tea stained newpapers. mileven au.

one.

CHAPTER ONE:
I THINK WE FUCKED UP.
MIKE'S POV.

"i just can't wait to see the look on his face." lucas snickered as they made their way across the dark empty street.

"me either, maybe this time he'll learn to never try and set our apartment on fire ever again." the raven haired boy rolled his eyes, reminiscing last weeks events.

in all honesty, the two boys were never one for revenge. however when it came to the one and only troy harrington, they knew he deserved every ounce of it.

you see, troy harrington had been tormenting the two best friends ever since elementary school. you would think by now since they are technically grown adults, he would learn to leave that sort of behavior in the past.

yet, we all know that would never be case.

surprisingly once the time hit around college, mike wheeler and lucas sinclair actually did get a break from troy's torments. but sadly those years were over and ever since the hatred filled mousey haired boy returned to the big apple, troy harrington had resumed his rampage of rage.

last weeks events were the worst they had ever been. usually when it came to troy, he would simply stick to the basic stuff... maybe embarrassing the boys in public or possibly picking fights with them. he had never done anything that could be completely detrimental to their lives.

well in the past he never did.

however this time the bully decided to throw a match through the pair of best friend's window one evening, completely not taking into consideration that the apartment they occupy happens to be one of the most flammable places you could ever think of. with the amount of newspapers laying around that place, their humble little home practically screams fire hazard.

don't worry, mike snuffed the fire in the right amount of time, only sacrificing a small amount of their work and prized precessions. yet that didn't stop them from quickly coming up with an idea on how to get the intruder back.

so there they were, perched silently on the opposite side of the street where troy's car sat. both of them patiently waiting for the boy to hop in his car and drive home. or at least attempt to. you know sugar in your gas tank can be a true bitch sometimes.

"bro, look look look." lucas nudged the lanky boy crouched down next time him harshly, pointing frantically at the two older man standing next to troy's car.

"is that jacob? like... our boss jacob?" mike questioned, not really catching the drift to why lucas was being so urgent.

"i'm pretty sure it is, but i'm talking about the other guy man. the one next to him. i - i think he's getting into the car." lucas started stuttering, truly showing his fear for what was about to happen next.

"maybe troy's dad took his car out tonight. i mean he does live at home now, that's a logical explain right." mike was trying to stay calm. you know ruining a complete strangers car is no big deal, right?

"bro, if - if i'm correct i think that's jim hopper. like THE jim hopper." lucas had no control over his nervousness now.

"there's no way. that old man hasn't left his house in years, why on earth would he leave now? and even then why would he be talking to our boss?" the raven haired boy was confused, trying desperately to connect the dots to who this mysterious man was.

"we need to go.... right now.... fucking run." lucas quickly grabbed a hold of the the writer's arm, dragging him along the sidewalk as they ran away from the scene.

✦✧✦✧

"can you please - stop fucking pacing. it's not helping my thinking process." mike remarked as he threw another wadded up piece of paper towards lucas's desk. it was now the next morning, both of them hadn't heard from anyone about the events from last night.

"there's nothing we can do. we're screwed, you know. they definitely saw us running away. there's no way they didn't see us." lucas complained, still continuing to pace around the small office.

"maybe if you didn't make us run away, it woulda been less obvious." mike countered back annoyed, throwing his last paper ball and finally hitting the dark grey tea cup sitting on his best friend's desk.

"dude what the fuck. you do this every damn day, can you please stop? you always stain the all papers i have sitting here." lucas grabbed the sticky stack of newspapers, lifting them up to show the freckled faced boy.

mike simply laughed at his friend's actions, showing him that he couldn't care less about the man's stained papers. "you know every time i do this, i aim for that stupid cup. you don't even drink tea."

"um actually i do. it calms me, asshole." lucas rolled his eyes before picking up one of the loose pieces of wadded up paper off the floor from mike's failed attempts and throwing it at raven haired boy's head. the writer squinted at the sarcastic boy, his hands about to crumble up another sheet until they were interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.

mike quickly swung around his chair, mumbling a few inaudible words to the caller before getting up reluctantly, "it's jacob... he wants us at the office now."

✦✧✦✧

"i cannot BELIEVE you put sugar in that poor man's gas tank." the two boy's boss walked franticly back and forth behind his desk, each of the best friends sitting directly across from him.

"we didn't know it was him sir. seriously, we really thought it was - "

"WHO?! HARRINGTON?! god dammit, i told you boys not to feed into his attitude anymore and to stay away from him. you all - ALL are grown adults." jacob fumed, pointing at them angrily.

"how upset was he?" mike immediately cringed, imagining the thought of pissing off such a intimidating man.

"pretty damn upset wheeler, you fucked up his entire engine." jacob sat down in his large desk chair, leaning back with his arms crossed. there was doubting the fact that the man was clearly extremely embarrassed about the entire situation.

"so what do we do now? work overtime? pay for a new engine? a new car?" the sarcastic boy next to the writer started listing off all the different options on how they could possibly fix their mistake.

"i'm actually really glad you asked sinclair..." the dark haired man smirked, "you see, i met with mr. hopper last night to discuss an upcoming biography i want to publish about him. i was originally going to interview and write the article myself, you know since this project will probably take about a year to complete... but since you guys decided to be complete assholes last night..."

the two boys eyed each other suspiciously awaiting their bosses orders.

"i believe you two will be taking on that task for me."

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a/n: thanks for reading!! i'm so fucking excited.