After they finished eating, the kids dragged Steve over to the couch and forced him to sit down.
They quickly agreed on having a Star Wars marathon -- too quickly, Steve thought. They usually spent several minutes debating things like this, the way they had before when they'd decided to play monopoly.
Eleven put the video in and then sat on the armchair with Mike.
Dustin sat next to Steve on the couch and Will sat next to him.
And Lucas and Max sat together on the floor.
They sat quietly for half the movie, the only sounds from the group being the occasional cough or sniffle from Steve, who was leaning heavily on the arm of the couch.
Max kept handing him the lozenges she'd taken from his glove compartment earlier, earning a few grateful, if tired, smiles from the teen.
He was finding it more and more difficult to hide how shitty he was feeling, especially when all he wanted to do was go to sleep, but he didn't want the kids to worry about him. ...At least, not any more than they already were.
He started to doze off, despite his best efforts to stay awake, but was quickly jolted back awake by a particularly congested sounding sneeze which he stifled into his wrist, followed by a quiet groan and a horse, "Shit."
El nudged Mike with her elbow and nodded in Steve's direction, as if to say "I told you so."
Mike sighed. He knew she was right -- there was no denying the teenager's illness any longer. He looked like shit, and he sounded even worse.
Mike picked up the box of tissues sitting on the side-table next to the armchair he and El were sharing and looked over at the miserable looking babysitter.
"Hey Steve," he said, and Steve looked at him with raised eyebrows, "Heads up."
Mike tossed the box to Steve, who caught it with ease -- even sick as a dog, his athletic instincts took over -- and he gave Mike a tired smile, "Thanks, Wheeler."
Mike nodded in response before turning back to the TV.
They sat quietly again for the rest of the movie, Steve finally falling asleep near the end of it, snoring quietly. The kids all exchanged smiles, their plan had worked.
Dustin and Will got off the couch, and worked together to get Steve's legs onto the couch so that he wouldn't fall off of it in his sleep.
The teenager stretched a little and knocked the box of tissues that Mike had given him off of the couch, but he didn't wake up, and the kids gave a collective sigh of relief.
Lucas noticed that Steve was shivering a little, and grabbed a blanket off of the back of the couch, throwing it over him.
Max smiled and caught Lucas's eye. "What?" he asked, looking at her. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.
The kids sat in silence for a while after that, occasionally looking at Steve to make sure he was alright.
He woke up again half way through the second movie, and looked around at the kids. They were just sitting there, quietly watching a movie, and... did they give him a blanket while he was sleeping?
He smiled, realizing that the kids were taking care of him. It felt a little strange, like he was the one being babysat, rather than being the caretaker. But it didn't bother him as much as he would've thought.
As far as he was concerned, these kids were his family now, and the fact that they cared about him too, made him happy.
He watched the movie for a while, though having missed the first half of it -- and a fair amount of the previous one -- he had no idea what was going on. Why was science fiction so confusing?
The kids seemed to be enjoying it, though, and they were letting him rest, so he had no reason to complain.
He sniffled and grabbed the box of tissues he'd knocked onto the floor in his sleep earlier.
Mike noticed this and stood up. El gave him a confused look, but he just shook his head a little and went into the kitchen.
He returned a few minutes later later with a glass of orange juice that he handed to Steve, who gave the kid a surprised look, "Uh... Thanks."
Mike nodded a little, gave him a quiet, "Don't mention it," and sat back down next to El.
He might not be as happy about Steve being their designated babysitter as the others, but he still felt bad seeing the guy getting his ass kicked by the flu.
It didn't take long for Steve to fall back asleep, and for the kids put in the third and final movie. By now it was around nine and they were expecting Hopper home any minute.
Eleven was a little nervous as to how he might react to the teenager sleeping on the couch -- Jim was still a little apprehensive about Steve, even after he'd protected Mike, Max, Lucas, and Dustin from the demodogs and Max's stepbrother.
"It'll be okay," Mike whispered, as if he'd read her mind. She gave him a small smile and nodded.
They sat and quietly watched the movie for little while longer, when someone knocked on the door. It was the knock that let El know it was safe to open the door, and she unlocked it without getting up.
When the door opened, however, it wasn't Hopper who entered.