Chapter Text
The bell dings as he enters the shop and he gets deja vu for all the shifts he's worked here. He looks up at the counter, seeing Robin looking incredibly bored and Keith animatedly talking about something. He saunters up to them. "Hi! …oh it's just you dingus." Robin calls out, voice quickly dropping out of her customer voice. "What are you doing here?" She asks, slouching back down onto the counter.
Rolling his eyes, he leans on the counter in front of her. "Well hello to you too." He teases. She puts her middle finger up at him and smiles at him. "I need a copy of Back to the Future for Will and the gang, because apparently that's my job now." He says in amusement.
When Robin looks at him blankly, Keith sighs and gets up from behind the counter to get it from the shelf. A minute later he drops it on the counter in front of Steve. "You should really know this one? It was huge at the cinema recently? ...time travelling car? ...the kid interrupts his parents meeting and sets them up?" Keith explains to Robin, looking frustrated when he only gets blank looks from the two of them.
Gasping in realisation, Robin puts her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing. "Oh my god, it's the one where the mom makes out with her son!" She exclaims amid giggles.
It takes a second for Steve to place the film, but once he does he gasps in amusement as well. "You mean, it's what was on in the theatre when we… er…" he says trailing off as his eyes flit from Robin to Keith.
Scrunching up his face in disgust, Keith cuts him off. "Gross. I do not need to know what you did in that theatre. Please just pay and leave." Keith tells him, glaring at Steve.
Dutifully Steve hands over the money and smirks at Robin. He shoves the video in his backpack and pats Robin's shoulder. "Good luck." He whispers jokily into her ear, mostly to piss Keith off.
Swatting at him in annoyance, Robin laughs. "Fuck you." She exclaims, knowing that she's got to put up with Keith in his mood all shift, unlike Steve.
With a wink, Steve grins at her. "Not at work sweetheart." He jokes, quickly jumping out of her reach. He gives her a cheery wave, as she continues to swear profusely at him.
Keith interrupts her tirade with a sigh. "Stop flirting with the idiot and do some work." He tells her, making Steve cackle as he leaves the store.
He quickly makes the drive to the Byer's house and pulls up outside. He pushes open the door and gets a grunt in greeting from Will, who is currently intently playing Pong on the Atari. Jonathan looks up from next to him and abandons the game to greet him. "Hey." He says, giving Steve a soft kiss.
Various beeping from the Atari tells them that Will has won. "Yes! Sucker!" Will calls over to Jonathan competitively.
Spinning out of Steve's grasp, Jonathan stares down Will. "Only because I stopped playing!" He argues. Will sticks his tongue out at him and continues celebrating his victory.
Chuckling, Steve pulls the requested video out of his backpack and puts it on the coffee table in front of Will. "There you go shithead. One video rental." He says, as he shrugs his backpack and shoes off and dumps them by the door.
"Thanks Steve!" Will says brightly, his competition with Jonathan forgotten.
Grabbing Steve's hand, Jonathan tugs him gently back towards the hall. "Right well, let your friends in when they get here. If you need us, we'll be in my room." He tells Will, slowly inching his way out of the room.
Shrugging, Will turns back towards his game, but just before they leave he turns back to them. "Oh you should probably know. Mike, Dustin and Lucas think you two are hiding something from them." He calls over to them.
Freezing in the hallway, they both turn back to Will. Steve gives him a questioning look. "As in… they know about this?" He asks, gesturing between him and Jonathan.
Will lets out a startled laugh. "Oh no, they are blind to that!" He says, chuckling away. "Nah, they think you're plotting against Russians and monsters or something." He adds.
Sharing a look of confusion, they glance from each other to Will, trying to decide if he is joking. "Seriously?" Steve asks and Will nods in amusement. Rolling his eyes, Steve sighs. "Right, whatever, I'll have a word with them later." He mutters, trailing off as he drags Jonathan off towards his bedroom.
They hear beeps from the Atari, suggesting that Will has gone back to his game before Steve shuts the bedroom door behind them, cutting off the sound. "What are you gonna do? Tell them about us?" Jonathan asks cautiously, once he's got over the surprise of being pulled down his own hallway.
After letting out a long sigh, Steve let's his head fall back against the closed door, making Jonathan stumble a step closer to keep holding his hand. "No idea." Steve says softly.
They stand in silence for a minute. Jonathan groans and sinks against Steve, face smushed into the nook by his neck. "We can't let them think there's monsters about." Jonathan says reluctantly. Steve wraps his arms around Jonathan's waist, and starts stroking up his back.
Staring up at the ceiling, Steve bites his lip in thought. "I guess it would be nice to tell Dustin." Steve says slowly. Tensing slightly at the thought of more people knowing.
Picking his head up off of Steve's chest, Jonathan looks at him and smiles jokingly. "Well we know they've kept government secrets about monsters, so this is going to be nothing in comparison." He teases. Steve lets out a startled laugh and relaxes his tense muscles. Leaning up, Jonathan plants a kiss on Steve's lips with a grin and then walks further into his room. Steve watches him from the door, as he puts a record on and then collapses onto his bed. He scoots over when Steve walks over to join him. They lie there letting the music wash over them, their shoulders and legs pressed together on the small bed. Jonathan turns his head to the side to look at Steve. "Why do we always end up in my bed, when you have the double?" He asks with a grin.
Chuckling under his breath, Steve smirks. "Yours is cosier." He says, rolling over so that he is lying half on top of Jonathan. Leaning down to kiss him, Steve lets out a surprised huff when Jonathan flips them, so that he is stradling Steve on the bed.
Staring up at him with darkened eyes, Steve's hand goes up to wrap in his hair and pull him down into a kiss. As they make out, Jonathan shifts his weight slightly to get more comfortable. Unfortunately, as they are on the edge of the bed, this unbalances him and he tumbles onto the floor. Steve cackles with laughter as Jonathan stares up at him from the floor in surprise. "You still think the extra space wouldn't be worth it?" Jonathan says flatly. Steve reaches out a hand to pull him back up, chuckling all the while. They hear the front door bang open and the excited chatter of teenagers filters through to their room. Closing his eyes and sinking his head back against the pillow, Jonathan sighs. "Plus, empty house." He says, glancing over to smirk at Steve.
Rolling his eyes at him, Steve grins. "I suppose you could come to mine next." He says. Jonathan just shakes his head at him in amusement. As the noise from the living room begins to settle, Steve glances over at Jonathan. "We should probably go out and say hello." He says reluctantly.
Scoffing, Jonathan smirks. "They're your friends, not mine." He jokes. Steve goes to wrestle him but after watching Jonathan fall once already today, he quickly gives it up. Clamouring over Jonathan, Steve gets up and offers a hand to help him up. Jonathan just stares at him blankly, not moving. Steve pouts, giving him the puppy dog eyes and it doesn't take long before Jonathan gives in, pulling himself up with Steve's hand. Brushing off his clothes, Jonathan runs a hand through his hair trying to make sure he doesn't look like he's been rolling about in bed. Steve does the same, gives Jonathan a quick kiss and then pulls the door open and saunters down the hall.
Following behind him, Jonathan comes out into the living room to see Steve perched on the arm of the sofa greeting all the kids. He gives them a quick wave and then heads into the kitchen to get a drink. When he comes back, he sees Steve and Will happily chatting about the film he rented for them, with Mike and Lucas interrupting to enthusiastically share their opinions as well. Dustin however, is almost glaring at Steve from across the room. "Why are you even here Steve?" Dustin demands, effectively ending the discussion already going on. Mike gives him an frustrated look.
Steve just looks dumbfounded for a minute. "Oh." He says, breaking the heavy silence. "Sorry… Me and Jonathan can get out of your hair if you want…" he says, trying and failing to keep the hurt out of his voice. Mike and Lucas look at each other in concern. Dustin lets out a cry of frustration and storms out of the living room, slamming the front door closed behind him. Silence falls as they all stare at the door in shock. Will nudges Steve in the side and gives him a meaningful look, then clearly looking between Steve and Jonathan. Understanding sinks in and he feels a mixture of relief and fear jumble together in his stomach. He nods and pats Will on the shoulder, then follows Dustin out into the front.
Luckily he hasn't gone far and is just sat on the porch steps kicking the dusty soil around with his shoe. Steve carefully closes the door behind him and slowly walks over to sit beside him. Dustin sullenly stares out across the drive, not looking at Steve. "Will mentioned that you think there are evil monsters or Russians or something running around now." Steve says, when it becomes clear that Dustin isn't going to say anything.
Kicking the ground aggressively, Dustin let's out a sigh. "Knew he couldn't keep a secret." He mutters.
"He was trying to help." Steve says softly. Dustin just grunts in response, still staring down at the dirt. "It's not true you know? At least as far as I know." He tells him.
Scoffing, Dustin finally looks up at him. "So what, I'm supposed to believe you and Jonathan are just friends now?! I don't believe it. You're lying to me about something!" He says angrily.
Running his hand through his hair in frustration, Steve sighs. "Okay. We're not just friends, you are right about that. But we're not plotting to save the world or any of that shit." He explains slowly.
Looking at him in curiosity more than anger now, Dustin raises an eyebrow at him. "So why are you two spending so much time together?" He asks.
There's a pause, while Steve tries to work up the nerve to get the words out. He opens his mouth but no sounds come out. He swallows and tries again. "We're dating." He finally says quietly.
After staring at him intently, Dustin cocks his head to the side, trying to read Steve's expression. "You like guys?" He asks cautiously. Steve nods, trying to stay calm and be patient. "And girls?" Dustin adds, getting another nod from Steve. "Huh." He says, lost in thought for a minute.
"Are you okay with that?" Steve asks cautiously, finding Dustin's expression to be very hard to read.
Snapping out of his daze, Dustin looks up at him in surprise. "Oh yea. I don't care who you date." He says, sounding completely unbothered by the revelation. Steve grins and finally let's out the breath he'd been holding.
He tenses up again, when Dustin starts to laugh. "What?" Steve says, completely lost as to what has caused the change in behaviour in him.
Shoulders shaking from laughter, it takes Dustin a few minutes to compose himself enough to get any words out. "Sorry, sorry! It's just… in order to figure out what threat we were facing, we considered setting up surveillance on you two." He explains amid laughter. Steve just stares at him in shock and growing horror. "And I'm really glad we didn't." Dustin adds, laughing even harder as he leaps up and runs out of Steve's reach.
"DUSTIN!" Steve exclaims, chasing after him. "COME BACK HERE!"