nnt trash since 2022

"I see you got a parent today."

"Yep," Steve nods, watching Hopper pull a chair out and sit down with his lunch across from him. "I’m with my dad. He's over there."

"Why is he all the way over there and you're over here?"

"Coach Benny said I can sit here 'til someone needs the table so you can't tell me to leave."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Good."

Hopper lets the silence linger. He busies his hands with sweeting his tea and waits. He's learned that this kid tends to say more when he's not asked.

"I’m mad at my dad," Steve eventually says. "He's a butthead...don't tell him I said that."

"I won't."

"Did you know that there's a man on the roof at my house?" Steve asks. "He's fixin' it 'cause it rains in the attic so he's allowed to be there. That's why I’m with Dad 'cause I can't be friends with the roof man even though I wouldn't get on the roof. Again. Mama went to the sal-lawn and Dad and me were supposed to go to the zoo but we can't 'cause stupid Greg."

"Who's Greg?"

"I dunno," Steve shrugs. "He's over there."

There's no subtle way to look behind you so Hopper doesn't try.

He twists in his chair and - "That's Greg Samuels."

"My dad is his lawyer or something."

Hopper frowns.

He knows Greg. They were on the football team together in high school. He owns a construction company out of Birdseye. Why the hell would he need a criminal defense attorney?

Hopper doesn't have time to dwell on it.

"I don't like Greg 'cause there are seals at the zoo and I wanna see 'em," Steve says. "I talked to a lady on the phone 'cause - I wasn't bothering her or nothing. The zoo said I can call sometimes, jus' not a whole lot 'cause they gotta take care of the animals."

"Anyways, she said that seals wave at you," He continues. "She said they can clap their flippers and they eat fish, and they bark. Like a dog, Mr Hopper. So cool!"

"But Dad said we gotta see them a different time," He says, excitement seeping out of his voice. "It's okay 'cause Dad works a lot. He's really busy and he works really hard so he can buy me stuff and - it's okay."

"We'll go when Dad's not busy," He reassures himself. "The seals don't drive so they won't go no where."

"What about the monkeys?" Hopper asks. "Can they drive?"

"Hm," He thinks about it. "They can't drive 'cause they don't got a license, Mr Hopper. They just monkey around like me."

Hopper nods.

"You know," He says. "I’m pretty sure the eighth grade class takes a trip to the zoo at the end of the school year."

"I won't have to wait that long 'cause me and Dad are gonna go together."

"Okay, Steve."

"He promised."

BAILEY’S 3K CELEBRATION —🫶🏼 for @djotime

"The thing I loved about the character and loved that they gave me is that he kind of has a change of heart and realizes the error in his ways. And I think right now there's kind of a lot of opportunity for that, for people to sort of choose to do the right thing. The show is about a group of outcasts that come together and you can be from all walks of life. But I just love that the character kind of makes that choice. For that reason, it was a just real pleasure to play for 10 years." — Joe Keery

They don't.

They think the other is mildly annoying in small doses.

Big crawling doses? They're ready to kill each other.

They keep coming to Robin (for a reason she cannot fathom and would like to stop) to bitch about each other. She is just like, "Find some middle ground - where I am not at - and stay there. Jesus."

Eventually they find it.

It's Steve.

Unfortunately, they will come to realize that they have assigned very different meaning to the phrase 'Fuck Steve Harrington.'

And then. Turns out.

Day TWENTY-NINE of filling this with aro and/or ace characters

🧡💛🤍🩵💙

Hopper with Eddie (6yo): If you put another live animal in my vehicle, I am going to drive you six miles into the woods and leave you there.

Eddie: I'd come back

Hopper: I know

Steve: Mr Hopper, I know something I don't like

Hopper: What is it?

Steve: I don't want you to leave my weird friend in the woods 'cause he'll die.

Hopper: I meant stuff you don't like at your house, Steve

Steve: Oh

Steve: Broccoli

And Will is just, "Can we circle back to 'we all have a crush on Steve?'"

"Isn't that, I don't know, weird? He's practically Dustin's brother."

"Dustin had a crush on Nancy for years," Lucas says at the same time Max says, "We're just supposed to ignore Steve's ass and face because Dustin made a friend a couple years ago?"

Silence and then Lucas tilts his head towards Max because, "She has a point."

"It sounds like you have a crush on him too!"

She knows he has his own complicated feelings about Billy that he doesn't talk about. For the longest time after the fight, he wouldn't even say Billy's name so she knows he won't ask.

And he doesn't.

They talk. They never really say much of anything and most of their interacts are tied into employee/customer roles across the counter at Family Videos, but they talk.

She rents a movie. Steve pretends to charge her for it. It's never much more than that but... it's something.

It's the only interaction that she has that isn't filled with this unspoken pity. There isn't this silent expectation that she'll snap back into normal. There's no held-breath anticipation that she'll talk about it, about him.

She doesn't know how to do that so - so she can't talk to Lucas, or Nancy, or write back to El. She can't even talk to her mom.

It's just Steve and his dumb attempt to get her to rent the muppet movie again because -

"I’m telling you, Mayfield. Popcorn, extra butter, Kermit, and bam. That's a good Friday night."

"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard."

"Everybody has a good time with Kermit. Ask Robin."

"Shut up," Robin calls from the back.

Steve smiles at the obvious inside joke, "She loves Kermit."

"Shut up!"

Eddie is obsessed.

He first found a video of Dustin's set scrolling on Tiktok. He then proceeded to find every video that exists of him on stage and like, he's obsessed with this guy's OC.

'Steve' is clearly a D&D character so it's like, fine that Eddie is writing fanfiction about him, right?

Eddie gets a ticket to see Dustin and ends up sitting next to this really hot guy. He tells Hot Guy about Dustin, about his sets, about Steve, and okay. Maybe he's had a drink too many because he tells Hot Guy about his crush on Steve too.

"Why don't you ask him out then?"

"Because he doesn't exist," Eddie says like, duh. "You think someone as cool as - as Steve exists? He saved kids from a rabid Demogorgon in a junk yard. People like that don't exist."

"They might."

Eddie is going to deny him but the show starts and the first thing Dustin does is introduce the crowd to the man behind the inspiration and...

"You do exist."