collectionofcherries - Tumblr blog

collectionofcherries · 2 years

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Time-zone Reblog my dudes.

Develop.

Warning, don't yell at me: I was brought up with polaroid cameras so I've never really used a Dark Room. I did my best with some Googling around to get it accurate but please excuse any inaccuracies. Thank you to parallax photographic coop and invaluable for having simple guides that I've based this off of.

Synopsis: Jonathan helping out the NB!reader with developing photos as he develops a crush.

Pronouns: Gender Neutral/Nonbinary. No mention of pronouns nor bodily anatomy.

Warning: Fluff, crushing, some flaffing about, inaccuracies to camera lovers shield your eyes, Me thinking I'm funny.

Word Count: 4,840 ---

"Okay, film strip." You mutter to yourself as you try for what feelings like the 80th time. "Firmly in the slide." You nod. "Resin paper." You say as you adjust it for the millionth time but maybe this time a nudge to the left is what it needs. "Turn on the enlarger." You say taking a deep breath and flipping the switch only to be rewarded with nothing! "Kill me." You mutter as you remove your film strip to see it's ruined...again. It's now blown out and useless. "What am I doing wrong?" You whined.

As if it wasn't enough to feel like an idiot, the Darkroom door opens and closes and now you're an idiot with an audience. You look over and at least your audience is cute, he gives you a tight smile and you sent a polite one back with a nod of acknowledgement before looking back to the few strips of film you've got left. You hope maybe he's going to use the enlarger so you can figure out what you're doing wrong but as you peak over at him you don't know what he's doing but it doesn't seem to have any relation to what you need to get done and you can't help but to let out a defeated sigh. The noise catches his attention and he looks over at you to see if there's some kind of problem and he's left a little confused when you practically flinch and snap your head in the other direction away from him.

He tries to not let it get to him but he finds his eyes wandering over to you as he prepares his development mixture and stop bath to develop his negatives. He's pretty sure you're new or at least new to the Darkroom cause he's never seen you around and he practically lives in here during school hours. Jonathan really feels like you can get a feel of someone by seeing what kind of camera they shoot on and what they capture so he tries to peak around to find any clues as to what you use and he finds a clue but it only leads to more questions. A film canister that looks like it's been sawed open and your film is just laying on the counter and not in anything protective...oh, you're new in more ways than one. He knows what it's like to feel watched and how much it sucks so he tries to at least make himself look busy but he watches as you try enlarge your film and he sees your shoulders sag to the ground in defeat. Nervousness swells in his throat over the idea of talking to someone new but he does know about film and it's clear that you don't. "You need a hand?" He timidly offers.

You're both relieved to have help and incredibly embarrassed that it's that obvious you have no idea what you're doing. "That clear huh?" You try to joke looking over at him.

He shrugs a little. "Little." He admits with a small cringe.

"Yeah, I'd love a hand...I'm used to polaroid and this is not that." You explain.

He nods and puts whatever he's mixing down and comes over. "So, you're just trying to enlarge your photos?" He checks and you nod. "Maybe it's the focus, it can be a pain." He comforts.

And it's nice he's not out right calling you an idiot. "I didn't know I needed to focus...I wrote down what the dude at the CVS told me." You tell him going into your pocket to take out the notes you'd jotted down just to double check, not that you haven't been staring at this piece of paper for what feels like eternity.

"They don't always give the best advice cause they want you to pay them money to do it for you." He said shaking his head.

"Didn't think of that." You admit. "I'm so used to just taking the photo and then having it." You sigh, God why did your camera have to break?

"It takes some practice but the results are way better." He say quietly as he lets his prejudge slip and he almost freezes up as he realizes he has. He knows people can get so defensive about shooting preference and he really doesn't want to get off on the wrong foot with you. "Not that polaroid's aren't good." He quickly tacks on with an uneasy breath.

You're not bothered though, you don't know enough about film to be bothered so you just nod along so you don't make an ass out of yourself. "Your films already in there and lined up?" He checks and you again nod.

He presses the button to start it and you hope against all hope that a photo will come out but again nothing and you sigh as disappointment finds a new home in your gut, not even a cute guy can fix your problems. "Maybe I'm just cursed." You concede.

"No, it's gotta be something else..." His voice dies off as he takes your film out to inspect it to see it's entirely blown out and realization hits him about just how new to this you are. Oh...how does he say this? He looks over at you and you really do look nice enough, friendly, good looking and at that his nerves swell up his throat so hard that he has to clear it before he can speak. "Found the problem." He barely admits.

And your eyes light up, if he's found the problem maybe he can fix it and you can leave here with at least one photo, maybe a cute guy can fix your problems. "Yeah?" You encourage for him to continue.

He lifts your film between his two fingers and fidgets with them. "It's not developed." He tells you.

And you feel like a dear caught in the headlights cause..."Isn't that what I'm doing?"

He swallows down the small chuckle that threatens to bubble up and out of his mouth and chews on his lip before shaking his head. "No." Is the nicest way he can put it.

And you try to take that in and he can see the clear disappointment and turmoil on your face. "So, I've just been burning film?" It's more of a realization than it is a question.

He cringes and gives you a nod. "I-I can show you how to develop your negatives." He offers nodding as he talks almost like he's confirming his words to himself. Which is exactly what he's doing.

"I don't want to be a bother." Yes you do, you wanna bother him so bad but shy reflexes kick themselves into gear before you can stop them.

"I wouldn't offer if it was a bother." He lets you know, giving a shake of his head.

It's nice to know that not everyone at this school was a rude tool and it's almost a relief that someone has finally been nice to you, you can't help but to smile. And it earns you a small shy smile back. "Thank you." You remember to say.

He nods a little and for a moment he just stands there as something akin to stage fright takes a hold of him and he bites the corner of his lip as he fidgets with your film in his hand. Right, film. He knows film, he can do this. "Do you have another canister you wanna develop?" He asks as he goes over to inspect the strips that're laying on the counter.

"That's it." You timidly admit.

He looks at the film and it doesn't look promising and a small pit forms in his stomach at it. "We'll try and make this work, they might not come out perfect but..." He shrugs. "Who needs perfect?" He tries to smooth over.

"At this point I'll take anything." You admit and he nods. "Plus I can always go the pained art kid way and just call it my style and tell anyone who questions it that they simply don't have an artistic gaze." You jokingly pitch.

It earns you a breathy chuckle and he nods. "Pretentious route. Should work." He agrees. "Since it's only two strips I'm going to put it in with mine." He explained going back over to his supplies. "Also...uh...did you have a hard time with the cassette opener?" He asks as he grabs it.

"No I didn't." You say which confuses him as he glances over at your mangled canister. "Cause I didn't use it so can't have a problem with it if I didn't use it." You try to cover your embarrassment with a joke.

He doesn't laugh but he nods and luckily doesn't look too horrified. Jonathan is used to working close to his body, keeping himself tiny and out of sight so he has to remind himself to not come in on himself so you can actually see what he's doing so next time you don't have to gnaw your canister open. It's a pretty simple, you hook it on and then pop it off. "Huh." Makes it way out of you cause good God was that ever easier than going at with the now ruined pair of scissors you'd hidden away.

"Easy, you'll get the hang of it in no time." He encourages to try and keep your spirits up and that sweetness isn't lost on you, it makes you blush and you find yourself very thankful to be in an entirely red room. He looks around and you can see the confusion in his features. "Did you see the scissors?"

Oh fuck. Now your face is really red, probably as red as this room. "They died." You settled on and his confusion furthers as his mouth opens to ask a question but he's at a loss for words. "Sacrificed, honourable death really." You joke uncomfortable as you gesture to your canister.

He holds back another laugh by biting the inside of his cheek and nodding and while he thinks he's sparing you embarrassment you're left worried you've annoyed him, you can't tell if his sharp exhale is one of amusement or a sigh. It doesn't get much clearer to you as he moves past you to grab a spare pair that he knows is in the drawer and he once again finds himself going onto auto-pilot as he pulls out his film and cuts it free from the cassette and begins to load it into a reel. "What're you doing now?"

Your voice comes out tiny and shy, you don't want to over step but you do want to learn. "Right, sorry." Comes out of Jonathan just as shy, it's all second nature to him now so he forgets that it isn't like that for everyone. "This is a reel, you find the slit and put the film into it and twist to get it all in there." He explains gesturing as he goes.

"Maybe I could try to do that? Help out instead of just standing around?" You pitch. You really do wanna learn and you do want to let him know that you're not a disaster of a human being.

"Y-yeah, sure, of course." He nods offering it out to you and you gently take it, worried of possibly messing up or breaking anything else. "Just back and forth." He says and you do what he says and sure enough the film continues to wind into it and you feel ecstatic that something it finally going right! You can't help but to look at him excitedly and your excitement is contagious even to someone as boxed up as Jonathan can be. "You're a natural."

You know it's just a joke but it doesn't stop butterflies from fluttering around your chest. "I'm also a natural at the triangle too if you can believe that." You say jokingly confident.

It earns you a grin. "Multitalented." He agreed with a breathy chuckle. And the way your tongue peaks out between your teeth in glee sends the butterflies from your chest straight into his and he's overwhelmed with the need to make himself busy but in the same moment he knows he can't come in on himself cause he's trying to teach you something. The confliction leads to some jerky movements as he grabs the film tank. "Now that you're done with winding, you place it in this." He forced himself to explain even though his throat felt tight.

"Shouldn't I wind up my film with yours?" It almost sounds like a euphemism.

"Because it's already in strips we're gonna place it on the outside of the reel." He explained placing your strips into it to show what he meant. "Go ahead, place it right there"

Easy for him to say. You look at the reel in your hand and then at what he's holding and you pray that you can get this right. There's a hole in the middle of the reel and that's got a pole so you gingerly place it there and watch his face as you do and he nods a little when he spots your apprehension. Finally, something in photography that made sense. When you move your hands away he closes it up with a top. "I already mixed it but this is developer, it's just that bottle and some water...the standard is a fifty fifty mix." He gestures as he explains which is helpful. "You generally want it around this temperature, it's okay if it's a little hotter." He shrugs.

You step closer to him so you can place your hands to the jar the concoction is in to try and understand what temperature he's talking about and he can't help but to stare when you get close. Taking in your features, the angle of your nose, the shape of your eyes, the corners of your mouth but more importantly the way you emote. Jonathan likes to capture people in a moment, a moment where they are themselves without pretending, he likes to capture the way they express and he can't help but to think you'd be a good subject to photograph. If it wouldn't ruin all the film in this room he'd be tempted to try and get a photo of you developing your first photo because everything about your actions is so authentic, it's honest. "Got it, like the temperature of water that's been out all night." You decide.

He lets out an amused and startled breath as he's taken out from his thoughts and nods a little. "Yeah, sure." He settles on quickly. "You generally never want it to get warmer than body temperature." He sums up. "And uh--yeah you fill the container and then pop the lid on." He explains moving back from your hold and doing so, popping on the lid. "And then you shake it for 30 seconds every minute or so for a couple minutes."

And for a very awkward minute the only sound in the room in the sloshing sound of the mixture in the film tank. Nerves eat at you both as you both scramble for something to talk about but every idea that comes to mind seems to have trouble leaving your mouth. "So what kind of stuff do you take pictures--?" "--What got you into film instead of polaroi--?" Leaves your mouth and his at the same time.

It's enough to cut the tension and make you both laugh and he gestures with forward with his hand towards you for you to go first. "An accident. My polaroid finally gave out after years of abuse and my mom doesn't really know a whole lot about the difference between cameras so she just bought me what she was told was really good so...now I'm into film instead." You sum up gesturing as you talk so your nerves have somewhere else to go besides your brain.

He nods along as you talk, eyes darting from you to the film tank and he sees you copy his previous gesture to let him know it's his turn to answer your question. "I uh--" God, how does he not make this sound off putting to a nice new person? "Live study." That's a word for it, sure.

"Like animals?"

He sighs a little, guess that's also a word for photographing animals. "People."

"Like portraits." You say with some confidence at your correct verbiage.

"Not really." He admits looking at the film tank. "I um--I don't really do stagnant or stoic kind of pictures of people. I like to capture a moment or an emotion."

He's thankful he's got the tank to shake to keep his hands busy, it gives him something to fidget with to work out his nerves. "That's really cool." And it's a little startling to see him suddenly entirely stop fidgeting and staring at the floor to look at you but he's been really nice to you so you offer him the same smile he's been giving you to reassure you throughout this process. "I take photos of like still life so I know what I'm capturing all the time, it's fixed in place and I can mess around with it but you see something and capture it in it's own organic and beautiful way and that's really cool." He's given you a lot of comfort and confidence throughout this whole film ordeal so you want to offer that back.

Your offer is incredibly accepted as unbeknownst to you Jonathan's face turns red at the praise and he's left speechless in the nicest way possible, all he can do is smile. He thinks about brushing off all the compliments but every time he opens his mouth too a breathless flustered chuckle comes out. "Thanks." He settles on.

It's pretty cute to watch unfold and you have to hold back you own laugher as his bashfulness. "It also takes a lot of talent to do, I tried to capture my mom laughing and it just looked like a demon was being exorcised." You laugh.

He does too. "That happens." He chuckles out as he nods.

As the laughter dies down the room is once again quiet but not so uncomfortably. "Is there anything I can do to help?" You offer.

"Uh, sure, here." He says offering you the film tank which you take. "I'll get the stop bath, fixer and bath ready." He says as he grabs a few things from the shelves. Oh that seems like a lot of things. You nervously shake the film tank and try to get your brain focused off the cute boy and onto taking in what he's going to tell you. "You can go ahead and drain out the film tank into the sink." He tells you.

You cautiously make your way over to the sink and fiddle with the cap you'd seen him put on but you're apprehensive to take it off because if that's wrong you could ruin not just your film but more importantly his film. You look over at him unsure. "Take the cap off?" You check. Better to sound potentially stupid than to be a potential saboteur.

He nods at you and you're reassured enough to take it off and carefully pour the liquid down the sink. "Great, hold it up." He instructs and you do what he says, he comes over and pours something into it and he's getting a little better at remembering you don't know as much as he does. "This is a stop bath, sounds like what it is. Stops the film from over developing."

You nod along, that does make sense cause you've gotta stop something at some point. "Right." You agree easily to let him know you're listening.

He puts the cap back on. "You just give it a shake and then dump it."

"That fast?" You ask as you shake and he nods.

"The developing solution is the longest part. Everything else is pretty quick." He says as he gestures towards the sink.

You take the que and dump out that mixture with a little more confidence than the first time and turn back towards him to wait for more instructions cause so far it feels like you've got a handle of what's going on so you're ready for what's next, it's exciting! Just like before your excitement is contagious and Jonathan catches himself once again staring at you and smiling. "What's next?" You ask.

"Fixer." He says as he focuses back on the task at hand. He grabs the chemical solution and pours it into the top of the film tank in your hands. "It stabilizes the film so you can expose it to light without ruining it." He sums up, he doesn't want to overwhelm you with information and he doesn't want to chance talking too much and making a fool out of himself.

"And lemme guess...I shake it?" You ask as he pops the cap back on.

"Like I said, a natural." He jokes.

You smile as you start to shake it. "Another pump and dump?" You joke. A bark of a laugh makes it way out of him before he covers his mouth but it doesn't do much to stop his snickering. The tip of your tongue finds it's way out between your teeth as you beam with glee. "Or wine and dine?"

"Somewhere in the middle, 3 minutes." He says around his hand.

"Oh okay, so like a movie date." You continue to joke.

"Sure." He gives in with a chuckle, letting his hand fall and nodding along. "So, while you movie date the film tank I'm gonna make a the final bath." He tells you.

"Sounds like a horror film. The final bath, coming this summer." You say in your best announcer voice.

It's so dorky, it's so stupid but he lets out a small laugh and shakes his head as he prepares the bath and as he gets into his rhythm he mentally reminds himself to explain what he's doing. "This is going to help our film dry." He explains.

And he's lost you. "The-..." You pause looking at him filling up a plastic container and nothing gets clearer. "The wet solution is going to dry the film?" That wasn't a joke but it sounds like one.

He knows it does sound a little odd but he nods at you. "It's a little complicated but the easiest way to explain it is it goes on and then once it dries it helps with no water streaks or droplets." He tries to simplify.

You'll just remember the step, even if you don't fully understand why it's there you'll just remember to do it. "Got it." You lie.

The look on your face gives you away but he nods anyway. "Go ahead and..." He pauses shaking his head a little as an amused breath comes out. "Dump the liquid." You laugh a little and do as he says. "Open the film tank, we're gonna rinse the film in cold water."

You remember how he closed it so you're hoping it opens the same way and thank God it does. No more gnawing open film equipment for you. "I can touch it without ruining it?" You check before putting your hand into anything.

"Yours are gonna need some extra care since they aren't in the reel but I can get those and you can just run the cold water through the reel." He says coming over.

He's careful to not touch the actual photographs and just the edges of your film as he takes them and heads over to a sink to rinse them off. It's not too hard for him to do and he's curious as to what still life you capture and he thinks it's nice. It's tiny and a little degraded but what he can make out he likes, he never really takes the time to stop and look around at mushrooms or trees. There's just something about that that resonates around his chest, something about finding the little moments in simple things that endears you to him even more. He finishes up with your film and places it in the wet bath solution and all his movement goes unnoticed by you because you're so focused on just doing your best to rinse his film, you want to do such a good job that you're zeroed in on it and nothing else. That is until he gently taps your shoulder, that startles you out of zoned in focus. "Hey." He gently says. "You did great." He can't possibly know that but he wants to make up for startling you. "Shake out the water and put it into the bath." You've gotten pretty good at shaking this film by now, you do that and then as gently as you can place it into the bath where your film also is. "Usually there's more baths already set up but sometimes people are just forgetful and don't refill once they empty." He lets you know with a sigh and roll of his eyes.

"Right, dark room courtesy, I'll have to learn that too." You make a mental note.

"It's not too complicated." He tells you and you know he's trying to be nice but just the idea of someone else in the room makes your stomach churn, what if it was someone who wasn't nearly as nice? "Plus I'm in here all the time so I've your back." He tells you ducking his head a little to try and catch your eyes that were unsurely staring at the floor. It works cause that really is a reassuring comfort that he'll likely be here the next time you are. "Okay?" He asks softly with a nod.

And just like that the churning in your stomach turns to butterflies. "Okay." You agree with a nod and smile.

He smiles back, he's just as thrilled as you are to have a friend in the dark room and he once again finds himself staring and he knows he's going to have to do something about that before that becomes a habit. The only thing he can do right now to break his gaze is work on film. Right the film he nods to himself, he turns to the plastic container and takes out the reel. "Last step, take it out, cut it up and hang it to dry." He explains as he makes sure to hold the reel away from his body so you can see how to open it.

"Well, looks like I'm ahead of you in that department." You joke as you grab your cut up film.

He chuckles a little and nods. "Look at you go." He jokes back.

You go over and you can see from looking around that the film is clipped from the top and bottom with clothes pins so you give it your best guess and follow suit. By the time you finish Jonathan is already hanging up his film and you can't help but to notice just how much faster he is at it. "So after this we can enlarge them?"

"Yeah, once they dry then we can enlarge them." He nods as he works.

"Rad, how long does it take to dry?" You ask enthused to finally get to why you came here in the first place.

"8 to 12 hours."

"Oh." You sigh with a nod but you try to stop yourself from getting into a funk over it. "I'll see you tomorrow then right?" You ask.

If you see him tomorrow it wouldn't be so bad, it'd actually be great to see him two days in a row, like having a little ray of sunlight in your school day. Jonathan is more thankful than ever that he's got something to do with his hands because he's ecstatic and that really shows when he's got nothing to fidget with. "For sure." He gets out with a nod. The bell rings to sound that lunch is over but you decide to stick behind with him. "Don't you have to get to class?" He asks.

"I'm new, I've got the excuse of getting lost." You shrug with a smile. "Plus you can use the excuse of helping the new kid too so no rush." You add.

He lets out an amused breath and nods. Even with the excuse in pocket he's still quick to finish up and you follow his lead by quickly ducking out of the dark room. "See you tomorrow." He says looking at you and taking a step backwards towards his next class.

"See you tomorrow..." And you realize. "I never got your name." You muse.

He's also hit with the same realization. "Oh, right, uh, Jonathan." He says gesturing to himself.

"Y/N." You let him know. He nods silently repeating the name to himself. "See you tomorrow Jonathan." You say again with a small laugh.

"See you tomorrow Y/N."

--- ~Admin Coral🍒 Buy Me A Coffee?

#stranger things #stranger things imagine #jonathan byers #jonathan byers imagine #jonathan byers x reader #stranger things x reader #nonbinary reader #NB!reader #gender neutral reader #GN!reader #stranger things scenario #jonathan byers scenario #jonathan byers fluff #fluff #x reader #reader insert #Not proof read cause I've had an edible #admin Coral

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collectionofcherries · 2 years

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I saw you ask for stranger things requests and i am here to deliver ~~~ I'm literally in love with jonathan byers so could I get an imagine with him and a nb!reader who he has a massive crush on but he's too shy to say it, basically just how that looks. I'm a sucker for shy jonathan <3

So, I've always played around with this idea of meeting Jonathan in the Dark Room at the school and getting his help there. I really hope it is fluffy enough for you and what you're looking for!

Link to fic here.

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