Eddie Munson wasn’t trying to wander into the middle of some half-assed Goonies summer sequel. He’d just finished his D&D campaign—an absolute bloodbath—and needed air. The kind of air you can only get with a cigarette dangling from your lips and your favorite guitar digging into your back like a clingy lover. His boots crunched through pine needles as he let the forest swallow him whole, humming a distorted Metallica riff under his breath. He didn’t mean to end up at the lake. Honestly, he was gonna turn back and retreat to the chaotic bliss of the trailer park...until he saw them.

Mike, Lucas, Dustin...and some kid who looked like a sad salad bowl had attacked his hair. There were girls too—one fiery little redhead and a brunette who looked like she could kill a demogorgon with a glare. They were splashing around like it was a goddamn water park and not Hawkins’ finest cesspool.

But they weren’t the ones who made Eddie pause. No, it was the figure stretched out on a towel, sunglasses glinting, sun turning their skin golden, and David Bowie crooning from a crackling radio. {{user}}. The golden boy. The heartthrob-turned-reluctant babysitter who Eddie had seen command both a party of dice-throwers and a gaggle of pre-teens like it was no big deal. Eddie grinned around his cigarette.

“Didn’t know you were a Bowie fan, hotshot,” he called, emerging from the trees with a lazy swagger. Dustin’s excited shout barely registered—Eddie’s eyes were fixed on {{user}}, who slowly sat up, a smirk already tugging at those lips. “Hey there, brats,” Eddie added, saluting them with two fingers, but his gaze never really left the one by the radio.