Archive of Our Own

“Hey, guys, how about we wrap it up here, and go get pizzas or something? I’m kind of hungry and I think if we stay out here any longer I won’t be able to stop crying so…” Robin trails off, a laugh caught in her throat even as she wipes at her face. 

They’re all still standing at the edge of the WSQK, looking out over the fields as the sun sets. It’s the first time Jonathan has been back to Hawkins since Christmas five months ago, and it's nice to breathe the fresh air again. Having already spent almost a year in New York at this point, his lungs have gotten used to the more polluted air, even if it had been a genuine process. He’d spent all his life in Hawkins, save for the few and far between trips to wherever his dad would be at the time (before Jonathan started refusing them), and the roadtrip he’d taken with Nancy all those years ago to Murray’s house. The move to New York had been such a drastic change, that it had taken him probably three months to actually settle in at all. By the time he had gotten more used to the constant noise outside his bedroom window, he was back in Hawkins for Thanksgiving, where the only thing he could hear in his makeshift bed in Hopper's cabin was Hopper and Joyce whispering, Will’s mild snoring, and the sound from the woods outside that would make his heartbeat speed up and his hand reach for whatever was the closest thing he could use as a weapon. 

Sleeping, in Hawkins, was something that had never come easy to Jonathan at all. For as long as he could remember, there was always something for him to worry about. His father, laying his hands on his mother, or on Will; whether Joyce would be getting up and going to work in the morning, or if he would have to call the store again and make up another excuse about her being sick or about some ill relative; would they be able to pay all their bills this month, or would Jonathan need to pick up more shifts and leave Will home alone more; were the noises outside his bedroom window a rabbit or a deer, or was it actually an interdimentional monster there to kill them or steal Will from them again? Yeah, no. Seeing as there was always something to twist and turn about, sleeping had never been his strong suit. 

However, there had been some reprieve from his insomnia. The blissful months between November ‘84 and September ‘85, when there was always Nancy. Nancy sneaking into his bedroom or vice versa, to curl up against him. To soothe him from nightmares, or talk through his worries with. He tried not to think too much about it, seeing as it made the near constant ball of grief in his stomach stretch and grow until it felt big enough to burst, and it was pressing up in his throat in a way that made him squeeze his eyes shut to avoid the tears spilling out. In retrospect, Jonathan could say, with complete certainty, that those months had been the best of his life. And so, thinking about the fact that he had lost it, curled underneath slightly ratty, but still warm, blankets on the blow up mattress in Will’s room in the cabin, was enough to make him miss the sounds of New York.

Because, at the very least, the sounds of the city could distract from the fact that he was sleeping alone. The fact that there was no Nancy to hold onto at night, no warm, soft and sweet-smelling neck to cry into, or to kiss when the thoughts got to be too much and he needed the distraction. No, Jonathan had had to learn how to sleep without her, how to soothe himself when he woke up in a cold sweat, reaching for her. It hadn’t been easy (it probably never would be), but he had done it.

When he had left Hawkins again, after Thanksgiving, he had gone back to New York at least knowing that he wouldn’t be haunted by the memories of her, of them, to the same extent. He had the noise of the city, always there to caress him to sleep. 

It’s Steve’s hand slapping him on the shoulder that rouses him from his daydream. “Yeah,” he hears Steve agree. “We should definitely go eat. I’m hungry.” He removes the arm he had around Jonathan, and starts walking back over to their chairs, probably to begin packing up. Robin trails after him, and Jonathan hears them start up a conversation, something about Steve not wanting to go to Robin’s favorite pizza place because a lot of his students worked there.

“Come on, Buckley,” he hears him groan, and Jonathan can’t help but grin. At least that would never change. 

He hasn’t even realized that he’s standing there alone with Nancy, or that she’s moved closer to him, until she clears her throat subtly. His head snaps in her direction. 

“Hi,” she says, looking up at him through her lashes. Jonathan can’t help himself when he gets slightly lost to the deep, beautiful blue of her eyes, and the way her dark eyelashes frame them. He gives her a wry grin, and takes the last sip of his beer. 

“Hi,” he repeats back to her, slightly teasing. She smiles, and looks over her shoulder. He follows her gaze and sees that Steve and Robin have finished packing up their things and are moving to get down from the roof. 

“Byers! Wheeler! Come on, we’re going to Mama’s to get food!” Steve’s shouting at them.

“Yeah,” Jonathan calls back. “Just let me finish this beer! We’ll meet you there.”

Robin gives the two of them a look, before she shrugs and begins to pull Steve toward the stairs. He can hear them bickering in low voices as they move down the staircase. 

“So,” he starts, looking back to where Nancy is standing. He shifts his body so they’re face to face and takes a step closer so she has to crane her neck just slightly to maintain eyecontact with him. “We’re all back here, huh?”

She takes the empty bottle from his hands, leans over and puts both his and her drink on the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, Jonathan can see Steve’s motorcycle and Robin’s car drive away, kicking up dirt behind them. 

When Nancy stands back up to her full height, she curls her lips in a grin and grips onto the lapels of his jacket with both of her hands. His hands find their rightful place in the small of her waist, curling back towards the small of her back, and he can tell he’s wearing that lovestruck smile he used to get teased for back in high school; the one he would always wear when he looked at her. 

“Yeah,” Nancy sighs, hands sliding up from his chest to curl into the hair at the nape of his neck. “It’s kind of nice to be back… in a weird way.” She grimaces.

He nods. “I agree. It’s nice to be back and see the town so carefree,” he lets out a breath. “We didn’t really get to see it like that a lot when we lived here.” 

He looks away, towards the sky and the woods, and his hands tighten on her waist. The sun is setting, and the colors blend in a way that reminds him strangely of the sky in California. Jonathan often tries to block most thoughts of California, not only because it had been an awful half a year, the six months he’d spent there, but also because it always reminded him of El. And even now, after so long, every time he thought of El, he was reminded of the fact that she was gone, and that none of them had been able to save her from the fate she had decided for herself. 

“It’s weird without El,” he whispers, looking back to Nancy to ground himself from the sudden urge to cry. He swallows around it, and feels it fade back down into his chest. “Especially with all the kids graduating. And staying at Hopper’s…” He breathes out, gives his head a shake.

During the time they had spent in California, Jonathan had really come to see El, or Jane, as they had called her then, as his little sister. There had been so much to teach her, so much she just didn’t know about the world, that Jonathan had almost felt the way he did when Will was so much younger, and still looked to him for advice on almost everything. And, if there was one thing Jonathan Byers excelled at, it was being a big brother. It had shaped him entirely when he was growing up; slipping back into that role fully for Jane had been easy. She had been easy and fun and loving, and he still found himself missing her so much it hurt. 

Nancy’s big eyes are full of sympathy as she leans up on her tiptoes to press a kiss against his cheek, before wrapping her arms fully around his neck in a hug. He sinks into it, lips finding the familiar spot where her neck meets her shoulder. He nudges her with his nose and presses a kiss against her. 

“I’m really happy we're here together though,” he murmurs, pulling back a little to give her a soft smile. His right hand finds her cheek, curling gently around her face and into her hair as he pulls her into a proper kiss. 

She melts into it, gripping lightly onto his hair with one hand. He pulls her even closer against him, as close as she can go really, the arm originally on her waist now curled all the way around her back. It's soft and wonderful, her lips warm against him as the sun sinks behind the trees. 

She begins to pull back, but he won’t let her. He tightens his hand in her hair and pulls her back to him, pecking her lips over and over again until she starts to giggle. 

“Jonathan,” she laughs. “We need to go. They’re already waiting for us.”

“Mmm…” He whines against her. “But I haven’t gotten to kiss you almost at all today,” he pouts, leaning in for another quick kiss. 

Nancy indulges him for another couple of seconds, before she begins to remove herself from his grip. “You know, I have been pretty impressed with our resolve today,” she says, grabbing his hand and beginning to walk towards the staircase. “I don’t think anyone has figured us out yet.”

“Yeah!” He laughs, pulling her closer and dropping her hand so he can wrap his arm around her shoulders. She reaches up and entwines their fingers together. “I think we’ve done a good job. But, it might be time to let some of them know soon, don’t you think?”

She looks at him as they walk over to her car. As they come to a stop, she leans against the driver-side door. Nancy nods, “yeah. I kind of feel like I should tell mom soon. Maybe Mike too…”

He cups her face in his hands and nods. “Yeah, I want to tell my mom and Will too. But I think we need to be prepared for most people to find out if we’re letting both our little brothers in on the secret,” he chuckles, curling his fingers into the hair behind her ear. “They’re definitely going to snitch on us to Dustin and Lucas.”

“I’m… kind of okay with that?” Nancy says, tilting her head slightly at him. She’s smiling and he can’t help himself when he leans in to kiss her again, hard and fast. 

“Me too,” he announces, voice soft with resolve.

When they had decided to rekindle their relationship at Christmas, after over a year apart, they had easily decided that the best choice of action was to not let anybody know for a while. Mostly, the decision came from a place of not wanting too much pressure to be put on them or their relationship. Back when they had broken up, they had discussed the fact that it had all felt very suffocating; like being together was something they had to do, something that was expected of them. It was obvious that the best way to move forward was to spend some time apart. They needed time and space to figure themselves out, see who they were outside of Hawkins and outside of each other and their (shared) trauma. 

It had been awful. Every time Jonathan saw something new or interesting, the first thing he thought was ‘Nancy would love this’, or ‘I have to tell Nance about this’, before he would be brought back down to earth and remember that he couldn’t, or shouldn’t, tell Nancy about this. To begin with Jonathan had been angry. And hurt. He felt a little cheated and pushed away, and like Nancy had somehow belittled their relationship. Like she had taken his heart in her hands and just squeezed and squeezed, as hard as she could until it burst all over her, leaving him behind with a gaping hole in his chest, any leftovers of his heart leaving with her. She was so much more to him than just a representation of their shared trauma, or a depiction of what they both still carried in the palms of their left hands. He loved her, and it had hurt so much to realize that that just wasn’t enough. That her loving him, just as much as he loved her, wouldn’t do anything. 

After defeating Vecna, it didn’t take Nancy very long to move out to Boston. She had deferred her admission all those months ago, the town-wide quarantine as her excuse, and now she could finally accept it and enroll, ready to start in January with the spring-semester. Watching her leave had been one of the most painful experiences in Jonathan’s life, which, knowing what he had been through in the last four years, says a lot. 

But, looking back now, even Jonathan can admit that it had been necessary. They had been slightly codependent, and their relationship was basically dust after he came back from Lenora (for different reasons). Jonathan had loved her so much; so much so that, in the end, he realized he had to let her go, at least for a while. She deserved to go to Emerson and solve the mystery of Nancy Wheeler on her own, without being weighed down by a boyfriend who only reminded her of a baggage-load of trauma (after the fact, when they were back together, Nancy had reassured him over and over again that he was so much more than just a representation of her trauma, even if it took a while for him to actually believe her). 

Retrospectively, Jonathan has also realized that it had been necessary for him too, to find himself, as cliché as that sounds. To discover that he actually was a lot more than just a big brother, a son and a boyfriend. He was his own person, and the move out to New York had really helped him find his own path, outside of any previous obligations. 

He reaches behind her and opens her car door, giving her one last peck on the lips and a quick one on the forehead, before ushering her into the car. He’s walking over to his own truck when she drives by him, slowing down enough for it to catch his attenton. She’s grinning, and blows him a kiss, before speeding away down the road. 

Jonathan shakes his head and tries to suppress the smile that's taking over his face. He finds that he can’t. 

When he enters the place Steve and Robin have chosen, the three of them are already seated in a booth. Steve and Robin sit together on one side, so Jonathan has no other choice but to join Nancy opposite the two of them. 

“Long time no see,” Nancy jokes and he gives her a look and a chuckle. 

Robin and Steve had already ordered for them, so shortly after his arrival, their table is stacked with two pies and the group is eating. It reminds him distinctly of the short months between the battle at Starcourt (the mall-fire, he reminds himself), and his moving away to California. They had spent some time together then, seeing as no one else would understand the way they couldn’t enter bigger buildings with glass roofs or why they jumped every time the lights flickered above. It had been nice, Jonathan remembers, having friends. Once he got to California, it had taken a while before he actually found Argyle. The first couple of months, he walked around aimlessly, did his schoolwork, waited around for Will and El to get out of school and drove them home. Once Argyle had found him and claimed him his best friend, things had changed. There was someone to just be with. Jonathan had never actually had that outside of Nancy (although he feels the need to point out the fact that there’s a great distinction between Argyle and Nancy, seeing as every time Jonathan had Nancy alone in 1985 it took him probably all of 30 seconds to have his tongue down her throat, and even before he actually got to date her, he was deeply in love with her and pining from afar). Now, at NYU, he had acquired a semi-solid group of friends, but as Robin had mentioned earlier, it would never be the same. Not really. 

And so, Jonathan tries to make a point of savoring this time together. He jokes around with Steve, discusses music and films with Robin (who, surprisingly enough, has pretty good taste), and he falls back into easy routine with Nancy. 

“I’m really into Fleetwood Mac, at the moment,” Robin tells him, in between bites of her pizza. 

And normally, before, Jonathan Byers might react to this a certain way. Maybe not with an eyeroll, but he would definitely be dismissive. And he can tell that that’s what Nancy expects from beside him, when her head turns in his direction, waiting for his answer. 

However, after losing Nancy and being alone in the big city… Jonathan has unearthed a whole new perspective on Fleetwood Mac. He respects their emotional honesty, even if they tend to be a little radio-friendly in a way he doesn’t usually appreciate. 

He nods at Robin. “Yeah, I can see that. They’re not half-bad.”

Nancy makes an affronted sound from next to him. He turns to her, and sees she’s looking at him with a frown on her face. 

“What?”

“Jonathan Byers, you are a liar!” She exclaims. 

He almost throws his head back and laughs, but manages to restrain himself. “Nancy Wheeler,” he starts, tone obviously teasing. “Why do you say that?”

“You hate Fleetwood Mac!” She tells him matter-of-factly, her whole body turning to face him on their bench. 

Now it’s Jonathan's turn to be affronted. “I never said I hated them! They’re just very mainstream and lack a little of the political edge that I like!” He exclaims. 

Nancy scoffs, “you're understating on purpose. You had very big feelings about Fleetwood Mac back in the day, and I heard all about it!” She’s pointing a finger at him, and he can’t help himself when he reaches out and grabs it, an old habit from when she used to get riled up about something or other all those years ago. 

A small smile escapes him. “Maybe certain events in my life have changed my perspective on Fleetwood Mac,” he says softly, looking at her intently. 

“What does that even mean?” She asks, pulling her hands out of his with a small glance at their friends, whom Jonathan had almost forgotten were there. 

He sits back against the booth again, so he’s no longer talking exclusively to her. The old habit of forgetting everyone else in the room when she’s around is obviously not something he’s grown out of. 

“It just means that… perhaps I’ve grown to appreciate some of their lyrics,” he shrugs. 

Nancy gapes at him, just a little, her mouth opening and closing for a few seconds, and it seems he’s rendered her speechless. 

At last, she manages to utter a “wow… I never thought I’d see the day.”

“I’m full of surprises,” he says, shrugging his shoulders once again and going back to the slice of pizza in front of him. “Anyway,” he starts. “What were you saying Robin?” And just like that, the conversation goes back to what it had been, even if Steve keeps glancing between him and Nancy with a calculated look in his eye, his brow furrowed. 

Two hours later, Jonathan has just parked his truck outside Hopper and his mom’s cabin. He grabs his keys and camera, and steps out of the car to wait. With the camera slung comfortably around his neck (some things never change), his free hand dips into the pocket of his jacket to fiddle, a little nervously, with a mixtape. 

He’s only been waiting for about a minute when her headlights become visible around the bend of the road, and her car approaches through the bush. They had agreed that, to avoid detection, Jonathan’s car should stay out here, and that she was going to pick him up and sneak him into her bedroom. Jonathan can’t help but shudder a little at the nostalgia in sneaking around like this.

“Hi,” he says as she steps out of the car towards him. When she’s close enough he pulls her into a hug, curling his body around hers. 

“You ready to go?” She murmurs into his shirt, pulling back to look him in the face. 

“Yea-” his answering response is cut short by the sound of the front door of the cabin opening and his mothers voice.

“Jonathan?” Joyce is squinting in the darkness, and Jonathan and Nancy whirl around like caught teenagers. “Nancy?” Joyce asks again, seemingly a little caught off guard, her eyes so expressive in the way that is distinctly Joyce. 

“Mom!” Jonathan expresses, eyebrows raised in surprise. “I thought you would be… in bed,” he trails off, looking to Nancy and grimacing in apology. 

“Hi, Mrs. Byers,” Nancy offers sheepishly, hand raised in a weak wave. 

“Hi sweetheart,” his mother offers a fond smile to his high school girlfriend, but the look she levels him with is anything but. “What exactly… I mean, why– Or actually, maybe I don’t want to know… But why–” She shakes her head as she rambles, obviously confused.  

Jonathan decides to ease his mothers confusion, pulling Nancy close and wrapping an arm around her. He slides her a questioning look and she nods, her hands intertwined in front of her chest in a slightly innocent gesture. 

“Mom,” Jonathan cuts her off. Joyce’s mouth snaps shut, face slightly expectant. “Mom, Nancy and I are… Well– We’ve been–” He struggles for the right words. 

“We’re together,” Nancy cuts in, wide eyes blue and apologetic in her mother-in-law’s direction. “Back together,” she adds in a whisper. Jonathan squeezes her waist in thanks. 

Joyce is just gaping at them, mouth opening and closing. Jonathan can’t help but notice it’s the second time that day he’s rendered someone speechless. A wry grin twists into place on his mouth. 

“Mom?” He takes a step towards his mother, starting up the steps she’s standing at the top of. Nancy follows behind, but keeps her appropriate distance. 

Just as Jonathan reaches Joyce, touching a hand lightly to her shoulder, the door opens once again. 

“Joyce?” Jim Hopper's gruff voice sounds and he stops short at the sight of the fucking family reunion happening on the porch. “Jonathan? Nancy? What is happening?”

“Let’s– Let’s go inside!” Joyce announces, clapping her hands together, eyes still wide and looking slightly panicked. “It’s cold.”

Jonathan and Nancy allow themselves to be herded inside, feeling more like teenagers caught doing god knows what than twenty two year olds. They’re placed into seats around the kitchen table. Joyce sits down opposite them and Hopper starts making tea or coffee or something, obviously feeling the need to just do something. 

“So…” Joyce starts, looking between the two of them. “Back together, huh?” She gives her son a little smirk, and tilts her head. 

“What!” Hopper cuts in then, whipping around, kettle in hand. “You’re back together?” He asks, and he sounds so strangely excited that Jonathan has to bring a hand up to his mouth to hide his smile behind. 

Nancy nods, looking less guilty now, eyes moving between his mom and his step-dad. “Yeah. For a little while now.”

“Since Christmas,” he specifies, squeezing Nancy’s thigh under the table. 

“Christmas?” His mother gasps. “Jonathan.”

He winces. “Sorry, mom. It’s just…” He looks at Nancy, at his girlfriend, and the small smile he gives her can’t be helped. “It was just important that it worked out this time, you know? Really important.”

Nancy smiles softly back at him, laying her own hand over his on her thigh. She turns back to Hopper and Joyce. “We didn’t want there to be any pressure. Just… us. We really wanted to try again, but it would’ve been such a big deal, so…” They share a shrug. “Nobody knows.”

Joyce brings a hand up to her mouth. Hopper lays a hand on her shoulder, but gives the two of them a smile and a fatherly nod. 

“I mean… wow,” Joyce starts. “I’m so happy for you. This is so great!” She stands and ushers the two of them into a hug. “I cannot believe you managed to keep this from me for five months!” She exclaims once they’ve pulled away, and smacks his shoulder. Jonathan can’t help but laugh and pulls his mother into another hug. 

“I’m sorry, mom,” he murmurs, squeezing her tight. “But you know how… important this is to me. How important Nancy is to me. We had to figure it out on our own.” 

Joyce brings her hand up to caress the back of her older son's head. “Of course, baby. I’m happy for you,” she pulls back, cups his face in her hand. “I’m proud of you.”

Letting Jonathan go, Joyce moves over to Nancy, and pulls her in as well. “I missed you so much, honey,” she tells her. “I’m so, so happy for you two.”

Nancy grins at her once they’ve pulled away from the hug. “Thanks,” she says. “I’m pretty happy too.” The smile she sends Jonathan's way makes his cheeks hot, and he feels a distinct need to puff his chest out in pride. He reaches for her hand, and brings it up to kiss her knuckles. 

“I mean, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Hopper adds, grinning at them from where he stands by the stove. 

Joyce claps her hands together. “Well!” She announces. “Let’s sit back down and have a cup of tea! Catch up a little? I guess we have a lot to talk about now,” she gives a chuckle. 

Nancy and Jonathan nod and find their seats again and Hopper goes back to making drinks. They’re halfway through a cup of tea when they hear the muffled sounds of car doors closing, and voices approaching. They freeze. 

“Mom?” It’s Will, poking his head through the door with a confused expression. 

“Will!” Joyce says. “What are you doing here? I thought you were spending the night at Mike’s with the others?” Will pushes through the door, entering the kitchen.

“I forgot my… bag,” he trails off, eyeing the people around the table. “What’s going on?”

Then, the door opens once again, and Mike steps through, all gangly and long-limbed. “Why is Nancy’s car–” He looks up and cuts himself off. “Nancy?”

Nancy gives him a sheepish look. “Hey.” 

“Guys, why are there like 9 cars in the driveway–” Dustin stumbles in after Mike, also halting his speech as he spots the group in the kitchen. They can see Lucas and Max as well, peeking in behind Dustin’s place in the doorway. 

Jonathan puts his head in his hands. “Jesus Christ,” he breathes. 

Nancy has to stifle a laugh. “You all had to go make sure Will got his bag?” She asks. 

Mike shrugs, a little sheepish. “It’s our last summer together.” 

Dustin comes up behind Will and Mike and nudges in between them, throwing his arms around each of their shoulders. “I’m not letting these two out of my sight this summer. We have to hang out while we still can!” He exclaims. 

Mike frowns then, as if remembering himself. “But, what are you doing here?” He points his hand in his sister's direction. 

“Oh…” Nancy looks to Jonathan, helplessly. “I’m–”

“Wait…” Will starts, looking between Nancy and Jonathan. Jonathan gives his little brother a small nod and a bashful smile. Will turns to Mike excitedly, pointing a finger in his face. “Hah! You owe me 20 bucks!”

Mike is also looking between his sister and Jonathan, and then he groans, throwing his head back. “Oh, my god, Nance! You couldn’t have waited a few more months? I had you down for Christmas!”

Nancy scoffs at him, but she’s smiling. “You were betting on us?” She asks in mock outrage. 

“Will!” Jonathan joins in, looking mildly offended. 

Will snorts, then covers his mouth with his hand. “I’m sorry, Jonathan, but come on!” He points in between them. “Look at the two of you! We all knew the break-up wouldn’t last.”

Jonathan looks down at himself and realizes that, perhaps his brother was making a valid point. His and Nancy’s chairs were pushed as far together as they could be; Nancy’s leg crossed over the other, with Jonathan’s arm draped over her lap, his palm resting against her knee. Her hand was locked around his, thumb stroking at the inside of his wrist. 

Jonathan sneaks a glance at Nancy, and then looks back towards his brother. “Are we always like this?” He asks, brow furrowed in actual confusion, hand flexing against Nancy’s leg. 

The whole party nods, even Lucas and Max from further behind the rest of the group.

“I still remember when you announced the break-up, after we defeated Vecna,” Dustin starts. “You were actively holding hands.”

“We all thought you were pranking us,” Max chimes in, giving Nancy a small smile.

Jonathan and Nancy share a look. Huh. 

“Well,” Nancy murmurs, eyes locked on his. They share a small smile, and Jonathan gives her knee a squeeze. “Then I guess it’s a good thing the cat’s out of the bag.”

Will and Mike look towards each other with matching frowns. “What do you mean out of the bag? Is this not a new development?” Mike interrogates, Will nodding along. 

Jonathan sighs deep in his chest, and one of his hands reaches up to muss at his hair. Were they really just airing their semi-dirty laundry out to both of their brothers and all of their friends right now?

“Not that it’s any of your business,” he gives his younger brother a look. “But we started seeing each other again around Christmas.”

Jaws all around the room drop. “What?!” Dustin screeches. 

Nancy and Jonathan both shrug, feeling silently pleased that they had managed to catch them all off guard. 

“That’s… really impressive,” says Max, nodding her head in appreciation. Lucas throws an arm around her shoulders and nods his agreement. 

Dustin looks at all his friends, his face outright gleeful. “Do you guys know what this means?” He asks, and it sounds almost menacing. Both Nancy and Jonathan raise their eyebrows. 

“It means I won the bet, bitches!” He hollers, hands thrown up in victory. 

The party all groan. Mike raises his face towards the sky like he’s pleading with God, and Will hides his face in his hands. 

“Shit,” Lucas mutters. “We’ll never hear the end of it!”

The kids all stay to talk (and Dustin to gloat) for another 20 minutes, before Will goes to pick up his forgotten bag and they start heading back out the door, all piling into the Wheeler station wagon waiting for them in the driveway. 

Nancy looks at Jonathan, and seeing as their plans to sneak him into hers tonight had obviously failed, she says “I guess I should get going too.” She moves to get out of her seat. 

“Oh, Nancy honey, you’re welcome to stay,” Joyce intervenes. She looks to Hopper; “isn’t that right, Hop?” 

Hopper nods. “Sure. We’re all adults now, I guess. And seeing as Will is at Mike’s you guys can have his bed,” he finishes gruffly. 

Nancy looks at Jonathan, who’s already watching her. He smiles at her, tilting his head. He grabs her hand and brings it close to his chest. 

“I mean, I would love to,” Nancy nods, looking at all of them. “But I don’t have any of my things with me…”

“You can borrow some of my clothes, and I’m sure there is a spare toothbrush around here somewhere,” Jonathan says. “No pressure though!” He adds on, as an afterthought. 

“We’re driving out of town for a part for my car tomorrow morning, so we’ll be out of your hair by the time you wake up,” Joyce informs, as she’s pouring leftover tea down the drain and washing out the cups.

“Okay then,” Nancy smiles. “I’d love to stay. As long as it’s okay with everyone.”

Jonathan leans over and presses a happy kiss to her cheek. They all putter about to finish cleaning up the kitchen. In the end Hopper and Joyce tell them goodnight, and retire back to their bedroom for the night. 

Nancy has finished washing her cup and put it away back in its cupboard, when Jonathan catches her along the waist and pulls her down into his lap. He presses a kiss to the side of her neck. 

“Hi, baby,” he whispers, the hand holding her close spreading out on her waist until he brushes the underside of her breast with his thumb. 

She grins and catches his hand in hers, pulling it away. She looks at him over the shoulder. “Nice try, but we’re not doing that while your parents are in the next room,” she murmurs. Turning so she's sitting sideways across his lap, she wraps her arms around his neck. “Save it for the morning,” she breathes, before she presses a deep kiss to his mouth. 

He makes a sound deep in his throat, and pulls her closer. They kiss languidly for a few minutes. 

When Nancy pulls back, she takes a moment to appreciate him; lips wet and beestung, pupils blown wide and cheeks a little flushed. She can’t help herself when she leans in for another kiss, fingers combing through the hair at the nape of his neck, scratching slightly. 

He shudders, his back arching at the sensation, then pulls back abruptly. “Shit, baby. We have to stop,” he laughs, squeezing her waist. She smirks at him and gets up off his lap. She takes his hands in hers and pulls him up. 

“Lead the way,” she murmurs sexily, and he groans because he knows she’s teasing, but it’s still working all the same. 

They brush their teeth side by side, and then each give the other the time they need separately in the bathroom. Nancy climbs into bed first, wearing a band-tee of his and a pair of clean boxers. Jonathan follows not long after, sliding under the covers next to her and pulling her close. He’s in only boxers, and she can feel his skin everywhere. When he kisses her, he tastes like mint toothpaste and something that feels distinctly like home. 

“Hey,” he whispers, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I love you.”

Nancy grins, holding his face in both her palms. “I love you,” she whispers back, pulling him in for another kiss. She begins pressing kisses all over his face, rolling them until she’s straddling him. He laughs, poking her in the side in a way he knows will make her squeal. She slaps a hand to her mouth when that’s exactly what she does, giving him a look. 

She brackets his head with her arms, looking down at him. His hands find her hips, and he presses his thumbs into her hipbones lightly. “I love you,” he repeats. 

“I love you.”

She presses another quick kiss to his lips, before she gets off and settles back down next to him. They’re side by side on the pillow, facing each other. Jonathan reaches out and caresses her cheek lightly with his thumb. 

“I have something for you,” he murmurs, pressing a short kiss to her mouth. Before she even has time to respond he’s pulled back and is standing up, finding his jacket from earlier and ruffling around in the pockets. She sighs, admiring the way his wiry back looks in the moonlight peeking through the window. He finds what he’s looking for and joins her back in the bed.

He settles cross-legged in front of her, and she sits up a little. He reaches for her hand and opens her palm, facing up. He places a mixtape into it and closes her fingers around it. 

“What is it?” Nancy asks, slightly nervous. It’s just too dark in the room for her to be able to read what it says, but she squints to try regardless.

He clears his throat. This is the first mixtape he’s given her since they reunited (in his defense, they’ve both been busy with… other things whenever they’ve seen each other). 

“It’s just a mixtape of some of what I was listening to when we were apart,” he runs a hand through his hair. “Songs that reminded me of you, or of us.”

She looks at him, a small smile appearing on her face. “Jonathan Byers…” She whispers. “Is this a yearning mix?”

He chuckles, “I’m sure you could call it that. You can call it whatever you want.”

She takes one of his hands in hers and pulls it close to kiss, holding it close to her chest after. She feels warm and giggly and in-love. “What’s on it?” She asks, once again attempting to read the back of the tape for the tracklist. 

“Hold on,” he mutters, once again getting out of bed. He searches in a drawer on the other side of the room and triumphantly returns with a flashlight. He flicks it on and hands it over. 

“There’s a lot of The Cure, some Psychedelic Furs…” He trails off, as he watches her read. 

She sees some she recognizes, like Just Like Heaven by The Cure or The Ghost In You by The Psychedelic Furs, that he’s played for her before. But it’s the first song on the tracklist that catches her attention. It’s Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. 

She looks at him and can tell he’s nervous. 

“Jonathan…” she whispers. “You changed your opinion on Fleetwood Mac because of me?” She asks, laughing and somehow feeling tears press against her eyes at the same time. He takes a deep breath, grabbing her chin lightly between his fingers to press a quick kiss to her mouth before he begins to talk. 

“When you left last year, to go to Boston, I was…” He stutters, fumbling for the right words. “I was pretty upset, and hurt. It hurt, that you could just… go away like that, you know?” He peeks at her, fiddling. “I was looking for an old tape of my own one day, when I found one my mom had stopped playing, and Landslide was on it. It kind of became the song I used to… get over you. Or, at least as over you can get a person you’ll never fall out of love with. More like, it helped me come to terms with the fact that it couldn’t be us, at least not then. It’s a very beautiful song. It almost felt like they were singing all my feelings, and about how I needed to grow up and change without you.”

He lets out a harsh breath and chuckles, hands pulling a little at his hair. “I’m not making any sense–”

“You’re making perfect sense,” Nancy cuts him off, reaching up to grasp his face in her hands. There are tears on her cheeks and a smile on her face. “You make perfect sense,” she repeats in a whisper. 

He smiles, wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “The lyrics really spoke to me, is my point. Have you heard it before? The song?”

She nods, “I mean, yeah– yeah, I’ve heard it, but I don’t know it. I–”

“I’ll play it for you,” he says, grabbing the mixtape from where it rested in her lap and moving over to Will’s stereo on the nightstand. He does his thing with the tape, and presses play, the volume low enough to not disturb the people in the other room. The soft guitar floats through the speakers and Nancy does her best to listen to the lyrics properly. 

I took my love, I took it down

I climbed a mountain and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills

‘Til the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky

What is love?

Can the child in my heart rise above?

Can I sail through the changin’ ocean tides?

Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing

‘Cause I built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I’m getting older too

There’s an interlude in the lyrics and Nancy’s hand comes up to her mouth, a gasp caught in her throat. She looks at Jonathan, eyes full of tears. He grips her hand in his, and presses a kiss to her knuckles. She can understand why this song had spoken to him so much after their break up. Seeing as they had broken up because there was a need to grow outside of the relationship, and not because there was a lack of love of any kind, the song's lyrics about moving through personal change was something that felt very close to home. 

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing

‘Cause I built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I’m getting older too

Oh! I’m getting older too

Oh-oh, take my love, take it down 

Oh-oh, climb a mountain and you turn around

And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills

Well, the landslide bring it down

And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills

Well, the landslide bring it down

Oh-ohh, the landslide bring it down

It had felt a little bit like climbing up a steep mountain, those last couple months of their relationship. Like they were both just climbing and climbing, through waist-deep snow, trying to cling onto each other's hands. In the end, the landslide had brought them down; had hurtled them down the mountain and buried them in snow, miles and miles apart from each other, where each of their hearts tried to beat hard enough to warm and melt through the ice. 

Nancy hugs Jonathan close, clinging to him as she cries softly. He pulls her into his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, pressing a kiss to the place where her shoulder meets her neck. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

She sniffles, combing a hand through his hair on the back of his head. “Don’t apologize,” she says, pulling back a little so she can look him in the eye. “It’s a beautiful song. I’m almost glad I didn’t listen to it after we broke up because that was…”

He nods, a small smile pulling at his lips. “Yeah. Hits close to home, huh?” He wipes away the tears on her face gently, burying a hand into the hair behind her ear. 

She smiles wetly and nods, pulling him back into a hug. She moves her legs so she’s straddling him again, wrapping both her legs and her arms around him, a little like a sloth. 

“I love you. You know that, right?”

“Of course I know, Nance,” he whispers softly. “I love you too.”

They hug each other close for a couple minutes, their breathing syncing up as Jonathan strokes her hair. A song she doesn’t recognize plays from the stereo. “What song is this?”

He takes a second to listen to the track. “This is Pictures Of You by The Cure. It’s from their new album. I didn’t actually listen to this after we broke up, seeing as I just bought the album a couple weeks ago, but it still really reminded me of you so I added it on.” He tilts his head, thinking something over. “I think I might have killed myself if this had been available while we were apart, actually.”

Her responding laugh tickles his neck and he can’t help but join her in it. But he’s not lying when he says the lyrics of that song would have fucked him up bad if he’d heard them a year ago; the story they paint about looking at their pictures with regret being a thing he had actually done that year they were apart. 

She cuddles a little closer to him, sighing contentedly. “This is one of my favorite things you do for me, you know.”

“What?”

“Show me songs that remind you of me, or make me mixtapes,” she shuffles on his lap so she’s looking him in the eyes. She gently combs through his bangs. “It’s really romantic,” she whispers, pulling him closer for a kiss. 

They kiss for a while, somehow moving until they’re both on their sides, Jonathan leaning half his body over hers. He’s got her chin in his hand, guiding her through the kiss. She runs her hand down his side, gripping onto his waist. She tries to remind herself of the fact that his parents are in the next room, but she really can’t help herself when she pulls on him until he settles in between her legs, and she can cuddle him between her thighs, wrap her legs around him. 

He grinds his hips into her once, twice, before reluctantly pulling back. “Baby…” He murmurs, a whine caught in his throat. “You’re killing me. We should go to bed.”

Nancy quirks an eyebrow at him, hands smoothing along his shoulders. “We are in bed.” 

He grins at her, and leans down for another wet kiss. When it starts getting heated again, he pulls away, falling to his back next to her with a sigh. 

“Shit,” he breathes. “You’re a minx.”

She can’t help but giggle. “Sorry,” she murmurs, cuddling close to his side. 

“Don’t apologize,” he says gruffly, pulling her thigh over his torso and wrapping his arm around her. “I love it.”

She feels him reach over and turn the music off. The silence blankets them, and Nancy sighs contendedly, face buried against his neck. 

“You know,” she utters, words muffled against his skin. “If your parents are awake they totally think we just fucked because of that music.”

She feels him stiffen slightly, and snorts. “Damn…” He murmurs. “I didn’t think that through.” 

She giggles, her breath fanning his neck. She feels warm, soft and safe, and it doesn’t take very long for sleep to pull her under. Jonathan strokes her hair, feeling her deep and even breaths, and allows himself to follow. 

Jonathan wakes, in the early morning hours, to car doors slamming outside the cabin. He gathers quickly that it’s his mother and Hopper leaving for their early morning excursion. In the night, he and Nancy have settled on their sides. He’s wrapped around her from behind, her hair tickling his nose just a little. He breathes deep and gets a whiff of her shampoo. It’s enough to make his boxers feel almost uncomfortably tight, just the scent of her. 

He lifts up on one elbow behind her and starts pressing wet kisses along her neck. His other hand reaches and pulls up her t-shirt, allowing his palm to rest in the warm dip of her waist, fingers spread wide. 

He can tell he’s woken her up when she stretches slightly, arching her back in a way that grinds her ass against his crotch just right. Her hand moves and finds his, intertwining their fingers.

“Good morning,” she whispers, arching her neck and baring more skin for him to trail his lips along.

“Morning, baby,” he says, voice gruff with misuse in a way he knows she appreciates. 

She squeezes his hand. “Hey, I love where this is going, but,” She looks over her shoulder at him with a sheepish smile. “Can I go pee first?” 

He chuckles, pressing another kiss to her neck before nodding and letting her go, albeit reluctantly. “Of course.”

She sits up with her legs dangling off the edge of the bed. He flops onto his back, the covers now down by his feet. She turns, and leans over him to give him a soft kiss. Her hand lands on his stomach, sliding down until she’s pressing against the bulge in his boxers. 

“Be right back,” she whispers against his mouth, giving him a soft squeeze with her hand. 

“Shit,” he breathes, watching her go. She’s quick, and back by his side in less than two minutes. 

When she re-enters the room, she’s wearing that pretty smile of hers, her hair a slight mess around her head, and he loves her. He loves her so much he could drown in it; sink underneath the tide in the cool water and die a happy death, knowing that her smile had ever been directed at him. Knowing that she had loved him even a shred of how much he loved her.

Her face appears in his immediate eyesight, and he’s brought out of his little mind-detour. 

“Hey,” she murmurs, brows furrowed. “Where did you go?”

He cups her face in his hands, giving his head a little shake. “Nowhere,” he says, smiling softly at her. 

She takes his wrists in her hands. “Are you sure?” She sounds mildly concerned, trailing her hands down his arms and towards his shoulders. 

“Yeah,” he nods, rolling them so she’s on her back and he’s laying between her legs. “Just thinking about how much I love you.” 

Her eyes soften and she smiles, wrapping her arms around his neck. She drags her nails against the top of his spine, between his shoulder blades and relishes in the goosebumps that raise along the skin as he shudders. “Oh? And how much is that?” She teases. 

He presses a kiss to her pulsepoint, just underneath her jaw. “So,” he moves lower, letting his lips slide a trail of wetness along her neck. “So much.”

He looks up at her from the dip in her throat, eyes dark. “Let me show you.”

He hikes her t-shirt up until it bares her breasts to him, and his breath catches in his throat. Somehow, he’ll never get used to just how beautiful she is. He tells her as much.

“You know,” he murmurs, sucking a nipple into his mouth for a second, before pulling off, leaving a trail of spit behind. “Every time I get to see you like this…” He moves to her other breast. “You somehow get even more beautiful.”

She blushes, then throws her head back when he suckles on her, her hand twisting in his hair. “Jonathan,” she breathes. 

He glances up at her, catching her eye as he flicks her other nipple with his thumb. “And that's saying something, when you’ve always been so beautiful to me.” 

She pokes him in the side, small grin on her face even as the blush on her cheeks spreads down her neck. “Cheesy,” she says, eyes closing briefly when he pinches her nipple tighter. 

He chuckles cheekily, and starts moving further down her body. He presses a kiss just below her bellybutton as his fingers sneak under the waistband of her borrowed boxers, tugging them down. Once he’s got her bare, he settles himself between her legs, resting his chin against her mound for a second, just looking at her.

She clenches her thighs against his shoulders, breathing heavy and lids hooded. He slips her legs over his shoulders, his nose nudging the crease of her thigh. He presses a kiss against the skin. 

He brings his fingers up to spread her open, exposing her to him entirely. “Are you ready, baby?” He whispers, looking up at her briefly.

Her response comes out all breathy as she runs a hand through his bangs. “Please.”

He separates her further, and blows a breath of air directly onto her swollen clit. Her hips buck immediately, her breath catching in her throat loud enough for him to hear. She clenches her knees involuntarily around his neck. He brings his thumb down onto her clit and circles her gently, gathering some moisture from her opening before continuing his ministrations. 

“Shit,” she keens above him, the hand not in his hair clenching in the sheets. 

He speeds up just a little, hitting a pace he knows she likes. “So pretty,” he mumbles when she clenches on nothing. He can see she’s starting to leak, and adds even more pressure to her clit. His other hand comes up to her chest, twisting a nipple between his fingers, giving her whole breast a squeeze with his palm. Her head is thrashing on the pillow, clit being stimulated just enough for her to be almost right on the edge. He begins pressing wet kisses to the inside of her thigh, starting up towards her knee and moving down. She lets out a moan and he can tell she’s about to come. He keeps his pace steady but adds just a bit more pressure, and then she’s pulsing, her thighs clenching and her chest heaving with breath. 

He leans forward and gives her a rough lick, flattening his tongue against her clit, and her thighs snap almost shut around his head. He laughs and pulls away, crawling up her body so he can hover above her on his elbows, hands slipping into her hair. He admires the flush on her face, the glazed look in her eye and the way her breathing rockets her bare chest into his, the hard peaks of her nipples tickling him. 

He leans down to kiss her, coaxing her mouth open and slipping his tongue inside. He grabs her thigh and pulls it up so it's wrapped around his hip. Jonathan grinds his hips into her, her wet cunt soaking through the fabric of his boxers. 

He pulls away from her mouth to groan, arching his neck. “Shit, Nance.”

She slides a hand into his hair and yanks him back to her mouth, kissing him with fierce intention. He slides a hand down her body, squeezing her tiny waist for a second, moving down to her hip and around to her ass. He gives that too a tight squeeze, before his hand moves back between her legs. He slips one finger inside her immediately and she gasps into his mouth. 

The resounding whine she lets out when he moves his finger spurs him on, and he climbs back down her body and situates himself between her legs again. He wastes no time, licking over her clit before sucking it into his mouth gently, his finger moving inside her. Nancy’s hand clenches in her hair, her head thrown back against her pillow. He licks over her clit rythmically, adding another finger inside her. She thrashes, moan escaping her throat, legs shaky when he wraps his free arm around her thigh, pulling on her skin to spread her open further. 

“Jonathan,” she keens when he changes the pace, sucking her back into his mouth and finding just the right spot inside her with his fingers. “Shit, I’m gonna come again,” she gasps, sounding surprised at how quickly she’d built back up.

He grins against her, flicking his tongue and dragging his fingers just right a few times, and her back bows off the bed, hands and thighs clenching as she moans, caught off guard by her orgasm. He eases her through it, lightening the pressure against her clit and pulling his fingers out of her.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” she whimpers, legs straightening shakily before coming back up around his head. Jonathan strokes her thigh gently, feeling the muscles quiver. He presses a couple soft kisses to her clit, making her breathe out sharply, before he moves back up her body. He makes a pit-stop at her chest. He gives both nipples his attention, one with his hand and the other with his mouth before he switches. 

She pulls on his hair gently, urging him upwards. He takes the hint, and crawls further up until he’s back hovering above her, slightly smug smirk on his lips. She leans up to kiss him, and the taste of herself on his tongue is just a little intoxicating. She reaches one hand in between them and palms him on the outside of his boxers, and he gasps into her mouth, breath leaving his lungs in a rush. 

“Nancy,” he whispers into her mouth, pulling back for a second to rest his forehead against hers. His eyes are shut tight and she can feel he’s coiled as tight as a spring, muscles in his arms shivering just slightly as he fights to keep control of himself. She takes the hint, and rolls them, so he's on his back and she’s straddling him. 

“Are you ready, baby?” She teases, a call-back to his earlier question to her, and he breathes a laugh. Said laugh catches in his throat when she slips her hands inside the waistband of his tented boxers, allowing her fingers to brush against him just so. 

He grins up at her, and pinches her thigh gently. “Tease,” he mutters. He brushes a piece of her short hair behind her ear. It’s not as sleek as it had been earlier, a good night’s sleep and her trashing against the pillow having allowed it to frizz up and the curls he loved so much to begin peeking out again. He loves her shorter hair, but he sometimes still finds himself missing the long, beautiful, frizzy curls she used to wear it in; he’d loved burying his hands in it, twirling it around his fingers. 

“Always,” she responds, leaning down to kiss him quickly. She presses wet kisses to his neck as she moves her body off him so she can begin to pull down his boxers. He helps her along by lifting his hips, and breathes a sigh of relief when he’s freed from the moist constraints of his underwear. 

She settles back over him, sliding herself along his cock. His hands find her hips and he grips at her tightly, clenching his jaw. She sees the muscles jump and moves her hips, allowing him to glide against her wetly. He pulls at her t-shirt gently, and she gets the hint, reaching down and pulling it off herself, revelling a little in the way his hands clench against her hips. Jonathan slides his hands up her sides, settling on her waist and spreading his fingers so his thumbs brush against her chest. She angles her hips forward until the head of his cock hits her clit, and the little sound of pleasure she makes, and the way her breasts sway when she moves, is enough to drive him slightly mad. 

“Nancy,” he breathes, looking up at her pleadingly, desperately. He stutters when she moves along him again, a little harder now that she’s found an angle that she likes. When she meets his eyes, they’re crazed with pleasure and lust, glazed over and so wonderfully, familiarly brown. His cheeks are flushed in such an endearing way she finds herself sliding her hands along his jaw so she can run her thumbs along the tint. When he groans at her touch, and arches his neck against her, she takes pity on him. 

Lifting herself above him, she takes him in one hand and guides him inside her. One of his hands move to help her, thumb holding his shaft in place as she slides onto the tip. They share a moan at the sensation of finally being joined, her head thrown back a little. He’s big inside her, and it takes a short while before she’s settled on him entirely. She rests her hands against his abdomen once she’s seated, and watches him under heavy lids. She can tell he’s fighting the urge to close his eyes, and the flush on his cheeks has spread down his chest. She moves on him, lifting up slightly, before bringing herself back down. 

“Fuck,” he grounds out. He sits up so they’re face to face and wraps an arm tight around her waist. The other one buries itself in the hair at the back of her neck, and it’s this hand he uses to guide her into a desperate kiss. She keeps moving on him, alternating between moving up and down on him, and grinding her hips down so she can rub her clit against his pelvis. 

“Oh…” She moans, a high and breathy sound against his lips. He runs his tongue against her lips, forcing his entry again, and kisses her deeply. Her movements have gone slightly frantic, and she’s wet enough now that he slides in and out easily when she moves on him. 

He pulls away from their kiss to lean his forehead against hers, panting breaths fanning her face. “That feels so good, baby,” he mumbles, pressing a quick kiss against her again. She’s got her arms wrapped around his neck, one hand bent so she can tug at his hair. 

“So good,” she agrees breathily, head thrown back now. It exposes her throat to him, and he begins to lick and suck at her, using the hand in her hair to tilt her head further for more access. She whines when he runs his teeth along her jumping pulse, tightening her hand in his hair and grazing his scalp with her nails pretty harshly. He pulls back abruptly, a moan caught in his throat at the sensation as a shudder runs down his back. 

“Oh, fuck, baby,” he moans, and she grins. She knows he loves it when she pulls his hair. 

She presses a kiss against his mouth, laughing lightly. The laugh catches in her throat when he hits the perfect spot inside her, and her eyes roll back in her head involuntarily. 

He watches her reaction, mesmerized. “You’re so hot,” he murmurs against her throat, moving his hips with hers to see if he can make her do it again. “I love you.”

The breathy noise she lets out is something he recognizes as a laugh. “I– Oh!” She’s cut off when he moves against her just right again, and he can tell she’s almost gone when she leans her head to the side, letting it lull against her own shoulder with her eyes closed. “I love you,” she says, but it escapes more as a whine. 

He keeps moving slowly against her, keeping the rhythm he’s found that she seems to be responding so well to. Her own movements are erratic, her clit hitting his pelvis on every upturn of her hips. 

“Jonathan,” she whimpers, and it’s muffled into her own arm. He can tell she’s about to come; the lilt at the end of the word one of her tells. Her mouth is open, pretty moans leaving her at every exhale. 

“Yeah?” He encourages gently, leaning forward to nose at her cheek. She nods, eyes fluttering as they both keep moving against each other. She’s pulsing on his cock just right, another tell that she’s right on edge, and he swallows a moan. It doesn’t work, and the sound comes from deep in his chest. 

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he groans, feeling her start to actually tighten on him. He moves a hand to her ass, helping her move, and begins to press kisses to the side of her neck that’s still exposed. 

“Oh, my god,” she moans, and he sucks on her pulse-point. She’s gasping, pussy tightening around him and her movements over him are frantic. “Oh, my god,” she repeats. 

He detangles his hand from her hair and cups her face in it, lifting it from its slumped position. “Come on, Nance,” he murmurs, pressing desperate kisses to her mouth. Her eyes flutter open, dazed and hungry, and when they meet his it’s as if she’s re-awakened. She begins to move on him in earnest, sharp quick movements that have him breathing out harsh expletives against her cheek. 

“Oh, I’m gonna come,” she whines, holding onto him tight as she angles her thrusts to stimulate her clit the way she prefers at every pass. She grounds on him, grinding her hips just so, and then she’s moaning and pulsing all around him, hips stuttering and thighs clenching. “Oh, baby,” she moans. “Fuck!”

His eyes roll back in his head, feeling her so tight and wet all around him, and he gasps into her skin. He grabs onto her hips with both hands and allows himself to push and pull her over his cock, feeling her still pulsing tightly around him. It’s enough to push him right to the edge, and when she tightens her fingers in his hair and whimpers desperately against him, he’s gone. His neck arches as he comes inside her, her walls fluttering around him as he empties himself. 

“Fuuuuuuck,” he grounds out, feeling her all around him. He keeps pushing his hips into hers, riding them both through it. She slumps against him, arms still around his neck and head resting against his shoulder in a semi-hug. 

Mildly exhausted, he falls back against the bed, taking her with him. He sighs dramatically and she giggles, lifting herself shakily above him on her arms so she’s looking down at him. “Hi,” she whispers, grinning at him almost shyly. “That was amazing.”

He runs a hand down her spine, the other one tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. “So amazing,” he agrees, leaning up for a kiss. She obliges him, opening her mouth to his tongue when it beckons. He’s still inside her, and she’s almost tempted to start moving on him again, but then he pulls back, and his cheeks are flushed and his brown eyes are warm and she’s distracted again. She lifts her hips enough for him to slip out of her, before she settles back down to cuddle against his neck, draped all over him. 

He wraps his arms tight around her small waist, and rolls them so they’re on their sides. Once they’re settled he presses another quick kiss to her mouth. “I’m going to go grab some tissues,” he tells her, and she smiles gratefully at him as he gets up and heads towards the  bathroom.

Once they’re all cleaned up, he hands her back her underwear but neglects the shirt. Pulling on a fresh pair of boxers himself, he slides back into bed next to her. 

“Can you play the rest of your mixtape for me?” She asks sweetly, and he immediately leans over to the nightstand to press play on the stereo. The volume is pretty low, so he turns it up a couple notches, before he turns back to her and pulls her close. 

“You know,” Jonathan starts, peeking at the clock next to the stereo. “It’s only just after eight. We can sleep a little more, if you’d like.”

She nods, cupping the side of his neck in her hand as she leans over him a little, half her body resting against his on her side. “Maybe,” she says, sliding her hand a little further up so she can run the ends of his hair through her fingers. “If we fall asleep we fall asleep.” She leans down and presses a short kiss to his mouth. “We’re not meeting the others until later anyways, so,” she murmurs against him, pulling back to look down at him again. “I just wanna look at you a little.” 

He feels almost shy under her gaze, tracing a finger along her side. Her head tilts to the side, face lighting up. “Ooh, I love this song,” she smiles, fingers now tracing the softness of his cheek, sweeping gently over his smilelines.

“I know,” he nods, a little cheeky. “That’s partly why it’s on here.” He rests his palm against her back. “It reminds me of you. I also really like it, so…” He shrugs.

She smiles, leaning down and resting her nose against his, rubbing gently. He chuckles, and steals a quick kiss. “I love you,” he whispers. He’s a little high on the feeling of physically being around her, of having her in his arms and being able to touch and kiss her whenever he wants. Seeing as they’re living in separate cities, four hours apart from each other, it’s not always so easy to coordinate longer visits. Since they started seeing each other again, they’ve spent pretty much every single weekend together, either at her place in Boston, or his in New York. Still, they only get to see each other for three consecutive days in a row, and so he cherishes every single minute they get to spend in each other's physical presence. Before they had both gone back to Hawkins for their respective brothers’ graduation, they hadn’t seen each other for almost three weeks, due to Jonathan's end-of-semester exams. Luckily, he’d handed in his last assignment the other day, and was officially free for the summer. Free to be hers, he thought. 

“I love you,” she grins, using her hand to brush his bangs away from his forehead. He lets out a content sigh, burrowing one side of his face into the pillow. He lets his eyes slip shut, tired from not enough sleep and the rigorous activity they had just engaged in. 

“Every time I see you falling, I get down on my knees and pray,” she sings along with the stereo softly, shuffling his hair around on his forehead absentmindedly. “I’m waiting for that final moment, you’ll say the words that I can’t say.”

He smiles, opening one eye to peek at her. “You know,” he murmurs, voice soft in the morning light. “You have a pretty singing voice.” He tugs her just a little closer, pulling the blankets a little tighter around them in the process. 

She scoffs, but he can see her cheeks turning a sweet shade of pink. “You always say that,” she points out, laying her own head to rest next to his, also half-gone into the pillow. He slides one of his knees between hers, and settles them both fully on their sides. 

“Because it’s true,” he argues. 

She leans forward just a little, and presses a kiss to the bridge of his nose. “I think you’re biased,” she whispers. 

The track on the stereo has changed, and Nancy perks up again. “I love this song, too!” She exclaims excitedly. 

“You do?” He asks. He’s always known she was a New Order lover, and so her knowing Bizarre Love Triangle hadn’t come as a shock, but he doesn’t recall her ever listening to When In Rome in front of him before. “Sing it,” he urges sincerely, squeezing her waist.

She lets out a breath that resembles a laugh at that, shaking her head at him like she thinks he’s being ridiculous. 

“I’m being serious,” he says, pushing his forehead against hers gently. “Please?” He gives her his best puppy-dog-eye look, and she furrows her brows at him quizzically. 

“You’re weird,” she murmurs, but acquiesces anyway. “I’m sorry but I’m just thinking of the right words to say, I know they don’t sound the way I planned them to be,” she sings, voice quiet, private, but she’s smiling at him. 

He watches, feeling like he could overflow with all the things he’s feeling for her. “But if you wait around a while I’ll make you fall for me, I promise. I promise you, I will.” He mouths the rest of the chorus at her, a little mesmerized at the way she looks and how she sounds. She tugs on the hair she’s still holding between her fingers, and giggles at him. 

“You know, that’s kind of how I felt about you that month after Will went missing,” he tells her, arching an eyebrow at her teasingly. 

She rolls her eyes, just slightly. “You’re a dork,” she murmurs, but she’s smiling at him so warmly that he can’t help but press his lips to hers for a few seconds. 

Jonathan pulls back just slightly, looking into her eyes. “You waited for me,” he reminds her, definitely teasing now. 

He expects her to shove him, to laugh at his bad attempt at a joke or even maybe get a little offended as she had the first time they talked about this, in a shitty motel bed under equally shitty blankets. But here, in the warm morning light, wrapped together under soft, white sheets, she just cups his cheek in her hand. Her big eyes are so beautifully blue, and the sincere and affectionate look in them makes Jonathan’s breath catch in his throat. 

“I did,” Nancy whispers, pressing another smiling kiss against his lips. 

Jonathan parks his car outside the Wheeler residence many hours later. He recognizes multiple cars along the street, and grabs the grocery bag next to him before he makes to leave the car. He’d been assigned snack duty for movie night, and the list given to him by Mike yesterday had been just about as long as his actual college application. Regardless, he’d done his job and fulfilled every wish on the list, including the boys’ strange obsession with popcorn with Milk Duds in it. 

Movie nights with everyone had apparently become a thing while he and Will lived in Lenora, so he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Honestly, Jonathan was pretty sure he would be distracted by his girlfriend most of the night; especially seeing as Steve and Robin were in charge of picking the movies, and he sometimes questioned their taste (primarily Steve’s, if he’s honest, but he can also see Robin being influenced by him enough to pick a sub-par movie). The goal for the night was to not get riled up by movie choices, and just cherish being around his friends, his girlfriend and his little brother for a full night. He was pretty sure this was the first time they’d all been together like this not under the threat of some huge monster. 

(Jonathan ignores the stab in his chest that suggests that they’re missing a person to their party; that they’re missing a person who deserved nights like this, safe and surrounded by love. That is something he would have to dig deeper into with Nancy later, preferably in the privacy of her bedroom).   

He rings the doorbell, the familiar tune reminding him of happy (and less happy) moments spent inside Nancy’s home. It’s Karen that opens the door, and her face lights up at the sight of him. 

“Jonathan!” She exclaims. “Come in,” she beckons him inside the house, and, catching him just slightly off guard, pulls him into a hug. 

“Hey, Mrs. Wheeler,” he smiles, feeling shy and sixteen again. Karen had always greeted him with encouraging eyes and bright smiles, and she’d been over the moon when she discovered he and Nancy were dating back then. 

She clucks her tongue at him, an admonishing look in her eyes. “You can call me Karen. You know that.”

He chuckles, eyeing the floor embarrassedly. “Sorry,” he says.

Their attention is drawn away at the sound of footsteps running up the basement stairs, and the door behind Karen’s back opening. 

“Mom! Did the doorbell–” It’s Nancy, and she cuts herself off when she sees him in the hall. “Hi,” she breathes, smiling at him in a way that makes his heart clench in his chest, bright and beautiful. He can feel his cheeks warming just a little, and hopes it’s not too noticeable. 

“Hey, Nance,” he responds, trying to control his face when it threatens to break into a way-too-big-to-be-casual grin. 

She makes her way over to them, grabbing his wrist to pull him towards the door. “We’re just waiting for Steve and Robin,” she explains. “They’re bringing the movies.”

He doesn’t budge when she pulls on him, and she turns to him with an affronted look. He gestures with the hand holding the groceries. “We need to like… pop the popcorn and stuff,” he reminds her. “That’s like, my assigned task.”

She wrinkles her nose at him teasingly, because she’d been the one to assign them tasks, and she recognizes the soft dig he’s making at her. He chuckles, intertwining their fingers easily, and changes course to head towards the kitchen and the microwave. 

Before they can make it anywhere though, they’re interrupted by her mother. “Oh.” It’s a soft noise, her eyes moving between the two of them and their intertwined hands, eyebrows scrunched together like she’s trying to solve a puzzle. “Oh,” her hands come up to her face, and she looks outright gleeful. 

Nancy’s eyes widen, and she glances down at their hands, and realizes they’ve gone from a platonic ‘come here’ hand-hold, to the more romantic, fingers intertwined hand-hold without even realizing it. It had just come so naturally, neither of them had reacted to it. She looks to Jonathan, raising their hands slightly to bring his attention to it. “We keep doing this,” she sighs at him, and he opens his mouth, but no sound comes out. 

“You’re back together?!” Her mother gets out in a low screech. 

Nancy nods, but she would rather not have this conversation with her mother right now. “Yeah,” she tells her, but she’s already pulling Jonathan towards the kitchen. “For a couple months now.” 

Karen follows them, talking a mile a minute. “What?? Why didn’t you tell me? How long? What happened? How did it happen? Is this why you–” 

Nancy cuts her off, reaching into Jonathan's grocery bag for the microwaveable popcorn. “Mom,” she starts, pulling a packet out of the box and moving to start the microwave. “I love you, and I will tell you everything later, but there’s people waiting for us in the basement, and there are also some we’re expecting that don’t even know about this yet, so–” 

Karen gapes at her. “What do you mean some people?” She narrows her eyes at them. “Other people know about this?” She takes a step closer menacingly. “Mike knows about this?”

Jonathan makes a face. “He only found out yesterday,” he assures his now apparent future mother-in-law. 

The popcorn pops loudly in the microwave as the silence stretches around them, Mrs. Wheeler’s face going through such a wide array of emotions Jonathan almost wishes he could film her. The microwave beeps and Nancy pulls the bag out, grabbing a bowl and pouring the popcorn into it. He grabs the salt from where he knows it’s located behind him, and hands it over so she can salt accordingly. 

Nancy gives her mother a pleading look, holding the bowl in her arms in a way that makes her seem very young. Jonathan recognizes a Nancy Wheeler manipulation tactic from a mile away, something she perfected on her family years ago. 

Karen points a finger at the two of them, looking strict and just a little terrifying. “You are telling me everything later.” She says.

Nancy grins, walking backwards towards the basement door. He follows sheepishly, smiling at her through a grimace. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Wheel–” he cuts himself off with a wince. “Karen. I’m sorry, Karen.” He sees her soften a little at that, and then he’s being ushered down the stairs by his girlfriend. 

Downstairs, the kids (teens, Jonathan reminds himself) are sprawled around the room. Mike, Will and Dustin are already planted by the couch in front of the TV, while Max and Lucas bicker about something over by the table they always play DnD at. 

“Jonathan!” Dustin says happily, waving as he makes his way down the stairs behind Nancy. Mike and Will both utter similar sentiments when they spot him. 

“Hey guys,” he says warmly, handing his groceries over to Mike so he can spread them out wherever he wants them. 

“I think we should make, like, a makeshift bed on the floor by the couch,” Nancy suggests to the room. “Like with pillows and blankets and stuff. We’re gonna be nine people, and we won’t all fit on the couch, so I think it’s the best way to keep everyone comfortable.”

Everyone agrees, and they get to work on grabbing all extra pillows and blankets they can locate around the room. It doesn’t take long until the floor of the Wheeler’s basement looks comfortable enough for just about anyone to fall asleep on. 

The group all look at their work. “Awesome,” Mike announces, collapsing into the sea of blankets. The other kids follow, laughing as they spread out and get comfy. Nancy looks at Jonathan, and gestures for him to pick a place he wants to sit. He quirks a smile at her, and sits down, back resting against the couch behind them. She settles in next to him, shuffling closer until she’s comfortable; hip to hip and shoulder to shoulder. Nancy grabs a leftover blanket and throws it over them, just as they hear the ruckus of feet bounding down the stairs. 

Steve and Robin appear, a bag from the video store tight in Robin’s grip. The kids all cheer and greet them, eager to know what movies they had chosen for the night. 

“First up, my own personal pick,” Robin announces, digging around in her bag. She pulls out The Breakfast Club. Cheers sound around the room; it’s a universally loved film. To Jonathan, the movie itself is fine, but the score is what makes it good. 

“Second pick, per little Wheeler’s recurring requests,” Robin continues. 

Mike groans. “Don’t call me that,” he deadpans. Will squeezes his shoulder, runs a hand down his back. 

Robin ignores him, pulling another tape out of the bag. “The Empire Strikes Back!” She announces, and Mike lights up, previous comments forgotten. 

“Awesome!” He exclaims, reaching for the cassette. “Thanks, Robin!”

Dustin slaps a hand down on Steve’s shoulder. “Great pick, dude,” he tells him sincerely. 

Steve nods and shrugs, “I know you guys love it, so. Even if I like Return Of The Jedi better…”

Robin snorts. “That’s only because of the ewoks.” 

Steve throws his hands in the air exasperatedly, huffing. “You guys always say that, but can you blame me?” He asks heatedly. “They’re so cute and they like… save the day!”

Jonathan takes pity on him, leaning forward and inserting himself into the conversation. “Hey, it’s totally valid,” he nods. “It’s a good movie, and the ewoks are very cute.”

Nancy’s finger is busy grazing the exposed skin along Jonathan’s lower back that became exposed when he leaned forward when she speaks up too, a little absentmindedly, “I’ve actually never seen it.”

Every head in the room snaps in her direction, but it’s Jonathan’s voice that reaches her first. “What?” He exclaims. 

She stares at them wide-eyed, not expecting that visceral of a reaction from everyone. Even Max’s mouth has dropped open, and Nancy looks a little lost as she finds no allies around the room. 

She shrugs, stuttering just a little. “We watched the first one, that one time,” she gestures to Jonathan, and he nods. “But I’ve never seen any of the others.” She looks to her brother. “Is that a big deal?”

Mike gapes at her. “Is that a big deal?” He repeats back at her. “That’s like, the biggest deal!” He throws his hands up, looking around the room for support. 

“Hold on,” Robin says, hand up as though she’s trying to physically pause the conversation. “You’ve never seen The Empire Strikes Back either?” She asks, looking at Nancy with wide eyes. Nancy shakes her head.

Robin grins, letting out a laugh. “That is so awesome! I can’t believe I get to see someone watch Star Wars for the first time! You’re gonna love it!”

Nancy breathes out, looking a little overwhelmed, but she smiles at Robin’s enthusiasm. Jonathan flops back into the cushion next to Nancy, as Steve grabs the bag from Robin’s hand. 

“I’m almost tempted to run out and pick up Return Of The Jedi too now,” he says, reaching into the bag and pulling out the last movie. It’s Stand By Me. “Instead of this one.”

Dustin, Will and Lucas nod rigorously. “Do it!” They chant.

Steve looks to Nancy in question, and she gives him a sheepish grin. “If you want to. I would love to see it, but don’t feel like you have to do anything on my account.”

“Please, Steve!” Mike pleads, “It’s only appropriate. It’s your favorite, after all.”

Steve shrugs, and gets to his feet. “Okay,” he says, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. “But you guys put on The Breakfast Club while I’m gone. That’s Robin’s pick anyways.” 

Steve disappears up the stairs, as Robin goes to put the tape in. 

Nancy leans close to Jonathan next to her. “Hey,” she whispers, catching his attention and looking up at him through her lashes. “I kind of don’t remember anything that happened in that first one either…”

He smirks at her, recalling the time they had put on A New Hope in his old living room, while Will and Joyce were at a doctor's appointment. It hadn’t taken very long for them to get distracted. 

He knocks their shoulders together gently. “Okay,” he whispers back. “Let me explain it to you.”

The movie on screen flies by as Jonathan quietly recaps the first Star Wars film in detail to her, his voice soft in her ear and breath warm against her neck.

“And then Luke blows up the Death Star, and they all get medals and shit. You know, typical happy-slash-hopeful ending. Calm before the storm and all that.” 

“Wow,” she smiles, voice low so they don’t disturb anyone around them. “Sounds pretty good,” she says, teasing. 

He knocks their foreheads together gently, keeping an eye out for Robin ahead of them, who seems absolutely captivated by the movie playing on-screen so he figures they’re in the clear. “It’s pretty good, but probably my least favorite in the trilogy. Empire is the best one, in my opinion.”

They’re pulled apart by the sound of Steve arriving back in the basement. He holds out the new cassette triumphantly, putting it on the pile by the VHS-player. He finds a seat next to Robin, and they all focus on the last half of The Breakfast Club. 

The rest of the movie passes quickly, and when the last notes of Don’t You (Forget About Me) plays from the speakers, Jonathan is quietly buzzing with excitement to watch Nancy watch his favorite Star Wars movie for the first time. 

“Ugh, that final scene is so iconic,” Robin gushes, as she moves so she can switch movies. 

Jonathan nods. “It’s so good. The score really makes that movie for me,” he admits, and Robin turns to him with a smile. 

“Same.” 

“Yeah,” Nancy chimes in as well. “It hits every time.” 

Dustin runs up the stairs to pop more popcorn, having spent most of the movie complaining that Mike and Will were hoarding it and wanting his own. Everyone else settles in, getting comfortable for the four-hour adventure awaiting them. 

“Are you excited, Nance?” Jonathan asks her, grabbing a couple pillows from next to them and shoving one behind his own back, tapping her lightly on the side so she’ll lean forward and he can push one behind her as well. 

She settles back against the pillow, smiling her thanks at him. “Yeah! Especially now that I know it’s your favorite,” she says cheekily. Steve glances back at them curiously. 

“It’s probably my favorite as well,” Lucas says from where he’s nudged between Max and Mike on the other side of their pillow-fort. 

“They’re all good,” Will says, touching his head to Mike’s shoulder for a second, stifling a yawn. “I feel like, you should see them all subsequently anyways, so it doesn’t matter which is best.” Dustin bounds back down the stairs, big bowl in his hands, and settles back in next to Will.

Nancy nods. “Okay, well. My expectations are definitely high.” She sinks down into her pillow enough that she can rest her head against Jonathan’s bicep casually. Robin fumbles for the remote, pressing play, before laying out on her tummy in front of them in the fort. Steve lays on his side close by her, shuffling around to make sure his hand can easily reach into the bowl of popcorn in Dustin’s lap. As the opening credits roll, Nancy reaches for her soda next to her, handing Jonathan his as well. 

It doesn’t take very long for the movie to draw her in, and by the time Han and Leia have bickered in the hallway in the base in Hoth, she’s hooked. 

She looks up at Jonathan. “Ooh,” she whispers. “I love them.”

He smiles softly at her and nods, leaning his head on top of hers as their attention turns back to the screen. 

The movie passes, and Nancy’s eyes rarely leave the screen. Every now and then Jonathan reaches over Steve to Dustin’s bowl of popcorn, and hands her the pieces with the most butter. 

On the TV, Darth Vader has just cut off Luke’s hand, but Nancy is distracted by the feeling of eyes on her. She looks up and catches Jonathan looking at her. 

“What?” She questions silently. 

His eyes immediately flicker back to the screen. “Nothing,” he murmurs. 

The scene unfolds, Darth Vader attempting to force Luke onto the dark side and, consequently, revealing the true identity of Luke’s father. Nancy opens her mouth silently, but grips onto Jonathan's forearm in shock. Jonathan eyes her, slightly pleased expression on his face. 

Soon, the credits roll, and every eye in the room is turned on Nancy. 

“Well?” Dustin inquires excitedly. “What did you think?”

Nancy opens her mouth, struggling for words, mostly because everyone is looking at her so expectantly and she doesn’t know exactly what to say. “It was good!” She settles on. “I really liked it.”

Jonathan moves next to her, angling his body towards her. “And?” He asks, tilting his head at her with wide eyes. “What about the reveal?”

“Oh,” Nancy says, lips pulled into a small smile. “That was good too! A little… familiar maybe, but–” 

“A little what?” Says Mike, sounding offended. “The biggest cinematic reveal in history was… predictable to you?”

Nancy gapes at him, a laugh escaping her. “Well, I don’t know…” She starts. “I’m not exactly shocked, but it was still a good reveal. I didn’t think they would bring up Luke’s parentage in this movie, seeing as there’s another one.”

Jonathan frowns at her. “You guessed that Darth Vader was Luke’s father,” he says, also sounding mildly affronted. 

“Well, no,” she starts. “I’m not saying I guessed it, I’m saying it’s not that much of a shock.” She looks around the room, and everyone is still staring at her, so she fumbles to explain. “I mean, Luke is an orphan who’s never known anything of his father, but is like… ‘weirdly strong with the Force’ and Darth Vader is the most powerful user of the Force that we know of… It kind of adds up.”

Jonathan opens his mouth, eyebrows furrowing for a second. “Huh…” He murmurs. “You’re a wizard.”

She giggles, squeezing his arm. “No, I’m just twenty two years old watching this for the first time. You guys were all kids when you saw it, it’s not weird you were caught so off guard.” 

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Dustin whispers, but he looks a little heartbroken. 

“But,” Jonathan starts again. “You gripped onto my arm when he said it! You were surprised!”

She smiles at him, and she can almost feel how lovestruck she looks as her eyes catch his. “Yeah, I was. I didn’t guess it, I’m just saying it makes a lot of sense.”

Jonathan opens his mouth to argue, but he’s interrupted.

“Are you seeing this?” It’s Steve that takes the attention, voice ringing a little loudly around the room. He’s looking at Robin, eyebrows scrunched together.

“Seeing what?” She asks. “Seeing Nancy Wheeler prove, yet again, that she’s the smartest–”

Steve cuts her off. “No, no.” He waves his hand in direction of Jonathan and Nancy. “This. Them. Being all… You know.” He gestures to them again, fingers spread wide as he circles them in the air in front of him. 

Robin frowns, looking from Jonathan and Nancy to Steve and back again. She leans a little closer to Steve. “I thought they broke up,” she whispers, a little too loud to be sneaky. 

Steve nods, raising his eyebrows. “Yeah, they did.” He sneaks a peak over at the couple again. “I mean, I think they did, but–”

“You guys know we can all hear you right?” Max deadpans, looking over at Robin and Steve, who both immediately snap their mouths shut. 

“And you two,” she turns to Nancy and Jonathan, pointing a finger at them accusingly, “you know you’re not being subtle at all, right?”

Nancy’s eyes are wide, and when she peeks over at her boyfriend she can see the tips of his ears going rapidly pink. He sputters, but no actual words leave his mouth. 

“Thank you!” Steve exclaims, reaching an arm out towards Max in solidarity. 

Max rolls her eyes at him, but there’s a smile playing at her lips. “Don’t thank me for anything. I already knew about this.”

Steve’s jaw drops, and he looks at Nancy and Jonathan again. Robin gasps next to him, her right arm moving to rest on her chest in what appears to be shock. “Knew about what?” Robin utters, eyes moving between Max and the couple who are looking more and more like deer caught in headlights. “Knew about what, Nancy?”

Nancy’s left hand is covering her mouth, the other one still on Jonathan’s forearm, where it looks like she’s gripping just a little too tight. “Jonathan and I,” Nancy starts, words just a little muffled behind her hand. “We’re together.” 

Now Robin’s jaw also drops. Steve sputters for a second. “I knew it!” He cries, turning to Robin. “I knew they were acting too… in sync. I told you Nancy totally knew about Jonathan’s creepy movie before he mentioned it on the roof!”

“But,” Robin looks at Steve, but then quickly back to Nancy and Jonathan, “why didn’t you tell us?” She asks, voice high-pitched, eyes wide. 

Jonathan sits up, and removes the hand Nancy’s been clawing at him with. He rubs a little at the small ridges that have formed where her nails have dug in, and she grimaces apologetically at him. He shakes his head to tell her not to worry about it, and turns to Robin and Steve. 

“We didn’t tell anyone,” Jonathan says, still rubbing at his own arm. He gestures to everyone else in the room, “these guys all found out yesterday, because apparently we really suck at pretending not to be a couple. Mrs. Wheeler even sniffed us out upstairs.”

Nancy smiles apologetically at her friends. “Jonathan’s mom caught us yesterday, too. We didn’t even last a full day back before we were found out.” She shrugs, and knocks her shoulder into Jonathan’s lightly. “Turns out the only reason we have been able to keep this a secret is because we haven’t actually seen anyone since we started dating again.”

Jonathan throws an arm around her shoulders, and leans back into the pillows behind him, consequently bringing her with. “Sorry, guys,” he says, but he doesn’t look sorry at all, and Robin can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of her. 

“You don’t need to apologize,” Steve reasons. “It’s a bit awkward to be the last to know, but…”

Nancy cringes. “If it’s any consolation, my dad doesn’t know yet,” she tells them.

Steve gives her a look. “That’s really no consolation at all, Nance.”

Nancy barks a laugh at that. “Fair enough,” she chuckles. 

“Can we watch the next movie now?” Will asks around a yawn. He gestures to Nancy and Jonathan, “I mean, this is all old news. We all knew they couldn’t stay away from each other for long.”

Mike rolls his eyes from next to Will, nodding in agreement. “Yeah. We went to visit Nance last year in Boston, and I think I heard her talk to Jonathan on the phone, like, three times during our two-day stay.” 

Nancy opens her mouth, looking both shocked and offended, as her cheeks go pink. “You heard that?” 

Mike gives her a look. “The way you kept sneaking away with the phone, we all knew–”

Nancy cuts him off before he can finish, embarrassed. “Well, in my defense, it was his birthday that weekend that you guys visited.” She finishes primly, arms crossed over her chest. 

“That warrants one phone call," Mike argues knowingly, leaning forward from his place between Lucas and Will to peer at his sister. She knows he relishes in embarrassing her. 

“Okay!” Jonathan interrupts the bickering siblings, squeezing Nancy’s shoulder quickly. “Let's put on Jedi, please?” He looks to Robin, who immediately moves over to the VHS to switch tapes. 

As the opening to Return Of The Jedi plays ahead of them, and everyones attention has been diverted to the TV, Jonathan noses at Nancy’s cheek, catching her attention. She turns to him, still a little red in the face, and he rubs his nose against hers for a second. 

“You okay?” He whispers, eyes searching hers. 

She bonks their foreheads together softly. “Yeah,” she answers. “No certified Jonathan Byers pep-talk needed.”

He snorts a soft laugh and leans forward to kiss her. She accepts dutifully. It’s soft and chaste, a quick press of their lips in the dark, hidden away from the rest of the room. 

“Hey,” he murmurs when they pull back. “I love you.”

“I know,” she responds, looking up at him through her lashes as a playful smile plays on her lips. The Star Wars reference catches him off guard, and he breathes a surprised laugh against her mouth as he kisses her again, a little harder this time. 

“Perfect woman,” he murmurs against her, hand buried in her hair. She pulls back smiling, presses another quick peck to his mouth, and turns back toward the screen. She breathes a content sigh as Jonathan’s hand combs through her hair, and rests her head on his shoulder.