BASKET CASE | mike wheeler

vi. uncertain smile

"No, no, sweetheart, it's perfectly fine. And if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here for you." She raised a hand to his cheek, running a thumb over the small scar below his eyes that was of unknown origin. "You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Mrs. Wheeler, really. I just wanted you to know that I'm okay, and I'm - I'm sorry that you... went through what I did." He stammered, keeping his voice low so that the boy watching them from the doorway wouldn't overhear. "You didn't deserve that."

"Honey, nobody deserves it. You didn't deserve it either. We'll talk about it some more another time, okay?" Caleb nodded and Karen stepped away from him with one last smile, picking up the proton blaster and walking towards her son. "Caleb, would you get my camera for me, sweetheart? It's on the kitchen table."

"Yeah, sure." Caleb cleared his throat, rushing to grab the bulky device for her before strutting back into the dining room area and placing it on the endtable next to the front door as she adjusted the straps on Mike's proton blaster before stepping away with an awed sigh.

"Look at you!" Karen cooed, hand raised to her mouth to conceal her prideful grin. "Oh, Caleb, doesn't he look amazing?"

"Yup, he sure does." Caleb drawled, shooting Mike a teasing smile as he took a seat on the dining chair closest to him, but his eyes lacked the right amount of amusement.

Mike pulled a sarcastic face at him over his mother's shoulder as she fussed over his outfit, stepping back to begin her mini-photoshoot. As she began lining her son up for the 'perfect shots' and angling the camera in seven different ways, Holly sprinted into the room and jumped into Caleb's lap with a gleeful shriek, immediately diving into a very detailed ramble about her Halloween costume.

Mike let out a deep sigh, gradually becoming more and more irritated with every flash of his mother's Polaroid camera. "Can I go to school?"

"No, no - just one more, I promise. Say 'who you gonna call?'"

"No!"

"Oh come on, Mike, it's Halloween!" Caleb grinned, his amusement only growing as Mike narrowed his eyes at him.

"Ooh, Caleb, let me get one of you two!" Karen widened her eyes in glee at her own idea, ushering him into the foyer with a giddy smile.

Caleb shook his head adamantly, holding his hands up in defiance. "No. I don't like taking pictures any more than he does, no thank you."

"Oh come on, Caleb, it's Halloween!" Mike mocked him, smiling a little at the sight of the boy's annoyance.

"Shut up, Mike." Caleb glowered, lowering Holly to the floor as she made grabby hands for her toy cat ears on living room coffee table.

"Come on, Caleb, just one!" Karen pleaded, her brown eyes widened in entreaty. Caleb groaned, but he knew he would feel bad for letting her down after everything she had done for him, so he begrudgingly stood to his feet and shuffled over to Mike, nudging his friend with his elbow when the boy smirked in triumph. "Oh, I just realised that you're not wearing a costume - do you want to go home and change into it before we take the picture?"

"Oh, I don't really dress up anymore." Caleb smiled tightly, tugging at the sleeve of his sweater anxiously. He had lost all motivation for the holidays a long time ago, eventually he just got sick of pretending and stopped putting as much effort into costumes or traditions.