little things; stranger things littlespace oneshots

♡ 13 - drawing ♡

cg!robin, nancy
little!jonathan (5)
little!steve (4)
this is heavily based off of a story i read a really long time ago.. i don't know it anymore though :(

Jonathan sighed as he lifted more supply boxes onto a shelf. It was the third time he'd worked overtime that week. And while he spent his days cooking and cleaning in the pizza shop, his friends Robin, Steve, and Nancy would spend time together, especially when Steve was little. They thought Jonathan was some kind of workaholic. And maybe to some extent, he was. But more truthfully, he had been avoiding Steve. 

His stomach would twist at just the thought of the way they would dote over Stevie. Despite their pleas, Jonathan knew he couldn't act like a proper caretaker for Stevie like they did. He wouldn't be able to give him a coloring book without drawing in a page for himself, or play toys with Steve without slipping. He was jealous of the all the time they would dedicate to Steve and all the toys they'd buy him. Hell, all he had was a few plushies and a coloring book. But he was in too deep now. They already had a lot to deal with when they cared for Stevie, who was a very eccentric and outspoken little. He couldn't be selfish and put more on their plate. He wouldn't. He sighed as he forced his sore arms to heave more boxes.

But then, his cellphone rang. He paused and picked it up.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Jonathan!" Nancy replied. "It's late, come home! We miss you. And Stevie did the cutest thing-"
"I- uh, yeah. Okay. I'll.. stay a little longer but then I'll come right home." he cut her off.
"But-"
And with that, he hung up.
He didn't intend to be mean. He really just wanted a break.

His cellphone chimed. The bright screen shined on his tired eyes as he checked it. It was a message from Robin.

(1) Robin:
that pizza job can't be that fun, lol
come back so u can see stevie! he made you a cute card!

Jonathan clenched his jaw and shoved his phone in his pocket. He was exhausted of everything. He immediately clocked out and shoved open the door, getting into his car. He drove home silently in the night. He just wanted to go home and watch a movie, nap, maybe regress by himself. He was over it.

He parked his car outside and unlocked the front door of his house with his keys. The keys jingled as he struggled to fit them in the lock.
"Damn keys, just go in-" he hissed. Eventually, he got it open, and he was greeted with a sore sight. The three of them were sitting on the couch together, watching one of Steve's favorite movies, Luca. He almost felt himself slip at the childish cartoons, but he forced it down. His heart sank a little. He knew that it was his own choice to avoid them, but it certainly didn't make him feel any better.

He hung up his jean jacket and bolted straight for his room, but not before bumping into someone!
"Johnny!" Steve exclaimed, dragging out the "y".
"Oh, uh, hey bud." Jonathan said impatiently, still trying to make it towards his room, but Steve held his wrist. Nancy and Robin watched on.
"Wait! I drawed a cawd for you!" he smiled, shoving a paper into his hands.
"Thanks, Steve." Jonathan said, setting the card down on the table without a glance, walking to his room again.
Steve picked it up again, running in front of him.
"A-awen't you gonna open it?" he asked, still smiling but with a hint of worry in his eyes.
"Yeah Jonathan, you should at least open it." Nancy said, glaring daggers at him. This however, had no effect on him. He only became more resentful.

Jonathan took a deep breath. Anger boiled up inside of him.
"Fine. You want me to look at your dumb card?" He spat, opening the paper hard enough to nearly rip it.
"There! I saw it! And that was entirely a waste of his time and mine because I can, a hundred percent, draw and color better than Stevie. I'm fucking stressed, I'm tired, and I just want to relax. But I can't! Hah, I can't, because it's always "Stevie's so cute!" "Look what Stevie did!" So please, go back to leaving me alone!" Jonathan fired, tearing up the card into pieces.

He tried to catch his breath after his outburst. As he did so, he stared at the pieces of paper in his hands, and then to Stevie, coming back to his senses. Stevie looked into his eyes with the most downhearted expression. He then looked down at paper, his lips tightly pursed, undoubtedly trying to hold back tears. This took Jonathan by surprise. He never cried, because he always insisted that "big boys don't cry, duhh".

But it didn't work. Quiet sobs began to rack through Steve's body. Nancy and Robin rushed over to comfort him. Jonathan swallowed nervously.
"Wait. I'm- I'm sorry, please-" Jonathan uttered, trying to explain himself before they'd give him trouble. But this time, they hardly did.
"No. You don't get to be sorry." Robin said coldly.
"You want to be alone so bad? Then go. It would be better for everyone." Nancy spat. It was obviously that she was trying to maintain her composure for Stevie's sake, but the rest of them saw right through it.

Without another word, Jonathan made his way straight to his room, Steve's cries becoming muted as he shut the door.
He sat down on his bed and began to sob. His breath was shaky as he grabbed a pillow and hugged it to his chest, biting down on it as hard as he could to stop his tears. But no such luck.
He lost track of the time as he lay on his bed, crying on and off. It could have been ten minutes or over an hour, he couldn't tell. Somewhere in the mix, he had fallen into littlespace, though it hardly provided any comfort. All he could do was cry to himself. About his worry, guilt, and bottled up emotions. He sat up on his bed with his back against the wall, burying his head into his knees. He felt miserable.

He felt a pair of arms wrap around him in a warm embrace. He jumped a little, he hadn't realized that anyone had come into his room. He blinked away tears and saw that it was Stevie. The boy looked at him with a warm smile, handing him a bear plushie and a few of his toys. Jonathan wiped his eyes with his sleeve and took the items, stunned.
"s'okay. be little too!" Steve said, caressing his arm.
"How.. how'd you know?" Jonathan had the stuffed animal hugged to his chest as he stared at the floor.

"You were sad. Johnny's been sad for awhile." Steve stated, matter-of-factly. Johnny was surprised by his wisdom. Stevie, in the mind of a four year old, had managed to see through his facade unlike anyone else.
"m' sowwy.." he whispered into the stuffed animal, just loudly enough for Steve to hear.
"it's okay, i forgive you! we're best friends always!" Steve cheered.
Jonathan was taken aback by his empathy. He didn't deserve forgiveness, yet here they were. He was grateful.

"thanks, stevie." he said, slightly chewing on the end of his thumb. "and, uh, here. i have this." he said shyly, pulling a paper from the nightstand. It was the drawing Steve had made for him, taped back together. It had a drawing of him and Steve together.

Steve smiled in acknowledgement, resting his head on Johnny's shoulder.

- 1300 something words
idk why i put that thumb chewing thing ig cus i always do that😭😭
huge writers block but an actual update today yayy !

this was inspired by xhalloZ request, it's not quite exact, but eventually i will make a chapter to fit it :-)
thank u for the help and support guys!