tea stained newpapers. mileven au.

three.

CHAPTER THREE:
THE JIM HOPPER.
MIKE'S POV.

"bro just knock on the door... it's not that hard." the raven haired boy's best friend aggressively accused him.

"if it's not that hard you do it, hm? see didn't think so." mike fired back at his friend with much more attitude.

the pair of best friends were currently standing in front of the huge, dark, brick mansion that belonged to the one and only jim hopper. who knew the man lived so luxurious considering he was never seen leaving his home.

after the boy's very heartfelt discussion with their boss jacob and some very intense bickering between the three... mike and lucas were reluctantly scheduled to go meet with jim hopper himself by the end of the week. each of them promising to be as polite and respectful as they could ever possibly be.

"i'm boutta shove you into this door." lucas glared at the tall boy, "you're the one who suggested we do something to his car."

"WELL YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ACTUALLY PUT THE SUGAR IN THE GAS TANK!" the freckled faced boy argued, his voice raising a few octaves.

"THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH KNOCKING ON THIS OLD MAN'S DOOR RIGHT NOW!" lucas grew even more annoyed before grabbing his friend's hand and forcing him to pull on the old antique handle multiple times against the tall wooden board, mike struggling to get away from his grasp the entire time.

it didn't take long for the door to open abruptly, showcasing the grumpy older man towering over both the two boys.

"uhh..." lucas stuttered out, making mike nudge him hard. "i'm lucas sinclair and this is michael wheeler. we were sent here by our boss jacob from - "

"oh." the man interrupted plainly before turning his back on the pair, leaving the door wide open as a invitation to welcome themselves in.

"you two can come sit over here so we can discuss how this whole - situation is going to work out." jim hopper called out to them as they cautiously entered the home, making their way to the dark red dining room the older man was referring to. "would you boys like anything to drink?"

the politeness coming from the man in which mike and lucas thought would hate their guts made them look nervously at eachother as they each took a seat at the fairly large dark wooden table located in the middle of the room. "um... just water is fine for us sir." mike finally responded awkwardly, earning a dirty look from his best friend.

the two best friends each pulled out their paper work as jim hopper made himself comfortable across from them, sliding the glasses of water over to their side of the rectangular table.

"we need to figure out a schedule of when we are going to come by to interview you. we figured the easiest way to go about this is to have everything mike writes to be read by you and i together so i can edit based off what you think. anything you don't want to put in the article will, of course, not be mentioned. however, this is a biography so we would like things to be as accurate as possible. is there any rules you'd like to tell us right now?"  lucas informed the man across him confidently and actually very professionally, suddenly forgetting about the real reason about how they ended up being there.

"just some basic housekeeping... don't go upstairs. there's a few bedrooms up there that i'd like to keep untouched right now. other than that it's just my room so there's no point in going up there anyways. always park inside the driveway and never on the street. this entire downstairs is acceptable to roam. however i figured most of our time would be spent in here. other than that i really don't - " jim hopper kindly responded until he was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing coming from the kitchen. "hold on..."

the man politely got up from the table and started towards the kitchen to accept his incoming call, leaving the freckled faced boy and his best friend there alone at the table again.

"he seems... nice." the raven haired boy finally spoke up after a few mins. "i can't tell if he's hiding the fact that he hates us or if he's actually being completely genuine."

"i think he's being genuine. i'm just kinda nervous to hear about like... him you know. i have a feeling we're all gonna get a lot closer than we expected." lucas cringed a bit at the thought, trying to suppress it as much as he possibly could.

suddenly after what seemed to be more than twenty minutes, jim hopper made his way back into the dining room looking a lot more distraught then before. this made the pair look at each other confused before mike finally decided to take one for the team. "is everything okay sir?"

"oh yes i just - wasn't expecting that call." the man admitted as he cleared his throat and took his seat again on the other side of the table. "but based on the information i just received, it seems i'll be having a guest over in a few weeks. they won't be interrupting anything however i'd appreciate it if you don't... purposely make an effort to talk to them. i haven't seen them in a very long time."

"oh, we are only here for you sir. we won't interfere your personal life. is there any specific day you'd prefer us to come visit?" the raven haired boy reassured, definitely not wanting to mess up yet another aspect of this man's life.

"i'd say probably every friday. i'll tell my guest the same thing i told you two. besides they'll be here for work, so hopefully they won't be around whenever we meet." jim responded, taking a deep breath.

"that sounds like a plan. i believe we will see you next friday then sir and we will begin to write an outline and start getting the basics down." lucas announced as both the boys started the grab their things and stand up from the table.

"i'll be looking forward to see you guys again." the older man pulled a smiled, standing up to shake the two boy's hands before kindly adding. "oh and i guess one last rule... please stay away from my car."

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a/n: thanks so much for reading!!