Author's Note: I got a request on my tumblr to do a fic where Steve gets sick and the kids subtly do little things to take care of him until he eventually realized that he's the one being babysat and not the other way around -- and since I myself am sick as a dog at the moment, I thought it would be fun to make Steve suffer with me.

Hope you enjoy!

He was waiting outside in the parking lot to pick up the kids from school.

Ever since that night two months ago, Steve and the kids -- including El and Will -- had become close. The children seemed to view him as an older brother, and he certainly thought of all of them as younger siblings.

So it was no surprise that Steve had become the designated babysitter for these six kids.

Just then, said children -- minus Eleven-- came running out to greet him. They were all excitedly speaking at once, and Steve couldn't make out most of what they were saying.

"Okay, okay," he said loudly, speaking over them. "One at a time -- Max, go," he said, smiling a little.

The kids each told him their pressing news one by one, and Steve listened to them with a proud smile on his face.

"Okay," Steve said when the kids finished, "Who's turn is it to ride shotgun?"

"Mine!" Max said eagerly.

"Well, get in then," he said gesturing to the car behind him. Max got in the passenger seat, and the boys piled in the back.

Steve began to drive, heading for the cabin where Hopper and Eleven lived.

Max looked down at the floor of the car, where she'd put her skateboard, and noticed something she thought was strange.

There were wrappers strewn about her feet. Two things about this struck her as odd, the first was that Steve Harrington's car was never messy -- it was a point of pride with him -- and the second was that they didn't look like candy wrappers. Then she realised, they were from cough drops.

She looked at the boy who was driving and noticed that he looked more pale and tired than usual.

Max sighed and leaned back in her seat. She shouldn't be surprised -- it was January, and it seemed like half of Hawkins was sick. But the thought of Steve being sick bothered her.

She'd started staring at him closely, and this time he noticed. "You okay?" he asked, glancing at her before returning his gaze to the road. "Yeah," she said, giving him a pointed look. "I'm fine."

Steve gave her a look mixed with confusion and amusement. "...Okay, weirdo," he said and smiled, tussling her hair.

He turned his attention back to the road, and Max turned around in her seat to look back at the boys, wondering if they'd noticed the slight raspiness in Steve's voice, or that he seemed more tired than usual.

They hadn't. They were distracted, excitedly chattering about a lot of science mumbo-jumbo that she didn't understand.

Max rolled her eyes and turned back around, staring at the road ahead of them.

Eventually they drove into the forest, parking far enough away from the cabin that they wouldn't be considered connected. From there it was only a short walk.

As she was getting out of the car, Max opened the glove compartment and grabbed a hand full of the cough drops from the bag Steve was keeping in it. She knew he'd be needing them later, and that he wouldn't want to admit it -- this was the guy who lead them through a tunnel filled with alien monsters while he had the shit beat out of him, after all.

"Hey kiddo, you comin' or what?" Steve called to her. He and the boys were already out of the car and waiting for her.

Max quickly stuffed the lozenges into her pocket and grabbed her skateboard, getting out of car a shutting the door behind her. "Yeah, I'm coming. Sorry," she said, walking over to the boys.

"You sure your okay?" Steve asked, and Max nodded her head in response. "Yeah, I'm fine."