You Never Looked Back (Jopper Fic)
Jopper songfic for Jopper Week 2026 full of my headcanons and a major amount of fluff for the ending.
Song is Rose Betts' You Never Looked Back (except for the last bit)
I could be a hero, I could be a rock
I could be the brakes when the car won't stop
I could be the water when the hiccups come
And I could be your socks when your feet get numb
Her home life has never been what anyone would classify as ideal. Her mom left when she was so little that she didn’t even have any real memories. There were some smells and songs she associated with her mom. She could pick her out in pictures. But she didn’t have much else. She knew it was her fault that her mom left though. That part was always clear.
Her dad was rough around the edges, but she deserved most of what he said and did. She was anxious and irritating. She was lazy. At least that’s what she always heard from him.
So she grew up a little tired. Because it was hard to fall asleep never knowing what time your drunk dad might stagger into the house.
She was always a little hungry. Because any more was greedy and he wasn’t raising a greedy kid. Because too much might make her fat and nobody wanted an ugly girl.
She wore cast-off clothes and hand-me-downs. She wasn’t worth new, pretty things.
And she genuinely believed every bit of that to be true. So when eight-year-old Jim gave her his apple at lunch one day at school she didn’t even know what to do.
“I have a loose tooth,” she began. “Also, my dad says that I don’t need anything else.”
“My mom said you do,” Jim told her. “Plus, if you’re hungry at recess you won’t run as fast and I want you on my team.”
Jim Hopper was the most normal part of her life from the time he shared that apple until the day he left for Vietnam. Always in her corner, always speaking gentle truths that ran counter to everything she’d heard before, seeing and believing the best about her, and being her comfort.
I could be an oak tree, I could be the shore
I could be a campfire keeping you warm
I could be the sunlight peeping through the cracks
But you'll never know 'cause you never looked back
“She’s really strong, Jim,” she says, hand on his shoulder.
“I know. I know it’s good they caught it early and there’s a good chance she comes through this just fine. It’s just,” he puts his head in his hands. “Scary.”
She’s the only one he can admit that to.
“Yeah.” She plops down beside him. “It is. I need her too, ya know?”
He didn’t expect his mom to come home with a cancer diagnosis. He thought she was just worn out. She took care of everyone and everything. Being tired would have made sense. This didn’t.
“I’m calling it now,” Joyce says, scooching somehow closer to him.
“What?” He doesn’t mean to glower at her but he feels awful.
“Six months from now, that’s how long they said her treatment will be, right? We’ll be celebrating that she’s recovered.”
One month later Joyce reminds him that his mom’s doctor said there were options for treatment so if her cancer doesn’t respond they still have recourse.
Three months later Joyce reminds him that his mom is halfway there.
Four months in and she reminds him why they’re not giving up.
Five months pass and he finds Joyce having tea with his mom on the front porch because his mom can’t get out and do anything.
Six months later she says “Told you so,” and gives him his first real kiss (the one under the slide at their elementary school doesn’t count).
And a year after that, Joyce is the one who makes him and his dad plan a whole picnic to celebrate.
She’s there for all of it.
I could be a blanket, I could be a breeze
I could be the sugar in your morning tea
And I could be a penny at the bottom of the well
I could be a pearl in the middle of the shell
“Lonnie is a piece of shit,” he says, voice raised.
“Oh, you’re one to talk,” she retorts.
She doesn’t know why he’s talking about her coming with Lonnie Byers when he’s dating Chrissy. What business is it of his who she goes to the Snow Ball with?
“Where’s Chrissy? Why aren’t you with her?” she asks with a sigh, voice losing some of its venom. She really doesn’t want to fight. To be frank, she doesn’t know why they are.
“She broke up with me.” He doesn’t look at her when he says it but he also doesn’t sound too upset.
“She broke up with you?” She scrunches her nose up.
So we could have come together.
“We could have come together,” he says, giving voice to her thoughts.
“We were fighting,” she argues.
“‘Bout what?” He looks at her when he asks, half teasing (because teasing Joyce is one of his favorite things.)
“Because you-” she begins, then lets out a huff of air and swallows her frustration. “I don’t really know.” She does know, but she doesn’t care. It doesn’t really matter. They should have come together.
“Dance with me, Joycie?” He holds out a hand to her.
It is going to royally piss Lonnie off. If he comes back in time to see it.
“Yeah,” she grabs his hand without a second thought.
I could be a savior, I could be a king
I could be the air underneath your wings
I could be the light when the night goes black
But you'll never know 'cause you never looked back
The tears are running down her cheeks, making tracks, but she’s not noisy about it. She doesn’t blubber. She’s been trained not to.
“This is why I didn’t tell you,” Hop says, not making eye contact.
“That you’re going to Vietnam, Jim?” she says at a whisper. “You might never come back.”
“That’s what my mom said.”
“Well, she’s right. You’re just leaving us here?” How can he?
“I’m going to help. It’s my duty,” he replies, parroting back the words his dad has said so many times, choosing to picture his father’s pride instead of his mother’s sorrow.
“This isn’t like when we were kids. This isn’t risky like skipping out on class or taking your dad’s car to Lovers Lake or-” she sputters.
She’s overly-emotional. She’s pregnant. It’s Lonnie’s, not Hop’s like she always dreamed but never said.
“It’s not your duty. Somebody else can go.” She knows she sounds petulant but he’s been her hero, her lucky penny at the bottom of a well, her light when the night goes black. He can't go.
“Are you gonna tell me goodbye or what?” He stands and looks at her as he asks.
“I can’t say goodbye,” she answers softly, swiping at her cheeks.
The next day, he ships out.
Threw me down like a broken part
I'm so much more than that
But you'll never know 'cause you never looked back
He can honestly say he hasn’t thought of her in years.
No, that’s not honest. He hasn’t thought of her a lot, but she has come to mind. When he feels the grief begin to smother him, he thinks of her.
But she hasn’t been anything to him for years.
His mom keeps him updated every time she calls.
“Joycie works at Donald’s store. I’m glad she has something but that girl is so smart. I wish there was something better for her!”
“Jimmy, you’d have loved to see it. She brought the boys by the house to trick-or-treat. The older one, he has so many of her mannerisms but the little fella, oh, he has her big brown eyes. Charming boys.”
“Come home, Jimmy. You could get a job at the station here in town. Your friends are still here. Benny Hammond and Joycie would love to have you back.”
He thinks that maybe, maybe, being closer to her means he might not drown. He doesn’t know how that’s supposed to work, only that she’s been his sunlight peeking through the cracks before.
We could be a statue and we could be a star
We could be the lovers in the hotel bar
We could be the feet making brand new tracks
But you’ll never know ‘cause you never looked back
They’d grown back together, talked through the causes of old wounds, healed, moved forward. They had the kids, two boys and a girl. They had a house (mildly monster infested) and a cabin (not without its own flaws).
They’d rescued a child together, fought monsters together, protected their family and their town and here was where it ended. Fighting the Russians.
There’s no other choice. The machine has to be destroyed.
She goes home without him and tries to move on.
First the denial is just that. It’s the first stage of grief and she’s slow when coming to terms with loss, especially this one. But then there’s the feeling, the same one she had when she knew Will was out there somewhere. Oh, she’s not talking to lights, but there’s something in the pit of her stomach that just won’t settle and isn’t just sorrow. Then there’s the package and the knowledge. And the rescue.
And the choice. He’s back and they're going to do everything else, forever, together.
Saw who I was, loved me just like that
Promised a love that'll last
That now we'll know 'cause we both looked back
“Where are we gonna stay?” he asks softly, arms around her, loathe to let her go.
“Here,” she murmurs against him. “Here, right?”
Joyce pulls back and looks so puzzled that he would even ask that it makes him want to giggle. How he’s missed watching every emotion flit across her face.
“S’just that there’s not a lot of room. Wondered if you California girls would find it too crowded.”
He sits down on his bed. Their bed?
“I wouldn’t care if it was a shed with one of those tiny army surplus air mattress thingies your granddad left you.”
He throws his head back to laugh. It feels so good to laugh.
“I’m not kidding, Hop.” She can’t bring herself to stop reaching out for him, reassuring herself that he’s there, he’s real. He’s hers? “I’m staying with you.”
“What do we tell the kids?”
“About what?” she asks, her eyebrows doing that thing where one rises higher than the other. “We just say we’re staying here. Together. Jonathan might want to spend time with Nancy, but Will and El aren’t going to say a thing.”
He watches her as she plunks down beside him on the bed and throws herself backwards, hair fanning out.
It’s long now, probably the longest he’s ever seen it aside from the one time she grew it out.
“What?” she exhales, leaning on her elbow and putting her head on her hand.
“What do we tell the kids about us?”
She snorts and lets her head fall back again. “Pretty sure the kids know about us. Pretty sure they knew about us before we were an us.”
He twists toward her and leans in to kiss her and she reaches out to pull him closer. At last, they’re home.
You can be a fortress, you can be a net
Be an umbrella so I won’t get wet
You can be a bird and I will be the nest
Forever together living life’s best
You can be the grandpa I can be the gran
I can be your lover and you’ll be my man
We can be the old folks walking in the sand
Doing life together, hand in hand
Didn't want to miss any more of life together
Now we're so much more than that
And now we'll know cause we both looked back
He knows he’s staring at her but he can’t help it, she’s always drawn him to her like some sort of siren that he was powerless to resist, even if he tried for so much of their lives.
“You gonna give her back?” he teases softly as he watches his wife stroke the chubby cheek of their newest grandchild.
“What? No. Why?” Joyce looks at him like he’s lost his mind.
“Just thought maybe Karen would like a turn,” he continues to needle her gently.
She stares, enraptured, at the tiny face cradled close. “Karen can have a turn another day,” she tells him mildly.
He lowers himself down to sit next to her on the new couch. Not the old one that sunk in the middle. He finds himself occasionally nostalgic for that old couch. He liked how his mere sitting would sink the cushions enough that his wife would, by default, find herself nestled against his side. There's something to be said for the way she chooses to move there now, even when the cushions hold steady.
As if reading his thoughts, Joyce tucks herself next to him so he can put his arm around both her and the baby. It’s almost certain that Jonathan will find them like this and start taking pictures, but for now they’re uninterrupted.
“You ever think,” he began tentatively, “what it might have been like if we’d, you know, looked back instead of just blowing right past each other in life.”
“Hmm,” she exhales softly. “Yeah. But I have to believe that everything happened for a reason and I definitely believe that it brought us here.”
There’s a pause and neither of them speaks. She has more to say, she’s just finding the words. And he knows that.
“This is pretty perfect, our life.”
“Thanks,” she whispers. “For coming back.”
“Pretty sure you're the one who went to hell and back again to rescue me,” he reminds her.
“It was nothing,” she quips with that smirk that he finds so irresistible. “And,” she says more seriously. “I was tired of missing life together.”
He hums a non-committal noise before answering, “We always have been at our best that way, huh? Together.”
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