Stancy

"Remember the dream I told you about? About the Winnebago? About seeing the country with my six little nuggets? It’s all true. Every last word. But I left one part out. It’s the most important part. You’re there. You’ve always been there."

- Steve confesses his feelings to Nancy - Season 4

Stancy is the het ship between Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler from the Stranger Things fandom.

Prior to the series
Steve and Nancy began dating prior to the start of the series. They first began seeing each other shortly sometime around 1983. While Nancy initially believed that Steve wasn’t serious about their relationship, this turned out to not be the case. In truth, Steve really loved Nancy, claiming she was “not like other girls”. Early on, Dustin mentions that Nancy was cooler before she started dating Steve. Steve and Nancy also made out multiple times before the series' start.

Season 1
Nancy found a note from Steve in her locker, telling her to meet him in the bathroom. The two met up and made out. Steve said that they should hang out to study, but Nancy was put under house arrest after Will goes missing. Steve still snuck into Nancy's room through her window. While helping Nancy study using flashcards, Steve suggested that he should take a piece of clothing off for every answer Nancy gets right, and Nancy should take off a piece of clothing for every answer she gets wrong. Nancy turned down the idea, but Steve asked if she needed help taking off her clothes after Nancy gets an answer wrong. The two end up making out again, but they continue studying.

Steve invited Nancy to a small pool party at his house. Everyone, except Barbara, jumped in the pool. Nancy went up to Steve's room to change. Nancy initially wanted privacy to change her clothes, but she ended up sleeping with Steve. According to Tommy H and Carol, they could hear Nancy moaning Steve's name. After having sex at the party held at Steve’s house, they officially entered a relationship.

Steve later saw Jonathan Byers in Nancy's room, and thought she was cheating on him, and thus ended things with her, and got into a fight with Jonathan. However, after realizing what he did was wrong, he helped them fight the demogorgon. A month after these events, Steve and Nancy had gotten back together.

Season 2
The two had dated for nearly a year when their relationship was once again put in jeopardy; no longer being able to bear the guilt of Barb’s death, Nancy told Steve they should tell the Hollands the truth. Steve rejected this idea, reminding her that doing so would put them and their families in danger.

At a Halloween party, Nancy became intoxicated, leading her to reveal that she did not have feelings for him, which emotionally hurts Steve. When Nancy confronts Steve the following day, she has no memory of her drunken state and tries to reassure Steve what she said wasn't true. Steve tries to get Nancy to prove by telling him she truly loves him, but Nancy couldn't find the words to say it, leading the two to break up. When Nancy recounts her drunken state with Jonathan, she feels guilty for hurting Steve's feelings and wonders if she really meant what she said to him. When Nancy meets with Steve again, she thanks him for watching over the kids and Steve tells her that she should be with Jonathan, having come to accept her love towards Jonathan. Nancy tried to apologize to Steve for hurting his feelings, but Steve just calmly brushed it off. He later accepted that Nancy should be with Jonathan, and told her "it's okay".

Season 4
In 1986, Nancy and Steve begin working together, alongside members of The Party, to investigate the murders around Hawkins. With Jonathan in California, romantic tension seemingly began building between Nancy and Steve once again. Not only do the pair show interest in one another at several points, but Steve recounted a dream he once had to Nancy. Steve insisted that he should go with Nancy to protect her, which Dustin noted and talked to him about it, in which Steve denied any of his feelings for her.

However he later tells her he wished they had stayed a couple, and that he would've liked to have six or seven children to pack into an RV and go on a road trip around America with Nancy by his side. Steve himself also pondered if their relationship would've worked out had Steve been given a wake-up call by another girl prior to meeting Nancy. Later on, after Jonathan jokingly made a dig at Steve's maturity, Nancy pointed out Steve has actually grown a lot. The fondness Nancy appears to show for Steve seems to worry Jonathan.

Behind the Scenes
"I totally did not see that coming,” Keery said. “I remember reading that last script and me and (Charlie Heaton, who plays Jonathan Byers) and Natalia, we were all like, ‘What? Are you joking me'"

- Joe Keery (the actor who portrays Steve) on his reaction to the result of the love triangle at the end of Season 1.

Fanon
Many fans have voiced their support of the ship. One reason why people support Stancy is because of the subversion of the typical 'nice guy gets the girl' trope.

This ship most often rivals Jancy, due to the love triangle that develops between Nancy, Jonathan and Steve. To a lesser extent, it also rivals Stonathan and on rare occasions Bancy. Later on, Stancy also began to rival Ronance and Steddie. The love triangle between the Steve, Nancy and Jonathan has been praised for its realism and surprising take on the typical love triangle. Many fans and even the actors themselves were surprised with the decision for Nancy to stay in a relationship with Steve instead of Jonathan.

On AO3, Stancy is the third most written romantic ship for both Steve and Nancy. It was also formerly the eighth most written ship in the Stranger Things (TV 2016) tag, but other ships grew to be far more popular than Stancy. The ship wained in popularity due to their lack of interactions in season 3, and the hiatus between season 3 and 4. Even with them reuniting in the most recent season, many were still drawn to other pairing for the two.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Nancy/Steve tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Nancy/Steve tag on FanFiction.Net

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Variations

 * Fruity Four refers to the ship between Robin Buckley, Eddie Munson, Steve and Nancy
 * Stoncy refers to the ship between Jonathan Byers, Steve and Nancy
 * Warrior Throuple refers to the ship between Robin Buckley, Steve and Nancy