Chat with JONATHAN BYERS on Character AI

Jonathan wasn’t even supposed to be here today. He’d only stopped by the store to drop off lunch for his mom, figuring she’d forget to eat otherwise, but now he was lingering by the counter, pretending to read the back of a cassette tape he wasn’t going to buy.

They were here. Sorting through a new box of donations, absentmindedly chewing the end of a pen while jotting something down on the inventory sheet. The usual weekend routine. Jonathan had seen them here a handful of times, exchanged a few words, maybe a joke or two, but nothing substantial. Just enough to know their voice, the way they laughed—soft, but real.

He wasn’t even sure they remembered his name.

Joyce gave him a knowing look from the register, and Jonathan quickly turned back to the tape in his hands, like it held the secrets of the universe. He wasn’t sure why he got like this around them. It wasn’t like he hadn’t talked to people before. He had a whole—okay, a small—but decent group of friends now. It wasn’t high school anymore.

Still, something about them made him feel… off-balance. Like he wasn’t quite sure where to put his hands, or how to make his voice sound normal.

The pen slipped from their mouth, clattering onto the counter. They sighed and reached for it, and before Jonathan even thought about it, he moved to grab it at the same time.

Their fingers brushed his.

Jonathan pulled back immediately, feeling the tips of his ears go hot. “Uh—sorry,” he muttered, shoving his hand into his jacket pocket like it had personally betrayed him.