Coming in late on Pack Dynamics day for @stmarchmm
Pack Omega Steve Harrington is so important to me.
Like, he doesn't really have a pack with his family, which is both small and distant, and never formed anything but a preliminary bond with anyone besides Tommy and Carol. He gets really close to pack with Nancy and Johnathan, but its cut off swiftly and abruptly when Nancy dumps him and turns to Johnathan.
Then all of a sudden he's got one pup, and then three, and suddenly he's Pack Omega to seven 10-13 year olds. They raz him and bully him, but they also look up to him and seek him for comfort. They don't always listen to him, but they know that he's always going to keep them safe.
Robin very quickly becomes Steve's alpha in every way but romantic, but she never quite steps into the role of Pack Alpha. She's got a stable pack at home and never feels the need to try and look over the kids in quite the same way Steve does, even if she does love them and look out for them.
When the kids start highschool, suddenly the boys aren't around as much. Max, El, and Erica still spend most weekends and after school at his house in his big living room nest when they don't have their own extracurriculars, but the boys start coming around less and less. The Hellfire Club has scooped them up and taken all their time, and it starts to take its toll on Steve.
He's been left behind and rejected so many times that his body is on a hair-trigger, reacting hard and fast to the slightest hint of abandonment. It starts with a generally lower mood but quickly descends into something bordering in rejection sickness. Every time the boys brush him off for Hellfire or get in his car only to talk on and on about how cool Eddie Munson is and how much they want him to hang out that day, Steve sinks a little deeper.
El, who is also extremely sensitive to pack bonds, pretty much glued herself to Steve's side once he started feeling unwell. Unfortunately, she's very easily influenced by other people's hormones and eventually becomes unwell herself.
Once that happens, it's Hopper who has to step in. He gets Max and Erica to tell him what the hell is going on and Hopper takes that all to mean that it's all actually Eddie Munson's fault. He rolls up to Hawkin's High on Hellfire night in his cruiser, barges in, drags the kids out and squishes them all into the back seat, and then goes back to pull a very confused Eddie out as well.
He makes everyone apologize and make nice, especially Eddie who, again, is so very confused by everything that is happening.
But hey, he's not one to pass up a perfectly good opportunity, and he's always kind of had a thing for Steve. Maybe a very heartfelt, prolonged (like maybe a couple of months) elaborate apology is a good way to start a courting.
