you and me babe, how about it? by @pasta-lovaa

the season 5 of my dreams. chapter nine lives rent free in my head.

love's such an old-fashioned word by @mwritesarchived

the amount of times I've re-read is a little embarrassing. the build-up to stancy getting together is so good, so i'm looking forward to seeing them together.

Goodwill Hunting by mykingdomforafic

if you were pissed as hell over nancy's sweater, this fic is for you. all the characters are drawn with such grace.

i'm just an animal looking for a home by birdsofthesoul

the last part of the series is currently updating and promises stancy finally getting together. really good use of POV. highly recommend part three for a fantastuc nancy POV.

Every Mile Brings You A Little Closer by @pasta-lovaa

i adore the nancy in this, there's so much happening under the surface.

if I'm kindling for a little while by alittleacatalepsy

actually makes the military feel like a real threat to our gang like the should've been in season five. also has a really good dustin.

end of a decade (start of an age): 1987-1997 by @mapleymood and @thelonelybrilliance

If you've committed a crime and a detective gathers everyone involved in the room, especially if he's not actually a detective and is instead a novelist, puzzle-setter, psychic, fake psychic, dog, chess grandmaster, etc. ...

YOU SHOULD NOT CONFESS.

Every year, hundreds of people are put away by non-traditional "detectives" who have either inserted themselves into the case or are working with the police in a dubiously legal capacity as advisor. In 99% of these cases, the murderer gives a full confession even though the evidence against them is circumstantial at best and often requires a long just-so story which can only guess at motive.

If this happens to you, stay quiet, do not attempt to defend yourself or talk your way out of it, only say "I want a lawyer".

Now if you find yourself being investigated by a boy genius, magician's assistant, anthropologist, classics scholar, or philosopher, it's likely that refusing to talk to the police (or investigator with no legal authority) is merely the end of the second act, and by the end of the third act they will have you dead to rights.

YOU SHOULD STILL NOT CONFESS.

Make them take it to court. Force the eccentric detective and his straight-laced police partner to take the stand and explain their methods to a jury of your peers. Have your lawyer look at the chain of custody on the evidence, especially if you believe it to have been handled by someone who has only bumbled into detective work through their natural charm and/or unique set of skills and outsider perspective that come in handy more often than they should.

What made them special was never that they were perfect in season 1. They weren’t. They were messy, immature, and both made mistakes. Their breakup made sense. That’s exactly why their story felt real.

But the thing is: even after everything, the feelings never truly disappeared.

Season 2 separated them. Season 3 barely gave them scenes together, yet even in those small moments, you could still feel that Steve would do absolutely anything for Nancy — he literally risked his life to save hers. And then season 4 happened — the season that reminded everyone just how much chemistry they still had. Steve admitting that he never stopped loving her changed everything for me.

I know Nancy and Jonathan cared about each other, but their relationship always felt more like a safe place built around shared trauma than a lasting love story. It made sense for that point in their lives, but deep down, Steve and Nancy always felt unfinished.

And honestly I don’t think Nancy ever truly stopped loving Steve either. I think she buried those feelings after Barb’s death because loving Steve became tied to guilt and pain. But season 4 made it so obvious that something between them was still there after all those years.

That’s why it hurts so much that season 5 never followed through on the buildup. The Duffer Brothers created something incredibly powerful between them again, only to abandon it completely. Steve and Nancy could have had such a beautiful full-circle story, two people who grew up, changed, made mistakes, and still found their way back to each other.

And no, Nancy ending up with Steve would not have made her “less independent” in my opinion. Choosing love does not erase a strong woman’s individuality. If anything, it would have been Nancy finally accepting what her heart had been trying to tell her all along.

"The ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude…"

Well, have I got the html for you!

Plop any of these in a comment (by copy&pasting the code) to make an author's day and show your appreciation!

Second kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/tHMjbb6/second-kudos.png" alt="second kudos">

Third kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/52bggQH/third-kudos.png" alt="third kudos">

nth kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/6y7qGtC/nth-kudos.png" alt="nth kudos">

yet another kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/wKtcj0s/yet-another-kudos.png" alt="yet another kudos">

It will look something like this (and will be transparent with white outline on dark backgrounds):

UPDATE with some suggestions from the replies! And bonus: cookie kudos.

HTML codes under the cut.