80s Imagines

Jonathen Byers • Stranger Things

[A romance short story.]

"You should have kicked his ass," you say, walking up to Jonathan and helping him pick up the remaining pieces of his camera.

Jonathan just shakes his head. "That would make things worse."

You just shrug. "Maybe. Or it would get him to lay off. I mean-" you hold up a piece of the broken camera. "That was pretty low. Even for Steve."

"Says the girl who almost broke my radio while doing a cartwheel," he rolls his eyes, smirking. You're just glad to make him smile. He rarely smiles anymore.

"Hey! That was accidental. This was purposeful." You stand up when all the pieces are collected, heading towards the passenger seat of Jonathan's car. It's only fair to make your best friend drive you home, right?

Jonathan gets in the driver's seat. "Hey, did I see Nancy take one of your pictures away?" You ask, remembering the confusion that has covered your face as you watched the scene. Jonathan just shrugged. "Okay, I get it, you don't want me to talk about your crush."

"For the last time, I don't like her, Y/N!"

"Oh, please. You get goo-goo eyes whenever she walks by. I should know."

"Why should you know?"

You bite your lip. You secretly want to tell him the truth, but you don't. "Because you're my best friend." The real truth is that you've always had a crush on Jonathan. Once, when you were both thirteen, you even tried to kiss him. But, Jonathan always said he wanted to stay friends. You know Nancy was the girl he really liked, although you have no idea what he sees in her.

You and Nancy are like opposites. She is a goody-two shoes, from what the school rumors say. You love being risky. She wears plain clothes while you wear bright colors. She is dating the biggest jerk on the block and you're stuck waiting for Jonathan to like you back. That would be the day.

As he drives, he turns on the radio. The song Should I Stay or Should I go? Comes on. A pang comes into your stomach and you dare to look at Jonathan. He's frozen. You go to switch the channel. "No, keep it on," he says.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." You really don't want to listen to the song. It reminds you too much of Will, Jonathan's brother. He was practically your brother too. You never had any siblings and your mom died giving birth. You were stuck with a father you felt you barley knew and often spent time at Jonathan's house. His mom raised you.

Suddenly, Jonathan asks, "Do you want to spend the night at my place?"

You look at him, seeing pain. You know it's hard for him to be around his mom, as she's been acting a little weird lately, and just being in the house without Will was strange. He often needed your company. "Yeah, sure. I'd like that." You always said yes. "Can we stop at my place first?"

"Yep." He drops you off at your house and you run in. You know exactly what to get.

At this point, you keep a bag packed to go to his house. Sometimes you snuck over there anyway in the night, when you felt really lonely. Jonathan always kept his window unlocked. Our friendship is practically like Luke Skywalker's and Hon Solo's.

After grabbing your stuff, you sneak into your dad's room, grabbing an old camera that he never uses. It's not as nice as the one Jonathan had before it was smashed, but it would do. You hide it in your stuff and head back to the car.

In Jonathan's room, you throw your bag on the bed like you own the place and flop onto it. Jonathan gives out a small laugh. It's great to hear him laugh.

You both decide to watch a Star Wars movie, since you both love the series while eating a quick dinner. You end up falling asleep on Jonathan's shoulder on the bed. You wake up when he moved off the bed. "Aw, man. Did I miss the end again?" You ask.

He smiles. "Yeah. I'm gonna go get ready for bed, it's late. My mom came home earlier too, so I'm gonna check on her."

When he's gone, you remember the camera. You grab it out of your bag and fiddle with it until he comes back. "I gotcha something," you say, holding out the camera to him.

He face is a mixture of confusion and happiness. "You didn't really spend any money did you?"

"Haha! Me? No, I'm broke, man. It was in my house, remember I told you my dad had a camera he never used?"

"You stole this from your dad?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it that. Stole is such a harsh word."

Jonathan shakes his head. "He's gonna be really pissed if he finds out. Remember the time you took his nice suit because you wanted to wear it on Halloween that one year when we were like, ten? He FLIPPED on you."

"Oh well, he won't notice this, I'm sure."

"You're crazy."

"Well, I'd do anything for you," you say, turning slightly red.

You're surprised when Jonathan comes over and hugs you. "Thanks, you didn't need to do this."

"Yeah, I kind of did," you respond. Then, out of the blue, he takes your face into his hand, looking into your eyes. You're so surprised, your eyes widen.

"Sorry," he says, shrinking back.

"No!" You almost yell. "I'm sorry, I was just surprised. You never wanted to do that before."

"I don't know what got into me." He gets off the bed.

"No! Serious, it's fine." Then you add, "I've been hoping you would do that my whole life."

"I know," he responds. He sits back down and sighs. "Look, you're the only friend I have, especially now that Will is... And I don't want to ruin that friendship."

"Okay, but that isn't 'ruining' the friendship, that's just taking it a step further. I don't see the problem."

"I don't want things to get awkward. I've never... done that... with a girl."

"Well, I've never done that with a boy, so we're even-Steven."

"Don't say that name."

"Sorry..." You look down at your hands. "But, you're not the only new to this. Everyone at school thinks I'm weird, I don't have a chance with any other guys."

"That's not true!" Jonathan says. "You're not weird, you're just unique. I don't get why people don't see that. You have so many of your own problems, but you always push them aside and help others instead. You're dad barley talks to you and I know you feel alone inside, which is why you always want to be near me. I get that, especially now that Will... isn't in the house. But, you're so cheerful and colorful and like a burst of energy that knows how to make a person happy and-..."

You're really turning red now, and it takes a lot to embarrass you. "You really think all that?"

He looks at you shyly and nods. "I've always liked you. I was just worried about stuff I shouldn't of been."

A smile creeps into your face. "Does this mean we can continue where we left off?"

Jonathan laughs and comes over. He puts your face in his hand again and leans in. He kisses you very gently and slowly. When he's done, he moves away and you both smile at each other. "Was that so hard?" You ask him.

"No... you make everything feel okay."

"Jonathan Byers, I think our friendship has definitely went to the next level," you pronounce. "This deserves a picture."

You pull out the camera and face the lens towards you and Jonathan. You smile brightly, but just as the flash goes off, you feel him kiss your cheek. "That'll be a keeper," he says.