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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.
