Chapter Text
"Jonathan!" The door opened, and when he lifted his head Will was halfway down the stairs and leaning in to look at him.
'' Will? What's-"
"Come on, Breakfast is ready."
He sighed, and let his head fall back into his pillow, listening to Will run back up to the kitchen. His back felt stiff and his mind felt wary. Despite living with the Wheelers for quite a bit now, he'd never get used to the basement. Of course he was familiar with it, it was practically like a second home to Will growing up, but now it gave off the stuffy vibe of a vacation home– and to clarify, the kind of vacation his family could never afford. No wonder he could see Ted practically itching to have them gone, if he could have a house as nice as this, he'd also be stuck up his own ass.
The basement was a bit cold, but nothing he couldn't handle. It's the reason why he let Will take the couch. It was softer, comfier for his brother who couldn't stand the chill. So, Jonathan opted out to have a sore back.
When he didn't want to wake up in excruciating pain, he'd sleep up in Nancy's room, and Jonathan knew Will would do the same with Mike. Because, really, that couch wasn't much better than the floor in the end.
Oh shit, what time is it? He got up fully this time, eyes on the clock that read 9:40.
Will must've left to take Mike's room, because Jonathan was an hour past his alarm. He quickly got up and put on a pair of jeans, the urgency almost flipping him flat onto his face while he power-stepped up the stairs.
Opening up the door, Cinnamon wafted through the air, and suddenly he was hungry. Karen Wheeler's cooking could do that.
When he was a kid, he always thought the Wheelers had a house too nice for him. While dropping off Will, his presence was like a stain. He seeped into the walls and into the carpet and now the once clean house was full of grime. Despite this, sometimes Karen would offer him dinner, and the one time he said yes, it was painfully awkward.
The Lasagna was great, so much better than the hamburger helper his family relied on. It wasn't a 'fancy' meal, and it actually wasn't hard to make at all, but it was just better. Nicer.
It's nice you're taking the time to bring Will over," Karen smiled at him. "How have you been?"
"Okay." His food suddenly felt like mush in his throat.
"Do you work, Jonathan?" Ted asked him with blandness and he suddenly got the urge to down his glass of water.
"No, I've kind of taken the time off. To spend more time with Will, and focus on school."
"I'm sure it hasn't been easy since everything. If you or Joyce ever need anything, stop by. Tell her I said that, okay?" Mrs. Wheeler chimed in with a disgustingly genuine tone, and every single alarm in Jonathan's mind went off at once.
He just nodded, and played with his food.
"Sorry Nancy couldn't come, she's at Steve's house. I'll let her know you stopped over."
Jonathan and the rest kind of fell into silence after her last comment, and eventually he excused himself to the basement to watch over Will. He remembered thinking they were rich for even having one, because his family never got that luxury, no, They never got anything.
But now, it wasn't just him sitting at the dinner table, it was his entire family.
It all just seemed stale at this point.
Karen was arguing with Mike and Holly, trying to settle some dispute while Will watched Mike carefully from a distance. Joyce chatted with Nancy, engaged in a pleasant conversation. At the end of the table, Ted was trying and failing to get his children to behave.
"Hey, we have eggs!" Joyce greeted him.
"Sleeping in?" Nancy nudged him in a teasing way, and he wondered if she had something to do with Will not coming down to wake him up.
"Didn't plan on it." He mumbled.
"Mike, come on. I already told you I didn't eat it!" Holly protested and Mike glared down on her. Will sat next to him, and touched his shoulder as he asked him a question.
"What even was it?"
The motion of Will's hand was quick. It was faint, mostly just to get his attention, sure. Yet when he looked at his brother's face, he knew why.
It killed him. It tugged at his heart.
His brother always got comments for being gay, specifically from Lonnie. Will would do something, just anything, maybe even just breathe, and Lonnie would flip his lid. He'd call him a pussy, a queer, a fag, leaving Jonathan to come between them and whisk Will away to hide in his room.
So, Jonathan knew it couldn't be easy for Will, to be something that their father taught them to hate.
"My leftover brownie. I swear to god I had it in the cabinet, and now suddenly it's just gone."
Mike's frustration dissipated into amusement when Will made a glance at Jonathan.
It was sweet, the way they looked at each other. Or at least he thought so until he realized they were teaming up against him.
"Hey wait, why are you looking at me?"
"Jonathan." Nancy nudged him with her foot.
"No, no Will I saw that! What's– oh my god you're still caught up on the pizza thing. Jesus- I was, I was, um- "
Jonathan struggled, he wasn't about to admit in front of Karen and Ted Wheeler that he spent most of his time in Cali high out of his mind. His thoughts reeled, and the words jumbled in his throat.
"Listen, that's so not-"
The phone rang.
"I'll get it." Nancy excused herself, putting a little hand on Jonathan while she stood up. He looked at her in concern, but brought his attention back to the sound of Will's voice. Joyce just threw an apologetic look at Karen before the conversation was redirected to Holly's potential theft.
"Hi this is the Wheeler res-"
"Nancy! Hey, it's Robin, obviously. Listen, so like Steve kinda doesn't feel well, and we have a broadcast today. I need someone to take over for him, plus they'd have to pick me up. Can you maybe do it? If not, that's totally fine."
"I can't, I'm sorry. I've got some chores. But, I can see if Jonathan can?"
Over the arguing, Jonathan could hear his name. He didn’t mind helping out, he did it all of the time– but chances are, it’s Steve. Who else would be asking for Nancy’s help and Nancy’s help only? Steve. Of course.
He walked over to her, dreading each movement.
"Can you help Robin at the Squawk?" Nancy held the phone down.
"What?"
"Steve is sick. So she needs someone to cover for him and pick her up."
He analyzed the situation in a moment of silence.
He didn't hate Robin, but he didn't know her. She barely tried to talk to him, not directly at least, which was fine by him. She probably thought he was weird.
Who could blame her?
Yet now they have to be alone in a room, while he desperately rushes to squeeze a toy chicken, push in some carts, and help her grab records.
"Jonathan." Nancy prodded.
"I can. That's fine."
"Yeah, he can. What time? around noon? Great. No problem. Yeah, tell Steve to get better soon. Bye!"
He sighed, not to mention he'd be covering for Steve Harrington. As if they were coworkers, or even worse, friends.
"Relax. Robin's quirky, but she's.. nice. She really is," She lightly guided his face with her hands, meeting his eyes directly. "Just help her out, just this once." God, she smelled wonderful. She carried an air of a heavy yet refreshing hit of flowers, and he knew it all too well. In his mind, she danced around him, and he basked in her warmth. Yet things weren't all good between them, and he knew this.
He couldn't think about that, not since he didn't have any weed left.
Still, Nancy knocked Jonathan out of his shell, and that's what she was trying to do. So, he'd go just for her. She deserved a day of normalcy anyway.
Even if that meant hanging out with Robin Buckley.
"Nancy, don't even worry. I've got this. but, um, does Ted care if I take the Wagon?"
“When does he not?”
Robin was a nervous wreck.
She sat out on the front porch of her parents house, waiting for Jonathan to come pick her up.
Jonathan Byers, of all people.
God.
From what she could tell he was an alright guy. He didn’t really speak much, and when he did it was almost always directed to Nancy, or a quick jab at Steve. Never at her. It made her anxious, not anxious, it made her increasingly insecure.
From as young as she can remember, people weren't afraid to tell Robin to shut up. Jonathan, however, just didn’t seem interested in doing so.
They weren’t even complete strangers, after all, they did sit next to each other during assemblies. Did they talk? No. No one dared to talk to Jonathan ‘The Freak’ Byers. He was the creep, the perv, the weird quiet kid that was pretty much a social outcast. Robin had her group of people in band, but from what she could tell, Jonathan had no one until Nancy. In fact, once she started to hang out with him, her reputation was pretty much gone. Even Steve lost his crown as he got a case of the 'Bad Luck Byers!'
She always wondered why Nancy chose him. Not that she thought Nancy was too good for Jonathan or anything, it's just that it didn't fit her. Good girl Nancy suddenly dating Jonathan Byers? The same girl that dated Steve?
Still, she never could hate him.
Robin knew about Will, she saw the flyers and the school assembly (Which Jonathan was noticeably absent from,) and most importantly she heard the way people called him a queer.
She always wondered if he was.
Rumors, they surrounded Jonathan like a swarm of flies. It was said he killed Will, that his father used to beat the shit out of him, and that he had several nasty STDs despite being called a virgin. He was the scum at the bottom of the barrel, and no one wanted to get their hands dirty.
Now, she had to actually talk to him.
Jonathan pulled up into the driveway and she stood up like a soldier. When he got out of the car she could, surprisingly, tell that he was nervous too.
It reminded her of the way he acted in school.
Those hunched shoulders, his avoidant gaze, and the way that he fidgeted with his fingers all screamed 'get me out of here.'
"Hey." He said warily.
"Hey." She gulped.
"Sorry Nancy couldn't come," He apologized. "She had some stuff to do."
She followed him into the car, and she knew immediately it was going to be uncomfortable.
She'd scare him away.
The only person who stuck with her was Steve, and Jonathan wasn't Steve, If anything they were almost complete opposites.
"Oh don't worry, I completely understand. Thanks for taking me, by the way. Real life saver."
"No problem."
They drove in silence for a bit. Jonathan had a keen eye on the road, and didn't seem interested in conversation.
It freaked her out.
Was he expecting her to talk? Would it be wrong if she talked? Robin found herself trying to over analyze his expression while he pretended not to notice her, to get some kind of hint of what he was feeling. God, she could've just taken the day off and apologized, what was she even thinking?
"I know maybe this doesn't make sense because maybe you didn't notice but I did, but I'm sorry if I get awkward or weird or anything. It's just that sometimes I talk and I don't stop talking and it kind of ruins everything, and maybe this is me doing it right now." She rambled, and Jonathan glanced softly at her while trying to focus on the road. It was the same kind of look she'd see him give Will.
"You're fine. I just... I'm just quiet. None of it has to do with you, it has to do with me. I don't mind you talking, I'm more of a listener anyway."
"Right. Right, okay."
When Robin hopped out of the car, she let out a genuine sigh of relief. Great, the ride there was done, now they had to actually do the broadcast.
She ruminated whilst unlocking the door, Jonathan standing behind her.
What she'd have to do was explain to Jonathan what exactly he had to do, what buttons he had to press, what little things he had to squeeze or what toys to grab and what signal meant what. On top of that, Jonathan unfortunately seemed like the pretentious music type.
She could understand that, but she couldn't deal with Jonathan finding some of the pop stuff annoying, therefore automatically making him think she was annoying. Today there was Blondie, The Psychedelic Furs, and Madonna. That's fine. Maybe not Madonna, but everyone loved Debbie Harry.
Robin guided Jonathan into the booth, and honestly, she's never seen him look so interested in anything before in his life. He's been inside the station before, but this was a chance to look around and enjoy it.
He observantly looked around and squinted at things, the same motion one would do whilst snapping a photo.
"Alright. So, pretty much I'm gonna be playing and explaining records, and you put in some fun sound effects. I'll give you some hand motions on what to do," She made a clapping motion. "Like for that one just click the applause button. For some, I can just slide over and do them. It's actually really fun, like listen to this." Getting up excitedly, she grabbed a cartridge and slid it in, clicking it and earning a cow mooing in response.
"Yeah, I can do that." Jonathan responded.
The session went fairly smoothly.
Jonathan wasn't as smooth as Steve, but he caught on pretty quickly. He rushed and struggled to grab the right cart, popping it in and then popping it out just as fast. She was impressed, but those nerves still lingered.
Now, Robin was looking through records, while Jonathan awkwardly sat in silence.
"I liked the Psychedelic Furs record. 'Sister Europe' is great. " He blurted out.
Oh my God, he did.
The wave of excitement that came over her was embarrassing, and she seriously thought she'd have a heart attack. It made her want to puke, all because someone liked something she did. So, she'd have to watch her tongue. It was a nasty habit of hers, just getting overly excited about something that barely mattered. Her mom always tried to snap her out of it.
This time, she couldn't help it.
"Really? I love, and I mean, I love The Psychedelic Furs. I guess it makes sense that you do too, no offense. What else do you like?"
"The Cure, The Smiths, The Clash, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Talking Heads, Television, Bowie."
"Holy Shit! The Talking Heads? Bowie?"
"You like The Talking Heads and David Bowie too?"
All of Robin's nerves melted away. This was perfect.
She could talk about the things she liked, in fact, she was great at it. Once she had an interest in something, it consumed her whole. This part of herself wasn't appreciated often, but Jonathan was peeling this layer open without even realizing it, and it seemed like she was doing the same for him. Robin could feel the energy in the room shift to something so much more comfortable.
Maybe there was more to Jonathan Byers than meets the eye.