Take Me Home Again (Eddie Munson X OC)

Chapter 12 - Butterfly Effect

The boat rocked slightly, Phoenix humming contently at the warm feeling around them, their consciousness barely awakening when the warmth was gone. They whined, sitting up slightly, looking over to Eddie who was standing by the window. He looked wary, Phoenix hearing the tires coming to a stop. The two made eye contact for a moment, Phoenix ducking back into the boat and holding their breath. Eddie watched out the window, a silence befalling the room. Once Eddie deemed it safe, he let himself breathe. Turning back to give Phoenix the all clear, the door swung open with a loud creaking noise. Eddie fell back slightly into the wall, arm extended forward with the broken beer bottle held out towards the intruders.

Dustin, Max, Robin, and Steve all walked in holding a few grocery bags and Phoenix's backpack. "Delivery service." Dustin gave Eddie a cheeky smile. Phoenix sighed a breath of relief, slinking out of the boat carefully. "You have got to come up with a knock or something." They chuckled, smiling at the four as they all filed in and set the bags on the table. Eddie relaxed, laying the bottle down as he searched through the bags for the box of honeycombs he had requested, pulling them out along with a chocolate yoohoo, crawling back into the boat. Phoenix found a box of poptarts, their favorite flavor. They smiled over at Robin before pulling a pack out and slinking off into the corner of the boathouse. 

They pulled one of the sweet pastries out of the silver wrapper, taking a small bite out of the side. Their stomach rumbled lowly, just realizing exactly how hungry last night's... activities had made them. The memories brought a blush to their face, quietly finishing off the rest of the poptart. Eddie sat in the boat, stuffing his face with as much cereal that could fit, periodically taking a swig of the yoohoo in his other hand. He hadn't eaten in days, Phoenix didn't even think about that. Clearly he hadn't thought to grab food while he was on the run, but Phoenix didn't think to bring anything for him even til then. They had been so focused on finding him, worried for his safety and hoping he was still alive, the guilt started to scratch away at the back of their brain, shaking it away as best they could.

 "So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news. How do you prefer it?" Dustin watched as his mentor ate like a starved dog. "Bad news first." He mumbled back, muffled slightly by the cereal. "Always." Phoenix finished, eyes glancing away quickly after meeting Eddie's, earning a smirk from the wild haired man. "All right, bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy." Dustin added on. "Like 100% kind of convinced." Max corrected. "And the good news?" Eddie's eyes darted back to Dustin. "Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin cut in, "But if we found you, it's only a matter of time before others do too and once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

 "Hunt the freak, right?" The way he said it, freak, with such venom and dismay. Phoenix knew of the abuse he faced at school, being the way he was. They experienced it just for being seen with him, just like his other friends.. friends. The word echoed in their head. They looked back at Eddie, a hopeless look drawn on his features. Phoenix had never been one to let bullying stand when they knew of it, having almost broken Jason's nose once when he tried something around them. 

Phoenix had just sat down at the Hellfire lunch table, Eddie was on one of his rants and Phoenix was too tired to really pay that much attention. That day had taken a lot out of them, for whatever reason. 'Just one of those days', Phoenix chalked it up to. Eddie had noticed their quietness and their tired demeanor, quieting down slightly as to not disturb the space they found their mind in. All was fine, the rest of the party keeping semi-quiet for their sake, until Jason decided he was bored or maybe he just felt like getting punched. Phoenix could hear him yelling, calling all of them names and saying dumb shit like always, but the words were blurry. Phoenix got more and more irritated the more and more he spoke, gritting their teeth and mumbling about how much they hated him and how punchable his face looked that particular day. Eddie placed his hand on theirs, trying to keep them somewhat calm. He started whispering nice things in their ear, keeping them tame. It worked, that was until Jason noticed. "That's right, keep your bitch on a leash, freak."