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Jonathan was very sick. He stayed in bed all day, barely able to get up. His mom had to take care of him like he was a child, and he felt awful about it since this was supposed to be her day off. He’d been freezing all day, wrapped under several layers of blankets, on top of a hoodie, sweatpants, and warm socks.
Joyce sat on his bed next to him, pressing her palm to his forehead. “You’re not warm,” she said, removing her hand and tucking him into the covers like he was ten. If he had to admit it, he didn’t mind the treatment, but he was ruining her Saturday.
Anyone who looked at him could tell he was sick. The fact he doesn’t have a fever didn’t change anything.
“We can set you up in front of the space heater in the living room,” Joyce suggested, brushing Jonathan’s hair out of his face. “Put on your favorite movie?”
That did sound nice. But he knew his mom hates horror movies, so he doesn’t ever watch them while she’s home. He can lie and say his new favorite movie is E.T. or something. He thinks they have that on VHS, at least.
“You want to do that?” Joyce asked, reminding Jonathan that he hasn’t responded.
He slowly sat up, trying to ignore the pain so he wouldn’t concern her. Jonathan rubbed his eyes when he fully sat up and Joyce realized she had never seen the hoodie he was wearing before.
“Let me help you up,” Joyce said, fussing over him.
Jonathan waved her off. “Mom, I’m okay,” he said, turning so his legs were hanging off the bed. He suddenly got dizzy, pausing there for a moment. “Just, give me a second.” She nodded, but put her hand on Jonathan’s. Joyce can’t help but be concerned.
He put his hands down on the bed on either side of him, pushing off to help stand up. Joyce stood up with him, afraid that he might fall and get hurt. Jonathan felt like she was overreacting, but the reason she’s made him stay in bed until now was because he did collapse and get hurt early in the morning, so it was valid for her to feel that way. She picked up a soft blanket from his bed and brought it to the couch, walking the whole way with him, not letting him get more than a few feet away. Once he sat down on the couch and got the blanket back from her, she left his side.
“I’ll be right back, honey,” she told him. “I’ll go start a pot of water for tea.” She cupped his face with her hand with a loving smile before she left for the kitchen.
Jonathan smiled tiredly. “Thanks, mom,” he said.
He tried resting his head on the back of the couch, but he was a bit too tall to rest comfortably. Jonathan knew it would be so much worse to get up later, but he needed to lie down right now, so he curled up on the couch with his head on one of the throw pillows. He heard his mom in the kitchen turning on the faucet and filling a pot part-way with water. Jonathan closed his eyes for a moment, blocking out the light coming through the windows.
He opened his eyes a moment later when he heard a knock on the door. Joyce opened the door and he saw Steve through the gap. It looked darker outside than it did when he closed his eyes– he must’ve fallen asleep, but he was looking at the flowers in Steve’s hand.
“He needs to rest,” he heard Joyce say to Steve.
Steve seemed sad and he looked down at the flowers. “Can you give him these for me?” he asked, holding out the daisies.
Jonathan didn’t want Steve to go away looking sad like that. He didn’t want him to get sick either, but the jock isn’t stupid enough to go near him when he’s clearly ill.
“Mom,” Jonathan said, his voice breaking from just waking up again. He pushed off the cushion, sitting up and wincing at the pain.
“Honey, don’t get up,” she said, leaving the door open and running over to him.
He chuckled, embarrassed. “No, mom, I’m okay,” he insisted. He didn’t need his boyfriend seeing him like this.
Steve pushed the door open slowly, giving him time to tell him to leave. He chuckled when he saw Joyce making a fuss about Jonathan– helping him sit all the way up, even though he seemed like he was doing just fine on his own, touching his forehead to check his temperature, pushing his hair behind his ears, fixing his hoodie strings– hey, wait-
“Is that my hoodie?” Steve asked, Joyce messing with the strings called his attention to it.
Jonathan looked down, as if he’d forgotten what he was wearing. “I guess,” he said. “I grabbed the closest thing to me,” he lied, not wanting to come off as needy or anything like that.
Steve gave him a toothy smile. “Here I thought it was because you wanted me with you,” he said, making Jonathan blush. “Mrs. Byers, where can I put these?” he asked, holding up the flowers.
“There’s a vase on the kitchen counter that you can put them in with some water,” she said, not looking away from her son.
Jonathan took her hand and gave her a look that she seemed to understand. Joyce turned and looked at Steve, unsure, and back at him. “I’ll be fine without you for two minutes, I promise,” he said.
Joyce nodded and quietly added, “Okay.” She got up and walked over to Steve. “I’ll put them up,” she said, taking the flowers from him and leaving for the kitchen.
Steve watched her leave the room before looking back at Jonathan. “Hey,” he said with a soft smile, walking over.
“I don’t want to get you sick,” Jonathan told him.
“I’ll live.” Steve brushed it off and sat next to him on the couch, putting his hand on top of Jonathan’s. He kissed him on the cheek and sat close. He looked around the room, cuddling with Jonathan, and noticed a VHS tape for The Evil Dead on the table. “Were you going to watch a movie?” Steve asked.
He nodded. Clearly about to fall asleep again. “My mom doesn’t like horror movies,” he said, still feeling guilty that she wants to watch it for him.
Steve looked at the tape, and then to the kitchen where Joyce still was. “I do,” he said.
“You’re going to get sick,” Jonathan told him.
“It’ll be worth it,” Steve said, kissing him on the lips. Jonathan smiled against his mouth, breaking the kiss and resting his head on Steve’s shoulder. “Do you want to lie down?” he asked and Jonathan nodded. “I’ll go put the movie in.”
While Steve started the movie, Jonathan laid back down in his previous position and lifted his head when Steve came back, letting him sit there to use as a pillow. Steve ran his hand through Jonathan’s hair while they watched the movie. A few minutes in, Joyce came back into the room with two mugs of tea.
“If you two need anything, anything at all, call me,” she said, setting the mugs down.
She clearly didn’t want to leave her son for a long period of time, but Steve was glad she trusted him. “Thank you, Mrs. Byers,” he said.
Joyce nodded and looked at Jonathan one more time before going to her bedroom, leaving the door open so she could hear them if anything was wrong.