Californication

42. The Painting

After seven hours of driving, the van was already wearing thin. You'd just got into the state of Nevada now, just miles away from the exact point you were looking for. You felt a little nervous now, getting so close to this 'secret government base' but the others obviously weren't.

You imagined it was nothing much to them, they'd been through some much worse. Saving their friend from the government was one of the least drastic of their problems, I mean, saving their friends from an inter-dimensional being was much worse, but again, they needed Jane for that so really, it was all interlinked.

Argyle must've been stoned, because he wasn't feeling the pressure at all.

"Holy shit dude!" He mumbled, "Check it out!"

Jonathan leaned out the window to see where Argyle was pointing, rolled his eyes but still let his chatter on about it.

"I didn't know they expanded into Nevada," He continued, "Watch out dominoes, your dominoes are going to fall." Argyle chuckled.

Yep. He was stoned.

"How long is Nina from Vegas?" Will asked Mike, who was looking at the map.

Mike looked to him awkwardly, then to the map, "Um.. if Suzie's coordinates are correct then, another 90 miles. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking, once we save her, El I mean, we should stop on the way back. El could make us, like, super rich and we'd never have to work."

Will grinned at the thought. You'd have to agree, that would be pretty cool.

"We could just play D&D and Nintendo for the rest of our lives." Will continued, still smiling.

One of the things about Will was although he was fifteen now, he still liked doing things that a twelve year old did. It might've been because he was the youngest child, he'd just never grown out of these things. I mean yeah, D&D must've been fun from time to time, but really, you had never seen the obsession.

Mike understood what you were thinking, for he simply added, bluntly, "Yeah, totally."

Will didn't understand why Mike was distracted. He simply just assumed it was to do with Eleven. In fairness, it could've been.

"We're going to make it Mike." Will looked at him endearingly, your stomach somersaulted with jealousy, "She's going to be okay."

"I know. I know she is." Mike mumbled, not meeting Will's gaze and looking to the map, "But.. what if, when all this is over, she... she doesn't need me anymore?"

"Of course she'll need you Mike. She'll always need you." Will spoke passionately, doing his best to reassure his friend.

"I keep telling myself that, but, I don't believe it." Mike shrugged helplessly, looking so much more vulnerable than you'd ever seen him. You immediately felt bad for him, loosing the one you loved was one of the worst things.

You felt like you were interrupting a private conversation so you looked away out of politeness, but still listened as Mike continued.

"I mean, she's special. She was born special. Maybe I was one of the first people to realise that. But the truth is, when I stumbled on her in the woods, she just needed someone. It's not fate, it's not destiny. It's just.. simple dumb luck."

Mike paused. He certainly had a lot to say, he must've been keeping it up this whole time. You turned back to look at him, and he looked pained. He really was in love. And he had so much more to say about it.

"And one day, she's just going to realise that I'm just some random nerd that got lucky that superman landed on his doorstep. I mean, at least Lois Lane is an ace reporter for the Daily Planet, right? But..."

He paused again. Probably regretting what he had to say. You could tell him and Will were looking at each other now. The pause was too strong.

"Sorry." Mike muttered, "It's stupid. It's just... I... I don't know, I just, uh.."

"You're scared of loosing her?" Will finished, Mike nodded.

"Can I show you something? Will continued, pulling something out of his bag.

You recognised it instantly. It was Will's painting. The one he'd always kept hidden. He took a deep breath before handing it to Mike.

You couldn't see the picture very well but as Mike opened it, a huge grin appeared on his face, so it must've been good.

"This is amazing." Mike said, looking to you, "Y/n, have you seen this?"

You shook your head, peering over, "Didn't think you had it in you, Byers."

Will grinned, proud that his two friends liked his painting, but his eyes lingered on Mike that little bit longer.

"Did you paint this?" Mike asked, Will nodded.

It was a painting of 'the party' fighting a dragon. You could easily figure out who each were: Dustin, Lucas, Will and Mike.

"Yeah, yeah, I mean, El asked me to. She commissioned it basically, she told me what to draw." Will continued.

That was the first lie.

As Will spiralled off, explaining the picture to Mike, you started to wonder whether he was lying to his friend. Did he want to reassure him about El? Did he want to hide how he'd done it, just for him? Was he just being modest?

You had no clue. Still, you watched as they continued talking.

"See how you're leading us here," Will explained, "You're guiding the whole party, inspiring us. That.. that's what you do. And see your coat of arms here? It's a heart."

Will paused, taking a breath. He looked at Mike and tried to hide his sigh, but still he carried on.

"That's what keeps the party together. Heart. Because, I mean without heart, we'd all fall apart. Even El, especially El. These past few months, she's been so lost without you. It's just, she's so different from other people and.."

Will looked to the window, hiding his face, he seemed to be talking so passionately that it was almost as if he wasn't really talking about his sister. Or maybe he just needed to let everything out.

"When you're... when you're different... sometimes you feel like a mistake. But you make her feel like she's not a mistake at all. Like she's better for being different. And that gives her the courage to fight on. If she was mean to you or seemed like she was pushing you away, it's because she's scared of losing you. Just like how you're scared of losing her. And if she was going to loose you, I think she'd rather just get it over with quick... like ripping off a bandaid. So yeah, El needs you Mike. And she always will."

"Yeah?" Mike's face lightened up but Will...

Will was looking more upset than you'd seen him in a while. Something had snapped inside him and you wished you could help but you didn't understand what he was feeling at all. There was nothing you could do to help.

You glanced to Johnathan at the front, who pierced his lips before turning back to the road.

You did the same, watching as the two other boys stared out the windows, as if nothing had even happened.

A/n- The emotional part.... oooo