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The bright Family Video sign faltered as Jonathan walked up to the door. He had his dark blue jacket on from how cold the air was beginning to get and his camera slung around his neck like always.
"Hello, welcome to Fam-" He heard Steve's voice from the front, then paused as he saw Jonathan. "You're back again? Third time this week."
Jonathan ignored him, smiling to himself. He could tell from the tone in Steve's voice that it wasn't a mean comment. Probably the opposite actually.
It was true that he'd been here a lot recently. It wasn't just for the films, he didn't even watch them much, his brother did.
He went straight to the shelves he always went to, pretending to look at some of the titles of the films. He was fully aware of the eyes on him the entire time.
---
Steve watched Jonathan from afar, elbows leaning against the counter. The door opened again, causing the bell to ring. He completely zoned out and didn't notice, until he was snapped back to reality by a shake to his shoulder.
"Hey, this customer is yours. I need to go shelve these really quickly." Robin took the box in her hands, about to leave. "Steve, are you okay?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, of course. Just...thinking." He quickly made up an excuse. He could tell Robin was about to say something but the customer came up to rent out a movie so Steve took the opportunity to ignore her.
The customer was a girl around their age, medium-length blonde hair with slight red tones and soft, pink blush on her cheeks. She gave Steve an innocent smile, handing over the romantic movie along with the money she obtained from the pockets of her black leather jacket.
After she left, Steve went back to glance where Jonathan was, and thankfully he was still there.
"That was weird." Robin piped up from the shelf nearest the counter.
"What, why?"
She gave him a smirk, walking up beside him again. "You didn't hit on her and she was so hot."
"Not my type." It was true, he had eyes elsewhere now.
"Really? Because two months ago you would've been all over her in seconds." She raised her eyebrows, not believing him. God, she was so nosy.
"Yeah, two months ago." He sighed, looking away from her and his eyes met Jonathan again, who had now moved a bit closer to them. Was he listening?
Robin clearly noticed the stares and quickly moved closer to him with a smirk. "I may know why now."
"Don't be ridiculous Robin."
"Aww come on, I'm not blind to how you were staring at him earlier. And the other two times this week. And last week. The list could go on and on." She whispered quietly so the other guy wouldn't hear.
Steve nudged her away, trying to fight the grin sneaking onto his face. "Haven't been subtle have I?"
"Does this mean you do...you know?" She looked from Steve to the 'oblivious' boy, making small hand gestures instead of saying it out loud.
"Didn't say that." He rolled his eyes, fixing his hair with a single swipe of his fingers and straightened up his jacket. "I'm gonna go see if he needs help."
"Yeah sure, he totally needs it." Robin commented sarcastically, trying hard not to laugh at him.
Steve ignored her and went over to where Jonathan was still pretending to look at movies whilst staring off into the distance.
"Okay there?" He appeared beside Jonathan, startling the boy out of his daydream.
"Took you long enough." Jonathan tried to act annoyed, not looking at Steve.
"Yeah well Robin might've figured us out."
"You're hopeless."
"What! It's not my fault she's got eyes and knows me." Steve glanced behind him, expecting Robin to be watching them but instead she was fixing some posters.
Jonathan scoffed. "Don't stare at me so much then. You make it incredibly obvious."
"Yeah, well, how could I not stare at my beautiful boyfriend." Steve pouted, lowering his voice even more so there was no chance of anyone hearing.
Jonathan glanced around, blushing an Incredible amount. "Shut up..." But there was no real bite to it.
"Fine, I will for now, but you're not escaping me." He was so tempted to hug or kiss Jonathan, but he knew how dangerous that would be in the middle of a store with people around.
Robin suddenly called him over. "Steve! Come over here a sec!"
Steve put up a thumbs up at Robin then turned to Jonathan with a smirk, already walking away. "See you at the counter Byers."
"Whatever, Harrington."
Jonathan eventually came up after the store got a bit quieter, his chosen movie in his hands.
"You rented this out twice already this week." Steve teased him, putting the tape in a paper bag.
"This time I'm watching with someone." Jonathan replied simply, not showing any emotions on his face as he said it.
"Hope they like it." Steve was going to wink at Jonathan but a trio of girls had just came up behind the boy.
Jonathan nodded, handing Steve the money with a folded up note hidden in between, then left.
Steve waited until it was just him and Robin in the store to open it.
'I'll be waiting for you at my house.'
Steve smiled down at the piece of paper, completely oblivious to Robin peeking behind him.
"So you wanna tell me this means nothing now or...?"
"Stop snooping!"
---
Jonathan paced around the livingroom, glad to be home alone. Will was at the Wheeler's house and his mum and Hopper were working until really late again. It would be a while until they all came back.
He decided to make himself busy by folding the blanket over the arm of the couch and making some hot drinks.
Finally, there was a knock at the door which made him almost jump out of his skin and practically ran over to the door.
"Sorry, we had to close a bit later." Steve greeted him, stepping inside and wrapping Jonathan into a deep, crushing hug. Jonathan laughed until Steve silenced him with a gentle kiss, the fruity chapstick leaving a taste on both their lips.
"Apology accepted." Jonathan smiled after he regained composure from the kiss. "I have everything set up. And you better like this movie, it's my favourite."
They sat on the couch, limbs tangled as they cuddled under the soft, russet blanket. The popcorn and coffee had vanished near the end, leaving them both tired.
"You have a strange taste in movies." Steve mumbled when the screen went black.
Jonathan groaned, lifting his head from where it rested against his boyfriend's chest. "That's an insult to me as well, you know."
Steve laughed, burying his face in the other boy's neck and leaving small kisses, making Jonathan melt under the sweet touches.
"Never said it was bad. I actually really liked it." Steve looked up into Jonathan's eyes then rested their foreheads together. "Definitely reminds me of you but in a good way."
"Sure..." Jonathan was still a bit lost for words from the kisses but managed a small whisper, "I really missed you here."
"It's only been a few days. I saw you at family video in the meantime." He cupped Jonathan's face in his palms. "Ever since your family moved in with Hopper, it's been extremely hard to get time alone."
"It was either that or the Wheeler's and they're already a packed house." Jonathan leaned in to kiss Steve's temple. "And your parents are back for a bit. So we can't go to yours."
Steve looked towards where the window was covered with old curtains, a small frown on his face. Jonathan could still make it out from the dimly lit lamp in the corner of the livingroom.
"I wish we didnt have to hide this - us - from everyone." He mumbled a bit miserably. He always lived his life and relationships in the open. That was with girls. He clearly couldn't do the same with Jonathan no matter how badly he wanted to show everyone how much he loved him.
Jonathan gave a small hum, laying the side of his head on Steve's shoulder, also glancing towards the covered window.
"I know, I hate it too. Makes us scared when people are around..."
He let out a deep sigh, intertwining fingers with Steve's. "When Hawkins isn't under lockdown anymore, I really want to go far away from here. To a city like New York, where you can be more yourself. Well, in like specific places and bars. But still, it's better than being in a small town where so many people know eachother."
Steve nodded, his free hand going up to run through Jonathan's longer hair. He still hadn't had the energy to go cut it but Steve didn't mind, he liked twirling his fingers around the strands.
"I think I'd like that too. Even when it'll be hard to leave Hawkins. So many memories and people here. I know Robin will probably stay."
"Mhm, so many bad memories too." Jonathan mumbled sadly, closing his eyes as he tried to not think about all the bad things that had happened over the past few years - and were still happening.
"Yeah, but we have each other. I'll always be with you, no matter what." Steve gave a small laugh, "We have no choice now, we're physically forced to be in Hawkins."
Jonathan's eyes went blurry slightly, blinking it away and lifted his head. "You have no idea how much I love you."
"Same here, Jon." Steve hugged him, bringing them back down to lay on the couch, the blanket half over them half on the floor. "Love you more."
"In your dreams."
---
They eventually fell asleep in eachother's arms by accident. The blanket had ended up on the floor fully by now, revealing their bodies pressed against eachother.
At some point, Will came home early. If he saw them on the couch like that, he didn't mention it the next morning, although Jonathan noticed those small looks his brother gave him. He knew it wouldn't be a problem though, he had helped his brother talk about his own feelings in the pizza place. Jonathan always noticed everything about the people close to him.
Thankfully, Will had set them alarm to wake them up before Joyce or Hopper came home. Steve was convinced they must've done it before the movie started to be safe.
Their secret wasn't as secretive as it was before, but maybe the way it was slowly unraveling itself to people they loved, it would help them in the long run.