1. Obviously, I don't own anything from Stranger things. Just Jo.
2. I want to make sure everyone understands that the mentions of bullying and some words used towards Jo are NOT things I agree with or would ever approve of saying to anyone. I do, in fact, actually have Tourette's, so a lot of what she does will be based off my own day to day tiks. If anyone is uncomfortable with reading about bullying associated with this disorder, please do not read! I don't want to upset anyone with this.
JOHANNA
"This is the route you're gonna take," Robin says as she followed a drawn path with her finger. "Then we just wait till the last delivery goes out tonight."
The child didn't even bother turning to look, instead eating more of her bribery ice cream.
"Then you knock out the grate, jump down, open the door."
"Hello, who's there?"
"Then you find out what's in those boxes?" Erica asked, giving Jo a weird look.
"Exactly."
Erica hummed. "And say this guard is armed?"
"Yes, but he won't be there," the other child responds, speaking up for the first time in a while. Jo thought this surprising, but remembered she didn't really know this child other than what she'd seen of him at the mall.
"And booby traps?" Erica asked once more. Jo snorted at the question.
"Boobie!" She chirped, to the utter amusement of Steve who tried to hide his laugh. Dustin elbowed him in the side.
"Booby traps?" Robin asked, setting off another chirp.
"Lasers, spikes in the wall?" Erica asked as if they should all know. Jo did know, actually. She liked actiony adventure movies.
Robin obviously didn't. "What?"
"You what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child. Endangerment."
"She's got a point," Jo threw in. She hadn't said a word- other than the occasional tic- the whole time. Instead, she chose to sit back and listen.
"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time-"
"Ah, ah, ah!" Erica said, shushing Robin. "Child. Endangerment."
"Erica?" Dustin spoke again. "Hi. Uh... We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?"
"You can't spell 'America,' without 'Erica.'" Erica sassily declared. To add a flare of the dramatic, she took a loud sip of her empty slushy cup.
Jo noticed Dustin looked horribly slightly impressed. "Uh, yeah, yeah. Oddly, that's, uh, totally true." Jo felt bad for the poor kid, he looked like he was having an aneurism. "So, so, don't do this for us. Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man." And, the final blow, "Do this for America... Erica."
Jo whistled, high to low, and imitated an explosion with her mouth. "Uh-oh spaghetti-o!"
"Ooh! I just got the chills!" Erica shimmied her shoulders, scrunching up her face. "Oh, yeah. From this float, not your speech. Know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?"
"Yeah," Dustin said in offense.
Robin and Jo respond, "Yeah." Jo noticed that Steve didn't, though. She wondered if he did. And, once more, why he was here working in an ice cream shop instead of off exploring the world and going to college. She felt awkward asking, however, since she wasn't really friends with him- yet- and now wasn't really the time, anyways.
"It means this is a free market system. Which means people get paid for their services, depending on how valuable their contributions are. And it seems to me, my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So, you want my help?" Erica asked, closing up her speech. "This USS Butterscotch better be the first of many. And I'm talking free ice cream... For. Life."
Jo let out a low whistle, this time not a tic. "Damn. She g-g-got y'all good."
Robin shot her a look that said she wasn't finding this situation funny, before sharing a look with Steve.
Steve shrugged, arms crossed. "I'll go make another ice cream boat."
Jo, Robin, Steve and Dustin laid flat on their stomachs on the roof, overlooking the loading bay. Robin, who was in charge of the walkie, held it to her mouth and pressed the button. "Erica, do you copy?"
The walkie crackled and Erica's young voice broke through with a hum. "I copy. You nerds in position or what?"
"Yeah, we're in position," Robin responded. "It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light."
"Green light, roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment."
Robin rolled her eyes as Jo chuckled. "Can we maybe not call it that?"
"I don't think you're ever going to get her to stop," Jo whispered.
"See you on the other side. Nerds." And the radio went silent.
"So now we just sit and wait?" Jo asked.
Steve shrugged, his lips pulled down at the corners and his brows raised high. "Yup."
Jo sighed. "You know, this really kinda does sound like child-"
"Don't even say it," Robin said.
"Say what?" She asked innocently, before her mind forced out a, "Chicken butt," to which she groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Does that ever get annoying?" Dustin asked. Usually when people asked questions like that, it was because they were annoyed, but Jo could tell there was only true curiosity behind the young boy's words.
So she shrugged and thought for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I guess so. Like, if they just... went away, I think I'd feel boring, you know? But most of the time they just get in the way or come at really inopportune moments, and sometimes I say things I'd really rather not say."
"Like what?" Dustin asked, a grin across his face.
"Cunt. Or fuck off. Those ones usually aren't appreciated."
Steve 'oof'ed. "Yeah, I bet. I, uh, I've got a question, but I don't wanna sound like an asshole."
Robin laughed. "You always sound like an asshole."
"Hey, I take offense to that. I've gotten better," Steve said with a frown.
Dustin quickly piped in. "It's true; I can attest to that."
"Go ahead," Jo said after, letting Steve know it was ok. She was interested now in what he had to say.
"Well, uhm, does it make you feel really bad when people laugh at your, uh... Your-"
"My tics?" Jo supplied with a small laugh. "It depends. When I know they're laughing at me because I'm different, yes. It's... Really embarrassing, honestly. But when I know people are laughing because they enjoy the little bit of spontaneity it adds to their lives or they're laughing with me, then no. It kinda makes me feel better, somehow. Like... I'm not just some freak to either be mocked or ignored."
Steve nodded to show he understood what she was saying, and Jo could literally feel her affection for him swelling. No one had ever asked her that before, and she could really tell he was taking her answer to heart.
But just when he opened his mouth to reply, the walkie crackled again.
"All right, nerds. I'm there."
Robin quickly lifted the radio to her face again. "Do you- do you see anything?" She asked. The three others leaned in closer as if they couldn't hear perfectly fine already.
"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about."
"Any guards?"
"Negative," Erica confirmed.
"Booby traps?"
If Jo had been there, she knew she would have seen the little girl roll her eyes to the back of her head. "If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?"
"Damn, the sass on that girl, though," Jo whispered, earning a swift nod from Dustin.
"Thank you for that," Robin said to Erica, but while looking at Jo as if that went for her as well.
They waited for a moment as there was more silence, and then,
"I'm in."
Steve groaned and rubbed his hands up his face and through his hair. "Oh, God."
Jo swallowed thickly as she watched his hair fall back into place, looking even more amazing than it had before. She couldn't help but get distracted for a moment by the wonder of Steve Harrington seated so close to her. Before she could help it, a common tic slipped out.
"Pretty..."
Immediately she was grateful for the cover of darkness, and that she hadn't spoken very loud. But even so Steve looked at her and asked if she said something.
"Just a tic," she answered quickly as they all stood up and watched the giant doors open.
The little girl walked out and through the walkie proclaimed,
"Free ice cream. For. Life," using her hands to emphasize her point.
Jo laughed loudly. "Alright, let's go, bitches."
