1. Wallace #4
“Do we still have that jacket?” Magnolia asked.
Wallace could only see Angel in his peripheral vision, but his face seemed to go slack before his whole body gave a little jerk. Maybe a glitch in accessing the memory?
“No,” Volt replied gently. “Everything’s in that box.”
“Oh, that’s right…” Magnolia didn’t seem at all disappointed. “He loved that silly hat, too. With the yellow flower… in the brim? Like he was in some old fashioned movie, about to… break out into song.”
Wallace wondered how much time had passed since she’d lost her son, for her to remember him with such delight and not a hint of sorrow.
Wallace couldn’t imagine anyone in his family laughing so fondly about him, or even caring whether he was alive or dead. Magnolia seemed to have plenty of love to go around.
“So,” Angel turned to Wallace, that teasing smile back on his face. He’d probably heard these stories dozens of times. “You work for Orbit Robotics, right?”
“Yeah,” Wallace agreed, his stomach clenching.
It wasn’t a real question, because Angel already knew the answer from his Prism application.
This was where the grilling would begin, but at least it was something he could kind of talk about.
His family had founded the company, and he owned a lot of shares, so even if his work sounded boring, his dates and their families usually found his pedigree impressive.
“Maybe you could look at some of our broken bots, if you have a sec? We have a few that could use a second opinion.”
“Oh, uh…” Shit. What? He hadn’t been expecting that at all. “I’m not sure I can help.” Wallace oversaw software engineering, but bots were enormously complex. The chance of him looking at a bot and being able to determine what was wrong was infinitesimal. He’d just be running standard diagnostics.
But he didn’t like the way Angel was nodding with that little frown, either. Resigned. Like Wallace had already disappointed him.
Clearly, he’d already fucked this up. “I can look?” he offered.
Angel shrugged. “If you have a moment.”
“They’re in the basement near the heater,” Volt told him, giving him another squeeze. “Maybe if you want to come downstairs with me?”
Wallace nodded. He definitely wanted to be with Volt, even in a dark, creepy basement with bots he couldn’t fix, instead of disappointing Volt’s family.
“Thanks, man,” Angel grinned. “Even if you can’t fix them, we appreciate it.”
“You’re a sweetheart,” Magnolia told him, giving his hand a feather-light squeeze. “I can see you’ll be good for my boy.”
Wallace swallowed. That was the third time she’d said it!
Probably she just didn’t know him well enough yet.
He tried not to imagine how she would look at him when he eventually disappointed her.
Though maybe it wouldn’t be too long, because he was pretty sure that he couldn’t do anything with a broken bot.
But right now she was patting his hand and smiling up at him as Volt and Angel discussed the HVAC and how long it had been since the last time they got it fixed.
It was… kind of nice having someone look at him and not just automatically assume that he was worthless.
What must it be like living with a family who actually liked each other? Who teased, but only when everyone was laughing? Who made Wallace feel, just for a moment, like he was a part of something instead of standing on the outside?
Eventually, Volt pulled Wallace out into the hall.
“Your family’s nice,” Wallace told him.
Volt beamed. “I knew they’d love you.” Like it hadn’t even been in doubt. Like Wallace had done anything more than say a few mumbled words at the appropriate times.
Still, it was a thousand times nicer than any other time he’d met someone’s family.
Hopefully he could actually do something about whatever these bots were that Angel wanted him to look at.
Volt walked Wallace out to his car to grab his tablet, then led him back to the elevator where Volt kissed him until he was breathless. The elevator doors even closed on them after they reached their stop, and Volt had to push the button again to let them out.
How was this even his life?
The basement turned out to be well lit and cleaner than he’d expected, if a little dusty from the poured concrete walls. It was strange going behind the scenes at Prism. So… normal.
But it was cool, too. So much more real.
This was where the real Volt was. His boyfriend. Who was holding his hand and pointing out where different things were stored as he led him down the hall.
It filled Wallace with a giddy delight. He’d never had a date like this.
They weren’t going to some fancy dinner or putting on a show of wealth. They were hanging out in a storage room.
He kind of loved it.
He thought he maybe even loved Volt.
Well, obviously he couldn’t love him yet. They’d only been dating for five hours or something.
But if love was even bigger than the euphoria he felt right now, he didn’t know how he’d survive.
“Are you sure you don’t mind this?” Volt asked when they reached the storage room.
Amidst towering rows of boxes and two racks of various costumes, it held four eerie, motionless sexbots, each covered by a clear plastic bag to avoid dust.
He tried not to react, even though the sight made his heart race. They creeped him the fuck out.
Any of those androids could have become a spark like Volt, but they were warehoused like broken vacuum cleaners. Or corpses. Wallace knew that their skin would be soft and lifelike to the touch, which only made it worse. Their open eyes saw nothing.
“It’s fine,” Wallace said, glad that his voice sounded even. “Like I said, I probably can’t do anything, but I don’t mind looking.”
Volt shucked off the bags and tossed two of the bots over his shoulders—like they didn’t each weigh well over a hundred pounds—and carried them down the hall to the boiler room. Wallace carried a bin of tools and a handful of wires.
“Thank you.” Volt laid the bots down on the floor and rose to give Wallace a tender kiss. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
Wallace shrugged. “I probably won’t be able to fix them.” Even if he could, it wasn’t a big deal. And he liked the idea of working near Volt. Doing something together.
God, he fucking loved doing something meaningful together.
He knew he was a dweeb, but this was still the best date in his life. Picnic in the park, petting the stingrays and the aquarium, and now hanging out in a dingy basement, poking around at electronics while Volt clanged around behind him.
People didn’t do stuff like that with him.
Wallace pulled up the specs for the first bot. It was a muscular male with ebony skin, and the first thing Wallace did was shut its eyes.
That way he could pretend it was just sleeping.
Childish? Maybe.
It was easier not to look at its exquisitely handsome face and imagine the pseudo-intelligence behind it.
But then, he was left with the disturbingly realistic shlong hanging down between its legs, which he definitely, definitely wasn’t looking at either.
Except, he had to wonder. Was Volt’s dick like that when it was soft? Wallace had seen it before, but just for a moment. It was lighter in color, of course. But if Volt were laying down would his cock be kind of… soft and curved? But still thick and plump? How would it feel in his hand?
Was it weird that his boyfriend was a sexbot and he hadn’t actually seen his dick yet?
He would soon, though, right?
Maybe tonight he could… he could actually touch it.
Wallace might not be very experienced with sex yet, or at least gay sex—not that he was spectacular at straight sex either—but he really, really wanted to make Volt feel good.
If he could make Volt feel a tiny fraction of how good Volt always made him feel, that would be a memory to treasure forever.
Though the bot’s dick was pretty big and… What if he couldn’t fit Volt’s cock in his mouth?
Or… Fuck. What if he could? And it absolutely filled his mouth to bursting? Would Volt be rough or gentle? Would Volt tell him to suck like a good little boy… and then cram his dick down Wallace’s throat and use him until he got off?
God, Wallace hoped it was both.
Volt chuckled behind him. “See something you like?”
Wallace shook his head quickly. Nope. Absolutely not. Nothing to see here. “J-just checking it over,” he answered quickly. Could Volt tell that he was lying?
“That’s the Blaze model,” Volt told him. “The limb control’s gone all screwy.”
He needed to get his act together. “Did you try a factory reset?”
“Yeah, first thing we tried. The Jade model over there won’t even boot up.”
The Jade model was slim and almost androgynous, with golden skin, Asian features, and surprisingly full boobs. Fortunately, its feminine features didn’t leave Wallace blushing in the same way. He mostly wanted to poke one of the boobs to see if it would jiggle like jello.
“Are they still under warranty?”
“No,” Volt sighed. “I think some of the parts have an extended warranty, but, well, I’ve added some mods that might have voided that anyway.”
“Like what?” Wallace asked. That might help him figure things out.
“Uh.” Volt looked a little uncomfortable. “Some of them are just basic add-ons for things like housekeeping skills, bartending, things like that. But we’ve also put in some mods to protect the bots that are… maybe not fully, technically legal.”
Wallace’s eyebrows rose. “Like what?”