"Mom! Have you seen my sneakers?" A voice yelled down the hallway.

"No, I haven't Honey." Joyce Byers reached for a mug out of the cabinet. "Did you check by the front door?"

"Yes." Will came walking down the hall and sat down at the table. "I can't find my sneakers anywhere. And my other shoes are dirty. I guess I can't go to school..."

Joyce was about to say something, but she was interrupted. "What's this about not going to school?"

Joyce sighed as Hopper walked in the front door and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Once Will was found and all of the Upside Down craziness was over, Joyce and Hopper finally had a chance to realize they had feelings for each other. They had been going out for about a month and a half now.

"Will can't find his shoes," Joyce answered. "So, he says he can't go to school."

"I see." Hopper nodded. "The case of the missing sneakers... Leave it to me kid, I'll find your shoes..."

"No need." Jonathan walked into the kitchen holding up a black pair of tennis shoes. "Look what I found behind my dresser. I wonder how those got there..."

Will laughed nervously. "Huh... that sure is weird..." Suddenly he started fake coughing (very badly) "Oh man I... I really don't feel good... I think I need to stay home..."

Joyce sighed, "Will you're not sick. Now, put your shoes on. The bus will be here any minute."

He held his head and slipped his shoes on. A second later, the horn of the bus could be heard from outside. He started walking towards the door.

"Try to have a good day at school sweetheart," Joyce called.

"It will be over before you know it," Jonathan added. "And after school, what do you say we all go out for ice cream?"

Neither received an answer as Will sulked out the door. He gently closed it behind him as he walked to the bus.

Joyce and Jonathan both sighed as Hopper looked at the two of them. "What was that all about? Was Will trying to skip school? I thought the kid loved learning."

"He does," Joyce answered. "But he does this every year."

"What do you mean?" Hopper was confused.

"Normally Will doesn't miss school for anything." Jonathan tried explaining. "He could have the flu and still insist on going to school. However, one day a year, he tries to skip."

"And what day is that?" he asked.

"Bring your dad to school day." They answered in unison.

"Oh..." Hopper was starting to get it.

"Even when Lonnie was around," Joyce explained. "he could never be bothered with going to see Will at school. Will was always so embarrassed. Sure, other kids in his class had dads that couldn't come. But there's a big difference between not having a father to come to school, and having one, that just doesn't want to come. A few years back, he started trying to pull this skipping thing. I thought about letting him stay home, but I thought it would look but if I kept him home the same day every year. So, we make him go, and he's always mad about it."

"I think the other kids make fun of him." Jonathan continued. " I know when I was in school, they always made fun of me for it. I can only imagine what they say to Will."

"The poor kid..." Hopper and Joyce hadn't been dating for long. But Hopper was already starting to see Will and Jonathan as his own. After the loss of Sarah, there had been a void in his heart that he couldn't fill. However, those two boys were slowly starting to mend that hole. Heck, even those three other hooligans that Will always hangs around were starting to grow on him.

The point is, Hopper thought of Will as a son. And No one messes with his kid. "You know, I hate to do this, but I just remembered something. I'll be back later." He quickly said goodbye to the two Byers and ran out the door. He had a meeting to attend...

~time skip~

Will sighed as he walked into the building. He always hated bring your dad to school day. But this year was going to be even worse. Word had spread that when Lonnie was in town for his 'funeral' he was only here to get money from a lawsuit. He had already started hearing comments about it so he was sure that today would be no better.

"Hey Will." Mike and his dad walked up behind him. Mike was smiling at him sadly. He knew about Will's feelings on this day. "How you are doing?"

He shrugged, "Same as usual."

They fell into awkward silence, but it was quickly broken by the school bell. They walked down the hallway and entered their classroom. Let the torture begin.

As soon as Will walked into the room, he saw Troy and James smirking at him.

"Why the long face Willie?" James mocked.

"What, your dad a no-show again?" Troy laughed. "How many years in a row does this make it? Oh yeah, all of them!"

"He's just too humiliated having a freak for a son to show his face."

"Who would want to be associated with the zombie boy?"

"All he cares about is the money he could get from you dying!"

"No one asked you to come back, you should have just stayed dead."

As the insults continued, Will tried to stay strong, and do everything in his power to keep the tears from spilling. His wall was about to break when suddenly a hand was on his back.

"You two mouth breathers live Will alone!" Mike, Dustin, and Lucas were all standing behind him.

"You're just jealous that Will is getting more attention than you!" Lucas sneered.

"One more word out of you and we'll sick our crazy friend on you!" Dustin added.

The fear on their faces proved that the taunting was over. For now,...

The four made their way to the back of the classroom where three of there dads were waiting for them. The second bell rang, and the teacher went to the front of the room to begin class. Will sighed and got ready for another long day.

~time skip~

One by one, the teacher read off the name of the child whose father would be speaking. The dad would tell a little bit about what he does, and the rest of the time would be left for students to ask questions. Will was waiting anxiously for that accursed moment that his name would get called. Every year he was the last one because his name started with a 'W' and she went in alphabetical order by first name. On the list of students, the teacher had previously marked off the names of the kids whose fathers had died or were never in the picture. But she never marked off his name. His dad could come, he just never felt like it.

"Will Byers." The whole room turned to him and snickers could be heard. He looked up and was about to say that once again, his dad hadn't come. However, at that moment, the door of the classroom slammed open.

~time skip~

Hopper sprinted down the hallway of Hawkins Middle and ran straight to the door of Will's classroom. He quickly walked in. "Hey... sorry... hope I'm not interrupting. I'm here for Will Byers."

"Oh..." the teacher stuttered. "Hello, Chief. He's right back there. You can take him out in the hall if you-"

"No, I mean..." he took his hat off. "I'm his guest. I'm filling in."

"Oh." The teacher finally understood. "Well, you're just in time. It was Will's turn. Go ahead and tell the class what you do."

The whole class looked at Hopper with confusion and skepticism as Hopper walked to the front of the room. He made eye contact with Will who was staring at him in awe.

Hopper cleared his throat nervously. He had never had to do anything like this before. "Hi everyone, my name is Jim Hopper. I'm the Chief of Police here in Hawkins so I'm sure a lot of you have seen me around town. My job is to basically keep the bad people off the streets of Hawkins, and make sure all of the citizens are safe and happy."

"Now, I could tell you about the boring day to day stuff that I have to do on the job. Filing paperwork, helping cats out of trees, hunt down pesky kids who are stealing garden gnomes. If any of you are involved in that by the way, I'm coming for you. But I thought I would tell you about some of my more exciting adventures."

Hopper started talking about past cases he had solved. Kidnappings, bank robberies, drug dealers. Every time he started a new story; the kids were on the edge of their seats. By the time he had finished talking and asked if there were any questions, almost every hand in the room was raised.

"Have you ever caught a serial killer?"

"What happens to the drugs once the sellers are caught?"

"What happens if not all the money is found after a bank robbery?"

"How much do you get paid?"

"If the police are free, where do you afford cars and weapons?

"What kind of gun do you have?"

He happily answered all of their questions, even the dumb ones. However, he was not prepared for the last question. There was one more hand raised. Two boys were sitting off to themselves, and they were snickering. When he called on them, he figured that they were going to ask him something stupid.

"Why are you here for Will Byers? You aren't his dad. His dad hates him too much to show up! What do you have to do with him?"

The whole room fell silent and Will looked down in shame. "Troy that is enough!" The teacher scolded. "See me after class." But the damage was done. Troy had managed to make a fool out of Will once again.

"Now listen here punk." Will looked back up at Hopper who was glaring at Troy. "I may not be Will's dad, but that doesn't mean I can't love him like I am. I have the pleasure of dating his mom, so I'd say that gives me every right to stop by his school every once and a while. So if I hear that your picking on my kid again... Well, I am the Chief of Police. You don't want to be on my bad side..."

The whole room fell silent and Troy looked scared enough to wet his pants again. Then the bell rang, and school was over.

Hopper walked out of the room and waited in the lobby. He thought he would take Will home, so he didn't have to take the bus. He had only been waiting a minute before he was wrapped in a tight hug.

He looked down and saw Will squeezing him as hard as he could. "Thank you so much! That was amazing!" he let go and was beaming up at Hopper. "This is the best day ever!"

Hopper smiled and ruffled his hair. "Oh, it was no big deal. I was in the neighborhood..."

"Dude!" Will's friends ran over to them. "That was awesome!"

"Did you see the look on Troy's face?!"

"It was so cool when..."

"I loved the part where..."

"...It was just like on tv and..."

The boys continued to shower Will with compliments.

"You totally had the best dad here!"

Will smiled up at Hopper. "Yeah, I did."

As they walked to the car, kids that Hopper had never seen before were walking up to Will and complimenting him. Will would just blush and say 'thank you' before picking up the pace. Most of these people Will had never even held a conversation with.

Once they got into the car Will wouldn't stop talking about how cool he thought Hopper's presentation was. But Hopper didn't mind. He was just glad to see the kid with a smile again after this morning.

~time skip~

"Mom! Jonathan! You're not going to believe what happened!" Will came running into the house closely followed by Hopper.

They were both very confused to see Will smiling again. "What is it dear?"

"Hopper came to my school today!" They were both stunned as Will filled them in on all the details. Even the part about Troy and James. The whole time Hopper just stood in the corner blushing.

In a daze, Joyce told Will to go get cleaned up then they would go for ice cream. Once Will was gone, she quickly stood up and gave Hopper a big hug. "Thank you so much for making my boy happy."

He smiled and hugged her right back. "It was my pleasure."

Will walked back in and the four all piled into Hopper's truck to go get ice cream. They had an amazing time and Will couldn't stop smiling the whole time they were there. Even on the way home. This truly had been the best day ever. 

The End. 

(A/N - Hey guys! :) Thanks so much for reading my story! :) I hope you liked it! And I hope you all liked season 3! I haven't seen it yet but I'm sure it's amazing! Well, see y'all later! :) Bye!)