Chapter Text
People often accused Steve Harrington of being an idiot, or not the sharpest knife in the drawer, or just plain oblivious. Steve knew that he struggled in school - like duh, his grades hit a B minus on a good day - but he also knew that his brain always had a shortlist. There were one or two, once in a blue moon three, concerns that were at the forefront of his mind at any given point. Anything else was simply not that important.
Steve had exactly three concerns before the world went to shit:
1. Find Nancy and apologize.
2. Find Jonathan and apologize.
(If he was hyper aware that he may find the two of them together after failing to find Nancy at her house, then that was his secret and his alone.)
3. Win Nancy back.
His priorities shifted slightly the moment he noticed Nancy’s bandaged hand on the Byers’ door. The part of his brain hardwired to care and protect - so little triggered until he met Nancy Wheeler - came out in full force as he shouldered his way inside.
As he swung the nail bat at the fucking Demogorgon, he subconsciously noticed his priorities shifting again:
1. Keep Nancy and Jonathan safe.
2. Lead the Demogorgon to the bear trap.
3. Kill the son of a bitch.
It turns out that this shift was semi-permanent, probably a result of trauma or some shit like that. He wanted to make Nancy feel loved, to leave his old asshole friends and title behind him. But his top priority stayed the same:
1. Keep Nancy safe.
After the party, after having “Bullshit!” spat in his face so many times he lost count, his priorities almost shifted back to pre-Nancy-Steve. Pre-Nancy-Steve only ever wanted to have a good time, to humor Tommy H and Carol and get drunk or high on a weekend, to ignore the expectations and disappointment that his father heaped on him from a distance. The flowers and half-formed apology were his last-ditch attempt to stay on track, to win Nancy back and keep her safe.
Dustin fucking Henderson ruined that plan for good.
Steve’s list of concerns has not shifted since that fateful day in November, 1984:
1. Keep his kids safe.
2. Keep his kids happy.
They only expanded to include Robin, a promise to himself on a bathroom floor. If that meant that he constantly kept his nail bat within reach, if he was a little too willing to shuttle the kids around town, if he took a beating from fucking Soviet soldiers to allow an escape, then so be it.
That’s the thing about Steve’s list of concerns. They didn’t include him. Not anymore.