Eddie & Hopper
Hopper desperately wanted to score some Eggos. Having them there when Eleven came to this place, if she came to this place, was the single most important thing in his mind. He knew he was fixating on it to an unhealthy degree, but it was important. He needed to make sure El felt safe from the moment she arrived.
He refused to consider the very real possibility that she wouldn't arrive. She was his daughter, and he had so much yet to teach her, to experience with her. If he was given a second chance after his apparent death under the Starcourt Mall, he couldn't fathom that second chance being without El. Steve was already here, it stood to reason El was coming too.
He would have her beloved Eggos ready for her. Nothing else mattered. Or at least mattered so much.
"Okay, well. It's not my first experience with creepy woods trying to kill me." Okay, so the Upsidedown wasn't exactly woods. But it was close enough that the message was the same. He wasn't worried. Yet.
"I don't have my gun," he stated. He'd arrived wearing the Russian uniform. He'd lost his gun in the fight with Grigori. He picked up a stick. "This has sharp edges. Maybe it will do." He didn't get pulled here for a second chance just to die within the first week, he was sure of it.
"Stay behind me if anything comes at us." He appreciated that Eddie was willing to help him out, so he was going to try to protect the guy.