1985
"What? No, you can have that one. I look like total ass in this one." Eddie swapped the photos from her hand with the one he had been holding, smirking at the small whine that Joan let out. "Whining gets you nowhere."
"But I wanted that one..." Joan grumbled out, but shoved the photo in her glove box over her CDs all the same. "Anyways, I'm thinkin' we should go to that diner outside of town for lunch before I have to go pick up Dustin from whatever nerdy thing he's doing at the Wheelers."
"I tasked him on map making for the next campaign, so him and the freshies are probably doing that." Eddie jumped in the smaller car and closed the door behind him with a grin on his face. "Also, I'd never turn down food."
It was the third Saturday of August after school had already began. Joan had introduced Dustin to the club and then cornered Eddie to apologize for her words, explaining that she hadn't been in the right mind since the accident and insisting she should never had reacted that way.
Eddie accepted the apology under circumstance.
"I demand compensation for distress."
"...what do you want?"
"That's... three practices you missed? I require three meals, only then will my stomach, and consequently myself, forgive your transgressions."
So they were on their second meal, but they had been on numerous outings in between. The two had taken to an unspoken rule of trying not to be seen together - for reasons neither could pinpoint - and met in secret. They had found a spot further in the woods with a small hill when're they had messily covered up with a tarp in the trees, cackling as they sat underneath it with ice cream about whatever dumb bullshit went on that week.
Joan had brought Heather's camera to their current meet up, insisting on a photo of the two for later. Eddie comically refused, rolling around in the grass and dodging every attempt at a grab and hold while Joan could only laugh until tears were in her eyes.
Eddie had too much energy as displayed with his tree climbing and constant fake screams of distress.
Eventually Joan was unable to continue to keep up with the multi-year Senior, gave up the chase with a sigh and sat down on a log to catch her breath. Joan smiled at the sight of Eddie Munson grinning at her upside down, legs hooked around a tree branch and hair lightly dancing across the ground. His shirt bunched up around his neck, his familiar vest and jacket sitting next to her, and the teen couldn't help the way her gaze went towards the pale skin with a few tattoos.
She took a triumphant snapshot and Eddie whined, awkwardly falling down and tried to steal the photo halfheartedly. Eventually he pushed his hands on her shoulders and rested his hand on her head, and Joan accidentally pressed the button on the camera twice during their scuffle.
When they had gotten back to her car, because his was conspicuous, Joan marveled at the photos with a huge grin.
The accidental photos were nearly identical except one had her mid laughing loudly while Eddie had his hair nearly all in her face. And the other was in her glove box.
But alas, Eddie ignored the photo and dived into her glove box for a cassette of his choosing. Joan snorted as he grabbed the Black Sabbath cassette victoriously and playfully hissed at the Madonna music that came out from the radio.
"It is of the evil!"
"It's just a cassette, Munson!" Joan cried out with a laugh as Eddie pawed at the cassette to get it to fall out out so he didn't have to actually hold it. Hopefully it would break like the Phil Collins one did last time. With a roll of her eyes Joan grabbed the cassette and threw it in the backseat, Eddie wasted no time in shoving the metal music in and turning up the volume. "You'll blow my speakers!"
"I'll fix them!" He hollered back, hair going wild as he threw his head back and forth while placing his fingers on ghost frets and strumming with invisible strings. It wasn't often he got to enjoy the passenger seat of a car and decided instead of fighting he would take full advantage of every moment wether it was that one nap he took or rocking out until his neck popped.
"How do you have so much energy?"
"How can you not?" Was all that Eddie responded with as snobby as he could before turning up the music just a few notches. It was exhilarating and overwhelming trying to keep up with Eddie Munson both as a friend and as a co-conspirator of mischief - Joan was convinced he ensured he was even more extra personality wise with her.
Unfortunately the fun was broken up as a car appeared in her vision and in a panic Joan turned the music all the way off, ignored Eddie's cry of dissatisfaction, and shoved his head down nearly nose-into-lap with a hand in his hair.
"What the fuck-?"
"Car!" Joan hissed and she could feel Eddie's eyes roll even if she couldn't see him. The softness the warm sun shined on her face as the car pulled up behind her, passed her with a nod, and Joan wondered if it was someone she knew or should know. Once it was gone, Eddie lifted his head up with a groan.
"Jesus, prissy. If you wanted to pull my hair all you had to do was ask."
The blush across her face had Joan snatched her hand back from the rough curls that made up Eddie's signature look. "You're insufferable." She complained just in time for the familiar diner to show up down the road.
"Yeah, is that why you keep begging me to hang out with you."
"I do not beg!"
"You can if you want to." The metalhead was a tease to the max with the way his lips quirked into a grin and his eyebrows jumped up and down, leaning in suggestively into her space.
Jesus Christ. Joan cried out in her mind at the familiar funny feeling that filled her stomach like a too warm hot drink. Instead of giving in to the challenge, Joan lifted her right hand and stopped his pursuit with her palm on his forehead.
"Good grief, Munson." There was an exaggeration exasperation in her voice but her smile was there all the same as she shoved him to his own side halfheartedly where he pretended to be wounded painfully with his hands over his heart. "We're here, you dork."
Just like a switch, Eddie excitedly forgot about the exchange and hopped out of the car into a long stretch of his legs and torso. "Fuckin' small car." He whined as he touched his toes and wiggled his body dramatically.
"It's not that bad." Joan walked over to the metalhead and walked with him side by side. Her flowery shirt and white jeans were a sight next to the band shirt, jeans, and leather. "Stop complaining, I let you listen to your music."
"Like you don't listen to Black Sabbath when I'm not around."
"Mmm, not as much as I do Motörhead or Judas Priest."
Eddie snorted, holding the door open for the girl and taking note of the only two unfamiliar patrons of the diner sitting at the bar. They nodded to the waitress in greeting before sitting down in one of the booths across from each other.
"I'm still surprised you don't have a Joan Jett album."
"You know... I am too actually." She admitted slowly, wondering why she never bothered to get one. "It's not like I don't like her music."
"Probably because she's more rock than metal-"
"That means nothing-!"
"Oh I know. I've seen the AC/DC cassette before, the sellouts-"
"Oi, just because they're famous doesn't mean they're sell outs." Joan defended with a finger pointed in warning at a smirking Eddie. "Say another word and I'll hide your throne at school."
Eddie stopped and stared at Joan with narrowed eyes at the threat. "You wouldn't dare touch my throne."
"Try me." She said sternly, hands on her hips and eyes narrowing into the tense silence. They waited for either to crack and Eddie crossed his arms in intimidation. Joan really hoped the fast paced beating of her heart wasn't noticeable on the outside.
"Oi, Munson!"
The tense moment between the two was released and turned into one of annoyance as a customer entered the diner and headed straight over. Eddie sighed and turned around to cool my face the man who grabbed his attention with distrustful eyes and barely gave Joan a glance.
"Got a sec? Need somethin'."
It wasn't like Joan didn't have an idea of Eddie did to make meet ends and it was hard to forget that the tin lunchbox he had wasn't filled with a homemade lunch from home. Their very first meeting proved to her what he did on the side, but the thought of drugs still had her shifting uncomfortably.
Because why else would someone want something from Eddie Munson?
And Eddie hated the way Joan tried to reassure him that she held no judgement or ill towards him whenever he left to go do a deal. The way her eyes always darted to the metal box whenever he had it or how she always smiled awkwardly while he ran to the dark to finish a deal during their time together had Eddie feeling almost ashamed of what he did. He was annoyed and unsure with the interruption until Joan slammed her keys into his stomach playfully.
"Will you grab my coat? I think I left it in the car and it's cold in here." Joan was nonchalant as she sat down at a booth, as if Eddie was only talking to a friend from the office and not a man wanting to buy drugs. "I'll get you a coke."
Eddie clenched the keys in his hand and cleared his throat at the attempt to give him a way out to do his business. Yet even though she insisted it didn't bother her, he could see the small shakes in her right leg from under the table and sighed.
"Yeah man. I'm limited, but, uh, let's go to the lot."
"You got some bud?"
Joan sighed as she watched from the window Eddie make a deal with some graduate form two years ago that she didn't recognize. It was normal for Eddie to make small talk and engage in a few pleasantries to keep high relations with his clientele and even as they shook hands Joan couldn't help but scream in her mind to hurry up.
By the time the man let Eddie go, the metalhead hightailed it into the diner and slumped into the seat with an exhausted sigh, grabbing the coke in front of his seat. "Man, people are fucking exhausting." His complaint came out in a childish whine, which was soon cut off by a big plate of food set out in front of him.
"I went ahead and ordered." Joan rubbed the back of her neck and and gave a sheepish grin. "Thought it might be... helpful to have warm food ready after a hard days work." She attempted a joke and Eddie took it in stride with a grin of his own.
"Mmm, looks good to me."
"Better be. I slaved all day over it!"
"And did you go to book club today?"
"Oh yes, Marge says hello."
"Tell Marge I said hi."
The small fake domestic talk continued until neither of the two teens could keep a straight face and Joan was the first to wheeze into a laugh, but Eddie was not too far behind with a boisterous uproar of his own. There was no universe that had Eddie Munson domesticated in such a way and the metalhead was fine with that, but there was something about coming home to Joan that made the boy feel strangely warm.