XX. they don't know about us

The last day of the semester before summer was complete chaos. But in the moment, all Nolan could think of was the perfect score he got on his final philosophy paper. "You've been staring at that paper for an hour now. Your grade's not going to magically go up anymore." Ethan commented very sarcastically from his side of the room. He zipped up the last of his suitcase.

Nolan chuckled and sat the paper on his desk. "Sorry. I just can't believe I'm here sometimes. I never thought it would be possible."

"It's only our first semester."

"First of many." He continued to stuff his bags with the clothes from his dresser. He looked over his shoulder. "What're your plans for the summer?"

Ethan collapsed on his stripped bed. "Uhhh, probably go home, see the fam, see my friends, and then Sophie's having a huge party at her house that weekend."

"Sounds fun," Nolan responded while still packing.

"What about you? Any special lady waiting for you back home?" Ethan asked with a smirk.

Nolan's eyes cut to the wall in front of him. Contrary to what you might think, Morgan was the only person at Vanderbilt that knew Nolan was gay and even then, he didn't mean to tell her. It wasn't that he was afraid to tell people because he was happy with Steve, he just knew exactly what people would say if they found out.

Enough people knew for now.

Nolan shook his head at the question. "Nah," he played off with a laugh. "Just gonna go home to my family."

Ethan blew a raspberry. "Lame." He sang and stood up from the bed again.

Morgan entered the room and stood at the entrance of the open door. "Yo, Ethan, why don't you go kiss your girlfriend before I go?" She joked, obviously.

Nolan laughed and Ethan rolled his eyes. "In your dreams, Goodkin." He stood in front of Nolan with his hand held out. "I'll see you after summer, man."

He quickly stood up and they shook hands, quickly hugging. "Yeah, yeah. Have a good summer, man."

Ethan gathered his stuff and exited the room, throwing a sarcastic smile at Morgan as he passed by her. She returned it and rolled her eyes when he left.

Nolan grinned. "All packed?"

She stepped aside and pulled the handle of her suitcase forward, revealing her bags. "Already said my goodbyes and everything." She said firmly.

"Alright." He announced and closed his duffle. He looked around his empty room and sighed. "I can't believe I'm leaving."

"You'll be back soon enough," Morgan said and leaned against the door frame again. "Hopefully next semester will be even better than this one."

"I know it will. Let's get out of here."

"Hawkins, here we come!" She shouted and let out a loud cheer, making him laugh.

Steve refrained from rolling his very tired eyes as he passed the kid in front of him his banana split. "Enjoy." He said with a forced smile.

The blue eyed kid beamed and took the dessert, sprinting back to his mother.

The newly graduate exhaled deeply and collapsed his upper body on the counter, the sailor hat on his head falling off. An obnoxious laugh came from behind him. "Hey, dingus, sailors are supposed to be cheerful."

He lifted his head and gave Robin an annoyed look.  "I've had to clean up four ice cream spills. On the same table!" He complained, seeing as a group of kids came in earlier and kept spilling their ice creams on the table.

"Part of the job." Robin told him and patted his back.  "Think of what it'll be like when summer starts. Only a few more days."

Her words made Steve slowly smile and he looked away. Only a couple of days until he was in the presence of the blue eyes he had grown to adore. He missed Nolan so much that it physically hurt him.  Four months was way too long without him, even though they just saw each other at Steve's graduation.

Robin gave him a weird look. "Why are you smiling like that?"

The smile vanished. "Nothing." He quickly said and walked away to go to the break room.

Steve Harrington wasn't one to hide anything about himself. But his relationship with Nolan was something he couldn't easily admit to people, even if some already knew. He lived in a day and age where his relationship was frowned upon. People would talk. He wasn't ashamed but that didn't mean he wasn't scared of what people would say if they found out.

Nolan watched in pure amusement as Morgan belted out the lyrics to Under Pressure on the radio. The windows were rolled down and the wind made her blonde hair fly around her face. "Watching some good friends screaming let me out! Pray tomorrow - gets me higher. Pressure on people - people on streets!"  She sang at the top of her lungs.

The driver looked back at the road and laughed. They were only an hour away from Hawkins, earlier than what Nolan told his friends. They thought he wasn't coming home until the weekend. He wanted to surprise them.

"This is our last dance! This is our last dance! This is ourselves! Under pressure!"

"Thank God that's over."

Morgan looked offended. "Excuse me? You don't like my singing?"

Nolan glanced her way. "You can't sing, MG." He said while laughed.

She gasped. "You said I was good that time during karaoke!"

"That's because it was your birthday."

She slapped his arm and he flinched,  chuckling at her dramatics. "Like your any better. All those Journey songs won't make you magically sound like Steve Perry."

Nola pointed at her. "Hey, guy can dream!"

Morgan laughed. "I can't wait to meet your family." She said with a big smile. She leaned on the center consul. "So, tell me more about this Steve Harrington."

He furrowed his brows. "I've already told you about him." He reminded her.

"Yes, but, I'm going to be meeting him soon. I want the full details!" 

Nolan rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, what more do you want to know?"

She tapped her chin and hummed. "Let's see. . . You've already told me how you met. . . How you told each other how you feel. . . What was he like before?" She settled.

Before Nolan and Steve became friends, he was informed on who Steve Harrington was at Hawkins High. Nancy, Steve, Jonathan, and the younger boys all told him the same thing: Steve was an asshole. He was popular which went to his head, inflating his already large ego. "He wasn't the nicest person, I was told," Nolan explained, keeping his blue eyes on the highway. "Nancy told me him and his friends terrorized a lot of people at school, including Jonathan."

Morgan pulled a face. "Really? And you fell for him?"

"Well, he's not like that now. Which I know is a horrible excuse, but, I think his break up with Nancy changed him. She thinks that, too. We've talked about it."

"So he's not an asshole?"

Nolan cracked a grin. "Well, he is sometimes, but, it's pretty funny. He's really great." His lips stretched into a smile as he thought of his boyfriend.

Morgan listened and titled her head, smiling at the look on his face. "Were you scared at all? Y'know,  being with him?"

He nodded. "Of course. I think I always knew there was something different about me. I mean, I never really looked at girls the way my friends did. I tried,  but, I just never felt the way I should've." He explained. 

She softly hummed. "That must've been really hard."  She muttered with sincerity.

"Yeah. There was sometimes that I thought I was. . . broken or something. I didn't feel normal." He continued with a small frown. "But it was different with Steve. I tried to ignore it but it got to the point where I couldn't avoid it anymore. All I kept thinking was this is either going to break my heart or being it back to life."

Morgan awed. "That's great, Nols. I'm really happy for you."

Nolan looked at her and smiled. "Thanks." He uttered sheepishly.

"Must be nice." She sighed and leaned her head on the palm of her hand.

"You'll get there. I promise." He took one of his hands off the steering wheel and nudged her arm. "Maybe while you're here, you'll meet a cute girl." He smirked.

She scoffed. "Yeah, that'll be the day." She smiled at him nonetheless and he smiled back.