#stonathan ship week

[stonathanweek]

PROMPT GAME

Hello! With the time before Stonathan Week, we want to encourage people to keep creating works and we want to help inspire you. We have created a little gif game where you can screenshot this post and tell us what you come up with! You can decide to write/draw/otherwise create something based on what you get or not! This is just to stay creative and have fun!

Don't forget to tag us in your creations se we can reblog them and keep the game going!

[miaisagirllover]

i have 2 questions:

1: why is this week stonathan week? like it is steve or jon's birthdays or is it when "fuck him on the floor friday" happened or ????

2: is there a ronance week?

[faithfulcat111]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington Characters: Jonathan Byers, Steve Harrington, Will Byers, The Party (Stranger Things), Background & Cameo Characters Additional Tags: Jonathan Byers-centric, Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Panic Attacks, fear of the dark, Angst, Post-Season/Series 04, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Childhood Trauma, remember when i said that one of my stonathan sundays was a prequel, Here we go, Memory gaps, Canon-Typical Violence, Abusive Lonnie Byers, he isn't in this but he has a huge influence on the narrative, New Relationship, they are still figuring it out, post-apocalypse hawkins, Fear of enclosed spaces, July Break Bingo, July Break Bingo 2023, Stonathan Week, Stonathan Week 2023 Series: Part 7 of Stonathan Week 2023, Part 5 of Faith's July Break Bingo 2023 Summary:

Jonathan knew it was a problem that he was missing large chunks of his entire (albeit short) childhood and couldn't properly explain what made him panic. But having someone there when he reached the other side, that was far more than he ever expected.

@stonathanweek - Written for Stonathan Week Day 7: Forced Proximity

@julybreakbingo​ - Fills squares “After Dark or Early Morning” and “That looks like it hurts.”

[emily-mooon]

That shitpost I made about historical aus got me thinking about making a Stranger Things historical au week at some point in the future.

I don’t know if there would be an actual interest in it though but for many of my favourite parings, I noticed that there is a lack of good fics in this genre. This could also help with the content drought in certain tags.

Let me know if this is a good idea or not. I have some ideas already.

[max-mayfield-71]

I had the idea for a High Class Homos Stonathan AU but I can't decide who should be who

Jonathan and Nancy as August and Sapphia OR Steve and Nancy as August and Sapphia OR Steve and Robin as August and Sapphia??

[lexirosewrites]

idk if this is too late for this week, but I had this idea pop in my head and I’ve been trying to polish it, but I fear I don’t have the energy. (Also it’s stonathan and idk if that counts)

So Nancy and A!Jonathan break up right before the Byers move and in like a weird grieving state, Jonathan and O!Steve sleep together. The Byers move and all is well for Jonathan.

Steve, on the other hand, finds out he’s pregnant. He doesn’t call or write Jonathan out of fear of their communication being monitored and the events of season 4 happen and Steve is like super pregnant. Jonathan has no idea. When he returns at the end of season four he’s sees everyone, except Steve. He goes to Nancy like “where’s Steve?” And she gives him a look and tells him to go to the hospital. When he gets there and goes to Steve’s room, he sees the omega laying in bed with their son on his chest.

all Stranger Things ships are welcome on Slick Sunday and you got this one in just in time!🥰

[medusapelagia]

Other events: General, Rare Pairs, Character Centered Events - October Update

Stevie-ween Three dialogue prompts and the a month to post them. All Stevies are welcome! Event Info

Eddie Munson Big Bang ( @eddiemunsonbigbang) Sign ups are close but you can still join as a pinch hitter! Event info

Metal Sandwich Bingo ( @metalsandwichbingo) Bingo card have been sent and the bingo will take place 1 Oct - 31 Dec, 2024 Event Info

13 Days of Hellcheer (@hellcheerweek) A mix of romantic, spooky and one word prompts for each one of the 13 days of Hellcheer! It starts on October 19th! Event info

Strangetober 2024 (@strangetober) 31 Halloween prompts! Event info

Corroded Coffin Fest (@corrodedcoffinfest) Corroded Coffin fest will host a pop-up event from October 25th-31st based around the 7 Deadly Sins! Mandatory Word Count: 331, 666, 1031 or 1313. Event Info

Billy Hargrove Big Bang ( @billybigbang2024) Teams were made and posting season will start in November! Event info

Spicy Six -ber month challenge 🍂❄️ (hosted by @thefreakandthehair) Lex is hosting another event soon! And the prompts were finally revealed! Find them here. Event Info

Metalsandwich Movie Mania ( @now-showing-at-the-hawk-events ) Pre-2000s Metalsandwich Movie Mania will take place November 10th-23rd!  Event Info and prompts

Demo Week December (on Twitter @/TwistedTwink69) A monsterfucking week from the 2nd to the 7th of December (event +18) Event info

Steve Harrington Big Bang ( @steveharringtonbigbang) Finally we have some info about this Big Bang that was postponed to 2025! Sign Ups Open -- January 01, 2025 Sign Ups Close -- March 21, 2025 Event info

The Monster Hunting Mini Bang (@stoncybangs) Opening in 2025 if you ship Stoncy, Stonathan, Jancy or Stancy this is your moment! More info coming soon Event Info

Stommy Minibang (@stommybang) Teams were made! Get ready for posting season in February 2025! Event info

StrangerThings Reverse Big Bang ( @strangerthingsreversebigbang) This year Big Bang was such a huge success that I can't wait for the next one! Sign-ups opening September 2025!

As always feel free to reblog and add other events!

Under the cut the past events masterlist or AO3 collection if you want something to read!

Stranger Things Sapphic Mini Bang ( @sapphicstevents) Here the AO3 Collection!

September Stobin Extravaganza (@sept-stobin-extravaganza) Find the AO3 Collection HERE

Corroded Coffin - Get a Job Masterlist (@corrodedcoffinfest)

Hellcheer Anniversary week (@hellcheeranniversaryweek) find the entries on their blog!

Stevie week ( @stevieweek), here the AO3 Collection

Stranger Things Big Bang ( @strangerthingsbigbang), AO3 Collection

Corroded Coffin Fest ( @corrodedcoffinfest), AO3 Collection

Summer Things Fest ( @summerthingsfest) Event info on AO3

Sapphic Summer- August Prompts (@sapphicstevents) Here the AO3 Collection

A Stranger Summer ( @astrangersummer) Here the AO3 Collection

[paladibun]

Oh yeah, promised I’d be doing a 2nd Run, so here we go!

Notes:

-Changed type from holo epoxy to clear acrylic due to material + look consideration for the con these were for, but some of my stock are still leftover epoxy.

-Elmax & Stonathan not available for this run but might be in the future if there’s interest.

-I will be adding more characters & ships in the future.

-Unfortunately had to increase shipping greatly for places outside US & Canada because last time wasn’t sustainable.

-Since I have most things on hand, I can start shipping starting next week. ✨

-Peep more merch in the shop (WWDITS, BG3, LOTR)

>>> Order Here <<<

[queenimmadolla]

ooh, we are social this week, which i’m digging! please note this isn’t an attack on anyone, this is just me adding to the conversation. so on the status of the fandom being dead. it is. (and this is a lot, cause i can’t shut up when i get going)

we can like sugar coat it all we want and say people don’t venture out to read or maybe they’ve lost interest in writing, but fandoms usually go dead—and this term doesn’t necessarily mean like absolutely NO FICS—it just means it wasn’t as hype as it was when the last season dropped, and that’s a literal fact. it’s been two years lol. summer of ‘22, i could refresh the eddie munson x reader tag and like 16 new fics and blurbs and posts would load every time, there was just so much fucking content—it was glorious and positive because there was so many people, way too many for people to start whatever bullshit ended up happening (that occurred during the first phase of people losing interest).

now if i refresh when i dare venture out to the tags (and we’ll get to that next), it’s not as frequent. plain and simple. it’ll pick back up when the next season drops, it’ll be all hype, and then it’ll die down again as the years go by. hell, even the supernatural fandom isn’t as wild as it used to be, and they were around for YEARS.

this is coming from someone who’s been here and read (and when i was just a reader, i lived in those tags) a specific steve fic for like 5 years because there wasn’t a ton of stuff being produced, yes some, but not even to the amount that’s coming out now. and that’s again because of the YEARS long gap. and the proof of that is in stonathan. we all know the gay ships are some of the most popular amongst fandoms, and while stonathan was replaced with steddie essentially, it’s been a hot minute since stonathan owned the stranger things fandom because again, it died down. people moved onto other ships from other shows or outgrew fanfiction for the fandom. that ship was like the stranger things equivalent to destiel at one point and now it’s a literal ghost, proof that this fandom does die down and that’s fine. it’ll pick back up one last time, it’s not the end of the world.

now onto the tags, a lot of people here—i’ve noticed more so sexually explicit writers (and i love your work, thank you for your service) just think people are like lazy or something. but really? it’s because a lot of people don’t tag their fics correctly.

some people have dark kinks, some people have more niche kinks, more innocent, etc., that’s inevitable, people have their own tastes. but they won’t tag it. and that’s when people get vocal about kinks and not letting people post what they want and stuff. do you, just make sure you do your due diligence, because when you intentionally don’t, people are gonna speak up. you and i know very well all tumblr users have opinions.

and when they do tag their work, it’s usually after it’s caused a stir or several hours after its been up (this is a tactic for engagement purposes, it’s not tagged for a couple of hours and then magically it appears hours after people have seen it and spread it and it happens pretty routinely). this is also applies to REBLOGS. i’m not sure if people think that because the original was tagged, it’ll be the same when they reblog, but it’s not! in fact, a lot of people just slap the eddie x reader tag on it and send it out again.

i get it, whatever it is may be your thing, my thing, but that’s just irresponsible and it sucks the joy out of whatever moment people were in when they went into the general tag. i don’t think it may have triggered them to the point of a mental breakdown, though i guess that could happen, but it definitely could put them in a man, fuck this shit i’m gonna go do something else or read something else from some other fandom, blah blah blah, and that’s valid, too. running into something you filtered out through the tags because someone didn’t want to tag their work so they could get more engagement kills vibes.

it’s happened a ton of times with me and so now i don’t go searching, because i’ve encountered waaaaaaaay too many dead doves with no proper tags other than “smut”.

i don’t ever really leave the three tab thingies on tumblr mobile home screen, so now i just get whatever i see my mutuals reblog, or something with a tag i follow (another neat feature to utilize), but again, because some people dont care to tag their stuff appropriately, it’s not always something i can read or something i feel mentally safe reading.

i doubt, like i seriously doubt, people only want to read their mutuals’ stuff. like me, i will support my mutuals and i appreciate them dearly but like….its not enough lol, i LOVE to read and i’m not tryna use them to farm a bunch of writing i can read for myself, that’s just fucked so i’m always looking (as best as i can while trying to avoid other people’s hidden landmines so to speak, because if i happen to like someone’s fic to read, i go back and check to see the blog is now just ‘???’ for me 💀) for new stuff from new writers, writers i don’t know, etc. that fits what i want to read (please, no more white character sibling!reader recs for me, i think you guys are so sweet for tryna plug me with something you think i’ll like but that immediately takes me out of the reader insert, like i can’t imagine myself or someone that looks like me)

yes, you can say there are cliques here who only support each other, and we haven’t been blind to drama and whatever, but people can say the same about you and your group of friends here. it’s all viewpoint. everyone is a part of a clique or group unless they literally don’t talk to anyone.

that aside, i dont know how many times ive gotten on here and like begged for recs and have been desperate enough to jump back into the general x reader tag to search for something to read only to encounter those dead doves. i hate not being able to venture out of my little cave, but it’s what i have to limit myself to. after this last dead dove with no warning, its gonna be a hot damn minute til i try again but i guess the whole point of this is

PLEASE TAG YOUR STUFF APPROPRIATELY AT THE TIME OF POSTING IF YOU ALREADY KNOW BETTER.

[johnnyutah]

i finally finished this old wip for @stonathanweek (and coincidentally also @stoncyweek2023!)

prompts: canon-verse (day 5), long distance relationship (day 7) summary: Steve comes up with an awesome plan to make Nancy jealous. It backfires in the best way. rating: explicit ships: stonathan, stoncy, established jonathan/nancy, past steve/nancy (and future? 😳) steve and robin being best bros word count: 5660 content info: drinking, phone sex, miscommunication, smut & feelings, pre-polyamory, set before season 4

Also on AO3!

The front door of Family Video slams shut on yet another failed attempt at flirting, and Steve’s head falls into his hands yet a-fuckin-gain. “This is it, Robin,” he declares, elbows digging into the cheap melamine counter and fingertips digging into his temples just above his furrowed brows. “This is it. We’ve got no prospects.”

“That isn’t true,” Robin, the light of his life, tells him, soft and kind-hearted as ever. She pats his shoulder and goes on to correct him, “You’ve got no prospects. I’m just in the wrong city for love; you’re on the wrong planet.”

“The wrong p— you’re a real asshole, you know that?” Steve glances up from between his fingers just to check that she knows that. Robin’s sweet smile doesn’t falter for a moment, confirming her own theory. He’s sure that if they did live in another place, or perhaps another time, Robin could have a girlfriend in no time at all. Steve, however, is doomed. “What am I supposed to do with that, huh? I can’t exactly set off to Mars.”

“You could try changing it up,” Robin suggests. It’s the third time this week she’s suggested that he change. He’s starting to feel like she might mean it. “Instead of ‘ahoy, ladies’…”

She scrunches up her nose, thinking. Steve rests his chin on his knuckles and watches her. “Ahoy… fellas?”

“Ha-ha.” Robin pushes his shoulder again, this time not to comfort but to chastise. “I meant maybe coming up with a different approach.”

“I don’t do the Scoops routine anymore.”

“Right, you’ve switched to local video store geek recommending all your favorite flicks.”

“Geek! I’m not a geek! What about this,” Steve gestures up and down his body with broad, sweeping motions that draw out a flurry of giggles from Robin, “says geek?!”

“Like, all of it,” she laughs. “Every part of it. The hair? Dork. The smile? Total nerd smile— see, look, you’re offended but you’re smiling!”

Through his not-smile, Steve hisses, “What am I supposed to do about my smile? I’m freaking screwed!”

“Calm down, you’ll be fine!” It’s hard to take Robin’s consolation seriously as she struggles not to laugh. Some consternation must show on his face as she finally relents, wiping an eye dry before leaning away, and repeating, “You’ll be fine. You’ve got plenty of time to work out the new Harrington act anyway, and in the meantime, you’ve got good friends who look out for you.”

“I thought you said Dustin and the gang were annoying little kids.”

“God, I meant me, you dick!” This time he’s ready for the blow to his shoulder and he dodges it effortlessly, ducking under the slap and then swatting it away. It’s a good thing Keith left right away after his morning shift, as he hates when they squabble like this in the front end of the store. Not that there are any customers. Steve has apparently frightened them all away with his utter and total lack of charisma. Fantastic.

After he loses— quite badly, really, Robin, where was this killer physique and athleticism when they were being held hostage by enemies of the state— and they resume their work, Steve doesn’t put up much of a pretense of actually working, far too distracted by his foreboding future. The loneliness gnaws at him deeply, scraping down to his marrow until he starts fidgeting, uncomfortable with his own turbulent emotion.

Robin hadn’t meant it, and god knows she’s got it worse than he does, but… it does suck, not having someone and not seeming able to find anyone. Even when things were bad with Nancy there had still been things. And before her, when Tommy and Carol had dragged him to each and every party like a prized stud ready for the auction, he had felt wanted. He can’t remember when he last felt wanted.

Before he can voice this pathetic thought to Robin, she sighs, taking obvious pity on him. “You have any plans tonight?”

“Take a wild guess,” Steve grumbles.

Unaffected, she continues, “Sooo… my parents went to this big Christmas party last weekend, and they brought home these two huge gift baskets they apparently won in some raffle. And one of the baskets had some bourbon, and, um, I don’t really know anything about drinking, so, I… uh, I brought it, and I thought maybe it’d be fun if we. Drank it.”

Steve twists to stare at her incredulously. No part of the story makes even a lick of sense— what kind of parents let their eighteen-year-old daughter drink liquor freely? What kind of parents bring gifts home without occasion or cause? Who throws a Christmas party in January? Baffled, he echoes, “You brought it?”

“I brought it,” Robin confirms.

“In… what, in your backpack?”

“Yeah, in my backpack.” Both of them glance at the staff area, and she says, “What, you don’t want to? If you don’t want to, it’s—”

“Hold on, they just let you have it?”

“They don’t drink.”

“Well… what kind of bourbon is it?”

“I have no clue, doofus. I don’t drink.”

“Never?”

“I’ve never had anyone to drink with.” This confession lingers in the air for a heavy moment— not necessarily a bad one, but it weighs them both down, together. Then Robin coughs, and changes tack, “What types of bourbon are there?”

Steve doesn’t actually know. He’s not sure that he’s actually ever tried bourbon. It sounds both quaintly Southern and exorbitant, but the likely high price tag only adds to the allure. “Alright, we’ll just have to make sure we don’t leave anything for Keith to catch onto us. Guy would flip his freaking lid. But… we could try a glass, or two.”

“Neat,” Robin grins, eyes practically sparkling. “Yeah, I probably won’t have more than a sip.”

--

Steve sits— well, crashes— down onto the counter beside Robin. His legs dangle over the edge, while she keeps hers crossed. “I think I lost my voice,” he tells her, and in response she passes— well, slams— the bottle into his hand. “No, Robin, I’m serious, I think I sang too hard.”

“They’re making another one of these.” She points, and Steve follows her gaze to the TV set up in the corner over Comedies and International, which is currently playing The Evil Dead, but set to the soundtrack of the album Steve has been blasting over the Family Video intercom. “With the same director and everything. I bet it’ll be terrible; sequels always are.”

“Not true,” croaks Steve. He drinks the bourbon. It tastes a little better with every sip, although it still mostly tastes like he’s hiding in a cleaning closet and drinking heavy acid instead of hanging out with his friend and drinking actual good liquor. If this is good liquor, he thinks he’ll stick to cheap beer. “Dawn of the Dead.”

“Remake, not a sequel.”

“No way, it’s a sequel.” Steve passes the bottle back, massaging his throat. “Zombies and shit.” AC/DC comes to the end of howling ‘Back in Black’, thank God, no more falsetto— and the tape switches to ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’. He starts tapping his heels against the counter to the rhythm. 

On screen, Ash’s buddy Scotty shoves one of the zombified girls away with an ax. Robin watches. Steve grimaces. Scotty swears his head off on mute. Brian Johnson wails, “She was the best damn woman that I ever seen!”

“I love women,” Robin sighs, deep and emotional.

“Me too,” agrees Steve fervently.

“And I don’t hate bourbon.”

“Me either.” He reaches for the bottle and she takes a sip before sharing; it burns when it hits his already scratchy throat. Scotty locks the zombie in the basement. Robin reaches back for the bottle. The confession squeezes out before Steve can think any better of it: “I miss Nancy.”

“Oh my god.”

“I mean it—”

“I know you do—”

“I love her, Robin.”

“Oh My God.”

“Listen,” Steve says, hopping off the counter with grace and precision. He completely misjudges the distance between them and the floor, and ends up crash-landing hard; but at least he doesn’t fall over. Robin laughs harder than she needs to as he steadies himself. “Listen. She was my best damn… the best girlfriend that I’ve ever had. And I was so stupid to her. And she left me.”

“I thought she left because she didn’t have feelings for you anymore.”

“Could you just—” Steve flails for a moment, trying not to throttle his best friend and also trying to sort through his drunk thoughts to find the words he needs. “Yes. Okay. That may be true. But feelings come and go!”

“Fine,” says Robin reluctantly. “But, and I hate to put a damper on your drunken dreams of winning her back, but! In this case, Nancy has already moved on to someone else… right?”

Steve snaps his fingers. Jonathan— of course! That’s why that stupid horror movie seemed so familiar; he remembers seeing the freaky poster hung up in Jonathan’s room from when he and Nancy and Jonathan had fought off the Demogorgon the first time around. Steve hasn’t thought about Jonathan in a while, which seems odd given that he used to waste so much time thinking about the guy. Even before their team-up— actually, especially before they had teamed up, he had a penchant for watching the weird Byers kid. “Right,” he exclaims. “Yeah, yes! She’s moved on!”

“So,” says Robin, with the patience of a schoolteacher. “Don’t you think it’s time that you move on too?”

“Totally,” he agrees, catching her off-guard. “Yes. I’m gonna make her so jealous.”

When he looks over, Robin is fully chugging the bourbon. Steve snatches the bottle away, laughing somewhat maniacally— except not at all, this is awesome, he has a totally awesome plan.

Step one is get on the work computer and misuse his employee privilege as a Family Video store clerk. When he fails to type in his password correctly a third time, Robin sighs, finally hopping down from the counter. “I want it on record that this is a bad idea,” she declares, typing in her password anyway before heading to the back room. Steve takes advantage of her absence to quickly scan through their alphabetized account list. Thankfully Byers, J. is close to the top. 

He scrawls the phone number down on the back of an empty receipt as Robin closes down the store— beginning with the music, then the lights. They are left alone with only the computer, which Steve quickly shuts off, and the television, which Robin misplaced the remote for. Neither of them can find it in the dark and so they leave Ash and friends to face their inevitable demise at the hands of the zombie demons. It won’t be the worst close they’ve ever done, and Steve refuses to believe that Keith’s opinion of him could sink any lower.

Robin grabs the nearly empty bottle, shoving it into her backpack. Steve grabs his jacket, pulling it on with a wince as they step out of the store into the January night air. “It’s too cold to drive, and I’m too drunk to walk,” says Robin, arms already tightly folded over her chest but teeth not quite chattering yet. “I mean… no, wait, maybe that is what I mean.”

“I got this,” Steve assures her. It’s then that Robin notices the receipt, and lunges for it. Maybe if Steve had full control of his faculties he would be able to hold it out of her reach. She snatches the paper and Steve moans, “Aw, c’mon, give it back! You’re messing up my whole plan!”

“Your plan to get back with your ex by making her jealous? Oh my god, you’re serious.” Robin laughs, shoving the receipt back at him. Her grin is too wide and goofy to cause any real hurt, especially when her eyes crinkle up in the corners and she teases, “Look at that, Harrington! You finally got a girl’s number.”

Steve, smiling back, doesn’t correct her.

--

The only cab in Hawkins surely isn’t the only cab in Hawkins, but it feels that way as they drive down the otherwise dormant city streets. Most people, Steve reckons, don’t stay up late drinking with their coworkers on a cold weeknight in January. Or if they do, they probably go to a bar close to their office downtown, or even a nightclub.

In the backseat of the only cab in Hawkins, Steve and Robin lean against each other like siblings on a road trip, slouched together thanks to the late hour and all the drinking. He’s sure they smell like shit but they feel amazing, smacking each other’s arms to point out passing landmarks or giggling about the music on the radio. The driver hasn’t commented, leaving them to their own devices as they joke about how they feel like New Yorkers, or like superstars. 

The taxi drops Robin off outside her home first, and she leans over to give Steve a bourbon-soaked hug. He relishes in it, trying to remember the last time he got a hug from anyone. Hell, it was probably Robin, and before that, he has no clue. Dustin has been busy with his new Dungeons and Dragons group, and Lucas and Mike were never big on hugs anyway. So he hugs back, still laughing at Robin’s terrible Bronx accent, and as he does she whispers, “You got this, dingus.”

“Thanks,” Steve whispers back, feeling tipsy and joyful and supported— until he realizes that she meant he’s the one on the hook for paying the taxi driver. He settles back into his own seat to sulk.

On the radio, REO Speedwagon choruses, “I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for; it’s time to bring this ship into the shore, and throw away the oars, forever…” and the driver hums along.

Steve’s hand finds its way into his jacket pocket, where his fist closes around Jonathan’s number.

--

“Hey,” Steve nearly sings, as soon as the call goes through. “Hi. Sorry, I— I know it’s late,” which is technically true, even if he has no idea what time it actually is. But based on the moonlight streaming through the window in the kitchen, he’s breaking several social rules. “I just… It’s, um, it’s Steve. Harrington, in case, uh, you know any other Steves…?”

A woman answers. The receiver slips right out of Steve’s hands and he curses modern, cordless technology, fumbling to grab it before he drops the phone, or worse, the call. “… afraid I don’t know any Steves at all. Can I help you, young man?”

“Oh, shit.” The woman inhales sharply, and Steve’s mind supplements an image of Byers, Joyce. Shit. Of course. “I’m sorry, uh, I’m calling for Jonathan? If he’s even home?”

Sounding much less friendly, the woman pauses. “I don’t know who you mean, but this is a new number. If you’re trying to reach the Byers family—”

“Yes, exactly, yeah, Jonathan Byers—”

“They don’t live here anymore.” Steve crumples up the paper and tosses it, furiously, into the sink. “I have their forwarding number, if it’s very important…?”

“It’s urgent,” Steve assures her, scrambling to find something to write on. He ends up grabbing his father’s fountain pen and writing Jonathan’s new number painfully across the back of his hand.

After apologizing and wishing the wrong number a good night, Steve stares at those messy, ink-blotted digits. Before he can give himself cold feet, he dials the number; he doesn’t breathe once the whole time it rings.

The line picks up again. This time Steve is more cognizant that it might be Joyce, or even worse, Will— the kid would definitely recognize his voice, and while Steve is sure that Jonathan’s impossibly kind younger brother would support him in this late-night endeavor, he’s also sure that Mike Wheeler would definitely hear about it. Which would ruin the entire scheme, of course.

The scheme, which seemed so infallible back at Family Video, swims and wavers in his head now. Steve tries to go through the plan point by point, but it all falls to pieces when a groggy, familiar voice says through the receiver, “Hello?”

“Hey,” Steve says. He leans against the kitchen island, exhaling all the air in his lungs. “Hi. It’s Steve. … Harrington.”

“I only know one Steve,” Jonathan says, dry as a desert. Steve smiles nervously. “Why are you calling? Is something wrong?”

“No, no, all quiet on the Western front.” This nets him a chuckle from Jonathan, so he soldiers on: “I was just wondering, you know, uh… if you wanted to come over?”

Puzzled, Jonathan asks bluntly, “What? Why?”

“I was thinking about you,” says Steve, leaning into it hard. He has charisma, or at least, he once did— he knows how to do this part. “Thinking maybe you could come over and we could fool around.”

Nobody has ever hung up so fast.

Steve stares at the dead phone in his hand. He wonders about the vicious gossip that he’d heard back in high school about Jonathan Byers, that he was more than just weird and a loner. Maybe those rumors really were nothing but rumors spread by small-minded townies. Steve’s parents aren’t home. It would be so easy for him to break into his father’s liquor cabinet. He could probably knock himself out within the hour, and sleep off this whole bad idea. He could laugh about it with Robin tomorrow night at work— I wanted to do what last night? I got some girl’s phone number out of the system? Man, no, I went straight home and went to bed. On an unrelated topic, I need to update the contact information on the Byers file.

Steve presses the redial button.

It rings for a little longer this time, and he can just picture Jonathan deciding whether or not to pick up, leaning over his own kitchen counter with a vein jumping out of his forehead behind his messy, home-cut bangs. Sure enough, when the call does get picked up, Jonathan sounds even more stressed than usual. He demands, “Is this a joke?”

If he’s wrong, and Jonathan’s not that type of person, and he tells Nancy… Steve shakes off the doomed train of thought. “No,” he says, firmly. “Not a joke.” 

Jonathan swears softly, so soft that Steve was sure he wasn’t meant to hear it, then: “Are you drunk?”

“Well, yeah,” he admits. Jonathan sighs loud enough to nearly blow the speaker. “What about you?”

“No.” A pause. “I think I should probably be a lot less sober for this.”

“That’s the spirit,” Steve cheers. “Where are you? Can you come over?”

Just as he’s starting to get butterflies, Jonathan cuts through the excitement with a deadpan, “California.”

“California?” He squints at the number on his hand. Is eight-one-eight the area code for California? “What the fuck? Is Nancy there with you?”

“Um.” A very pregnant pause. “No?”

“What… are you… Are you on vacation?”

Once more, Jonathan sighs. “What do you want, Steve?”

“I told you,” he replies, and even to his own ears he sounds bitchy. He adjusts, softening his tone a bit. “Just wanna make you feel good, Jonathan. I’ve been thinking about it.”

“You haven’t exactly kept in touch,” Jonathan retorts, although his voice sounds different now. Steve listens keenly but he can’t hear anything else on the line except the complaining. “I mean, you thought I still lived in Hawkins, and I’ve been gone this whole school year.”

“Well, we’re not exactly friends,” Steve parrots back. That shuts the other boy up alright. “Doesn’t mean I don’t think about you.”

“Steve—”

“Even tonight, hanging out with a friend, I was thinking about you. Should’ve been thinking about girls. I was thinking about you.” Steve frowns. “You and stupid Ashley Williams.”

“Listen,” tries Jonathan. “You’re just drunk—”

“Even back when we were in school together I would think about you,” he admits, low. “Why do you think I gave you such a hard time? I heard what everyone said about you. Couldn’t get it out of my head. It wasn’t the first time I heard that someone could be… like that, but it was the first time I saw a boy and thought that I might be like that.”

What had the scheme been again? Call Nancy Wheeler’s queer boyfriend, rile him up a little? Get him to tell Nancy about it and make her all jealous? What is his endgame here, because only boys who like boys talk to boys about the things he’s talking to Jonathan about right now— and Jonathan isn’t even really reciprocating.

The soft breath is the only sign of life from California. Steve closes his eyes, swaying against the kitchen counter. “And I was so, so fucking stupid back then. That’s how I lost Nance, and that’s how come I treated you like… just like garbage. I broke your stupid camera, and I pushed you around, and when people gave you a hard time I didn’t say shit. I basically made your life hell.”

“You bought me a new camera,” says Jonathan quietly.

“Aw, c’mon, Nance.” Steve grimaces. “That was supposed to be a secret.”

“And I wasn’t the best person back then either. I mean, I can’t think about how I acted in junior high without dying a little bit on the inside. But… um… doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it,” Jonathan tells him, in that same quiet voice. Steve wonders if he’s trying to stay quiet so he doesn’t wake up his family. Even when Jonathan had repulsed Steve, he’d always been secretly jealous of the closeness of the Byers clan. “And… uh, all that stuff you said, um… I used to think about it too. About… you and Nancy, mostly. It was wrong, I know, and—”

Steve interrupts, “Was it?” He sounds as wild as he feels. “Was it wrong?”

“Um…”

“You home alone, Jonathan?”

“I, uh.” Now there is a rustling on the other side of the line. “Will and El are at a sleepover camp thing for school, and my mom’s working nights this week at this temporary… um… Are we really— I mean, are you really…”

Steve hums. “I’m home alone. Didn’t even ask where my parents are, and they didn’t volunteer the information. But it means I’ve got this big place all to myself.”

Shallowly, Jonathan sucks in air. “Where are you?”

“The kitchen.”

That shocks a surprised laugh out of the other boy, which in turn makes Steve smile bashfully. “You can’t— you can’t have phone sex in the kitchen,” he scolds Steve. “People make food in there! Go to your bedroom, you fucking freak.”

“Look who’s suddenly an expert on phone sex,” Steve teases.

He goes anyway, heading slowly and normally towards the second floor until Jonathan casually drops, “Well, I have been in a long-distance relationship since September.”

Steve trips up the stairs, dropping the phone for the second time tonight. When he picks it up Jonathan is still there, breathing just as softly. Steve takes the rest of the stairs four at a time. He lunges for his bed and collapses there like a dead weight, still wearing his work clothes. Shit, he’s still wearing his shoes. He hears soft laughter coming down the line and, embarrassed about his heavy breathing, demands hotly, “You and Nancy have phone sex?”

“It would be pretty hard to have any other kind of sex two thousand miles apart.” That dry humor is doing terrible, insane things to his body right now. Steve chews his lip, closes his eyes, and fumbles with the button on his jeans. “So you get pretty good at discussing, and imagining. And waiting.”

“The first two sound alright.”

“Waiting can be fun too,” Jonathan tells him gently; his voice is so soft and low that Steve doesn’t realize he’s being seduced until his pulse has already risen. “But, yeah, talking is Nancy’s big thing. … I’m sure you remember that.”

Steve makes a face, giving up on his zipper. What he remembers about his sex life with Nancy is mostly too sad to dwell on, except during his most pathetic, embarrassing shower sessions and wet dreams. Things were good between them, of course— she’s the most beautiful woman on the planet— but after that pivotal time at the party, in this very bedroom, things were never the same. Sex with Steve had begun to remind Nancy of her dead friend, which would have been a mood-killer for Clark and Lois. Really, he shouldn’t have been surprised when she dumped his ass for Jonathan.

“What about this?” Steve imagines that Jonathan is right next to him on the bed instead of two thousand miles away. He turns his head to face the other pillow, but his eyes stay firmly closed. “Shouldn’t you… talk to Nancy about this?”

Once again, Jonathan effortlessly flips his world upside down with a sentence: “We did.” He sounds almost amused. “That’s why I hung up on you. I freaked out, and called her.”

Steve sits up so fast his head spins. “You called her? You— what did you tell her?”

“I told her you were drunk and trying to hook up with me,” says Jonathan, like it’s not a big deal at all. “And then her mother kicked her off the phone and chewed me out for calling the house so late.”

“But,” splutters Steve, “what did Nancy say?”

“She was really excited,” Jonathan admits. Steve, himself, is really excited— in fact, he thinks he might throw up for reasons entirely unrelated to the consumption of alcohol. “She asked for details, and I said I’d let her know if you called back. Then Mrs. Wheeler got on the line.”

He stares at the empty walls of his room, desperately trying to make sense of what Jonathan is telling him. “She wasn’t mad?”

“She was furious. Kept going on about time zones and all that shit.”

“Jonathan, I mean Nancy.”

“Steve, I know. I’m just teasing. You sound so tense.” Steve wonders how any man could feel relaxed while hearing this information. “Yeah, she was excited, and… a little nervous; she warned me it might have been a prank or something, but then I said ‘what if it’s not’, and she said ‘well, if it’s not, then obviously’… yeah.”

Steve gapes. “Obviously?”

“Yeah,” Jonathan echoes. “And asked for details.”

“Makes sense,” he says, weakly. “She’s a great reporter.”

“So, details.” Jonathan’s voice sinks down again, and Steve mirrors the change in tone, lying back down. He’s still reeling from the news that his plot to make Nancy jealous has been found dead in the water, and instead it seems that Jonathan and Nancy have machinations of their own. “Did you listen to what I said?”

“About Nancy?”

“About leaving the kitchen. Where are you now, Steve?”

“Oh. The— my bed.”

Jonathan exhales, “Good,” and Steve starts to melt. “And what are you doing right now in your bed?”

“Taking my shoes off,” he answers honestly, which startles another laugh out of Jonathan.

“That’s… a good place to start, I guess. How drunk are you, man?”

“I just feel… I don’t know. I feel good.” Keeping up the honesty is probably a good bet. “I like that you told Nancy. I like that she… likes the idea. She’s thinking about it, maybe.”

The line is silent, but live with Jonathan’s breathing. Steve’s chest rises and falls in sync. “Thinking about what, exactly?”

Right. Details. “This isn’t what I’d pictured,” Steve tells him. “I never imagined you out in California. In my head, you’re still the same scrawny, skinny kid forever stuck in Hawkins. Doesn’t make sense, you living so far away. Do you have a tan now?”

“Not really,” he admits, sounding sheepish. “I look pretty much the same. Taller, maybe.”

“I doubt it. Bet you’re still small enough for me to pick you up, toss you around.”

“You could try it,” Jonathan huffs.

“Bet you’re used to taking the lead with Nancy,” Steve continues, closing his eyes again. He kicks off his other shoe. “You ever been with someone bigger than you? I mean, someone who could really put you where they wanted?”

“You’re not so big,” says Jonathan. He sounds uncertain— it sends goosebumps down Steve’s arms. “Where would you want to put me?”

“I’d like to pin you down and watch your face as I get you off.” The reaction is immediate— the bitten-off gasp is a sound Steve will treasure forever. “I would want you in my bed, in my car… I don’t know. Everywhere. I’d want you to ride me.”

“Jesus.”

“I’d ride you too,” Steve hastens to add. “I’m not totally unfair.”

Jonathan makes a noise somewhere between a cough and a whimper.

“I used to think about making you suck me off, back when I was still kind of learning what blowjobs were and so they were pretty much all I could ever think about. You have a really pretty mouth,” he goes on even as Jonathan’s breath hitches, “and I think you would look good on your knees.”

“I do,” Jonathan says. “I mean, I would, I— Nancy tells me all the time.”

“What, you suck her off?” Steve laughs, except the noise kind of dies in his throat because Jonathan doesn’t laugh too. He puts the phone down, suddenly desperate to be free of his clothing. Throwing his work vest and shirt towards the dresser, followed by his jeans and briefs, he lies back down and repeats his question. “You go down on her?”

“Of course,” says Jonathan, kind and sweet and kind of dirty. Steve shuffles around until he’s comfortable under the blankets, and he can hold the phone in one hand and his dick in the other. He would usually grab lotion from his bedside table, maybe stop at a non-family video store on the way home from work to pick up a tape. Right now he doesn’t need any of that; he’s too close just from the sound of Jonathan’s voice. “I could do that for you too. I never thought it was something you’d want.”

“Well, you know what they say, Byers.” Steve palms himself, fucking in and out of his fist slowly. It’s too hot, too sensitive, too intimate. He clenches, his muscles tightening as he thinks about Jonathan doing the same. “If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

Sure enough, there’s a quiet noise other than Jonathan’s voice. The connection isn’t clear enough for him to hear everything, but he can connect the dots. Jonathan says, still sounding strangled, “Did you manage to get your shoes off?”

“Yeah, now I’m working on getting my rocks off.”

A groan, low and a second too long. “Ugh. Nancy could’ve warned me you liked to tell jokes in bed.”

“What, am I not cool enough for you, California? Should I, like, tone it down, brochacho?”

“You’re kidding, but I do actually have a friend out here who sounds exactly like that.” Steve speeds up, his hips thrusting forward in small, jerky movements as Jonathan talks. God, he’s in so much trouble if he’s just getting off to the sound of the guy’s voice. He twists his wrist for a better angle as Jonathan continues, “You’re plenty cool enough for me, Indiana.”

“Hey, you’re Indiana too,” Steve reminds him. “God, I’m so— can you do more of the phone sex stuff?”

“Who says this isn’t the phone sex stuff? Maybe two guys jerking off together, talking about the state they grew up in is high-quality phone sex,” Jonathan teases. Now who’s telling jokes in bed? “You want me to give you the serious script, Harrington?”

“I want you to stop fucking around and put me on loudspeaker,” Steve gasps.

For a beat, Jonathan is silent. Then he does; the audio quality is slightly different, and Steve can more clearly hear skin-on-skin. Jonathan picks up the pace and Steve matches his rhythm, groaning through grinding teeth. When Jonathan speaks, he sounds nervous now. “Better?”

“Almost,” Steve says. “I want you to touch yourself. Keep touching yourself, the way you do when you do this with your girlfriend.” Jonathan’s breath hitches, and the sounds pick up— they are filthy in the best way. Steve is beyond glad they’re both home alone. His legs shake as he keeps going. “Except it’s different, right? When Nancy gets off she seizes up, right, like her whole body goes tight. With us, it’s different, and I want to hear you, wanna hear every part of it. I want you to ruin those fucking sheets.”

“Fuck,” gasps Jonathan. Steve tightens his grip too. “I wish—” and then before he can deliver that wish, he’s grunting, loud and primal and unmistakably masculine, as he comes all over himself. Steve can just picture it, those nimble, pale fingers wrapped around his dick— except he doesn’t exactly know what Jonathan’s dick looks like, so he has to make do with thinking about his own. And right as he’s about to sail over the edge, Jonathan breathes, “I bet Nancy’s getting off right now too.”

Well. It’s embarrassing how instantaneous Steve’s orgasm is after he hears that.

After all the discussing and imagining, as Jonathan had called it, they both come down slowly and in shared, comfortable silence. Steve sinks back down to sober, cold Earth like a fluttering leaf, and even after the reality of what just happened hits him he still doesn’t feel ready to accept it. The hard, unflinching truth is that Steve feels better right now than he ever has after sex, and Jonathan isn’t even here. He thinks he almost feels better right now than he ever has in his entire life. Uh oh.

“So,” Steve finally breaks the quiet post-orgasm haze lingering between them. “Are you coming home for spring break?”

[foreverautumn89]

@miwiromantics

I wrote SO SO MUCH I just went into like this whole rant thing and I'll reply to the rest of your stuff later [yes theres a lot more I'm sorry this is why no one on here wants to talk to me], so I'll send them later like in the week so I'm not overwhelming you and looking like a total freak that just spent 2 hours going off about a fictional show.

But heres something to leave you with until the next time:

I want the REAL fans of Jonathan/Stonathan to hang out with it. Not the band wagon-ers. I want to talk to the real people who genuinely ship Stonathan and saw why they would be so good together and see the way Steve has been in love with Jonathan since the beginning or genuinely relate to and understand and love Jonathan. I don't want the sheep.

Because then it just turns into some clown car circus thing where they make Jonathan out to be someone hes not anyway so then its not us showing appreciation for Jonathan or Jonathan in a relationship with Steve. It's some out of character version of Jonathan they're showing appreciation to. and Jonathan is written as a completely different character than he actually is and they only like him because everybody else does. Not becasue they genuinely like him.

I'd rather he be un-popular because even like the fans that love Steve for example don't love Steve because he is not the real Steve. They love their fanfiction version that they made him into.

That's what they like. Instead of loving Steve for who he actually is they make him into a completely different character that isn't even close to how Steve really is. Whats wrong with him having flaws? Especially flaws that hes trying to learn from and become better and has. But they erase his entire history in order to make him look like hes been this innocent angel this whole time. I don't want that sht. I want REAL Steve because the real Steve is who I love and hes better and more interesting than their fanfiction version of him. I love the Steve that was a dick and then because of Jonathan Steve started changing for the better and he keeps trying to improve but failing at it, but he keeps trying anyway.

Canon Steve is far superior to what the fans made Steve. This squeaky clean person that never did anything wrong [its also delusional to think Steve is this way but thats a different conversation entirely]

[stonathanweek]

HAPPY STONATHAN SUNDAY!!!

Just as a quick reminder, Stonathan Sunday is a challenge where we post a list of prompts that you can use to come up with a short ficlet (of course, featuring Stonathan). There's no word limit, but since this is a side activity from your current writing for the actual ship week, we suggest keeping your ficlets short (around 300-500 words).

Here's this week's list of prompts!:

"Think of it as a compliment."

"You were supposed to leave."

"We're going to have to stay here tonight."

"It's four in the morning. What are you doing?"

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Do you want to come in?"

"You owe me a dinner. A very nice dinner."

"I'm not a big fan of the dark."

Remember to tag us and tag #StonathanWeek2023 so we can see your posts and give them a RB! Also, you have all week to work on these prompts, so there's no rush. Have fun!

Here you can go to the first Stonathan Sunday list and here you can check all the ficlets posted for Stonathan Sunday One!

[the-fire-might-be-shooting-at-us]

Hey, just wanted to say that through you I discovered the anti steddie/anti eddie munson tag and that experience was /cleansing/ so thank you for that<3

Me yelling into the void: EDDIE IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT! HE'S JUST SOME GUY THAT MOST OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS HAVE KNOWN FOR LIKE A WEEK!!!! Why should he come back via vecna in s5 when he just doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things?

I generally don't care all that much about shipping and I don't care about byler but if i spend a second thinking about it, it's ship that makes sense at least. Eddie and steve had like, what, 5 interactions over the season and people went crazy

The one good thing that came out of steddie is that it's the most tagged ship in the st tag on ao3 and that it's not harringrove anymore which is a whole other can of worms not worth opening. What is it about m/m that makes people completely disregard the everything about two male characters just to make them fuck??

Omfg I love to awaken these type of realisations in people (the only thing ever awakened in me is lesbianism)!!! <333

Honestly I've heard both arguments for and against Byler and I could definitely see it happening.

The arguments for Steddie are like...okay

Bc the most I could see wasn't true love it was attraction on Eddie's side and something on Steve's, but it wasn't as strong or definite as everyone is making it out to be

It's def a ship rooted in the "maybe in another world" and I respect that, but idk I've noticed this trend where whenever someone ships a guy with Steve the ship is all about that guy and puts Steve as this different character (ironically Steve fans do the same thing with Stancy). It was more prominent in the Harringrove circles but still there with Steddie and very rare in Stonathan (as far as I've seen for all three ships)

My problem with Steddie is just that it is def not as canon as Ronance and they still flood the Ronance tags??? And a lot of Eddie stans just make him super-powered and crazy cool like guys he's not the main character he's new why are you surprised he died why are you surprised the people he barely knew didn't sob vomit piss shit over him???

[faithfulcat111]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington Characters: Jonathan Byers, Steve Harrington Additional Tags: Pre-Relationship, they will get together within the next few hours, but this is just a snippet from a larger au that lives rent-free in my head, Alternate Universe - The Breakfast Club Fusion, It is literally a Breakfast Club au, and I do not apologize, References to Drugs, Queer Jonathan Byers, Jonathan Byers is a weirdo, Jonathan Byers Has a Crush, And Steve is absolutely getting one, references to child neglect, references to past abuse, References to bad home life, no beta we just die, July Break Bingo, July Break Bingo 2023, Stonathan Week, stonathan week 2023 Series: Part 3 of Stonathan Week 2023, Part 2 of Faith's July Break Bingo 2023 Summary:

Steve wasn't quite sure what to make of the weirdo from the back of the detention room but he sure was pretty.

@stonathanweek​ Written for Stonathan Week 2023 Day 2: AUs

@julybreakbingo​ Fills July Break Bingo Square: “You’re pretty when you cry.”

[apomaro-mellow]

Stonathan, Harringrove, Steddie space explorer steve gets pounded six ways to sunday; Barbarella AU

Pick literally any of Barbarella's outfits and put them on Steve. It works.

It was supposed to be a simple mission. One of their unmanned probes had malfunctioned and gotten lost on a distant planet. One that was far from the reaches of the Consolidated Earthian Federation. Steve, a seasoned veteran of such tasks, was charged with the retrieval and repair of the probe.

Steve’s ship typically orbited closer to the center of the Federation. This would take him further than he’d ever been. He stepped onto the furred carpeting of his one-man bridge and began inputting coordinates for the planet.

“Computer, how long will the trip take us?”

The bridge was filled with beeping before a robotic voice replied. “At our average speed, three months. But if you prefer light travel, it will take a week. Either way, cryo-sleep is recommended for the journey.”

Steve drummed his fingers on the dashboard as he considered it. Light travel would use more energy. But it would expedite the mission. “Prepare for light travel. I’ll undergo cryo-sleep. But before that…” Steve stood up and began to strip down. Robotic arms picked up the trail of clothes behind him to put back in his wardrobe.

He went to his pod bed, round and wide and with a soft, cushiony comforter. The opening of the pod faced a long window, giving him an incredible view of the stars. Steve got comfortable on his back, letting out a small sigh.

“Computer, initiate tension release.”

The lights inside the bed glowed a soft pink. From the top of his pod, a cylinder came down. One that he knew would be warm and wet for him. It slid over his penis, working what had been a half-hard on to a full one. Both of Steve’s hands gripped the bedding underneath him as it moved up and down.

His lips parted as soft sighs and moans left his body. Steve’s whole being tensed up as he reached his crest and spilled into the device.

“Specimen collected. Discard or archive?”

“Discard”, Steve ordered. He always alternated his choices. It didn’t hurt to have some stored away for the future. But he had plenty on ice. “Good night computer.”

“Good night Steve.”

The background buzzing of the ship lowered to a faint whir as it entered light travel. The lights in Steve’s pod dimmed and he fell asleep to the twinkling of the stars.

The ship passed through the cosmos and as it neared its destinations, systems began to light back up again. The dimmed lights of Steve’s pod slowly lit up, simulating a waking cycle. A gentle jingle sounded to awaken him.

“We are approaching the target coordinates”, the computer reported.

Steve got up and left his pod to go to his wardrobe. “How far are we from the planet?”, he asked as he zipped himself up.

“We are approximately nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-niiiiiine-niiiine….”

Steve rushed over to the dashboard. “Computer, what’s wrong?”

“Sensors malfunction….radar….and guidance….”

The ship’s computer trailed off and Steve could see there was an odd fog outside. Whatever it was must have been messing with the ship’s functions. He saw a planet speeding into view and braced himself for impact.

When it all settled, Steve checked for what systems he could. From what he gathered, getting home shouldn’t be too difficult, his ship was still functional and communications were still up. The trouble was that this planet was out of their borders. If there was sentient life, Steve could only imagine how barbaric they might be, living so far from the center of the universe.

Radar on the ship was down and he’d have to leave and use the handheld unit to figure out exactly where he was. He made sure there was a blaster in his holster. He could just hear Dustin’s nagging voice at getting got because he was unarmed. 

“Computer, can you read the atmosphere?”

“Atmosphere is hospitable.”

“Alright. Here I go.” Steve stood by the door, about to open it.

“Oh captain?”

“Yes, computer?”

“Your shoes.” A robotic arm held up his boots, making him realize he was still barefoot.

Steve put the boots on, zipped them up to his knees and finally disembarked. Whatever dangers may lie ahead, he would face them.

The area he had crashed in looked completely barren. He took out a handheld device and turned it on. It beeped slowly as it took in the surroundings and tried to ascertain exactly where it was.

“According to this…”, Steve spoke to himself while walking around the ship, the satellite shouldn’t be too far. It’s just over….”

Steve followed the beacon signal until he saw what was up ahead of him beyond miles of barren land. Tall, craggy mountains that looked black against the sky.

“Great.”

He had to get over a mountain range while his ship was down. If he had a land vessel of some kind, he might be able to shave off some time. But it seemed there was nothing and no one for miles.

Or so he thought until someone started shooting at him.

“Hey!”, he shouted as he dodged, looking around to find the origin. He shouted again as he retreated behind his ship. There was a thicket off to the side leading into a greater wilderness. That was the only place it could be coming from.

He got his own blaster out and waited for them to show themselves again. A couple more shots were thrown in his direction and Steve had them. He moved from behind the ship and aimed.

He shot and knew he hit his target when he heard a thump. Steve ran to see just who had been attacking him. He walked through the brush and saw a young man lying on the ground, eyes open in fear but frozen. He was dressed rather plainly, in clothes well worn.

“What did you do to me?”, he asked through gritted teeth.

“A standard paralyzer”, Steve explained. “Much more civilized than a weapon meant to kill.” Steve kicked the man’s gun away. “Why were you attacking me?”

“You’re from the west. I couldn’t take any chances.”

Steve lowered his blaster. “The west? No, I’m not even from here. My ship crashed. I’m trying to find one of our satellites. I’m not-I’m not involved in any sort of conflict you have going on here.”

“How can I trust you?”

“You’re at my mercy right now. If I wanted to kill you, I could’ve”, Steve replied.

“Right…right…”

“So the way I see it, you owe me”, Steve said. “I need help getting to where the satellite fell. Can you get me over the mountains?”

“You don’t wanna go over there.”

“Maybe not. But I need to.”

Feeling sensation coming back to him, the other man nodded. “Okay.”

Steve could tell the paralyzation was wearing off and helped him to his feet. “I’m Steve by the way.”

“Jonathan.”

Once he was able to use his legs, Jonathan took Steve deeper into the woods. Eventually, they made it back to a small ship. One that could probably take them right over the mountains. Jonathan led the way inside. The cockpit was a bit small, but behind that seemed to be dedicated just for sleeping. It was like a nest of pillows and blankets.

Jonathan started up the ship and Steve used his device to give the directions at first.

“So”, Jonathan looked him up and down from the pilot’s seat. “You’re Federation?”

“Born and raised”, Steve answered. “And you’re from…here?”

Jonathan caught the tone in his voice. “What’s wrong with here?”

“It’s savage land. No one lives here and if you do, you can’t call it living. Only survival.”

“They’re really driving that point home in those schools of yours?”

“You shot me on sight. You call that living?”, Steve asked.

Jonathan didn’t answer at first. “Some of the people here…aren’t the best.”

“I rest my case”, Steve said.

“I guarantee not everything is better in the Federation.”

Steve started counting off on his fingers. “Schools, healthcare, food, entertainment, just to name a few things the CEF has on…this place.”

“So life is just better then? Bet you got a nice house to go with that nice life? Loving partner?”

“I do live in good housing”, Steve nodded. “But a suitable partner hasn’t been chosen for me yet.”

Jonathan’s brow furrowed. “‘Chosen’? You mean like an arranged marriage? By your parents?”

“No, nothing like that. When I’m ready, I’ll take a psyche test and see for myself who I’m perfectly suited for.”

“That sounds like an arranged marriage”, Jonathan said. “What about…you know…”

“...What?”, Steve asked when the other trailed off.

“I mean…you know, the uh”, Jonathan’s eyes lingered a little on Steve’s body before turning back to focus on the path. “The physical side?”

“Oh you mean sex!”, Steve exclaimed.

“Yes. That’s what I mean”, Jonathan sighed. “So have you…?”

Steve looked him up and down. “Not the way it’s done out here, I’m sure.”

“Well how do they do it back in ‘civilization’?”, Jonathan asked with a roll of his eyes.

Steve never had to explain it to anyone. He tried to think of how Robin would do it. It was all very clinical anyway.

“When one feels desire and is unable to focus on their work, we find a suitable partner to help find release.”

“Sounds romantic.”

“But bothering someone with your own tension is frowned upon. So mostly we use machines.”

“....Machines….So you’ve never….you’ve never actually had sex with another person?” Jonathan’s grip on the steering tightened.

“No, why would I? I can get by with technology”, Steve said. “I can’t imagine it’d be any better with a person. Have you had sex like that?”

“I have”, Jonathan answered. “And it’s-you can’t describe-I mean doing it yourself versus having another person there is….it’s like worlds apart.”

Steve stared at Jonathan’s profile. Then his eyes glanced to the blankets in the back. There was something growing inside of him. Steve recognized the familiar tension. But this time he didn’t have a machine to satisfy him.

“Show me?”

Part 2 coming soon

[findafight]

Okay I rewatched parts of season one and two and I am thinking....many things.

1) when Nancy comes home from Steve's in ep3 she tells her mom her and Steve aren't dating, and while this is definitely teenage hiding stuff from parents, because she seems really into Steve at first, I also think it's interesting that it's been at least a couple weeks of him wooing her and she denies it. Like. She could have played it off and"well...yeah but it's new....." Because her boyfriend lending her a hoodie isn't some great offense. And then she definitely dismisses him the rest of the season (she's got a lot going on!) And has obvious tension with Jonathan. Which makes it interesting that she's together with Steve at the end. And in S2 she just. Is completely checked out of their relationship. I think that's sooo interesting. Like. It makes me feel she never actually loved Steve. I think she wanted to, but never did. Steve as a safe option. He was popular and gave her attention and it would have been easy to be with him, even if she didn't love him. and idk at some point I thought she did, but fell out of love and didn't know how to tell him or was fooling herself about it, but now I think she never did. She cared, but she wasn't in love with him. That's such an interesting dynamic that isn't really explored except for the sake of a different ship which is a shame. Because Nancy cares for Steve! But. But. But.

2) Steve probably doesn't know Nancy and Jonathan hooked up at Murray's. Who would tell him? The end of their relationship was nebulous, regardless of what TPTB say, and Nancy and Jonathan both acknowledge her relationship with Steve to Murray in denying their own. So even if Nancy thought about it in terms of "Steve and I literally just broke up" Steve probably didn't. He was going over to the Wheeler house to apologize, even though Nancy started the particular fight, because he thought there was something to mend. Lopsided at best breakup. So when they finally get a chance to talk, after he's protected the kids in the junkyard and Nancy and Jon presumably filled people in on what they were up to, he calls himself a shitty boyfriend, and tells her to go with the Byers. That "it's okay". That's the clearest end to their relationship we get. So who would tell him Jon and Nancy slept together at Murray's? When would they? Nancy, canonically, doesn't hang out with any Upside Down buddies outside of the end of the world unless they're dating, and, whilst I do enjoy stonathan and the potential friendship they could have, I doubt Steve and Jonathan were actually friends. So. No one told him, unless he met Murray at some point and he let it slip? Idk. Steve probably thinks they got together after exorcising Will or something.