Hello to those who decide to give this a try!
I got into the fandom a few weeks back, and finally took it upon myself to contribute and write a story. It's Steve-central, focusing on the relationship between Nancy and Jonathan through Steve's eyes, because I really love their relationship and because if they liked each other, Steve would definitely notice something was up.
Hope you guys enjoy!
Do you think she likes him?
...
"-she kissed Jonathan, and he had a stupid look on his face the whole way home!"
Steve quirked an eyebrow as the four kids giggled amongst themselves, huddled inside their fort. He perked up with interest at Will's words, suddenly waking up from his daydream. Maybe he would get something good out of being forced to watch over them while Nancy went to the store to get them refreshments for the sleepover.
"Even mom noticed," added Will. "I'm sure he likes her."
Was Jonathan, the broody social outcast, finally interested in a girl? Who might have -no pun intended-captured the photographer's attention?
"Why are we talking about this shit?" groaned Lucas, obviously uninterested in the whole matter, and Steve found himself wondering if he used to swear as much as those four when he was younger. "We should finish planning the campaign, it's coming up very soon!"
"We've been doing that for hours," whined Dustin, lying on his back. "It's good to take a break from time to time."
"Do we have to talk about his brother's love life?" continued Lucas, pointing at Will with an accusatory finger. "I don't want to talk about some girl!"
"It's not any girl, it's the girl I used to like!" proudly exclaimed Dustin.
Steve smirked in amusement at the toothless boy, closing his eyes to lay back on the sofa. How old was this girl?
"Do you think she likes him?" he added.
"Guys, we're talking about my sister here."
His eyes opened in shock, and he whipped his head to stare at them. Why were they talking about his girlfriend and saying that she liked Jonathan of all people?
"She's with Steve," continued Mike, blissfully unaware of the fact that the said boy was sitting in a corner of the basement, eavesdropping on them, "and I already asked her if she liked him. She told me herself that they were just friends."
"But she kissed him! Haven't you heard what Will said?" exclaimed Dustin. "I'm open to the idea. I like Jonathan, and I am willing to let him have the girl of my dreams."
"You never had a chance anyway," taunted Lucas haughtily.
"It was just a kiss on the cheek," added Will between two coughs, smiling softly. "I know that he likes her, but I'm not sure if she feels the same way."
Steve glared down at his hands, taken by surprise at the direction the conversation took. Nancy was pretty, and she was a really nice girl who gave Jonathan a chance when no one else would. It wouldn't be surprising if he ended up liking her, but to say that she liked him back would be reaching too far.
He knew for a fact that they were -somewhat- friends. They occasionally hung out when Jonathan wasn't being too distant and broody, sometimes with Steve as well, but he never noticed anything that pointed out to either one of them liking the other.
It was also without saying that if Nancy really liked Jonathan, she wouldn't be dating him.
Steve quickly shrugged the invasive thoughts off, and laid back on the sofa, waiting for Nancy to come back home.
Children these days, they really had wild imaginations.
…
The thing that baffled Steve the most when it came to Nancy is that she had changed, really changed.
He could see it, even with her attempts at appearing normal.
He suspected that that's what fighting off monsters from another universe did to you, but it was also more than just that, more than the monster.
Her attitude concerning life as a whole had changed. Her grades dropped -not by much, she still had an almost perfect GPA-, she talked less, and he sometimes found her staring into nothingness.
He asked her once, why she was staring at nothing, and in her rare moment of complete and bare vulnerability, her only answer was "is there really a nothing anymore?"
He didn't know if he had the capacity to understand her anymore.
…
Nancy also smiled less, and the few smiles she gave him seemed fake, almost forced.
So it was to his utter surprise when he started noticing that the rare genuine smiles were either directed to her brother, or to Jonathan.
At the beginning, when they would cross paths with him in the school hallways, a small smile would light up her face, and she would greet him cheerfully. For those few seconds, she would give him her undivided attention, and for a popular jock, Steve never felt as transparent as when he's in Jonathan's vicinity.
The other boy never stayed long, too shy for small talk, and surrounded by the other teenagers who had bullied him for years. He would only return her smile and ask her how she was doing, before briskly walking away after briefly greeting Steve.
Nancy would watch him go with a frown until he disappeared, her gaze never faltering, and her fingers twitching against her books, as if she were trying to stop herself from reaching to him.
The children's words kept chanting through his mind.
Do you think she likes him?
…
The more Nancy hung out with Jonathan -his name left a bad taste in his mouth-, the less she paid attention to him.
Before the whole monster ordeal, she would almost throw herself at him. Now, he was lucky if she even spared him a second glance or gave him a call.
"You haven't called me in a long time," he noted one day while sitting next to her in the cafeteria.
She stared at him as if he were being unreasonable, "I don't like talking on the phone much, you know that."
A lie.
"You can always give me a call if you need anything, or just to talk," he insisted.
She nodded, her expression softening for a split second, as if she were acknowledging the fact that he was trying, and promptly turned back to her sandwich.
A few days later, he gave her a surprise visit to cheer her up.
Karen told him to wait for her because she was talking on the phone with Jonathan.
…
"You're always hanging out with him," he stated one day out of the blue, during one of their study sessions. Expect they were really studying this time, much to his dismay.
"With whom?"
"Jonathan."
She stopped writing for a second, and looked at him quizzically. "He's my friend, and he's finally started to open up to me."
"But I'm your boyfriend," he insisted, "I should be your priority."
He slightly winced at how arrogant that came out.
She stared at him in silence for a few moments, before sighing deeply, her hand reaching for her face to rub her temple. "Just because we're dating doesn't mean that I have to spend all my time with you. I want to talk to my other friends too, and there are…things that I'd rather talk to him about."
Steve shivered in fear, remembering the grotesque creature they came across in the Byers' household. "You can talk to me as well."
She looked down at her lap, toying with her pencil, before going back to writing. "Yeah, but Jonathan understands."
…
When Nancy stopped being intimate with him in favour of venturing into the woods to help Jonathan build his portfolio (it's for his college application, don't be unreasonable, she would tell him), he finally started to accept that she wasn't into him anymore.
She smiled a lot more, and she wasn't always on edge like she used to be. Steve would like to think that he helped, but deep down, he knew that it wasn't him.
"You can come too, if you want," said Jonathan, staring at him through his bangs.
He considered it for a moment. It would be a good reason to keep an eye on them, to see if his girlfriend was hooking up with the other guy. But it's Nancy Wheeler, miss-almost-perfect-GPA. She would never do that. You're just jealous.
"I'm good. The woods are too creepy for me anyway," Steve laughed, leaning against the locker. "It's no place for a cool guy, unless it's to hide and make-out," he wiggled his eyebrows at his girlfriend.
She stared at him blankly, before shrugging. "Suit yourself."
Disappointed, Steve stood up straight to accept the kiss she always gave him before she left, but this time, she simply grabbed Jonathan's sleeve and dragged him, chatting animatedly on her way out.
Steve could see the adoring look on Jonathan's face from a mile away, and he almost regretted not accompanying them.
The treacherous voice spoke to him again, mocking him, and it strangely sounded like Nancy herself.
Do you think she likes him?
…
"I think we should break up," he said, stopping his car on the side of the road after a date at the movies.
She looked at him, startled by his words, and opened her mouth to protest.
"Why?"
He looked away, wondering fro a split second if it was really what he wanted, but it wasn't about him anymore. "I think we both know why."
She frowned, staring up at him with her big doe eyes and a hint of blissful ignorance, and he felt his resolve falter. He refused to give in, preferring to stare right back at her, his grip on the wheel tightening.
"Do you…not like me anymore?" she tentatively asked.
"No that's not it," he denied vehemently. "It's you."
She looked offended for a moment, and he feared that she might lash out on him and jump out of the car. Or worse, kick him out of his own car.
"I'm the problem?" she exclaimed.
Shitshitshit. "No, that's not what I meant! It's you, you're the one who doesn't like me anymore."
She pursed her lips, glaring angrily at him. "Oh, so you know how I feel now? You're willing to break off a year's relationship because you assumed that I didn't like you anymore?"
He groaned, suddenly too tired for this conversation and wondering why he decided to confront her in the middle of the night. "Nancy, we haven't had sex in three months."
"Relationships are not just about sex!" she exploded, her hands flying aimlessly around her. "Is that all you care about? Barb was right-"
It was suddenly all too silent in the car, and Steve swallowed the guilt eating at him as Nancy's eyes filled up with tears at the mention of her long gone best-friend.
"Look," he sighed, trying to diverge the conversation, "you're obviously not very happy with me, we've been drifting apart since that day at the Byers'. It's-it's better, for both of us. You need someone who understands you better."
Like Jonathan, but he didn't say it out loud.
She looked down, discreetly wiping the moisture from her eyes, and nodded slowly. "Okay."
They drove to Nancy's house in complete silence. When he parked in the driveway, he gave her a small smile.
"We can still be friends?" he offered. "You won't get rid of me so easily," he half-joked.
"Of course," she smiled back, looking at him through the passenger side's window, and just like that, all the tension was diffused. "You know, I've always thought that I would be the one to break up with you."
"Oh?" he asked, an eyebrow raised. "Sorry to disappoint you."
"I'll see you at school," she waved him off, walking away.
He crawled on the passenger's seat, and struck his head out of the window. "You better call Byers, he'd be happy to hear that you're single again!"
She turned around, glaring at him with a noticeable blush, something he hadn't seen in a very long time. "Screw you!"
Steve could see the big smile lighting up her face at the mention of Jonathan's name, and couldn't stop the disappointment from settling in. Somehow, he half-hoped that she would come running back and tell him that he had it all wrong, that she still wanted to be with him, that she didn't like Jonathan, but the rosy hue on her cheeks told him otherwise.
Instead, he tried to convince himself that it was for the best, even though he would miss her terribly.
"What am I talking about," he muttered to himself, driving away, "it's not like I'm never going to see her again."
Do you think she likes him?
Yeah, she did.