The Stancy Files

Chapter 7: Friends to Lovers?!

"I'm glad to be here, Nance," he responded, staring into her blazing blue eyes. Nancy smiled up at him. The two friends sat there in silence for a very long time until the sunsets outside turned into a deep, dark, pitch black. Steve fell asleep and Nancy put a blanket over him before walking back over to the couch she was sleeping on.

As the sun rays hit his eyes through the window, Steve slowly blinked his eyes open. He sat up, looking around because Nancy wasn't where she had been when he'd fallen asleep. Instead, she was asleep on the couch a few feet away. Steve quietly tip-toed over to the kitchen to make breakfast. He didn't know how to cook very well, so he just made scrambled eggs and found an old pancake recipe from Benny's cookbook.

After smelling the aromas from the kitchen, Nancy awoke. She was very tired, so she wasn't fully awake yet. "Steve?" She asked. "In the kitchen," a familiar voice carried from the kitchen. Steve was cooking. Breakfast. Nancy doubted his cooking abilities, so as soon as her eyes were completely open, she rushed to the kitchen. "What are you doing?" Steve was as busy as a worker bee. He looked up. "I'm making breakfast," he said confidently. Nancy gave a shy, small smile. "No offense, Steve, but-" Steve shook his head and shooed her away. "No. No. No. I'm making breakfast. End of discussion. Go sleep," he commanded. "But-" Steve continued to shoo Nancy away, waving Benny's cookbook at her. "I'm using a recipe, Nancy. It'll be fine."

Steve took his car down to Bradley's Big Guy again later in the day after they had both eaten and gotten the rest they had lacked. He bought board games, more food, and some random art supplies. While the two were hiding away at Benny's, Nancy spent many of her days painting or just thinking, and Steve was either practicing self-defense or working on his cooking skills. 

One day, Steve let his thoughts wander, perhaps to places they shouldn't have gone. "Hey, Nance, are you okay all in all? I know things haven't exactly been... normal in a while. With Jonathan and everyone else. I'm sorry if I created any strife there." Nancy gave him a small, dismal smile. "As best as I can be in this situation. And Steve," she said, making sure she had all of his attention. "I didn't break up with Jonathan because of you. He was keeping secrets and lying to me and..." She paused, shaking her head dully. "It just wasn't right." Steve wondered if Nancy meant that as a hint or a clue or something. Maybe she still had feelings for him? It would make sense, right, that she did? They'd spent so much time together and Jonathan hadn't even been around. And when he did come around, Nancy had ended things with him. Steve looked up, directly at Nancy. "So you didn't mean that as a-" Nancy made a perplexed facial expression. "As a what?" He shook his head. "Nevermind. It was stupid anyway." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it wasn't stupid, Steve. You have every right to speak your own thoughts." He just looked at her, then down at the ground, shaking his head sadly, and walked away. Nancy pondered what he had been about to say. If she was being honest with herself, if he had just asked if she still had feelings for him, she would've said yes. Nancy wanted Steve to know, and she hadn't been lying when she had just asked for time. She loved Steve Harrington, there was no denying the facts. She wanted to date him, but she wanted to take it slow. She thought they had rushed into their relationship the first time, and it just ended up as a chaotic mess.

   Once they were finally in contact again, Robin came over to Benny's to visit her two best friends, but on this particular day, she solely came to speak with Nancy. She grabbed Nancy's wrist and marched into Benny's old office room, making sure the door was shut so Steve couldn't hear their conversation. "Nancy, you have to tell him!" Her friend was confused. "Tell him what? What are you talking about?" Robin rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Nance, I know you have unresolved feelings for Steve. It's so flipping obvious. And you know he has feelings for you too. So go on and put both you and him out of your misery and for God's sake, Nancy, tell him! You gotta give the poor guy a clue!" Nancy burst out in anger. "I've given him clues, Robin! I can't be the first one to commit here! I don't want Jonathan to think I left him for Steve!" Robin's facial expression went blank. "But you did. Didn't you? And who's gonna tell Jonathan? I'm the only one who knows where you and Steve are." Nancy wrung her wrists, feeling more anxiety than ever. "Does Steve really not know?" Robin's face had pity written all over it. "Nance, Steve didn't even know you were gonna break up with Jonathan. He thought your friendship would be basically over again once Jonathan came back into the picture. He was like depressed." Nancy raised an eyebrow. "He thought..." She became angry and started to raise her voice. "Fucking Jonathan! This is all his fault!" A knock came from the other side of the door. "You okay in there, Nance?" Nancy's panicked eyes flickered to Robin, who remained calm at the moment. "She's fine, Steve. Just a little angsty because we always are!" On the other side of the door, Steve sighed, with a hand on his hip. He began knocking on the door, impatiently. "Just let me in, Robin." Nancy shook her head at her friend, who shrugged. "Sorry, pal! You're gonna have to wait a bit longer," Robin called through the cracks in the door to Steve. He ignored her. "Nance, you okay in there?" He repeated. "Fine," she answered back. "You're really unconvincing, Nancy." Steve slammed his body into the door, trying to budge it open. "Just open the damn door, would you? Robin!" 

Robin walked over to the door, slowly creaked the door, and walked out, leaving Nancy behind. She made a face at Steve. "Would you go away? I'm making progress in there and I need you to go away," Robin whispered. "Progress? With what?" Steve answered, impatient and annoyed. Robin buried her face into her hands, frustrated. "Just trust me, Steve. You'll thank me later." After shooing Steve away, she walked back into the tiny office space, where Nancy still stood near the corner. "Sorry about that. He's impatient." Silence filled the room for a split second. "Sooo, you're still angry at Jonathan?" Nancy made a face at her friend. "I'm always going to be angry at him. He ruined everything. All of my plans. My relationship." Robin's eyes flickered to the wall. "That's not going to work, Nancy. If we're going to defeat Vecna... Henry... One...  whatever you wanna call him, we're going to have to work as a team. And that means you're going to have to face Jonathan again. Not right now. That would be oh so stupid. But eventually. Just talk to Steve. Tell him you still have unresolved feelings for him. Like he does with you. He made the move by telling you about what he wants for his future and he still thinks of you as in it, Nance. Now it's your turn. Tell Steve how you feel." Nancy sat for a moment, thinking of how she was going to tell him. She knew she needed to, and Robin was right. She just needed to be with Steve. 

After a little while of pondering, Nancy slowly opened the door. She walked over to Steve, who wasn't too far away cooking in the kitchen and was wearing a very mother-like looking apron. She gave an awkward, but warm smile. "Can we talk somewhere?"