𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐬

TWELVE: a nice romance.

AND THERE THE two were, Steve was reading the book from James' laptop who's been pacing back and forth, toying with a rubik's cube. He glanced over the few times that he's heard Steve hum in a quizzical way or in a delighted way. "Are you almost done with chapter one?" James asked as he came over to sit by Steve who's on the floor next to his bed. "Shh, almost." Steve whispers back.

James kept staring at the side of Steve's face, waiting as patiently as he could before the Harrington sat up, humming softly. "Can... can I continue?" He looks at James who grabs the laptop. "No, not until you tell me what you honestly think of it. First opinion you got." He says and Steve sighs, leaning his head onto the edge of the bed. "I think... it's a nice romance so far. I just didn't peg you much of a romance guy." He said and James chuckles.

"I don't know... I--I never though so either, until I came to terms with my sexuality. Then suddenly, I... wanted what everyone else wanted. Love. To be with the one person who completely gets you, understands and knows you but still continues to be with you anyway." He said then looked at Steve who's staring already and now nodding when they make eye contact. "I totally get it..." He smiles.

"Anyway, I like fated destiny stories too. Like the red string of fate." James smiled widely and Steve raised his brows. "Yeah? What's that?" He asked and James tilted his head to the side. "Well... there's this old story, in Chinese folklore, about a special connection between two people that are destined to be soulmates. The red string of fate, it connects them, they're destined to be lovers, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The cord may stretch or tangle, but it never breaks..." He says and Steve is just smiling and staring.

"Wait, you believe in soulmates?" He says and James shrugs. "Yeah, why not? I believe that there's someone out there for everyone... they'll know it when it happens, you know, when they meet or get together. Love at first sight though I never believed, my dad says relationships are like flowers, watering them daily, treating them well makes a well kept flower, a beautiful blossomed one, but if you neglect it and such, it dies." He explains.

"You're a very complex man, James Hopper Jr." Steve now says and James chuckled. "Do you believe in soulmates?" He asked and the Harrington sighs. "I believe there's always someone that tries to let you get your guard down, you supposedly fall in love, fool around a bit, you tell each other everything, be together 24/7 but sometimes it's never enough for most people, like they need more or something..." He said then glanced up.

"Need more? From you? Or more than you?" James asked and Steve shrugs. "More than me." He whispers and James just glanced away. "Then that's not love." He says and Steve just suddenly felt tense realizing the topic of their conversation. "I don't think I've ever been in actual love... I mean, not even with Jonathan, and it was so shitty of me because... I don't know, he deserved better." He sighed and leaned his head back.

He stared up at the ceiling, noticing the old glow in the dark stickers of stars and planets. "He did deserve better." James agreed but then he felt his face grow hot. "At the same time I was jealous..." He said and Steve looked at the other's side profile, noticing the tint of red in James' face. "Like... being with the King of our high school." James explains.

Steve looks away, blushing as he just smirked a bit and James sighs. "I wanted to be acknowledged the way you acknowledged Jonathan, and liked him, I guess." He says quietly and Steve sat up straight, adjusting the way he's seated. "So... you liked me?" He looks at James who looks at him.

"Oh, don't let it confuse you or feed into your ego, Harrington. I liked Eddie at the time... I was just jealous of Jonathan having that, with you. Because you were... you. I guess." He says and Steve just looks at him. "My good looks and popularity?" He asked and James laughs. "Yeah, sure." He merely says as the shorter of the pair just blushed, glancing off to the side as a small smile is on his face.

"I don't think... it was good for me, all of those fake friends, the popularity, at the time... it really didn't help with the issues I had." He sighed and James looks at him, furrowing his brows. "What issues would King Steve have? Perfect family, big mansion, all that... what's not to like about life?" He asked as he adjusted his laptop that's on his lap and Steve sighs.

"I didn't like myself. Neither did my parents, or any of the fake friends I mentioned." He says and James looks up at him, frowning. "Well, most parents don't like their kids anyway, right?" He asked and Steve chuckled. "That's the thing, they also didn't love me. Just constantly leaving me with a babysitter until they deemed me okay to be on my own, would just leave weekends after weekends, they really didn't care about me. And at some point, I started to understand. I was a dick." He says.

"No. You were... okay, before. In middle school." James says and Steve looks at him. "Was I really?" He asked and James shrugs. "I think you just... saw how people treated you and thought you should treat them better than the way they treat you. And then high school happened. And admittedly, the Steve I once knew sort of disintegrated before me." He says and Steve just frowned.

"Jamie?" He says, turning to face him. "Yeah?" James looks at him but doesn't turn the way Steve has turned his entire body towards him. "Does anyone ever get a grasp of who they really are?" He asked and James glanced away, shrugging his shoulders. "I think, yeah, maybe at some point, we all do... I don't even know myself sometimes." He says and Steve just continued to stare at him.

"I use to be jealous of Eddie because he seemed like he knew who he was, what he wanted... and who he wanted." He said and James turns his head to look at Steve again. "Yeah? You wanna know those too?" He asked and the Harrington quickly nodded. "I've always been stuck between trying to learn to love myself or love others." He said as he leans his head against the bed again.

"Did you... ever love Jonathan?" James asked and Steve sighed, looking away. "I think I just loved the way he made me feel. I felt wanted, loved and cared for. The same feeling I've been craving for since I was a child. It wasn't fair to Jon... at all." Steve sighed and leaned his head back again, looking up at the ceiling. "I like your stars..." He whispers to James who glanced up, looking at the stars too.

"Yeah... I--I put them up when Sara first moved in, she'd come to my room just to lay with me some nights and stare at them. It was nice, peaceful... then Will and El would come running in and kinda ruin the whole thing, those two together is kind of chaotic." He said as Steve just chuckled softly, continuing to count them as his eyes dart back and forth between each star until he lost count and looked at James who's eyes were already on him.

The Hopper glanced away quickly, "do you wanna read the rest?" He asked and Steve nods quickly. "Oh, yes please." He chuckled and James handed the laptop back over to him. The two went back to sitting in silence as James plays with the rubik's cube again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

authors note
some dirty munson content next chapter bc i'm getting bored of hoppington 🙄
just kidding but there actually will be content for rhys and eddie bc i miss them <3

i forgot to update i got high last night and played video games with some friends so i forgot about updating... my ps4 even overheared and turned off lmfao like twice