#st argyle

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

This is just a friendly reminder to the Argyle haters that Argyle wasn't just the comic relief. He was also the one who saved their asses and got them safely to Hawkins. He gave El a place to try and save Max. He gave Jonathan a friend. No, he wasn't just the guy on drugs or the funny guy. He stole a pizza van for them and left home for them. But please keep saying he wasn't nothing but a druggy who contributed nothing. I hope he comes back in season 5 and surprises all of you. He and Steve would get along great, understanding that most people only see them in a certain way but that there's so much more to them than people think.

[faithfulcat111]

ST Epic Cycle AU - Killing the suitors

[thornsnvultures]

i can't get over how funny this art is 😂😂 like this is 100% how he pictures his pc when he plays dnd

bonus sweet baby angel:

[cantpickonefandoms]

They had to write Argyle out because if he was around, he would have Jonathan and Nancy communicating properly within a couple days, and obviously the ST writers can’t have that!

[byler-alarmist]

You know, I'm starting to think that maybe ST5 isn't going to be released in binge format/all at once.

If Eduardo is indeed lying about not being in S5, why? It shouldn't be a spoiler for Argyle to return, since he is already in Hawkins as of where we left off in S4 v2.

Unless S5 is going to be released in a weekly/semi-weekly schedule, so if he goes back home to CA or something else happens in the first episode that's already been shot before the time skip, maybe they want his return later in the season to be a spoiler.

There's also the chance they will release S5 E1 early to build hype while people wait. The scenes shot before the time skip will be released and maybe something will happen to Argyle during a cliffhanger, or he just leaves at the end only to return later.

Idk though! It's still weird to me. Most people aren't even under the impression that parts of S5 have already been filmed, so if Eduardo is a part of those scenes, he could confidently say he is in it without lying.

Either way, I just hope they don't write him out or sideline him too much. He deserves some good screen time.

[cosmorom]

well maybe they'll call eduardo later? like it's weird if he won't come back without sense since in the end of s4 he's in hawkins with the guys 😐

[fandsart]

Five times Jonathan was interrupted and one person who never interrupts him

-1

Jonathan was never a particularly outgoing person. He had always been quieter and more subdued, but it got a little worse after Will was born. His mom liked to joke that he's more mature than his dad, since he demanded less attention than either of them.

If one wasn't screaming, the other was, and Jonathan had to sacrifice some of the attention he got when he was younger. Four years old and already attention starved. He didn’t blame his mom or Will, but it was hard not to blame his dad.

His mom at least tried. She would try to talk and play with him throughout the day, and even if she didn't have the time she had at least set aside a time so that they would have a full half an hour every day.

Every night, after getting Will down, she would read him to sleep. After a long day of being largely ignored, he at least had that to look forward to.

Until his dad started drinking and his mom had to start babysitting him too. And Jonathan couldn't even be upset with her because he would watch as she tried, with very little success, to rock Will in her arms while guiding her trashed husband through the hallway and into his bed.

He knew she was tired, so when she finally got Will to sleep and entered Jonathan's room for their daily story, he would pretend to be asleep already. He heard her sad but relieved sigh and was happy to have let that go. She didn’t need to deal with him too.

"Can you be nicer?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"To mommy. Because she's tired all the time from-"

"You think I'm not tired all the time? What do you think I do all day when I'm not here?"

"Mommy says you work at the gas station."

"Yes. And do you know how condescending people can be to essential workers? You think I'm just a 'mean' person, like I don't have reason to be angry."

"I just want mommy to-"

"You want your mommy? Grow up."

"Can you just stop going to 'the bar?'"

That got his dad going on a long rant about how alcoholism can't be helped and he shouldn't judge people for addiction, how he was completely hopeless against his draw toward the bar and Jonathan should stop trying to talk about things he doesn't understand.

-2

Jonathan never really had anywhere to go and do things until kindergarten. It was either play in the house or play in the yard. There were occasional park trips before Will was born, but he preferred the comfort of knowing he could run back to the security of his room at any given time if he suddenly decided he wanted to look at his books or play with his toys. It was just a much faster journey from his backyard to his bedroom. His mom's supervision was also less suffocating in his own yard, without strangers on all sides.

But he could make friends at school, like the kind people have on TV. That's what his mom had told him. All kinds of kids with all kinds of interests and he could decide which of them he wanted to hang out with.

He didn't think he wanted to though, because on the first day, a boy named Tommy managed to drink half a bottle of glue before the teacher got it away from him. Everyone in the class thought it was hilarious, but Jonathan found it pretty disturbing.

"You might need a doctor," he said. "My mom told me-"

"It's just a joke, Jojo."

"Nuh-uh. Cuz you really-"

"No look. It's funny!" Tommy then laughed loudly and obnoxiously. He wasn't at school the next day.

"I had a tummy ache," he said the day after.

"Tha's because you drank glue," Jonathan said.

"Nuh-uh. It was the next day."

"But tha's how-"

"Jojo, shut up."

-3

By middle school he was going by his full name. His dad told him he should go by John eventually, but he hated that. He liked 'Jonathan.' He thought it was kind of rich for his dad to tell him he should go by a version of his name which sounded more professional when his dad only ever went by Lonnie, which Jonathan thought sounded far less 'professional' than his full name 'Alonzo' but he never used it because he didn’t like it.

His dad had said that it's different, but his mom had said he only said that because it's from his perspective, and that Jonathan should go by whatever he wants, and she'd call him 'corn husk' if he asked. That made him laugh.

In seventh grade, that same boy, Tommy, had started making connections with the eighth graders. Back in sixth grade he got a girlfriend who convinced him they could get whatever they wanted and they'd apparently been keeping up on scheming to do so. They started hanging out with Steve Harrington, who was basically the richest kid in town.

Seventh and eighth grade shared their lunch and recess periods, and that's when Tommy was able to get his in with the eight graders, and the fact that he managed to snag Harrington is something he was annoyingly proud of. He was just bragging about his accomplishments during worksheet time in science class when Jason finally snapped at him.

"Would you shut up about it? No one cares. Everyone knows the only reason he puts up with you is because it's sad you're even trying this hard and because your dads work together."

"You're just jealous because he doesn't want to be friends with you. I've seen you try to talk to him."

"Hey Byers." Jonathan jolts in his seat at the address. "Don't you think Tommy should stop talking about his pity friend?"

"I don't-"

"Why are you even asking him?" Tommy interrupts. "He doesn't have anything to do with this."

"Exactly. He's a neutral party."

"He doesn't have any friends. He's too neutral to even understand the conversation. Plus, he's trailer trash."

"I don't live in a-"

"He's the only other person at our table to ask."

"What, we're gonna talk this through like girls? We can't settle this like men?"

That's how the most pointless first fight Jonathan's ever witnessed broke out in the middle of fifth period of seventh grade.

If Jonathan had gotten his word in, he would have said they were placing way too much weight on Harrington's decision to spend time with Tommy. He's not a genius or anything. In fact from what he's heard, he's actually kinda dumb. He's just some guy who happened to have a lot of money from a job that his father inherited. Nothing Steve did  with anyone is really indicative of anything to do with the quality of his friends.

-4

Steve Harrington's opinion on someone is definitely not a credible one, but in high school people were  absolutely gushing about him. It's like every comment he made is viewed as law by the general student population.

Steve once said that Janet acted like a clown, and she became known as clown-face. He later asked why everyone started calling her that, as if he hadn't know , and everyone pretended they never did. He called Eddie a freak and Eddie himself leaned into it. That last example might not be the best for that point, but still. It was like Eddie knew the inevitable and wanted to get ahead of it.

Jonathan happened to be within earshot of the two when the conversation happened. Tommy was talking to Steve about the yearbook.

"Do you have a senior picture picked out?"

"I'm not graduating for almost 2 more years. I'd want my senior photo to be of me as an actual senior."

"Right, obviously. I was just checking because I've heard some of the freshmen think they already have theirs picked out. Pretty funny."

"Yeah, that's pretty dumb. Even for me."

"You might start to consider where you want them taken though. My older brother didn't think to plan his and his senior photo is just in his room. He burned his yearbook because of that."

Steve snorted. "Yeah, thanks man. I never would have even thought to think ahead for that."

"Don't worry man. I got you."

"I figured I'd just go to a studio or something but it would be pretty cool to have them in an actual setting. I don't know if my dad will pay for me to drag a camera man into some random space."

"You might be able to get Jonathan to do it for free," Tommy laughed.

"Who the hell is Jonathan?"

Next thing Jonathan knew, everyone was pretending he was actually nonexistent. Barring the teachers of course, but even the teachers had been  hesitant to call on him when all the students in the classroom made exaggerated 'Who?'s and 'I don't hear anyone speaking!'s.

Jonathan wasn't sure if everyone was aware that Steve probably genuinely didn't know who Jonathan was or not, but this lasted a couple of months until his brother dissapeared and everyone got too uncomfortable to make fun of him.

-5

Dating Nancy was great. Having someone who was as headstrong as she was worked great in his favor. When he was too meek to get things done she would take charge for him. He wasn't always willing to make a big deal out of it when a restaurant got his order wrong, but Nancy made it not even look like a big deal. Just requested the fix like it was nothing. If he was trying to speak to a group she would often speak for him.

But it also sometimes made it hard to get a word in.

Jonathan hadn't really known why she and Steve broke up fully for the first year or so that they were dating. Whatever Steve did must have been bad because she even forgave him after he spray painted that she was a slut on the theater marquee and apologized once. So he couldn't say he wasn't curious as to what Steve could have possibly done to warrant a breakup. Given how much of an asshole he knew Steve to be, it didn't occur to him that it could have been Nancy's fault until she's basically admitting to it, while simultaneously denying it was her fault.

He asked and Nancy told him that Steve got dramatic about something she had said when she was drunk.

"I mean, you remember picking me up from Tina's Halloween party after he ditched me," she said. "I confronted him the next day and he started going off on me about things I don't even remember saying. How seriously can you take someone so drunk they can't even walk in a straight line?"

"What'd you say?" He asked because he was curious, not because he was planning on making some call about how warrented it was. Sure he knew there probably was only so far you can get on the spectrum of good to bad things one can say before it stops mattering how drunk you are, but he couldn't imagine his girlfriend would have said something that bad.

"I guess I told him I never loved him or something."

"Ok, I get the whole, 'You shouldn't trust the words of a drunk,' but why do you think you would have said that if there wasn't some truth to it?"

"I mean, it was kind of true, but I didn't know that at the time."

"You 'didn't know that at the time?' Should I be concerned?"

"You're not listening to me!"

"I am listening to you, but-"

"Nobody ever listens to me! Why are you even taking his side? He's my ex!"

"I'm not trying to take sides, I'm just trying to understand-"

"Bullshit!" She stormed out of the room.

Jonathan never brought this up again. Nancy seemed to want to pretend the conversation never happened. It’s not like Nancy made a habit of interrupting Jonathan the way everyone else outside his family had, but she often just doesn’t listen to him.

Like when she was frustrated that none of the board members would listen to her ideas and went off to get her own story, dragging Jonathan with her despite his protests. She got upset with him for wanting to work under people who could  be so condescending and he got upset with her because he didn't want to work under them. He just needed a way to help pay for Will's medical expenses from his recovery last year, and with that new bad reference on his resume, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get a new job. It was hard enough getting the post job with his reputation of living in the slums, raised by the town crazy lady. Even after Will turned out to be alive, she'd still had a reputation from her outbursts about it.

+1

Jonathan had never been that well outspoken, but the oppressive feeling that he's being muffled out on all sides became a hundred times worse when they moved to California. It was such a new area, surrounded by no familiar faces and a completely different climate. He'd made it almost the whole quarter he'd been at the school year without uttering more than probably 10 accumulative words.

He wasn't sure Will is faring much better, but at least he had El in his grade to talk to if he needed someone at any given moment.

They were almost a semester in so that meant the teachers needed to make sure everyone understood and remembered the procedures for emergencies. It was drill day. The thing was, he was in an entirely new environment, and while they'd gone over drills earlier that school year, Jonathan's family hadn't moved until after that point; in October.

"We're going to be doing the fire drill later today," the teacher—whose name Jonathan hadn't managed to get down yet—announced to the class immediately after the pledge was performed, "but we should be getting the announcement to start the earthquake drill any minute now." She turned back to the board and started drawing down some kind of graph they'd presumably be working with once the class started after the drill.

The thing was, Jonathan had never done an earthquake drill before. Back in Hawkins they'd done tornado drills instead. He hesitantly raised his hand, hoping she would turn around soon, but it turned out to be a very complicated chart.

He managed to force out an uncomfortable "Uh..." to no effect. Not that he'd have expected much, but he's in such an awkward situation and he hates drawing attention towards himself. "Ms-" he cut himself off again.

The room seemed so quiet that cutting through it felt uncomfortable. And yet he had and she somehow hadn't heard. Trying again seemed disruptive at this point, to the people around him who did hear. No one ever wanted to hear Jonathan speak.

"Mrs. Phillips," someone piped up from the back. She turned. "The new dude's got a question."

"Oh!" she said at the realization that Jonathan had his hand up. "Yes?"

"We didn't do earthquake drills where I'm from," he explained. "I don't really know..."

"I'll be sure to guide you through it when the time comes," she said, then turned back towards the board and continued writing.

+2

That same guy came over to his table later at lunch and sat directly in front of him. Jonathan glanced at him to acknowledge his presence, then dipped his head back down to his food again.

"Where are you from?"

"Hm?" Jonathan looked up.

"You said you didn't do earthquake drills where you're from."

"Oh, it's... Indiana."

"Oh, really man? Isn't that, like, corn land?"

"Something like that..."

"Jonathan, right?"

And that was the weird part about moving to a new town, that everyone knew the Byers, but they didn't know anyone else. Jonathan waited for the other guy to introduce himself, but he just continued waiting for an answer, continued staring intently, instead of taking Jonathan's lack of denial for confirmation, as people are prone to do.

"Yeah, Jonathan."

"Well my name is Argyle. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

+3

"You seem stressed," Argyle said one day. He'd taken to sticking to Jonathan like glue. Jonathan thought it was maybe simply because he had let him.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm... acclimating to the new environment."

"Oh, still? You've been here for a couple months. What parts of it?"

"Nothing specific I guess. I'm mostly concerned about how my siblings are doing here."

"You have siblings? What are they like?"

And that's just how it was  with Argyle. He asked questions about Jonathan, about what he's like. Questions he... actually seemed invested in the answers of. He waited patiently for answers with curious eyes.

+4

It's not that Jonathan had never had anyone willing to listen to what he has to say. Will mostly... But Will was his little brother. Jonathan was meant to support him. Nancy is his girlfriend and... well she wasn't actually much of a listener either. Wouldn’t listen when he didn't want to risk his job at the Hawkins Post because his family was struggling financially. And when that whole thing was over, they did get fired and she still ended up being the "right" one.

Somewhere along the way he must have started believing that any complaint he might have of her was always going to be invalid. If no one ever listened to him, it must be because he truly had nothing worth saying.

But then Argyle asked, solemnly and sympathetically, if Jonathan had to leave any friends behind in Hawkins.

Jonathan sighs and said, "Yeah, Nancy I guess. She was my girlfriend- is my girlfriend."

Argyle grimaced, then raised his eyebrows, prompting Jonathan to expand on that thought maybe. The next thing Jonathan knew he was ranting about the whole situation. How he suggested that they take a break with the relationship. And it's not like he wanted to take that break, but he would have hoped she'd have at least considered the options that come with moving across the country. But she had some image about being the only people for each other and how they could make it work. And he was happy to go long distance at the time, but when things started becoming a struggle, when he brought it up and she said that they just had to tough it out until college when they could be together again. And that's where the real issue came up.

Because Nancy Wheeler always needed to be right, and Jonathan didn't know how to tell her that he wasn't just going to leave Will and El. If he was struggling to acclimate to the new social and literal climate, then they definitely were. Especially El.

But... Nancy never listened to him; so he was scared to even bring it up. Argyle encouraged him to.

+5

Jonathan interrupted Argyle. He only realized it later, in retrospect. Argyle was panicking, because they were in the middle of burying a body they never should have had to deal with. Argyle was new to the stresses of these larger than life problems. And he was freaking out, going on a rant about all the fears on his mind and Jonathan actually yelled at him to get him to calm down.

"Sorry about that," Jonathan apologized later, after night fell and he was still driving with the sleeping freshmen in the back seat.

"Nah man, I needed that," Argyle said, still clearly very high from all he took to get himself to calm down earlier. "Besides," he smiled, "I like that you feel comfortable enough with me to raise your voice a little."

[storybook-tiles]

Argyle fleeing Utah

[jonathanbyersphd]

Somewhere in the universe Argyle is also mourning the loss of Jimmy Buffett

[faithfulcat111]

ST Epic Cycle AU - Argyle as Eumaeus and Joyce as Eurycleia

[hawkinssnowball]

i don’t necessarily ship jonathan and argyle as a relationship BUT. i firmly believe they would hook up because « it’s a bro thing you wouldn’t understand »

[sunflowersand-bees]

jargyle playlist

[frozenfrogz]

Does Argyles parents just like not care where he is? He's gone for days and their just like: 🤷‍♀️🤷

[byler-alarmist]

Argyle walked into the forest once he got to Hawkins and was never seen again, apparently.

[cosmorom]

i honestly don't like j*rgyle as a thing. i now they're funny and everything but honestly jonathan deserves someone who helps him with his shit, not someone who encourages him to run away from his problems (with the weed and the smoke). obviously argyle doesn't do it maliciously, but he had and he is still having a terrible influence on jonathan. the problem here is that no one really helped jonathan. i won't blame will, because even if he wanted, he is still too young to be able to help him concretely. i know joyce has mental problems and a lot of shit to deal with too but she wasn't there for jonathan. no one has ever been there for him but he still tries to be there for everyone he thinks they need it. please sweetheart find someone who can help you for real.

[fandsart]

Argyle tipping his visor at nb!Jonathan: m'theydy