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It had been less than half an hour since Jonathan had volunteered to go with Steve instead of letting him partner up with Nancy. Already, he regretted it. In his defence, he hadn't actually expected Steve to call his bluff, assuming instead that they'd default to the usual teams. Now, they were stuck together in this creepy lab and Jonathan had to pretend he wasn't freaked out by this whole weird place.
Maybe he was overly-cautious, but that was what made sense to him instead of rifling through everything that was obviously not the generator. Like Steve was doing. In one room, they'd found a small closet. Inside was a simple, if non-functional boiler. Not what they were looking for, and a waste of time to investigate any further. So, Jonathan backed off even while Steve took a closer look.
There was a strange-looking flower growing out of the closet. It was pale with petals thick enough to be fleshy, clearly nothing native to their earth. It seemed to undulate, drawing in and out with no sun to follow. Watching it had made Jonathan queasy.
He didn't say tell him to back off. Jonathan wasn't dumb, he knew how useless it was to get caught up in arguing with Steve. He was an asset to the team, and that was what he was trying to keep in mind on this mission.
Still, sometimes, all he wanted was the freedom to dislike this one guy in peace without anyone treating him like he was the jerk. Sure, Steve's grown up a lot, and great, he's a really nice person now - to everyone except him. And Nancy, Jonathan figured. Because although none of them had said it yet, it's unkind to keep throwing your feelings at someone like it's their problem and not yours.
Jonathan hadn't said it, because it was ancient history. But when Nancy and Steve were dating, he'd sucked it up and gone about his life.
But Steve couldn't leave well enough alone. Whether it was relationships or flowers best left unattended, he just had to force his way into everything.
Maybe the roof would cave in and they'd both die and the whole mess would be solved, Jonathan thought. Wouldn't that be nice.
He'd had enough of waiting.
"There's nothing in there, let's just keep going," Jonathan said at the same time that Steve gave a choked ack! and stumbled back from the boiler.
"What was that?" Jonathan asked. Steve coughed, rubbing at his eyes.
"I don't know, I just touched the plant and it sprayed me."
"Why would you touch it?" Jonathan said, exasperated. There was a fine dusting on Steve's face and hands that he wiped off, similar to dandelion fluff. It looked itchy.
"I thought maybe it was alive or something. Like a demo-flower, so I was going to tear it down and stomp it." Steve explained. "Whatever, let's just go."
They continued onto the next room, where they also found nothing. This time, Steve stayed quiet and stuck on track. In the next room, the same thing happened. It was odd. Neither of them had said anything about it, but those spores had been pretty gnarly-looking.
"Feels kinda weird," Steve said after a while. He was lagging behind now. Silently, Jonathan cursed his luck but he didn't turn around. For now, was a better idea to keep his wary expression hidden to keep Steve from getting worried.
He had the strangest reminder of being a pre-teen and focusing on keeping his face neutral whenever Will scraped a knee bloody. Of saying it's not that bad because if he let on that actually it did look sore then the panic would really set in for the kid.
He reminded himself not to let his mind wander.
"Weird how?" He asked, imbuing his voice with that same calm now.
"I don't know, like... Burning. Kind of feverish. I feel like I..."
Steve trailed off into a listless groan.
Jonathan heard the metallic clack ringing, bouncing off the walls first. Light flew across the walls from Steve's discarded flashlight, now rolling on the floor. Alarmed, he was about to turn around, make sure Steve hadn't fallen or collapsed or worse, but something stopped him. Steve's body slammed into him from behind, all warm and pressing.
"Let me, please, Jonathan, let me." Steve babbled. His arms were firmly wound around Jonathan's waist.
"What are you doing? Let go!"
Steve didn't move. Or, his upper half didn't. His lower half moved against Jonathan, making him almost jump out of his skin. He was rock hard. His erection was digging at him.
"What's happening?" Jonathan said.
"I don't know, but I need to... just let me...?" Steve said, breathing shallow. "It hurts, man."
He squirmed but he couldn't get Steve off of him. The rutting didn't stop. Jonathan didn't know what to do, but he needed space to think. To breathe.
"Get off!" He barked.
Nothing.
Jonathan gave up on asking or struggling. Instead, he raised his flashlight and bashed it down, hard, right on Steve's white-knuckled fingers. He howled in pain, and finally, finally, the hold loosened. Jonathan shoved him off, and spun around.
Finally getting a look at Steve, the sight wasn't reassuring. His face was red, eyes at a sheen. His pupils were blown wide and it was impossible to miss the tent in his jeans. He doubled over, clutching his hand.
"What the fuck, Jonathan..." He groaned through gritted teeth.
"Sorry, but I needed you to snap out of it."
Steve looked up, uninjured hand shielding his eyes from the light blaring at him. Jonathan guided the flashlight away so that it wasn't trained right on him.
"I thought you were sick or something, but it's... What, an aphrodisiac?"
"I don't know. Worse. Like, I need... You. I think," He blurted.
Jonathan shook his head.
"You're out of your mind."
He tried to take a step back, but Steve had regained his bearings and, quick as a gunshot, hooked a foot around his ankle. Jonathan fell straight back, hitting the floor hard.
Steve went to his knees and pinned him down to the cold, tile floor by straddling him. The air had rushed out of his body from the impact and he panted for air.
"You're actually doing this?" He wheezed, finally catching his breath.
"I don't know! I guess? Look, all I know is I feel like I might die if we don't. You want me to die?"
"What - you won't die!" Jonathan snapped, although neither of them really had a clue either way. It could wear off in five minutes for all they knew.
"I will," Steve whined. "I need it, I need this."
Just talk to him. Make him back off.
"This isn't you, it's just the plant. Look at what you're doing."
But Steve wasn't seeing reason. He reached towards Jonathan's zipper only to be slapped away.
"We're not doing that. Just go - go jerk off in the corner if you need to get off that badly. Flush it out of your system or something." Jonathan tried to sound authoritative, hoping that his words could pierce through the haze of whatever the plant had done.
"No, that's not enough. I've gotta be inside, just let me already." Steve begged.
"No! I'm not doing that, now just let me up!" He said with a shove to Steve's shoulder, unease boiling over. Steve pleading to fuck him was just too weird.
Jesus Christ, is there nothing he won't try to ruin for me?
It was irrational, he knew. Steve was clearly not in his right mind, but Jonathan couldn't help it. He hated him even more just now. Trapped underneath his smothering weight, he resented now more than ever just how much the world seemed to revolve around what Steve wanted. Apparently, even his body was up for grabs for Steve to use for his benefit.
No, he thought, don't go there. Steve was just under the influence of whatever that plant had been. When he came to his senses, ideally soon, he'd be just as freaked out by what he had tried to do.
"It's just the..." Jonathan lost his words as he noticed Steve pausing as if in thought. His hips still lightly dragged his erection over Jonathan, but otherwise he was almost still.
Just the plant, Jonathan thought. The plant had coated its spores all over Steve. All over him... Oh, no. Jonathan swallowed and began shoving with renewed panic.
"Steve, Steve, get off me. You're going to get it on me too..!"
Steve's breath hitched.
"Steve - Mmmf?!" Jonathan's objections were abruptly cut off when Steve slapped his entire spore-covered hand over Jonathan's face. Eyes wide, he grasped Steve's wrist with both hands. It took some effort, but he managed to yank and dislodge him. Just not as fast as he'd wanted.
"What the hell?!" He yelled, wiping at his face with his sleeve. Jonathan hacked, trying to cough out as much as he'd probably inhaled, but it was a lost cause.
Steve returned to his fly, and this time he unzipped it while Jonathan was distracted. He snaked his hand in and felt at Jonathan's shorts.
"No, no, don't you dare, asshole" Steve ignored him and the touch sent a jolt through him. "Ah... ah!"
Yes, he'd reacted, but just to the friction.
It could just be his imagination, or a placebo effect that was making him feel like warmth was prickling through his skin all over. Because it hadn't been too long since he'd definitely inhaled the spores. Unless, of course, they still took effect through skin contact when Steve first touched him. A lost cause since the start, then.
The heat was starting to grow uncomfortable, like his skin was too tight. He wasn't sure when he'd gotten hard, but it had happened.
This time, when Steve tried grinding on Jonathan, it let their erections rub against each other. Jonathan sighed at the stimulation. He watched, captivated by the motion, as Steve did it again, and again. When he looked up, he saw that Steve had a little bit of drool pooling in the corner of his mouth. Jesus, he wondered, did he look that fucked up too?
His own hips were moving too now. The rubbing felt good, except...
"Not enough," Steve breathed. He was right. The stimulation wasn't bringing any relief. They couldn't just keep moving against each other, there needed to be more. He closed his eyes, and felt the burning build and build.
Steve's cock was out now, so strained that it was almost purple, and he dragged Jonathan's pants and shorts down to expose him too.
Jonathan almost screamed when Steve slid inside of him, not because it hurt, but because it felt so terribly right. Of course, it did hurt, but he wasn't thinking about that. He was unprepared but for Steve's hasty, prying fingers, and the friction would have been unbearable if not for the intoxication.
The boy above him groaned, loopy on the nerve-enriched feeling. Sex had never felt like this for Jonathan. With Nancy it had been all things from slow and sweet to desperate and passion-soaked. But never so much of a burn to the skin, all around him but especially inside. Never quite so damningly everything. It briefly occurred to him that Nancy and Dustin could both be in danger right that second, and that their time wasted here fucking like animals could be what doomed them.
Then Steve started moving and Jonathan stopped thinking. He cried out, keening at the feeling of the cock rubbing against his sensitive insides, filling him completely. Steve's hands moved to the small of his back, pressing their bodies flush like he wanted to fuse them together.
Steve was all over him. Everywhere. The only noise was his grunting, punctuating every punch of his hips as he fucked into him. The only sensation was his cock and his hands everywhere, squeezing and touching. It should have been uncomfortable, so invading but Jonathan only found himself intelligibly moaning for more.
Tears sprang up in Jonathan's eyes. He needed to cum so badly, had never wanted anything so much. Blindly writhing, he started actually whining, overwhelmed and somehow still wanting.
It crashed over him Steve came inside him, spurting more heat into him. It was too much, and he crumpled in the throes of the shattering orgasm, cum shooting up between them.
The mind-clouding heat cleared. Jonathan could hear their heavy breathing and the slick, fleshy noise of Steve finally pulling out.
After they separated, the spell was broken. It was like coming down from a high, only without any of the merciful fuzziness of memory. He could remember exactly what it felt like when he gave in and what Steve's cock felt like inside of him.
They put themselves back together in shameful silence. It was quiet, until Steve started talking.
"You know, I didn't want to," He said, shaken.
"Yeah, I know." Jonathan didn't try to hide the bitterness from his voice.
"But I'm still sorry," He continued.
"Okay."
"Are you gonna tell Nancy?"
Stupid question. He didn't know how he'd even begin to explain this to her. Jonathan's jaw was set hard as stone, because he was not going to start crying in front of Steve.
He blinked hard and succeeded in keeping his eyes from going glassy.
"If you do, you can tell her how I forced you. I didn't mean to, but I still did," Steve said unsteadily.
"I don't know." He cringed because in truth, he couldn't keep something like this from her. He'd cheated, even if he hadn't wanted to.
If Jonathan had just been smarter and paid attention, he wouldn't have let Steve get near that stupid plant. If he'd been faster, he wouldn't have let Steve get near enough to get the spores on him too and they could have figured something out.
"If I do, it'll be after. Her sister's still missing. We can't afford any more distractions."
"Sure... But, are you okay? Did I hurt you?"
Jonathan frowned. Steve wasn't acting the way he'd thought he would when he snapped out of it.
"Please, just cut it out," He mumbled. His voice, usually soft, was now hoarse and scratchy from yelling and moaning.
Steve drooped.
"Let's keep moving," Jonathan said. Steve nodded, his head at the same angle of dog-like shame. They remained at an awkward distance, now painfully aware of the space between them.
At least we didn't kiss, Jonathan thought with a numb sort of hysteria. He noticed a smear of cum had dried on his shirt and hoped it wasn't too noticeable in the near-dark they were in. Steve's eyes stayed trained on him, and it made the hairs on his neck rise until he realised it was probably because he was walking at a slight limp. Steve spoke again, this time more firmly.
"Jonathan, I don't think we should just -"
Whatever he was going to say, he couldn't finish. Just then, a loud bang reverberated all through the walls, shaking even the floor beneath them. That can't have been the generator.
What now?