A goofy kiss (this was like really hard??? SORRY IT TOOK A MINUTE)
Joyce dipped her french fry in ketchup and looked up to see Holly coming down the plastic slide. There were little kids all over the McDonald’s play area and Joyce didn’t feel a single pull of nostalgia from when her boys were small and enjoyed this scene. It was nice to be over this stage of her life.
“What are you doing here?” Hopper asked.
She looked up to see him standing, squinting above her, with his bag of food and soda.
“I’m watching Holly while Karen has a doctor’s appointment,” Joyce explained as Hopper sat down across from her, uninvited.
“Oh yeah,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Nobody wants to take a preschooler with them while you put your feet up in the stirrups so I offered to help.”
“Oh, that kind of appointment.” He made a face.
“How very grown up of you,” Joyce said before looking back to find Holly on the brightly colored play structure.
But she couldn’t see her. Joyce moved a little in her seat to try and see the upper tubes where there were windows for the kids to wave out of, but didn’t see her. She straightened her back to see a little higher as if that would help but she didn’t see Holly.
“She’s right there.” Hopper pointed to a crying Holly coming from the back of the play area.
Joyce sagged with relief and waited for Holly to make her way to the table, sniffling.
“What happened, sweetie?” Joyce asked, hunching over to be more at Holly’s level.
“I hurt…my…” She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. Joyce reached behind her and wiggled her fingers and Hopper put a napkin in her hand which she used to wipe Holly’s nose better.
“Did you fall? Trip?” Joyce prodded, noticing that all parts of Holly were intact and there wasn’t any blood.
“Bumped my head,” Holly finally managed to get out, putting a hand on her forehead and rubbing awkwardly.
Joyce pushed some hair off of Holly’s forehead and didn’t see anything but gave her a serious look. “It looks bad, but I think you’re gonna survive.”
“You gotta kiss it,” Holly said, her lower lip jutting out.
“Of course,” Joyce added, leaning in, making a big production about it, her face circling, causing Holly to crack a smile, and then kissed her forehead. “Ready to go back and play now or did you want some more of your nuggets?”
Holly was fixated on Joyce’s neck though. “What’s that? Do you need me to kiss that owie better?”
Hopper choked on his soda and Joyce immediately covered her neck, the spot where her shoulder met her neck. She’d been pulling her shirt collar over the bruise all day but her shirt shifted in the process of that healing kiss.
Joyce pulled her shirt back again and shook her head. “Go play, kiddo, that’s nothing.”
Holly shrugged and ran off while Joyce turned to glare at Hopper.
“That’s what you get for acting like a teenager,” Joyce said, taking some of his fries.
send me a ship and a number for a kiss mini fic(since I need to distract myself on election day, we’ll keep doing these)
