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“I don’t know them.”
Powell rolled his eyes and pushed Eddie toward the cruiser. “Sure, kid. I believe ya.”
“No, really,” Eddie said, giving the officer his best ‘I would never lie’ smile over his shoulder. “I was just out here minding my own business when they crashed my one-man party.”
Callahan snorted, but didn’t say a word as he led Billy and Steve toward the cruiser. He had a hand on the back of each of their necks to make sure they didn’t make a run for it. Chrissy, always the good girl when authorities were around, was standing by the cruiser with a sweet smile.
“In. All of you,” Powell said, giving Eddie a gentle shove as Callahan held the back door of the cruiser open for them.
Eddie grumbled as he climbed in, the four of them squishing against each other in the back seat. It was too small for them, but they were used to fitting into tight spaces together. They could fall asleep piled on each other in the back of his van and sleep better than they did in their own beds.
Steve’s breathing was too quick and too shallow, so Eddie elbowed him. “Take a chill pill, Harrington. Powell and Callahan are cool.”
He couldn’t see the look on Billy’s face, but he knew without looking that the guy would appear calm and without a worry in the world. Inside was a completely different story, and he had to be worrying that his dad would get a call from the police station.
Eddie elbowed Steve again. “They just like to give me a ride down to the station and remind me that it’s not a good idea to camp out in the forest without a tent. They’ll let us go once they’re sure we’re not carrying anything and we have no plans to do anything stupid.”
Steve forced a smile, but the fear in his eyes made Eddie’s stomach churn. As far as he knew, the Harringtons let Steve do whatever he wanted. It was Billy they had to worry about when they fucked around. But the look on Steve’s face said maybe Eddie didn’t know everything.
“Daddy will pick us up,” Chrissy said confidently. Her dad was amazing, and Eddie had no doubt the guy would drive him back to his van and make sure he got back to the trailer. “We don’t need to call anybody other than him, right guys?”
Callahan and Powell knew what Neil was like. They didn’t want to deal with him, and Eddie had a feeling they wouldn’t call him even if they called Wayne, Mr. Harrington, and Mr. Cunningham.
“No reason to go any further than us,” Powell said as he turned a corner without using his signal. “First offense for you three means we won’t even slap you on the wrist.”
Eddie babbled about nothing the rest of the way to the station. He wasn’t nervous, but the tension in the car was enough to keep him talking until Powell parked the car. Even then Eddie didn’t stop.
How could he stop when every stupid thing he droned on about made that tension in Steve’s body dissipate a little more? When each fact about the Rebel Base peeled away a tiny fraction of that cool and composed facade Billy showed the world until the guy was smirking and shaking his head in amusement?
The six of them walked into the dimly-lit station. Flo was gone for the day, and any baked goods she brought in were long gone, unfortunately.
Eddie walked through the place like he owned it. It wasn’t his first or even his tenth time being led to the back. He hoped the other three would feel better about the whole thing once they realized that it wasn’t a big deal.
His babbling continued as he walked down the hallway, but he stopped when Powell’s grip on his shoulder tightened and pushed him into the room between Hopper’s office and the door to the cells in the back.
“Why are we going in here?” Eddie asked, eyes widening a bit with concern. It wasn’t time to panic yet.
Callahan ushered Steve, Billy, and Chrissy into the room too, shutting the door behind them. Powell sat Eddie down at the steel table in the middle of the room and adjusted his handcuffs so that he was attached to the steel ring in the center of the table.
“I’m not gonna run,” Eddie said with a nervous chuckle. “They won’t either,” he said as he nodded toward Steve, Billy, and Chrissy, who were standing with their backs against the wall across from him.
“Hop wants to have a talk with you,” Powell said before walking out of the room and closing the door.
Okay. Time for full fucking panic mode.
“What?!” Eddie nearly squealed, his voice way too high and cracking on the word. “Wait! Powell, hang on a minute! Hopper isn’t on tonight! He’s - Powell!”
Eddie yanked on the cuffs as he stood up, trying to drag the table with him as he went, but it was bolted to the floor. He let out a growl of frustration and pulled as hard as he could, but the table didn’t budge.
“Powell!” Eddie yelled, twisting his wrists back and forth in a futile attempt to get himself free. “It’s not Hopper’s night! I don’t need to talk to him! Just let us go! Powell! C’mon! Powell!”
Eddie flailed, yanking and twisting and screaming as hard as he could in the hopes the violent effort would get him free, but the only thing he had to show for it was bruised wrists and a sore throat. He flopped down onto the chair and looked up at the other three people in handcuffs.
Steve’s eyes were probably even wider than his, and he had his hands up in front of himself, pressing himself against the wall. His mouth was open in that adorable O-shape that made him look completely clueless.
Billy was staring at Eddie with one eyebrow arching upward and his lips in a thin line that said he was freaked out but knew better than to put up a fuss about it before he knew what was going on.
Chrissy was biting her lip and trying to cram herself into the corner of the room by the small metal trash can and the second folding chair. She appeared a little scared, but not terrified.
The light above Eddie’s head was swinging, so he must have knocked it while he was trying to get free. He tried to get his breathing under control, but the longer he sat there, the worse everything was.
He stood up again and let out a long string of obscenities and insults that neither Powell nor Callahan really deserved, but Eddie had to do something. He couldn’t just sit there and wait for what was coming.
The door opened, and Eddie sucked in a breath before shutting his mouth, eyes wide as he stumbled back, his ass hitting the chair hard as he went down.
Hopper walked into the room and closed the door, putting his hands on his hips before turning to the three standing against the wall. “The guys told me you were caught in the forest, bonfire lit.”
“Yes, sir,” Steve said with a nod.
Hopper nodded and gave Steve a small smile. “Honesty gets you points. As does the fact that you weren’t carrying, and it didn’t look like you were doing anything other than being stupid kids in a forest, so you three are getting off with a warning not to do that shit again.”
“We won’t, sir,” Chrissy said, giving Hopper a sweet smile.
“Eddie, on the other hand, has been in here quite a few times,” Hopper said, glancing at him before returning his attention to the three against the wall. “Since he ignored my last warning, I thought it would be a good idea to show the rest of you what happens when you don’t pay attention to a warning from me.”
Eddie stood up and shook his head, pulling on the cuffs again, but there was no point in trying to talk his way out of it. He never managed to do it before. It didn’t stop him though.
“I wasn’t even doing anything!” Eddie said, stomping his foot to drive home the point as Hopper got closer to him. “No drugs! No alcohol! No orgies! We were just- Shit! No! Hopper! Fuck!”
Eddie twisted this way and that as Hopper grabbed him, his meaty paw digging into Eddie’s back pocket and pulling out the baggie of weed he had in there.
“You know better than to lie to me, kid,” Hopper said, dropping the baggie on the table and pushing Eddie down over it in one smooth motion, bending him at the waist and yanking his baggy jeans down easily, belt be damned.
“No! We weren’t doing the drugs!” Eddie yelled, squirming as Hopper pressed a hand in the middle of his back to hold him down and pulled his boxers down with the other hand. “Hopper! I didn’t lie! I- We weren’t gonna do them!”
Eddie let out a wail of distress as Hopper began smacking his ass, going up on his toes to get away from that stinging pain. He kicked out, but didn’t connect with anything because his legs were hobbled by the jeans and boxers around his ankles.
The sound of skin on skin in the small room with only steel furniture was way too loud, and he lifted his head, his gaze meeting Billy’s when he really should have just kept his head down.
He forgot they were there for a moment, and his stomach churned as he realized they were watching him get spanked by the police chief. A bare-assed spanking right in the interrogation room of Hawkins Police Station.
Eddie was never quiet about the punishments Hopper handed out because it fucking hurt, but for some reason being in the same room as his friends and lovers made it even worse, and he was already tearing up and whimpering.
Steve was facing the door and was pressing himself against the wall with his right shoulder, his head resting on the wall and his shoulders hunched up like he wanted to give Eddie as much privacy as possible.
Billy had that grim determination on his face he got when things went to shit, and he was holding Eddie’s gaze as if in support. His hands were balled into fists, and his brow was furrowed.
Chrissy’s face was scrunched up, and her eyes were squeezed shut as she lowered herself to a crouch and ducked her head. She had her hands up as if she wanted to cover her ears.
Eddie’s tears dripped into the table, and he sucked in gulps of air before blubbering over and over again. He was so fucking sorry.
Hopper warned him it would be worse after last time, and he wasn’t kidding. That spot in the forest Eddie liked to hang out in was so close to the edge of town that Hopper said the officers from the next town over sometimes patrolled there. Even though Hopper wasn’t hard on him for the weed, especially when Hopper himself smoked a joint now and then too, he made it clear to Eddie that other officers wouldn’t be so forgiving.
And really that’s what made it all hurt so much. Hopper really did care about him. He didn’t want him to get thrown in prison for the rest of his life because he had some weed and a few weapons in his van that he really shouldn’t.
Hopper looked out for him almost as much as Uncle Wayne did, and Eddie wasn’t sure why, but there was a part of him that was grateful for it because the guy was right about all of it.
Eddie pressed his cheek to the table and sobbed, his legs giving out. The begging and insults died away with his sobs.
The spanking hurt, but it was the overwhelming feeling of being cared for and knowing he fucked up after Hopper tried so many times to keep him safe that was twisting him up inside. He sobbed so hard he lost his breath and choked on his tears.
Hopper rubbed his back, talking him through it the same way he did last time. Eddie leaned into the touch, too raw and open to care about the fact that Steve, Billy, and Chrissy were watching. He wanted a fucking hug.
Hopper uncuffed him and sat down on the chair, pulling Eddie onto his lap. Eddie hissed as his sore ass settled on Hopper’s lap, but he melted against the man, resting his head on Hopper’s shoulder and sniffling as he grabbed onto the front of Hopper’s shirt and took the comfort the man was freely giving.
“I want you kids to stay indoors once curfew hits,” Hopper said as his thumb rubbed circles on the side of Eddie’s neck. “If you’re gonna smoke, do it someplace nobody’s gonna find you. And for fuck’s sake, don’t start a bonfire that leads officers to you, okay?”
Eddie let out a honk of awkward laughter as he heard three very obedient “yes, sir!” responses.
“You four are staying at my place tonight,” Hopper said, gently standing Eddie up and keeping an eye on him as he fixed his clothes. “If you call your parents now, they’ll be worried something bad happened, so we’ll consider this a slumber party.”
“Do we get popcorn and movies?” Eddie asked, his voice hoarse from the screaming and crying.
Hopper turned to him and stared, his stern expression slowly crumbling. He let out a chuckle and shook his head. “No. You’re going to sleep. Follow me.”
Hopper left the room, and Eddie shuffled to the doorway only to be attacked by three worried friends and lovers. Asking if he was okay. If he needed anything. If Hopper really had done that before. If they should get an ice pack for him. If he needed a pillow to sit on.
Instead of answering them, he grabbed them all for a group hug, and they stood there in the interrogation room, three of them cuffed, while Eddie held them all tightly.
“Love you guys,” he said before turning and following Hopper. “Hurry up! He doesn’t like it when I make him wait.”
Eddie chuckled as Steve, Chrissy, and Billy hurried past him to follow Hopper, most likely worried they would get in trouble if they stayed behind.