Two years felt like they went on for way too long—like time was trickling far too slowly for Vance to deal with. He could remember the day that Joyce told him that his uncle was gone—dead—and the overwhelming sense of dread and anguish that filed him to his core. He could hear his own screams; bloodcurdling and loud as he crumbled in the woman’s arms that day; and how he had to convince her to let him stay in Hawkins with Sharona & her mother rather then leaving with the Byers & Jane to California. He could remember the nights he couldn’t sleep—the nights that Sharona had to hold him because all he could do is scream; in anguish, despair—fear. Hopper was the first adult in a very long time that he found himself to trust after the man had legally adopted him and taken him from Colorado to start a new life in Hawkins.
“𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐮𝐩.” His tone was light, a scoff laced with laughter following it as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand; emotions overwhelming and unable to contain themselves. Over time vance had become angry again—well, he was always angry—but reminiscent of the boy that moved to Hawkins that first day. Unpredictably angry. Unpredictably violent. The work put in to make Vance just a little bit better all going out the window. Therapy was rarely attended, if at all ( only if Sharona wasn’t taking him ); Vance would get arrested more often for either cutting someone again or causing some sort of property damage that was fuelled by pure rage & distress. And then eventually—he just gave up. Accepted the defeat that his uncle—his dad—wasn’t coming back and that even though he had his sister; he was alone. Again.
This didn’t feel real. It felt like one of the many dreams he had that Jim was alive and okay and then he’d wake up and he wasn’t there. Trust was a hard thing to get from Vance—it was so hard—but Vance put his trust in his positive father figure only for him to be taken away. Still; the seventeen year old was still…unsure of this. How the hell was this possible? “𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧—𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲.” He grumbled, sighing sharply at the question before he moved to wrap his arms around his uncle dad, fingers curled and gripped tightly into the fabric of his shirt.
“…𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?”
he saw the emotion in the others eyes, even though there was soft laughter coming from him. jim smiled widely as his nephew son wrapped his arms around him, and hopper wrapped them around vance tightly in return. he had no idea what had happened in the time that he was gone, what vance had gone through or who he stayed with; the good, the bad, the ugly... he knew none of it. but he would find out, he would find out everything from vance with time, he was sure, but right now all he cared about was holding his son close for the first time in two years. “no kid, i’m not dying. i promise, i’m not dying any time soon.” it was stupid to promise, he knew that it wasn’t something he could promise but jim would try his absolute best to stay alive, if for nothing else other than vance.
“i’m really alive, vance. i promise, i’m alive, i’m here and i’m not going anywhere.” jim would have never voluntarily left vance, or jane for that matter. he wouldn’t have left any of them, but unfortunately for him he didn’t have a choice in whether he had left or not. he didn’t let go of vance, and he wouldn’t until the kid let go of him. honestly, jim was expecting to get hit for his absence, and he would’ve taken it on the chin as well-deserved. whilst it hadn’t been his fault, he had still left after promising that he wouldn’t.
"you forgive me, kid? you know i wouldn’t have left you on purpose, right? that if i had a choice, i’d have stayed right here with you by my side.” jim spoke softly, hand moving to rub slowly at the others back.
