Chapter Text
Robin Buckley met Nancy Wheeler for the first time when she was five years old.
It was the first day of kindergarten. Robin was very excited. As she had put it, “It took a trillion years to get ready.”
Her mom said it had only been about a half hour.
Robin didn’t know what that meant.
It hadn’t bothered her though, and now she was walking around the playground, thinking about her nice teacher Ms. Ella, and how fun the first half of the day had been. She skipped around the outside of the swing area, scuffing the top of some pebbles with the bottom of her blue crocs, when she saw another girl in her grade sitting on a swing and humming to herself. Robin grinned. Her mother said all she had to do was ask, and she could have a new friend! Robin walked over to the girl excitedly. The girl looked up to see who was approaching her, smiling when she noticed Robin. Robin waved to her as she walked over.
“Hi! My name’s Robin!” She told her, “Wanna be my friend?”
And from that moment on, the two were inseparable.
Robin and Nancy hung out on the playground every day. Robin would rant about trucks or caterpillars or whatever she was interested in that week, and Nancy would listen intently to the other girl’s millions of facts. Sometimes, Nancy would grab things out of the art room quickly so she would have something to do as she listened, and sometimes they wouldn’t talk at all, instead running around chasing each other and playing games.
Nancy loved to make Robin friendship bracelets, a skill she learned during one of her first Girl Scout meetings. Robin cherished the gifts every time she received them, and Nancy would always put a charm on it. A truck, or a caterpillar, or anything that she thought Robin would like. Robin always liked it.
When the summer hit, Nancy and Robin could no longer see each other everyday, so they begged their parents to let them go on playdates. Robin’s parents were pleased that their daughter had made a friend, so they hardly ever said no.
They continued to hang out and play constantly, all the way through the summer and into first grade. They just fit.
Nancy Wheeler asked her best friend to marry her on the playground with a bracelet when she was seven years old.
Nancy loved listening to Robin. Everyday she was bombarded with new facts on the playground, and then she would go home and tell her mom everything about what Robin had rambled about during school that day. Karen would smile and give Nancy facts to tell Robin the next day, and Nancy would beam when Robin’s eyes lit up from the new information. Robin loved facts, and she loved telling Nancy about them.
“Mommy, why do you marry someone?” Nancy asked one day. Karen glanced at her, smiling a bit.
“Well, you marry for lots of different reasons, but you should marry someone because you love them. The person you marry should be your best friend—the person you want to spend the rest of your life with.” Karen responded. Nancy nodded, deciding from her mother’s description that her choice would be Robin.
That night, Nancy looked everywhere for a ring—everywhere being her room—but couldn’t find one. She frowned. What was she supposed to give Robin? She searched in her room again, looking for something to propose with. As she dug through her drawer, she stumbled upon her bracelet strings. She beamed when she found them, and got to work right away, weaving the bracelet as perfectly as she could. Robin deserved to have it perfect. When she was finished, she held it up proudly before tucking it carefully in her backpack pocket to give Robin the next day.
In the morning, Nancy was practically vibrating from excitement in the car, and right as her mom parked, she ran into school. All throughout the day she waited for recess, continually asking her teacher when it was time to go out. When it was finally time for lunch, Nancy was first in line—after getting Robin’s bracelet of course—and ate her lunch as fast as possible, rushing her classmates to finish as well so she could see Robin. When they did get outside, Nancy ran over to Robin and smiled widely.
“Hey Robbie!” Nancy exclaimed, and Robin smiled back, grabbing Nancy’s hand as always and starting to walk to the playground.
“Hey Nance!” She replied, “Can we please play tag today? I was smushed inside all weekend !” Nancy frowned a bit, before swinging their hands back and forth.
“Uhhhh, I dunno, I wanted to do something else today!” Nancy told her, and Robin frowned, before shrugging.
“Hmmmmm…” Robin paused, “Fine! But you have to tell me first.” Nancy smiled once more, before giggling and leading Robin towards the swings.
“No! It’s a surprise, but I promise it's even more better than tag!” Nancy promised, and Robin squinted suspiciously as they reached the swing set.
“No way. There’s nothing funner than tag!” Robin argued, and Nancy groaned and slapped her forehead like she had seen the cartoons on their television do.
“I pinky swear!” She said, and Robin nodded.
“Well, okay.” Robin stuck her pinky out to Nancy, and the girl stuck hers out as well, shaking it excitedly. Nancy’s left hand had stayed at her side this whole time, holding the bracelet in her hand. She brought it up in front of her, opening her hand for Robin to see. Robin tilted her head to the side, and Nancy grinned.
“Guess what it is!” Nancy told her. Robin furrowed her brows.
“Uhhhh…a bracelet?” Robin guessed. Nancy nodded, before explaining.
“Yup! But it’s a special bracelet!” Nancy started, “It’s a marrying bracelet. My mommy said you should marry someone you love, and I love you, so that obviously means we should get married.” Robin’s eyes widened in understanding, before smiling widely.
“Ooohhhh! That makes sense!” Robin exclaimed, before morphing her expression into one of confusion, “But don’t people get married with rings?” Nancy frowned.
“Yeah,” She frowned, “but I couldn’t find one.” She paused, “But bracelets are way awesomer than rings anyway.” Nancy shrugged, and Robin nodded in agreement, before grabbing the bracelet and slipping it on with her various others.
“That’s true. Well I love it. I think being married is a great idea.” Robin paused again, before making a disgusted face, “Doesn’t marriage mean you have to do kissy face and stuff though?” Nancy widened her eyes before making a disgusted face identical to Robin’s.
“Eww gross!” Nancy replied, “We just won’t do that.” Robin nodded, grabbing Nancy’s hand again and starting to drag her to the playground.
“Good idea. Now can we pretty please go play tag?” Robin begged. Nancy giggled, nodding as they ran over to the playground, hand in hand.
Robin Buckley figured out she wasn’t “normal” at the end of seventh grade.
It was terrifying.
She hated it.
She hated Tommy Hagen, and Jenny Fletcher, and middle school and gym class and the football team and the stupid dude who broke her trumpet and math tests and her lack of money and her older brother and herself and stupid Tammy Thompson .
Stupid Tammy Thompson who made her-
Tammy who made her a lesbian .
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid .
Tammy didn't make her gay, Robin was just fucked up.
It wasn’t Tam’s fault that Robin was weird.
It was Robin’s fault.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
It wasn’t easy to accept it. In fact, Robin had spent half of eighth grade hating herself, but by winter break, Robin had started to come around. She had learned that it wasn’t all bad.
First off, she didn’t have to date a man, which she had always found gross anyway. That probably should’ve been a sign.
Second, she had found out she wasn’t the only one. On one of her weekly library trips, she had stumbled upon a queer magazine, filled with people just like her. She had never felt so accepted than in that moment. She had stopped by multiple times after that and read more of the magazines. Never checking them out though. She couldn’t be caught.
Third, well, women. Robin really liked the magazines with women in them. Robin–after accepting herself–had let herself fully admire the beauty of the other members of her gender. They were pretty, y’know? Like, really pretty. Robin was definitely gay.
And yeah, there were totally times when Robin wished that she had a crush on Steve Harrington instead of Tammy Thompson, but at the end of the day, Robin realized that there was really nothing she could do about it. She was stuck the way she was, might as well enjoy it.