Eddie flinched as the door to the shed slammed open. Surprised, he jumped into a fighting stance with his broken bottle ready for action and feet ready to run.
"Put that down, Munson. You've already proved point with me, idiot." Joan rolled her eyes as she entered the crusty shack with a sigh. Eddie let out a huff as he set down the bottle and sat back down against the wall, watching carefully as Joan sat across from him with her back to one of the wooden pillars.
It was definitely awkward between the two teens who boarded friendship and enemies way to often than what was healthy.
But at least the soft waves of water filled the empty cracks versus the disgusting ticks of a clock.
Eddie let out a surprised shriek as his vision was blinded and panicked as he scratched the offending fabric off his face, glaring over at a laughing Joan while holding up his dried t-shirt.
"I-it's not funny!" The metalhead insisted, throwing on the sleeved shirt with a huff and covering it with his vest. "If you only came over here to be a bitch, you can leave."
"Eddie, come on." Joan sighed and shifted the leather jacket off of her shoulders to hand to the DM. He stared at it for a little bit, eyes darting to see her previous shirt on, then back. "It's not poisoned and I promised I don't have cooties. Been with only one guy and you already know who that is."
Neither rough nor gentle, Eddie took back the jacket and stood up to fix his attire in a neutral silence, a limited truce, between the two. "Have you really though?"
"Uh, yeah?" Joan furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. "I think I'd remember another dick."
"Sure." Eddie bit out and stood to leave behind Joan, maybe go back to the main home and take a nap on a bed or couch. But Joan caught his wrist with suspicion on her face.
"What's that supposed to mean, Munson?"
"Look, I of all people don't care about who or how many you sleep with." Eddie took back his wrist, but kept proximity as he leveled on a stare downward towards the eldest Henderson. "But to lie about it just so that I would let my guard down..."
Joan's mouth went slack at the insinuation.
Yes, the two teens had already shared intimacy with each other in an act of shared attraction and trust. The chemistry that kept building around the two was nuclear and only further expedited their coupling through the small period of distaste towards the other, exploding into a passionate moment against each other in the storage closet next to the biology lab.
She had pulled him into the small space as a prank, but after the giggling subsided it was only the right thing to do - to kiss, to touch, to dare she say the L-word?
Joan was more than ready that day to renounce her popularity and date publicly the freak of Hawkins High with a smile on her face. The only problem was the small voice in the back of her head reminding herself that this wasn't her life. Time here was stolen unfairly and spent by her giving in to selfish desires such as Eddie Munson.
But there was only so long Joan could pretend to be another Joan.
Eddie had confessed the night before during a late night excursion that he had never had sex before - because who would like the freak? - He had offers of sex for drugs but at this time in his life he didn't need the physical relation, he needed money to help his uncle out. Nineteen years old and still in high school, how else was he supposed to make money?
When Joan had replied that she was a virgin too there was a common spark between the two that felt like a sticker on an envelope, sealing their desire with nearly a kiss. It was a connection that Joan had never experienced before and in those moments with Eddie she forgot about the feeling of laughing at a TikTok or sending a Snapchat to Brynnyn, or winning second place at a Cyber competition with her team, or her three little brothers.
"I didn't lie, Eddie. You were my first and still my only."
"So, you and Patrick last year was just a...?"
Oh, right.
Right.
There was a living Joan before her that now made things complicated, because Agatha-Joan had conversations that Joan tried to figure out with people that expected more from her. Joan was doing a terrible job at being Agatha.
But didn't she have a whole sleepover with Heather in June where they talked about relationships and confirmed that Joan didn't do... anything?
"Like I said, it's not my business." Eddie smiled sarcastically throwing his arms up and walking backwards as if washing his hands of the situation. "Just would be nice to not be lied to so that little perfect Joan Henderson can go make fun of Eddie the freak Munson."
"Okay, the fuck high horse are you on?" Joan blurted out with a hand on her hip and the other gesturing openly to the boy. "I literally was there when you were giggling with your band mates like little school girls over how awful my singing was. You guys were planning on making me sing in front of a crowd as some kind of sick fucking embarrassment!"
Eddie had the decency to look mildly ashamed, but still didn't relent his forgiveness or apology. Rather he shoved his hands on his pockets and licked his lips with a nod of agreement because yes, he did that.
"Yeah, well, what you and that fucker Patrick did to Gareth was fucked up."
Joan let out a frustrated yell and fisted her hands in her hair because that was another thing she had no idea about! Other than the rare giggle from a cheerleader or jock about how hilarious that had been, Joan had no insight on anything that Agatha did.
And honestly, there was a fear that Joan was stuck here for the rest of her fucking life dealing with the consequences.
"I'm so fucking sick of the past." Joan hissed out tiredly almost shaking from how exhausting it was to both be Joan but also be the other Joan, but not too much of that Joan because apparently she was a bitch, but old Joan was good and she's starting to hate her name. "I-I'm sick and tired of this fucking life and I-I I just want out!"
Eddie scoffed with that same dry smile spreading across his face like he was the perfect one in every situation. "Yeah, 'cause you have anything wrong in your perfectly pathetic preppy life."
"Screw you, Munson." Joan cried out, spotting her keys hanging on a nail next to the she door. With determination on her face the brunette pushed the metalhead aside with her shoulder and grabbed the keys, turning sharply to Eddie one final time. "You know what? In the future, there is no Corroded Coffin. There is no big named guitarist named Eddie Munson picking up chicks and watching mosh pits form because of him."
It angered her that he remained silent, almost magnetizing her to him as she thrusted a finger into his chest and pushed him backwards almost violently.
"And that's because you Eddie Munson... you are a coward." She spat cruelly with a vindication of a prisoner holding a stolen baton. "You run when things get tough and because of that, you will be stuck in whatever shithole you land in."
Eddie's eyes narrowed and he grabbed the hand that tried to push him backwards again, shoving his face down towards hers with fire blazing in his eyes. "And you Joan Henderson will always be a lying bitch who hides when shit gets tough. You let others breed your personality and take the fall, otherwise people will see you for who you really are." Unlike Joan whose words were loud and harsh, his were soft and destructive. She didn't want to hear this, but she refused to allow him the satisfaction of being the first to break.
"A spoiled, lonely bitch."
He threw her hand back to her side and Joan let out a breath through her nose. Slowly she started to nod to herself, realizing that everything was just so fucked up here and she needed to get back home now. And judging by the... visions, that journal was the first place to start.
"Where are you going?" Eddie sighed out, the high and power wearing off leaving behind a regret he couldn't face. Joan ignored him, leaving the she and the metalhead jumped a few times contemplating his intervention before whining because he felt bad. "Joan. Joan, seriously j-just hold on a second."
As soon as Eddie's hand closed the car door beside her Joan whipped around and shoved him harshly - surprisingly rough - and he fell onto the ground with a surprised grunt. "We're not good for each other. Never were, never will be. I-I can't do this Joan-act anymore. The journal, I can't, I need to just..." Joan blabbered out as she fumbled to get the car open and looked back down at the large brown dewy eyes staring lip at her in shock and confusion. "...Forget about me, for fucksake. I-I'm... I'm not..."
Joan couldn't answer as another car could be heard down the road. Eddie jumped up at the noise and Joan used the distraction to reverse out wildly, dodging Steve's car with only a second to spare.
Steve parked quickly and everyone stumbled out of the car in shock to look from the peeling out car to a distressed Eddie.
"What the hell happened?!"
For a moment, Eddie didn't know what to say as he paced back and forth in the living room with an unopened box of cereal clutched in his arms like a teddy bear. Steve stood like the parent he was next to the couch of Max and Dustin with his arms crossed, Robin sitting on the arm of the recliner with a match expression of worried.
With a groan, Eddie started to word vomit the conversation - sparing the little brother the sexual details - and the more he spoke the more he panicked because he shouldn't have said any of that.
"S-she ran off after we fought. It was dumb, w-we kind of... maybe had a hidden relationship this year maybe."
He said quickly and with his hands. Eddie continued over the attempted yells of Dustin to take control of the conversation. "I, fuck, end of story we both did something pretty shitty and she went off on this huge rant about h-how she hated this life and that she wasn't really Joan a-and something about have brothers-?"
"Shit." Steve cursed and paced a few steps, fluffing up his hair as he processed the words. A thought went through his head and he looked at Eddie seriously. "Did she mention a-a diary? Notebook? journal?"
Eddie messed with his hair as he tried to remember the conversation and nodded slowly. "Y-yeah, I think s-?" All heads whipped to the front of the house as sirens blared outside the door and Dustin hopped up to shove Eddie into the pantry in a panic.
"Hide, hide, hide!"
Max and Steve hurried over to watch the cops zoom by, confusion morphing on their face when no one stopped at the house. "What's going on...?" Steve wondered aloud as a strange feeling of dread settled over them.
"Is it Joan?" Robin asked with a frown.
"No... I don't... I don't think so."