Chapter Text
Jonathan's new anti-capitalism film was releasing next week in a few local theaters, and for that, he was also doing interviews with some underground newspapers, which could visualize the movie earlier for this purpose. He was leaving the hotel room in which he was conducting the interviews when the receptionist came into the room.
"Sorry, Mr. Byers?" called the receptionist, peeking through the door.
"Yeah, what happens?" asked Jonathan.
"There is actually another reporter waiting; apparently, she is from The New Yorker?" She looked at the paper the woman had given her to be sure about that information.
"The New Yorker?" Jonathan wasn't sure he had heard that correctly. "Why would they be interested in my film?"
"Yeah, it seems that this is something last minute. The lady is waiting right here."
"Oh." Jonathan started to move a little bit uncomfortably in the chair. He wasn't expecting a big journalist from a major newspaper to give him an interview, so that made him a little bit nervous. "Well, obviously, she can come; no problem."
"Okay, I'll leave you to it."
Jonathan heard the receptionist exchange a few words with the lady outside. When the voices quieted, he saw the doorknob turn, and the last person he expected to see walked into the room.
"Nancy?"
The last time Jonathan Byers saw Nancy Wheeler was a month ago when they reunited with Robin and Steve at Robin's uncle's house for their catch-up reunion of the month. Nancy hadn't mentioned anything about working at The New Yorker. Because if Nancy had said anything, Jonathan, without a doubt, would have remembered.
So, seeing Nancy Wheeler with a notebook and a pen waiting for him to say something in that hotel room wasn't what Jonathan was expecting.
"What are you doing here?" That was the only thing he could say at that moment.
"Hi, Jonathan." A little smile spread on her face. "I wish I could have explained this to you earlier, but long story short, I work for The New Yorker, and maybe I convinced them to do a little report on your movie." She finally moved from the door and sat in the chair directly opposite Jonathan.
"Okay, slow down, " Jonathan said, trying to make everything make sense. "First, since when are you working for The New Yorker?"
"Well, it's been a couple of months now." She looked a bit shy saying that.
"A couple of months? And why didn't you say anything? You could have mentioned it last month."
"I wanted to say something, but I was in training with them, and I didn't know if they were going to hire me for real, so I didn't want to say anything only to have to say next month that I was fired." She was getting a little bit nervous; Jonathan could sense it by the way her hands were moving all the time. "I just...I don't know. I didn't want you guys to think that I'm someone who is going from job to job and can't keep anything."
"Oh Nancy, come on." Jonathan leaned in to get a little closer to her. "You should know that we would never think that about you. We would've just been impressed that all these big newspapers were fighting over you."
"Maybe I did it more for me than for you guys. I think I wasn't aware that The New Yorker wanted me to work for them." Her hands stopped moving slowly, getting more comfortable now.
"And do you believe it now?" A smirk appeared on Jonathan's face.
"Well, I actually got my first paycheck, and I convinced them to do this interview, and they said yes, so..."
"And that's the other point." Jonathan crossed his arms. "How do you manage to convince them to do this?" He really couldn't believe that she was there.
"I'm a good reporter, and my boss is a woman who is obsessed with indie films. That helps too. So, when I told her that this great anti-capitalism movie done by a future Oscar director..." Jonathan burst out laughing at this. "...was releasing next week at some local theaters and that he was doing interviews, she said yes." She looked pretty happy telling this story, as if it were a personal victory for her.
"A future Oscar director? You really said that?" He was still smiling about that phrase.
"It's what I think, so ... " She had a smile just like Jonathan's on her face.
"And you really wanted to write a review about my movie?" He really couldn't believe that she was interested in the little movie he made.
"Of course. I love everything you make, and I want more people to know about your art. So, now that I work at The New Yorker, I must take advantage of that. And you told us last month that you were doing these interviews, so I took my chance, and here I am."
"And here you are." He couldn't stop observing her; how her hands were now relaxed on her knees and how a little dimple formed on her face when she smiled- and she was smiling a lot today.
"Wait." Jonathan just realized something now. "You've been working for The New Yorker for two months now?"
"Yes..." Nancy could see what just crossed Jonathan's mind at that moment. She had hoped that he would take more time to get to that, but he had always been so intelligent.
"You're telling me that you've been living in New York for two months, and I'm just hearing about that now?" He looked a little bit hurt by that.
"Believe me, I've been thinking about calling you a lot of times." Her hands started to move impatiently again. "But I didn't know how to tell you about me living in New York without telling you about the job."
"So, you 've just been moving through the city, hoping you wouldn't run into me?" Those words hurt Nancy the worst. She felt horrible about what she had done.
"I...I'm sorry it's...um..." she looked down at her hands, thinking about what she could say to justify her actions.
"Nance...Hey, Nance, " Jonathan's hand landed on top of hers, soft touches on her palm. "I'm not mad at you, okay?" The softness of his voice made Nancy look up, both locking their eyes. "I'm not mad at you; I understand why you did that. I'm just a little bit hurt because I love hanging out with you, Nancy. And, I don't know, I think about all the times we could just get coffee together or just go for a walk, and I just get a little sad."
"Believe me, I've been thinking about calling you a lot. Just knowing that you were probably a few feet away from me and I couldn't see you, it wasn't that easy for me either." A little tear appeared in her eye, but she wiped it away, making Jonathan withdraw his hand from hers quickly, making the atmosphere a little weird now.
"Sorry." said Nancy in a whisper.
"Don't worry; it's all in the past. You just have to promise me that you're going to call me next time you want to get coffee."
"Done." A smile reappeared on Nancy's face.
Suddenly, a soft knock sounded on the door.
"Yes?" they both asked at the same time.
The receptionist appeared at the door.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have another interview now in this room, so I just wanted to know if you have already finished."
"Um , yeah, can you give us just a minute?" asked Jonathan.
"Yes, no problem." The receptionist went away, leaving them alone again.
"Great , we have no time left and I didn't get a single question about the movie. Excellent work, Nancy," she told herself in a sarcastic tone.
"Maybe you could come to my house." burst Jonathan.
"What?"
"I thought that maybe you would like to come to my house and finish - well, start- the interview about my movie there. And maybe we can also get coffee and catch up, just if you want."
"I would love that , Jonathan." A big smile spread across both of their faces. ………………………………………..………………………………
"And then Mike freaked out, and Holly filmed everything..." Nancy was crying with happiness as she told Jonathan this little story about her siblings.
They had already finished the interview about his movie and had now moved on to talking about their lives this month. Nancy had been visiting her family in Hawkins last week, so she told him everything that happened with them. They were sitting at Jonathan's little table with their coffees cold from the long time they had been talking without stopping. It was true that they always caught up once a month at Robin's uncle's house. But there, at Jonathan's house, being the two of them alone felt different. More intimate, more secure.
"And what about your family?" Nancy asked Jonathan.
"They are pretty good. My mom and Hopper just finished moving in; they live only an hour from here, so that's great. And they are finally getting married next month," he had such a genuine smile on his face. Just seeing his mother happy for once in her life made him happy too.
"I know, I've been invited."
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah, your mother gave me the invitation last week when we met in Hawkins."
"And she didn't tell me anything." He said that as if he were offended, but he found it funny.
"Well, you know I have always been her favorite, so of course I was going to be invited to the wedding."
"Of course." He couldn't be mad at his mother; Nancy was his favorite person too.
"And what about Will?" Nancy changed the subject.
"Oh!" Excitement sounded in Jonathan's voice. "He has met a boy!"
"Wait, really?" Nancy sounded pretty excited too.
"Yeah, apparently, they've been hanging out for about a month now. We are actually going to meet him next week."
"Oh, Jonathan, I'm so happy for him. He deserves it."
"Yeah, I think so too. After all that has happened, he deserves happiness. Maybe we could meet up with him one day too; he would love to see you. I think you are his favorite as well."
Jonathan continued talking, but Nancy had focused on the first phrase he had said.
"You deserve happiness too, you know that, Jonathan, right?" she interrupted him.
"What?"
"You said that Will deserves happiness after all that he has been through. And I agree, but you deserve that happiness too. I wanted to tell you this a long time ago, but I'm so proud of you for leaving Hawkins and coming to NY to study film. I know it wasn't easy to make that decision, leaving your mother and your brother, even though it wasn't for a long time. I'm proud of you, and I don't want you to feel guilty about that. I know you are happy; I can see that, but I know you and I don't want you to feel any guilt because you deserve all of this too."
"How did you know?" Those were the only words Jonathan could pronounce after all that.
"Know what?"
"That I've been feeling guilty about leaving Will and my mother by themselves in Hawkins while I came here."
"I just told you; I know you."
"I'm happy they moved here; they deserve that fresh start too."
"And now are you going to feel less guilty? Are you going to let yourself be happy?"
Nancy reached out for Jonathan's hand, their fingers rubbing together. Jonathan fixed his gaze on their hands, their palms facing upward and their twin scars visible. Jonathan's fingers moved slowly, stopping at Nancy's scar. He stood there, watching, for who knows how long until Nancy made a little sound.
"So.. . sorry." He quickly withdrew his hand. "I'm going to pick up all of this." He took both of their cups and went with them to the kitchen.
"Jonathan." Nancy followed him into the room. "I know you have something on your mind. You can talk to me."
"No, Nance, it's nothing, really, don't worry."
"It's me." She was trying to find his eyes, hoping he would look at her. "You can always tell me everything."
He finally looked at her.
"Okay, maybe later I'll regret this but..." he caught his breath. "I just think about you all the time, Nance. Every time I pass by a flower shop, I think, oh these are Nancy's favorite flowers. When I go to a video store and see a movie you would love , I think,Nancy would love this movie; I have to rent it for her. Or when I go to a coffee shop and order your favorite coffee, even though I hate it, just because it reminds me of you, it's like you are with me for a little while. And when this happens to me, I say,this will go away; it's just something momentary; I will be able to move on from her someday. But now, looking at our match scars... I don't think I'm ever going to be able to forget, and to be honest, I don't think I want that either. So, there is a chance that you will stop talking to me after all of this, but maybe now that you are in New York too, you want to try this again, us. I would say that we can have a fresh start, but I don't want that. I don't want to forget any moment that I get to spend with you; I don't care if they were bad or not. So maybe we can have a second chance, but with no monsters this time - that could be good."
A long silence followed Jonathan's words.
"Nance, could you say something? Even if it's bad. Maybe you have already met someone; I totally understand that. I promise I won't take it wrong."
"No," she was still trying to process everything Jonathan had just said to her. "No, no, no, I haven't met someone. I'm just a little bit shocked."
"If you need time or something..."In that moment, Nancy grabbed the little chain that she always wore around her neck.
Jonathan had noticed that she started wearing that chain after they destroyed the Upside Down, and she never took it off . But he never got to see what was hooked to it because Nancy always wore it inside her clothes. Now she was taking it out, leaving it outside so he could see.
"How?" Jonathan couldn't believe what he was seeing.
The ring. The commitment ring he bought for her when they were in quarantine in Hawkins was now hanging from Nancy's chain.
"I threw it away when we were in the lab."
"I know." she started to play with the ring. "But then when you started throwing yourself against the door, trying to escape, I saw it on the floor. And you were broken, Jonathan, and we were in quarantine, and even with all of that, you bought this ring for me. I couldn't leave it there."
"And you've been keeping it all this time?"
"It felt like you were always with me."
They started to walk toward each other at the same time. Nancy's hand ended up on Jonathan's hip while Jonathan's hands started to caress her hair. They were so close to each other ; a little hesitation could be seen in their eyes. But finally , they got closer, their lips finally touching slowly, feeling like they were home again.
"So..." they finally moved away, but they were still with their foreheads together. "Nancy Wheeler, will you go out on a second first date with me?" A soft smile formed on his face.
"Yes, Jonathan Byers, I would go out on a date with you again.”