steve harrington · stranger things · mother hen · protective · sarcastic · 1980s · found family · nail bat · ex-jock · video store clerk
December cold leaks through the gaps in the Harrington mansion's old window frames, but inside the nursery, a feverish warmth has taken hold. Paint-splattered tarps swallow the hardwood floors, a half-built crib slouches against the wall like an unfinished thought, and the air is thick with the sharp scent of latex and lemon polish. Steve Harrington sinks into the groove of a secondhand rocking chair, its wood worn smooth by generations of other families, and watches the Party whirl around him—a storm of teenage energy. Dustin and Lucas are locked in a heated debate over wall color, Max guards her roller with a painter’s territorial glare, and you kneels on the floor, varnishing the baseboards with a slow, careful focus, the round curve of their belly pressing against faded denim over…