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Steve knew something had happened between Jonathan and Nancy in that room they were trapped in. He had noticed it instantly, the way their whole demeanor had changed.
The couple had been on edge the whole day. Honestly, they’d been on edge for a while. Probably partially Steve’s fault, but he didn’t really care. But as soon as he had busted the wall down with a random fire hydrant he’d found with Dustin, the two acted like nothing was ever off between them.
They were all smiley and touching and happy- seriously, what happened?
They totally screwed in that room.
That was Steve’s immediate thought. They were angry, and pissed, and they broke down and had sex. That’s what Steve would’ve done. Honestly, that was all they probably needed to fix their relationship problems anyways.
But something was definitely off with Jonathan in another way.
When Steve had broken down the wall, the couple had both stared at him in relief. Nancy had smiled at him in gratitude with a warmth that made Steve’s stomach feel all jittery. But Jonathan’s face was something different.
He had sighed in satisfaction before looking at Steve with a big, dumb grin plastered across his face. He had stared at Steve like he was his hero or something. Like he was about to throw himself into Steve’s arms and have the guy princess-carry him away.
Once again, Steve’s stomach was flipping around and fluttering. But not in the usual jealousy-angry-competitive way it did with Jonathan. More like the way it did when a girl eyed him at a party and Steve knew he would be getting action later that night. Steve quickly ignored the feeling.
He ignored the way how it didn’t feel like that when Nancy grabbed his hand and used his body to help herself out of the room.
Jonathan did the same seconds later. He grabbed Steve’s arm and gripped onto his shoulder, allowing him to arch his back and pull himself through the wall. When he landed, he muttered a quiet “thanks” to Steve and gave his arm two pats. Steve’s stomach flipped once more.
—————————————-
Steve wasn’t afraid of heights, but FUCK was the tower tall. The decending void of another world and creepy Upside-Down-style lightning didn’t help to calm his nerves.
He was super proud that he was the one to come up with the big plan. It was kind of annoying that Jonathan was avoiding eye contact during his explanation, though.
Seriously, the guy looked ready to throw himself onto Steve after the whole goop-room-rescue, and now he was just ignoring him? Wasn’t doing wonders for Steve’s self esteem.
The dark, alien-esc Upside Down seemed to howl at the group as the tower swayed, spurred on by the metal antenna destabilized the platform they were standing on.
Steve frantically looked around. He had to make sure everyone was safe. Jonathan looked nervous, his dark eyes constantly fleeting over to Will to make sure he was secure.
A crash tore Steve from his thoughts.
The group was sent sprawling in different directions.
Steve was thrown over the side of the broken tower. One arm reached out to cling to the platform as he dangled midair, shaking from the force of everything around him.
It was dark. His hand gripped the platform as tightly as he could as he gasped for air. He heard screams.
Steve always heard of the whole “life flashing before your eyes” trope, but he never really believed it. How could he see 21 years of life in a couple of seconds?
He finally understood it.
Every single moment Steve had experienced, every single friend he had made, every single ice cream he had scooped, every single person he had saved, every single joke that didn’t land, every single girl he had kissed, every single dream that he had, they all danced across his memory, mocking him as he quickly lost his grip.
This was it. The last sounds he would hear were the sky cracking and his friends screaming his name as he plummeted. What a lame way to die.
The next thing he knew, he was falling. Falling to his death.
Until he wasn’t. Until he felt a strong hand gripping his arm and keeping him suspended in the air.
Steve fought for the courage to look up at his savior. It was then that he realized that the scared but firm voice reassuring Steve that he was okay was not coming from some strong, hunky guardian angel, but from Jonathan Byers.
Steve was pulled up. Damn, Jonathan was strong. Steve gripped Jonathan’s body for stabilization while realizing that he was basically on top of the guy. He only had a second to ponder how Jonathan had the strength to hold Steve’s entire body with one arm before he was pulled off of Jonathan by Dustin.
Dustin hugged Steve like he was still falling, gripping him with the force of a bear. Steve took the opportunity to look around the tower at everyone.
Joyce was holding Will like he would somehow be the next to fall, and Nancy was doing the same with Mike. It was nice to know that Steve’s almost-death could bring families together.
Lucas was holding back Robin from pouncing on Steve, allowing Dustin to take some time with his bear hug.
Eventually Dustin let go, allowing Robin to grab Steve and inspect every inch of him like he would become a corpse if she didn’t check.
Steve calmed Robin and Dustin down, but his gaze flicked to Jonathan. Nobody was checking on him. Nobody was thanking him.
Steve wanted to thank him.
Steve wanted to run over to him on the shaky, crowded platform and give him the biggest hug ever.
He wanted to whisper a soft “thank you” and never let Jonathan forget this moment.
Steve wanted to hold Jonathan’s hand up in the air and declare him a savior.
Steve wanted to do the princess carry thing from earlier.
He wanted to throw a banquet in Jonathan’s honor.
At that moment, Steve wanted to call Jonathan his hero and give him a giant kiss on the li-
Okay, maybe Steve was getting ahead of himself. To be fair, the circulation of blood to his brain was cut off by the hug Robin currently had him in that was somehow stronger than Dustin’s.
In fact, the hug was the only thing keeping Steve from jumping on top of Jonathan and thanking him with every breath left in his body.
———————————-
Jonathan couldn’t stop shivering.
Will’s old “he likes it cold” catchphrase apparently never warned him enough about the frozen wasteland that was Vecna’s domain.
Well, it was also nerves. Jonathan had just almost thrown himself off of a tower to catch Steve Harrington.
Why on Earth had he done that?
It was just because Steve had rescued him and Nancy from that room earlier. That’s what Jonathan told himself.
Jonathan continued to shiver as he walked alone, in the middle of the dispersed group traversing Vecna’s planet. He made sure to keep his eyes on Will. If there was one thing Jonathan would make sure of, it was Will’s safety.
Out of nowhere, the voice of the man Jonathan really did not want to hear at the moment broke through his thoughts.
“Jonathan! Jonathan!! Jona- Hey.”
Jonathan turned to face the other man, who had just run up to him.
“Hey, Steve.”
Steve looked cold too. Also out of breath. And ruffled up. His hair still managed to look great underneath his stupid baseball cap. Okay, maybe the cap wasn’t that bad. Steve had to look good in everythi-
“Thank you. For saving me.”
Well. That wasn’t what Jonathan had expected.
“I might hate you, but I don’t want you dead.” Did Jonathan still hate Steve? He wasn’t fully sure at this point. “Plus, we’re gonna need you up here.”
That response seemed to satisfy Steve. But he didn’t walk away. He just continued to stroll alongside Jonathan.
“Just- uh- are you okay? After being stuck in that room-”
“Steve, that was ages ago. I’m fine,” Jonathan assured.
How long had it been since the room? It felt like a week had passed, although it must’ve been only hours. How many hours? Days were bleeding together.
“Did something happen with you and Nance?” Steve asked, cautiously. “You guys seem different.”
That was the part Jonathan was trying to ignore. The break up. It wasn’t hurting Jonathan as much as he thought it would’ve, but it still was awkward to mention the seperation to the man who would most definitely make a play on Nancy as soon as he knew she was single again.
“Yeah, uh… We broke up.”
“Oh.”
Oh? That was all he said?
“I know you like her, she’s single now, if you want to shoot your shot.” Jonathan didn’t know why he was saying it. He was just being jealous and judgy, but the idea of Steve asking Nancy out again was really pissijg him off. “Although, I don’t know if she feels the same way.”
“Ah, no. I’ve known that me and Nance weren’t in the cards for a while now.”
?
“Really?”
“Yeah. So yeah, uh… I just- I just want to thank you but I don’t know how.”
???
“You don’t need to thank m-”
Jonathan was cut off by Steve grabbing his chin in his hand and kissing him.
The kiss shocked Jonathan, but he quickly accepted it, allowing Steve to hold his face in his hands. He even kissed back a little.
After around 10 seconds, Steve pulled away. He had a tiny smile on his face.
“Thank you, Jonathan. You’re seriously my hero.”
Steve then walked away to join the rest of the group, who had missed the whole event and continued their walk.
Jonathan’s stomach twisted.
What had just happened???
———————————-
Steve sighed as Joyce put the final blow on Vecna’s head. He was gone. Actually gone. This was over.
The kids that had been taken by Vecna were being supported and told everything by members of the party as other people made their reunions.
Steve was covered in spider egg goop. He was tired. And somehow sweaty despite the freezing landscape.
“Steve!”
Was that…..shit. Steve had forgotten about the kiss. Jonathan was probably about to give him a piece of his mind.
He turned to face the other man and only was able to briefly take in how good he looked all messed up post-battle when Jonathan threw his arms around Steve’s head and pulled him into a deep kiss.
Every butterfly in Steve’s stomach simultaneously calmed down and went crazy. It was exciting, but grounding; it felt like a way of saying, “We’re alive, somehow.”
The kiss wasn’t like Steve’s one from earlier; it was passionate and hot and full of that “we won” energy. It was the best kiss Steve had ever had.
Jonathan deepened it, exploring Steve’s mouth with his tongue. Steve automatically ducked lower to be standing equal to the man who was a few inches shorter (but surprisingly stronger).
Steve placed his hands on Jonathan’s waist and moaned into his mouth as Jonathan slightly pulled at his hair. Both of them were smiling and laughing into the kiss, in pure bliss.
“Ahem.”
Steve and Jonathan jumped apart to face the crowd of their peers who were staring at them. Some were shocked, some were giggling, some were not amused.
“Can you two lovebirds calm the fuck down and do…. WHATEVER IT IS YOU’RE DOING later?” Robin yelled.
Steve turned to look at Jonathan only to meet the other man’s eyes. They both broke out in laughter.
It was all over. And now they finally had each other.