Joan stayed home that Friday while her mom drove to pick up Dustin, so when the front door opened suddenly and a crowd of young teens piled into the living room where the girl sat in her pajamas consuming popcorn and watching The Last Star Fighter, she screamed.
And they screamed back.
The chaos continued for probably longer than social acceptable before it went quiet and the kids stared wide-eyed at the high schooler in front of them.
"So... here's the deal." Joan snapped out, pausing the movie and pointing aggressively at the snot-nosed brats that would one day become her family. "You keep my movie choice a secret and I let you guys set up whatever dumb prank you have planned for the Dust-bin, got it?"
"Y-yeah, got it." Mike agreed on behalf of the group who all nodded their head quickly in understanding.
"Good. So what the hell are you guys still standing there for?! The brat's going to be home in an hour!" The kids scrambled forward Joan turning off the TV with an exasperated sigh - there was no way she'd be able to finish the movie before Dustin got home - and yelled out to the kids. "Oi, are you dorks hungry!"
There was something satisfying with calling her future aunts and uncles dorks- she would take full advantage of everything she could.
"Yes!" Was the resounding answer throughout the house and Joan threw in a lasagna from the freezer for when the kids were done with their set up. There were low whispers and giggles filling the one floor home that pleasantly mixed with the scent of warm cheese in the air. It only took the kids half an hour before they were in the kitchen and devouring the lasagna.
"Sweet Jesus." Joan whispered in surprise at the empty container in front of her. She had literally just put the steaming dish on the counter and some forks, the kids didn't even use a plate as they polished off the dish. Her eyes napped over to Auntie El in surprise at the loud belch that escaped from her stomach.
"Uh... excuse me." It was softer than she was use to and surprised her at how less-spoken the younger version of her aunt was. It was a contrast to the powerful woman who wasn't afraid to knock on your door if she didn't like something you were doing and heaven forbid if you lied to her.
Joan greeted Dustin first with an arm around the neck and knuckle-sandwich while squealing extra loud about her Dusty-poo coming home all taller and tanner - the girls must have gone wild over you! - and other embarrassing things she could think of.
Because no one was in the house, right?
"Okay, okay, shit, let me go before I die at a young age." Eventually Dustin was able to squeeze away from his sisters hold with a scowl and tucked his shirt back in subconsciously. "Just because I have no collarbones doesn't mean I don't hurt..."
"Yeah, yeah whatever, twerp. Now go unpack, there're a ton of chores that you need to catch up on because doing them by myself was exhausting."
Dustin visibly deflated, but Joan kept up the distanced act for the surprise and left the house like was requested. Whatever the little dorks had planned they didn't want her apart of it, so she just finished Dustin's chores and waited. She counted to 75 before she heard her brother screech bloody murder and then Lucas started screaming back.
Joan immediately ran back into the house in a panic, looking at an equally if not more panicked teens surrounding a screaming Lucas Sinclair holding his face in agony.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Dustin repeated looking at Lucas with wide eyes and then up at his sister with relief. "Slightly older and therefore more responsible than I am person, do something!"
"What happened?!" Joan asked, taking Lucas but the wrists and frowning at the pain in his face.
"I-I sprayed-." Dustin held up the aerosol can and Joan groaned loudly.
That was all Joan needed to hear before nearly carrying Lucas to the kitchen sink and shoving his face underneath it hurriedly. "I-I know this sucks but we need to wash this shit out for no less than ten minutes, okay Lucas?" All she got was a groan in response and Joan did everything she could to keep the water from his mouth.
"Welcome home Dustin." Mike said weakly with a smile. Dustin snorted and rolled his eyes. "Your sister made brownies."
"Forget what I said, best welcome home party ever!"
And somehow Joan got roped into driving the kids to the hill so that Dustin could set up some weird radio antenna so he could talk to his girlfriend. She kind of sounded made up honestly, but hey, the kid was happy and who was-
Wait.
"Hold on, where did you say she was from?"
"Salt Lake City!" Dustin replied quickly as they piled out of the vehicle and left Joan - she was not walking up that hill - to go set up the contraption. With a firm pat on the cars hood, Dustin gave a two finger salute. "Thanks, Jo!"
"Yeah, yeah. You weirdos have fun, okay?"
Her heart ached as she put the car in gear and drove out of the make shift dirt parking space. Dustin had just met her mother Suzie and of all the people she missed it was the warm hug of her mom that occupied her mind.
Before Dustin married Suzie she had been a Mormon just like her mother and father, but for some reason Suzie left the faith to be with her husband, an agnostic to the max. Her grandparents didn't like Dustin, but they were kind enough to move past it to be with their daughter a couple times a year.
But her mom was the one who taught her how to code and division, her mom taught her how to bake a pie and how to use two different types of apples for flavor, and it was also her mom who held her hand during a panic attack and whispered how strong her daughter is while she rode it out.
Joan quickly wiped away the wet dots littering her steering wheel and decided her grandmother's home was not what she needed right now.
It was a beautiful day for a trip to visit Heather, wasn't it? Joan grinned as she pulled into the pool parking lot and didn't care that she wasn't dressed for the occasion - high waisted shorts and a colorful button down became a staple for the teen - and snuck over to her friend on the lifeguard stand.
"Oh no, sexy life guard, help!" Joan groaned out dramatically, gaining Heather's attention judging by the giggle above. She continued with her theatrics, a hand over her forehead and one reaching out towards the sky, and fell on her knees. "I am dying from drowning!"
"How are your drowning, you ditz." Heather ignored the fake moans and groans of pain as she slowly, extra slowly, descended the tower with a grin on her face. "You're, like, not even in the water."
Joan let out a huge groan and lied down on the concrete, her hands reaching for the sky and blocking out the sun so she could look at Heather pitifully. "I'm drowning in your beauty." Her head dropped to the side, arms falling down, and her tongue lolled out - pretending to be dead.
Heather howled in laughter, grabbing her stomach from the force of it. Every time she looked back down at Joan, the laugh came back and Heather kicked the 'dead girl' lightly in the ribs. "G-get up you idiot." Joan tried valiantly to keep her grin and snickers down. "I can see you grinning."
"I might need mouth to mouth." Joan whispered-yell conspiratorially, before dying again, sending Joan into a new wave of snickers.
"Did someone say they needed mouth to mouth?"
The sun was blocked and Joan frowned, her eyes opening to see Billy Hargrove smirking over her. Pursing her lips she shook her head, and waved the boy away. "No, but you're blocking my sun. Move."
"Uh, well, I'm going to have to ask you to move."
"Who do you think you are to tell me to move?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm the lifeguard on duty, Henderson." Billy's smirk widened, pointing over to the life guard stand. "You're in my way."
Properly chastised, Joan quickly got up and stepped out of Billy's way, rolling her eyes at the way Heather waved at the shirtless weirdo as if he were Chris Hemsworth.
You know, part of being Joan was also realizing that she did not consume 80s paraphernalia as a personality. She was heavy into rock music but more like Halestorm, The Pretty Reckless, and I Prevail. She loved The Breakfast Club and Back to the Future, but honestly? She couldn't tell you the year it came out or even the names of the actors.
But holy shit she could tell you every single Doctor Who character and their companion's actor plus Marvel - well, within reason because everything after the first Season of Loki was hard to watch for her - and of course she loved Harry Potter!
Everything that made her a nerd wasn't around in the 80s except for DnD, but the one person she could talk about it with seemed to hate her passionately and was probably a future murder! Like, what was she supposed to do while here in the 80's?
Smoke weed?
She ruined that one too!
"Oi, Jo. What are you doing here you ditz?"
"Just coming to say hi to my favorite lifeguard." Joan teased from outside of the shower stall Heather occupied. Her legs stretched out and she let out a groan. "Plus my nerd of a brother asked me to drive him for some weird science experiment or whatever. So I thought I'd come bug you."
"And drown in my beauty."
"Oh definitely that, baby."
The two girls laughed loudly, the sound echoing across the metal room until it died into giggled. The water turned off and the flimsy shower curtain peeled back to show Heather's head with a mischievous grin. "Wanna get some ice cream? Torture Steve a little more?"
"Good God, Heath. I thought you'd never ask!"