☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

12 weeks, 63 days, 90720 seconds of filming had all led to this moment.

their series was premiering.

every little thing. every minute spent working on a specific scene, reading a certain script, or even doing silly acting exercises was now worth it.

and as jack stood on the red carpet, one arm wrapped around his boyfriend, other arm wrapped around the rest of his cast mates, he knew they would make everyone proud.

not only their directors, or parents, or friends, or fans, but each other. they made each other proud; in more ways than one.

they had gotten so close. to their characters, to each other, and jack wouldn't have it any other way. he couldn't help but beam as flashing lights went off all around them, snapping their picture and capturing this moment for eternity. or, well, as long as they could remember it.

that's what jack loved so much about pictures. the fact that they captured moments forever. the fact that for one period of time, even just for a singular second, everything was okay with the world.

"you guys, this is it!" sophia cheered as they were ushered off of the carpet. many lengthy interviews later, many agonizing pictures later, it was almost show time.

"those cameras should come with an epilepsy warning," jaeden joked, earning a laugh from everyone in the group.

jack smiled as wyatt slipped his hands in jaedens.

jack and finn had told their fan base they were dating a while ago, and probably in the best way possible. jack simply posted a picture of finn and casually mentioned the fact that finn wolfhard was his beautiful boyfriend in the caption. no big deal.

the fact that that post had over a 900,000 comments begged to differ.

jaeden and wyatt hadn't told anybody they were dating yet; in fact, they had just started dating a few days prior. jaeden wanted to wait until wyatt's birthday to ask the boy out, but he simply couldn't wait that long. the two were crazy about each other,

jack and finn had been staying in la with their own parents, flying out wherever to shoot whatever projects they wanted to do. besides that, they spent as much time with each other as possible. sometimes, their friends would come out and visit them. however, sophia stayed in new york, while jaeden, jeremy, wyatt and chosen went back to their hometowns. it was hard not being able to see their best friends, their family, but jack and finn understood. they all had lives; they were doing bigger and brighter things.

chosens music career was really taking off. finn had filmed a final season of stranger things, and was cast in a movie he was currently filming for with big names like lily collins and leonardo dicaprio. sophia has a steady girlfriend and started photography as more of a business, taking pictures with her stepdad. jaeden was cast in a netflix original, which is, to date, broken the most records for a netflix show yet. jeremy successfully co directed his very first movie. wyatt pretty blew up on youtube with 18 million subscribers for posting content simply about his life, (the movies he's been doing, his everyday life, etc.) and jack has been doing more movies than ever. a tv show he starred in that premiered was extremely successful, and now he's simply going up in the acting world, with shazam 2, and more.

they all ended up okay.

"hey, losers!" jack heard a screech, seeing the one and only millie bobby brown quickly on her way to greet the group.

sadie, gaten, noah, and caleb were not very far behind her.

"i cant believe you guys are here!" jack exclaimed, grinning as millie quickly threw her arms around the brunette.

"we wouldn't miss this for the world," millie remarked simply, smiling as she backed away from the boy to quickly greet everyone else. they all did their rounds, greeting each other and excited to reunite. they had grown quite close throughout the past year. jack and finn had even gone on a group date with noah and millie, jaeden and wyatt, and sophia and malina, (her girlfriend,) when they were all in new york.

"since the party has arrived, we can go inside!" millie boosted and the others chuckled, following the girl inside of the theatre they were going to be watching the first episode of the show in. they all grabbed popcorn and snacks, of course complimentary, and went to find their seats. along the way they bumped into a few familiar faces, (like jack's good friends annie leblanc and asher angel, and lilia buckingham, who was closest with millie and sadie,) and after the quick greetings, they settled down to wait to watch the show.

"i wish we could see us kissing on the big screen," jack complained, looking over at finn. "why did reddie have to wait to kiss until episode 8?"

"because, baby, character development." finn teased. "we can kiss now, if you'd like?"

"how homo of you," jack grinned, giggling as finn kissed his cheek several times anyways.

eventually, the lights dimmed, signalling the show was going to start. everyone in the auditorium went silent; eyes focused on the black screen in front of them. and, the crowd started to watch as the theme song began playing.

it was spooky; jack could give it that. he couldn't believe how good it looked, and he was excited to see the rest of the show beyond the theme song. that was, until finn tapped on his shoulder.

jack turned his head, and finn leaned forward slightly to whisper in his ear, before stopping for a moment. "you look so cute when you're focused," he remarked. jack gave him a small smile and shook his head. "what, finnie?"

"we're getting out of here," he said.

"what? but the-"

"not my orders." the taller boy cut him off and moved slightly, motioning to their friends, stranger things cast included. they were all quietly getting up from their seats. luckily, the group was in the back of the theatre, and they weren't making much noise, or at least, it wasn't noticeable.

jack and finn got up, following the like their friends had formed. surprisingly, jaeden was leading it.

"what are we doing?" jack asked, rushing up to be next to jaeden's side. the others quickly followed jack's actions, scattering themselves among each other.

"we can see our show anytime we want. even tomorrow. this is the last night we'll be together for a while." was all jaeden said.

jack looked at wyatt, almost as if to say, 'do you see your boyfriend?,' but wyatt has his gaze fixed on jaeden, a loving look on his face.

jack didn't realize what they were really doing until jaeden came to a ladder.

the theatre was almost set up like an apartment. there was a roof, with a ladder on the side of the building.

"roof," jack said gently, smiling at jaeden. the other boy returned his gesture.

"after you," he said, and jack immediately hopped on, starting to climb up, the group of teenagers following him.

"i swear to god, if this falls," jack heard noah shriek from below, making the group laugh.

"hey, i'm wearing heels." sadie argued.

"exactly!" sophia said. "now that's hard."

"quit whining, girls." gaten teased, climbing a bit faster.

"oh, be quiet gaten!" millie got her ten cents in, laughing as gaten stopped climbing for a moment to feign an annoyed face at her.

finally, they reached the top. the building wasn't too tall, luckily, or else jack wouldn't have had the guts to go to the roof in the first place.

"wasn't there a door to get up here?" caleb questioned as the group settled in, sitting in a circle on the roof. jack expected it to be a lot colder than it was, but it was actually quite nice up there.

"locked," chosen replied, coming to join the circle. "jae and i checked."

the teens sat there for a moment, enjoying each other's company, and just being in a warm environment, being able to hear the faint cries of the city and even some of what was going on inside the theatre below them.

"i'm proud of you guys," sadie said, looking mainly at the IT cast. they all returned her look, almost looked somewhat confused.

the redhead laughed at the seven, seeing their faces. "do you guys not realize how much you've grown? it's amazing. god, finn over here got his first boyfriend. we always knew he was crushing on jackie," the girl taunted, laughing with finn. "and not even that, all of you. things have changed so much for the better. you guys have come so far. and it's absolutely insane."

jack let her words sink into his skin, into his clothes, all over everything. he wanted to hang onto them, engrave then into his mind, remember them for as long as he could. because she was right.

things had changed.

and definitely for the better.

they stayed up there in silence, slowly repositioning themselves so they were laying down, sprawled around each other. finn was holding jack tightly, all the teens just looking at the sky, watching as the colours in the la sky slowly dimmed to darker colours.

before it got too dark, he heard sophia next to him whisper his name quietly. he turned his head, only a few mere inches away from the girls face.

"i have something to give you and finn," the freckled girl said gently. finn shifted his attention to sophia, sitting up silently, jack doing the same. sophia copied their motion and handed an envelope out to jack, placing it in his hands.

jack looked at her curiously for a moment, before opening the small pale blue envelope up.

he gasped quietly as he saw what was inside.

photos. dozens of photos. some were polaroids, some lower quality iphone pictures, and some high quality prints the girl had taken on her camera.

they were all photos of finn and jack.

jack on finn's back, walking on the sidewalk in downtown toronto. finn cuddling jack while they were in bed, the two smiling at sophias camera. a picture from the day they played laser tag, the two boys looking at each other with wide grins. jack in his eddie kaspbrak get up, and finn in his as they were getting their makeup done, their hands intertwined. the two boys skipping into the movie studio together, that first day they did those acting exercises.

jack was surprised as a tear fell on one of the photos. he was even more surprised to see it was one of his own. he started laughing in disbelief.

"you fell in love on set. i never want you to forget that, or forget your time with us." sophia wiped one of jack's tears away.

jack turned his head into finn's neck, not being able to hold back the tears anymore.

he was so grateful. he found his forever people. he nearly started sobbing more as he felt the others wrap their arms around him.

below them, the theatre burst into applause, standing and cheering at the movie screen in front of them, yelling words of praise for the episode they had just watched.

the teens above could hear their cheering.

it was more than a show. more than a movie. more than a franchise.

it was a bond. a bond so close, nothing could break it.

sophia was wrong about the mere thought that jack could ever forget.

he would never forget his time on set.

THE END.