Chapter Text
"So yes, Nina needs you, Gabe. And she always will."
Ray looked almost on the brink of tears as he said this, such was his deep friendship for Gabriel-
No, no, that's not quite right, Mike thought. Or maybe it was, but- well, he just wasn't sure.
Ray looked almost on the brink of tears as he said this, showing how great a bond he'd formed with his new sister, Nina, in how much he desperately wished for her happiness-
Maybe? For him to have spent so much time and effort on that painting, and to have given a speech with such conviction, of course Will loved El. Hell, he was probably even able to say it sometimes. But still, it just didn't quite ring true. Because, the truth was, Mike didn't know why Will had looked like that in the van, that day. And he never would.
Ray looked almost on the brink of tears as he said this, for quite what reason, Gabe couldn't tell, although he wished to more than anything in the world.
That was something, at least. It was the most honest Mike Wheeler would ever be, about the way he'd used to feel towards Will- the way he still felt. He had long ago decided that the storyteller wasn't made for happy endings, and that the party's endings were better off without him. If these books were all he had, and really, they were, he could at least give himself the slightest shred of- of something. Something almost like the truth.
It's not like anyone would ever notice.