confessions
pairing: argyle x fem!reader
word count: 4.4k
summary: while in utah, argyle meets eden. something brews inside you as the two interact and you confide in jonathan about how you feel.
WARNINGS: none i think....
a/n: this is the longest shit i ever wrote and it took me like three days. holy shit
Ever since Jonathan arrived in California with him and his siblings, he’s been attached to you and Argyle. It started with Argyle and him having one or two classes with him and then suddenly he’s giving him and his siblings rides to and from school. Before it’s been just you and Argyle but it was nice to add a new face into the mix. You got to know a lot about Jonathan, especially about his whole girlfriend situation. He’d come to ask you for help about him and his girl, Nancy, considering you might be more helpful than Argyle. You would go to Jonathan to help you with your boy problems a.k.a. Argyle. He knew you had a crush on him. You told him, when you were high, on accident.
It was an instance where you and Argyle were alone. Like the time you made a friendship bracelet with him. He made one for you and you made one for him. Ever since you two made them, you both haven’t taken it off since. Or the time that you stole Argyle’s hair tie back in sixth grade and ever since then his hair has been down but he always kept a bunch of hair ties for you. All these tiny moments made your heart swell at the thought of Argyle. You appreciate him and formed a crush on him over the years.
Ever since Jonathan found out that you liked Argyle, you’ve always gone to him for advice. You would vent to him about Argyle and he would vent about Nancy. It was nice to console each other.
One thing you didn’t know about Jonathan is that he had a different life when he came from Indiana. Especially with his sister. The five of you are driving to Utah to meet up with a friend's girlfriend. You’d never thought that you’d be spending your spring break going on a search for Jonathan’s telepathic sister. Then again, you’d thought you’d never leave your own house unless it was for groceries or going to work.
Speaking of work, that’s how you got here. You and Argyle were on your way to drop off a pizza at Jonathan’s. Next thing you know, you have a man bleeding out in the trunk and you somehow made it to Utah. Stretching your weary bones, exiting the van; the five of you walk towards the door.
“I can’t feel my butt,” Argyle says as he hops out of the car, rubbing said butt “ can’t feel my butt. Can you guys feel your butts?”
“I can feel my butt.” Will says, rubbing his back. You nod at that statement as you finally feel yourself touch solid ground and finally walk.
“Everyone needs to be on their best behavior, okay?” Jonathan says, indirectly saying it to Argyle.
“Okay, why are you looking at me when you say that?” Argyle chuckles out.
“I didn’t.” Jonathan reassures.
“They’re just really religious.” Mike says looking back at Argyle.
“Yeah, and I’m super spiritual dude.” Argyle says defending himself. You cock your head to the side weighing on the fact that they are a different type of spiritual.
“Yeah, I think they’re spiritual too. Just in a different way.” Mike says facing towards Argyle before knocking on the door. You nod and hum in agreement and Argyle pushes you a bit, in a teasing manner.
Once Mike knocked on the door, a little boy covered in what you hope is face paint, answered the door.
“Oh. Hey,” Mike says confused as to why this little kid looks as if he came out of a Rambo movie, “ is Suzie here?”
The little boy shrieks and draws his arm back to release the arrow with a suction cup tip and aims for Mike’s head. Mike yelps at the arrow hitting him in precise accuracy while the little boy just walks away. As the five of you entered the house, you could hear an array of kids screaming. As Mike takes the lead into the house, you see two kids fighting on top of a dinner table. Argyle watches one of them speak in Old-English and you shake your head.
“This is my kind of party.” Argyle says with a smile.
“Jesus.” You mutter out just trying to keep on walking.
Next thing you know a little girl falls to the floor, exclaiming in pain. She holds her neck, screaming for help all the while her brother films her ‘dying’.
“Uh, excuse me,” Jonathan says, trying to get the attention of the brother that’s filming “uh, hey, we’re looking for Suzie.” The little boy snaps his finger in anger and faces towards the group.
“Can you not see that we are filming?” The little boy says emphatically. Jonathan backs away and the five of you make your way past the filmmaker and actress. Soon you walk into the kitchen to see two more kids cooking something.
“Hi, we’re looking for Suzie.” Mike says to the chefs.
“Don’t know, don’t care.” Says the one with the braid. She continues to go one to ‘Peter’ about ‘how that’s too much salt and exclaims about father’s kidney’s’. This house is getting a bit too overwhelming. Then, the kid from earlier shuts the power down in the whole house from the breaker.
“Cornelius,” shouts a dark haired lady. “, how many times do i have to tell you? That is not a toy.” She takes said Cornelius by the shoulders and leads him past you and the group. Yet, her steps falter as she walks past Argyle, making eye contact with him while she walks. Argyle looks at her star struck and makes her way upstairs.
The five of you make it upstairs to see her putting Cornelius in ‘time out’. Argyle was the first to reach the top and when she finally turned around she asked:
“Who the hell are you?”
“Argyle,” he huffs out in awe, “uh, and you are?”
“Eden.” She says softly. She seemed pretty chill and honestly, if you weren’t in the situation that you are in right now, you’d probably be good friends with her.
“Like the garden.” Argyle whispers. You and Jonathan looked at eachother and he could sense that you were a bit upset. You could feel something in your chest make you sick.
“Wow, hey, we’re looking for Suzie.” Jonathan interrupts, sneaking glances at you and Argyle.
“Do you know where she is?” Will asks as he’s behind Argyle.
“Third floor, second door on your left.” Eden responds quickly. It’s nice how efficient she is. Jonathan, Will and Mike take what they need and quickly make it to where Eden directed. You, on the other hand, waited for Argyle as he stood there watching Eden.
“You see her, you make sure to give that selfish four-eyed shit a nice little shove for me.” She says as she slowly makes her way back down the stairs.
“Absolutely,” Argyle stutters “Eden, I will shove her for you. I will do anything for you.” She descends watching Argyle and he stutters speaking softly to her. Something bubbles in your chest and you don’t really like how it feels. You shake it off, walking towards where the other three are headed and Argyle’s behind you. As Jonathan opens the door, the five of you pile in and the room is surprisingly empty.
“Well, great, she’s not here.” Jonathan says. Mike took notice of the open window and it clicked for him.
“Give her a shove.” He says quoting Eden from earlier. The four boys peeked their heads out of the window while you leaned against the wall next to the window.
“Suzie!” Mike yells out.
“Yeah,” she says, “ Who the heck are you and what are you doing in my room?” You could barely hear her from inside but you consider it a bit dangerous that this girl is on top of the roof right now.
“Sorry, that’s–that’s fair.” Mike stutters, finally realizing that they did just barge in.
“No listen,” Will says, “ We’re Dustin’s friends.”
“Yeah, we really need your help.” Mike pleads, hoping she’ll say yes. Soon enough, she comes inside and the three boys who know what they’re talking about fill her in about the Nina Project. To keep her safe, they tried to play it off as some sort of video game console.
“Okay, that is a lot to process. I mean, that might be seriously the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.” She says sitting on her bed. The boys across from her and you leaning against the wall.
“I know, it’s hard to believe.” Mike agrees.
“But it’s true, it’s all true.” Jonathan says as an attempt to reassure her.
You tuned out halfway through the conversation because you know the truth entirely. So listening to these bozo’s dig a grave for themselves is a bit tiring. Especially after what’s already been happening, this lie is just not worth your two cents. The boys seemed to lie their ass off as they said the Nina Projects location’s would be helpful for ‘Dustin’s’ birthday.
Then Eden busts in, raising her tone at Suzie, complaining about how she isn’t going to spend her entire day babysitting. To be fair she had a point. Argyle’s attention was solely on Eden’s again and that nasty feeling came back. Suzie pushes her out of her room and closes the door behind her.
“Okay, so can you help?” Will asks.
“I would do anything for Dustybun,” you cringe at the nickname as she confesses, “ but I’m afraid there’s been an unfortunate development.”
She continues on about how she changed Dustin’s grade and felt terrible with guilt ridden inside of her. She explains how her father saw that she was guilty and got her to confess that she did in fact ‘do something wrong’. Honestly, props to her for being internet savvy, way to go. She finally reached her conclusion about how her father took away her computer after hearing the truth.
“Where is it?” Jonathan asks.
“His study. He uses it for work now and Father’s always working, and his door is, like, permanently locked.” She says shoulder slumping. The others huff out in disappointment.
“I’m really sorry. Truly. But it looks like you came all the way here for nothing.” She says.
Suddenly the power shuts down again and you could hear Eden yell all the way up from Suzie’s room. You could hear Cornelius shout as well and then in a split second the power comes back on again. Suzie suddenly has a realization that could help her access the computer. Not really wanting to be in the way, you head to the nearest bathroom, trying to clear your head from everything that’s happened so far.
Meanwhile you were in the bathroom and the others conducted a plan to get onto the computer. Argyle noticed that you slipped away and tried looking for you. He runs into Eden as he was looking for you.
“Oh sorry, dude.” He apologizes for running into her.
“It’s–” She says patting herself “it’s fine.” She stutters.
“Uhm– have you seen my friend? She’s about yay-tall and like super quiet.” He says trying to describe you as best as possible.
“Sorry but I don’t know where they went.” Eden says, shrugging her shoulders. Argyle nods as she admits to not knowing where your whereabouts are. Eden begins walking down the stairs and Argyle follows her. “Hey, you ever heard of the palm tree delight?” Argyle speaks up. She tilts her head to the side and squints, trying to understand what he meant. Argyle smiles down at her and told her to follow him.
The two of them headed inside the van and Argyle pulled out his bong and soon enough the two of them got high. As the two of them begin to settle down as they get high, Argyle lays in the back of the van, draping himself over Eden while she sits up. The music drowned in the mix of the two of them. Argyle watches Eden’s eyes as they look lower and lower at his lips. It was his turn to watch her lick his lips and soon enough she began to lean in.
Meanwhile, you step over a bunch of toys, making sure you didn’t break any of them. You turn the faucet on and splash your face with the cold water. You don’t know if you should use the towels but they were mostly decorative. You just wipe your face with your hands and shake the water off of your hands. As you're in the bathroom, the lights shut off. You hear someone scream for Cornelius and stomping down stairs. As you leave the bathroom door, you notice that the others left the room.
With that, you go downstairs and wait for the others. Suzie’s dad is racing left and right to check on his kids and walks past you, looking confused. All you could do was a tightlipped smile and a nod. He couldn’t care about you considering you weren’t causing any harm or trouble. Soon enough, he finally goes up stairs and Suzie and the others are going down.
Jonathan gestures for you to come along and the five of you head outside. As you walk out the door, you could already smell pot through the air and you turn your head towards the van. Pass the Dutchie plays through chaos and the five of you walk towards the van. Smoke fills up the van and you and Jonathan look at eachother.
Jonathan opens the van’s back door and the smoke finally clears up. You see Argyle lying in the lap of Eden, out of his mind. The ugly feeling comes back and you instantly want to throw up. You snap your head down to the bracelet that Argyle made for you and you think for a second to take it off. “It’s time to leave.” Jonathan says, wafting the air that surrounds them. Eden frowns and gets out of the van with the help of Suzie. As she walks past you, she gives a nod. You nod back and watch as she walks into the house.
Jonathan took the driver seat while you took the passenger seat. Will and Mike hop into the back seat while Argyle is in the trunk. Jonathan starts the van and pulls out of the driveway. You face towards the window and you stay silent.
▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂
In the first hour of driving you believe that everyone in the van, except for you and Jonathan, were asleep. You couldn’t sleep with the way your mind has constantly been on Eden and how she looked at you. Was she taunting you? How were you supposed to know, you were never going to see her again. More or less, what was the feeling you had every single time you saw the way Argyle acted with Eden.
“You okay?” Jonathan asks softly.
“What do you mean?” You say, turning your focus to him.
“You know what I mean.” He says. You furrow your eyebrows, gears turning in your head.
“Of what happened with, you know, Eden.” He says, trying to encourage you to open up.
“No, yeah. I’m fine–totally fine.” You say trying to reassure yourself.
“You sure?” He eggs on and suddenly you start feeling yourself tear up.
“Ugh–god, I didn’t want to talk about it but I guess I should before I go crazy.” You say fiddling with your bracelet. “I don’t like this feeling. It’s so stupid, it’s like my chest feels heavy and I get a headache. I feel so childish for this. When I saw the way he acted towards her, I never saw that before. It makes me feel shitty that I wish I was the one that made him feel that way.” You confess, eyes pooling with tears.
“It’s not stupid to feel that way. It’s valid,” Jonathan reassures, “ it’s just jealousy.” He says, shrugging his shoulders.
“God, that’s exactly what I didn't want to hear. I shouldn’t feel that way, it’s stupid.” “And that’s okay! It wouldn’t be okay if you tried to do some sabotage or something like that, you know.” He tries to joke, smiling and nudging you. You say smiling and face towards the window again. Unbeknownst to you, Argyle finally woke up. He heard you confess about how you felt when ‘he looked at her’. His mind was racing trying to think about what you meant and how you were feeling about someone else. He huffs out in acceptance, now it was his turn to feel that nasty feeling in his chest.
It’s been about two hours now that Jonathan’s been driving and finally everyone’s awake. Mike mentions how he needed to use the bathroom so Jonathan finds the nearest gas station where you guys could refresh yourselves before finding their sister.
You all hopped out of the van to walk towards the gas station. Jonathan stayed behind to fill up the gas for the van while you four headed inside. You walk through the aisle, looking for something to snack on. You contemplate on what bag of chips to choose when suddenly you feel someone standing next to you. “Which–uh– chips you getting?” Argyle stutters.
“Oh, probably gonna get these.” You say grabbing a random bag. Not really thinking about what it was and not really caring about what it is, you keep it with you. You make your way to the drinks and grab whatever you fancy at the moment. You see Jonathan finally came inside after he finished filling up the van and he made his way straight to you.
“How you holding up?” He asks.
“I don’t know–I mean, I feel like it’s super awkward between us but I don’t know if it’s just me that thinks that or if he feels the same way.” You say sneaking glances towards him. Jonathan nods, understanding what you mean.
Meanwhile, Argyle watches you two converse. He feels left out and a bit green watching you too. The way you smile at Jonathan makes him sick, ever since you guys arrived, it’s like you’ve been avoiding him. He could feel that you were ignoring him and he didn't really understand.
You tell Jonathan that you’re going to go pay for your items so you head to the cashier. You place them down in front of the cashier and Argyle places his items down as well. He pulls out his wallet before you can bring yours out when the cashier rang up your total and paid for your snacks.
You thank him, quite confused as to why he bought it for you. He has the bag of snacks with him and hands you your snacks. As the two of you walk towards the exit, you hold it open for him. You follow right after him and see that you two are the only ones waiting in the van..
Argyle wants to say something but he’s holding back. Jonathan soon comes out of the store and you smile at him. Argyle watches you as you smile at him and the feeling you described earlier was hitting him. Jonathan takes notice of how Argyle watches you.
Will calls for Jonathan to ask him to pay for his and Mike’s snacks and he leaves you two alone. Now you and Argyle are back in silence.
“So, how’ve you been?” Argyle asks, trying to break the tension between the two of you.
“As good as someone who’s running from the government can be.” You say, opening your drink and taking a sip.
“Yeah, of course.” Argyle huffs out.
“How about you?” You ask.
“I’ve seen better days, you know.” He says and you hum in agreement. Then it went silent again. It was never this awkward between the two of you. By now, you guys would always talk about something random but nothing could be said between the two of you. Argyle sighs out feeling some sort of courage.
“So.” He starts.
“So?”
“Did I do, like, something?” He asks. “What, what’re you talking about?” You say shaking your head, confused as to where this is coming from.
“Well I mean, ever since we got here, it’s been like a you and Byers show. Like, what about me?”
“What about you?” You say not realizing how harsh it came out.
“What about us?” He asks, shaking his head, facing towards you.
“What about us?” You say, emphasizing on the us.
“It’s always been us then suddenly Byers gets in the mix and it’s you two? I mean, it’s just crazy that the second he’s even near you, I become invisible.” He huffs out, shaking his head “What are you talking about? You introduced me to him and, trust me, you are not invisible.” You say, raising your voice a bit.
“Well, it feels like it. Every single time Jonathan is even near us, it’s like you forget that I even exist!.” He says, raising his tone as well, tossing his arms in the air.
“Jonathan and I just talk a lot.” You say, not trying to confess with the tension between you two.
“We talk a lot as well, so why is Jonathan different?” He says, crossing his arms.
“He just is, Argyle.” You say, shoulders slumping. He shakes his head again, not understanding. Of course he couldn’t, you thought to yourself. Argyle huffs out and feels his blood begin to boil a bit.
“I’m just confused.” He says playing with his bracelet.
“I’m just as confused as you are.”
“Do you like him?” Argyle says quickly. You snap your head towards him in confusion and yelp ‘what’.
“I mean, the two of you always hang out, even without me sometimes–and don’t say you don’t hang out without me because I know you do. I mean I’m just confused as to what happened to us.” He huffs out.
“Nothing is happening to us. What do you mean?” You say, looking at him, furrowing your eyebrows.
“Maybe that’s the problem.” He said, slumping his shoulders. You start getting pissed off at all of this uncertainty.
“God, what are you going on about?” You begin. Argyle watches you in confusion. “I don’t understand you, Argyle. I genuinely don’t understand what you are talking about. Jonathan and I are friends. I can have friends, you can have friends. You’re confusing me. What do you want from me?” You exclaim, talking with your hands, flailing them around.
“I want to know if you like Jonathan.”
“Oh my god, I do not like Jonathan. He’s got a girl! Jesus, man!”
“So then, who do you like?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because.” He stutters. In the back of his mind, the interaction of him and Eden replays. As she began to lean in, Argyle sat up quickly. Regret fills his veins as he missed this opportunity but it was like his flight response kicked in. When he saw her lean in to kiss, all he thought of was you and what you thought of him. He fills a terrible guilt in his chest as he looks at Eden with wide eyes, trying to pat down on his jeans to get rid of his sweaty palms. He grabs the bong and hits it again before the van door opens, the two of them see the other five looking back at them. He was watching you and you had your eyes fixated on your bracelet, playing with it, trying to distract yourself. Eden watches Argyle’s line of sight and she sighs out.
“I think I like you.” Argyle says. Your mind finally stopped racing. It felt like tv static in there. The silence surrounded you two again as he confessed. You furrow your eyebrows, looking at the accessory that he made with you. In time where you thought deeply, this bracelet was the most comfort you got. It reminded you of the person that you knew cared deeply for you. That’s why you never took it off. Argyle thought the same with his. He knew that if he did, he wouldn’t have anything near him that reminded him deeply of his favorite girl.
You look at him, eyes meeting and the two of you lock eyes. Your eyes scan all over his face, trying to see if he was lying. There was only one thing that was racing in your mind.
“Why?”
In Argyle’s head, he was thinking of all the times when you were together. How when the two of you were in sixth grade and borrowed his hair tie and noticed how pretty you were with your hair out of your face. Or the time that the two of you got high for the first time in ninth grade and how you were coughing so much that you nearly threw up. He was laughing his ass off but made sure to take care of you. Or maybe it was the time you had a camera and took pictures of him, and how the next time he entered your room, he saw the pictures hanging on your vanity.
Argyle had so many reasons to like you, he was just stupid enough to realize to super late. Or so he thought. Argyle wasn’t the best with his words and expressing himself to others, so he tried his best to express how he felt towards you.
“Do I need a reason why?” He says, shaking his head.
“What about Eden?” You ask.
“She’s not you.” He says, now avoiding your eye contact. “Do you like me?”
“I do.” You say rather quickly.
“Nice.” He says, awkwardly looking down.
“God, we are not good at this are we?” You say as you chuckle.
“Yeah, we suck.” Argyle says, slumping in the seat. You finally smile at Argyle and he wishes he could brag to Jonathan at how he made you smile. Like he was secretly winning for your affection, even though he already won it a long time ago.
“Does this mean we’re like, you know, a couple now?” You whisper.
“Do you want to be a couple?” Argyle asks.
“Yes.” You quickly answer.
“Then, yeah.” Argyle says. You lay your head on Argyle’s shoulder and sigh out. He rests his head on top of yours and the two of you finally sit in comfortable silence. A smile etched on both of your faces, your snacks long forgotten because your stomach is now filled with butterflies.
In the meantime, Jonathan, Will and Mike are all in the gas station watching you two. Looking through the glass windows and saw everything that happened. From the argument to the climax and finally the ending.
“Are they done?” Will asks.
“Let’s get into the van before they start eating each other's tongues.” Mike says as he exits the store. Will and Jonathan cringe at the thought and finally make their way back to the van.