Introduction: 

In this Jopper-centered fanfiction (Joyce and Hopper), the events of season 3 of Stranger Things did not take place. So yes, our beloved Hopper is not missing and his daughter Eleven has not lost her powers.

At the same time, our favorite Byers did not move. But the mall was (temporarily) closed for the beginning of the story… Well, just a story about two people falling in love.

And don't hesitate to leave comments, I like to answer to them and read your reactions! But I've talked enough, I'll let you discover the rest of the story and hope you'll like it! :)

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It was a Friday afternoon. A very warm Friday in August. 

It was stifling hot in the store despite the old ventilator that had been found at the back of the storehouse. It was blowing back and forth, sending fresh air from the front door into the brown hair of the little saleswoman at the checkout.

She also had brown eyes and was wearing her work uniform, a blue jacket with a tag with her first name on it.

Every day she did the same thing, she would even have been able to do it with her eyes closed.

She slipped the items to the old lady once she had paid and she walked out of the store :
"Have a nice day, Joyce!"

That was her name : Joyce. Joyce Byers. The woman who had experienced the greatest misfortune a human being could ever know on this Earth. Betrayal. Loss. Loneliness. Even... death.

But there she was, smiling, fighting as she has always done. Because, yes, that woman was a fighter. She smiled at the customers every day, she never had time to get lost in her thoughts as a new person was already arriving at the checkout and dropping off her items.

Every day, since the beginning of the previous month, it was the same thing. Indeed, after the temporary closure of a large part of the Starcourt shopping centre in early July, she could no longer spend her days thinking about her life, or rather about all the tragedies she had suffered in the recent years. Indeed, she had a lot to keep herself busy, the checkout had never filled up so quickly. She was even granted a raise at the beginning of the month.
 
The doorbell rang behind her for, at least, the fiftieth time that day, indicating the arrival of a new customer. But it wasn't just any customer. Joyce knew this man. He was as tall as she was short, wearing a police uniform with a small shiny rectangular tag on the right side of his chest that read : HOPPER. He also wore a hat, which he took off when he entered the store. 

He ran one hand through his hair and then scratched his beard.

How hot it is in here! he thought.

He stood at the end of the line, getting behind two people waiting to pay and probably to run away from the sauna to go home or, maybe, to the swimming pool.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Policeman?" She asked him when it was his turn.

He raised his eyes to the sky, but still with a smile on his face. He couldn't help but smile at the woman who made his heart beat a little faster every time he saw her.

"I came to see if you were not melting in this heat. Nah, but it's true, how do you manage to be in here all day long?"

"You get used to it", she said, raising her shoulders.

They looked at each other for a moment when Joyce put her elbows on the checkout, leaving her head in her hand and she then look at him with her eyebrows raised. She knew he hadn't come just to see if she hadn't died of heat.

So he decided to speak, looking at his hat, which he turned over and over again in his hands.

"I wanted to know if we could come over tonight, unless you have any other plan. Cause El keeps telling me about Will, she wants to see him to prepare a surprise party or something and she's been talking to me about it for weeks so I thought maybe..."

He stopped his sentence here, his last words floating in hot air, almost unbreathable according to Hopper.

"Oh, of course! You can come whenever you want. You don't have to ask me."

"Really? Thanks, you're a lifesaver because I think El was starting to get mad at me for not telling you about this before. She was surprised this morning when I told her I'd try to discuss it with you during the day."

Joyce nodded her head before adding :
"Why don't you stay for dinner? It's Friday night, we could watch a movie together."

"Uh, yeah, good idea. I'm sure El will be thrilled!" He said as he headed for the exit.

"See you tonight, Hop!" She shouted before he walked out the door.

"Oh! And... last thing", he said, leaving only his head inside the store, "El told me this morning about a girls' day out : shopping. I think she'd like to do that with you when Starcourt reopens."

"Oh, I'd love to!" Joyce said, giving him a big smile. "Besides, I think it reopens next week."

After all, she considered Hopper's daughter her own, she loved her as if she were her own.

—♡—♡—♡—♡—♡—

Hopper was watching his daughter going to join his friend, Will, in his bedroom. 

By the way, they got along so well, those two. He was surprised to think he liked Will better than that Mike Wheeler...

He quickly put the idea out of his head and sat down next to Joyce in the kitchen. He took a pack of cigarettes out of his uniform pocket.
He lit one and exhaled the smoke as he raised his head to the ceiling. He closed his eyes for a little while Joyce was looking at him. He finally opened them and handed her his cigarette. She smiled at him before she took it.

"What are you thinking about like that?"

"I was just thinking that our kids... get along well. I mean, El likes Will very much", he said, insisting on the word "very".

"What do you mean by that?" She asked, coughing at the end of the sentence.

She gave him his cigarette back and he felt her cold little fingers grazing his, causing a shiver down his spine.

"I-I mean, I know that El loves Will very much."

Joyce frowned before moving closer to him to whisper.

She could smell his deodorant tickling her nostrils as she thought about the words she was about to say.

"You're telling me... you think that... you think El is in love with Will?"

"What? No! She's not!" He'd probably shouted louder than he wanted to, startling Joyce.

Her eyebrows recovered their natural place as she moved backwards into the back of her chair.

"That's what I understood", she said, crossing her arms.

"No. That's not what I meant. It's just that I feel like they see themselves as brothers and sisters sometimes. Besides, El's still dating that Mike Wheeler guy", he said, irritated.

"In that case, yeah, I think they get along pretty well too. And, you know..." 

She put her hand on Hopper's on the table. She felt the warmth of his skin under hers and realized that she hadn't spoken for a few seconds.

"Uh... I... I think of her as my own daughter, El. She's a great girl who deserves to be loved."

Hopper stared at Joyce's hand over his and then managed to turn his gaze away from her hand to her eyes.

"Yes, she deserves so much." He said, putting the cigarette back between his lips.

Joyce gently withdrew her hand from his when she noticed that it was still there, at the same time as Hopper felt the smoke filling his lungs. And Joyce thought about what she wanted to add :
"What you've done for her is... it's great, Jim. You-you gave her a house, a home, and most importantly, a family. And she's probably still too young to fully realize that, so I'm telling you, really, thank you for her."

She smiled when she thought of all he'd done for her. She had noticed that he had changed for her. That he was trying to get better for her, a little more every day.

Suddenly the two teenagers burst into the room and Joyce congratulated herself for taking her hand out of Hopper's earlier.

"When's dinner?" Will asked.

"Uh, soon." She answered as she got up to set the table. 

Hopper put his cigarette in the ashtray. Joyce was putting the cutlery and glasses on the stack of plates when a hand touched her shoulder.

She knew who it belonged to, so she turned around and looked up.

"I'll do it", Hopper said, taking the plates from her hands.

Then he turned to his daughter : "Didn't you want to ask something to Joyce this morning?"

"Yes, I did!" she replied with a smile.
She turned to Joyce, and lowered her head slightly, looking embarrassed.

"Go on, then. I'm listening", she encouraged her, smiling back.

"Um, so... my friends and I are preparing a surprise birthday party for Dustin's birthday month next and- 

"Next month", Hopper corrected while continuing to put the cutlery on the table.

El looked up at the sky and continued :
"It's next month and I just wanted to know if you'd like to go shopping with me so I could buy something... nice to wear."

El looked up with hopeful eyes.

"Of course, it would be my pleasure honey. Maybe next week, why not?" she said as she settled down to start eating.