✓ cold blooded, mike wheeler ¹

i. HEY THERE, ROMEO

HEY THERE, ROMEO!
( suzie, do you copy? part 1 )

A knock on Ben's bedroom window distracted him from his book. He doggy-eared the page, despite being scolded many times by the librarian not to do that, and set it aside on his bedside table. Ben's eyebrows creased, his shoulders tensing as he stood from his bed and slowly crept to the window. Never Surrender bled through the wall from the room next to him, coming from Eleven's radio. Ben tried not to think about what that meant. 

        There was a knock at the window again, jolting Ben out of his thoughts. Right. The intruder. Ben didn't know who could possibly be at his window at this time of night, but he ran his palms across his ratty Star Wars t-shirt before crossing over to the window. He tore back the curtains and there Davey was, smiling up at him. Ben let out a sigh of relief and watched as Davey breathed on the glass to create fog, before using his pointer finger to draw a messy smiley face. Ben giggled at that, rolling his eyes amusedly as he unlocked the window and slid it upwards.

        "Hey there, Romeo," Ben teased. Davey rested a head on his closed fist, smiling with the same soft, dreamy smile, "Hiya, Juliet. Or would you rather be Julian?" Davey snickered as he pushed himself into the dim room, Ben held a hand out to help him. Davey could never climb into his room without tripping over something or making a ruckus, which would cause Hopper to come running in and scold the boy for not using the front door.

        Just as expected, Davey's foot got caught behind one of the legs of the bedside table, and he was tumbling to the ground in the most ungraceful way Ben had ever seen. Ben laughed loudly before clamping a hand over his mouth. The music in the room over had stopped, meaning the couple heard the noise, probably listening in to find out what it was.

        The door swung open, and Hopper stumbled in, his eyes landed on Ben, then the open window that was letting in the nice summer breeze, and finally fixed his gaze on Davey, who was chuckling awkwardly on the maroon rug on Ben's floor. "Davey," Hopper sighed in greeting, leaning against the doorframe tiredly. Davey tilted his head back against the floor so that he could lock eyes with the older man. He brought his hand up to his head into a salute, "Chief. How ya doin?"

        "I'd be better if you would use the front door. I've told you this many times, kid," Hopper scolded, eyes flickering over to Ben, who was leaning against the window and watching the interaction in amusement. Davey nodded, "Yeah, but climbing in through the window makes me feel like im being a rebellious teen."

        Hopper opened his mouth before closing it, he waved the boys off and closed the door, leaving it open three inches. Ben had come out to Hopper three months after he started living with him, and Hopper had also walked in on Davey and Ben kissing innocently once, so he gave Ben the same rule he had given to Eleven and Mike. Ben didn't mind the rule, he was just glad that the older man had been accepting and didn't kick Ben to the curb for being gay. Hopper also seemed to like Davey's presence, the two would have playful banter and sometimes even talk about the crimes and cases that Hopper had dealt with. Davey wants to be a police officer.