[DONALD GLOVER, CISMALE, HE/HIM/HIS] Whenâs the last time anyone heard anything about [LUCAS SINCLAIR]? Old friends remember them as [LOYAL & ATHLETIC] but also [HEADSTRONG & SENSITIVE], no wonder theyâre still known as [THE RANGER] around town. Today, in 2006, they are [35] and some people say they remind them of [COZY SWEATERS, BLACK COFFEE, EARLY MORNING RUNS, RED MARKS ON PAPER, THE SOUND OF A BASKETBALL BOUNCING ON A HARDWOOD FLOOR, SCUFFED BASKETBALL SHOES, HALF DRUNK BEER BOTTLES WITH PEELING LABELS, CAT FUR EVERYWHERE EVEN THOUGH HEâS NOT A CAT PERSON (ALLEGEDLY),]. [dani, 23, she/her/hers, est].
biography.
make new friends. step out of comfort zone and try new things. be yourself. that was lucas sinclairâs to-do list to surviving his freshman year of high school. 1986 had different plans for him. lucas did all of those things. he joined the basketball team over hellfire club, much to mike and dustinâs chagrin. he made a lifelong friend in jay demario. and, ultimately, he ran right back to the party when they needed him. he got his ass kicked by his team captain, watched helplessly as the first girl he loved cared for had her bones broken in half, and lost two of his best friends to the upside down. he failed. and that failure stuck with him for years. he was not going to fail anyone else like heâd failed to protect will and el. he was going to make sure his people were okay. and he was going to finish what he started in high school even if it killed him. so lucas sinclair went from benchwarmer to starting point guard, led the hawkins high tigers to back-to-back state championships, and earned himself a scholarship to notre dame so his parents wouldnât have to worry about paying for his college just because he wasnât as smart as erica, all while keeping tabs on dustin and mike and writing a bunch of letters he didnât have an address to send to max that might still be shoved in the back of his closet.
he was an athlete and he played d&d with the hellfire club on the weekends. he dated a pretty girl who followed him to college. he was going to bring the fighting irish to the tournament, get noticed by scouts, and get a shoe deal. maybe heâd become an agent...or heâd play a few years professionally if he was lucky!
but lucas rode the bench his freshman year of college. he worked out all summer to earn his spot on the court and had a fantastic sophomore season...until a new yearâs day tournament led to a torn acl. he had surgery, but the rehab was difficult. he fell into a pretty bad place, mis-using his pain pill prescriptions and eventually getting hooked. he made rash decisions including dropping out of school and heading home. he worked at family video while rehabbing his knee and saving up cash to...do what exactly? run off to california? very funny.
he spent two gap years in hawkins, going through the motions, occasionally hanging out with his old friends and and feeling trapped by the four walls of his childhood bedroom. a combination of reconnecting with mr. clarke while trespassing in the hawkins middle school gym and a good therapist that his mom definitely didnât force him into seeing made things clearer to him. (marian tried, but it was honestly finding some of the old photos of the four of them in his classroom...and all of their old projects still taped up on the walls in mr. clarkeâs classroom that gave him the nudge to return to school.) Â heâd probably never play in the nba. not on a bum leg, anyway. and if he couldnât do that, well, keeping the curiosity door open wasnât a bad trade off.
he returned to notre dame two years and many lifetimes wiser, got a teaching degree, and walked back on to the basketball team. he helped the irish into the big dance and had a pretty successful athletic career while earning his degree. lucas even married his high school sweetheart while on a spring break trip to las vegas (which his mom is still pissed about, by the way!)
he and tracy probably would have moved to chicago if not for charlesâ heart attack. lucas had to go home and, thankfully, his wife seemed content to follow him back to hawkins.
honestly? lucas got married because thatâs what he thought he was supposed to be doing at twenty-three. some of his friends were married, most of them had kids, and his mom was dying to join the grandma train. lucas was (and is) still searching for something to fill the massive gap left when will and el died. heâs been trying for years: first with athletics, then his romantic relationships, then  with the pills and the weed and the booze he definitely didnât get from jonathan or steve, but nothing ever makes him feel whole anymore.
the closest thing that does? seeing the spark a kidâs eyes when they finally figure out a difficult science concept. or the pure joy on every face when the girlsâ basketball team he coaches finally wins a game. but as soon as he goes home to an empty apartment? heâs fucking lonely.
and he was lonely even before the divorce. he told tracy as much, and it...didnât go over well. they fought, which was kind of...exhilarating, actually? theyâd had a superficial spark that had burned hot and fast but died quickly and they both had just been going through the motions for years by the time lucas admitted that he just didnât feel like it was worth it anymore.
his life is fine, if boring. he found some joy in coaching and substitute teaching at hawkins middle. when mr. clarke passed away, he stepped in automatically. if mr. clarke wasnât there to guide the next generation, lucas sure would.
oh, and heâs also an uncle. which is pretty fun.












