✓ | 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 (BYLER)

𝒙𝒙𝒊𝒗. THE PAINTING

━━━━  𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 !
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

The six-hour road trip to Nevada felt like a breeze compared to the thirteen-hour expedition to Utah. Jonathan stayed behind the wheel for the majority of the drive due to Argyle being far too zonked on marijuana to operate the vehicle.

"Holy shit, dude! Check it out!" The long-haired teenager exclaimed, nodding toward a large billboard reading: Surfer Boy Pizza — LAST PIZZA BEFORE VEGAS!

"I didn't know they expanded into Nevada!" He chuckled. "Watch out, Domino's. Your dominoes are gonna fall."

Jonathan tiredly rubbed his eyes with one hand while keeping the other on the steering wheel. He felt exhausted from both a lack of sleep and his friend's unnecessary commentary.

Meanwhile, in the back of the hot and stuffy van, Mike and Will were fixated on a map.

"How far is Nina from Vegas?" Will spoke up in an attempt to break the awkward silence.

"From Vegas?" Mike echoed, turning back to the map in his hands. "As long as Suzie's coordinates are right, about another ninety miles. Why?"

"Well, once we save El, we should stop on the way back," He half-jokingly suggested. "El could make us, like, super rich, and we'd never have to work. We could just play D&D and Nintendo for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah, totally," The ravenette nodded with a forced smile.

Will's blithe grin immediately faded upon Mike's unenthusiastic reaction. He figured that his words must've ruined the boy's content state. He silently cursed himself for bringing Eleven into the conversation, as her absence was still a sensitive subject for Mike.

"We're gonna make it, Mike. She's gonna be okay," The Byers boy sputtered in an attempt to reassure his best friend.

"Yeah, I know," He stammered. "But what if after all this is over, she doesn't need me anymore?"

Will felt as if he had been stabbed in the chest, the blood-stained knife shattering his fragile heart into trillions of pieces. He felt so stupid for believing his best friend when he claimed that he wasn't in love with El. He wouldn't be concerned about whether or not she still needed him if he wasn't head over heels for her.

The Byers boy eventually came to the conclusion that Mike Wheeler didn't quite grasp the concept of being in love. He didn't think he was in love, but he was — that much was for certain.

Despite never having been in a romantic relationship, love was something Will was abundantly familiar with. After spending multiple years pining over the boy beside him, he had practically become a love expert. And unlike what the protagonists in every romance novel claimed, love was an absolute shipwreck.

"No, of course she'll still need you. She'll always need you, Mike," Will reassured him.

"I keep telling myself that, but I . . . I don't believe it," The ravenette explained. "I mean, she's special. She was born special. Maybe I was one of the first people to realize 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. And one day she's gonna realize 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 . . ."