big bolt of lightning hanging low , over the coast everyone's convinced it's a government drone or alien spaceship ! either way we're not alone . i'll find a new place to be from.
valerie was walking around town, getting used to everything around. she enters the family video store, just to wander around to see if any movies catch her eye. as the door opens, she’s greeted with a monotone voice causing her to chuckle lightly. crossing her arm over her chest, she licks her lips. “damn, so no dirty dancing either?” she inquires, as she began to walk down one of the aisles. “any movies you have that you recommend?”
since getting this job steve had seen quite a few movies given most of his time was just waiting for robin to get on the clock. and even they both ended up fucking around watching movies than doing their job. steve had seen a lot of slow days, but he could not for the life of him, name any of them. he thinks for a moment, trying to think of anything new that they might have. “i mean, the lost boys was pretty good.” he taps his fingers on the counter before turning around to go down the aisle and look for it. once he finds it he holds it up. “any genre you’re looking for?”
it was not a good time for robin. before the festival, things had been looking up with her getting back to work and her foot finally being able to breath without constricting tape, but everything went straight to hell with the black sludge making a return. she can’t even say she’s surprised, but it wrecked havoc on her days and nights all the same. the constant stocking and taking of horror films proved to be a decent distraction, though, and her company generally kept any worries at bay. “you have nothing in your fridge? not even shelves? were you robbed?” her face was serious and wide-eyed before she broke and bopped his head with an empty vhs sleeve. “yeah, i’ll come over. i’m tired of you hoarding all of prin’s love.” maybe their cat chose him first, but robin was the one that would always sneak treats into her pockets. “we could get take-out? because i really don’t want to cook. i just want a quiet, cozy night in.”
it was clear that no one they knew was getting much sleep. he still found it hard to believe that they were still at this job when there were so many things happening. but life continued on even during all the chaos. he sighs, fingers tapping against one of the vhs boxes as he looked at the kids messing around in one of the aisles. he looks over at robin and gives her a blank stare with her joke, he rolls his eyes but there’s a corner of a smile, shaking his head. “not my fault,” he says, wondering where their cat was, but as on cue han was rubbing up against his leg before making the jump onto the counter. he turns to robin to give her a smirk, his hand coming up to pet them behind the ears. “i’m a furnace. you’re cold, always.” he leans back now, watching as the cat decides between the two for affection. “i just- haven’t had the time or energy to do much else.” steve wasn’t good when it came to the investigation side of things, he found it hard to concentrate, and he knew he wasn’t the brightest. that had always been more up the kids and nancy. “we could do takeout.” his fingers twirl the box in his hands. her idea of a cozy night in was good, but given how both were on high alert it seemed impossible. steve’s place was set like a death trap at night because he hated living alone. “we could steal a movie from here. might as well. who’s going to stop us?” definitely not keith.
mike was barely home. it seemed that most days mike was couch surfing everywhere he could just to avoid being home most days. with everything going on it had felt like something was coming, and it wasn’t a good feeling being defenseless. mike was smart, he had a quick brain that could problem solve, but when it came to actually protecting himself he had nothing. no kind of skill and after everything that had happened in california he was fucking tired of feeling this way. there had been a time in mike’s life, when he was a kid, that he would come into nancy’s room because he didn’t want to be alone. he would sit on the edge of her bed and talk about dnd, trying to get her to understand because there had once been a part of him that wanted her to be into it with him so they could have fun together. but long gone were the days of all of that. he stands in front of her room now, sighing, opening the door and looking for something specific. mike didn’t like guns, he never did. maybe there had been a time in ted’s life where he thought he’d get the all american boy that enjoyed hunting and shooting, but that had never been him. he had shot a gun once and then never again. sometimes he can still hear the rings of fire at the byers’ home in california and thought if it hadn’t been for the man that died and in part, jonathan, he might not even be here. when he finds what he’s looking for he can hear the crack of the door open, the gun in his hand that’s been hidden in a shoe box. “i-” he says, looking at nancy and looking down at what he was holding. “can you teach me? how to shoot, i mean.”
“dude – why does it reek in here? tell me nothings rotting, i tried to tell my mom the squash was no good, but that didn’t stop her from cooking that monstrosity for dinner –”
“i brought you some –”
@upsidedownism
steve had been sorely attempting to make something for lunch. most days he forgot to eat until his stomach told him, hey, maybe we should have something. with everything going on it was hard to focus on anything else. he had looked over at dustin with a raised eyebrow. “yeah, no shit.” he nodded his head towards whatever the hell dustin had brought him. “your mom take a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch?” it’s a bad joke, in all honesty, it was worrying what was going on but steve was putting on a bravado that everything was fine.
“i’ll stick to my microwaved dinner.” he holds it up, giving the other a teasing smile. “come on, don’t eat that. take this.” he pushes his food towards the other. in all honesty, he was glad that dustin was here. at least he could keep track of someone.
“Give me ten bucks and I’ll touch it,” Holly challenged. She was standing on the other side of a line of caution tape cornering off the pumpkins and there black sludge. Honestly it could have been a prank if you asked her but her curiosity was nagging. “I mean what’s it going to do? Bite me? I bite back.”
it was a mistake driving his sister out here. he had wondered if by chance they would find nancy around these parts, she usually had more of a lead than mike did. he should have known better than to bring holly, but it was too late now. he rolled his eyes, tried to appear nonchalant about the whole thing but holly was holly. “come on, let’s go.” he had many questions for hopper, but he would ask him them later. “let’s just stop by family video and watch a movie or something.”
it might have been a little unhealthy, if one of two idiot duo that was robin and steve couldn’t be put on the same shift then the other would be on the phone, talking, and not doing much in terms of manning the store. it was a slow day, the only customers that they really had were a couple of teenagers grabbing as many vhs and using their parents money for it. by the time that he gets another customer he’s sure that robin is spouting off something that’s not all that important but he almost gasps, saying that ‘okay, yeah, robin i got to go.’ not giving her much explanation but hanging the phone up and giving vickie a polite smile. when all is said and done: steve harrington is not a great wingman. “welcome to family video,” steve is practically vibrating over the counter. “what can i do for ya?”
most days steve forgets to eat, but that’s never stopped him from checking in on max and mike next door. it was a blessing in disguise their work places being close together. he had taken his car down to the diner and picked up a couple of sandwiches. by the time that he made it into the arcade he was looking for max but found lucas instead. there was a bit of a smirk staring at his back before he concealed it walking closer towards him. “sinclair,” he says, placing the food on the counter. he would have already seen mike by now, and if he was here then tough luck. “bought these for the little shits. you can eat mike’s if you want.” he says with a small laugh. “i imagine if you tried to eat max’s she’d bite your hand.” not that he had any personal experience with that of course. he was going to say something along the lines of, you’re in here a lot huh? but he doesn’t. that was ammo for later.
steve can’t remember the last time that he saw tommy hagan. really saw tommy hagan. their friendship ended the day that steve sped out of that parking lot and their relationship had been fractured ever since. tommy had gone on to be someone in terms of social status whereas steve had declined. it had been a lonely few years without his old friend but they had been one full of growth. seeing tommy now in the middle of family video isn’t what he’s expecting, and he doesn’t know why he feels that awful feeling in his stomach, it twists and it turns, but he knows that it’s just grief in knowing what it was like to love someone and not having any goddamn idea who they are anymore. “tommy,” he says, leaning against the counter. “what can i do for you?”
when the tornado / hurricane happened there had been a cat. just a tiny cat that had stuck around family video that steve and robin found when they were cleaning up. it had some big attachment to steve at first who, if he was being honest, had no how to act around a cat. and when steve opened the back door to family video the cat had snuck itself in and from then on that’s how steve and robin acquired their first pet. you would think that the cat belonged to a divorce couple but it takes turns at both of their places and has it’s own family video vest. you can often find it running around the store. robin and steve have no idea of the sex so they stuck on naming it princess han solo ( because apparently it’s sexist to name it han solo and robin wanted princess leia. they don’t really care it gets two names. ) welcome home lil buckley-harrington emotional support cat !
#something something the scene in the bathroom in season two when nancy calls steve out on his “let’s try to be normal because i don’t want to face the things that happened to us because then it’ll make it real and then i won’t be normal” bullshit and made him face all of the little cracks in the perfect image he kept trying to show people when he was clearly struggling with the weight of everything and how if it weren’t for that one night in the bathroom where nancy was so fucking drunk and so fucking tired of pretending like any of that made them happy when it didn’t, he would have never been at the wheeler’s that one day dustin needed someone to help him, dustin would have never went looking for him at scoops to ask for help with the russians, robin would never have been roped into it all and they wouldn’t have become Steve and Robin, they would’ve simply just been co-workers, or not even that at all - just like they talked about. and steve - steve looked so fucking heartbroken when robin told him that they sat near each other for a year and he never even noticed because in his core steve had always been just. lonely. tommy h was never his friend, carol was never his friend, he didn’t like who he was when he was with those people, not like he likes being robin’s schmuck. not like he likes babysitting a bunch of mean teenagers. not like he likes being dustin henderson’s big brother. not like he likes running straight into danger to protect the people he cares about. because then he doesn’t feel lonely. and he probably thinks about all of the time that he’s wasted with people he didn’t even like trying to hold up an image that doesn’t even matter in the end when he could’ve just. been hanging out with the “band nerds” he made fun of around his pool to try and “impress” nancy the whole time. because robin is a band nerd and robin has made him laugh harder than he’s laughed in a long time, and robin was a baby who took six months longer to learn how to walk, the same way that he was a baby who crawled backwards because it made sense to him. robin who has a mother who criticizes her for things she cannot change, the same way he has a dad that doesn’t really care about him. the same robin who never had a friend who knew her the way she always wanted to be known and accepted and loved her anyway, the same way that he has never had a friendship (that was his own age*) that just. saw him at his worst. hated him, even. but got to know him, aka the steve post breakup and the steve who wears a sailor outfit and the steve whose best friend is a 13 year old and is surrounded by kids who love him so much and. stays. and trusts him. because she likes who he is when he’s not being, you know, “Bullshit Steve”. and so when steve says “i should’ve been hanging out with this girl the whole time”, in my head, it really just translates as “i wish i had known you sooner because then maybe i wouldn’t have been so lonely and things could have been - not better because this is hawkins - but. not as bad.” and you know he really means it because he’s the dingus waking up at dawn just to drive robin to school and wait around until he has to work every single morning because thank GOD nancy wheeler got drunk and called him bullshit in the bathroom of a halloween party….. or whatever you know like i’m totally cool about steve harrington and robin buckley’s Platonic with a Capital P soulmatism anyway lol
the days that robin wasn’t working with him were slower days despite the amount of kids coming in. keith and steve never got along and half the time keith worked in the back just because he knew that if worked with steve neither of them would get anything done. steve is flipping through a magazine, his eyes on a few kids going up and down the aisle when he hears someone else come in, his voice is a monotone, “welcome to family video. we still don’t have rentals from august yet.” hawkins was slow getting releases, and he already had a few customers bummed about not having can’t buy me love on the shelves yet.
he would have liked to say that it had been a slow day, but with halloween approaching and one of the only attractions that kept people busy was currently being under investigation, it had brought a lot of people to the arcade and family video. it had been tasked to steve to be the one to decorate the inside. he swore that it was a set up for failure from keith because it looked like complete shit. he was busy on the ladder trying to figure out a way to get the fake cobwebs to stay because it kept falling on top of his head. he rolls his eyes and sighs. when the bell rings that they’ve got another customer steve is quick to get down the ladder run his hands through his hair to rid whatever fake cobweb is left. but upon seeing that it’s none other than nancy wheeler he feels that odd and confusing feeling he’s felt for an entire year. he leans against the counter. “nance,” his smile is polite enough. “what do i owe the surprise?”
there’s a humming in steve’s head, he hasn’t been sleeping well the past couple of weeks. it gets harder the more hawkins seems to be going to shit to sleep at night. there used to be a time where all steve wanted was to live alone and now that he finally did it wasn’t what he expected it would be. it was different when his parents were more like roommates at the house, at least he could go to bed knowing that he wasn’t the only person in the house. it’s too quiet now. steve finds that he has to turn the radio and put it on low or keep the tv on in another room just so he can get himself to sleep while setting up the traps in his house. he didn’t know where the paranoia really started but his eyes are closed, and he’s rubbing his temples as he leans over the counter. it’s a slow day at work and they’ll be locking up soon, with halloween around the corner they’ve been getting a lot of horror movie requests and people fighting over the last of a few vhs. he sighs, stands up straight and looks over at robin. “are you spending the night tonight?” he wants her to, but he won’t say that out loud. “i have nothing in my fridge so if you are we’re going to have to get groceries or something.”
one bang turned into two which turned into max’s patience dying rather quickly. the back door to family video basically bouncing on its own hinges as max awaited it’s opening from the other side. she had just finished her shift and was finishing the smoothie she grabbed from town during her break when the door flung open, nearly leaving max on the floor. ❝ shit. took you long enough. ❞
of course it gets busy near the end of the night. it’s why he hadn’t heard the excessive knocking from the back. it was getting late and he was the closer. he had told robin to head home early that he could handle the few customers that they would inevitably get before their shift ended. due to all the crazy shit once again happening he had kept the bat in the back hidden behind a pile of stuff as to not freak keith out if he inevitably went back looking for it, but as it seems keith didn’t give much of a shit when it came to family video and the arcade. he doesn’t say anything, his instincts are on high alert when he hears the knocking. he supposes that it could just be some kids playing a prank, his hands curl around the bat and he keeps it behind is back as he opens the door. he rolls his eyes letting the back go. “jesus christ,” he sighs, opening the door wider. “we have a front door you know. that’s glass, where i could easily see you and.. i don’t know, let you in?”
[ joe keery | cis male | he/him | twenty-six ] —— it’s just another typical week in hawkins i guess — isn’t that right, steve harrington? huh, guess they can’t hear me over the promise by when in rome playing on their walkman, but it looks like they’re headed to work as a sales associate at family video. did you know steve has been in hawking for his whole life? yeah, they’ve been described as a bit immovable, but i suppose them also being dependable outweighs the negative. i’ve also heard people say they remind them of a lonely house full of ghosts, invisible blood on your hands you can’t scrub off, willing to do whatever it takes for those that you love, wanting to be seen but hide when you are… however, that could just be this weeks newest rumor.
character inspos: buffy summers ( buffy the vampire slayer ), eleanor shellstrop ( the good place ), han solo ( star wars ), james t. kirk ( star trek ), fiona gallagher ( shameless ), octavia blake ( the 100 ), jamie tartt ( ted lasso ), dean winchester ( supernatural )
full name — steven everett harrington
nickname(s) — steve
name meaning — victorious, crown
age — twenty-six
date of birth — april 29th
place of birth — hawkins, indiana
current location — hawkins, indiana
gender — cis-male
pronouns — he/him
sexual orientation — bisexual
religion — agnostic
occupation — sales associate at family video
education level — high school
family — everett harrington ( father ), maureen taylor harrington ( mother )
finances — upper class
spoken languages — english , spanish ( mostly forgotten )
faceclaim — joe keery
steve’s mom and dad have been privately split up for a couple years — he has just never told the party this. his parents lived in the same house though it was more like a place for them to stay whenever they were in town
when the earthquake happened it finally gave his mom and dad an excuse to both skip town, steve was pretty adamant on staying, their agreement was a screaming match and steve’s dad said if he wanted to be a grown up then he would have to pay rent to live in his own house so he sends a check every month to wherever his dad is living ( somewhere in boston he doesn’t know he just writes the stupid address down )
his house is an extension to anyone in the party that needs somewhere to sleep. he pretty much moved all of his parents stuff and donated it during the earthquake he has rooms for dustin & max specifically in his house
he wants to absolutely gut the pool, take it out. he knows there’s blood on his hands from it. he thinks about barbara more than he’d like to admit. maybe he has something in common with nancy with that.
since living alone and dealing with general ptsd he has his house set up every night with traps so he can hear it before he sees it. with crazy shit going on in hawkins he’s prepared for anything
headcanons:
literally strangling his bisexuality with his bare hands
big saviour complex still
has a routine before he goes to bed when it comes to living alone its kind of insane but it’s steve he’s a little weirdo whether he wants to admit to it or not
my steve is self sufficient he kind of had to be !! can cook a variety of things actually <3 but definitely misses home-cooked meals ( that came very few in childhood ) he is a mother but who will be a mother to him...
loves the kids in the party sfm truly he is simply begging for any of them to come over and keep him company bc he refuses to say it out loud aknsdflas
