brutal ━ mike wheeler

ten. until next time

TEN━━━━
UNTIL NEXT TIME

stranger things;
season 3 ep 8

IT HAD BEEN A FEW months since the whole Mind-Flayer ordeal, and the Byers', and El, were moving away. El was going with them because Hopper had actually passed away during that time. According to Joyce, he had died when they closed the gate, an explosion being his ultimate cause of death. What broke Adrian's heart was the fact that El no longer had her dad, all she had now was her friends.

No one wanted to talk about it, though.

In the other room, Lucas and Max were making fun of Dustin, apparently about a song he sang that Adrian would've killed to hear and see. Adrian was with Mike as the two of them lifted some boxes, helping bring them to the U-haul truck that was on the Byers' front lawn. From what Adrian had gathered, the boxes they were carrying held Will's belongings. There was one box off to the side that they called a discard box — but it was just a box they were going to give to a charity.

Just as Adrian was about to walk out of the house, Will came barreling down the halls, placing a stack of something in the discard box. Mike raised his eyebrows in alarm at that. "Whoa, dude. That's the donation box." Mike pointed out to make sure that Will had meant to put it in there. The brunette nodded with a small smile. "I know. I'll just use yours when I come back. I mean, if we still wanna play." Will stated, and that's when Adrian noticed that they were talking about D&D. He didn't care enough about the game to know the memories behind it, but he knew it was important to the 'party.' Mike nodded at those words. "Yeah, but what if you want to join another party?"

Will gave him a look. "Not possible." The two of them smiled at each other and Adrian raised an eyebrow at Will. Something about the way he looked at him seemed similar. He brushed it off, though, and exited the house, placing the taped up box in the truck. He sent Joyce a smile when she thanked him before he walked back into the house, looking at Mike. "I'm gonna go find El, alright? I'll be back." Mike nodded and Adrian walked off, searching for El. It wasn't hard to find her, as she had been staying in an empty room in the Byers' house. He stopped when he saw the girl reaching into a closet as if she was trying to reach something.

Then, she stuck her hand out when she realized she wasn't tall enough, but it did nothing. Adrian knew she was sort of just hoping her powers would come back. Adrian sighed as he walked forward. "Don't stress about it too much. alright? I'm sure they'll come back." The brunette looked over at him as he reached up, grabbing the bear for her. "Thanks."

Adrian smiled at her. "I'm really gonna miss you." El said as she came face-to-face with her brother. She grabbed ahold of his shoulders and pulled him into a hug, and Adrian didn't even try to complain about it. "Me too. But don't worry, I'm gonna start mowing lawns on Elm for some extra money. That way I'll be able to visit often." El nodded at his words, giving him a tight-lipped smile. "And I'll bring Frankie with me." He wiggled his eyebrows at her and her mouth fell open. She punched his shoulder and he laughed as he stumbled backwards.

"You're so mean to me." Adrian said with a fake-pout, and El rolled her eyes playfully. "Did you ask your dad about thanksgiving?" El asked him as she tightly held the bear. Adrian knew that El didn't know about his dad, so he had told her he would ask him about visiting. In truth, he was just gonna go anyway. "Yeah, I'll be there." Adrian smiled warmly at her. She nodded and grabbed ahold of his hand, pulling him out of her bedroom.

The two of them noticed that everyone was walking out of the house, so they quickly followed, watching as Joyce set the last box in the van. Adrian knew then and there that it was time to get his final goodbyes in. Adrian waited for Will to walk up to him, smiling at him when he finally did. "I'll miss you, Byers," Adrian said, Will smiled back at him, his eyebrows scrunching together sadly. "I'll miss you, too."

The two stared at each other for a moment before Adrian suddenly pulled the shorter boy in for a hug. He knew he would most likely get made fun of for it later, but at that moment he didn't care. "Don't forget about me in Cali, alright?" Will laughed as he nodded into his shoulder, promising to always remember the 'coolest person to walk the earth.' He definitely boosted Adrian's ego right then.

It was El that walked up to Adrian next and hugged him, again. Even though the two had already hugged like they were never going to again, they did it again for good measure. "Remember to call me, okay?" El mumbled to him. Adrian pulled away after a moment and tucked some loose hair behind her ear. "I will."

"Come on, you guys, time to go," Joyce called from the truck. She looked like she wasn't emotional, but Adrian knew better than that. He had seen her crying when she thought no one else was looking. It had been him to give her a big hug and tell her it was going to be alright. El let out a sigh as she walked away, waving at every single one of her friends one last time before she got into the passenger seat of the truck. Will and Jonathan got into Jonathan's car after a moment, and it was almost like all the doors of the vehicles closed at the same time.

The group of teenagers walked forward, watching as the truck got farther and farther away, Jonathan not too far behind. Adrian took in a sharp and shaky breath as he watched them. It was hard to believe that two of his best friends were moving away, but he knew it was probably just because Joyce wanted to keep them safe, and because she wanted to get away from all the memories in Hawkins. He respected that.

"Come on, guys. We should probably get home." Nancy said as she wiped a few tears away from her eyes, getting into her car as the other teenagers got their bikes.

"It's hard to believe that they're actually moving." Mike piped up from where he stood next to Adrian. Adrian hummed in agreement, lifting his bike off of the ground as everyone else had already started to pedal away. "Yeah. . . but we'll visit them and they'll visit us." He said, but he was honestly unsure of when they would see each other next.

Adrian felt an arm being thrown around his shoulder and turned to look at Mike, who was giving him a sweet smile. "At least we still have each other, huh?" Adrian laughed at that and nodded. "Yeah. Thank god I have you." He turned to look at the others, making sure none were looking before he placed a gentle kiss on Mike's lips.

"Hey, lovebirds!" Adrian froze and turned to the owner of the very familiar voice. Max stood at the end of the driveway, her arms crossed with a small smile on her face, leaning onto one of her hips. Frankie stood next to her with teary eyes, but she still had a smile on her face. "We gotta go before we get kicked off the property for trespassing." Adrian let out a breathy laugh and looked at Mike, who pouted. "Your house?" Adrian asked the boy, and he immediately lit up, nodding almost immediately.

Mike smiled and nodded. "I'll race you."

And so the two immediately pushed off, joining the two girls, who wouldn't admit it, but had just witnessed the whole thing.

And they were happy.

Happy that things were over.

At least for now, anyway.

━━━━ lee !
shorter chapter, but IM FINALLY CAUGHT UP
i said i was gonna take down the old
version of this book whenever i finished,
but. . . i think i might keep it for the memories
( and shits and giggles )