Fic snippet
It has been far too long; sorry about that. Life has been life. I wanted to share a section of chapter 2 Out of Charge (following story to overcurrent) Eddie & Volt flashback post story, pre-realization. (spoilers)
Eddie stared at the bulbs over the bar. The warm amber glow reflecting in his now, lively steel eyes bringing out the copper of his pupils. Moments passed peacefully in the aftermath of closing hour; that strange near silence which takes a while to settle in after the loud, chaotic buzz of crowds and activity.
He breathed deeply, allowing his chest to fill, then breathed out, unable to remember the last time he felt he could just exist like this without immediate pressure or action. The lights shone, absent of the predictable dimming or flickering that accompanied the burning seizures in his chest. They just… worked. Without thought or permission the corner of Eddie’s lips lifted into a smile, while a huff of air somewhat resembling a laugh escaped him. It was nice. Simple. It worked. The lights worked without fuss, or worry, or threat. And Eddie could just stand there, doing nothing, beneath them.
There was work to do, of course. There was always work to be done. Being the power source for the whole house meant an unending list of tasks and needs and demands. But he felt steady now. Stable. Eddie felt like he could handle it, although this renewed access to a work-life balance and having people to count on was taking time to settle in. He didn’t fully trust any of it yet, and the difficulty of challenging old traumas and learned habits had his brow furrow. The light grew brighter, energy flowing stronger at the approach of the only other person in the club. Eddie could feel Volts smile more than see it and felt the assessing gaze sweep over him. “You look almost serene,” Volt commented, his hand reaching in to press one, long finger at the dent in Eddie’s forehead. “If not for this.” “Hey! Cut it out.” The reprimand fell short of any true strength or rebuttal, even to Eddie’s own ears. He lifted a hand to rub the point of contact, where a static shock had charged through him. Volt chuckled, and in their circuits both could feel energy flow more freely through and around them. Livewire had taken to unplugging unused appliances during the night to save on electric output. The habit reduced the never-ending task list for a few hours while also giving those appliances a fuller night of sleep themselves. “Are you thinking of her?” Volt’s perception caught Eddie off guard. The man stalled and stammered in the way that told he was deciding how much to say and how open to be. “Not specifically,” he eventually told. “I was, thinking about everything. How none of it feels real yet.” “You’re overthinking things Eddie.” “I guess… maybe? I d’no.. this… this just feels like something I need to think about. To process it.” Volt remained silent, eyes gliding over him again with a faint concern. “I keep expecting to wake up and find everything like it used to be. With just the two of us, struggling to keep it together until things either worked out or-“ A long, dark pause lingered at the end of the ‘or’. “-or it didn’t,” Eddie finished the sentence, needing to hear it spoken out loud for himself. That dark outcome he’d fought so hard against for years, all while trying to ignore it.
“You won’t,” Volt stated firmly. “The wire is fixed, the system reset. We don’t have to worry about breaks or power drains anymore; live wire saw to that. Just sit back, relax, and leave all the front of house details to me.”
Not for the first time Eddie wondered if he’d sent all of his optimism Volt’s side during the split, or if Volt was just particularly talented in promoting the positive charges. Either way, his words reminded him of something else that had played on his mind. The one break in character he’d seen in his partner which had shocked him at the time, even with Volt’s reasoning. “What made you so sure of her?” “Hm?” “You’ve always been protective of the club. Of what we do here,” ‘of me.’ “What made you tell her to reset the system? You could have-..” Even now, with the worst moment over, and the best outcome achieved, the core deep fear of Volt going out and being lost still had the power to choke the air in Eddie’s lungs and dench him in a cold sweat.
“Desperation.” Volt’s voice hardened in his seriousness. His eyes locked with Eddie’s the moment his steel gaze had lifted, and the airy light trill of Volt’s words deepened into the straightforward, no-nonsense tone of a deep conversation. “I wasn’t sure, I was desperate, because I was about to lose you too Eddie.” “I-I … uh..” “My entire purpose for being, is to protect you. But in that moment, for the first time, I was powerless. And she- she has been the only person to really invest in you, or myself, or the club. So I took the chance.” Desperate pounding of a startled heart, and the weak, drained sensation of a sickly body greeted Volt as he awoke. He felt dizzy and pained, and it took him longer than it should have for his mind to correctly place him. The room he was in was not the Breaker Box, but the neat luxurious apartment of two wealthy real estate owners. Weights pressed down against his lap and shoulder, which, with further inspection, turned out to be Eddie and Livewire laying across and against him.