☕️ Steve Harrington’s trust issues
so i thought abt this for a few minutes and i kind of think steve is too much of a ... “social” person post s2 to have trust issues?
what i mean is that he’s shown so much resiliency and has still looked for love past nancy (even if he was hitting on an obvious lesbian :/). i think steve more so internalizes the trust issues to where he feels like he’s a broken person and doesn’t put blame on the other. when nancy broke up with him (after emotionally cheating on him at the very least) he didn’t like... become a shell of a person who turned in on himself. he still socialized, he actually made friends (though they are children) - i just think, though i’m sure there are trust issues, he has a pretty interesting way of handling them. he isn’t super open about it and continues to interact with and get close to others, but i think his confidence was shot so much, and that’s where the main problem lies. not so much that he can’t trust others, but that he sees himself as unlovable.
the best way to describe it is that he really genuinely seems a lot like a puppy. he might get kicked or abandoned but he still has a lot of love for others and even a lot of love for those who kicked him. i hope that makes sense? he’s just like the physical embodiment of a golden retriever to me and i think he bounces back from the trust issues in a way where he can pursue other relationships - he just thinks he’s the one in the wrong. this is evidenced a lot by his self deprecation in s3. he still actively seeks out another partner, but he feels like he’s off his groove and an asshole.
i wonder if he ever really even gave himself the time to process the trauma of losing nancy? i think he just wanted her to be happy so bad that he didn’t even think about it. he just keeps going because he realizes that if he stops and thinks about it he’s going to break down. which is very interesting to think about and now i’m rly getting deep into him as a character ... like i think nancy’s words to him at tina’s party were just so horrific that he really internalized them, because nancy was telling him/calling him the same things everyone else has called him. and she’s supposed to love him. maybe that’s why he internalized the insults more than the trust issues? i’m not sure. but based off of his behavior past s2, he seems more like he doesn’t trust himself as opposed to not trusting others.