[ 𝚂𝚞𝚗 & 𝚁𝚊𝚒𝚗 ] ~ 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝙱𝚢𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

III - Fertilizer

"God damn it-" Justin jumped slightly, her camera falling from her hand. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't wrapped snug against her neck anymore and instead fell against the table with a clatter. 

Jonathan glanced up at her, giving her a pitiful look as he moved to pull the photos of the rats they'd developed down. "You sure about this?" His words were pointed directly to his girlfriend as he handed her the final photo. 

Nancy huffed a light chuckle, as though his question was the dumbest thing she'd ever heard. "You really are your mother's son, you know that?" 

Justin allowed her eyebrows to raise as she continued to inspect her camera. What the hell did that mean? And why did Nancy say it like it was an insult? 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jonathan smiled, voicing Justin's annoyance in a much happier tone than she would've 

"It means. . .you worry too much." She explained. 

Justin let out a slight huff of air, turning from the couple and making her way back over to another paper she'd been laying out. Unlike the one from the previous day, she still had some time before this one needed to be turned in and she wanted to make sure it was perfect. 

"Huh." Justin could hear Jonathan breath the slight realization.

"I got this, okay?" 

"Okay." Jonathan returned. Justin rolled her eyes. As soon as Nancy was gone, she let out a groan, turning to her technically boss and giving him an expression of annoyance. "What?" He asked, sighing as he took in the girl's clear disapproval.

"If you get fired, they're going to stick me with another creep you know." Justin voiced. 

"I'm not going to get fired." Jonathan shook his head, turning over his shoulder to check the door. "You heard Nancy, she's got this." 

"Yeah, okay." Justin scoffed. "If I had a nickel for every time I'd seen someone let down by Nancy Wheeler, I'd be fucking rich." 

"Okay, okay. . .I get it. But-"

"But what?" Justin grumbled after Jonathan took too long of a pause. 

"But I trust her." He finalized, his tone soft as he turned back to meet Justin's harsh honey eyes. 

"That's your mistake." Justin simply shook her head, heaving a sigh and picking up a stack of photos she'd taken of a beauty pageant. "Now, I'm going to go in there after your girlfriend and try my best to make the writers not hate us here in photography." She pushed around Jonathan, the Byers boy tight on her heel. He wanted to stop her, try to ease her worry, but he didn't know how. So instead he just followed, staying right behind her and not even making to move away when he saw Nancy fighting for what she claimed would make her career. Justin waited outside the office for five minutes before Nancy was laughed out, storming past Justin and not even acknowledging her boyfriend who was trying to console her. 

Justin shook her head, letting out a loose sigh and making her way toward the office. "Mr. Holloway?" 

"Ah, what can we do for you, doll?" Thomas still had laughter in his tone, his eyes crinkled at the sides when he looked over to find Justin's soft gaze. It was a direct disagreeance to what she was feeling and yet she still made her features look akin to a doll, with a warm smile and careful eyes. 

"I have those photos you asked for, on the pageant girls." Justin answered, walking over toward the head of the table. She could feel everyone in the room staring at her as she walked, but she didn't let it affect her movement. When she went to hand Thomas the photos, his hand lingered on hers for far longer than it should've before he pulled the stack from her.