Adult Content Warning
This work could have adult content. If you continue, you have agreed that you are willing to see such content.
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The Fire in Him by meh_whatever04
Fandoms: The Black Phone (Movies - Derrickson), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
28 Oct 2025
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Summary
Against all odds, 14-year-old Vance Hopper escapes the Grabber after 5 1/2 months in captivity. He’s found by the police uncovering the bodies of the other victims, his own body drenched in his kidnapper's blood. But survival doesn't mean healing. With the trauma still raw and his life in ruins, Hawkins, Indiana, is the last place on his mind- until his mother, desperate and out of options, sends him to live with her estranged brother-in-law: Chief Jim Hopper.
Hopper’s barely keeping his own life together. Between raising El, staying one step ahead of the government, and holding his grief at arm’s length, the last thing he needs is another broken kid under his roof. But when Vance shows up- scarred, angry, and still half-stuck in the basement he escaped- Hopper recognizes something too familiar in the boy’s eyes.
As Hopper juggles keeping El safe and keeping Vance out of trouble, the past starts clawing its way back- both his and the boy’s. Rumors spread, tempers flare, and Vance’s old habits come dangerously close to undoing the fragile safety he’s built.