Your family had been friends with Hopper for ages, so when the time came, he was able to wrangle you a job at the Hawkins Police Department. You enjoyed the job, sure, but sometimes it was awfully boring. Sure, saving cats was great fun, but you longed for some sort of adventure. And that came with the disappearance of Will Byers and the uncovering of a deep conspiracy. Since then, you had barely sat down for a rest... except for now.
You practically lobbed yourself on the sofa opposite Alexei and Murray, tilting your head back over the back of the green couch and letting out a sigh. You heard a loud, cartoonish laugh from the TV, and an almost identical one from Alexei. Your head shot up, grinning at the Russian sat opposite to you.
You’d had a Russian roommate in a lodging, and she’d taught you quite a bit of the language before you moved out. You weren’t exactly fluent, per se, but you could hold a decent conversation.
“Tell them they look really nice when they laugh,” Alexei said to Murray, a small blush creeping up his cheeks. Murray rolled his eyes. “I’m not flirting with (Y/N) for you, Alexei,” he answered, glaring towards the scientist, who winced under his gaze, but managed a small, sheepish smile. “For heaven’s sake. Fine,” Murray eventually agreed, turning to you to suggest that he wanted to talk. Unbeknownst to the both of them, you’d completely understood what Alexei and Murray had been saying.
“He’s wondering if you like these animations,” Murray asked, his tone indifferent as if he wasn’t really bothered by this conversation. He hated translating these little interactions between you and Alexei, which of course made you want to do it more, just to annoy the grumpy American. You would have happily spoken Russian, but wanted to see the look on Murray and Alexei’s face when you eventually had the right opportunity to show off a bit. Looked like this was the right time.
“Yeah, I quite like Tintin,” you answered, crossing your legs on the sofa and reaching down to take a sip of your coffee. Murray nodded, not translating back, causing Alexei to stare at him with eyes that made him look like a lost puppy. Oh god, he was so adorable. He turned back to you without meeting your eyes, a few of his dark brown curls falling into his glasses and forcing him to brush them away.
Alexei reached over to his cherry slurpee, finding that it was empty and grumbling something about “stupid capitalist companies” making the drinks too expensive.
This was it. This was the opportunity.
“I’m going to go out,” you said, rising and grabbing your mug, downing the rest of the coffee in one gulp. Murray was about to protest, asking if that was going to be a good idea, suggesting that maybe you should wait for Joyce and Hopper, but he was cut short once you began speaking a familiar language.
“I’ll get you another drink, Alexei,” you said, hoping your accent was as good as it had once been. Murray gawked at you, and Alexei’s face went bright red. You grabbed your jacket from the back of the sofa, shrugging it on as the room remained silent, except for the sound of the animated cartoon on the TV.
You left the room, fighting hard to conceal the grin that was threatening to form on your face. Murray’s expression had been gold, but Alexei’s had just been straight up adorable. You could hear murmuring from the other room, and gently crept over to the doorway and hid yourself behind it to listen.
“Do you think they heard everything?” Alexei asked, apparently panicky and embarassed. “They clearly did... Jesus, Alexei, for a scientist you’re pretty dumb,” Murray answered. There was then a frantic conversation in Russian between the two men, and you lost understanding of it, taking this as your opportunity to leave. Before opening the door, you leant backwards and raised your voice slightly.
“For the record, Alexei, you’re not too bad looking yourself.”
As much as you would have loved to see his reaction, you shut the door behind you, stuffing your hands in your pockets and began a gentle stroll to the nearest 7/11. You couldn’t get the image of the dorky little Russian scientist out of your head.
