"Her kid's missing. Show a little class."

"…So. The chief and her, they've screwed before?"

[Season 1, episode 2]

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Callahan was wrong. There had never been any screwing between Jim Hopper and Joyce Byers—although this wasn't due to unwillingness or a lack of interest. On the contrary, there had been plenty of interest from both parties off and on over the years, especially during their time at Hawkins High. The two had caused lots of trouble as an inseparable pair, but they never ended up in bed together.

There had admittedly been a few comforting embraces between the two, a few tender kisses… including Joyce's first. That is, if you didn't count the nights her father came home drunk, crawled into bed with her, and made her wish she were dead. And Joyce certainly never counted those. But aside from those miserable experiences, Joyce's knowledge and experience—before Hopper—were limited as far as romance and physical affection were concerned.

It had been the summer before their junior year, and both of them had scored jobs at the city pool. Neither came from money, so if they wanted to do anything fun around town or replace some of their hand-me-down clothes before autumn, the only option was to get jobs. Hop was a lifeguard and Joyce worked in the snack shack.

It was a Saturday afternoon—prime time for the high schoolers to take over the pool. Everyone who was anyone was there, although that amounts to about thirty people in a town as small as Hawkins, and Joyce was selling corn dogs and nachos like crazy. She was unaware that there was a war being waged over at Hopper's lifeguard stand. He, Mike Carpenter, and David Lewis were locked in a stalemate: they had each kissed eight girls, and a tie didn't sit well with them.

In an attempt to gain the upper hand, David started scanning the deck chairs and the water in search of any girls he could grab a quick kiss from. He located all eight of his previous partners, then came up short—as the rest of the girls either had boyfriends who would kick his ass OR were completely unwilling to acquiesce. Mike and Hopper followed his lead and began mentally categorizing the girls as they splashed and laughed, totally oblivious to the boys' plotting. There was no hope, Hop realized. The girls were either too ugly, too mean, or they had already kissed him. (This was a disappointing realization and didn't bode well for his future romantic success, all challenges aside.)

Just then, Joyce appeared next to his stand.

"Hop, you want a corn dog?" she asked nonchalantly, holding two corn dogs in her hand. Hopper's eyes lit up.

"Do I ever!?" He grinned and jumped down to grab one from her. "Break time?" he asked, to which she nodded, her mouth full of her first bite.

At that moment, Lucy Henderson sidled up to Hopper's other side. She rubbed her shoulder along his arm and tilted her head a smidge to the side, which made her hair do a flip that Hopper thought was kind of cute.

"I'm here to relieve you, Jim," she said softly, then winked at him as she climbed up onto the chair he'd just vacated.

"Oh, and I am certainly relieved," he responded and raised his eyebrows. He gave her a smile which may or may not have suggested that he'd like to have sex with her on the lifeguard stand. And if they hadn't already made out under the bleachers three weeks ago, Hopper would have grabbed her and done it right then to get rid of Mike and David. Instead, he led them and Joyce over to an empty table where they sat down.

Joyce was halfway through her corn dog as David explained their current challenge to Joyce, who made a few fake vomit noises in response. Mike shoved her and laughed as he accidentally got mustard on his arm. Jim was finishing his last bite when it dawned on him. He broke into a grin and turned to the two boys.

"What are you so happy about? Me, I'm going to Molly's house when I leave here, and that'll be nine for me," Mike said confidently. Joyce scoffed as if there was no way Molly would fall for that.

Hopper shook his head. "Nope. The challenge is now, and I'm going to win it now."

David rolled his eyes. "Now? So you're gonna go get one of those grandmas from water aerobics?" He and Mike laughed.

"Much better than that," Hopper replied, then stood up from the table and grabbed Joyce's hand. Her "wha—?" was cut off as he pulled her up to stand in front of him, wrapped his arms around her waist, and covered her mouth with his.

David and Mike jumped up from their chairs, their mouths hanging open.

"What? No way, that's not fair!" David yelled. Mike smacked Hopper's back a few times while yelling, "Friends don't count, Hop! That's different!"

Hopper didn't hear them. Joyce didn't either.

The moment his arms circled her waist and his lips touched hers, Joyce's brain went fuzzy. At first all she felt was shock and fear, because she'd never kissed a boy before and this wasn't some boy, this was Hop, one of her closest friends, and why is he kissing me, this isn't something we do. Then she realized how soft his lips felt on hers. A moment later, she realized the t-shirt she was wearing wasn't thick enough to protect her from the heat coming off his bare torso. And then, sweet mother of Jesus, his lips began to move. She felt his arms tighten around her waist until her body was squeezed right up against his, and she wasn't sure what possessed her but she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer. His lips opened and his tongue began to explore her lips and mouth. Joyce's tongue met it in curiosity, and she sighed almost imperceptibly as he sucked on her bottom lip for a moment. She tangled one of her hands in his hair as the other hand moved from his neck down to his chest, where she could feel the quick pounding of his heart. One of Jim's hands rubbed a circle on her lower back while the other somehow kept pulling her closer until she feared she might suffocate. Jim's tongue was back in her mouth, and she heard him make a noise in the back of his throat which she'd never heard before. She kissed him harder, allowing her teeth to skim his bottom lip before she plunged her tongue back in. His hand moved from the small of her back to her hip, where he scooted it slightly up under her shirt. He rubbed the soft skin there as she smiled into the kiss.

"Okay, OKAY! You win, Hopper!"

"Just STOP already!"

"Yeah, it's getting gross!"

"Joyce, make him stop! You guys are disgusting!"

Hopper slowly registered the frustrated voices of his friends, and he pulled back from Joyce and opened his eyes. There she was, big eyes wide, hair a bit mussed, breathing hard. He couldn't help the smile that grew on his face as he let go of her waist and placed his hands on his hips as if he were appraising her.

"Joyce, that was... very nice." He said it in an I'm-impressed-and-frankly-shocked tone. Who'd have ever thought kissing her would feel so amazing? Hopper had never considered it, even during their many adventures. She was just one of the guys.

Her facial expression quickly transitioned from surprised to proud. She shrugged her shoulders with a big smile and responded, "Thank you, thank you very much." Threw in a few bows to the imaginary audience. Waved like royalty to a toddler walking by in a life jacket.

Mike and David were looking from Joyce to Hopper and back again.

"Yeah, you guys are weird," David finally concluded.

"It's true. You are. See ya around, Hop," Mike said, shaking his head. The two left together. Probably heading to Molly's house, Hopper thought to himself.

He turned back to Joyce, who had sat back down to finish her corn dog. He plopped down next to her. The splashing of the swimmers, the squealing of the kids, the conversations of the parents had all returned to normal in his ears.

"Sorry about that," he said immediately. "We were all tied. I had to win. Don't hate me." He hoped she wouldn't.

Her mouth full of corn dog, she raised an eyebrow at him. Swallowed the rest. Shrugged. Said "You owe me one, Hop," in a mischievous tone and walked away, leaving him to stare after her.

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