This is a flashback to between seasons 2 and 3. This is Hopper's first time meeting Steve as Riley's boyfriend. I think I mentioned this vaguely, and I just wanted to write a bonus chapter because I miss it already and its gonna be forever until season five. Let me know if there's any other little extra things you want to see!
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"Is he gonna kill me? Because I have full confidence in that man's ability to kill me and either make it look like an accident, or make sure no one finds my body."
"He's not gonna kill you...I won't let him."
"You're saying there's a possibility!?"
"Its low! Very low but...never zero."
Steve looked at me with wide, terrified eyes, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his steering wheel. I laughed, shaking my head.
"Barbie, do you really think now is the time to mess with me?!"
"Steve, relax," I said gently, reaching over and combing my fingers through the hair on the back of his head, "Its gonna be fine. You like me, you're good for me, therefore he is going to like you. Its foolproof."
"Is it, Riley? Is it? Because it seems to me that one wrong move is going to destroy everything. Best case scenario, he bans me from dating his daughter, Worst Case Scenario: He bans me from life to keep me from dating his daughter!"
"Yeah, well seeing as both he and Eleven predicted us getting together months ago, while you were still dating Nancy, I don't really see either of those things happening." I pointed out, as he pulled to a stop in front of the Cabin. He blew out a breath, throwing his head back against his seat and glancing over at me.
"How?" He asked skeptically. "We didn't even know we were gonna get together so how could your Dad and Eleven, who has no standard for social cues, have figured that out before we did." I shrugged.
"I don't know, I mean...they know me," I replied, "Maybe I wasn't as good at hiding my feelings as I thought."
He smiled at this idea.
"Ok, the idea of that is adorable, I'm not even going to lie." I rolled my eyes, smiling at him.
"Look, you're a charmimg guy! Just turn on that charm, be authentic, be honest-"
"Do you want me to be charming or honest and authentic because those are two completely different things." I shot him a look.
"Steve...youre going to be fine," He let out a nervous breath again, "Come on, they're waiting for us."
"Ok...alright...I've battled monsters, I can do this. I can do this! Alright, let's go." I chuckled, getting out of the car and walking around the front of it, grabbing his hand and intertwining our fingers before leading him up the stairs. He let go of my hand once we reached the front door, knocking on it solidly.
"Oh, no, you can't-they won't answer if you do that. You have to..." I stepped forward, doing our secret knock instead. It was only then that I heard all of the locks click in unison and the door opened slightly, revealing Eleven poking her head out through the crack. She smiled, glancing between us.
"Uh...hi." Steve said awkwardly, having never talked to Eleven in the entire time we'd known her. He'd only really interacted with her when she found us at the Byers' house and when we'd driven her home from the Snow Ball, but even then, they'd never gotten around to having a real conversation.
"Hi." She said quietly, smiling as if she knew exactly what was about to happen and was loving every second of it. I furrowed my eyebrows at her.
"Don't look at him like that." I scolded. She furrowed her eyebrows.
"Like what?"
"Like he's a piece of raw meat about to be thrown to the lions." Steve's eyes widened and he glanced between us nervously. She simply smiled at him again, stepping aside and pulling the door open. I pulled him inside
"Dad! We're here!" I called, taking my jacket off and hanging it up by the door. I heard a loud clattering sound in the kitchen and then Dad appeared around the corner, a dish rag balled up between his hands. He glanced between us, narrowing his eyes. "Um...Steve brought something for you, right Steve?"
"Yes, right, I brought you these," He said, holding up the six pack of beers, "Riley said tgis was your favorite brand, so..."
"Last I checked, you're underage." Dad said, taking the pack and eyeing it suspiciously. "You got a dealer or somethin'? A fake ID? You make a habit of buying alcohol illegally?"
"Oh no! No, um, my Dad bought it for me. I told him I was bringing it by for you," Steve lied, glancing between us nervously, "He says hi, by the way." Dad nodded.
"I bet." He went back into the kitchen to put the beer away and Steve started waving his hands around nervously. I just put a hand on his back as he wove his fingers into his hair, trying to calm himself down. He ripped them away, standing up straight again as my father came back into view.
"Hope you like steak."
"Always." Steve agreed, smiling awkwardly.
"Riles, you wanna help me set the table?" Dad asked, glancing between us. "El can keep you company for a bit."
"Sure." I said, shooting Steve my most comforting look before ducking around the corner into the kitchen. "Be nice, Dad."
"What? I'm being perfectly nice!" He denied, "I am being just as nice as a father meeting his daughter's first boyfriend for the first time should be."
"Come on. You might as well be cleaning your gun in front of him." He shook his head.
"I wouldn't dare!' He defended. "That's for after Dinner-"
"Dad!" I exclaimed, causing him to chuckle. "He's already nervous enough as it is, he doesn't need your help."
"Good. Nervous is good, it means he cares what I think." He pointed out. I just shook my head, grabbing a stack of plates.
"He's a good guy and you know it," I argued,"Could you please just try to keep the teasing to a minimum."
"Try, yes I can do that. Whether I succeed..."
I shook my head, taking the plates and moving to put them on the table.
Our table was relatively small, with usually just enough room for the three of us, so Dad had set up an old piano bench on my side. I put the plates down, glancing up to see Steve and Eleven still standing in the living room. He was bent sideways at an awkward angle and Eleven had a fist-full of tgis hair. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"El," I said, prompting to look up at me with a dorky smile on her face, "What are you doing?"
"Dustin said that Steve's hair is probably soft," She said, continuing to massage his head with her fingers, "It is soft. Now I can tell him."
I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Why are you and Dustin having casual conversations about how soft my boyfriend's hair is?" I asked, pulling her arm away from his head and allowing him to stand up straight.
"Dustin is...oppressed with him."
"Oppressed?" Steve asked, glancing at me in confusion. I paused, trying to figure out what she actually meant.
"That's what Mike says. He talks about him all the time. Like a 'stalker'."
"Oh, Obsessed." I corrected. She nodded and Steve and I did too, finally understanding.
"I gotta have a talk with that kid." Steve stated, causing me to chuckle. Dad came back into the room, beginning to arrange the food on the plates. "Um...anything I can do to help, Mr-"
My Dad stood up straight, shooting him a look.
"Mr...Chief...Hopper...Sir." Steve trailed off and I shot my Dad a warning look.
"No thanks. I got this Shawn."
"Oh, you knew his name a few months ago when you wanted to keep bringing him up, but now you can't remember?" I asked skeptically, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Is it not Shawn?" Dad asked sarcastically, moving back into the kitchen again.
"Steve." Eleven corrected.
"Yeah, he knows that." I told her, putting my hands on my hips. "He's just being a butthead."
"Butt...head?" She asked. I shook my head.
"Never mind."
"Soups on. Let's eat!' Dad announced, rubbing his hands together. I sighed as Eleven rushed past me, sliding into her seat. I gave Steve a half-comforting, half-apologetic look before sitting down on the side closest to my Dad. Steve slid in beside me, shooting me a look. "Do you say grace at your house or anything like that?"
"We don't really do family dinners so...no, nothing like that." Steve answered. My dad's expression faltered slightly.
"Ok, dig in everybody." We all started eating and I reached over, putting a hand on Steve's knee under the table.
"So...Steve...what are your plans after graduation?" Dad asked.
"I'm not really sure. I'm still waiting on a few college acceptances, so I want to consider all of my options before making a decision." Dad nodded, biting a piece of steak off of his fork.
"You got any ideas about jobs you want or...anything like that." Steve shook his head.
"Nope. Not yet, I just...whatever makes me money, that's really the only preference I've got right now."
"Right...I see." Steve cleared his throat, his eyes trained on his plate.
"Right. Same here, I have no plan really," I said, trying to deflect,"Except that I'm stayomg here obviously."
"Which is another thing to consider, distance and commuting..."
"You're basing your college decisions off of your high school girlfriend?" Dad asked. "Seems irresponsible."
"Well not really," Steve answered,"I mean, the whole point of going to college is preparing for the future and if Riley is gonna be a part of that future..."
"Is she?" I asked, completely forgetting that my Dad and sister were both present for this conversation. Steve raised his eyebrows at me.
"W...wrll yeah. I hope so." He answered, his eyes locked on me. I smiled.
"In that casr...I feel like I gotta ask..."
"Dad..." I said in a warning voice, turning my attention back to my food.
"What are your intentions with my daughter?" I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose and Eleven giggled while Steve looked around at us helplessly.
"Intentions?" He asked.
"Why are you dating her? Why her specifically? What do you hope to gain from this relationship?" My Dad explained, gesturing at him with his fork before taking another bite.
"We've been sat down for literally five seconds," I scolded, "Steve, you do not have to answer that."
"No, its ok. It's cool," He said, putting his hand on my knee before turning back to look at my father. "Sir, I...I'm dating Riley because I don't have another option."
"Ok...you really didn't have to answer that." I said dryly.
"No-hold on, just hear me out," He chuckled, "What I mean by that is, when Riley showed up in my life, I didn't have a choice when it came to my feelings for her. There was no fighting it, there was no denying it, she just showed up and...I was crazy about her. Instantly. And I guess...all I want out of this relationship is to make her happy and to keep her in my life, in whatever capacity she'll allow me to." He looked at me and I smiled, placing my hand over his on my knee.
"Aw." Eleven cooed.
"I don't buy it" I furrowed my eyebrows, turning back to my Dad. "I'm sorry, but I don't! Real people don't say things like that and they certainly don't have hair like yours. I'm sorry kid, but I don't buy any of it, not for one second."
"Well...I'm sorry you feel that way," Steve told him, "But at the end of the day, I don't have to convince you, I have to convince her."
I raised my eyebrows, a little concerned about where this was going.
"Excuse me?" Dad asked.
"Um..." Steve swallowed nervously. "Well, uh...don't get me wrong, obviously Riley and I both want your blessing over our relationship, and we both deeply respect your opinion, its just...I mean, you know as well as I do that when it comes to Riley, she's gonna do what she feels is right regardless of what either of us has to say about it."
I looked back at my Dad, watching on in cautious silence as he stared at Steve with narrowed eyes, trying to size him up. Steve's grip tightened slightly on my knee and we all waited in tense silence to see what his reaction was gonna be. He simply nodded slowly, reaching up and biting another piece of steak off of his fork.
"Alright...I'll give you that." I let out a sigh of releif, glancing over at Steve.
~~~
"Thank you for having me. Dinner was great." Steve said, holding out a hand for my Dad to shake. He did it, eyeing Steve up and down before letting go of his hand and sitting down on the couch without another word. I sighed, shaking my head.
"I'll walk you out." I stated, shooting my father a look, which he ignored.
"Yeah. It was nice to meet you officially, El." Steve said. She nodded, smiling brightly at him as he reached down and ruffled her hair before leading the way out the front door. I followed him, pulling it closed behind me. "So...what do you think? What does he think?"
"I'd say we're somewhere between vaguely annoyed indifference and polite disdain," I said honestly, "But, he's not gonna try to shoot you or demand that we break up, so I call that a win."
He sighed, nodding.
"Oh well. I tried my best, right?"
"You did," I agreed, rubbing my hands up his arms, prompting him to wrap them around my waist, "I for one, thought you were incredible. I actually think Eleven really liked you." He nodded. "And that whole, didn't have a choice line?"
"It wasn't a line," He clarified, "I was being honest, just like you told me. I meant what I said."
"Really?" I asked, a slight tone of skepticism in my voice.
"Yes! What, you didn't think it was genuine either?!"
"Well no, I wouldn't go that far, I just...didn't know that you felt like that." I said with a shrug.
"Well, I do. I was instantly 'oppressed' with you."
"Don't make fun of her!" I scolded.
"I'm not making fun! I'm proud of her, her vocabulary has grown a lot." I shook my head, leaning closer to him.
"Thank you for coming over to have dinner with my crazy family." I stated. He shrugged.
"You gotta love 'em." I smiled, nodding in agreement.
"You really do." I chuckled. "Really though, thank you. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Goodnight."
"Night." He leaned down, pressing his lips against mine before untangling himself from me and walking out to his car. I watched him leave before walking into the house, where Eleven and Dad were sitting on the couch trying to withhold their amused expressions.
"That was mean." I said dryly, crossing my arms. They both burst out laughing.
"Oh come on, we were just messing with him," Dad agreed, "If I get my way, that kid'll think I hate him until the wedding."
"Ok, slow down there pops, we only just started dating." I said with a sigh. "But just to clarify...you actually do like him?"
"Yeah, of course I like him. I've liked him since you guys became friends. I think you're good for each other." I nodded. "Just don't tell him that."
I shrugged.
"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."