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Lonnie Byers has turned up. Hopper was worried this would happen. A bad penny always turns up, he thinks. Stay calm, we promised Joyce we'd stay calm and polite. We'll just tell him to go .
Hopper is standing on the porch of his family's new home. He still can't quite believe that Joyce agreed to live with him, or that she agreed to be his wife, or that the boys have been so accepting of him. And yet this fucker has turned up to ruin his mood. Who the fuck told him about me and Joyce? Or where we live? I'll have to figure that out later and have a conversation about why we stay out of other people's business . He thinks.
But first, this asshole needs to be dealt with. We promised to be polite , he reminds himself again. Polite, though he'll be damned if he knows why given everything Lonnie's done. But it's what Joyce wants, so he'll try.
"Where are they Hopper?" Lonnie snarls as he moves towards him.
"Inside. They don't want to see you…" he replies gruffly, standing his ground "... none of them do. Just leave…" and then as an afterthought he adds "... please."
See Joyce, I can be polite, he thinks.
"Don't give me that shit! Where the fuck are my family?!" Lonnie yells moving closer.
Watch it you deadbeat .
"They aren't yours Lonnie, and I told you already. They don't want to see you, so leave." he replies, hopefully calmly.
Lonnie is right in front of him, bristling with rage. Does this prick think he can scare me?
"Get outta my way you fat fuck!" Lonnie yells moving to shove past Hopper. Hopper moves to block Lonnie's path.
"Watch it Lonnie. You aren't going in there. They don't want to see you. Now back off." he says.
"You can't tell me what to do! You aren't a cop anymore!"
Who the fuck has he been talking to?
"Who the fuck said you could marry her! She's mine!" Lonnie yells.
Get a load of this fucking guy! His? What a fucking joke .
"She isn't your wife anymore Lonnie, and she was never your property. Now I'll ask you one last time. Leave."
"Fuck you!" he yells, raising his fists.
Don't raise your fists to me you little fucker, I'll break your fucking arm. Hopper wants to say, but we're being polite…
"... I suppose you know about the little queer and the Wheeler boy?" he spits Wheeler like it's a curse word. Now Hopper might not have always been Mike Wheeler's biggest fan. The kid can be an insufferable little shit sometimes. But , his two youngest kids adore him, and that adoration is clearly mutual.
In fact, Mike and El had become (if anything) even closer since they broke up. Around a year later Mike had come out as gay (to a select group of people), and had started dating Will. It was about damn time as far as Hopper was concerned, those boys had been head over heels in love with each other for as long as he'd known them. Both boys had barely stopped smiling since they got together.
It made his heart swell to see them both so happy and content after everything they'd been through.
That said, it was meant to be a secret. He wishes it didn't have to be that way, but Hawkins (and the World in general) can be a shitty place and he wants to keep the boys safe from assholes like Lonnie fucking Byers. I guess I need to have another conversation, and figure out how this bastard found out .
"Yeah I do…" he replies, he's starting to lose what little patience he had now. How dare he talk about his own kid like that! And to think he calls himself Will's father. Any sane person would be delighted to have a brave, smart, kind, talented kid like Will.
Hopper knows he's proud to call himself Will's step-dad. Damn proud. The same is true of Jonathan.
"... and I don't have a problem with it."
"So you'll just allow that under your roof?" Lonnie's fists are up again.
"Yeah, and what's more I encourage it. It makes them happy, so I'm happy. They're both good boys."
"I should have beaten it out of him when he was a kid!" Lonnie is just raging now, red faced and spitting. He moves towards Hopper again…
"In fact I'll do it now!" that tears it, screw being polite . Lonnie is winding up for a punch.
"Like hell you will!" he shouts catching Lonnie's wild swing, swiftly twisting his arm into a lock behind the other man's back. A lock he could probably do in his sleep. Lonnie is used to picking on people weaker than him, he's never fought someone with Hopper's experience. The fucking coward.
Lonnie is desperately struggling to get free. Hopper twists his arm further…
"Now. A few things. 1) You're going to leave town now, and never come back…" One twist of the locked arm.
"2) You're not going to go anywhere near Joyce, the kids, or anyone they care about…" Another twist.
"3) You aren't going to contact them…" One more for luck. It'd be so easy to break Lonnie's arm now, but he won't do it. We're being polite.
"... and finally; if you break any of these rules. I will find out, and I promise that you'll regret it. Nod if you understand?"
Lonnie nods, Hopper lets go pushing Lonnie away from him and towards the driveway. Lonnie sprawls to the ground.
"Now. Fuck off my property before I call the cops" it feels weird to say that after all his years in law enforcement…
Lonnie has righted himself, and closes the distance between them with a look of loathing on his face.
"Fuck you Hopper!" he yells, throwing another wild punch. Ah fuck it Hopper thinks dodging the punch and knocking Lonnie out cold with a right hook to the face.
He makes sure Lonnie is out cold, unfortunately he's still alive (albeit with a broken jaw) , before walking back to the house.
"Joyce!" he calls stepping through the door "... could you call Powell please? There's some trash on the driveway that needs to be collected."
Joyce appears from the kitchen "Jesus Hop, what did you do?!"
"Nothing. I was polite like we talked about…" he shrugs "... where are the kids?"
"Upstairs, in Jonathan's room I think…" now that Hopper's inside he can hear music blaring upstairs "… He took them upstairs when they saw who was at the door. El and Mike wanted to go after you, but Jonathan talked them down."
Such good kids, always ready to defend their loved ones.
"That's good, I hope they didn't see or hear any of that. I'll talk to them all later…" he looks down at the blood on his knuckles and his ruffled shirt "... after I've cleaned myself up, and Powell has collected the trash."
"Thanks Hop" she says sincerely before heading to the phone.