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˚ ₊ ♡ ❰ CRUEL SUMMER ❱
*✧ ─── ❝ ❪ HEART-TO-WHAT-NOW ❫ ❞
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˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ SEASON THREE ☀️ ⁺⑅

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SUPER FREAKS SERIES ⋆ 🚲.
♯ ❝ BUT WHAY IS AN APOCALYPSE ! ❞
CHAPTER TWO ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
˚ ₊ ♡ 1985, june 29th ─── episode one
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     JIM HOPPER IS IN DRASTIC NEED OF HELP AS HE ENTERS MELVAD'S CONVIENENT STORE, THE BELL ABOVE THE DOOR RINGING LOUDLY AND JOYCE BYERS looks up startled by the sudden noise and the man's appearance. She notes he looks dishevelled and a borderline mess. She groans quietly stepping down from the ladder she had been standing on to hang up the sales poster on the large window. "Hey." She greets curtly, eyeing his nervous manner questionably

     "Hey." Jim takes his hat from his head and fumbles with it awkwardly, eyes flickering up to meet hers briefly, "You busy?"

     "You're our first customer, so. . ." She trails off noticing the look on his face- one clearly indicating he needs something from her as usually, "What now?" She sighs before motioning for the chief to follow her and Hopper doesn't waste a minute as he follows after her, the worlds already leaving his lips.

     "And then El, she just slams the door right in my face." He grunts out angrily, glancing at Joyce he waits for a response that helps him in a way but all he gets is a soft hum of acknowledgement as Joyce continues her task "Uh-huh?"

     "You know, it is that smug son of a bitch, Mike. He is corrupting her, I'm telling you. And I'm just gonna lose it." He shakes his head in an irritated fashion as he rants on, "I mean- I am gonna lose it, Joyce."

     "Just take it down, Hopper." Joyce sighs heavily, turning away from her work to look at the mess of a man sitting in front of her, she had her fair share of teenage drama, raising two kids by herself and she had known Hopper long enough to know the man had a habit of blowing things out of proportion and losing Milo and Sara had made the man overbearingly overprotective sometimes, especially now that Milo had returned.

      "I need them to break up. " Jim muttered loud enough for the brunette the hear and she spun on the ball of her feet to face him.

     "That is not your decision." She countered quickly, giving the man a look a mother would normally give to her children when they did something wrong.

"They are spending entirely too much time together," Jim said instead, changing the direction of their conversation, "You agree with me about that right?"

     "I mean, they're just kissing, right?" Joyce asked, not at all bothered the man's insistent and dismissive nature.

     "Yeah but it is constant. "Jim stated dragging a hand over his face in annoyance, "It is not like Milo is constantly hanging around that little ragtag team of kids day in day out."

     "Jim" Her eyebrows are. raised in disbelief. "That boy is barely allowed to leave the house these days. He needs kids is own age to hang around with."

      "Absolutely not." Jim denies swiftly with a shake of his head as he dismisses the idea immediately, "He is fine, he doesn't need friends his age, beside no one can know who he is, it could put his life in jeopardy."

     "If you keep him inside that house and throw away the key, he will rebel on you Hopper, you gotta trust him, Milo is a smart kid, he gotten out of a lot more complicated situations by himself."

     "He shouldn't have had to go through it by himself in the first place." Jim whispers, the guilt resurfaces once again and Joyce gaze softens at the sight. "Beside I said he could go to the arcade later."

     "Really?" Joyce tilts her head, not really believing the man in front of her, "Just like that?"

     "Well..." Jim rubs his neck awkwardly, avoiding eye contact and instead busies himself with a piece of paper on the counter.

      "Jim..." Her voice is soft but demanding.

      "I just told him he couldn't tell anyone who he was and to be back before four." He answers honestly.

      "How is he supposed to make friends like that?" Joyce throws her hands up in the air, "It is crazy to forbid him to talk to anyone."

      "I didn't say he couldn't talk to anyone!"

      "You might as well have Jim! Exchanging names is like one of the first things you do when you go out making friends."

     "Well what if he comes across someone who wants to hurt him! Or take him away again because of his-" he lowers his voice like someone could potentially hear their conversation, "powers."

     "Jim." She smiles assuring at the man, "stop thinking anything is going to happen to Milo"

     "It happens once." Jim's voice becomes dangerously low as he thinks about it, "And I couldn't do anything then."

     "Hop." Joyce touches his shoulder gently, her tone full of understanding, especially after she almost lost her own son, "You have to stop blaming yourself for what happened. It wasn't your fault and Milo knows that too."

     "You know how I feel about that." The man begrudgingly answers in an irritated tone as his shoulders tense.

      "I know." She whispers, "But he is happy and safe now, that's what matters."

      "I still don't like that Wheeler kid at my home." He grumbles, the conversation becoming too heavy for the Chief of Police to handle at the moment and he quickly brings her attention back to his previous problem.

      "They're just teenagers in love." Joyce shrugs, focusing back on her work, knowing she can't force him to talk about his feelings.

      "They don't know anything about love." Jim stares at the woman like she lost her head, "What they do is not normal, it's not healthy."

      "You can't force them apart. " Joyce sighs, "I mean they're not little kids anymore, Hop. They're teenagers. If you order them around like a cop, they're gonna rebel. It's just what they do."

     "So what? I'm just supposed to let them do whatever they want?" Jim scoffs, tilting his head to the side as he rolls his eyes.

     "No I didn't say that. I think you should talk to them." She offers with a kind smile in his direction.

     "No."

     "No?"

     "Cause talking doesn't work." Hopper shakes his head at the suggestion.

     "Not yelling, not ordering, but talk to them." Joyce tries to persuade the man, "But talk to them. You know, like a heart-to-heart."

     "A heart-to-heart?" Jim frowns at the words as he repeats them like a curious child, "What is that?"

     Joyce blinks, not completely sure why the Chief of Police wouldn't even know what a heart-to-heart was, "You sit them down and you talk to them, like you're their friend. I find that if you talk to them like you're on their level, then they really start to listen. And then, you know, you could start to create some boundaries.

     The man looks in complete shock about the mere idea of something like a heart-to-heart existing as he leans his forehead against the wall as he repeats her words monotonal, "boundaries."

     "Yeah, but, Hop it is really important that no matter how they respond, you stay calm. You cannot lose your temper." She adds matter of factly.

     "Uh-" He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, "Maybe you can do it for me?"

      "No."

     "Yeah you could." He brightens up again, ignoring her words completely, "You come over after work." He approaches her with newfound hope in his yes. "Yes."

     "No." Joyce repeats, shaking her head. "You got to talk to them yourself, both of them." She presses, "It only works if it comes from you."

     "But- but. . ."

      Joycesighs as she looked at the helplessness in his eyes and she caves in,"Maybe I can help you find the right words?" She offers.

· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽

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˚ ₊ ♡ 1985, june 29th ─── episode one
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     "I CALL IT THE FOREVER CLOCK." DUSTIN ANNOUNCES PROUDLY, EXCITEMENT LACED IN HIS TONE AS HE HOLDS UP ANOTHER INVENTION FROM HER SUMMER CAMP TO SHOW to his friends, "Powered by wind, very useful in the apocalypse." No one gives any reaction the boy's words as they stare at him and his jubilant smile falters slightly. Milo, noticing this tries his best to come up with something to say, but his lack of scientific knowledge (- and everything else really ) holds the boy back and leaves him clueless in this moment

      "Uh-" The blonde smiles at Dustin trying his best to understand anything the boy just said, "It looks sick. . ." He tilts his head, "but what is an apocalypse?"

      Dustin sighs, arms going limb as the blonde boy looks around the room awkwardly seeing no one else trying to make an effort to listen to the curly haired preteen.

      "An end of the world scenario. Like with zombies." Dustin elaborates trusting the contraption in Milo's hand who starts to spin the wheel mindlessly, trying to see how it works while the Henderson boy picks up his next invention.

     "Then I give you the Slammer." He presented but the boy is much more excited for his next item and quickly puts it down again, "Pretty neat, huh. But this is my masterpiece." He grabs his bag from his bed, and with a loud huff he manages to pick it up and carefully place it on the ground and the group crouches down to watch what Dustin will unveil.

      "Meet Cerebro."

      Milo blinks as he looks at the contraption in confusion as he tries to figure out what exactly he even is looking at, but luckily this time he isn't the only one left in the dark as they all have looks of confusion etched on their faces.

      "What exactly are we looking at here?" Mike asks, head lifting up to look at Dustin.

      "An unassembled, one-of-a-kind battery-powered radio tower."

      "So it's a ham radio?" Will wonders with a teasing tone.

       "Ham radio?" Milo wonders out loud again, but he is ignored by the group and the blonde instead focuses back on the thing in Dustin's bag.

      "The Cadillac of ham radio's" Dustin counters Will's quip.

       "This baby carries a crystal-clear connection over vast distances. I'm talking North to South Pole." He grins proudly before continuing. "I can talk to my girlfriend whenever and wherever I chose."

      "Girlfriend!" Will, Mike and Eleven chorus together while Milo remains focused on the strange invention in Dustin's bag and as he reaches out to touch it, his hand is slammed away by the Henderson boy who doesn't even look away from the other three people in the room. Milo frowns, not sure why everybody cares so much about the boy's girlfriend- the radio looks much more fascinating to him.

      "Her name is Suzie." The boy states, a wide smile spread on his face that even makes Milo smile brightly, happy for the younger boy and the invention momentarily forgotten.

     "So Suzie with a z?" Mike asks.

     Dustin nods as he gathers everything he needs before the group walks out of the boy's bedroom to go outside and ensemble his tower. "She's from Utah."

"Girls go to science camp?" Will speaks up from the back in amazement, eagerly awaiting the answer.

      "She's a genius." Dustin grins happily.

      "Is she cute?"

        "Think Phoebe Cates, only hotter."

        "What's going on?" Lucas and Max join them by the door.

      "Who's Phoebe Cates? Do we know her?" Milo smiles cluelessly at the two younger teens, eyes twinkling in excitement at the idea of going  somewhere and see what Dustin's creation can do.