when steve fell in love, he fell hard. he devoted his entire being to the person he was attracted to. he was clingy, and he knew that. he knew that was a factor that ruined the majority of his relationships. maybe that was why he never had a serious one until nancy.
and when nancy came into his life, everything seemed to stop. his life changed in a better way and then nancy left him high and dry. cheated on him with someone while he was worried sick about her. and it hurts, it hurt him to know someone he was so hopelessly devoted to didn't feel the same way.
and then he met robin. robin, funny and quick witted, what was not to like? she quickly became someone steve found himself wanting to be around and even quicker did steve find himself falling in love. and then she told him. told him she could never reciprocate those feelings and he was okay with that. it stung but not in the way it stung with nancy. this was different. robin loved him in a platonic way and it turned out to be better than a romantic relationship with her could ever be.
and since robins confession in the bathroom, steve hadn't found himself in love with anyone. the slight infatuation he had been growing for eddie munson (yes, seriously, eddie fucking munson) was stamped out the second he was told eddie passed away in the upside down.
and maybe that was a sign. maybe steve just shouldn't let anyone love him, maybe he shouldn't love anyone. because it never worked in his favor and it only hurt more than it benefited. he could stick with his platonic (with a capital P) relationship with robin and he could ignore the pain in his heart when he thought too long about nancy or eddie.
