Warnings: Mentions of abuse, flashbacks of abusive behaviour, depictions of panic attacks, violence, a bit of angst into wholesome
Summary - Whilst you help Volt and Eddie out at work, your abusive ex shows up. Eddie and Volt make sure to let him know he isn't welcome. Protective Volted.
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You felt cold, your body numb and exhausted. You knew it was for the better, but at what cost? The fact that your ex even came into the club shook you enough for you to subtly slip from the crowd, getting past Eddie and Volt without them seeing you and you hid in the backroom for what felt like hours trying to make sense of it all. How did he know this place existed? Did he know you, Eddie and Volt were together? Did he know you somewhat worked here? Why was he here?
You slumped against the wall of the stockroom, your heart catching in your throat with every breath. You didn’t want to leave the room to go back to the bar. You didn’t want to face him. You had previously told Eddie and Volt about your abusive ex when you all became romantically entangled back when they had the club in your house. It came up when you all were talking about what you want in this relationship. You told them everything. How he abused you physically and emotionally, how he manipulated you into doing what he wanted against your better judgement, how he gaslit you into thinking it was all your fault. Everything. And that's why it took so long for you to find the confidence to start looking at even the idea of a relationship again. You couldn’t fathom why he would be here in Eddie and Volt’s club. After you realised them, you agreed to help them with the projects that they continued doing. You helped Eddie when he renovated houses and Volt when he did the paperwork. And of course when they bought an old club that they renovated to become the new ‘Breaker Box’ now for more humans than just you. Whatever they did, you wanted to be involved in, taking some of the pressure off them both.
You could swear that you heard his voice through the wall, distant yet close enough to be recognisable but you couldn’t tell if it was your own head making it up. Your heart sunk and lurched up again hearing a thud against the wall which wasn’t uncommon with patrons every night but given the circumstances, it put you wildly on edge. You were starting to grow sweaty and full of panic at the thought of going back out to the bar floor to help. You knew you had to eventually but it was the last thing that you wanted to do. Your vision grew slightly blurry from the panic and tears that lined them, everything you were hearing started to sound distant and echo in your head as you wiped your eyes to at least make yourself seem presentable enough to not draw concern as you turned to the door of the stockroom and pull down the handle. What you weren’t expecting was Volt to be doing the same on the opposite side, leaving you face to face with him and nothing slipped by him.
“Live wire. Is everything alright?” He asked softly, staying a step ahead of you by holding your wrist to stop you walking past him and avoiding the question. His eyes narrowed with concern as you hesitated to answer, his normally flirtatious and playful demeanour replaced with a heavy concern for seeing one of his partners in such a way. “Talk to me, love,” He added softly, his thumb gently rubbing back and forth over your wrist comfortingly. “It’s…nothing just got overwhelmed,” You say, your eyes and rapid breathing not helping to convince Volt otherwise. “Now, you and I both know that’s a lie,” He huffed, blocking the doorway with his frame, “You don’t have to keep things from me, or Eddie for that matter,” He whispered, trying to provide more comfort for you to at least let him in a tiny bit. You look up at Volt, knowing he wouldn’t let you go back on the floor in such a state and especially when you wouldn't tell him what was wrong, “I saw someone,” You say after what felt like hours but was mere seconds, your voice came out like a broken whisper, trying to pull yourself together as best as possible. You see his face contort into confusion then drift into realisation as he processed what you said.
He pulled you into his chest, holding you tight into him. His grip was more than protective, borderline possessive and not too dissimilar to how Eddie often held you in public. His arm wrapped around your waist and his other on your upper back, his hand holding the back of your head as you rested it on his chest. You let your arms gently drape around his waist, feeling a slight sense of calm was over you if only for a few seconds. “Darling. You know we wouldn’t let anything happen to you. That bastard isn’t coming near you, okay?” He said into your hair, leaving a gentle kiss onto your forehead before pulling back. You felt his hand run from the back of your neck, down your arm and into yours. His fingers laced with yours as he looked at you, a strange anger and protectiveness still evident in his expression albeit softer and more subtle than before. The main expression was concern. “I-I know I didn’t want to draw attention to him. That's why I came back here,” You sniffle, your mind full of complex emotions and feelings as you try to make sense of everything still. Anger, sadness, anxiety, fear, frustration. All of them floated around as you clasped Volt’s hand. “I just don’t understand…I thought I was better,” You whisper, your voice cracking faintly as you look down at his hand, your fingers lacing between his own. “Oh, darling,” He hushed, gently reaching to cup your chin in his other hand. “Healing isn't an easy path, you don't need to be upset at yourself,” He said, looking down at your face with a sigh. “Volt? Did you find the ice?” You hear Eddie as the door of the backroom cracked open. You hear Volt groan in an exhale, reassuringly squeezing your hand as he turns to the now cracked open door with a side glance. “Just getting it,” Volt sighs, squeezing past you and the doorframe to the small box freezer to grab a back of ice.
Volt turned back to you with a soft look, glancing at the door to see a slightly annoyed Eddie peaking around, “C’mon you two, this place doesn’t run-” Eddie started with a huff as he turned into the door fully, stopping his sentence seeing your red eyes and now pale complexion. “Live wire?” Eddie asked softly, the previously annoyed and impatient look overtaken by concern. “Are you ok? Do you need to go back home?” Eddie asked, looking you over with a visible worry. “They just need a minute, Eddie,” Volt says, looking at the two of you. “I’ll be fine, Eds,” You exhale, your breath hitching as you glance through the door, your eyes landing on your ex who glanced at the door the moment you looked up. You feel your body grow cold again, your eyes wanting to tear away from him but you just couldn’t. He probably couldn’t see you since Eddie’s body was in the gap of the doorframe, your eyes only catching his face over Eddie’s shoulder. Both of them didn’t miss the fact that you were frozen in fear, Eddie being the first to turn his head to the direction your eyes landed on. You had described your ex a few times to them both in moments of both Volt and Eddie wanting a description to know who to protect you from. And the moment Eddie’s eyes landed on your ex, you could see the protectiveness instantly set in on him. Volt pushed the door back, ushering you into the stockroom until he came back from putting the ice away behind the bar. “Now I see the issue,” Eddie huffed, his eyes not leaving the face of your ex for even a second. “Eddie you don’t have to do anything,” You mumble, fidgeting with your hands as Volt comes back through the door. “Bullshit,” Eddie gritted out, turning to face you, “He isnt gonna hurt you, especially not here,” Eddie huffed, swiftly walking out of the doorway to the bar floor again. “I think it’s best that you stay back here, darling. Or upstairs in the office,” Volt reassures, standing in front of you protectively just in case. “I kinda want to see him get what he deserves,” You mumble softly, almost ashamed of what you were saying, earning a deep chuckle from Volt. “You and me both,” Volt sighs, looking down at you with a soft but still concerned look. “Are you sure you want to go back out?” He whispers, holding your hand tightly again. “As long as you’re by my side,” You mumble, still trying to even out your breathing. “I’m not going anywhere darling,” He smiled softly, pulling you into him as he cracked open the door to the main bar area.
You could visibly see as well as feel the tension in the room as patrons tried to keep their attention on what they were doing before Eddie came back out but ultimately they couldn’t help but see what was transpiring between Eddie, the normally reserved and quiet bartender, and another patron. Whilst it wasn’t a loud confrontation, it was more than tense. “I told you to leave,” Eddie warns, practically able to tower over the other man despite not being the tallest himself. “Why? What have I done?” Your ex scoffs, briefly catching his eyes with yours before double taking to look back at you. You feel your breath catch again and your heart drop to your stomach which didn’t pass Volt either, he kept his arm firmly around your side, staring your ex down along with Eddie. “Oh…because of your plaything, huh?” Your ex mocked, looking you up and down with that look that felt all too familiar to you. You felt Volt’s grip grow slightly tighter around you as you lean into him for comfort. “Look, they might be your old plaything but they certainly aren’t ours,” Volt snarls, looking at your ex with a look you only recognised as a loathing anger brewing inside him. “Beacuse we’re not worthless pieces of shit like you,” Eddie adds, his hand balling into a fist by his side, holding back on grabbing him by the scruff of his collar and dragging him out on the spot. “Aww, cute. Two protective boyfriends, huh? Not that a lowlife needs them. I thought you’d be out on the streets fucking any and every person who crossed you, no?” You ex commented, the faintest of smirks coming across his lips as he spoke. You could feel Eddie’s anger radiating in waves as he stood in front of your ex.
You couldn’t even take in what was happening before Eddie had yanked your ex by the collar of his shirt and spun him to be flush with the counter of the bar, still keeping his white-knuckled grip onto your exes shirt. You felt an odd satisfaction come over you. hearing your ex grunt in pain as Eddie pressed him firm against the edge of the counter. “If you even step a foot back into this bar, you’ll have a lot worse coming to you, got it?” Eddie whispered threateningly, looking down at the cowering man under his hold. His other hand came up to firmly grip at your exes throat just under his jaw, tilting his head back from the force. “I said, got it?” Eddie repeated louder and more full of anger this time. You felt Volt’s hand gently pull you in closer to his side, leaving a reassuring kiss on your head as you both watched everything unfold. You still didn’t hear a response from your ex, but you didn’t really need to as Eddie yanked you ex again by the collar from the bar and dragged him out of the door, the patrons catching this all happening alongside you and Volt as Eddie practically threw him out the door before shutting it on him. Eddie looked at you and Volt, his cheeks flushed red from his anger which was a quirk you picked up on early on from the Breaker Box days.
Eddie glanced at the rest of the patrons which was enough to get them to get back to socialising or dancing whichever they were doing beforehand. Eddie walked back over to you and Volt, an arm snaking around your waist and the other cupping the back of your neck before kissing you, his touch and the kiss equally possessive making Volt chuckle. “Now now, we are still open you two,” Volt smirks, letting his arm drop from your waist with a smile. Eddie pulled back still holding you in the same way, possessive and still slightly seething. “I don’t care,” Eddie huffed, sliding his hands into yours with a gentle squeeze. “Are you alright now, live wire?” Eddie asked softly, leaving a small kiss on your head to comfort you. “I think so…” You mumble, smiling softly as Volt snaked his arm around you again. “He’s not coming back here, we’ll make sure of it, darling,” Volt adds, looking at you softly. “Thank you,” You sigh, looking between the two of them with a small smile, the relief washing over you realising you were in amongst your safe place.
The rest of the night went thankfully without any further issues with Volt and Eddie keeping an eye on you. They sent you through the back again to count stock rather than being amongst the loud crowd of patrons in the hopes it might settle your nerves which did put you more at ease. You were more than thankful to have them by your side now, you finally felt safe and you found your home.
