Alexei X F! Reader (Stranger Things)

Ch 9

I help Murray, as he translates what Alexei says, by adding to his words. Alexei describes the generator in great detail. I stare with awe and then turn to Joyce and Hopper. "Wow... The voltage in that machine, I wonder if they use a particle accelerator, and maybe nuclear fission?" I ask out loud. "Now we have two people not speaking English," Hopper grunts. I sigh, "Basically, the generator is making a surge of energy to open the dimension. Why they chose to put it here, I'm not sure..." Murray translates and Alexei smiles and nods at me. "He says it is easier because the gate has already been opened," Murray translates. I turn my head and look at Alexei, he hands me the cardboard carton for the fries, pushes the straw into it bending it, and points at the carton saying "Gate". Then he hands me a paper wrapper for the burger and has me hold it up like a sheet of paper. Alexei pushes the straw through it with ease. "Hawkins..." Murray says. Mumbles of acknowledgement spread throughout the room, and Hopper says "It's already been opened before, so even though it's closed, it would be easier to break open again. Murray and Hopper go to get vodka, I scowl, wouldn't it be better to be 100% in control of yourself right now?  

I join Joyce in the hallway and help her clean up a little bit. We make eye contact in the awkward silence, but I don't say anything. Hopper joins us in the hallway. "Joyce, we're going to have to go back to that place to shut it off."

"Not just shut it off, blow it up?" Joyce says.

"Right..."

"First we have to pick up the kids and get them someplace safe, "

"Where would they be?"

"The county fair, that's where they said they'd be" 

"Then it's settled."
I look at Joyce and Hopper. They hash the plan out. "I don't want to stay here alone-" I blurt out. "At least let me help somehow." 
"Fine, come with us to get the kids, but you're not going into Hawkins Lab, you'd be a liability," Hopper says gruffly.  I nod, understanding. 

We all pile into the car. After an anxious 20-minute drive, we arrive at the county fair. "Welcome to America," I say to Alexei, and Murray adds, "The one place where you can get expensive food, and drinks, scammed of all your money, yet still have fun."  Alexei stares in excitement. "Joyce, let's split up to find the kids," 
"Understood. I'll head towards the rides." Alexei and I stumble up to the ticket booth, Murray comments in Russian and translates for me, "Psh, those games are all scams, are you sure you want to try them?" 

"Might as well have fun while we're here, and you never know" I respond.  "Let's go, Alexei!" I take his hand and lead him off into the fairgrounds, leaving Murray behind. I smile widely at him and he grins in response. "You choose," I prompt. Alexei walks over to a darts game, and I follow him optimistically. I watch as Alexei straightens and places his tokens on the counter. "Oh, we have a contender. Will this man be the one to take home the grand prize?" the Carnie urges. I step beside Alexei and watch him focus laser-sharp on the gold balloon. He weighs the dart in his hand and squints his eye then flexes his arm and shoots the dart directly forward at the balloon. It pops. "Alexei! Oh my gosh, good job!" I stick my hand up to high-five him. He looks at me confused, so I take his hand and clap it to mine, "High five" I say, and grin. He smiles dopily back at me. A group of children cheer and reach to high-five him, "High five," I say again, and he puts his hand out for them. I chuckle. The Carnie continues, "If he can hit two more gold balloons, he'll get the grand prize!" I pick up another dart and give it to Alexei. "You can do it!" I say empathetically. Alexei shoots the dart off again, I can see from his serious expression that he is calculating the trajectory and aiming. By now a couple more people have gathered behind them and are cheering them on, several of them are waiting for their turn, now encouraged by Alexei's performance. The dart strikes another gold balloon. "Yes! Nicely done!" I say. 

"High five?" He says in his characteristic accent. I smirk and high-five him. The children all cheer again. Alexei takes the last dart and aims again. After a couple of seconds, he lets it fly, and the dart spears the final golden ballon. I hug him and congratulate him, then blush intensely and pull away. He scratches the back of his neck and looks at the ground. The Carnie looks surprisingly excited and I presume it's from the long line that's forming. Alexei points at the Woody the Woodpecker stuffy hanging from the top, and Carnie hands it to him, along with another stuffy, I can't see it clearly. The carnie leans over and says something to Alexei, all I hear is "Give this ... " and see him motioning at me. Alexei smiles understanding and puts it in his pocket. "Common let's keep going, Alexei!" I grab his hand. We keep walking, and I spot a booth with a 'Guess the number of gumballs in the jar and win a $100' 

"Oooh oh, I'm good at this one! " I say excitedly and drag Alexei over. The person running at the booth looks at me with a certain bored intrigue. I quickly rifle through my purse and pull out a notepad and a pencil, then my mini ruler. "Okay okay, excuse me sir may I see a gumball from that jar?" 

"Sure go ahead, you can use whatever method you want to try and win this one," He says and hands me a gumball. I quickly measure the diameter and hand it back to him. Then I measure the diameter and height of the jar. "So, the volume of a cylinder is 4-pie-rsquared- h right? So simply..." 

I write down half the diameter of the jar and square it, then I multiply it by four and the height and lastly, 3.14159 and come out with an estimate. "That's the volume of the jar. and the volume of the gumball is even easier. Since it's just a sphere it's simply 4/3 pie - r cubed. "

I calculate that quickly, then use simple algebra to solve for the number of gumballs. 

"And that rounds to approximately 43 gumballs," I say confidently and wink at Alexei. "Bingo! You got it. " The man says and hands me a cheque. "That was honestly quite impressive. " 

"Thanks, " I say shyly. "High five?" Alexei asks. I smile again and high-five him. "This is fun Alexei, I'm glad we're here together," I say taking his hand and walking further out past the booths.