Joyce had gone to bed in the middle of the movie saying she felt tired, probably due to the late hour they went to bed two days ago at Christmas. Hopper joined her at the end of the credits. He got under the covers and turned his head towards Joyce.

"You're not sleeping?" He asked.

"Yes, now I can sleep with my eyes open."

"Very funny..." He said, rolling his eyes, then he placed his head on her stomach and closed his eyelids. "I'm thinking about starting renovation work at the house tomorrow."

"Umm, yeah, okay, I could come and help you", she said, placing her hands in his hair.  

"I'll leave early tomorrow morning, you can join me if you want. But you know, you don’t hav-"

He was cut off by Joyce, who had slipped up to his mouth, the end of his sentence ending between their lips.

"I said I want to help you. You won't get rid of me like that", she said with a smile. 

Then Joyce pushed her head up to her pillow with a superior smile hanging from her lips. 

"That's okay with me", he said, kissing her and letting his hand run down her back.

"What are you doing?"

"Can't you tell?" He said, squinting an eyebrow.

He was ridiculously handsome with that sly smile. Joyce looked up at the ceiling before answering.

"I know, but the ki-"

It was her turn to be cut off by Hopper. 

The tip of his tongue was between her teeth when someone knocked on the bedroom door. Joyce pushed Hopper aside and he sunk his head into his pillow, pretending to be asleep. Will came in a few seconds later.

"I'm here to tell you that Mike called us when you went to bed. Tomorrow we're going to spend the day with Lucas, Max, Dustin and him at the arcade..."

"Umm, yes okay", Joyce answered, nodding her head. "Do you need some money?"

"No, I still have the money bills from last time, I didn't use them. Thank you."

"And El doesn't need any?"

"No, she also has the ones from last time."

"Okay. Don't forget that if you have any problem you have to call either here or at the new house, we'll do some work tomorrow."

"Yes, yes, we will."

"And you be careful. And El too, you don't get noticed."

"Yes, I know mom..." He sighed.

"And above all have fun", she said with a smile.

"Thank you! Why is Hop pretending to sleep?"

"Wh-what?"

Joyce turned her head to see Hopper with his eyes closed, visibly biting his lip to stop smiling. She turned again to Will, who was laughing.

"I heard you guys talking, that's why I came in."

"Ah, but I... okay. Uh... Good night."

"You too", he said, closing the door.

—♡—♡—♡—♡—♡—

An alarm ran early the next morning. Hopper grunted before crushing his hand on the alarm clock to stop it, but he immediately dropped the object on the floor and it broke.

"Shit!" He shouted as he moved away from his pillow.

"What did you do, Hop?" Joyce whispered behind him.

"Nothing, sorry. Go back to sleep."

"Be careful what you're doing for God's sake..." She said with a sigh before sticking her head into his pillow, which was now free.
She then folded her knees back on herself.

Hopper picked up what was left of his alarm clock and put it on his bedside table, he would take care of it later. 

Joyce woke up two hours later when she heard the laughter of her children escaping from the kitchen.

So she got up to eat breakfast and to join Hopper as soon as possible.

—♡—♡—♡—♡—♡—

She had just walked through the front door of the new house when she heard hammer blows. 

"Jim...? I am here."

"Hey, I'm fixing the door!" He shouted from a room on her left.

Joyce entered the storage room and saw him leaning over the door he had removed and put on a table.

"I brought you a sandwich..."

"Oh, thank you."

"What can I do to help?"

"There are all the upstairs rooms to paint if you feel like it... And I think we'll be ready, we can move in", he said, finally turning to her.

He wiped his sweaty forehead. Joyce noticed that he was red, so she deduced that he probably got angry before she walked in, which didn't even surprise her. 

Hopper squinted when he saw her outfit.

"Okay, I'll do that then."

She smiled at him before she turned around to go upstairs. 

"Joyce...?"

"Yes?" She said, turning around immediately.

"Are you wearing, by any chance, one of my plaid shirts...?"

He recognized it perfectly now, it was a black, red and blue shirt that he had rarely worn in her presence. After all, he was most of the time wearing his uniform. 

"I don't know what makes you say that", she said, letting out a little laugh after looking at her outfit again.

"It's just... slightly too big despite the folded sleeves."

"That's because... you left it lying around and I didn’t want to... get my clothes dirty."

"It's the cutest thing I've ever seen", he said with a smile.  

"Are you implying that I'm cute?" 

In a few steps, she moved closer to him and raised her head waiting for his answer.

"I'm not implying it. I'm saying it because it's just a fact."

He put a kiss on her forehead before she left the room, the bottom of the shirt almost down to her thighs.