#stonathan are obviously becoming friends

[sapphicstoria]

I just love how these photos can tell you how the dynamics are going to be, in season five.

[byleriscanon713by]

So I might be reading too far into this but I took the duffers funko pop thing and sorted it

Code:

Yellow- friend pairings

Green: romantic pairings

Blue: familial pairings

Red: not currently present

Okay so we’ll get into the friendship parings first.

So I think will and robin will get to have a fun friendship this season. I think they prob want robin to hang out with someone other than Steve and Nancy so will and her would bond well since they’re both part of the lgbtq+ community. I also think there’s potential for her to help in the buildup for byler. i also see a lot of potential for Mike and Lucas to kind of mend their friendships that’s always been a little rocky throughout the seasons. I think they’ll get some (not a large amount) of interaction together to kind of mend their holes throughout the seasons. I also have seen the theory that Lucas will be integral in helping Mike realize his feelings for Mike which is possible. It’s 50/50 but I do think Lucas may just say something unintentionally that triggers Mike into being like “oh god I’m a homosexual.” (Even tho he probably ALR knows that from the ending of season 3)

The Dustin/Johnathan/Nancy/Steve pairing is interesting and I think it’s gonna be a great quartet thing-a-ma-bobber. So we know Dustin and Steve are joined at the hip and Nancy and Johnathan are also super close so they’ll def stick together. However we’ve also seen previs’ of steve and Johnathan having a conversation in episode 1 of st5 so I think the two of them will become friends. There was also a previs from episode 5 I believe and it looks like they’re in the upside down and you could see Dustin in the passenger seat of a car and Nancy and Johnathan in the back. I think it’d be weird for Dustin to just casually be hanging w/ Nancy and Johnathan so I bet Steve is driving. Also, we know Eleven is gonna be an integral part of the series and so is Will, so the four of them kind of are on the outskirts a little. They’ll prob have a more separate storyline where they’re discovering things unrelated to the core problem. Now why would robin and Lucas not be with that group? Well Lucas just lost max so I think he might need some separation time from that group and he might want to rekindle with mike and will cuz he was kind of distant with them in season 4. I think Robin may be with that group part time, but I also think she may take up some sort of fondness for Will where she wants to protect him (especially if he’s susceptible to vecna) Also if Will is susceptible to Vecna, Lucas has seen Max get vecnad and saved her the first time so he might have that instinct to “I need to save Will since I didn’t save Max.” Robin may be there because she’s the one who discovered the whole music thing and she may want to be wills lesbian protector idk. And obvious mike would want to be there but we’ll get into that later.

Now why did I put Steve/Nancy/Jonathan in green? I think they’re gonna be a love triangle. Not the love triangle where they all date, but just the fact that Steve and Johnathan are both obviously pining over Nancy. As much as I hate admitting it, I think stancy is endgame with the way they set them up in st4. I also think there’s a large possibility of Johnathan well… perishing. I’ve seen a lot of people saying “omg stonathan” cuz they saw Steve and Johnathan touching heads in that photo but I am skeptical of stonathan ever happening. I think they’ll be friends, but I think the head touching could still meaning there’s some head butting over Nancy going on. They both love her so I do think they’ll both have romantic moments throughout the season with her. Idk. That love triangle is quite a mystery. Let’s get into the best ship: Byler! I believe Byler is endgame and I could go on for probably eight hours about all the proof and all the queer coding they’ve gone through. Now why do I think byler is a logical thing going to happen in a straight to the point way? Well you saw Mike at the end of st4 when Will was talking abt feeling Vecna. Mike looked terrified. Mike has that instinct of needing to protect Will, and I think as st4 went on Mike started gaining it back and releasing el didn’t love him as much and that will was the one who needed him. The duffers have also teased a lot about circling back to the og relationships and dynamics from st1, but they’ve also said a lot of it is based on st2. Now in st2 Mike was practically attached to Will since he was possessed by the mid flayer. I am 100% sure Will is going to be under Vecnas trance and I’m pretty sure that’ll happen early in the season. I think once Mike sees that he’ll snap right back into his protector mode and be joined to Will for the rest of the season. From there, the potential of the painting being recalled and basically them confessing their love is quite obvious. I’m not gonna get too into byler here but it you love hearing about byler you should follow me cuz I post about them a lot :) (Also if your a st account or like any fandom I’m interested in I’ll prob follow u back and stalk ur page cuz I adore reading yalls theories and fics and ahhhh)

Now let’s get into the familial relationship!!! I forgot to circle Joyce and hopper in green but that’s okay cuz they’re endgame and it’s obvious. Now since Joyce lost hopper for so long and it took so much tension building over the seasons for them to get together, I think they’ll be partnered up again. They typically are anyways. I think Eleven will also be with them. I think Eleven is going to break up with Mike and become her own character. Now I think eleven is going to die at the end of the season by using all her powers and instead of fainting, destroying the upside down for good and killing herself in the process. I think it’s a full circle but also depressing and plausible ending for her. It’s very likely. This season I think they’re going to focus on her character. In every season her character has either been based on her powers or on being mikes girlfriend. I think her having time with Hoppet and Joyce will give her some good character qualities and depth that we haven’t seen. She’s also reeling from the death of Max and I feel she’ll just want some space (especially from what we see at the end of st4) However she also misses Hopper cuz he was the primary influence in her life and personally I think he loves her more than anymore. She wants to makeup for the lost time with him. Also wherever hopper is Joyce will be too, especially since she’s always had that kind of motherly dynamic towards El (and she is her mom now technically.) I’m just so excited for el to finally get to be her own person.

Lastly I think Max will be MIA for a while. I think that she will come back but not until later. She may help fight Vecna from inside his mind, but I doubt she will truly not come back till Eleven is able to kill vecna. Not seeing Sadie sink in this season much would kill me cuz I love her, but it’s realistic.

Anyways thank you so much for reading this super long rant!!! Reblog and add your opinions cuz I would die to see them. Like I love hearing new theories!

[heavencasteel420]

I have a couple of incidentally no-UD AU ideas (the Stonathan college one, the teen film noir one), but there’s one where that’s the main idea (i.e., what would have happened with the characters if there’d been no Upside Down or shady psychic experiments). And one of the things that happens is that Will becomes Yearbook Popular in high school (i.e., not a jock and not one of the rich kids who parties, but the respectable tier after that). It comes about because:

The most obvious, violent bullies of his age (the Troys and Jameses) become less popular in high school and are just regarded as kind of pathetic, even if nobody questions the attitudes behind the bullying.

Having never suffered the horrors of the UD and in large part robbed of the last part of his childhood pre-adolescence, Will is both more ready to put aside “immature” interests to make things easier and less cognizant of life being too short/unstable to cut out a source of joy.

Will also doesn’t have to deal with the social fallout of essentially being the victim of a lurid true crime story.

Girls, especially Nice Girls who do Yearbook and Student Government, like Will, because he’s good-looking and pleasant company and handy whenever a poster needs to be made. He doesn’t make a lot of new guy friends in high school (it is still rumored that he’s gay and people suck) but the approval of the girls means he has a crowd.

Joyce still starts dating Bob when he’s in eighth grade, which papers over some gossip about the family and leads to more stability (and, because of how the family works, Will is always going to be the first beneficiary of any increased stability). So he’s coming from a less obviously poor, dysfunctional family.

He gets a girlfriend, because, while he knows he doesn’t want that and Joyce and Jonathan and Bob are always saying he should be himself, he still lives in a Society. He’s also aware that Joyce and Jonathan are both really anxious that things be good for him, partly because they feel bad about him being bullied previously and rejected by Lonnie, and partly because they don’t want him to go through the stuff they went through. Also, there’s tension in the family because Jonathan’s having a hard time (read: a long-overdue anxiety disorder) and both Joyce and Bob are well-meaning but unhelpful about it for a while because they don’t get what’s going on. So there’s a lot of pressure not to be any trouble.

The Party are all still friendly with each other, but (much like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) they’re moving in different directions. Lucas still joins the basketball team, Dustin falls in with the super-competitive nerds, and Mike goes the Hellfire route. Will is neither the first nor last to find his own thing, but he sees which way the wind is blowing.

[andiwriteordie]

Hi andi!!!! I saw your post ab jonathan & steve living close to each other & stonathan in general & i was wondering ab ur thoughts/headcanons for them/the ship/the song u referenced in relationship to them?

(Also i am so. Soso excited for part two i can’t part one utterly wrecked my soul. This is ab the walls cave in fic btw i just—thank you guys for sharing it was so good.)

helloooo!!

so i don't have too many thoughts on it, just was thinking about this post i reblogged the other day and another one that i cannot for the life of me find that was headcanoning childhood best friends stonathan.

and idk. just like. we know steve is someone who cares a lot about his image and that's an area he's challenged on throughout the show, so thinking about steve and jonathan growing up and being friends? bonding over their shitty parents? (not joyce obviously. just lonnie bc fuck lonnie. and then idk i imagine the harringtons for sure suck and are neglectful of steve) jonathan, who is someone that strives to be himself and not conform, being best friends with steve who feels like conformity and pretending to be this popular, likable guy is the only way he'll be loved? mmm. yes.

then like middle school/early high school hits (since they're a year apart in age), and suddenly steve realizes he has to be mr popular. and jonathan just... doesn't fit that mold. everyone in hawkins seems to know about the byers family, and we know jonathan is labeled as an outcast he's quiet, he's poor, he comes from a broken family, etc. and that just becomes the break in their friendship, when steve chooses to ditch jonathan and become that popular king of hawkins high that we meet him as in s1.

and um, anyways, "come over" is such a sad song to me, and i could talk about it for forever! but with stonathan, i think it fits so well because of the clear socioeconomic differences between the two of them and how image conscious both the narrator of the song and the person the narrator is singing to seem! all of this and just imagining little like 14 year old jonathan losing his best friend, and steve losing the one person who actually gets him and knows him? ugh.

ANYWAYS GONNA CRY NOW OVER STONATHAN

[ice-sculptures]

What's your season 5 wishlist?

ohhhh good question anon!!

byler endgame obviously

vickie gets involved w the supernatural plot + rockie kiss

stoncy comes back & stonathan become best friends. jonathan sees that steve really has grown up and steve gets to see that nancy is happy with jonathan.

jancy sort out their relationship issues and jonathan finally gets to tell nancy about the way he's been feeling for years due to the parentification that he's faced since lonnie left.

will and joyce tell jonathan that he does not need to stress about taking care of them. eventually jonathan decides to take a gap year and then apply to NYU the following year.

four words: dramatic. ass. painting. fight.

mike and will being best friends and being glued to each other's sides before they get together as a couple

jancy + byler patrolling or going on a mission together

scoops troop comes back

el and hopper get scenes together where they talk about their trauma and what they've been through

will gets multiple coming out scenes and gets to be happy and confident in his identity as a gay man

robin and will scene!! robin and will scene!!! robin and will scene!!!!

lucas and el teamup to find max

scenes of the OG4 throughout the season & scenes of all six members of the party alive and happy at the end

max wakes up but stays in a wheelchair

kali returns, even if it's just for an episode or two

lonnie also comes back but only in a vecna vision

we get some closure on what owens and the lab men are doing

fuck it!! i want byler to say i love you. but not in a high stakes situation, maybe in an epilogue or smth where it's just them being casual, sweet, and happy with one another.

two byler kiss scenes. one dramatic af and the other one casual and domestic.

i'm begging the duffers for just one scene of the byers-hopper family as a group....maybe at the end where they're just having a regular family dinner after everything is over

basically i just want everyone on the hill + lumax + robin to make it out alive and get their well-deserved happy endings okay

[foreverautumn89]

Can't stop thinking of Boyfriend by Dove Cameron when thinking about Byergrove [because of Stonathan]:

Headcanon for Byergrove: Just to be clear, I LOVE Stonathan and always will. It was my first ST ship and it is my favorite one and I love Steve, so don't take offense to this; in certain parts I'm only trying to get into Billy's mindset and show his perspective on it, its not my own personal opinion about Steve.

Jonathan and Billy meet when Max and Will become close. Max feels alone and like an outsider in her own friend group and Will feels the same way, so when Max realizes, she quickly connects with Will and they become besties [and El is included in their best friend group of course].

Billy and Jonathan both had abusive dads and would understand what the other is going through. Billy would finally feel like he could connect to someone and would appreciate Jonathan's existance alone. While Jonathan would finally have a friend who understands and appreciates him [which Jonathan really needs considering he is hated by most people in Hawkins just for being a Byers]. Since Jonathan is wiser and has been overcoming that abuse all on his own, he'd be the one helping Billy through his, not the other way around, but its ok because he likes feeling needed and wanted.

Jonathan would give Billy one of his famous speeches and instantly get through to him in a way no one else has before and Billy would keep coming back for more speeches, not entirely sure why.

Jonathan would show Billy how to be a supportive older brother to Max like how he is to Will whether he actually shows him how or Billy sees Jonathan and Will together and how they interact and changes how things are between him and Max. Jonathan inspires Billy to be better. If Jonathan was abused and can be a great big brother to his younger sibling than why can't he? Jonathan makes him a better person.

Billy continues his rivalry with Steve by going after Jonathan/flirting with him all the time especially when Steve is around. He automatically scoffs when he learns that Jonathan is dating someone like Steve Harrington of all people when Jonathan could be with someone much better: him [obviously]. Steve couldn't possibly understand Jonathan or protect him from people [Billy would know] and before they got together, Steve had been bullying him for the last decade. Billy never bullied Jonathan for years like Steve had, so he'd instantly be one up on Steve. Plus, Billy knows hes better looking and superior to Steve in every conceivable way.

When Billy finally meets Jonathan, he is kind of surprised. Hes heard a lot about Jonathan from around school and especially from Tommy H., but Jonathan isn't anything like they said he was. It was a lot of insults and badmouthing coming from their classmates, but from Billy's perspective Jonathan was the only worthwhile person in this shitty town besides Karen and he knew Jonathan would thrive in a place like California which was better than Hawkins in every way. Jonathan had no filter, he used dark humour, and was sarcastic as hell and Billy liked that. Jonathan was the only person who could genuinely make him laugh. Jonathan was fun to talk to and hang out with. Billy decided Jonathan not having any friends wasn't because of the reasons that Tommy H claimed, but it was due to the fact that the people in Hawkins are just a bunch of shitheads and wouldn't know something good if it smacked them right in the face.

He still talks to Karen Wheeler [for one reason or another] When Jonathan's name is brought up, Karen makes it clear that she absolutely adores Jonathan. When she tells Billy about Jonathan she sings his praises and Billy trusts Karen's judgement a lot more than what the rest of Hawkins has been saying. Billy sees the good in Jonathan that hardly anyone else does and knows Jonathan is too good for Hawkins and finds it laughable that the people of Hawkins think about it the other way around.

Jonathan and Billy bond over sharing their love of music together and they get a lot closer while babysitting Will, El, and Max together because they are a handful. El with her powers and Will with his sass and Max just being a badass in general.

Billy will openly flirt with Jonathan whenever he sees him no matter who is around and that includes Steve.

Billy reminds Steve often enough that the moment he trips up and messes things up with Jonathan [like goes back to Nancy and leaves Jonathan behind] that he'll be there waiting to take Jonathan off his hands.

Billy is overly protective of Jonathan and would kick Lonnie's ass when he came around Jonathan or any of his family again.

Billy NEEDS someone who will worship and praise him in bed, which Jonathan happily does without being told or asked.

When he takes Jonathan's shirt off and sees the scars and Jonathan just says 'Lonnie' dismissively and in explaination of where they came from, Billy makes sure to kiss every scar as if to heal them.

Billy really loves certain things about Jonathan like how he gives these inspiring speeches about morality and the importance of love. He loves that Jonathan will cover his mouth with his hand while hes laughing softly about something. But the thing he especially especially loves about Jonathan is that hes full of surprises like the fact that Jonathan has a long list of kinks, will beg him to do stuff to him in bed, and asks for Billy to tie him to the bed.

Billy is the dominant/top and is very protective of Jonathan and doesn't think anyone else is worthy of being with Jonathan except for him because well…Billy Hargrove knows hes amazing and hes the only one great enough to be worthy of Jonathan Byers.

[allthebestcowgirls]

steve and nancy for the character ask!!!

thank you zoe !!!!

steve 💖💖💖

favorite thing about them: oh where to even begin 🥴🥴 i think i really like how willing he is to help people and to protect the people he cares about most and i think this is something that's always been an inherent part of his character since the beginning of s1. also i love that he's a little dumb <3

least favorite thing about him: um he has been and can be a lil mean not in a horrible way but he was the capacity to be a dick but also that just might be him being a teenage boy but i'm sensitive

favorite line: "hey dickheads how come the only one helping me out is this random girl" this is just so funny and joe's delivery is honestly perfect jskeks or when he says to nancy "tell me about it" bc AAAHHHH

brotp: him and robin bc it's mlm wlw solidarity

otp: stonathan bc gay rights and enemies to lovers

notp: harringr*ve bc im not an idiot

random headcanon: i've mentioned this before i think that when steve figures out what he wants to do w his life he becomes a teacher bc he realizes he likes spending time w kids and i think bc he has such a strained relationship w his own parents he'd like to be the role model for kids that he probably didn't have. and he would definitely want to make school more enjoyable and less stressful for students and try to cater to all his students needs. also one might think he'd be a gym teacher but i feel like he'd teach history.

unpopular opinion: um idk how popular or unpopular this is but i think steve was totally justified in ripped up jonathan's photos and really even breaking his camera. don't get me wrong i love jonathan but he crossed a serious line and that was a huge violation of privacy and trust. if i found out some guy was hiding in the bushes behind my house and took pics of me and my girlfriend as were about to have sex i'd feel incredibly upset and violated. also i HATE the idea that steve would ever be a cop

song i associate with them: i melt with you by modern english or boys don't cry by the cure

favorite picture of them: hard to choose bc he's just that sexy but here's one

nancy 😌💘

favorite thing about them: her determination to get things done and her dedication to getting justice in whatever she's doing

favorite line: "My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac and started their nuclear family... yeah screw that" bc feminism

brotp: nancy isn't really shown w many friends ajwksjjs but i guess maybe her and mike ? i do want to see more of their dynamic as friends and siblings. OH WAIT jwjsjs i forgot abt barb. well barb was boring and barely a character LMAO

otp: i like jancy but also i think they need to communicate better. also kinda holding out for ronance to happen 😌❤️

notp: um stancy maybe ? idk. oh wait i love the monster hunting trio but i'm not a fan of romantic stoncy 💔

random headcanon: i don't think nancy wants to get married or have kids. i think she's been very affected by seeing the relationship between her own parents and so she would want to avoid becoming that as much as she can. she obviously wants love in her life i just think she's weary of the institution of marriage

unpopular opinion: i LOVE nancy !!! i really do love her and i think she's great ! i know lots of people dislike her or find her annoying but i've got lots of love for nancy she's one of my favorite characters

song i associate with them: heart of glass by blondie

favorite picture of them:

[star-shuttle-scout]

Do you have any theories on the lack of Stonathan interaction? I mean it almost feels like they purposely went out of their way to have them not interact AT ALL? Where do you think they are going with this story wise?

The whole thing is that if Steve was part of the Jonathan and Nancy story he would have taken away from the J*ncy romance scenes. They couldn’t have him bickering with Nancy and trying to win her back when Jonathan was supposed to fuck her. 

Steve wasn’t originally supposed to be part of the second season, if he was it would be as a bully and an antagonist so they had to stick him somewhere when they improved him. They put him with the kids and had Nancy lose interest in him because he became a good person and redeemed himself. Nancy had no reason to run away from Steve other than to lose interest in him and not love him despite him being such a great guy (which does happen, and it could have been done tastefully but instead the Duffer brothers fucked it all up). 

They cut the teen storyline severely because Eleven was given her own individual plotline and they had to make room for it. Nancy and Jonathan were thrown to the side, Jonathan got no character growth at all and Nancy became a cheating and uncaring jerkward that just wants Jonathan because of some unknown reason.

Jonathan has become ‘the boyfriend’ essentially, and his only purpose this season was to help Nancy be happy. Apparently in the Duffer brothers’ eyes, the only way she can be happy if she’s fucking a guy she barely knows. 

Jonathan has been reduced to a trope to serve Nancy’s character. Steve has had immaculate character development, but the thing is that if Jonathan and Steve interacted it wouldn’t go properly. 

In the beginning of the season, Jonathan was obviously being a jealous little hoe and Nancy was hanging out with him and growing apart from Steve. If Jonathan became friends with Steve, Jonathan would have probably warned Steve of this or even stopped Nancy from coming onto him because he had grown to like Steve. Therefor, J*ncy wouldn’t be canon and the Duffer brothers wanted them to get together.

If they became friends near the end, Steve would have been jealous even though he tried not to be. Being friends with Jonathan wouldn’t work because Jonathan has what Steve doesn’t, and Steve would try to warn him off of Nancy or even bicker with him over stealing his girl. He would resent Jonathan.

Nancy’s relationship with the boys has driven an irreversible and immovable gap between Jonathan and Steve. The only way Steve and Jonathan will ever be friends is if they are both cut off from Nancy somehow, which will most likely never happen.

They don’t want Jonathan and Steve to be friends, they don’t want them to get close because as most show writers do they put themselves into the characters. Everyone sides with Jonathan, the awkward and gawky teenaged boy who doesn’t really fit in and never gets the girl. They want him to have the girl, so he’ll get the girl and Steve will never be friends with Jonathan because of it.

They really missed their chance on an amazing pair, friends or more than that, Charlie and Joe have great chemistry and their characters are amazing. They could be the snarkiest unlikely friends, we could have an iconic duo… But the reality is that it will probably never happen, which I knew from the start. I always ship pairings that never become canon and never really have the scenes they should because the focus is on the hetero couples that don’t really make sense in the first place. I know it sounds bitter but it’s just kinda the truth.

[star-shuttle-scout]

Ooooh. This feels like too much power. Hmmmm. What is it that my Stonathan heart desires… I know! What about something where Steve has been pining for Jonathan for ages and has a massive crush on him but doesn't know how to get Jonathan to notice him and then one day he happens upon Will and starts chatting to the kid and the pair become best friends and its only after Will invites Steve back to his for dinner that Jonathan actually starts paying attention to him? I dunno man, I got excited.

“You’re staring again…” Nancy reminds him while they sit together at lunch, Steve tears his gaze from the boy sitting all the way across the cafeteria and aims it down at his lunch tray.“I’m not staring.” He denies sourly, sticking a tater tot into his ketchup and shoving it into his mouth, chewing angrily. “You most definitely are.” Nancy glances up from her book with a small smile. “Steve, you fought a monster together, you can’t just ask him to hang out?” She questions, Steve feels a heated blush forming on his cheeks as he scowls at the girl.

“That’s different, it was a life or death situation and I’m pretty sure he’d rather choose death than hang out with me.” He mopes glumly, Nancy snickers at him and he kicks the toe of his sneaker into her shin lightly. She kicks him right back without hesitation, a little harder but not enough to really hurt.“You’re being dramatic, what happened to the charming Steve Harrington I know and love?” She demands, reaching across the table to pinch him. He yanks his arm away with a frown and tucks both hands into his lap.“He turned into a lame queer that can’t even make a move on a cute boy.” He mutters, Nancy rolls her eyes.“Why don’t you go over there this afternoon and give him his history book back? He left it at my place yesterday when we were studying.” She suggests, Steve perks up in the slightest.“Really?” He questions hesitantly, she smirks and pops her own tater tot into her mouth.

“Of course.”-

Steve sits in the driveway for a full ten minutes, unsure as to whether or not he should actually do this. He keeps picking the history book up and then setting it back down on the passenger seat, finally after a while he grabs it and forces himself out of the car.

He walks up to the porch, glancing around before approaching the door. He knocks, three times, and then waits. There’s a long pause, and Steve feels like an idiot and wants to run back to the car. What if they weren’t here, what if they saw him and didn’t want to answer the door?

The door opens before he can bolt, and the younger of the two Byers brothers sticks his head out. He frowns up at Steve for a moment, obviously confused.

“Can I help you?” He asks, bewildered, Steve shifts on his feet.

“Um, I’m looking for Jonathan?” He states awkwardly, the boy’s eyebrows do a funny thing and he looks genuinely surprised.

“Oh… I…” He blinks as if pulling himself from a trance, stepping back and pulling the door open a bit. “He’s not here, he left for work.” He explains apologetically, Steve frowns down at the history book in his hands. “Is that his?” Will asks, Steve feels his entire plan crumpling to dust.

“Y-Yeah… I just guess…” He holds it out, feeling defeated, Will takes it hesitantly.

“I’ve never seen you hang out with Jonathan.” The boy offers boldly, Steve shakes his head with a sigh.

“Yeah, I was a prick to him… I just thought that maybe we could be friends, but maybe it’s a bad idea. He probably hates me anyway.” He offers a weak smile, Will seems even more put off by that.

“Jonathan’s shy, he’s not gonna be friends with you unless you do it for him.” He tells him straight up, Steve frowns down at the boy.

“How’s that?”

-

“You’re a dead man!” Will snaps, furiously pressing buttons on his Atari controller. Steve laughs, leaning forward and sitting up on his knees, he had this match in the bag.

“You wish, little man!” He grins, the smile getting wiped off his face when he gets personally annihilated by the boy. “Jesus,”

“Haha! I got you!” Will gloats, Steve reaches over and pushes him away playfully. The door unlocks suddenly, Steve freezes in place.

“Will, sweetheart, can you help me with-” Joyce pauses just inside the door with a confused expression on her face as she observes the boys. “Hello…” She murmurs, shifting the grocery bag in her hands.

“Hi, mom.” Will stands up. “This is Steve, he wants to be friends with Jonathan.” He informs the woman easily, Joyce blinks for a second in bewilderment before nodding slowly.

“I see… Well, you’re welcome to stay for dinner, Steve… Jonathan will be home in an hour or so.” She tells him, he smiles politely and stands up.

“Need help?” He questions, she nods her head.

“Thank you.” She says, he waves a hand to her and then steps out of the house behind Will.

-

“Steve,” Jonathan states in surprise when he strolls into the house behind Will from the back yard. They had been in the woods, Will wanted to show Steve his fort, it was pretty cool.

“Hey, Jonathan.” He waves shyly, noting the look he gets from the younger Byers boy. “I came to return your history book, but you weren’t here.” He explains hesitantly, Jonathan frowns at him.

“Why’d you have it?” He questions, Steve glances down at the floor in embarrassment.

“Because he wanted to be friends with you, duh.” Will provides, grabbing a cookie from a bag in the cabinet.

“Hey, you’ll spoil your dinner.” Jonathan scolds, Will crams the cookie in his mouth and scurries away. Jonathan turns his eyes to Steve, observing him for a moment. “Friends, huh?” He murmurs.

“Yeah… Something like that.” He chuckles nervously, Jonathan nods his head.

“Okay, I’m guessing you’re staying for dinner?” He asks, crossing his arms.

“If that’s okay,” Steve nods his head, Jonathan makes a face and glances away.

“Do you like Joy Division?” He asks, Steve quirks an eyebrow.

“Who?” Jonathan makes a largely offended and disgruntled noise and then gestures at him with a crooked finger.

“Come with me, you have a lot to learn.” He turns on his heel, heading out the kitchen and down the hallway. Steve frowns, but follows behind him anyway. Maybe they could be friends… Hell, maybe they could be more.. But for right now, he’d settle on friends.