Yo, Jonathon Byers fans! Me and my sister (MistressYin) both decided to attempt a one-word writing prompt for our favorite characters in Stranger Things, who we found don't have many fanfiction stories written about them out there. I hope you enjoy this series, my goal here is to update one new one-shot to it every day for the entire month, so we'll see how it goes...
The word of the day is...Heartbeat!
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It started when he was relatively young…
Jonathon was seven when he took his first pictures on his camera and from that point on, he knew he loved photography.
Most would think those first pictures would have been shitty and blurry because he was so young, but even then, he understood how special it was that he was even given the chance to take them himself. He understood how precious the small piece of machinery between his tiny hands was.
It was the Fourth of July and his older cousin had brought his camera all the way to their house from the farm he lived on hours away. His cousin, Kev, as he went by, boasted about getting the bulky camera for his birthday and he was going to photograph the fireworks their fathers were to be setting off that night.
Kev was terrible with the camera. Jonathon didn't think it was his fault, he was too excitable and jumped around a lot with it in his hands. He touched it while he had sticky food on his hands and didn't really care much when the pictures actually did, miraculously turn out okay.
His cousin was bossy and loud, years of working on a farm and never being watched made him pretty outgoing and boisterous, but he did let Jonathon play with his camera when he'd lost interest in trying to take a pictures of random objects, and failing multiple times, wasting an amazing amount of film in the process. Jonathon had to bite his knuckles to keep from trying to lecture Kev on the how to properly treat his things.
But he kept quiet. He liked to be on Kev's good side, his cousin was twelve and when he fought with him, it made his mom and dad fight because Kev was his dad's brother's kid.
Jonathon had never seen anything like the camera before. His family didn't own anything quite as fancy or new looking.
He's sure Kev wouldn't usually have anything that nice either, but from what his father said, the farm was doing rather well, flourishing, Jonathon thinks he remembers the word his father used. He knew his dad was hoping to butter up his brother and get some of the cash. Jonathon didn't quite understand why they couldn't just ask for more money, he was his brother after all, but his father seemed very adamant on his plan, so Jonathon acted on his best behavior. He didn't even cry when Kev knocked him into a pile of chopped wood that crushed his fingers and gave him splinters.
So when Kev had used up the little amount of patience he had and tossed the camera onto their table, grumbling about stupid machines and late reactions on the flashes, Jonathon took his chance.
He slid quietly to the table, almost like a whispering ghost, and softly tapped Kev on the shoulder.
"Um…Kev?" He mumbled while twisting his fingers together.
Kev turned around with an irritated look on his face, and Jonathon knew he needed to act quick.
"W-well," he took a breath and steeled himself, he knew how to deal with Kev, "I was wondering if it would be okay for me to use your camera, just to try it out?"
Kev looked at him surprised for a moment, but then smirked.
"And what's in it for me, Johnny?"
Jonathon grimaced, he hated when people called him Johnny. His dad called him Johnny. He felt a little bit of anger spike him. Why couldn't Kev just be nice?
"I promise I'll be careful….and…" he floundered for a moment on what he could give up that would be good enough for Kev, "And I'll give you my whole pop at dinner!" It was a big sacrifice, but one he was willing to make.
Kev sneered, "Really? That's the best you got? I forgot you losers were dirt poor!" He laughed smarmily, "No, I can get a pop whenever I want."
Jonathon frowned when Kev turned away and began to walk away.
"Wait!" He said as loudly as he dared, his voice was soft even as a young boy, Jonathon pursed his lips to one side, "I take really good pictures?" He had no idea if he would take good pictures or not, but fuck, Kev was stopped in his tracks and actually listening, so he was going to go with it. "You can have all the credit for taking them and you can show your friends and stuff?"
Kev turned around, and Jonathon licked his lips nervously.
"I'm going to let you get away with suggesting my pictures are less than satisfying just this once." He growled, but looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Okay, squirt." He moved closer conspiratorially, "I don't know about you, but I told all my friends back home that I would have some killer proof of the explosions that are going to go off tonight, and I don't want them to think I was making the whole thing up."
Jonathon was shell shocked that his plan had worked, but composed his facial expression and suppressed the happiness he felt welling within him.
Kev picked up the camera from the table and threw it from hand to hand.
"Mmm…okay, we got a deal…." He stopped and then a thin and satisfied smile crept up his face, "but, before I can give it to ya, you got to say pretty please, my cousin who is better than me."
Jonathon went rigid. He didn't want to admit that out loud. He heard it from his father enough to believe it. He didn't need his own voice turning against him too. But…that camera…he sighed and internally groaned, "Fine. Will you pretty please let me use your camera my cousin who better than me."
"Mph, naw, I change my mind."
Jonathon instantly felt tears well up behind his eyelids and his heart sank terribly low into his stomach. He'd done everything Kev wanted, asked politely and even kept the annoyance from his voice.
Loud and obnoxious laughter met his ears and he quickly looked up to see Kev grinning like Christmas had come early.
"Ah, you are such a baby. I was just kidding you little twerp. Here, take it."
He threw the camera up in the air with one lofty hand and Jonathon gasped and lunged for the piece of machinery.
He barely got his fingers around it and it slipped out of his hand once, only for him to grip it tight again between his tiny yet nimble fingers.
Jonathon's heartbeat in his ears and it was too loud for him to think, but if he could bypass the fear rising inside him, he felt a small amount of triumph and excitement.
Then a big hand snatched at his shoulder and clasp it painfully tight.
No, no no no no, I'm sorry-
He looked up and Kev was right in his face, his breath blowing periodically into his mouth and heating it uncomfortably. Every pant from the older boy smelled like the fried fish they had for lunch and maybe something else but Jonathon didn't know what. He only knew he wanted to get away.
He leaned back as far as he could with the hand still on his shoulder.
"What do you want?" He asked, and tried to scowl menacingly when he realized the fear that was inching its way into his being.
"These better be shitting good pictures, Johnny." Kev snarled, then pushed him away roughly, his back ramming into the corner of the table.
Jonathon groaned in pain, but held his lips tightly shut when he heard the pitiful noise he let escape his mouth.
Kev barked a laugh and sauntered away.
Later that night, when the sky turned a deep indigo and his parents sat up chairs to watch the fireworks, Jonathon was almost sure that he would be able to pull off the pictures of the fireworks.
He'd practiced all throughout the day, while keeping in mind the fact that he should conserve the film. He didn't want to think about what Kev would do if he didn't have enough film to take pictures of the fireworks.
Worrying aside, it turned out he loved taking pictures! When he picked up the camera, his fast beating fast from anticipation and nerves, but as he started taking pictures, he forgot to be afraid and was too distracted to feel anything besides great focus on what he was photographing. Something inside of him just calmed when he held the camera in his hands. He thought he was pretty good at taking pictures too, very satisfied within himself on the quality of pictures he'd taken so far. He'd only had Will, his little brother as a model as of yet, but Will moved and squirmed so much, Jonathon thought it was impressive that he'd managed any not blurry pictures at all.
Will was almost four and man, did he love the spotlight. He giggled when Jonathon spun around his little body trying to find a good angle for the pictures. That's where he spent most of the day, his mom was busy making a big dinner with the food the extended family had brought, and so he spent his time keeping Will from entering the kitchen and bothering her.
She didn't need any more distractions, and if Jonathon was honest, he would much rather spend his time with his little brother than Kev, no matter how cool everyone thought his cousin was.
Jonathon felt anxiety grow in his stomach as he sat down on the grass to watch the fireworks, but he clutched the camera in his hands and fiddled with wrap, and soon felt a little better. He left the few seats they had, open for the adults that may choose to sit down.
For the next half hour, he spent his time working intensely on trying to capture the exact moment the fireworks went off on camera. It was difficult because Jonathon always loved fireworks and was mesmerized by how they worked, so he kept getting distracted.
Taking the photos of the fireworks was a tiresome job because Kev had been right, the camera had an indefinite late reaction. Every time he thought he had got it right, he would shake it and it would come out as if he took the pictures three seconds later than when he'd clicked the button.
Eventually, he learned how to time it right and caught at least seven of the fireworks exactly as they went off!
After that, he set down his camera and watched the rest of them go off in peace.
The colors were beautiful. Will really hated the loud sounds the fireworks made and cried when they first went off though. When Jonathon had taken him into his lap and acted like he loved the fireworks, Will became a lot less afraid. He was still a little fussy when an especially loud one went off, but he was better than before.
Jonathon sat Will beside him, and they both kneeled in the grass.
He made quiet explosion sounds with his mouth trying to predict when they would go off, and Will giggled every time, trying to make the sounds as well, but failing miserably with the lisp he was acquiring as his back teeth came in.
His dad and his dad's brother laughed chaotically as they set of explosion after explosion.
They'd long since ran out of real fireworks and now were creating makeshift ones from their extra gun powder and lighters. Jonathon knew this couldn't be safe, but he didn't say anything, instead pulling his brother closer as if that would make him less of a possible target. Will adored the attention and nuzzled into his brother's side.
Jonathon wasn't sure why his dad acted this insanely happy way sometimes, but he didn't think he liked it. It was a weird kind of happy. It made him do really crazy things, and they were usually dangerous. He noticed that when his dad was like this he also really wanted to be very close to his mom.
Jonathon knew something was going to go wrong soon. Something always went wrong when his dad was being reckless.
A giant explosion went off sideways and shot towards the place where they were all sitting, Jonathon wasn't even surprised.
He grasped for Will, it was his knee jerk reaction to bad situations and threw him away from the fire zone.
Kev yelled and lunged out the way, like a smart person, the negative side of Jonathon's brain supplied.
Jonathon scrunched his eyes up as the thing blasted at him, but after a moment of tense shrieks and frenzied laughter from his father, he finally had enough of his bearings to wrench his eyes open.
What he saw had his stomach coiling in warmth. His mom's worry lined face was crouched around him in protection. Her eyes were clinched shut just like his had been. He took a breath and tried to calm himself, it was just a false alarm. He could now see that the explosion had shot just to the right of them, missing him and his mom by mere feet. He could hear his mom's fearful breaths as she slowly opened her eyes in realization on what had occurred.
Her heartbeat was erratic, pumping right next to his ear, his was much the same. He liked finding similarities between him and his mom. He even imagined their hearts were just about beating at the same time. It was comforting.
She frantically asked if both her sons were okay, and Jonathon nodded for them both because Will was tearful, but it was from fear before anything else.
Just as quickly as the warmth flooded him from his mother's fierce protection, it had left.
She shot up like flames licking gasoline. It wasn't unusual for Jonathon to see his mom so angry. He wasn't even scared of this anger at the moment, at least not for himself; sometimes he was scared for her when she was this angry though.
She stormed over to their father and then it was blur of freeze frame pictures, much like the photos he took.
A lot of yelling happened that night, a lot of things broke. His father lost that insanely happy look when he was confronted and prevented from doing exactly what he wanted when he wanted. He remembered a picture in his head of a glass broken across the grass. Another picture of bleeding fingers as the glass slipped through his hands as he worked to pick it up, he couldn't have Will walking through their yard and getting cut up by shards of glass. What kind of brother would he be if he let that happen.
He watched the entire scene with a head bent low, trying to make himself productive by comforting Will, and cleaning what he could.
While he remembers exactly what happened, he can only imagine it in forms of photographs. Scene by scene as many pictures, but frozen in great detail.
Jonathon's uncle rolled his eyes at all the fighting and muttered about how the fun ending too soon and Joyce being a stick in the mud. These mocking words only made his own father all the angrier. His uncle took his son by the hand and took him for a drive until his hot headed brother and his crazy ass wife calmed down a bit.
Jonathon knew that only meant they would be gone until tomorrow morning in some vacant hotel, but would return looking for breakfast, acting as if nothing had happened.
Afterwards, it was all deathly silent besides Will's whimpers that Jonathon was trying to quiet.
He remembers his father's beyond irritated face, but it had been hours of fighting since the incident with the explosion and he didn't have the energy to start another argument over Will, his disgrace of a son. He'd stormed away, probably to go get a smoke in the car like he did whenever he wanted to calm himself.
Will was on his mom's lap, playing with her hair a couple more hours later. He'd long since been comforted by his mother's sweet voice and cuddles, something his father didn't think they deserved and his mom ignored full heartedly.
She began playing a game with Will now, and Jonathon sat by, watching. Observing.
He'd found Kev's camera on the ground where he'd left it and was again taking pictures of Will, but this time with his mom too.
Will was standing in front of his kneeling mom and she would point to a feature on her face and he'd say back what it was.
She pointed to her eyes.
"EYES!" He squealed and she laughed happily.
Snap. Jonathon took a picture. It was blurry.
She pointed to her ears.
"Mama's ears!" He said loudly. She responded with a soft, "That's right baby, that's my ears!"
Snap. Another photo gone by.
She pointed to her mouth, "What's this baby?"
Will laughed like it was the funniest thing ever said, "It's Mama's mouth!" He pointed to her mouth himself, and she chopped down softly as if she was going to eat his fingers. He shrieked loudly with laughter. She'd already done that trick twelve times but it seemed to make him laugh every time and Jonathon couldn't help staring in wonderment at the moment the two shared. It was as close to perfect as he had ever seen, and Jonathon was determined to get the perfect picture of Will's laughter and his mom's sweet and adoring smile this time around. He wanted to remember this.
Snap.
He shook it out softly at his side, not wanting to interrupt the moment the two were having.
Once the picture faded into existence, he eagerly looked to see if it was good.
He titled his head at it in a very doggish way.
It was good picture. It was good… except for the fact that the lighting was completely terrible. Everything was too dark and you couldn't exactly see his mom's face and he didn't think it did justice for both Will's and his mom's pretty squinted eyed smiles.
As he looked really close, he was happy to see that it did catch on his mom and brother's identical wide mouths when they smiled. Jonathon's smile was never as pretty or straight as his mom's.
His was all crooked and small, morphing his face in a weird way and his eyes were too wide when he smiled, made him look kind of insane.
Will's looked just like his mom's though. Right down to the wrinkles at the corners of their eyes.
It was beautiful.
The picture was beautiful because they were in it.
He stuffed it into his pocket where he would keep it and put up in his room.
He didn't know when he would get the chance to take another picture again, so he kept that photo, knowing he would give the rest to Kev to do what he wanted with, possibly burn. This one was special though, he'd risk getting caught with the picture before he consciously gave it up. He sat down his camera and watched happily as the game continued.
Years later and he had a brand new camera from Nancy Wheeler, his brother's best friend's older sister, which he has no idea how she acquired such a nice camera or why she had even spent the time to get it for him and yet he still has that picture in his room.
But the difference is now he has a whole lot of pictures hung up on the walls. All over the one side in a shrine kind of way.
Pictures of Will's little friends playing Dungeon and Dragons merged into pictures of the forest they live practically within. The golds and reds of the fall trees traced patterns in the photos of the snow covered ones that fall right to them. Tons of pictures of animals littered the wall erratically because Jonathon can't help it, he thinks they are adorable. Even some photos of Nancy made it up there too. They were taken when she wasn't looking at school, just a few, but he still felt guilty enough to hide them behind the forested pictures. There are tons of pictures of his mom cooking or otherwise burning food in the kitchen, his mom laughing, his mom at work, but mostly, the wall was taken up by photos of Will.
Real nice close ups that almost look professional, a lot of pictures where Will looks downright adorable smiling where he wasn't aware anyone was photographing him. There are many of him dressed up in funny costumes. One spiel they'd taken together in a photo booth, but Jonathon absolutely hates those pictures and only keeps them because Will seems to hold some kind of emotional attachment to them. Even ones of close ups of Will's eye, or his ear, maybe his fat lip, just because Will wanted to see it in picture form because he thought it was kind of tough looking.
Will liked having his picture taken. He liked it a lot. That is until the… the thing. Jonathon would come up with something to call it, but Will hates talking about it, and every time he brought it up with his mom, she got really nervous and stressed. He didn't want to worry either of them more than they already were, so he didn't talk about it either. So now it's just this memory of a thing that everyone avoids.
Jonathon startles a little when Will appears behind him in his room.
His heart beat quick, but he calms his beating heart quick enough though and smiles crookedly at his brother.
"Hey," He says and flings himself onto his bed, his socked feet sliding nicely on the hard wood, "What's up?"
Will stared at Jonathon for an uncomfortable amount of time, but Jonathon didn't really mind and only grabbed his school bag from beside his bag and started shuffling through it.
After Jonathon had fully gone through and gotten out some English homework he needed to work on, Will finally sat down gently on the side of his bed.
Jonathon kept his eyes on his notebook and where he was writing in wiggly lettering. He knew staring made Will uncomfortable these days, whereas it used to excite him. It made his chest ache with guilt that he hadn't been able to protect his brother from the horror he faced, and in the least suffered with him through it, but instead he had chosen to stand by. Chosen because Jonathon knew there was something he could have done. He should have driven Will home, he should have believed his mom when she told him about the lights the first time, maybe they would have figured out where Will faster, maybe he wouldn't have had to suffer so long, maybe he-
"I was wondering if I could ask you something?" Will's rough voice brought him away from his thoughts.
Jonathon finally looked up from where he had started using incomprehensible writing, and gave Will his full attention.
"Sure, what is it?" Casual and normal, just what Will wanted.
Will twisted his hands together nervously, like he almost felt worried about what he wanted to say. Jonathon needed to fix that, Will was his brother and he could tell him he hated him for all he cared if it made him feel better, if it made him more Will.
"Hey, it's okay. Whatever you want to ask I'll try to answer." He thought that sounded pretty mature and totally not worried.
Will swallowed thickly.
"Does it help?" he squeaked out, but then continued when Jonathon scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, "Sorry, I-I mean, does um, does taking…pictures and stuff, like, help when your upset?" his deep eyes bored into Jonathon searching for an answer.
Jonathon was thoroughly surprised by the question, it was definitely one he hadn't been expecting, but he thought he understood what Will was getting at.
"Uh, yeah. Sometimes. I like taking my camera out when I'm upset or bored. It's um…distracting?" he wasn't sure if that made sense. He'd never really considered it a coping mechanism before, he knew he liked it a lot though.
Will nodded, "So like, it makes you feel good to take pictures, like, it makes your um- uh, bad thoughts go away?" Will asked for clarification.
Jonathon was stopped short on that one. He opened his mouth and then closed it.
Finally, "Yeah, um, kind of." Will didn't look satisfied with that, and before his brother could open his mouth and word the question in a different way, he continued.
"I," he swallowed. Why was his voice so thick? "Well, I mean."
Will cut off his terrible attempt with words. Why were words so hard sometimes, "Jonathon, why do you like taking pictures so much?"
Jonathon sat on that a moment and found that this question was easier to answer.
"Because it gives me something to do with my hands and it gets me moving and seeing new things, which is fun, but I guess, it's like, I don't know….I guess, when I feel bad I can see the pictures and remember the good things, you know? Like, I can pretend they are happening and see them perfectly. They are like my own personal memory boxes that I can open whenever I need them. They don't really bother anybody and I get to choose which ones I want to remember." Once he said it, he knew these things to be true, but before this, he'd never really considered why he liked taking pictures so much. Why he liked looking at them the way he did.
Will nodded looking down, "Oh. That makes sense."
They sat in silence for a good couple of minutes, but it was a peaceful quiet, Jonathon could hear Will's heart beat but it was slower than his fast paced one. Odd, Will's heart was always on a runaway train.
He wished he had his camera in his hands.
"You draw when you aren't feeling great, right?" He already knew this to be a true fact, but sometimes it was nice to talk about stuff like this. Stuff that no one else really cares about, but everyone wish they did. Jonathon did care though, because it was for Will.
Will nodded his head once, and looked up smiling, but it was forced. "Yeah, it's just like that." he seemed happy to have something in common with his brother, but it wasn't enough. He didn't continue talking. Jonathon was sure he thought himself to be a burden to his older brother. Will did that sometimes. He wasn't that great with words either.
When Jonathon wanted to help his mom he just listened to her talk. She liked to have someone there to talk too, be agreeable enough, maybe someone understanding. Jonathon was good at being that person.
But Will was quieter than their mother. He wasn't exactly like Jonathon who thought it impossible to fathom his thoughts into words, much less try and explain them to someone. Jonathon wasn't sure what Will needed, that's what made helping him through this situation so difficult.
But it was obvious words weren't going to be the way through this with his little brother.
Jonathon got up abruptly and shuffled over to his desk and got out a couple scrap papers and pulled down some photos from the walls. Will looked kind of scared, but walked over to his back curiously.
Jonathon bit his lip as he wrote in big bold letters, 'BYERS FAMILY SCRAPBOOK' on a blank piece of paper.
Will's eyes lit up like the sun in understanding as he looked on.
Jonathon stood back up and shifted from foot to foot, unsure how to say that he wanted to help Will, and maybe he needed and project, because that was the kind of thing that helped him. He just needed to have his camera in his hands, and everything was okay for a little while. He needed to find Will's camera. "I was thinking maybe you'd like to help me make a scrapbook for our family."
"Oh, That's a cool idea." Will said thoughtfully, "We could give it to mom for Christmas!" Will exclaimed excitedly.
Jonathon grinned. Will hadn't been very enthusiastic lately, and when he did it seemed fake, like he was doing for his benefit. At the moment though, he looked like he actually liked the idea of working on something with him. He was sure it sounded perfectly distracting. "I think she'd really like that."
It looked like a million thoughts were going through Will's head. Good, getting him creative and thinking about projects was what he needed, at least until he was ready to talk like he used to. Maybe he'd stay like Jonathon and keep his thoughts inside. Jonathon would have to come up with a lot more projects for them if that was the case.
"You can take the pictures of course, and I can draw and write in the book because well- " Will gave a guilty look, "Your handwriting kind of sucks." Jonathon just laughed in his odd way, not at all offended, but rightly feeling challenged.
"Is that right little Byers?" He poked Will in the side so he knew he was just kidding around.
Will crunched in on himself afraid of being tickled, and smirked while sitting down at the desk.
"Yup!" Will popped the P, while he took out a couple more pencils that Jonathon had stashed somewhere in his desk, then Will quickly stood and ran from the room. Jonathon stared after him in shock, afraid he had brought up a bad memory for his younger brother or something as equally bad. His heart quickened a little when Will stuck his head back in a moment later.
"Hey, I will be right back I promise, but I have some good paper in my room and want to get my crayons too!" he scampered off down the hall, but just a moment later Jonathon saw his head peaking back in, "I mean, if it's alright with you to work on now." He seemed worried, but Jonathon just shook his head.
"I want to do it now, don't worry, I think it will be a lot of fun." He said with a voice filled with honesty. It was true, he would love nothing more than to work on a project with his brother, especially when it made him animated like this.
Jonathon could almost see his happy and free from nightmare and flashback side of Will peeking out for the first time in weeks.
When Will returned to his room with arms overflowing with paper, crayons, and tape, he'd known he'd done something right for his brother.
"So, do you think this picture could be on the cover, maybe you could work the title around it?" Jonathon asked quietly, sliding over the photo he had in mind. It was a photo of a young Will standing in front of their mom, laughing wildly as she gnawed on his fingers in a silly game.
Will smirked with the side of his mouth, "I knew you would choose this picture, and it's a 100% yes, I think I can definitely work a title around it! Mom really likes this picture anyway, though she said it makes her face a funny shape."
Will smiled real big and squinted like Jonathon loved, just like Jonathon remembered it. It wasn't fake, or forced and god, did Jonathon wish he had his camera around his neck at that moment.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! You should definitely check out MistressYin's story if you have time!
I would really appreciate if you would leave a comment. I'm needing all the encouragement I can get for this challenge! Anyone who would like to try and participate just tell me, and I'd love to give you our November word prompt list! There can never be enough Fanfiction in our world, so don't be shy!
Thank you again,
Love LadyYang3