[september 20]

[something_incredible]

It's true Hopper has been drinking tonight, but he's not drunk. That's something he's been doing his best to keep from Beverly, getting drunk only when he's away from their apartment and only when someone else is going to be there with her, one of her friends or Steve, and he never takes any of the pills when he's going to have to look after her in any way. He's being responsible.

A responsible alcoholic, he's well aware of it, but responsible all the same.

So he's had a beer or two tonight, but nothing that's going to end with him face down on the couch, no matter how badly he might want to. Something's been going on with her anyway and that's the sort of shit he has to focus on right now instead of his own issues.

For as long as she's been living here, she's had nightmares. Hopper's aware of that and he figures, given the shit with her father, that makes sense. He's never known what to do with it, though. It's not like it happens every night as far as he knows, just some of the time, and it's not like she's the only person in the world who has nightmares now and then. Sometimes he dreams about Sara dying all over again, has nightmares about her teeth falling out along with her hair, but he doesn't talk about them and he figures Beverly doesn't want to either. If she did, she would.

But they seem worse lately. He's been waking up more often to find her already awake or he's heard her moving around in the middle of the night. He still doesn't know what to do about it, though, if there's something he should be saying to her, so he's going with the only thing he does know.

Offering her whatever the hell she wants.

"Hey," he says when she gets in from school. It's Friday, they've got the whole weekend ahead of them. "What d'you wanna do tonight? Anything."

Comments

[something_incredible]

"Damn," he says, knowing he's not going to beat that, but he really doesn't mind at all either. He's just happy to have gotten her out of the house, to see her smiling. Making people feel better isn't exactly something he's known for being very good at, but he's trying.

"What would you like?" the man at the booth asks. "You for the top score, so you can pick any of the prizes on the top row."

They're mostly stuffed animals, too big to be practical, but Hopper nods at the giant pink gorilla. "He's so damn ugly. You should take him."

[runtowardsomething]

"Yeah, okay, I want that one," Beverly replies with a laugh, pointing to the pink gorilla. She has what she really wanted here — bragging rights — and it's not like she would rather have had any of the other prizes. They're all about the same level of ridiculous, so it doesn't really matter much. This one is especially so, though, and she grins as the man at the booth gets it down and hands it to her. What the hell she's going to do with a giant stuffed pink gorilla, she has no idea, but she's still going to enjoy her victory.

"I think that gives me the lead," she says as they walk away from the booth. "Ready to admit defeat yet?"

[something_incredible]

"Oh, hell no," Hopper answers, then points to the booth with the water guns. It's straight forward enough, they shoot water into a target and try to make their little car get to the end of the racetrack -- a straight line, not much of a track -- before the other person.

This is something he's pretty sure he'll win. Which will only make them even and he'll still buy her dinner.

"We're heading there next," he says. "And I'm gonna kick your ass."

[runtowardsomething]

"In your dreams," Beverly says with a short laugh, though she has a feeling the advantage in this game will be his. Aiming with a water gun is probably somewhat different than aiming with a real gun, but it's got to be close enough, and he's the one who has experience with the latter. She doesn't intend to just admit that, though, or surrender without giving it her all. If he wins, she means to see to it that it's not by much, but she's hardly about to act like he's won before they've even started.

"Come on, we're doing this."

[something_incredible]

"You think your pink gorilla's gonna help with your aim?" he asks and it's pretty sad trash talk, but it's not like he can really give her a hard time the way he might have with one of his buddies.

Stepping forward, he pays for the two of them to play, and he's enjoying this is a hell of a lot more than he would if there was a crowd here tonight. It's just the two of them playing these games and he has to admit, that's how he likes it best.

"You ready?" he asks once they've both got their water guns in hand.