Hey everyone! This oneshot has been stuck in my head for a while now and I just had to write it down. This oneâs for all my Stancy and anti Jancy friends. I hope you enjoy it!
Jonathan had been living with Nancy for months now and with each passing day the walls seemed to be closing in more and more.Â
Itâs not that he was ungrateful to be staying here. The Wheelerâs were kind enough to give them a place to stay after the town split in four, but his relationship with Nancy was hanging on by a thread, if it was even still hanging on at all.
He still hasnât told her that he never applied to Emerson and he hasnât told her that he was slow-motion breaking up with her either.Â
It all seemed so easy when they were a thousand miles away, but now that she was right in front of him the slow-motion breakup wasnât as easy. He couldnât just ignore her or their problems anymore. There was no avoiding any of it. She was always there now. It was suffocating.
Maybe part of it was the fact that since he got back she had been looking at Steve in a way Jonathan had never seen from her before.Â
He remembers the day he got back to Hawkins. He made a stupid joke, and instead of laughing or smiling as usual she defended Steve, saying he has grown up quite a bit. She hadnât defended Steve like that since before they got together, when she told him Steve was a good guy after Steve had broken his camera. He didnât believe it then, and he doesnât believe it now. All he knew was that something had changed between them while he was in California.Â
Steve was no longer just her ex. There was a fondness between them and Jonathan knew it was probably his fault for hiding things and not visiting Nancy over spring break, but he couldnât help but feel resentful at their newfound closeness. He did everything he could to make sure they didnât get any closer.Â
He even asked Murray for advice, and while he was grateful to Murray for getting Nancy to finally ditch Steve for him years ago, he wasnât fully convinced that Murrayâs advice to propose to Nancy was a good idea.
Steve, for his part, had always looked at Nancy the same way. That wasnât new. Steve, with his stupid hair and his stupid smile, always trying to make her laugh or impress her.Â
He really pissed Jonathan off. How could Nancy even like a guy like that? Heâs cocky, heâs a show off, and heâs an idiot.
Jonathan and Nancy had fought many times, over many things, but lately it was about the way Steve looks at her. He hasnât built up the courage to fight about the way she looks back at Steve yet.
As the months passed by the Wheeler house never got any easier or less suffocating to be in. Jonathan would sometimes hang out in Nancyâs room when she was gone just for the privacy. He shared the basement with Will and it seemed like there was always someone in every other room in the house.
He hated Nancyâs room though. He always had. To him, nothing in the room matched the Nancy he knew. The color pink was everywhere, she still had that stupid Tom Cruise poster on the wall, and she still had her ballerina jewelry box. The only saving grace was the poster of David Bowie he had given her a few years back.
If Jonathan didnât already know whose bedroom it was he would guess it belonged to a twelve year old girl. He hated that. This room wasnât Nancy. She didnât like pink or Tom Cruise. She isnât like normal girls and this room screamed normal.
One day, Jonathan was reading a book while lying on Nancyâs bed and he dropped his bookmark. He knelt down to pick it up, but it landed a little under the bed so he got down on all fours to find it. Under Nancyâs bed he noticed a small box labeled SH.
Jonathanâs stomach dropped. He pulled out the small box and took the top off. Inside were old pictures of Nancy and Steve together and old letters written by Steve to Nancy.
Jonathan shamelessly went through the box, reading all the âcringeyâ letters Steve wrote and looking at all the pictures they took over the year that they dated.
Jonathan noticed Nancy was wearing her pink sweater in a lot of the pictures. He had seen her in that sweater a lot. It seemed to still be one of her favorites even now. For some reason that made Jonathan angry.
It always came back to Steve Harrington in his mind. The pink room, the Tom Cruise poster, those stupid letters, that damn sweater. To Jonathan, they all belonged to the same version of Nancy. The girl who dated Steve Harrington. She was supposed to have outgrown all of that by now and yet, Jonathan had been seeing Nancy looking at Steve the same way she looked at him in these old pictures.
He put the box back and left the room. Unable to stand being in it anymore.
A few months later things werenât any better. In fact, they were much worse.Â
Steve pissed him off even more now. Always volunteering to do shit and making everyone laugh⊠making Nancy laugh.Â
It made Jonathan volunteer to do the same things Steve volunteered for. He wanted to show everyone that he was just as good as Steve Harrington, better actually. It definitely wasnât helping his relationship with Nancy, but the confusion on Steveâs stupid face every time Jonathan took a task away from him, made it worth it.
The day after another fight with Nancy, while Nancy was at the radio station, Jonathan went back into her room and went through her closet. He searched until he found the pink sweater he was looking for.
He took it off its hanger and snuck it out of the bedroom and into the basement. After the Hawkins split there had been a lot of donation drives for the people who lost everything in the âearthquake.â
Since then, the Wheelers had kept a donation bag in the basement. They would slowly fill up the bag and when it got full theyâd bring it to the gymnasium and then start on a new bag.
Jonathan didnât hesitate. He put Nancyâs pink sweater in the donation bag. He just stared at the bag for a moment, waiting to feel any kind of satisfaction. Whatever catharsis he thought he would get from getting rid of the sweater never came. That doesnât mean he took the sweater out of the bag. He was feeling too spiteful for that at the moment.
Nancy didnât need that sweater anyway⊠sheâs not a kid anymore. Sheâs not into pink, or Tom Cruise, or Steve. She could always buy a new sweater anyway. Let someone that really needs it, have it.
The day Nancy left for Boston was a sad day for Steve Harrington.Â
He knew this day was coming, but it still hurt to know she wouldnât be a few blocks away anymore. Jonathan and Robin had already left Hawkins for college, so for the last few weeks Steve got to have all of Nancyâs attention to himself. He cherished every minute of it.
Steve helped her bring all her boxes from her room down to the car in the driveway.Â
When there was nothing left Steve and Nancy stood together in her mostly empty room.
âI guess thatâs everything,â Nancy said looking around. âYou know, for the last few years Iâve wanted nothing more than to get out of this town, but itâs still kind of sad to go.â
âUnderstandable. This is the only home youâve ever known,â Steve shrugged with his hands on his hips as he walked over to her dresser.Â
âYou sure you donât want to take your jewelry box, or your bear?â Steve asked picking up the small stuffed animal. âHe survived the Wheeler donation purge after all⊠and what about your comforter? Iâm sure itâs better than whatever the dorm room is gonna have.â
âI donât think those things have a place in Emerson. Theyâre just childish things that I should have gotten rid of a long time ago. Jonathan told me I hold  onto things too long and I think he was right.â
Steve scoffed. âNo offense, but Jonathan doesnât know everything, you know. You can hold onto things that make you happy.âÂ
âBut, look at them. The comforter is pink which is just⊠very childish, thereâs a ballerina in the jewelry box and the stuffed bear⊠Iâm a college girl now, not a ten year old.â
Steve smiled sadly and shook his head. âYou may be a college girl, but youâre still Nancy Wheeler and you may never have said it out loud, but I know your favorite color has always been pink. Since when is it childish?â
âLet me guess⊠because Jonathan Byers said so,â Steve said in a whiny voice.
Nancy laughed and nodded. âHe may have implied something like that once or twice.â
âWhen we broke up, he confessed to donating one of my sweaters because he hates the color pink and I guess after years of hearing how childish and girly my room and all my pink stuff was⊠I kind of started to believe it,â Nancy shrugged.
âYou shouldnât let him convince you whatâs acceptable to like. You would think a guy that loves the Clash would know that.â Steve said, shaking his head.
Nancy laughed at that. âHe made you listen to them too?â
âOh my God, he wouldnât shut up about them. He lent me his CDâs and told me they were gonna change my life, but all I heard was noise!â
Nancy nodded while laughing. âI know! I hate the Clash too. I even told him that.â
âDid you!?â Steve asked in proud astonishment. âWas he devastated?âÂ
âHe was,â Nancy laughed. âI told him I disassociate every time he puts them on.â
Steve laughed out loud at that. âWell, thatâs one thing weâve got,â he said softly.
They stopped laughing and Nancy suddenly turned shy. âYou know, I donât think Iâm actually going to miss this town.â
âNah, just some of the people in it. Iâll miss you,â she said sincerely.
Steve smiled warmly. âEh, youâll forget about little old me after a few weeks in Boston.â
Nancy shook her head. âThereâs no way I could ever forget you, Steve Harrington,â she said with a small smile.
They hugged in her mostly empty bedroom. Nancy felt tears build up behind her eyes and Steve felt the same.
When they parted Steve wiped at his eyes and tried to keep the mood light.
âKeep in touch, yeah? And show those Bostonians whoâs boss.â
âI will. Thanks Steve. Take care of yourself and donât let Mike boss you around.â
âNot a chance,â he smiled.
They stared at each other a little longer than necessary before Nancy grabbed her stuffed bear with a smirk and took it with her as she headed out the door.
Steve followed after her with a knowing smirk of his own.
They made their way to the Wheeler station wagon where Nancyâs parents were already arguing about which highway to take.
Nancy hugged Holly and Mike goodbye before getting in the car.
She made eye contact with Steve one last time before Ted started backing out of the driveway.
âDonât forget, dinner is in the refrigerator and we should be home early tomorrow morning!â Karen yelled at Mike and Holly from the passenger window.
âWe know,â the siblings said in unison.
Steve, Holly and Mike waved goodbye as the car disappeared down the road.Â
Holly wiped her eyes and noticed tears in Steveâs eyes too.
âYou gonna be okay Steve?âÂ
Steve smiled at the youngest Wheeler.Â
âYeah, Iâll be okay. Hawkins just wonât be the same without her,â Steve said, ruffling Hollyâs hair.
Holly ducked away from him. âYeah, I know.â
âYeah, itâll be nice to have one less annoying sister around,â Mike chimed in.
âHey! Take that back!â Holly yelled as she chased Mike into the house.
As Steve watched them run into the house he thought of his friends. Robin, Nancy and even Jonathan. They had all grown up and moved on, but there would always be a part of them in Hawkins and Steve would look after the part of them that they left behind.Â
He would start with making sure Nancyâs siblings didnât kill each other.
âHey guys, come on, thatâs enough. Mike, leave your sister alone,â Steve said, as he walked into the house after them.
