AN: this is my first ever fanfiction, so it'll mostly be me experimenting and finding what I'm comfortable with as a writer. I decided to write about something that actually happened in the show to keep it simple, but I'll probably expand into my own ideas and stories as time goes on.

Closing The Gate: Aftermath

Chapter 1

Mike Wheeler had gone through a roller-coaster of emotions over the past few hours. To be quite honest, He had no idea what was going on most of that time. Being at the lab, escaping the demodogs, and everything that happened at the Byer's house had all really been a blur to him. But he did know one thing for certain: Eleven was alive. The girl he had been calling for almost a year, the girl who saved him and his friends, the girl he knew he loved, was alive. Although he was pissed beyond belief at Hopper for keeping them apart for such a significant amount of time, he didn't even seem to care as long as he got to see her again. After he, Max, Lucas, Dustin and Steve had set the tunnels on fire in attempt to help anyway they could (Much to Steve's dismay), the group decided the best course of action would be to head back to the Byer's. The first half of the car ride back had mostly been silent, except for an occasional cough or sneeze. Steve (who was now behind the wheel) finally broke the silence.

"What the hell are we going to do about your asshole brother?" he said to Max, rather nonchalantly considering what had taken place just a few minutes ago.

Mike had honestly forgotten about Billy, like most other events that night. He could really only remember El. How she saved them a second time. Her face when she saw him. He didn't even notice her new attire, nor did he care. His thoughts were soon interrupted by Max, who groaned loudly.

"I don't give a shit," she said rather bluntly. "Throw him into the quarry for all I care."

While her last statement made the three boys shiver, bringing back unwanted memories, Steve continued on, not noticing their reactions.

"Well we have to do something. We can't just leave him on the floor knocked out," he responded.

"Why not?" joked Dustin. "You can tell Hopper you kicked his ass. He'll probably give you a medal or something."

Dustin always had a way of lifting tension, Mike thought.

"Or he'll flip his shit when he sees a random person knocked out after he left me in charge of you shit-heads!"

"Well do you think he won't notice your destroyed face when he sees you? Do I have to remind you he kicked your ass?" Dustin blurted out.

Steve sank into his seat after Dustin's remark, which Mike noticed hurt Dustin just as much as it hurt Steve.

"Sorry," he stated, looking down at his now muddy shoes. He then mentioned something that got Mike's attention.

"Do you think they did it?"

"Did what?" Lucas questioned

"Uh, won the spelling bee," he said, sounding annoyed "Do you think they closed the gate, dumb ass."

"Shut up," was all Lucas could retort.

Mike's face must of finally displayed the panic he had been feeling the entire ride, because Steve, after looking back at the kids in the rear-view mirror, suddenly tried to be as positive as possible.

"I'm bet they did. Why else would the lights have done that?" He offered.

"I hope they did," Mike finally managed to say. His voice was raspy and he didn't sound like himself.

Am I crying? He Thought as he looked at his reflection in the window.

Shit

His eyes were filled with tears, some already streaming down his face.

Everybody noticed Mike as he wiped his tears with his sleeve. He looked miserable. No one wanted to say anything to him, primarily because they knew nothing they said would help him whatsoever.

Please be OK. Please for the love of God be OK.

"And Will?" Dustin Muttered.

Mike honestly hadn't thought about Will yet. He had been so preoccupied with Eleven that he just figured Will was going to be fine. A wave of guilt washed over Mike, causing him to panic even more. He hadn't forgotten about his best friend, had he? The one the promised to go crazy with just a few days ago?

"Listen, they're all OK!" Mike was driven out of his thoughts once again. "They can pull their own. They're all going to come back, and everything's going to be OK!" Steve exclaimed. He was sounding more and more like Hopper every time he opened his mouth. Mike chuckled at the thought of Steve and Hopper being alike in any way, which temporarily distracted him from his pain.

The silence returned. This time, there were no coughs. No sneezes. Just silence. Their conversation had taken up a good chunk of the trip, and after narrowly escaping the pissed off people who's property Max had destroyed on the way over, they were finally nearing the Byer's house. Although everybody had become familiar with the building by now, it almost seemed foreign to the party now. Like they were coming back from a vacation or something. A long vacation. It looked like they beat the others back, which most likely saved them all a reprimand from the adults..

After they all got out of the car, Steve turned to the group with a face that screamed, 'what the hell am I going to Do?'

"I guess I'll just drive him home..." He stated as flat as humanly possible. Even though Billy was still knocked out, Steve seemed to think he would wake up any second and strangle him to death or something.

Just as he finished his sentence, the group heard a vehicle approaching the house.

"Please don't be Hopper, Please don't be Hopper..." Steve whispered under his breath.

Please be Hopper, please be Hopper. Mike screamed in his head. His thoughts started to race. Was it them? Are they OK?

Mike went over about every single scenario imaginable, which caused him to freeze up. What if they didn't make it? Did those demodogs that ran past Steve and Dustin get to them? What if she used too much energy trying to close the gate? Mike was terrified. Unfortunately for him, It wasn't Hopper's car that pulled into the driveway. After a few seconds, Mike heard a voice he knew all too well.

"Steve? What the Hell Happened?" Nancy yelled.

"Goddammit," was all he managed to say. "Listen, we had a bit of a problem, and-"

"STEVE SAVED US" Dustin roared.

"Yeah, Totally! It was awesome!" Lucas said, reinforcing Dustin's recap of what happened while the others were gone. "Billy came over looking for Max, and Steve was all like 'hey asshole', then he punched him in the face and it was super bad ass!"

"Who's Billy?" Joyce asked, looking at the redhead about 20 feet in front of her.

"Nobody. He's just my asshole step-brother," Max answered."Don't worry about him. He's knocked out in the- Is that?"

The group all turned to the car, seeing Jonathan carrying Will towards them all.

"Hey guys," Will said. Despite his answer being as bland as anything, they didn't need anything else to know it was him. Will was back.

"Byers!" the kids all shouted. They all ran towards him, almost tackling Jonathan.

"Easy, guys. He's still weak," Jonathan stated, obviously still the protective, loving brother he always was.

"Sorry," they all said at once.

"Kinda like deja-vu, isn't it?" Dustin Joked.

"Yeah, I guess," Will managed to say.

"Let's get him inside. He still needs rest," Joyce said, clearly as exhausted as her son. Come to think of it, Jonathan and Nancy both looked like they had been through hell too.

Mike, who was still ecstatic about seeing his best friend back to normal, didn't even notice Steve coming up behind him.

"So, uh Wheeler," he said. "What are we gonna do about-"

"What the hell!" Joyce screamed from inside "Steve!"

"Shit."

Well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Like I said, this was mostly me experimenting with my own abilities, so these first few chapters are probably going to be pretty short. I'll eventually make them around 3-4,000 words a chapter, but I just need to see if I can do shorter things like this before I start seriously getting down and dirty. The next chapter will probably come out within the next few days, so be ready. The next chapter will involve group waiting for Hopper and El to return, and a very anxious Mike. By the way, please leave constructive criticism. I really want to know how I can improve these so people will want to read them in the future. Anyway, thanks for your time.