Red Lightning / (Kas Steddie)

Chapter five - Cold Water

A/N: This chapter talks about slight gore, anxiety, slight nudity. Nothing sexual or graphic.

It's also from Eddie's perspective, unlike the former chapters. :)

Eddie stood before the bath, fear growing in his chest and making it ache. Slowly, he started to slide off his vest, which tugged at the hair stuck to it and pricked his scalp with pain.

"Fuck-" He uttered, "... A little help?"

Steve shook himself awake and stepped over to assist Eddie. First he gently picked the hair away from the fabric. Then, he pulled the rotten garment away from Eddie's figure, careful to get his arms through the holes. Eddie's face felt hot for the first time, and though it was most likely in his head, he liked to imagine it was real.

The shirt was in even worse condition. His once cared-for Hellfire Club shirt was now riddled with tears, stains, and worse pieces of damage. It seemed to look like flakes of his skin had changed colour and started falling off in chunks. Steve wrinkled his nose, Eddie could see his disgust in the mirror, and reached for the hem anyway, beginning to attempt to pull it off. Some of it came off better than he expected it to, but that doesn't mean it came off well. Eddie chuckled a bit in Steve's frustration. The man's hands shook as he worked to peel the fabric off of his skin, he chewed his lip to stay calm.

"I feel like just going in the bath with the shirt on would make this easier... y'know, the water could melt it away."

His idea was actually not awful for once. But, despite his sudden spark of brains, the idea gave Eddie chills of fear for reasons he couldn't explain. He smirked and met Steve's eyes in the mirror.

"Y'know Harrington, that's not a half bad idea."

"You act like I only have bad ones."

"You do. We could try it."

He turned around and waved an absent hand at Steve, who backed up to give the man space. Eddie found he'd already gotten rid of his belt at some point, to which his heart sank. It was a good belt. Instead he just went straight to the zipper and slowly started removing his jeans. They were slightly easier than his shirt since they were loose, but he winced now and then when he felt the denim tug at something fresh. Steve was too busy "fixing" his hair in the mirror to notice. Finally, Eddie kicked off his shoes and socks, standing with a smile.

"Okay... Ready to lifeguard me again, big boy?"

Eddie's request earned a surprised cough from Steve as he turned around to look at Eddie. His eyes instantly widened, as was expected. For a moment it seemed like Steve forgot that there was a person standing in front of him, he completely froze up.

"Kay... or just stand there and drool. That's cool too."

"Sorry, I just... your legs- sorry. Yeah."

He shook his head and furrowed his brows as he walked past Eddie like he was trying to squeeze a memory out of his mind. Eddie felt a little bad, but it was also sort of funny to watch him struggle. Steve stood beside the bath and held out a hand for Eddie to take. He took it, and lifted a shaky foot.

The moment it hit the hot water he pulled it out.

"What's wrong? Is it too hot?"

"Yeah-" Eddie winced. His foot had turned red and now was already healing itself.

"Sorry, I don't know if- could you maybe make it a bit colder?"

His request was followed by a series of different faces from the other. First Steve nodded, then furrowed his brows as he thought about it. His eyes drifted down to the side and he inhaled, letting out a big sigh and finally closing his eyes.