╭                                                                 ╮

━━━━ " ⏳ "

𝙏 𝙃 𝙀 𝘾 𝙃 𝘼 𝙄 𝙉
! STRANGER THINGS ─── ʚĭɞ
⊹ , ˗'ˏ - an introduction ⊹

╰                                                               ╯

❛ AND IF YOU DON'T LOVE ME NOW,
YOU WILL NEVER LOVE ME AGAIN ❜

THERE WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT about Josie Byers. The look in her eyes, the smirk that covered her lips, the shrugging simper that came from an approach of a man only interested in her because she was pretty - or something like that.

The Byers had never quite fit in. Lonnie did his best in public and was an asshole in private, going hunting and spending hours on end in the small dive bars in Hawkins and coming home to shout at his family. Joyce was an amazing mother in comparison but had struggled with anxiety for many years and fell back in a restricted state, distant from the yelling and abuse she faced because even though she had married Lonnie it was clear the love had been lost, long before they started their family.

Josephine and Jonathan Byers, twins, were born in November of 1967. She was older, by sixteen agonising minutes and was a quiet baby - something that Lonnie only weaponised against his wife because somehow it was clear that if a baby wasn't crying all hours of the day then it wasn't okay. Which Jonathan, despite his later tendencies, was. The twins were quickly best friends as most twins were, spending hours cycling around Hawkins and making up stories about what was going on behind the chain fences of the lab not too far down the road.

The twins were four when they gained another sibling. A younger brother; Will. He was quiet too, but whilst Josie had blossomed into a pretty girl who had the sort of smile and carefree nature that had all the children at school wanting to be a part of the games she set up, Will stayed quiet. He had made friends - Mike Wheeler on the first day of Kindergarten and, by proxy, Lucas Sinclair during his first playdate at the Wheelers - but it didn't change the fact that he wasn't the most popular. Will was immensely kind, artistic and sensitive but seemed to fall below what was deemed necessary for a kid in Hawkins. And Lonnie noticed it too.

Contrasts and comparisons became the title of the years that were Josie's middle school life. She, like Will, liked art and drawing and the music taste shared between herself and her twin was something Lonnie could only disapprove of and, in a striving attempt to appease her traditional father, Josie found herself making amends.

By the end of middle school, she was friends with a number of different people who may not have spoken to her at all otherwise. Tina, Vicki, Chrissy, Amy, Becky and a number of boys destined to join a variety of sports teams; Jason, Chance, Josh, Patrick and Andy. And the year before high school, Josie was properly introduced to some people in the grade above; Tommy Hagan, Carol Perkins and Steve Harrington.

The same Steve who had dated both Amy and Becky for about a month in total, the same Steve who had stopped her from getting hit by a baseball and gave her his bagel when she came to school hungry and hosted the very first party she ever went to. The same Steve who hosted another party and in a game of spin the bottle was her very first kiss.

And a month or so after truly becoming friends with Steve, Josie Byers was dating him. And it seemed to last longer than Amy and Becky combined as suddenly... well, suddenly, Josie was living a life that she quite never could have expected. Alongside Chrissy and Tina there seemed to be a consensus that they would join the cheerleader team together as soon as they set foot in high school and so they did, and quickly Josie became extraordinarily well known; she was a cheerleader and was dating Steve 'the hair' Harrington, captain of the swim and basketball team.

And with that, it seemed that Josie had gotten what she wanted all along; she had won the long-awaited approval of her father, who was more than happier to drive her to practice and Tina's house for sleepovers and came to almost all the games she cheered for. He didn't mind if she slept over at Steve's or went to his parties - or anyone else's parties - all he cared that he had a daughter to be proud of, instead of whatever the hell was going on with Will and Jonathan.

But even if Lonnie approved, that didn't mean everyone else did. Jonathan was watching his twin verge away from what she once was and Joyce could only see Lonnie in her actions, leading to all the more tension between them in their marriage. And soon enough, it was the cause of their divorce.

Such a separation was uncommon in a place like Hawkins. It was a nuclear town, expectant of its inhabitants to raise children in a loving environment and provide an example for them to follow as they grow up. And although it had never been in Lonnie's interests to separate his children (and not really in his interests to share custody at all, he was just bored of small-town life and his marriage and wanted out), an argument between Joyce and Josie led to the unimaginable; Josie was going to go with him to Indianapolis, where he had arranged a new job and had plans to start an entirely new life there.

It came as a shock to all; she had worked so hard to curate her life there, she had a boyfriend, friends and was a cheerleader and she was prepared to leave it all behind. And so she did; she broke up with Steve, delivered notes of her new address for letters and promised to send numbers, and it seemed that suddenly, Josie Byers was gone, running away from her problems to Indianapolis with her father.

And it wouldn't be until she got the call that her brother had gone missing that Josie Byers would return to Hawkins.

❛ I CAN STILL HEAR YOU SAYING
YOU WOULD NEVER BREAK THE CHAIN ❜

JOSEPHINE 'JOSIE' BYERS
❛ it's been a year, steve ❜

━━ the ex-girlfriend

STEVEN 'STEVE' HARRINGTON
❛ i know it's been a year... but it's you ❜

━━ the ex-boyfriend

❛ CHAIN, KEEP US TOGETHER ❜

❛  AUTHOR'S NOTE ━━ I don't own any rights to Stranger Things (obviously), however, I do own Josie's character and all the characters created to help her storyline progress. Somehow I've

I've written S1 from several perspectives over time and this book is no different. Josie is Jonathan's slightly estranged twin which certainly sets up some interesting dynamics further along the road, but most importantly compared to the rest of my characters, Josie and Steve have history, and it's gonna be heaps upon heaps of tension until I decide I want them back together.

Anyways, I love Steve so I hope this book will do him justice, enjoy reading <3

ㅤִ໋✹ JAEHYUNS © 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟤 ﹆〻₎
━━━ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
❪ STEVE HARRINGTON ❫