D&D 5E (2024) How do you handle surprised but won initiative?

[Maxperson]

Is there a way to achieve the same result by bending the rules to suit the fiction rather than bending the fiction (as narrated) to suit the rules?

Nothing is being bent. If you tell me that your fighter swings his sword, I might narrate a wide swing. A downward chop. Or something else. The narrations fit the mechanics. What I described above is simply a narration that fits the mechanic. That of someone unlikely to win initiative, winning and hitting the ambusher first.