"Y'know what they don't make anymore?" he asks as they head out. "That stingy tinsel shit. Guess it's dangerous now."

"If you forget, I'll water it," Beverly says with a shrug. Granted, she'll have to remember to make a point of it, too, but between the both of them, she thinks they'll manage alright. It can't be too hard to keep a Christmas tree watered and alive. Plenty of people seem to do it on a regular basis. And maybe the novelty will wear off sooner rather than later, but right now, she doesn't see the need to think that far ahead. Christmas has never been a particularly exciting holiday for her, and this time around, it's hard not to get swept up in it a little, to really make it the sort of holiday that it's apparently supposed to be.

Even if their decorations won't include tinsel. "Wait, really?" she asks. "Shit, that's dumb. I bet we can find something else that'll look cool, though."

"I think cats choke on it," he says, which probably isn't the only explanation, but it was the one he was given at the store when he asked about it. There are other options, even some that look similar, but there's nothing quite like that stuff to remind him of home. Sara used to crawl under the tree after they were done and stare up at it with the lights on. She told him once it looked like ice that was dancing.

"Not that we have a cat to worry about," he adds as he starts up the car. "That somethin' you want? A cat? Or a dog? A hamster?"

He's not against a pet, but for awhile now, he's figured the both of them are still settling in. It had always been the plan to eventually move out of the city and get a dog for Sara, but she was gone before they'd gotten that far.

"You know, I never really thought about it?" Beverly replies, wrinkling her nose a little. Back home, it isn't as if it would ever have been an option. There's no way they would have been able to afford it, and her dad, she's pretty sure, would either just have neglected any pets or hurt them if he got in a bad mood, which he should have. They have a decent-sized apartment, though, and she keeps busy with school, but she's still got a fair amount of free time. It doesn't really seem like the worst idea in the world.

She just also wouldn't really know where to start, and she glances over at Hopper, curious. "Did you ever have any pets back home?"

"Nah," he says as he heads toward the mall. "Diane and I talked about it a bit, something to do when Sara got a bit older and we moved out of the city, but that never happened."

Because Sara died long before they had planned on leaving New York. And then Diane left him. There hadn't been any more kids in his future after that, not until Eleven and now Beverly.

"I spent too much time drinking after that to think about a pet," he tells her, figuring honesty might be the best option there.

Beverly considers that for a moment, knowing that her own associations with people drinking heavily have very different connotations. Hopper has never hurt her; he would never hurt her. Besides, it wasn't drinking that made her father the way he was. It may have brought out the worst in him, but it was still just him, and maybe a little bit whatever evil had spent so long seeping into Derry. It's better that he's actually talking to her about it, anyway, instead of pretending it away. She can appreciate that.

"I mean, that's a good reason not to," she says with a shrug. There are probably some people who wouldn't even let that stop them. "I wouldn't have wanted one before. Not... with the way things were at home, you know?"

Hopper nods as he steers the car into the mall parking lot and finds a parking space for the car. It makes sense to him, she'd had other things on her mind, especially with the piece of work who had been raising her.

"Yeah, would've been hard," he agrees. "Too much to take care of with everything else going on."

He doesn't know what else to call it. They don't talk about it a lot, but he knows what went on, and he sure as hell doesn't want to ruin her Christmas by making her discuss things she would probably rather not talk about.

"Maybe we'll find a cute cat with a Christmas bow or something," he teases as he turns the car off.

It really would have been too much. She knows perfectly damn well that she would have been the only one taking care of any pets they might have had, which would have given her reasons to hang around the apartment that she wouldn't have wanted. Exposing an animal to an environment like that wouldn't have felt entirely fair, anyway, with no guarantee that her father wouldn't get angry and kick it or whatever. Better not to give him anything he might be able to take any frustration out on.

He's the last person Beverly wants to spend too much time thinking about now, though. It's not worth it, those aren't concerns she has to have anymore, and pet or no pet, they're going to have a great fucking Christmas, like she never got to have before.

"That would be cute," she says, grinning. "I guess we'd have to hope it wouldn't knock all the ornaments we're gonna get off the tree."

"Pretty sure that's the point of having a cat around the holidays," Hopper answers as they get out and he locks the car behind him. "So they can drink the water out of the tree and knock off all the ornaments. Annoying shit that'd drive me nuts every goddamn day."

So maybe not a cat, then. Hopper thinks he prefers dogs anyway, although it's been a long time since he's had one and he's pretty sure his parents took care of their last one more than he ever did. He had promised he would help and he remembers walking the dog every so often, playing with it in the yard, but he knows his parents had done most of the work, which is probably where he'd find himself today if he were to get one.

"Okay, let's start there," he says, nodding toward the store he knows carries all kinds of household supplies, including Christmas decorations.

"Okay, well, we don't want anything that's gonna drive you too nuts," Beverly says, head tilting to the side. "So maybe no cat." It isn't like she's gotten that attached to the idea yet, anyway. Part of her thinks it would be nice to have a pet, to feel like she could, but she wouldn't want to wind up not being interested anymore when the novelty wore off. Until she knows that won't happen, it's probably better not to take something like that on yet. It is something to keep in mind, though, an idea she's started to like.

"So, lights, ornaments? A tree stand?"

"All of the above," he says, pushing open the door for Beverly to go in ahead of him. Just beyond the entrance he pauses, orienting himself to the store, then heads to the left, leading Beverly toward where he can see lights and fake trees. They might be getting themselves a real one, but he knows the ornaments will be kept in the same area.

"And c'mon, kid, I'm a grumpy old man. Everything's gonna drive me nuts," he says with a little grin, nudging his elbow against her shoulder. "Thought that was part of my charm."

He's probably least grumpy with Beverly, of everyone here, but even so, he knows he's not always the most cheerful person around.

"Okay, not, like, excessively nuts," Beverly says, grinning up at him. "Since, yeah, it is." She doesn't mind that he's grumpy, and doesn't worry about what that grumpiness might need to. Still, it's almost Christmas, and this will be the first she's spent with him, and she wants it to be nice, not more trouble than it's worth. If they ever do get a pet, having some time to ease into it might make the inevitable breaking of Christmas ornaments a little less annoying, but for now, this is enough.

It's a lot, in fact, everything in the store nearly overwhelming. It's not like she hasn't seen all sorts of Christmas decorations and shit, but she's never gone to pick them out.

"Jesus, I didn't know they made this many different kinds of lights."

"White or coloured or sparkling or... changing between white and coloured, Jesus Christ," he says as he reads the packages along the wall. She's right, there are near countless options, each one slightly different from the last and he's not sure where to begin. All he wanted was to make sure they wouldn't burn down the tree and the apartment building, but it seems like all these new lights are cool to the touch.

"Okay, let's make it simple," he says. "White lights or multi-coloured lights?"

He could go either way. He's never given it a lot of thought before now, because he'd always let Diane do whatever the hell she wanted. It made her happy and that had made him happy.

"Uh, definitely not changing between them. Or blinking or anything," Beverly says. She can sort of see the appeal of some of it, but mostly it sounds like a quick way to get a headache, and neither of them really needs that. If they're going to do this, then she wants to go all-out with it and she wants it to look nice. It's not exactly a chance she's had much of, and she thinks they should be able to look at it, not always want to look away. "Maybe... Let's do multi-colored."

The white seems nice, too, it's nothing she would object to, but she sort of likes the idea of all the different colored bulbs, and how it will look in the dark. Having ornaments will be nice, too, but it's the lights that seem like they'll really stand out.

"Multi-coloured," Hopper answers with a nod, pausing to look at the boxes until he finds something he thinks will be the right length. Then he grabs a basket from a nearby stand and drops two boxes inside. It's the right call, he figures, mostly because Beverly made it. He wants to give her a good Christmas, something she'll remember for a long time from now.

"Well, we're getting this," he says when he spots a donut among the ornaments. It's not a classic Christmas decoration, squishy instead of made of glass, with bright pink icing, but they're taking it home no matter what. It's already his favourite tree ornament he's ever had, excluding the ones Sara made in school.

"Hey, it's perfect," Beverly says, grinning brightly when she sees the donut ornament. It looks different than other decorations she's seen, but she also really doesn't care about that. There are too many cute ornaments out there for her to get committed to some organized Christmas aesthetic or something ridiculous like that. A tree shouldn't have to be neat and tidy; she'd rather have it colorful and fun, full of the sort of spirit that Christmas has never really had for her.

"Do you think there's a coffee mug ornament or something? Because if there is, you need that, too."

He almost jokes that he'd need a beer can, too, but stops himself and instead looks for a coffee cup. There are a couple cute things and Hopper's never really wanted to have a tree that looks generic and colour coordinated, so he grabs whatever catches his eye.

"Pick whichever ones you like," he says to Beverly. "This is gonna be our tree and people'll know it."

He wants her to know it's her tree, too. More hers than it is his. Something he wants to be able to give her. Maybe he'll never be able to undo the shit she's been through, but at least he can try and give her new memories.

"Some of these are so cute," Beverly says, not entirely sure why that seems so surprising, except that all of this seems a little different when it's something she gets to do and be a part of. It's not like she spent a lot of time fixating on what she didn't have, not when it comes to little details. There wouldn't have been a point. It would probably have done nothing more than made the shitty circumstances she was stuck in seem that much worse.

She finds one that looks like a little record player and grins, holding it up. "Well, we definitely need this one."

"Yeah, we definitely need that one," he agrees and holds the basket out toward her so she can add it to their haul. They won't be able to fill the whole tree with individual ornaments, no matter how many they buy, so Hopper grabs a box of glass balls in silver and gold, then gets another box in blue and green. It'll be a good way to fill the space between the other things they get.

"Hey, you should get a stocking, too," he says. "I won't be embroidering your name on it any time soon, but you should still have one." It'll be the only one in the apartment anyway, it's not like they won't know it's hers, even though Hopper remembers having his name on his when he was a kid.

His mother had been good at shit like that, though. He's definitely not his mother.

"I can't say no to that," Beverly says with a grin. "Especially if that means you're gonna put stuff in it." It is, of course, entirely a joke. Given the extent to which they seem to be going all-out with decorating, it's not like she's expecting nothing to be under the tree come Christmas, but she's not used to getting much, either, and she doesn't want to overstep and ask for too much. Hopper has done so much for her already. She doesn't want to seem greedy or ungrateful or hard to please. "They probably have those here, too, right?"

It's kind of nice, having everything in one place like this. Somehow, being around all the decorations and everything does wonders towards making her actually feel Christmasy.

"Oh, hell no," he answers. "No, that stocking is gonna sit sad and empty pinned to the wall."

There's no way in hell he would do that to her, he wants to do everything he can to make this the best Christmas she's had. Hopper doesn't know if he's going to be any good at it, he hasn't exactly had a lot of practice, but he's going to do what he can. She deserves it. She deserves better memories to take through her life.

"There," he says, nodding down an aisle. "They've got a shit ton of options there."

"Good," Beverly says with a crooked grin. "I mean, if it's just gonna be a useless wall decoration, it might as well be a cute one." She's joking as much as he is, and unsurprised by the fact of his doing so. She likes that, actually, the easy banter they have with each other, nothing she would previously have expected from a parental-type figure. It makes her a hell of a lot more comfortable than she would be otherwise, and that comfort is something she's been nothing but appreciative of since she started living with him.

Mostly, the decorations are all about what she would have expected, Christmas-colored felt shaped like ornaments or trees, all with a space for a name to be embroidered. "Okay, do I go typical Christmas, or typical Christmas?"

"I guess the real question is whether you want elves, reindeer or Santa," Hopper says as he appraises the wall of stockings. They're all pretty typical, like she's said, but he likes the idea of having something like that on their wall, typical or not. It's Christmas. It should look like Christmas.

"I like the reindeer," he says. "Maybe I should get one for myself, too. Maybe someone else knows how to get our names on them without them looking like complete shit."

Lucy doesn't strike him as the sort to know, but maybe she'll surprise him.

"Reindeer for you, and I think..." Beverly takes a stocking off the wall and holds it up, grinning. "The cute penguin in a scarf for me?" She's not really sure what penguins have to do with Christmas, except there seem to be a lot of them on Christmas-related merchandise, and this one is pretty adorable. There's one with a Christmas tree on it that she likes, too, but that seems a little redundant when they're here mostly getting tree decorations. Except for one kind of demonic-looking snowman, she thinks it would be hard to go wrong here, anyway.

"At least we'll know whose is whose, even without names."

"Put 'em in the basket," Hopper answers, holding it out toward Beverly. They're cute and they seem to be making her happy and that's truly the only thing he gives a damn about in this whole thing. It'll be nice to have some decoration, too, of course, nice to have a place that actually feels festive for the first time in however many years, but his main goal is to give her a good Christmas. He doubts he'd be doing any of this if not for her.

"Hey, I guess we need one of those, too, huh?" he asks, nodding toward the tree skirts. It's the sort of thing he would never have considered, but it's right in front of them now and it makes sense. A nice place to actually put the gifts so they're not just sitting on the floor.

"Oh, yeah, I guess we do," Beverly says, nodding. It hadn't even crossed her mind, but it only makes sense, having something to go under the tree like that. Getting ready for Christmas, she's finding, is far more involved than she would have expected, but she has to assume that Hopper would say something if it were getting to be too much. Besides, they're basically starting from scratch now, but they won't have to the next year or the year after that. They'll already have lights and ornaments and stockings and a tree skirt.

It's kind of nice to think about that happening, that one day this might be normal and not completely novel, that she might still be here.

"And a star or something. For the top."

"A star," he echoes, having completely forgotten about that. Turning on the spot, he looks for the right aisle with the stars and tree toppers and then nods down toward the end.

"There," he says, pointing. There are a few cheap looking plastic things and weird creepy angels, but there are some nicer ones, too, made of canvas and lights. They look a little rustic, but that's part of what he likes so much about them. "What about one of these?"

He likes it, but he wants Beverly to like it, too.

"Oh, those are pretty," Beverly says as she takes in the sight of them. She doesn't think she's ever seen a Christmas tree star quite like these, but they look much nicer and not as cheaply made as some of the others, and she likes that they're unusual. She wants to go all-out, to get all the trappings and decorations and such, but that doesn't mean she wants to go the totally generic route. "I like that. It's sorta different. It'll look nice, I think."

It's already going to be the best tree she's ever had, but that's not actually saying much.

Reaching up to the shelf, Hopper grabs one so they can look at it better before he gives Beverly a smile and a shrug. He likes it and she likes it, so it goes into the basket without another thought. They're doing this their way and he's enjoying all of it.

"Alright, kid, you think that's enough for the tree?" he asks. They're bound to forget something, but he can come back later, once they've figured out what it is. What he wants right now is to get this paid for and then go get the tree itself so they can get it set up. He doesn't want to say he's excited about this now, but he's looking forward to it.

There's a tradition in setting up a Christmas tree. Something they'll be able to do again and again if this place lets them.

"I think so," Beverly says with a nod, assessing the contents of their cart with an exaggerated seriousness. She can't think of anything they need that they haven't gotten, and while she could probably just keep grabbing things that look cute, they've got enough here for a good tree, as far as she can tell. Granted, she's hardly an expert, and her standards are probably pretty low, but that seems beside the point. They've got the things that count, good lights and cute ornaments and a star to go on top. It'll be perfect.

"We just need the actual tree to go with 'em."

"Then let's get this paid for and go do it," he says, flashing a grin before leading the way toward the checkouts.

It doesn't take long to get through, the store isn't altogether busy tonight, which is nice. Hopper pays for things after passing the bags to Beverly and asking her to bag their things up and once they're all done, he puts them back in the cart to push out toward the car.

"Did we decide on a big tree or a small one?" he asks. "Do you want one of those sad, skinny Charlie Brown trees?" They had been Sara's favourites. The most pathetic trees on the lot.

"I don't know, maybe something in the middle?" Beverly asks, nose wrinkling. The sad, skinny ones are actually pretty cute, but she can't deny the appeal of something nice and full, either, a Christmas tree like the ones in pictures usually look. They only have so much space, though, and it should probably be something they'll be able to get into the apartment and stand up, so something between the two might be the best bet anyway, scrawny but not too much so, with branches enough to hang their ornaments and lights on without being too weighted down. "I mean, we don't want to have all this and not be able to do anything with it. But someone's gotta get the littler ones, too."

She nods once having spoken, pleased with her own logic and already more than a little excited to get to the lot and look at the actual options.

Once the bags are back in the car and they're both inside, Hopper starts the car and drives them toward the lot not far from their apartment building where he'd seen the trees being set up a few days ago.

There's plenty to choose from, which they can see as soon as he pulls up and parks. Some of the trees are enormous, nothing that would have any hope of fitting into their apartment, but there are more reasonably sized ones, too, things he can easily see with all their decorations and lights hanging from the branches.

"Hey, you sure you don't want this one?" he asks with a grin, gesturing to a tree that seems to be more branch than needle.

"Yeah, I think I'll pass on that one," Beverly says with a laugh. "Have to go return all those ornaments otherwise." It might hold a few, but probably not very many or very well. They'd look a little silly, too, all big and shiny and hung on bare branches. There are plenty of others that are fuller, though, the scent of pine needles crisp in the air, and for a moment, she lets herself just take it in. She's not used to feeling Christmasy in this way, the season full of promise the way it's supposed to be. It seems like it should be weird, being happy in a place like this, but she really is.

"These are nice, though, over here." A few in a row aren't enormous, but seem reasonably full, the way it seems like a tree is supposed to look.

"Yeah, I like these," Hopper says as they head toward the proper trees. They're not too tall, so they'll fit in the apartment, but they're still full enough to look like they're supposed to, and he moves between them a few times before settling on one that he thinks looks a little deeper green than the others.

"This one, I think," he says to Beverly. "How do you feel about it?"

No matter what, this is a joint effort. When she looks at the tree, he wants her to feel like it's something she chose for their home.

It's a good tree. A picturesque sort of tree, without seeming ridiculous and excessive, something that will hold their ornaments and lights and look good, tall enough for the star to sit on top of it and not scrape the ceiling. Beverly considers it for a moment, leans in just a little so she can try to smell the pine needles, though it's impossible to differentiate one tree from another in the whole lot of them, and then nods, smiling broadly as she does.

"I think this is our tree," she agrees, slowly walking in a circle around it so she can take in the whole thing. "This seems right."

"Then this is our tree," he answers without hesitation, lifting his hand to wave over the guy in charge of the lot. Once the tree is paid for and he's helped Hopper strap it to the top of the car, they're ready to go. Hopper stands by the car for a second, his hand on the roof, then nods for Beverly to join him.

"Alright, kid," he says. "Let's go make our apartment look like Christmas."

After losing Sara, he'd never thought he would do this again. Any of it. Never thought he would let himself get caught up in what will inevitably go away again, but it's worth it. All of it is.

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