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Steve Harrington was the babysitter. He had, more or less, accepted this. He looked after the younger members and let them hang out around his house. He didn't mind too much since it gave him something to do and made the house feel less... haunted. The kids were loud and messy, but they made the place feel more like a home than it even had during his own childhood.
As much as Steve complained about 'always being the babysitter' he never felt any real animosity towards the title. The kids were all old enough to take care of themselves - he just provided food, shelter and occasional rides.
But then, he got promoted to 'Mom'.
Why? How? He had no fucking clue. Except he did remember - quite clearly - the first time the kids brought it up.
It had been a normal day up until then. It was a Saturday and the kids wanted to have a sleepover. So, after work, Steve dropped off Robin at his house and then went to pick the others up. Dustin took forever to come out when Steve got to his place, while Max was already waiting outside the trailer with her Walkman when Steve got to her. Erica and Lucas were arguing as they got into the car, and Steve tuned them all out as he drove a few houses down to the Wheelers.
His mind was preoccupied with what he should make for dinner. There was an abundance of snacks at the house that Robin was already setting up, but they should probably have something more filling. As Steve was considering ordering pizza, he heard Mike get into the car and throw his backpack into the trunk where Max was sitting, causing her to yell at him. But then-
“Um, Mike? What’s she doing here?” Lucas questioned.
Steve glanced in the rear-view mirror and then did a double-take as he realised that Mike had Holly on his lap. “Wheeler, why is your baby sister in my car?”
Mike smiled sheepishly. “Um, so, I might have told my mom you were babysitting her…”
Dustin gave him an incredulous look. “What the fuck man?”
“Language,” Steve scolded. “But, yeah, why would you tell her that?”
“Look, Nance is out with a friend, and mom has a pottery class or something, so she wanted me to stay home so I could watch Holly. I really didn’t want to stay at home though – so I told her that you’d be cool with it since you’ve already got me, Max, Dustin, Lucas and Erica. Please, Steve, I swear I’ll be the one actually taking care of her. You won’t even realise there’s an extra kid.”
Steve wanted to protest and ask why Ted couldn’t be the one to watch Holly instead of him or Mike, but then there was a light knock on his window and Steve turned to find the one and only Karen Wheeler standing there with a half-nervous smile.
He rolled down the window. “Um, hi Mrs Wheeler.”
“Hi, Steve. Mike left so quickly, he forgot Holly’s bag here.” Karen explained, holding up the little pink backpack. “Thank you so much for watching her and Mike tonight. When Jemma called to cancel on me, I was worried I wouldn’t get to go out; again .”
“Jemma?”
“Oh, Jemma Evans, she usually babysits Holly and Mike for me. Or Nancy watches them, and Mike is fifteen now, but I’m glad that there’s an older teen to watch her. Claudia mentioned how great you are with Dustin the other day, so I know she’s in good hands.”
Steve nodded. “Of course, Mrs Wheeler. You can trust me.”
Karen’s smile seemed a bit more relieved as she nodded. “Thank you again, Steve. Should I pick them up tomorrow?”
“No need. I’ll bring them back after breakfast.”
Karen nodded again. “Alright. Goodbye then. Mike, please behave for Steve, and help him with Holly if he needs it.”
“Yeah, sure Mom.”
“I love you both. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye-bye mama,” Holly called.
Karen looked like she wanted to take the adorable munchkin back, but was just barely restraining herself. “Bye-bye baby. Be good for Mikey and Steve. Okay?”
Holly nodded and Karen finally backed away from the car so Steve could drive away. There was absolute silence for a solid minute, before Dustin whispered, “What the fuck just happened?”
“Language.” Steve scolded again, this time accompanied by a stern look that got Dustin holding up his hands in mock surrender.
“Okay, I know you have a mother-complex or something, but I was not expecting you to adopt an actual toddler,” Erica remarked.
Steve’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Mother-com– what does that even mean?”
“You just mother everyone. Like, everyone .” Max explained.
Dustin nodded in agreement and added, “It’s kind of tied in with your protectiveness, I think. You don’t even realise you’re doing it because it comes so naturally.”
“I do not mother everyone.”
“You kind of do, man.” Lucas replied. “You drive us around everywhere, patch us up when we get hurt, feed us before you even think about feeding yourself, make sure we have our coats when it’s cold, or sunscreen when it’s hot–”
“I do those things because you gremlins won’t do them yourselves. That doesn’t mean I have a mother-complex.”
“No. You have one. And it’s definitely chronic. But back to present matters – why the hell did you agree to take Holly?” Dustin asked.
And Steve… didn’t know how to answer that. There wasn’t really a solid reason why he’d gone with Wheeler’s plan. Maybe it was because of how tired yet excited Karen seemed at the prospect of getting to go out. Maybe it was because he didn’t want Mike to have to miss out on the sleepover. Maybe it was because he just couldn’t think of a good reason to not bring Holly along. He really didn’t know.
What he did know was Karen looked exhausted, Ted was unable to apparently step in, and Mike – even if he was in high school now – had no business looking after the kid by himself.
“Look, it doesn’t matter why, what does matter though, is she’s here – so no more cursing, or I’ll send you home early, Henderson.”
Dustin muttered something about ‘hell’ not even being a curse word, but didn’t say anything else family unfriendly for the rest of the ride.