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Jonathan always knew that he could find peace and quiet in the school’s darkroom in early hours of the day. Nobody in their right mind would come this early to class , so he had a few precious hours to himself. The smell of the chemicals filled his nostril and harsh red light was blurring his vision but he didn’t care. In fact, Jonathan felt more at peace here than he did anywhere else. Even after--everything-- he was still the same old outcast and everything had fallen back into normal. Well… almost normal.
“ I told you he would be here Nancy!” Said a loud , booming voice behind him.
Jonathan turned around and was met by the sight of Steve and Nancy making their way into the darkroom.
“ You came in early. I thought you had a late shift yesterday.” said Nancy, her brown hair tied back in a tight braid.
Both of the teens strolled up to Jonathan and planted a kiss a both of his cheeks.
“I did but Maggie covered for me. So I have her late shift tonight.” said Jonathan as he proceeded to dip another group of photos into their chemical solutions. He felt two hands snake around his waist.
“You should have told us Byers. We would have made your night a lot more interesting.” Steve said into his ear while Nancy traced her finger along his belt line. He felt his cheeks turn red.
To say that their relationship was unconventional was an understatement. Jonathan doesn’t know how they need up in this weird...something of theirs.
After the fight Steve had with Tommy H. he was kicked out from the higher level of the high school social pyramid so he spend most of his time with Nancy , who herself, was alone due to the death of Barb. Jonathan had fully expected them to ignore him and pretend that most of the stuff never happened. But that wasn’t the case.
It started with Nancy giving him that camera during the holidays and it sort of grew from there. Steve started inviting him to sit with them during lunch , Nancy organizing a study night for the three of them which let to them being inseparable during all free hours of school to the point where rumors started flying and then everything climaxing to the faithful night at Jonathan’s house.
His mother was at work , Will was at Mike’s house and the three teenagers were all piled up into Jonathan’s bed .
That was months ago and to this day Jonathan still can’t tell who made the first move but suddenly hands started roaming , touching ,feeling and nails started to dig into any inch of exposed flesh. Steve’s lips found his and Nancy’s lips found Steve’s neck . The her lips moved to Johnathan’s and Steve’s hands move to her shirt and the rest was history.
“Wow these are amazing Jon!” said Nancy , knocking him out of his thoughts.
“Thank you.” He replied with a small voice.
His lastest photos were all about capturing the dilapidating buildings just outside of Hawkings. Old remnants of when the town was a farming community in the old days.
“Are you done yet Byers? We still have a hour before school starts and the backseat of my car has been lonely without three bodies to keep it warm .” said Steve with a smrik sliding one hand down to the front of Jonathan’s jeans while the other one was caressing Nancy’s butt.
“ Such a charmer .” said Nancy as she playful swatted away Steve’s hand.
Jonathan let out a small chuckle.
“I just have one more batch of photos resting in their chemicals, they should be done by now.” said Jonathan.
“Let’s see them.” said Nancy , dragging the boys over to the photos.
But instead of dilapidated houses and endless fields, Jonathan found himself looking at a close up photo of Dustin’s nose.
“Damn it , i grabbed the wrong film.”
“Really ? I thought you just went spelunking.” said Steve as he looked over Jon’s shoulder with a grimace.
“ Will borrowed the camera last weekend.” said Jon as he carefully took the photo out of the chemicals.
“ Aww this one is cute.” said Nancy as she pointed at a photo of Eleven.
It was taken from the side, probably by one of the boys. Her short brown hair pointing in all directions, the pink plastic headband was doing nothing to contain her wild mop of hair. She was dressed in simple pink dress with a single glossy earring sticker adoring her earlobe as she was looking at the D&D board laid before her.
“Still can’t believe she likes playing that game with them.” said Nancy rolling her eyes.
The next picture was of Mike , mouth spread wide open as if was in a middle a speech. The photo was badly light , probably due to being in the basement, as well as blurry but you could still tell the glee Mike was feeling .
“Hey! Is that my pool?” Nancy and Jon turned their attention over to the new photo Steve was pointing at.
The photo was of Dustin and Lucas flexing in front of a pool that was indeed Steve’s. Their clothes were soaked and their wet hair matted to their heads. Behind the two of them ,Eleven was in the shallow end of the pool , her dress floating and surrounding her giving it the presence of a pink jelly fish.
Another photo showed Will and Mike diving of the edge of the pool as Dustin and Eleven shield themselves from the onslaught of water the boys had created.
“Those little creeps! I knew that someone had used the pool!” said Steve.
“Guess it comes with having the only pool in town.” said Nancy as she patted him on the back. Though Jonathan could see her eyes were not viewing the picture of the pool.
The next photo was taken inside the old school bus at the junkyard. Eleven was using her power to toss smarties into Dustin’s open mouth. Damp hair gracing their laughing faces.
“Mom hates when Mike goes to the junkyard.” Said Nancy, warping her arms around Jonathan. “She says only thugs go there.”
“Oh yeah , he seems to be hanging out with a really bad crowd.” said Steve, the sarcasm thick in his voice as he pointed to the next photo.
It was probably the most focus one out of all of them. Eleven and Will holding hands as they looked towards the sunset. Wide smiles graced their faces.
To anyone else it would seem just a plain photo of a couple of kids holding hands. But Jonathan knew that after everything his brother and Eleven had found comfort in eachother. She held him and he held her.
The last photo was perfect. The five of them had gone back into the bus , backpacks and snacks litter around them. They were all piled on old leather seats that had been stripped from their places and laid on the floor of the bus. Sitting the middle of the five was Eleven ,on the far left laid Lucas , his eyes closed shut in slumber as he rested his head against Dustin’s shoulder who was also asleep. To her right was Mike, who had let his head rest upon hers as he too slept, while Will occupied her lap has he snoozed away. The picture showed Eleven’s noise bleeding , a clear indicator that she was using her powers. Even with one hand covering half of her face her expression was clear as day. She was smiling with tears in her eyes.