Henderhop

"We talked about you pretty much every day."

- Dustin to El in their Season 2 reunion

Henderhop is the het ship between Dustin Henderson and Jane "Eleven" Hopper from the Stranger Things fandom.

Season 1
"She’s our friend and she’s crazy!"

- Dustin about El

Dustin and El first met in the woods on the night of November 7, 1983. El had run away from Hawkins National Laboratory, and happened upon Mike, Lucas, and Dustin, who were searching for their missing friend Will Byers. After the boys bring El back to Mike's basement, Dustin's first words to El were “Where’s your hair? Do you have cancer?”; Dustin was overall the most curious about her. Dustin and Lucas were both apprehensive about Mike letting a girl spend the night.

When El used her powers in front of the boys for the first time, Dustin said, “We never would’ve upset you if we knew you had superpowers.” Dustin spends the rest of the season being very impressed with El's powers; wondering if El’s powers were acquired or if she was born with them; as well as asking her to do tricks with her abilities.

After El uses her powers to find Barbara Holland and Will Byers in the Upside Down, she is exhausted. Dustin is the first to point out that she's too tired to use her powers- "Mike, look at her."- and announces to the group that he's going to the cafeteria to find the chocolate pudding that he's sure Lunch Lady Phyllis hoards, because "El's battery needs to be recharged". While he and Lucas are in the kitchen, Mike and El sit at a table and discuss potential future plans, including whether Mike will "be like [El's] brother". Lucas and Dustin return after Mike kisses El, oblivious to that situation but proud to bring out as much chocolate pudding as they can carry. Dustin tells El, "Oh yeah; this will charge your battery right up, I'm telling you."

Season 2
"You have teeth."

- El to Dustin

Dustin spent most of this season believing that El was dead; El spent most of this season with Hopper or on her own outside of Hawkins.

On November 5, 1984, El returns to Hawkins. Dustin and El reunite at the Byers' house; they share a group hug with Lucas.

El points out that Dustin's front teeth grew back, and he proudly shows off his "pearls" to El.

Season 3
"You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!"

- Dustin to El

On June 29, 1985, Dustin returns home from Camp Know Where. El and the rest of the Party welcome him home; El uses her powers to move Dustin's toys from his bedroom to the living room. Later in the day, Dustin shows off his inventions from summer camp, and shares the news that he has a girlfriend. El is surprised and goes with the others to set up Dustin's ham radio "Cerebro". El and Mike leave the others to finish setting up, because of El's "curfew", but in reality, the couple just want to hang out together at Hopper's cabin. Dustin expresses disappointment as the two leave, saying, "It's bullshit. I just got home." but Dustin then continues, "Well, their loss, right?" as a way to cope.

After spending most of the season apart, Dustin and El reunite in Starcourt Mall: Dustin and the Scoops Troop hide from Russian military behind a counter, and El throws a car with her mind to protect the Scoops Troop. Dustin is overjoyed to see her, and exclaims in admiration, "You flung that [car] like a Hot Wheel!" while running up to give her a big hug.

When El is revealed to have an Upside Down slug in her leg, from where she was injured earlier in the season, Dustin holds her hand as Jonathan attempts to remove it. El then proceeds to remove it herself with her powers.

In the season finale, El moves with the Byers to California. Dustin and El are shown hugging twice, and this is the only time they hug without it being a group hug. El's tears are visible throughout the entire goodbye scene, but especially with Dustin.

Henderhop's compatibility as a couple is often seen in canon. Eleven's love language, as we see in Season 4, consists mostly in words of affirmation, something that would work with Dustin, since he likes saying his girlfriend is a genius and doesn't spare words complimenting her, but not in a way that would put her in a pedestal. Dustin also calls her crazy in a positive way and likes when she defends herself in Season 1, a contrast with her current love interest, who does the complete opposite. They're also both the "romantic" type and would be able to give love to each other in the way they're looking for. Both of them also are the only party members who committed murder.

Season 4
The Piggyback Dustin and El reunite in the Wheelers' yard and share a group hug with Will.

Quotes
"Where’s your hair? Do you have cancer?"

- Dustin's first words to El.

"We never would’ve upset you if we knew you had superpowers."

- Dustin to El.

"Wow. She looks…"

- Dustin about El's makeover in season 1.

"She’s our friend and she’s crazy! You come back and she’ll kill you!"

- Dustin to Troy and James, about El.

"Did… did you see what she did to that van?"

- Dustin to Lucas and Mike, after El flips the van in season 1.

"This will charge your battery right up, I'm telling you."

- Dustin to El.

Fanon
Henderhop is not a very popular ship, but it is quickly gaining traction on Tumblr and on Twitter, where there are small circles of users who ship Henderhop and even believe that it will be canon. The Tumblr series, "Henderhop is Endgame" explores the possibility of the ship becoming endgame and converted a lot of shippers to believe in this narrative. The general audience is, mostly, not aware of the existence of this ship.

El/Dustin is also known by the name "Superfreak", a portmanteau of "superhero" (El has been called this) and "freak" (Dustin has been called this). Another ship name for them is "Barge", although no one uses it; it is a portmanteau of "bard" (Dustin's D&D class) and "mage" (El's D&D class).

The headcanon of them both being Asexual (or AceSpec) is pretty popular or at least is well known in the fandom, and not just seen in this ship. A few Henderhop shippers headcanon them as Ace4Ace.

Shippers often speculate that Dustin had a crush on El, or even still has, one that he suppressed after Eleven started dating Mike. This is said because, in Season 2, where Dustin was looking for a love interest and frequently talked about how girls wouldn't resist to his pearls, when Eleven reunited, he immediately showed off his teeth to her and purred, a gesture that was clearly romantic. This action is interpreted as him wanting to impress her, and, consequently, having a crush on her. In Season 1, Dustin was amazed at what she can do, her powers and her appearance. He's frequently known around the fandom as the only one who was never scared of her since the beginning, unlike Lucas and Mike.

Henderhop's biggest rival is Mileven, and often non-Mileven shippers like to gravitate towards Henderhop or Hopclair when looking for a het ship for Eleven, sometimes even resulting in Henderhopclair. Another rival that easily overshadows Henderhop is Elmax. From Dustin's side, Duzie and Henclair contribute to Henderhop often being considered the third option to ship from all the possibilities.

The first fanfiction featuring Henderhop was posted on AO3 in 2016. As of May 2023, there are currently 110+ works for Henderhop on A03.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Dustin/El tag on FanFiction.net
 * Dustin/El tag on FanFiction.net
 * Dustin/El tag on FanFiction.net

TUMBLR

TWITTER

Variations

 * Henderhopclair — the ship between Dustin Henderson, Eleven and Lucas Sinclair
 * Henderhopwheel — the ship between Dustin Henderson, Eleven and Mike Wheeler