Story All in The Family (Jonathan Byers - Stranger Things Pentathlon for FF Summer Olympics)

All in The Family (Jonathan Byers centric)
Fan Fiction Summer Olympics
Pentathlon
110 Word Dash
A/N: This is no way connected the 1970s sitcom. It is Jonathan Beyers centric and will focus on his interaction the The Family (found family aware of, and fighting, the Upside Down).

Fragile

Jonathan Byers was cracking. His brother's death, and his mother's refusal to accept it, was ripping at the edges of his own grief. He'd had been trying to keep it together for her. She wouldn't let him. She was talking to lights and writing the alphabet on the living room wall. She was cracking and Jonathan didn't know how long it would take for both of them to fall apart. Getting her to go to morgue to identify Will's body was a monumental effort which required Chief Hopper's help. When she came back through the doors ranting about that 'THING' not being her son, Jonathan broke and lost his fragile control.

 

Poignant start! The descriptors of "cracking" and "fragile" so heart-tugging!

 

Poor Jonathan! He really had such a burden, trying to deal with his own grief but trying to stay strong for his mom too. You did a great job of capturing that here.

Awesome start and can't wait to read more!

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: Thank for commenting, Nyota. I'm gad you liked this one. Jonathan is an interesting character. I look forward to exploring him more.
@amidalachick: Nice to see you, Amidalachick! I'm glad Jonathan's stress was evident in the piece. His yelling at her in the street was powerful as well. However, I loved Joyce when she stormed out of the morgue and told Hopper that that thing was not her son. More is here!

A/N: These two pieces take place in S1, and I may keep in there for the Pentathlon. But, then again, I might jump around in the timeline. I'll let you know if I do.

400 Word Cross Country

Comfort

Jonathan never expected to end up in Nancy's bedroom. It was not part of his plan. It was something that had never crossed his mind. Well that wasn't exactly true. It had crossed his mind. Many times. However, fantasy and reality were two different things. He was not sure he could safely call them friends. They were more like partners. Investigators. Monster Killers. But they hadn't killed anything and Nancy was the one who was nearly taken. What had inspired her to climb inside that tree? He could not say he would have done it. The difference being the he would not have hesitated to step between her and the monster if it came to that. He was no coward. Nervous and shy. Yes. But not afraid when it came to protecting his family and...Nancy.

He had tried to say goodbye outside her window, a weird mix of shaking hands and hugging. When he took a step back from her, she looked so fragile, so scared and alone. He would never suggest staying with her. What if she said no? He normally didn't care about such things. He was lost in his own world of photography and music. Those things were his refuge when he got a break from taking care of his mom and brother.

“I don't want to be alone?” Nancy said quietly. “Will you stay with me?”

“Stay?” he heard himself say in surprise. “Yeah...uh...of course.”

He helped her shimmy up the drainpipe and followed her through the open window. She asked him to wait while she took a shower. She couldn't stand the smell and feeling of the mucous and the relatively harmless, but creepy snowflakes that were pervasive in that other place.

While he waited, he took in her room. It was so much a girls room with pink...everywhere. Frilly pillows on the bed. Pop star posters on the wall. A few teen hearthrobs. He despised the word and didn't like pretty boys in general. Though the room was as opposite from his as it could possibly be, it was Nancy. He wanted to memorize it all.

When Nancy came back, she was wearing a bathrobe and drying her wet hair with a towel. She was no longer the bad ass monster hunter. She was Nancy Wheeler, a girl who scared and sad and tired and lonely. How could he not comfort her?

 

Me too! I loved how she kept believing Will was alive, even when no else did, and fought so hard to get him back. She's such an awesome character!

Anyway, moving on to your awesome story! I've always really liked that scene, and this is a touching missing moment. They're both scared and dealing with so much, and they don't really know each other that well, but they're still there for each other. One of my favorite Nancy/Jonathan moments for sure.

Such a great summary of Jonathan's character!

Awww!

Loved this, and looking forward to your next entry!

 

@amidalachick: Thank you so much for the kind and thoughtful review! I liked this scene as well and thought a Jonathan perspective would be cool.

AU Archery

Storm

Sweeping was never his favorite thing to do; but it was necessary to keep the entryway to his General Store appealing. When the job was complete, Jonathan Byers, replaced the broom behind he counter and kissed his wife Nancy on the cheek.

“It looks like another storm is brewing on the horizon,” he said.

“Friend or foe?” she replied, returning his kiss.

“This kind of storm isn't ever friendly, Nancy.”

She nodded “I'll alert The Family.”

“Good,” he replied with a knowing smile. “Be sure to tell Mom and Hop to stoke the fire extra hot.”

"Of course I will," Nancy agreed with a giggle. "But Steven is out of town. Indianapolis, for some sales conference. "

"I thought he was gonna pass on the that life insurance job," Jonathan said, mildly irritated. "You can't go killing men and expecting them to by insurance from you. Reformed or not."

"No argument here," Nancy replied. "I think Scott is ready to fill in."

"You know I love Scott, Nance, but he's a teacher, not a doer. He's assisted us in building weapons, but putting him into the fight is out of the question."

"I'll abide by your word, Jonathan, but I think you are selling him short."

"Send word to The Family, make sure the children are safe, and meet me at Dodgin' Darts in twenty minutes."

They kissed again, this time on the lips, before parting ways.



P.S. I wrote two other AU Archery entires that are different than this one, but I like this one and didn't want to steal its thunder.

 

Sweet and confiding between Nancy and Jonathan

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: Thank you, Nyota! You know I love to go Old West in my AUs from time to time.

One Sentence Shot put
Tag to S3 Finale

At the touch of his head to hers, he felt the swell of emotion rise; a wave reaching its crest about to crash down and ruin the moment.

 

AU Archery: Oh, I love the idea of a Wild West setting! If you ever wrote more in that 'verse I would totally read it.

And they're still so perfectly in character! Great job on this.

One Sentence Shot-Put: None of them got a happy ending and it's so heartbreaking. You wrote this moment beautifully though.

 

This is heart-tugging indeed!