"all i knew this morning when i woke
is i know something now
know something now i didn't before."

••••••••

Allison Buckley never really had too many friends. She tended to keep to herself. Allison never meant for this to happen to her. Her older sister, Robin, insisted she just need to get out and push herself out of her comfort zone and she tried. She tried putting herself out there. She joined tons of clubs, talked with her table partners in class, complimented people constantly, but none of it ever really stuck because all those moments ever became was small talk. It never grew deeper.

It was hard for Allison to open up to people. It took her time. Time that people never wanted to waste on her.

The only two people that let Allison take her time to open up and stick to them were Will Byers and Theo Davis.

Allison and Will were friends all throughout elementary school since they were forced to sit together because of alphabetical order seating: Buckley and Byers. They would talking during class, group projects, sometimes Allison would sit with Will's friends during recess and lunch, but just like always, she took too long opening up to those three other boys.

Will and Allison stopped talking once they hit middle school. Their grade got split up into different classes and teachers stopped seating students alphabetically.

Allison didn't stick to Theo Davis until the seventh grade. The two of them both decided that the best place to go after Will Byers' (later deemed fake) funeral was the small diner on the outskirts of town. Allison got there first, sitting at a booth in the back, messing with the bright yellow straw of her chocolate milkshake when someone slid into the seats across from her.

And there Theo was, a strawberry milkshake with a light blue straw in hand and a solemn look on his face. The two didn't talk much in that moment, but it was a start. Day by day, the two of them became so close, they were attached to the hip.

So Allison spent most of her with the one person that she was still stuck to. Not that Theo minded it just being the two of them.

The amount of people close to her may have been small, but Allison loved them so much. She loved her parents (despite her moms constant need to share her sometimes harsh opinions), she loved Theo, and she loved Robin.

Even though their age gap was one that normally meant they'd bicker and fight constantly, Allison and Robin never did. They never had a reason to fight. They both liked different things growing up and didn't have to share because of it, their birthdays were on opposite ends of the calendar, and they actually tried to see eye to eye with each other. When Robin wanted to see a new movie, but she had no one to go with, Allison would go. And when Allison wanted someone to play dolls with her growing up, Robin would with no questions asked.

Allison was the first and only person that knew about Robin's sexuality. In 1983, Robin and Allison went to see The Outsiders and on the way home, after Allison's long discussion on how beautiful Matt Dillon was in the movie, Robin took a deep breath and admitted she was more of a Cherry girl.

They had a long talk that night about it. Robin opened up and when tears started to fall, Allison was quick to pull her into a hug and tell her it would all be okay and that she was there for her and loved her no matter what.

When the summer before high school rolled around, Allison was grateful. She no longer had to wake up at 6am, she didn't have to worry about homework and tests. She could just relax and drag Theo to the new mall in town, Starcourt.

Speaking of the mall, Robin had just gotten a job at the malls ice cream parlor. Which meant free ice cream for Allison and Theo whenever they wanted.

The first month of summer consisted of just that; free ice cream, annoying the hell out of Robin and her coworker, Steve Harrington, and getting the chance to sneak into the movie theater through the malls back rooms.

On one of those very days where Robin where the two of them would practically hibernate at the ice cream parlor, Max Mayfield decided to walk up to the pair to compliment Theo on his skateboard art.

The redhead introduced herself properly and then forced the three boys she was there with to sit with Allison and Theo. As Max pried the two quieter kids open, she and Lucas mooched off of Allison and Theo's sundaes.

And again, Allison was slow to opening up to Max, who was the main one attempting to speak with her. Theo on the other hand, immediately started to talk his head off to the boys across from him.

Allison and Theo knew the kids sitting with them. Or they at least knew the three boys. They all grew up together, went to the same schools, had the same classes, they just never got around to talking with them. Theo even asked where Dustin Henderson was, the fifth and final member of their friend group and after Max teased Theo for a minute about knowing so much about them, Will cut in and explained that he was off at science camp.

The group of six talked for about an hour, getting to know each other and with Theo and Will there, Allison felt a little more comfortable breaking out of her shell. When it was time for Robin to sneak her little sister and best friend into the theater, Allison insisted her four new friends come along too. After arguing with Robin for around five minutes, Allison threatened to tell their mom what really happened to her crystal vase, and Robin gave up.

After that, the six of them would sneak into the movies together. Allison insured they got Robin and even Steve to let them in while everyone else brought snacks and drinks. After a while of all of them just grabbing any snacks they could, they started to pick up on who in the group liked what. Will liked Reece's, Max and Lucas always shared gummy worms, Theo liked M&Ms, Allison liked Twizzlers, and Mike liked Skittles. They would buy snacks for each other and once they were seated, they'd hand them all out like some sort of gift exchange.

They went on like that for the next couple weeks until a town-wide blackout happens during one movie and a chain of events follow along with it. Allison and Theo are thrown into the secrets that have been hidden in Hawkins, and there's no going back.

~ALLISON BUCKLEY~
(alyvia alyn lind)

[ cyndi lauper , friday the 13th , pisces ]

~THEO DAVIS~
(david iacono)

[ david bowie , indiana jones , capricorn ]

"and all i've seen since eighteen hours ago
is green eyes and freckles and your smile
in the back of my mind making me feel like."

"God! This is so annoying!"

"What is?"

"This... new thing! I blinked and suddenly everything changed between us."

this fic will include
blood/gore, character death,
harsh language, weapons,
panic attacks, and anything
else mentioned in Netflix's
"Stranger Things"

dedicated to... janiabeans andromqda tvdworship
graciesfilm kiaracarreras outer_hsmtmts junebluesfever
paIedeath l0tus-Incorporated midnightsrep crtegas
-stainedglass bylershosie vsqxen crownsmist bvtterswyt_
starlithearts femioura dunbxby -soapyflms
and anyone else who is excited to read this fic and already misses the show<3

emily speaks...
ITS HEREEEE!!!
ive had this fic in my drafts for years and im so happy to finally publish it🫶 (if anyone was around for the first time i ever published my steve fic, this is literally evie and mike but i changed her name and sister😭)

act one is out and the first chapter should be out soon!