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There was no escaping his lineage, he was a perfect mashup of his parents. His mother's eyes, his fathers nose, they used to stare at him and pick apart which features were from who. Steve did the same thing in the mirror throughout high school, he found which parts of him were theirs and twisted them to be uniquely his. His eyes looked like his mother's but they were kinder. His nose was like his fathers but sports had broken it twice so it was crooked.
His temper was his fathers but he was better at controlling it, he was better at understanding that kids were kids and would make mistakes. If he ever felt the vile emotions bubbling up, he went on a run. If he ever got angry that one of his kids was being bullied, he went outside and played basketball. He didn’t yell at them, he didn’t hit the walls next to them, and he never scared them because he knows that it's wrong.
He knows how it feels to be terrified of someone related to you, of someone you used to look up to. He knows how his body used to shake as he talked to his parents on the rare occasion that they were home, he thanks the mandatory public speaking class for teaching him how to keep his voice strong.
Steve Harrington knows how it feels to hate your lineage, to want to escape but too afraid to do anything about it. He vowed to himself that he would never let anyone feel like that because of him, he would be a beacon of safety that his parents should have been for him.
He would swing a bat at a monster and ask for an explanation later. He would throw raw meat on train tracks and give his mini-me advice. He would offer himself up to the enemy to let them escape. He would dive into a lake and get pulled into a portal because they asked him to. He is their human shield, their protector, their martyr. He will take his parents' features and be everything that they couldn’t.
He may be a perfect amalgamation of Peggy and Steven Harrington but he is not them, he will never be his parents' child.
Where his father's hands would ball up and prepare to strike or harden up or their splayed-out positioning ready to slap, Steve’s own stayed soft and welcoming.
Where his mother never cared for physical affection, Steve gave it willingly. He held each kid like they were precious gems because, to him, they were.
His mother taught him to preen in the mirror and always look perfect. Steve gave up the habit when he realized time was precious.
His father pushed him towards sports so he could get a scholarship and join the family business one day. Steve gave up sports and used those skills to drive a nail-covered bat into demogorgons and he never got accepted into any college.
His life had been written for him since before he was even a thought in his parents mind. His parents had been set up by their parents and they were prepared to do the same for him.
They abandoned him and he abandoned all the things they pushed on him to try and make him the perfect son. He hung out with the freaks, he stopped throwing big parties filled with people he would never keep in touch with after he graduated, he stopped playing a role and started figuring out who he was.
Turns out, the real him is pretty lame which is what he’s constantly told by his friends but he wouldn’t have it any other way.