#like lmfaooooooo

I’m not even that invested in Nancy’s romantic relationships. I just want her to be happy, but there’s no universe where she’s happy with Steve.

Nancy and Steve had a horrible relationship in Seasons 1 and 2. Steve was an asshole, he invalidated her grief over Barb, and pushed her to “just have fun” instead of processing what she was going through. Their sex scene, which could have been a vulnerable and romantic moment, was intercut with Barb being killed. The show explicitly framed that intimacy as hollow and unsatisfying. The next morning Nancy was detached and uncomfortable.

Jonathan even noticed she wasn’t herself and was pretending when he saw her through the window. That wasn’t love, it was repression.

Yes, Steve changed, but the key is that he changed outside of being with Nancy. His growth came from breaking up with her, apologizing to Jonathan, leaving his toxic friends, and forming real friendships with Dustin and Robin. His arc is about becoming a better person by prioritizing platonic bonds and dropping the “King Steve" title. If he went back to Nancy, it would erase that growth and make it seem like it was all just about winning back the prettiest girl in school.

And let’s not forget Steve’s later behavior. In Season 4, he flirted with her (while in she was in a relationship) by telling her his dream was to put her through multiple pregnancies and tie her to suburban motherhood. That clashes completely with Nancy’s character. She wants to be a journalist, she fears being stuck in the same cul-de-sac life as her parents. Going back to Steve, to the relationship she associates with Barb’s death and losing herself, would not be development. It would be regression.

Nancy doesn’t owe Steve anything just because he changed. His growth is valid, but it doesn’t mean she has to revisit that relationship. He's still the "safer" option despite his change. Steves the conformist choice she’s been fighting against from the beginning.

Jonathan didn’t want to hold Nancy back, he was sacrificing his own path because he felt his family still needed him. Nancy misread his distance as him moving on. That’s very different from the issues she had with Steve.

Also, Robin and Eddie egging Steve on to get back with Nancy in Season 4 actually just reinforces that Stancy isn’t happening. Their whole dynamic is surface level. Stranger Things has always been about rejecting what society expects, not conforming to it. It makes much more narrative sense for Nancy and Steve to reject the “picture perfect” suburban couplehood everyone tries to push onto them, because that’s exactly what they were fighting against the past few seasons.

Anyway. Stancy is NOT endgame.

I’m not even a die-hard Jancy shipper. I like both Nancy and Jonathan as characters, But if we’re comparing? Jancy makes far more sense. Their problems in Season 4 were rooted in prioritizing each other’s dreams.

I wouldn’t be upset if they split to pursue their own futures. I mean right now them saying together probably makes sense. Their arcs in season 5 will probably be partly about figuring out how their futures could align.

Jonathan’s story is clearly building toward him accepting that his family don't depend on him as much and he doesn’t need him to sacrifice everything anymore. Will’s older (and has Mike maybe probably 😉), Joyce has Hopper. the Byers finally have a stable family unit. That gives Jonathan room to think about his own future.