Steve knew how much Nancy cared about her brother and his friends, so he stepped up to the plate. He knew all the things Jonathan did to protect his own brother, and suddenly, Steve remembered all the times he wished as a kid that he had a little sibling of his own all so that he wouldn't be alone. His wish came true in the form of Dustin and his friends. The first babysitters were Nancy and Jonathan, and then Steve became one as well. Maybe Jonathan and Nancy guided him there, but it was Steve who formed the connection, who kept it going strong.
I want to see Will give Jonathan so much shit for falling for two people who are kind of like their parents. And by parents, I mean Joyce and Hopper. Nancy is sort of similar to Joyce, and Steve is sometimes like Hopper. Jonathan lets Will get away with it until Jonathan finally says Mike kind of reminds him of Hopper. Will shuts up rather quickly.
i love the trope where steve thinks robin knows he’s bi bc he’s been subtly hinting it to her (and by subtly hinting i mean extremely vague & mildly homosexual comments abt men) and robin has no fuckin clue, still thinks he’s the straightest man alive
and one day the spicy six are talking and robin offhandedly mentions steve is the token straight and everyone laughs but steve is just like “?? i’m not straight tho?” and everyone just goes silent. then robin drags him away for a Private Conversation on how joking about that isn’t funny until steve tells her he was being Serious and “i thought you knew?” and they realize they’re just both dumb
in the meantime nancy and jonathan are talking about how that actually explains a lot and they probably should’ve realized sooner while eddie is having a gay crisis in the corner and ranting to argyle
eventually robin and steve come back & steve officially comes out and bonds with jonathan and nancy abt being bi and into the elder wheeler / byers (bc let’s be honest he was into both of them) and eddie is like “oh shit i forgot to feed my cat i have to go sorry bye” and speeds tf out of there to go scream into his pillow and think gay thoughts abt steve harrington
bonus: after eddie leaves steve asks everyone if they think he has a chance with him and they’re all like “obviously”