Based off Season 1 Episode 8... Everyone was working so hard to get Will back and home, that no one noticed that Johnathon had ingested the demogorgon's saliva, making him sick. No one noticed until Steve went to check in on Johnathon, when Nancy had expressed not having seen or heard from him all week. Please enjoy!

—————————————————————————————————————————--------------------Steve came walking up to the front of the Byer's house, remembering not too long ago being there fighting the weird monster that came after Nancy and Johnathon. He felt stupid showing up there again after everything, but figured it was the least he could do after going through hell with the guy, even if he was worried the guy was trying to steal his girl. He raised his hand to knock, then turned to walk away from the door before his conscience got the better of him.

He made it as far as his car, before looking back at the house in worry. "Damnit Steve, just make sure the guy is okay, then you can go back to kissing Nancy! Make her forget the perv." He berated himself for not being willing to leave without checking on the guy. He walked back up to the front door in annoyance, looking at the door for a long moment, before knocking with purpose.

"Johnathon, come on man, open up! It's Steve, Steve Harrington!" He yelled through the locked door.

When there was no answer, Steve started to worry more. He rapped on the door hard enough to split his knuckles open, and still there was no answer. He rapped again, ignoring the blood that flowed from his knuckles, as he tried to get an answer of some sort. Still there was no answer, and he remembered the back door was more glass than not. So he ran around to the back door, finding it unlocked and ran into the house.

"Johnathon!!!! Where are you??!!!" He yelled, flying down the hall in his rush as he tried to finding the missing Byers teen. "Byers!!!!" He yelled, as he charged into Johnathon's room still not finding him.

"Stop yelling, Harrington..." Johnathon said hoarsely, walking into his room, looking like he had gone multiple rounds with the demogorgon alone.

"Johnathon, what the hell, man?! Are you okay?" Steve gasped, taking in his appearance.

The eldest Byers was pale, shaking, leaning against the door-jam like he had no strength, one hand was shielding his eyes, and the other was pressing tightly to his stomach. "I'm fine, just feel pretty crappy." He said with a shrug, not moving from where he was standing.

"You look like it." Steve commented, putting his hands on his hips, before realizing he looked ridiculous and crossed his arms over his chest instead.

Johnathon rolled his eyes, closing them for a moment afterwards when the whole room spun out of focus. When he didn't say anything or move for more than a minute, he felt Steve's warm hands on his arm, pulling his arm across his shoulders, and wrapped his other arm around the the eldest Byers too thin waist.

"Wha?" Was all Johnathon could think to ask in a panic, clinging to Steve in order to stay upright in his panic.

"Keep your eyes closed, I got ya." Steve said in a calm voice, guiding Johnathon to his bed, and helping him sit down. "Easy, easy." He said, as Johnathon almost fell off the bed.

"Whoa..." Johnathon mumbles weakly, as he lay backwards, not even bothering to figure out if he was going to end up staying on the bed or not.

"You okay there?" Steve asked, not commenting on the fever he had felt when he touched the eldest Byers.

"Y...yeah, just dizzy." Johnathon whispered, covering his eyes with one of his hands to hide from the dull light coming in from the curtained window.

"Headache, dizziness, fever, and weakness... Anything I'm missing?" Steve asked, looking around the room curiously. He hadn't really gotten a good look around the last time he was there. "Johnathon?" He asked, turning to look back at the teen on the bed in concern, when there was no answer. He moved closer to the teen, worried that something may be wrong.

Johnathon felt Steve close to him, drawing his attention away from the dizziness and looked at him through squinty eyes. "What do you want, Harrington?" He asked in confusion, looking around as he tried to comprehend what was happening.

"Nancy sent me to check on you," Steve said after a moment of thought, meeting Johnathon's gaze.

"Ah, so you're here to score brownie points with Nancy. What did she do, threaten no more sex until you checked on me?" Johnathon asked, his tone sounding more and more annoyed as he spoke.

"Well, no. She just said it had been a little over week, and we thought maybe you were hanging out with Will, but Mike said he was at the arcade and hadn't seen you in days." Steve explained, his voice making it clear that he was being honest.

"Well here I am, and alive. So you can go." Johnathon said, covering his eyes again, as he tried to ignore the other teen in the room. "What?" He demanded wearily, when he didn't hear Steve leave or move at all.

"Do you... uh... need anything?" Steve asked, sounding uncomfortable and out of his element.

"Yeah, leave." Johnathon snapped, going still to stop the dizziness that was still assaulting him, even with his eyes closed.

"The dizziness might be because you're dehydrated." Steve pointed out, leaving the room and making noise in the kitchen, then walked back in with a glass of cool water.

"What the hell?" Johnathon demanded, sounding tired and annoyed, as he peeked out at Steve to see the teen was offering him the glass. He was tempted to knock the glass out of Steve's hand, but didn't feel like being a complete asshole. "Thanks," he mumbled, waving his free hand towards the nightstand beside his bed.

"You need to drink some of it, smart ass." Steve said, not moving from where he stood holding the glass out to sick teen.

"No thanks," Johnathon said, covering his eyes again, swallowing a couple times past his parched throat.

"Just a few sips," Steve persisted, getting annoyed with the eldest Byers.

"Don't want a mess." Johnathon said, lifting his free hand to show that it was shaking like a leaf in a storm.

"I'll help you then," Steve pushed, knowing he could out stubborn anyone, especially if it was someone he actually enjoyed picking on. Well, teasing not picking on, but either way, he liked egging Johnathon on.

"No thanks, I'm not broken. Just sick and tired." Johnathon snapped, lifting the hand over his eyes to glare at the younger teen.

Steve sighed, sitting down gingerly on Johnathon's bed to help him sit up. "Just a few sips and I will drop the subject." He insisted, putting his arm under the eldest Byers' neck and moved him upright at a slow pace.

Johnathon groaned, covering his eyes again, pursing his lips to avoid getting any of the water in his mouth.

"I can out stubborn anyone, Johnathon. So instead of being difficult, would you just drink some of the water so I can tell Nancy that you aren't dehydrated?" Steve asked, sounding like this whole thing was getting old.

Johnathon moaned, as the dizziness had only increased since being forced upright. "N...no..." he slurred, turning away to cough a few times and not wanting to cough on Steve's face.

"Dude, you're fever is too high for comfort (even if I don't know what number it is), and you need to rehydrate so you can break this fever." Steve said, all annoyance in his tone was gone, as he realized something else must be wrong with the older teen. Something Johnathon didn't want him or Nancy to know about.

Johnathon rested his head back against Steve's shoulder, too tired to fight the weakness coursing through his limbs. "If I drink anything, or eat..." He stopped talking to swallow past the lump in his throat. "I'll puke. Already have multiple times." He finished, going almost limp in Steve's arm.

"Crap! Okay, if you do, I'll clean it up. You need to drink something," Steve said with a strong sense of urgency in his tone. He brushed Johnathon's shaggy hair away from his face, trying to get a better look at the pale young man's face. It had taken on a pale grey pallor, telling the popular boy that he may not get the water in Johnathon, before the poor teen got sick again. "Please, just a couple sips." He begged, lifting the glass' rim to the sick teen's lips, tipping it just enough for the cool water to touch the lips.

Johnathon whimpered, but didn't fight anymore, parting his lips enough to allow a little bit of the water to flow past his lips and onto his tongue. He swallowed the tiny bit, wincing as if it hurt to swallow, before letting a bit more pass his lips and down his throat.

He coughed suddenly, gagging the water back up into the glass before he or Steve could react. He forced himself forward, gagging again and bringing up bile onto the floor of his room.

"Damnit! You're okay, get it up, then we can try again later." Steve said in concern, rubbing Johnathon's back as the teen gagged up more bile and spit. He was so beyond worried now that the sick teen was so sick, but he wasn't going to show it.

"S...so...sorry," Johnathon murmured, sinking down until his head found Steve's leg. He curled up in a tight ball, faintly worried that Steve might shove him off and he'd fall.

Steve brushed his fingertips through Johnathon's sweaty longer hair, using his other hand to pull him closer and less towards the edge of the bed. "Just rest, I'm not going anywhere." He promised, sitting as still as possible to avoid making the sick teen dizzy again.

"You don't have to..." Johnathon offered in a soft and raspy voice, not wanting Steve to feel pressured into staying with him.

"I want to," Steve said in an equally soft voice.

He kept brushing his fingers through Johnathon's hair, long after the sick teen fell asleep and he had lost all feeling in his legs. He found though, that he didn't mind the numbness, if it allowed Johnathon to sleep comfortably.

It wasn't until it was becoming dark outside and Joyce and Will got home, that he really noticed how long it had been. He put his finger to his lips when they came down the hall laughing and talking rather loudly.

"Oh, Steve, what are you doing here?" Will asked in a soft voice, taking in his brother being asleep with his head in the popular boy's lap.

"He was sick, I came to check on him, and we ended up like this after I tried to get him to drink some water and it made him throw up." Steve explained, blushing at the fact that he had been caught basically cuddling with the eldest Byers boy.

"Thank you for coming, Steve. Do you want me to help move him so you can get up?" Joyce offered, in her usual sweet motherly way.

Steve shook his head, then nodded. "Can you just help me move him, so I can lean back against the wall? My back is getting really stiff." He admitted, looking a bit sheepish at the idea of needing help to move the sick teen, but he was really sore now.

"Of course, you don't have to stay if you don't want to." Joyce offered, knowing he probably had better things to do than keep her sick son company.

"Oh, I don't mind. I would rather be here to make sure he is okay, then leave and be worried about him all night." Steve admitted, not realizing until after he said it, that he actually did care what happened to Johnathon, way more than he had originally thought.

"Okay, no problem, honey. Let's get him up, then you can move and he can sleep the same way... if he wants." Joyce said with an understanding smile, as she and Will helped move him up so the star basketball player could move and get feeling back in his legs and back.

Steve moved stiffly, up to the wall by the top of the bed. He nodded to them, signaling he was ready for the sleeping boy to be put back against him, and motioned to between his legs. He had his legs spread open so that there was an easy place to lay him, so Johnathon's head could rest on his thigh. With Joyce's help, he got the blanket over them both, and went back to brushing the sick boy's hair with his fingertips.

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Joyce and Will slipped out of the room, leaving the teens to themselves. Steve stayed there all night, relieved when Johnathon's fever broke early that morning, allowing both teen boys to sleep soundly until late in the morning. 

I know this is weird for me, I never post this often. Lol. I hope you enjoyed this story. As always: vote, comment, and request away. Love you all! <3