#also they fundamentally don't work as a couple because nancy needs a yes man and jonathan is. bless him. a bit of a doormat sometimes

[kurokoros]

something really frustrating about nancy ships is how the entire focus is on how the person is good enough for nancy, and never whether nancy is good enough for her partner. there's always emphasis on nancy deserves someone who loves, understands and supports her, but no one ever talks about how steve also deserves the same and that nancy has not done that in canon. if we can talk about how he wasn't—depending on your perspective—the perfect bf, she was also a pretty shitty gf.

you are sooooo correct for this, anon. like, in S1 Nancy got mad at Steve for him wanting to lie to the cops about something minor so he wouldn't get in trouble with his parents... and then she also lied to the cops about something. she got mad when he didn't believe her about seeing something in his backyard (and I maintain that she never should have seen it because it was daytime and the demogorgon is clearly nocturnal + had a fresh kill) then lied about what she was doing to go hunt monsters with the guy who was just caught taking inappropriate pictures of her through a window. sorry, but a quick "hey Steve, I'm going monster hunting with Jonathan Byers, come with" could have done wonders there. she got mad at him again in S2 for... not wanting to be the victim of a tragic accident a la the government for whistleblowing (which would have been a real threat if j.ancy's storyline wasn't made easy for plot convenience), got drunk and said some cruel shit to him, then acted flippant about it when he was mad about it the next day. and that's on top of the whole pining for another guy for an entire year and literally cheating with the guy she told him not to worry about.

her apology for the latter was not, in fact, an apology, and Steve was extremely gracious about telling her it was okay at the end. she has literally not interacted with Steve since then, has dated Jonathan longer than she dated Steve, and has not changed or grown as a person since then because she's never been called out or made to be in the wrong per the narrative. meanwhile, Steve gets his shit rocked at least once per season, on top of the verbal criticism and condescending remarks he often gets from the other characters.

saying that Steve "deserves" Nancy honestly seems like more of a punishment than anything, all things considered.