Chapter Text
The thing is, it's lonely.
He's never alone, he makes sure of that, but it's still lonely.
Argyle's not stupid, he knows that the many people he hangs around with and deals pot to aren't his friends. He knows that on the days he's got nothing to sell, they want nothing to do with him, and he knows that, however delicious the pies, Surfer Boy staff aren't his family.
Still, he doesn't mean to say it out loud when he does, but the dude's been so strung up it's contagious.
“You're my only friend, Jonathan.”
There's a slight pause there, when Argyle thinks maybe Jonathan's going to address that, but he's too caught up in the Nancy drama, and punting golf balls at cars only relaxes you so far, so Argyle just hooks him up with some Purple Palm Tree Delight. If it helps him move on from his own tension, then that's nothing to burden Jonathan with.
That night, after they get the kids from the ice rink, which Argyle's not too clear about, they have dinner at the Byers'.
Jonathan's a lightweight both physically and when it comes to how well he handles his weed, but Argyle's mostly come down by then. He's lucid enough to sense the tension in the room, to see how hard mama Byers is trying to pretend she's going on a business trip, but he figures she and that weird risotto guy are just going away for a little kid-free hanky-panky, which she deserves at least as much as Jonathan.
And if Jonny's too stoned to pick up on the clues, well, he doesn't need to be thinking about his mom banging on top of everything else.
The next day, the world turns upside-down. Literally, apparently, or that's what that kid Mike tries to explain to Argyle, but by that point he's hyperventilating hard, and they're all apparently pissed at him for that, which, not cool, dudes. It's a lot to take in.
Argyle's a staunch pacifist okay, and he's just seen multiple guys with guns, one of which fully died in the back of his van, which, it's not even his van, he's gonna have to explain the stain to Renée, and she's very cool about the weed, even buys some from him sometimes, but she's very tight on hygiene, and the guys had guns, real guns, that they actually used to shoot people, and…
That's about where his brain is at when Jonathan yells at him to go get stoned, and that's at least something normal to do, so he does.
Once he's numbed the whole thing a little, Argyle does the decent thing of making a headstone for the man who saved his friends' lives, but somehow, that also seems to irk Jonathan.
Argyle's used to it, really, Jonny's nice and sweet, but he's also prickly as all hell, though a little less so now that Argyle's hooked him up with the good stuff. He doesn't take it personally, the pissy-ness, what with the frankly stressful day they've had, but then the stupid pen doesn't work, and that's not cool, not when Argyle's trying to give that hero dude some dignity, the least they could do seeing as his family will never know what happened to him, or where to go say goodbye and shit.
The pen's not working, but that turns out to be okay after all, because it gives them the clue they needed, and now they're driving to Salt Lake city, and Argyle's cool with it, he's never seen Mormons before, and he likes new things, when they're not mind-blowingly stressful anyway. Mormons can't be worse than secret government gunmen, probably.
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Eden.
Wow. Eden is just. So angry, but in a nice way, kinda like how Jonny's angry but never really at Argyle. More like, angry at the world, which Argyle digs, really, down with the man and all that, especially since he knows for sure about the secret government dudes now.
But Eden, is his point. Eden's sweet, and she's stressed about normal stuff like having too many siblings and a Dad who's there but not, and a Mom who's just not (which, Argyle doesn't ask, because he doesn't like when people ask about Ma and he has to tell them and they look all sorry for him, but then they still want things from him, like good grades or weed, and it's unclear whether they were even really sorry for him in the first place).
Argyle understands that kind of stress a lot better than he does Jonny's weird college stress, though the whole undead brother thing has shed some light on that.
So for an hour there, before the world ends, Argyle falls in love with a girl with a fringe and too many responsibilities that shouldn't be hers, and he does what he does best, he tries to make her forget about it.
They're really getting into it, sprawled onto each other, just feeling good, when the doors of the van open, and Jonathan smiles down at him through the smoke. It's barely a smile, because he's also doing his exasperated 'is now really the time' face, but Argyle knows how to find the fondness behind it.
They leave shortly after that, and Eden kisses him goodbye, just the once, barely a kiss at all, really, but it's nice all the same. Her lips are very soft, and her eyes are a bit misty, and she's got her hand running through his hair when she whispers goodbye, so for the next few hours, Argyle's heartbroken.
He falls asleep at some point on the way to Nevada. When he wakes up, Jonathan's kind of mad, so they stop in the middle of nowhere. Argyle lets them argue over the map, they're never any good and they put weird fake towns in them just to confuse you anyway. He does find some tracks, though, which lead them to Nina, who's not a tiny woman, but kinda is after all, because they leave with El, who's Mike superhero girlfriend, and definitely a tiny woman, so tiny she'll fit in a pizza dough freezer.
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When Jonny casually picks a joint from his chest pocket to give to the Nevada Surfer Boy, Argyle's heart skips a beat. When he goes on to recite his dandelion seed pods in the wind sales-pitch, it skips a few more.
But then there's work to do, and Argyle can't do any of it, so he does what Ma used to do, he feeds them. He makes that pie like he makes all his pies, with focus and intent, because what you feed people matters, and it has to be filled with love.
Mike doesn't appreciate his culinary talents, but that's alright, Eleven does, and it gives Will and Jonathan some time to talk.
Argyle watches through the parting glass as they both tear up and hug. He hopes Will gets over Mike soon because that boy is not leaving his superhero girlfriend anytime soon, and the kid deserves better anyway. Still, it's nice to see him and Jonny hug, even if it hurts a little. Argyle wonders briefly if his siblings miss him the way he misses them, but then it's time for El to save the world.
She floats in the freezer, makes the lights blink on and off, twitches and winces and bleeds, and Argyle wants to pull her out, shake her and wake her up, but they tell him it's normal, that's how it always is, and she can come back anytime she wants.
She does sit up eventually, and cries in Mike's arms as she tells them how she managed to save her friend but not quite the world.
They have to drive to Indiana now, to see what can be done about the world being doomed, to see if all of their other friends are okay, and though it's a lot of people to worry about and not all that chill to think they might be dead, Argyle thinks it might be nice to have so many friends who care.
They're all pretty shaken up by what El has seen in the other girl's mind, so Argyle drives, and drives, and drives some more, until Jonathan's hand on his arm pulls him out of his road-hypnosis. He sleeps a few hours in the passenger seat, then it's his turn again, and it goes like this until they reach Hawkins, Indiana.
Jonny's told him about his hometown, but it looks nothing like it should, everybody's leaving and there are giant canyons cutting through the middle of the town. The canyons are bleeding black, smoke seeping out, vines crawling towards the light.
Still, Jonathan drives them all the way to some suburban nightmare cul-de-sac, and then everybody steps out and hugs.
Mike's mom nearly kills him for how hard she holds him, El and Will get smothered by some curly haired kid, and Jonny's making some sort of intense eye contact with Nancy, who looks a lot more stressed out than in the pictures Argyle's seen of her. They hug, and Jonathan kisses her forehead, which is sweet, but kinda tame, considering all the pining Argyle's been subjected to.