Stranger Things and its characters do not belong to me. All rights go to their respective owners.

Warnings: Spoilers for season 1. Brief language.

I had hoped after season 1 that there would be more interactions between Jonathan and Steve because Jon really, really, needs more friends than just Nancy but the way both the next seasons went there really was no chance for the two of them to do much together.

The unlikely trio stood in a mixture of awe and relief on the Byers' front porch. The light up above had stopped flickering and left the place looking almost normal for the first time since the monster had answered the call for blood. Nancy still had her mouth open but the tenseness had gone out of her shoulders. No doubt her hand was beginning to register the pain. Jonathan knew his had.

"I think I've got monster blood on me."

Steve's comment broke the silence. He was still standing with the others, the bat over his shoulder.

"You could use the shower," Jonathan answered absentmindedly. Seeing his mom through the lights as she had seen Will had him too distracted to notice the surreality of the situation. He, Jonathan Byers, had just offered King Steve Harrington of Hawkins High his shower. Because the popular boy had a monsters residue on him.

Steve made no immediate move inside.

"We should get back," Nancy turned to Jonathan. The older teen took a moment to bring himself back to the moment and change his stare from the light to the girl.

"...but we can't split up. All of us are bloody and the house is bloody and if only some of us leave then the monster could come back."

Nancy cast a glance back at her once-boyfriend who was currently staring down at the ground with pursed lips in an attempt to look like he wasn't conspicuously hearing everything they said. His face was still red and puffy from where Jonathan had hit it; back hours ago when the world had to have looked much clearer for the other.

"Maybe-" Jonathan began a bit louder. "Maybe we should all clean up a bit. Hopefully it's too injured to come back but I don't want to take any chances." The cut on his palm pulsed again. Nancy bit her lower lip. Steve swung the bat down from his shoulders to his feet as if he was always used to wielding one with nails driven into it. Skin, blood, wet slime, hung from the bent nails and dripped onto the porch. Who knew how much came from when Steve had driven the monster off of Jonathan and saved him from being mauled.

Only minutes before there had been chaotic noises and lights. Then, with one last scream from the monster, the house had become quiet again. And in that quiet came the strange, instinctual feeling that the movements of the light, so peaceful and familiar even as they were alien, was actually his mother and Hopper.

He glanced up at the still outdoor light again.

Steve thought he had been used to an empty house. Out of necessity, he had been forced to grow out of the nightmares of nighttime and quiet homes at a young age; when he was left alone as often as he was, he couldn't wet his bed out of terror for whatever monsters would come through his door. So for the years after that, a house without mom and dad meant a house for his own fun and quiet time. The first day after it all, Steve took a sick day. It was then regretted. The house was just too empty. Too many questions remained. Too many jump scares. The little bumps on the ceiling caused from water damage and other aging issues slid downward into a monster that landed on top of Jonathan Byers. He never would have noticed the ridges on the ceiling before but now his imagination took them and blew them out of proportion.

Because of the confused daydreams that messed with his day, Steve went back to school again.

And couldn't figure out what to do with himself. Steve was supposed to be suave and in control of this setting. But he wasn't feeling it. He couldn't set his tray by Tommy and Carol. For one, he really just didn't want to. Even if they weren't royally pissed at him, Steve wouldn't feel completely at ease listening to their questions.

Nancy was sitting alone. A few weeks ago Barb would've been sitting with her. At the start of last week she would probably be sitting at the table with Tommy and Carol and himself. Now her table was empty and she picked at her food halfheartedly while half the school looked at her with grins and leers as they assumed she was the newest 'slut' to gossip about. How wrong they were. Geez, how wrong he had been. Sure, from his standpoint it had looked pretty clear. All up until the point that Nancy had pointed a gun at him and a flesh-and-blood monster had crawled into the room. But nobody else knew about that. They could only sneer and whisper with what knowledge they thought they could see visibly. Steve meandered over slow and unsure. He took a seat at the table next to Nancy. They exchanged quick hello's. Steve started to eat. Nancy looked at her flashcards without enthusiasm.

Steve had been hyper alert since the monster fight. Senses still maddeningly perked up, he saw each movement Jonathan Byers made as he tried to hunch his way over without attention. The gossip queens of Hawkins began their hissing whispers and the King of Hawkins High found he didn't really care what they were saying. Not yet at least. Not while he was still as wildly alert and unbelieving as he was.

Jonathan sat at Nancy's table halfway between her and Steve. All three picked at their food. Steve ate more heartily than any of the others but even he was slower than usual as the urge to talk was stronger than the need to feed.

"So," he began and drew the word out, "Can we talk sometime? After school?"

Both of the other teens jumped almost noticeably as he broke the still but they offered nervous little smiles and nods. He couldn't blame them. He was still jumping at everything, half expecting a mouth of teeth to be only inches away.

The trio met after school had ended near the upper parking lot. Tommy's eyes met Steve's and the darker haired boy sneered his way and gave him a leering expression to match his rude gesture thrown up his way; then the former friend was throwing his arm over Carol and laughing at his expense as the two left him with the newest weirdos of the high school.

"First things first." Steve opened the trunk of his car and tossed cotton clothes (that hadn't really fit all that well but worked the night of after his old ones were contaminated at the Byers house) at Jonathan, who barely caught them. "Just giving those back man. Now," he shut the trunk and swung himself onto it so that he could stare at the other two as he sat, "Can anyone explain what the hell happened the other day?"

The story came together messily. Bits and pieces came from completely different sources, like their kid siblings who were somehow involved, and Nancy and Jonathan weren't great at explaining them. By the end everything at least made a little more sense.

The monster that he had seen first hand came from the government lab nearby. It had taken Barb at his party. It had taken Will Byers. Mrs. Byers and the chief of police had saved Will. Barb was dead.

Someone had died in his backyard and still Tommy and Carol and Nicole and the rest were laughing and too busy graffiting slander of his ex than caring about the missing kids of Hawkins. That was it. Steve needed new friends.

And here were two possibilities. If anything, finding out the truth about Nancy had only made him love her more. She had never been cheating on him; she had been looking for a kid and for her best friend while dodging the grasp of a near invincible monster. She was a hero. And Jonathan? It would take a bit of time for Steve to truly forgive him for being a creep and taking those pictures of Nancy. But after fighting that creature in his house, Steve had a feeling he would be seeing the resident weirdo in a different light. They both were heroes. The bandages on their hands were a reminder of that sacrificial bravery they shared. If anything ever threatened Hawkins again, Steve swore he'd be one of its heroes as well instead of drinking away a teen's worries in true party style.

"Hey," Steve said and drew Jonathan's attention again, "Hey man."

The other teen turned his way and his eyes made it to about Steve's shoulder instead of feet.

"I'm glad your brother's alright."

Jonathan's mouth quirked up and back down in that awkward manner of his. Anyone else and Steve would probably slap a shoulder on his back and grin his way away. But the Byers were all strange people and Jonathan was the strangest of them. "...thanks. Me too."

He flashed another almost smile nervously and then stood for a second longer in silence than what was socially normal before moving away.

"Hey Jon?" Steve called out again. "Can I keep the bat?"

AN- This has two more chapters and a brief epilogue plotted out. Hopefully it will be finished soon

Feel free to point out any spelling/grammar error so I can fix it :)

Thank you for your time! Please leave a review :D