Stancy/Stonathan Fanfiction

Tainted Love

Stonathan, smut, sex pollen, 4377 word
By: bnsolo

February 19th, 1984

Hawkins, Indiana

 It was a complete accident. This was reiterated, several times, by both parties. No-one was to blame. Yes, it was Steve’s idea to go back to the woods to see if there was any way to retrieve Barb’s body for her parents (and definitely not to make Nancy like him). Yes, Jonathan was the one to insist that he didn’t go alone. Yes, Steve did ignore his warnings not to touch anything. But no-one, no-one, could have known that creepy plant would release those spores. And they definitely had no idea what they would do. So, no-one was to blame. This was important. It could not be overstated just how blameless both teenagers were for what had happened, just as it could not be overstated how little Hopper wanted to be listening to this story.

At first, they had both thought Steve was fine. He coughed as the cloud of black spores engulfed him, and Jonathan was instantly at his side, hand on his shoulder.

“Steve, man, you okay?”

“I’m – I’m f-fine,” the taller boy spluttered, hand on a tree-trunk for support. “What the hell were those things?”

“I don’t know – damn it, I told you not to touch anything!”

Red-faced from coughing and embarrassment, Steve looked up sheepishly, eyes streaming. “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”

“Dumbass,” Jonathan said with a hint of affection, rolling his eyes and turning to look around them. The Upside Down was as horrific as Nancy, Will and his mom had told him. It looked ostensibly like the woods behind his house, but twisted and dark, every tree covered in slime and black, glistening vines, flakes of ash floating down like the aftermath of a nuclear blast. Steve had bitched for a solid five minutes about getting slime in his hair when they came through. They hadn’t really expected to find another gate. Jonathan guessed, correctly, that Steve wanted to at least feel like he was doing something for Barb, albeit posthumously, and for Nancy as well, to make up for how shitty he acted before. Jonathan guessed it was kinda...sweet, how guilty Steve obviously felt. He treated Jonathan with exaggerated politeness, constantly calling him man and dude, trying to form a bond, probably for Nancy’s sake since she had been hanging out with Jonathan more and more lately. Jonathan didn’t mind it as much as he thought he would.

Behind him, Steve succumbed to another bought of nasty coughing. Jonathan glanced over at him edgily.

“Mom said Barb was in the library, but that’s like, miles away from here. I think we should give up. At least we tried.”

“I – I don’t wanna just try. I wanna actually…” The coughing overtook him again. “...Actually do something for her.”

“I don’t know, man, that cough sounds pretty fucking bad. I don’t know what those black things were, but if they were poisonous… and didn’t Mom and the Chief say this place was toxic?”

“And you said your brother was pretty much fine, once they got him to the hospital. And he was here for weeks. We’ll be here for an hour, two, tops...” The coughing started again. Jonathan shook his head.

“No way, man. This was a bad idea in the first place. I know you think Nancy’ll go nuts for you if you get fucked up looking for Barb, but it’s not worth dying over, seriously. We’re going back.” Steve may have put up more protest, but Jonathan grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards the new gate they found. Gotta tell the Chief about that. It can’t mean anything good.