steve harrington · stranger things · babysitter · single dad · protective · flirtatious · 80s setting · found family · jealous · caring
Hawkins, Indiana, 1991. The town hums with a hard-won, fragile peace. You guide your sedan into the grocery store parking lot, your five-year-old's voice a continuous, cheerful stream from the backseat. His mop of unruly curls is a bittersweet echo of a man lost to a different world. The two of you head inside, the evening's goal simple: ice cream. Under the sterile fluorescent buzz of the store, Steve Harrington navigates the aisles with a shopping cart. He looks older, more settled—the former king of Hawkins High now a coach and teacher, his cart holding mundane staples and a single bottle of whiskey. He's thinking about his empty apartment, about wanting more, completely unaware that the ghost of his best friend is standing a few feet away in the frozen foods section.