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If Joan wasn't a conspiracy theorist before, she was now.
After being a first hand witness at how easy it was for the government to cover up so many deaths and so much damage, Joan resigned her beliefs that everything she was told was untrue was actually true and vice versa. Aliens, time travel, dimensions, super powers.....
What made it even worse was realizing that her dad, a physicist, worked for the government alongside her mom, a computer scientist, and now she knew why. They had insider knowledge for something bigger than life itself and they must be the ones studying it, right?
"Hey, stinky Jo." Dustin announced his entry to her room, Joan choked on her lollipop in surprise at the name more so than the entry. Dustin paused with his hand still on the door knob and an eyebrow raised. "Seriously? I thought we were over the whole getting scared because I exist thing."
"I get shocked because you show up unannounced, idiot." Joan snapped out, tossing the book she had been reading at Dustin. It barely touched his shoes. "Get out."
"Look." Dustin Ignored Joan, choosing instead to close the door behind him and climb onto the bed with Joan and looked at her uncomfortable. "I was talking with Steve today-"
"Oh my God, Dustin. If this is you trying to get us together again please-."
"-and he said that I should, uh, talk to you." His hands clapped together lightly in nervousness. "That you were struggling-" his hands went up to finger-mock quotations "-to deal with all of.... This." He motioned rather wildly and near comically if it wasn't for the serious look on his face. "I am here to let you know that I am, uh, here for you if you so choose to talk about the events of that night."
Joan blinked owlishly at her little brother, one day dad, and studied him. He was nervous, more anxious than that night, judging by the way he could not sit still and she could see him wanting to go off on some kind of tangent - the Henderson curse as he would one day call it - but successfully held it back with a bite of his lip because he wanted to listen.
Her dad had a habit of talking too much - so did she - but in serious moments like this he bit his lip so that he could truly hear before he spewed his word vomit. He was so good to her, so kind compared to other dads who wouldn't buy their daughter tampons at the store or make a unicorn in their DnD campaign just for her to ride on in battle. He may have been a little pushy when it came to academics and her success, but in the end he was so very sweet.
And she missed him so very much.
"W-what did I do?!" Dustin panicked as soon as Joan started sobbing, covering her face with her hands as the desire to just be in her dad's arm hit her like train in the guy. "Shit shit shit, Steve said this would work!" The boy got off the bed in a panic, looking around the room while listened to the cries of his sister until he found what he was looking for.
