Stancy

4

❝

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.

Canon

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 for Stancy, appreciating the way the ship subverts the typical "nice guy gets the girl" trope. Their initial relationship, while genuine, was ultimately strained by external circumstances. The most notably being the emotional fallout from Barb’s death which neither of them was fully equipped to emotionally navigate at the time. What makes Stancy especially compelling to some is the idea of a second-chance romance built on the individual growth both Steve and Nancy have experienced since their relationship ended. Both Steve and Nancy have evolved significantly since high school, and their renewed connection highlights how two people can find their way back to each other once they’ve had the space to mature and gain a deeper understanding of themselves and each other.

At first, the ship most often rivaled Jancy, due to the love triangle the characters were involved in. The Stranger Things love triangle has been praised for its realism and surprising take on the typical love triangle. Many fans and even the actors themselves were surprised when Nancy decided to get back together with Steve instead of moving on and dating Jonathan in the Season 1 finale though as the seasons passed many started to get sick and tired of the love tranigle saying how unnecessary it was to try and start it up again. Because of the love triangle it's also common for fans to just suppest or joke how Nancy should jusr date both Steve and Jonathan or even all three of them dating each other instead which ended up forming the Stoncy ship. After S4, Stancy also began to rival Ronance and Steddie.

But with that being said it is also one of the most hated ships in the fanbase since many believe that if they did get back together it would be a huge irony to the whole reason their characters development started from, along with voicing how forced it felt to make Steve have a crush on Nancy again in S4 with many saying how it was obvious that Nancy didn't like him like that again and pointing out how uncomfortable she look during those scenes espically when Steve started talking about the six nugget thing. Many fearing that the writers were gonna bring back the love triangle and ruin the character developments of Steve, Nancy and 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 the ship waned in popularity after their break-up and lack of interactions in Season 3. Since Steve and Nancy reunited in the most recent season there has been a renewed interest in the ship leading to a number of new fanfics, but many were drawn to other pairings for the two.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Nancy Wheeler/Steve Harrington tag on AO3

Nancy Wheeler & Steve Harrington tag on AO3

Nancy/Steve tag on FanFiction.Net

TIKTOK

Stancy tag on TikTok

Stancy posts on TikTok

TUMBLR

Stancy tag on Tumblr

Stancy posts on Tumblr

TWITTER

Stancy hashtag on Twitter

Stancy posts on Twitter

WIKI

Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler on Fanlore

Trivia

• A question was asked to Noah Schnapp, the actor who plays Will Byers, about his favorite ships, he named Byler, Stancy and Jopper.

Gallery

Main article: Stancy/Gallery

Variations

Fruity Four refers to the ship between Robin Buckley, Eddie Munson, Steve and Nancy

The OG Fruity Four refers to the ship between Robin Buckley, Jonathan Byers, Steve and Nancy

Stoncy refers to the ship between Jonathan Byers, Steve and Nancy

Spicy Six refers to the ship between Argyle, Jonathan Byers, Robin Buckley, Eddie Munson, Steve and Nancy

Warrior Throuple refers to the ship between Robin Buckley, Steve and Nancy