Work Text:
The quarry was silent at this time of night.
It wasn't silent, of course. Far from it. The water, sixty feet below, whipped and slammed around in the canyon below, rocks shaking underneath the water. Bugs of all kinds came out at night, creating a soft, nature silence. Like white noise. He liked white noise.
It blocked out the inside, bringing in the outside instead.
Looking below, he thought about it.
Over an emotional ice-cream run, Dustin told him about something from when Will was still missing.
(From when he was still a douche.)
How the bullies caught up to them, how they held Dustin at knifepoint, how Mike jumped off the very ledge he sat, just to save his friend.
(He thinks Mike might have done it for more than just a friend, though.)
How the little girl Hopper adopted came back, breaking the bully's bones.
(He can't help but make a connection between his own experiences. He knows Jonathan has sat in this very spot before, only coming back home for Will.)
But, when he thought about it, Jonathan did the right thing. It'll forever haunt him that he made the man come to the quarry, more than once, for reasons other than a backwards drug deal or a photography session.
Jonathan went back home at the end of the night, making a silent promise to his brother that he would be there, hell or high water.
Who was he waiting for?
He didn't have anyone. His parents sure as hell wouldn't care. Dustin didn't really need him past the rides and occasional feeling-dump. Robin had other friends, all her band friends, Vickie.
Nobody needed him.
When it came down to it, he really was useless. He couldn't even make himself push off the ledge and fall.
A breeze flew past, making him shiver slightly. A thought popped into his head, more of a quote, of something someone said to him.
"If you die, I die."
Even in the face of evil Russians, acid, broken elevators, the Upside Down, and Billy, the kid was loyal to a fault.
It made his heart flutter, in pain and happiness. Even if it were a spur of the moment thought, it helped to know at least one person saw him and cared.
He knew he was pretty dumb, and maybe a bit lazy, but that single statement proved something to him, subconsciously.
He wasn't useless.
Sure, the kids didn't really like him, and Hopper hated him, and Nancy and Jonathan kind of hated him too, and Robin was tired of him. That didn't matter.
Because one person did like him, even slightly.
That in itself was a revelation that made his chest warm and his heart beat faster.
"If you die, I die."
He stood, with the thought in his mind, wind whipping his hair around, and headed to his car.