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“Take me! Take me,” he yells to the flashing lights, hoping the crack in his voice is loud enough to be heard on the other side. Steve knew it was an idiot move, but he couldn’t watch it happen to someone he —
Jonathan drops. Nothing happens for a moment, Steve starts to run toward him. Then, he stops. Not of his own will, but because something is holding him in place.
The first thing Jonathan sees is Steve floating off the ground.
“Nance! Robin!” he calls out. They paired off to cover more ground — he hopes to God they didn’t get too far.
They come rushing in a second later, confusion morphing into horror on their faces.
“Steve?” Robin says disbelieving, as if the world is playing a cruel joke on her. Tears are already beginning to fall.
“What do we do? Do any of you have tapes, anything?” Nancy demands, keeping her cool because if she can’t then who will?
“Nothing that would work for him…we anticipated Jonathan not Steve. God, how did this even happen?” Robin begs.
“I don’t know. One second I was fine, the next I’d woken up on the floor with him in my place” Jonathan explains, trying to cover up the shake in his voice.
Robin was already by Steve’s side, grabbing him, trying to pull him back down. “What are we supposed to do? I can’t let him —“ she chokes out a sob around die, the word she couldn’t say.
After several long moments of panic and worry, Jonathan finally said “I have an idea” Don’t ask, don’t ask. “Pull that chair over next to him,” he says, pointing to the dark corner of the room where an abandoned tea party lays.
Nancy complies, running to get the chair while Robin pleads, “What are you doing?”
“Just trust me,” Jonathan begs. Maybe soon he’ll uncover the buried history that led to all this, but he needs to save Steve first.
As Nancy situates the chair, Jonathan wastes not a moment stepping up and crowding himself into Steve’s hovering form. He takes a second to remember the lyrics, but who is he kidding? He’ll never forget them. Please work he begs, before softly singing,
I’ve got your picture
That you gave to me
And it’s signed with love
Just like it used to be…
He keeps singing, getting louder with every verse. Maybe if he’s loud now it can save them the way his quiet devotion never did.
By the time he gets to the third verse, he realizes he’s holding Steve’s hand.
I’ve got your memory
Or has it got me?
I really don’t know
But I know it won’t let me be
Robin, too busy sending out prayers to anyone who will listen, doesn’t have a mind clear enough to think about what Jonathan is doing — but Nancy is watching intently. After dating him and coming out the other side with a best friend she would die for, she thought she knew everything there was to know about Jonathan, about the both of them. But she never knew this.
I’ve got your class ring
That proved you cared
And it still looks the same
As when you gave it, dear
Steve falls.
Robin is on him before Jonathan even realizes it’s happened. He’s waking slowly and Jonathan approaches slowly, desperately wanting to hold onto him and never let go, but now isn’t the time to be selfish. He grants Robin this moment.
But despite Robin’s incessant worry and string of questions, Steve’s first word is,
“Jonathan…Jonathan, is he okay?”
“I’m fine, Steve,” Jonathan says, sinking down next to him. “What was that?”
“You were- it happened right in front of me and I thought- I couldn’t…” Steve doesn’t finish.
“What are you talking about? What do you mean?” Robin asks, significantly calmer than she was a few minutes ago.
“He took Jonathan, and I panicked. I thought I was prepared for it, I thought I could handle it but he was right there, and I knew I couldn’t. So I begged that fucker to let him go, take me instead. And it worked, because I was scared and I think he knew that watching Jonathan…” he pauses, eyes glazing over as if reliving it all over again.
Jonathan gently puts his hand on Steve’s thigh, urging him to continue as Robin softly says, “What is it, Steve?”
Steve flinches. Eyes locking on the hand on his leg, the one that hasn’t been there for years. He doesn’t look Jonathan in the eye as he says,
“Vecna knew that watching you…like that, it would put me at my most vulnerable,” Steve trembles. “Guess he wanted a two for one special, heh,” the joke falls flat.
Jonathan freezes, hand going stiff where it sits — Steve starts to reach for it. Nancy, watching the whole thing unfold silently, is putting the puzzle pieces together, and Robin, finally calmed down enough to listen with a clear head, is gathering some pieces of her own. “Oh, Steve,” she says, understanding.
“Why,” Jonathan finally speaks up. Steve pulls his hand back. “Why would you let yourself go through that for my sake?” He demands, nearly yelling.
Steve snaps, “Because I lo-“ he stops. In his fog, he almost forgot he isn’t allowed to say that anymore. Nancy and Robin scramble out of the room.
Jonathan closes his eyes and lets out a heavy sigh. “Don’t do that,” he says. “Don’t fucking do that. It’s been years, and you’re still welcoming death to your doorstep if it means you get to keep me. I can’t handle it. I can’t watch you ruin yourself for me, that’s why I left. Lotta good that did.”
“Jonathan…I love you. And no amount of beatings is gonna change that, I can survive them all. But the thing that broke me was having to be strangers, worse than strangers. I had to tear you apart to get you to even look at me. That’s what ruined me, not anything else,” Steve says, face tear-stained and bloody because he was born that way and he’ll die that way.
“All I wanted was for you to have a chance. It was within reach but you would never grasp it with me next to you. I had to let you go so you could be who you were supposed to be” Jonathan reasons.
“And who was I supposed to be? ‘King Steve’? The guy who throws parties and hooks up with girls and breaks cameras? He wasn’t real, Jonathan. He was a creation that came out of grieving you,” Steve finishes, moving to get up and leave this hell house because he’s had enough of all of it.
Steve gets three steps from the door when Jonathan calls, “Steve!” from his unchanged position on the floor. By the time Steve turns around, Jonathan is walking toward him, faster and faster until he stops.
Jonathan is right in front of him, toe to toe. His inhales are Jonathan’s exhales and he can’t move and suddenly Jonathan is kissing him and saying I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry like a mantra.
“I forgive you. Do you think I’d be here if I didn’t? I forgave you the moment I sat with that stupid coca-cola can on my face and knew the bruise was never gonna leave me. And I hoped to God you would forgive me when I showed up at your house that night and saved your ass,” Steve said, smiling for the first time all night.
That last part gets a small laugh out of Jonathan. “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.”
Steve pulls back, hold Jonathan’s face in his hands, and looks him in the eye, “And you’re beautiful, Jonathan Byers.”
Steve kisses him, this time soft and slow, and they walk out hand in hand. As they make their way back to Robin and Nancy to, ahem, explain some things, Steve turns to Jonathan and says, “Patsy Cline, really?”