END OF BEGINNING- a byler fanfiction/ stranger things s5

Exit Music (For A Film)

Summary: the gang reunite for the final chapter

a/n: last chapter!!! (Long note at the end *please read*)

Word Count: 1026

It was hard to know what to do with ourselves now that it was all well and truly over. So, we did what we knew.

Sunday night D&D in my basement.

Lucas and Dustin were there, like old times, but so was Max. El was supposed to be coming too but she hadn't arrived yet. Our parents were all upstairs talking, and Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Robin and Vickie were gone to see a movie together. It was such a weird friend group, but it made a roundabout kind of sense.

We were just missing Will.

"Hey, cheer up, man. He'll be back sooner than you think." Lucas said. Max hit him on the shoulder. This made me suspicious.

"Yeah, totally. He's closer than you think." Dustin said. Max shushed him.

"What's going on?" I inquired.

"Nothing. They're just not in their right minds." Max said, warningly.

There's a call from upstairs. "Sorry I'm late."

"Oh. That's El." Lucas said to Dustin, which I thought was rather obvious.

El appeared down the stairs. "I brought someone else. I hope that's okay."

She walked the rest of the way down and was quickly followed by- holy shit, Will!

I jumped up from the table, almost messing up the whole campaign to throw myself at Will, trapping him in a tight embrace.

"Mike." Will said, getting over his surprise quickly enough to hug me back.

Lucas, Dustin, Max and ask joined is for a group hug. When we finally pulled away, I voiced a question, directed at Lucas, Dustin and Max.

"Did you guys know about this?"

"Yeah. It was surprise. A surprise that these shitheads almost ruined." Max said.

"Sorry. We were just excited." Lucas said. "Anyway, I was wondering, if maybe you guys wanted to have a private moment while we go get some snacks."

"We already have- oh." Dustin said, then smiled maliciously. "Yeah, we'll go get more."

The four friends all grinned at us as they went back upstairs.

"Have fun!" Lucas called.

Will and I shared an incredulous look before laughing.

"I'm so glad you're okay."

"Me too," Will paused. "Um, El told me about what happened. How you helped bring me back."

"Oh."

"Thank you, for being there. When it happened, I could see you there, and El too. All those memories, it was like I relived them, but from your perspective."

I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"I also heard what you said, when I was like, dying or whatever..."

Oh. I made a resolve there and then that this was going to be different, because this was Will. No more lying or pretending or omitting from the truth.

"Will, I love you."

Will's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but then he just smiled. "I love you too."

He looped his hands around my neck and kissed me softly, maybe timidly to see how I'd react. I reached up to his hair and kissed him back sluggishly, hoping to the gods while I do that this isn't just a dream.

I'm so absorbed in Will and kissing him that I don't hear the stairs creak as our friends come back downstairs. It's not until we both hear an audible gasp that we spring apart.

Max, Dustin and Lucas look at us with wide eyes. It's only El who doesn't look the slightest bit surprised, smiling to herself. I'm glad at least that she's smiling, and that she's not hurt or upset, but I'm worried about our other friends at the moment.

There's a lengthy silence which is broken by Dustin who says: "I knew it! I knew it! Pay up, Sinclair."

Lucas sheepishly hands Dustin a five dollar note. They bet on us and what's more, they only bet five dollars?

They look back to us and smile. "We're happy for you guys though, really."

"Yeah. It's about time you guys realised how obsessed you were. Especially you, Mike." Max said cheekily.

Will and I shared a relived look, before going back to our friends for another group hug.

"Are we going to start doing this all the time now?" Max asked, wrinkling her nose.

I rubbed at my eyes ferociously. I was not crying. Will and El we're looking pretty teary too.

But they were happy tears, and things were perfect. Maybe they weren't the way they were. I knew they never would be again, but maybe that wasn't a bad thing either.

Without all this, we wouldn't have El and Max. Without all this, I probably would've never realised and much less acted on my feelings for Will. Without all this, I would be a different person entirely. I kind of liked this Mike though.

Mike with the amazing friends, the amazing boyfriend (?), Mike who didn't have everything figured out but was on the way to, maybe.

It was the end of the beginning, and the start of something else. Something new, maybe something better, something different. Hopefully something that didn't include evil wizards and monsters from alternate dimensions.

I didn't know what the future might hold, but it was looking good in the moment.

I look back on my life now, and the night it all started, playing D&D on a Sunday night in my basement for hours on end. The night of the disappearance of Will Byers, which started it all.

a/n: Super crazy that it's finished already.

Theory: I read somewhere that Mike canonically wanted to be a writer when he grew up, which kind of inspired this in a way, like the whole of Stranger Things is his memoir that everyone thinks is a work of fiction. It could also explain why the episodes are in chapters.

I'd love for Stranger Things to end the way it started with the guys in the basement, possibly with El and Max, assuming they all survive (fingers crossed). Either way, I can't wait for Stranger Things 5 and I hope it lives up to expectations, ending an amazing show amazingly.

If it doesn't, there's always this. What could've been.

Anyways, peace and love bbgs

Until the next one <3