Coworkers. Eddie made a mental note to corner any of them if they arrived in the funhouse nightmare, too. He had a few choice words for these friends of Connor, regardless of the environment they might have all grown up in. He'd been raised in Derry, for fuck's sake, and he managed to avoid assaulting people just for being different despite the fact that this was very much the norm in his small shithole of a town. Eddie had no tolerance for cruelty. Perhaps he was protecting a bit (or more than a bit, if he were being honest), but he swept the thought aside and focused on Connor. Later, he could psychoanalyze himself. Right now, he needed to make his intentions perfectly clear.
He watched very carefully as his new friend responded, understanding immediately that this wasn't a sentiment Connor must be very used to receiving from people. It utterly broke Eddie's heart, and his answering frown was severe, mouth set in a thin line. "Friendly?" Eddie echoed faintly. His stomach twisted. "Connor, I accused you of being an evil supercomputer. That's not friendly, it's fucking ignorant and I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that. You don't deserve that."
With a sigh, Eddie covered his mouth with a hand and tried to get a handle on his emotions, something he'd never been terribly good at. Pushing his own issues onto Connor wasn't going to get either of them anywhere, and what's more, it wouldn't help anything. "Look," he started, then stopped, struggling to piece together his thoughts. "Don't thank me for being a decent—" human being died on his tongue. "—person. I just want to make sure you're safe. As much as I can in this hellhole, anyway. I've got your back, if you need it." Eddie had every intention of shouting anyone down if need be. He'd yelled at a spirit trying to mess with Richie, he could do the same for Connor.