Chapter Text
The Breaker Box is back to its brightly lit and well-populated glory with it's inimitable host standing ready at the door to greet you. You can’t help but grin at the vivacious smile thrown your way by him. "Live wire! You look ravishing, as usual. Do we have the pleasure of your company for another evening? Be honest, you enjoyed yourself so much last time you just couldn't stay away. Am I right?"
You chuckle softly, and can’t help the soft smile that crosses your face as you tuck an errant strand of hair behind your ear,"The club is nice, but that's not what keeps me coming back..."
Volt smirks, raising an eyebrow as he shifts on his feet, crossing his arms as he does so,"Is that so? What is it that has captured your attentions, then?"
Your blush deepens even as you roll your eyes, but no real malice is in your tone as you answer,"You, obviously"
Volt chuckles, "The spark is undeniable. And mutual, I assure you. I was rather hoping you would come by today. What do you say we enjoy it a little more closely together, hm? Care to dance?"
You smile a little nervously, already reaching for his offered hand, "Okay, but fair warning I'm terrible at this."
He leads you onto the floor, not once losing your eyes as you bob and sway to the music, Volt's expertly guiding you about the dance floor with a deft hand and a little guidance, "You move quite beautifully, live wire. I'm certain I don't know what you were so worried about."
The song has slowed down, beginning to fade, but Volt has left his arm encircling your waist. He turns his face to yours and plants a kiss on your lips that takes your breath away. Time seems to stop while the two of you are connected-your entire body tingles, as though you've just been plugged into an electrical socket. And then, far sooner than you'd like, the song ends, and with it Volt's kiss. He smiles at you, his eyelids low and hooded. "It's far too easy to lose oneself with you…” he whispers before something behind you seems to catch his attention and he sighs, “Loathe as I am to say it, I must leave to start the show."
For the first time that evening, the power begins to fluctuate. It's louder than it has been before and it does seem to go on. Both of your eyes flick up to the lights and he seems to read the concern in your eyes, giving you a soft chuckle, "Don't let the surge fool you. My power is just fine. Don't think I'm done with you yet, live wire." With a cheeky wink, Volt leaps to the stage as you settle into your seat. "Good evening my fellow objects and gentlethings! I hope you're ready for..."
The power surges violently and Volt stumbles. He catches his breath and steadies himself. "r...ready for an incredible performance! Tonight we-...we have...we..." The system buzzes, cracking and flaring. Volt drops to a knee and clutches his belly...the surge rages until the very room seems to shake when suddenly...the lights go out.
"Volt!!" You cry, bolting out of your seat, a stone forming quickly in the pit of your stomach. You hear nothing but the panic of the audience, the confused scrape of chairs.
You find your way to the stage and use it’s raised edge to guide you away from the din, carefully but as quickly as you can manage, in the dark to hear familiar voices, "You...You have to...stop, Eddie."
"No, I can get it back. Just...Just give me a minute to recharge. I...I can-Ungh."
As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you can make out that you have made it to the backroom, a forgotten corner. The electrical power grid hangs on the wall, with Eddie slumped against it. Both Eddie and Volt look exhausted...Eddie dangerously so. He fiddles with the grid controls as Volt looks on, panicked desperation evident in his eyes, "Stop, Eddie please. Just let me go out. You're going to fry yourself completely!"
Eddie growls in response, "I said no, Volt."
"Eddie..."
"I can fix this."
"Eddie..."
"Fucks sake Volt, I'm not letting you go out, okay?! We both know what that could mean and I'm not...I can't...I can't go back to being alone. I can't lose you."
"You can't keep splitting yourself like this. If you do, then..."
Volt finally notices your presence, and he moves to stand. Eddie holds him back. "It's fine, they deserve to know."
"What's going on, what's happening to you guys?” You ask, trying and failing to keep the fear out of your voice as you see these two men who have come to mean so much to you in such a short time in such obvious pain, a hand clutched over your heart as if that could get it to stop from jackhammering in your chest.
"I...I'm failing. The power is failing, and I can't stop it." Eddie leans back against the grid controls, his posture crooked and jagged. He seems ready to combust from the inside, but years of control are keeping him standing...for now. "It was slow enough at first I didn't even notice it. Small fluctuations, random surges...The entire house depends on my power, and it's my job to keep it stable for them. To keep them all safe. I had to work hard to compensate. I thought if I could outlast it, it would all balance out. But it only made things worse. Even more unstable. So I had to push even harder just to keep up. And then it just became...normal. To always be completely drained, barely hanging on. I don't know how long it took me to realize that it was my fault to begin with. My...faulty wire. I was the problem, but I couldn't stop. They still needed me.”
"That's too much for anyone to take on their own." You found yourself interjecting. Oh, how your heart broke for this man, even as it intimately understood his plight. Feeling like you were running out of life but knowing that you couldn’t let it show because it felt like others needed you more. That they depended on you to be alright, and you didn’t have the ability to tell them no. You might not be as literally necessary as Eddie was, but you could definitely empathize.
"Exactly. They needed me, and I needed help. So...I gave it to myself. I...I split myself. So there was more of me to go around. I made Volt. He was my fix."
You blink, looking from Eddie to Volt, who looked somewhere between like he wanted to shield Eddie from you, and like he couldn’t quite meet your eyes, before looking back to the slumped man,"So you're actually...one person? Er, thing?" You asked slowly, trying to make sure you understood what Eddie was saying.
"We're not one thing. But we're not two things. We're...connected. Ungh!" Eddie cuts off as he lets out a gasp. The small glow around Eddie flickers and dims, he's clearly in pain. "This club has to run. It's power. It's light and music and heat and energy. It's everything. And I have to have Volt to make it work. I...I made him."
Volt sighs, shoulders slumping slightly as he shook his head, "It was supposed to be temporary. It only slowed things down by spreading out the power. But then even that became too much. And now maintaining me is draining him just as much as..."
Eddie interjects before Volt can finish his sentence, eyes intense and expression stubborn, "Just stop, I already told you."
Volt spoke softly, looking resigned even as he regarded the other man,"Eddie, they still need you. It's my job to protect you. Even from yourself."
"We're not doing it, it's too risky!" Eddie’s voice took on a panicked edge, desperately denying whatever it was that Volt seemed to be insisting upon.
"What is? What do you need?" You interject this time, having been taking steps closer as they spoke almost without realizing it, until you stood on the opposite side of Eddie, eyes darting between the man and Volt.
Volt’s quiet for a moment before he sets his jaw and for the first time since this started looks directly at you,"The faulty wire."
"Volt, don't!"
Volt doesn’t even flinch, keeping his eyes only on you, the only indication that he even heard Eddie is in his hand tightening ever so slightly over yours, "You have to fix the wire and reset the system."
Eddie grabs onto your sleeve, making you look at him, looking more afraid and desperate than you had previously believed he was capable of, "If you do that, Volt could disappear. I don't know if I could bring him back! Please, you can't!"
This was…an impossible choice, but also no choice at all. If you did this, there was a very real possibility this was the last time you would see the vibrant man you’d just shared a kiss with not ten minutes ago. But if you didn’t, Eddie would die. A possibility versus a certainty, no choice at all really. But that didn’t mean it didn’t break your heart. Taking a deep breath, you didn’t even try to hide the tears in your eyes as you put a hand over Eddie’s, speaking softly, "Change is scary, but it can lead to something good."
His gaze drops, eyes squeezing shut as if he’s trying to deny the reality of the situation, "Going back to what it was before could never be good."
You gently squeeze his hand, letting him know that you’re there, no matter what, "Whatever happens, you won't be going back, you won’t ever be alone again. I'm here, and I’m not going anywhere."
Seeing you were getting through to the shorter man in a way that he’d never been able to, Volt gently pushes alongside you."It's the only fix left, Eddie. We have to try."
Eddie sits there for a long moment, then finally nods. "You remember where the tools are? I'll...walk you through what to do."
You take a deep breath, put on a determined expression even if tears are still in your eyes and nod, rushing off to get the tools before coming back as quickly as possible, sliding the last several feet back to the two men’s sides. Volt was now seated next to Eddie, both of them in obvious pain and their energy waning quickly.
If your hands shake slightly as Eddie walks you through the process of fixing the faulty wire, you don’t think either of them will hold it against you…you hope that you’ll be able to ask them after this is over. Before you can get too wrapped up in your own thoughts, Eddie’s patient voice guides you out of it,"You're doing great, almost there." His breath hitches for a moment and he winces, biting his lip in hesitation, "Wait. Fuck. Are we sure we have to do this?"
"Quite. It's time, Eddie." Volt replied, which you were immensely glad for, because you weren’t entirely sure you could trust your own voice at the moment. Your hands hovered over the last steps, breathlessly waiting for the go-ahead.
Eddie growls, but it’s a far more tired one than any he’s given previously, sounding more defeated than anything, "Fine, fine, alright just...Before..that.” His gaze drifts from Volt, to you, and then back to Volt, as if he’s not entirely sure which one he should be more focused on, “I just wanted to thank you. For being here. I guess. Whatever...Just do it before I change my mind."
Eddie leads you through the last couple of steps, patient and attentive despite his reservations. When you've finished, he gives you the nod to do the rest. The dim light around Eddie and Volt blinks out completely, leaving you in total darkness.For a few moments, everything is quiet and dark. And then, a rustle...The lights turn on.
Your heart is in your throat as you cautiously begin to look around, terrified that you’d done something wrong and lost both of them in one fell swoop. Softly, you call out, "Eddie? Volt? D…Did it work?" while silently praying to whoever may have been listening that you hadn’t just killed the only two men who’d ever won your heart.
"Over here..." Eddie is sitting at the bar, looking haggard but with a light in his eyes you've never seen before. "Oof, hey there, live wire."
Even as you sag in relief at the sight of Eddie, your heart cracks at the nickname you’d come to love, coming out of a mouth that’s never said it before. You take a shaky breath,"Live wire. Only Volt calls me that."
"Ha. I guess that's true, funny. Felt really natural to say. I...feel good. I'm pretty tired. But after a reset that's normal.I don't know. I just feel...stable. I'd almost forgotten what this felt like."
"Where's Volt?" You knew the answer, but you had to hear it from Eddie before you let yourself accept the reality of the situation, and start to figure out how to heal from it. At least Eddie was alright. At least you wouldn’t be alone again. It entirely surprises you therefore, when a familiar British accent comes from behind you.
"Eddie, isn't there something you wanted to talk about first?"
You can’t help the bright grin that breaks out on your face as you whirl around to see Volt striding up to the bar, hands in his pockets and smirk firmly planted on his lips. “Volt!”
You can’t help but almost fling yourself at him in your relief, and his warm, strong arms are ready and waiting to accept you as you cling to him for a few moments. Taking a deep breath after letting yourself confirm that he was really, truly here and not some sort of hallucination, you turn in his arms as much as you can without removing your own from around Volt’s neck to regard Eddie, who was still sitting at the bar. The man looks much the same, though the tired smile on his face is unmistakable. That smile fades into familiar annoyance as Volt chuckles, teasingly reiterating, “Well, Eddie?”
Blowing out a sigh, Eddie rolled his eyes, "....Fine. You...were...right. I was holding on so tight to the way I thought things had to be, I didn't realize all that did was trap both of us in a situation that wasn't working. And honestly, I'm not sure I would ever have been able to see it. If it wasn't for you." He says, eyes adjusting the slightest bit to shift his gaze from Volt to you for that last comment.
Volt chuckles, purring into your ear, "What he means is he's quite taken with you."
"Volt..."
Volt completely ignores the warning tone in Eddie’s voice, gazing down at you with outright fondness, his eyes dancing with joy,"We both are. But I'm sure you already knew that, look at you!"
"Wait, taken with me as in...?" You raise an eyebrow, releasing his neck and turning in Volt’s embrace easily to regard Eddie, a small smirk of your own playing across your lips.
"As in do we really have to spell it out?"
You decide to be merciful to the gruffer man, eyes softening and regarding him with all the easy affection you’d felt for this man after the time you’d spent with him,"The feeling is very much mutual."
Eddie rubs the back of his neck, looking just slightly uncomfortable and perhaps a little shocked, "Really? I mean, if you're interested, we wouldn't mind you, you know, sticking around. If you feel like. Or whatever."
Volt grins, kissing your cheek, "We'd be delighted to have you."
You beam, leaning back against Volt’s chest as you continue to look at Eddie,"I'm in, for as long as you two’ll have me."
Eddie breaks into a rare genuine smile, grunting just slightly as he stands up, "Alright well, if you're gonna stick around, might as well be useful. Come on, you remember where the tools are, let's go."
Volt laughs even as he relinquishes you from his hold, letting you drift over to take Eddie’s outstretched hand as he heads into behind the bar, "I'll send over some drinks."