Chapter Text
Will and Mike were not talking to each other. Will felt bad, it had to have been something he did, or said, or didn’t say. The whole day had been filled with awkward silence. To be fair, part of that was because of Mike sleeping. Mike had been sleeping most of the day, he must have not been able to sleep well during the night. The silence was partially good, it allowed Will to think about what he was going to do with the painting.
Why did he have to grab the painting? Part of him wished that he had just left it in Lenora, but he also really wanted Mike to see it. He figured maybe he could say it was for school and he had to paint a childhood memory. If Mike further questioned him he was probably going to lose his mind. Maybe he shouldn’t give Mike the painting. That is the easiest solution, but when has Will made life easy for himself? Maybe he would give Mike the painting, it would make things less awkward between the two of them. It would give them a conversation topic, make the silence go away. Will hated silence, he used to find comfort in it when Lonnie and his mom were living together, but when he got lost in the Upside Down he grew to resent it.
Will was also being distant from everyone: Mike, El, his mom, Jonathan…Jonathan was probably the most hurt by it. The two of them were always close and Will knew that Jonathan was struggling. He personally hadn’t been the most emotionally available brother as of late. Will now had a mission though, he had to cheer up Mike and try to talk to his own brother. He just had to figure out how to do both of those things.
Will looked out the window for another hour before shuffling his way to the snack bag. He had to eat something and was actually feeling hungry. Well sort of, he never felt hungry anymore. He felt weak and knew eating would help him not feel as weak. He grabbed a granola bar from the bag and opened it. As he ate, he saw Mike waking up out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t look at the dark-haired boy without all his internal emotions bubbling to an external side effect somehow. He saw Mike slowly sit up, then heard Mike start to speak. Will just kept his eyes glued to the granola bar he was eating.
“Do you know how much longer we’ll be stuck in the van?” He asked Will. Will shrugged, which caused Mike to raise his voice to get an answer to his question. “Jonathan, how much longer until we’re in Hawkins?”
“Assuming nothing goes horribly wrong, about twelve more hours..” Jonathan answered with a yawn, “But I’m going to switch with Argyle soon so I can get some rest…and we’re actually going to try and get some real food tonight.”
“But, we’re on a time crunch-” Will raised his head before Jonathan cut him off, locking eyes with his brother through the mirror.
“And if something bad is happening in Hawkins like you said, we need to be able to help them out. Surviving off of granola bars and chips is not exactly ideal physical condition Will.”
“Neither’s being high,” Will muttered under his breath, eyes shifting away from the mirror and now turning towards the window. He regretted it as soon as he said it, but he hoped Jonathan just did not hear him. There goes his plan.
Mike clearly did, based on the shocked expression now painted on the boy's face.
It only took about 10 minutes of awkward silence for Mike to try and make conversation with Will again. Will knew Mike did not like silence either, so this made sense, but god was he scared of it.
“So, El told me you’ve been painting a lot,”
Shit
.
“I-uhm-Yeah I have been,” Will nodded, trying to compose himself. He was going to kill El when he saw her. Not really, but why did she have to tell him about the painting. Then again, it’s not like she knew who it was for. Will hadn’t told her out of fear she’d figure out that he had a major crush on her boyfriend. Shit, shit, shit, and more shit!
“Who for, I mean, unless it’s just for school or something boring,” Mike asked, scooting closer to Will.
“Oh, uh, well most of it has been for school but sometimes it’s not-” Will paused abruptly. That was totally not suspicious sounding. He was just praying that Mike wouldn’t ask anymore questions.
“Nice, I’d love to see some more of it. Your art has always been just amazing,” Will chuckled when Mike said that. This caused Mike to look at him with a crooked smile. “Will, I’m being serious.”
“I know, it’s just so weird hearing you compliment my art considering you’ve only really ever seen the drawings I made when we were kids.” Will was trying not to blush at the complement. His heart felt like it was fluttering through his body.
“Well even back then it was amazing, promise.” God, why did Mike have to have just the cutest smile. Will looked down and he knew it was now or never with the painting. He just hoped Mike wouldn’t question it too much.
“Well I did bring something with me,” He reached behind him into his bag and pulled out the rolled up painting. “I wanted to show it to you at the airport, but I figured the timing may not have been the best…Here,” Will passed it to Mike, who took it gingerly into his hand. Will looked up for a moment only to be met by Jonathan’s stare in the mirror. It was almost intimidating, causing Will to look back at Mike. Mike unrolled the painting and Will saw his expression change into one of amazement and shock mixed together.
“It was for an art class assignment,” he said, quickly coming up with his cover story, “We had to paint an interpretation of an important moment from our childhood. Originally I was going to do when we all went to the Snow Ball, but then El thought we should both paint when we met you,” Will looked at Mike’s face, seeing the smile drop slightly. He decided to continue digging the hole deeper, “Because you’re the heart of the party and all, so she thought it would be nice to paint our separate meetings of you,” Will found himself speaking faster than his brain could think about what he was saying. “I mean, you’re just so important to us both and El mentioned that she thought you were struggling with confidence back in Hawkins. So we figured if we painted you that it would help somehow.”
Will looked at Mike’s face, watching every single minor movement of his face.
“This was El’s idea?” Mike asked, turning to look at Will. Will thought for a moment. He could say no, he could admit that he just lied. He knew Mike would be mad if Will admitted to lying, besides, what Mike didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
“Yeah,” Will nodded out one little word, one little lie that hurt more than any of the ones before. “She wanted to give it to you herself, but I figured…” no, he had to change his story. Mike and El were perfect together, he couldn’t put himself first. He continued, “-Well actually I know you and her have been going through a rough time. I figured if I gave this to you it would remind you that no matter what she loves you, with it being her idea.”
Mike nodded, looking back to the painting. Will was feeling his heart break, with such a sense of longing that he knew he would never get fulfillment. Will watched Mike, waiting for him to say something, say anything, to tell Will that he could tell how much Will loved him. This lie was stupid, surely Mike would realize that! Mike was not stupid, Mike had to know and yet he still got no sign of him knowing! He got nothing. Radio silence.
Will turned his head to look out the window, bringing his hand up to hold his head and cover his mouth. The tears that followed were inevitable and unstoppable, and he found himself hoping that the radio was strong enough to drown out his tears, as he watched the landscape pass by.