Work Text:
Eddie had forgotten what it meant to relax.
The ability to even want it had only started to trickle back in recently, a few weeks after the reset.
Before, he’d worked until he physically couldn’t anymore. Sometimes that was only for a few hours, creating a patch to hold just long enough for Volt to shimmer and dazzle the crowd for the evening. Other times he’d manage to work from dawn until late into the night— not due to a lack of pain but with just enough strength to push on until he collapsed.
It’d gotten easier once you'd arrived. He’d been hesitant, of course, of letting you help, because he didn’t expect that anyone could help. Besides, he’d felt he’d already dragged Volt down with him into the hell of his own making. From Volt’s very creation through the remainder of his existence, Volt held his sorry ass up like Atlas carried the sky—endlessly and thanklessly. He didn’t want to drag you down too, even though from your pestering, insistent introduction you’d seemed warm and too kind for such a disaster.
But he’d allowed it, because he simply felt there was nothing he could do, save for physically removing you, and he both didn’t have the heart to do so and wasn’t even sure he had the physical strength to by then.
And you’d helped more than he could have ever guessed or dared wish for. Your softness worked in tandem with your bullheadedness and refusal to give up on them (on him.) You’d broken down their walls and gotten them, Eddie especially, to admit what was wrong and do what it took to fix it. It wasn’t easy, but they’d come out better on the other end. You all had, and Eddie is still trying to find ways to show how grateful he is.
Old habits die hard, though— or more specifically in Eddie’s case they just have died slowly. After the reset he’d had about 2 days of true rest, a mix of sleeping and receiving affection from you and Volt. Volt had curled up at his side and pillowed his head on Eddie’s chest, you ran soft, careful fingers across his face as he woke up, smiling softly at him. Volt pressed lazy, gentle kisses to Eddie’s face and neck and chest, you took a page from Volt and did the same, sometimes at the same time (especially when you knew it’d fluster him.)
Since then, he’s gone back to the long work days. The days aren’t filled with agony and the jagged sparks of the frayed wire in his chest, anymore, but they’re still long. He’s thrown himself back into projects around the Breaker Box and into fixing the bar up after a long time of it being just barely kept in order (and “just good enough” was never really enough for him.)
Slowly, slowly, he’s found himself softening and liking the relaxation that comes after a solid work day that doesn’t go too long. Being able to fix a drink for fun and not just to take the pain away, being able to relax on the couch with you and Volt before bed instead of crashing immediately into a dreamless, fitful sleep—it’s more fulfilling than he ever knew.
But yes, those old habits have refused to fully die out. Sometimes he still overworks himself.
Tonight is one of those nights.
He’s closing the bar at what is apparently 1am according to you, which he thinks is later than he typically does based on the way your face holds deep eye bags as you sweep. He’d insisted you didn’t need to help but you’d shaken your head, kissed him on the cheek, and snagged the broom out of his hand while he was focused on the brush of your lips. He knew better than to argue with you, and he admittedly would jump at any chance to finish sooner.
Volt is wiping down tables at the other side of the room as you sweep and as Eddie finishes washing dishes.
You all move in silence for a while, the faint hum of music still crooning from the speakers, until Eddie’s hands slip and he drops a cocktail glass, his nostrils flaring as he watches it shatter on the floor.
“Shit, Eddie! Are you okay?” You stop sweeping and look towards him. He blinks rapidly for a moment, the tiredness baked into every feature, before he nods quickly.
You approach with the boom and dustpan and start to sweep up the glass, but Eddie grunts softly and takes them both from you to do it himself. You frown at the singleminded, intense focus that Eddie is displaying, but you know he’s exhausted.
You gently take the filled dustpan from him and turn to dump it in the trash. As you do, you hear Eddie mutter “I missed a piece under the bar—” he lets out a sharp hiss. “Fuck.”
“Oh, Eddie!” You drop the dustpan and approach him, taking his hand, now with one finger dripping with fresh blood.
“Volt!” You call. He was already on his way over at the first sound of Eddie’s distress. “Can you get the first aid kit?”
Volt nods. “Of course, I’ll be right back.”
“Eddie, sit here.” You guide him to the edge of a booth and nudge him to sit on the plush seat. You wrap a paper towel around his finger and instruct him to hold pressure on it.
“Spark, I’m fine, it’s a small cut.”
“Maybe so, but you’re now both tired and injured. Just rest, okay?”
“I’m…”
Eddie wants to say he’s fine. It’s a phrase he said probably thousands of times before, when Volt or anyone else noticed his shaky hands or distant stare. But something makes him pause. He’s here, with you crouched in front of him and Volt going to get supplies to heal him. He's safe.
He doesn’t have to pretend.
“You’re right, I’m fucking exhausted,” he sighs softly.
“I’m not surprised, you’ve been awake and working hard for almost eighteen hours now. I’m not sure how you’re even upright to be honest.”
“Me either…” he mutters.
“We’ll get you patched up and head to bed, okay?”
“There’s more to do…”
“It can wait. Promise. I’ll come in the morning and help set up for tomorrow, okay? You just need to rest.”
Eddie looks at you, crouched in front of him and looking at him with eyes somewhere between pleading and affectionate despite clearly being tired yourself, your hands carefully resting on his own and gently fiddling with his injured finger to make sure it stays covered with the paper towel.
“You’re too kind to me, spark…” Eddie murmurs.
You tilt your head before shaking it softly, your brow furrowed. “I don’t think so at all. You deserve every bit of it.”
“Seems hard to adjust to, I guess. Volt’s always been so loving, of course, but that’s… different. We’ve always been connected, I think it’s a given that we’re that way,” Eddie says. “But you have no obligation to either of us, and you’re so kind anyway.”
“I don’t do anything out of obligation. I never have. From moment one I happened to be drawn to both of you, and from there that interest only grew bigger into care and love.”
“I know. You’re a good person.”
“You’re good, too, Eddie,” you say, your voice coming out a bit hoarse. “I hope you know that.”
“I’m getting better at believing it, only thanks to you two.”
You stand slowly, your knees creaking, and gesture for him to scoot in on the booth so you can sit next to him. You slide in beside him, taking his hands back into yours again as you do.
“Can I tell you something, spark?” Eddie asks, his voice uncharacteristically soft and vulnerable.
“Of course.”
“You make me feel so safe that I don’t even know how to handle it. I feel like I can be fully myself around you and you’ll always just… be there. You always accept me as I am, love me as I am. You're so kind and protective…” Eddie says. “Volt is too, don’t get me wrong, but there’s still a part of me, one that I can’t seem to stop, that sometimes resists being vulnerable with him. It still happens, of course, and it’s not out of a lack of love or of feeling safe… I just never want him to see me as weak. Don’t want either of you to see me as weak, really, but… ”
“I understand your fear, it’s easier said than done to stop it even between people as connected as you and Volt. But I know Volt could never see you as weak, Eddie. Neither could I, we both know how hard you work, you’re always giving everything you have and more to us and to the Breaker Box. And he loves you, just like I do. We just want to see you happy.”
“He just took such a burden off of me by the nature of just existing… it feels wrong to be anything but perfect for him, to repay everything he’s done.”
“I don’t think Volt would want that at all. He doesn’t want you to overwork yourself or cause yourself pain.”
“They’re right, love.”
Volt approaches slowly and scoots the table out of the way so he can crouch in front of Eddie. He takes this injured hand and begins to clean and bandage it in smooth, practiced motions as he speaks.
“I don’t need you to be perfect, Eddie. I just need you to be okay,” Volt says softly. He doesn’t sound upset or angered, his tone is even and reassuring.
“I know that, logically... It’s stupid to resist being open with you, you’ve always known me better than I know myself… I just wish my brain could catch up, sometimes.”
“I know, my dear,” Volt whispers. He finishes bandaging Eddie’s hand and brings it to his lips, kissing them with a sort of soft reverence. “Though it’s not stupid to not always be open with me, I’ll agree it’s rather futile,” Volt’s lips curl into a soft grin.
Eddie chuckles softly and leans down to press his forehead to Volt’s. Eddie lets out a sigh and his breaths stutter before evening out. They breathe in sync for a few long, quiet moments, Eddie’s eyes fluttering shut and Volt’s lips never losing their smile. You feel that there’s a whole conversation happening— perhaps not with any words but purely within their souls, a mingling of energies and electrons that settles their frazzled hearts and soothes the worst of the anxiety.
When they separate, Eddie tilts his head towards you. “I don’t know how I got so lucky. Two beings that make me feel so safe by just being around. I love you both more than I think I’ll ever know how to say.”
“We know, Eddie,” you whisper, reaching up to brush back some scraggly hairs from his face. “And the feeling is mutual. We love you.”
“You could never say a word and we’d still know, our darling spark,” Volt says, his voice a low rumble, purely electric. “We’ll never forget, and hope you never will either.”
Eddie’s smile is pure bliss even with the exhaustion still woven into his features.
“Let’s get to bed, my sweet boys. It’s been a long day.”
You hold out both of your hands as you stand slowly, ignoring the twinge in your back. You know it’ll be soothed by Eddie curled against you, he’s like a heating pad in the shape of a man. They each take one of your outstretched hands and you pull them towards you into a hug. Eddie’s arms circle around yours and Volt’s waists and Volt surrounds you both with his broad arms, whispering soft words of affection into both of your hair.
You separate and trudge off to bed soon enough, making sure to give Eddie a few extra kisses and affectionate touches on his face before he falls asleep, just to make sure he truly never forgets how loved and appreciated he is.