Work Text:
Keith knew he was pushing his luck, but where was the fun in not doing so? Things had been good, calm. Dorian was his again and he almost felt content with that.
Almost.
If he was anyone else, he probably would have been content just to have that. But he wasn't anyone else, he didn't work like them, and there was an itching in his skin that had been getting louder and louder. He wished he could settle down and be happy with something simple with Dorian, but that just wasn't in his nature, not when he had to so delicately appeal to Dorian's sensitive nature.
The pressure to be polite, to be a gentleman, to play by the rules, had grown to a headache that he couldn't ignore. That's what brought him to the glass front of the Breaker Box that night.
The last time he had been here hadn't gone quite as he planned and had been a long time ago. There were still some nights when particularly bad storms rolled in or the cold bit into him too deep and he felt the dull throb in his sinuses. He wondered if it had been long enough that Eddie would have cooled down, perhaps be less protective of his pretty pet now that he wasn't so shiny and new.
Keith hung out at a safe distance for a while until he could see his opportunity to slip in while the owners were distracted. It was during one of the performances when the lights were dimmed even further than usual, and a group of other objects were entering. He took the opportunity and tagged along with the group, giving a charming smile and thanks to Kopi when she held the door open for him. He ignored the confused, or maybe concerned, look she gave him as he hugged the wall up the ramp near the entrance that led to the elevated booths.
He took a seat in one of the empty ones and sat there for several beats, listening to the music coming from the stage. Keith could see Eddie working at the bar, continuing to prepare drinks and making quiet small talk with some of the objects that sat there. His eyes scanned the rest of the patrons until he found Volt, leaning over to set a drink down on a table before standing tall again and making his way back to the bar. It seemed that neither of them had noticed him yet, and a small thrill ran through him at successfully having snuck in.
He relaxed into the booth, letting out a sigh as he made himself comfortable. He wished he could have had a drink with him, perhaps he should have plucked one from the bar downstairs or kindly asked Freddy for a bottle that the homeowner wouldn’t miss. Instead, he had to settle for reaching into his coat pocket to pull out a candy. Keith let the wrapper fall to the floor as he popped it into his mouth, a present for one of them to find later to know that he had been there despite the threat to not return.
The performance ended and the house lights slowly turned back on. It felt more exposing, even in the darker recesses of the booths. Keith wondered if either of them would notice that he was lurking back there, or if he could escape without being seen too. He wasn't sure which would be more fun.
Several minutes went by and the lights dimmed again. Keith watched as Volt strode onto stage, a large grin on his face as he announced the next performance. It was fascinating watching him, this was the first time Keith had seen him in person without the glass of the bar front and several yards separating them. Volt wore his hair down now as opposed to the high ponytail when he first arrived at the house, and he stood with more confidence. It was almost like seeing a different person after so much time had passed. He didn’t carry the naivety that he had in his early days, instead there was a sharpness to his easy movements that intrigued him.
Keith didn’t even pay attention to the performance as it began. He was tracking Volt through the bar as he flitted back and forth, greeting customers, settling objects at their tables, bringing drinks and taking empty glasses back to and from Eddie. Not once did either of them glance his way, and by the time the performance came to an end, Keith was starting to grow bored. It had been enticing to sneak in after being banned from the bar, there had been a bit of excitement when he took his seat, but the lack of anything occurring was quickly becoming dull.
Even when Volt took the stage again to announce another performance, Keith felt his attention straying. He propped his chin in his hand as he watched the stage blankly, the dim lights and boredom starting to make him drowsy. It became difficult to keep his eyes open and he sighed softly as he let them close, anything he could dream of would be more entertaining than this.
“Excuse me, sir.”
Keith jumped when he heard someone speaking to him, quickly orienting himself. Volt stood next to his table and the startle of his sudden presence made him look more imposing. Keith’s heart thudded in his chest but he didn’t let it show, instead flashing Volt a charming smile. “Oh, excuse me, I must have dozed off for a moment,” he explained, not even addressing the fact that he wasn’t supposed to be there.
Volt nodded, his own host grin stretched wide across his face. “Your drink,” he said, ignoring Keith’s attempt to disguise himself. His bright blue eyes bore into him as he sat down the fruity cocktail in front of him.
Keith frowned slightly, looking between the glass and Volt who loomed over the table. “My apologies, but I didn’t order a drink,” he told him.
“You didn’t have to. Consider this one on the house,” Volt said but his voice wasn’t comforting. There was a danger that lined his words, but he didn’t give Keith a chance to respond before he stood back up and stalked away. His posture returned to normal as he left Keith’s vicinity and returned to the bar, not even batting an eye at Eddie as he picked up someone else’s drink and took it to their table.
Keith looked down at his own drink in front of him. It was the same drink that he had ordered when he had last been here, way back on Volt’s first day working the bar. He hesitated for a moment, suspicious of why Volt would give him a free drink, before deciding to not look a gift horse in the mouth and took a sip from it. It was good, just like he remembered it was from his previous visit.
He watched Volt as he sipped at his drink slowly, eyes following him as he flitted around the bar, greeting and seating guests, tending to their drinks, announcing performances as they came to the stage. Every now and then he saw Volt’s eyes lock onto him and something about the way he looked at Keith sent a small chill down his spine. He couldn’t explain exactly what it was behind those sharp eyes that he saw, or what part of his smile was wrong when his gaze shifted to him, but despite the looks Volt was giving him, he kept his distance. Keith slowly allowed himself to relax as he continued to drink. At least he got some booze out of all this, even if it was a bit of a letdown.
When Keith had finished his drink, dropping the cherry stem from the top of it into the glass, Volt was quickly at his side. “Finished?” he asked politely as he reached for Keith’s empty glass, his smile still pulled tightly across his face. There was too much teeth in his grin, his sharp canines glinting in the lights of the bar.
“Yes, thank you,” he replied with his own smile in return, though he could feel the tightness in his face as well. “It was delicious, do let Eddie know that I appreciate his skill with a good drink.”
Something flashed through Volt’s eyes, almost literally, when he mentioned Eddie’s name. “Of course,” he said as he took the glass and straightened up, towering over Keith. “Is there anything else I can help you to tonight? A second round, perhaps?”
“Hm,” Keith said as he thought, setting his chin in his hand again as he met his gaze in return. “That depends, will this second round be on the house as well?” he asked, a teasing lilt to his voice, almost flirtatious. It reminded him of how he had talked to Volt that first night, all charm and affection for the pretty new thing in the house.
Volt tilted his head and it was reminiscent of that naivety he displayed, except that the blanket of wild, unrestrained energy of his hair was a stark reminder that this was not the same Volt as back then. This Volt had much more experience with the house and the objects in it, a stronger sense of self and where his place was in the home. It was slightly unsettling to recognize. “Sure, why not?” he finally replied after a long moment of consideration. His grin sharpened a fraction more and he gave a small bow as he left with the glass.
Keith watched him carefully, his eyes tracking his movements and analyzing them. He was confused by how friendly Volt was appearing to behave, though he could tell that the friendly appearance was only surface level. Seeing him up close again had given Keith a glimpse of something more sinister under the act, but he couldn’t quite tell what it was.
Volt returned after just a few minutes with his second drink. “Here you are,” he said as he passed it to him. “Enjoy,” he told him, his voice dipping low as he leaned in, his hand staying wrapped around the glass even as Keith attempted to take it. When Keith’s fingers touched his own, a sharp zap went through them, making Keith flinch and pull his hand back. He looked up at Volt, that dazzling smile of his suddenly dropped as he gazed at him. “Let me know if you need anything else,” he said, but his voice lacked all the luster he carried.
He finally released the glass and turned away, shoulders held back proudly. It was so different from the fake bravado he had carried before, genuine confidence and pride filling him out now. His body hadn’t changed much from when Keith had last seen him up close, but how he moved, how he held himself, the way he portrayed his host personality, all made it seem like he had changed drastically.
The second drink was just as good as the first and Keith allowed himself to enjoy it as he spent a little more time. Even with the veiled tension that Volt was giving him, the excitement was short lived once he walked away. He at least had the pleasant buzz of the alcohol in his system to make the night more bearable, even if the disappointment of nothing interesting happening did little to relieve the pressure under his skin.
Keith quickly downed the rest of the drink. He didn’t want to have to sit around here bored out of his mind while still having to play pretend. He left the empty glass on the table as he stood, putting a little extra weight on his cane as the alcohol made his balance slightly worse, his wobble more noticeable in his steps, even if his leg was unaffected itself.
In just a few steps, Keith was suddenly hit by the realization that he needed to piss, badly. He debated on if he wanted to wait until he walked home, or if it would be better to use the Breaker Box’s bathroom. When he got to the end of the ramp and was near the exit, he decided that it would probably be better to go now rather than push his luck and wait. He turned and made his way towards the bar’s bathrooms on the other side, not even paying attention to see if Volt or Eddie had noticed him. He wasn’t bothering anyone, surely they could let an old man take a piss.
Keith pushed through the bathroom door and took just a few steps in before he heard it open behind him again. He didn’t get even a moment to wonder who had entered before a hand gripped the back of his shirt collar and hauled him backwards. The breath was knocked out of him as he was thrown against the door, his weight landing heavily against it with his balance thrown off. A hand gripped his neck, preventing him from easily getting his breath back, and he finally managed to focus to see who had attacked him.
Volt loomed over him, any pretense of his polite hosting persona dropped. His eyes were bright and his hair sparked behind him, his face set in a stern frown. “If I recall correctly, the last time you were here, Eddie told you not to return,” he said, his voice much lower than when he was performing on the floor. It was a deep rumble, almost a growl from somewhere hidden far below the surface.
Keith swallowed, feeling his throat bob underneath Volt’s palm. The intensity of Volt’s words and the powerful grip of his hand made fear slink its way into him. He could feel the buzz of his current where his skin met his own, the air around them thick with the energy. “Well he didn’t seem pissed off about it tonight,” he said back.
Volt’s mouth curled into a splitting grin that was too sharp, too full of pointed teeth. “You think that just because he didn’t say anything that means he wasn’t mad at you?” His smile widened, his grip on Keith’s throat tightening just a fraction. “Oh no, Eddie was very, very upset to see you sneak your way into the bar. The only reason he didn’t come handle you himself is because I told him I would take care of it.”
“I am grateful for your protection then.” Keith’s grip on his cane tightened, his heart starting to pound faster in his chest the longer Volt kept him pinned there. “Now if you don’t mind, I was going to use the bathroom.”
He let out a sharp cackle of laughter, like what Keith had said was the funniest thing in the world at that moment, his hair flaring out behind him as he threw his head back. “Oh no, I’m not going to just let you walk out of here unpunished,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “You disrespected Eddie, that’s not something I can let you get away with. I only stopped him because I didn’t want him to go through the trouble of dealing with you again. It’s my job to do that.”
Keith felt his stomach drop, the fear he felt starting to creep up on him suddenly coming over him in a wave, making his blood run cold as he stared up at him. Volt’s right hand came up to slip underneath his cape and jacket, almost a mockery of how their positions had been reversed. His hand came to a rest on his hip, his fingers almost delicate as he gripped him.
Bright hot pain surged down his leg. Each neuron screamed in agony but Keith himself couldn’t, the rest of the current radiating through his entire body, muscles seizing and spasming uncontrollably, unable to even take in a breath. The pain was blinding and all encompassing, his vision going white as the shock ran through him. It only lasted a few seconds, but each moment was pure torture as his body convulsed.
Just as suddenly as it started, the shock ended, though the pain didn’t. His rigid muscles went lax, cane tumbling from his grip and he would have collapsed to the floor along with it if it weren’t for Volt’s hands holding him upright. His chest heaved as his diaphragm was able to move again, desperate to get air, his heart feeling like it might explode as it regained an almost steady pattern. Keith didn’t have the energy to scream, his whole body feeling drained and empty, but a bone deep, trembling moan of pain found its way out of him.
“Now don’t misunderstand, consider it a courtesy that I shocked your bad leg. You can blame your pain and difficulty standing on that instead of having to tell anyone the truth about why your limp is worse,” Volt’s voice came sharp and clear through the fog of trying to reorient himself. His eyes slowly managed to refocus, looking up at him helplessly as he processed his words. “Consider us even now. You’re welcome to come back anytime you want, but if you ever cause trouble for Eddie again, I promise, I will electrocute you next time. And I do mean the proper definition of the word,” he snarled, all teeth and fury in his warning, his hair crackling in a final show of his true power.
He dropped Keith to the ground, renewed pain shooting up his leg and making him cry out. Volt straightened his vest and coat, running a hand through his hair to calm the wild sparks and put his fake hosting persona back together. He nudged Keith out of the way of the door, pausing with his hand on the handle for a moment as he looked down at him with disgust. “I’ll warn the other patrons to not come in for a few minutes, give you a chance to pull yourself together and get the hell out of our bar. If you’re still here by the time I come back with the mop, I might just have to fulfill my promise sooner than I expected.” With that, he left, leaving Keith crumpled on the floor and shaking from the adrenaline and fear.
Keith gasped for breath, a broken sound leaving him with each exhale. The pain throbbing through his leg was still unimaginable, he had no idea how he was going to stand, let alone walk. He looked to his cane, just an arms length away, but when he shifted to reach for it, the movement alone made the nerves in his leg scream in protest. He clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth together as he pushed through the pain until he was able to grab it, collapsing again when his body begged for relief.
He felt like he was going to be sick but he knew he needed to move. There was no doubt that Volt would hold true to his word when he came back, and Keith did not want to experience that. Pushing aside every instinct that yelled at him to hold still, he struggled to stand. He got a hand underneath himself, the other gripping his cane and planting the base of it on the floor. He leaned against the door and shoved himself off the ground, his mouth opening in a silent scream as he choked back the sound.
Between leaning against the door and putting his weight on his cane, he was able to take his weight off his injured leg for a moment, attempting to gain some sense of composure. He carefully lowered it back to the floor, any movement pulling on the burned skin and muscles and sending another surge of nausea through him. When he finally managed to put any weight on it, another bolt of pain shot up from his heel. He hissed loudly, quickly shifting his weight to the front of his foot, breath stained at the awkward stance.
He took a cautious step forward, testing his body’s movements, and nearly slipped. He just barely managed to catch himself against the door, his legs shaking as they struggled to hold him. Keith looked down in confusion and saw that the floor was covered in a thin pool of yellow liquid and with a dawning horror, realized that he no longer felt that pressure in his abdomen that had brought him here in the first place. Amidst the pain and the tremors that wracked his body when his muscles seized, he hadn’t even felt the wetness that made his pants cling to his legs, or the release or relief as he pissed himself.
He realized that he had been laying in his own piss, the liquid soaking into more of his clothes. His pants were soaked all the way through, down to the socks he wore, pooling in his shoes. His cape weighed down heavily behind him, the piss soaked fabric losing any of the dramatic flow that it had previously carried. Even his white gloves, he realized, were damp and yellow from when he had used his hands to help him stand. He felt disgusted, each point of contact with his soiled clothes made his skin crawl with discomfort.
Keith didn’t have time to sit around and feel sorry for himself, even if he wanted to. Now that he was on his feet, he needed to get out. He took a few breaths to steady himself, watching his footing now that he knew about the puddle beneath him. Grinding his teeth together to power through the pain, he pushed through the bathroom door and back into the bar. Each step was agony, every muscle in his body exhausted from his experience, and he had to put his weight on the ball of his foot to keep his heel from touching the ground and sending even more pain through him.
He could tell that the chatter of the bar quieted as he stumbled his way across the floor, the door to the bar seeming like it was miles away, his home even further. People were staring, he could feel their eyes on him, but he didn’t care, they could stare all they wanted. As he approached the exit, and thus also approached the bar, each thud of his cane as he almost collapsed against it echoing off the tile floor.
Eddie stood behind the bar, a scowl on his face as he glared at him. Keith half expected him to round the corner of the bar and “make the other side match” as he had sworn to do so when he last limped away, but he didn’t. Possibly because Volt stood between him and the edge of the bar, head held high with a cocky smile on his face, only a thin layer of his host personality covering up the proud, protective, animalistic instinct that he kept hidden under the surface.
Keith didn’t hold back his grimacing as he dragged himself out of the bar, heaving against the front door as his weak muscles struggled to open it. There would be no help coming to open it for him this time. The house was still dark, the chill of winter starting to settle in the walls, the heat not yet turned on for the season. It made his pain even worse, the metal of his form going stiff and rigid in the cold.
By the time he got to Able’s place, and thus, his own temporary living situation above, he was ready to collapse, but a flight of stairs still stood in his way. He stared up them, leaning heavily on both his cane and the guardrail as he prepared himself for the hellish climb. He pulled himself up each stair more so than stepped up them, using what strength he had in his arms to avoid the pain of leaning on his leg. He groaned deep in his chest with each step, the adrenaline from the incident burned out and left him far too lucid. He didn’t even feel buzzed anymore, the two drinks he had been given out of his system and cooling in his clothes.
He had no idea how long it took him to climb up the stairs, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours. All he could focus on was the next step after the next step until he collapsed against his door. So close to the safety of his home, his body struggled to continue pushing through. He let himself slide down the door, laying on his good leg as his body forced him to rest for several minutes to catch his shaky, labored breath. He looked up at the doorknob and lifted a hand to grab it, easily unlocking it with a twist of his wrist. The door swung open as it unlatched and he fell partway over the threshold. He didn’t try to stand himself up, simply slid his cane across the floor and dragged himself in until he could shut the door behind himself.
He let himself lay sprawled out on his floor, the room still dark around him, making his skin crawl in a different way from the piss that cooled against his skin. He wanted to be rid of his clothes, wanted a hot shower, if he could tolerate it with the burning in his leg, and to maybe break into his own stash of liquor to dull the pain. Only once the discomfort of being cold and wet on the hardwood floor and boredom from laying there started to bother him did he finally start to struggle to get up.
Keith crawled across the floor, using what light trickled in through the window to guide himself to his bathroom, thankful for the lack of furniture in the room. He pushed through the door and reached up to grab the edge of the sink, using it to pull himself back to his feet, all of his weight on his good leg. He leaned over and flicked on the light, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment from the harsh brightness until he could blink them open again. Looking at himself in the mirror, he looked a mess, his hair twisted and tangled behind him, his face weighed down by exhaustion, soaked in his own piss.
He sat down on the closed lid of his toilet, unable to keep himself standing for much longer. He yanked his gloves off and threw them on the ground, not caring where they landed. Moving as quickly as his tired body could, he undid the clasp of his cape and let it fall to the floor too, his jacket quickly joining after. Soon his top half was completely undressed and he rested for a moment, almost hesitant to continue undressing himself, but he persisted.
He undid his pants with shaky hands before he forced himself to stand again, just long enough to shove them down his thighs. The motion is so quick that the pain didn’t register at first until it sent him crashing back down with a short scream. He grabbed at his left thigh, curling over himself as he breathed through his teeth. The pain felt fresh except without the spasming of electricity through his muscles. He opened his eyes again and looked at his leg to see what Volt had done to him.
His skin was bright red and raw where the burn sprawled across him, seared deep into the meat of his leg. It crackled and splintered downwards, forking off in fractals. The worst of the burn was on his hip where Volt had gripped him, but judging from the pain, it carried on down far past where his pants still covered him. It was going to be terrible to get them off the rest of the way. For a moment he thought about grabbing scissors or a knife and slicing through the pants to free his leg, but he could hardly move as it was, let alone with his pants halfway down.
Keith took a deep breath and gripped his pants where they hugged around his thigh. Slowly, he peeled his wet pants off his leg, trying to pull the sticky fabric away from the burn so it wouldn’t rub across it. Even pulling it away was painful, the rawness of the wound and the wetness of the fabric clung to each other like velcro and ripped at the exposed nerves. Each inch of skin revealed was agonizing, but eventually he had his pants rolled down to his shins. His chest heaved as he breathed through the pain and leaned down to yank his shoes off. His right shoe came off easily, but when he began to pull at the left one, pain erupted through the heel of his foot. He clenched at his ankle, rocking back and forth as he waited for it to subside. Prepared for the feeling this time, he gripped his shoe again and pulled, the friction of the metal and leather dragged against his burned skin.
He dropped the shoe on the floor and returned to getting his pants off, half rolling, half sliding them down until his leg was able to slip free. He gasped in relief as he was able to let his leg relax again for a moment, the seared muscles aching from his movements. As he suspected, the fractals continued down the entire length of his leg, arcing and twisting in its repeating pattern until it disappeared under the edge of his sock that he still had to remove. He did so with the same painful delicacy that he had used to remove the rest of his clothes, motivated by the fact that this was the last thing he had to do before he was fully undressed.
With the sock off, he was able to see the wound run all the way down his ankle, over the jut of his bone, and down his heel. The metal of his shoes must have been a great conductor for the current that had raced through him, creating an orderly pathway for the electricity to travel down. Perhaps he should have been thankful for it, instead of wondering where the current may have gone otherwise.
Totally naked, he sat there for several more moments, the pain in his leg throbbing in the exposed air. It almost felt worse to have the burn undressed, the exposure making the tender meat of his leg feel more vulnerable, any movement of the stale air feeling like a thousand more fresh, tiny shocks. He looked at the shower, unable to imagine how the pouring hot water would feel on the damaged tissue. He’d have to take a cold shower instead, and make it quick.
Keith stood slowly, the ache in his leg more noticeable now that he had seen the severity of the wound, and twisted the knobs in the shower to let the water warm up at least a little. He balanced himself mostly on his one leg, only putting a slight amount on the ball of his other foot to keep his heel from touching the ground. Once the water had warmed up to above freezing at least, still too cold for his liking though, he carefully climbed in, bracing his hand against the wall to take some of his weight.
When the water landed on the raw and exposed skin, he hissed loudly, pounding a fist against the tile. After a few moments, the pain receded as the temperature of the water numbed the skin slightly, the constant pitter patter masking the individual drops and causing a static like sensation that made it difficult for his nerves to transmit the pain. He let out a sigh and slumped against the wall, pressing his forehead against it as he tried to relax as best as he could.
He would finish rinsing the piss from himself, dry off as best as he could, and limp his way over to his own alcohol and down a few drinks to numb the pain before he tried to sleep. In the morning, if he had the strength and could tolerate the pain again, he would go see Farya to have the burn treated and bandaged. Hopefully she would have some good painkillers that he could take advantage of.