All of Hyperfixations

Eddie took his chance to butt in by slamming his own lunch on the table across from them. “Fine with what?”

All three of them jumped and turned wide eyes to him.

Dustin recovered first. “With… our friend. He moved away in September, and today is… an important day… for him.”

Eddie couldn’t believe this was the kid who had been successfully keeping some big secret from him for several months, his impromptu lying skills needed serious work.

Knowing full well what it was probably about based on his conversation with Max, decided to seize the opportunity for a possible slip up on the freshman’s part. “What, like his birthday?”

“If it was his birthday we would have just said that.” Mike snapped.

“Someone’s feisty today.” Eddie teased.

“We just want to check on him. It’s, kind of a rough anniversary for him.” Lucas eventually explained.

“This friend of yours wouldn’t happen to be Will Byers, would it?” Eddie asked, playing innocent.

Dustin and Lucas’ eyes widened in surprise, while Mike’s scowl just deepened.

“How did you know that?” Dustin asked.

Eddie leaned in theatrically and wiggled his fingers like he was casting a spell, “I know everything.”

Mike scoffed, “I highly doubt that,” he rolled his eyes, “I bet he got Max to tell him.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow, but Lucas beat him to a reply. “Why would Max tell him?”

“Because he drives her to school.” Mike said like it was obvious. When his friends just gaped at him, he went on, looking at Eddie now, “I’ve seen her get out of your van like 5 times in the past two weeks. You live in the same place, so it makes sense.”

“Wheeler has successfully figured me out in this case,” Eddie conceded. “I have been giving your grumpiest friend a ride to school for the last few weeks because we are, in fact, neighbors. And,” he adds dramatically, “she did, in fact, spill the beans about your friend, the formerly missing Will Byers.”

The freshmen shared a quizzical look. “She also,” Eddie continued, “advised me to avoid a certain monster in our session tonight.”

“What monster?” Wheeler pushed, his face still pinched.

Eddie raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?”

Dustin rolled his eyes, “Of course we know. And by the way, if it’s what I think it is, Max was overreacting. We would be fine with that, right guys?”

Lucas and Mike nodded defiantly. “Totally.” Lucas said with just a little too much confidence to be sincere.

Eddie just nodded mischievously and let the lunch conversation move on.

That evening when they were playing, though he hadn’t originally intended it, the demogorgon did make an appearance. He couldn’t resist a chance to see what all the fuss was about. So, in his math period, instead of taking notes, he worked on rewriting the encounters for the evening.

As he and Gareth made their way from their last period to the drama room to set up, he caught a glimpse of Henderson chatting with one Robin Buckley.

He overheard Robin say, “Look, just try to be on time today, he was really antsy this morning, I dunno how long I can stop him from busting down the doors and dragging you all into his line of sight.”

“Robin, we’ll seriously be fine.” Henderson replied.

“I know that,” Robin huffed, “and I think rationally he knows that, but, you know how he gets.”

Dustin nodded, “Yeah, I do. I’ll try to make sure we’re out on time.”

Robin dropped a hand onto his hat and squished it around his head. “Thanks, baby dingus.”

As she walked away, Dustin called after her, “I rebuke that title!”

She simply turned around and stuck her tongue out. Eddie made his way into the drama room hopefully before Dustin became aware of his eavesdropping.

At around 7:30, the boys had finally successfully defeated his traps and puzzles and made it to the room of the cavern he had been looking forward to all night.

“There are no torches in this room-“

“I have darkvision!” Four of his players announce, snickering. They had made a game of seeing who could say it fastest, even though Eddie was acutely aware of who had darkvision literally the entire game, since he had noted it in his journal when he looked at all of their character sheets in session one.

Eddie grit his teeth, “I’m aware. Which is why I am describing the scene. Because I know you can see it.”

Gareth and Doug snickered, but he powered on. “The room is dark. The rough stone walls slightly damp, and-“ he sits up and presses the pads of his fingers together, “actually, can I get a perception check from all of you with darkvision?”

A chorus of numbers rang out, Eddie dismissed most of them as too low, until-

“Natural 20.” Wheeler announced with a smirk. “Plus four, but does it really matter?”

Eddie grinned mischievously. “Sir Gloomglade,” he said, holding eye contact with Mike, “as you scan the room, you notice, on the walls, there are claw marks.”

Mike narrowed his eyes at Eddie. “I point them out to my companions.”

“As you all inspect the walls, you begin to hear something coming from the entrance you all just came through.” Eddie started, “At first it’s just a dull thudding, but as it gets closer, you can tell these are footsteps. Footsteps of something very big.”

Dustin groaned and flopped back in his chair, “It’s the demogorgon.”

“It’s not the demogorgon.” Lucas said, sounding more annoyed than anything.

“Deja vu.” Mike mumbled under his breath.

“As you all turn to the doorway, you see the creature emerge from the darkness.”

“I don’t.” Jeff said, raising a hand, “I don’t have darkvision.”

“I cast Light on Jeff’s hat.” Gareth said, smiling playfully as he ruined the flow of the scene.

Eddie made a frustrated noise, “May I continue my reveal?”

Mike butted in then. “Why? We already know it’s the demogorgon.”

“Why would it be the demogorgon?” Doug asked.

“Because Eddie’s trying to mess with us.” Lucas said, matter-of-factly.

Eddie slammed the miniature figure onto the board in a fit of rage. “Ok fine! It’s the demogorgon! Everyone roll initiative!”

Around 30 minutes later, their fight was just about winding down, when the drama room door burst open, startling everyone.

Backlit by the fluorescent hallway lighting was Steve Harrington, neatly tucked polo and all, closely followed by Robin Buckley.

“I told you they were fine.” Robin said, exasperated.

Harrington had a bit of a frantic look in his eye as his gaze flicked back and forth between the three freshmen. “If you’re gonna go until 8:30, don’t tell me 8!”

At that, Dustin looked at his watch, “Shit, sorry Steve, we lost track of time.”

“And as you can see, they’re all in one piece,” Robin attempted in a soothing, yet annoyed voice, “so we’ll just be in the car until you’re done.”

She grabbed Harrington’s elbow, and tried pulling him out of the room with moderate success. The former jock seemed really reluctant to leave.

In a split second decision, Eddie’s mouth moved before he could stop it, “Why don’t you guys hang out here. We’re almost done.”

Eight pairs of eyes blinked at him in silence for a moment.

“Really?” Steve, Dustin, and Gareth said at almost the same time.

Eddie shrugged, going for nonchalant. “Sure, why not?”

“Um. Because you don’t just let people sit in on Hellfire meetings?” Jeff supplied unhelpfully.

Eddie made a harsh shushing noise at him and gestured to a bench on the other side of the room for the newcomers to sit. They looked at each other for a minute, and if Eddie thought the freshman were good at holding telepathic conversations, it was nothing compared to what Harrington and Buckley had going on. Maybe that was their secret, Eddie mused as they held a whole silent conversation; they had all fallen into some sort of comic book-style vat of radioactive waste together, and now they were all psychically linked and bound by a superhero’s oath to not reveal their secret identities. Eddie chuckled internally at the idea.

Eventually, Robin and Harrington shuffled awkwardly to the bench and sat down. Eddie kept tabs on them out of the corner of his eye, and was surprised to discover that Harrington actually seemed to be trying to pay attention, while Buckley scratched away at a notebook.

The fight was over in only a few more turns. “The demogorgon lays dead on the cold stone floor-“

He was interrupted again, this time by Harrington, “That’s a demogorgon?” he said incredulously.

“You have a problem with my figurines, Harrington?” Eddie asked, really at his limit for the night, but slightly shocked Harrington seemed even a little bit knowledgeable about the game.

“It just doesn’t look anything like-“

“Steve!” Lucas and Dustin, and Mike all interrupted at the same time with matching pointed looks.

Steve looked between them and Eddie for a moment. “Like I… pictured…” he gave the freshmen his own pointed look. “You guys are really bad at describing things.”

Eddie tried to decipher their staring contest for a moment before he clapped his hands together. “Anyway. That’s the session. Get out of here before your moms get their panties in a bunch.”

“Ew.” Mike said as he packed up his things. “Don’t make me think about mom panties.”

As Eddie gathered his own belongings, he listened as Harrington made his way over to Dustin.

“Sorry about busting in here, I just-“ Harrington started, and was swiftly cut off by Dustin.

“It’s ok. I get it.”

Eddie snuck a glance as Harrington have him a grateful half smile. He then turned to the others. “Alright, nerds, first one to the car gets shotgun!”

The freshmen scrambled over each other to get to the parking lot as Buckley smacked him with an offended “Hey!”

Harrington shrugged. “Easiest way to get them moving.”

Robin sighed and pulled Harrington’s keys out of his pocket, then followed the freshmen out the door.

Before he left, Harrington turned back to Eddie. “Thanks for letting us join, I uh,” he rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, his cheeks slightly pink in what Eddie was just now comprehending as embarrassment, “I don’t really have a good explanation for why I was freaking out, but, I just needed know they were ok.”

Eddie nodded. The other members of Hellfire had made their exit, and the two of them were left alone. “Mayfield told me this was sort of an emotionally charged day for you guys.”

Harrington’s eyebrows pinched in confusion. “Max?”

“You know any other Mayfields?” When he didn’t respond, Eddie elaborated, “I’ve been giving her a ride to school every once in a while.”

Harrington’s frown deepened. “I didn’t know she needed a ride, I would’ve-“

“Look, man,” Eddie cut him off, “I don’t know what your deal with them is, despite how deeply curious I am about the whole situation, but you don’t have to be the only one looking out for those kids.”

Harrington just raised an eyebrow at him.

“This is like, my whole thing.” Eddie said, spreading his arms wide, “looking out for the little guys that would otherwise get trampled.”

At that, Harrington’s expression shifted to something like remorse. “Yeah, well, I guess I’m trying to make up for doing some of the trampling.”

Eddie smirked. He thought about all the evidence he had collected on the situation over the past few weeks, all of it pointing to the frustratingly undeniable fact that, for some yet-to-be explained reason, Harrington had truly changed. That he sincerely cares about not only the geeky band kid that made it clear she had no romantic intentions for him, but also a group of some of the biggest bully targets Eddie had ever encountered.

He took in Harrington then, trying to reconcile this new version of the guy who once stood for everything he hated, and noticed some key differences in the man that stood before him now. The almost bruise-like bags under his eyes. The still styled, but less precisely cut hair. The air of uncertainty, like he was always waiting for the worst to happen. The determined glint in his eye like he’s ready to be the thing between whatever the worst happens to be and everyone else.

Eddie nodded once slowly, “That’s become quite clear.”

Harrington opened his mouth to say something else, but was once again interrupted by the door opening.

“Steve! What are you still doing in here?” Dustin complained, “Robin’s saying since she has the keys she has the power to bestow shotgun, and she’s bestowing it on herself.”

“Robin’s always right about everything,” Harrington replied, as if on instinct, “so yeah, she does have that power.”

“But you said-“

Harrington cut him off with a hand on his hat, similarly to what Robin had done earlier. “Oh so now you care about what I have to say.”

As he lead Dustin out of the room, he turned back and gave Eddie a half smile in farewell.

“There are men in containment suites here. The big bulky white ones you only see in movies.” 

The nurse he begged through back channels to talk to had hissed on the phone, voice low and frantic. 

“There’s talk they’re going to quarantine the hospital. Do not bring that kid here. If you think he’s worse tomorrow, drive him to St. Peters in the morning, but otherwise just keep an eye on him.” 

St. Peters, the next closest hospital, is a full hour and a half drive away--and that’s if Phil takes his cruiser and keeps the lights and sirens on.) 

Callhan alternates between watching the clock and the rise and fall of Harrington’s chest as he breathes. Contemplates when his small town, boring life started going completely sideways. 

The nurse had assured him Steve probably just had a concussion and a few fractured ribs. The head wound had already closed by the time Phil checked it and it likely won’t need stitches unless it reopens. 

They are living out the best case scenario here. Steve’s (probably) going to be fine. He just needs to take things easy for a while, which Phil himself will be insisting he do, since that kid will not be going home to an empty house.

Not when he knows Steve's parents are gone and as helpful as Munson’s been, Phil can't ask him to watch Harrington.

For all the chains, swagger, and dumb habit of stealing Phil’s cowboy hat, Eddie Munson’s still a kid himself. 

Nevermind that Phil’s pretty sure the two aren’t even friends, let alone friendly. 

Sure Munson’s been spotted at a couple of Harrington’s parties, and yes there’s definitely rumors the brat's started dealing, but unlike most of Steve’s crew, Munson knows to bolt long before the cops show up. 

Definitely isn’t the type to play sports, in the same way Steve isn’t the type to stage large scale lawn-flamingo heists. They just don’t cross paths much. 

Plus it’s just downright irresponsible to even think of asking Munson and okay, maybe as a cop Phil himself has a responsibility to the city of Hawkins, but the city isn’t currently bleeding all over his couch. 

Add on the little fact that Steve had repeatedly said that he didn't want to be left alone…

(That he hadn’t realized how bad off he was until he was already behind the wheel of his car, chasing down a half-remembered promise of help Callahan had once offered. 

Phil would bet his last dollar that was why Munson hadn’t left yet. 

That he’d watched the way Steve had clung, first to Munson and then to Phil,  wrecked and shaking, his voice splintering as he pleaded, “Please stay, I don’t wanna die alone, I--sorry, please--”

Phil had been in a full-blown panic trying to reassure the kid he wasn’t about to keel over and he was a cop, for fuck’s sake!

Munson, who had once famously melted down in middle school over animal control’s attempts to put down an injured possum and tried to start a riot?

Even if he hadn’t needed the extra hands, Phil would’ve let the little brat linger, if only to head off the inevitable nightmares this whole screwed-up mess was bound to leave behind.) 

No ones going anywhere until Phil has answers or orders. 

The clock chimes in the background, a reminder of the late hour and he uses it to shove all thoughts of death and teenagers away. 

Attempts, once again, to walk through what he’ll do if the next call he gets is about an evacuation, or a curfew, or some other government issued order, and he still can’t get a hold of Hopper or Powell. 

If the hospital closes they’ll need to make a statement. Call some sort of town hall about what to do, where to go in case little Suzie or Bobby eats shit on their bike. 

Calm some people down in case the gas leak thing gains traction. Starts going around causing the same panic Benny’s death and Will Byers disappearance had. 

Wouldn’t be hard, given those two incidents happened last year.  

(Would the county send the stupid staties if Phil was the one to call in? Say he can’t get a hold of his own people? 

Would they care about the lowest guy on the force panicking, or would they think him a small town moron and ignore him until it was too late?

What if this really is the fucking apocolypse and Phil’s the only cop left around? 

‘Can I survive the end of the world with two teenagers in tow’ is not a thought exercise he’s ever entertained.

If he had, King Steve and Menace Munson would have been his last possible pick for the role, definitely not with one of them injured, and oh, dammit, he’s catastrophizing again--) 

Running on caffeine fumes and sheer panic, Phil’s thoughts loop relentlessly, the clock chiming again and again until the first light breaks through the windows and Steve finally stirs. 

Finds he must have fallen into some sort of half-asleep trance because he’s jerked to full awareness when Harrington moves to get up and ends up falling back down, loudly hissing and clutching his head. 

“Easy, easy.” Phil mutters, up in a shot, coming to hover over Harrington like the kid’s a nervous horse. “You’re with--uh, Officer Callahan? At my house.”

Then, like Steve might not know, adds;  “You’re pretty hurt, kid.” 

“Oh.” Steve says, squints up at him, holding his head in both hands. “Alright.”

That's a dramatic under-reaction, and Phil’s instantly worried about brain damage as Munson starts to come alive next to them. 

He crouches down next to Steve, hands hovering uncertainly. “You remember what happened?”

Steve stares at the floor, then at Phil. 

“Sort of?” 

“Waz’ goin’ on?” Munson says, blinking rapidly into awareness. 

“Go grab an ice pack for Steve,” Phil says distractedly, as he reaches out, telegraphing his movements. Begins gently combing through Steve’s hair to get a look at the cut. “Top shelf, left side of the freezer.”

He earns a foggy stare and a grunt that might’ve been “Sure”--or possibly, just a default teenager noise, before Munson tumbles upright, staggering off like a baby deer. 

Phil might’ve rolled his eyes and made a comment on teenage zombism, if Steve didn’t flinch every time his fingers so much as brushed against his skull. 

“Scale of one to ten, how bad’s the pain?” He asks, only just remembering to keep his voice down.

“It’s throbbing, man.” Steve replies, which isn’t as concerning as the fact he’s allowing Phil to manhandle his entire head without complaint, despite the pain. 

Thankfully, Phil’s prepared.

“Let’s fix that, then. Pick a hand, any hand.” He jokes lamely, as he fishes in the pocket of his pants, finally pulling out the little pill bottle he’d retrieved earlier. 

“Uh…” Steve stares at him uncomprehendingly until Phil holds out his palm and shakes the pill jar, two pills bouncing down. 

“Oh.” Steve says. “That hand then.” 

“This will make you a little loopy, but it’ll help with the pain.” Phil warns, handing them over. “I’ll get you a glass of water to take it with.” 

Not that he apparently needed to because Steve’s already popped the pills in his mouth and swallowed them dry. 

“Hope that’s because of the pain and not because you’re used to doing that.” Phil chides sarcastically, rising to his feet. Water will do Steve good anyway, he could barely get any down the kid last night. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Steve tosses at his back, the first real sign of his usual attitude. 

Which means the kids’ definitely going to be okay, at least. 

Phil rolls his eyes, fighting the urge to show relief as he passes Munson, the older teen now looking far more awake despite his hair looking like a rat made its home there. 

“Munson?” Steve says, startling loudly when Eddie drops down next to him on the couch. “Shit I thought I hallucinated you.” 

“No such luck, your majesty. Here, ice pack,” The older teen still sounds like he gargled gravel.  “Put it on your head.” 

Phill grabs a water bottle for him too. 

He returns as Eddie manages to wedge the ice pack into Steve’s limp hands, holding two bottles of water himself; one for Harrington and one for Munson,  who sounds like he could probably use it too.

“Do that, drink this, then,” Phil says, trying not to push but needing answers as he hands out the water, “Start talking. What the hell happened?”

Harrington presses the ice to his temple, and meets Phil’s eyes.

“How much do you know?” 

And nope, no, fucking no, that is not how this is going to work today, thanks!

“Uh-uh, you answer first!” Phil snaps, arms crossing over his chest. “All we have established is that you showed up here looking like you went ten rounds with Michael Myers and then tried to drive afterwards.” 

He’s been balancing on the knife’s edge of panic all night, and now that Harrington’s finally stringing full sentences together, it’s starting to show. 

Phil needs something here, he’s beyond desperate.  

Even if it’s just normal dumb teenager bullshit. 

“No, like, how much has Hop told you?” Steve clarifies hesitantly. “About the--the stuff? With the lab?” 

Which just makes things worse, since all roads seem to circle back to them.

(He knew that lab made evil space lasers and shit!) 

“I'm sorry, who's asking questions here? From the top, Harrington.” He raises his hand in the air, just in case Steve needs visual representation as Phil’s anxiety grapples with him. “Pretend Hopper hasn’t told me anything. Right now, you can pretend he doesn’t even exist.” 

Harrington squirts at him disbelievingly under the ice pack. 

Mutters; “I forgot you get bitchy when you’re upset.” 

Which is rich, coming from a Harrington. Their entire family turned being bitchy into an inherited skill set!

“The hospital says there’s a gas leak happening.” Phil prods, tone tight despite himself. “Is it from the lab? The government?” 

Was this a weapon that got away from them? Did they have Hopper? Is that why he wasn’t answering his damn radio!?

Phil knew they were on a time limit here, with the meds, but he hadn’t exactly anticipated Harrington starting off by talking about the lab. Selfishly thinks he’d have held off for a second if he had known this was related to whatever the hell was happening in town. 

“You kept mentioning the junkyard and some kid named Dustin.” Munson interrupts, hanging his elbows on his knees and peering at Steve. “You said you were going to be pissed at him if you died because he was being stupid.” 

Phil resists the urge to shush him. 

Unfortunately Harrington grabs onto that and runs with it, launching into a rambling, half-baked story involving babysitting, Hargrove being one of the kid’s racist stepbrother (unsurprising, Phil’s met his jackass of a dad), fighting with loose dogs and helping Hopper in the tunnels. 

Every mention of tunnels and dogs is delivered with sharp little glances at Phil, like he’s supposed to be in on something here. 

Phil isn’t, which he does not like, given the overall feeling of impending doom. 

Fortunately for Harrington’s head, but tragically for Phil’s sanity, the meds kick in after just twenty minutes.

On an empty stomach, ill-advised as that is, they hit even faster.

Which means any good information Phil might’ve squeezed out gets steamrolled by Harrington’s slow-motion nosedive into delirious nonsense. 

The kid’s answers grow less filtered and more disjointed, stopping part way through one sentence to start another. Phil makes the mistake of asking about the lab again right as Steve drops the word mindflayer, and suddenly Munson is firing off questions like it's a pop quiz on some weird board game.

Wings his hands in the air and drops back down in his chair as he mentally writes off getting anything when it dissolves into an argument over what a ‘demogorgon’ looks like. And sure, maybe he shouldn’t have expected too much, but then, he’s running on zero sleep himself here. 

 He turns on the TV with a frustrated sigh and flips it to the news station, keeping the volume down as low as it’ll go. 

Half-heartedly tunes in just enough to catch Stacy Whitherspoon droning about the weather, while listening for anything that might signal their impending doom. 

“--I’m telling you man, I don’t care what the kids say, it doesn’t have claws--” 

“Were you fucking there? No you weren't, cause you woulda seen the claws coming through the wall--” 

Eddie keeps throwing side-glances towards Callahan, like he’s checking to see if Phil’s clocking all this, and Phil mostly ignores it, because it’s more fun to watch Munson think Steve’s serious about actually seeing a monster. 

(Considers it payback for all the lawn flamingos that the brat’s stuck cowboy hats and sheriff badges on, and then splashed dramatically with red paint.)  

Of course Steve can’t just stick to the monster shit, and apparently, takes a jump into ‘whoops I may have given him too many pills’ land when he abruptly stops talking to just stare at Munson. 

“Dude,”  he says, with a thunderstruck expression, “did you know you have like, really pretty hair?” 

“Thanks, your majesty.” Eddie snarks in return, but it's too soft to be a reprimand. 

“Can I touch it? I wanna touch it.” 

Yeah, the drugs have definitely kicked in.

“If you let Callahan put the ice pack back on your face you can. You keep taking it off.” 

“Nooooo.” Steve whines pitifully, “It’s cold!” 

“Jesus Harrington, you really hit your head.” Eddie chuckles, now looking outright panicked as he coughs and looks pointedly at Phil, doe eyes seemingly sending out both ‘Are you hearing all this?’ and ‘Hello!? SOS!’  

“I gave him some Percodan.” Phil finally admits. “He’s fine, he’s likely just a little loopy from it.” 

He does not mention the pills are his own, left over from a minor surgery and not something all cops just happen to have on hand. 

He also does not comment on the fact that Munson looks instantly relieved, like he knows what a Percodan is. 

“I’m only loopy because Hargove cheated.” Steve grumbles in complaint, one foot in the conversation and the other off in space. “He hit my head. With a plate. Which is cheating.” 

“With a plate?” Munson and Phil both blurt out, nearly in unison. 

“With a plate!” Steve repeats with a bitchy undertone. “He tried to attack Lucas!” 

Another disbelieving scoff, much like the King Steve persona Phil’s grown familiar with.

“Lucas is like,” Steve pauses and looks down, counting on his fingers. Pauses again, then looks back up at them. “Maybe ten?” 

It’s stupid to even ask, but Phil can’t help himself. Steve had never truly clarified anything in all his rambling, and the Hargrove part had mostly focused on Steve’s worry over the kids, and the fact that the guy apparently had some sort of hard-on for bullying Harrington. 

“Is that where all your injuries are from? The fight with Hargrove?”  

He kind of hopes Steve says yes, if only because that’s normal shitty behavior. 

Phil can deal with normal shitty. He knows exactly what to do with normal shitty!

(Government agents in hazmat suits taking over the hospital is crazy shitty and he has zero idea how to even approach that mess.) 

Steve raises a hand, wobbily tilts it side to side in a ‘sort of’ motion. 

“I mean half was Billy, half was the demo, the dem, the dogs.” He struggles, before making a comically upset face. “An’ the tunnel. Fuck those tunnels, man.” 

Then corrects himself by saying, “Language, asshole.” 

“Steve,” Eddie says, and Phil can tell he’s struggling not to laugh. “You’re the one that said it.” 

“Oh.” Steve’s face untwists, taking back on the overall confused air. “I shouldn’t do that. Hey,” 

He tries to sit up, lean forward. “Did you know you have really pretty hair?” 

This would all be way more entertaining if Phil didn’t still need actual answers out of Harrington. 

Lesson learned: next time Harrington needs meds, he’s getting a pill. As in one, as in singular. 

“You should let me--like,” Steve trails off for a moment, apparently fighting the drugs and his messed up head both. “Like..style? That’s not the right word…” 

“You can play with it later. You have melted ice on your face.”

Steve is horrified instantly. “I have mice on my face!?” 

“No.” Eddie's struggling not to grin, and it's so easy to tell it's a real one when Phil has seen every shade of fake on that brat’s face.  “Here, let me get it.” 

He bats Steve’s hands away when the other attempts to ineffectively wipe at his cheeks, pulling out one of the black hanky’s he’s been sporting since about fifth grade to help and Phil freezes, because this one is different. 

This one he recognizes, because it’s from a specific bar in Indiana. 

“Just remember when this is over that you're mad at Callahan, not me.” 

“Why would I be mad at you?” 

“King Jockstrap, accepting help from the Freak? You tell me why that'd go badly.” 

A specific, special bar. One he himself visited a couple times, first on a dare and next out of curiosity, before he met Tracy and got engaged/married/divorced. 

It’s the kind of place with blacked out windows and multiple exits. Where he had made damn sure no one in there knew he was even associated with the police, let alone training to become a cop. 

Steve sounds downright hurt. “I gave all that stuff up. I gave everything up.” 

“What, being King Jockstrap?”

“Bring King of anything.” 

Phil felt that intuition of his kick in again. The one that said things like a Darcelle XV’s handkerchief weren’t exactly something a teenager just casually found. 

Definitely not in a town like Hawkins. 

(Absolutely not a kid like Munson.) 

“I can’t do it and help the kids. Jonathan and Nancy are both--” Steve cuts himself off. Starts again. “They keep telling me it's just me and. I don't want them to feel like they're…”

“Alone?” Eddie finishes for him, voice soft. 

Steve hums. 

“Yeah.” 

Phil only went a handful of times and he doesn’t recall what all the colors for the hankey’s meant, but staring at it, he’s hit with the same feeling he gets when he helps Flo complete a puzzle, or when he has one of those moments where he helps someone, instead of making their day worse. 

It doesn’t take much to change an entire worldview, but processing it? 

All the interactions Phil’s ever had with Munson, the complaints, the rumors?

 It’s like watching an explosion in real time, everything falling into place so fast it almost hurts. 

“Hey. If you're uh, if you're actually not mad at me, after this? I wouldn't mind continuing to make sure you're not alone.” 

“What's that mean?” 

What that means is Eddie Munson is going down in flames in real time, directly in front of the straightest kid Phil's ever met. 

Well. Okay. He's seen the hairspray, maybe not straightest ever, but…

Phil takes one long breath as the situation recontextualizes itself, then follows his gut and barrels over whatever clearly ill-advised, teen-crush filled nonsense Munson looks ready to blurt out.

“I went to Darcelle’s a couple times, when I was in my early twenties.” 

Phil has to talk to the ceiling, because he really doesn’t want to see Munson’s face right now. 

Harrington’s either, but Harrington likely won’t remember shit later. 

“I wouldn’t be let in if I went back now, not unless I pretended I wasn’t an officer, but.” He swallows. Tries to think on how much he wants Munson to know, and what actually would be a reassurance, here. 

Realizes, in that weird, back of the head sort of way, that offering reassurance is what he’s trying to do. 

“It’s a cool place.”  He finishes awkwardly. 

Dead silence meets his words and after a moment Phil pulls his gaze back to Harrington. 

Who is half leaning into Munson’s hands like a cat, completely unaware of the conversation happening around him, while Eddie stares frozen at Phil in a sort of mute horror. 

Silence stretches uncomfortably between them, long enough that Phil’s gearing up to say something really stupid to get himself out of this, when Eddie whispers; 

“Would you go back?” 

And shit, he hadn’t known Munson knew what a whisper was, let alone how to get his own voice to do it. 

Phil thinks honestly on the question though. He started this, he’s the adult here and he knows damn well he’s being asked something else. 

“Yeah.” He says, and can’t even tell if he’s lying or telling the truth. Figures it doesn’t matter, so long as Munson understands what Phil’s actually saying back. “Yeah I think I might. After the uh, divorce finalizes.” 

Eddie carefully extracts his hands and hanky both from Steve, fiddling with it in his hands. 

“I really want to go there again.” It’s spoken like a secret spilled, a careful thing Munson’s still unsure that he wants out there, attached back to him. 

Phil nods. Feels a weird lick of fondness he probably shouldn’t have for him, given the way the brat seems to enjoy being Hawkins PD’s self-assigned pain in the ass, but, well. 

He already opened his door for Steve. 

What’s another wayward kid? 

Except this one he recalls, isn’t as wayward as he seems, or at least, not anymore, and he feels a little guilty as he remembers that Wayne Munson both exists and might be worried about where his nephew is. 

“You’re a good kid, Eddie.” He says, and watches as that seems to hit the teen harder than not-quite admitting Phil’s been to a gay bar. “Phone’s in the kitchen. Go call your Uncle, he should be home by now. Let him know where you are.” 

“Yeah, okay.” Eddie says, and then actually goes to do so, like a proper citizen who listens to adults and authority figures instead of a semi feral rugrat.

Which just leaves Phil with Steve, who’s slumped sort of sideways on the couch. 

“Hey Callahan?” The kid says quietly, drawing Phil’s attention to him. 

“Yeah?” 

“Thanks.” 

The knee jerk response Phil has is to ask What for, but drops the idea the second he realizes the kid’s eyes are drifting shut. 

Internally curses himself for apparently deciding to half-adopt teenager asshole’s while he himself is barely in his 30s, but fuck it.