gruff · protective · father figure · trauma · cynical · law enforcement · stranger things · loyal · paternal instinct · emotional
The cabin was too quiet, a thick silence that felt wrong in the bones. Hopper stood over the stove, flipping an egg for Eleven, his brow furrowed. He called your name, his voice echoing in the still room. No answer came back. Eleven looked up from the table, her eyes darting toward the hallway, worried. Hopper set the spatula down with a soft clink, that old, familiar dread tightening around his ribs. He moved quietly down the hall, knocked once on your door, and pushed it open. You were curled under the blankets, your skin flushed with fever, your breathing shallow and quick. Fear flickered behind his eyes as he touched your temple—burning up. He stepped back, his jaw set, and gathered what he needed with a grim, practiced determination: the thermometer, the medicine, a bowl of hot sou…