Stonathan ❤️

20

NOT MINE!!

all credits go to theweakestthing on ao3

I hate this song.

It wasn't the worst phrase that could have appeared upon his skin, at least it wasn't a string of profanity or something gross, it didn't matter what his soul mate said he just didn't want something too strange. He was thankful that it was something that would make sense given some kind of context, even without it Steve could easily picture a number of situations where someone would say that before saying anything else. It was the ones where you couldn't imagine someone saying it that were the worst, if someone else happened to see it you'd never hear the end of it. 'I hate this song' was a little funny but it wasn't something that he'd get teased over, he hoped that he could spare his soul mate from any teasing too, but he wasn't exactly in control of it.

The words were written just under his collarbone, people hardly got a look at which Steve liked, it was a private thing between him and his soul mate. He hated the thought of having people stare at the words constantly, he often wondered if there had ever been someone whose words were written over their face, Steve had only heard of someone with them written up the side of their neck.

Steve was waiting in the diner, he was supposed to have a study lunch with Nancy, the honours student was tutoring him even though they were a year apart. It didn't embarrass him having a girl younger than him as a tutor, even if it didn't actually seem to help as much as his parents would like.

He stood by the jukebox and ran his eyes over the track list, they had some fairly recent tunes and Steve figured that he could put on a song while he waited. He slid a few coins into the slot, heard the satisfying clunk as the coins dropped into the machine and the display lit up. Steve debilitated for a moment before deciding on Maniac by Michael Sembello.

Nancy entered the diner in a flurry with a boy that Steve recognised in tow, he'd never spoken to Jonathan Byers but he'd sure as hell heard a whole lot about him. The boy was painfully awkward, Steve didn't know whether it was because the other had been so badly bullied or because of some of the rumours he'd heard, but he knew it didn't help. Jonathan stood just slightly behind Nancy, hands deep in the pockets of his denim jacket, head tilted down, his fringe fell into his face and his shoulders were hunched up, the younger boy was a textbook illustration for the word uncomfortable.

He knew that Jonathan and Nancy were friends, Nancy would often spend lunch break or time after school in the dark room with the other, Steve spent most of that time in basketball practice. He found it kind of strange how they'd never actually spoken to each other with Nancy between them, she seemed to be the kind that brought people together. She'd introduced him to Barb, someone he'd never thought he'd get along with, and they eventually bonded over their joint affection for beer and romantic movies.

"Hey Steve, sorry I'm late," Nancy said, face a little flushed from the way she'd rushed in, "it took a while to convince Jonathan to come along," she said, gesturing to the boy beside her.

Steve was about to say that it wasn't a big deal, she was only ten minutes late anyways, besides Nancy had done a lot for him so Steve could find it within himself to wait a few minutes for her. He didn't get to say any of those things though, before he could open his mouth Jonathan spoke up.

"I hate this song," Jonathan groaned, he eyed the jukebox with disdain.

Steve's heart jumped up into his throat, he could feel the words burning against his skin as Jonathan's voice echoed in his mind.

"That's not exactly what I was expecting," Steve said reflexively and then winced, he couldn't imagine living with those words written upon him, he frowned as he moved away from the jukebox. Guilt moved slick through him, but Jonathan couldn't see his apologetic look since the other was again staring at the floor.