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Eddie has the same nightmare he'd first had when he'd moved to Derry that night, except it's prefaced by something different.

Little flashes of the future, Eddie thinks. It seems like that's what they are. He sees clips of himself or the Losers, doing various things that he doesn't remember doing, so he assumes they must've not happened yet.

He wakes up in the middle of the night, pondering what he'd seen. It's... concerning. The dream was kind of a blur, but Eddie manages to pinpoint around seven different scenes.

The first one takes place in Mike's office. The Rolling Stones are playing over a boombox, and it seems like the library is closed, because everyone is being loud and dancing wildly. Eddie is jumping around by Richie and Beverly, grinning like an idiot.

"It's nice to take a break." He sighs to Richie as the song ends.

Then the next scene. The group is outside at night. Beverly, Bill, Ben, and Mike are all chatting and setting up tents. Stan, Richie, and Eddie sit around a pile of sticks.

"Goddamnit, this stupid thing won't work." Stan curses, flicking his lighter once again, trying to get the leaf in his hand to catch on fire.

"Let me try." Richie offers, taking the items from Stan's hands. He flicks the lighter and the flame appears.

Richie lights the leaf, tossing it into the kindling in front of them. He laughs at Stan's dismayed expression as he hands the lighter back. Eddie watches with a smile on his face, feeling his heart speed up at Richie's laughter.

The next scene is a very different one, one that takes Eddie a little bit to figure out. It's dark and damp and cold. It looks to be in some sort of cave, and there's a figure lying on the ground, both hands over their stomach.

Eddie realizes the figure is him. But it's hard to recognize, because he looks older. Much older, by decades. But it's definitely him, Eddie can see the resemblance.

Eddie hears screaming and yelling in the background, and the whole cave is shaking, like something giant is taking step after step. He can't catch what anyone is saying.

Eddie sees his adult self let out a sort of broken cry as his head rolls to the side a little, his hands twitching on his stomach. That's when he sees the blood surrounding him.

The scene changes again. Eddie sees himself, maybe a year or so older, and Richie. They're playing in the arcade, it looks like.

"Beat you!" Richie cries triumphantly. Eddie huffs in frustration.

"I'll never be that good at Streetfighter. It's hopeless." He rolls his eyes, stepping back from the machine.

"At least you're amazing at Pacman." Richie shrugs.

"That's because there's a pattern in it. Streetfighter is different." Eddie replies.

Richie grins, laughing lightly. He picks up a token.

"Let's play Pacman, then."

It changes. Eddie looks the same as he does now. He walks into Richie's room, with the lanky boy following him in, shutting the door behind him. Eddie sits down on the bed, folding his hands in his lap, happy to be back in the familiar space. Richie sits beside him.

Eddie turns his head towards the boy, his smile fading as his eyes flicker down to Richie's lips. Richie grins at him, biting his lip. He brings his hand up to the side of Eddie's face, leaning forward and kissing him. And suddenly they're full-on making out, hands all over each other.

The scene switches, and it's Eddie as an adult again. He's leaning against the fence of a bridge, standing by another man. Again, it takes Eddie a second to recognize the people in the dream, but he can tell by the man's clothes and hair and glasses and features that it's Richie Tozier he's standing with, all grown up.

"So." Richie sighs, smiling softly. Eddie watches him. "This is kind of wild, right? Back in Derry."

"Yeah, it is." Eddie nods. "I wish we could just go back home. Get out of here. It brings up all these memories."

"A lot of them are good memories, though. For me." Richie shrugs, reminiscing. "I hate that we have to, you know... go through all this shit again. I thought it was over. I thought we were finished with Derry."

"We all did." Eddie replies. "But we aren't. So, you know, here we are on Kissing Bridge. Like a couple of dumb teenagers."

"You weren't a dumb teenager." Richie says softly, his eyes flickering towards Eddie's lips.

"You kind of were." Eddie grins, and then he leans forward, closing the gap between them.

The scene changes one last time.

"Bill, Ben, someone, help, he's bleeding, he's-" Eddie hears a familiar, yet deeper and more mature, frantic voice screaming. It's in that same dark cave. Eddie is still lying there on the ground as Richie gets his arm underneath him, propping him up. "Oh, god, Eds, don't you dare fucking- don't you dare-"

In the dream, Eddie feels so relaxed. He thinks this isn't too bad. All the pains of life are flowing out of him with the blood.

But he hears Richie screaming and crying, and Beverly is there, too, taking her blouse off and pressing it to him, attempting to stop the blood. Eddie feels serene, ready. He's unbothered by their panicked voices. They're so far away now. So far away...

But, he has to say something.

"Richie." He whispers, coughing.

"What?" Richie is leaning over him, desperate, choking on his own breath.

Eddie reaches his left hand up to hold Richie's cheek, smiling softly at him. His blood mingles with the tears streaming down Richie's dirty face.

"Don't call me Eds." He breathes, letting his eyes close. "You know I... I..."

And then Eddie's usual nightmare begins.

After Eddie wakes up, he's left trembling alone in his bed, scared and confused. What had happened? What had happened? What did all of those scenes mean?

Had he been dying in that cave? More importantly, had he kissed Richie Tozier? On purpose? Multiple times? And as an adult, too, meaning that he'll have a crush on Richie as a fully-grown man?

It makes Eddie uncomfortable to think about. Mostly because it looks nice. Eddie likes the thought of him and Richie together as adults. Spending the rest of time together. He's a sucker for romance, that's for sure; but with Richie?

And, god, Eddie doesn't want to die. Those scenes in the cave are dark and frightening, and the wave of calm that washed over him in the last one might be the most terrifying part.

Eddie tries not to think about it, though it weighs on his mind heavily. He decides it's probably just It trying to scare him, like It does every night. He doesn't want to let It win, though his dream does freak him out. So Eddie's left drowning in thoughts of Richie Tozier at four in the morning.

He can't help thinking about the way Richie's lips had felt on his own, the way his hands had roamed over Eddie's body. The way they seemed to fit together so perfectly.

And he thinks, yeah, he would kiss him. On purpose. Multiple times. Even as an adult. Eddie thinks this must be what having a crush feels like.

He sighs, putting his head in his hands.

"I can't believe I decided to like Richie fucking Tozier." He whispers to the room.

Yet, despite Richie possessing so many of the qualities that Eddie thinks he would never want in a partner, he finds himself wanting them anyway.

Wanting Richie anyway.