Archive of Our Own ^beta

Steve pouts when Jonathan gets up from the couch and costs him his comfy pillow in the process.

"The movie won't change itself, you know?" Jonathan says, laughter in his voice.

Steve can't help but smile at the sound of it. He had never believed Jonathan could sound like that before. But he can and he does, and Steve loves that him and Nancy are two of a genuine handful of people who can make him.

"Popcorn?" he asks, pulling out the puppy dog eyes when Jonathan looks at him over his shoulder.

"Fine," Jonathan says after putting the next tape in. He sighs but he's still got a smile on his face. It might be ridiculous, but seeing his boyfriend happy even when he's exasperated is one of Steve's favorite things. Jonathan is one of his favorite things.

He yelps, nearly falling off the couch when something ice cold touches the back of his neck.

Jonathan laughs again, holding the pop in front of him like an olive branch rather than the declaration of war that it is.

"I can't believe I was just thinking about how you're my favorite. Never again. The betrayal. The heartache. Attacking me like that for no reason."

"You are spending too much time with Dustin."

Steve grabs the can before Jonathan can take it back.

"That.., is probably true," he concedes with a nod of his head. He doesn't think he'd been quite so dramatic before hanging out with that curly haired menace. Or he'd been an entirely different kind of dramatic.

Then a bowl of popcorn is dropped in his lap before Jonathan reclaims his spot next to him. His arm stretches over the back of the couch, thumb tracing lines on Steve's shoulder and he can't help the way he melts into it. He sighs, leaning into Jonathan's side and setting his drink on the little table next to him.

"...You're forgiven."

"Well thank goodness for that," Jonathan whispers, pressing a kiss into Steve's hair. It sends a thrill through him, the good kind of shiver down his neck.

Steve turns, wants to feel those lips on his and Jonathan seems more than happy to comply. His lips are a little chapped, but he's warm and uses just the right amount of pressure that Steve would be happy to end their movie marathon early to see where this goes. Especially when Jonathan's free hand cups his cheek.

He's got rough hands and Steve loves the feel of them against his skin.

Soon, though, Jonathan presses one final kiss to his mouth before pulling away. His face is flush and just looking at him makes Steve want to surge forward and see just how much color he can bring out on his face. But Jonathan sweeps his thumb across his cheek and stares at him and Steve can't look away. Eventually Jonathan kisses the corner of his mouth, his cheek, letting go of his face and trailing kisses back up to where he started with his hair.

He stops there for a moment, breathing into Steve's hair and they don't need to go any further or turn on the movie or do anything else but this the rest of the day. The only way it could get better is if Nancy were with them, sprawled across their laps the way she does.

Eventually, though, Jonathan straightens up just enough to grab the remote from the cushion next to him. His arm is still a warm line behind Steve's neck, thumb tracing little circles onto the top of his shoulder. When the movie starts playing, Steve sighs and it's an embarrassingly happy sound but he doesn't care because Jonathan tugs him even tighter into his side and sounds just as happy about it.

Jonathan watches from the corner of his eye as Steve blinks again. He's been doing it on and off for the whole movie, when he isn't squinting at the screen instead. Blinking in rapid succession or pressing his eyes shut very hard for a few seconds and opening them back up again. He didn't notice it right away, caught up in the movie and the warm line Steve makes against his side. But he can't stop noticing it now.

"Are you okay?"

Steve stops squinting and looks at him, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah," he draws the word out, confusion painted across his face. "Why?"

"You uh," Jonathan starts, feeling a little awkward but he can't not say anything anymore. He pauses the movie. "Are your eyes bothering you? You keep, like, blinking."

Steve huffs a soft laugh and shoots him the dopey half smile that Jonathan will never admit he finds adorable.

"I blink all the time?"

Jonathan doesn't find the smile quite so adorable right now. Steve looks fine, not squinting at him or blinking rapidly anymore. But his body is tense. He's not sure how he missed that, missed when Steve went from practically limp against him to stiff.

He sees it, feels it, now.

"We can turn the movie off," he says. "I don't mind."

"What, no!"

The vehemence in Steve's voice takes him aback for a second. Steve turns his puppy dog eyes on him again. They don't seem to be bothering him anymore, at least while he's looking away from the TV. All the more reason to take a break in Jonathan's mind but his boyfriend shakes his head.

"I don't want to turn it off."

"Are you sure?" Jonathan brushes the pads of his fingers over Steve's cheek. "We can take a break, come back to it when you're feeling better."

"It's fine, I'm fine," Steve insists. He leans in, rests his own hand on Jonathan's chest and suddenly they're so in each other's spaces that he can hardly tell where he ends and begins. Steve kisses him, a lingering press of lips that he returns without a thought.

When they pull apart he knows he still looks concerned because he feels concerned.

Steve sighs, smiling but it's smaller now and less vibrant. He's still tense, too, not loose and relaxed despite how close they are.

"It's just a headache, babe. It's fine, I can get through the movie."

He's started blinking even without looking at the screen.

"I don't want to 'get through' the movie," Jonathan says, gentling his voice because headaches aren't fun no matter what and loud noises only make it worse. But also because he knows Steve enough by now to know that he's going to feel bad about this, about needing to take the time to make sure he's okay before they finish their night.

"It's just a movie --"

"No, come on, you've been looking forward to this all week. I know you --"

"You're right, I have. And it's been great. It's fun watching movies with you, I like that we get the night to ourselves. But you know what I love even more than all that?"

Steve squints at him but this time Jonathan is sure it's from suspicion more than his headache.

"What?"

"You."

"C'mon," he scoffs, but it's shaky. His eyes widen despite his headache and his whole face softens in a way that puts his puppy dog eyes to shame. He doesn't think it's even on purpose. If Steve knew the power he held with that one, Jonathan would really be in trouble.

"No 'come on'," Jonathan says. Steve's hand is still on his chest and he takes hold of it now, twining their fingers together. He presses a kiss to the back of it. Steve doesn't roll his eyes like he normally would, probably because of the headache. But he still smiles, like he always does. Sometimes Jonathan wishes Steve was someone who blushed easily. If he did, he would be red every time Jonathan did that.

"I love you, and I want to do what I can to help you feel better if you'll let me. Please."

Steve watches their hands for a minute. Jonathan doesn't mind. It's a process, to get Steve to put himself first. A process Jonathan understands because he has the same problem a lot of the time. Both of them were left on their own a lot. He still barely knows what Steve's parents look like, and Jonathan was used to helping out his mom and brother and not getting much of his own back.

Now they have each other, and Nancy, and they don't have to get through these things alone. It's not always easy to remember or put into practice. He knows, though, if the situation were reversed, Steve would be doing everything he could to make sure Jonathan felt better.

Steve's throat clicks when he swallows. He clears his throat and squeezes Jonathan's hand. It's the nod he gives next that lets Jonathan relax and smile. With one more kiss to the back of Steve's hand, he stands up off the couch carefully.

"What do you need?" he asks, swinging their joined hands together and running his free one through Steve's hair.

With a quiet hum, Steve closes his eyes and pushes into the touch.

"It's a migraine," he says, looking somehow more tense than he has the whole time.

"Okay," Jonathan cups the back of Steve's head, scratches his scalp as soft as he can. "What's the best way to help?"

Then, like his strings have been cut, the tension is Steve's body goes out. He leans forward and buries his face in Jonathan's stomach.

"Hey, it's okay," Jonathan lets go of Steve's hand and rubs up and down his back.

Steve wraps his arms around him, long legs bracketing Jonathan's own. His breath feels shaky against Jonathan's stomach but his face is dry of tears. Jonathan can't say for sure what this is about, but he has an idea.

He hopes he never meets Steve's parents. There is an entirely too likely possibility that he'll get himself arrested if he does.

A few minutes later, Steve loosens his hold and pulls away. Jonathan stops rubbing his back to rest both of his hands on Steve's shoulders.

Steve clears his throat again. He looks a little embarrassed but he reaches up to grip one of Jonathan's wrists like he doesn't want him to move.

"Some tylenol would be good. It... It doesn't make it go away, but it's better if I take something for the pain."

"Okay, we'll get you some. What else?"

"Dark helps. And quiet. I usually close my blinds and turn off the lights and just stay in bed until it goes away."

Jonathan squeezes Steve's shoulders. He's unbelievably proud of Steve. It might be silly, and he wouldn't say so to his face to save both of them the embarrassment. But he is. Steve's probably never had someone to help him through these before, and he could have kept acting like nothing was wrong but instead he's letting Jonathan help.

It's a big deal, even if he knows not to treat it that way.

"Well it's plenty dark already. We can set you up in my room, if that's okay."

Steve starts to nod, but winces at the movement.

"Yeah, please."

"Come on," Jonathan says, letting go of Steve's shoulders. He steps back just enough to give him room to stand up, but not so far that Steve has to let go of the wrist he's still holding.

Steve does anyway, only to hold his hand instead while he stands.

Minutes later and Steve is settled in Jonathan's bed. It takes no convincing to get him to get out of his jeans, but he keeps his shirt on. Jonathan thinks it's a mix of being too difficult to take off without aggravating his head and being more comfortable that way while he's not feeling well.

"Is there anything else you need?" he asks, voice barely a whisper.

Steve hesitates, but Jonathan waits him out. It's not hard to sit beside him, holding Steve's hand while he thinks it over.

"A warm cloth?"

"Sure thing," Jonathan says, pressing a quick kiss to Steve's knuckles.

"Thanks."

Jonathan hums, too content to speak right away.

Steve tilts his head just a bit to look up at him. Jonathan has been sitting against the headboard since he came back in with the warm cloth. Eventually, when the cloth lost its heat, he started rubbing Steve's forehead for him instead. He stops now, but keeps his hand resting there.

"No one's ever. Done this before. For me."

He figured as much, but he doesn't say anything. He combs his fingers through Steve's hair for a minute before moving to lie down next to Steve.

Steve is sleep-warm and his lips are soft against Jonathan's when he kisses him.

"Well you've got me now. Nancy, too. So you'll just have to get used to this, I guess."

That gets him a soft laugh and another kiss before Steve turns on his side. Jonathan wraps his arm around him, pulling Steve back firmly into his chest. He smiles, pressing one last quick kiss to the back of Steve's neck before relaxing into the pillow and the warm line of Steve's body against his own.

It doesn't take very long at all for them to fall asleep.

Nancy can't remember the last time any of them played a board game. When Steve first mentioned it, she thought he was joking. Or worse, that Mike was playing a prank on her boyfriend. They get along fine now, but she wouldn't put it past her brother to mess with him.

Here they are, though. All the kids have come over, El looking especially excited. For all Nancy knows, this is the first time she's played a board game. It seems like something that would have been put on the back burner while none of them knew she was still alive. And after, Hopper hardly let her out of the house.

She understands the reason he had to do that, but she's also happy to start seeing more of EL now. For Mike's sake, but also because she can't imagine being stuck in one place like that for so long. She knows she couldn't handle it, herself. And if anyone deserves the chance to be a kid for a while, it's El. Some freedom and fun will be good for her.

With El here, she thinks she understands why she was invited along. They obviously want Steve to be part of their game night, but none of their games accommodate more than six players. They've had to form teams: Mike and El, Will and Dustin, Lucas and Max, her and Steve.

She leans into Steve's side with a smile. He turns and presses a kiss to her forehead, looking happy and relaxed and in his element. The kids can get to be too much for her sometimes. A lot of the time, really. But Steve always seems more himself around them than he'd ever been with any of his old friends. She doesn't really get it, she's glad he's still so close with Dustin and the rest of them.

Even though she honestly has no idea how this is going to work out by the end, she's happy to be his plus one when it puts that smile on his face.

"Help me grab the snacks?" Nancy says, looking up from where her chin is resting on Steve's shoulder.

Steve laughs at her pout, a little quieter than usual. He hugs her closer to his side, rubbing his hand up and down on her arm.

"Sure," he says with one last squeeze before he lets her go. She follows him when he pushes back from the table and stands.

"Be right back," Nancy tells them as she gets up.

The kids wave them off, already discussing what they should try next, though Dustin does shoot her a bright grin and a thumbs up. She returns the thumbs up before she heads out of the basement.

Steve is waiting for her at the top of the stairs. He smiles down at her when she wraps her arms behind him but now that they're in the bright house, he can't hide the way he's squinting. He's been doing it for the last round of their game, along with rubbing at a spot just above his eye. It didn't stop him from being just as involved in getting their pieces to home base, but she can't help but worry anyway.

Jonathan told her what to look out for after that weekend he and Steve had together and she's glad he did. She can't say with any kind of certainty that she would have noticed Steve acting different than usual. Even thinking that annoys her, but she knows herself enough to know that while she's great with putting pieces together, she's not always the best at picking up on things like this with the people around her.

"Are we thinking popcorn or..?" he asks, still hugging her close but starting to back into the kitchen.

"Actually," she says, tightening her grip just a bit and halting their movement. She raises one of her arms and runs her fingers across his forehead and back through his hair.

He closes his eyes and makes a little sound, a quiet groan that she's sure he didn't expect to make given how he goes a little tense.

"Actually," she continues, "You're going to go upstairs and I'll meet you up there after I've gotten the kids their snacks. Sound good?"

He opens his eyes and grins down at her.

"Oh really?" he says with a ridiculous waggle of his eyebrows.

She rolls her eyes but nods.

"So?"

"Sounds good, sounds better than good," he says, bending down and kissing her.

She's smiling when she pulls back and pushes him playfully towards the stairs.

Nancy eases her way in the door as quietly as she can. At first glance, Steve looks relaxed. He's stretched out over the covers, arms pillowed behind his head. It's his forehead that gives him away. Even with his eyes closed, his forehead is scrunched up like it's too bright.

She closes the door softly behind her, and when he doesn't seem to notice, crosses the room to shut the drapes.

"Nance?"

Steve sounds tired, voice just this side of raspy like he was halfway asleep. He pushes up onto his elbows, hair a little wilder from lying on it.

"Hey," she says, closing the distance between her and the bed. Before bending down to meet him she closes the drapes behind her bed, too. There's enough light coming through them that she can still join him on her bed without jabbing him with a knee or elbow.

"Hey," she can hear the smile in his voice and lets him pull her on top of him.

His hands are warm where he spreads them over her back, encouraging her to relax the rest of the way against him. She lets herself lie there a moment. His chest makes a good pillow and it's easy to melt into him. It's nice, having moments like this.

"Are you feeling better?" she asks softly a few minutes later.

His fingers, which had been scratching lightly across her back, still.

"What do you mean?"

Nancy carefully lifts herself up and off of him. She sits beside him, leaning into his hip, legs curled under her. He moves to follow her up but she rests her hand on his chest and he settles back.

Smiling down at him, she takes her hand off his chest, rubbing her fingertips across his head. His eyes close at her touch. With a heaving sigh, he relaxes further into the mattress.

"How did you know?" he asks, sounding defeated and Nancy hates to hear him like that. It bothers her, has always bothered her, how much he tries to act like nothing is wrong when something is. She doesn't understand the urge, even though she thinks she's starting to understand the why.

After her talk with Jonathan, she agreed to try and keep him and Steve's parents apart for as long as they could manage. Not a difficult thing to do, considering how little they're around. Thinking about it too hard is enough to get her blood boiling.

Problems for another day.

For now, she focuses on the way Steve leans into her hand when she cups his cheek. He cracks his eyes just barely open.

"Jonathan told me what to watch out for," she admits, rubbing her thumb under his eye.

He sighs, but starts to smile.

"Figures," he says, opening his eyes the rest of the way. He doesn't sound upset. If anything, he sounds fond, maybe a little exasperated. How he sounds when one of the kids does something particularly silly that he doesn't understand.

"We care about you, you know," she says quietly.

He places his hand on top of hers and turns his head to kiss the meat of her palm.

"I know."

"Good," she nods, leaning down and kissing his forehead, then his cheek, then his mouth. She lingers there for a minute, enjoying the familiar, comfortable response. She doesn't think she'll ever get tired of quiet moments with her boys. Hopefully the next one will be without any sort of headache causing it.

When she pulls back, he's still smiling but he's squinting even against the dim light of the room.

"What can I do to help?"

He turns onto his side, holding her hand between both of his. She gives him a minute, lets him figure out how to articulate what he's thinking. It takes time, when he's still not sure if he should ask for what he wants, let alone needs. But she knows he's getting better at it because it doesn't take quite as long as she expected to wait.

"Some pain killers would be good. I've got some in my car if you don't--"

"We've got some here, too," she says, squeezing his hand. "Anything else?"

"Lay with me?"

She smiles. He breaks out his puppy dog eyes but they're never necessary to make her want to stretch out beside either of her boys.

"Of course."

Steve feels it coming on slowly. Given he hasn't eaten yet this morning, he figures it's just a normal headache. Since he's going to the diner with Nancy and Jonathan for breakfast, he's not too worried. He grabs a couple tylenol from his glove compartment and puts them in his pocket so he can take them after he's gotten some food in his stomach.

"Hey," he says when he gets to the booth Jonathan and Nancy have claimed as theirs. He bumps his fist into Jonathan's arm, the only contact he can safely get away with in public. It sucks that they have to be so careful, but until they're somewhere that no one knows them, he doesn't want to risk much more than that or the occasional hand on his shoulder.

The smile he receives back is enough for now, though. They'll get the chance for more later.

Nancy reaches out and squeezes his hand after he slides into the seat across from her. He rests his right foot between both of theirs. They both shift, pressing their legs to his even as Nancy lets go of him.

"Morning," she says, picking up her menu.

She barely glances at it. He's not even sure why she bothers to look at all. Even he has most of the menu memorized, and, unlike him, Nancy always gets the same thing.

Jonathan leans back, putting a bit more pressure against Steve's leg and resting his arm on the booth behind Nancy. She looks away from Steve to flash their boyfriend one of her blinding smiles. It takes effort not to rest his chin in his hand and sigh. He has long resigned himself to the fact that he's a romantic and enjoys moments like this, even when he can't join in. He manages to hold back the urge and just smiles instead.

"So movie or bowling?" Jonathan asks. His thumb is tracing little circles over Nancy's shoulder. She leans into it just like Steve does when Jonathan puts his arm across his shoulders.

She gives a little shrug.

"What do you think?" she asks, looking at Steve.

He hums, leaning his forearms on the table. Honestly, he'd be happy with either option, or both. Or neither. So long as they're spending that time together.

"Bowling could be fun," he says with a shrug of his own. "Then we can actually talk without pissing people off."

"I don't know, you might find a way," Jonathan says, kicking his foot.

"Yeah well fuck you, too," Steve says laughing.

Nancy shushes him, looking around the diner for anyone he might have offended. He can't take her too seriously. Not with the way she's holding back a smile, shoulders curling in a little like that will help keep in her laughter.

"You're just proving my point," Jonathan says with a shake of his head.

Steve sticks out his tongue and of course that's when their waitress finally comes over. Thank God he doesn't blush, he's sure his face would be bright red right now if he did.

"Shut up," he hisses at Jonathan, but he and Nancy just laugh and Steve can't help but join in.

At first, he thinks the tylenol is going to knock the headache right out. He gets a couple of bites into his waffles and it feels like it's starting to ease off. Neither of them say anything about it, though he's not sure they even noticed him take it after Steve actually made Jonathan laugh out loud. Not a quiet one like earlier, but a full belly laugh that has him almost bent over the table.

It's practically impossible to look at anything else when that happens.

His head feels better the more he eats and he's sure he was right about needing to eat for it to go away. But as they sit there, letting the food settle, the morning light coming through the windows becomes particularly harsh. The fluorescents of the diner aren't any better.

"What do you think?" Nancy asks him.

Steve blinks, trying to remember what they'd been talking about. "What?"

Jonathan nudges his foot. He looks relaxed, leaning back in his seat. Nancy is pressed even closer into his side now that they're finished eating. She rolls her eyes, shoving at Jonathan's chest. "Tell him there's no way he's that much better than me."

Right, they're back to the bowling talk. He snorts and has to hold back a wince at the little stab of pain just above his eye. "Sorry, Nance. I think Mike could beat you at bowling and I'm pretty sure he's never even held a bowling ball."

Nancy draws herself up, color rising in her cheeks. She's always beautiful, but there's something about seeing her fired up that he finds especially attractive.

"We'll see about that," she says, pushing Jonathan to move out of the booth. "I'm going to beat both of you and next time we'll bring the kids. There's no way Mike beats me at bowling."

Steve follows them up, beating them to the register.

"I've got this," he says when Jonathan comes up beside him. His boyfriend huffs, but there's nothing he can do about it since Steve grabbed the bill before anyone else.

"Fine," he says, "Meet you outside?"

"Yeah."

Nancy rubs his arm, then her and Jonathan walk out arm in arm. A couple minutes, and a decent tip, later he joins them in front of Jonathan's car.

"Do we want to drop one of the cars off?" Nancy asks.

"Actually," Steve starts, drawing the word out a little. He shoves his hands in his jacket pockets. Sighing, his shoulders droop and he looks at the ground.

"Actually, I think I need a rain check on the whole. Bowling thing."

He looks up in time to see the glance they exchange. Nancy lets go of Jonathan's arm and wraps around one of Steve's.

"We can go bowling whenever. Did you want to go to the movie instead?"

Steve shakes his head, then decides he's not going to be doing that again the rest of the day.

"No, I," he sighs again. "I'm pretty sure I've got a migraine starting."

Nancy squeezes his arm and Jonathan makes an aborted move forward before presumably remembering they're standing in the open. He shoves his hands into his pockets instead.

"We should probably go to your house."

Steve tilts his head, not sure what Jonathan means.

"Mom and Will are home today and I'm not sure if he's having any of his friends over. It probably won't be very quiet there."

"Yeah and my parents are home so we wouldn't get any peace at my house either."

"Nance, you wanna ride back with him?" Jonathan asks, pulling his keys out of his pocket.

"Sounds good," she says, leaning forward to meet Jonathan halfway for a kiss without letting go of Steve's arm.

"Need me to pick anything up?" Jonathan asks when he pulls back. He's standing close, not moving far away. Steve sways forward, but stops himself before he does something crazy like kiss him, too.

"No," he says eventually. "No, all I need is you two."

"Sap," Nancy laughs, digging her chin lightly into his arm.

"You love me."

"Yeah," she sighs quietly. "I do."

He knows Jonathan can't say it back, even without anyone else in earshot. But he kicks his foot at Steve's and it's enough for now.

Nancy starts to pull him towards his car, but Jonathan stops them with a hand on Steve's arm.

"Hey, I'm glad you told us."

Steve swallows. When he turns to Nancy, she's nodding and there's a small, proud smile on her face.

He's so lucky to have these two. He doesn't know what he's done to deserve them. They're everything he could need or want and suddenly he knows he's always going to tell them when he needs them. He would want them to do the same for him, and he knows without a doubt that they'll believe him and won't hold it against him even when it means they have to cancel their plans.

"Always."

It's a promise.