1. Wallace #3
Wallace waited to make sure she was done speaking, given the effort it seemed to take her to get each word out. He could imagine what a dynamo she must have been in her youth. Even now, a relic of her former self, he could see how she must have commanded metaphorical armies with her charisma.
He was sure that everybody loved her. But that didn’t mean she would like him.
“It was all good,” he assured her, gratefully falling back on the required lines. “He speaks very highly of you.”
“We’ve been”—she took a breathy pause between her words—“hearing all about you.”
“Nonstop,” Angel added with a smirk.
Wallace looked up sharply at Volt.
Volt had been talking about him? To his family? God, what had he been saying? Until this morning, Wallace had been a customer, right? He hadn’t known that Volt had a family at all.
Volt gave him a wink.
So he really had been talking about him?
Wallace was still terrified out of his mind at meeting not just one but two members of Volt’s family. But he couldn’t help but feel a warm pulse in his chest at the idea of Volt telling someone about him.
He was sure that no one else had ever done that before. Or at least not in a complimentary way.
Now he just had to make sure that Volt’s family wasn’t disappointed after meeting him. He would have to work harder to make a good impression.
As soon as he figured out what to say.
What could he say to the madam of a sexbot establishment? One where he’d been a client, no less?
He really wished he’d had time to make notes.
Magnolia didn’t look disappointed, though. She looked pleased. And maybe a little sneaky. “What does he call you?” she asked in that slow, breathy way. “Something adorable, I hope.”
Oh, no. He’d been expecting to be grilled on his education, which could have been from a better school, and his career, which everyone knew he’d only gotten through nepotism.
Next would be his hobbies, which were sorely lacking.
Then whether he’d seen the latest sportsball game, or read the news about whatever law had just been passed or how some political leader’s decisions would be impacting the economy, seemingly waiting for him to bluster and fail.
Instead, she was asking about his nicknames.
Wallace couldn’t just tell her, could he?
He had to admit that he liked it when Volt called him hamster and creampuff—two special nicknames just for him—but for anyone else to know?
There was no way. It was too embarrassing.
They were still—even if Volt claimed to enjoy all of his extra pounds—essentially about him being fat.
Volt snuck up beside Wallace, wrapping him in his arms. “You don’t have to tell her.” He dropped a kiss on Wallace’s cheek, then mock-glared at Angel. “And you set her up for this. You’re evil.”
Angel chuckled, not at all repentant. “You can’t blame me for trying.”
“You’re fired as my brother. My baby’s pet names are none of your business.” He followed it up with a kiss to Wallace’s forehead.
“I’ll get it out of you some day,” Angel threatened, his dark eyes alight.
Wallace looked between them, confused. He was used to teasing, but this was different. It was almost… nice?
No one seemed upset. There was no yelling or spite. No cutting glances. No disdain. Volt was grinning, actually, squeezing Wallace closer to him and rubbing one hand soothingly along his side. It was like they were playing.
“Or I’ll get Wallace to tell me.” Angel turned his piercing eyes to Wallace. “C’mon, cutie. Tell Uncle Angel. What does he call you? Hot stuff? Sugarplum? Lovebug? Honeybunch?”
“Sunshine?” Magnolia volunteered. “Or…” Another wheezing breath. “Cupcake?”
“Uh… no?” Wallace answered, cheeks glowing red.
“Stop it, you guys,” Volt scolded. “You’re embarrassing him.”
It was true. Wallace was embarrassed, but not in a bad way, maybe?
Wallace had been called so many things in his life—none of which bore repeating—but these names were sweet, actually. They’d both called him a cutie before even getting into the other names.
He was also pretty sure that they were teasing Volt more than they were trying to tease him, which was a new one. And Volt was enjoying it, despite his protests.
Did real families actually act like this? Rib each other just for fun, and not to be cruel?
“Um, it’s okay,” Wallace managed. Because it was. He kind of liked the razzing, even though he didn’t know what to do about it.
They were such nice names.
Magnolia thought he was a sunshine and a cupcake, which had to be pretty good, right? And Angel had called him hot, which seemed highly implausible, but Volt said stuff like that too, so maybe they were both crazy?
Magnolia reached toward him, but he was too far away to touch. He stepped closer so she could rest her frail hands on top of his. “You’re a good boy, Wallace. You’re good for my Volt.”
Wallace nodded, a lump in his throat too big to swallow.
He’d barely said two sentences, and she thought he could be a good boyfriend. He had her blessing.
He had no idea what he’d done to deserve it, but he didn’t want to pull his hands away.
“And you!” She pointed a thin finger at Volt. They waited for another fit of coughs to pass before she could speak. “Make sure the chefbot knows all his favorites. He’s human, you know. He has to eat.”
“Yes, Magnolia,” Volt agreed, amused. “I always make sure he’s very well fed.
” He stroked over Wallace’s portly belly, like he was thinking of doing something dirty to it.
The innuendo had Wallace blushing all over again, remembering how Volt had hand-fed him a pastry this morning, sneaking in kisses between every bite.
“Naughty boy!” Magnolia told Volt, looking pleased and proud.
Could the ground just swallow him up now? Were they all going to talk about how fat he was?
“Oh, Volt will definitely be feeding his boy,” Angel teased, all too pleased with himself. “He’s been looking up restaurants and cafes all week.”
Wallace fought the urge to hide his burning face in Volt’s chest.
Volt retaliated by spraying something—water, maybe? Or… lube?—out of his finger at Angel’s face. “Don’t go telling him my secrets, you dick. I’m trying to impress him.” He didn’t sound upset, though. If anything, he was chuckling fondly.
Angel wiped off his face, grinning unrepentantly. “Should I tell him about your ranking pages? Do you have them sorted right now by location or ratings? Or the one time he mentioned that he liked sushi?”
Wait… Volt had really been looking up restaurants for him? They weren’t just… talking about his weight?
“What are the top seventeen-ranked choices today?” Angel prodded.
“That’s for my baby to find out, you ass.” Volt pulled Wallace closer, nuzzling against his neck.
God, they weren’t talking about his blubber. Angel was teasing Volt about obsessively trying to figure out restaurants that he would like, and god, did he know what it felt like to over-plan something like that for someone else.
Wallace’s chest bubbled up with warmth, despite his best efforts. “Thank you, Daddy,” he whispered against Volt’s ear.
Volt rewarded him with a kiss, resulting in cat calls and applause from across the room.
“How were the pastries this morning?” Magnolia asked when they finally broke apart. “I sent him all the way across the city for those.”
Wallace could feel his blush all the way down to his chest, even though he was grinning. This was all for real.
Volt had really gone across the city to get him that creampuff, and his family had helped him plan it.
It was… kind of ridiculously, amazingly sweet. Who even were these people? How did he have a boyfriend who’d not just picked up his namesake pastry, but had gone so far out of his way for it?
No one ever went out of their way for him. Or planned things for him. Or talked about what he liked with their families.
And now they were all looking at him expectantly.
“It was, um, good,” Wallace sputtered. His blush just wouldn’t quit, because the pastry had been smushed from Volt pinning him against a tree and kissing him, and then Wallace had licked every sensuous bite of it off of Volt’s fingers on their little picnic blanket in the park.
He definitely wasn’t telling Volt’s family that.
“Leave him alone, guys,” Volt complained, though he didn’t actually seem upset. “I want him to like you.”
“But he’s so cute when he blushes,” Magnolia argued in her wavery voice. “You got a good one,” she told Volt.
She kept just saying things like that. Could she possibly think it was true?
“My Jeremy used to love those pastries,” Magnolia told him, like she was sharing something in confidence.
Wallace nodded, though he had no idea who that was. Her husband, perhaps? It sounded like he had passed away, but Magnolia clearly adored him.
“Her son,” Volt whispered in Wallace’s ear. “She has lots of stories about him.”
Now Wallace was even more intrigued. Magnolia was old enough that she could have had a healthy son who died of old age, he supposed. Or perhaps Jeremy had simply moved somewhere else or gone on a diet.
“He would lick the insides out”—She took a long breath while everyone waited—“and get it on the tip of his nose. Sometimes, I think he gave himself… a little beard on purpose.” She gave a thin laugh, her eyes sparkling.
God, a child then. Though for a parent who loved their children, perhaps age was meaningless and all stories were treasured. She was so elderly that a distant memory might be clearer than the present.
“He sounds like he was sweet,” Wallace said, unsure how to handle the situation.
“Oh, he was a rascal!” She replied with relish, wheezing a bit between words.
“Used to sneak out… on his motorcycle late at night. As if I couldn’t see him…
on the cameras! Angel, do you remember that jacket…
he always wore? With the crooked patch… on the arm where…
he tore it. But he said it looked cool.”
So, Jeremy had at least been old enough to own a motorcycle, but young enough in that memory to feel like he needed to sneak out of the house. A teenager? A young adult?