#Nancy wheeler deserves better

[allyricas]

Nancy Wheeler, oh how you are so chronically and intensely misunderstood.

But we all know female characters can't have flaws can't have depth can't be seen fully complex people with layers sigh...

[onstrangerthighs]

I'll never understand the purpose of painting certain characters like Nancy Wheeler and Billy Hargrove out to look bad in fanfiction/fanon. Either I see people making them into abusers or claiming they're homophobic, or in Billy's case saying he'd "call your fav/you a slur" or "hate crime your fav/you".

Nancy isn't homophobic. Using her parents as "evidence" to support your weird head canon is anti's behavior repeated. It doesn't make you any better if you don't call her an abuser, but you proceed to say that she's both homophobic and a cheater. You don't have to make posts about it. You might use her as a device in harringrove fanfics where she's in the way of Billy and Steve getting together... when she's: canonically dating Jonathan and currently has no romantic interest in Steve. She wasn't the one who came up to him with this dream of six nuggets. When Billy entered the show, Steve and Nancy's relationship was already on the rocks. She was never an obstacle for harringrove.

Chrissy was never an obstacle for steddie, either. But that ship made into one. Why do you view female characters as interferences to mlm ships? Why do headcanons about lesbian/bisexual/aroace Nancy bother you so much that you feel the need to constantly complain about it?

This next part goes for antis of both Nancy & Billy: the character you are bitching about is not canonically accurate, so you might as well be making an original character up.

[blessingignorance]

Both ships suck ass, And Nancy should just go to college snd not become baby making machine for Steve

do u ever stop to think about this whole love triangle discourse and end up laughing bc there shouldn't be a discourse to begin with? like one boy wants nancy in his life and says that she's the most important part and the other boy looks like he's two seconds away from being put out of his misery because of his relationship with nancy to the point he's ghosting her and she thinks he's cheating. also do u ever think about how both of these boys talks about nancy? how they describe her? and the reasons they love her? how they see her?

first we have jonathan saying this:

first of all, i love his lack of energy go girl give us nothing (why he looks like he wants to d word, ur literally talking about ur girlfriend 😭) so, that's him saying all the reasons he loves her, and ofc we know that nancy is like that but why he's talking about her work ethic and not about her, like u should all read this post about how much nancy cares about other people and how being a reporter allows her to listen to other people's stories and help them, but jonathan only talks about that, work work work, how she behaves in work, how she is ambitious at work which we know she is, that's not a bad thing at all, i love how determined she is, how she works hard for that, it's actually one of my favorite traits of nancy, but i don't see people (and jonathan) talking about what drives that ambition forward which is helping other people, now going back to jonathan's speech which is even more ridiculous when we watched s3, because according to him he loves how hardworking nancy is, and yet:

wait a second, drop the story? i thought you loved how she's never done a single thing halfway in her life? and then:

anyways, that doesn't sound like someone who loves all these things he listed in season 4, now moving forward to steve, i was talking before how jonathan only said things about nancy's work ethic and not about her and what drives her forward but can u believe that steve does that? and not the fully developed steve in season 4, no, the s1 steve, the one who still messed up from time to time

i think it's very refreshing to see someone describing nancy and acknowledging how caring she can be, how she worries about other people, how she wants to help people, and he sees that, and this isn't even a big speech bc good knows narrative wasn't at their side in s1-s2, it's just crazy to me how there's scenes of nancy being there for jonathan in awful times (when will was being possessed, she held his hand, she was there, and yet not a single thing about that, about how much she's caring and protective) it's just sad bc do u see how she describes him? "caring, compassionate, protective, never back down from what's right (only when he wants to lie to her countless times i guess)" how could he not do the same for her? THE nancy wheeler who stood in front of A CAR to protect him and her friends when billy was about to crush her, and you know this isn't just an issue with jonathan, i feel like this is an issue with the fandom too, i feel like the fandom only seems to care about that side of nancy, like her career is the only thing she cares about and nothing more, and that's just isn't nancy wheeler, but then again, she's one of the characters people misunderstand the most in st (just like her brother, i guess is the wheeler's curse) we have 14 year old mike wheeler listing how much he loves el on her bad days, on her good days, with her powers, without her power, for exactly who she is, and all jonathan can say about his girlfriend is "she works 👍"

[ryan-waddell11]

stop blinding them, they struggle enough.

[shieldofiron]

Steve: Uh... how long have you been down here, Billy?

[harringroveera]

AU where Billy escaped the Vecna’s curse because he’s not a hurt kid anymore & he’s already found his family

[swirly-beetle]

i love nancy and i love steve but i hate stancy, they dont work together and neither of them are villains they were just traumatized kids who hurt eachother didn't necessarily have malicious intentions

I despise when people, especially some Steddie shippers and Steve stans (& Hardcore Nancy antis) make Nancy out to be the villain and baby Steve. In s1, Nancy pointed a gun at Steve to SAVE him, not because of the slut shaming he did to her or any other bad things. Nancy's whole b*llshit speech was about how they were pretending like everything is okay, like they didn't kill Barb. This wouldn't of happened if Steve had actually tried to help her grieve instead of dismissing them more than once. Alcohol + bottled up feelings obviously don't mix well, I know Nancy drinking was not Steve's fault but he did say he wanted them to act like stupid teenagers for the night. Steve himself said that he needed that speech anyway. Nancy did not cheat on Steve, they basically confirmed their break up when Nancy visited Steve's gym class and they talked outside. When Steve went to visit her and said "What do I have to apologize for?" under his breath, it proves that he still thinks he did nothing wrong which proves once again he can't face reality for what it is and if he did apologize to Nancy then he it would be an insincere apology. In season 4, Nancy didn't flirt with Steve at all. If anything, all we saw was Nancy being caring towards him and worrying about his safety which is the bare minimum. We also saw that Nancy is attracted to him which is understandable but that doesn't mean she all of a sudden loves him now.

[eskawrites]

sometimes i still think about the fact that nancy is one of the most powerful, plot-critical characters in stranger things, and how she has led her own arc every single season--from driving the search for barb to taking down the lab to figuring out the flayed to being a fucking general by the end of season 4. and about how she was taking care of the kids during the last half of s3 and how she was the leader of the hawkins group in s4. like, i really cannot emphasize that enough. once the main character with superpowers and the actual war veteran chief of police are out of town, nancy is the unquestionable leader. the person everyone turns to without thinking twice. i’m serious. nancy is a teenage girl who has her every move questioned and doubted and still the only people more powerful than her in the show are a girl with superpowers and a war vet.

and when danger--physical danger--shows up, she doesn’t fucking hesitate. she’s diving straight into the upside down. she’s leading the older group to safety again. she’s shoving aside the 5 different traumatic experiences she just witnessed to put together a multi-step military operation and she’s taking point to go shove a shotgun in vecna’s face. and yeah, they end up not being alone when they face vecna because el is there, but nancy doesn’t know that. she’s fully intending on going to kill an adult man who has control over an entire dimension and has been murdering people with his mind, even though she has no backup, no superpowered el, no hopper and his government contacts, nothing.

and yet.

AND YET

the vast majority of natalia dyer’s press for s4 was about a love triangle. and i get it, a lot of interviewers can’t get away with not asking those questions, but you know what else you could ask about? nancy’s growth over the last 4 seasons. how it felt being the leader of the hawkins gang. how she thinks nancy feels after losing another friend. what was running through her head when vecna had her. what her thoughts are regarding nancy’s plan, or what’s going through her head during that final scene when she’s *checks notes* standing behind the show’s protagonist and looking at The Plot as it rises from the ground.

or, i don’t know, ask her what it’s like being the person handling guns on set. what those upside down night shoots were like. what her thoughts are on nancy’s choice of college! what she thinks about the perm! for fuck’s sake there are only a thousand different questions that would’ve been far more interesting or at least personal to her character. but no. every interview boils down to team steve or team jonathan, as if a tired, already resolved love triangle is anywhere near as interesting as literally any other part of her character

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

• Autistic Ted Wheeler is not great with physical affection, but when Karen or the kids need it, he gives it. It's small but it's there.

• Autstic Ted Wheeler puts his foot in his mouth, but he doesn't understand what he's saying might be rude.

• Autistic Ted Wheeler went to a fair where it overloaded his senses in a bad way, but Karen and Holly wanted to go, and he couldn't say no to Karen.

• Autistic Ted Wheeler is exhausted from masking all day, and all he wants to spend time with his family, but by the time he gets home, his energy is depleted. He falls asleep in his chair again.

• Autistic Ted Wheeler wants to tell his family all about his special interests like hedgehogs, but he doesn't want to freak them out.

• Autistic Ted Wheeler who remains silent because he's afraid of what he might say.

• Autistic Ted Wheeler who wants to connect with his family but doesn't know how.

• Autisitc Ted Wheeler, who also might be a little ADHD has forgotten to mow the lawn before it rained. Now, he's out in the rain with his raincoat with yellow socks that had to match his raincoat. It had to be then because he didn't know when he would remember or have the energy.

• Autistic Ted Wheeler who has to hide his stims because that's what his father taught him to do.

•Pansexual autistic Ted Wheeler, who's never cared about gender when he has fallen in love but was told by his father never to talk about it or act on it again when his father caught him with a man.

• Autisitc Ted Wheeler who cries when one of his kids yells at him that they hate him and that Ted doesn't care about them. Ted, who cries and wonders if that's what it looks like on the outside.

• Autistic Ted Wheeler who wishes he could be normal.

• Autistic Ted Wheeler, who gets pulled aside by Nancy and Mike only for them to tell him he's not alone.

[starry-eyed-steve]

I don't like how the Jancy fight got resolved here. Basically, Jonathan said it was okay for Nancy to be an ass to him about his financial situation because she was ultimately right. His problems got never addressed by the narrative because, yes, Nancy was right about the story, but Jonathan wasn't in the wrong either to call her out on her privileges. Unfortunately, Karen's pep talk prior to that did nothing but reinforce Nancy's behavior because ultimately Karen told her to keep going no matter who you hurt. Nancy didn't get a chance to grow because the show treats her as someone who can't do wrong. She still doesn't understand Jonathan and his struggles, and the show doesn't care either for this.

Neither of them really apologized. Nancy said she didn't mean it but couldn't say sorry, and Jonathan abolved her from it because in his mind, he deserved it. And definitely, the icing on the cake was Nancy's comment about him "better not doubting her ever again," destroying the small apology she gave. Again, showcasing she didn't learn or grew from this fight/situation.

[kwikquik]

Yeah, yeah “Steve and Nancy want different things in life” but also please see that he doesn’t actually listen to her in a way that gives her back what she asks for, wants, or needs. That’s it, that is all that matters.

[chaotic-ace-arts]

Time to bake these guys.

Can't wait to detail these and then gloss and add the chains ^-^

[onstrangerthighs]

The Ugly Truth

Despite wishing her mother good night thirty minutes ago, Nancy’s eyes refuse to shut. Whenever she starts to drift off, she sees Barb crawling out from underground to blame her for what happened that night. Nancy would argue her case, but there’s no defense. She failed her friend. Barb hadn’t even wanted to go along in the first place! 

I’m going insane just lying here. Maybe some warm milk will calm me down.

She passes the bathroom on the way to the stairs. Mom’s not in the tub? I didn’t hear the water go off. Huh. 

The front door is open, and there’s the boy from Tina’s party who came speeding into Hawkins High School’s parking lot with his car radio on full blast. The boy Steve keeps staring at like a stunned fish. She’s shit with remembering names. Ben… something? 

Curiosity gets the better of her. She stays very still on the second step, ears and eyes peeled. 

Mom answered the door in her bathrobe? Nancy shifts her attention to Ben- no Billy, his name’s Billy. He seems… tense. Fidgety. 

“I’m Nancy’s mother.” 

“No.” 

For some reason, Billy saying that in a clearly sarcastic tone makes her mother twirl her hair and giggle, “Yes” like a schoolgirl with a crush. 

You’ve never acted this way with Dad. 

“Mrs. Wheeler.” 

“Um, I’m sorry, and you are?”

“Billy. Billy Hargrove.” He extends a hand for her to shake, and when she does, he puts his other hand over hers.

What the fuck is happening? Why aren’t you pulling away? 

“You must be here for Nancy.” 

“Nancy? No, no, no.”

One no would’ve done the trick. 

“Not my type.” 

Nancy snorts into her hand. 

“Uh… No, actually I am looking for my little sister Max. Goes by Maxine. She’s been missing all day, and, uh, to be honest with you, I’ve been worried sick, you know, so…”

“Oh.” 

You sound almost… disappointed. Why would you be, unless… No. Surely not. 

“I thought she was at Lucas’, but Mrs. Sinclair said your house is the…the designated hangout, so, you know… Here I am.” 

This has got to be the worst pretend pickup line I’ve ever heard. He’s got no interest in you, Mom. You know that, don’t you? 

Billy comes in, and if he notices Nancy lurking at the top of the stairs as he goes into the kitchen, he doesn’t say anything. 

“Their driveway is pretty dark this time of night,” Mom says, scribbling down an address for him. “So drive slowly.”

“Always.” He pockets the address and takes an extra bitter oatmeal cookie for the road. 

Under the kitchen light, her mother dies, and all she sees is Karen Wheeler biting her bottom lip as she watches him walk away, her eyes glued to his ass. 

Nancy doesn’t remember when her gun appeared in her hands, but her brain is surprisingly clear when she pulls the trigger. A bullet goes right between Karen’s eyes. 

Killing people is surprisingly easy when you see who they really are. 

Billy lies flat on the floor, hands cupped over his ears. 

“I’m not going to shoot you.” 

“You killed… your mother. God, Hicktown is fuckin’ crazy!” 

Boy, he really catches on quick. 

“You don’t know the half of it.” Nancy steps over Karen’s body and dials the number of Hopper’s secretary. She’s more likely to pick up than the Chief himself. “Hi, this is Nancy Wheeler. I need to talk to Chief Hopper. It’s important.”

She hears a grunt, and prepares the crocodile tears. Billy stares at her with a mix of awe and horror as her lower lip begins to tremble. “My mother st-started acting really strange. She turned the air conditioner down because she “liked it cold”. She-she loved the house being warm. Her voice came out all-all deep and empty. I looked into her eyes, and I knew my mother wasn’t…” she takes a shaky breath for added effect, then continues, “I knew she was gone. So I… I shot her. I don’t want to go to jail! I’m so scared, Chief.” 

“You did the right thing, calling me. I’ll stop by your house and take care of things, okay? Do you have anywhere else to go tonight?”

“I’m not sure. I-”

 Billy’s not on the floor anymore. His headlights are on. Crap.

I need to make sure he knows not to say anything. 

Nancy gets into the passenger seat and he sends her a dirty look. 

“You should really start locking your doors. It’s a safety precaution.”

“... I will keep that in mind. Now get out of my car.” 

“You said you were looking for your sister, right?”

“She’s not my sister.”

“But you said-” “I know what I said. Look, I’d prefer to forget everything said and done in your freakshow house, Wheeler.”

“Nancy.” 

“Fine. Nancy.” 

“I know where Max is.” 

“I’m not giving you shit in exchange for that information.” 

“Well I should hope not.” Has this sort of thing happened to him before?

“I know how to keep a secret. I just… why did you do it?” 

“We were always arguing. She never heard me. What pushed me over the edge was how she was with you. It made me want to puke. She should’ve stuck to her own age group.” 

Billy goes eerily quiet, hands gripping his steering wheel until his knuckles turn white. His shoulders slacken, and he unclenches his jaw to offer her a weary, appreciative smile. 

“Max is at the Byers’ house. Mike’s there, too. I can’t take him back to that house. He didn’t know… I don’t suppose you have room where you live?” Billy tenses up again. 

She takes that as a no.”

“I’ll be your guide to the Byers’. I’m sure Mrs. Byers wouldn’t mind us staying over.” 

He gives her a terse nod.

“Us includes you, Bonnie.”

Billy blinks several times, temporarily breaking out of his grim state. “Bonnie? Hold on, why the fuck am I not Clyde? Clyde’s a man.”

Nancy lets out a long sigh. “Do you actually care about that crap?”

“... No. I don’t,” he admits. “Bonnie has better hair anyway, so it fits.” 

“You think you’re funny, huh.” 

“I think I’m a fucking riot.” 

“Humor is subjective.”

“It was your joke!” 

****** “Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Don’t cream your pants.” 

Okay, now I wish I’d shot myself instead. 

“Nancy???” Steve exclaims, dragging his eyes away from Billy’s chest. 

So that’s why Billy took his jacket off. 

She snickers, shaking her head. Steve Alexander Harrington, you haven’t changed one bit. 

Billy seems to be glowing from Steve’s attention. Dorks. 

“What’re you doing here, amigo?”

“Yeah, I could ask you the same thing, amigo.�� 

Oh, Steve, you’re not fooling anyone. 

“Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here.”

Nancy awkwardly waves. I doubt they’re even aware I exist. 

“Huh. That’s weird. I don’t know her.”

“Small, redhead, bit of a bitch?”

“I heard that!” a girl yells from inside the house. 

“I wanted you to!” 

“You guys are going to wake up the whole neighborhood!” Nancy yells.

“I think we’re a little quieter than a gu- guy who’s bangin’ his wife.” 

“Are you two… friends or something?” Steve says, squinting like he’s come face to face with an impossible math problem. 

“Amigos in crime.” 

“You didn’t tell him any embarrassing stories about me, did you? Nance?” 

“Stories? What stories?” 

“It’s a school night. We should all head inside and get some rest.”

“Nance!” 

“Shut up, Steve.”

“Yeah, shut up, Pretty Boy.” 

“Keep the flirting to a minimum, there are children present.”

Steve’s jaw drops. “WHAT? FLIRTING?”

Billy cackles, slapping his knee, his face matching the color of his shirt. 

New hobby unlocked. 

*****

“Does Mrs. Byers have any grub around here? I’m gonna check the fridge.”

“Billy, I wouldn’t do that if I were you-"

“WHAT THE FUCK-”

[wroteclassicaly]

Steve Harrington is not a trophy prize.

Steve Harrington is not a second option.

Steve Harrington is not someone you go back to when you realize you’re tired of your other boyfriend.

Steve Harrington is not someone whose feelings you can play with for years, and then get jealous each time he might move on, making things awkward for him, guilting him, and making him feel like he owes you an explanation.

Steve Harrington is not your safety net, or your fallback into nostalgia.

Steve Harrington is not responsible emotionally, for your awakening into realizing he’s your version of good enough now.

Steve Harrington is not replaceable.

❤️✌🏻

[sspiderj]

karen wheeler defender till the day i die

[ryan-waddell11]

I’m missing them so much rn