Babysitting the Babysitter

Chapter 5

Joyce was there with Nancy and Jonathan before Hopper got there. There was a knock on the door and Will had opened it.
"Mom!" Will had greeted happily, hugging her hip.
"Hi sweetie. Is... everything okay here...?" Joyce asked as she stepped in with the couple behind her, "is anyone hurt...?" Joyce went silent when she saw little Steve Harrington sitting in Billy's lap, smiling happily at her.

"Oh, you poor thing..." she said and went to get a better look. Steve made grabby hands at Mrs. Byers. Billy lifted him up and gave him to the kind woman, who held him in her arms. "Momma!" He giggled, hugging her.
Jonathan and Nancy stood there in shock. "That's Steve?" Jonathan asked and El nodded.

The couple went over and Steve stared up at them. "Hi Steve... it's me, Nancy," the girl smiled sweetly, a little awkward, "you know Jonathan..."
"Nanny..." Steve had said, seeming unsure, "Jonaf-an... Jona... Johnny!"

Steve had been very happy to have more people in his home. He kept calling Joyce 'mamma,' which made her a little happy, not having had such a small child since Will was little.

Steve liked copying Jonathan, following a few of his actions like the way he sat and hand gestures. He also seemed to be scared of loud noises, jumping into Lucas's arms when there was a loud bang at the door.

"Hey! It's Hopper, open up!" He called, causing El to run to the door and open it, grinning.
"What's wrong? Who's hurt? Is it back? Wh- who is this small kid?" He muttered when he saw Steve latched onto Lucas's side.

"It's Steve! He got turned into a little kid," Lucas informed the chief as he rubbed Steve's back.
Hopper sighed, dragging his hand down his face.
"Okay... okay. When did this happen?"
"Last night."
"What happened right before?"
"We were watching a movie and he went to get medicine for El's cold..."
"Her powers may have caused this..."
"It's the only explanation we have..."

The room went silent for a while, everyone unsure what to do, when Steve decided to break the silence. He tugged Lucas's arm and asked, "Luke? Can we play a game?"
"Uh... yeah sure... what do you want to play?" Lucas had asked, everyone watching them.
Steve grinned and took the older boy's hand, taking him upstairs and into his room.

When they got to Steve's room, the young boy looked all over to find toys to play with. He eventually found a box of small toy cars. Steve went back downstairs, box in his arms and Lucas on his tail.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, everyone was sitting down, like they were unsure of what to do. Steve didn't seem to mind and he sat down on the carpet, waiting for Lucas.

When the older boy sat down next to him, Steve grinned and handed him a red car. Steve grabbed a blue and green car, rolling it around on the ground as he made car noises.

As the two boys played, everyone else questioned on what to do.
"Alright. Someone is going to need to watch him all the time while me and Joyce try to figure out how to change him back," Hoper stated. He then left with the woman, setting out to figure something out.

Billy has been the first to stand. "Me. I'm taking care of Harrington," he announced, causing Nancy to cross her arms and glare at him.
"Uhh no! You nearly killed him last year!" She snapped, "I should watch him."
"I thought we were past that- and aren't you the one who broke his heart? Like he's going to want to see you when he finally gets back to normal," Billy fired back.

The room went completely silent, well, other than Steve's small giggles and the crashing of toy cars.
"He- how dare you! You know nothing about what happened!" Nancy shouted.
"Guys... calm down," Jonathan tried.
"Can it Byers!" Billy yelled, "after how both of you treated him I doubt he'd even want you to be here!"

The three kept shouting at each other, everyone watching, unsure of what to do.
Suddenly, they heard sobbing and turned to see Steve staring up at them, tears streaming down his face.
"Oh Steve..."
"We're sorry..."
"We didn't mean to."

The boy only continued to cry and Lucas had no idea what to do.
"Guys... someone calm him down..." he begged, worried.
Nancy stepped forward and knelt down to Steve, only for him to start crying louder. She immediately stood and backed away, looking to Jonathan.

The kids were all covering their ears, Steve's crying too loud. Nancy tried to tell Jonathan go give a try at calming him down when the crying stopped. Everyone turned to see Billy holding Steve. The blonde boy was bouncing the small boy in his arms, cradling him slightly. Steve had his arms wrapped around Billy's neck and face buried into his shoulder, sobs turned into quiet whimpering.

"See Wheeler. I've got it under control. Seems like you only made it worse," he smirked at Nancy as she looked away, defeated.
"Fine. But if you hurt him-"
"I won't. I'm not going to hurt him again," Billy declared and stroked Steve's hair.

Jonathan gave Nancy a reassuring smile and she sighed. The two teens then sat down on the couch where they had once been.

"Hey Stevie, you want to keep playing with Lucas?" Billy asked, trying to get his attention.
Steve only shook his head and Billy sighed, "okay big guy. How about we get you out of your jammies, hmm?"
Steve pulled his face away and looked up at Billy, cheeks red and eyes still wet as he nodded.

"Good. Lucas, clean the cars up for me, will ya?" Billy said as he took Steve upstairs, everyone watching them leave, surprised at how caring and sweet Billy was being towards little Steve.

In Steve's room, Billy was searching for some clothes for Steve to wear. "Alright, Steve. I'm thinking this green frog shirt with these black pants. You like it?" Billy suggested to the boy who was sitting on his bed. Steve looked at the outfit and nodded.
"Great. Now put it on and come downstairs," he said as he started to leave. Steve immediately let out a cry of concern and Billy looked back at him
"I can't- I need help, Bibby... please?" He asked innocently. It made Billy's heart ache and he nodded.

Billy went over to Steve and helped him out of his pajamas. Little Steve smiled up at Billy as he put the shirt over his head. He then put the pants on the little child and he chuckled when Steve wiggled his legs around.
"Handsome?" Steve asked hopefully.
Billy nodded with a smile, "yeah yeah. Very handsome. Now let's get back to the others. We can all go out for lunch."

Steve beamed at Billy and grabbed his hand, doing his best to drag the older boy downstairs. "Lunch lunch lunch!" He cheered on the way down the stairs, "can we go to Benny's?!"

'Oh boy... he's going to have to get used to everything being different here...' Billy thought to himself as they stood into the middle of the living room.