"So... does Metallica continue throughout the eighties?"

"The eighties?" Joan scoffed as if he insulted her grandma's roses. "They're still touring worldwide in 2020."

"Shit." Eddie exhaled breathlessly eyes wide with the new knowledge. "And it's just... normal to listen to without being called demonic or people assuming you want to sacrifice their babies?"

"I mean, it's more like people just don't care. There's a religion called the Church of Satan recognized by the military so I don't know." Her nose scrunched up and she let out a sigh. "Actually, they're kinda mainstream now."

"Ah, that sucks."

"Yeah, is what it is."

Joan couldn't help the smile that spread over her face as she felt the familiar curls brush against the crown of her hair when Eddie moved a little bit. They had taken up the space underneath the trees lying on their backs with theirs heads nearly touching as they kept the broken off telephone headset in between them, waiting to hear from anyone. Every now and again Eddie would make another plea for help going from threatening, to begging, to raging.

It ended up becoming Eddie asking questions about the future and Joan happily obliging in story telling. There was a comfort in being able to talk about her friends and family, whom she missed dearly, while giving Eddie all the companies he should put stocks into when all of this was said and done. It may have been torture without her family, but helping Eddie potentially become a millionaire while describing her family was strangely therapeutic to her.

"Listen, heavy metal has become so normalized that Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train was used on one of the most famous commercials in, like, 2011 or whatever."

"Okay, so totally looking forward to the metal scene being even bigger." Eddie said excitedly as he threw some leaves away from his body already imagining the concerts and scene being ten times greater. "But what about D?"

Joan scoffed and sent a smirk, even though he couldn't see her. She turned over onto her her forearms and Eddie looked up at her with his eyebrows up in question. "I don't know, why don't you ask the 2022 Hellfire Club president herself?"

Eddie's eyes widened and his hands froze with leaves still inside them, staring up at Joan in disbelief. "No fuckin' way." A twinkle entered his eyes followed by a large grin and laugh. " No fuckin' way, Henderson."

"By the way, shirt design never changed. Dad and other anonymous donors ensured it by donating to the school on occasion as long as Hellfire Club remained." Joan's smirk turned into a grin as she gave Eddie's head a small smack with her hand. "Guess someone did a good job, huh?"

The moment between them was tantalizing and continued to sweeten with every passing second. Joan's hand rested on Eddie's cheek softly as they peered at each other with wide, happy eyes that had both of them catching their breaths at the sight. Eddie's wild mess of a mane weaved around him like a messy halo while Joan's zebra scrunchy ponytail was smooth and nearly tickled his nose if she were to lean down just as she did right now-

Eddie took a sharp breath in before bolting up, hitting Joan in the chin and causing her to bite her tongue painfully, sending her flying back as her hands covered her mouth instinctively.

"Fuck!"

"O-oh, oh shit!"

"Whath tha fock, Munthen?!" Joan cried out as her mouth filled with iron and she stared over at culprit now standing many feet away from her with equally wide eyes. She spit out a wad of spit and blood, pointing at it angrily. "If you didn't want to kiss me, just say so! Don't just fuckin' headbutt me!"

"You think that I don'-? Me-? You-?" Eddie stammered pointed between him and Joan as he walked around the edge of the clearing nervously. "No, I- no."

"No?" Joan repeated with her eyebrows raised after spitting out some more blood. "No, you didn't want to kiss me or no you did?"

"Jesus H Christ, Joan." Eddie swore as he wiped down his face and into his hair, throwing it all behind his head and allowing it to fall forward with anxiety clear on his face. He took a step toward Joan, before taking two away and letting out a frustrated breath. "No, it's not- seriously. Me, you?!"

"Just spit it out already!" Joan snapped, crossing her arms and turning away from Eddie as embarrassment washed over her, cheeks red just like her mother before her. "You don't feel the same way anymore, I get it! I'm sorry I lied, but I'm not sorry for the good times because those were the best days of my life. And that's the damned truth. You don't have to run away from me because you don't feel the same way!"

"It's not that, I-"

"H-hello? --ybody th--? --body there? Eddie --?"

Eddie looked torn between wanting to break the damned thing and kissing it as he dove down next to Joan and picked up the receiver while Joan moved the alligator clips so he could talk.

"Dustin, old boy. You have... no idea how good it is to hear from you." Eddie replied earnestly at Joan's nod to speak.

"Eddie, holy shit. Are you okay?!"

The metalhead looked over at Joan before letting out a shaky breath and wiping his eye roughly as the previous conversation washed over. "Nah man, pretty- pretty goddamn far from okay." That was the understatement of the century because not only was he a wanted man, he was a wanted man for one of the few crimes he didn't actually commit in his lifetime. Which wasn't a whole lot on the list of what he hadn't done.

"Where are you!?"

Both teens pushed past the awkwardness before as they looked at each other with furrowed eyebrows, trying to figure out the best way to explain where they were. Joan filled her cheeks with air before slowly letting it out to think.

"Do we have a map or something?" Joan asked expectantly as if that was a normal thing to grab. Eddie looked at Joan like she had asked him to throw away his vest and become a desk jockey.

"Does it look like I grabbed a fuckin' map when I was trying to escape from people trying to kill me?!" His words turned into a hiss as the last couple days started to wind him up and Joan rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up in defense. "No, I don't have a goddamn map!"

"Just a question, jeez." Joan grumbled with a roll of her eyes, adjusting the clips a little bit further as she stared out into the clearing and examined their surroundings while Eddie mocked her under his breath angrily. This place was familiar and not in the we've been here a lot sort of familiar... but a different kind.

"-ddie? You still th--?"

"Yeah, no. I-I'm still here, man."

"Skull Rock." Joan blurted out as she recognized a crooked tree with a fat base in disbelief. She looked over at Eddie in excitement. "If Steve's with them, they'll know where it is for sure. Tell them we'll be at Skull Rock. I can get us there."

"Isn't that the make out spot-?"

"Yes, it's the fucking make out spot." Joan hissed out in embarrassment and gesturing with her chin to the make shift radio receiver that they had stolen off a pay phone. "Tell him before they get more worried."

With a roll of his eyes Eddie repeated the location and Dustin confirmed that they would be on their way. Just before Joan could let out a happy squeal and start moving the radio to skull rock, the familiar static filtered through and they paused as Dustin's voice appeared again.

"--s J--? Is Jo-n -th you?"

"... What?"

"Joan. Is Jo-- wit- you?"

"Uh, yeah." Eddie looked over at Joan as he responded slowly and carefully, Joan returning the stare with a worried look of her own. "Joan is here."

"Good. Be caref--."

The silence between the two was rougher than ever. For a moment they just stared at the now quiet radio, both of their bodies feeling heavy and tired from use. Eventually, Joan shoved all the thoughts of not being good enough aside before picking up the radio carefully and nodding towards the tools by the log.

"Carry those. We might need them or something." Joan didn't let Eddie speak as she began walking determinately towards the crooked tree towards the skull rock, blinking away the tear that had rebelled against her. "Come on, we got a long road ahead of us. Well... not that long."

"The long road ahead of you twists into the darkness of the ancient forrest." Joan spoke to the group lowly, eyeing them all as she flipped her campaign notes carefully to avoid noise. "The warning of the village's people echo in your heads that no man has entered those woods and left with his life or sanity still in tact. But the fairies quest requires the petal from deep inside the shadowed wood in front of you. What does the party do?"

"We can't get the fairy chains without that petal." Ryan let out a frustrated sigh as he looked over at Brynnyn with annoyance all over his face. "I think we should split up. If I go in there, I'm not coming out in one piece."

"Gnomes and Orcs are known to come out unscathed." Bryan threw in with a glance over the table at Kaleigh and sent a smile over. "Klola and I can go in while the rest of you go to the village to find the woman mending green."

"You mean send off our mage and cleric to the forrest?" Ryan scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Absolutely not, mate. We'll trade Kaleigh-"

"It's Klola." Kaleigh interrupted more defiantly than usual. Ryan paused to blink over at the red before nodding his head slowly and clearing his throat. Everyone looked at the usually timid freshman with various levels of surprise on their face.

"Sorry, Klola, for Tramyah. There's nothing that says elves can't go in."

"Uh, I am almost positive that there was no mention of elves, but that doesn't mean nothing happens." Harry intervened with a frown as he went through his player notes and reread the fairies' quest. "A petal from the darkest of the west in a time of great need picked at the same moment a woman mends the green."

"We're in Sratros time of ruling, so the world is def in great need of a better ruler and we all agree that they're referring to the seamstress in the green district." Brynnyn said quickly as she noticed Joan fidgeting in her seat, a telltale sign that the brunette was about to throw a wrench in their plans if they didn't act fast. "So we split up and ensure the seamstress is still sewing at noon while Klola and Bol pick the petal."

"Gnomes have nightvision, so it makes since for Klola to go-"

"Fine." Ryan agreed with a huff, leaning back in his chair as he looked over at Kaleigh seriously. "But you're in charge because I don't trust Bol the Idiot to tie his shoe laces."

"Oi!" Bryan tried to surpress his grin and look offended, holding his hand over his heart dramatically. "Bol the Idiot was my father. I'm Bol the Sick because-"

"-Your mother was sick of you before you left the womb." Everybody at the table groaned out at various tones and speeds, causing the boy to snicker at just how much he repeated it to a sickening degree - as intended of course.

Kaleigh let out a soft sigh to break the air and looked over at the waiting DM with determined eyes. They couldn't mess this quest up and she'd show all of them her value. Joan beamed in happiness as she swung her legs under the table and cooed in her head over the cuteness of the freshman.

"B-bol and I break from the main party to enter the forrest."

"The rest of the party goes back into town." Ryan continues just as the end of game timer goes off and everyone groans unhappily, slowly packing up and stretching their backs out with moans of pain. "God, how do we sit down for three fuckin' hours straight and do this every week?!"

"It's the pile of sugar and high fructose corn syrup in the fridge." Joan replied seriously already at the mini-fridge and pulling out a Dr. Pepper. She took a sip with one hand and flicked on the lights with the other, snickering at the yells and hisses from sitting in a dimly lit room for too long. "Oh, whoops. Lights, by the way."

"Cruel. Absolutely fuckin' cruel!"

"Rude and a bitch!"

"I'm going to shave your head again while you're sleeping, Henderson!"

"Man, you all sure do know how to make a girl feel warm inside~!"