richie and eddie's first kiss is the dumbest fucking thing because technically it wasn't as much of a kiss as it was a mouth to mouth eddie had to give richie because his dumbass managed to tangle up in the seaweed and started drowning

richie gave them all a scare at the quarry because he was as per usual acting like a total idiot and hiding in the water to pinch everybody's ankles so of course one of the times he went underwater his own ankles got tangled in the seaweed

everyone else didn't notice his absence at first though eddie being head over heels for richie and always paying his utmost attention to him kinda looked around trying to find richie and when he didn't he just thought that maybe he's still swimming underwater

a couple of minutes go by and eddie's getting more and more anxious so he 'casually' asks the group if they've seen richie and they all shake their heads

they look back at the beach and into the forest squinting because of the sun rays hitting their eyes but there's no trashmouth in sight

the overwhelming realization hits eddie and with no time to lose he dips down the lake without saying a word to the rest of the losers

they all go down there too, dirty water getting into their eyes, but eddie comes up to the surface in no time holding richie's unconscious body

eddie is worryingly silent, but the look on his face is as determined as ever, and mike helps him carry richie back to land and lay him down on the grass while the rest are anxiously blabbering about what's happening with furrowed brows

eddie is usually the one to freak out and pump his inhaler a good couple of times in stressful situations, but not this time. he's focused and loses no time before starting to compress richie's heart and murmuring the beat under his breath

he pinches richie's nose and gives him mouth to mouth while the rest watches, their anxious chatter suddenly silences as they feel kind of funny sensing a subtle shift in the atmosphere of this situation. it feels like a dam broke

their silence is interrupted by richie coughing his lungs out and spitting out water. the atmosphere changes again, everyone seems to move on from the sight of eddie's lips covering richie's, but they only seem so. it feels like they let out a breath they held in for too long

richie is still coughing but he sees all his friends hovering over him, faces still worried, and being assigned the role of the 'funny one' he tries to lighten up the mood and says "what, you thought you'd get rid of me that easily?" with a weak smile on his lips

everyone but one smiles as weakly and looks at him with a "he's back" kind of gaze. their smiles fade away when eddie punches richie in the shoulder with a quiet sob

"you're such a fucking asshole, you know that?" he asks, unable to look richie in the eye. richie's confused, everyone is confused, bill even tries to chime in with a "hey now, he almost died-" but gets interrupted with eddie's "exactly!"

"you could have died, you idiot! you need to be more careful! i can't always-" his eyes, red from his tears, meet richie's and richie is kind of taken aback, scared of the intensity and sincerity of eddie's feelings. "i can't always be there- what if i'm not there to save you?"

"FUCK!" eddie exclaims and turns away from everyone, afraid that he might have been too real, might have said too much. a heavy silence falls over the quarry. bill, bev, ben, stan and mike exchange awkward looks, not sure what to do

then richie grunts and sits up, a collective worried sigh follows but richie doesn't really care. he shuffles closer to eddie and hugs him from the back, resting his cheek on eddie's shoulder blade. "i'm sorry," he says quietly as he counts the freckles on eddie's spine

"thank you for saving me," richie adds and closes his eyes. the rest of the losers also come closer to them and embrace them both in a tight hug. everyone ignores two racing hearts beating overwhelmingly loud in this calming silence.