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Jonathan doesn't know how he is going to get through this with a straight face.
He would do it anyway, of course, because what else was he meant to do when he was told that just hours prior that his little brother was possessed and they couldn't get through to him?
Jonathan and Nancy had been busy driving to Sesser, Illinois after they had gotten a tip from Barb. He had only wanted Hawkins Lab to take responsibility for what was going on with Will, because not only were they not helping his brother, but they had let this happen in the first place. Nancy had cajoled him into this side-mission because she also believed this to be the case, and she had brought it up to Jonathan the moment she heard of Murray Bauman from Barb. (Apparently, after Barb confessed some of the strange things going on, her parents contacted Murray for a follow up investigation. Nancy and Jonathan just decided to take things into their own hands.)
Steve might've come with them, but in vague terms, he got tied up with Dustin instead. Jonathan was still waiting for an explanation on that front, but it would have to wait.
They had spent a chunk of time gutting the shed in order to use it as an interrogation room. The idea of tying Will up to a chair and forcing him to talk made Jonathan's stomach turn, but it wasn't looking like they had any other choice.
Jonathan was rooting around in a closet, looking for Lonnie's old sheets (the bastard wouldn't be needing them) when Steve came up next to him.
"Hey, do you know where the staples are?" Steve holds up an empty staple gun in lieu of explanation.
Jonathan nods, "Kitchen drawer with the scissors."
Steve doesn't make any indication that he heard, instead looking around for a moment, "It's not a good time, I know, but… I…"
When Steve gestures his arms open, eyes flicking around before landing on Jonathan again, Jonathan thinks he might melt into the floor. His adrenaline has been running so high that he has been regularly forgetting how to breathe—and now he was being reminded. It was as easy as Steve offering affection for Jonathan to come down from this hell of a day.
He allows it for the moment, dropping the box he was holding and clinging to Steve's torso. Easily, arms fit around him like they were always meant to be there. Jonathan breathes in Steve, finding himself relaxing. But all too soon, he can count the seconds that he is spending not focusing on Will. So when Steve presses his lips to his hair, he lets go a second later.
"He'll be okay, Jonathan." Steve says, taking the abrupt departure in stride. "We can do this."
Jonathan could only nod and grab the box of ratty sheets, "Thanks."
His boyfriend smiles at him, "No need, okay? Comforts' a free service, babe."
"Ah." He lets the nickname slide for now, rolling his eyes and hurrying out of the room.
To his surprise, he runs into Nancy's shoulder in his haste; she looks at him strangely, and he realizes too late that she heard them.
Jonathan's blood pressure wasn't going to survive this.
Steve glances between them, looking overrun with guilt. But Nancy doesn't let the moment linger, clearing her throat with a, "Dustin found a tarp he needs help dragging in, Steve." And that was that.
The poignant failure of trying to get through to Will hurts like a knife. His fingers have gone numb with how tightly he clenches his hands into fists.
Jonathan might've started to rip out his hair when Will's shouts of Let me go! get even louder, but then he was being dragged out of the shed by Hopper.
Hopper snatches a pen and loose leaf, and scribbles out a message.
H E R E
"What's that?" Steve asks from beside him.
When several people answer Morse Code, Jonathan's hope is wearily refilled. Will was still in there, and they could get to him.
Jonathan shares a look with Joyce, the resolve has returned to her eyes and he runs out of the room.
Grabbing his stereo and the For Will mixtape he made several year prior took almost no time, rushing back into the shed with Hopper, Joyce, and Mike in tow and slamming the mixtape inside.
When the first guitar riff of Should I Stay or Should I Go? plays, Jonathan doesn't waste time, recounting the first time he played this for Will. The memory was fresh in his mind like it was yesterday: protecting Will as much as he could from the world of adult quarrels and the shouting voice of Joyce Byers. It was one of the many ways he was able to connect to Will, and how he found himself shielding Will from that kind of heartbreak.
Jonathan doesn't know if he will ever forgive himself for not being here for Will this time around. Not just for being in Sesser fucking Illinois while he was having an episode, but for leaving him in an empty house back in November 1983. If Jonathan got over himself for one night, Will wouldn't have gone missing, wouldn't have to deal with nightmares and episodes, and wouldn't have to be fucking possessed right now.
Jonathan makes up for it the best he can. Reminding his little brother how much he means to Jonathan, and letting his mother and Mike take their turns.
He is either looking at Hopper's hand using Will's Supercomm to get the code to the others in the main house, or at Will's pale face staring into nothingness as Mike retells their first day of kindergarten.
And then the phone rings.
The surprise of El doesn't phase him. Getting back to Will was his priority. Now that he was sedated, he looks so small and sick on the bed. The pallid quality he has to his face doesn't make Jonathan feel any better, but it was better than the unsettling motion of eyes rapidly moving behind eyelids.
In the back of his head, Mike's 'Closing the gate will kill him' echoes on repeat.
Joyce follows behind him into the room, but while he goes to sit next to Will, she drifts to the window.
" 'He likes it cold'." She says.
Hopper voices Jonathan's own thought, "What?"
"It's what Will kept saying to me." Joyce closes the window. "He likes it cold. We keep giving it what it wants!"
Nancy looks at Will from over his shoulder, "If this is a virus, and Will's the host. Then..."
"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan says, numb and far away. He doesn't like where this was going, but that was a familiar feeling these days.
Will looks so small.
"We need to burn it out of him."
Jonathan carries Will out of the house with ease, more focused on Hopper's directions than anything else. He places Will inside the car gently, confirming Hopper's directions quickly.
"Channel 10?"
Hopper nods, "That's Channel 10, yes. And, hey." He places his hand on Jonathan's shoulder, unyielding but firm, "You let me know when that thing is out of him."
Jonathan gives him a sure nod, bolstered by the trust given to him, before Joyce calls for him. "Jonathan, Nancy and Steve are digging through that pile in the back. Help them grab the heater so we can get out of here."
He can only nod, too suggestible with any and all directions he is given tonight (he really needs this night to end before he can see sun, or he might go insane). As Jonathan comes up to where Nancy and Steve are, he hears them talking.
"You should go with him. Jonathan." Steve says.
Nancy grimaces, "What? I'm not just going to leave Mike."
"No one's leaving anyone." Jonathan doesn't know if it is because his mind is fried or not, but that sentiment settles him. The certainty with how Steve voices things lets Jonathan put faith in them himself; not that he needed Steve's approval on many things, but knowing someone was on his side…
Knowing that Steve was as reliable as this night was long kept Jonathan's hand from shaking (and let him love Steve, just a little more).
"But shouldn't… you..."
"You're Jonathan's friend, too, Nancy." Steve replies like the solution was obvious.
"But you're not just his friend, Steve."
Jonathan snaps a stick, alerting Nancy and Steve of his arrival; he isn't letting their accidental reveal prevent him from grabbing the damn heater.
"Not now, Nance." Jonathan says, grabbing the handle of one of the two heaters in the pile and flicking his gaze up to Nancy. "Please."
Steve doesn't appear cowed either, but Jonathan can see the strain in his jaw. Nancy sighs, "Okay."
Jonathan looks at Steve, "You're saying with the kids?"
His boyfriend grins and pulls out a longer heater, "It turns out that I'm a pretty damn good babysitter."
Jonathan scrambles to get to the Supercomm the moment Will relaxes in Joyce's hold, "Hopper! Hopper, come in."
"Jonathan—"
"Close it."
…
Getting back to the Byers house was a little bit of a nightmare, with Joyce comforting Will and Jonathan and Nancy driving back in the dark. Somehow, the way back was much less straightforward than getting in. Jonathan reasons that it's because Hopper's directions faded with his adrenaline, but Nancy's help gets them on the right track.
Will being safe again feels like a lie, but Jonathan had seen the black smoke stripped from him like Nancy and Joyce did. The only explanation was that it worked. And if Hopper and El did manage to close the gate and Will is still breathing? Then whatever shit the Mind Flayer did to him was gone, and he was safe. Will is safe. Will is safe.
Jonathan pulls into their driveway, and squints out the windshield when he sees a car he doesn't recognize next to Steve's beemer.
Steve, however, is no where to be seen.
Jonathan turns to the rest of the car, "Stay in here for a second?"
Joyce nods and Nancy gets out of the car anyway. Will only looks at him with watery eyes. He must be exhausted.
Nancy and Jonathan make their way up to the front door and open it, Nancy grabbing her shotgun where she had left it before going inside completely.
…And they find Max, Dustin, and Lucas dumping a glass of water onto a body on the ground, with Steve laying on the couch.
Max looks up and sees Jonathan and Nancy, "Thank god. Can you get him up? We can't carry him."
Him is apparently, Billy Hargrove. Drugged and unconscious after beating Steve within an inch of his life.
Jonathan almost punched Billy himself after seeing the mess he left on Steve's face. And then almost punched Steve when he refused to sit down again after realizing Jonathan was going to carry Billy out himself.
"Jesus Christ." Jonathan heaves Billy upward, and tries to ignore the wince that comes from Steve.
They struggle together to get the guy out of the house and into what was apparently his car, but they succeed eventually. At this point, Billy still isn't stirring, so Jonathan turns to Steve after they set him down next to the car's tire.
"What happened?"
Steve sighs, "He came looking for Max. Thought that we were keeping her from him for something creepy? I don't know. He went after Lucas. I punched, he punched back harder."
Jonathan can't see much in the dark, but looks over Steve anyway. The strong line of his nose is broken up by a slash of blood, and his swollen eye doesn't help the image. His lip is busted and Jonathan doesn't know how he is still standing.
"You need to get your nose set."
Steve shakes his head, wincing when it messes with his head, "Jonathan—"
"I swear to god, you're going to the hospital." Jonathan scoffs when Steve opens his mouth. "You can barely stand." He takes Steve's hands in a gentle hold, and quietly affirms, "Let me help my mom get Will settled in, I will drive you there myself if you'll wait for me."
"But Will—"
"Is safe." He swallows his words even as he is saying them. "Just like you said he would be."
Steve pauses, groaning a little. "I thought I was taking care of you tonight."
"Well, my boyfriend got his nose broken. So."
Steve chuckles a little bit, but makes a pained noise when it forces him to scrunch his nose. "Okay."
From behind Steve, Jonathan sees Nancy walking up to them and he lets go of Steve's hands. When she sees Billy, she frowns. "Can't believe Max actually stuck him with a needle."
"Yeah." Jonathan sighs. "Can you do me a favor and get Hopper to make sure he leaves when he gets back? I need to help my Mom and…"
He knows Nancy doesn't miss the look he sends Steve. "You two are really…?"
"Four years in August." Steve says, squinting at the sky, like his eyes were unfocusing. Jonathan needed to get him inside and prevent him from revealing anything else in… mixed but unconscious company.
Jonathan nods, "We can talk about it later, but… yes."
Nancy's lips press together, as if deciding something before landing on. "I won't say anything."
Both Steve and Jonathan release a sigh, "Thank you."
Pure luck and the weary look that the nurse sends Jonathan is probably how he was let into Steve's exam room. That, and probably because Steve wouldn't let the nurse call his parents. When Jonathan didn't help the situation, the woman who made Steve fill out a clipboard just let him go back with him when his boyfriend's name was called.
Jonathan was right when it came to the broken nose, but he didn't guess the concussion. Steve's doctor said it was mild, but she turned to Jonathan when directing treatment. Making sure Steve stayed away from strenuous activity and checking in on him periodically throughout the night was a job he took on gladly.
When Steve was spacing out more and more, she suggested that he should get some sleep and to come back when and if symptoms got worse.
"How are you feeling?" Jonathan sighs, happy to be out of the hospital and getting into the beemer.
Steve groans as he climbs into the passenger seat. "Like I need a shower."
"Okay." Jonathan messes with the items in the glove compartment, leaning over Steve's lap to reach it.
"What are you doing, Jon?"
Jonathan grabs what he needed, and slips sunglasses onto Steve's face. "Street lights, for your eyes."
Steve smiles, "Jonathan, you sweetheart."
"Shut up." Jonathan rolls his eyes, but grabs Steve's hand and presses a kiss to the bruised knuckles anyway. "Don't think I forgot 'babe' either."
"You're really cramping the romance with your allergy to pet names."
Jonathan pulls out of the dark parking lot, "I'm plenty romantic, for example, I make you breakfast."
Steve giggles, "You're adorable, Jonathan."
"And you're concussed, Steve."
Steve sighs, "I want to kiss you." It appears that Jonathan still wasn't above fluttery feelings, even after all this time.
"Later, I'm driving." But he lets Steve hold onto his hand when he searches for it.
A thumb rubs over his knuckles, "We're okay, Jon."
Jonathan takes in a deep breath, and lets it out, letting Steve's mumbling accompany him as they drive home. He is sure that the sun is going to be coming up in an hour or two, but it doesn't feel as foreboding as it did this morning. They're safe.