#or lucas

"Eddie." she says, face pinched in a way that screamed 'I am not here by will, but I am still trying', and he smiles at her softly. He lets it grow into a playful grin.

"Red. What's up?" he asks, prolonging the inevitable. The guys have gone silent, but Eddie prepares for an interrogation later.

"Thanks," she says flatly, and her cheeks are red now, too. He looks at the proffered item with raised eyebrows. He gingerly takes it, peering at the exterior of the box. The detail was curious, engraved with intricate markings along the edges of the wood. He opens it and then slams it shut.

"What's this?" he asks, shocked. "It was no problem, Max. I told you; I know what it's like. You don't need to buy me anything for it," he says, trying to hand it back. He ignores Lewis' quiet 'Dude! Free set!', and the grunt he makes after definitely not kicking him, because that would be uncouth. He's not uncouth.

Max crosses her arms and gives him a bitchy look. "They're from Steve."

Eddie's brain slows to a halt, and knows he furrows his eyebrows because, "Steve?"

She nods firmly, "He appreciates you looking out for me," she says, and the words sound rehearsed, but sincere. He snorts softly, shaking his head. She's been to his trailer a few times over the last week, and apparently told Steve.

"Okay. Fine," he relents, ignoring the jeers the guys give him. Jeff definitely tries to reel them in but Gareth and Lewis are nudging each other and laughing.

He opens the golden latch that holds the two halves of the rolling tray, and there's a full set of dice there on the red velvet interior. They have swirling blue liquid cores, in an otherwise clear resin. The numbers are painted red, except for the the highest numbers, which are done in gold.

"What the fuck," Gareth says, and Eddie commiserates because seriously, what the fuck.

"Thank you," he says, mind empty of anything else to say. He can't give them back, knows that would be the wrong move, even though he doesn't understand why.

But when Eddie looks up, Max is gone. He blinks, looking around the arcade, but there's no trace of the redhead.

"Yeah, she booked it," Jeff says, leaning forward and grabbing the D20 to watch the core.

"That's Mad Max?" Gareth realizes, suddenly outraged. Eddie laughs brightly, and something loosens in his chest.

"Oh come on, Gare. There's countless other games here, I'm sure you can find one that Mad Max isn't in the leader board for," Eddie teases, tapping his fingers against the wooden box. The younger teen scowls at Eddie harder, causing the metalhead to cackle.

"I need a smoke," he announces, clapping his hands and then pushing himself away from the booth. He ignores the look Jeff shoots him as he leaves, patting his pockets to find the pack he'd bought a few days ago.

"Don't think we'll forget about it," Jeff calls after him, and Eddie groans, knowing he's gonna grilled when he gets back. He waves Jeff off and keeps walking determinedly to the doors.

It's as he's standing outside, trying to light the cigarette, that he meets Dustin. He doesn't know the kids name at first, of course, but it's quickly apparent that the kid knows his.

"You're Eddie, right? You gotta be Eddie; you look exactly like Steve said! Long crazy hair, denim vest, rings!" he hears to his right, and startles so bad he almost drops the still-unlit cigarette and swears so loudly that he's pretty sure a few birds fly away. He looks up, and he while doesn't know the child, he does immediately recognize the panicked look on his face. He's sure he's worn a similar one many times, and so have all of his friends. He's also wearing a Weird Al shirt, out in public, so he can hazard a guess as to the situation.

"Hey, that's me," Eddie greets warmly, a wide grin spreading across his face. He slips the cigarette back into the pack, figuring he wasn't getting a smoke in at this rate.

The kid shuffles close, eyes wide and panicked. "Steve said even though you look like a jerk, you'd be able to help, you gotta save me, dude," he says as he looks around, eyes darting back and forth nervously. Eddie raises his eyebrows, and glances around to try to find what's got this kid freaked out. He quickly spots two kids rounding the corner.

"I'm doing great, bud, how've you been?" he says loudly instead of replying to anything the kid is saying. Hopes that he catches on as he asks, "How's Max?" even though he definitely just saw her.

For a moment, Eddie thinks the kid is going to argue, he looks irritated enough until he looks at Eddie's face. Then he breaks out into a grin, and Eddie feels himself grinning back.

"She's doing better, I think," he tells Eddie, which the metalhead does know, even if she's always quick to dismiss his concern, she does open up when its late and no one else is awake.

"Good," he says. Before he can say anything else, it seems the two twerps who were practically stalking the curly haired kid from afar must work up the courage to approach, despite how Eddie looks. He knows he looks scary, has cultivated the image carefully to be a means of protection.

"You know this toothless freak?" one of them spits, the taller brute of the pair. He gestures to curly when he says it, glaring at him. Eddie meets his eyes and promises himself he won't hit a child.

Doesn't mean he won't scare 'em a bit.

Eddie pushes himself away from the wall, standing to his full height. He steps in front of curly, glaring down at the bullies. They immediately take several steps back, eyes wide as they stumble over themselves.

"What do we have here?" he asks, reaching behind him to grab the small pocket knife he keeps in his back pocket with his wallet. He doesn't take it out, yet. Won't if they take the hint and leave.

"Two miscreants causing problems with my friend here," he lilts, pouting his lips and furrowing his eyebrows sarcastically. "Leave him alone." he says flatly, staring down at them with a lazy look.

"Or what?" the shorter kid asks, crossing his arms. "You won't do anything, we're just kids messing around. Right, Dustin?" he jeers at the curly haired boy. He can practically hear Dustin spitting and hissing behind him like an angry kitten, but ignores him. It's nice to know his name, though.

Eddie grins, leaning close to them, nose to nose with the taller of the pair. "Won't I?" he asks, flicking out his knife. Their eyes go wide and they scramble back again.

"Come on, Nate, he's not worth it," the shorter of them says, tugging on his friends arm, but Nate doesn't seem to be listening. "He's fucking crazy," he iterates when it looks like his friend is going to push the issue.

"Listen to your little friend, Nate," he spits the name with venom, stepping closer. He sees the brute glance uncertainly at the knife, before he scoffs and walks away with his friend.

Eddie watches them retreat with their tails tucked between their legs, waiting until they turned around the corner they came from before turning his attention to Dustin. The kid looks like he's got stars in his eyes when he turns fully around.

"I knew you were cool, Steve said so, but I didn't know you were this cool. That was awesome! Do you keep the knife on you always? I should get a knife—"

"Absolutely not, kid," Eddie cuts him off, shaking his head. "I can already tell you don't need to be carrying a knife around."

Dustin nods like he expected that, though he does see him roll his eyes. "I knew you had to be Eddie, Steve said you'd look like an asshole but he swore that you were cool and you are! You took care of those actual assholes no problem!"

Again with this 'Steve' guy sending kids to him. He pointedly ignores the only Steve he knew of, because it can't be him. There's no way.

Eddie smiles indulgently, bowing over his arm. "Pleasure to meet you, Dustin. Seems my reputation precedes me," he says.

To his pleasant surprise, Dustin bows back, "It's all good things," he assures, and Eddie believes him, strangely enough.

Dustin stands upright and smiles at him with a full set of teeth, which is at odds with what the other kids were calling him. He doesn't mention it, but does wonder.

"He's right, by the way," Eddie says, swallowing past the lump in his throat. "You can always come to me, or any of my friends. Do you wanna come inside? Meet a few?" he asks, gesturing to the open door of the arcade. To his surprise, he shakes his head.

"Nah, I gotta pick up a movie for tonight. It's my pick," he grins, wiggling his eyebrows. "Steve's finally letting me make him watch Star Wars."

Eddie's first instinct is to tell him that Steve has seen the movie at least once, but he bites his tongue instead.

"That's awesome," he says, burning with curiosity.

Dustin grins and nods, "I know!" he gets a curious look on his face, then asks, "Is it true you have a D&D club?" quietly, like its a secret. Eddie laughs and nods.

"This is a shirt for it, Hellfire Club," he opens his jacket a bit to reveal the demon. "I'm the DM."

"Wow," the kid breathes, the stars returning in his eyes. "That's so sick. I can't wait to join!"

"Oh ho ho," Eddie crows, a grin stretching across his face. "You're telling me Steve's babysitting a bunch of little nerds?" he asks, delighted.

Dustin shakes his head, "Steve's our friend," he insists, and Eddie's sure his eyebrows disappear under his hair.

"My apologies," he says, wondering when and how exactly this happened.

Dustin hesitates, looks at where Family Video sits across the parking lot, and then back at Eddie.

"Will you walk me there?" he asks after a moment, looking vaguely uncomfortable. Eddie raises his eyebrows, but nods.

"Sure, bud," Eddie's voice is softer than he intends, so he clears his throat. He bounces slightly and then starts walking towards the video store. He turns back when its obvious that Dustin wasn't following.

"Come on, what's the hold up?" he teases, gesturing him to come with. Dustin breaks into a grin and jogs to catch up with him and then they're walking together.

By the time he makes it back to the booth, he hasn't smoked and has shared an awkward acknowledging wave with Robin Buckley. It was obvious from the way that she interacted with Dustin that the pair knew each other, and Eddie wants to know how.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Lewis asks as he sits down, dazed.