Chapter Text
Eddie was tired. So, so tired. He watched from behind the bar as the last few patrons stumbled out of The Breaker Box, leaving him behind in the growing silence. Following behind them, he locked the doors, turned on the lights, and took in the carnage.
A few dirty tables, trash on the floor, and a mystery puddle of amp-knows-what in the corner. Pretty standard all things considered, at least he still had all the tables. He sighed, running a calloused hand through his wired hair as he made for the janitorial supplies. With a single mop and no shits left to give as his line of defense, he decided to tackle the mystery puddle first.
Cleaning and shutting down the bar was tiring and monotonous, but fairly simple. Eddie basically had it down to a science at this point. He often let his mind wander as he cleaned, it was one of the few tasks he had that gave him the luxury. Normally the mental reprieve would give him a little bit of energy back, but he just felt drained.
As he finished wiping down one of the tables, he felt his hands seize, pain shooting from his temples to his fingertips. Power surge. It was like the floor fell out from underneath him, the pain the only thing keeping him grounded. Stumbling, he gripped the table like a lifeline, jaw clenched so tight he could feel his teeth creak.
“- f UCK” That was the only sound Eddie could make as he waited out the last wave of the surge.
Eventually the pain left, leaving him feeling more hollow and exhausted than he would like to admit. Releasing his hands from the table, he grimaced at the hand-shaped scorch marks that marred the once intact table. Fuck. Normally he was better about keeping the electricity under control, even in the midst of a surge. But it’s just been getting worse. The surges, the electricity, his control. He couldn’t go much longer like this. Something was going to give sooner or later.
The rest of the work went by much slower on account of his hands, still shaking from the earlier surge. But at least he didn’t burn anything else. Aside from the dishes he was finishing up now, everything else was done. Well…. almost everything. Lifting his gaze from the glass he was cleaning to the door of the breaker room, he couldn’t help but let out an audible groan. Best part of my fucking night.
The lights in the breaker room were dim, but they always were. The damn bulb never seemed to go full strength no matter how many times he’d replaced it. At first, its flickering annoyed him, but now it was comforting. It wasn’t like he needed the light anyways, he could navigate this room even in pitch darkness.
Squaring his gaze, Eddie ambled towards the namesake of the bar, his inanimate self, and biggest thorn in his side. One of many. The cabinet of this particular breaker box looked about as banged up as he felt, the door listlessly swinging open with a metallic groan. It made sense, this was always the one that needed the most work. A mess of wires, labels, and blinking warning lights stared back at him.
Each night it was something different; a new problem to throw himself at until his hands were raw and cramping, body almost giving out from sheer exhaustion. But no matter what he did, it was never fucking enough. He could rewire the whole damn panel and something would still end up broken by nightfall.
Things didn’t get this bad overnight, it was a slow creep. So slow it was hard to notice at first. A burst bulb here, a frayed wire there, the occasional power surge. Annoying, yes, but manageable. Then things started to pile on top of each other. More repairs needed, circuits that never had issues before starting to falter, entire systems on the brink of collapse each night. At a certain point, Eddie could no longer spend the time needed to fully fix the issues. Forced to fix just enough to last another night in order to get everything else somewhat functional again.
He tried closing the bar once in order to work on the repairs. That only lasted a week. As it turns out, the bar was far more vital to the power grid than Eddie ever realized. The bar gave the objects a place to wind down, relax, and drink away the troubles of the day. Without it, they began to worry. Became restless. Grumpy. Paranoid. Their added stress unknowingly putting more strain on the very systems they depended on. That single week of being closed caused the power to become so unstable Eddie almost lost the grid for good. It was honestly a miracle that he was able to repair enough to open the bar again, but the damage had been done.
The system never fully recovered. The surges became more frequent. More intense. More unpredictable. Power fluctuations that made the walls of the breaker room shake. Lights breaking, wires frying, circuits charring. The power was failing. He was failing. It was his job as the breaker box to keep the power flowing, but now it was flickering and shuddering like a dying ember.
Eddie needed help, desperately. But there was not a single person in this damn house who could help him. He knew if he mentioned any of this to Mayor Ceilia, she’d assign him a helper of some kind, but at this point that would do more harm than good. The last thing he needed was someone who didn’t know what they were doing fucking with the wiring. Touch one wrong thing and the whole grid goes up in smoke. He couldn’t risk that. Hell, he couldn’t even trust most of these people unattended around the bar itself.
If things weren’t so bad, he could maybe train someone, but as of right now that was out of the question. Even with his in-depth knowledge, he was barely keeping up. He was spread too damn thin.
All he needed was someone to help him manage the power, run the bar, help with upkeep. Someone who knew what he needed and how to help. Someone to handle some of the charge while he tried to fix his own fucking mistakes. But people like that didn’t fall out of the sky. If Eddie wanted help like that, he’d be better off just making someone himself.
…
Now that’s a thought . Eddie’s hands paused, their movement halting.
Was something like that even possible?
Eddie quickly patched the wire he was working on and grabbed out the notebook he kept on himself for repair logs.
“Building” someone could mean many different things, and Eddie was almost certain that physically trying to build someone out of scraps wouldn’t work. At least, not in the way he wanted. And he was just one object after all, a breaker box. A box full of wires with electricity running through them.
Wait.
Electricity running through them .
Could that be it? Separate himself from the electricity?
… Wouldn’t that just kill him?
No, he had electricity, but he didn’t need electricity. Even with the power off, he could still function just fine, albeit a bit more sluggish than usual. It made sense too, in a fucked up sort of way.
Despite Harper being a clothes hamper, Dirk was a separate entity. Despite a bed having blankets, Mateo and Betty were separate people. And, most damningly of all; Winnifred was a fucking water heater and yet River, literal water , was a completely different person.
Holy fuck, this could work .
But how the hell do you separate the literal concept of electricity from yourself?
Before Eddie could think any longer, another surge ripped through him. Doubling over like he’d been shot, his hands clawed at his sides, his hair, literally anything within reach, trying to anchor himself. He could feel the way the current flowed through his chest, staggering and catching on every unseen wire, switch, and channel he had. His breath hitched at every stall, sheer agony lancing through his very core, the aftershocks sending tremors down every inch of his body making his very bones ache.
After an eternity, it slowed, and then it was gone. The sudden lack of pain being just as much a shock to his system as the surge was when it started. Forcing himself to sit up, he leaned his back against the wall and did his best to recover. He could feel something warm travel down his face and pool at his lips, making his mouth taste like metal. He reached a trembling hand up, wiping at his face.
The copper blue blood that stained his hand when he pulled away glared at him like an accusation. A mockery. His nose was fucking bleeding. God- how much weaker could he get? First his control failing, now his body? Pathetic.
Bloodshot eyes glanced down at his notebook, his scrawled ideas looking like the etchings of a madman.
Fuck it .
If he kept trying to keep going like this, he’d be dead by the end of the week. Things truly, honestly, literally could not get any fucking worse. Even if he shorted out the entire fucking house, the human would just call an electrician who would hopefully leave things better than before. Or not. Either way, it would be better than it is now. Pocketing the notebook, he forced himself to rise to his feet.
Perhaps a bit too fast, as he felt the room lurch around him, the threatening taste of bile creeping up his throat. Eddie grit his teeth, forcing the room to right itself through sheer force of will. Stumbling out of the breaker room, he made a pass by the bar, grabbing himself a bottle of whiskey and a napkin. The napkin was for his bleeding nose. And the alcohol? He figured that regardless of the outcome of whatever the fuck he was about to do, he was going to need a goddamn drink .
Eddie approached the breaker room again, his steps becoming more determined with each stride. Upon entering, he didn’t return to the panel he was working on, instead making a sharp turn to the right down a barely lit maintenance hallway. His pulse quickened as he marched down the hall, the lone door at the end being the culprit.
In all the years he spent managing the power for this house, he only needed to come down here once . And that was when lightning struck the outside transformer so hard it burst into flames and nearly started a full on electrical house fire . Despite all that, he probably knew this panel, this box better than all the others. The wooden door creaked open, leaving Eddie to face down the beast unimpeded. Before him was the box that controlled the source of power for the whole house. It was THE breaker box.
The power was failing not because the house didn’t have enough, it was because it couldn’t flow smoothly. The current would catch and spark and escape, leaving some sections with almost no electricity and others borderline overloaded. But this box is what supplied it, brought the power from the lines and generators outside here for use. If there was any shot of this batshit insane idea working, it had to be here.
The room itself was fairly empty and extremely dusty. Eddie flicked on the light, the bulb glowing strong, almost proud. There was a box or too back here, storage from before things went to hell in a handbasket. Sweet mother of amp, is that a floor length mirror?? Eddie pinched his nose bridge, he thought he got rid of this ages ago. It was a gift from Amir from years back, something about “ maintaining his radiance ,” whatever the fuck that means. Eddie didn’t know what to do with it, so it seems he just shoved it back here. Just another problem to deal with later .
Opening the cabinet of the box, the whole house almost seemed to shudder, almost as if it could feel the weight of what he was about to do. Forcing his shaking hands to steady, Eddie got to work.
With practiced motions, wires were spilt, redirected, and patched. Thankfully, not much needed to be changed, but enough to really make him think about what he was doing.
What if it didn’t work? Would it make things worse? Could things even get worse??
At this point, he wasn’t sure if his trembling hands were the result of the power surge, his own nerves, or from the sheer strength of the electrical current he was working with. Not that it really mattered much, his mind was already made up.
After spending more time than he’d like to admit, he was done. Eddie was pretty sure this wouldn’t fry him or the house, but there was only one way to find out. All he needed to do now was reset the power.
He moved around some of the boxes in the room to make a makeshift cushion in case he passed out. It was really a hit or miss with resets. Reaching out for the crucial switch, he stopped short.
This was it.
This was his last chance to back out. He could redo the wires, close the box, walk away and no one would be the wiser. But, if he did that, nothing would change. The power would keep getting more and more unstable until either his body or the box gave out entirely.
With a surge of desperation bordering on the edge of recklessness, Eddie flipped the switch, and the world went dark.
…
Eddie’s eyes blinked open, slowly, cautiously. He expected to find the room spinning, lights glaring so hard he’d see spots. But he didn’t. He felt…fine? His head ached, but it always did after a reset. But that was it? Normally a reset would knock him on his ass for at least 10 minutes after, but it felt like he just closed his eyes. He was even still standing.
That’s…..new. Not sure yet if that’s good or bad, but it’s new. Eddie turned his gaze back to the box, freeing a single wire to give himself direct access to the current. The exposed end sparked anxiously, almost as if it was attempting to want him. He reached for it anyway. Here goes nothing .
Pain. Sizzling, searing, blinding PAIN.
The uncontained current ripped down his arm, arcing straight for his core. Every muscle in his body seized as it attempted to regulate the mass amounts of electricity it found itself flooded with. But after a moment, the pain stabilized, no longer hitching and spitting through him, but more of a pulse. Not gentle or less painful by any means, but predictable.
Eddie did his best to move his mind away from the pain and focus instead on searching for… something . He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, but he had a feeling he’d know it when he found it.
His consciousness almost seemed to fall into the electricity, and suddenly he could sense everything .
He could feel every wire in the walls, every outlet, every plug, and every cord.
It was like an entirely new sense was activated, leaving him overwhelmed and overstimulated. He grit his teeth, forcing himself to focus and look .
His mind snaked through the walls and under the floor, traveling a circulatory system he couldn’t fully access, much less fully comprehend until now. He flicked through room after room, system after system coming up blank. He felt panic start to claw at his chest. What if he was wrong? What if he put himself through this for nothing? What if-
-THERE.
A presence at the edge of his senses, fast and fleeting, but there. Eddie beelined for that presence, but it evaded him with ease. It traveled these currents as naturally as a fish in a river, while he was stuck wading in knee deep water. The presence didn’t even seem to notice it wasn’t alone, much less being pursued. Eddie was beginning to lose hope when it seemed to pause suddenly, catching him off guard.
When it began to move again, it seemed to be heading right for him, the real him. His physical body dipped in the current must have finally attracted its attention. He could feel how it circled him, puzzled but curious. He dragged his mind back to himself, until he was standing proverbially face to face with this entity.
Eddie moved slowly, terrified of scaring them off. That laughable chase made it quite clear that he didn’t stand a chance at catching them if they decided to run. He did his best to outstretch a mental hand, praying to every god in creation that they took it.
He couldn't really see like this, at least not in the normal way his eyes could. It was more like a sense that imprints a map of something so deep into your being you can picture it clearly despite having never been there. And right now, he could sense the way the entity watched him. Although he couldn’t fully grasp what they felt, as to Eddie, they showed up as nothing but a pure cloud of sparking electricity.
It must have liked something , because the entity then followed the current right into Eddie’s fucking body .
Seeing this as his only chance, he forced his mind back into his body and forced his hand to release the exposed wire, cutting them both off from the rest of the house. Strangely enough, the entity didn’t seem to panic in the slightest, it almost seemed amused ??
Whatever, time for the last part of this shitshow.
Shaking out the last few sparks from his hand, he steeled himself for what he had to do next. Eddie reached inwards, metaphorical hands searching until he found the presence, and PULLED.
⚡︎- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -⚡︎
The first thing Volt knew was pain.
Horrible, excruciating , eviscerating pain. Pain like his very existence was being torn in half like a piece of paper. Like someone had grabbed hold of his consciousness and had started to pull . Like they wanted to rip him in half. Tear him free.
No no no, he wanted to stay where he was, he didn’t- he didn’t want to leave- please no, just let me stay here!!!
What else could he do? He screamed and thrashed, shaking out of hands that tried to hold him, to tear him free from the body he resided in.
Of course, that hurt too.
Volt fell to the ground, clutching his head, tangling his fingers in an unusual combination of electrical cords and hair.
They weren’t his fingers, it wasn’t his hair.
Everything fucking hurt .
“Stop- please - just stop-! ”
He could feel the voice rumbling through his chest, his throat. His voice didn’t sound like that. What was he stopping again? What even was happening? Was he stopping the pain? That would be nice.
His body was wracked with a visceral shudder as though he’d been electrocuted, something that truly, should NOT have been possible. Volt felt sick. Why was this happening? It was too much. He couldn’t breathe. He wheezed, choking out a harsh cough that splattered the floor in speckles of blue blood.
He couldn’t breathe.
“Calm down!! You have to calm down or we’re going to- - NnGgh—!”
The words didn’t even feel like his own. Were they? Volt didn’t remember wanting to say those words, but they came from his own mouth, right? He wasn’t quite sure anymore. Oh god, it hurt so much.
Electricity arced through his body and Volt gasped, back arching like a cat as his form shifted. The wires and wiry black hair shot through with electrical power and became long, impossible strands of pure, glowing electricity. His body ached, growing a bit taller, a bit broader in the shoulders, smaller in the waist. His skin glowed a horribly strange, electric blue, then faded, becoming pale, oh so pale.
Volt snarled as he clutched at the ground with nails like claws, his hands shaking terribly and his body heaving for breath.
The pain was stopping now.
He gave another harsh cough. His mouth tasted of copper and burnt wiring. He spat blood to the side, wiping the excess that dribbled from his lips on the back of his arm.
He felt more… right, somehow.
Tears and blue blood sizzled against the electrified surface of his skin, some managing to drip, drip, drip to the floor before fizzling away.
‘ What… happened?’
The voice sounded like it had come from behind him. That rough, tired sounding growl from before. He forced himself to lift his head, looking over his shoulder through curtains of electrified hair.
No one was there.
“Hello..? Are you there..?”
His own voice felt raw, as though it had gone unused for time unknown. How strange. At least it was his voice this time.
‘I’m… I’m not sure..?’
That voice again. Where was it?
Volt pushed himself to his feet with a soft grunt, moving to the nearest wall for support. There was a covered mirror here— wherever ‘here’ was.
As if on instinct, he tugged the cloth off the mirror, letting it fall to the floor with a little flourish of fabric and puff of dust.
His reflection was his own, of course, though he looked (understandably) like he’d been put through the wringer and his clothes were a bit.. ahem .. tight. Like they were meant for someone slightly smaller than him. In the mirror before him, he had the expected sharpened, but chiseled features, pupiless silver, grey, blue, almost white eyes, slightly pointed ears, pale skin, and long, white hair he always did. He managed a shaky smile, licking the last of the blood from his teeth, and his reflection smiled back, pearly fangs bared. One always stuck out a little further than the other, occasionally catching on his lip.
“What in the world..? ”
And then, Volt’s reflection shifted. And it wasn’t him anymore.
Well, it was, but…
It was that man again, the one he was before.
He had black and red cables and hair, tanned skin, and a bit of scruff across his upper lip and jaw (which now hung open in absolute shock). His eyes were wide, but still seemed tired, oh so tired, and a beautiful, dark grey.
The man’s hands came to touch his face in the mirror in horror(?), and Volt’s did the same.
“ How is this..? This can’t be possible . ”
His hands continued to move of their own accord as the man in his reflection’s did the same, feeling over his face, his chest, his body.
“Are you quite done copping a feel?” Volt remarked eventually, and the man startled, dropping his hands.
“ What?”
“I asked if you were done ‘copping a feel’.” Volt teased. “I know I’m not bad to look at, but you should probably ask before feeling a man up.”
The man’s cheeks went dark with a deep blue blush that nearly traveled to the tips of his ears, and Volt couldn’t help but laugh.
How cute .
“‘Copping a fucking feel?’ ”The man sputtered indignantly, running his hands through his hair. Volt’s hands, to their credit, didn’t copy this time. ”What the fuck are you— it’s my fucking body! ”
Volt scoffed, gesturing to himself.
“I’m not sure if you’ve seen yourself recently, my friend, but I assure you, this body is very much mine. ”
“Who do you- who even are you?!”
“Volt,” he answered simply. “And you?”
“Eddison. Eddie.“
Eddie… that felt.. familiar.
Volt opened his mouth. Closed it. Put his hand on his chin as he thought. The room fell silent, except for the occasional spark and crackle of his hair. Eddie glanced back at it, and something seemed to click.
“Wait- it’s you.” Eddie gasped, leaning in closer and pressing his palms to the inside of the mirror as though it were a window. ”The electrical current- I- I was trying to-“
That horrible, tearing pain…
“I was trying to bring you out.”
“‘Bring me out..?’” Volt questioned, cocking his head to the side. “I’m not sure I follow.”
“I… I run the power here, in this club.” Eddie began, his hand unconsciously finding its way back into his hair again as he started to pace in Volt’s reflection. It must have been a nervous tic. “I’m the electrical breaker for this house. I make sure that all the other appliances get what they need, so that we all have light and music and heat and energy. Everything.”
“Incredible…” It was, truly it was. Controlling and directing Volt’s current across an entire house in a way that kept it not only running but thriving… Even Volt couldn’t… quite handle himself sometimes. ”Go on.”
“I’m-“ Eddie swallowed thickly, looking almost ashamed. “I’m failing. My power is failing. I’m not sure why, but it can’t— it can’t be-- I have to keep going or else– or else everyone in this house will—“ he cut himself off with a deep, but shaky breath. “I-I just wanted a little help, y’know? To try and spread out the power a bit. So when I realized that there was this… this current inside of me. The electricity… I thought if I could bring them out into the world… If I could split myself… Maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with this all on my own anymore.”
The look on Eddie’s face was absolutely heartbreaking. They may have only truly known each other for a matter of moments, but Volt.. something made it feel as though he’d already known Eddie for years. To think that this beautiful, wonderful man, who cared so deeply for this house that he would try going so far as to split his very being just to keep it running… still blamed himself for his power somehow failing…
Volt wouldn’t allow it.
He stepped forward, gently resting his hand against the mirror’s surface.
“Eddie.”
The other man looked up, startled by the sound of his own name.
“I’m not sure… what exactly you were hoping to accomplish by doing whatever you did to bring me here, but I am here now, in one way or another.” He smiled, doing his best to appear reassuring. ”So please, let me help you. Let me let you rest. You care so deeply for this home, for those who live here that you’d put yourself through…” Volt shook his head. “ This . Assisting you to the best of my ability is the least I can do.”
Eddie stepped forward, his hand raised as though he wanted to reach out, but was still unsure.
“You mean that..?”
“Of course I do.”
Eddie nodded, gently resting his palm over Volt’s on his own side of the mirror.
“Volt… thank you . Really. I really can’t thank you enough.”
Volt simply hummed, closing his hand into a fist as though to hold Eddie’s hand.
“It’s nothing. You… you made me, Eddison.” He rested his other hand over his chest. “Consider me forever in your debt.”
Eddie smiled, really smiled, bearing his own crooked fangs in a grin.
“Alright, I’ll hold you to that.”
“Oh, I sure hope you do~“ Volt teased, waggling his eyebrows. “I do love a man who keeps his word.”
Eddie snorted, shaking his head.
“ Ridiculous.” He scoffed. “Alright, then, what do we call this weird little arrangement, then?”
“Hmm…. A partnership of some sort, I should think.”
“Partnership… sure, I can work with that.” Eddie finally stepped back from the mirror, stretching in such a way that Volt was almost certain he felt his own back pop. “But… how do we… switch… back? I mean, no offense, Volt, but.” He cleared his throat. “I would uh… like my body back eventually.”
That was an excellent question. It did seem that this body was Eddie’s first, of course. It was only fair that Volt gave control back sooner or later.
“I can’t say I’m sure, to be honest with you.” Volt admitted, finally taking stock of his surroundings. “What did you do to bring me here in the first place?”
Eddie made a face, straightening slightly.
“I… I don’t know how to describe it, exactly but…”
He glanced to the side. Volt followed his eyes.
Volt couldn’t say that he.. deeply understood the way wiring worked. He understood electricity quite well, however. And that stray wire jutting out of the main power supply was full of it. Looking at it made him shudder and one of his hands begin to clench and unclench.
Was that Eddie doing that?
“… you electrocuted yourself?” It was less of a question than an accusation.
“I didn’t — That wasn't— “Eddie groaned, trying to gather his words. “There was a lot more that went into it, but if you want to really oversimplify the whole thing… Yeah, sure.” He huffed, raising his hands in exasperation. “I fucking electrocuted myself.”
“Your honesty is refreshing and adorable.” Volt hummed, already striding over to inspect the MacGyvered breaker despite Eddie’s sputtering. “I think I can see how you brought me from the current to… here.”
If the current Volt used to reside in was a stream of water, Eddie had inserted his body and mind into that stream like dipping a bucket into it. Volt came to investigate the other consciousness… and Eddie trapped him inside himself.
Volt must have spent too long in silence, because he felt Eddie nudging at his consciousness.
‘Volt..?’
“Hm? Yes?”
He could feel the buzzing of a thousand half formed questions at the back of their mind.
Should we switch back now? Can we go back and forth? Is this safe? No, it’s definitely not safe. Is the power more stable now? Are we okay like this? Why am I so tired? How did this change my body? Do you always look like this? How come I never saw you before now? What do we do now?
One stuck out a moment longer.
Are you upset with me for this?
Eddie seemingly squashed that one, instead, verbalizing another. Volt didn’t really… want to think about that right now anyway.
‘If that is the way we go about this, can we hold off on electrocuting my body again for a little bit longer so I don’t accidentally fry myself?’
Volt chuckled to himself. A reasonable request. He decided to prod regardless.
“Now Eddie, I thought boxes like you were meant to handle electricity.”
Eddie’s consciousness angrily rattled around their skull for a moment.
‘Shut the fuck up, actually.’
Volt laughed again, shaking his head.
“Down, boy. I’m teasing you.” He stepped away from the wiring, hands on his hips. Hopefully that would calm Eddie down. “Why would I mind getting to explore this new place for a while? I’ve nothing better to do.” A pause. “Did… you have something you needed to do?”
’Finish closing, maintenance and sleep, mostly.’ The other man grumbled. ‘Though the power seems steady enough for now…’
As far as Volt could tell, that did seem true.
“I’m sure I am more than equipped to handle routine maintenance.” Volt decided. “You should rest, then. I’m certain you’re exhausted.
He could almost feel the immediate protest building, but to his surprise, one didn’t come.
‘… Just don’t break anything.’
“I won’t break anything,” Volt withheld the eye roll that comment desperately deserved as he moved from the hidden maintenance room back to the rest of, what he assumed was, the club. It was strange, he really had no idea where he was going, but Eddie’s body certainly seemed to, be it through muscle memory or the other consciousness’s help.
The club itself was decorated like a classic speakeasy, with polished, wooden floors and barstools gathered around tables for seating. At the center of the room, a deep red stage sat above the rest, framed by tangled wire curtains and The ceilings were high, with scaffolding and wiring connecting to what Volt had to assume were mostly lighting controls, though they were currently off for the night. To one end of the room, a few pool tables sat ready for use, surrounded by black leather couches for seating, and to the other, a long, wooden bar with an impressive stock of alcohol to accompany it. The walls were red brick with a few sparse decorations, most notably a neon sign (only partly illuminated- it seemed one of the letters was broken) spelling out ‘Breaker Box’ in front of a breaker’s lever style switch.
“‘Breaker Box?’” Volt questioned.
He could almost feel Eddie’s shrug.
‘It’s a fitting name.’
Couldn’t argue with that.
Eddie directed him where he needed to go to finish the remaining tasks of the night, and Volt happily allowed him to take the lead. All of this was so… new . He’d happily just take in the sights for a while.
Ultimately, Volt worked steadily, finishing the closing tasks Eddie had not while listening for the quiet rumble of his voice in the back of his mind when he needed direction. Again, muscle memory allowed Volt to pick up where Eddie had left off, while his instructions allowed the conscious part of Volt’s actions to fill in the rest. Just how long had Eddie been doing this, for all these tasks to be nothing more than monotony? It was frankly impressive.
Eddie’s voice became softer and softer with time, his careful guidance trailing into quiet ‘yeah, like that’ -s and mumbled ‘I think you’ve got it’ -s.
Eventually, as Volt finished a task, he was not met with Eddie’s prompting to go to the next.
“Eddie?”
‘Mmh..? Oh. I think… that’s about everything for tonight, actually.’ He paused. ‘Sorry, I don’t— it’s like I’m falling asleep…’
That explained it.
“I can’t blame you for that, darling.” Volt chuckled, taking a seat at the bar and glancing at Eddie’s exhausted reflection in the multitude of stocked alcohol bottles. He really did seem just about dead on his feet. “You said that’s it for tonight?”
Eddie ran a hand through his hair, scratching at his scalp for a moment to try and jostle himself to alertness.
“Yeah, actually. You’ve been pretty quick. We’ve got a few hours ‘til the sun’s out, and I usually start the rest of the maintenance then.”
“Well, I’m plenty awake, but you -“ Volt stressed, leaning against the bar top. “-Look like you need the rest. I’m sure I can entertain myself for a few hours while you…” he trailed off, waving a hand. “Nap, or something.”
Eddie chuckled, dragging his hands over his face for a moment.
“ ‘Nap or something .’” Eddie mimicked in a frankly terrible interpretation of Volt’s accent. He sighed. “Can’t remember the last time I had time for that.”
“All the more reason to do so, if you ask me.”
“Can't say that I did, but you’re here, and I appreciate that.” Another sigh. “Alright. My flat is up the stairs over there, if you want. Don’t go crazy. And… I dunno… wake me if something happens, okay?”
“Eddie, my darling, nothing is going to happen if you take a moment to rest .” Volt pushed himself up from the bar, standing to make his way around the other side as though to make himself a drink. “Worst case, I’ll simply… mmh… sample all your alcohol, perhaps?”
“You better fuckin’ not.”
Volt chuckled. He could hear the other man’s voice wavering with exhaustion again.
“Good night, Eddison. I’ll see you in a little bit.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”
After a few moments of silence, the buzz of Eddie’s consciousness faded into a faint, contented hum, assumedly as he “slept”.
Volt was alone.
He got to work, pouring himself a drink (just a glass of whisky. Something simple… and the bottle was already half drained anyways.) as he took in the sight of the club once more.
Volt took a sip. The alcohol burned his throat. He coughed faintly, inspecting the glass in his hands and swirling the dark liquid around before going in for another taste.
How interesting having a body was going to be.