"I have something I need to tell you."

Jonathan and Nancy stared at each other for a moment, both surprised by their accidental unison, then Nancy took half a step backwards. "Uh, you can go first."

"You sure?" Jonathan asked, unsure if he would rather go first or not.

Nancy nodded. "I'm sure. Go."

"Uh, okay." Jonathan took a deep breath, then he admitted in a burst, "I didn't actually apply to Emerson."

"You- What?"

"I didn't apply to Emerson," Jonathan repeated. "I- Well, my plan was to go to Lenora Community College, so I could be close to Will and El and my mom, but if we're moving back to Hawkins, then maybe I'll apply to… Purdue, or something. But I can't go all the way to Boston. I need to stick with my family."

Nancy blinked. "But… I thought we wanted to go to college together. I thought that was our dream."

"Dreams don't always come true, Nancy."

Jonathan's dream college had never been Emerson. He'd always wanted to go to NYU. But New York City was no more feasible than Boston, so he'd let that dream go too. His family was the most important.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth?" Nancy asked. "If you really don't want to go Emerson, that's okay, but I wish you'd been honest."

"I was worried I'd lose you," Jonathan admitted. "And I knew we'd have to talk about it eventually, but I thought maybe… the longer I waited, the less it would hurt."

"The less it would hurt you, maybe."

"Nancy…" Jonathan took her hands. "I'm sorry. I love you. I just wanted to push you leaving me as far off as I could."

Nancy looked down at their joined hands, then sighed. "This is going to make what I need to tell you sound really bad."

"What do you need to tell me?"

"I… think I still have feelings for Steve."

Jonathan dropped her hands. "Oh."

"I still love you, though," Nancy added, a bit desperately. "I just… Is it possible to love two people at the same time?"

Jonathan hesitated. "In California," he said slowly, "I knew a guy who had two girlfriends."

"He sounds like a creep," Nancy said promptly.

"No," Jonathan corrected, "cause the girls knew about each other, and they were also dating each other."

Nancy's brow wrinkled. "Like lesbians?"

"Well, kinda, but they were also dating the guy. Just… all three of them were all dating each other. Like a couple, but with three people. And they seemed… happy."

"Are you suggesting that we both date Steve too?" Nancy asked. "Is that even something you're interested in?"

"What, Steve?"

"I meant more… boys. In general."

"I mean, I definitely still like girls," Jonathan said quickly. "And I love you. But… I'm also kinda interested in guys. Argyle said it's called being bisexual."

"And are you interested in Steve?"

Jonathan thought about how stupidly handsome Steve looked when he flipped his stupid hair, when he spun his stupid nail bat, when he drove his stupid car. "Maybe a little."

"Do you think Steve is… bisexual?"

Honestly, Jonathan did, a little bit. He wasn't sure, but there was some vibe he'd noticed, something about the way Steve looked at boys. "Maybe."

"Do you think he'd be interested in…" Nancy gestured vaguely at the two of them. "Whatever we're offering?"

"I think we should at least offer," Jonathan said. "And I think… I think Steve really loves you, Nancy. So I don't know if he'd be interested in dating both of us, but if he wants to date you and you want to date him… we could figure something out." He gestured at Nancy. "You have two hands."

Nancy looked down at her hands, then she laughed. "That's true, I do have two hands. Do you like anyone else? You also have two hands."

Jonathan had made out with Argyle once when they were both high, but that had been almost painfully devoid of romantic feelings. He loved Argyle, of course, but not like that. "Not really."

Nancy hesitated, biting her lip. "Do you think- Steve and Robin both keep insisting they're not dating, and I kinda believe them, but also… Do you think they are dating and they're just pretending not to for some reason?"

"I haven't seen them enough to know," Jonathan said. "But if they both say they're not, then they're probably not. And Steve has two hands too."

"We'd all be so screwed if we ever lost a hand," Nancy joked nervously.

"Yeah, we should avoid that."

"What about the whole college thing?" Nancy asked. "I mean, even if Steve is okay with this whole… two hands thing, that still doesn't fix the college issue."

"Nancy, there's no guarantee we're even going to live long enough to go to college," Jonathan said. "I mean, with everything with Vecna…"

"We'll all make it," Nancy said with a confidence Jonathan knew was at least partially faked. "I can't lose anyone else, Jonathan. We'll all make it."

"I hope so," Jonathan replied. "But either way, we have bigger things to worry about right now than college."

"And talking to Steve is big enough to be worth worrying about?"

"I think so," Jonathan said. "If you love him, and he clearly loves you… We shouldn't waste any time. Just in case."

Nancy looked at Jonathan for a moment, then she nodded. "Okay. Should we go talk to him now?"

"Whenever you're ready," Jonathan said. He'd make himself ready whenever Nancy was. This was her conversation more than his; he could do it whenever she wanted.

"Let's do it now," Nancy said, nodding. "Let's go."

Jonathan grabbed his car keys and nodded. "Let's go."

As Jonathan drove, Nancy thought about how she and Steve and Robin had gone back to the gate after lighting Vecna on fire and found Dustin sitting on the floor of the trailer, Eddie's body in his arms. He'd dragged the body inside, but he hadn't been able to bring it into their world, especially with his injured leg, so he'd just sat there, grieving and waiting. In the end, they'd decided to leave the body where it was. Nancy still wondered if that had been the right decision.

She could still see Dustin, his hands bloodied and his eyes empty, as Steve gently ushered him away from Eddie's body. She could still see the grief in Steve's own eyes; she knew he'd grown to like Eddie, even if he hadn't known him long. Nancy had liked Eddie too; it had hurt to see him like that, especially when she knew he'd stayed back to distract the bats to protect them. She hadn't wanted to lose him. She hadn't wanted to lose anyone.

She tried to imagine for a moment that the body on the floor of the trailer had been Steve's, and her mind shied away from the very concept. She couldn't bear to lose him, especially not before she had a chance to tell him how much he meant to her. She couldn't bear to lose him if he still thought she considered their entire relationship to be bullshit. She couldn't bear to lose him if he didn't know that she still loved him.

She looked over at Jonathan, who was driving and ostensibly paying full attention to the road. Nancy knew him too well to believe that, though; she could catch his quick glimpses at her every few moments, and she knew from the tightness of his grip on the steering wheel that his mind was focused on other things. She wondered if he was worried about talking to Steve. She wondered if she was rushing this. Jonathan had only brought up the idea minutes ago; was it too soon to bring it to Steve?

And yet, part of Nancy thought they had been heading towards this all along and they just hadn't known. What other solution had there ever been? She'd dated Steve and missed Jonathan, and then she'd dated Jonathan and missed Steve. They'd always been caught up in the same orbit. This didn't feel like a new idea, it felt like the culmination of something that had only ever had one solution.

At least, it did to her.

"Does this sort of feel like it's been a long time coming?" she asked Jonathan, her voice breaking through the silence in the car. "I mean, I'd never really thought about this before, because I'd never known it was something I could think about, but… Now that I am thinking about it, it feels like it was the only option we'd ever really had, do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah," Jonathan said, nodding slowly, "I get it. When I met that guy in California with the two girlfriends, it felt like… I don't know, it felt like something I could understand way more than I'd expected it to. Like, when Argyle first told me about him, I thought he was probably a creep, like you said, and then I met him and I saw him with his girlfriends and I thought… I don't know. Maybe some people aren't meant to be just couples, you know?"

"I think… I think we may have been heading towards this ever since that night in your house, when we fought the Demogorgon together," Nancy admitted. "I wonder, if things had been different…" She looked at Jonathan. "I missed you when I was dating Steve that year, but I've missed him while you and I have been dating. I've always wanted both of you, even if I didn't know it."

"I wish I'd tried more to be friends with Steve in that first year," Jonathan said. "I… I used to think he was a jerk, but then I realized he wasn't, but it was still… awkward. And he was dating you, so I was jealous."

"I think I really broke his heart," Nancy whispered, thinking about the look on Steve's face when they spoke outside the school, the night after the Halloween party. She didn't remember much of the party, but she did vaguely remember a flash of hurt in brown eyes. She wondered if the memory was from the bathroom, when she'd apparently told Steve that she never loved him. It had been such a lie, and she still wished she could take it back.

"He still loves you," Jonathan said. "Anyone who looks at him can see that he still loves you."

"He talked about you sometimes, back when we were dating. He never quite knew how to speak to you, but I think he wanted to be friends."

"We've still got a chance to make things right," Jonathan said. "We're all still alive, and we're all still here. We might not know how much longer we have, but we've got now."

"Inspirational," Nancy teased, shooting Jonathan a sideways grin.

"I do my best," Jonathan said, grinning back. It was a nervous grin, just like Nancy's, and Nancy could feel the tension in the car increase as they turned onto Steve's street.

"What if he's busy?" she blurted out. "I mean, do we even know he's home? Maybe he's doing something."

"Do you want to turn back?" Jonathan asked, his voice mild and devoid of judgment.

Nancy knew she'd judge herself, though, so she shook her head. "No. We can go if he's busy, but- We need to talk to him."

Jonathan took one hand off the steering wheel and held it out to Nancy for a quick squeeze, then he pulled into Steve's driveway. "Then let's go talk."

Steve hadn't quite known what to expect when he heard an unexpected knock on his front door, but he definitely hadn't been expecting to see Jonathan and Nancy at his doorstep. "Uh, hi?"

"Hi," Nancy said. "We, um, we wanted to talk to you about something. Can we come in?"

"Uh, yeah, of course," Steve said, stepping to the side. "Can I get you guys anything? A drink, or a snack, or…" Because apparently his brain went into polite housewife mode when he was flustered. It could have been worse; he could have blurted out what he was thinking, which was that both Nancy and Jonathan looked unfairly good when they were both clearly very nervous.

"I'm okay," Nancy said.

"Me too," Jonathan agreed.

Steve nodded too quickly, probably looking like a bobblehead, then he ushered them into the living room. He sat down in a chair and watched as they sat down on the couch, and he felt like he would vibrate out of his skin.

"So," he said, his leg bouncing. "You said you have to talk to me about something, right? What do we need to talk about? Is it, uh, Upside Down stuff?"

"No, nothing like that," Nancy assured him quickly. "It's more of a… personal thing."

Steve's heart did some sort of complicated flip in his chest. "Okay. What do you need?"

Jonathan and Nancy stared at each other for a moment, then Nancy blurted out, "Jonathan knows someone in California with two girlfriends."

Steve blinked. "Uh, okay? Or, not okay, that's not cool, but… What do you want me to do about it?"

"You don't need to-" Jonathan shook his head. "It's not like you think. The girlfriends both know about each other, and they're dating too. All three of them are dating each other. Like a couple, but with three people."

"Okaaaay," Steve repeated, drawing the word out a bit. "Look, guys, I'm gonna be honest here, I still don't get why you're here."

"I still love you," Nancy said in a rush.

Steve's chest went cold. "You- Nance, please don't."

He could still remember her words in the bathroom, the drunken anger on her face. You're pretending like everything is okay… like we're in love… It's bullshit.

Nancy couldn't still love him, because she'd told him herself that she'd never loved him in the first place.

"I do," Nancy repeated fervently. "I've missed you since we broke up. I didn't realize at first, but with everything we've been doing together recently- I still love you, Steve, and I wanted to make sure you knew that."

"You're dating Jonathan," Steve said, a bit desperately. He looked over at Jonathan, who looked strangely unbothered by his girlfriend professing her love for another man.

"I have two hands."

Steve blinked and looked at Nancy's hands for a moment, then up at her face. "I have no idea what that means."

"Listen," Jonathan cut in, "what we were thinking is… Maybe we could do something like that guy in California. Maybe Nancy can have two boyfriends."

"Didn't you say that guy's girlfriends were also dating each other?"

Jonathan's cheeks went faintly pink. "Well, that part kinda depends on what you want."

Steve still couldn't quite believe what he was being offered. "So what you're saying," he said, "is that Nancy wants to date you and me, and maybe the two of us will date each other too. I- Is that what you're saying?"

"We'd need to figure out how it would work," Nancy said. "Well, either way, I guess, but I was thinking about me dating both of you. We'd have to make it… even somehow."

"And if we all date each other?" Steve asked, eyeing Jonathan and trying not to make it totally obvious that he was doing it.

"Is that something you would want?" Jonathan asked, his voice very mild.

"I… I would want to try it out, maybe," Steve said, a bit noncommittally. "I'm guessing you're open to it, since you brought it up?"

"Don't pretend you don't know how handsome you are," Jonathan teased, clearly trying to lighten the mood, and Steve barked out an only mildly hysterical laugh in response.

"I always knew no one could resist my charms."

"Don't give him an even bigger ego than he already has," Nancy said, but her voice was a little too wobbly to properly be teasing.

"If we're going to do this," Jonathan said, "should we… I don't know, kiss or something?"

"Wow, you're so romantic," Steve said dryly, hoping it hid the wobble in his own voice.

Jonathan went pink again, looking caught between embarrassed and annoyed. "You know what I mean."

"I do," Steve agreed. "Uh, do you want to… Or should I…?"

"Come over here," Nancy said, shifting to the side slightly. Jonathan did the same, and Steve sat down between them. The couch felt more cramped than it should have. Steve wondered for a moment if this was all some sort of crazy dream where the proportions for everything were wrong and Nancy and Jonathan both wanted to date him.

He really, really hoped it wasn't a dream.

Jonathan reached out tentatively and ran a hand through Steve's hair. "It's soft," he said, sounding almost surprised.

"Of course it's soft, I take good care of my hair," Steve said in mock outrage.

"No, I just figured it must have… stuff in it," Jonathan said. "Sometimes that makes Nancy's hair a little stiff."

"Depends on the type you use and how much you use," Steve replied. "And I don't have anything in my hair right now."

"You mean it just does this on its own?" Jonathan asked, running his hands through it.

"One of my biggest charms," Steve teased. "Are you going to kiss me or not?"

Jonathan blinked, looking surprised, and then he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Steve's.

Kissing a boy wasn't quite like kissing a girl, but it wasn't that different either. Jonathan must not have shaved too recently, because his stubble tickled Steve's cheeks and chin. When he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, Steve let him take the lead, even though he was normally the one who did that with girls. With Jonathan though, he would let him take control. He would let Jonathan direct him. Something about the very idea was hot, and Steve trusted Jonathan not to make him regret it.

"So," Jonathan asked after he finally pulled away, "what did you think?"

"I think… I feel like I'm dreaming," Steve admitted. "Is this real?"

"It's real," Nancy said, putting a hand on his leg. "We want this, Steve. And if you-"

"I want it," Steve cut in. "I- I want you. Both of you."

He'd wanted Nancy for years. He'd wanted Jonathan for almost as long, even if he only rarely admitted that to himself. If he was getting an opportunity to have both of them…

Maybe it was a dream, but it was a good one, and Steve would stay in it a little while longer.

"I think Nancy should get a turn to kiss you," Jonathan said. "What do you think, Nancy?"

"I think that sounds like a great idea," Nancy replied. "What about you, Steve?"

In response, Steve leaned in to kiss Nancy. He heard her huff out a little laugh against his lips, then she kissed him back. It was just like kissing Nancy had always been, just as soft and sweet and perfect. Steve had missed this so much, and he'd thought he'd never be able to have it again.

"Should we go upstairs?" Jonathan asked when Nancy finally pulled away. "It might be more comfortable. Uh, if you want to, I'm not trying to invite myself upstairs or something, but-"

"We should definitely go upstairs," Steve agreed. He stood and reached out to help both Jonathan and Nancy up. Nancy took his hand, then she laughed and reached for Jonathan's as well.

"Two hands."

Jonathan grinned and squeezed both her hand and Steve's. "Two hands."

It was cheesy as hell, but Steve drew both Nancy and Jonathan's hands to his lips and kissed their knuckles. "Two hands," he agreed.

And he couldn't think of anything else he'd rather hold.