softly baby [jonathan b.]
♥ A/N: I haven't felt the confidence to post my work. I'm usually a reader who scrolls on and adores others' work, however I've decided to step out of my shell. These are some of the fictional works I've created for the Stranger Things universe and I hope whoever comes across them will enjoy them. Making a Tumblr account for this stuff was a big step for me, but I hope I can make somebody happy. Enjoy and toodles! P.S.- I don't have a masterlist made, but I'll try and work on one soon as I post more of the works I've written 😅
♥ Pairing: Jonathan Byers x Reader
♥ Warnings: Reader has a sister named Gracie and they lost their parents in a tragic accident. Thunderstorms and Jonathan simply being a close confidant, no use of y/n
“THANKS FOR COMING OVER,” You whisper as Jonathan slips through the front door. The rain poured against the roof, bringing illumination every time the lightning struck. You despised a summer thunderstorm because of its ferocity. Thunder reminded you of a darkened past, a past that lurked in the shadows with horrors you tried to keep out of your mind.
“Of course,” Jonathan nods his head, awkwardly pushing his hands into the front pockets of his faded blue jeans. He looks around the home you lived in. “Your sister’s gone for the weekend?” He ponders.
“Mmhm,” You nod your head, fiddling your thumbs together.
You and your sister, Gracie, lived together. What felt like long ago was merely four years in retrospect, your entire world was flipped upside down. Your parents were killed in a car accident involving a drunk driver. The guy fled the scene and left your parents in a car full of their own blood, leaving a permanent empty hole in your life.
You and Gracie were never the same, and suddenly, your older sibling found herself stepping into empty shoes. She was to finish raising you. You had always heard your mother tell Gracie that if something happened to her and your father, she would do everything in her willpower to ensure that you had a good life.
“Make sure she goes to the college of her dreams. I want her to be okay. I need you to be okay.”
Gracie always found it eerie that your mother spoke of that; almost as if she knew her and your father’s fate were coming sooner rather than later.
Jonathan could see you plucking at the cardigan wrapped around your body each time lightning struck. “Work trip?” He asks.
“Y-yeah,” You nod your head. You felt stupid for calling Jonathan Byers over here but you were scared.
You hated summer thunderstorms because that’s what your parents were driving in the night they were tragically taken from you. It was a blistering July night when the accident occurred. You and Gracie luckily were at your grandparent's house when the accident happened, and never did you see a thunderstorm the same way again. You used to love standing in the rain and letting the water pelt your face, but now it petrified you.
Flashes of the red and blue lights appeared in your eyes when the stars should’ve been there.
Blood ran cold through your body when you should’ve been enveloped in caresses and warmth.
Another loud clap of thunder causes you to jolt, and Jonathan finds himself reaching an arm around your waist.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here, alright? Tell me what you need,”
He was always the understanding one. Your sister adored him for you and while you tried to shove the feelings you had for him to the back of your mind, it was the incident with his brother that brought you two together. Everyone thought he was the weird guy, and you could vividly remember seeing Steve and his stupid friends ganging up on him in the alleyway with Nancy Wheeler.
“Just… I don’t know,” You shake your head, feeling utterly stupid. You didn’t know what you needed or who for that matter. You were barely eighteen and felt like a scared orphan.
“Just–” Your breath is taken from you when Jonathan’s lips press solemnly to your temple. He shushes you and takes your hand, pulling you through your home. He reaches into the pocket of his jeans and retrieves a cassette.
“I brought a mixtape. Made it just for you,” He tries to tear your mind away from the scary thoughts lurking in that beautiful mind of yours. He wanted you to feel safe. He hoped he brought you that feeling anyway.
“Mmhm,” Jonathan can’t help but smile. He runs his thumb over your knuckles as you climb the stairs together. “I think you’re going to love this. Tried to add songs that reminded me of you, but also some new stuff I think you’ll enjoy.”
Smiling to yourself, you two find yourselves in your bedroom. He pops the mixtape into your stereo before you read the front of it.
“My Girl?” You ask, looking up at him with a softened expression.
Jonathan can feel the heat rising to his cheeks. Joyce and Will nagged him persistently about his sweet little crush on you. And maybe Will’s sometimes annoying friends who he also loved at the same time caught onto the fact the eldest had a crush.
“I think she’s good for you, Jonathan. You need to stop thinking you’re alone. You’re not. You have me, Will, and…” She wouldn’t finish the sentence because she saw the redness tinting her eldest’s cheeks. Joyce told him that one starry evening as he prepared to tiptoe away to help you study for an upcoming exam. He was a pro at flashcards.
“Yeah,” Jonathan swallows, nodding his head as he returns to the present moment. He can feel you tightening up on him. “I hope that’s okay?”
You two hadn’t truly set the story on what you actually were. Biting down nervously on your lip, you nod your head, feeling as Jonathan’s hand drifted to your waist. Labels were a worrisome thing.
The first song that played made a smile spread along your face.
Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division causes you to seemingly forget about the pitiful lightning strikes illuminating outside of your window. Jonathan’s eyes are staring deeply into yours and he can’t help himself. Reaching up, he caresses your cheek.
You two had kissed a couple of times, cuddled a lot… You were something without a label. Jonathan was slowly beginning to realize that he could barely walk forward without knowing he had his claim on you. You were the definition of sweet and innocent, and he felt this primal instinct come up within his body to protect you. He needed to know you were protected.
“Jonathan,” You call his name, feeling as he draws closer.
“Please?” It sounds helpless. He closes his eyes, brown hair falling around his face. His forehead presses to yours and you find yourself slipping into the void– a void that was familiar to you. It was of warmth, that warmth you so longed for.
Jonathan Byers was warmth. He was serenity, an echoing poem of dire sweetness with beautiful brown eyes and a lopsided smile.
Nodding your head, you swallow. The only brightness that filled your bedroom was the tiny bedside lamp.
Jonathan looks down at your lips before slowly trailing his eyes back up to meet your eyes. Opening his mouth, he leans forward and finally slots his mouth against yours.
Your hands rest on his thighs but they slowly wrap around his waist, fingertips interlocking as you melt against his lips. Jonathan’s kiss was soft and sweet, but it could easily grow needy with heat if you so desired.
Jonathan wrapped his hand around your face and drew you close.
“Lay down with me,” You whisper to him between gentle pecks.
Jonathan doesn’t say anything but obeys. The mixtape hums from the stereo as he finds his body to lay perfectly beside yours. He trails his lips down your jaw and across your neck, one hand falling onto your hip. He gently pulls your leg over his, and you whine at the new position.
“Is that okay?” Jonathan asks, feeling like an idiot for not requesting permission. He had made out with you before, so he assumed it was okay.
You’re playing with the buttons on his shirt as you nod your head, swallowing the taste of him on your tongue. “More,” You whimper.
Jonathan listened to the clashing thunder raging outside as the storm grew far more rampant. He leans back down and intercepts your lips for another searing kiss, this one deepening. His tongue glides across your bottom lip and you grant him access, moaning freely as your digits reach up to slide through his hair.
The soft grunt that echos from Jonathan’s mouth into yours as the tables turn. You’re itching for more of him, and as your fingertips find their way sliding underneath his shirt, he rolls on top of you.
Both of you gasped for air as you pulled away, your eyes locked on one another.
“We can stop,” Jonathan reassures you. “We don’t have to do this.”
You swap a gaze between his lips and your hands that were on his heaving chest. A sideways glance at the bedroom window showcased more lightning and you couldn’t help but feel yourself slip back into your ball of worry.
“Hey,” Jonathan cups your cheek. “Hey, look at me,”
You reopen your eyes to see brown ones full of endearment. He wanted to help you, he wanted to take your mind off it. But in no way was he going to do this as a means of taking your mind off it.
“C’mere,” He rolls back off you and pulls you into his chest. Burying your face into the crook of his neck, you tighten your grip on his back.
“I’m sorry,” You whisper, blinking back tears. Jonathan lays gentle kisses over your head as he strokes his fingers down your spine.
“I don’t want to hear apologies,” He says quietly.
You sniffle, feeling hot tears prick at your eyes. “I wanted to, I…”
“I’m not taking advantage of you,” Jonathan cuts you off when he realizes you were headed elsewhere with the conversation. Your heart skipped wildly in your chest and you felt almost numb.
“Jonathan,” You whisper his name. He was there for your heart, not for a piece of what he could take. More gentle kisses were laid over your face as he tightened his grip on you.
“I’m not here for sex,” He can’t help but chuckle. “I want you for you. Not what you can give me. I make you mixtapes, I come over and lay with you during a thunderstorm. We share a couple of kisses, maybe a make-out session here and there… But I’m not here for the physical things.”
His words have your mind running in circles. You pull your face from the crook of his neck and look up at him, noticing he was already looking down at you.
You reach over and pull at the blankets. Jonathan takes the signal and you two slip underneath the sheets together.
“I’m right here,” He promises. “I’m not going anywhere.”
His lips drag across your forehead and you’re reaching higher to steal one from his lips.
Jonathan smiles against your mouth and holds you closer.
“Thank you,” You whisper.
Jonathan grins to himself.
“Don’t thank me. I needed this.”
