shadowplay.

jonathan byers. 21. photographer.

[jcnathanxbycrs]

nancynextdoor·:

Nancy was still robbed of words. Yes, it was good to see him, it was so good that it hurt not being able to close the distance between them. Her gaze met the ground as she felt his burning on her frame and she wished she didn’t hold this stack of books so she could bury her hands deep in her pockets.

“Too late?” She finally stammered quietly. Too late for what? To rekindle his love for her - because hers certainly didn’t have to be revived the way it banged against her ribcage, so much so that she had to fight the urge to look down at her necklace to see if it was bouncing around on her dress. 

Was it too late for anything? Was their relationship over because either of them got too wrapped up in their own shit to make a little call? She couldn’t believe Jonathan had spent the past year by the phone too scared to dial her number like she had, her hand always hovering above the tab to end the call. Anxiety turned into embarrassment, embarrassment turned into anger.

They were both cowards, the way they stood in front of each other right now. She’d blamed him for not calling, for moving out of town, for moving on, for leaving her behind, and now all that was tumbling around in the back of her mind while the desire to just fall into his arms was overwhelming her.

A memory popped into Jonathan’s head as he stared at the Wheeler girl, one that makes him cringe as he thinks about it. There had been one time the call he was always too afraid to make had gone through; he remembered standing in the doorway, back against the wall next to the phone as the dial tone rung through his ear. He waited and waited for someone to pick up, thinking that it was sheer dumb luck that he finally had the courage to call the Wheeler household and no one picked up. Then, just as he was about to put the phone back onto the receiver, he heard a voice.

“Hello?”

It wasn’t Nancy-- it was Mike, but he was still close. His heart beat against his rib cage painfully at being so close to talking to her, but he couldn’t find his voice now that someone had answered. He heard Mike’s voice again, “Hello? El, is that you?” It was so nauseating to hear someone sound so hopeful for someone else that he just hung up the phone abrupty instead of asking for Nancy, something that should have been easy.

It made him sick to his stomach now, looking right at Nancy and knowing that he was too much of a coward to even talk to the girl he loved. Now that he was right here in front of her, running his mouth, he had no idea what to do or say without making anything worse.

“Yeah, too late-- y’know,” He mumbled quietly, shoving his hands down into his coat pockets. “Before you... heard that I was in town. Unless you already knew.”

Jonathan looks back at her, almost expecting Steve or some other handsome guy to come around the corner and sweep her off of her feet. “I”m sorry, Nancy. I-I shouldn’t have bothered you-- I should’ve just left you alone.”

[jcnathanxbycrs]

lost-kat-010·:

Venturing out into town definitely isn’t something Katherine is fond of, not even after all this time. Doing so more than once in a week  completely on her own is completely unheard of for her. What’s the occasion? Curiosity, paranoia and boredom. She still had yet to explore Hawkins despite calling it home for quite a while now. There’s still so much to learn about it. The paranoia stems from the visit she received the other night from a detective. She figured now would be as good a time as any to get out, if only to avoid another visit. And boredom is pretty self-explanatory given she’s home alone quite a bit. 

Loneliness hadn’t sat well with her. In the lab she knew no companionship, it wasn’t allowed. Josie did her best to look after her but she still worked at the hospital which meant Katherine spent most days alone for hours on end. 

Given the fact Katherine had yet to do much socializing, she had no friends and no way of knowing how to make friends. If her shyness and naivety didn’t get in the way her fear of others did. She couldn’t risk encountering a scientist from the lab. Even if Josie is right and the lab had been shut down, that didn’t mean they couldn’t grab her and whisk her away to another hellhole far away from this place. She couldn’t take that risk. 

Given how unfamiliar she is with the area still, it didn’t take much for her to get lost during her exploration. The last somewhat familiar place she remembers is passing by that one General Store where that nice lady worked. That had to be at least two turns away, at least that’s how Katherine counted it. Now after four turns she’s still not sure of where she is. 

To make matters worse, she’s now face with a random social interaction; an occurrence she’s never prepared for no matter how much she tries. She looks to the stranger startled, instinctively afraid as if she’s been cornered. Another moment and she forces herself to calm down and register what he’s saying.  “I uh…” Katherine stops to think for a second, trying to remember if she had seen someone that matched that description but her memory turned up with nothing of the sort. “I-I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t say that I have.” 

@jcnathanxbycrs

At first, Jonathan thought it was a mistake to talk to this mystery girl, watching her face contort from fear to an uncomfortable grimace when he spoke to her. It was easy to mistake her shyness for annoyance, and he immediately stepped away from her, hoping that he hadn’t scared her by getting so close. He only wanted to know where Will was, but the more he basked in the uncomfortable silence, the more he realized that his brother might have gone to the general store to see their mom. 

He tried to backpedal, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. This girl didn’t look familiar to him at all, she was someone who he knew nothing about-- but who was to say that she didn’t know who he was? The circus freak Byers were back in town, word would have spread by now. Thinking on this made his cheeks heat up in shame and anger, though he hoped it wasn’t obvious. He might have been overthinking, too.

“Yeah, uh, that---that’s fine,” Jonathan mumbled, putting his hand back down at his side. He tried to quell the familiar fear of his brother disappearing as he glanced around for him. “Sorry to bother you. He’s probably just with our mom at the store close by.”

He didn’t know why he was explaining himself to this girl-- maybe so he didn’t seem like such a creep. “Y’know, it’s funny, I lived here for 18 years and could count all of the new people that moved in on one hand. Then I left for 2 years and there are more new people than old.”

[jcnathanxbycrs]

nancynextdoor·:

Nancy was miserable. She would never admit it, but she sure as heck was. She was lonely, she was heartbroken, she was unhappy. Everything in this stupid town reminded her of so many things, but most of all, they reminded her of Jonathan. Even the freaking ceiling in her room she would stare at at night was screaming with memories of him.

He’d forgotten her, she was sure of that, and she needed to at least keep her pride in not running after him. She’d heard the rumors that the Byers had moved back into town, but she’d tried to push it out of her mind, imagining the moment they would meet again over and over again in her head. It had to happen some time. If he still cared for her in any way, wouldn’t he have at least called?

She was walking fast because of no particular reason other than instinct. Then she suddenly froze, a shiver of warmth running down her spine as a familiar voice hit her. A lump immediately formed in her throat – it felt so instinctively good to hear him say her name so softly, gently as if it might break if spoken too carelessly and she was so overwhelmed with emotions that every single way she’d imagined this to go was wiped from her mind.

Nancy turned around and her gaze mer Jonathan’s. Her mouth opened – then closed again as she was looking for words where there was only a void.

Jonathan couldn’t help but stare at the woman in front of him, thoughts racing through his heads so fast that he couldn’t get ahold of himself. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he stepped forward towards her before finding the courage to look her fully in the face, his hands trembling beside him. She opened her mouth to say something but promptly closed it, leading Jonathan to believe that she was going to tell him how much of a selfish, pathetic coward he was. He had been in town long enough to seek her out, call her, anything, but he hadn’t. He had been too afraid to see or hear from her again after their long distance relationship sputtered out. 

God knows how many times he had picked up the phone to dial her number before putting it back down, head hanging in shame. Nancy very easily could have moved on without him there to weigh her down-- in fact, he would be surprised if she hadn’t. He knew that Steve Harrington was still in town, and Jonathan would be lying if he said that he still wasn’t the least bit jealous of Steve’s existence. 

“Nancy, I... It’s really good to see you,” he managed to stutter out, feeling his cheeks heat up at his weak attempt at talking to her.  He paused again, trying to catch his breath. “I was hoping to, uh, see you, y’know. Before it was too late.”

Jonathan could feel the atmosphere turn more awkward than it already was at his words, cursing himself for even talking to her when he should have just left her alone when she didn’t say anything the first time.

[jcnathanxbycrs]

It was strange for Jonathan to see Hawkins so normal. After everything he, the group, and even the town had been through, seeing high schoolers goof around and families walk through the streets hand in hand together was jarring to him. When Will disappeared into the upside down, it just made him angry; everyone pretended to care about Will while they were looking at Jonathan and his mother like they were scum on the sidewalk. When Will was found, everyone went on with their lives like it never mattered that he disappeared. Then, a few years back, everyone just stood by and watched as their friends and loved ones disappeared with the flayed. Jonathan thought he could escape the uncaring, unfeeling town of Hawkins when his family moved away, but it was no use.

As unforgiving as the town was, it still felt like home.

He chuckled quietly, shaking his head at himself. Good o’le pretentious Jonathan, he thought bitterly, remembering one of the adjectives Nancy had used for him when they went monster hunting together all those years ago. Being back in Hawkins was bittersweet all around, and he wasn’t sure if he could last a few more years here when he had his little taste of freedom for a year.

Will would probably make fun of him for acting like such a knob, but he couldn’t help it. He just felt... lost. Lost, confused, lonely, and it wasn’t helping that Will was nowhere to be found when they were supposed to meet up 10 minutes ago.

Jonathan tried to ignore that familiar seep of panic, stepping forward as someone came walking by. “Hey, sorry to bother you, but, uh---” he paused at the unfamiliar face, almost confused. “Have you seen a kid anywhere? He’s, uh, he’s yea tall and has a goofy bowl cut?” 

@lost-kat-010​

[hawkins-patrol]

Gabrielle’s late shift at the police station that night left her exhausted, not from exciting car chases or the grueling mental work of solving a case, but from the absolute lack of action. She was tired of sitting at a desk and waiting for the world to move around her. She had spent the last hour figuring out how to make the clock move faster.

Leaving the station, she drove to the nearest takeout joint and placed an order at the counter. She was disappointed by the lack of options that small-town America had to offer, especially coming from a big city like Indianapolis. She settled on a meal that she could take back to the motel and moved to the bench to patiently wait for it.

Beside her, she recognized a familiar face. She tried not to stare as she fumbled for a name. She had been at Hawkins for almost a year, but had made little progress in the people department.

“I uh, hope the wait’s not too long. I’m really hungry,” she laughed softly, trying to make awkward conversation.

[jcnathanxbycrs]

Jonathan couldn’t help the rumble of his stomach and the way it angrily yelled at him for not eating all day-- it was easy to forget to eat when he was running around like a chicken with his head cut off, trying to find a decent place to work at now that he was back in town. He couldn’t exactly list his last job as a reference, considering he was fired and his boss was basically turned into a zombie before Jonathan could beg for his job back.

Now he sat at one of the many restaurants downtown, surprised that it survived the purge of downtown shops from before, when Starcourt was still standing. He hummed along to a Psychedelic Furs song playing quietly over the radio, drumming his fingers along with the beat when someone sat nearby. Jonathan turned to look at the person in question as she spoke to him, smiling politely at her.

“It’s uh, it’s not a long wait,” he shook his head at her, not used to anyone speaking directly to him. “Even if it was, the food is worth it. It’s the best grease-covered slop you can find in a 50 mile radius.”

[jcnathanxbycrs]

Jonathan couldn’t help the nervous bubble of laughter that came from his throat, a hand combing through his unruly hair as he felt something. He didn’t know what, but he felt the need to make himself look better, more presentable. It was funny, it was like he knew who was going to step out of the building at any second. If he were less of a man, he would have rather faced being wrong about seeing his ex-girlfriend (were they exes if they never technically broke up?) and ran off to save himself the embarrassment of seeing Nancy in person again-- but his mother raised him better than that. So there he stood, running his hand through his mop of hair one more time before wringing his hands together, counting down the seconds until he saw Nancy’s figure step through the front doors.

He cleared his throat to get her attention before she could walk away, not sure if she had seen him standing there or not. Even if she had, he couldn’t blame her if she decided that he no longer existed. Not after the way they had ended things-- or not ended things.

“Nance,” he called out softly, losing his voice as she turned toward him. “Hey, Nancy... You’re--” 

He cleared his throat again, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest. She was still as beautiful as ever, not that he needed to see her again to know that.

@nancynextdoor​

[jcnathanxbycrs]

hello lovelies! my name is breanna and i play melissa and jonathan! i’m almost always available on discord if anyone ever wants to plot! below are some things for my boy jonathan.

After the Byers family moved away, Jonathan had a hard time letting go of the things that he and his family went through and felt that moving worsened his trauma rather than helped (but of course he doesn’t blame his mother, she was trying to do the right thing and move them away from the chaos that is Hawkins)

Jonathan drifted away from the group as his anxiety worsened. This included his relationship with Nancy, although he didn’t want it to-- as the two graduated from high school and went on to college, the calls and letters between them grew shorter and shorter until there was nothing left to stay. He still loves Nancy dearly, of course, and is afraid of what will happen between them when they finally see each other again.

His distancing himself from the people he knew in Hawkins is partially due to him wanting to move on with his life, although as stated before, it’s hard for him because he is so connected to the upside down. Though he would never abandon his family and never, ever blame Will for what happened, he feels that he can never get away from the “pretentious weirdo freak Byers whose brother came back to life” label.

Also, he knows he’s a better person than his dad ever was, but he’s afraid that he will somehow turn into the lying, cheating, dirty scumbag that Lonnie is. 

Jonathan worked his butt off to save up money for college, even if he could only afford to go to a local community college for the time being. He studied photography, of course, and was content with what he could achieve. He didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, especially if he was getting a decent education.

When Joyce decided to move back to Hawkins, Jonathan reluctantly went back with his family. Although he was excited to see all of his old friends (and flame) again, he was terrified of being pulled back into the utter chaos of the upside down and mindflayer business.

While Jonathan wants Will to grow up and be his own person and hopefully move on from everything that has happened, he is still very protective of his little brother.

He’s a sweet guy who just wants everyone to be safe, but he feels like he’s been boxed into a corner his whole life and no longer knows what he wants.

[rrrick]

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